Shielding Shayna: Brotherhood Protectors World (Special Forces & Brotherhood Protectors Series Book 6)

by Heather Long

  Watery laughter escaped her. When he turned to remove the burgers from the pan, she swiped away her tears. A few minutes later, he joined her with two plates piled high with burgers and fried potatoes.

  “Thank you,” she said before taking her first bite. He’d added cheese, and some mustard for her. His had ketchup and sliced tomatoes—which seemed overkill, but she wasn’t going to complain.

  “My pleasure.” The way he framed the words, they were a caress gliding over her skin.

  “So when you’re not baby sitting me and cooking amazing meals, what do you do with yourself?”

  “Help out at my parents’ restaurant in Ohio. I grew up there near Lake Erie. Small town, lots of folks who are tight with each other. There’s a few factories there, thought about going home to work but…last time I was there, I didn’t fit anymore. Or maybe it just didn’t fit me.” He paused to take a bite of his burger, and she tucked into the potatoes. Her rumbling stomach gurgled its approval. She shouldn’t have skipped meals in her rush to get everything done, hunger and overexertion taxed her limited resources.

  “I could have gone home, you know. Called someone when the bills piled up. I was having trouble getting out of bed in the morning and I kept calling out sick from work. The writing was on the wall…then the notices for nonpayment. I stopped answering my phone because of collections.” Not her proudest moment. “I told myself I wasn’t going to ask for help because I didn’t want handouts.”

  He dabbed a napkin against the corner of his mouth, clearing away a speck of ketchup. What would it be like to lick it clean? The chiseled strength of his jaw captivated her. Despite what she’d said earlier the man was gorgeous with or without his beard. “My dad would have brought a beat down on my ass if I didn’t let him help.”

  Yeah, she couldn’t picture any man having that kind of an effect on him.

  “Between you and me, my mom is scarier. She’s got this look…” He schooled his features and stared at her, the absolute lack of expression even more intimidating than a scowl. “You can’t read what she’s thinking or feeling, but you know your fate is in her hands.”

  Shayna snorted. “My uncle can do that—in fact he did. God, waking up that day to him knocking on the car window. I’d rather take Baghdad.”

  “Right?” Oddjob’s grin returned and he shook his head. “Anyway, I went home and it didn’t fit. I think I’ve always been restless. The military answered a lot of that for me, but I spent some time with buddies who were out and then I went down to Texas to train. I like horses. Working with them could be fun.”

  “But you’re still taking protection work?” Working with animals she got. Restlessness she got. But why take a bodyguard job?

  “On a case by case basis.” Now there was a hedge.

  “And my case appealed to you?” She’d already devoured most of her burger, and he’d made more than one. She could go for seconds. Studying him, she could go for thirds, too.

  “You appealed to me.” Just like that they weren’t talking about his work or history.

  “Were you born tattooed with the word super hero or did you just work to achieve it?” Fresh perspiration dotted the back of her neck and it had nothing to do with her past and everything to do with the man sitting across from her.

  “I’m just me and besides, the real hero is the one who gets burned but goes back in. Keeps pushing. You were down. You got up. Doesn’t matter how, you did it. No one can take a crap for you.”

  “Oh my God,” she laughed, and had to stop eating lest she choke. “You should get that put on a t-shirt.”

  “Like that, did you?” He winked. “It’s the truth, call it salt of the earth wisdom or at least what my grandmother used to say to me. She had to keep the family business going, and raise six kids while her husband was in Korea, and later when he went to Vietnam as an advisor. She didn’t take crap from anyone. She used to say life was what we made it to be. We couldn’t take a crap for someone, we could just help them dig the hole. We couldn’t change the past, but we could help pave the future. She was a tough old bird and even when I got tall enough that I towered over her, I could never top her spirit.”

  Shayna liked her already. “You miss her.”

  “Hell yeah.” Regret stamped his features. “She passed away when I was on a covert op. I was out of touch for six weeks. I missed her funeral, too. Not that she would have cared.”

