by Terri Lane
Raven stopped short. Someone was at her door! She was sure of it, the light under the door had just gotten darker, like boots were blocking the natural light that came from the corridor window. She waited a few minutes, expecting the person to ring the door bell or something. Nothing. Why wasn't the person knocking? Only someone dishonest would lurk at someone else's door without knocking.
Raven hurriedly moved over to her coats closet that housed her very frightening—she hoped—baseball bat. Whoever it was and whatever they were after, she was going to make them wish they never tried her. Could it be the thieves? The thought of that instantly had her wishing the bat in her hand was a gun. She moved closer to the door just in time to hear the loud knock vibrate through it, she froze. The doorbell buzzed. Raven's heart thundered heavily against the walls of her chest. Who could it be? It couldn't be any one of her friends or family, they knew better than to disturb her, she had sent them all an email stating she was about to commence writing her new book and she would need radio silence for a few weeks until she got inspiration for the book and wrote down the book structure. They had all understood, just like the first time. She doubted any one of them was at her door right now, now banging on the door and calling out her name in a very sexy drawl. “Miss Williams.” The voice didn’t sound like any of the thieves’, but it didn’t sound familiar either. It was a testament to what the experience at the bookstore had done to her that she was being so paranoid; she would normally not be thinking everyone was out to hurt her, but now she was looking for danger at every corner. “My name is Jet Hart; the Re-enact private protective agency sent me.” Raven had to move in closer to the door to catch his words. He was from the agency? The bodyguard agency? The agency had finally sent someone to her, and not just anyone, the white man she had chosen to seduce!
Raven quickly groaned as realization struck. She looked down at her stained dress shirt and bare feet. If she had known he was coming, she would have planned a perfect seduction, right now she looked like a mess in her opinion. Raven wondered if it would seem odd to keep him waiting a little bit to run up to change, would it be embarrassing if he ever found out that that was the reason she had done it? There was no time to decide, another buzz followed by the same voice, this time threatening to break down the door if she didn’t open it in five counts.
Raven dropped the bat back and then walked over to open the door, the sight that met her eyes made her instantly regret dropping her bat, she may have been scared of two measly white thieves, but this man… this man looked like he ate danger for breakfast and thrived in war, this man looked male.
*
Huge. Dangerous. Male. Raven threw her manners out the open door and stared blatantly at him.
He was hotter in person and bigger too. Bigger than she had expected. He looked like a mini version of Dwayne Johnson, this made Raven suddenly realize the flaw in her seduction plan. What if he didn't want her? What if he wasn't interested? She really doubted she was sexy enough to seduce such a man. I mean let us face it. She thought. It didn't have much to do with sexuality at the end of the day, I may just not be his type, and he may just not be attracted to black sisters. At the end of the day, it had nothing to do with her person. She was a strong, sexy, independent black sister and she knew it.
“Raven?” The confidence with which he called her name turned her on a little, this was weird because it usually took a lot for that to happen, but when he said it, it sounded like he had given the name to her, like she somehow belonged to him, like he owned her. That put all kinds of sexy images in her head, images she wanted to store for later. “Did you hear me?” He asked. His voice ran through her skin in volts, the hairs at the back of her neck standing up.
“You mean the bit with you threatening to break down my door?” Raven asked. “You break it, you buy it, dude.” It was a tell of how confident a person she was that her voice didn’t shake because she was seriously shaking on the inside.
“Your safety comes first.” He said confidently. “You didn’t answer for quite a while and I was scared something had happened to you.”
“I heard you,” Raven said, feeling uneasy at his disclosure. She knew he was being paid to take care of her, but the way he had said that last sentence had genuinely sounded like he was afraid for her. Raven didn’t know what to make of it. “The agency didn't inform me you were coming today.” She said, brushing her thoughts to the side.
“We tried calling you several times.” Jet said. “But your phone lines weren't reachable.” She couldn’t shake the effect his voice had on her skin, she didn’t know if it was the deepness in his voice or the way his green eyes looked at her when he talked, but his voice was heat on her skin, awakening all her senses, making her feel very aware of the fact that she was wearing no undies under her dress shirt. “Amanda finally informed us that you disconnect–” He paused looking at her for confirmation of the term, “every time you begin a new book and I should just pop by.” He finished. “I hope that's okay with you.”
It wasn't. Not at all. She had had this whole idea in her head of the perfect seduction and how she was going to go about it, but now here he was, seeing her in her present state of mess looking very far from a seductress and Raven didn’t like it one bit.
“I suppose there wasn't any way to inform me.” she conceded. “But you shouldn't have lurked, I almost broke your head in with my bat.” She nodded in the general direction of her jacket cupboard where the bat was still in visible view, Jet followed her movement and somehow managed to keep a straight face as he turned his gaze back to her face, his gaze firmly on hers, but somehow Raven knew what he was thinking, maybe because those were the same thoughts that crossed her mind. Raven thought that the fact that he didn't scuff at the sentence should be applauded. She had been no closer to tickling him with the bat than she had been to breaking his head in with it, and they both knew this.
