Guarding His Sunshine (Men of Valor Springs #9)

Chapter Seven

Missy

I wake up to the sound of barking echoing through the stillness of the house. My eyes flutter open, and I am momentarily disoriented, trying to make sense of where I am. The barking grows louder, more insistent, and I groan.

I bury my face deeper into the pillow, trying to drown out the barking, and just then, I catch a warm cedar scent clinging to the pillow. Slowly, everything starts filtering through my muddled brain.

His delicious scent is everywhere. On the sheets, in the air, and God, it’s on my skin.

I sit up slowly, the sheets slipping from my shoulders as I try to shake off the remnants of sleep. The room is still, save for the echo of that barking, and I can still feel a slight chill in the air as I swing my legs over the edge of the bed. My feet touch the cool floor, and I shiver slightly at the contact. The sound of the dog barking is relentless, something that compels me to leave the warm bed.

With a yawn, I push myself off the bed, the mattress creaking softly beneath me. I look around for something to wear, and my lips stretch into a grin when I spot the t-shirt Howard was wearing this morning, so I slip into it.

“Bear?” I call out, walking down the hallway as I try to locate where the bark is coming from. It gets louder as I approach the living room. “Bear, what’s wrong? Are you hungry?”

I yawn again as I finally locate him by the window facing the front of the house. As I approach the dog, I notice him standing rigid, his nose pressed against the glass, eyes intensely locked on something outside.

A sense of unease settles in as I stop next to him, kneeling beside the big dog and patting his back even as I follow his gaze outside.

My heart lunges into my throat when I spot a man standing just beyond the front yard and staring right at the house. My stalker . It’s the only explanation for the chill that comes over me when I see him.

I have never met the man that I know of, but the second I spot him, I feel it. He is wearing a dark hoodie, the hood obscuring his face, but I don’t need to see his eyes for me to tell that it’s the same ones that have been tracking me for weeks, maybe even more.

He followed me to Valor Springs. I knew this. He sent the pictures to prove it, but knowing he is in the area and actually seeing him so close are two different things.

The dog lets out a low growl, stepping protectively in front of me, and I instinctively reach to pat his head, seeking comfort in his presence even as my pulse races. “It’s okay,” I whisper. “He can’t get to us in here.” At least I hope he can’t.

Shit, maybe he has a weapon. What if he finds a way to get in or forces his way into the house? No, I can’t leave all the protecting to Bear. It would kill me if he got hurt. I need to show this creep that he can’t get to me, that I’m not scared of him.

“Wait here, Bear,” I say, jumping to my feet, and with a sudden surge of adrenaline, I am sprinting toward the kitchen. My mind races with thoughts of what I might find when I get back. What if he’s still there? What if I find him trying to break in? I frantically scan the kitchen for anything that might serve as a weapon, opening and closing drawers. I reach inside of one and my fingers grasp something cool and metallic, and that’s all I need before I run back to Bear. My breath comes in quick gasps when I make it back, but I am hit with an unsettling silence.

The man is gone.

“Did he leave?” I whisper, kneeling next to Bear again and squinting my eyes as I scan around for the figure, but something tells me he’s long gone. A mix of relief settles in, and I fall back as all the adrenaline comes crashing down. “He’s gone,” I whisper to myself, but the words bring me little comfort.

He’ll be back. He always comes back.

The first time I realized I had a stalker was way before I even started receiving those weird little notes. I often felt eyes on me in the middle of the day, but I’d look around, and everyone around me would be minding their own business. I figured I was just being paranoid or that it was the paparazzi following me until the first note arrived.

Seeing you was love at first sight , read the first note. The rest that followed were compliments on my hair, my body, and even the clothes I’d worn that day. My manager had argued if there was indeed someone leaving me notes, then I should be flattered. That he was not a dangerous stalker, just an admirer.

I wanted so badly to believe him.

