A Hero To Trust In Me

by Marteeka Karland

  “Don’t stop, Laura,” he encouraged, the silvery moonlight highlighting his handsome face through the window. He was looking intently at her, as if she were the center of his world in that moment. “Let me watch this.” His voice was barely a thread of sound, but she heard the need there.

  For several moments, Laura just stared at him. Should she do this? Their relationship was already altered after that kiss. No way she could pretend it hadn’t happened. She wasn’t entirely sure she was ready for something this intense, but the thought of not at least trying didn’t seem to be an option.

  With a slight nod, she slid her hand back over her belly to the small triangle of silk covering her mound. This was new for her. Sex had always been in the dark with few words, something pleasant but never spoken about. What she was thinking of doing now crossed those boundaries and titillated her beyond imagining. After a brief hesitation, Laura dipped her hand under the silk to slide over smooth flesh until she reached her moist folds.

  “That’s it, baby. Are you wet?” When she nodded, he praised, “Good. Circle your clit for me.” His voice, now low and rumbling through her, was seductive, lulling her into doing his bidding. Not that she would have done anything else, but knowing he wanted this too gave her an extra boldness she might not have otherwise possessed.

  When she made contact with her aching clit once again, she didn’t stifle the cry. Instead, she closed her eyes, arching to meet her own hand.

  “Feels good, yeah?”

  “Yeah,” she breathed. “Very good.”

  “Now, dip your fingers inside yourself. Two of them so you can feel a little of how full you’d be if I were inside you.”

  His words sent a spike of heat curling through her and she gasped again. Doing his bidding, she slid two fingers deep inside herself, stroking, pumping lazily. Her slick walls contracted around her fingers once, squeezing, milking, wanting something more.

  “Are you close, baby? Can you come while I watch you or would you rather me leave?”

  That was unexpected. Laura figured he was doing this as much for his benefit as he was hers. But if he was willing to leave her before she reached her orgasm, maybe there had been another motive behind his verbal seduction.

  “You don’t want to be here?”

  Rick barked a short, humorless laugh that sounded as if he were in pain. “You have no fucking idea how much I want to be here for that blessed event, but only if you’re comfortable with it. I wouldn’t have been here at all if I hadn’t heard you whimpering. You sounded as if you might need help and, since fucking you senseless wasn’t an option open to me yet, I thought I’d help the only way I could.”

  His crude confession didn’t sound nearly as bad as it should have. It sounded needy, wanton. Just like Laura felt. It also was exactly what she needed to push her over the edge. With a sharp cry, she arched her back as her orgasm overtook her. Her head thrashed about as she screamed. And in her mind, Rick was on top of her, burying himself deep as he rode her to his own climax.

  ***

  Rick waited until Laura’s breathing evened out before he gave her a small salute and shut her door. Walking away was probably the hardest thing he’d ever done. He’d rather have known he was walking back into a minefield in Afghanistan than leave her in that moment. He should be climbing into bed with her, wrapping himself around her, and letting her rest before they started everything all over again.

  This was damned inconvenient. Not completely unexpected, but inconvenient. No woman had ever hit him quite this hard. Laura had gotten under his skin, even from that first innocent meeting, and he knew he’d never be able to be free of her again. Not that he wanted to. At the moment, his main priority was to prove to her he wasn’t like her ex-husband. He wanted to earn her trust so they could begin a relationship of their own, and he feared it was way too soon for that yet.

  Lying on the couch, Rick adjusted his cock. His jeans zipper seemed to cut into his sensitive flesh like never before but he refused to ease it. Not here. Not with her in the next room. He’d prove to her he had more self-control than that, even if it killed him. Or gave him a serious case of blue balls.

  A light knock at the door had him up in a flash, throwing open the door before whoever was outside had time to run away.

  “Easy, bro.” Mike raised his hands, a grin on his face. “Just seeing if you were still here and guarding the place.”

  “You could have texted me. Or called,” Rick grumbled, scrubbing his hands through his hair. “Did you get the punk to the police station?”

