Protecting Cheyenne (SEAL of Protection Book 5) (13 page)

Cheyenne lay on Faulkner’s bed and waited. She could feel her heart beating quickly. She knew her breathing had increased. She gripped the slats of Faulkner’s bed frame so hard, she figured her knuckles were probably white. He hadn’t told her to grab hold of them, but when Cheyenne had seen the bed again, she couldn’t stop thinking about being tied to it.

She worried about her body, would Faulkner like it? Most of the time in the past when she’d had sex, the room had been dark and the men hadn’t bothered to try to check her out all that much before they’d gone for the gusto.

Cheyenne had turned on the light in the bedroom and decided to leave it on. She’d used the restroom and slicked herself up with her gingerbread lotion, remembering his words from two weeks ago. She swiped her lips with her favorite flavor, cake batter, and tore her clothes off. Not bothering to look at herself in the mirror, she’d rushed into Faulkner’s bedroom to make sure she was in place when her five minutes was up.

Faulkner was right. Cheyenne wanted to please him. He’d asked her to do something and she wanted nothing more than to follow his directions to the letter. She knew that in pleasing Faulkner, she too would be satisfied.

Not knowing how much time had passed, Cheyenne kept her eyes on the bedroom door. The last thing she wanted was to be caught not looking when Faulkner walked in. Besides, she wanted to see his first unguarded reaction when he saw her.

She clenched the slats of the bed above her head. How much time had gone by anyway? The anticipation was killing her.

Then Faulkner was there. His eyes bore into hers as he entered the room. Cheyenne kept her mouth shut, he’d ordered her not to talk. She knew she was breathing too fast, but she was nervous as hell. Cheyenne bit her lip, trying to keep any words back. Faulkner was intense and beautiful, and all hers.

She watched as he stalked, yes stalked, across the room until he stood over her.

“Nice touch with the slats, Shy. Don’t let go until I tell you to.”

Cheyenne smiled up at him and nodded, thankful he’d noticed her efforts.

“Wonder what flavor you’re wearing tonight?”

The question was rhetorical since Cheyenne knew he didn’t want her to speak. She waited for him to take her lips, and pouted when he didn’t.

Instead he leaned down and put his nose in her belly button. He didn’t touch her anywhere else, but Cheyenne sucked in a breath all the same.

He breathed in and stood up again. “Fuck me. Gingerbread. You wear that for me?”

Cheyenne nodded, not taking her eyes off Faulkner.

“God. Fucking perfect.”

Cheyenne watched as Faulkner unbuttoned his shirt slowly. One button at a time. Cheyenne couldn’t help but squirm on the bed.

“Still, Shy.”

Cheyenne immediately stilled. Crap. It was harder than it seemed. She’d always scoffed at the women in her books that would whimper and moan when their men told them to stay still. She was just realizing how much harder it was than it seemed to be still. Those authors obviously knew what they were talking about.

Cheyenne sucked in a breath when Faulkner sat next to her on the bed, still wearing his pants, but devoid of his shirt. Her eyes eagerly roamed over him. He was built. She knew he worked out every morning with his team, but Jesus, she’d never seen an eight pack before.

“You like the feel of my hand don’t you, Shy?”

She nodded immediately, lying. She didn’t like it, she loved it.

“Let’s test that shall we?”

Cheyenne sucked in a breath as Faulkner went right for the kill. He didn’t mess around by touching her stomach or shoulders or face. He went right for her breasts, and her nipples that were drawn up into hard peaks. He rubbed his scarred fingers over her breasts until Cheyenne thought her heart was going to beat out of her chest.

She opened her mouth to plead with Faulkner to do something, and at the last second remembered. She shut her mouth.

“Perfect. Thank you for trying so hard. I love watching your restraint.”

Dude brought his index finger to her lips and rubbed against them, smearing her lip balm over his finger. He smirked at her and brought his finger down and rubbed the balm he’d pilfered from her lips over her nipple, then leaned down. Cheyenne tensed, she’d wanted his lips on her again since the first night. She’d dreamed about it.

