Chapter Ten
Noemi
Lying in bed, I am doing my favorite thing yet again: watching my brooding bodyguard boyfriend.
Neko paces as he talks to one of his other brooding friends, also hot as hell bodyguards, to piece together the nightmare of the past few days.
I am not bothered. Not worried or afraid of what could still be out there in the darkness.
Because Neko kept his promise to me—he was indeed crazier than the nut who tried to steal me from him.
I suspect it will take him a long time to forgive himself for Vance Tulli getting as close as he did. My father is laid up in a bed still, being tended to by the best doctors of course, yet he not only forgives Neko, he thanked him for handling the situation so well.
Vance was a smart, skilled former army ranger.
A formidable force to be reckoned with. A true threat to my life, he had no intention of ever letting me go once he got his hands on me.
Neko handled him as if he were just another man oblivious to the truth: I am his and his alone, something no one questions now.
"Yes, Mr. Lane. We will maintain him at our compound until we ensure we've scrubbed every bit of her from his life.
Then we will hand him over. Yes, sir, four of the men at the office were his Russian connection.
That is what will ensure he stays behind bars once we put him there.
I swear to you, he will never, no one else, will ever," Neko pauses to turn to me, staring at me with such emotion in his dark eyes, I can't look away.
"Get so close to her again. I would kill another man for trying. "
Why is that so hot? Is there something wrong with me?
Watching his eyes darken as I let the sheet slide from my body, baring my breasts, my stomach, my sex to him, I laugh.
Lord, I love this man. Something traumatic just went down, yet I am at peace, no fears it could happen again, no scars or damages I am worried won't fade in time.
Because he was there. From the moment they took us from the offices to the estate my father and I fled after mother's death, Neko was right there. I never had to go without his presence. Never had to let fear that he might not fix it, not come to my rescue because he promised he would.
"You're so fucking beautiful," he hums, tossing his phone across the bed.
My poor bodyguard has been on calls all day.
I open my arms, urging him to join me and he does not hesitate.
"I want to spend a month in bed, buried between your thighs.
I love you, princess," he husks as he shifts us so I am lying atop his chest, his hand cradling my jaw.
"I love you more. You saved me. Not just from him...from that life. I think my father found you for me without even realizing. What would I have done it if it had not been you? They got to my mother, they almost got to me."
"Different situations, princess," Neko whispers gently, brushing my hair back. "Your mother was all about your father's debts to someone. You...you were just so goddamn easy to obsess over, that poor fella had no chance."
Laughing with him, I swat at his chest, making as if I am going to climb out of bed.
I let out a yelp when he spanks my backside, hard, the crack echoing in the bedroom.
Falling back against his chest, I rub the print I know is blooming there.
I try to pretend that spank doesn't have me soaked between my thighs, but he knows better.
Neko cradles me against him, kissing the crown of my head as I snuggle close.
He is pensive again. It has come and gone since his partners found us at the estate.
We still have no idea how Vance got inside without my father's security system sending warning shots.
What I do know is why he chose that place to call his home base—a single photo on the fireplace downstairs of us at the first place we called home.
Memories came to me as Atlas, one of Neko's security contacts, pressed me about any interactions I had with Vance.
He was good to keep pressing because it came to me all at once.
Last Christmas, at one of father's famous soirees, he had cornered me.
Well, to be fair he brought me a cup of egg nog to charm me, but it had not worked.
Because it took just a few moments alone to recognize I should never be alone with him again. He was too intense. Too fixated on the dress I was wearing, my mother's death, how alone I was all the time. How no one ever touched me, never dared to get close enough to even try.
"From that night, he just spiraled," Neko had told my father at the hospital after we got out of the old Lane estate.
"He was obsessed not just with her, but the idea of her in that house.
I think...I think he was on the team responsible for her mother's death.
His guilt at being part of her losing her mother, it twisted and tangled into something else.
That house was a symbol of a different life: one where he had not killed an innocent woman, where he got to live the good life with the fortunes Noemi seemed indifferent to. "
Hearing him say it somehow tied it all together.
Vance had stalked me even before he began working for my father's security detail.
He knew about the lunch dates, knew that shift change came at the same time, so his Russian contacts made quick work of replacing a few mediocre men on their way to grab a sandwich and a beer.
"No more talk about other men and their fixation with me," I huff as I snuggle closer, breathing in his clean scent, relishing the warmth of his bare skin.
"Hmm, I can handle that, princess. From now on we're just talking about one man's fixation with you," he declares, pulling me so I am sitting astride him.
I went so long without being touched. Not just physical touch, but...
the way his gaze of affection touches me, the way his presence invades my space.
He went without too. When I press my palm to his jaw, he cradles it close, then kisses each fingertip gently.
If I reach for him when there is too much distance between us, he is quick to close it and draw me near.
"Oh, do you mean Isidoro?" I taunt, laughing before my laughter becomes a moan.
Neko grips my ass in rough hands, dragging me over his cock. It swells between my thighs, against my ass, getting thicker, harder, seeking to fill me that sweet way it does. I whimper when his hand slips between us so he can fist the base of it, rubbing the crown crudely against my swollen clit.
"If you want me to go out killing men, keep being a brat. Say another man's name with my cock between your thighs and I might...ah, fuck, that's a good girl," he growls low and deep as I shut him up by lifting then dropping my hips to take him inside of me.
"Mmm, I'm a good girl. I always do what Daddy tells me," I promise, setting a slow rhythm, intoxicated by the feel of him inside me.
I lean forward, hovering just short of a real kiss. Hearing my name darkens his voice into a growl that sets my pulse racing. He smacks my backside to hurry me, but I hold back, refusing to give up the speed. I want to savor every second. I want to feel him buried in me forever if he'll allow it.
I tilt my head to capture his mouth, letting the mix of heat, the lingering sting of his hand, and a quiet sense of safety roll through me. I spent so long hidden away in a gilded cage, but now I feel invincible. I can go anywhere and touch anything, so long as I have my guard at my back.
"I love you, Neko. Love you so much," I pant against his lips, surrendering to the slow, unhurried rhythm between us.
He groans low in his chest, the sound vibrating against my ribs as he tightens his hold, burying his face in the crook of my neck. Every stroke is unhurried, agonizingly deep, claiming every part of me until the sweet, lingering tension finally shatters into a warm, breathless wave of pleasure.
When the world slowly settles back into place, I collapse onto his chest, completely spent. His broad hand traces the length of my spine, his thumb stroking my hip in lazy, soothing circles as our breathing synchronizes.
"I'm yours, Noemi," he rumbles, his voice rough and quiet in the dark. "Body and soul. Always."
I smile, propping my chin on his chest to look up into his dark, affectionate eyes. I run my fingers over the rigid line of his collarbone, tracing the faint, faded scars on his shoulder.
"That's good," I say, trying and failing to keep a straight face. "You might be the lethal professional, Neko, but I am officially declaring myself your personal bodyguard. I have been taking notes," I tease.
"Oh baby, you won't need to protect me from anyone. I love you. I loved you the moment I laid eyes on you. I will love you until my last breath."
"Hmm, I believe you...just plan on taking that last breath with me, bodyguard, if I get to have my way."
"Good thing my princess almost always gets her way."