Guarded by the Cowboy (WEST Protection Book 2) Read online

  Growing bolder, she kissed over his stubbled, angular jaw to his throat. Tasting his salty skin had her pulsating with want. Her clit throbbed between her slick folds and swelled with each kiss she placed on Boone’s chest, back and forth across the dips and planes.

  When she nipped his flesh, he issued a long, low growl that drove her to move faster. Judging from the harnessed control he displayed, she had only seconds to take this as far as she wanted before he snapped and took over.

  They’d be the sweetest, most torturous and memorable seconds of her life.

  She moved down his body, shifting positions to dot kisses over his six-pack. She lashed her tongue over each ripple. Grasping his cock at the base, she drew the rounded, shiny tip toward her mouth.

  “Fuck! Lauralee!”

  She swallowed him, and any protest was lost on a throaty grunt. Shaking with need now, she explored his length by lapping a path around the tip, down one side to the nest of trim curls and back up the other. When she dipped her tongue into the depression and came away with a taste of his salty precum, she added her own moan.

  “Christ. Fucking hell!” His hips rocked, and she knew he was coming unglued.

  With a smile, she parted her lips and took him inside her mouth.

  Then her throat.

  “Ahhhh!” The guttural groan and accompanying rock of his hips had the tip of his cock nudging the back of her throat.

  She swallowed around him.

  “Shit. Dammit. Stop. I—” He broke off on an incoherent garble of curses and oaths. At one point she thought he vowed to torture her the same way.

  She withdrew on his cock and sucked him to the root again.

  He tangled both hands in her hair, twisting lightly but applying a bit of pressure that energized her body with pleasure-pain.

  “You’re too”—he gnashed his teeth as she sucked him in once more— “innocent to suck cock like you do.” His chest heaved. His abs dipped.

  A small giggle bubbled up her throat, and next thing she knew, he whipped her off his body and yanked her upward. Her gaze locked on his for a split second before he growled, “Two can play that game, honey.”

  He tossed her onto her back, grabbed her thighs and spread them wide so he could dive between them. Warm, steely shoulders made her spread her legs wider to fit him, but a scream welled in her throat as he hooked a finger in the crotch of her panties and yanked them aside.

  His scorching tongue met her folds. She muffled a cry, twisting her fingers in his hair. He held her in place with his big body and each stroke of his tongue over her pussy.

  When her panties became a hindrance to him, he dug his fingers into the skimpy elastic at the sides and ripped them. Like an animal, he tore them off her and delved his tongue into her slit.

  “Boone!” Her throaty, whispered cry received a grumble in answer. He latched onto her clit and sucked.

  Her insides melted into a pool of lust. Juices slicked her folds and trickled downward to dampen the sheet under her. As he drew on her hardened bud with the insane skill the man did everything else with, she lost her mind.

  She bucked against his mouth, and on the downward thrust, he filled her with his fingers.

  Those rough digits sinking into her channel had her gripping, writhing…and coming apart.

  She bit off her cry while the waves struck one after the other, warm, then warmer, hot and straight to a five-alarm blaze. He growled against her folds, catching her juices on his tongue and drawing out her orgasm to impossible lengths of time.

  “Tell me you’re on the birth control.”

  She didn’t realize he’d lifted his mouth from her until his voice cut through her haze. She looked into his eyes and gave a scant nod.

  It was all Boone needed.

  He rocketed up her body, angled his cock toward her core and in one nudge, rocked her entire world.

  * * * * *

  Fuck, he never took women bareback.

  He’d never slept with a coworker either, so today was a day of firsts.

  He sank balls-deep in her scorching-hot sheath and went dead still.

  She locked her thighs around him and met his stare. Her eyes burned, and her lips were swollen from sucking his cock like she’d made it her life’s work. Just where had she learned that skill in bed? He never would have guessed the impact Lauralee would have on him until this second when she stared into his eyes and practically pleaded with him to move.

