by Lisa Hughey
Shelley skimmed her palms along his forearms, then his shoulders until she buried her fingers in his hair and fisted her hands. She scraped her lips along his stubbled jaw, and nipped at his ear lobe.
She rubbed her rounded tummy along the weapon in his jeans. She got him so hot so fast, it was as if he’d time traveled back to his teens.
He knew they needed to stop. Before they left this hotel room, he had to get his badass, stalker kicking vibe back because he could do no less for this amazing woman. He had promised to protect her. He couldn’t do that if his head was wrapped up in making love to her, not watching her six.
Ric held her in place against the wall, and traced a path from the curve of her collarbone up her neck and along her jaw until he returned to her lips. He pressed gentle sipping kisses to her mouth. His lips clung to hers with each longer inhale, until he finally pulled away.
Ric rested his forehead against hers, eyes closed, and he savored the press of her breasts against his pecs. “I need to be focused.”
She laughed, a small puff of breath. “You seemed awfully focused a second ago.”
He smiled. “Wrong focus. I need to stay focused on your protection. But, later, after this is over, I’d like to shift the emphasis to…more intimate endeavors.”
That was breaking the rules of a one night stand.
She tensed a little in his hold. Shit, maybe he’d misread her enthusiasm.
“I know it’s violating the unspoken laws of a typical one night stand,” he spoke quickly before she could shoot him down.
“We’re so far past typical that we might as well give up and call this thing something else.” Shelley squeezed his shoulders. “I’d like that as well.”
Ric’s tension eased. They were on the same page.
Her face darkened, a crinkle crimped the skin between her brows. “I don’t understand why someone one would want to scare me.”
“You’re gorgeous, nice, and rich.” Ric stated the obvious. “You have it all.”
“I have a wonderful family that matters and a big house. But I definitely don’t have it all.” Shelley thunked her head on the wall.
“But to the outsider your life is perfect.” Ric smoothed her hair away from face. She had to know that to the casual observer her life was idyllic.
“Yeah, if they only understood how lonely I am.” She visibly shook off her melancholy. “Oh shut up, Shel.”
She brushed her palms down her sleeves like she was brushing off the attitude.
“Poor little me,” she said viciously.
“Hey.” Ric said, “Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s okay to want more.”
“I just want to make a difference,” she said firmly.
He noticed she didn’t say she wanted more for herself. Every time she spoke up and out, it was for someone other than herself.
“Why the food bank?” Ric asked suddenly.
“It’s a worthy cause.”
“It’s an excellent cause.” Ric felt like he already knew her better than that. She didn’t just do things because they were worthy causes. He’d skimmed the article that seemed to jump start the crazies who were hounding her and stalking her but he hadn’t seen a mention of the impetus behind that particular charity, so he asked again, “Why the food bank?”
“You ever have to choose between a place to sleep and a meal in your stomach?” she asked abruptly.
“Fortunately, no.”
She nodded, her burnished red hair skimmed the curve of her shoulder. “It sucks.”
So she was saying that she….
“The reason I went to Jack Stone Sr. years ago was because I was tired of worrying about Jess being hungry.” She said softly, “I wasn’t planning on staying at his house. I tracked him down to ask for a job so Jess and I could eat.”
Ric’s stomach cramped at her matter of fact statement. He knew it was twenty years ago, but he could tell that the moment still rankled.
She laughed bitterly. “Jack Sr. is a bit of a prick in case you weren’t aware.”
“I’ve heard.” Jack hadn’t said much about his father, but the little he’d shared was enough to give Ric a fairly clear picture of the bastard. “What happened?”
“I got there. And Con opened the front door.” Shelley had a faraway look in her ocean green eyes. “He was like a little wounded angel. Their latest nanny had just quit. Literally.”
“As in literally?”
“She thought she was going to be the next Mrs. Stone.” Shelley shook her head. “As if anyone who knew Jackson would want that. I wouldn’t wish him on my worst enemy.”
