Special Forces: Operation Alpha: Protection Crisis (Kindle Worlds Novella) (7 page)

I stepped out of the bathroom, riveted by the sight that greeted me. Chloe lay on her stomach with her head facing the bedroom door. The pale sheet rode low on her hips and her nightshirt had crept up her back. Dark locks of hair were spread across her pale skin. You’d think I would have grown accustomed to the beauty that was my Chloe after spending the last two weeks with her, but I hadn’t. Each day seemed to be better than the last—even while it brought a new threat from her stalker.

Emails and texts I’d kept hidden from Chloe because I couldn’t bear to see her scared. As her boyfriend, it was my job to step in and shield her from shit like this. I wasn’t just here to protect Chloe physically, but mentally too. The bastard wanted her afraid, and I refused to let him have what he was trying to take from her. This guy didn’t deserve a single thought in her head, and I worked hard to make sure she didn’t have a reason to worry about him.

I was happy to carry the burden for her—it meant I got more mornings like this where I woke up to my beautiful woman sleeping peacefully next to me. The dark circles she’d had under her eyes when we met were a thing of the past. Her fair skin had lost its pallor and was back to glowing with health. I got to hear her laughter ringing in the air every day, and I discovered that seeing her enjoy a meal was a thing of beauty in and of itself.

Chloe had a healthy appreciation for good food, and watching her eat quickly became one of my favorite pastimes, right along with feeding her. After a light press of my lips to her cheek, I headed downstairs to fix our breakfast. If I was quick enough, I’d be done before she was fully awake. I was in the mood for a nice breakfast in bed—waffles with strawberries and whipped cream for her and whipped cream spread across my Chloe’s body for me.

It only took me about ten minutes to get it ready since she had saved the extra batter from a few mornings before in the fridge. I gathered everything onto a tray, snagging a flower from her garden for a little romantic touch, and headed back upstairs. I walked in just as she was waking up, her arms raised above her head and her back arched while she stretched. Her tits were pushed out, and I was sorely tempted to drop the tray and skip breakfast altogether, but the pleasure in her eyes when she saw what I was carrying nixed the idea for me.

“Morning.” Her voice was raspy with sleep, and incredibly sexy. “Breakfast in bed, huh? If you aren’t careful, you’re going to spoil me, and I might start to expect this kind of treatment on a regular basis.”

“This would be a problem, why exactly?”

“Because I don’t want to take you for granted, silly.”

I wasn’t worried about it, not when she was always doing little things to make sure I was happy. “Not gonna happen,” I whispered against her lips. “And neither is breakfast if you insist on being so damn cute.”

“I wouldn’t want all your
hard
,”—she squeezed my dick for emphasis—“work to go to waste.”

“Eat your damn food, woman,” I growled. “Before I eat you instead.”

“I hardly think that’s an effective threat,” she giggled, moving up until her back was against the headboard.

I set the tray on her lap and crawled onto the mattress to sit next to her. Snagging the extra bowl of whip cream on the corner of the tray, I moved it to the bedside table. Chloe’s eyes darted to it and she wagged her brows at me, but she didn’t comment on it. I didn’t really give her the chance to because I stabbed a piece of the waffle with the fork and lifted it to her mouth. She let me feed her a few more bites before she stole the fork and started feeding me. As soon as the plate was empty, I yanked the tray off her lap and dropped it to the floor with a crash. I didn’t bother to check and see if anything had broken, I was too busy staring at the sight of her soaked panties.

“Damn, I need to taste you.”

She shimmied out of her underwear, and I licked my lips as her glistening folds were revealed. Moving to my stomach, I spread her legs to get better access. “You’re drenched for me, aren’t you, baby?”

“Cold,” she yelped as I dipped my finger into the bowl of whipped cream and spread it on the crease between her thigh and pussy on one side and then the other.

“I’d better warm you up then,” I breathed against her skin, flicking my tongue out to lick at the cream.

Her hips shifted to the side, trying to get me to move inwards. With my hand on her lower belly, I held her in place and tortured her by slowly licking all around and up and down her outer pussy lips while avoiding her clit or dipping inside. She gasped when I finally spread her lower lips apart with two fingers and slid my tongue in between them. Her hands gripped my scalp and her legs tightened around my head.

“Mmm,” I hummed as I flattened my tongue and licked her from top to bottom, over and over again. I stiffened my tongue on each downslide and plunged it inside her, making her hips buck.

“Please, Kael,” she cried. “I’m so close.”

My thumb glided upwards to stroke her clit, and I doubled my efforts with my tongue. Her cries turned into screams of completion, and I kept licking her gently until her orgasm was over. Then I flopped onto my back and pulled her into my arms.

“Best morning ever,” she sighed, drawing lazy circles on my chest with her finger. “For me at least.”

“It’s at the top of my list too.”

“Hmmm, I think I can make it even better.” Her hand slipped lower to cup my dick through my boxers.

My hips jerked up, my hard-on jutting against her palm. Her hand slipped inside my boxers, her fingers wrapping around me, and my motherfucking phone rang. “Dammit,” I growled.

“Ignore it,” she breathed into my ear.