  No, from the sounds of it, she’d probably have been annoyed if he’d dropped any balls to run home. “Doesn’t change the fact you hurt over it.”

  “Pain is life.” Another little kernel of wisdom. His plate was empty, and he stood glancing at hers. “Want more?”

  “Yeah,” she said passing him her plate, but she put the foot down on the recliner and stood.

  “I’ll get it,” he told her, but he didn’t wave her off.

  “I know, but it’s good to stand. Meds are working and there’s food in my belly. The pain is much more manageable now.” Besides, walking got her out of the damn chair and helped her move. The more she moved, the looser she got and the short walk to the kitchen was hardly running around the block. “Sometimes, it’s easy to let the pain be in charge. You can’t let it take over. If it hurts, and you press a little and it just hurts more—I back off and regroup. Then I go again.”

  In the kitchen, he built two more burgers on the plates and split his attention between them and her. “Nana would have liked you. She did her own grocery shopping and lived on her own until the day she died. She had a walker, and couldn’t get up and down the stairs. Survived a hip replacement, and kept right on trucking. She said you’re only as old as you behave.”

  Unable to resist the charming way he lit up when he talked about her, Shayna circled the island and leaned against him. “Does that make you five?”

  Setting aside the burger, he wrapped an arm around her waist and eyed her. “Babe, I’m definitely not five.”

  The air seemed to fill with an electric charge. When he dipped his gaze to her mouth, she almost held her breath. The moment elongated and it hit her. He wanted to kiss her but gave her the first move. Rising on her tip toes, she braced a hand against his chest. “Not sure I can stretch that far.”

  One moment she leaned against him, and the next he set her on the island right next to the food. It brought her head level with his and she didn’t have to tilt her neck to far. Gliding her hand over his smooth jaw, she whispered, “I think the shave is growing on me.”

  “Yeah?” He leaned into her and his breath tickled her lips. The scent of food and man twisted around her, even more enticing than the meal.

  “Yeah, but we may have to test the theory.” She licked her lips and closed the distance, the lightest of brushes. Fuck, she’d forgotten what it was like to be this close to another human being. To have the heat of their body pressing against hers. Positioned between her legs, she touched her knees to his hips. What started out a gentle whisper of contact turned molten when his mouth claimed hers. He braced his hands on the counter on either side of her, and then his tongue teased along the seam of her lips.

  Opening to the kiss, she glided her hand up to the thickness of his dark hair and desire rang through her. The collision of need and want twined together as he deepened the kiss, and then she had her arms around his neck and he locked one hand against her hip. The simple restraint in this powerful man stripped her to the core, and she broke the kiss long enough for a breath.

  “Hi,” she whispered, meeting his smoldering gaze.

  “Hi,” he returned, then brushed another gentle kiss to the corner of her mouth. “How are you?”

  Laughter and sighing were impossible to do at the same time, and yet she managed. “I’m having a really good time.”

  “Yeah?” He traced his fingers up her side, then glided them along her neck. A self conscious part of her roused at the contact. The network of scars from various procedures weren’t pretty. The rest of her marveled at the tingles—pleasurable th
is time—cascading over her. It was too much and not enough in the same breath.

  “Yeah…I remember when touching hurt.” Then she closed the distance again, and relegated the knee jerk fear of contact to the back of her mind. Fear had no place in this moment, not with her and definitely not with Oddjob. Stroking his tongue with hers, she leaned fully into the act, trusting him to keep her braced and safe.

  He palmed her cheek, and then the whole world narrowed to the singular contact of his mouth on hers. To the glide of his lips, the tease of his tongue, and the molten heat gliding through her veins.

  The world shook. All of it.

  Then the sound penetrated the haze, and he lifted his head breaking the contact, even as she jerked. Pain eddied through the shock.

  “I didn’t imagine the world shaking did I?”

