by Susan Hayes
“That would be him.” She wondered how he’d known, Robert had been big money locally, but he was hardly a household name.
Sinjin blew out a low whistle. “You were with Robert Tanner. Damn, it’s hard to see the attraction.” He grinned and threw up a placating hand. “I mean, I see why he wanted you, but what in the hell did you see in him? He was a nasty piece of work.”
“You knew him?” Michelle felt her jaw drop. “How?”
“I work for Paladin Protection. I’m a security advisor, which is a fancy way of saying I’m a very well-paid bodyguard. One of our clients was your ex.” Sinjin shrugged. “I didn’t like him much, and the feeling was mutual. We ended our contract with him over a year ago, which is why you and I never met.” His fingers tightened around hers. “If we had, I’d of felt the need to talk you into getting away from him. I knew what he liked to do to women, the coward.”
“Small world.” Michelle’s heart was racing now. What were the odds of her running into someone who knew Robert? Who knew what he was really like?
“Sometimes it seems very damned small indeed.” He squeezed her hand again. “So you inherited everything? Why do you think he did that? His mother must have had a complete breakdown when she got that bit of news. She’s old money, isn’t she?”
“When she told me, I was in shock and all I could think was that this was his way of trying to make me feel guilty. That he was still trying to control me somehow. Now though, I think he had another reason. I think he’s still here in some form. He’s still trying to be with me.”
“He’s dead, Michelle. How is that even possible?”
“You heard him outside. He said ‘mine.’ Well, that’s not the only time I’ve heard him. Last night I woke up to someone calling my name, and then when I went outside to clear my head I heard him whispering to me, and something touched me. I thought it was the wind at first, but it was more like a caress. I got scared and headed back inside. I told myself it was just stress. I came up here to get away for a few days.” She drew her legs up to her chest. Just talking about what had happened in the bathtub made her feel exposed again. “Tonight when I was taking a bath, I dozed off, and woke up because I felt something was in the water with me. It was stroking my leg and uh, higher.”
She blushed and curled her legs up even tighter. Suddenly afraid he’d think she really was crazy. “When I tried to get out of the bathtub, I couldn’t. It was like the water had turned solid. I couldn’t get out. That’s when you heard me screaming. I heard Robert’s voice calling my name. He was calling me Chelle, his personal nickname for me, one I hated. He was telling me he was going to be with me forever. I dragged myself over the lip of the tub and started running and didn’t stop until I ran smack dab into you.”
“You don’t think it was just a dream?” Sinjin asked softly, but she couldn’t hear any doubt in his words, just sincere curiosity.
“You heard it, too, so no, I don’t think it was a dream. It was horribly, terribly real.”
“Let me see your stomach, baby.” He set his beer aside and moved closer. His hand was resting on the quilt, waiting for permission to move it away. When she nodded, he pulled the blanket back to reveal her stomach, and he made a small noise of sympathy when he saw the red line of newly formed bruises that spanned her midriff.
“I didn’t realize I’d done that.” She was amazed to see how much damage she’d done to herself getting out of the bathtub.
“Adrenaline will do that to you.” He reached out and stroked her skin tenderly. “Tomorrow, you’re going to really feel that. But it proves your story. You don’t get bruising like that without a hell of a lot of force, and just getting out of a tub normally wouldn’t do it. You had to be fighting against something.”
She felt relief as he told her he believed her, and the moment she relaxed, an ear-splitting yawn came over her and she had to cover her mouth to hide it.
“You’re exhausted.” He sat up, kissed her gently, and then stood, tugging back the covers before coming around to her side of the bed again. “You need to rest.” He picked her up, quilt and all, and carried her around to where he’d been lying. Very gently he settled her into the bed, and unwrapped the quilt from around her so she could curl up beneath the covers. Once she was comfortable he spread it out over top of her and tucked her in with a smile. He then slid his track pants off unself-consciously and grinned at her as he claimed the side of the bed she’d been lying on. “And here I thought I was going to have to wait until tomorrow to get you back in bed.”
