Sophia asked, “Are you comfortable over there?”
“Sure,” he lied.
“I feel bad.”
“Why?”
“I took your bed.”
“I offered it. You sleep. I’ll be right here.”
She sighed. She hadn’t even hinted at him joining her and he’d already closed the door on the idea. It was probably for the best anyway, but now she wondered if he was really attracted to her or not. Wasn’t he supposed to try something? Could it be considered rude that he hadn’t? A girl deserved more than wittiness. After all, she’d known a few guys who’d seemed interested in her but never made a move. She sighed, not wanting yet another repeat of that. She often got the idea that the good men she wanted were too shy to do anything about asking her out, and while she was a modern woman and all of that, she still liked a guy to woo her. Oh please tell me he’s not one of those guys who can’t make a move, she thought.
Maybe he was trying to reassure her that he wasn’t a creep. Now wasn’t the best time to make a move, considering that he knew something was going on with her. If he’d known Seth had tried to kidnap and possibly rape her, the innkeeper probably wouldn’t have even been flirting, so maybe he was just being courteous. She liked that idea and decided to go with it. At least he hadn’t sent her a picture of his cock, not that she wouldn’t have gazed at that with as much interest as at his eyes. The thought made her chuckle.
“Everything okay?” Connor asked.
“Yes. Sorry.”
“Okay. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Connor. And thank you.”
With some humor, he said, “Stop thanking me.”
“Sorry.”
“Stop apologizing, too.”
She laughed and turned away, knowing she wouldn’t get to sleep if she didn’t stop sneaking peeks at him. “Goodnight, sweetie.” With her back turned, she didn’t see him put one hand over his heart and silently groan. She knew he’d stay there and protect her through the night.
Or so she thought. At four in the morning, while both were sound asleep, the house alarm went off.
Chapter 4 – Alarmed
Connor bolted upright from the couch and grabbed his neck, cricked from the position he’d been lying in. He saw Sophia sit up, disoriented. Clearly she wasn’t the one who’d set off the house alarm. He would’ve assumed a cat had done it—they’d set it off before—but he wasn’t taking chances tonight. As he threw off the blanket and rose, her expression turned fearful.
He took a pistol from the gun cabinet, loaded it, and headed for the door, bare feet quiet on the hardwood floor. “Stay here.”
“What? Where are you going?”
“To see what’s going on.”
“Wait, I thought you said the alarm calls the cops. Can’t we just wait for them?”
“I’d feel like a sitting duck while someone does what they want with me and my house. And my guest.” He unlocked the door and silently swung it open. “Lock the door after I leave.”
“No. No, please don’t leave me here alone.”
“Sophia, it’s better for me to scare them off before they come up here. Besides, I have to protect what’s mine.” He stepped into the hall.
“Well, what if I’m yours?”
Startled, Connor looked back, seeing her in the middle of his bed, right where she seemed to belong. He had a moment of clarity, a rush of desire making his heart pound. With a certainty that surprised him, he boldly announced, “You will be. And I’m protecting you right now.”
Flushing, she pleaded, “But, Connor—”
“Sophia, please. Trust my judgment.” Her worried eyes almost stopped him, but if he went back, he’d crush her lips until the cops tore them apart. Or doctors surgically separated them. With an effort, he pulled the door closed behind him.
Only after he disappeared did Sophia realize that if Seth was here, and something happened to Connor, it would be her fault. And she’d never even kissed Connor, not that this would really matter by comparison, but the thought prompted her to jump out of bed and run to the door. She pulled it open and peeked down the hall, glimpsing his masculine silhouette as he neared the top of the stairs, gun in hand. She knew how to use one, too, from a self-defense class, and quietly raced back to the still-open gun cabinet. She grabbed one she could handle, loaded it, and set off after him. No one was shooting Connor Kendall without her unloading an entire magazine into them for it.
He was halfway down the stairs when she reached the top and whispered his name. He looked up, flashes of concern, anger, and then surprise at the gun in her hand crossing his face before resignation set in. He held up one finger to his lips. The alarm was still blaring, getting louder as he neared the console in the foyer. He gestured for her to stay back and then punched in the code. Sudden silence descended. For a moment they stood listening, her at the bottom of the stairs. They heard nothing. Connor hit the button that would tell him which sensor had been activated.
“Sensor 4, kitchen,” said a robotic female voice.
Glass breaker, thought Connor. If someone tried to shatter the glass instead of lift a window or open a door, that’s the alarm that would be triggered, but it had gone off from something as simple as him dropping something that made a loud smack on the floor. He could never remember which door or window was which number, but if the alarm didn’t say either “door” or “window”, the glass breaker was the only alternative. The cats had likely done something, but all he had to do was confirm the windows were intact and they could relax. He gestured for Sophia to come over, so she did.
“Do you know how to use that?” he asked, meaning the gun. She nodded. “Stay here.” He moved to the kitchen entrance and peeked in, immediately seeing a shattered wine glass on the floor. A glance at the windows showed none were broken. Just to be sure, he quietly went in and looked more carefully but saw nothing else.
“It’s okay,” he announced. “You can come in. Everything’s fine.”
