The Alpha Bodyguards Books #4-6

Chapter Four

S he smiled at R ollins, and I walked out the back of the bar.

She was going to give in to him.

I wasn’t her choice.

She didn’t tell Rollins to fuck off when he told her he loved a challenge.

She’d fucking smiled .

Irrationally pissed, I left before I did something stupid like beat the fuck out of Rollins, because that’s how possessive I felt around her. Except I couldn’t afford to be possessive, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to stay and watch that shit happen between them. She’d heard the promise I’d given her. She knew my intent. If she didn’t think she was worth more than him, I wasn’t wasting my time.

But goddamn, I was angry. Angrier than I’d been in a long time, but I wasn’t going to lose it, not after all these years. I couldn’t afford to.

So I’d walked.

I was still walking when I got a text a half hour later.

Ty: Front door key is under the mat. I’m meeting a friend. Rollins is here at the house with Merc. Keep a fucking eye on him. If he touches her, I’m holding you personally responsible.

I fired off a response.

Me: I’m not on duty. She’s your sister.

He replied instantly.

Ty: Don’t bullshit me.

I didn’t respond.

He texted again.

Ty: You walking?

The Marines were full of rules. I didn’t follow them, I navigated. Fortunately for me, I’d landed under Staff Sergeant Ty Asher’s command. As long as I did my job while on duty, he didn’t give a shit what else I did. You didn’t join the military to be alone, but that’s exactly what I managed to do when we weren’t out on maneuvers or deployed. Ty knew I had his back and every other brother’s back in our unit, but otherwise, I flew solo.

I still wasn’t sure why he’d invited me this weekend.

Maybe he thought I should’ve been taking advantage of our last downtime before we deployed again. Maybe he felt sorry for me. Maybe I was his pet project or an afterthought. I didn’t care. He’d told me to grab a change of clothes and be ready at thirteen hundred hours yesterday.

I’d followed orders because curiosity was a disease.

Packing a couple pieces of the few civilian clothes I had, I’d gone to his quarters. Like a junkie, I walked in and my gaze immediately found its fix.

Three photos.

The same three photos I’d been looking at for two years.

Two of them had Ty and an older woman, but all three had her… his sister.

Small, brunette, wide hips, wider smile, she was exquisite, and I was curious. I’d been curious. For two long years.

My phone vibrated with another text.

Ty: Goddamn it, Vos. Don’t go AWOL on me right now. I see the way you look at Merc. We both know you don’t look at any woman like that, and you sure as hell don’t have hour-long conversations with them. I know why you walked the fuck away. I also know you won’t let anything happen to her. Rollins will. This once, I’m asking a favor. Come back to the house.

I texted a reply.

Me: Mercy can make her own decisions.

As much as I hated Rollins, he was right when he’d told Ty the same thing.

Ty: Would you want your sister drunk and alone with Rollins days after her cheating ex dumped her?

I stated the obvious.

Me: I don’t have a sister.

Ty: Goddamn it, Vos. Don’t make me say it.

Pervasive, curiosity spilled into this conversation.

Me: Say what?

Ty: Please, motherfucker.

Against my better judgment, I turned around.

Me: Fifteen minutes out.

Ty: Thanks. I owe you.

Thirteen minutes later, I glanced at my cell as I walked up the cracked front walkway of the house Ty told me his sister had inherited from their mother when she’d died. Wood rot on the front steps, uneven porch, peeling paint, there were signs of neglect everywhere.

I didn’t knock. I walked in.

Both of them on the couch, they looked up at me like guilty teenagers.

Sitting on one end with Mercy’s feet on his lap, Rollins smiled. “Have a nice walk?”

Stretched out sans shoes, Mercy eyed me. “Where’d you go?”

“Yeah.” Rollins smirked, kneading the arch of her foot. “Where’d you take off to?”

