The Ex Assignment (Rogue Protectors Book 1)

by Victoria Paige

  “Let’s go see Emma,” Declan told her.

  “I’m staying with her,” Theo said firmly.

  Gabby raised a brow. “Did we indicate otherwise?”

  “I know my kidnapping spooked you guys and you’re probably paranoid and can’t stand to be away from me—”

  Declan put a hand on his shoulder. “You did us proud back there, kid. You had your wits about you and didn’t crack. You saved your mom.”

  Theo smiled wide. “I did, didn’t I?”

  “Don’t let his head get too big,” Emma groaned from the bed.

  Gabby’s eyes turned to the groggy teen. She was doped up with painkillers, and Gabby knew they shouldn’t stay too long. “Yes. One save and he thinks he’s Captain America.”

  Theo mock-scowled at his girlfriend. “Hey, I saved you, too.”

  “Glad you didn’t leave me,” she whispered.

  “Never, princess.”

  “Oh my god, I’m going to swoon.” Gabby clutched a hand to her chest as her heart expanded at the wonderful man Theo was turning out to be.

  Hands curved around her hips, pulling her back into a hard, supportive warmth. “I’m supposed to be the one making you swoon,” Declan murmured by her ear.

  She turned her head, their faces almost touching. “You do.”

  Green eyes locked with gold-flecked brown ones.

  “Uh, I think you guys need a room,” Theo laughed.

  “We better be heading home,” Declan said. “Levi’s staying.”

  “Suite’s big enough.”

  They both turned to leave, an urgency hastening their steps as they realized at the same time that they would have the house to themselves. Migs would be taking Ariana somewhere else.

  Not caring that they were behaving like teenagers themselves, Declan opened the door.

  “Dad,” Theo called, and she felt Declan freeze. He turned carefully, and Gabby wasn’t sure if he was breathing.

  Theo walked up to them. “My courage earlier? I got it from both of you.” Theo’s gaze landed on Gabby. “It will take me a while to think about you as my mom, to call you Mom—”

  “Theo …”

  He smiled. “Just know having you both as my parents? Best news in the world.”

  Gabby was saved from bursting into tears when he hugged them both, saying he loved them. That was everything her heart could hope for.

  31

  “You think they saw us?”

  Declan felt a goofy grin threaten to form as the carefree Gabby beside him reminded him of the girl he first fell in love with all those years ago. Yet even as he missed that girl, the woman she was now was the one who’d captured his soul.

  “I don’t know,” he replied. “I didn’t see them before you yanked me into the stairwell.”

  They being Chen and Delgado. When Gabby suddenly stopped walking and dragged him into the stairwell, Declan thought she couldn’t wait to get it on and jump his bones. Ever since they left Emma’s room, the sexual need simmering between them since the explosion had been threatening to boil over.

  He barely registered that she muttered the two detectives’ names, his imagination already thinking of the ways he’d take her against the wall, but he wanted nothing more than to put his mouth on her. It had been days since he’d tasted her. That was a tragedy that needed to be rectified immediately.

  “I’m glad Levi parked in the garage,” she mumbled.

  According to his partner, the press had caught wind of the incident on Route 15 involving the teenage stars. Any one of the first responders could have blabbed to a reporter, and the news spread like wildfire. Gabby was getting calls from Nick, but she ignored them. They were surprised he had not appeared at the hospital yet. But after seeing Theo handle himself against Ortega's man, Declan’s confidence in his son was at an all-time high. He could handle his manager.

  They arrived at the Escalade and exchanged a look as they were reminded of the one that blew up. It reminded Declan that life was too fragile, and it could be taken away in a blink of an eye by people like Ortega.

  “Let’s go,” he told Gabby gruffly.

  They barely made it out of the vehicle. Declan parked the SUV in the garage and, the moment he switched off the engine, Gabby climbed over the console and sat on his semi-erect cock.

  “Jesus,” he muttered before her lips crashed on his and his semi became a full-blown erection. The fabric of their clothes became a scratchy nuisance, and the confines of the vehicle severely restricted his ability to tear off her clothes.

