Chapter Two
Roarke
I shouldn’t have touched her.
It’s a rule I drill into the heads of every man who works for me.
The clients are off limits, before and after a job.
Getting involved with a client messes with your head and your mission, and I just broke that rule.
I didn’t just break it—I jackhammered through that wall and crushed the bricks to dust so that there’s no sealing it up again.
Christ, I didn’t just touch her. No, I kissed her, then proceeded to devour her pussy like a sex-depraved maniac.
A client I was hired to protect. Fuck, I’m twelve years older than her twenty-two and should know better than to allow myself to get involved with someone that much younger than me, but I can’t help it. I’m breaking my own rules for her.
No, the fact is, I’ve wanted this girl from the moment I saw her picture. More so when I met her for the first time. Something about those pretty, naive blue-green eyes called to the beast in me to protect her.
To make her mine!
She could ruin my life and business with one word.
A business that my father built long before I was born could be destroyed by my fucking inability to keep my hands to myself.
There is just too much on the line for me to act so recklessly.
O’Shea Protection Services started in Ireland before my family moved to the States when I was still a boy.
For decades, the company has maintained an ironclad reputation, and my father hoped it would stay that way when he turned the company over to my siblings and me to run.
Tonight, I might have destroyed our reputation by touching Elena Marino, the sister-in-law to a fucking mob boss. But I couldn’t not touch her. Not when she was staring at me like she wanted me to kiss her breathless.
I crossed a line tonight. But Christ if I don’t want to cross more.
I want her. Still.
I don’t deserve her.
My heart pounds when I walk out. My throbbing cock presses hard against my fly, begging me to walk back in there and make that girl mine, but I’ve already crossed too many lines tonight. I take a walk along the beach, hoping to clear my head and wait for my erection to go down.
When that doesn’t work, I head back to my room and take a cold shower but I’m still as hard as a rock when I slip into bed. My balls ache fiercely, and it only gets worse when I close my eyes.
“Fuck!” I curse when the image of a pretty woman in a soft blue dress flashes in my mind.
That long, chocolate brown hair falling down her shoulders.
The perfect swell of her breasts outlined in that dress and those eyes…
Christ, those seafoam eyes searching mine.
That mouth so responsive against mine, the taste of her… a drug.
That voice, soft and pure.
Roarke.
My breath comes in short pants as I slide my hand into my sweats, need clawing at my skin.
Need for that reckless girl who should know better than to tease a beast. Fuck, now that I’ve tasted her, I want more.
I want to kiss that mouth, explore the skin beneath her dress, and worship her perfect body.
Protect her from the world.
Mine!
“A chroí,” I groan as I stroke my cock, picturing those soft hands on me instead. A chroi. My heart. That’s what she is, even if doesn’t know it yet. Not knowing Gaelic means I can keep this secret. Even if I have no right to claim her that way.
My mind focuses back on my cock, wishing it were that sexy mouth parting around my shaft and those beautiful eyes welling up with tears as she takes more of me. I growl as I work my dick through my fist, slicking the move with pre-cum.
I can still taste her on my tongue. That sweet, tight pussy clenched around my tongue. Bet it would feel perfect wrapped around my cock, those thighs wrapped around my hips, taking me deeper into her tightness…
“Fuck!” I growl, fucking my fist like an animal as I desperately wish for a woman I was never supposed to touch but want more of.
I don’t deserve her. Not when I carry so many demons from my past.
I want her!
My hips jerk on the bed, and my balls tighten a second before I explode with a deep guttural groan, shuddering violently as I come, ropes of cum spurting into my sweats and all over my hand.
I stroke my cock through it, picturing me thrusting into her tight little pussy.
I keep my grip tight, wringing out my cock until I have nothing left to spill.
I collapse back against the pillows, chest heaving and white spots dancing along the edges of my vision. I allow myself a moment for my ears to stop ringing before going into the bathroom to clean up.
I climb back into bed and close my eyes, willing myself to think of anything but her. To dream of anything but the woman related to a fucking mob boss.
I don’t get any sleep, not a wink.
***
I’m tired and worn when I force myself out of bed at dawn. The cold shower I take does little to wake up my lagging brain. Still, I am alert by the time I meet up with my team and discuss the day’s events.
It’s seven when we break to grab breakfast, and everything in me wants to ditch breakfast and seek out Elena. I couldn’t stop thinking about her all night, and despite the talk I gave myself, I want her. Still.
