Chapter 11
STRYKER
Jacqueline hadn’t said much through dinner.
She smiled when I talked to her, thanked me when I handed her a drink, and even laughed quietly when I caught myself checking the locks for the third time before sitting back down.
But the laughter never quite reached her eyes.
Every few minutes, I’d catch her staring toward the dark kitchen window before she remembered I was watching and turned back with another brave little smile that didn’t fool me for a second.
She was trying not to let me see she was shaken.
After dinner, she curled into one corner of the couch with a blanket tucked over her legs and a book open in her lap. But ten minutes later, she still hadn’t turned a page. Her eyes tracked the same paragraph repeatedly while her thumb worried at the edge of the blanket.
Eventually, I held out my hand. “Come here, baby.”
She looked up immediately, blue eyes soft with exhaustion. “I’m distracting you.”
“You’ve been doing that since I saw you pointing a shotgun at three men who were twice your size.”
The corner of her mouth lifted despite herself, and I leaned back against the couch, still holding out my hand.
She didn’t hesitate to slip her fingers into mine, and I tugged her across the couch. My hands settled on her waist, and I guided her onto my lap until she straddled me. Her eyes searched my face with a shy uncertainty that tightened something deep inside my chest.
“There you are,” I murmured.
She ducked her head, a faint blush warming her cheeks. “You make it sound like I wandered off.”
“You did.” I brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, letting my fingers linger against the silky warmth of her skin. “Been somewhere else all night.”
Her lashes lowered, and I slid one hand up her back, spreading it between her shoulder blades until I could feel some of the tension beneath my palm. “Look at me.”
She raised her head, and her beautiful azure orbs glistened in the soft lamplight.
“I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“I know.”
“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t think you do.”
Her brows drew together as she searched my face again.
“I’m not talking about cameras, fences, or brothers parked outside.
” My thumb drifted slowly along her side in an absent stroke that seemed to soothe both of us.
“I’ll protect you, and that means this ranch, your horses, and every damn dream you’ve got tied to this place.
You don’t have to carry all this heavy shit on your own. ”
Her eyes shimmered, and I watched the fight slowly leave her shoulders. It was the kind of relief that only came when somebody finally believed they had another pair of hands helping carry the weight. “You really mean that.”
I scowled. “I don’t say shit I don’t mean.”
A watery laugh escaped her. “I’ve noticed.”
She bent her head until her forehead was resting lightly against mine. Every instinct I possessed urged me to pull her closer and keep her there until the rest of the world stopped existing.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“You don’t ever have to thank me for protecting what’s mine.”
Her breath caught, and I knew she’d heard exactly what I’d said. I’d said it before, but this seemed to be the first time she’d really heard it.
Slowly, she lifted her face and brushed her lips against mine.
I let her lead, but my hand came up to cradle the back of her neck while the other stayed firm against her waist. The quiet little sigh she breathed against my lips sent heat rolling through me with enough force to tighten every muscle in my body.
I felt her confidence growing with each passing second that we kissed. Her fingers curled into my shirt before one hand slipped lower, tentative but determined, until it rested against my belt.
I caught her wrist, and she froze.
Breaking away, I rested my forehead against hers again. Every part of me wanted to toss my control straight out the damn window, but wanting something and doing it were two different things.
“Look at me, baby.”
Her eyes lifted immediately, and I hated the look of disappointed embarrassment in them. I needed her to know I wasn’t rejecting her.
“I want you.” The words came out rough from the effort to stay focused. “More than I’ve wanted anything in a long damn time.”
Color flooded her cheeks, and relief began to trickle back into the pretty blue.
“But I’ll wait.”
She blinked.
“I don’t want your first time with me to happen because some son of a bitch hung a threat on your gate.” My thumb brushed slowly across her cheek. “I don’t want fear making this decision for you. When I finally have you, I want it because you chose me. Not because I make you feel safe.”
She was quiet for a moment, drawing a slow breath that lifted her chest before she let it out again. I could almost see her gathering courage. “Brogan.”
Her fingers found my jaw, trembling just enough for me to notice.
