Secret Guardian (14 page)

He looked down at her, his hands slowly going up her stockings. “I think it’s time for a little payback.” He smiled and she knew she was in trouble.

His calloused hands finally reached the sensitive skin above her thigh-highs. He slowly rolled each stocking down until finally her legs were bare. Then he dipped his head and kissed and licked his way back up her legs until finally he reached the inside of her thighs. Her skirt was hiked up, exposing her silk panties, but he made no move to remove them. Instead, as his eyes were on hers, he reached up and undid her bra, slowly pulling it down her shoulders.

Her hands were beside her on the bed and when he’d finally finished removing it, she gripped the bedspread and wished for speed.

How could she know that moving so slow would tie her up inside?

“Ethan, please.” She watched as he smiled.

“Shh, don’t rush me. I’m enjoying myself too much to go fast.” He repeated her words, tormenting her.

With just his fingers, he trailed over her soft skin until he circled her nipples, causing them to rise and bud.

Then he just looked down at her. “Beautiful.” He smiled, then dipped his head to taste the skin he’d just exposed. She arched up and grabbed his hair as he rained wet kisses over her heated skin.

He trailed kisses down until he reached the top of her skirt. Then he moved back down below to the inside of her thighs again.

She felt like she couldn’t breathe, waiting for him to touch her in the place she wanted, the place she needed him.

Slowly, he ran his hands up until he could pull her silk panties down her legs slowly. Then he ran his mouth over her heated skin, moving upwards until, finally, his mouth licked her tender skin causing her to arch off the bed and moan.

He used his hands to hike her skirt higher, pushing it up until she was fully exposed. He dipped his head as he used his hands to spread her legs wider, exposing her fully to his view and taste.

He ran his hands up her inner thigh until he slid a finger into her core while his tongue pleasured her skin. Her shoulders came off the mattress then as she screamed his name.

“Mmm.” He trailed kisses up her stomach and she realized every muscle in her body was totally relaxed. “I could get used to this,” he said when he was fully on top of her, his chest and hips pinning her to the mattress. He used his thighs to spread her legs until he fit comfortably between them. “Ann?” She smiled and opened her eyes.

His face was close, so close she had to blink a few times to adjust her eyes. His eyes sparkled in the dim light and she noticed a huge smile on his face.

“
I want to see what I do to you when I slide into you. I want to see your eyes as I drive you over the edge.”

He paused as he slid slowly into her. She tried to keep her eyes focused on him, but she couldn’t help that everything had gone blurry. She gripped his shoulders as he slowly rocked his hips.

She could feel his speed pick up as his hips pumped harder and faster. She closed her eyes to the pleasure and wrapped her legs around his hips to hold on.

Finally, when she couldn’t stand it another minute, he buried his face into her hair and let himself go just as she fell.

The thin man was sweating. Even though the room’s temperature was controlled at a cool seventy degrees,
he felt it dripping down his back. His palms were sweaty and he knew that his heart was racing.

“I assure you I will be dealing with this situation myself. I have my top man here in town, ready to take the shot at a minute’s notice. I have some big plans to finally remove the senator. I still have one more opportunity to deal with his daughter that I’d like to try.”

“You don’t even know where the girl is now.”

“I know she’ll be back in town in a few days. I’ve just found out where she is and thought it would be better to wait until she was back in Austin before making my move.”

“You thought? I wasn’t aware I paid you to think. Your job is to do what I tell you to. Nothing more. I told you to get the girl in Rio. Did you get the girl in Rio like I requested?”

“No, she slipped through our fingers. I’ve explained—”

“I don’t want to hear any more excuses. Do you know how important it is that Senator Rhodes drops from this race?”

He nodded his head and dropped his eyes from the old man’s face to the floor.

“I don’t want to be mad at you. You’ve been my right hand for how many years now?”

“Four, sir.”

“Has it been that long?” The old man looked down at his watch.

“Well, when Miss Rhodes get
s back in town, I want you to make sure you take care of everything. If you can’t get to the girl, don’t waste your time. I want that speech stopped at any cost. Am I making myself clear?”

“Yes, sir.”

The old man stood and grabbed his briefcase. “Well…? Get out of my office.
I’m running late for a meeting. Oh, and I don’t want to see you again until after everything is taken care of.”