  “Boone…” Her insides clenched on his girth and rippled down his entire length until she squeezed the hell outta him.

  Unable to stop himself, he gyrated his hips. She moaned. He circled them, and she gasped. When he ground his cock head deep into her pussy, she mewed a strangled noise of want.

  He had to kiss her.

  But he rarely kissed women while he fucked. It meant the connection got weird, and they got too clingy with him—something he didn’t need.

  With Lauralee, damn if he could stop his head from dipping and his mouth from landing on hers. He crushed her plump lips in a kiss to end all kisses as he began to move in a slow rhythm. His cock slid from her sweet, clutching folds one inch at a time, driving him to the brink of madness.

  Lauralee scraped at his back with blunt nails he knew she kept short for her job. Harder to type with talons, and she was a practical woman, which drew him to her from the start.

  Wait—he was admitting he was drawn to her?

  Hell yeah, he was. Boone was a lot of things, but his momma didn’t raise a liar, and he couldn’t lie to himself anymore.

  Back on day one when he’d walked into the office and set eyes on the striking brunette with her attention fixed on the computer screen, his gut had dipped. When she lifted her eyes and met his stare, and he saw those deep gray eyes with thick black lashes, it dropped a notch lower.

  Then the first time she’d given him a sassy, witty response, she drove him to want another. Before long, he was pushing her every chance he got.

  Foreplay.

  He shoved deeper and deeper, taking her little cries and answering with his own guttural noises. Heat coiled at the base of his spine and sparked across a thousand nerve endings. He was so damn close to blowing in her, and damn if he didn’t crave the idea of his release dripping out of her.

  She lashed her tongue against his in a desperate kiss, and her insides tightened around him.

  Tearing his mouth free, he stared into her eyes, because he wanted to look at her when they both lost it.

  “Boone!” She tipped her hips, and he slid a fraction deeper.

  Her eyelids flickered on the sensation obviously claiming her mind too. His balls drew up tight, and the first shot of cum spurted from him on an animalistic groan.

  She followed, clutching him tight with her arms and legs while they rode out the throbs of their release.

  Chapter Seven

  What a hell of a way to wake up, with a beautiful woman’s legs tangled around his and her vanilla-sugar doughnut scent tickling his nose.

  Boone slipped out of bed silently, showered and dressed as quick as possible, and set the alarm on her phone to wake her for her day of maid duties.

  With his phone gripped in his hand, he sent a look at the woman sleeping on her side. What the hell had happened last night? Tenderness washed over him at the sight of her pale shoulder. He couldn’t see the freckles from here, or last night in the darkness either, but he knew both shoulders were spattered with them as well as across the top of her chest where the sun kissed her.

  As he placed his hand on the doorknob to leave, his gut tightened. He hated her going off to work in the house where he wouldn’t be able to look over her. If she got in trouble, he couldn’t save her.

  He just had to remain on his toes enough for both of them, but after she took off through the house exploring last night, he wasn’t so sure she wouldn’t go rocking boats.

  Accustomed to rising before the rooster’s crow for a morning of ranch chores, he headed straight to
work, making the rounds and relieving Grant, the guard on duty for the nightshift.

  “How were things last night?” Boone asked.

  “All quiet. Nothing to report.” Grant was older and balding, his face ravaged by the fatigue of working nights. He probably should have long ago stepped into an easier position watching the back door for the delivery men or some similar duty that would lessen his workload. Being partly responsible for staffing within WEST Protection, Boone’s mind automatically made schedule changes according to employee strengths.

  Here, what he really needed to think about was how he could get Grant so tired that he fell asleep on the job and offer a perfect opportunity for Boone and Lauralee to walk out with Isadora Black.

  He needed to check in with Ross too, which meant he needed to be alone in a silent place where he couldn’t be monitored.

  Right here in the surveillance room seemed perfect.

  “Good work. Knock off for the day, Grant.”

  “Will do. My bed’s calling me. See you this evening, boss man.”

