Above Protection (Imperfect Heroes Book 1) (15 page)

Her eyes got glossy and I saw her
bottom lip beginning to wobble a little. Fuck.

“Fine,” she said, pulling her face out
of my grip and scooting closer to her door to get away from
me.

I reached into my back pocket and
pulled out my chew, and shoved some into my lower lip. It had been
over 24 hours since I’d had any. I was trying to quit, hence the
gum, because as annoying as she was, she was right. I really needed
to kick the addiction. It was as much a weakness as the pain meds
and injections she said I should be using to numb the pain in my
leg.

But not now. Who was I kidding
thinking I could quit in the middle of the situation I was in. I
put the car in drive and headed back to the cabin, checking my
rearview mirror the whole time.

After a few minutes, she hadn’t said
anything. So in a moment of softness, I said, “Look, I’m sorry. I
just thought you were clear. Zero contact means zero contact. Don’t
take it personal. The government – in the form of me – is trying to
keep you safe. To keep you alive.”

She was quick to respond but she faced
the window. “So… shouldn’t zero contact mean you don’t contact
anyone, either?”

“Yes and no. The people who are after
you would be hard-pressed to not only figure out which agent had
been assigned to you, but get all my personal information. The
Justice Department keeps all my personal information tightly
guarded.”

This time she did look at me. She
narrowed those infuriatingly gorgeous honey colored eyes and said,
“Wasn’t the Justice Department’s computers hacked by the Chinese
last year? All their employees’ personal information
stolen?”

Huh. She was right, of course, but I’d
forgotten about it. The Attorney General had assured us that
everything was handled, and had even offered us free credit
monitoring services. I just simply nodded.

“I saw it on the news,” she continued.
“Not only that, we had a client who worked for the government and
wanted to see if he could sue them for the breach.”

I chuckled and spit a brown stream
into a cup which sat in the cup-holder. “Did you tell him good luck
suing the highest attorney in the land?”

She actually giggled a little and
looked at me. “No, but good one. I’ll have to remember
that.”

I found hearing her laugh actually
warmed my cold, dead heart a little so I kept her talking. “So,
what are you gonna do once the trial is over? Find another
job?”

She shrugged and pulled a piece of
chocolate from the bag in her lap. She unwrapped the red foil and
popped the candy in her mouth. “I don’t know. Been kinda worried
about it, honestly.”

I bit back a smile at how her words
were muffled by the chocolate.

“Want one?” she asked, offering me a
heart wrapped in red foil.

I shook my head and pointed at my lip.
“Chocolate and dip don’t mix very well.”

She wrinkled her nose and said, “I
thought you were quitting. I hadn’t seen you use any of that nasty
stuff in the past day or two.”

I nodded. “I need to quit, but right
now isn’t the time.”

“Well, whatever makes you nicer, I
guess,” she replied, lifting a shoulder and letting it
fall.

I couldn’t stop my gaze from roaming
down her long, tanned legs. Damn they were nice legs. Thin and fit
but not skinny, and shiny like she used lotion on them. And those
shorts. My eyes traveled up her flat stomach to her chest, where
the white V-neck tee left some to the imagination. When my gaze
finally reached her eyes, they were dancing in
amusement.

“Like what you see,
Cowboy?”

I cleared my throat and tried to play
cool. Spitting again to stall, I slowly set the cup in the
cup-holder and said, “I’m a dude. You have a nice legs, and it’s
not like I want to look. I just can’t help it.”

She turned her body all the way around
in the seat, facing me, and said, “Did you just pay me a
compliment?”

“Maybe,” I grunted.

Sliding a sideways glance at her, I
saw her grin in triumph. Then she popped another chocolate in her
mouth and pulled out a magazine from the bag and began flipping
through it.

I did the usual check of the cabin
before I let her in. It was quiet and all clear, just as we’d left
it. I locked the car then locked the front door behind us, and
armed the security system. Rayanne went into her room clutching the
white plastic bag in her hand, closing the door behind
her.

Flipping on the TV, I checked the
silver watch on my wrist and sighed when I saw it was three in the
afternoon. Of course there was nothing on and I scrubbed a hand
over my face. Suddenly, the government phone in my pocket vibrated.
I pulled it out and flipped it open, looking at the
screen.

Jack-N-Jill:
Still alive, big guy?

I typed as fast as I could
on the tiny keyboard:
Yes, and so is the
vic.

Jack-N-Jill: Great.
Text me a watch-call once a day, will
you?

I replied:
Yes, drill sergeant.

There was no reply after
that.

Settling on a local cable access
channel that was showing recaps of the town’s high school football
game, I set the remote down and went into the kitchen. I pulled out
sandwich fixings and made three turkey and cheese sandwiches. I
found a bag of chips and poured a little on each plate and then
carried both plates out to the living room. The plate with two
sandwiches was mine, and I set it on the end-table. I took the
other plate to the vic’s room and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” she said.

I opened the door and almost dropped
the plate. She was lying on her back on the bed, her long bare legs
crossed at the ankles. One arm was propped behind her head, causing
her white T-shirt to ride up and show about half her stomach. The
other hand held a book. She turned her head and smiled when she saw
me.

“Lunch?”

I nodded and set the plate on the
night-stand closest to me. She set the book face down on the bed,
open to her spot, and grabbed the plate.

