Rescued by the Cowboy (WEST Protection Book 1) Read online

  Writhing, she arched off the bed. He sucked on her nubbin. Then he slipped the point of his tongue through her folds and thrust it into her pussy. Juices soaked her—and him. She gripped his shoulders tighter with each pass of his tongue between clit and entrance.

  Ross was everything she knew he’d be—and more. And if she wasn’t already halfway to loving him by now, then him giving her the orgasm of her life made her tumble the rest of the way.

  Chapter Seven

  He drove his tongue into her clenching, contracting, fucking soaking wet walls, his brain locked on one thing--getting more of her. His cock stood at full erection, throbbing and about to burst.

  A knock sounded somewhere in the distance. Pippa twisted her hands in his hair and…

  More knocking.

  He raised his head as a final shudder of release ripped through her body and she collapsed to the mattress.

  Tap tap tap. More insistently.

  His haze of lust fled in a blink as he realized someone was knocking at the motel door, and he sure as hell didn’t think it was housekeeping delivering towels.

  Pippa tensed. “The door,” she whispered in a voice dripping with fear but throatier from her release.

  Setting his palm on her stomach to calm her, he rose to his feet. “Cover up. I’m going to answer it.”

  Without bothering to put his shirt on, he unlocked the door and opened it a crack with the chain still in place. Roman stared back at him.

  Tossing a look toward Pippa, he stepped outside to speak with him.

  If the guy questioned why he was shirtless, he didn’t ask. He was all business as he spoke.

  “Word came in from your brother. I guess he tried to reach you, but you didn’t answer.”

  “Pippa was shot. I was taking care of her,” he said tightly.

  Roman went on, “Those two guys who attacked you were ID’d by the police who picked them up. One was DOA and the other will live to pay for his crimes. Both are common hired thugs.”

  “Fuck. That solidifies my suspicion that somebody knows where Pippa’s headed. I don’t believe we were followed, though. I think they hit gold when they found us at that rest stop.”

  Roman nodded. “I’d say you’re right. They know you’re headed to Seattle for the conference.”

  “They’re hired to take me out and kidnap Pippa.”

  “Any chance of you not taking her to Seattle?”

  Ross expelled a breath. “I don’t know. But I’ll try to convince her not to attend that conference. The thing they’re after is the topic she’s speaking about, unless I’m totally wrong.”

  Pines swayed in the wind sweeping through the hollow where the motel was located. Ross stared at them for a beat, considering a new tactic. “We can go to Seattle, lead them into a trap and tie the noose.”

  Roman lifted a fist, knuckles out. “That’s the best plan I’ve heard today. I got your six, man.”

  Ross bumped knuckles with him. “We’re only staying long enough for her to rest and clean up.”

  “I’ll follow when you’re ready.”

  They began to part ways, when Roman swung back. “Ya know, I’ve seen this a couple other times.”

  Ross narrowed his eyes. “Seen what?”

  “A bodyguard falling for his ward. Pretty rampant in The Guard.” He sliced a grin at Ross.

  He’d heard a rumor or two.

  Shaking his head at his words, Ross turned back to the door, preparing himself for what he had to do.

  What he should have done long before he let Pippa get to him.

  Quietly, he closed the door and secured the locks. She sat up, covers clutched against her nudity and her hair tumbling down. Her eyes so bright from the aftershocks of her release.

  He swiped his tongue over his bottom lip, tasting her.

  “What’s happening?” she asked.

  “We’re going to get cleaned up and on the road again. But we’re taking another route in hopes of losing anyone else who might be after you.”

  Disappointment hit her eyes, and she dropped her stare to her lap. Then she climbed off the bed, dragging the quilt with her. She paused to grab her bag he’d brought in. When she bent, the quilt edges parted, giving him a glimpse of a long, bare, honeyed thigh.

  She’d be sticky wet between them. Fuck, the drive to bury his cock in her and keep her in bed for a week flared across his senses.

