Monroe, Marla - The Edge of Night [The Protectors 3](Siren Publishing Classic)

by Marla Monroe

  He stripped off his jeans, boxers, and socks. When he walked back into the bathroom, he saw her eyes widen in the mirror. She turned around, dropping the hair dryer to waist height. Morgan yelped and covered his cock and balls with his hands.

  “Damn it, Amanda. Watch where you point that thing!”

  “I could say the same thing to you. What are you doing in here naked?”

  “I’m going to take a shower. I’m hot and sweaty. No reason to wait since you’re just drying your hair now,” Morgan said.

  “But you’re naked,” she pointed out and shut off the dryer.

  “So? You’ve seen me before.”

  “Um, not really.”

  He spread his hands wide. “Then look your fill,” he said with a mischievous grin.

  When she did just that and turned beet red, he couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t the right thing to do. She stomped over and poked him in the chest.

  “Don’t laugh at me.”

  He grabbed her finger and brought it to his lips. He kissed it, then drew it into his mouth, where he swirled his tongue around it and sucked. He watched her eyes widen, then drop to half-mast. She responded so well to him. He nipped the end of her finger, then spread openmouthed kisses across her palm to her pulse at her wrist. He gently bit there, then licked it.

  “Um, you were going to take a shower?” she began.

  “So I was,” he said in a near whisper.

  Instead of letting go of her hand, he pulled her closer to him. He tugged on the towel until it released and he held it in his hand. She grabbed for it, but he threw it out of the bathroom and stepped in front of the door to block her path.

  “Why don’t you join me in the shower?” he asked in a low voice.

  He had no idea what he was doing. She was pregnant, for Christ’s sake. It should have been like a bucket of cold water thrown on him and cooled off his libido, but it didn’t seem to affect him. If anything, it made him want her more. What was wrong with him?

  “I…I don’t think that is a good idea. I need to dry my hair and see if I need to cut any more of it off.” She extracted her hand from his and took a step back, only to come up against the vanity.

  Morgan took a step forward and closed the gap. His cock rested against her belly. Her breasts stood out and touched his chest. Her elongated nipples hardened at the touch of his chest hair. He leaned in toward her and planted a hand on either side of her against the vanity. Her back bowed as she arched away from him, only to push her pelvis harder against his cock and balls. She stilled, eyes wide and mouth slightly parted. He could tell she didn’t know what to do.

  “I want you. I shouldn’t. You’re carrying another man’s baby, but I still want you.” He ran his tongue around her lips and nearly moaned when her tongue reached out and licked her lips afterward.

  “It’s not me you want. It’s sex. Men don’t care who the woman is. They just want somewhere to put their dick,” she said in a bitter voice.

  “Believe me. It’s you I want. I love the way you whimper when you’re frustrated. I need to hear those little moans you make when you’re getting turned on. I crave the taste of your sweet pussy when you climax. It’s you I want.” He nipped at her chin, then kissed the corner of her mouth.

  A soft “ah” came from her mouth. Then she pushed at his chest with her hands, turning her face away from his kisses.

  “Stop it. I can’t do this. Not now.”

  Morgan stilled and drew in a shaky breath before slowly taking a step back. He didn’t force sex on anyone. She wanted him, though. He could have pressed and had her begging him to fuck her, but he didn’t want her like that. Hell, why did he want her in the first place? He needed to get her to where she was going and put it all behind him. He needed a pregnant woman like he needed a hole in the head.

  He stepped into the shower and turned on the water, not making a sound when the cold came out first. It helped cool him off a little, but truthfully, nothing would cool him off of needing her but a good fuck, and she’d said no. Thoughts of another woman pregnant with their child flashed before his eyes. For the first time, he could remember her without feeling as if he would suffocate. Even though many of the memories and some of the pain had dulled, he’d always felt like he was smothering when he thought about Wanda and their unborn child, gone because of a faulty brake pedal.

  He often wondered, if he’d been there, if he could have safely stopped the car or if he’d be dead along with them. At first, that was exactly where he had wanted to be. Time dimmed the guilt at not being there to some extent. They called it survivor’s guilt, but what he’d been doing for the last year hadn’t been surviving. He’d merely been existing in a bottle until just recently.

  Now, here he was with another pregnant woman depending on him to help her, and all he could think about was fucking her right then. Maybe that wasn’t all he thought about. He wondered what she was going to do when she got to wherever she was going. They needed to talk about that, too. They needed a plan, and that meant she needed to be totally honest with him this time. For some reason, around her, his bullshit meter didn’t work.

  He heard the dryer turn on as he soaped up and began cleaning some of the road grime off of him. He took his time so she could finish drying her hair and leave. If he opened the curtains and found her still standing there, with or without a towel, he wasn’t sure he could stop himself from seducing her. When he heard the dryer go off, he waited another five minutes before sticking his head around the curtain and making sure the coast was clear.

  Finding the bathroom empty, he turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, grabbing a towel off the rack as he did. He made short work of drying off and wrapped the towel around his waist before opening the bathroom door to the much cooler air of the room—the empty room. Shit.