  “Oh, yeah. Kid sang like a canary. It was Carl Meadows who put him up to harassing her, all right. She could go to the station tomorrow to sign an EPO against him, but I doubt it would do much good beyond creating a paper trail for her to show continuing harassment in the event of an unfortunate accident.”

  “I don’t intend for anything ‘unfortunate’ to happen to Laura.”

  “I know you don’t. Which is why I figured you’d want someone watching her twenty-four seven.”

  “I take it you have an idea?” Rick knew his brother too well. Mike always had an idea. Of course, it was probably one Laura wouldn’t like but sometimes what one didn’t know wouldn’t hurt.

  “She’s a tax accountant, right?”

  “Yeah. So?”

  “So, she works for herself. What if I had her help Melanie with all our taxes this year? Personal as well as the company. It would only last a couple of months, but it might be enough time to either help her ex get distracted with something else, or to get tired of the chase and simply go away.”

  “Might work,” Rick mused. “That would keep her with the family during the day. I could watch over her at night. What about an apartment? This place is only a temporary home for her. Is there one available?”

  “Yep. It’s small, but if it’s just her then it should be large enough. Two bedrooms and a large den. With her in that apartment, it will make it easy for us all to take turns watching her.” Mike corrected Rick’s earlier statement. “She’s your woman, but you can’t protect her by yourself if you’re not actually living with her.” Mike raised an eyebrow. “You’re not living with her, are you?”

  Rick scowled at him. “Don’t remind me.”

  Steve, the second oldest and by far the meanest man in combat Rick knew, trotted up the walk. “Everything looks secure,” he informed. “I took the liberty of placing a few surveillance cameras. If anyone tries this shit again, we can see who and what we’re dealing with before we get here.”

  “I take it the feed goes to you?” Rick inquired.

  “Yeah. I’ll set your system up with it too,” Steve said. “You’ll have a full view of anything and everything around the outside of her house. I should be able to give you access even on your iPad and iPhone so you’ll be alerted even when you’re not in front of a computer. That should help short term.”

  “If I never told you you’re a technical genius, Steve, I’m telling you now”

  “Just doing my job. You got long-term plans?”

  “Yes. I’ll discuss it with her tomorrow. Or, better yet, I’ll let Mom discuss it with her.” He grinned. Laura was an independent woman. She might balk at the offer from him, but if his mother set to work on her, there’d be no refusing. “Keep your distance if you can,” Rick said. “I don’t want her to feel crowded.”

  “Stealth is my middle name,” Steve said, quirking an eyebrow.

  “So,” Mike said, rubbing his hands together, “Should I tell Mom she’s to be treated as part of the family?”

  “Let Mom figure it out for herself. At this point, even I don’t know.” That was a total lie, but how to explain her situation to his brothers? Besides, Rick knew he had to convince Laura first. And she wouldn’t be convinced until he proved himself.

  Chapter Seven

  “You don’t need help with this, do you?” Laura’s question to the exquisite wife of Chase Carver wasn’t really a question. The women had been crunch
ing numbers for a couple of hours, chatting lightly, and it was very apparent to Laura that Melanie Carver didn’t need any help with the family company’s taxes.

  Melanie smiled mischievously. “Well, it’s always good to have another hand around here. Especially with my pregnancy progressing. It’s beginning to get uncomfortable no matter what I do.” The other woman stood and stretched. “Besides, Chase has been on me to take a couple days off a week so I can rest more. Having you here to help will make that possible.”

  “Uh huh,” Laura’s gaze narrowed. “You’re hiding something.”

  Melanie chuckled. “Of course. The brothers got together and decided something and I just go along.”

  “You gonna spill?”

  “Of course! What fun would it be having a new girlfriend if I didn’t blow the guys’ cover?”

  Laura’s stomach churned. Had Rick told everyone how her husband had had an affair with her best friend? Would the shame never end? Funny, just the thought that Rick had divulged this part of her life with his family felt like a betrayal. And the thought that Rick had betrayed her hurt worse than when Carl had.

