Protecting Summer

by Susan Stoker

  Summer took hold of Mozart’s hand and he didn’t let it go as he walked them out of the restaurant and back to his truck. He waited until she stepped up and into the passenger seat and got settled before closing her door and walking around to the driver’s side.

  They drove back to the motel in a comfortable silence.

  They pulled up in front of his cabin back at the hotel. Mozart watched as Summer got out of the car and self-consciously smoothed her hair over her right ear.

  “Thanks for the dinner, Mozart, I appreciate it.”

  “You’re welcome. How are you getting home?”

  “Oh, I stay here on the premises.”

  “You do?” Mozart looked around in confusion. He couldn’t see where she might be staying, unless she was living in one of the cabins or if there was a room in the office area, which he hadn’t seen when he’d been in there eating breakfast.

  “Yeah. Thanks again for tonight…have a good rest of your vacation. Be careful out there hiking. Don’t piss off any bears, okay?” Summer smiled nervously up at Mozart, hoping he’d let the matter of where she lived drop.

  “I will, Sunshine. Thank you for sticking up for me with those bitches tonight.”

  “I see now you didn’t need me to do anything, but seriously, I hope you don’t see yourself as flawed in any way. Believe me, you are not flawed.”

  “Are you flirting with me, Summer?” Mozart teased, thrilled at the blush that crossed her face.

  “Uh, no, I…”

  “I’m teasing you, Sunshine. I don’t really think about it anymore and it honestly doesn’t bother me when people look at me weirdly because of it. With that being said, anytime you want to throw down with bitches who look at me the wrong way, I won’t object.”

  Summer just shook her head at him and smiled. “Have a good night, Mozart.”

  “You too, Sunshine.” Mozart watched as Summer walked toward the office and disappeared around the side of the building. Was she related to the owner? Where exactly was her home? What made someone as pretty and intelligent as Summer seemed to be, work at a run-down motel such as this one? Mozart had a ton of questions, and not enough answers.

  Mozart went into his cabin. He had enough on his plate at the moment, too much to really even have the time to think about Summer’s mysteries, but he couldn’t help it. She’d gone out on a limb tonight for him. He’d been honest with her when he’d told her that he couldn’t remember the last time someone did something like that for him without wanting anything in return, other than his teammates of course.

  He lay back on his bed and thought back over the night. There were little things bothering him about Summer. She didn’t wear a coat, even though it was a bit chilly. She wasn’t wearing any makeup, not that was a big deal, but most women he knew would at least make an attempt to put something on. Summer’s clothes seemed a bit big on her, like they were the wrong size. She tried not to show it, but she was hungry tonight.

  Mozart also hadn’t seen her around at night before, so how had she just popped up tonight? And while he hadn’t really seen her before tonight, her actions had now put her in his crosshairs. There was something about her. Something that made him want to be the man that would give her three orgasms and would pleasure her all night long. Mozart knew it was crazy. He wasn’t the type of man to pursue women; at least he wasn’t before his accident. He hadn’t had to. They always came to him. But he was curious about this woman, and wanted to solve the mystery. He would solve it before he left.

  If Summer knew what Mozart was thinking, she probably would’ve found a way to leave that night. But she figured it was the last time she’d see him. He was most likely leaving soon and that would be that. Summer was forgettable. She knew it. It’d been proven to her time and time again in her life. He’d be no different. She knew it.

  She snuggled down into the sleeping bag she’d bought at the thrift store. It smelled slightly musty, as if it’d been sitting in the store for a while, but it was warm, and at the moment that was all that mattered to her. She fell asleep thinking about Mozart and ended up dreaming about him as well.

  Chapter Four

  The next day Mozart was up early, as was his usual, and he was on the trail before the sun rose. If he wanted to catch Hurst, he knew he had to sneak up on him unaware. The man was lethal and Mozart couldn’t underestimate him.

