Protected by Shadows

by Aliyah Burke

  “Looks that way.”

  They will rue the day they ever thought to cross a Camden.

  Chapter Seven

  Valentino swore over and over to himself as he pounded along the asphalt. The afternoon was cool as clouds had overtaken the sun, bringing with them the promise of rain. Still humid though. He shook his head, unsure how people could and did, willingly, live in these conditions.

  None of this was making sense. The Watchers hadn’t been known for playing around before. Trevor Mansfield was a serious sort.

  Ethan had found the bug on Lexy’s car when he’d changed the oil in it, and had found one in her phone. Thankfully it hadn’t allowed them to see his stuff or hear his conversations when he’d done the force pairing. At least that was good news.

  Lexy was at work right now and Anabelle Lee had gone in with her. He ran over the discussion Lexy had had with the voice on the other end of the line. Odd. That was all he could come up with. It was just odd.

  Glancing down at his watch, he figured out how much farther he would run. It was an activity that normally allowed him to think things through and come to decisions. Right now, all it did was get him more and more irritated at how this was playing out.

  Playing out. That was it—there had to be another player involved in this. Someone personally connected to Lexy. They really needed to talk. Shoving it to the back of his mind, he continued on his run, needing the workout to bring him back to center. Lexy had a way of knocking him off kilter and he had to be on his best game or there was a possibility that this would end very poorly for her.

  Even as he progressed along, his brain wouldn’t give him a rest. He constantly played her words from last night in his mind. She was setting out to push him away, get him to leave and divorce her.

  “Not going to happen, Lexy.” He slowed to a walk and began his cool down. “You can be as bitchy as you want, but we’re married now.” Something, which, despite his attitude that he showed to Lexy and everyone else, he was extremely pleased about. “And married we shall be.”

  Unfortunately, the other issue raising its ugly head from his past was what had happened with his first wife. He scowled and shook his head, as if that action would rid himself of her memory.

  She lied to you. Perhaps Lexy is as well.

  “No way.” He knew Lexy. She wouldn’t do that.

  Thought you knew Alyssa as well. How’d that turn out for you?

  Damn his thoughts and memories. He stomped up the front steps then entered the house. Reaching for the chain around his neck, he frowned when his fingers didn’t come in contact with the ring he’d worn there for years. His personal reminder.

  But Lexy had refused to let him continue to wear it. So he’d given in and put it away. Ignoring his desire to go check and make sure it was where he’d put it, Valentino made his way to the bathroom and stripped.

  After adjusting the water to his preferred temperature, he stepped under the pulsing spray. He braced his hands along the tiles and dropped his head as the water worked out the stiffness in his neck.

  All he could see was Lexy. Her naked body in the steam with him. Her tight pussy gripping his cock. Her pants and screams heightening his own pleasure as he took her hard and fast against the wall of the shower.

  He groaned and gave into his urge. Gripping his cock with one hand, Valentino began to stroke himself. Up and down from base to tip, he worked his hard length. It didn’t take much imagination to picture Lexy’s hand on him, her grasp strong as she jacked him. His nose filled with her scent and he recalled what it was like to have her hourglass curves pressed against him.

  He pinched the head of his cock, not willing to come so soon. His balls were drawing up, telling him there wasn’t much time left before he came. Faster and faster he moved his hand, holding out to the very end until it could no longer be stopped.

  His erection jerked beneath his touch as he shot his load all over the wall of the shower. His orgasm was so intense, his knees buckled slightly and he had to scramble to brace himself.

  “Lexy.” Her name was dragged out of him as he continued to shake.

  He was still hard as he made short work of the rest of his shower, but at least the edge had been taken off. Stepping from the shower, he reached for a towel only to freeze at the sight of Lexy standing there in the doorway.

  The turquoise silk robe she wore shot fire through him, and his shaft, which had been slowly softening, became rock hard in seconds. “What are you doing in here?” His question came out in a croak.

  “That was some impressive display you put on in there.”

  Lord, she’d been watching him jack off? That was even more of a turn-on for him.

  “Lexy?”

  Her fingers teased the end of her sash, slowly drawing on the material. His gaze was glued to her French manicure standing out against the vibrant blue. Pull it, baby. Expose that smooth brown skin to me. Let me see your naked body.

  “I can’t seem to stay away.”

  “I don’t want you to,” he admitted, ignoring the towel and reaching out for her.

  Thankfully, she didn’t argue, just stepped to meet him. With a low growl, he yanked her to him and slammed his lips over hers. God, the feel of her against him again was nothing he could ever explain.

  His hands made contact with her bare skin as he slid them inside the silk of her robe. Settling them along her waist, he ground against her. Lexy countered, placing her hands around his neck and curving up into him.

  Their tongues dueled as he removed the robe from her body. He cupped her breasts and she moaned into his mouth. Tugging on her nipples, he backed her up to the wall. She lifted herself and wrapped her legs about his hips. He tore his lips off hers and suckled one taut tip in his mouth.

  “Fuck!” she cried, arching her back, shoving more of her breast into his mouth.

  She wriggled against him and soon they both moaned in pure pleasure as he sank deep inside her.

