Bodyguard (Den of Thieves, #2) (13 page)

“I think I want to go home now,” Olivia said quietly.

*****

T
hey pulled out into the late evening night. The darkness in the industrial area was punctuated by the occasional streetlight.

Her head was swimming with thoughts. How was her brother related to all of this? What was he doing?

She knew they were right. That there was nothing more that she could do about the situation. She felt badly. Someone else who had been shot that day at the cafe had not made it and it was all because of her and her bother.

Bo hadn’t said anything since they had gotten in the car. She wondered what he was thinking as she glanced over at him.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly.

“For what?” Bo asked without taking his eyes off the road.

“For all of this. Getting you into trouble with your boss and now this whole mess with my brother.” She felt the tears welling up in her eyes again.

“Don’t be, Liv, it’s not your fault.” The sound of his voice, as he spoke, the way he shortened her name, something no one had done for years, sent shivers down her spine.

“I just don’t understand any of it. I don’t know why Gerald would want to hurt me. I haven’t done anything to him. I just have left him to his own devices.”

“That was probably the best thing you did for yourself but it may have also been the thing that’s been festering at him all of these years. Guys like him don’t like seeing other people succeed. And you have succeeded far beyond what you should have given the rough start to life.”

She said nothing, he was right. It wasn’t what she had done to him, but rather what she hadn’t done. She hadn’t been there for him, hadn’t helped him to see the light of the good side of life. She had left him to rot while she blossomed.

“You are alright. Sometimes people like that can’t be fixed. They don’t want to be. They think that what they are doing in life is what they were meant to be doing. That it is somehow alright and that there isn’t any other option out there for them. You can’t change a person who doesn’t want to even see that there is a problem or that what they are doing is wrong.”

She could hear a twang of pain in the last words he spoke.

“I am sorry about dragging you into this mess. And what happened with Jake. I really shouldn’t have forced you to break the rules in order to make me happy. It wasn’t fair.”

Bo stopped at a stop sign on an empty street, not a car nor a person was around, and looked right at her.

“Olivia, I don’t do anything that I don’t want to do. I learned a long time ago that sometimes you have to go with your gut instinct and not the orders on the paper. The orders on the paper are not always right. They don’t always make sense and if you think even for a second that there is something amiss or wrong or something that could be done differently and have a better outcome you have to go with that feeling.”

“But you were in the army. Aren’t you supposed to follow orders, no matter what you think?” She searched his eyes in the dim light.

“Yes. We are supposed to. But even those orders aren’t always ones that make sense and people can get hurt,” he said, looking away and putting the car into drive again before heading left down the street.

They drove along in silence. Olivia mulled over what he had said.

“Who was she?” she asked and then almost instantly regretted it. It wasn’t her business but she had asked, she only hoped that he wouldn’t be mad at her.

Bo said nothing for a bit but kept his eyes squarely on the road.

“Her name was Sooraj. Her name means
Sun in Urdu
. And she was my ray of sunshine. She was a villager in one of the villages that we were set to protect. It happened by accident. One day, I was on patrol and she came up to me with food and water. They were always doing that for us. It was their way of showing us their gratitude for what we were doing for them.

We sat and talked while I ate, and the next day it was the same. Every day we would eat together. I found myself eagerly awaiting the time when I knew I would be able to see her again. 

I never expected it to go as far as it did, but I found myself helplessly in love with her. I was so much in love that once I was done with my tour that time, I was going to retire from the army and find a way to bring her home. Settle down and start a family. ”

Olivia nodded. “What happened? Why didn’t you?”

“About a month after we started seeing each other, word came down that the village she lived in was in reality a base of operations for some insurgents. That they were building bombs and IEDs there. I told my CO that there was no way that was true, as I had seen nothing but innocents in all of my time there. But he wouldn’t listen to me. They raided the village that night and killed nearly everyone in it. It was only after the fact that they realized that their information was tainted.”

Olivia’s heart ached as he told the story. She could hear the pain in his voice as he spoke. He had really loved her.

They didn’t say another word for the rest of the ride home. The night watchman tipped his hat to them as they waited for the elevator to take them upstairs.

“I am so sorry, Bo,” she whispered as they got onto the elevator.

“Don’t be. It wasn’t you.”

“I shouldn’t have pried like that. It wasn’t fair or right.” She had felt incredibly horrible about the whole thing.

He stepped out of the elevator and onto her floor, taking careful, measured steps down the hallway, checking and rechecking to make sure everything was clear.

He went into the apartment and came back a few moments later.

“All clear.” And ushered her in.

He sat down on the couch and breathed a heavy sigh before turning to set up his laptop once again. She turned and went to her liquor cabinet. It had been a long day.

“Do you think that’s a good idea with the pain meds you are on?” Bo questioned, watching her pour two glasses of an amber liquid.

“I don’t give a shit at this point. I have had a really horrible day and I need something to take the edge off.” She sipped and handed him a glass as she sad down on the couch beside him.

He looked at it a moment before accepting it.

“It’s my way of saying I’m sorry for all the shit that’s happened,” she explained quietly, leaning her head on his chest.

“I have already told you that I don’t do anything I don’t want to.” His voice came out as more of a rumble and she felt that all too familiar shiver run down her spine.

*****

O
livia looked up at him. Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds before he leaned in towards her.

His lips were warm and soft, and Olivia felt her head spinning with growing arousal as she felt the tip of his tongue against her lips, gently parting them, then slowly moving inside her mouth to meet her tongue passionately.

She couldn't quite tell how long the kiss lasted, but she knew wasn't as long as she would have liked. Bo pulled away just enough to look into her eyes and smile.

Olivia smiled back, although she ached for more of his touch. She wanted to feel his lips again... she wanted to feel his hands, his fingers, his every body part against hers.

