Guardian of Her Heart (6 page)

She searched his face. His eyes were dark, half closed, and watching her. He must burn with need like she had from his touch before.

As she closed her fingers around his cock, his eyes closed, and his nostrils flared with his deep breath. Her own body reacted and ached to have him inside her. Not yet. First, she wanted to pleasure him.

What did he like? She held his rigid penis close to the base and circled the engorged head with her index finger. A drop of cum had beaded. She smoothed it over the tip with her thumb. Meeting his eyes, she licked her thumb. A dark, almost feral promise of pleasure smoldered in his half-closed eyes, as if he wanted to devour her. Daring his passion, she lowered her head, parted her lips, and kissed the sculpted helmet of his rock-hard cock.

“God, babe.” He breathed deeply and closed his eyes.

Her lips slipped easily over him, and she took him into her mouth, tasting and teasing with her tongue, learning the contours and ridges. Swirling her tongue around him, she smoothed her hand beneath his balls, weighing them with her fingertips.

He groaned. “Melissa, I’m going to come. Wait. Stop. I want to be inside you.”

Melissa removed her mouth from him and lifted her hand from his sac.

He grabbed a condom from his jeans pocket and shucked his boots and clothing.

She unzipped her jeans and pushed them along with her panties down her legs.

He bent and removed them from her feet. “Straddle me, hon,” he rasped.

She knelt on the couch with his raging erection between her legs. He supported her, holding her with his hands at her waist as she positioned the head of his hard shaft at her slick opening. Lowering her body, she took all of him deep inside. He filled her to perfection.

“Take off your top.”

She made quick work of her top and bra.

“Move forward. I want to taste you.”

She leaned forward until her breasts were within reach of his mouth. The movement tantalized her as he pressed inside her. He licked one nipple and drew it into his mouth, sucking hard.

A moan escaped her at the pleasure. She supported herself with her hands on his muscular shoulders. He released the nipple and tasted the other one, giving both the same attention. When he cupped her breasts and circled her nipples with his thumbs, she moved forward, sliding her sheath up and down his cock. It felt amazing.

He raised his hips and pushed deeper inside her. She could feel him caressing every surface.

Her body tensed. Her muscles tightened. She shook with the force as her climax ignited. Her neck arched as wave after wave of contractions cradled her in ecstasy. When she returned to her senses, Mike growled deep in his chest, his muscles hardened with his climax. She felt him pumping inside, her body pulsing around him in response. She sighed, replete, and dropped forward to rest on his damp chest.

He wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. “I wish we could do this nonstop.”

She chuckled and pressed her lips to his strong neck as she rested her head on his shoulder, happy to stay right there.

* * * *

The following day at the crisis center, Mike stood inside the front entry watching as Melissa walked with Mrs. Catalina Martinez, one of the mothers, and her young son to their expensive-looking Lexus. She was a pretty woman but had big problems with her husband.

A black sedan drove by and caught his attention. The sedan made a U-turn and slowed as it neared the center.

Mike stepped outside and started toward Melissa, who stood beside the woman and child. The black sedan stopped, and a man opened the passenger door and ran toward the women.

“Hey,” Mike shouted and raced for them. Melissa started to take the lady’s arm and reached for the boy. “Get back inside!”

Melissa grabbed the woman’s son and hurried toward the building.

Mike tackled the man who had caught the woman. She went down with them flat onto the strip of grass next to the curb. Mike wanted only to free her. He slammed his fist against the man’s wrist, and he let go of her. She scrambled away and ran for the building.

Mike fought with the man, hoping to hold him for the police. Another ruffian rushed from the sedan. He kicked Mike in the side. His breath whooshed from him. He grunted and rolled to avoid the next punishing blow.

Another one like that and he could morph to his werewolf form. Not here. Not now, with no warning to Melissa.

Paul yelled from across the lawn near the entry.

When his assailants left him, Mike looked up.
Too late to stop them now
.
They jumped in the car, and it took off down the street. He turned to see if the women and boy were safe.

Paul reached him. “You all right? Need an ambulance? You took a few hard kicks to your ribs. Anything broken?”

“I don’t think so.” Mike got to his feet and took a deep breath. His ribs were sore, but not like they would be if they were cracked or broken. He brushed himself off and ran toward the center.

“We’d better call the cops,” Paul said.

“Hell, yeah. We need to make a report.” But first, he had a few questions of his own for the woman. The gang was definitely after Mrs. Martinez instead of Melissa this time. There had to be more than one reason why.

He and Paul entered the building and found Melissa with the shaken woman and her son waiting in the office.

“I’ve called the police,” Melissa said.

“Good,” Mike said softly and looked at the young mother with her son at her side. “May I talk to you alone about what just happened? We could talk right out here in the hallway.”

