Second Chances [Pine Valley 4] (Siren Publishing Classic)

by Keyonna Davis

  He swallowed to get some moisture back into his mouth before speaking. “A few of these cuts could use a stitch or two, but they should be okay if we bandage them really well and keep an eye on them for infection,” Daniel spoke, trying to take his mind off of the fact that he was touching her body and not in the way he really wanted to.

  When Daniel got to a cut on her chest, he tried to clean it, but the collar of her shirt kept getting in the way. “I can’t get to this one unless you take your shirt off.” Daniel hoped his face showed that he was trying to be professional about everything, but on the inside, he was panting like a dog at the thought of seeing Leah topless. If the imprint of her hard nipples against the shirt was anything to go by, he had a feeling her small breasts were spectacular. Daniel mentally chastised himself for the thought. He wanted to feel bad that his thoughts were headed down the sexual path while she was squirming around in pain, but he didn’t.

  Leah gripped the bottom of the T-shirt and lifted. She hesitated just before the bottoms of her breasts were revealed, and Daniel bit back a groan at the teasing glimpse he got. When Leah didn’t continue, Daniel turned his head so that she could lift the shirt the rest of the way and over her head. It was his turn to pant at the thought of her sitting on his bed practically naked, and it took all of his willpower not to turn around and lay her down on the comforter and have his way with her.

  “I’m ready.”

  The small tremor Daniel heard in Leah’s voice was enough to make him feel ashamed of where his thoughts had been headed. Here he was lusting after the young woman and she was in pain and probably scared to death, but admonishing himself over his behavior flew right out the window when he turned and saw Leah sitting on his bed with only her small hands as cover for her breasts. He couldn’t even say he was surprised when his rock-hard cock became impossibly harder. Her small hands were able to cover her breasts fully, but that didn’t stop Daniel from fantasizing about how they would look. Would they be perky? Were her nipples just as small as her breasts, or would they stand out from her mounds? Were her nipples berry-colored or would they be a pale pink?

  Daniel really didn’t have a preference to either question. He would have been satisfied with whatever answers he found just as long as he was the one who got to investigate in order to find out. He was so tempted to lift her hands away and discover for himself, but the sight of Leah biting her bottom lip and the large, nearly black bruise peeking out from under the bandage covering her ribs on one side stopped him from doing something he would have regretted once his lust wasn’t riding him.

  The last thing he wanted to do was make Leah uncomfortable around him so he focused his attention on removing the small shards of glass and cleaning the cuts that made it past her T-shirt. He thought of the calls he needed to make and who needed to be informed that his house had been compromised. As he cleaned, he also planned their next step. He wanted Leah someplace safe and there was only one place he trusted to take her.

  When Daniel moved to clean a spot to the side of one of Leah’s breasts, she jumped and moaned. He snapped his eyes up to hers, expecting to see pain on her face, but was shocked at what he found. From her flushed face and dilated pupils, Daniel had a feeling that she was just as turned on as he was. When her lips parted and she shivered, all of his control snapped. Daniel leaned over and pressed his lips against hers before he could stop himself.

  Leah moaned into his mouth before her lips softened against his and she molded herself against his chest. Daniel stroked his tongue across her bottom lip before gently inserting it in her mouth and tangling it with hers. It was his turn to moan when Leah closed her lips and sucked on his tongue. She writhed against him and he could feel her fingers as she lifted them to his head and gently pressed them against his scalp. Her blunt fingernails slightly raking against his skin sent bolts of pleasure shooting all the way down his spine and straight to his cock. Daniel groaned and pulled back from Leah. Her whimper at him stopping almost broke his self-control. He was so tempted to rip his pants off and lay her flat before plunging into her body, but instead, he forced himself to step away from her.

  “We can’t do this,” he panted. The look of sadness that washed over Leah’s face had him continuing before his brain even caught up to the words coming out of his mouth. “We will finish this, but not right now. What I want to do to you will require you to be healed and not in pain because once certainly won’t be enough.” The longer he spoke, the raspier his voice became.