And she could have him, if she wanted him, Olivia realized. And she did want him. She wanted him more than anything.

"I want... you," she whispered to him.

He kissed her softly, and declared, "I am yours."

She swallowed, his deep words sending shockwaves of excitement through her.

"I want you... to touch me," Olivia told him, her voice suddenly unsteady.

He obeyed, and lifted his hand to her face, slowly tracing it with the tips of his fingers. Olivia shivered, closing her eyes as he continued to caress her face, then moved on to clasp the back of her neck.

His hands came back up, slipping the material away to cup her warm, full mounds.

"Oh... " she groaned.

She wanted this, this slow and tender exploration. One by one, each piece of her clothing, as if by magic, disappeared.

She was naked now, naked for the first time before this man.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered.

"Bo..." she trembled. But he was already gathering her in his arms, lowering her to the bed.

When he had made sure she was lying comfortably, Bo lay next to her, and she noted with a bit of disappointment he was still fully dressed. Well, she could take care of that.

"Wait," she said, as his hand reached for her.

"I want to see you, too. Take your shirt off."

He smiled coyly, reaching behind his head too slowly—much too slowly, and slipped his shirt off over his head. The ripples in his chest were now exposed to her adoring gaze; she stared at him hungrily.

Somehow, she found him different than she expected, not as bulky as she had imagined this man to be, but he did have a well-defined muscular trimness and a sensuous grace about him she found to be much better than what she had expected.

She very much wanted to touch and kiss his newly exposed skin, but again she resisted. For some strange reason, she was enjoying remaining passive, and she lay back to allow him to continue. But wait, there was just one more thing...

"Wait, Bo—your hair. I want you to take your hair down."

She watched with excitement as he flipped his dreads over his shoulders. They were longer than she had thought they were.

He took her right nipple between gentle fingers, rubbing it slowly, making her moan and close her eyes. Olivia threw her head back, exposing her neck, and she felt him leaning closer to her to kiss it, running his tongue along her jaw. The ends of his thin dreads brushed against her skin, tickling it as his lips gently tickled the lobe of her ear.

Olivia shuddered with another tingle of pleasure when she felt the tip of his tongue against the swell of her nipple. Bo circled it a few times, then closed his lips around it, suckling gently. His teeth then closed around it, and she squirmed, grasping the back of his neck in silent ecstasy.

His lips never leaving her skin, he moved on to her other hardened nipple and took it in his mouth, repeating the same delightful ritual he had done to the other one.

She pushed her hips upward and spread her legs, waiting as his lips caressed her stomach, her abdomen, trailing their way down her body with excruciating slowness to where she wanted him the most. She was already more aroused than she would have thought possible, every precise movement of his mouth sent shivers to every part of her.

His fingers stroked the tender insides of her thighs, moving up until he was nearly touching the patch of hair, but always pulling away before making actual contact. She groaned in frustration, but he didn't tease her for long.

She found his eyes again, and her mouth parted in a silent plea. He answered it by leaning towards her, engulfing her in a strong, passionate kiss.

The corners of her mouth curled into a smile; he tasted so good, his skilled lips felt so soft; she would have been content to lie in his arms and savour him forever.

Bo's fingers gently felt within her soft feminine folds for her moist opening. It flowered open at his touch, and Olivia's eyes closed in ecstasy as his fingertips gently rubbed around it. If she could have formed any words, she would have begged him not to stop, to keep touching, but she didn't even have to. He quickly rubbed and then pinched the sensitive little bud that brought her so much pleasure, making her stretch her body sensuously in complete abandon.

Yes! Oh, yes... so close...

But then his fingers left her, and Olivia barely had time to return from the edge of her abandon when she felt warm breath and then the moist softness of his tongue now against her. She cried out in pure delight as he gently lapped at her.

Yes... yes... !
her mind screamed.

"Don't... stop!" she gasped, and could barely manage a cry as his firm hands held onto her thighs and the hot moisture of his tongue darted out to caress her with a stronger insistence, lapping at her until that remarkable pleasure climbed again and peaked.

“Oh... yes!!”

Her body arched, her head kicked back and a long cry escaped her lips as the most incredible climax firmly gripped her, rolling through her like fierce waves. For that short time, it consumed her and became her entire world.

B
o lay there in bed beside her as the early morning light filtered through the sheer curtains on the window. He watched as the sunbeams played across Olivia’s ucovered leg. She was magnificent and beautiful.

She was so incredibly strong, she had faced everything that had been thrown at her in the last few days and had not run and hid. This woman was a force to be reckoned with.

He gently, idly stroked her bare shoulder, inhaling deep breaths of the woman lying in his arms.

“Penny for your thoughts,” she whispered, as she reached out with her good hand to stroke his cheek.

“Just admiring the beauty that lies beside me.” He smiled and leaned down to kiss her nose.

“Why, thank you. I’m a bit of a hot mess at the moment.” She smiled and gingerly raised her bad arm.

“That didn’t seem to stop you last night,” he chuckled.

“Someone made it hard to resist.” A gentle smile played on her lips.

He wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and hold her tight. He never wanted to let her go. She brought back all of the feelings he thought were dead in him and that was something that he would never let go of again.

In the last few years, he had never felt so alive as he did at that moment.

“Where does this go from here?” she whispered.

He said nothing, holding his breath. Did she think that he was going to leave her? Or was she trying to find a way to wiggle out of what had occurred between them? Was she having second thoughts?

Panic welled up in his throat

“Wherever you want it to go.” His voice shook a bit as he spoke.

She rolled over to look at him.

“What is the matter?” Her eyes searched his. He could see the same fear in hers as he felt in his own heart.

“Nothing. I just am not sure that I am what you want.”