  Chapter Six

  Amanda looked at her hair one last time before sighing and walking out of the bathroom. She softly closed the door to keep the warm air inside now that she was finished. Her hair didn’t look too bad. With the weight off of it, it curled even more, and the brown wasn’t too much different from her hair’s natural auburn color. The only problem that she could see was her eye color. Very few people had bright blue eyes with brown hair. She would need a pair of sunglasses and to keep them on as much as possible.

  The clothes were so different from what she was used to wearing. They were much more revealing and made her even more aware of her body than before. Just being around Morgan kept her body tingling and aware of him all the time. Now she would be self-conscious about the amount of skin showing. At least she could wear the jacket when they were riding since the wind still had a bite to it even this far south.

  Where did she want to go? She needed to decide so Morgan could drop her off and get on with his life. She was causing him a lot of trouble, and she knew it. He had planned to go north, and she was fine with that when she wasn’t sure about where to start over, but now, she needed to make a decision.

  Once she had finished dressing, she decided to walk down to the little store she’d seen at the end of the block. It wouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes, and she could buy a pair of shades. She needed the exercise as well. Riding on the back of the bike was tough on her ass as well as her legs.

  She took the key card from off the bedside table and closed the door behind her. Then she quickly walked down the street and slipped into the store. With the jacket on, no one would remember her, she didn’t think—unless they got a glimpse of her eyes. She quickly located the sunglass case and found a pair of wraparound shades that would serve well to keep the sun from her eyes as well as keep them hidden. She found another pair just like them and, after looking around, pulled off the tag from the ones she planned to wear. Then she put the tagless pair back on and carried the pair with a tag to the cash register.

  “Um, I want to buy these sunglasses I have on, but they don’t have a tag. Can you use these since they are the same kind?” She kept her fi
ngers crossed the clerk would fall for it and check her out without taking the glasses off her face.

  “Sure. Kids pull the tags off all the time.” She scanned the pair with the tag and then shoved them into a bag next to the cash register with similar items. “That’s six fifty-three.”

  Amanda paid the lady and smiled her thanks. Then she walked outside in the now less-bright sunlight to head back to the motel—right smack into Morgan. He grabbed her upper arm and marched her back the way she’d come.

  “Do you have any idea of how dangerous it could be for you to be out by yourself?”

  Morgan’s stride was too long for her, and instead of jogging to stay up with him, she dug her heels in.

  “I can’t walk that fast. Slow the fuck down,” she yelled.

  “I walked out of the shower to find the room empty. I had no idea if you left for a walk or to chance a lift from some stranger.” He slowed his pace.

  “I needed sunglasses to hide my blue eyes. They don’t exactly go with brown hair,” she explained.

  “Well, you should have let me get them for you. Instead, someone may remember you,” he argued.

  “I was careful that no one saw my eyes. Not even the cashier. I’m not totally dumb, you know.”

  He let out a breath and stopped outside the door. He held out his hand, and she realized he needed the key card to get back in. She smirked and pulled out the card from her back pocket and slapped it in his hand. He just shook his head and unlocked the door.

  “We need to talk,” he said as he grabbed up clothes and began folding them.

  “I agree,” she said. She shoved her pack closer to the end of the bed and sat down.

  “I need to know where you want to end up and what you plan to do once you get there.”

  “I think somewhere like Phoenix or Albuquerque would be good places. They are out-of-the-way places and large enough cities I can get lost in them.” She leaned back on her hands.

  “Okay, Phoenix would be your best bet. What are you going to do when you get there?” he asked, crossing his arms across his chest.

  “Find a job and a place to stay.” She wasn’t following his train of thought.

  “To find a job and a place to live, you will have to use your name and have money. Both of which will advertise where you are to Guy. Got another idea?”

  Tears began to form behind her eyes. She refused to let them fall. She swallowed hard and drew in a deep breath. She would not cry, damn it.

  “I’ll work for a while in one place, then move around until it’s time for the baby. Once I have the baby, I can disappear again and start over,” she finally said.

  “Not going to work. You aren’t going to be able to work long enough to save up any kind of money to live on once the baby is born. Then who will take care of it while you’re at work? Will you be able to trust them not to let Guy get a hold of him?” he asked.

  This time, Amanda couldn’t stop the tears from falling. She wrapped her hands around her belly as if to protect her unborn child. She had to figure something out. Right then, though, there didn’t seem like much hope.

  “I don’t know what to do. Oh God, what am I going to do?” She rocked back and forth on the bed, crying.

  At some point, Morgan picked her up, settled her in his lap, and held her. She buried her face in the side of his neck and let the hot tears spill as she frantically tried to hold on to her sanity. She couldn’t lose her baby. It was a part of her now. She could take care of it. She knew she could. She just needed to figure out a way around Guy.

  “Shhh. Don’t cry, Amanda. We’ll figure this out.” He rocked her in his arms until she finally settled down.

  “What am I going to do? I can’t use the money I have saved. I don’t have anywhere to live, and I need a job, but I can’t use my name.”