I glanced at the two fresh beers on the coffee table. Then with my voice quiet and controlled, I spoke to only Mercy. “Would you like some water?”

She frowned. “Ah, no. But thanks.”

Nodding, I walked in to the kitchen and took my time getting a glass of water.

Rollins was predictable.

Despite his off-duty proclivities, he was by the book. He followed protocols, did his job and never questioned authority. It’s what made him a good Marine. But right now, he was being a smart man.

He was assessing my behavior.

And I was giving him time to do it.

Drinking a glass of water at the sink, I refilled my cup, then went back to the small living room. Taking the chair opposite the couch, I leaned back and crossed my ankles.

I focused on Rollins.

His smile dropped as he rubbed her foot slowly.

I took a sip of my water.

“Okay.” Pushing up to a sitting position, Mercy withdrew her feet from Rollins’s lap. “You two can have a pissing contest all on your own.” She stood. “I’m going to bed.”

“Remember what I said, sweetness.” His eyes on me, Rollins made a mistake. He didn’t look at her.

I did.

I took in every inch of her face. “Kyrie Eleison. Goodnight.”

“Jesus,” she muttered. “I’m gonna regret that.”

“Who the fuck is Kyrie?” Rollins asked.

“Kyrie Eleison,” I corrected.

“Never mind,” Mercy sighed, heading down the hall.

A second later a door slammed.

Maybe I’d made a mistake. Maybe she wasn’t going for Rollins.

Rollins reached for his beer. “Asher send you to cockblock me, or did you do that all on your own?”

She’d smiled at him, and she’d had her feet on his lap. “There were fourteen women in the bar tonight who looked at you.” But then she went to bed.

Rollins chuckled before taking a sip. “That an exact count?”

Yes. “You could have had any number of them.” Including the blonde Ty was talking to.

Resting the beer on his abs, Rollins leaned back. “Did it ever occur to you that mindless fucking isn’t always the endgame?”

“Not with you.” We both knew he had no intention past a single fuck with Mercy.

“Maybe I like her.” He took another sip of his beer. “Fuck.” With a half laugh, he shook his head. “You saw her pictures. Asher has them plastered all over his bunk. Every asshole in the unit has seen those photos. She’s a wet dream with those hips.”

She was Ty’s only family, and he was being disrespectful.

Rollins eyed me like he knew me. “Don’t give me that look. How many times have you stared at them?”

I didn’t answer.

He chuckled and took another swig. “Fuck, first time I saw them, I thought she was his woman, until I looked closer and saw the family resemblance.” He glanced down the hall. “She’s different than I thought she’d be. Hot but different. Mouthy.” Smiling, he shook his head.

I hated the fact he was talking about her. “Your CO gave you an order,” I reminded him.

“He’s your CO too, and he gave you the same order.” His gaze cut to me. “What’s your excuse?”

“I don’t need one.” I wasn’t going to walk into her bedroom tonight.

He laughed. “Right. The great, impenetrable Vos.” Finishing his beer, he sat up. “So tell me, Sarg . What were you gonna do if I didn’t back off?”

I didn’t answer. I drank my water.

“So the rumors are true?” he pushed, glancing at my arms as if he knew me.

“Rumors rarely are.” This would be the first leave I’d taken and not gotten more ink.

“You know what the fuck I’m talking about.”

“I don’t.” I did.

Rollins studied me a moment. “You know, most of the guys talk. About their past, their family, where they come from, what they left behind.” He paused. “You don’t.”

I did. Ty knew.

My eyes on the bookshelf behind him, I drank my water and contemplated.

“You thinking or ignoring me?”

“Both.”

He gave me a wry laugh as he stood. “Typical, Vos, typical.” He took the two beer bottles to the kitchen, then came back. “There’s only one guest room.”

“Take it.” I could keep a better eye on him from the couch.

“Copy that.” He turned toward the hallway but then stopped. “You ever wonder if you’ll make it home?”

Every day. “Does it matter?”