  He shouldn’t have gone this far with her. He’d never look at her again without tasting her…feeling her tense for him…feeling her pulse for him.

  She closed the bathroom door and he issued a groan. He clenched his fists against the urge to whip open that door and pick up where they left off.

  But he couldn’t.

  He grabbed his shirt and pulled it on. Then he swiped his fingers through his disheveled hair and located his phone. After he found the closest restaurant for takeout and ordered two burgers and fries for pickup in half an hour, he texted Boone.

  Shit’s going sideways.

  I heard. Need me to drop the governor and come help sooner?

  For a moment, he considered Boone leaving his post earlier than planned.

  No, see it through and come to Seattle as planned.

  Is Pippa okay? Josiah filled me in on what happened.

  The bathroom door was closed. Ross heard nothing. If she was in there crying, he’d feel worse than ever.

  Compressing his lips, he texted a reply. She’s fine.

  Wait—what? She tastes fine?

  He blinked at the screen. Had he just texted what was in his mind?

  Christ on a piece of toast, he had.

  I mean she IS fine. Autocorrect.

  Uh-huh.

  Dick. Get back to your post.

  Boone sent some laughing emojis.

  Ross tossed his phone onto the bed and rammed his hat down. Then he adjusted his still swollen cock. He could end his torment by busting down that door, grabbing Pippa and pinning her to the wall.

  He replayed that scenario in his mind several times. Things could go two ways—she responded with all the fervor she had minutes before. Or she could pull out her aikido and chop him in the balls. He deserved no less.

  He texted Roman, letting him know where they’d stop for food and when, though he could just open the door and speak to him. After his reply, Ross flipped through emails. He was just reading the details about one of Pippa’s exes and shaking his head at all the letters of his degrees following his name, when the bathroom door opened.

  She stepped out, limping only slightly.

  Avoiding his stare, she dropped the bag and put on her boots. Her hair was damp but not wet, drawn off her face in a ponytail. Her glasses slipped down her nose as she bent to zip her ankle boots.

  An awkward silence hung between them, gathering by the second like storm clouds on the horizon of their relationship. To think they’d only experienced a ray of sun before he ruined it.

  Why had he stopped?

  When she straightened, he stared at her hips. Birthing hips his ass. They were just right. And the treasure between them was sweet honey.

  He mentally linked her with the photo of the man in his email. Had that guy gotten a taste of Pippa? He had a cocky look most graduates of Ivy League schools did, which gave Ross the impression his own pleasure would come before his lover’s.

  “Your leg okay?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she said breezily, picking up her computer bag and looping the strap across her body. The leather cut in between her breasts, outlining them against the simple black button-up shirt she wore.

  He lowered his gaze to the rest of her, clad in slim-fitting black jeans that made her legs look a hundred miles long. While Corrine had chosen her clothes, she nailed it perfectly. Pippa had no need for flashy clothes or makeup or teased hair to be the most stunning woman in the room.

  “I’m ready.” She interrupted his thoughts.

  “I need a minute.” If he didn’t wash her off his fingers an
d lips, he’d only make it five steps—to grab her and take her to bed.

  Minutes later with Roman tailing them in a rental vehicle, Ross grabbed their food from the restaurant. When he dropped the bag into Pippa’s lap, her face lit up. His heart thumped at the sight of her happy expression, and he couldn’t look away while she unwrapped the burger and took the first bite.

  He always preached to his employees that the ward required more than just a bodyguard. Sometimes, they needed soothing. To be made to feel human during the scariest times of their lives.

  I gave her a burger, large fries and an orgasm. He’d say he fulfilled his duty. Too bad he hadn’t taken a moment in the bathroom to pound his cock through his fist and ease his own throbbing balls.

  “Here.”

  He pulled his attention from the road to the burger Pippa had partially unwrapped and held out to him.

  Her shoulders still set with a tenseness that wasn’t there before he crossed boundaries, but at least she wasn’t giving him the silent treatment.

  “Thanks for the burger,” she said farther down the road.

  “No thanks needed, Pip.”

