Jewell (The Kings of Guardian Book 8)

by Kris Michaels

  "Mmm… later, after food." Jewell sucked the tender meat into her mouth and ate it as he continued to stare at her lips. Jewell opened her mouth and licked the sauce from her lips before she hummed in a low sexy way that conveyed she was interested in way more than the prawn. He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath.

  "Aren't you hungry?" She pointed toward his plate and smiled as she picked up another prawn from hers. Zane watched her as she sucked the end of the shrimp into her mouth in a replay of her previous show.

  "Woman, you are adding fuel to the fire. Teasing me like that won't go unpunished." He reached for his iced tea and drew a long pull on the straw. His small apartment was fucking hot as hell all of a sudden.

  Jewell picked up another prawn and held it up while her finger caught a small drop of curry. She brought her finger to her mouth and sucked it in while looking at him in a direct dare. "You don't want to punish me."

  His gut clenched and he lifted slightly in his chair as he adjusted his cock in his pants. "I don't?" Zane took a huge bite of the curry. It could have been sand for all the attention he gave the taste.

  "Oh, no." Jewell transferred a portion of rice from her chopsticks to her mouth and slowly withdrew the black varnished wood from her mouth. "I think you'd want to reward me." Zane's eyes dropped following Jewell's gaze as it moved to his hard cock. "Eat your dinner, and I'll show you why."

  Jewell fed herself another bite of rice and mushrooms. Zane forced himself to look away from her mouth. Her delicious, full, pouty lips and that tongue that he wanted wrapped around his cock were a distraction that caught and held his attention. The spicy food he consumed was bland compared to the temptress across from him. He waited for her to finish. She winked at him when she picked up the last prawn and consumed it.

  As soon as she put her chopsticks down, he was around the counter and had her in his arms. She tasted of red curry and iced tea. Her arms wrapped around him as his fingers found every button and snap, loosening all of them and pushing away the cloth that hid his prize from him. Her hands made quick work of his shirt, belt, and pants. Their clothes hit the floor in forgotten piles.

  He kissed down her neck to her bare shoulders. "Beautiful. So fucking beautiful." He walked her backward the handful of steps it took to reach his bedroom where he controlled their fall onto the bed. He felt her push against him with both hands. He lifted away immediately. "Did I hurt you?" Did he not brace far enough above her?

  "No, I'm fine. Lie on your back." Jewell licked her bottom lip before she sucked it into her mouth.

  "Oh fuck, yeah." Zane rolled to her side and slid up the bed propping himself up against the headboard. If the woman was going to give him head, he was going to watch her do it.

  She crawled in between his legs and licked the defining line from his abs to his groin. Her hand wrapped around his cock and slowly stroked up. He lifted her mass of black hair and gathered it away from her face so he could watch her. She glanced up at him and smiled for a split second before she lowered to his balls and started to lick and suck them. He dropped his head back against the cushioned board and reveled in the wet heat of her tongue and breath against his balls.

  Zane tugged her hair up toward his cock. She gave a low chuckle and lapped a final swipe to his balls, extending the stripe up the underside of his cock. She circled his head and licked at his precome with small flicks of her tongue. Zane's hand tightened its grip on her hair, and she moaned around the head of his cock. His balls drew up. He was so fucking close. There was no way he'd last in her throat.

  He gently tugged at her hair. "I'm close." He wasn't going to make her finish him, although, God, he'd love to end that way, but he didn't want to be a selfish lover. Not with her, never with her.