  “Lexy,” he began.

  “Shut up, Val. Don’t ruin this by talking.”

  He bit back his frustrated retort and focused on taking the woman in his arms. It wasn’t anything romantic and gentle. This was hard. Fast. All about each of them finding release—how it had been between them previously.

  She ground against him, flexing her internal muscles around his thrusting cock. Lord, no one had ever held him so tight. Not just her pussy either, Lexy held him as if she couldn’t bear to let him go. In and out he thrust, nipping and laving her breasts as he alternated between the two of them.

  Her grip in his hair neared painful, but he didn’t care. Nor did he stop. Her panting increased as did the pitch of her voice.

  “Mine,” he rumbled around one pebbled nipple. A statement he punctuated with three forceful strokes.

  She cried and came in a rush around him. It didn’t take him long to follow and shoot his release deep inside her with a guttural cry of his own. Palming her ass, he stepped back from the wall and carried her to the bed he’d been staying in before laying her down, remaining buried in her core throughout. Then he began all over again, his hunger only piqued for her, not assuaged in the slightest.

  * * * *

  Valentino woke to the sound of something hitting the floor. Bolting upright, he scanned the darkness as his hand slipped beneath his pillow to grip his Walther PPK. More banging and thudding had him sliding from bed. He shoved into his slacks and made his way out of the room, moving with caution but speed.

  Lexy hadn’t been in the bed so he knew it could be her, but that wasn’t a chance he was willing to take. After spinning around the final corner, he stood there, weapon at the ready, and paused.

  “What the hell are you doing?” he demanded, staring at Lexy who stood amongst what appeared to be most—if not all of—her cookware lying upon the kitchen floor. The one piece that wasn’t at her feet was suddenly sailing through the air toward his head.

  Shit! He ducked and it chunked into the doorframe beside
him then clattered to the tile.

  “Lexy, it’s me!”

  “I know.” Her tone cold and hard.

  Wait, what? She knew? “You knew? Then what the fuck are you doing throwing something at my head?”

  She stared unapologetically at him. “Had I wanted to hit you I would have. It was merely a warning. Why? Because when you come thundering into my kitchen with a pistol and aim it at me, do you think I won’t react? Or is it because I didn’t scream like a little girl and wait to be saved? Put that away.”

  “Are you insane? I heard noises.”

  She threw up her hands in obvious disgust. “This is my house, jackass, I’m allowed to make noise if I so desire. If it bothers you so damn much, go elsewhere.”

  He lowered his pistol and bent to pick up the heavy cast iron skillet she’d launched at his head. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw the dent in the doorframe. Christ, had that hit me I’d be knocked unconscious. Or worse.

  “Let me try this again. What are you doing?”

  “Cleaning,” she snapped. “What’s it look like, genius?”

  She was more agitated than usual and he really had no clue on how to respond. Before, he would have continued to antagonize her. Right now, he really wanted her back in bed. Preferably with him.

  He backed up then checked the rest of the house, mostly to appease himself and partly to give himself a moment to calm down. What logical woman faced an armed man with an iron skillet? Alexsa Camden, that was who. And she wasn’t logical. What she was was fearless and headstrong. Not necessarily a good combination.

  He paused in the doorway to her kitchen. She knelt before the cabinet and scrubbed, her head partway in the open space. His gaze lingered on the addictive sway of her ass in her pink and black plaid boxers. She was his wife. Wife. The question was, why did that word send a bunch of funny feelings through him?

  “What happened to this being business only?” he asked softly.

  “Go mutter elsewhere, Val. You’re neither wanted in here nor needed.” Lexy didn’t turn around or stop her cleaning.

  How tempting it was for him to just grab her and take her back to bed. Then start all over with what we fell asleep doing.

  Valentino didn’t. He stepped back and gave her some space. Once in the living room, he stretched out on the couch and kept an ear out toward the kitchen. Whether she needed him or not wasn’t the issue. He wouldn’t leave her unprotected. That was the most important thing he had to do. Keep her safe.

  Lexy leaned against the now dented doorframe between her kitchen and living room. Another thing for me to fix. Honestly, she had no one to blame but herself, given she was the one who’d chucked the pan at his head. Okay, so maybe she shouldn’t have done it, but that expression on his face had been priceless. Especially once he realized I knew who he was.

  Sometimes she truly was nothing more than a bitch. He lay on her couch, feet hanging over the armrest as he slept wearing nothing more than his slacks—unfastened slacks. The PPK was on his chest under his hand as it rose and fell with each deep breath he took.

  Husband. Her husband.

  Another dumb move on her part. She shouldn’t have insisted on actually going through with the sham. That was what it was—a sham. After blowing out a sharp breath, she moved through the room, turning off the light on her way, and made her way back to her bedroom.

  Her bed, still made and not smelling of the man she’d just left in the living room, didn’t hold much appeal for her. Didn’t matter, she still crawled in and tried to get a bit more sleep.

  It was the phone that woke her. She answered without checking the ID and said, “Hello?”

  “It is time for you to learn what we want from you.” The distinct computerized voice banished the final remnants of sleep. She sat upright in bed, heart pounding.