“I must have caught Jackson at just the right moment. He was headed out of town with no one to watch the kids.”
“So he asked you to stay?”
“Initially he offered me a lump sum to leave Jess and never come back.”
“Holy hell.”
“It had worked with Connor’s mother.” Shelley shrugged. “I can’t imagine.”
“You turned him down?”
“I didn’t want his money. I just wanted a safe place to sleep and enough to feed my daughter. So I suggested I take care of all of his kids instead.” Shelley smiled. “My desperation led to the best things that ever happened to me.”
Ric’s heart expanded. She was magnificent.
“I love all of those kids as if they were my own,” Shelley said.
“You know it’s mutual.” Ric couldn’t help but reassure her.
“I know.” Tears shimmered in her eyes. “We need to find this asshole.”
“I will.” Ric vowed. Her sadness made him want to take away her pain and make her laugh. “Besides now I have extra incentive.”
“What’s that?”
“The sooner I find this fucker, the sooner we can go back to bed.”
And just like he wanted, she laughed.
Nine
The phone rang.
Ric held up one finger and stalked to the bedside table. “Santana.”
To keep her mind off her other troubles, Shelley admired the play of his glutes beneath his jeans. His short shirt sleeves accented the muscled strength of his forearms.
That quickly she was in that moment last night when he lifted her up against the wall and pushed inside her.
Shelley’s knees went weak and her head light.
All that leashed power and testosterone had coalesced into the hottest sexual encounter of her life. Of course that wasn’t saying much since her prior encounters had been fairly tame. But a hundred times yes, she wanted to try again.
Because what if her off the chart response wasn’t a fluke? Or a lack of response to sexual stimulus over the past few years? And instead their mutual detonation was an honest to God, organic reaction to their chemistry.
After several uh-huhs, he hung up the phone.
“Everything okay?”
The panic on his face was priceless. “Spa time.”
She giggled when he grimaced. “Think you can handle it, tough guy?”
“Not a problem,” he replied smoothly. “But you follow orders. Without question.”
Ric opened the hotel room door, held up his palm and re-conned the hallway before gesturing to Shelley that it was safe to come out. “Tell me what’s planned.”
“Full day. Yoga, massages, facials, lunch, and the hydro-spa.” She wasn’t sure but he may have just shuddered.
Ric walked in front of her and slightly to the right, his hand resting on the grip of his weapon.
A little shiver of fear ran over her. “Isn’t the gun overkill?” After all, the man had only trashed her hotel room.
“I take your safety very seriously.” Ric pressed the button for the service elevator. “Behind me, out of sight when the doors open.”
She swallowed, licked her lips. “What about your safety?”
“Not important, as long as you’re safe.”
“I don’t like that.” Shelley’s stomach roiled at the thought that Ric could get hur
t because of her. “At all.”
“Your feelings are insignificant.”
“Nice.”
“Shelley. We can’t have this discussion now.” Ric led her in to the service elevator that the staff used. “I don’t like this.”
They were on the fifteenth floor. Their choices were the service elevator or the stairwell. Neither was optimal. They rode the elevator to the third floor in silence. Ric pushed her behind him again, the heat from his body surrounded her, reminding her that he was putting himself in front of her.
She hated that.
“Maybe we should rethink this. I don’t want you to get hurt.” The doors slid open. Ric finished perusing the hallway and let Shelley exit the elevator.
“It would be more than fine with me if you want to go back up to the room where I know you’ll be safe.” Ric constantly scanned the hallway as they headed toward the spa. “However, don’t worry about me.”
Shelley bit her lip. “I don’t want to let Bliss down.”
“Then, in you go.”
Bliss, Jess, and Ava waited in the lobby of the Canyon Ranch SpaClub. Instrumental flute music and tinkling water fixtures were supposed be soothing to the ear but Shelley was so tense she wasn’t sure anything was going to calm her. The atmosphere was distinctly feminine, which only emphasized Ric’s stark masculinity.