  He yanked his mouth away and framed her cheeks with his hands. “Gabby…” he muttered.

  She grinned sexily and nipped his jaw. “What? I want you. I’m so wet for you.”

  “Dammit.” He looped her hair around his fingers and tugged down, exposing her throat and bit her skin lightly. “It’s cramped in here,” he groaned. “I want to fuck you properly.”

  Gabby stopped squirming. Thank God, because he was in danger of spilling into his boxer briefs. And they were both wearing the filth and dirt of the desert.

  Her eyes sparkled. “That’s like an oxymoron. Fuck and proper don’t go together.”

  “I want to fuck you blind. Is that better?”

  Leaning over, she opened the door. “Fine.”

  She twisted to get out, and, seeing her wince, the unspeakable fear that gripped him when he saw her take the bullet returned. The nightmares would come—of that he was certain. But they had this moment. She was safe, and soon, she would be in his arms and he would kiss away every hurt if he could. He followed her swaying ass to the bedroom as she kicked off her boots and stripped off her black cargos and black long-sleeved tee. Declan wasn’t a strip tease like Gabby and pulled his shirt over his head only when he got to the bedroom.

  She turned to face him. A body sculpted with muscles and softness in the right places. All that was left were her panties and cropped tank that flattened her breasts. She removed the tank a bit gingerly, hissing as the fabric passed over her skin. And that was when he saw it.

  The dime-sized dent just below her breasts, the forty-five caliber burn and the large bruise surrounding it where the SAPI plate distributed the energy of the round.

  “Jesus,” Declan said, taking several steps toward her and gently touching the area. “It wasn’t this bad when Bristow took a look at it.”

  “It could’ve been worse. Tell Garrison I’m keeping that body armor,” Gabby joked.

  He couldn’t answer, eyes transfixed on the bruise. Seeing her injury, the storm of emotions he’d pushed back came roaring back, his gaze lifted to hers and she sucked in a breath.

  “Dec, I’m fine.”

  He exhaled through his nose. “I have to be gentle with you.”

  She backed away from him. “Don’t you dare,” she said sharply. “If you act like this every time I get hurt, I’m going to kick your ass.”

  “Gabby …”

  “I’m taking a shower. Join me. And if you don’t deliver on fucking me blind, you’re not sleeping in my bed.”

  With that ultimatum, she pivoted on her bare foot and marched to the bathroom.

  Declan stood there, trying hard to quell the raging conflict inside him. He reeked of desperation and fear. He needed to channel the emotions so they could get what they needed from each other.

  The shower started running and imagining Gabby naked and wet, well …

  She needed a man that wouldn’t put her in a cage, and who’d let her be who she was.

  He could give her that.

  Fuck her blind. His cock hardened like a steel rod at the thought.

  He could definitely give her that.

  Declan stripped down the rest of his clothes and stalked into the bathroom.

  “Shit!” She muttered, jumping back from the hot shower spray. “That burns.”

  Declan opened the glass door and stepped in. She had the water on boil. He adjusted the temperature.

  “Hey, don’t touch that.”


  He moved her away from the dials.

  “Hey—”

  “Quiet,” he ordered.

  She grinned. “Aye, aye, sir.”

  He squinted his eyes. That was the second time today she’d said that. Her playfulness was infectious. Even if that purpling bruise remained a stark reminder of her fragility, it was also a testament to her resilience. He turned her around to shampoo her hair and soap her body. When he turned her back, her hand claimed the soap from him and her fingers worked over his muscles in seductive swirls. Trailing down his abdomen, they tangled in the mat of hair right above his pelvis before tracking lower.

  One soapy palm gripped his shaft.

  Stroking.

  Up.

  Down.

  “Don’t.” He manacled her wrist and pulled it away. “I’m too close. Just …” He embraced her, letting the water sluice down their bodies and flush the dirt and horrors of that day down the drain, letting steam wrap them in a warm cocoon that chased away the cold, stark fear that rooted deeply into their bones.

  And as the chill receded, renewed primal heat exploded.

  He needed her.

  The increasing urgency of the way Gabby was touching his body told him she desperately needed him too.