Apparently to him it did, because he didn’t drop it. “What if you knew this would be the last night you’d be standing on your own two legs on American soil? Would you go for the girl?” His voice quieted. “Would you stop me from going for the girl?”

“Intent isn’t consent.” I pointed out the obvious, because unlike him, I didn’t think in terms of lasts. Everything in the military was a first for me.

He shook his head. “Jesus, you’re one cold motherfucker, you know that?”

I stood and moved to the couch. “Get some sleep.” Who knew the next time we’d get a solid eight.

“Right,” he said dryly. “Sleep.” He disappeared down the hall.

An hour later, I was lying on the couch in the dark, counting minutes, when her door opened.

In ass-baring shorts and a tight tank top, she walked past the living room and went to the kitchen. Opening the fridge, she looked inside for a few seconds before closing it and opening the freezer. Sighing, she took out a pint of ice cream and grabbed a spoon out of a drawer. Wrenching off the top of the container, she dug the spoon in as if she were angry at the world.

Mesmerized, I watched her movements.

With her jaw clenched tight, her tits bounced as she jammed the spoon in. Digging out a bite, she bit the spoon and held it in her mouth a second before pulling it out. Her eyes closed, and she exhaled.

I kept every muscle still but my dick. It stirred at the mere sight of her.

Licking her bottom lip, she went for another spoonful.

I refrained from adjusting myself. “I would have guessed chocolate.”

She jumped, almost dropping the carton of vanilla ice cream. “Goddamn it, Preston. Anyone ever tell you it’s rude to sneak up on people?”

“I’m sitting.” I allowed myself to take in the thin white material of her tank top.

“Shut the fuck up. You know what I mean.”

Her nipples pressed at the fabric. My mouth watered. “Are you angry at me, your ex, or Rollins?” It wasn’t the ice cream. Maybe it was Ty.

“Who says I’m angry?” She jabbed at another bite. “The fucking ice cream is frozen. You don’t need to read into every body movement and analyze it five ways from Sunday before you open your mouth.”

“If I were counting, it’d be a four-way analyses.” How did she know I analyzed everything?

“Christ,” she muttered. “You said you, my ex, and Rollins. That’s three.”

I more than liked how she could keep up with me. “I mentally added your brother.”

“I’m always angry at him. Might as well save yourself the effort and take him off your list.” She took another bite.

I studied her a moment. “I suppose I would be angry too if my only living relative voluntarily deployed to a war zone.”

She made a small half snort, half grunt, but she didn’t comment. She took another bite.

“I didn’t reject you,” I clarified.

She put the ice cream down and looked at me for the first time since walking out of the bedroom. “Are you that egotistical? You think because I eat a bite of ice cream it’s about you?”

Four bites. “No, and yes.” Statistically there was a probability I was wrong. But I didn’t think I was. I’d been thinking about it all night. She’d come off a breakup. She knew her brother was deploying again. She was vulnerable. I’d said I wanted her, but not yet. It all added up.

“You have some nerve.” She tossed the ice cream back in the freezer and dumped the spoon in the sink.

Altering my tone on purpose, I issued an order. “Come here.”

“You think I’m your dog now?” she protested, but she walked into the living room and stood over me as if she had the upper hand. “You think you can order me around like I’m some Marine?”

Taking her wrist, I pulled her onto my lap. Then I reverently cupped the side of her face.

She let out a surprised gasp. “What the hell do you think you’re—”

I took her mouth.

I didn’t kiss women. I fucked them and used them and made them come. I never got intimate. I never got too close, and I never made unspoken promises with my mouth.

But this woman I kissed.

Fully and completely, I kissed her how she deserved to be kissed, and she melted into my body as if she were made for me. Then, before I took it any further than I intended, I pulled back.

Stroking her soft cheek, I gave her the words she’d never ask for but needed. “You’re better off without your ex. Rollins is a player with empty promises. Your brother is one of the best Marines I’ve ever met, and I never said I didn’t want you.”