  He definitely wanted Leah and he was pretty damn sure she wanted him. Once he made sure her life was no longer in danger, Daniel was going to do either the craziest thing he had ever done in his life or the stupidest. He was going to take Leah over and over again until they both were so sated that neither of them could move. The only problem was Daniel didn’t think he would ever get enough of the young woman. The only question he had was how bad was his heart going to break when Leah finally came to her senses and moved on to a man not so old and jaded. He had no doubts she wanted him. Just by looking at her sitting on his bed, he could tell that the flush covering her body hadn’t come from pain or embarrassment. It was lust, pure and simple. She wanted him just as much as he wanted her, but how long would that last?

  Either way, Daniel couldn’t bring himself to care. There was something about Leah that sucked him in from the moment he had laid eyes on her. He was determined to find out what that was. In the meantime, he would keep her safe and deal with the men chasing her. Once the danger was gone, then he would deal with protecting his heart from being crushed when Leah walked away.

  Decision made, Daniel picked up the medical supplies and set about cleaning the rest of Leah’s wounds. He kept his mind off the fact that he was touching her bare skin and the fact that she hadn’t said a word since his declaration by running a list in his head of all the things he needed to get taken care of. The first and foremost task on his list was finding out how his home had been compromised. He could have been followed there, but Daniel had been careful when he had driven Leah home. In his line of duty, he wouldn’t have made it as far as he had by being careless enough to allow someone to trail him without him knowing.

  Alarm bells were going off in Daniel’s head, but he was trying his best to ignore them. His first thought was that he had been betrayed by someone in the company. He tried to tell himself that he was jumping to conclusions, but it wouldn’t be the first time that an employee of MacGregor Inc. betrayed him. He gritted his teeth at the thought of his ex-employee, Justin Rawson, and how he had managed to kidnap Kerri. Once she escaped, the man was still able to track her down and attempt to kill her because he had wanted Daniel to suffer. After all the things he had seen in his lifetime, Daniel already hadn’t been a very trusting man. He’d done everything in his power to help Justin, yet the man had still decided to come after the one person that he loved most in the world, and Daniel was finding it hard not to be suspicious of everyone.

  “Are you okay?”

  The question snapped him out of his thoughts and Daniel looked down at Leah’s wide eyes. She nodded to his hands and he realized he had his fist clenched. Relaxing his hands, Daniel nodded. “I’m okay. I’m just angry that my home was compromised.” He wasn’t telling Leah about the man who had kidnapped his daughter and then tried to kill her when that failed. She would probably run screaming about the fact that if he couldn’t keep his own daughter safe then there was no hope for her, and he wouldn’t blame her one bit. It sucked to feel like he was a failure, but Daniel kept that to himself. Even if Leah didn’t know it, he had something to prove to her and himself. No matter what it took, he was determined to keep her safe.

  * * * *

  Leah resisted the urge to reach up and run her fingers over her lips. They were still tingling from the unexpected but extremely hot kiss Daniel had given her. She could have gone on kissing the man forever, but for some reason Daniel had stopped. Leah wanted to ask him why he had pulled away so suddenly, but sh
e couldn’t bring herself to open her mouth. She didn’t know what she would do if he told her the kiss was a mistake, and from the angry vibes Daniel was giving off, that was clearly what the man was thinking.

  Instead, Leah forced herself to hold still as Daniel finished cleaning her cuts. Now that the adrenaline was wearing off, not even the tingle of her lips masked the feeling of every single tiny cut starting to sting. She felt like her body had been drug through a cheese grater.

  “You wouldn’t happen to have any pain meds in that medical box, would you?”

