Collared By The Warrior

by Daniella Wright

  One night we were at the diner, where we had a weekly date since the night I’d taken her there. She was watching me with something like adoration on her face and I couldn’t help but lean forward to kiss her across the table. She smiled against my lips and her eyes sparkled as I sat back down.

  “What’s your story, Jett? You haven’t told me much about yourself.”

  I looked at her, wondering whether or not to tell her the truth. In the end, I did. I couldn’t help it. I had been keeping so much from her already, and it pained me to have to lie.

  “Alan and I are guns for hire for a biker gang,” I said. She raised her eyebrows, a hint of trepidation in her eyes. I continued.

  “We protect people who need it, mostly. Make sure they don’t get hurt by the wrong sort of folks.”

  Her body relaxed in relief. I wasn’t a killer. It had never been in my nature. When I had killed, which had only been twice, it had been to protect my client or Alan. I didn’t regret those times, but they did weigh on me.

  “Who are you protecting now?” she asked, and I was tempted to tell her the whole story. But I didn’t. Instead, I looked at my hands.

  “We’re on a bit of a vacation right now, but it probably won’t last long. We’ll pick up another job here soon. Laying low isn’t really our thing when there’s no work involved. Alan gets bored.”

  “What about you?” she asked.

  “Oh, I’ve found a way to keep life interesting,” I told her, smiling. She blushed a pretty shade of pink and smiled back.

  “But you will be leaving soon?”

  I nodded. “It’s likely.”

  She looked sad then, her smile dropping, her eyes full of a melancholy I’d never seen in her before. She tried to hide it, though, looking away.

  “I understand,” she said. “And it’s probably a good thing.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “It’s been nice being your friend, but I have things I need to do too.”

  The word friend made me wince internally. We were more than friends at this point and she knew it, though she was denying it even to herself. We continued to make conversation after that. She asked me to tell her stories about my work and I gladly did, eager to stretch out our time together. I wondered if tonight she’d let me go home with her, if she’d be willing to get close to me again after I had told her I’d be leaving soon. I had to do it, couldn’t let her know that she was the one we were protecting. I didn’t know why; perhaps I was worried that she’d take it the wrong way, that I was taking advantage of her. I would never do so, but she had been lied to before, hurt by men, and I didn’t think that she’d even believe me if I told her I genuinely felt something for her that was growing deeper by the day.

  She did not let me into her room that night. Not at first, anyway. She quietly slipped inside of her door without saying goodbye to me and I paused for a moment, looked after her, then went inside my own room. I was preparing to go to sleep when there was a soft rap at the door. I answered it and slipped quietly in the hall to avoid waking my brother.

  “Hi,” I said to her when she was quiet. Her eyes were narrowed as if she were angry with me, and indeed there was a fire in her eyes I hadn’t seen since she’d pulled a gun on me the first night we’d slept together.

  “Come in, please,” she said, her voice steely. I didn’t ask her what was wrong but followed her inside of her room and stood waiting for her to enter. She shut the door behind her and turned to me, stabbing arrows into me with her eyes. I let her talk, knew that idea applied best in most situations when I wanted to diffuse tension between us.

  “When were you going to tell me you were leaving?” she asked, her voice low and angry.

  “I don’t know when I expected it to come up,” I said, though truthfully I hadn’t told her because I had no intention of leaving, that and if I even had to consider it I wouldn’t want to end our time unhappily by the time I did need to move on.

  “You’re such an asshole, Jett,” she steamed. “You didn’t once think that maybe I’d like to know how long you’re going to be here?”

  “It’s not as though you have been open with me about your intentions,” I said back, my own anger flaring. I almost never got mad but there was something in my stomach with her that was now burning me. “You haven’t even told me your name.”

  She didn’t respond to that last part. I knew it was deliberate because I’d seen her wince when I said it. “You’re just using me. I don’t know why I’m wasting my fucking time.”

  I chuckled and she looked at me sharply. “You act like it’s all my pleasure and you’re not getting anything out of it.”

  The minute the words came out a different kind of heat filled me. It had the same effect on her, too. I could see it in the way she looked at me now, eyes still narrowed but lips parted, ripe for kissing. I stared at her mouth, unable to help myself.

  “I guess I do get a good lay out of it,” she said. I smiled and met her eye, then stepped forward and took her face in one hand.

  “Don’t lie to yourself, sunshine. It’s the best you’ve ever had. You can pretend all you want but I know better.”

  She was trembling under my touch, staring up at me with my own warmth reflected in her eyes. She still looked angry but more than anything she looked like she was ready to fuck. I knew that look by now, could read her face and her body like braille.

  “I should leave,” she said. “Leave you before you leave me.”

  I pulled her face to mine and kissed her softly, slipping my tongue inside of her mouth to stroke hers. She responded with fervor, her body already alight for me, her mouth so sweet I couldn’t kiss her deep enough. I tried not to groan when she pulled away from me just as I was about to begin to undress her.

