Keeping Her Safe Page 5

  Then I recall that we’re in this cell together, safe from discovery but that the only exit is through my father’s office.

  “How are we going to get out of here?” I ask, tracing lines along the grooved ridges on his stomach.

  “You’ve had your fill of me have you?” He grins. “Entertainment over. Ready to move on to the next already? You’re a real heart breaker.”

  I palm my hand flat against his heart, feeling its heavy thump. A little more rapid than usual if I’m not imagining things.

  “Oh good, you do have one.” I laugh.

  “Oh, I do.” He says, growing serious. “And it can be shattered with mistreatment.”

  There’s a history to him after all, something I hadn’t considered thanks to the hardcore facade he wears for his duties. I both want to know and can’t bear to hear about any other woman he’s had feelings for. He’s old enough that there must have been some but I can’t help but want there to be him and me only for the rest of time. It’s so unexpected, the sensation of possession, and I can tell he’s battling with it also. I don’t think either of us expected that him entering into my body with his was going to be far more than entertainment. It’s somehow cemented a bond between us that’s fired up a slew of tender feeling. That’s no fantasy, it’s like an electric current charging the entire room around us.

  I open my mouth to ask - I have to know that any competition is firmly in the distant past and not likely to intrude into my happiness. But the question refuses to come out. Instead I say; “Daddy is probably on the other side of the door. We have no way of detecting whether he’s in his office or not before we open it and by then it’ll be too late.”

  “I’m gonna have some explaining to do either way.” He says. “I should have been at this back throughout the meeting with the other gangs.”

  “Gangs?” I squeak.

  “Businessmen, I mean.” Quartz immediately corrects himself. “I said ‘gangs’ thinking I was back on my last job.”

  My palm registers a distinct quickening of his heart. I strongly doubt Quartz would have a hope in hell of passing a lie detector test right at this moment. I suck my lower lip hard into my mouth. Did he let slip a truth about my father that I wasn’t aware of, that’s been kept hidden from me my entire life?

  My father is crooked.

  Every bone in me tells me this is true.

  “You should emerge from the safe room first.” Quartz tells me and I’m sure he’s changing the subject. “That way if your father is in his office, you can say you ducked in here when you saw all the cars pull up the driveway, afraid we were under another attack.”

  “Ok fine.” I withdraw my hand from his chest and he gets up off the bed to start putting himself back together. What happened to being ready for more of me? Wanting to go again, before leaving the only safe space where we can be together without being caught by my father or one of his men.

  Quartz looks up at me and grins. The connection between us is still strong but there’s also a barrier. Maybe it’s my father’s business, maybe it’s that I somehow wanted him to deal with Daddy, to face him and tell him about us. To claim me as his. Surely he’d do that if this thing between us was real.

  He stretches out a hand to me and when I give him mine, he pulls me up from the bed. I don’t want to leave it. I can’t be sure that we’ll ever have another chance to be together like this. And especially if my father figures out the truth when we open the safe room door.

  If Quartz won’t be honest with Daddy, I’ll have to step up myself. But that’s kind of a disappointment and in the event that happens, I don’t know if I’ll want Quartz as my forever man and protector. I need him to be strong but he’ll turn out to be just like all the others, too afraid of my father to own up to the truth.

  “What is it Baby?” Quartz has been watching me go though this uncomfortable thought process. He reaches out a hand and gently wipes the frown lines between my brows with his thumbpad. “You aren’t worried about what your Father will say, are you?”

  “No, of course not.” Dang, there I go playing fast and loose with the truth. “Maybe a little.” I add because I want to be honest with Quartz about every little thing.

  It’s all just so weirdly unexpected. There was this gorgeous hunk, aloof as fuck, so that all I wanted to do was get him in my bed and feel him fill me with his hugeness. But now that I have achieved my goal, I want more. He’s more man than I could even imagine and I don’t want this to end. Ever. I simply cannot imagine not having him either at my side or covering my body with his hefty muscular form.