  “In more ways than one.” He lifted her off the counter and set her on her feet before striding to the front door. The whinnying of the horses carried in on the breeze and in the distance, black smoke wafted through the sky. “Son of a bitch…”

  Chapter 6

  Stinking of smoke and covered in black soot, Oddjob glared at the smoldering remains of another burnt out building. Fortunately this one wasn’t on Celebrate’s property but a neighbor’s. He and Shayna came over on the ATV, following the smoke. Despite her earlier pain, she refused to leave until they had it all out. It didn’t take long for word to spread and more help to show up.

  Fires this time of year didn’t take long to get out of control. Tempers were burning high, too. The sheriff ordered everyone away from the husk once the fire was out. An arson investigator had also been called in. Check ins with the Brotherhood Protectors and the imminet arrival of Flint and Mickey didn’t allay his concerns. Someone, somewhere was doing something.

  Accidents. Explosions. Fires. No one had been genuinely hurt—yet. It was the yet he didn’t like.

  He’d give Mickey and Flint the barn apartment as a base of operations when they arrived the next day. Cannon had been delayed to help Jacko out with something.

  Hank and his team wanted to run some leads down, not that they had many. Frustrated with their lack of progress—with his own lack—he took Shayna back to her place. It took him a few minutes, to double check the interior. The fact the security system was on didn’t satisfy him until he’d checked every room. The burgers he’d made earlier were cold, and the potatoes were soggy but neither he nor Shayna complained as they ate.

  “You should shower,” he told her.

  “You need one too,” she told him, the fatigue in her voice another reminder that she’d already been spent before they spent half their night out fighting a fire, and checking—then rechecking the barn. She wouldn’t rest until they’d made sure the horses were okay. “Maybe I should call over to Brighter Days and have them take the horses for a while.”

  His gut clenched at the hint of defeat sneaking into her voice.

  “I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself if something happened to them.”

  “We’ll make the call in the morning,” he assured her. “I’ll keep watch and split my patrol between the barn and here in the morning. So far, everything they’ve hit has been unoccupied.”

  “Except my jeep. I was definitely in my jeep.”

  Oh yes, he remembered that part. Sliding his hand to her cheek, he ignored the soot and dirt and pressed his lips to hers. A gentle, single kiss of affection and warmth. A reminder she was still with him. “They didn’t blow that up.” Thank God.

  “True.” When she wrapped her arms around him for a hug, he held her to himself. The fact she willingly leaned on him soothed the raw places in his soul. The spots eaten away by the acid of his failure to keep her safe. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t been there when the incident happened, what mattered was she’d been put there in the first place.

  He wanted her as far from all of this as possible and he had no damn right to ask her, much less push for it.

  “You okay?” She hadn’t pulled away, instead, she leaned there as she ate her cold burger. Spreading his fingers against her back, he rubbed slow, gliding circles. Her back had been injured, and he didn’t want to add to it. When she sighed under the contact, he added a little more pressure. It calmed him further.

  “I’m pissed off,” he admitted. “I want to find whoever is behind this and break both their legs.” Maybe all their fingers, and toes, too.

  “Torture is against the law.”

  “True,” he agreed, undeterred. “But I’m a little old school, eye for an eye and all that.”

  The dry comment worked, and she chuckled only to have a cough interrupt it. He released her long enough to grab a glass of water for her. The medics checked their throats since they’d been out there battling the blaze. Still if hers was at all like his, it probably hurt.

  She took the drink, then glanced at him. “Is it okay if we go back to the me leaning on you?”

  “Why don’t we sit down and you can even sit in my lap if you want?”

  For a moment, she appeared to consider the invitation then said, “We stink and I don’t want to get it on the furniture.” After finishing the last bite of the second burger, she drained the water. “Showers, then we can do a sleepover in my room.”

  Every drop of his blood pounded south at the invitation, but he hadn’t lead with his dick since he’d been in high school. He wasn’t starting now. “You sure?”

  “Don’t get excited, big boy.” She patted his chest. “I said sleepover…and yeah, I’m sure.” Sobering, she eased away from him. “We both know you’ve been sleeping on the sofa. You’re worried about me, and I’m worried about you. And…truth be told. I don’t want to be alone right now.”