“It’s Drew,” I grumbled. I’d assigned him the suspense ringtone because I swore the fucker never had any good news to deliver. It didn’t help matters that he wasn’t happy about having to go through me to reach Chloe, either.

“He’ll leave a message or call back again if it’s urgent.”

It was like he’d heard her because as soon as the ringing stopped, it picked right back up again.

“Crap,” she muttered. “I guess I’d better see what he needs. I’m so sorry, but I promise to make it up to you later.”

I disliked her cock-blocker of an agent a little more than usual this morning. Handing her the phone, I flashed her a reassuring smile before I headed into the bathroom. I listened with half an ear to the sound of her voice murmuring in the other room while I washed up and brushed my teeth. When I walked back out, it sounded like the call wasn’t going well.

“I’m not going on a pretend date with him.” She was pissed and it showed, both in her body language and her tone of voice. Her foot was tapping, and her arms were crossed as she held the phone to her ear with her shoulder. “Not only is it something I don’t want to do, but it would also be incredibly rude since the entire world is aware of my relationship with Kael.”

I snagged the phone from her grasp. “No dates, pretend or otherwise, with any other men. I don’t give a fuck what the studio or anyone else has to say about it,” I growled before hanging up on him.

“I have a boyfriend. It’s a fairly simple concept. Why don’t they get it?” She slipped her arms around my waist and dropped her forehead against my chest.

“I can understand why everyone wants a piece of you.” I tugged her closer. “I certainly do.”

“Yeah, but the difference is that you aren’t trying to take them from me, I’m giving them to you. More than willingly.”

“They’ll get it eventually.”

“They better,” she grumbled. “Because I’m not giving up my perfect excuse to get out of pretending to be involved with Julian.”

“Julian?”

“Julian Benedict, my co-star in
Sideswiped
. It’s the movie I finished filming a few weeks ago. He played my character’s love interest.”

I knew who he was, most people did. He’d been in several big budget movies over the last five years and had gone through a highly publicized break-up with another actress about half a year ago. He was also one of the guys I’d seen Chloe photographed with in the magazines and newspapers.

“The studio was pushing hard for us to act like a couple in public to help promote the movie, but it made me uncomfortable.”

“How so?”

I felt her shoulders lift up and down in a shrug. “I don’t know. He was fine at first, when he was sad about the breakup and all he wanted to do was talk about his ex. But then he started going through the angry stage a couple months ago, glaring at the paparazzi when they snapped pictures of us when we were out and acting all moody. I hope for his sake that he’s finally come around to accepting his relationship is over.”

“That’d be good,” I mumbled, making a mental note to send Tex a quick message to do some digging into the guy.

Kael had seemed on edge ever since Drew’s call this morning. So much so, he was starting to make me a little jumpy. My knee was jiggling under my desk as I checked my email, and I hadn’t even had a full cup of coffee with my breakfast in bed. Not that I was complaining since I’d take an orgasm over coffee any day of the week, but it wasn’t like I could blame the caffeine for my uneasiness.

Kael walked into my office as I was opening an email from Drew.

“I’m headed out to swim.”

“I’ll join you in a little bit,” I answered distractedly. “I want to read some of this script first.”

It had become part of our daily routine, Kael swimming an insane number of laps in my pool while I lazed around on a chaise lounge under an umbrella with my Kindle until he was almost done. I wasn’t in the mood to deal with the hassle of sending the script to my Kindle, though. And I couldn’t bring my laptop out with me because I’d end up with a headache from the glare if I tried to read on it too long.

Thirty minutes later, I was deeply engrossed in the script when a Facebook message notification popped up on my screen from Julian asking me to call him. I hadn’t logged into social media in what felt like forever, but apparently the messenger app was still running in the background on my laptop.

Kael had left his phone on my desk when he’d gone outside, so I grabbed it and punched in his number.

“Hey,” he greeted me. “Did Drew send the
Swept Away by Love
script to you too?”

“He did,” I confirmed. “I’m just reading it now.”

“I think it’ll be a big hit, and the studio has hinted at pairing us up again for it.”

“I’m only about a quarter of the way through it, but what I’ve read so far seems pretty great.”

“Any chance you’d want to run through a few lines together? I’m in the neighborhood and could be at your place in a few minutes.”

I glanced at the clock. Kael would be in the pool for another half hour or so. “Sure.”

“See you
very
soon.”

I sent the file to my printer so I wouldn’t have to read from my laptop. Once I confirmed it was printing okay, I headed towards the French doors off my kitchen leading to the backyard. The front bell chimed as I caught sight of Kael’s dark head bobbing under the water on a flip turn at the other end of the pool. He wouldn’t be able to hear me, so I figured I’d wait to let him know Julian was here until after I let him in.

Less than a minute later, the bell chimed again as I pulled the door open.

“Someone’s certainly impatient,” I joked, the words dying on my lips when I caught sight of the gun in Julian’s hand.

“Let me in,” he barked out.

I stumbled backwards, and he slammed the door behind him before I really understood what was happening.

“What in the world? Why do you have a gun?” A horrifying thought popped into my head. “Oh my gosh! Is it my stalker? Is he out there?”

