Leah Braemel - Personal Protection

His hold on her tightened and his voice came out as a growl, “Then send Andy and Scott or Kris or someone. I don’t want you there.”

“Sam…either you trust these people or you don’t. You can’t have it both ways. And either way, I’m going to the club and take a look at those files.”

“Has anyone ever told you, you’re like a hound dog on a hare’s trail?” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “All right, I’ll take you over there in the morning myself and let you satisfy your curiosity about the place. But you’re taking Andy as your own personal bodyguard and you do not leave the office area, you hear me?”

“All right, I’ll take Andy with me, but will you please stop treating me like I’m breakable?”

How could she not realize that she wasn’t immortal? He’d already lost one woman he loved, he couldn’t bear to lose Rosie too.

He rested his forehead against the top of her head, pulling her against him. Somehow, when he wasn’t looking, their relationship had become about more than just sex, more than just kink. She’d wrapped herself about his heart and he found himself enjoying being bound.

Ever since he’d lost Jill, he’d been careful in his choice of dates. They had to be someone he couldn’t imagine spending the rest of his life with, women who wanted him for his looks, his money, or simply for a good fuck. Women he could keep at a distance. Yet he’d totally ignored that rule with Rosie from the get-go.

Rosie was someone he could picture marrying, having kids with, taking home to his momma who would adore her almost as much as he…oh shit. As much as he loved her. He hadn’t felt that way about anyone in years. Eight years.

She looked up at him, her eyes dark and promising in the dim light, her lips slightly parted in an open invitation to kiss her. Unable to pull away, he accepted her invitation. Her mouth was soft, her breath warm on his cheek, her body so tiny compared to his. His little rose, so beautiful, so fragrant, who opened only for him.

He was already hard when he tossed the sheet off her and rolled her onto her back. Her hair draped wildly over the pillow, a thundercloud around her creamy skin. Dipping his head, he took one puckered nipple into his mouth, reveling in the breathless gasp as she arched beneath him. He stole a look at her-her eyes were closed, her fingers clutching the pillow on either side of her head. If he were a painter, he’d paint her just like this and entitle it “Ecstasy Encaptured”.

Releasing her breast, he laid a trail of kisses over her belly, then slid his hands beneath her hips and lifted her. She was already glistening as he dropped his head and tasted her again, reveled in her. Her hands clutched his head, holding him in place as she lifted higher, an attempt to control where and what his tongue touched. When she was swollen and gasping for breath, his cock harder than granite, his balls aching, he grabbed a condom he’d dropped on the night table and sheathed himself. Then he planted his arms on either side of her head, his cock nudging her entrance, and she smiled at him, her eyes luminous, filled with such tenderness it sucked his breath from him.

She wrapped her legs about his waist as he entered her. He’d intended to make love to her slowly, gently, but as soon as her heat enveloped him he couldn’t hold back and buried himself to the hilt. His hips pistoned, pounding into her until they were both gasping for air.

Her fingers wrapped around his biceps, her nails digging in as if she were holding onto him like a life preserver, half her body lifted off the mattress, clenching around him.

He dipped his head, caught her mouth with his, capturing her scream as she climaxed around him. The heat surrounding him, the pulses of her orgasm sent him over the edge.

Late in the night, as Rosie lay nestled against him, Sam smoothed her hair away from face, and wondered just how she’d managed to worm her way not only into his life, but into his heart.

“Aside from the armed patrols with trained guard dogs patrolling the perimeter, there are security cameras installed on all access points and in all the public areas,” Sam told Rosie as they walked up to the double front doors, Andy trailing behind. The brass door handle shone against the crimson wood panels. “There are alarms at various points in each wing as well as in each room. And you saw the manned security gates on the way in that require everyone to surrender any weapons and cell phones before they are allowed on the grounds.”

She felt naked without her gun, but at least if they even took weapons from a founding member and Hauberk employees, everyone would be equally disarmed. Not that you needed a gun to kill. “Why take away people’s cell phones though?”

“Too many have cameras built in.” Ah, possible blackmail. Right.

One of the front doors opened without a sound and a man about two inches shorter than Sam but with muscles to match blocked their way-she would have felt comfortable using him as a brick wall to stop a mortar attack.

“Good morning, Mr. Watson.” He greeted Andy familiarly then turned to her and gave her a half-bow. “Miss Ramos, welcome to La Porte Rouge. Mrs. Harper is expecting you. Will you be showing Miss Ramos the way, Mr. Watson, or do you wish me to accompany her?”

“I’ll take her myself, Igor.”

She waited until the bouncer-she refused to think of him as a butler no matter what his tuxedo-was out of earshot before murmuring, “Is Igor his real name?”

“Nah, his real name’s Fred Fredriksson. Everyone just calls him Igor because he looks like a big Russian bear.”

She followed him into the foyer. “You don’t have to stay with me, Sam. Those hostages in Colombia need you more than I do.”

Sam let out a soft exhalation before stroking the side of her neck. Though his face betrayed nothing, something flickered in his eyes but she couldn’t tell if it was disappointment or downright frustration that she’d insisted on coming to the club instead of with him to the office.

“You go on to your meeting with Troy. I’ll be fine. Besides, Andy will be here with me.”

“I’m just going to make sure you’re set up with Thalia, and then I’ll leave you to your research. But remember, do not go out into the common areas, you’re to stay in the office.”

“Yes, Master.”

“Rosie…”

She waved off his warning. “Yeah, yeah, I know. Just take me to the office. I won’t wander where I’m not supposed to be.”

Instead of taking her through the stained glass doors at the end of the vestibule where Igor had disappeared, Sam opened a plain white Colonial door to her left revealing a corridor done tastefully in muted tans with lots of polished wood trim.

The photographs mounted on the walls took Rosie’s breath away. Black and white nudes-tasteful close ups of women’s breasts, and a few other body parts that weren’t as readily identifiable. She paused in front of one.

“That isn’t a…is it?”

“A close-up of the head of a guy’s dick?” Something rumbled deep in Sam’s chest but when she looked at him she wasn’t sure if it was a chuckle or a sound of embarrassment. “Yeah, Jocelyne’s husband, Robert, is a professional photographer. Nobody’ll own up to posing for him, so there’s a bet that he used a macro lens on his own.”

She continued walking down the hall then realized he hadn’t followed her.

“Come with me to the office, Rosie. Let Andy go through the files. Please.”

She walked back to where he stood and put her hand on his chest, felt the strength in the muscles beneath her fingers. Remembered how they’d flexed over her the night before, how they’d glistened with sweat while he made love to her. Make-up sex with him was better than the best sex she’d ever had with anyone else. “It’s safe here, Sam. You designed the security on this place yourself. You don’t have to worry about me.”