T
he next morning they met his parents for a day trip to the beach, something they’d done since he was a kid. Usually they’d spend the whole night sleeping in a tent or sleeping bags under the stars if the weather held out.

This time they had stayed late enough to have some of his dad’s homemade mussel soup. He’d laughed as he taught Ann how to dig for mussel
s. She’d been a little grossed out at first, but after he’d showed her how to collect the first few, she’d rolled her sleeves up and been totally focused.

She’d even helped him collect wood for their fire. He’d always enjoyed having a campfire on the beach. Something about the smell of burning wood and the salt from the ocean made him feel like he was truly home.

As they sat on a large piece of driftwood in front of the fire, he pulled her close as he watched his parents laughing about a story they were telling.

It was almost like life was going in slow motion for a few minutes. His mind flashed from seeing the same scene as a child, to seeing them now, and then for a brief moment, he could just imagine how they would look years from now. Still laughing. Still sitting close and holding hands.

He’d wanted what they had his whole life. The connection they shared went beyond the title of husband and wife. It was even beyond the word friendship. He supposed if he had to choose a word for what his parents had together
it would be perfection.

Smiling, he looked over at Ann and at that moment, he knew he’d found his perfection. Her eyes were sparkling in the fire and he could see that her cheeks and nose were pink from the cold wind coming off the Pacific. Her hair was tied in a tail that hung from the back of one of his old ball caps. She was wearing one of his hunting jackets that was three sizes too big for her. Her jeans were rolled up past her ankles so they didn’t get wet on the sand. Her feet were bare and he smiled, realizing she’d yet to repaint her toenails.

He couldn’t imagine her looking better than she did right then. He didn’t care if he never saw her in the hot red outfit that she’d worn the day he’d met her. He knew he’d hold onto this moment for the rest of his life.

Years from now, when his children asked him what his favorite memory was, he’d tell them it was sitting under the stars with your mother and grandparents, laughing about some silly stories and realizing how much I loved your mother.

Of course the only thing left for him to do was tell Ann how he felt. This he wasn’t so good at. He’d never told anyone he loved them before, expect his grandparents and parents.

Telling a woman you loved her was a lot different than telling your family. At least he thought it would be. Maybe he needed to buy her flowers? Maybe he’d just shout it out from the rooftops? Maybe he’d tell her after making love to her?

Whatever his intentions, he knew he had to think of something soon. He needed to work up the courage to tell her before they left to go back to Austin. If he didn’t find the courage before then, he knew he might never find it.

It seemed their visit of two days was over too quickly. They made the journey back to Portland, and this time they hopped on a commercial plane heading towards Austin. The fact that a few days earlier she’d been running for her life didn’t escape her. Ann sat in the plane, looking at the flat landscape below her and thinking about everything she’d gone through and how her life would fall back into it
s normal pattern in the next few days.

Was Ethan going to stick around? Was she still just a job to him? So many other questions ran through her head that by the time the plane landed, she had worked herself into quite a large headache.

They’d had such a wonderful time together at his place. The nights had been filled with love, the days with his family. They’d gone to the beach and she’d enjoyed mussel hunting. Then they had sat on the beach until the evening when his father had cooked the mussels into a stew over an open fire, something she’d never tried before.

By the last day there, she was beginning to feel so comfortable around his family. His mother had even programmed her number into Ann’s new cell phone. They’d taken pictures of everyone on the beach and Ann had one on her new phone of Ethan and her kissing with the sunset behind them. She kept sneaking looks at it when he wasn’t looking.

Their last night there was much like their first, but with a lot less talking. She didn’t know what to say to him. They were heading back to her home. Would he want to stay? Did she want him to stay? How could she get him to stay?

He was an adventurer. He traveled everywhere. Saved countless people. Got shot at on a regular basis. Why would he want to stay? What did she really have that he’d want? These questions kept running through her mind. So much that she’d become very withdrawn and quiet. She knew there was an awkward silence between them, but she really did need some time to think.

She knew she was being extra quiet on the long taxi ride to her condo in Georgetown, thirty minutes from Austin. Ethan sat quietly beside her. Most likely he was trying to figure out what to do next. She had no clue what to do, herself. By the time they had exited the taxi, she’d made up her mind that she did want him to stay. So the only question remaining was how to convince him.