  “What do you want?” She slipped quietly from bed and padded up into the living room.

  “What do you know of The Watchers?”

  She touched Valentino’s foot. “I don’t know a damn thing about you and your crazy group. What do you want from me?”

  The light at the end of the couch snapped on and she could see Val watching her intently, gun still in his hand. His tousled hair distracted her for a moment until the voice on the line began talking again.

  “You truly are a spitfire. You should learn to curb your tongue.”

  She ground her jaw in an attempt to keep her next comment to herself. Valentino pulled out his cell and sent a message to someone. He never left her side and kept watching her.

  “You were telling me about your group,” she prompted.

  “Right. Right. We aren’t a terrorist group, despite what others may say about us. We love our country and what we’re doing is protecting it.”

  “By putting my brother into a coma? How does that help you protect this country?”

  “You weren’t listening to us. We had to get your attention somehow.”

  She narrowed her eyes and shot to her feet, pacing. “The first I ever heard from you was when I was on my way home after I got news of my brother’s accident. No fucking computer-voice got in touch with me before that. And if you’re so sure about what you’re doing, why the disguise? Tell me who you are.”

  “We are against the government and how far it’s taken us. The ones in office are ruining us. Ruining what this country stands for. Our right to say what we want and live how we see fit. Without them controlling every aspect of it.”

  “So threats and putting people in the hospital is more what you’re saying this country is about? Bullshit. This has nothing to do with your beliefs. You’re trying to make a statement. So make your damn statement and leave me and my family out of it.”

  Valentino shook his head at her, but she ignored him. This person had pissed her off.

  “I would suggest you calm down, Alexsa Camden. I would hate for your clinic to be a target.”

  Her blood turned to ice. “You bastard. So you sit there on that end of the phone and try to convince me you’re all for rights, but you get mad when I voice my opinion. You’re a fucking contradiction. Either you are for it or you’re not. And if you are then it seems you only are for it when it comes to you. Let’s cut the crap. I don’t give a damn what your supposed group stands for. What is it you want from me?”

  “You have some connections which would be good for us. I want you to make the introductions, so to speak.”

  She frowned and sat beside Valentino. “Connections? Who the hell do I know that you want to know?”

  “You have some family, and some of your clients.”

  Her phone beeped and she saw it was her service. “Make this quick, work is calling.”

  “I’ll call back.” He was gone.

  Lexy took the next call and when she finished she stared at Valentino with a shocked expression. “I’m so damn confused by this. If this has to do with my family and some clients, why hurt Eugene? They could have gone to him for the same stuff. Or Hector. They all have access to the files.”

  “What family do you have high up in government?”

  She shook her head. “I don’t know. Ever since our parents died, it’s been the three of us. We kind of shut ourselves off from the rest of the family. Just focused on us. I mean, we knew they were there if we needed them but…” She shrugged. “You know how things are at times with keeping family at a distance.”

  “We need to see your files and figure out family members.”

  “Come to work with me tomorrow and you can see the files. Or Scarlett. As far as family, I’ll have to ask Hector. He would know better than I. He’s actually been in touch with a few of them more recently than I have.”

  She glanced her watch and shook her head. No point in going back to bed now. “I need a shower then I’ll get some food ready.” The look Valentino gave her burned her flesh and she fought not to show any reaction. Without another word, she went to the bathroom and started the shower.

  Within fifteen minutes s
he had finished and was dressed in the kitchen. Her newly cleaned kitchen. She stared at the man who was cooking.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Making breakfast.” He never turned around. “Set the table.”

  Sticking her tongue out at his back, she went to do as he said. They shared a remarkably civil breakfast, not that they lingered, for she had to get to the clinic. While she cleaned up, he went to take his shower and get ready for the day.

  “I have to go,” she said, checking the time.

  “Let’s head out then,” he replied, showing up at her side.

  She ran her gaze over him and shook her head. “You need to loosen up your dress code there, hubby.”

  “Fine,” he said after a few moments. “We’ll go shopping and you can tell me what’s appropriate to wear.”

  It took her a few moments to process that. He was willing to change his attire? Had hell frozen over? Perhaps the world was just coming to an end.

  He set the alarm and walked beside her down the steps.

  “Do I even want to know how you got the code to my house?” she asked.

  “Probably not.”

  “Will it be safe to talk in my car?”

  “Talk? You want to talk to me?”

  “Stop being an ass, Val. I’m trying to… Oh, forget it.”

  She unlocked her car and jumped in without another word to him. Starting the engine, she grinned when the music pounded through the car’s interior. She backed out of the drive and headed for work, not paying him the least bit of attention.

  After getting him situated at her desk with the files on her clients, she went to prepare for the emergency that was on its way in. A few moments prior to the dog arriving, Tracy, her tech, hustled through the door.

  They went out together with the stretcher to meet the guy who drove up with his dog in the back. “Jason,” she said as they moved to the tailgate.

  “I swear, Dr Camden, I didn’t even see him there. I thought he was still out after the coon.” He cleared his throat. “Skin, not a real one because I know it’s not hunting season for them yet. But we were training.”