Bodyguard Dearest (Bodyguard #1)

by Alison Foster

  “It all got very complicated, very fast. Anisa was caught in the middle of two forces: her desire to do what’s right and her hope for a US visa. Meeting me only made the second force stronger.”

  “She wanted to be with you,” I say, pensively and a little sad. Maybe the only reason I have Tanner is because Anisa died. What a terrible thought.

  “I’m not sure she knew what she wanted, Tris. She was impressionable and impatient. I believe she wanted to want certain things, you know what I mean? She was many things and still trying to find herself.”

  I nod because I do know what he means. Sometimes I think I’m exactly like that. I yearn to have wishes and dreams even if I have to make them up.

  “She received death threats after she talked about how women should have access to education. But then another threat arrived, a little different than the others. She was accused of working for the enemy. Her name was to be put on yet another kill list.”

  He stops to look at me before he goes on. “That night she came to our meeting place to show me that piece of paper about her name being on a list of traitors. She didn’t want to go back to town. She said her family would be in danger if she stayed with them. She was desperate, she didn’t make any sense. She wanted me to stage her death and then hide her until her visa came through. I tried to calm her down but she was out of her mind with panic. That’s when I decided to hide her while I tried to come up with options. It was a stupid thing to do but at the time it felt like the only solution.”

  “My God, I have no words.” It’s true. All words escape me.

  “I often think of a hundred different ways I could have handled the situation, but in the heat of the moment, I could not see any of them.”

  “You’re human, baby. It’s easy to judge now but you did your best to protect her. We can’t see the future.”

  “Maybe not,” he says. “But I know deep down that I messed up. I should have spoken up when she died, I should have told why she was at the base. Instead, I accepted what my men were telling me, that there was nothing to be done, that it wouldn’t help anyone if I took the blame.”

  “They were right,” I say, hoping he won’t hate me for saying it.

  “Do you know the real reason I didn’t talk, Tris? Her family. If I had come forward, they would have a million questions. They’d be devastated their daughter lied to them or that she wanted to go to the States to start a life with an American soldier. I wanted them to grieve in peace. I knew their traditions were their comfort. I didn’t want to complicate that.”

  “You did the right thing,” I agree.

  “I was only conscious for a few hours after the attack. They induced a coma so I could heal. My brain was swelling from the injuries. I woke up in a military hospital in Washington. I had no idea how I got there. I’m not proud of the way I handled everything. I thought I was helping her but she ended up dead anyway. And three of my men. What a cruel joke.”

  Once again, there are no words. I just hug him tight.

  “I blamed myself. I still do. So your father’s right about that part.”

  “No, Tanner,” I say, shaking my head. “My father is wrong about everything. Especially this.”

  It’s like he’s in his own world now. “She wanted to go to the States with me, start a life together,” he says. “For a single, miniscule moment, I believed it could happen.”

  With every beat of my heart, I feel his pain ticking away like an old clock. I don’t know how to take that pain away, but maybe I can give him a little bit of honesty and trust and love.

  “I’m so sorry, Tanner, for lying to you,” I say, holding back a sob. “I should have never gone back to the house. I don’t know why you’re not mad at me.”

  “Who said I’m not?” he says.

  He gets up, yanking me by the hand so I fall onto him. He pushes me backwards until I’m stuck between the wall and his massive body. His lips crush on mine, pressing, bruising, submitting me to his will. I’m a puddle of lust now, going from emotion to emotion without any brakes on.

  “You make sense of everything again,” he says, breathing heavily in my ear. “You put the past in the past and you make me crave the future. You’re a world of good, Tris. I love the light you bring to my life.”

  “Light? I almost got you killed.”

  “Details.” His hands find my breasts under my t-shirt.

  “You’re obsessed with my tits, aren’t you?” I whisper.

  He unclasps my bra. “You say it like it’s a bad thing.”

  “Not at all. My girls approve.”

  His big hands hunger my breasts, kneading them, cupping them, owning them. I am his, totally fucking his.

