For Her Protection: An Alpha Romance (4 page)

Just try telling me, wrong.

He stared out the windshield, which did nothing to conceal his smirk. “Learning.”

She tugged her wrists. “If my hands weren't tied...”

“But they are.” His smirk turned to a grin.

Bastard was loving this.

Her heart fluttered. Evil bastard had an amazing smile.

***

Twenty minutes later, Connor opened the door to Charlie’s townhome. Polite would be freeing her and returning her keys, but well—screw that.

He’d given her every chance to do this the easy way. But she’d gone and been sneaky. She almost fooled him too.

Now he’d enjoy every moment of teaching her that he was in charge now.

If he hadn’t noticed the same guy walk down the same hall, the same direction, twice, he’d have missed the security screens being on a loop.

Miraculously, he had as he’d been concentrating on a second screen with footage of the morning’s protest.

Fury pounded through his veins. She’d almost been taken. From now on she could forget privacy. She’d forgone that luxury when she’d played him.

He switched on the lights and walked into her kitchen.

“You can untie me now.” Her footsteps clicked behind him.

He faced her. “Are you finished reflecting?”

“Yes.” Her gold eyes sparked.

He took off his jacket, and lay it over her counter. “And what have you learned?”

“That you are a ridiculous, cantankerous, possibly crazy, barbarian.”

“And yet you bait me?”

Her cheeks pinkened. “This is so unprofessional. Are you even a real body guard?”

Professional
. Oh, it was too late for that. He’d veered off that course the moment he’d seen her picture and insisted on taking her on personally. He’d gone off script altogether when he went from “surveillance” to
watching
.

There’d been no going back the moment she’d clapped eyes on him in the bar and looked at him like that. As though she might’ve experienced in that instant what he’d built over a month—a kind of fascinated obsession.

Obsession being the operative word.

“I’m definitely real, Charlie.” He couldn’t help sliding towards her. Couldn’t help how much he enjoyed having her with her hands tied behind her back, her chest pushed out.

Blood rushed to his cock.

“And I’d say we moved past professional when you asked me to kiss you.”

“I didn’t know who you were.”

“Would you have cared?” He didn’t touch her. That wouldn’t be fair just yet. “You said you needed me.”

She wet her lips. All he could do was stare at that mouth of hers. He’d thought about that mouth a lot, but now he knew how fucking soft it was on his.

“Why, Charlie?” He placed his hand on the bench behind her, blocking her in, holding himself back. “Why’d you need me?”

“I…” Whatever smart answer she may have had got lost in the saddest frown.

Then he couldn’t restrain himself, he reached out and touched her pretty chin. “What happened, kitten?”

She blinked, and glanced away from him.

“Was it the schmuck at the bar?” His muscles tightened. Yeah he’d noticed. He’d noticed and wanted to go over there and stake his claim on a woman who did not know he existed. “He walked off and then you looked sad.”

Her gaze returned to him. “You noticed?”

“I notice everything about you.”

Her chin lifted in his hand. “Because that’s your job.”

“My job is to keep you safe.”

She squinted slightly. He wasn’t about to lay it out. Not until she gave a little.

“What’d he do?” He remembered the face, he could find him again if he had to.

Her forehead developed a sheen. “Nothing, he just wasn’t into me.”

“You didn’t seem into him, so what’s the problem?” He scanned her face, watching her discomfort grow more acute.

What wouldn’t she say?

“No woman wants to feel repulsive.” She frowned and jerked her face away.

Repulsive?

Had she lost her mind? Everything about her was warm and sexy, savvy and sweet. “Baby, you couldn’t be repulsive if you tried it on for a dare.”

Her attention snapped back to him, and her eyes went wide. She looked at his mouth.

Fuck, how was he supposed to resist?

His hand went to her waist, turning her against him. He’d dreamed of clutching this waist. Putting his fingers in the dip just before the flare of her hips.

Her lips parted. “Untie me, Conan.”

He froze. “Conan?”

She shrugged.

The minx
. She couldn’t pretend to have forgotten his name. Tension vibrated though her. She wanted him.

She doesn’t trust me.

Well, she’d learn the was no choice but to. He spun her around, then reached over the counter and plucked a knife from the knife block.

Her breath shuddered. He stared at the wrists bound at the small of her back. Jesus, did she have any idea how a skirt like that, clinging to her ass, made him suffer?

He cut the cable tie.

She jerked her arms free, then turned around, and rubbed her wrists. “I’m all good. You can go home now.”

“I don’t think you understand. You’re under twenty-four hour protection. I’m not going anywhere.”

She frowned. “What do you mean? Frank said I had until morning to decide?”

“That was before you were set upon in the parking lot.” He took a step back. “And before the stunt you pulled meant I had to leave my car, which I would otherwise stay in while working.”