With that, he turned out the light and moved in beside her, curling his larger body around hers protectively. “Go to sleep, Michelle. I’ll take care of you, I promise.”
She snuggled in close, grateful for his warm, solid presence next to her. “Thank you, Sinjin. If you hadn’t believed me, I don’t know what I would have done.”
“I’m glad I was here for you.” She felt his lips brush over her hair as she drifted off to sleep at last.
* * * *
She woke up, stretched, and yelped as her bruised stomach protested the movement. “Ow,” she muttered, her hand coming round to instinctively cover where she was sore.
“Good morning, my bruised beauty.” Sinjin’s voice was by her ear, a mix of sympathy and amusement in his tone. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore, but I’ll live.” Michelle reached behind her, stroking up his hard, muscled thigh as she carefully wiggled backward until she felt his body pressing into hers. “Did you sleep well?”
“Very well.” His voice held a note of surprise. “The best I’ve slept in weeks.” She felt him stroke back her hair from her neck, nuzzling his lips to her newly bared skin. “I want you, but I don’t want to hurt you,” he whispered.
“We’ll just have to go slow,” she whispered back, desire already sizzling through her at the mere thought of having him inside her again.
“I can do slow.” His words thrummed with promise and conjured up images that made Michelle’s thighs clench together, her pussy suddenly wet with need. He shifted behind her, and then she could feel his cock, already hard, resting against the back of her thighs. “Lie still.” He nibbled lightly on her neck, and she had to bite back a moan as his tongue danced over her skin and around the curve of her ear. Forgetting his instructions, she arched her hips back against his cock and winced as the ache across her stomach flared again.
“You aren’t very good at taking orders, are you, baby?” He chuckled near her ear and smoothed his hand to her hip, holding her still as he rubbed his body along hers. “Trust me. I won’t do anything to hurt you. All I want to do is make you feel good.”
She nodded and his hand moved off of her hip to stroke gently down to her knee. Then he lifted her leg so that it rose up over his, opening her thighs. He positioned her so that her calf dangled behind his leg and then blew a soft puff of air across her ear. “Yes?”
“Yes,” she sighed in answer, reaching back to brush her fingertips over the tip of his cock. She felt him twitch as she touched him, and the faint hiss of air that escaped his lips told her he was as on edge and aching as she was.
“Two can play at that game,” was all the warning he gave her as his fingers dipped between her legs and into her folds, sliding over her clit to plunge straight into her already slick pussy.
“Oh god!” she moaned as his fingers filled her, scissoring to stretch her wider. The moment she moved her hips, he stopped, his teeth nipping her earlobe just enough to sting. “Stay still. No moving.”
“Easy for you to say,” she muttered in frustration. Her clit ached to be touched. Her skin was on fire, and she wanted him, now.
“Tell me what you need, Michelle. Tell me and I’ll give it to you.”
He moved his hand, his fingers withdrawing and then entering her again, and then again. “Tell me, Michelle,” he coaxed her, insistent.
“I—I need you to touch me, please, Sinjin.” Her heart slammed harder in her chest as she made he
r whispered confession. She’d never asked for anything before, never had a lover who wanted to know what she needed.
“Touch you where? Tell me where, baby.”
“My clit, please touch my clit.” She could feel her cheeks flare hot, and she closed her eyes as she waited for him to laugh at her or tell her no, but instead he did just as she asked. He stroked over her clit with his thumb, pressing down hard enough she saw stars behind her eyelids. His fingers delved deep, moving in time to the slow, stroking pressure of his thumb on her clitoris. She had to fight to stay still, and she trembled with the effort. She ached to grind herself against his hand and make herself come.