Shelley introduced Ric to Ava. He nodded to Jess and Bliss, who he’d met in DC with Jack earlier in the year.
Their party was a melting pot of pretty. Bliss was half-Irish, half-Chinese with bright red hair and exotically tilted eyes. Ava was gorgeous with long dark hair and her beautiful dark eyes. And finally Jess with her multi-hued blonde hair and cool green eyes.
The receptionist was frowning at Ric. “He can’t come in unless he has an access pass.”
Ric opened his mouth to argue but before he could say a word, Shelley leaned over the desk. “Add it to my account.”
“Did you book the appointments under your name?” Ric drummed his fingertips on the check-in counter.
Shelley blinked. “Umm, yes.”
“That is a security issue.” He glanced around the reception area, empty except for their party. “I don’t like it.”
Shelley put her hand on his forearm. His muscles flexed beneath her fingertips, the zap of electricity took her off guard. As if he had a direct line to her erogenous zones, Shelley’s body heated, softened.
“This is Bliss’s bachelorette day.” Shelley didn’t want anything to ruin Bliss’s party. “Please.”
Ric calculated options for another moment. “Okay. But I need to stay with you.”
She wasn’t used to having a bodyguard. Having Ric around constantly was going to be unsettling and unnerving, but if that’s what it took to make sure Bliss had her special day, then Shelley would do it.
“Thank you.” She wanted to lean up and kiss his cheek but instead she stepped back and smiled with gratitude.
His dark gaze followed her movements and somehow she thought perhaps he had known what she wanted to do. His gaze dropped to her mouth, lingered there, before sliding to hers.
Ric’s tone was all business. “You’re welcome. You do what I say, when I say it, no arguments.”
Shelley nodded.
“Hannah will show you to the changing rooms.” The receptionist smiled tightly clearly not happy with Ric’s presence.
The girls changed into their yoga gear. Shelley and Ric waited tensely in the private exercise room that was meant to be calming with its bamboo papered walls, a fountain trickling in the corner, and rolled yoga mats sticking out of a large basket near the un-lit fireplace.
Their instructor, a woman at least twenty years older than Shelley, with silver white hair in a bun and a peaceful air floated into the room. She smiled serenely. But her glance was filled with concern as she noted Ric’s street clothes and holstered weapon. Once Bliss, Ava, and Jess were in the room, Ric nodded at Shelley and slipped outside to guard the entrance.
The yoga class went a long way toward easing Shelley’s tension.
But as soon as they opened the doors, there was Ric. Standing guard. Standing at attention. The stress and the awkward that she’d managed to bend and twist her way out of during yoga came hurtling back.
After facials and massages, they were served lunch in the Aquavant room with the hydro-spa. Humidity simmered in the private pool room.
Ric tried to sit unobtrusively in the corner but Shelley was hyperaware of him. Her body instinctively knew where he was in each room she had been in. He exuded a sexuality that sparked her own visceral awareness of him.
It had been easier to ignore him when she’d had her eyes closed during her massage and facial. But as the women sat at the dining table in spa robes, Shelley couldn’t ignore the way her body reacted to his commanding masculine presence.
A spa staff member served their pre-ordered lunches at the small table.
Shelley picked at her salad. The greens were fresh. The tomatoes and cucumber crisp. The chicken grilled and still warm. The vinaigrette lightly seasoned. But she was so unsettled that everything seemed off and she barely ate. At this rate, she’d lose that extra five pounds that always seemed to linger on her hips.
The girls drank a light white wine while Shelley stuck to water.
After lunch, they submersed in the deliciously scented pool, relaxing in the warm salt water, while Ric continued to stand guard.
Shelley lay back against the edge of the pool, her head rested on the lip and her body floated in the warm soothing water but she couldn’t unwind. The tension of the day had manifested in her stomach and she pressed her hand to her belly wishing she could just relax.