  “Well you don’t have to worry about anything now.” He takes both my hands in his huge palms. “You can leave more than the protection to me. I don’t want to see those frown lines mar your beauty ever again. Whatever you need, whatever needs to be taken care of, I will do it. Okay?” His eyes demand a response that I cannot refuse him.

  I nod. My eyes want to drop to the floor so I can process the turmoil running through my tummy, but his gaze holds me pinned.

  “What about Daddy?” I murmur.

  Does he really mean he’ll take care of everything?

  “My only thought about your father is that we should tell him when the time is right. He’s going to say this has happened too fast and assume I’m being a player with his daughter when nothing could be further from the truth.”

  “How so?”

  I want to hear him say it. I need to know that he is feeling the same way about us, because if it’s only me I don’t think I could stand it. It would be the loneliest thing I’ve ever endured.

  Quartz smirks at me and runs that expert thumbpad of his along the length of my lower lip.

  “You’re mine now.” He husks. “I’ve never felt this way about a woman and I know myself well enough to be certain this isn’t a fling. We fit together like a key into a lock. You are the perfect woman for me.”

  My heart does a fling of its own, right into my throat, hearing him say those words. It feels like they’re the one thing I’ve been waiting to hear my entire life. Knowing that we share the connection, that it isn’t me having some stupid fantasy in my head alone, means the world.

  Quartz tips his head down and reclaims my mouth with his. The kiss is the best I’ve ever known. His tongue dances around mine, mixing up the thrusting and exploring exactly as though he’s making love to me all over again. He laps and probes, fast and slow and it goes on for so long my knees start to feel like that they might give way under me. He’s just that good.

  “If we continue like this, I can’t guarantee that secretary skirt and those tiny panties won’t have to be torn off all over again.” He rasps against my lips with his hot breath.

  “I’m ready.” I laugh lightly, making sure I’m sexy, not silly.

  “Me too. I’ll always be ready for you every hour of the day and night. Call for me whenever you need me but for now, you’ve been gone too long, and more to the point so have I. I don’t want your father throwing me out on my ass and not being able to see you on a daily basis.”

  “I’d go with you.” I say, meaning it.

  “The last thing I want is a rift between us and your dad.” He says, so that again I wonder whether he’s nervous about my father’s power. He could certainly trail us to the ends of the earth if he chose to. He has the resources and the desire to keep me under his control. “No, we need to wait an appropriate amount of time and then I’ll ask your father’s permission.”

  “Oh.” I squeak. I realize what that means and it makes my tummy tremble. Quartz is serious.

  He takes my mouth again for one last kiss that seals our connection while also cupping my ass in his hard palm, reminding me of the lusciousness of how we move together as one.

  “It tears me up to separate from you and know I’ll be so close but unable to touch you like I want.” He grunts.

  “I don’t know how I’ll keep my hands off you either.” I purr, my fingers clinging to his jacket lapels like
they’re the last resort before falling off a cliff face.

  “We need to be extra careful to hide the chemistry between us. It’s so strong it’s sure to be patently visible.” He tells me. “Don’t be upset that I don’t look at you or smile at you when anyone else is around. And don’t pull your seduction games on me when they are.”

  He laughs when I pout like my old girly self at his words. I can’t help it. I want him so much it’s physically painful. I don’t want to have to hide what feels so amazing.

  “I don’t know if I can.” I moan.

  “You must.” He commands me. “Just for a little while.”

  He goes toward the door, his hand raised to hit the button that opens it. I grab his arm and wrap my arms around him so his broad torso lines my chest and I feel his pounding heart one last time. I have to know he feels the same way I do.

  Then I can’t stop myself. I slide down the length of him, taking his zipper with me as I drop to my knees.

  “I told you I couldn’t help it.” I whisper as I look up at him from under fluttery lashes.

  He reaches for my arms, to pull me up off the floor but I’m too fast. I slip my hand around his width and pull his erect cock from his black tight boxers to take the tip between my lips. He tries to resist but his hands freeze. Then his head knocks back against the door as I slide my lips in a perfect O down his length and he lets out a wild groan.