Turning to leave, I heard her say,
“Thanks, Duke.”

With my hand on the door, I half
turned and said with my head down, “I’m eating in front of the TV,
so if you want…”

My eyes looked up to meet hers and she
smiled while sliding some hair behind her ear. “It’s fine. I’m
reading.”

I nodded and shut her door, going back
to the living room to eat my lunch.

Chapter 18

Rayanne

The sandwich was mediocre at best, but
over the past four days, it had been what I had come to expect. I
shoved a gum wrapper into my book to hold its place and got up,
taking my plate to the kitchen.

I saw Duke watching some sports recap
on TV but ignored him. Opening the fridge, I found a can of iced
tea and cracked it open and took a big swig. That sandwich had been
dry. Not that I’d ever tell him that.

Walking slowly to the edge of the
kitchen, I rested my hip on the doorjamb and looked at Duke. He
must have felt my gaze because he looked up and said,
“What?”

Before I could answer, the TV program
switched to what looked like a local band playing inside of some
sort of nightclub. I walked closer to the TV and saw a girl and two
guys playing instruments and singing to a small crowd in what
looked like a barn. No, wait. It was a barn with a stage. Some kind
of converted barn-club.

I smiled when the music started.
Sugarland’s “Stay” was the cover song and the chick doing the
singing was definitely talented.

I’ve been sitting here
staring at the clock on the wall…
she
began to sing.

Duke looked at the TV, then back at
me. “I, uh, was watching the local sports.”

I laughed. As if he had to defend what
he was watching. “I saw. Looks like the local cable access channel
plays whatever the heck they want.”

He sighed and set the remote down.
Picking up his plate, he stood but I was blocking his way. I moved
right and he moved left, leaving me still blocking him. So I moved
left, then he moved right, and we were still in the same
predicament.

“Wanna dance?” I asked, thinking of
all the times this would happen to my parents, and my daddy would
ask my mom this.

Duke’s stormy blue eyes stared into
mine, and setting his plate down on the end-table, he nodded
slightly.

Did he just nod?

Why don’t you stay? I’m
down on my knees…
I heard the singer
croon.

Gently slipping a hand around my
waist, he pulled me flush against his body and began to sway
slightly. He continued to stare at me.

I’m so tired of being
lonely, don’t I give you what you need?

In complete shock at the gesture, I
tried to relax into his hold but I was just… just… stunned. Was I
dancing with Duke Hawthorne?

His arm went around my shoulders and
his warm hand gripped my neck.

When she calls you to go,
there is one thing you should know…

Slowly, I reached my right arm to his
backside and wrapped it around his solid waist. My other hand
reached up and rested against his hard pec muscle.

We don’t have to live this
way. Baby, why don’t you stay?

His hips began to sway, and as if my
body had a mind of its own, I swayed with him. I couldn’t stop
staring at him. His eyes bored into mine as if he wanted to say
something. My head began to move in closer to his as we made slow
circles around the small living room.

I can’t take it any
longer, but my will is getting stronger, but I think I know exactly
what I need…

As my face got closer, his did, too.
When his face was inches from mine, my hand, without my permission,
reached up and touched his cheek. The scruff of his beard felt good
under my sensitive fingertips.

Then, Duke was kissing me.

It was passionate – desperate – but
not like last night. There seemed to be an element of emotion with
it. His right hand was still around my waist, but his left was now
trailing up my neck with just one finger. As his warm tongue slowly
licked along the seam of my lips, I had no choice but to open my
mouth slightly and accept his invitation. Not that I would have
denied him in that moment.

His hand on the back of my neck was
seriously hot. I raked my fingernails through his short beard, then
I skated them around his neck and shoved them into his hair at the
back of his head, scratching his scalp. He groaned into my mouth
and I was suddenly well aware of his arousal pressed into my
stomach.

As the song began to end, he danced me
toward the small hallway that led to the rooms. I didn’t resist at
all, just continued to let him kiss me. In a move that surprised
me, he picked me up and carried me the rest of the way to my room.
He broke the kiss and then stared into my eyes.

I was panting, my chest heaving up and
down in anticipation. The door was already open, so once inside, he
set me gently on the bed and I watched in lustful fascination as he
grabbed the bottom hem of his shirt and lifted it over his
head.

Oh, my God.
His chest looked as hard as it had felt against
me earlier. A small spread of dark hair covered it, but it was
sparse enough that I could see every muscle and ripple. His pecs
were solid, and I could make out the ridges and bumps of his abs.
They disappeared into the waistband of his jeans. When I looked up
into his eyes, it was his turn to smile in amusement.

“Like what you see, Blondie?” he
asked, using my earlier words against me.

I nodded, my lip between my
teeth.

He grinned, yanking one side of his
leather belt to the side and releasing the buckle’s latch. Once it
was free, he pulled it with force, freeing the belt from the
confines of its denim loops. My eyes widened when I realized he
wasn’t going to just drop it to the ground.

With it still gripped in his hand, he
placed a knee on the bed and gazed at me. With his free hand, he
reached up and freed the button on my jean shorts. It came open
with a pop, then he slid the zipper down. Keeping eye contact, he
put the belt around his neck like a pet snake and used both hands
to yank my shorts down. He tossed them over his shoulder, where
they hit the floor.