  He backed her against the tiles. “Hold on to the bar.”

  “What?” she asked in a daze.

  He lowered his head so they were eye to eye. “Hold on to the fucking bar. I’m gonna eat you, and I’m not risking another trip to the ER or we can—”

  Her left hand gripped the bar on the wall.

  Declan dropped to his knees, grabbed her left leg, and draped it over his shoulder.

  He glanced up. Her lips were parted in anticipation.

  And he put his mouth on her, pressing his tongue as she gave him her weight. He kept her pinned to the wall as he tasted the slickness between her legs.

  He was hunger; she was sustenance. He was a junkie; she was his drug. His tongue dipped into the silky folds and tasted heaven. He sucked on her clit, swollen with the rush of blood as he felt his own make him harder. And when she cried out, her fingers tangled in his hair, arching her body off the wall to feed her core further into his mouth, he felt euphoric.

  He lowered her leg and jackknifed to his feet. Turning the dials behind them to shut off the shower, Declan opened the glass door and let the steam escape into the rest of the bathroom. He wrapped Gabby in a towel, picked her up, and carried her dripping out to the bedroom.

  In the back of his mind, he knew he shouldn’t be getting the sheets wet, but in that moment, all he could think of was the woman in his arms, laid out, spread out, knees pushed up, opened to him, her pretty pussy served up for him to pleasure and fuck.

  In a mixture of restraint and ferocity, he lowered her gently to the bed and ripped the towel from her, laying her bare, her skin glistening from the moisture of the shower.

  He prowled to the top of the bed, reached forward, gripping an ankle and yanked her closer. Her arms were spread open—a willing sacrifice— and it turned him the fuck on.

  Putting a knee to the bed, he pushed the ankle in, cocking one of her legs, and then taking hold of the other, he raised that too. All through this their gazes were locked and her tongue came out to swipe at her lip.

  “God, you’re so beautiful,” he whispered before settling between her thighs. He blew teasingly on her puffed up lips before giving her a lick. Her legs squirmed, but he kept them open. “So beautiful. So fucking mine,” he snarled and dove back in to feast relentlessly. Lick, suck, nip, and more suck. He brought her to the brink then backed off.

  “Dec. Don’t tease!”

  He gripped her ankles, pushing them wider. “Keep them open, Angel.”

  “Just … just…” Her fingers threaded into his scalp and kept him there.

  He obliged and renewed his assault. Lick, suck, and suck some more until she screamed and sobbed for him to stop.

  But driving her wild only drove him more feral.

  “Oh, god, I want you inside me. Inside me now.”

  He went back onto his knees, crawled over her body, and kissed the area around her bruise before paying homage to her tits. One arm was braced on the side, the other holding his cock to her entrance to lubricate the tip with her natural wetness.

  “Now!” She begged.

  He reared back and slammed into her, hooking one of her legs, dropping to an elbow and canting his hips as he rammed into her again and again, giving new meaning to pounding her into the mattress. She clung to him, gasping encouragement.

  “Harder…. harder…”

  And he gave it to her. She was as ferocious as he was. Blunt nails scored his back and shoulders. They were all over each other. He rolled and had her straddle him and she rode him, scratched his chest, then she got frustrated because she couldn’t get there, so Declan took over.

  He had her on all fours and scooted her close to the headboard.

  “Hang on to the rails,” he ordered before rooting into her deeply. She cried out, but she pushed back, grinding her ass against him, her tight walls milking him with a pleasure that almost blinded him. A sensation tingled at the base of his spine, his balls became heavy. He was close. “With me,” he growled. “Come with me, Angel. Come all over my cock.”

  She screamed as her body sagged, the tight squeeze of her pussy set off his climax. He shuddered, reeling at the explosive finish that almost stroked him out. Gabby twisted on her side at an odd angle and he collapsed beside her, the back of one hand over his eyes as he tried to catch his breath. His pulse pounded in his ears as the most incredible sex of his existence scrambled his brain.

  Gabby sighed and rolled into him. “With the stamina of your cock, not to mention the several positions we went through, I think we have a future in porn.”