  “Jesus, Cyd. You are incred…”

  8

  Quartz

  Her mouth around me sends stars shooting through my limbs. My toes curl up and I plant my back against the door with my fingertips clawing the walls. I want to explode into her, like I didn’t just release all I had for her less than half an hour back.

  Cyd takes me with her mouth as though she’s lapping up her favorite Italian vanilla ice cream and cocktail and chocolate truffles all at once. She loves my cock and she wants to show me that. I’ve only ever imagined this amount of hunger and desire flowing through a woman’s mouth. She’s perfect. She’s enough to fill me for a lifetime. Getting to know her inside and out, giving her everything she wants and needs to feel secure and happy - The idea makes my chest expand and I want to get started right now.

  She smiles triumphantly when she makes me howl at the ceiling yet again and shoot. Then she licks me clean, lapping up every drop like it’s the most delicious thing she ever had.

  “I love the taste of you.” She purrs, as though she heard my thoughts.

  I lift her up and bring her into my arms, holding her against my chest and wishing we could just stay in this fucking room always. Her and me, no outside crap to deal with. But I’m not one to falter or run away from discomfort. We gotta face up to this thing between us and make it work. It just feels like we’re in a threesome - there’s the relationship that’s dove-tailing between Cyd and me, and then there’s the formidable outside force of her daddy.

  Her innocence makes her all the more enticing. I know from our talk now that she has no idea of all the crap her father is involved in.

  I set my pants straight, making very sure there’s not a single telltale snail trail on the fabric to give us away. Then I take her hand and reach for the door release. I feel her start to shake and give her a comforting squeeze. Whatever is outside, we’ll face it together but with me upfront, taking the ammunition square on.

  We’d agreed that she would go out first and if her father was there in his office, she’d say she was afraid of another attack. I’d hang back and come out only if her father was absent or when he left the room. But I’m suddenly concerned about Cyd facing the fallout alone. I can’t bear that she might be shouted at or suffer any sort of awkward moment, having to lie or make excuses on behalf of both of us. She deserves better than that. I’m not going to hide while she faces up to what we’ve done and what’s growing rapidly between us.

  I slap the button and the door starts to retract smoothly. At the last second, before stepping out, I pull Cyd behind my chest wall shield just a bit and it turns out I’m only just in time.

  The pew pew hits my eardrum at the same moment the pain shoots right through my bicep. The same one I moved her behind. Reacting on autopilot, I take Cyd down with me in less than a second. She’s face down on the floor with my body covering her entirely. I take my weight on my elbows so I can still aim the Glock while covering her.

  Luckily we’re behind her father’s huge desk that offers some extra protection against the barrage of bullets coming at us.

  My eyes scan the floor, counting bodies down and shoes still standing. Three guys are in the office, crosshairs following Cyd and I. Eight men are dead on the floor, including my guys but Mr Delgado is not among them, so far as I can tell.

  Cyd whimpers beneath me but I can sense from the tension in her body that she’s trying to be brave.

  “It’s okay Baby.” I growl, low and taut into her ear. “You’re okay with me.”

  “Daddy.” She murmurs.

  I don’t answer because I can’t promise her he isn’t injured or worse, even though he isn’t here in his office. I won’t lie to her and promise her he’s fine. Not even to give her momentary comfort. She’d only hate me later for betraying her trust.

  Blood is now seeping through my suit coat and dripping on the twenty thousand dollar rug under the desk. Oh well. That’s the cost of doing this kind of business.

  Cyd bravely stifles a moan.

  “Hush Baby.” I whisper against her ear. “It’s all going to be okay, I promise.”

  Despite my lowered tone, the shots ring out again, straight at us. I roll off Cyd, positioning myself right between her and the gun fire and unload my pistol in three sharp shots directly at the shooters. Two go down. The other shoots back and gets me in the leg. Luckily I’m already on the ground, squashed under the desk, shielding Cyd beneath me. I aim and fire directly into his heart. He drops like a stone.