  In only a day, the staff seemed to have transitioned seamlessly to Boone’s new role. That seemed a bit off too. Did it mean they disliked the last head of security? Or did Black fire so many that they just stopped caring who they worked with?

  He’d lay money on the latter.

  He gave Grant a chin lift in farewell, and the man left him alone. As soon as Boone ensured nobody lingered near the room, he closed the door and reached for his phone.

  His brother picked up on the first ring. “All well, bro?” Ross’s voice filled his ear.

  “Not bad for day one.”

  “Did you find her?”

  “Not as of yet. We’re looking.”

  “We? You and Lauralee?”

  “Yeah. Black took her on as maid.”

  “Hell. Is that wise? She isn’t trained the way you are.”

  Boone slid his fingers through his hair, thinking of her warm curves under him. “The woman is full of surprises. I think she can handle more than we originally believed.”

  “What sort of surprises?”

  Excitement boiled low in his groin at the memory of her mouth on him the previous night. But her mind was as sharp as he knew it would be and her questions about the security system proved as much.

  “Her position might give her more freedom to search the house or overhear something about our mark. Trust us.”

  “Got no choice now, do I? Besides, I never would have sent you in there if I didn’t know you’ll do the job you’re there to do.”

  Boone bowed his head at his brother’s words. In the past year or so since the inception of WEST Protection, he and Ross had grown even closer than the brothers they already were. Their genes joined them as family, but their work forged a new brotherhood of trust and reliance. Ross knew Boone always had his back, and vice versa.

  Even checking in with him now, though it wasn’t entirely necessary since they didn’t have new intel to swap, fortified Boone and set him on the race to find Black’s wife and rescue her.

  “How is Lauralee holding up?”

  “She’s nervous, understandably, but stronger than I thought. She’ll be all right.” As he stated this, his mind shot to the “morning after” scenario he’d completely avoided by slipping out of bed before she woke. Sure, his job called for early hours, but he could have woken her and kissed her goodbye.

  Was that acceptable behavior after what they’d shared? Or was it simple lust and being thrust together that sent her into his arms?

  “Look, I’ve gotta check in with Black. I need a blueprint of the house from Silas ASAP. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before we left.”

  “I’ll get him on it. Watch your six and look out for your wife.”

  He straightened as if someone had poked him with a branding iron at the mention of his wife. Glancing down at his ring finger, he saw more than the hindrance he’d first expected by having Lauralee with him. Somehow, knowing that platinum band gleaming on his ring finger matched the set Lauralee wore roused a deep emotion in him he couldn’t explain.

  To hide it from Ross, he forced his voice to sound bland as he ended the call.

  Whatever Lauralee stirred in him, he needed to ignore for the moment. After this was all over and they sought their divorce, he’d follow the tangled threads to the knot inside him and unravel it.

  He made a sweep of the security footage from last night and what was filmed this morning. All seemed quiet, as Grant said. When he went out to meet Black in the designated spot to receive orders and information about the man’s movements for the day, Boone donned his actor’s robe.

  He stepped into the man’s office as Brodie Marks, new head of security.

  “Good to see you’re prompt, Marks.” Black didn’t look up from his computer tablet when he spoke.

  Boone positioned himself in front of the desk and braced his legs in a wide stance while secretly studying Black. Were the hollows under each eye there the day before? Or had he experienced a sleepless night, perhaps due to the stress of locking up his wife?

  At last, Black placed his tablet aside and set his eagle eyes on Boone. “I require a bodyguard today.”

  “Sir?”

  “Change of plans today. I’ll be taking my private chopper to a meeting in Colorado Springs.”

  Over five hours, by his guess.

  “Of course, Mr. Black.”

  “You’ll be accompanying me.”

  He gave a solemn nod. “Should I make any arrangements?”

  “The chopper’s already arranged. We lift off in twenty minutes. If you need to make safety precautions for our arrival, do that.”