“I was falling for you before any of this happened. You fixing things, bossing me around, carrying me off ladders, and making room for yourself in my house…” A quiet laugh escaped her. “You make me feel safe because of who you are, not because someone tried to scare me.”
She took another steadying breath.
“I’m here because I want to be.”
I cupped her face in both hands, searched her eyes one final time. When all I found was quiet certainty looking back at me, I closed the distance between us and claimed her mouth with mine.
The kiss went from controlled to fucking ravenous in the space of one breath.
Jacqueline opened beneath me with a soft moan, her fingers sliding into my hair as I took her mouth hard.
I wrapped one arm around her waist and rose from the couch with her still straddling me, carrying her toward the stairs while her legs locked around my hips and the rigid length of my cock pressed into the heat between them.
She gasped when I tightened my grip beneath her ass, but the sound melted into another hungry kiss as she clung to me. Her body felt lush in my arms, every soft curve fitted to the harder lines of mine while her breasts crushed against my chest and her hips shifted restlessly over my erection.
The friction nearly made me miss the first step, which would’ve been a humiliating way for a former Delta team leader to die. But feeling Jacqueline grind against my cock made the risk seem almost fucking reasonable.
“You keep rubbing that sweet little pussy against me, we’re not gonna make it to the bedroom.” I let my teeth catch her lower lip before soothing the sting with my tongue.
Her face turned hot beneath my hands, yet she rolled her hips again, the shy movement bolder because she knew exactly what it did to me.
“Fuck,” I grunted.
My cock throbbed so hard behind my jeans that the pressure bordered on pain, and the urge to pin her against the wall and take her right then was riding me hard. But I managed to carry her into the bedroom and set her on the center of the mattress before following her down.
Jacqueline’s hair had started slipping from its braid, chestnut strands spreading across the quilt as she stared up at me with wide blue eyes and swollen lips.
She was so damn beautiful. I planted one knee between her thighs, braced myself over her, and let her see exactly how close I was to losing my sanity.
“Last chance to slow me down.” My hand closed around her hip, holding her still when she instinctively arched toward the heavy ridge of my cock.
“Please, Brogan,” she whispered, gathering the black cotton of my shirt in both fists as her gaze dropped briefly to my mouth.
That plea snapped something primitive inside me.
I lowered my mouth to hers and kissed her again, then dragged my lips along her jaw toward the delicate skin beneath her ear.
Her pulse hammered against my tongue as I tasted my way down her throat, and every small sound she made fed the possessive hunger twisting through my body.
“You have no idea what your pretty begging does to me,” I groaned, my mouth following the line of her collarbone. “I’ve been trying not to scare you with how fucking badly I want you, and now you’re under me saying please.”
“I’m not scared.” Her voice broke when my hand slid beneath her shirt and skimmed the warm skin along her ribs. “I want you to touch me.”
I dragged the fabric over her head, leaving her in a pale lace bra that framed her full tits, nipples pushing tight against the cups. My cock jerked at the view, and a low, involuntary sound rolled out of my chest as I sat back long enough to look my fill.
“Fucking perfect,” I murmured, tracing one finger along the upper curve of her breast while her skin flushed beneath the path.
She started to fold her arms across herself out of shy instinct, but I caught both wrists and guided them above her head, holding them against the quilt with one hand.
“No hiding from me, baby. I’ve dreamed about seeing you like this, and now I’m going to look as long as I damn well please. ”
Her lips parted as my gaze moved down her body, lingering over the deep valley between her breasts, the narrow line of her waist, and the gentle softness of her stomach above her jeans.
She should have looked vulnerable beneath me with her wrists captured and her body exposed, but all I saw was the woman who had trusted me enough to give me this moment.
The need to worship every inch of her tangled with the darker desire to mark her so thoroughly that no one could look at her without knowing she belonged to me.
I released her wrists so I could reach behind her and unfasten her bra.
When I peeled the lace away, the globes spilled free into my hands, more perfect than anything my imagination had produced.
I closed my palms around them and felt her back arch, a breathless cry escaping as my thumbs swept over tight nipples.