“Patience, baby, stay with me. I promise it’s worth the wait.” He slid his other hand beneath her and reached around to tweak her nipple, rough fingers sending a jolt of raw pleasure straight through her body and making her inner muscles grip him hard. “I love the way you react when I touch you,” he whispered in her ear. “It’s sexy that you’re so responsive.” He pinched her breast again, pressing down hard with his thumb on her clit at the same time. Pleasure blurred into exquisite pain, and she moaned as an orgasm started to build and build. She couldn’t think past the incredible sensations coursing through her. Every touch of his fingers made her quiver, and soon even breathing seemed a nearly impossible task. He curved his fingers up high inside her and tapped the inner walls of her channel. Her orgasm came on with the fury of storm, sending her senses reeling as she came hard, screaming his name.
“Now that was truly beautiful.” His voice brought her back from the hazy fugue she’d been drifting in as the waves of pleasure slowly receded. “Ready for me? I don’t think I can wait any longer.”
“Mhmm,” she tried to answer, but all that came out of her mouth was a sultry moan of confirmation.
“Thank god, I am dying here.” He shifted his body lower, arching his hips so that his cock slid up and inside her in one smooth stroke. “Hell yes, that’s better,” he groaned, and she shuddered around him as his thick pole stretched her to her limits.
“So good,” she murmured, clamping her walls around him in welcome.
“Baby, if you keep doing that this is going to be a very short run.” His voice sounded nearly feral as it rumbled in her ear.
“This?” She couldn’t resist teasing him as she did it again. She clamped down and released him in a series of short, sharp squeezes that left him panting.
“Mother of—yes, that.” He laughed and withdrew until he was barely inside her. Then his hand settled on her hip, and he gripped her firmly before driving himself home, filling her again and sending her lust into overdrive. “Don’t tease a man like that unless you’re ready to face the consequences.”
“What if I like the consequences?” she gasped and tightened her body around him a third time. “Then you might just be the perfect woman for me.” He nipped her shoulder, his hand keeping her still as he took his pleasure from her one thrust at a time. With her leg draped over his and his hand pinning her in place, Michelle found herself at his mercy. She’d never been taken like this before, unable to affect any part of their lovemaking.
His fingers toyed and teased at her breasts as he fucked her, and the sensations were amplified by the lack of distractions. There was nothing to do but enjoy it, and as his breathing grew rougher and his thrusts harder, she found herself losing the last of her inhibitions.
“Touch yourself.” His voice held a note of command and she reached between her legs obediently, finding her clit and pinching it. She could feel his cock against her fingertips, the slick flesh pounding into her as she rolled the sensitive nub of her clitoris hard between her fingers.
Her walls clamped around him as she brought herself to the brink of release and he panted words of encouragement. “Just like that, yes. That’s my girl. Come for me, baby.”
The pace accelerated, his breath coming short and sharp behind her as he drove them both higher and higher up the scales of pleasure and then finally pushing them both over the edge.
Her release was gentler this time, blooming deep in her pussy and spreading outward like a stone tossed into a still pond. The ripples tingled all the way to the tips of her fingers as she felt him finish just a few strokes later, impossibly hard and deep as he groaned her name and came at last.
“I like the way you start your mornings,” she finally found energy enough to say, turning her head so she could catch sight of his handsome face from the corner of her eye.
“I haven’t started my morning that way in a very long time.” He leaned over her to kiss her softly. “It’s better than coffee and a hot shower any day.” He gently lifted her leg off of his and settled her back onto the bed as he eased out of her and then curled himself around her again.
“I know you promised me breakfast, but I think I’ll cook today. You aren’t going to want to be on your feet too much. How does bacon and scrambled eggs sound? I’ll carry you to the bathroom and you can get cleaned up while I cook.”
“Bacon sounds amazing, and I’ll owe you a breakfast.” She felt a sweet, glowing warmth in her stomach at the idea of the big man behind her actually cooking for her. “And much as I am enjoying this, I think at some point I should probably find something to wear.”
“I suppose you should,” he grumbled, and she could almost swear he was pouting at the idea of her getting dressed. “I’ll lend you a T-shirt and some socks for now, and I’ll get you back to your cabin after breakfast.”
