Defying Asher (Knight Security 1) (7 page)

“Don’t.” He pressed his fingertips against her lips as he lay down on the bed beside her. “I want this, Lissa. You want this. We both want this, damn it.” His eyes were dark and fevered.

Lissa hadn’t intending arguing the point. How could she, when just looking at all that hard and muscled nakedness confirmed what she already knew: she had been wanting Asher again, desiring him, since the two of them met on Friday evening. Hell, she had wanted this, wanted Ash again, since the moment she walked out of his apartment a year ago.

She had accepted dates with half a dozen other men during that year. But it had been more because she thought she should rather than any real desire to do so. She had
wanted
to get over her lingering feelings for Asher.

But wanting and getting were two different things, she had quickly discovered, as none of those men held any interest for her beyond the first date. She certainly hadn’t felt the least inclination to want to go to bed with any of them.

It seemed Asher had left his brand of ownership on her as indelibly as the tattoo that was now inked into her flesh.

“This is so fucking sexy,” Asher murmured as he moved farther down the bed, his fingers an arousing caress against the intricacies of her tattoo.

Lissa gave a groan as she arched up into that caress, her sensitive flesh seeming to burn almost as much as it had the day the tattoo was applied. As if the tattoo had become its own pleasure zone.

That pleasure intensified when Asher lowered his head and his lips stroked and his tongue licked against and over each sweep and curve of the red and gold ink.

Lissa’s fingers clenched into the bedclothes as her nipples hardened painfully, nether lips plumping and becoming slick with her juices, her channel aching to be filled.

“I’ll take it slowly next time,” Asher promised in a gravelly voice as he opened the foil packet and rolled on the condom before kneeling between her parted thighs. “Right now I just need to be inside you.”

Lissa wanted him inside her. More than anything. Any thoughts of all the reasons why this shouldn’t happen could come later. Much, much later…

“I need that too,” she encouraged breathily.

They both groaned as the bulbous top of Asher’s cock breached her entrance. Despite what he’d said, Asher entered her slowly, inch by pleasurable inch, careful to stretch those sensitive walls apart to accommodate his thickness and length, until his cock was fully inside her, filling her completely, his balls warm against her bottom.

“Okay?” He stilled above her.

“Oh God, yes.” It felt indescribably good.

Asher took his weight on his elbows as he looked at her. “You feel good.” His words echoed her thoughts. “This, being inside you, feels so good.”

“Asher…!” she groaned. Her hands moved up, fingers gripping his shoulders as he lowered his head to kiss and lick her nipples, before drawing one of them fully into his mouth.

The pleasure intensified as he suckled and laved her engorged flesh, Lissa gasping as he bit her nipple just short of pain, sending the pleasure coursing through her whole body before centering on her core. His hips began a slow and grinding thrust against her pussy as he continued to suckle her nipples in turn, pushing his cock deeper still, each stroke rubbing against that bundle of nerves inside her.

There was nothing else, only the two of them, lost in overwhelming sensations. The pleasure rose higher and then higher still, the walls of Lissa’s channel rippling, contracting, until she knew she was on the brink of an orgasm that was going to splinter her apart. Physically. Emotionally.

“Harder,” she groaned as she met each and every one of Asher’s powerful thrusts. “Oh God, deeper.”

“Lis— What the fu…?” Ash stilled and cursed beneath his breath as he heard the unmistakable sound of a loud pounding on the door to Lissa’s apartment.

“Ignore it,” she pleaded. “I’m so close, Asher. So damn close!”

“Asher!” The urgency of Ethan’s shout could be heard through the solid thickness of the door. “Open this fucking door. Now, damn it!”

Unlike Ash, Ethan rarely swore or shouted. Right now he was doing both.

Something had to be seriously, seriously wrong.

“No…” Lissa groaned.

“I have to,” Asher apologized as he carefully withdrew. “Ethan wouldn’t have disturbed us if it wasn’t something important.” He stood up, not bothering with underwear as he quickly disposed of the condom before pulling on his suit trousers.