Faulkner nipped and sucked and completely drove her crazy. He brought his hand up and continued to torture the first nipple as he moved his mouth to the other. Finally he covered both her breasts with his hands. Cheyenne could feel her nipples stabbing into his palms. He rubbed and caressed her as he spoke.

“Is that cake?”

Cheyenne just smirked at him.

“Oh, I’m going to like this game. I wonder how many different flavors you have? We could really have fun with them. But I think I need a different taste in my mouth now.”

Dude tried to still his racing heart. When he’d walked into the room and saw Cheyenne had followed his directions to the letter, and then some, he’d almost lost it right there. She was fucking beautiful. She was a feast to his senses.

Taking his time, he slid to the end of the bed, never losing eye contact with Cheyenne. He positioned himself between her legs and slowly slid them further apart. “Bend.” He tapped her knees and smiled as she immediately bent her legs until he could lie down comfortably between them.

“I hope you’re comfortable, Shy. I plan on spending a lot of time down here.” Dude leaned down and inhaled. “Oh yeah. Gingerbread and you. There’s nothing better.”

He got to work driving his woman crazy. Bringing her to the edge and pulling back over and over again, Dude knew Cheyenne was going to orgasm like she never had before. He looked up at her, not slowing his fingers as they continued to caress and tease her.

“Look at me.”

Waiting until Cheyenne’s eyes drifted down and met his, Dude continued. “You’ve been so good, Shy. So fucking responsive. You’ve done everything I’ve asked. You followed my directions to the letter. I’ve never been more pleased before.
Never
. Let go. As many times as you can. For me. No words, but don’t hold back your reactions either. I want to hear you.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he leaned down and sucked on her bud, hard. Cheyenne exploded. It was as if she was waiting for his explicit permission. She cried out in delight and arched her back, riding his fingers. Dude rode out Cheyenne’s first orgasm and built her up to another. She bucked and moaned, but didn’t speak. She was amazing.

Dude regretfully pulled his finger out of her snug sheath and leaned down for one more long lick. He felt Cheyenne shudder under him. He couldn’t wait anymore. He had to have her. She was still twitching and Dude hoped she’d have at least one more orgasm left in her.

“Legs down.”

As soon as Cheyenne dropped her legs bonelessly to the bed, Dude shifted until he straddled her hips. He unbuckled his jeans and eased the zipper down carefully. He watched as Cheyenne licked her lips. He looked down and the head of his dick was peeking out the top waistband of his boxers. He wasn’t surprised. He’d been harder than he ever had been before in his life for the last half hour.

Meeting Cheyenne’s eyes again he said, “Eyes on mine, Shy.” He chuckled as she reluctantly brought her eyes up to his. “You’ll get to see it all you want in a moment. But for now, keep your eyes on mine.”

Dude eased off the bed and quickly shucked his pants and boxers off. He opened the drawer to the nightstand next to the bed, and grabbed a condom, all without breaking eye contact with her. He opened the wrapper without looking, and covered himself with the latex. He resumed his position on the bed over Cheyenne, but this time got on his hands and knees. He lowered himself just enough so that the only part of him that was touching her was his manhood.

“Feel that?” he whispered, “It’s all I can do not to plunge into you with one stroke. To fill you up so completely you don’t know where you end and I begin.”

Dude watched as Cheyenne’s eyes dilated until he could barely see the brown color of her irises anymore. “You want that?”

He watched as Cheyenne nodded frantically. He teased her a bit more. “You sure?” When she nodded again and licked her lips, Dude asked, “Maybe you’re tired?”

As she shook her head desperately he said seriously, “What you do to me, Shy. I can’t wait anymore. I thought I could tease you some more, but I can’t. I need to be in you.” With that, Dude lowered himself and fit himself to her core and pushed. He drove inside her until it was just as he’d told her
she’d
feel. He didn’t know where he ended and she began.