  Fair enough. “Okay, I’ll run upstairs and shower. You shower in your room. Meet at your bed in ten?”

  “Give me fifteen…a girl needs time to wash her hair and look pretty.”

  Cupping her chin, he locked his gaze on hers. “Maybe girls do, but you my sweet, sexy Marine? You always look gorgeous.” Then he punctuated the affirmation with a kiss before striding for the stairs. He had a duffel stashed up there with some clean clothes. It only took him five minutes to wash off the dirt and soot. Another two to brush his teeth after he pulled on shorts and a t-shirt. He normally slept naked, these were a concession to sleeping at her place.

  Back downstairs, he sent a message to the team on patrol for the night, and made sure the security system was armed. He’d armed it when he came in, but he always double-checked. After another sweep of the house, he checked the cameras they’d installed on the barn. The motion sensor was sensitive, but not too much or the horses would set it off.

  However, if something startled the horses the sudden jerks would get its attention. He’d been busy the last few days and Hank’s guys had lots of ideas. Mess with one of theirs, and you dealt with all of them—Oddjob included.

  Satisfied, he set the dishes in the sink. He’d wash up in the morning, then he made his way to her room at the fifteen minute mark. Though the door was partially open, he knocked once and waited.

  “Clear,” she called and he pushed the door in. She was already propped up in the bed, pillows piled behind her and two under her left knee, elevating the leg. Like him, she’d slipped into shorts and a t-shirt. Where his were blue and white, she’d gone for solid gray, and the shirt said ‘bite me.’

  “Is that an invitation?” He couldn’t resist asking as he eyed the positioning, she was on the side closest to the door. No, he wasn’t a fan. Of course, his side would be closer to the window. Checking his base need to be between her and all access points, he settled on the side she’d left free for him.

  “No, just my general comment for life in general. Being pissed off at it helps sometimes.”

  “Truth,” he agreed and stretched out, a sigh escaped him. Damn, he was tired. Tired. Sore. Aggravated. But more, he was turned on just being close to her. Leaning over, he brushed a kiss to her cheek and then drew in a de
ep breath of her clean, fresh scent. “You smell great.”

  “Right back atcha.”

  He stretched out an arm. “Cuddle?”

  Surprise flickered through her eyes and she raised her eyebrows. “A kiss and a cuddle?”

  “I’m never going to tell you no to more, but you’re tired and I don’t know what will hurt you or not. So in this, you take point. I’ll have your six every step of the way.” The honesty robbed him of nothing. The idea of going down on her until she screamed her orgasm had been on his mind more than once.

  “You really are perfect,” she groused, then eased off the pillows to crawl into his lap. An honest to god shudder seemed to race from his cock to his spine at the warm heat of her resting against him.

  “Fuck no, I’m not.” He cupped the back of her neck, and placed a hand on her hip to ease her into a more comfortable position. The last thing she needed was his boner shoving her in the ass.

  And he really shouldn’t have let his thoughts go there.

  “I’m a red-blooded male, and you are a sexy as fuck woman. I’m not kidding about letting you drive where this goes, but the idea of stripping off this shirt, sucking your nipples as I let my hands explore every inch of your skin is definitely at the top of my list, but not quite as high as sliding my fingers into you and—”

  She didn’t let him finish because her mouth closed on his, and her teeth scraped over his lower lip. The boner he sported grew more intense, and weight of her pressing into him set fire to even more demanding thoughts.

  Drowning in the kiss, he waged war against his instinct to take over, to tumble her onto her back and drive away any thoughts of hurting ever again.

  Gasping for a breath she pulled back. “I don’t know what will hurt or not…I haven’t had sex since before I deployed on the mission that ended with me in a hospital bed and them pulling fragments from around my spine. I’ve got scars—my scars have scars and at one point, even air touching me hurt.”

  Easing his grasp, he frowned. “Don’t hurt for me. I can just hold you. Or sit next to you…”