  The room goes deathly quiet.

  “Quartz.” Cyd whispers.

  “Are you okay, Babe?” I grunt. “You aren’t hurt?”

  Relief flies out from her taut little body when she hears my voice.

  “I’m okay. But you…you’re….”

  “I’m fine.” I grunt. I stroke her face and then lift the lone tear on her cheek with my finger.

  I kiss her lips, imparting full confidence that the danger is over. She clings to me, shivering and shaking inside. I clamber up, ignoring the pain in my calf from the GSW. Then I raise Cyd up and tuck her under my left arm, the damaged one, I need my good one to cover us. With my body as shield, I lead us out from behind the desk. The men are all piled up around the room and although I’m sure they’re all dead, I’m not about to take any chances with Cyd whatsoever.

  Once I’m sure we’re secure I head out into the hallway. I debated whether to store her in the safe room again but she’s clinging to me so hard I don’t want to leave her alone in there. I know she’ll be safer under my wing where I can protect her physically but also emotionally.

  “You’re my brave Baby.” I tell her.

  She shakes her head. “I’ve never been so scared. I thought you were …”

  “I’m fine. It’s a scratch is all.” I reassure her. OK that was a lie… but an essential one.

  “You saved my life.”

  “That’s my job.” I grin. “And now it’s my life as well.”

  Cyd exhales a satisfied little gasp that tells me she needs to know, bad, that I’m here for her one thousand per cent, Just like that chick in the movie she loves so much. It makes me wonder whether she’s ever felt that genuine security. But there’s not time for discussion right now. I lead her through the house, checking every direction for rogue assailants.

  She’s stopped shaking at least, so I know I made the right decision in keeping her close. I only hope I don’t have cause to regret it. At the end of the hall, I stop, guarding her totally with my breadth as I check up and down the staircase.

  “Who were those men, Quar
tz?” She whispers. “Why were they shooting at us?”

  “I don’t know exactly, not being privy to total business details from your father.” That’s mostly true. I know they were the rival gang members that came in to discuss disputed turf. I guess the meet went pear-shaped. “Right now, I’m focused on finding your father.”

  “You don’t think he’s…?”

  She can’t complete the sentence but I calm her immediately.

  “No I don’t believe he is. He’s either in the house hiding out or he left like the last time.” I assure her.

  It’s good to feel her body relax in my palm and know she trusts what I’m telling her. She knows already that I’ll always be honest with her. Which is why I don’t mention that her father, wherever he is, has no doubt made sure his own skin is saved even if it means everyone else must perish. It hurt to see my fallen men on his office floor. I know they must have given everything to protect him and now they’re gone. I should have been there alongside them, making sure they had backup.

  But Cyd is my number one priority and always will be. It just feels wrong that we were dissolving in bottomless pleasure while they were fighting for their lives and ultimately lost.

  We turn down another passage in this ridiculously oversize mansion and when a door opens to the left, I press Cyd back against the wall and cover her with my body. My gun is cocked and aimed. I’m ready for whatever, whoever, is coming for us. My man, Adam, emerges with his own pistol ready, tensely aimed. We both lower at the same time, relief coursing through us. Then Cyd goes running to her father, sneaking out behind Adam, looking like he’ll run rabbit fast if the need arises.

  “Baby Girl thank god you’re safe.” He says when Cyd flies into him, throwing her arms around him.

  I note how reserved he is with her though. How he doesn’t hug her as tightly as she does him. What’s up with that? If it were my daughter that was at risk for the second time in a week, I’d hold her close for a thousand lifetimes, thankful she wasn’t murdered due to my corruption. I must be getting jaded in my old age. I’ve never judged the lifestyles of my employers before. After all it pays my own bills. But now that I have Cyd, I want to know that my reckless business isn’t putting those I love, let’s say adore, in danger.