  As he hiked silently, Mozart thought more about Summer. He was heading back to Riverton tomorrow. His leave was up, and as much as he hated to leave his search for Hurst, he was equally loathe to leave before really getting to know Summer. It was crazy, he’d lived the past nineteen years wanting revenge for Avery and nothing had ever stood in the way of that. But one encounter with Summer was all it took for his interest to be piqued and for his intense drive for revenge to slip a bit.

  She was an enigma. She was well spoken and smart, yet she was working at a run-down motel as a maid. Mozart shook his head. He didn’t understand, but he would. He wanted to talk to her before he left. He wanted to reassure her he’d be back. Mozart knew he’d be coming back to continue trailing Hurst, but if he was honest with himself, he knew it was also because of Summer.

  Mozart wanted to introduce Summer to his friends, and that was unusual for him. He kept the line straight and narrow between his real life and his sex life. The women he slept with knew the score, they knew their encounter was one night. Sometimes he kept one around for longer than that, but he told them upfront that he wasn’t relationship material and if they wanted to stick around and sleep with him for a while, he wouldn’t be opposed, but he always told them they’d never get more than that out of him.

  Surprisingly, as much of an asshole it made him sound, most women were okay with the arrangement.

  Mozart shook his head and brought himself back to his present surroundings. He had a feeling his days of sleeping around were gone, all because of a too-thin mysterious woman who had no idea how beautiful she was. He’d track her down when he got back to the motel and let her know his plans. His plans to come back and get to know her better.

  * * *

  Mozart stepped out of his truck into the dirt parking area at the motel. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He’d found Hurst’s campsite for a second time, but the man had cleared out before Mozart could get there. Mozart had been so close, but once again, he was too late. He’d already called Tex and updated him on what he’d found. Tex had reassured him he was on his trail and they’d get him, but Mozart just shook his head and didn’t agree or disagree.

  He’d heard it time after time and he was no closer today than the cops were all those years ago. Mozart wondered for the first time in his life if the bastard would ever be caught. He thought again about his teammates and their women. Could he one day be as happy as they were? Would finding the woman meant to be his, somehow make up for not avenging Avery? Mozart had no idea, and he wouldn’t figure it out today, but it was something to think about. For the first time, he allowed himself to admit that he was tired. Mozart’s life was passing him by, but he didn’t really know how to stop it.

  Mozart looked around at the cabins to see if he could find Summer. He saw her cleaning cart parked at the last cabin. He started toward where he hoped she was. Mozart hadn’t seen anyone else cleaning the rooms since he’d been there, so hopefully the cart meant Summer was inside the room.

  He wished he didn’t smell so…funky…but he’d been hiking all day and couldn’t help it. Since he’d checked out that morning, he wouldn’t have a chance to shower before he headed back down to Riverton.

  Mozart peered into the cabin and smiled at what he saw. Summer was making the bed and swearing at it under her breath.

  “Stupid sheets. Why do the beds have to be so damn heavy? Jesus, most normal people wouldn’t demand their entire sheet set be cleaned every day, but this guy? Of course he did. Dammit!”

  “Need some help?” Mozart said laughing.

  Summer spun around with a screech, an
d seeing Mozart, scolded him with a hand on her chest, “God, you scared me! Don’t do that!”

  Mozart smiled. When was the last time any woman had spoken to him in that tone of voice? He couldn’t say. Most women, and men for that matter, were scared of him. The women would always simper and do whatever they thought he wanted them to do while men typically just went out of their way to avoid him.

  “Sorry, Sunshine. Didn’t mean to frighten you,” Mozart told Summer softly, still leaning nonchalantly against the doorjamb. “I just wanted to let you know I checked out today and will be gone for a while.”

  When Summer simply looked at him he continued, “I didn’t want leave without letting you know.”

  Mozart was nonplused when she responded with, “I knew you checked out when I went to clean your room and saw everything gone. Why would you come back to tell me?”