  “One thing at a time. First, let’s get you somewhere you’ll be safe until the baby is born. Then we’ll decide what to do next. I don’t trust that this Guy will leave you alone as long as you and your baby are alive. You could crawl out of the woodwork at any time and demand a paternity test to prove he’s the father. That would ruin him, and he knows it. You’re both a liability to him.”

  Amanda began to shake all over.

  “Easy, Amanda. You’ve got to trust me. I’ll keep you and the baby safe. Do you trust me?” he asked.

  She swallowed and slowly nodded her head. What choice did she have? He was the only one around and seemed to know more about hiding than she did. That really should have bothered her, but it didn’t. She trusted him to keep her safe. And she did feel safe with him.

  “Good. Let’s make our plans one step at a time.” He turned her in his lap until she was straddling his lap with her legs.

  “First of all, you can’t go wandering off without me for any reason, understand?”

  She nodded.

  “Second, when I tell you to do something, don’t stop and ask questions. Just do it immediately. I’ll have my reasons. I won’t tell you to do anything that isn’t absolutely necessary. Okay?” he asked.

  “Okay.”

  “Thirdly, we need to ditch your phone. Is there someone you have been keeping in contact with that will worry about you if you don’t call in?” He watched her face closely.

  “No. I mostly used it for safety reasons.”

  “Good. We’re going to drive in the opposite direction we are going and turn it on and hide it somewhere, then head back the other way. That will throw them off for a little while and buy us some time.”

  Amanda found she was drifting now. So many things to remember, and still she didn’t see how she was going to get out of the mess she was in.

  “You with me, baby?” he asked.

  “Where are you planning to go?”

  “We’ll go see my friend in Stillwater, Oklahoma, and lay low there. No one will say a word about your being there if a stranger should ask. It will give us more time to make plans.”

  “Why?” she finally asked.

  “Why what?” he asked, a perplexed look on his face.

  “Why are you going to so much trouble to help me? You could just drop me off at the next truck stop, and I’ll be out of your hair.”

  “Is that what you want me to do?” He seemed to be holding his breath.

  “No,” she finally whispered.

  He breathed out and pulled her head toward his. They touched foreheads for a second. Then he kissed her forehead, followed by the tip of her nose.

  “I care about you. I don’t want anything to happen to you, and since I’m a perfectionist, that means I’m taking care of you until we get this situation under control. So, whether you like it or not, you’re stuck with me.” He grinned at her

  It must have been catching, because she grinned back despite the tears in her eyes.

  “Deal?” he asked, holding out his hand.

  “Deal.” She took his hand and shook it.

  “Now, we need to eat. You haven’t had anything since the peanut butter and crackers back at lunchtime. I’m supposed to be feeding you better than that.” He swung her off his lap to the floor. He kept one hand on her waist to assure she had her footing before he let go.

  “There’s a steak house about a block over. Do you feel like walking?” he asked as he stood up.

  “Yeah, I need all the exercise I can get,” she assured him.

  He checked the door and then led her down the street to the corner, where they turned and walked another half block to a rustic-looking building with a sign advertising the best fish and steak in the state. That had yet to be determined, she figured. The closer they walked, the less appetizing it smelt to her. Great, her stomach was going to rebel. Well, she refused to let it. She breathed through her mouth until they got inside and found the smell was less noticeable in the restaurant.

  “What looks good to you?” Morgan asked as he looked over the two-page menu.

  “I think the chicken fingers,” she said.

  “That’s
a child’s plate,” he fussed.

  “I’m not really hungry. I can’t stomach a steak or fish, so chicken is the best that I can come up with.” She closed her menu and waited for him to argue.

  “Okay, but you’re getting the adult size, and we’ll take the rest back to the room, and you can nibble on them when you get hungry again,” he told her.

  “What makes you think I’m going to want something later?” He really knew too much about pregnancy.

  “Because most pregnant women can only eat small amounts at a time and then are hungry again in thirty minutes, meaning the husband has to go out in the middle of the night to pick up something like a Big Mac or Baskin-Robbins ice cream.”

  “Are you married, Morgan?” she asked, suddenly scared she’d slept with a married man.

  His mouth worked, and he turned and looked away for a second. “No. I’m not. I’m a widower.”

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. I…” She didn’t know what to say, so she just shut up and picked up her water to take a sip she didn’t want.

  * * * *

  Morgan cursed himself for handling that wrong. He should have just come out and explained to her what happened so she would understand, but he couldn’t for the life of him talk about her right then. Maybe later he would be able to. Yes, it had been over a year, and yes, he had lost some of the bitterness over it, but he wasn’t ready to share it with anyone else right then.

  Thankfully the waitress chose that moment to show up and take their orders. He ordered a porterhouse steak medium in deference to her, in case the blood made her sick, and a baked potato. She ordered the chicken tenders, adult size, and French fries. Once the waitress was gone, the silence stretched between them. He felt like he should fill it with something, but couldn’t think of anything to talk about. As it was, she had something on her mind.