  Daniel only grunted before leaning over and shuffling through his first-aid box without even looking at her. Leah wondered what had happened to make the man go from scorching hot one minute to freezing cold the next. If she didn’t know for certain he had been just as much into the kiss as she had been, her self-esteem would have really taken a hit at his current behavior. Instead, Leah ignored the small voice in her head that wanted to analyze every tiny detail of the kiss to figure out what went wrong and if it was something she had done. She focused on breathing through the pain that was definitely starting to make its presence known all over her body. She could feel the fatigue of stress starting to set in as well as the adrenaline rush from running for her life slowly left her body. All she wanted to do was curl up in the bed and take a nap.

  Leah looked up at Daniel as he stood. Her eyes followed him as he walked to the bathroom where she lost sight of him for a few seconds and she heard the water turn on. The moment she could no longer see him, Leah’s body started to shiver. Her breathing picked up, causing her to pant, and she could feel sweat breaking out on her top lip. Her muscles tensed and she had to force herself to stay seated on the bed when all she really wanted to do was run over and latch herself to the man’s side.

  What the hell is wrong with you? The man can’t even go to the bathroom for a moment without you suffering separation anxiety. Leah admonished herself for being so needy, but in her mind, Daniel represented safety. From the moment she had seen him coming out of his office, deep down inside, she knew he would do everything in his power to keep her safe and alive.

  “—ou okay?”

  Fingers snapping in front of her face had Leah’s eyes popping open. She hadn’t even realized she had closed them, and from the look of concern on Daniel’s face, he had been trying to get her attention for a while.

  “Are you okay?”

  Leah nodded her head at Daniel’s question. “I’m okay, just got a little panicky for a moment.” She tried to smile, but knew her lips didn’t quite make it. The most she could muster was a half smile, half grimace.

  “Here, take these.” Daniel handed her a glass of water and two pills.

  Leah wasted no time downing the medicine. They couldn’t work soon enough in her opinion. When she was finished, she handed the glass back to Daniel and curled up on the bed. “Will they find us here?” She was afraid to hear the answer to her question, but she needed to know. She didn’t want to be surprised like the last time.

  Daniel sighed as he draped a blanket over her and then patted her thigh for her to make room for him to sit next to her on the bed. “I would love to say no. No one should know where this safe house is, but, if they were able to get to me at my home, then I can’t be a hundred percent certain that they don’t know about this place as well. We’ll stay here long enough for you to rest and then we have to keep moving.”

  Leah could only nod at Daniel’s answer to her question. She was glad that he had been straightforward, but it still didn’t stop the chills from running down her spine at the thought of them being attacked again. When Daniel moved to stand, she reacted instantly and grabbed his arm before he could move from the bed. “Don’t go. Please.”

  Daniel hesitated for only a second. “Scoot over.”

  Leah moved a few inches and held back a giggle when she realized that the space she had left on the full-sized bed was nowhere near enough room for the large man sliding onto the bed beside her. She eyed the other side of the bed and wondered if it would even be big enough for the both of them. Once Daniel was in the bed next to her, Leah inched closer to him, soaking in his body heat, and let her body relax for what felt like the first time since everything had started. Just knowing Daniel was there next to her and that he would do everything in his power to keep anything from happening to her was a wonderful feeling.

  “What are we going to do, Daniel? These people think I have something or know something that I don’t. I don’t have a clue about any of this.”

  “I know you don’t, honey.” Daniel sighed.

  “How do I convince them that I’m not a threat to them?”

  “That’s my job. You did your part by coming to me. Now, let me do what I do best and keep you safe.”

  There was nothing Leah could say to that. She was out of her element. Even if she wanted to do something to help Daniel, she had no idea what that would be. Knowing how her luck had been running lately, she would probably just get in the way and cause a distraction. Someone would end up getting killed because of her. Instead, she buried her nose against his muscular chest and breathed in Daniel’s warm, masculine scent. He smelled of fabric softener with a mild hint of sweat that she had no doubt had come from their sudden need to run for their lives. The combination didn’t leave her with the need to plug her nose. In fact, it had the opposite effect on Leah. She had the urge to lean in further and fill her lungs with the scent of the male lying beneath her.