Sophia walked in just as the phone rang, making her jump. “Who’d be calling at this hour?”
“Police.” He picked up the receiver, massaging the crick in his neck with the other hand. “Hello?”
“Hey Connor, it’s Ryan,” said a man’s voice he recognized. “Everything okay over there?”
“Yeah. Cat knocked over a wine glass.”
“Alright. Good to hear. I’ll see you Saturday then?”
“Right. Sorry to wake you up.”
“It’s okay. The woman at ADT has a sexy voice when she calls me.”
Connor chuckled and hung up.
Having noticed the casual tone of the conversation, though she’d only caught some of what Ryan had said, Sophia asked, “I take it you know that guy?”
“Yeah, my cousin. Local sheriff.”
“Is there anything in Comus the Kendalls aren’t in control of?”
He smirked. “You. Yet.”
“Oh, dream on, buddy,” she joked.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah.” She glanced at the broken wine glass and saw the offending cat wander in, white tail in the air, to rub against his leg. “Actually it makes me nervous. I, uh, recently had a cat break something, and when I went to investigate, well, that got my guard down when I should’ve kept it up. You have the alarm here, though, so I guess we’re okay.” She looked around nervously.
Noticing that, he approached and gently took the gun from her. “I’ll look around more. Why don’t you go back to bed?”
“If it’s all the same to you, I’d rather stay beside you.”
“Okay.” They cleaned up the glass and did a quick check of every door and window on the first floor. Along the way, Connor took her clothes from the sink and threw them in the washing machine before they returned to the bedroom, having seen nothing unusual.
“I don’t think either of us is getting back to sleep,” she remarked as he put the guns away.
“Probably true.”
She wa
tched him massage his neck once again and frowned. “Why don’t we sit and talk?”
“Okay.” He started for the couch, but she took his hand and stopped him.
“Over here,” she said, nodding at the bed.
He arched an eyebrow. “You trust me in there with you?”
Squeezing his hand, she replied earnestly, “I trust you anywhere, especially on a bed.”
He gazed at her, eyes dark with shadows of the night. Something hot burned in them as he said, “I’m not sure I trust myself. Normally I do, but you’re like no woman I’ve ever known.”
“Good. We can stay atop the covers. You’ll be fine.”
“Okay.” He started for the bed.
“Wait, I want to get the sweatpants.”
As she walked away, he took a last opportunity to admire her legs. When she returned, Sophia led him to his bed, feeling sweet and sexy doing it. She climbed in and moved to the far side, sitting cross-legged as he got in beside her.
He asked, “Do you want me to put on a shirt?”
She looked at his torso and said, “Definitely not.”
He smiled. “So you think you can trust me, but how do I know I can trust you not to try anything?”
“It’s a risk you’ll have to take.”
“Fine.”
They sat quietly for a few moments. Finally, Sophia asked, “What should we talk about?”
He sighed. “Well, I think it’s time for you to tell me what’s going on. We just checked my house, while armed.”
She looked away and bit her lip. He had a right to know. He’d more than earned the truth, having opened his home to her when she had no money. Then he’d fed her, loaned her clothes, and let her wake him and sleep in his bed while he slept on a couch that was too short. Then he’d finally taken a gun and went after an apparent intruder to protect her, all without knowing why but knowing she was in trouble. She looked at him in admiration and suddenly felt as if she’d acted ungrateful.
A strong desire to kiss him overcame her, but she settled for clasping one of his hands. His fingers closed gently but firmly around hers as if to lend his strength to her.
“Okay,” she started quietly. “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner.” She took a deep breath and then admitted, “I was attacked by three people in my house tonight. One was Seth Murray. He stalked me when we were in high school. He’s apparently decided to, um, consummate his supposed love for me against my will. I punched one of them in the face, which is how I got the blood on me. I kicked another in the crotch and ran for my car. That’s why I only have my keys, not even shoes. Seth came after me and chased me, ramming my car from behind once and trying to force me off the road another time. I finally lost him. I didn’t know where else to go when I passed by here a few moments later and thought this was a good place to hide. Looks like I was right.”
She stopped talking then, watching Connor continue to transform before her eyes; he didn’t move, except to slowly sit up taller, clench one fist, and tighten his grip on her with the other. A darkness seemed to gather around him, within him, as if he was summoning it from some unholy hell. Outrage swept across his handsome face, which became sinister for a moment. His eyes watered with empathy and then the tears vanished as if a fury within him boiled them away.
She found tears in her own eyes then, as if his reaction to her list of horrors made that list all the more nightmarish. It had sounded a lot worse out loud than in her head, especially all in a row like that. But it felt good to get it out and not deal with it alone. When Connor didn’t say anything, the muscles in his jaw shifting as he clenched it, she became concerned and was about to gently touch him with her other hand when he finally spoke.
“Seth Murray,” he finally whispered, his eyes dark, “is a dead man.”
Chapter 5 – Golden Boy
“You’ve held up so well,” Connor began quietly, “despite going through this alone. You should not have to do that. And you won’t.”
Sophia put her other hand on him. “Are you okay?”