“You’ve been sleeping in your car outside my house?”

“You think your safety only matters nine-to-five?”

She glanced towards her front door, as though she were picturing the last month she hadn’t known about.

“I’ll be staying here tonight.”

She straightened. “Fine, come with me.”

He followed her out of the kitchen and to the bedrooms.

She opened a door. “This is the guest room. There are pillows and blankets in the wardrobe and it has a bathroom. I assume you know how to use a kitchen. Help yourself to whatever you want, I’m going to bed.”

Help myself to whatever I want…

She stood next to the door—bare feet, lopsided bun. She’d somehow gotten sexier. Did she have any clue what he planned to help himself to?

“You can stop looking at me like that. Just so we’re clear, my room is off limits.”

He grinned and swaggered over to the guest room door. “I can wait ‘til I’m invited.”

Charlie backed up to the next door and tugged it open. “Why don’t you go on and hold your breath while you wait?” She stepped into the room and slammed the door behind her.

***

Rap, rap, rap.

The sound vibrated through her dream, drawing her out of the warm depths of sleep.

Huh?

Another rap sounded on her door.

“Wakey, wakey, kitten. It’s time to start the day.”

That voice—that arrogant drawl—it all came back. She groaned. The parking lot. The burning betrayal that she’d been secretly stalked for a month at her uncle’s behest. She glanced at the clock on her bedside table and cleared her throat. “It’s 5:00 a.m., go away.”

“I know what time it is.”

She threw off the blankets and sat up. “Then go back to bed. I don’t need to be up yet.”

It’d be pointless trying to get back to sleep now. That didn’t mean he needed to think he was master of her schedule.

“You do when you’re getting free, private self-defense lessons. So get your ass out here or I’ll come in there and haul it out.”

Heat slid all the way up from her bare toes to the center of her belly. She could almost feel the clamp of his arm around her waist when they’d kissed. She shuffled her legs a delicious ache lingering in her center. Part of her wanted to throw herself back on the bed and dare him. Part of her wanted to call his bluff, or worse yet, have the satisfaction of having him go through with his threat.

“Alright, just let me get ready,” she called.

What she wanted and what she’d actually do rarely had to be the same.

“Ten minutes.”

She strode to the door and yelled, “Fifteen.” Like hell he was putting her on his schedule. She pulled her gym clothes out of a drawer and strode to the bathroom. When she emerged more like seventeen minutes had passed but he’d waited. She smiled. Guess he was all bluff and bluster.

She swung her door open and jumped. Connor stood in the doorway, thick arms crossed, looking like trouble with a hard on. He hadn’t shaved. A dark layer of black bristle coated his jaw, roughening him enough to take him to something even wilder.

And damn it all, if the look of him didn’t make her want to tug her pants down and bend over right there.

A beep chimed and he pressed his watch. He smiled, his teeth appearing even whiter against his dark stubble. “You’re lucky. I gave you three extra minutes.”

Her mouth opened. “You timed me? You don’t get to time me.”

Conner took one long stride toward her, his hand pressing against the wall beside her head. “You seem confused. I’m here to protect you. You were almost taken yesterday and I’m going to make fucking sure that doesn’t happen again. So when I say do something, you do it because what I’m telling you to do might be the thing that saves you. Got it?”

Her cheeks warmed and she pressed her lips together. “Don’t start thinking this situation gives you free rein over me.”

His gaze skipped over her, as though he’d love nothing more than to have free rein.

She slid out from under his arm and strode to her handbag and keys before throwing a glance over her shoulder. “I drive.”

He gifted her with his slow grin. “That’s what you think.”

Connor tossed the
boxing gloves into the corner and watched Charlie gulp from her water bottle while leaning her arm on the wall for support. He smiled softly. She was something alright—he’d never met anyone like her. He’d put her through the kind of hellish boxing routine that had most clients dropping their punches after fifteen minutes. But no matter how hard he’d pushed her she’d come back harder, no matter how bad it must hurt. She’d lasted an hour.

He’d destroyed her.

The woman had grit. Or obstinate determination.

She proved it by remaining standing. The thought made him smile.
Asshole
? Maybe a little but she needed to make sure the next time someone tried to grab her she’d be ready whether he was there or not.

“You have endurance.”

Charlie turned her back against the wall, still leaning on it for support. Her skin shone with sweat, flushed a sexy pink—exactly how she’d look in his bed after he was done with her.

“Think only skinny girls are strong?”

He rolled his gaze over her. “You look plenty strong to me.”

If possible she went pinker.

He’d booked the space this time and they still had half an hour. He intended to make the most of every minute. “Take a minute. I’m not done with you yet.”