Ric noted her movement. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” She couldn’t even have a moment. He was that observant.
Of course, his observation skills had paid off tremendously last night. She flushed and hoped the steam from the pool would disguise the fact that she was getting slightly turned on.
From outside their private room, a woman was complaining loudly about the fact that her trip to the pool was delayed. That was thanks to them.
Oddly something about the woman’s voice, or maybe her whine, registered with Shelley. “I don’t see why some people get special treatment.”
Shelley opened her eyes and lifted her head as the door rattled.
Ric was across the room and in front of the ornate doors in a heartbeat. He had his weapon out and ready. Her body tightened. She couldn’t imagine that someone complaining about a hydro therapy bath was a threat. But what if she was? Ric was standing right in the way.
“You need to leave this room alone,” the spa employee said to whoever was on the other side of the door.
“Fine, but don’t think the manager won’t hear about this.” The voice faded as if the complainer was walking away from the room.
Everyone relaxed.
Ric didn’t return to his seat. He stood next to the door, his body ready.
Shelley let her gaze trail lightly over him. His shoulders were broad and sturdy. His stomach flat, pecs rippled beneath the simple Polo shirt. His worn jeans cupped the bulge beneath his zipper and molded to thighs as thick as the eucalyptus trunks in her yard. His biceps tested the hem of his shirt sleeves, and dark hair dusted his forearms. A wide, black tactical watch emphasized his thick wrists, and drew her gaze to his hands. Those hands had caressed and stroked every single inch of her body, taking her to heights of pleasure that she’d never experienced before.
The memory of all that man between her thighs swept over her and her entire body liquefied in remembered lust.
Ric’s gaze found hers, heated. But all he said was, “I’m going to step outside for a moment. I’ll be right back.” He nodded to all of the women.
“But we know it was a man that wrecked my hotel room.” Shelley understood caution but that was definitely a woman’s voice.
“It was too neat. He could have an accomplice. Or he coul
d have been hired by a woman. At this point we can’t rule out any possibilities.”
Then he was gone.
“Someone’s a little hot and bothered.” Bliss’s dark gaze shifted from Shelley to where Ric had just been standing. Shelley wanted to sink under the water in total embarrassment. Hopefully the flush on her face would be attributed to the moist heat of the pool rather than being turned on.
Jess laughed softly. “She should be. I saw him naked.” She fanned her face with her fingers.
“Jess,” Shelley hissed.
“I’d ask more questions, but we’re talking about my mother-in-law-to-be.” Bliss teased.
“Cut her a break,” Ava said. “Con is freaked out by the whole thing.”
Bliss frowned. “Yeah, Jack too.” Her smile fell from her face and shadows darkened her eyes.
Shelley wondered at Bliss’s expression. She thought that Bliss had been unnaturally subdued today but she really didn’t know her future daughter-in-law that well. “Everything okay, honey?”
Bliss blinked furiously. “Of course. What could be wrong?”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you tell us?” Shelley said softly.
“I just….” Bliss pulled her legs in to her chest in, wrapped her arms around her calves, and rested her cheek on her knees.
They all waited, sensing that something important was coming. “Why isn’t Jack taking care of your security?”
Shelley had wondered the same thing. Did it really make sense for Ric Santana to watch her? However, she didn’t think that’s what had really upset Bliss.
“And?”
“I think he’s having second thoughts,” Bliss whispered. Her words were barely audible over the rush of the bubbles in the pool.
“What?!” Jess sat up so quickly that water splashed over the edge and onto the tile floor.
“No way.” Ava shook her head violently.
Shelley curled her arm around Bliss’s shoulders. Her body was tight with tension. “Why do you think that?”
“Because he’s been really distant and distracted since we got here.” Bliss tucked her head down hiding her face from them all. “And I just can’t help but feel like maybe he’s changed his mind.”