  Her chest heaved once, and then she pulled the blanket over herself.

  Miles passed. They hit a patch of freezing drizzle, which he commented on but she refused to respond to him.

  His chest burned, and a heavy concrete weight settled there.

  Until she began to ignore him, he didn’t realize how much he wanted to hear her voice.

  * * * * *

  “Josiah, I need you to run an Idaho plate. Mike Kilo Papa niner seven two.”

  Pippa roused from her deep thoughts about Ross and shifted in her seat to look at their surroundings. They’d been on the road for hours, and this road trip was longer and more stressful than sharing a back seat in her parents’ Subaru with her annoying little sister.

  She spotted the vehicle with the license plate Ross recited to Josiah. The plain white SUV wasn’t giving her any bad vibes, but then again, she wasn’t trained to scope out danger.

  “Do you think that SUV is suspicious?” Her voice sounded clearer after resting it some. Her throaty moans back in the motel probably hadn’t helped it.

  “Dunno, but we’ve been playing road tag for about ten miles now.”

  The SUV dropped speed, which meant they caught up to it. But Ross let off the gas to stay a few car lengths behind.

  She glanced in the side mirror to see Roman following them in a black SUV. They’d driven out of the freezing drizzle, but snow stuck to the road and drifted in the open places.

  “Leave it to me to choose the worst time for travel,” she said.

  “We’ll leave the snow and ice behind once we hit the coast.”

  Seattle. Her family. A warmth washed over her at the thought of being with them all again. Right now, she could really use a hug from her parents and sister.

  “Do you think I’ll have time to spend with my family?” she asked.

  Ross kept his attention centered on that white SUV with the Idaho plate. “I’d like to say yes, but fact is, I don’t know, Pippa. It’s hard to say what we’ll get into with the conference. And your family will be locked down and guarded.”

  She gasped. “You’re kidding!”

  The grim set of his lips told her he wasn’t remotely playing with her.

  “Oh God. They’re going to be so worried.”

  “Boone, Josiah and Silas will be there, along with Roman. Hopefully we can settle their fears.”

  “Holly’s coming in from Portland just to spend the weekend with me. She rarely gets leave from her job, and I hate to spoil her vacation.”

  “It’s not your fault, Pippa.”

  “Did your team find anything on the threatening note?”

  “The handwriting doesn’t come up in the database, which means the person who wrote it has never been arrested.” He pierced her in his stare. “Pippa, about what happened at the motel—”

  She felt like plugging her ears with her fingers and singing over whatever he had to say. “We don’t need to discuss it.”

  It was only the best orgasm of my life with the only man I can imagine giving myself to at this point.

  “Yes, we damn well do need to discuss it.”

  “I’m good.”

  “Don’t be stubborn.”

  “Stubborn? You’re the one who stubbornly held himself back. I bet you’re still aching, since you didn’t get off. Am I right?”

  He swerved over the line. A car honked at him, and he quickly righted the truck. “Yes, I’m aching. You have no idea.”

  “Good.”

  “Good?” he shot back.

  Exhilaration hit her veins, thickening them with desire too. Why did this argument feel like foreplay?

  “You got what you wanted—which was nothing.”

  He groaned and centered his palm over his groin, nudging his swelling cock to give it more room. “You drive me crazy, Pip.”

  “Not crazy enough for you to finish the job.”

  “Because I’m focusing on this job!” He waved a hand at the SUV, which probably belonged to some harmless traveler oblivious to Ross’s suspicions. “You asked me to keep you safe. Not take you to bed!”

  “Pretty sure I asked for that too.” Why was she pushing him? Goading him? Maybe to break down that hard wall she never could demolish before.

  A low noise similar to a growling wolf came from the driver’s seat. “It isn’t as if I don’t want to, Pippa. But I have to stay focused. You were already injured on my watch. Things could have been much worse. I couldn’t live with myself if something happened to you.”

  He ended on a fainter, grittier note than she’d ever heard from him before. It touched her.

  Deep.