Her pretty chin scrunched. She wanted to argue—didn’t she always? But she put her water down and sashayed over to him.

“What else you got then?”

He smiled. “Grab my wrists and watch carefully.”

Charlie sighed and grasped his wrists. Her fingers curled over his skin. For a second he had to think about a maneuver that was normally as natural to him as breathing. He rotated his arm, snapping her hold on him, then stepped in fast, hooked his foot behind her ankle, grasped her arm and sent her sprawling onto the mat.

She landed on her hip with a grunt. He released the wrist he’d gripped to break her fall and she sprang up on her sneakers.

“What the hell was that for?”

“That’s how to break a hold and get away.” He circled her, coming up behind her and grasping her shoulders. “We’ll start with breaking the hold and then move on to the getting away step.” He shoved his foot between her sneakers and nudged her legs apart. He leaned closer. “First of all when you face someone, distribute your weight evenly. Bend your knees slightly and you won’t be knocked over so easily.”

She said nothing, but the muscles under his hands tightened.

He walked back around and faced her. “Your turn.” He grasped her wrist and tugged her closer, watched her eyes widen, her breath rush between her lips. He stared down into her flushed face before holding up her wrist. “This is the weak spot right here.” He ran his finger over the silky, pale skin of her arm where his thumb and fingers joined. “You want to rotate your wrist toward the weakness and apply force away from it. Twist and push.”

Her gaze followed his fingers over her skin.

“Try it slowly.”

She took a breath and rotated her wrist then pushed her arm free—hard. He grinned. She was a pro. Charlie raised an eyebrow, her lips tugging up to one side. He’d let her enjoy this brief success because the rest wouldn’t be so easy.

“Good. Now we repeat it until you can do it clean and smooth.”

They went through the move over and over. The skin on her wrists grew red then raw. Not as raw as the look on her face when she completed the move for the tenth time and all he said was “again”.

He reached for her and she jerked her wrist away before he could clutch it.

“Enough, I can do it.”

He seized her one last time. “Can you? Do it again now and we’ll stop.”

Her face flamed and her lips thinned. She twisted her forearm, straining muscles, but he tightened his grip, prevented her from rotating away from him. He caught her other wrist to bring her hot curves against him.

“I want you to be able to do it without thinking, to be able to get away from me when I’m actually trying.”

Her expression shattered. “All this time you weren’t trying?” A pang of guilt hit him but he ignored it. They needed to start at the beginning and she needed to learn properly.

She jerked and pain slammed up from his knee-cap. His grip loosened for a moment and she moved, twisting her wrists and breaking his hold. She vaulted back from him, her gaze triumphant.

What the…?

She’d actually done it. Sneaky girl kicked him in the knee and got away. Damn…

“Think you’re the only one with moves?”

He stared at her in hopeless fascination.
Touché
.  Her techniques may not be polished or professional but Charlie was plenty resourceful.

“What else you got?” She dared him with the gleam in her eye.

“Turn around.”

She turned. Her long neck rose gracefully above the smooth stretch of skin on her upper back. He stepped up behind her and grasped her ponytail. She went rigid except for the slight tremble of her shoulders.

But then she moved, a hand flying behind her to grasp his t-shirt like she might fall down.

He forgot what he’d been about to show her.

He almost forgot his goddamned name.

“Aren’t you going to show me your moves?” Again her words were taunting, daring but he felt the moment she melted into the heat that generated whenever they touched. She went liquid against him. Moved restlessly.

“I need you to kiss me.”

He remember her words.
“No woman wants to feel repulsive.”
Is that why she toyed with him now. Did she need him to prove she was irresistible?

That she made him cross every line he’d ever had.

His grip tightened on her hair. “How can I when you’re pulling out all of yours?”

“What are you talking about?” She leaned back into him.

His hand slipped from her hair and he wrapped his arm around her middle. “You had the balls to walk right up to me in the middle of a bar and demand I kiss you.”

Her ribs expanded under his arm.

“So if there’s something you want from me, you’d best come right out and ask for it.”

Her hand flattened between them.

He pulled her in tighter against him, let her feel the need crushing though him, and it was only the fact that she’d only known him for a day when he’d wanted her for a fucking month, that stopped him from showing her exactly how painful that wait had been.

She covered his arm with hers bearing back for a moment, before sliding herself from his grasp.

She held his gaze, arousal thick in her expression, but weariness rife in her stance, as though she couldn’t trust what she wanted.

As though she couldn’t trust what he’d offered.

Fine
.

She could take her time.  He’d waited a month already, he’d give her a few more days before he’d have to convince her.

“I need to get to work.” She backed away.

He watched her retreat. “So do I.”

***

Where was Lia?

Charlie eyed her PA’s empty desk on her way into the office. Lia didn’t do late. She checked her phone. There weren’t any messages.