Her throat moved with a swallow, but she made no attempt to get off my lap. “That’s a lot of words, Sergeant Vos.”

“You deserve more.” I traced the edge of her jaw.

Her chest rising and falling rapidly, her voice quieted. “I didn’t say you could kiss me.”

“I didn’t ask.” She smelled like heaven. Woman, clean, floral. I wanted to taste every inch of her.

Words I’d given to Rollins while I’d thought she was out of earshot, she threw down on me. “Intent is not consent.”

I studied the delicate features of her face in the dark. She was more beautiful each time I looked at her. “What else did you hear?”

“All of it,” she admitted without guilt.

“Good.” I had nothing to hide. “Do you have any questions?”

“What are you doing?”

“Making sure you know I want you.” I stroked the pulse point on the side of her neck, and my cock throbbed. “Making sure you know you’re desirable.” I made no attempt to hide my body’s reaction to her.

Her pulse thrummed and her heart raced under my touch, but her voice held steady. “Who says I didn’t already know that?”

“Your body language.”

“You’re an expert on body language?”

In the Marines, your life depended on it. “I want to fuck you, Kyrie Eleison Asher.”

She sucked in a sharp breath, but then her voice dropped to a vulnerable whisper. “You scare me, Preston Vos.”

Taken only slightly off guard, I gave her hope disguised as a promise. “One day I won’t.”

“What makes you think you have a tomorrow?”

There it was.

The same doubt that plagued Rollins and every other member of the armed forces deployed to a war zone. The sentiment I harbored, but the doubt I held no claim to. The life I had before the Marines wasn’t worth anything.

“It doesn’t matter what I think.” Life only promised the present. “What matters is the here and now, and I’m not going to fuck you tonight.” The way I was feeling, I would ruin her. “I’m not going to taste every inch of your body right now or make you come in ways that will ensure you never forget my name or the branding I leave behind, because when I do take you…” I paused, making sure she heard the promise I was about to make her. “I’m not going to leave you behind.”

“Pres—”

I put a finger on her lips. “I’m going to be there when you fall asleep. I’m going to be there when you wake up. I’ll be your last thought at night and your first smile in the morning. I’ll be the taste of your satisfaction.” I would make sure of it. I wasn’t being cocky. I knew how to please a woman. I’d make her come like she never had before. Studying her body, cataloguing every response to my touch, I’d make her moan like it was my new religion.

Her breath coming fast, her pulse thrumming, she parted her lips but she said nothing.

I swept my thumb across her bottom lip, then pressed the tip inside her mouth.

Like I knew she would, she sucked.

“When you’re ready, I’m going teach you how to come for me.” I’d make myself the man she craved. I’d crawl inside her head like she’d crawled into mine, and I’d claim every inch of her body.

But now wasn’t that time.

Now had her head twisted with another man’s bullshit and Rollins’s incessant flattery, and I didn’t want her that way.

I wanted her my way.

I wanted her to choose me.

As if reading my thoughts, she swirled her tongue, pushing me further down a hole I had no intention of escaping.

I gripped the side of her face and drove my thumb deeper. Then I laid out the truth. “One zipper and one shove of your shorts and I could be deeper inside your head and your cunt than any man before me.”

She shivered, and her eyes fluttered shut.

Controlling my movements, I thrust my hips against the growing wet spot between her legs. “Which is exactly what I want.”

Moaning, she wrapped her arms around my neck and ground her sweet hips against my cock.

Grabbing her waist, I stilled her. “But you’d regret it tomorrow when I left, and I’d lose focus downrange fantasizing about it.” I pulled my thumb out of her mouth. “I’m not motivated out of fear or worry of no tomorrows. I live by two absolutes.” I took her face and held her gaze. Then I gave her two truths that had no room for misinterpretation. “Respect and timing.”