  But he was right—neither of them could afford to let down their guards.

  She nudged her glasses up and massaged her eyes. “You’re right.”

  He swung his head from the road to look at her. “You’re agreeing with me?”

  “Why do you sound ticked off about that? I thought you’d want me to agree with you!”

  “Ticked off,” he muttered.

  “Pissed off,” she amended in Ross Wynton style.

  He zeroed in on her lips. “I shouldn’t say this, but I love it when you cuss.”

  Her insides clenched with fresh heat never quite satisfied from before. It took her a moment to catch her breath. “Really?”

  “Yes. Dammit. Really.” He glared at the backs of vehicles spread out over the few miles they could see on the flat stretch.

  How did she even process that claim from the cowboy? “Why?” she finally asked.

  He worked his jaw, and the dimple flashed though he wasn’t smiling. “It’s knowing you—knowing you before. When you were just a goodie two-shoes kid.”

  “So the good girl turned bad appeals to you?”

  “Somethin’ like that. And it’s the glasses too.”

  She sat against the seat in surprise. “The glasses?”

  “Stop asking me these questions, Pippa. You know what you do to me.”

  That rang with finality, but she had no idea what she did to him any more than before he went down between her thighs and licked her to a blazing orgasm.

  Her insides were hot and sticky with need, and one look at Ross’s lap revealed he suffered the same way. That gave her a bit of satisfaction, at least.

  They continued to drive.

  She started to feel claustrophobic from sitting in the truck so long. The tension hovering between her and Ross wasn’t helping matters. She must be losing her mind. Acting neurotic. Erratic. She only wanted to get to Seattle, see her family and speak at the conference.

  The late afternoon sun sat at an angle that made her wish she could don a pair of sunglasses. Instead, she flipped the visor down to provide some shade.

  Her phone buzzed.

  Ross looked at her. “You know the drill.”

  “It’s Meredith.”


  “Pippa,” he said with an edge of warning.

  She rolled her eyes and answered the call on speakerphone.

  “Pippa, thank goodness I reached you. I called your house like a dozen times.”

  “Aww, thanks, Meredith. That was really sweet of you, but I was asleep most of the day.”

  “Then I swung by your apartment and buzzed you until the doorman told me you weren’t in.”

  Sending a sideways glance at Ross, Pippa said, “Yes, I’m out. I just went to urgent care.”

  “Oh no! So you’re really ill?”

  “Just the flu. Bad luck.” She hoped her lies came off as real, but Ross didn’t indicate otherwise.

  “You sound like you’re in the car.”

  “I am. They prescribed me that flu medicine, and I’m on my way to the pharmacy to pick it up.”

  “I’m so sorry to hear you’re sick. Remember when one of us would be sick in college and we’d bring each other care baskets stuffed with medicine and cough drops and cans of soup?”

  She smiled. “And Oreos.”

  Ross’s lips twitched at the corner.

  “I can bring you a care basket later, Pippa,” Meredith said.

  Panic swept over her. “That’s really sweet of you, but I’d hate to give you the virus too. I’m fine really.”

  “Will you still be able to fly to Seattle? The altitudes will be hell on your sinuses.”

  “Yes, I’ll be fine. I won’t miss the conference.”

  “Well, that’s a relief to everyone attending. You are the diamond of the whole scientific world right now.”

  Ross’s knuckles grew white on the wheel.

  “Thanks for always trying to cheer me up, Meredith. I’m almost to the pharmacy now. I’ll talk to you soon.”

  “Take care, my friend.”

  She ended the call, and two heartbeats passed before Ross spoke.

  “The diamond of the scientific world,” he repeated.

  “It’s nothing. She’s just boosting me to make me feel better.”

  “But people really do think of you that way because of your finding.”

  She met his gaze. Before he kissed her and sucked her nipples—then her clit—she believed she knew how deep his eyes really were. Now she saw so much more. They resembled two green forests. The trees at the front appeared lighter, but the closer she looked, the more she saw the darker shadowed areas deep within.