  “Apparently, he’s worried that your ex will come looking for you and not take ‘no’ for an answer. Rick said your ex paid a teenager to harass you and he was afraid he’d take it farther. He wants you protected, so you’re stuck with me until after tax season.”

  “That’s all he said?”

  Melanie gave her a quizzical look. “Should he have said something else?”

  Laura blinked several times. “No. I-I just thought...that is...”

  “If there’s something more personal than your ex harassing you, Rick didn’t say, if that’s what you’re worried about. And he wouldn’t.” She crossed the small room to stand beside Laura, placing a hand on her shoulder. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about this family is they take care of their own. No questions asked. They accepted me and my daughter as if it were nothing. And they’ve never treated Abigail as anything other than their own flesh and blood. If you’re expecting some kind of betrayal of trust, you won’t find it here.”

  “It’s just...hard. You know?”

  “Trusting again? Yes. I know. My ex tried to take Abigail away from me just because she was inconvenient for him. Then for Chase to sweep into our lives? A black woman and her adopted daughter? He told me his family would accept me with no questions asked and they did. Give Rick a chance. He’s just as good a man as Chase is.” She grinned. “Mama Vivian didn’t raise bad boys.” She paused a moment before adding with a mischievous grin. “Well, not too bad anyway. I think they’re all a little wicked.”

  “Men aren’t exactly my favorite subject after the past few months,” Laura replied. “But given everything Rick has done for me, I suppose I owe it to him to give this a try.”

  “Give what a try?” Melanie asked, all innocent looking. Laura promptly wadded up a piece of paper and threw it at the other woman. “What? I was just asking a question!”

  “Does everyone think Rick and I have something going on?”

  “Na, just the family. You can’t count the family.”

  “Look. There is nothing going on.”

  “You just said—”

  “Never mind what I just said.” Laura held up her hand as if to say “talk to the hand.” “I'm telling you now, there is nothing going on.”

  “Right.” Melanie chuckled. “You keep telling yourself that. But that man is head over heels in love with you. Anyone can see it.”

  “He is not!”

  “Oh, yeah. He totally is! Whether you want one or not, you’ve got a man hot on your heels. What’re you gonna do about it?”

  With a sigh, Laura said, “Good question. Good damned question.”

  Laura was brought out of her musings when the office phone rang. She answered it without thinking, then immediately glanced at the caller ID when Carl’s all-too-familiar voice sounded from the other end.

  “You can’t hide from me forever, Laura,” he said, sounding reasonable. Just the matter-of-fact way he spoke sent shivers down Laura’s spine. “I’m not sure why you haven't been in your office, but it stops now. You need to put aside this nonsense and get back to your life.”

  “What makes you think you have any say in this whatsoever? This is my life. You don’t get to dictate it.”

  “Look,” he continued, “we’ve both had our little flings. We’ll both appreciate each other more for having seen that the grass isn’t greener on the other side. It’s time to come back home and forget this nonsense.”

  “We’re divorced, Carl,” Laura said firmly. “My home isn’t with you anymore.”

  “You think it’s with that jarhead you’ve been seeing?” He was actually laughing at her, amusement coloring his every word. “He’s not as heroic as you might think. Hell, he’s even got his own girl on the side.”

  At his words, Laura’s stomach clenched. Nothing had ever felt more wrong to her. Instinctively, she rejected that statement. Rick wasn’t that kind of man. She knew it in her heart. Still...

  “Even if that’s true, Carl, it’s none of your business.”

  “I’m just telling you so you can get some perspective. We’ve been together for years. You hardly know this guy. Chalk all this up to both of us needing a break and just come home. You know I’ll always love you.”

  “No. In fact, I’m pretty sure you never loved me. Not like I deserved. Don’t call me again.” She hung up before he could say anything else, but the damage had been done. The seed of doubt planted. What did he mean that Rick had a woman on the side? Did she really want to know? They weren’t an official couple. Should she just shrug it off and wait? Yes, they’d shared an earth-shattering kiss, and the way he’d talked her to orgasm had been the most intimate act she’d ever shared with another person, but what did that really mean? He’d never made a commitment to her and she sure hadn’t made one to him.