Fear evident in her eyes, the woman looked to Melissa for assurance.

Melissa smiled at her and then turned to the young boy. “I’ll stay with Raymond, and we can keep each other company, can’t we?”

Serious and quiet, he nodded in agreement but watched his mom as she preceded Mike into the hall.

She stopped about two steps from the office door. Mike would keep this short and to the point. The police would arrive any second. “Why do you think those men wanted you?”
     

“It must be because they know me through my husband. But I don’t know why they would try to kidnap me.”

“How did you and your husband meet them?” He watched her eyes for any evasive reaction but saw none.

“In the past, my husband has invited them to our house for parties or for dinner. I didn’t know he owed them money, but they came to the house recently and I overheard them arguing. They raised their voices.”

“What did they argue about?” he asked.

She shook her head, looking dismayed. “They demanded money and my husband told them he didn’t have it right now. That’s when they beat my husband. I yelled at them to stop and they left the house and drove away. Now, here they are today trying to kidnap me and my son when I came here for help. Will the police catch them and put them in jail?”

“I hope so.” Mike’s parents had hosted parties where the guests included questionable people with ties to drug dealing. It sounded like this woman’s husband might be in deep shit.

Mike escorted the woman back inside the office. Melissa gazed at him. He had a feeling she had questions of her own for him.

“I need to talk to you, Mike.”

He nodded. “As soon as the police leave.”

Chapter Five

Later, after a shower and dinner at Melissa’s, Mike waited in the living room for her to join him.

The police had come to the crisis center and taken down all the information Mike, Melissa, and Mrs. Martinez could give them. Mike didn’t plan to wait for the police to protect Melissa and those at the crisis center.

He had his own plan. He also needed to tell Melissa about his life with his parents, their questionable acquaintances, and his failure to protect his mom.

He looked up as she came in from the hallway. She wore a soft, sleeveless knit top, that left her delicious middle bare, and hip-hugger jeans. Nothing on her shapely feet.

“How are your bruises?” Her eyes revealed her concern. “Are you sure you don’t need to go to the emergency room for treatment?”

Mike shook his head. “Nothing’s broken. I have some pretty ugly bruises forming, and I’m sore, but that’s all. I’ll be better when you sit beside me.”

She smiled at him and sat on the sofa, careful not to lean against his side.

He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. “I need to tell you something that I’ve been holding in for a long time. After talking to the woman who was attacked at the crisis center today, I think it’s important for you to know.”

“Mrs. Martinez.” Melissa’s eyes were wide and questioning as she looked at him. “Something she said is worrying you?”

“Yeah.” He took a deep breath and let it out.

“She told me about the men coming to their home and beating up her husband over some money. She said her husband had previously invited the same men to their house for parties and dinners on occasion. Her story reminded me of my parents and my life with them.”

“How so?” Melissa gazed at him patiently.

He found it hard to put into words. He had to start somewhere. “My parents fought with each other. They put a good face on things for friends and guests at parties. But I saw them fighting more often than I thought was normal. More intensely than most couples, I’ve always suspected. They didn’t have disagreements like people have at times. They had ugly, loud battles.”

He paused and took another deep breath. This was so damn hard to talk about with Melissa. Would she run from him after she knew? If she did, he’d never be able to tell her about the family curse. There was only one way to find out.

“My mother kept to her bedroom with the curtains closed against the sunlight. My father was a rich man, as you probably know.”

She nodded, and he continued. “He knew how to make money. It was a game he loved more than anything or anyone. He wasn’t around home much. Even so, I discovered he was also physically abusive to my mother.” He stopped and searched Melissa’s face for her reaction. Was she horrified?

He hadn’t even told her the worst about his parents yet. He should have been there to protect his mother when she needed help. Would he be able to protect Melissa?

Melissa took his hand in hers and squeezed. The tremors in his grip touched her. Hot tears threatened to fill her eyes. She glanced down and blinked frantically to clear her vision. Tears wouldn’t help Mike. “I understand that some people can’t find a way to get along. Some couples aren’t willing to form a middle ground. There are partners who won’t give even a little to make the other one happy. But your life doesn’t have to be that way.”

She wanted desperately to help Mike with his ghosts, but there was only so much she could do to help if he wouldn’t tell her everything. She sensed there was more to his story.

He cleared his throat. “What drives you to run the crisis center week after week with angry parents always around and giving you a hard time as well?”

Maybe it would help him if she told him about her friend’s sad life at home.

“My best friend in school was beaten by her father and also emotionally battered by parental fighting. I often asked her to spend the night at my home so she could avoid her parents’ fights. Especially on weekends, the battles were constant.”

She paused when Mike groaned. “How did things turn out for her?”