  I begin panting and lift one leg to wrap around his thigh.

  He puts my leg back down and nibbles on my lower lip. “I can’t fuck you, Tris, but I can make you come.”

  “You don’t have to…” I begin to say, remembering everything he went through today.

  “I want to.”

  “But you’ve been shot,” I say, tracing his bandage with one finger.

  “Good thing I have two hands.”

  With that he unzips my jeans and slides his right hand inside my panties. Holy fuck, it gets tight in there with my panties and my tight jeans and his hand. I’m about to tell him just that when his thumb finds my clit, stroking ever so skillfully. All right, I’ll let him do that for a little while before I tell him to get me out of these tight jeans.

  “I like my girl when she’s good and does what she’s told,” he says, rocking his hand against my wet pussy, letting the tip of a finger slide inside of me.

  “My jeans,” I gasp, unable to finish my thought.

  He doesn’t need to hear the rest of the sentence. He tugs my jeans down to my knees and I quickly step out of them. I grab his hand and place it back inside my soaking panties.

  He laughs. “You’d think you never had an orgasm before.”

  “Every time with you feels like the first,” I say, guiding his hand up and down my wetness to get him back to work.

  He does. One finger slips inside, then another. His left hand rests on my head as he lets his whole weight push me against the wall. It feels so good to have his fingers there, so good to have his body pressing on mine. He makes my mind spin and my body shudder.

  I can’t think anymore. His fingers glide in and out as they groove against my clit. This boy is good. His fingers focus on my tender nub, circling gently at first, then becoming faster and firmer as he seeks my undoing.

  My panting and whimpering interrupt attempts at speech. I can only form monosyllables like mmmm and baby and like this and so good, but mostly I just moan out aching renditions of Yes!

  I come on his fingers like that, practically screaming, and he holds me up while he keeps stroking me. So fucking liberating.

  “Tanner, oh my God,” I say, completely out of breath. “Fucking amazing.”

  “You liked?”

  I try to punch his chest, but my arm feels like a noodle. “Your fingers completely rule me and you know it.”

  “Good, but we’re not done. Your punishment isn’t complete yet.”

  I look at him curious, not quite following.

  “Get on your knees, Princess,” he says, pulling up my shirt to swirl his tongue over a nipple. “You’ve been so bad. It’s time for that pretty head of yours to bob up and down on the tip of my cock.”

  “That’s punishment?” I say, rolling my eyes at him.

  “I want you to take as much as you can handle.”

  He’s mine and he’s gone through hell. It’s not possible to deep throat him, but I’ll try, he deserves it. Hope I survive.

  I drop to my knees and take him in my mouth the way he wants me to. He tastes and smells so good. I suck on the head which is already a mouthful. I tease the veins that pop out of his shaft with the tip of my tongue.

  I enjoy pleasing and torturing him as much as I enjoy him doing the same to me. I can’t be
selfish. This is about him. He doesn’t need to know that I’m growing hornier and hornier as he approaches the heights of his arousal. He likes when I gag a little. For him, I’ll do anything. I let him tickle and clog my throat as much as I can without passing out.

  I don’t stop until he moans and grunts and then shudders into his explosive approval which stripes my tongue and tonsils. Everything is so intense with Tanner. His orgasm just keeps going and going. I let my big hurt man finish all over my breasts which he so adores.

  Chapter 19

  Tanner

  “Let’s leave,” Tris says, bolting upright the moment she wakes.

  “Good morning to you, too,” I say, taking a peek at the alarm clock. It’s almost ten, way too late for my liking.

  She rubs the sleep out of her eyes and stretches both arms over her head, lazily, like a cat. I was half awake and quietly enjoying the scent of her hair when she suddenly awoke.

  “I’m serious,” Tris says. “There are so many countries in the world I’d like to get lost in. What’s keeping us here? Let’s pick a destination.”