  “Yes, sir. May I ask our time of return?”

  Black arched a brow.

  “So I can inform my wife, sir.” He offered the smile of a man devoted to his woman’s happiness.

  “The meeting should last about three hours.”

  Boone nodded again. “I’ll make arrangements with Grant to return to duty. If I hurry, I’m sure I can catch him before he falls asleep.”

  Things were falling into place—Grant was tired enough that he may let something slip. Now he just needed to talk to Lauralee and let her know what area of the house to search for Black’s wife.

  Boone started to turn for the door.

  “Not Grant. Get Thornburne.”

  He stopped and pivoted. “I’ll do that, sir.”

  Boone quickly went in search of Thornburne to take over for him. The man gave Boone a smug smile before wordlessly heading into the surveillance room and closing the door.

  Boone stared at the door for a moment, his creep vibes climbing the charts when it came to that guy. But he didn’t have much time to dwell—he had to get to Lauralee, and fast.

  Guessing she would still be dressing, he hurried to their suite. As soon as he slipped inside and heard her singing, he stumbled to a halt.

  Her high, clear voice reached him from the bathroom, as lilting as an angel’s as she sang a Billie Holiday tune. The woman liked old music from the forties? That added yet another layer to her that he’d never guessed at, right up there with her giving great head.

  Her singing this morning as pretty as a songbird also told him she wasn’t angry about him leaving her without saying goodbye. People didn’t sing like that when they were angry.

  Stepping up to the bathroom door, he cocked his ear at a note that wove tendrils through him he couldn’t explain and didn’t have time for analyzing anyway.

  He knocked lightly, and her singing cut off.

  She cracked the door and one gray eye fixed on him. She swung the door open with relief on her face. “Thank God you came back. I thought I’d have to ask one of the other servants to zip this god-awful dress!”

  She whipped around, presenting her back to him. His gaze lit on the sliver of pale skin reaching to her lower back, which he knew from experience was very sensitive when he touched it. Her nude bra strap cut across the middle of h
er spine.

  Wanting to break the spell she cast on him, he plucked the strap and snapped her bra.

  “Ow!” She whirled on him, eyes flared wide. “Nobody’s snapped my bra since fifth grade!”

  He grinned down at her and gently turned her away so he could zip her dress. With his mouth at her delectable ear, he battled a surge of desire that shot straight to his cock. He whispered, “I’m leaving with Black in a few.”

  The shiver running through her urged him to take her sweet earlobe in between his lips and suckle it. She gasped.

  “Where are you going?”

  “Colorado Springs. By chopper.”

  “Doing what?”

  “No idea yet. I’m his bodyguard. I had to see you to warn you to be careful with your wandering around—Thornburne’s at the helm in my absence.”

  “Ugh.” Her groan about the thug in Black’s employ transformed to a throaty cry as he gently bit her lobe.

  Before he ripped this dress off her curvy body and bent her over the vanity, he stepped back. Lauralee turned her head to eye him.

  He took her by the shoulders and turned her all the way around to face him. “Be careful.”

  She nodded.

  Seeing something slither across her eyes, he set his fingertip beneath her chin and raised her gaze to meet his. “Promise me you won’t take chances with your safety while I’m away.”

  She rolled her eyes upward as if praying for patience with him again. “Do you expect me to be a good little maid and scrub and clean and take orders?”

  “That’s exactly what I want you to do—and listen.”

  Her gaze shot to his. “If I get a chance to hack into any—”

  He gently pinched her chin in his thumb and forefinger. “No,” he said with a firmness that he realized too late would only challenge a woman like her.

  Lifting her jaw into a slight tilt, she gave him a direct look. “I can do it, you know. I only need—”

  He cupped her cheek. “I know damn well what you’re capable of, and you’ll get your chance. But not now, Lauralee. Please. Promise me.”

  Briefly, she leaned into his touch before straightening away from him. “Fine. I’ll wait for your order.”