  “Should I call Rick and the boys? Is everything all right?” Melanie looked worried, but equally confident the guys would come to their rescue if they needed it. Which only irritated Laura.

  “No. I can deal with this myself. It’s no one’s concern but mine.” The look on Melanie’s face made Laura realize she’d snapped harder than she meant to. It wasn’t Melanie’s fault men were asses. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bite your head off. I can handle this on my own.”

  “No sweat.” Melanie shrugged, but Laura knew she’d hurt her new friend’s feelings.

  And the seed of doubt took root and began to grow...

  Chapter Eight

  “Nothing says I love you quite like NASCAR tickets,” Steve said, rolling his eyes when Rick waved the tickets he’d just picked up around like a knight might a sword. Rick stopped in mid-motion, giving Steve that superior look only a male could give another male when he’d just scored the ultimate prize.

  “I’ll have you know this is nothing so trivial as NASCAR tickets.”

  “Really? Then to what do you attribute all the Zorro moves?”

  Rick grinned, standing straight with his shoulders back. “I have just scored final four tickets to Kentucky’s game in Arlington, Texas.”

  Steve’s jaw slackened. “You what? How the fuck—?”

  Rick held up a hand, forestalling Steve’s charge toward the tickets in his other hand. “Nothing doing, bro. These are for Laura and myself. Not you.”

  “But you’ve got like a dozen tickets in your hand! I’d say bros before hoes but you might be overly sensitive about that.”

  “And I’d tell Mom and she’d tan your hide.”

  “Yeah. That too. So? Whatcha got there?” Steve was nothing if not persistent.

  “I just told you.”

  “But you didn’t say who the other tickets were for!”

  Rick shrugged. “Thought I’d sell them. Do you have any idea how much this stash is worth?”

  “Now, wait just a goddamned minute!” Steve looked furious, and Rick couldn’t help
laughing.

  “Oh, quit your whining. You know you guys are going with us. It will be the perfect way for everyone to meet Laura.”

  “You know Mom is beside herself that you haven’t introduced her already.”

  “Yeah, I know. I just don’t want to move too fast. Laura’s spooked enough.”

  “Are you sure about that? If you straddle the fence long enough, it may look like you’re not interested at all.” Steve tried to look like he was the wise mentor imparting life-changing news, but Rick wasn’t buying it.

  “Speak in metaphors all you like. Your track record with women is no better than mine.”

  Steve scowled. “I don’t have a track record. I’m a SEAL. I’m married to the job.”

  “Does the job keep you warm at night?”

  “No, but they let me blow things up occasionally. And I have a big gun. That’s good enough for me.”

  Rick’s phone chirped at his hip. Still laughing at his brother, he answered it.

  “Speak,” he commanded.

  “Rick?” Melanie, his sister-in-law, intoned quietly.

  “Are you all right? Is it the baby? Where’s Chase?”

  “No, Rick. It’s not me. Laura just got a call from her ex. She’s on the phone with him now. And Rick, he called the unlisted office number.”

  It was obvious by the woman’s voice she was concerned. Laura’s conversation must not have been going well for Melanie to call him before Laura hung up.

  “Steve and I will be right there. Call Chase too. If something happens, he needs to be there.”

  “I don’t think anything will happen, but if the look on Laura’s face is any indication, he’s spooked her.”

  Swearing under his breath, Rick ended the call. “That prick is going to have to die before this is over,” he muttered.

  “That can be arranged,” Steve commented nonchalantly. The thing was, Rick wasn’t altogether certain his brother was joking.

  ***

  “I can handle this myself,” Laura insisted when Rick, Steve, Chase, and Mike all converged on the little office she and Melanie shared. Never had she been so embarrassed. This was worse than the night she and Rick had met.