  I try to reach out and hug her but my arm hurts like a motherfucker. I do my best to keep a straight face for her sake. Well, no, it’s for my sake really. If I show discomfort, she’ll start yapping about a trip to the urgent care again. The doctor that came with the crew gave me antibiotics and painkillers. I’ll just sail right through to recovery like a champ.

  There’s a glint in her eye and something like a remnant of a morning dream. “You mean that?” I say, kissing her soft lips.

  She nods happily. Tris Kane can be such a sweet and simple soul.

  “You’d leave everything behind?”

  “No, I’m taking everything with me. You,” she says, rolling on top of me.

  “Careful,” I tell her, grabbing the back of her head with my good arm.

  “I’ll be good, I’m only a little bunny. I can’t hurt you.”

  That would be cute if it didn’t make me want to fuck her like a bunny right now. The fact remains she is very impulsive and at any moment she could do anything, including bumping my painful arm.

  I decide not to spoil her good mood even though I might need to remind her that I fix problems, I don’t run from them. We kiss and my blood warms instantly. I’ll never tire of tasting her. She tastes as good as her delicate features and her curvalicious body look.

  I slap her ass playfully when we stop kissing. “I have calls to make that won’t wait. I have some colleagues to meet. Can you stay out of trouble?”

  She scrunches her nose, pouting. “Sure thing, Mister Serious,” she says. “I’ll just look through all your stuff and uncover all your secrets.”

  “Knock yourself out,” I say. “Don’t feel you have to clean or anything.”

  “Babe, I pretty much have to clean just to move around in this place.”

  “I used to have a maid,” I say.

  “Maybe she’s still in here somewhere trying to dig her way out,” Tris says as she stands. Her firm nipples press through the fabric of one of my white T-shirts she must have put on during the night.

  “Sorry about this place. I haven’t been here much recently.”

  “I’m just teasing you, sport,” she says. “You’re no fun.”

  “Did you think I’d be fun when you threw yourself at me in that Canadian Inn?” I say to jostle her a little.

  “What? I did not throw myself at you,” she protests. The shocked look on her face is precious.

  “Totally did. Might as well have stage dived right on top of me.”

  “You’re nuts.”

  “You took your clothes off.”

  “That was to torture you.”

  “And then you kissed me.”

  “Oh, is that how it went? Cause I remember someone getting a huge erection. I mean so huge it scared the living daylights out of me.”

  “Getting naked to torture a man kind of has that side effect,” I explain. “If you didn’t want the beast, you should not have woken him with your sweet little ass or perfect tits. Do you have any idea how fuckable you are?”

  “No, why don’t you show me right now?” she says, starting to land a few hot kisses on my chest.

  “Nice try,” I say, “but it’s almost noon. It’s the latest I’ve woken up since, I don’t know, before I enlisted. I need to take my meds.”

  That part about the meds does it. I knew it would.

  “You didn’t take your meds yet?” she screeches. “You’re so unbelievable, Tanner. From now on, I’m in charge. Go! Take them!”

  “Yes, ma’am,” I say, diving down to just get a taste of her nipple through fabric before she pulls away.

  I walk into the kitchen to get some water. I gulp down half a glass when I hear her footsteps approaching behind me.

  “Do you have like cable TV or an iPad? Do you even have Wi-Fi?” She says that last bit with an almost reproachful tone.

  I laugh a little which only makes her whine more.

  “I mean are we still in the 21st century? No one lives like this. I’d say you live like a monk, but monks are very tidy.”

  “Why don’t you cook something?” I tell her as I gulp down the antibiotics. “We could use some sustenance. We forgot to eat last night.”

  Maybe that’s not entirely true. We did eat each other. No wonder I basically passed out with the blood loss and intense physical exertion.

  Tris seems to be searching for words. Something like panic lingers in her eyes as she forces a grin.

  “What is it?”

  “I don’t know much about cooking,” she says.

  I’m kind of speechless. “Really?

  She opens her eyes wide. “Yeah, really. It just never came up.”