  Leah hadn’t realized she was rubbing her cheek against Daniel’s chest like a cat in heat until she felt his groan rumble against her ear.

  Wrapping one of his large hands around her shoulder, Daniel stilled her movements. “If you don’t stop that, I won’t be held responsible for what I’m about to do.”

  His husky voice sent shivers down Leah’s spine and she reluctantly paused her movements. Not because of his command, but because she had a decision to make. There was no doubt she wanted Daniel, but was it for the right reasons? Did she only want him because of the safety he represented, or was there something more to the instant attraction that she had felt ever since she had laid eyes on him? Leah felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff trying to decide whether or not to take the safe route and stay where she was or to take a leap and hope she landed safely on her feet at the bottom.

  The rapid beat of his heart beneath her and the strain she could see against Daniel’s cargo pants made the decision for Leah. All her life she had taken the safe route. She went to school and made straight A’s. She never rebelled or gave her parents grief. After she had graduated college, she went to work every day, more often than not staying late to make sure she got all of her work done before going home. Essentially what all that boiled down to was that Leah didn’t have time for a social life. Even in college she had rarely dated, more worried about her grades than going to campus parties or clubbing. Now all she had to show was a socially awkward woman whose job was literally going to be the death of her if something didn’t change. For once in her life, Leah decided that she was going to do the unexpected. She was going to be brave and do something she wanted and not just because it was the smart or sensible thing to do.

  Turning her head slightly, Leah blew a puff of breath against the hard nub of Daniel’s nipple she could see straining through his T-shirt before latching onto it with her lips. She suckled the nub while flicking the tip with her tongue. Leah resisted the urge to grin when Daniel groaned and she felt his thick fingers thread through her hair. So far, it seemed her decision had been the right one.

  Chapter 7

  Daniel only had a moment to decide if he was making a bad decision, but the choice was taken from him when Leah latched onto his nipple. Sparks shot down his spine straight to his cock that was straining to be released from his pants. He was unable to hold back a moan at the feeling of her warm mouth on him. Daniel had never hated anything more than he hated the T-shirt he was wearing at that moment because it was blocki
ng the feel of the slick heat of her mouth against his skin.

  Daniel sat up, bringing Leah with him, and gently pulled her away from him. The look of disappointment on her face was completely unnecessary because he had no intentions of stopping what she had started, but Daniel’s brain seemed to be lacking the function of sending thoughts to his mouth so he could tell her that in words. Instead, Daniel snatched his shirt over his head. He heard the distinct sound of fabric ripping, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. At the moment, all he cared about was getting naked and then stripping the beautiful woman in front of him. He stood from the bed and removed his pants and underwear all in one swift move before climbing back on and pulling Leah to him.

  She came easily and Daniel thanked his lucky stars there was no hesitation that he could see on her face. From the looks of her flushed cheeks and those luscious pink lips parted as she panted for breath, she wanted him just as much as he wanted her. He had no idea why a young, beautiful woman like her would want an old, scarred man like him, but he wasn’t about to complain. She did want him, and that was all that mattered.

  Pressing his lips against hers, he felt her warm breath seconds before her tongue slid hesitantly into his mouth. Daniel groaned and deepened the kiss. He circled Leah’s tongue with his before pulling it deeper into his mouth and sucking gently, giving her a taste of her own medicine. Her gentle whimpers went straight to his cock and Daniel could feel a bead of pre-cum dribble from the tip. He wanted nothing more than to drive himself deep into Leah’s warm, willing cunt until he was sated, but he planned on taking his time and enjoying the woman beneath him. Releasing her lips, he moved his mouth across her jaw, lightly nipping the skin as he went until he got to her lobe and sucked it into his mouth. He was fascinated when Leah’s whole body shivered and her moans got louder. Daniel grinned, knowing that he had found one of her hot spots. He worked the lobe with his teeth and resisted the urge to grind his cock against the bed just to get some friction against it. Just Leah’s reaction to his mouth alone had him on the brink of losing control.