“Well don't lurk in the hallway, come in.” Raven moved from the doorway to let Jet pass through. As he passed, she noted him casually look around her home, but something told her that that was a more than casual look and he would be able to name every single piece of furniture she had in her apartment by alphabetical order.
“So... how does this work?” Raven was forced to say when silence ensued. “I have never needed a bodyguard before.” She said as embarrassment crept into her voice. She hated to admit that even if her seduction didn't work, she would still be more than grateful that she had someone looking after her, even if it was just for money.
“Your agent paid for one month,” if he had noticed her embarrassment, he wasn't gonna bring it up. Raven was grateful to him for that. “So for a month I'm your shadow, I breathe the air you breathe, case any palace you have to be in.” He paused “In simple terms ma'am your safety is of top most priority to me, and for you to be safe you need to do as I say.” That didn't sit well with Raven, being bossed around had never been her strong point, that was why she had done what she needed to do to be the boss at work so she could be the one giving the orders, but of course the boss always had a boss and she had realized that the hard way, not to mention that him saying she needed to do as he directed felt a lot like a slave master thing, and it had a lot to do with the fact that he was white.
“Don't pee in the bushes.” She mimicked his voice. “Yes Massa.” She gave her own reply. She had no desire to urinate in the foliage, but that was the first sardonic thing that had come to her head, and he looked like someone that would dictate where she could and couldn’t pee, and how long she could take.
“What?” He looked at her quizzically.
“I'm not paying for you to boss me around,” She spat her words out. “So you do what I tell you and not the other way around. Got it?” There was more than a minute of silence that Raven thought to be tense, but then, the driest crackle she had ever heard filled the room. It was Jet’s, and he was laughing. Thoroughly amused. For the first time since she had almost hurt him— or hurt herself,
it was left for debate— with the bat, he was laughing, and it was the driest sound she had ever heard. So devoid of humor, she had never heard a laugh quite like it. It told a story of sorts, of pain so deeply felt that joy had been pushed aside, of so much history, of so much disappointments, Raven felt the need to comfort him. But he kept at it, oblivious to the thoughts that were going on in her head.
“Ma'am.” He said, at the tail end of his laughter. “I can genuinely say that I have never heard that one before.” His lips curved in a smile. His lips. Raven could genuinely say that she had never seen a white man with lips so naturally full. His lips where full and pink, and as he talked he used the tip of his tongue to wet them. Raven fantasized about that tongue wetting a part of her that was even at that moment sizzling hot. “Well, ma'am, bodyguarding is one of those jobs where you get paid to tell people what to do.” He said, “Therefore a completely shitty bodyguard will be one who actually lets his clients do the bossing around. I am here to protect you, and in order for me to do that you gotta let me take care of you.” He finished. “Okay?” His final words jolted Raven out of her daze a little. She hadn't heard a word he had said since the smile, she had been busy fantasizing about what that mouth would do to her clit.
She had been told white men were givers, her whole body was begging to find out if that was true.
*
The sun was already kissing the west, a soft breeze in the air, there were people riding their bikes outside, talking as they strolled down the pavements, walking their dogs, doing several fun and interesting things, but Raven didn‘t even realize that it was a weekend. She was oblivious to all this with her face firmly fixed on her laptop screen again.
Jet watched her with hawk-like precision. He had been observing her since 3 am when she had started her writing, and so far it had been a series of writing a few word s on her laptop, hitting the backspace key and then starting over again. It was like she wanted everything to be so detailed and controlled, she wasn't satisfied with any beginning line so far. It reminded him of his training during his Navy SEAL days, the attention to details, the need for precision.
This Raven was so different from the other Raven who had stood in her very sexy nightshirt, her arousal a pleasant fragrance in the room, and her very hard nipples showing through the frail material of her nightshirt. He had hidden his thoughts well, and with good reason. No single woman would want to be alone with a man who's only thought for a good 45 seconds of meeting her had been if her nipples were the same beautiful chocolate shade as the color of her eyes, and if they tasted just like chocolates. It hadn’t been easy though, he had been so hard that if she was paying attention she would have seen the large bulge in his pants, but he had succeeded in hiding it with a bunch of manuvering techniques. It had been a long time since he had been that hard, a very long time since he had thought about any woman in that way.
Leaving the navy to come home and take care of his dad a few years ago had taken most of his time, the worry of if his last surviving relative was going to make it, the anxiety, the fear. Finally the doctors had called a few weeks back to tell him that after his father’s final chemotheraphy, no cancerous cells had been detected. It had been the news he had been waiting for for so long, he loved his father so much, he and his father where both so very close and he couldn’t imagine loosing him so early. The doctor had, however, advised that he hire someone to nurse his father back to his full health, but Jet didn’t see that happening, he had rather decided on doing it himself. This was the last job he would be taking before he had to travel home.
He looked over at Raven again, she was so small that Jet wondered how she had gone this long without hurting herself or needing protection. He made it a point to case every room thoroughly before giving her permission to enter, even more so when he found out that she hated it. The first time he had used; “Ma'am, if you are not out in five minutes, I’m breaking down the doors.” It had been pure amusement to see—not for the first time—that rebellious flick in her eyes before she had haughtily walked in and closed the door behind her. He wasn't surprised at the end that she had purposely stayed a few extra minutes in the bathroom as if testing him to see if he would keep his word. Luckily for her and her door, Jet was skilled at picking locks and apparently at sensing when someone was deliberately being a big baby.