  Jewell popped off him. Her full lips were glossed with spit, and her face was flushed. "I want you to come in my mouth. I need to taste you." She lowered down onto his cock before he could put any cognitive thoughts into play. Zane arched up and lodged at the back of her throat. She gagged, and he immediately lifted away. She moaned and chased him impaling herself on his cock. The small gagging noise happened each time she lowered and forced him into her throat. Zane's balls drew up tight. His lungs burned because for some insane reason he was holding his breath. He pushed the air from his lungs and gulped in a lungful of fresh air. Her hand cupped his balls and when she lowered this time she squeezed slightly. Zane barked out a shout and was unable to prevent himself from hipping up as he shot his load. His world expanded then folded in on itself as the only thing he could focus on was his orgasm. It took several seconds before he realized she'd lifted to the crown of his cock and then released him. He didn't open his eyes as he grabbed her and half slid, half lifted her up his body. "Fuck that was…"

  "Epic?" Jewell laughed as he opened his eyes and blinked at her.

  "Epic. Yeah, epic would cover it." He cupped her neck and brought her down before kissing her, tasting himself on her tongue.

  "Good. Now I believe the next thing on the agenda is eight hours of sleep." Jewell lay down at his side and snuggled in close to him as she tugged at the sheet that had somehow slid off the side of the bed.

  Zane lifted away and helped her with the sheet before he rolled her over onto her back and made her look at him. "Give me a couple minutes, and I'll return the favor." He felt her arm lay across his chest. She kissed his jaw before she released a contented little sigh. "Would it be horrible of me to ask if you'd give me a rain check? I'm exhausted, but I guarantee I'll rock your world in the morning." She yawned and found her spot tucked up against him. Her arm reached across his chest and snaked up to his hair curling her fingers in the strands until they tangled there. In less than three minutes her breathing had regulated, and her body relaxed against his.

  Even in post orgasmic bliss, Zane couldn't relax. The plan to get Vista to target him was a long shot. And because it was, he'd implemented a backup plan without his bosses' knowledge, but he'd be damned if he'd ask permission to protect his woman. Technically Thanatos and Anubis weren't allowed to operate in the states, and he doubted if Jacob King knew his black door operatives were back in the States. After an asset had been given an assignment, for the most part, he or she was allowed to pick the time/date and method of completing the directive. He'd often followed a mark back to the States to watch for vulnerabilities. Spilling blood inside the United States without specific permission got you slapped with a psych eval and a host of other unpleasant consequences. He closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. But that was another life, and that life was over. He placed a kiss on the top of Jewell's head. She was his life now, and he'd be damned if he wouldn't use every resource at his disposal to make sure she was safe.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Jewell blinked at the bright sunshine that poured into the bedroom. She tucked the sheet around her and sat up. She turned searching the apartment for Zane. It was so small she could see the kitchen, living room and bathroom from where she sat on the bed. Her sleep muted brain took in the fact that Zane wasn't in the apartment. Jewell yawned and scratched her arm before she realized she wasn't alone.

  A man stood by the front door of the apartment, his arm barely visible, but there nonetheless. She gasped and whipped the sheet up to her neck.

  "I'm not here to hurt you." A slight European accent flavored the soft words.

  "Then why are you here?" Jewell backed to the other side of the bed and yanked the sheet with her when she stood.

  "Zane left this morning to get you clean clothes and breakfast. My brother is watching him to ensure he hasn't been followed. I am here with you. There was another outside of this building. I didn't get close enough to see who. I positioned myself here to ensure nobody but Zane came through that door."

  "Oh." Jewell stood in the corner of the room. Adrenaline coursed through her veins making her hyper vigilant. She glanced around f
or any possible weapon, but the room was sparsely furnished. Jewell kept one eye on the doorway as she swept the area again. Damn it, there was nothing. The man hadn't moved and hadn't looked at her. She wouldn't be able to tell anyone what he looked like, except that he was tall based on the height of his shoulder.

  "Go, take a shower. Your man will be back by the time you are done."

  "Who are you?" Jewell wrapped the sheet around her and glanced around for clothes. They were strewn in small piles across the living room floor.

  "A friend."

  "Okay… but you have to have a name."

  "I do not." The voice that responded seemed hollow and lifeless. "Go, Ms. King and take your shower. You can ask your questions of your man when you are done."