  He puffed a laugh. This woman beside him was cute as hell and a balm to his tortured soul.

  “Dec?” her tentative tone made him lower his arm. He glanced over, frowning at her pensive face.

  “With your expression, I’d conclude I didn’t deliver on the sex.”

  When she didn’t answer and her face still looked troubled, he propped up on an elbow and searched her face. “What is it, Angel?”

  “Is it always going to be this way?” she whispered. “Using sex to work through our fears?”

  “It’s a natural instinct, babe. The adrenaline has to go somewhere. Don’t you feel better?”

  “It’s weird that I do.”

  “Sex is a stress reliever.”

  “You must have been really stressed.” Her mouth curved into a smile. “You were insatiable.”

  “Says the woman who told me to fuck her blind. I’m glad we’re alone in this house. You’re quite a screamer.”

  She smiled at his words, before a sobering thought stole it away. “I was really frightened today. First Theo and then you. I worry about the guys at work, but having it happen to both of you, messed me up on a different level.”

  He leaned in and pressed a kiss to her forehead which was still glistening with the sweat of their enthusiastic fucking. “Ditto. I never want to see a bruise on you again.”

  Her brows puckered, her mouth turning down. “I’m not sure if I’ll still have a job after going rogue today. But if I’m lucky to still be a detective after this, this is life with me. There are always risks.”

  He bolted over her, caging her in with both elbows on either side of her head, supporting the weight of him off her, cognizant of the bruising. “You seem to have forgotten our conversation before we rescued Theo. So I’ll tell you again. It was never an easy road with you, Angel. Then or now. But I’d rather fight for this than to live without you. I want nothing more than to lock you up and wrap you in a bubble, but I’m not cutting your wings. I may lose my mind when you get hurt because I love you. I’m never leaving you again. You’re worth fighting for. And I hope like hell you feel the same way.”

  Her hand reached up to cup his jaw and he t
urned into it, kissing it briefly.

  “I do,” she said. “Who knew we’d be polar opposites now? You work at circumventing the law, and I’m all about upholding it, but as you can see I can be flexible if it’s for the greater good.” She gave a brief laugh. “And this is way too serious a conversation to be having naked and on a soggy bed.”

  “We have the whole house to ourselves.” Declan waggled his brows.

  “What are you suggesting?”

  “Stop worrying about us,” Theo spoke over speakerphone. “Besides, I told Levi to block all visitors. Even Nick.”

  “Yes, he rang our doorbell earlier,” Gabby sighed. For fifteen minutes, her second ex-husband hounded their front door. “We ignored him.” Just like she ignored the three voicemails and ten text messages from Nick that got progressively angrier.

  “Just want to be alone with my girl, you know,” their son continued. “Her mom is getting in tomorrow morning and she’ll fuss over her. Besides, Levi is here.”

  “I’m overqualified to be a fucking chaperone,” Levi’s voice rumbled somewhere in the room.

  “Are you doing okay though?” Declan asked. “Remember what I said? If you and Emma need to talk to a shrink, I’m sure they have someone on staff—”

  “Got it,” his son cut in curtly. “It’s too soon, Dad. Emma sleeps ninety percent of the time and I really want to do this with her, make sure she’s fine.”

  Gabby rested her head on Declan’s chest. He was cradling her across his lap when they made the call to check on Theo.

  “Just reminding you that it’s an available option,” Declan persisted.

  “Gotcha.”

  “It’s gonna hit you later.”

  Theo exhaled heavily. “I know.”

  “All your dad is saying is he and I have experience with stuff like this,” Gabby said. “You can talk to us anytime too, all right?”

  “Thanks, sis.”

  He and Gabby exchanged looks, knowing their son was tired, probably irritable, and now was not the time to push him to seek help. It was too soon. They said their goodbyes and ended the call.

  They were quiet for a while, Declan was running his hand absently on her bare thighs. Their last round of monkey sex happened in the kitchen right when Nick arrived and incessantly rang on the doorbell while alternately pounding on the door. Her cheeks grew warm as she remembered the feral heat in Declan’s eyes.