  “Are you really going to leave me?” I asked, my hand on her waist.

  “It depends,” she said, tilting her head up to look at me. “On whether you can convince me to stay.”

  “God,” I said, and kissed her again, more out of control this time. I wanted her so badly it ached and the knowledge that she wanted me just as much made it almost hard to bear. I ran my hand upward through the back of her hair and tugged her head back at the roots, tilting her face to mine again so that I could devour her. She responded so sweetly, with a soft moan against my lips and a mouth that perfectly fit my own. I began to undress her without breaking our kiss, my hands unbuttoning the front of her dress, pausing to cup her breasts in my palms and play with the nipples with my thumbs. She gave a low sigh of pleasure and took one of my hands, guiding it downward between her legs so that I could rub her through her panties. The gesture made me wild but I managed to stroke her gently, slipping the tip of my finger between her lower lips and circling it around her swollen bud. The indirect contact turned her into an animal, made her hump against my hand to make me rub her harder. Instead, I slipped my hand inside of her panties and dipped my fingers between her folds, deep into her channel, to gather the moisture that was growing there. I used my wet finger to rub her bud again, making her come so hard that she bit my lip until it bled. She stopped and pulled her face back to look at me.

  “Don’t say sorry,” I said, covering her mouth with mine. “Say please.”

  She sighed a soft plea between my lips and I lifted her into my arms and carried her to the bed, lying her down in the middle. I stood and removed my clothing and then climbed over her. Immediately, she wrapped her hand around my cock and guided it inside of her. I allowed it, myself unable to pull myself out of her if I tried. She felt too good wrapped around me, too wet and hot for me to not fuck her right then. So I ground my cock against the back of her channel, barely moving my hips, just savoring the feeling of being all the way inside of her. She squirmed her hips against mine and let out a sweet sigh of breathless pleasure. I began to widen my strokes and fuck her slowly, wanting to build it up and make everything last as long as it could. She met my thrusts with her hips, for now moving slowly as well. I knew t
hat wouldn’t last long, that soon she’d be pleading with me to fuck her harder, moving her body to beg me to speed my hips up and make her come. If I did that, though, it would be over too soon and I needed this to last.

  “Don’t rush,” I breathed to her. “Take it easy. I want to fuck you good and long tonight.”

  She moaned and tried to slow her body down but kept slipping up and inviting me to take her harder. I held her hips to the bed so that she couldn’t move and worked myself fluidly inside of her, pressing the head of my cock against the sweetest spot in her channel. My mouth found hers again and I moved my hips in time to her moans, moving after a moment to begin to give her what she wanted. I let go of her and she wrapped her arms around my hips and pulled them against hers. There was no more patience in her. She wanted to be fucked and she wanted to be fucked hard and deep and fast. I began to grant her wishes, watching her face as I drove into her just the way she wanted. She was breathing heavily, soft cries of pleasure coming from her lips before she began to buck against me while she came hard on my cock, her legs shaking.

  I came inside of her just a few minutes later and once my heart had stilled, I flipped us both over so that she was lying on top of me.

  “Are you leaving?” I asked after a moment, softly in her ear.

  “I should,” she said. “I should pack up and go before you’re gone.”

  “I thought we were just friends?” I said.

  She sighed, lifting her face to look at me.

  “Aren’t we?”

  I didn’t know how to answer, what she wanted me to say. I didn’t want to put up her walls by proposing we become more but I didn’t want to lie to her.

  “We’re happy,” I said, and kissed her forehead. She smiled genuinely and kissed me.

  It continued like that for the next couple of weeks. Sometimes, we’d hang out with Alan. Other times we would spend alone. Luna took some odd jobs cleaning houses and I always missed her when she was gone. Our relationship grew more intimate all the time. Some days, we didn’t get out of bed, but laughed and talked and made love for hours at a time. By then my feelings for her were rampant and wild. I had never loved anyone or anything more in my life. I stopped trying so hard to hide it, and though I never said it out loud, I did small things to show her how deeply I cared for her. I’d spend time stroking her back at night, massaging her skin with my fingers. I brought her flowers and planted soft kisses all over her body and made love to her slowly and gently at times, looking into her eyes, knowing that she was falling for me as well. The idea of it sent a thrill through my body, made my heart leap in my chest every time she looked at me with those beautiful eyes.

  Chapter 4: Luna

  “Go out on a date with me,” Jett said, tracing my nipples with the tips of his fingers. He liked to linger on my body even after we’d finished making love. It sent sparks through me each time, made me eager for more but also eager to curl up and sleep with him.

  I laughed. “We go on dates every week.”

  “No,” he said. “Somewhere nice. A real date.”