Lissa couldn’t believe this was happening. They had both been on the brink of orgasm, Asher’s breathing ragged, his cock swelling and throbbing inside her as he thrust and stroked on the edge of release.

God, she felt so empty without him inside her. Almost bereft.

“I’ll be right back,” Asher assured her before striding out of the room wearing only trousers, his chest and feet bare.

Which would alert Ethan to exactly what the two of them had been doing when he rudely interrupted them.

Lissa had no idea what she was doing.

Getting over Asher the first time had been painful enough, but a second time…?

Lissa gave a groan, knowing it was already too late. She was already involved.

And why was it taking Asher so long to speak to his brother?

She could hear the low murmur of their voices as she got out of bed and quickly pulled on her robe and secured it about the waist before hurrying out to the sitting room.

Both men turned at her entrance, their strained expressions confirming that Ethan hadn’t brought good news.

Lissa reached out and placed a supportive hand on the wall nearest to her as she swayed slightly, knowing instinctively she wasn’t going to like what they had to tell her. “What’s happened?” Her voice sounded hollow. “Is it Claudia? Jack? For God’s sake, will one of you tell me what’s wrong?”

Chapter 5

“I’ve already assigned Caleb in your place on the Claudia Reynolds protection detail—”

“You had no fucking right do that!” Ash glared.

The two men were once again in Gabriel’s office at Knight Security, Ash standing in front of the antique desk this time.

“I don’t?” Gabriel arched an arrogant brow. “Strange, I thought I said I’d already done it.”

“Well…okay, yes, you can do that,” Ash conceded begrudgingly.

The four brothers had decided when they formed Knight Security that there had to be one overall boss of the company. They were all alphas, and if one of them didn’t take charge, the whole thing would deteriorate into chaos. As Gabriel was the eldest brother, they had unanimously voted he would have the last word in decision-making.

Besides which, none of the others, Ash, Caleb, or Ethan, wanted to be cooped up in the office all day. Gabriel assured them he had seen enough death and destruction in the military to last him a lifetime.

“But if you remove me from this security detail,” Ash continued firmly, “I’m just going to hang around Lissa’s apartment anyway.”

“Which is precisely my point.”

“So if you think— What did you say?” He eyed his brother uncertainly.

Gabriel sighed. “You spent last night at the hospital, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

His brother nodded. “So much for your being able to remain professional?”

Ash breathed in deeply. “I was off duty, and I can do what the hell I like on my own time.”

“Well, now you’re back on Knight Security time,” Gabriel snapped. “I can see just from looking at you that you’re exhausted from lack of sleep.”

“It wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Ash, I’m not trying to be difficult—”

“You could have fooled me.”

“Stop being so defensive and listen, damn it. Better.” Gabriel nodded as Ash stepped back. “There is no benefit to anyone in you continuing as one of Claudia Reynolds’s bodyguards when it’s Lissa Forsythe you really want to protect. We now have definitive confirmation the shooter has followed Miss Reynolds to England. You seem to spend most of your time at Miss Forsythe’s apartment anyway, so for today, at least, I’m partnering you with Zander to protect her.”

“Makes sense,” he acknowledged gruffly.

Gabriel nodded. “Caleb and Jacob will be with Miss Reynolds and Mr. Arnold. Ethan and Liam will spend the rest of the day with Jack Forsythe. These arrangements are only temporary. I’ll be talking to Miss Reynolds later this morning regarding bringing in more men so that there are two bodyguards assigned to each of the vulnerable parties at all times. If she doesn’t agree, she’ll leave me with no choice but to suggest she hire another security firm. Again, I’ll leave you to inform Miss Forsythe of this new arrangement.”

Ash’s jaw tightened at Gabriel’s veiled acknowledgment of the fact he was well aware Ash had been in bed with Lissa yesterday morning when Ethan took the call from Ian.