Bear and I sit in silence, watching the window for a long time, as if expecting the man to spring from some hiding spot, but that never happens. My stomach picks that moment to remind me that I haven’t had anything to eat all day, and Bear turns to look at me, judgment clear as day in his brown eyes.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that when I’m holding a weapon,” I say, lifting my hand, but as I look down, my heart drops for a completely different reason. I stare in disbelief at what I’m holding—a shiny metal cookie cutter with a handle.

I could have sworn I had a knife when I left the kitchen, so why the hell am I holding a cookie cutter? I could have grabbed anything—a skillet, a pot, hell even a fork would have done more damage than a freaking cookie cutter!

Why the hell does Howard even have a cookie cutter?

I rise to my feet with a sigh, ready to go to the kitchen, when Bear barks, sending blood chilling in my veins. I turn around so fast, nearly giving myself whiplash. My panicked gaze shoots back to the window, half expecting to see the dark figure once more, but crossing the front walkway is the man who makes my heartbeat for an entirely different reason.

He’s in his uniform, and there is a dark look in his expression that sends a shiver racking my body.

He looks angry.

No, anger doesn’t begin to cover it. He looks murderous as he struts toward the door, but Bear doesn’t notice the dark mood surrounding the man as he wags his tail happily and rushes to the door. I stay put, waiting for him by the window, and when he walks in, those gray eyes scan the place before landing on me, and I notice his shoulders lose most of their tension.

Time freezes as we lock eyes, and I see the anger in his expression melt into worry. His brows furrow, and for a long moment, neither of us speaks. Bear finally notices the mood and turns his nose up as he walks away, unwilling to deal with the drama, and I would laugh if the room wasn’t so tense.

I don’t know what to make of Howard’s attitude. Is he angry at me? Is he going to ask me to leave? I should have known this was too good to be true, that a man like Howard wouldn’t want me for the long haul. I’d already suspected that whatever this thing between us is would end as soon as my stalker was caught. I’d hoped it would last at least that long, but it looks like I might have been wrong.

Finally, I break the silence, my voice coming out awkwardly as I try to defuse the tension that’s settled in the room. “So, um, do you bake cookies?” He barely reacts to my question, my effort to lighten the mood failing miserably. His eyes simply drop to the cookie cutter in my hand before shifting back to me. “It was the first thing I could grab. What are you doing home?” In his uniform no less. Did he leave in the middle of his shift?

“A neighbor called me about Bear’s barking.”

“Oh, I’m sorry—”

“He was here, wasn’t he?” he cuts me off, eyes turning murderous once more. “That fucker was here!”

“Howie…”

“After the stunt he pulled last night, I didn’t think he would show up again this soon. He’s fucking crazy, and he’s escalating, taking more risks. Probably running on nothing but caffeine or God knows what!”

I blink at the man in confusion. What is he talking about? “Howie…”

He shakes his head, unwilling to explain any of what he just said as he crosses the distance between us, his arms wrapping around me in a tight embrace. “That bastard won’t get to you,” he grinds out, but I barely register his words as I bury my face in his neck, feeling the warmth of his body against mine and the familiar scent of his cologne soothing me. All the tension and fear melt away as I sink into his hug, the feel of his heartbeat steadying mine. “You belong to me. He knows that now,” he growls into my ear, sending my heart racing from the possessiveness in his voice. The arm around my waist tightens as the other massages my hip, reminding me that I only have Howard’s t-shirt on.

I suck in a sharp breath when his hand slides beneath the shirt and fondles my naked ass, making me whimper as heat settles over the private spot between my legs. I’m a little sore from our lovemaking this morning and should not encourage another round, but it feels too good to ask him to stop.

My eyes start to flutter when he slides his fingers lower, and I jerk hard in his arms when he grazes the sensitive bundle of nerves between my legs. The hand on my waist keeps me firmly in place as he strokes the swelling bud with the other, and I find myself parting my legs wider for him, my breathing hitching as he rubs the enlivening spot in torturously slow circles.

“You must have been scared, princess.” he says into my ear as his finger moves faster, expertly strumming my clit, making my sex grow slicker by the second. “I messed up, baby. I shouldn’t have left you alone here.”