  I try not to laugh. Tris Kane has hungered independence all her life but has never learned how to prepare a proper meal. “It’s not rocket science,” I say. “I bet you could figure it out.”

  She rolls her eyes. “I’d need groceries. The non-expired kind. And then maybe a fire engine parked outside just in case.”

  “There’s a Korean market on the corner,” I say. “You could grab noodles and boil some water. They have all the basics there, too.”

  “We’re back to the basics,” she says like it’s an exotic lifestyle.

  I’m about to grab her ass when her phone rings.

  “Oh my god, it’s my sister, Elsie.” She clicks on the call. “Hi, Elsie. I’m so glad you called.”

  Her face evolves from cheerful to concerned to completely panicked.

  “How?” I hear her say. “When?”

  My senses heighten. I go to her. My eyes implore her to explain.

  “Margot has been kidnapped,” she says with trembling lips.

  I snatch the phone out of her hands and put it to my ear. “Elsie, please, try to stay calm. It’s Tanner. Tell me what’s happened. Start at the beginning.”

  Elsie hesitates. She’s the sister to always give me the least trouble. She was always the easy assignment for security. She never changed plans. She never got into too much trouble.

  “Margot didn’t come home last night,” she says finally. “We thought she spent the night with Warren but then he called this morning. He said Margot had taken a cab home because he got a flat tire and had to wait for triple A.”

  “A setup,” I say, mostly to myself, but Tris tugs on my hand urgently.

  “What do you mean?” she asks.

  “Someone blew out Warren’s tire so they could get to Margot,” I say into the phone so both sisters can hear.

  Elsie sobs. “Dad said we shouldn’t call Tris. He didn’t want you involved, Tanner.”

  That son of a bitch. He has priorities upside down.

  “You did the right thing calling,” I reassure Elsie. “We’ll get your sister back. Don’t worry.”

  “What will you do?”

  “Everything.”

  “Did you mean that?” Tris says when I hand her the phone.

 
“Your sisters are under my protection. All of you are. That will not change, no matter what your father does.”

  “Who would take poor Margot?” she says. “My father should be begging you to handle this.”

  “He doesn’t have to, because I’m handling it,” I tell her.

  All those phone calls I had to make are now cancelled. Finding Margot is the only thing that matters. I dial Dominic.

  “Details, pronto,” I tell him as soon as he answers.

  “Boss,” Dominic says. “I’m glad you called. We need all the help we can get. Riley might not be down with it. You gave him a mega welt on his head.”

  “Hey, it was his idea. He said it’d be more believable if he got hurt.”

  Dominic laughs. “He wasn’t saying much about it. What a jackass. He’s always been terrified by Mister Kane.”

  “Enough small talk. What do we have?”

  “Not much. The police are here. They’re sweeping the area inch by inch looking for clues. Derek is in tech personally running detailed checks on all the likely crews that might have been used on this. It’s a mess.”

  “Any hits?”

  “So far every usual suspect was either out of town or otherwise accounted for at that time last night. He has a few more to run.”

  “This is Jordan Kane’s daughter we’re talking about,” I say. “They would have used someone from out of town. Maybe a Seattle crew or Albuquerque.”

  “I’ll tell Derek,” Dominic says.

  “Tell him it was your idea,” I say. “He’ll be more receptive.”

  “Check.”

  “Alright, brother,” I say. “Stay vigilant.”

  “Always,” Dominic says and hangs up.

  I exhale and grit my teeth before facing Tris.

  “It doesn’t look good, does it?” Tris says, heartbroken.

  I hug her tenderly. I’m going to make this right. “I need to do some digging. Go back home. Our personal drama can wait. You’ll be safe there. Derek will have the grounds crawling with security.”

  “Tanner, no. I live here with you and the cockroaches. We’re family,” she says, more serious than her words would suggest.

  “Tris, you need to listen to me. I forgave you for the last time, but that ship has passed. You’ll do exactly as I say in these matters. Do you understand? About this there is no discussion.”