I stop myself from seeking her out, giving the girls time to pack and get ready for the long day ahead.
Elena and her sisters are ready and waiting when I finally go to collect them, and she looks so fucking beautiful.
Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, drawing all attention to that gorgeous face.
I allow myself a second to run my eyes over the perfect fit of her jeans, curved so perfectly over that pert ass.
Her sweater looks soft, slightly oversized, and I can’t help but imagine slipping my hand underneath and cupping those sexy tits.
I’m met by a cool wall when I approach her, one that doesn’t surprise me in the least. Last night, I crossed a line no bodyguard ever should. It’s a wonder that Matteo hasn’t come looking for me with a shotgun yet.
Elena doesn’t meet my eyes and barely glances my way as we lead the girls to the yacht.
She accepts my hand as I help her climb on board and silently thanks me without once meeting my eyes.
She then spends the boat ride chatting with her sisters, and I spend the entire time watching her. Wanting her.
The awkward air between us becomes more obvious when we board the plane.
It doesn’t go completely unnoticed by the other parties, but no one brings it up.
Elena doesn’t bother hiding it either as she takes the seat furthest from mine and spends the entire flight buried in a book and doesn’t surface until we’re landing.
Her eyes meet mine briefly before she quickly looks away.
If she’s willing to pretend that last night never happened, then I probably should as well.
I should.
And yet, I find it hard to think of anything else.
My eyes discreetly drop to her perfect ass as we get off the plane.
Her phone buzzing pulls my attention from the perfection that is her body to the phone she’s currently scrolling through.
I glance over her shoulder to see a message from her father.
I met Giovanni Marino a couple of weeks ago to inform him that Matteo Rossi had hired me to protect his daughters.
He seemed none too pleased by the news, but it was obvious he was unwilling to contradict his son-in-law’s wishes.
I didn’t like the man the second I met him, pompous and rude as he was.
Elena stops abruptly and turns around, bumping into me. I grab her hips to steady her, and when those beautiful eyes lift to mine, I have to swallow a groan and push back the need to lean down and kiss that mouth.
“I have to go. My parents want to talk to me,” she says, breaking eye contact to stare at her shoes. “Since I’m just going to my parents’ house, you can go with Gia and Bella. Their driver can drop you off wherever you want.”
My grip on her hips tightens before I can stop myself. “I am your bodyguard—I go where you go.”
Her mouth draws into a stubborn line. “I’ll hardly be in any danger at my own home around my family.”
“Matteo’s instructions were clear, Elena. You don’t go anywhere unattended.”
I can tell she wants to argue, but she simply turns around and starts walking away. I follow behind her, nodding for my men to accompany the other girls where they need to go.
We walk in silence to the waiting car, and Elena stares straight ahead as she climbs in. It’s been this way between us for weeks, where barely any words were traded but everything changed last night. Now, I crave her attention like my next breath.
The ride to her family’s house is spent in a tense silence and doesn’t speak until the car pulls up in front of the townhouse. “You don’t need to escort me inside.”
“We both know I’m going to do it anyway.”
“Fine,” she sighs, staying put as I round the car to open the door for her.
I grab her bag and follow her up the steps.
The doors open before she can unlock the door, and we’re met by the stoic face of a tall thin scarecrow of a man with eyes that have seen far too much.
The butler’s face looks at me in quick dismissal before turning to Elena.
“Miss Marino,” he says in a measured tone. “Your parents are expecting you in your father’s office.”
“Thanks, Thornton,” she says, stepping in when he moves aside. I step forward to follow her when Thornton steps in my way, his long nose high and those dark eyes dismissive as he stops me from following Elena.
“Only the girl is requested to go to her father’s office,” he says in a voice that makes me want to punch him in the face. “You can wait here or leave, if you wish.”
He closes the door and hurries to usher Elena away, but not before I see her shocked face.
My stomach twists with a sense of dread, and I consider following her.
The butler could try to stop me, but I don’t want Elena to see me beating down her family’s staff.
I don’t want to upset the gorgeous girl who owns my heart.
No, it wouldn’t take much effort to grab her and take her away from here, and then what? I’m supposed to be her bodyguard and nothing else. Hands clenched by my side, I force myself to calm the beast roaring for her.
So, I wait.