“It's… Oh God, it’s not your fault,” I pant.

“I’ll take better care of you,” he promises, gathering moisture onto his middle finger before pressing it inside of me. I whimper at the soreness that quickly fades when he starts thrusting his finger in and out of me in slow motions until the obscene sounds of our lovemaking fill the air.

“Oh God,” I cry out, burying my fingers in his shoulders as he slowly brings me closer and closer to an orgasm with his finger, making my thighs quiver. I claw his shoulders, bracing for the sweet release, and when it comes, I sob at the intensity of it, my sex clenching hard around his thick digit as a shudder rolls down my body, but I don’t get a chance to drop from the high as I am quickly lifted off the ground and my legs immediately go around his hips.

I gasp when he slams my back up against the same window I was watching earlier. He sits me on the small sill as he works on his belt, dropping it to the floor with a loud clang when he manages to get it off. His mouth slams down on mine, and the kiss turns wet and fevered as I drop my hands between us to help him strip, and soon, I have my hand wrapped around his massive cock. A deep guttural groan slips out of his mouth as I stroke his hardness, and he breaks the kiss to trail his hot mouth down my neck, tugging at the t-shirt to kiss any exposed skin he can reach.

“I’ve been thinking about this since I left the house,” he says between kisses, his left hand fondling my tits and causing the nipples to pebble and ache with need. “I couldn’t wait to come back home to you.”

Home. To me? His words floor me, rendering me speechless. Sometime during our time together, the lines blurred, and we shifted from strangers to…more. A whole lot more than people who only met a day ago. But does he really feel it too, or is he just saying it in the heat of the moment?

“Kiss me,” I breathe, and when our lips meet once more, we’re animals. Licking into each other’s mouths with desperation, the wet glide of tongues is so carnal, it’s sinful. I need to feel my heartbeat in tune with his strong one, so I give him everything. I let him take everything!

“I need to fuck you, baby,” he growls, leaning down and sucking my pebbled nipple through the t-shirt, and I cry out as he runs his tongue over the peaked bud, drawing on it and leaving my sex pulsing with need. “Tell me if you’re too sore for this—”

“No,” I cry out, wiggling closer to his shaft and guiding it to my entrance. I’m already too desperate to think about stopping. I need him more than I ever thought I could, and after everything that has happened, I need him more now. “I want you. Need you.”

“Then you’ll have me.”

Howard's hands both slide to my ass cheeks and take hold of my backside before slamming into my sex. My breath releases in a hot rush when he fills me, and he shudders violently, his heated grays watching me with so much intensity as he starts grinding into me. It’s awfully intimate, the way his eyes stay on mine as he rocks into me, panting against each other’s lips. “I never thought it could feel this way,” I whisper, running my fingers over his broad chest, feeling his muscles shift under the uniform. “I wasn’t sure I would ever feel anything remotely close to this with anyone.”

That I would ever fall in love. I have written so many love songs that my label turned down, and now I realize it’s because I had no idea what I was writing about. How I thought I could sing and write about love when I’d never experienced it myself floors me. I know better now.

I feel it in the way Howard looks at and touches me. I feel it in the way he makes love to me.

In the way he calls me his, claiming me for himself.

I only ever want to belong to him, I realize. When all this is over and my stalker has been caught, I want to stay with Howard. The thought of going back to my old life, a life in which he does not exist, sends my heart wrenching painfully.

“You are not going anywhere, neither one of us is,” he says gruffly, almost as if he can tell what I am thinking, and I don’t bother questioning it as I lean in and bury my face in his neck, bracing myself as he hammers his thickness into me, the friction sparking the fire back inside of me. My vision blurs as he moves faster, and I arch into him, desperate for release.

God, I love him.

It’s at the tip of my lips to say it, but I am terrified out of my mind that he might not feel the same way, so I bury myself deeper into him. Let my body do all the talking, surrendering to his touch, and when the storm comes flooding in, it sweeps us both out to sea.