A phone call to tell them Jack Forsythe had been shot.

Lissa was at the hospital with her father now. Had been since Ash drove her there yesterday morning.

Lissa had remained calm when he told her of the shooting. She hadn’t spoken a word before she turned on her heel and went back to her bedroom to dress so he could drive her to the hospital.

It had been obvious as soon as they arrived who was in charge there.

Claudia Reynolds.

Despite the police presence, she was the one in charge and issuing orders to the police and hospital staff, as well as Malcolm Arnold. She refused to talk to the police inspector until she had made arrangements for Jack Forsythe to be taken to a private room as soon as he was out of the surgery to remove a bullet from his left shoulder. She’d sent Malcolm back to Felton Tower to deal with any business matters that needed her attention.

Considering her ex-lover—lover?—had just been shot, Claudia hadn’t seemed to miss so much as a heartbeat.

Ash had taken the opportunity while Lissa was questioning her mother about Jack’s condition to speak with Ian about the shooting.

Apparently, Claudia and Jack had left Felton Tower midmorning. Ian had followed a discreet distance behind the couple as they walked across the park to spend an hour or so outside a French café eating croissants and drinking coffee together. Their stroll back was just as leisurely, the park full now with the usual Sunday morning joggers, skateboarders, horse riders, and people just out for a walk in the sunshine. Ian reported the couple had seemed…close, laughing and relaxed together.

Until the sound of a shot being fired.

Ian had told him all became pandemonium after that, a couple of horses bolting, the people either scattering like ants and pushing past Ian or falling to the ground so that they were a smaller target if or when any more shots were fired.

The panic had preventing Ian from getting to the other couple for several seconds.

Once he did, the shooter was long gone and he could see Jack Forsythe was down, Claudia sitting on the grass beside him, his head resting on her knee as she attempted to stanch the flow of blood pouring from his shoulder. By the time they got him to the hospital, he had lost a lot of blood, and the bullet still needed to be removed.

“If Claudia refuses to play ball, I’ll be taking annual leave.” Ash now answered Gabriel. “I don’t trust Claudia, or anyone else, to keep Lissa safe.”

“We’ll deal with that if the situation arises. I have no idea what’s going on between you and Miss Forsythe.” Gabriel frowned. “Nor do I want to know,” he assured him briskly. “For the moment, just make sure you do your job. One person is already dead, another has been seriously injured.”

Coitus interruptus
was all that was “going on” between Ash and Lissa at the moment.

She had been understandably distraught at learning her father had been shot, controlled and silent during the drive to the hospital, also silent as she sat beside her mother as the two of them kept vigil waiting for Jack to come out of surgery. Which was when Lissa had announced she was staying at the hospital with her father overnight, despite the doctor’s assurances Jack was doing well and would probably sleep all night following the surgery.

Ash had wanted to talk to her, but Lissa hadn’t so much as acknowledged his presence again before leaving with Claudia to see for herself her father was alive and, while not exactly well, at least expected to recover.

Ash doubted Lissa was even aware he and Liam had stood guard outside Jack’s room all night along with two policemen. Ian and Caleb had accompanied Claudia Reynolds when she left to return to her apartment late last night. Ethan had taken over at the hospital this morning. Liam would be rejoining him once he’d had a few hours’ sleep.

Ash was supposed to go home and get some sleep too. But there was no way he could do that with all the unanswered questions crowded inside his head. When he believed Lissa was now in more danger than ever. First Claudia’s bodyguard had been shot and killed; now Jack had been shot. Lissa was the next person on the list of those closely related to Claudia.

He nodded. “Do we or the police know any more about the shooter?” He knew once the police had their statement from Ian, they had also called on Gabriel, wanting a full explanation of Knight Security’s involvement. People didn’t get shot in a London park every day. It had helped to keep those interviews to a minimum that Gabriel knew the police inspector who was in charge of the case, having worked with him on several other sensitive cases.