  Jewell sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and did an assessment of the situation. The man hadn't attempted to harm her in any way. He knew Zane's and her names. Even if Vista had found the information she'd left him, there was no way in hell he could have found out that much information. She gathered the sheet up from around her feet and shuffled the four feet necessary to get into the tiny bathroom. She closed the door and leaned against it. Jewell glanced at the door and then clicked the lock. Not that it would stop the man from coming after her, but she'd be stupid not to lock the damn thing, after all that was one scary ass stranger out there.

  Jewell started the shower and dropped the sheet to the ground. She waited until the water warmed before she stepped under the spray. Her mind clicked around the information she'd been given this morning. She dropped a large dollop of shampoo into her hand and lathered her hair. Her hands stilled for a moment as a simplistic thought punched through the minutia her mind was trying to process. What do you really know about Zane? She knew his profession, but his past before he became an asset of Guardian was a void. Jewell finished the shower and dried off. There was no way in hell she was going out of this room in her towel to try to gather her clothes. Not with a stranger in the apartment. The more she thought about that, the more it pissed her off.

  Jewell took her time working Zane's comb through her hair after she'd towel dried it. As she stared at herself in the mirror over the tiny vanity, she took into account the information she did actually know about Zane. Well, that wasn't his real name. He'd admitted it was a cover. So she didn't even know the name of the man she was sleeping with. Hell, she could extrapolate that one step farther. She might not know the name of her baby's father. Wouldn't that just make her mom's day? Shit, her mom. How in the hell would Jewell tell her mom she was pregnant? With words, obviously, but she could just imagine how that conversation would go. She knew her mom would support her, but she could see the look of sad disappointment in her eyes. She'd seen it so much growing up. Each time she'd misunderstand someone or didn't understand a situation, her mom would have to explain shit that seemingly everyone but her understood. Jewell loved her mom and her family with every fiber of her being, but she knew she was the odd duck in the family. She'd never fit in. With anyone. Jewell considered that statement as it rolled through her mind. It wasn't necessarily accurate. Her siblings had always been inclusive. Her sisters had been amazing, especially Jade. The woman was a hellion, but she was fiercely loyal and remarkably easy to talk to because she had no boundaries and no filters. But for the same reason, it was sometimes hard for Jewell to make Jade understand her issues or concerns. She could only imagine what Jade would say about her being pregnant. She rolled her eyes at her reflection. No, she wasn't going to go there.

  Jewell flinched at a small knock on the bathroom door. She grabbed at the top of her towel and backed away from the thing as if it might bite her.

  "Jewell, are you alright?" Zane's graveled voice rumbled through the door.

  Jewell launched toward the door and unlocked it nearly catapulting herself into Zane's huge body.

  "Hey, I've got you." He wrapped her up in his arms and held her. She moved the tiniest distance and peeked around him looking toward the door where the stranger had been. "He's gone."

  Jewell nodded and stepped back. She looked from the door to Zane and then did what any woman who had been placed in her position would do. She smacked Zane in the arm with a balled up fist and all of her strength. "Of all the bullshit things to do! Why in the hell didn't you tell me you were leaving! Did you know I woke up with a strange man in the apartment? Do you have any idea how freaked out I was?"

  "But Jewell…"

  "Don't you dare 'but Jewell' me! Never again! Do you understand me? I will not wake up with a stranger tucked into a corner, talking with an accent, and saying shit about someone outside stalking us. And I sure as hell will not wake up with you not only not in the bed with me butnot even in the fucking building." Jewell knew she was losing her shit. She could tell by the way Zane had stepped back and plastered the passive fucking expression on his face, just like he did when she'd gone off on him when he'd watched over her the first time.

  She stomped to the bed and grabbed a pile of clothes. She stormed into the bathroom and slammed the door behind her and locked it just because she could. Her body shook as if it knew now that she was safe and she could freak out. She plopped down on the edge of the bathtub and started to cry, which pissed her off and made her cry harder. She heard the door open but didn't lift her head to see him enter.Damn assassins could obviously pick locks.