When she walked into her place she still felt uneasy about how to tell him that she wanted him to stay. She walked around turning on the lights, and when she noticed the light on her answering machine, she walked over and hit the button, hoping it would fill in the quiet that was hanging around the room.

“Ann, it’s Anthony. I need to talk to you the second you get back.”

Great! she thought. She hadn’t thought about the repercussions of everything with her job. She wondered suddenly if she still had a job.

She looked over at Ethan and decided that call could wait until tomorrow. The next message was from her father. He too wanted her to call him the second she got into town.

Picking up her phone, she hit speed dial for her dad’s cell number and waited for him to pick up.

“Hey, sweetie,” he answered, sounding as if he was in the car. “I didn’t know what time you would be coming back into town, but we’re on our way there to see you. We should be there in about ten minutes.”

She looked over at Ethan and sheer panic flooded her eyes. How was she going to explain their relationship to her father? It was one thing meeting his family, but her father knew what he was, had actually hired him. Would her dad welcome him like his family had done to her?

“Ann, are you still there?” Her father’s voice shook her out of all the questions she’d been tossing around in her head. She blinked and turned her back on Ethan then walked into her bedroom to finish the awkward call with her dad. She needed to tell her dad exactly what she felt towards Ethan so he wouldn’t be shocked. Or worse, try to hit Ethan for taking advantage of her.

When she walked back out of her room, Ethan was standing by the door with his hand on the handle.

“I know your family is on their way here, so I’ll just let myself out.” He turned to go.

“Wait, you don’t have to go. I was just—”

“Listen, Princess, I know what you were just doing. I’m sorry. I thought…” he shook his head. “I have some loose ends to tie up. I’ll see you around. I’m still on the job, remember.” He turned and walked out without another word to her. She felt like crying, but instead, she walked into the kitchen and downed a few aspirin and a glass of water, then waited for her family to get there.

When her father arrived, she’d been hugged and yelled at all at the same time. She tried not to laugh, really. But after what she’d been through, she doubted anything her father could say or do would scare her ever again.

Coleen sat on her couch quietly, checking her cell phone like she was bored. Blake had hugged her and then after their father was almost done yelling at her, had asked so many questions about Ethan.

“Where is he? I thought he was going to be here.”

“You just missed him.” She tried not to sound too depressed that he wasn’t there, but when her father’s eyebrows shot up, she knew that he knew something was up.

Blake proceeded to blast her with question after question as her father watched her very carefully. Finally, just before they were ready to leave, her father pulled her aside into the kitchen to talk alone.

“Okay, sweetie. Spill.”

“What?” She’d tried to hide it from him all evening, but knew she hadn’t done a good job.

When he just crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her, she walked over and gave him a hug. His arms came around her and she lost it. Crying on her father’s shoulder was one of those things she never got too old to do.

It took almost ten minutes for her to cry herself dry. When she had, he leaned back and handed her a tissue from the box on her countertop.

“Tell me what this is all about.”

“I think I screwed up.” He looked at her. “It has nothing to do with what happened in Rio. I think I screwed up with Ethan. Dad, I think I’m in love with him.”

He smiled quickly.

“No, I think, I don’t know. I think I’m just a job to him.” She blew her nose and reached for another tissue.

“Sweetie, if I know anything about that man, it’s that he never mixes business with pleasure. He has a reputation, one of being strictly business. Why do you think I hired him in the first place?”

He used his finger to pull her chin up until she looked at him in the face. “If he mixed pleasure with business, then I can guarantee it had nothing to do with the job. He took you to see his family in Washington right?”

She nodded her head and wiped a tear with the back of her hand.

“A man doesn’t fly you halfway across the continent to visit his family without there being something there. Trust me.”

She smiled at her dad. Maybe he was right.

“Besides, he’s still on the job. At least until I tell him he’s done. That was part of the deal.”

She smiled again. “Thanks, D
addy. I knew you’d have all the answers. What can I do now?”

“Well, if he doesn’t come back on his own… If I know anything about my little girl, you’ll find a way to make him crawl back.”

That night she lay in her bed for a few hours listening to the sounds of the city around her. She missed the sounds of the jungle and of Ethan sleeping beside her. She missed his warmth, his smell, his touch.