She was hot and wet and felt better than anything Dude had ever experienced before.

“Please,” Cheyenne croaked out. “I want to touch you.”

Not caring or reprimanding her for speaking, Dude groaned, “Yes, God yes.”

At his words, Cheyenne loosened her grip on his bed slats and drove one hand into Faulkner’s hair, and the other gripped the muscles on his back.

“Oh God, Faulkner. I can’t keep quiet anymore. Please don’t make me.”

“Whatever you need, Shy. Whatever you need.”

“I need you. I need you to move. I need your hands on me. You feel so good. God, you have no idea. I’ve never…I mean no one has ever…Fuck. I can’t think. You’re so hard, everywhere. I have no idea why you want me, but I’m here, I’m yours. Jesus, Faulkner. Yes.” It as if being allowed to speak again broke a dam inside her. Her words spewed out without thought, but with extreme emotion.

Dude’s thrusts got harder the longer she spoke. It was obvious she wasn’t thinking, just speaking what she felt. Dude never felt more like a man.

“Yes, Shy, tell me what you need.”

“You. I need you. Harder. Please. It feels so good. Yessssss.”

Dude kept his eyes open and watched Cheyenne’s face. Her eyes were scrunched up tight and her head was thrown back. She was moaning and squirming in his arms as she bucked up against him even as he thrust into her. Cheyenne held on to him tightly and never let go, even when he thrust especially hard, she was right there with him.

Her eyes finally popped open and looked him in the eyes. “Faulkner, Fuck. Yes. I’m going to…”

Dude reached down and rubbed his thumb over her clit, hard. All it took was two hard strokes and she exploded again. Dude gritted his teeth against the feeling of her inner muscles clenching rhythmically against him and her body twitching and bucking up against him. He held his orgasm back by the skin of his teeth and when Cheyenne stopped quivering against him, he put both hands on either side of her head and growled, “Look at me, Shy. Watch yourself take me over the edge. Watch what you do to me. You. Only you.”

Cheyenne felt boneless. She opened her eyes at Faulkner’s demand and watched his face as he thrust into her. She saw the second his release came over him. He thrust against her once, twice, then after the third hard thrust, stayed buried to the hilt. His eyes never fully closed, but did shut into slits. Cheyenne watched as the vein in Faulkner’s neck throbbed and he gritted his teeth and grunted. It was sexy as hell and she’d done this to him. Cheyenne brought a hand up to Faulkner’s neck and gripped him tightly.

Finally the muscles in his body lost their rigid tone and he blew out a breath. “Jesus, fuck.”

“I think that’s my line,” Cheyenne teased dreamily.

Dude collapsed onto Cheyenne’s chest with a grunt. He heard her squeak in surprise and then felt her arms go around his back and pull him into her. He was never letting her go. Never.

What r u up 2 2day?

We have a meeting with our commander then we have more PT.

U always have pt.

Yeah, and you love the results.

Ok that’s true. :)

Cheyenne smiled as she texted Faulkner. He was so funny. She loved talking to him this way. Somehow it seemed more intimate and made her feel closer to him. The last month had been a dream. They didn’t get to spend the night with each other every night because of their schedules, but when they did, they made the most of it.

What are you doing today?

Lunch w/ mom and sis.

I wish you would wait until I could go with you.

I’ll b ok.

Wait until I can go with you.

Sorry, that only wrks in bed.

Damn. Thought I’d give it a try.

Laughing out loud and ignoring the funny looks she was getting from the people around her in the coffee shop, Cheyenne continued to text.

It’s only lnch. I’ll text when done.

Call me instead. I want to hear your voice to know you are okay.

I’ll b fine.

Call. Me.

Oh ok mr. bossy.

Later

Ltr

Cheyenne turned her phone off and put it in her bag. She sat back waiting for her family to arrive. She’d purposely picked the little coffee shop, knowing her sister would hate it. She wasn’t proud of herself, but she rationalized at least this way their lunch would be kept short.