His mouth grazed over her shoulder, drawing a trail of openmouthed kisses down her arm. “I really, really don’t want to get up, but we still need to eat.” He sighed against her skin before adding, “And then we have to figure out what we’re going to do about your very persistent ex.”
“Not until after I’ve eaten.” She felt a pall come over the day as she let herself remember last night and just how she had gotten herself battered and bruised.
“Deal.” He sat up and came around to her side of the bed. Giving her a very enjoyable eyeful of sculpted abs and virile male anatomy lightly scattered with scars, some clearly new. As he scooped her into his arms, she let her hand brush over the scar she’d seen the other day. “You’ve heard all about why I’m hiding up here, but I still don’t know why you are. Do these scars have something to do with it?”
She felt him tense up, and for a moment, she wondered if she’d pushed too hard, but then he planted a kiss on the tip of her nose and carried her out into the hall.
“The scars are part of the reason, yes. Why don’t we add that to the things we need to talk about after breakfast, my curious little cat.”
“Deal.” She mimicked his agreement of a moment before and then braced herself as he carefully lowered her to the floor, letting her stand on her own for the first time. The cuts stung as the skin stretched, and she could feel every bruise clearly, but it wasn’t so bad she couldn’t stand up. “I’m okay,” she told him after a quick assessment. “I won’t be going running for few days, but it’s not too bad.”
“I’ll bring you some towels and something to wear in a few minutes.” He leaned in and kissed her. “If you need help, ask.”
He closed the bathroom door behind him, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She limped over to the shower and turned it on, grateful that she wouldn’t need to climb into a bathtub. She was pretty sure she wouldn’t be ready to do that again for a very long time. As she ran her hands through the tangled mess of her hair, she groaned in horror. If her oh so very manly lover didn’t have a decent conditioner among his toiletries, she was in for a very unpleasant detangling session later.
“Well, what do you know?” she exclaimed a minute later as a quick inventory of his toiletries revealed a bottle of salon brand shampoo and a matching one of conditioner. “Somebody has very expensive taste!” she chortled to herself and turned on the water. The moment she stepped in her feet started stinging again, but it faded quickly. She was nearly finished when she heard the bathroom door open.
>
“Fresh towels and something to wear.” Sinjin’s voice called to her as the tantalizing scent of frying bacon wafted into the steam-filled room. “You okay in there? I could come wash your back?”
“Thank you, I’m fine. And if you wash my back, then that heavenly smelling bacon is going to burn, and that would be a crime.”
“Good point. Don’t be too long. Breakfast will be on the table in twenty minutes.”
“I’ll be there,” she called as the door clicked shut again. She’d never had a lover like him before. Generous, gentle, and actually able to cook! He was something quite different than what she was used to. Not that you know him that well at all, her inner voice chimed in with a cautious reminder. He was clearly a soldier, or had been, but he could also be so kind. His hands were callused, and his manner rough around the edges at times. Yet he had high-end hair products and two-hundred dollar cologne in his medicine cabinet. The man was full of contradictions.
She hadn’t dated much when she was younger. She’d been too tall, too gangly for the boys of high school, and she’d gone to work straight afterward. First working as a receptionist and later as a personal assistant to one of the high-powered executives employed at Tanner Entertainment. That was how Robert had found her in the first place. Before him, there hadn’t been much time for more than casual dating, and after that, he’d swept her off her feet and into his world at a dizzying speed.
Robert had started off charming and confident, but his confidence seemed hollow now she’d met Sinjin. Sinjin wasn’t just sure of himself. He was truly capable, giving off the impression that there was nothing in the world he couldn’t handle. Robert suffered from the comparison, what she’d taken for ability now seemed like empty arrogance, and his charm was just gilding that hid a very ugly core. Sinjin was rougher, more real, but he’d treated her injuries and taken care of her in ways no other man had since she was a little girl and her father could set the world right with just his smile.