  Zane kneeled down in front of her and placed his hands on her knees. "I'm sorry, sweetheart." His whispered words made her cry harder.

  "I… was… so… scared." Her words tumbled out behind sobs that filled the small bathroom. Zane tugged her gently, and she moved forward into his arms.

  "I know. I'm sorry." He rubbed her back, and they rocked on their knees on the puke pink 1970's tile of the teeny little bathroom. Jewell rested her head on his shoulder and took a shuddering breath.

  "I'm sorry I hit you." She cringed at the thought of physical violence unless it was against her brothers. Growing up they usually instigated situations that drove her and her sisters to the point of an all-out brawl.

  "I deserved it."

  "Yeah, you did." Jewell agreed with him immediately. That earned her a small laugh.

  "Come on. Get dressed, and we'll talk." He stood and extended his hand to her helping her off the tile. She grabbed the clothes out of the sink where she'd thrown them and followed him into the bedroom.

  "Why did you leave so early?" She dropped her towel and reached for her underwear. "And for future reference, the lace thongs are for evening attire, not a day of work." She hung the baby blue thong on a finger and put the other hand on her hip.

  Zane's cheeks flooded with heat. "Yeah, but knowing that is under your clothes…" He lifted his eyebrows and smiled.

  Jewell stepped into the tiny straps of lace and turned her back to him while she put on the matching sky blue lace bra. She looked back and smothered a laugh. "So, the reason you left early?"

  "What?" Zane's eyes snapped up to her. "Oh, yeah, well I got a notification from Thanatos that there was someone scoping out the building. If Vista had somehow figured out who I was already I needed to draw out the person watching the building. I left, and one of my associates followed me, the other stayed here. He wasn't supposed to wake you."

  Jewell slid on a dark blue silk button-down and hooked the small material covered buttons through the tiny loops. "Yeah, well that happened. You could have woke me and told me what was happening. That way I would have been… oh, I don't know—dressed when he showed up." Jewell stepped into a pair of black Dior slacks and tucked in her shirt.

  "Granted, but you were exhausted last night. I didn't want to wake you and add more stress."

  "Ha! I gotta say, you missed the mark there." Jewell grabbed her hair and started working it up into a bun. She twisted the ponytail she'd gathered her hair back into and then wound the twist around itself tucking the end in unde
r the tightly twisted hair to keep it from unraveling. She could put her hair up in her sleep she'd done it so many times.

  "Noted. But I was able to work with my associate to isolate the person who was staking out the building.

  "Anyone to be concerned about?" Jewell looked around for her shoes.

  Zane grabbed the pair she wore yesterday and handed them to her. "It was a private investigator. He is allegedly working on a cheating case. He'd been stalking the husband, and when he holed up in Apartment 4C, the PI took up residency outside. I've called Jared, and he's already authenticated this guy is on the level. He has a team going over to the man's office now to make sure he is actually working the case he says he's working, but I think he's a non-player. He was sweating bullets when Anubis approached him."

  "Anubis?" Jewell's attention caught at the name. "As in the Egyptian god?"

  "Yeah." Jewell waited for more, but Zane seemed to find his fingernails extremely interesting.

  "So these guys that are helping you, you know them from your past?" Jewell headed into the little kitchen and breathed a sigh of relief. Two large to-go containers filled with coffee sat on the counter. She opened one. Not hers. She handed the black coffee to Zane and popped the insulated top on the other. Oh, nirvana. The cream and sugar infused caffeine was exactly what she needed this morning.

  Zane took a sip and nodded. He glanced at her and then back at his cup.

  "What?" Jewell had been around him enough to know he wanted to say something but was hesitating.

  "Your brothers don't know they're here or that they are helping." Zane took another sip of his coffee and stared into the depths of his cup as if it was going to reveal the answers of the cosmos.

  "I won't say anything. If they ask me a direct question, I'll answer it, but I'm not in the practice of having idle conversations about assassins with my brothers." Jewell lifted her eyebrows several times and smiled at the look of relief on Zane's face.