“Stalker?”

“Yeah, Kael’s been trying to figure out who the guy is, but he hasn’t had any luck yet.” I paused in my explanation as confusion set in. “If the gun isn’t because of my stalker… then what’s it for?”

“Because I’m going to shoot that girlfriend-stealing bastard who’s trying to take you away from me.”

Holy crap! Was it possible? Could it be? Was Julian my stalker?

“I don’t understand what you mean. I thought we were friends.”

“Friends?” he spat out. “We were going to be more than that, and you damn well know it!”

I shook my head wildly, and he grabbed my hair as it swung back and forth. The sting at my scalp made me hiss in pain.

“I thought you were different, better. But you proved me wrong, didn’t you? You led me on for all those months only to spread your legs like a whore when that asshole came sniffing around.”

The security system chime went off, signaling the opening of the back door. I opened my mouth to yell out a warning to Kael, but Julian slapped his hand over my lips and it muffled the sound. Swinging around until his back was against my front door, he yanked me close and lifted the gun until it was jammed against my temple. My knees almost gave out in relief when Kael walked into the foyer, his hands held high in front of his body.

“Be careful, Julian. You’re going to hurt her, and neither of us wants that.”

“I don’t care what you want!” Julian shrieked.

I wasn’t sure what to do. Kael had on his swim trunks and nothing else. It didn’t leave him anywhere to hide a weapon, and he was empty handed. If Julian wasn’t holding a gun to my head, Kael would have been able to take him down with a few well-placed punches, but that wasn’t an option as long as he kept me close.

Trying to calm him down, I spoke in a low voice. “It’s not what you think, Julian. Kael is my bodyguard.”

“You’re lying,” he roared. “I saw all the pictures. Read all the stories. You’re cheating on me with him.”

Kael picked up on my cue. “It’s not like that, man. When the studio let her other guards go, Drew hired me. I’m just here to keep her safe for you.”

“For me,” Julian repeated, sounding confused.

I forced my body to relax, and leaned into him, playing the most important role of my life. “You know how the media loves to stir up drama, Julian. They’ll take any little thing and blow it out of proportion just to make some money.”

The gun moved the barest of a fraction of an inch away from my head. “It’s happened to me before.”

“It’s because you’re such a big name,” I said, pandering to his ego.

“Drew told me that’s why she needed a bodyguard,” Kael added. “Her name’s connected to yours, and it makes her a prime target for the paparazzi.”

His hold loosened slightly, and Kael’s eyes darted towards my purse on the entryway table.

“You can call him yourself and ask,” I suggested. “My phone’s in my purse. You and I can stand right here while Kael gets it and puts the call on speakerphone. I don’t blame you for being angry with me, sweetie. I’d be pissed too if I thought you were cheating on me.”

“I’d never cheat on you, Chloe. I love you.”

My hair stood on end at his eerie tone of voice. He’d lost touch with reality, and I prayed Kael would find a way to get us both out of this alive.

“I love you,” I mouthed the words to Kael before repeating them aloud to Julian.

“Just let me call Drew for you. He’ll clear up this whole misunderstanding and you’ll see there’s no need for the gun.” When Julian didn’t argue, Kael moved towards my purse and slid his hand inside. “What’s your passcode, Chloe? You never gave it to me and your phone’s locked.”

I took a small step forward, relieved when there was a little more room between Julian and me, when an idea popped into my head. “Zero six one two.”

“As in June twelfth?” Julian asked. “That’s my birthday.”

“I know. That’s why I used it.”

Several things seemed to all happen at once next. The gun moved farther away from my head. Kael jerked his head to the left once. He swung around and I flung myself to the side, my eyes squeezed shut. I heard a shot and then Kael’s body tackled me to the floor. There was a loud thud near the door, followed by the faint wailing of sirens outside.

My eyes popped back open, and I found myself staring straight into Kael’s gaze.

“Are you okay?” he asked frantically, his hands sweeping up and down my body.

“I’m okay. I wasn’t hurt,” I reassured him while I searched his face for any signs of pain before turning my head to find Julian.

“No, baby. Don’t look over there. It’s nothing you need to see.” Kael’s hands grasped the sides of my face and wouldn’t let me look towards my front door. “I want you to get up and go grab me some clothes from upstairs. I’d prefer not to face the police in nothing but wet swim trunks.”

“I can do that,” I agreed shakily. “But can I get a hug first?”

“You can get whatever the fuck you want,” he whispered against the top of my head. His strong arms wrapped around me and held me tight as I cried into his chest.

The rest of the world had gone to heck in a handbasket, but I was right where I belonged—safe in his arms. Maybe our relationship had developed so quickly because of how intense the last couple weeks had been. I didn’t care, though. I’d never felt like this before, and I refused to question it.

My parents’ deaths had taught me life was too short, and the situation with Julian reminded me to not let the things I wanted slip through my fingers. To live without regrets. With the way Kael cuddled me close all the time and talked about me being his, I had to believe he felt the same. Amidst all the darkness Julian’s stalking had brought to my life, I’d somehow managed to find love.