She frowned and put her things away. Connor folded his too-large body into the chair on the other side of her desk.

“You just going to stare at me all day?

He stretched his legs out in front of him. “I could always stand behind you if you’d prefer.”

Heat exploded over her. Behind her, like he’d been before when he’d demanded she ask for what she wanted.

What was his game?

Who knew what Frank had asked him to do to get to her. A high-pitched shriek came from the other side of the door.

Connor flew to his feet, and yanked open her office before she could catch a breath.

She followed him to the small reception outside her office.

“I’m so sorry.” Lia dropped her handbag onto her desk, a squirming bundle of curls in her arms. “I didn’t know what to do with him.” She set down her son Xavier. “My mom is in the hospital and I didn’t have anyone else to ask to take him.”

“Is she okay?” Charlie approached the reception.

“She will be.” Lia ran a hand over her own curls, which were far more unruly than usual. “Kidney stones.”

“What is this?” The voice came out of nowhere.

Charlie groaned inwardly as Frank came into view. “It’s fine. Nothing that concerns you.”

Frank stepped closer to the three-year-old, who chose that unfortunate moment to tip over a container from the desk.

Paper clips scattered across the floor.

“Children are only permitted to attend work on parent days.”

“M-my, mother is unwell. “Lia’s gaze darted after her son who’d crawled under the desk.

He eyed the mess. “Then you’ll need to take a leave day.”

An unpaid leave day.

She’d used up all her paid leave. Single parenting could do that.

Charlie bit her cheek.

Lia couldn’t afford to be taking unpaid leave.

“Then I guess Benjamin and Lily are no longer coming by tomorrow?” Charlie stared at her uncle. “Since children are only permitted on parent days.”

Frank’s gaze snapped to hers.

She hadn’t wanted to drag her cousin’s children into this. They may be Frank’s grandkids but she loved having them stop by as much as he did. Even if they did tend to linger for hours.

But what’s good for the goose and all of that.

“Thought so,” she said.

Truth was, Lia was a capable multi-tasker. As long as Xavier had a contained space to play in she’d manage just fine until she figured something else out.

“Respectfully, this is my office and my PA.” She turned to Lia. “When we’re done take my office. Xavy can play in there, just make sure to use the headset today for noise reduction. Miranda at the front desk has coloring books.”

Charlie turned back to her office opened the door and held out her hand. Frank stood for a moment, resistant, then smoothed his tie and went through. Connor strode through next.

She pushed the door closed.

“I’ve come for your answer.” Frank said, his back to her.

Charlie almost laughed. “Answer implies a choice.”

“You could always take some leave yourself.” He turned to her.

He was so freaking evil. How were they from the same gene pool?

Her dad’s face flashed in her mind and she sobered. Dad hadn’t been so different before his stroke.

All consuming ambition.

He’d had his good points. He’d done his best when Mom left with her fitness instructor and started family number two. It broke his heart but that can happen when you don’t speak to a spouse other than to issue an order. She’d witnessed her mother’s despair every time she’d tried to get his attention and failed.

“That won’t be necessary.” She glanced at Connor. “I can handle one bodyguard.”

Connor shifted subtly. Had he actually worried she’d refuse?

“Glad you came around.” His smile flattened and he left her office. He’d won but he’d lost too.

She looked at Connor. “Thanks for not telling him about last night.”

His expression remained impassive. “He’ll hear about it on Monday.”

Her eyes stretched. Was he kidding? He’d still be reporting on her. “What happened to those guys anyway? Won’t I need to make a statement?”

“Mark will come by this morning to take a statement from you.”

“Mark?”

“The cop.” His gaze twitched away. “Detective.”

Hmm. Interesting
. “You used to be a cop didn’t you?”

He refocused on her. “Detective.”

“And you worked with Mark?”

His face turned slightly to the side, eyeing her, and she saw right there in that movement the cop he’d been before. So suspicious. “I did.”

A squeal rang out. Xavier. They’d better give him the room before someone in the adjoining offices complained. Charlie collected her laptop and headed out.

She set her things on Lia’s desk in the open reception between her office and others. Connor made himself comfortable leaning on a wall opposite her.

Upside of handing over her office was having an open space. Public space where people walked by to their desks. Where she wasn’t going to have to be alone with brooding barbarian.

She’d accepted this bargain but how long she could handle having him so close?

His attention pinned on her. Making her feel like that’s what he wanted, and not simply his job.

As though he enjoyed the way she looked more than he liked to spy.

Even though that’s what he was—a dirty, dirty spy.

***

He watched Charlie arrange her things on her PA’s desk.

“You’re going to work here all day?” He studied her. When she’d made the offer she’d been shooting venomous barbs at Frank with her eyes.