His eyebrows rose. Then he visibly tried to relax for her, unclenching his fists, closing his eyes a moment, and letting out a big sigh. That he felt so strongly about the wrongs Seth had done made it clear that he’d never have done any of those things, which didn’t surprise her. Still, his reaction said a lot about his sense of right and wrong. Was he honorable, courageous, and decent to all of Seth’s dishonor, cowardice, and despicableness? She leaned forward on the bed and kissed him on the lips, a rush of pleasure sweeping over her.
It’s been said that a couple can know everything about how right they are for each other from the very first kiss, and Connor and Sophia knew they were home as long as their lips were pressed together. Physically that kiss didn’t last long, but emotionally, even spiritually, it seemed to go on forever, in a good way. In the best of ways. And every subsequent kiss compounded their adoration like some sort of interest rate from heaven, deepening, broadening, and enriching a love that increasingly seemed like something out of a fairy tale.
When Sophia pulled back, startled and dazed, nothing but the present mattered anymore. The past was gone. The future had been replaced by a certainty so promising and glorious that she trembled. For his part, Connor’s distress had disappeared as if it had never been, replaced by a deep sense of well-being spreading from his lips down through the rest of him. He hadn’t known a kiss could be anything like that, nor had Sophia, and for several long moments, they just stared silently into each other’s eyes.
Then Connor remembered himself long enough to whisper, “I knew I couldn’t trust you not to try something.”
That abrupt comment startled Sophia before both of them began laughing loud and hard. She flung herself into his arms, knocking him back on the bed as he caught her in an embrace from which she never wanted to escape. They lay giggling for several minutes, like two schoolkids who’d just told a silly joke, and when both of them finally stopped, one would start laughing again, triggering the other to. It finally ended with her lying with her head on his chest, one hand stroking his side.
“Oh, boy,” she said, “I’m tired now. That wore me out.”
He kissed her scalp. “Maybe we’ll fall asleep again after all.”
“Okay. You’ll stay here with me? In bed?”
“You couldn’t drag me away.”
“Good.”
They repositioned themselves to get a pillow under his head, pull the sheets over both of them, and get her head on his chest. He breathed in the scent of her red hair, which smelled like lavender. He gently played with it while she stroked his chest with one hand. Lying quietly, they shared something sweet without words. And neither wanted to ruin the innocence with lust. They drifted off into a restful sleep, dreaming of everlasting comfort.
* * *
Hours later, Sophia woke from the dream to find sunlight streaming onto the bed, right where Connor should have been, but wasn’t. He couldn’t have been gone long, for his side of the bed was still warm. In glancing around for him, she saw that he’d left her dried clothes on the nightstand and a note, which read:
Sophia, please help yourself to the shower. I’m not saying you stink. I was actually trying to be nice ;) I’ll be downstairs making breakfast. —Connor
Nothing disarmed a girl like a good laugh, and the horrors of yesterday had greatly receded from her thoughts and emotions thanks to Connor. She immediately missed him and stripped off her clothes to lie naked in his bed for a few moments, which turned into minutes, while she imagined him there beside her. Hopefully there hadn’t been a naked woman in his bed in a long time. Well, he deserved one in there every night, so part of her wanted him to be getting laid whenever he damn well pleased, just with her.
A problem is best solved by one who sees it, she thought, causing moisture to gather in her folds, where one exploratory finger now went, causing a shudder. Two fingers traced the outside of her pussy’s lips before she tugged at the short red triangle of
hair on her pubic bone. Her other hand caressed her thighs, and then she pushed her arms inward, making her breasts push together and up, swelling with sensation, the nipples engorging and stiffening as the morning sun lay across her. She wished the sun’s warmth came from Connor.
The dew of arousal coated her fingers as she slid them, bit by bit, inside her, imagining he was exploring all she had to give him. With her nipples begging for attention, she used one slick finger to do circles around one areola, then the other. She trembled with need and felt so naughty. The idea of masturbating in his bed drove her wild and she intended to cum in Connor’s bed right now just in case she never got another chance.
She spread her thighs, one finger twirling around her throbbing clit. The other hand pinched her nipples, tugging, twirling, and pulling until pleasure coursed from her breasts to her pussy and back like some sort of arousal ricochet. Her body began to clench and unclench as she neared euphoria, her back arching off the silken sheets. Moaning his name as the familiar weight of release erupted in her loins, Sophia orgasmed in Connor’s bed, turning her face into his pillow and inhaling deeply through her nose to fill her senses with his scent. Maybe now her own scent had been added to what she hoped would soon enough be their shared bed.
She lay content and bemused by hopes she’d long since buried, Connor seeming more and more like her dream man come true. He’d awoken those hopes since their meeting, only yesterday, and in every interaction since. Eager to see him and suddenly unable to stand their separation, she dashed into his shower. Thoughts of her belongings stowed here beside his occupied her. She ignored signs of her growing crush because those never ended well, but this time felt entirely different. Still turned on, she used the slippery soap to her advantage and again climaxed by the time she turned off the water.
Connor (The Kendall Family Series Book 2) Page 4