  I was apprehensive about doing so. The diner was one thing; it was simple and casual, nothing too intimate. I was fully in denial about my feelings for him and his for me, but it was becoming more and more clear that we were falling for each other. I couldn’t say no to him, though. Deep inside of me, I wanted more than anything for us to be together in a proper way.

  “You want to wine and dine me? Treat me like I’m your girl?”

  “You are my girl,” he said, very seriously. I had to look away from the intense look in his eyes. It was too much, too bright for me.

  “Okay,” I said. “Let’s do it.”

  “I know we don’t usually do anything extravagant, but I want to change things up. You deserve to be treated better.”

  “You treat me fine,” I protested, because he did. He was caring and loving and kind to me, each and every day.

  “I know, sunshine,” he said, and I looked at his face again. He was smiling brightly, those beautiful eyes locked on mine. “We’ll go tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow,” I nodded, snuggling against him. I yawned and was asleep within a few moments, thankful for the warmth of his body and the gentle caress of his hands.

  The next day went slowly; I was filled with anticipation and an optimistic feeling I’d never had before. When he came to my room, he was dressed nicely in a button-down shirt, a tie, and black slacks. I wanted to taste him right then and there, he looked so delicious. He seemed to be thinking the same thing because he gave me that wicked grin, looking me up and down. My dress was the only nice thing I had brought with me—it was a light blue that brought out my eyes and flattered my body in the best possible way. I imagined him slipping it off my body later and bit my lip.

  His phone rang in his pocket and he excused himself to the bathroom to answer it. He had never done that before and I found it strange that he would hide whatever he was talking about from me. I suddenly grew nervous and had a bad feeling in my stomach. It couldn’t be possible that he had been the one sent to take me out. There was no way he would do such a thing after growing so close to me.

  I crept toward the door and listened in on his conversation through the thin, hollow wood.

  “I’m sorry it took us so long to get back to you, Eric,” he said. My blood ran cold. Eric was the man who was after me, of my husband, the man who’d betrayed me.

  “Luna’s here. I’ve kept my eye on her. We’re at the Roxbury in Ellsworth.”

  I felt like throwing up. He knew my name, was giving my information away to my would-be killer. He must have been sent out to find me to report back to Eric my whereabouts so that the other man could come here and kill me himself. I felt betrayed—worse than betrayed, completely heartbroken. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I took a chair and positioned it so that Jett could not get out of the bathroom. I gathered my things quickly, then went downstairs and checked out of the hotel.

  I was distraught, driving around with nowhere to go. I had thought that there was special between Jett and I, that he had been falling in love with me as I was with him. But he was only hunting me, using me just like every other man in my life. It was so unfair it hurt, so painful that the agony was almost physical in my chest and in my stomach.

  I didn’t know what to do so I stopped at a bar about twenty minutes from the hotel. I went inside and ordered a drink, sitting on the stool as I had the first time Jett had told me his name. I drank through my tears, drank until my whole body was tingling. I ordered a couple more and by the time I was finished, my vision was blurry and my words were coming out of my mouth in a slur. I was cut off by the bartender, who looked at me with concern. He offered to order me a cab and I declined, deciding stupidly to drive myself.

  “I don’t think you should be driving, miss,” he said, but I was so blinded by heartbreak and sadness that I wouldn’t listen to his words. I told him that I was just walking down the block and that I would be fine, that he shouldn’t worry about me. He gave me a suspicious look but let me leave the bar.

  I went to my car and fumbled with the handle, then finally slid in and started the engine. It was full dark outside and hard to see, but I knew that I needed to find myself a new hotel that was nowhere near Jett and Alan. Just thinking about Jett made my stomach turn. I was deeply in love with him, loved everything about him. His laugh, the way he made love to me, his touch and his smile all gave me butterflies in my belly, and I found it devastating that I would never see him again.

  I pulled out of the parking lot and took a right on the main road. It was desperately hard to see and yet I kept going, made it to a side road before I veered into a tree. The front of my car crumpled so that I was pinned in and unable to get out. I felt something warm and wet on my head and reached up to touch it. I pulled my hand back to see that it was blood—a lot of blood—though I didn’t feel any pain yet. All I could do was cry, to pray that I died quickly. I was tired of being hurt, tire
d of being betrayed. At least if I lost my life, I wouldn’t have to feel the pain anymore. I wouldn’t have to think about Jett, about his lips on mine, about the way he’d used me and stabbed me in the back.

  I was still thinking about him when everything went black and I passed out completely.

  Chapter 5: Jett

  It didn’t take long for me to get the door open, but it did take enough time that by the time I got out, Luna was gone, along with all over her things. I ran my hand through my hair in frustration and concern. She must have overheard my conversation. My stomach sank when I realized how it must have seemed to her—that I was giving up her location to the enemy, that I had betrayed her. I had to find her and explain to her what had happened, that I was here to protect her. That I was in love with her, deeply so, and I couldn’t let her go without telling her that.