  Summer was honestly confused. Usually when people checked out, she never saw them again. Every now and then someone would come back because they left something in their room and they’d seek her out to see if she’d found it, but never had someone come back to tell her they were leaving. “You left your keycard in the room, you don’t have to turn those in. It’s not a big deal.” When Mozart didn’t respond, Summer continued hesitantly, “Is that why you came back? To give me your keycard?”

  Mozart took a step into the room and came toward Summer. He noticed she took a small step back, but then caught herself and stood her ground.

  “I came back because I like you. Because I wanted to see you again. Because I think I want to be the one who gives you three orgasms before dinner for real. That’s why.” Without waiting for Summer’s response, Mozart took two steps until he was right up against her and reached a hand out to tag her behind her neck. He pulled her close so their lips were almost touching.

  “I couldn’t leave without tasting you at least once.” Mozart’s lips were over Summer’s before she could say anything. Summer was mid-gasp so it made it easy for him to slide his tongue over her lips and into her mouth.

  Summer groaned, her situation and where they were fell away instantly. She couldn’t think about anything other than how good Mozart felt. Her arms came up hesitantly and flattened on his chest before she ran them up and clasped them together behind his neck.

  Mozart was about to pull back when he felt Summer’s tongue come out and shyly slide over his. There was no way he could stop now. He groaned and pulled her closer to him. Mozart tightened his hand around her neck and pressed his other hand into the small of her back, forcing her into his body until they were touching from head to hips. He deepened the kiss and felt Summer shift against him restlessly.

  Mozart felt satisfaction curl through him. Summer apparently wanted him as much as he wanted her. He couldn’t hide his erection from her, but her squirming told him she was just as turned on as he was. Running his tongue over hers one more time, Mozart slowly pulled back, not letting go of her waist or neck, but separating their mouths.

  “I’ll be back, Summer. I want you. I want to see where this can lead us, and for once in my life, I’m not talking about a one-night stand.”

  Summer slowly opened her eyes and looked up at the man whose arms she was engulfed in. She took one hand from behind his neck and put it on his scarred face. She rubbed her thumb over the worst of the scars. She was flattered beyond reason, no, she was thrilled this gorgeous, virile man wanted her.

  “Okay,” she whispered with a shy smile.

  Mozart finally removed his hand from her back and took her face in both of his and rested his forehead against hers. “Stay safe until I can get back to you.”

  Summer just nodded.

  Mozart leaned down and took her lips in one last hard kiss before letting her go and backing up. They kept eye contact with each other until he reached the door of the room and disappeared into the parking lot.

  Summer sat down hard on the un-made bed. “Holy Hell,” she said softly aloud to the empty room, “that man is lethal!”

  Chapter Five

  Summer waited. Mozart said he’d be back. The weather got colder and he didn’t return. She didn’t know what happened, but she wasn’t completely surprised. A part of her wanted to believe Mozart. He’d seemed so sincere, but Summer should’ve known. All her life people seemed sincere when they’d told her things like, “I’ll call you,” or, “we’ll go out for lunch,” but more times than not, they didn’t call and they didn’t ask her out for lunch. So Summer wasn’t entirely surprised, but found herself depressed about Mozart’s absence all the same.

  She knew it was time to move on anyway. The weather up on the mountain was cold, even for southern California. Many people assumed since it was in California that it’d be warm all year, but in actuality, this area had some of the best skiing in the state in the winter months. Starting in November, Henry had cut her salary in half, which was ridiculous because it wasn’t as if she was making that much to begin with, but Summer was pretty much stuck until the spring because she had no transportation and the cold weather made it that much harder to up and leave. Nevertheless, she’d already decided she’d be going.

  But for now, today, Summer felt like crap. She knew she was sick, who wouldn’t be after living in the kind of situation she was? She wasn’t eating enough, and the storage building was freaking freezing. Summer had stuffed paper towels into the cracks trying to keep the cold air out, but it wasn’t doing much good. Henry had given her an old space heater and let her run an extension cord from the office into the storage building, but she didn’t use it a lot. It didn’t seem safe. However, there were times at night when she was just so damn cold that she had no choice.