“You didn't kick in the door.” She had shot at him then as she walked past as if she had springs for soles. That was the first time he had seen her competitive side. He had remained calm however, hiding his amusement very well.
“I believe in second chances.” He had said, half joking half serious. She had looked at him as if wondering which half to focus on. “Right now just be grateful that I just saved you a door.”
Raven had smirked. He liked that extra edge about her, so deceiving in her small frame, it turned him on thinking just what else her small frame may hide. He still couldn’t believe that she was a CEO of a fortune 500 company, she lived such a simple life and hadn’t once thrown her accomplishments in his face. She was so different from some other rich people that he had been tasked with protecting in the past, she was somehow so pure at the same time so tempting.
Jet found everything she did tempting, from the smallest gestures of nudging her reading glasses higher up on her face to the way she wiggled her nose when she was thinking about something really hard. Right now, she had on what he thought was her idea of more conservative PJs because it was a long top and bottom, but in true light it was the sexiest thing he had ever seen. The material was made of pink silk, and it looked so good on her body, it covered every single inch of her, making Jet fantasize about what lay underneath.
Raven stood up suddenly as if she had just had an epiphany. “I'm going to the grocery store.” She said, closing her laptop and walking out of the room. Jet stood up to shadow her, his frame always cautiously aware of his surroundings.
“Are you going to follow me there too?” Her voice sounded exasperated as she rolled her eyes.
"Shadow, Ma'am, remember?" Jet reminded her with a straight face, inwardly he chuckled. Waiting to see how she would get out of this one, she couldn‘t.
Raven fumed as she drove down the driveway. Well the last thirty minutes of her life had been an absolute waste, the conversation that had ensued between her and Jet as she had tried to convince Jet to let her go out alone flooded her mind.
“I said I can make it on my own.” Raven had said, trying to keep the frustration out of her voice. Although she would never admit it, Raven cared greatly about what people said about her, and she knew none of the news on gossip mill will be fluttering in her favor if she showed up to a largely black populated supermarket around her block with a white man in tow.
She had argued her point, only to be met with a stone-cold then why didn't you choose a black bodyguard. No judgment, no understanding, just logic. That irked her about Jet, he was always so logical, so careful. But at the same time, beneath his expression, the truth somehow managed to slip through, and that drew her close to him. Maybe she was overreacting, it was the 21st century, she doubted she would be the first woman interested in a white man, but Raven knew better, even if she wasn’t shunned by most of society, she would be disappointing friends who had had it rough from white people. But a strange part of her wanted to be out with this man, she wanted him to hold her hands as she went grocery shopping and then they would trade inside jokes and laugh, but she knew that may never happen, she was better off with her seduction plan. She was definitely over thinking things.
After staring at her screen for more than 20 hours and being no closer to starting her novel than when she had first started, Raven had decided to focus her energy on a distraction, at least for a while. She had decided to go to the mart for some food, and then branch the Victoria‘s Secret store and pick up some sexy lingerie for her seduction, cook a lovely dinner for the both of them and start her seduction plan.
Unfortunately, things were not going as plan
ned, Raven didn’t know how the hell she was supposed to seduce this man when he would not give her the thirty minutes she wanted to press herself into something sexy, but instead threatened to break the door at every chance he got. She wasn’t even sure he was attracted to her, but she had to admit that she had been really busy of late, and hadn’t been able to test it out.
She had even insisted that he take a day off—hopefully a day she could use to relax by herself and buy stuffs in preparation of the seduction, but the fool man had had the nerve to say that she didn’t have the power to tell him things like that because technically she hadn’t hired him. The threat to her life even felt like a thing of the past these days, there had been no news from the police about the men, anytime she called to inquire they told her that they would let her know if anything ever came up. She felt safer though, she didn’t know why, maybe it was because of the man himself, she couldn’t tell but she knew that one month was drawing to an end and sooner or later she would have to let Jet go.
“The threat is in the house not out of it!” Raven had been surely frustrated. “I just want to grab some eggs.”She had still been trying to argue her point and so far had already been losing her patience. She had been totally frustrated that her plans were not going accordingly, Jet hadn’t even been frazzled, but had been patiently waiting for her to finish her point, she had bet it was so he could throw out another “Shadow, remember?” Gosh, he had been irksome. “I am your bodyguard.” Jet had said, his voice sounding calm. His voice was always calm, his face always passive. Made her wonder what he was thinking. After that first slip up with the slave and Dom bit, he hadn't repeated his sad laugh or his beautiful smile. Something Raven had started craving on the second day of passive silence. My job is to guard your body.”
Raven had known when she was beat, and there was no way she was going to win this argument. “Fine.” She had sighed her words. “But stay five feet away from me at all times, got it?” She had not stopped to get a confirmation; she had doubted he was going to give one, she had just walked to her car, expecting him to tail her, he had.