  Summer didn’t have any friends in the small town because she was kept busy cleaning the cabins, and even when she wasn’t working, it wasn’t as if she had transportation to get anywhere to meet people. She was stuck, and it was definitely time to go. As soon as it got warmer and she could save up enough money for a bus ticket, she was getting out of there. What had seemed like such a great idea a few months ago, now just seemed stupid. Summer was an intelligent woman, and if she knew of anyone else in her situation she’d just shake her head at them and call them an idiot.

  She lay on her cot and snuggled down deeper into her sleeping bag. She closed her eyes and re-lived the kiss Mozart had given her the day he’d left for the thousandth time. She’d never been so attracted to anyone before in her life. Even her ex-husband had never made her feel like that in all the years they’d been married.

  Summer had made good money and they’d been equals in their relationship, almost too equal. Summer sighed, remembering how she’d felt when Mozart had hauled her into him and not given her a choice about whether or not she wanted him to kiss her. She wasn’t an idiot, she’d read plenty of romance books where the woman was submissive to the man…and she’d scoffed at each one. But now, remembering how she’d felt in Mozart’s big arms, she was rethinking her beliefs. Just remembering him telling her to “be safe” as he left her standing in the cabin, was enough to make her insides quiver. No one had ever cared if she was safe before, and it felt good. Too bad he hadn’t meant it.

  Summer fell asleep once again thinking about the man who’d turned her nice plain life upside down, and then left without looking back.

  * * *

  Mozart sat at the table at Aces Bar and Grill with his friends and sighed. He wasn’t really in the mood to hang with his teammates, but he’d promised he’d be here, so here he was. Caroline and Wolf had come back from their honeymoon looking relaxed and happy. Fiona and Cookie had also settled into married life. Fiona seemed a lot more relaxed while out in public, so obviously her sessions with the therapist had done her a world of good.

  Mozart thoughts turned back to Caroline. He remembered how she’d trusted him to sew up her wound when she’d been injured on the plane that had been taken over by terrorists. Mozart hadn’t ever experienced that sort of trust again…until Summer. It wasn’t as if he’d
had to sew up a knife wound or anything, but she’d taken his hand and let him bring her to dinner. She’d let him kiss the hell out of her, and she’d melted in his arms. Summer wasn’t scared of him, and had stood up for him when she hadn’t even known who he was.

  Mozart gritted his teeth. Fucking hell. He’d told Summer he’d return to Big Bear to see her, and he hadn’t been back. He argued with himself over it daily, but he hadn’t had the time. No, that was a lie, he hadn’t made the time. Yes, he and the team had been sent on a few missions since he’d been up to the lake, but that honestly wasn’t an excuse. It wasn’t that far to drive and Mozart could’ve honestly made it up there in a few hours on his downtime.

  He’d convinced himself that whatever connection they had was all in his head. Mozart had only taken one woman home since he’d met Summer, and it was a complete disaster. All he could think of was Summer and how she’d lit into those women for him. Recently, when he’d caught the woman he’d been about to bring to his bed looking at the scars on his face in disgust, Mozart lost his erection and any desire to get naked with the woman immediately. He’d told her to get out and he’d lain on his bed thinking about what a mess his sex life had become since meeting Summer.

  “What the hell has you thinking so hard over here, Mozart?” Benny asked, sitting down next to him with two beers. He handed one to Mozart and took a drink out of the one still in his hand, waiting for his friend to answer.

  “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, Benny.”

  “Try me.”

  “I met a woman…”

  Benny burst into laughter, interrupting Mozart’s explanation. “When don’t you meet women?” When Mozart didn’t say anything Benny looked at him incredulously. “Shit, seriously? You too? I’m gonna be the last one of us left the way you all are falling so hard.”