She stood up as Karen and her mom walked into the shop. Karen looked impeccable as always. She was wearing a brown skirt that was a proper knee length. She’d paired it with a white button up shirt and a brown suit jacket. She was wearing brown heels and had her hair up in a complicated looking twist.

Cheyenne’s mom was just as put together. Dressed in a pair of gray slacks with a pale pink angora short sleeve sweater, a pair of low heels, and her hair up in a bun, the gray in her hair matched the pants she was wearing perfectly.

Cheyenne felt frumpy next to her family, but shook off the feeling. It was her day off. She wasn’t going to worry about dressing up. The jeans, fitted T-shirt, and flip-flops she was wearing were fine. She’d put her hair up in a ponytail to keep it out of her face.

“Hey Mom, Karen.”

“Cheyenne, how many times do I have to tell you to take more care with your appearance?”

Cheyenne sighed. No “hello,” no “how are you doing,” her mom just jumped right in with the criticisms. Nothing ever changed. “Mom, it’s my day off…”

Her mom cut her off. “That’s no excuse. You never know who you’ll run into while you are out and about and it pays to look your best. Look at your sister. She always looks impeccable. How do you expect to attract a man if you don’t put any effort in?”

“Actually…”

Cheyenne was cut off again, this time by her sister.

“I can’t believe the news isn’t sick of your little incident yet. I mean really. I think a month and a half is enough already.”

Cheyenne looked at Karen in bewilderment, forgetting she was about to tell her mom that she
had
attracted a man, a hell of a man. “What are you talking about?”

“You didn’t know? There was another special on you last night. Well, at least on what happened. I don’t know why you won’t just talk to the press already. It would probably get them off your back.”

“
Another
special?” Cheyenne didn’t know what her sister was talking about.

“Yeah.
Another
special. The news station has done a couple of shows highlighting the various people that were involved in what happened. They highlighted all of the guys the police killed, and touched on you. They weren’t allowed to talk about the military guy that was involved though. I felt kinda bad for the men that were killed. They all had families and such sad backgrounds.”

Cheyenne couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Are you shitting me?”

Her mom immediately rebuked, “Cheyenne, watch your language.”

Cheyenne turned to her. “Are
you
shitting me?”

“Cheyenne Nicole Cotton, language,” her mom scolded her again.

Cheyenne turned back to Karen. “I can’t believe you said that. You’re supposed to be my
sister
. My flesh and blood. Do you know what they
did
to me?”

“You look okay to me. Jeez, Cheyenne, you’ve always been such a drama queen.”

Cheyenne shook her head and leaned toward her sister. “I invited you guys today because I wanted to try to get to know you better. I’ve always felt bad we didn’t get along. But I can’t believe you’d say something like that to a stranger, nonetheless your own flesh and blood. Those men you are busy feeling sorry for,
hit
me. They threatened me with guns. They scared the crap out of me. They strapped a fucking
bomb
to my chest and wouldn’t have thought twice about blowing me to bits. And you have the gall to sit there and tell me about how you feel bad for
their
families? That they had such hard lives that what they did was okay? The next thing you’re going to say is that you think the cops were in the wrong for shooting them.”

“I do,” Karen immediately returned, a hateful look in her eye.

Cheyenne nodded once. She calmly put her napkin on the table in front of her.

“Look, maybe we…” her mother began.

Cheyenne interrupted her mother. “I’m done. You’re cold, Karen. I have no idea how you got that way, but you are. I don’t know what I did to you to make you hate me so much, except for being born, and I don’t think I can take any blame for
that
. All I’ve ever wanted is a big sister I could hang out with and look up to, but you never gave me a chance. I don’t want to see or talk to you again. If you have more sympathy for a bunch of thugs than your own sister, you’re no family of mine.”

It wasn’t Karen that spoke up, but her mom. “Cheyenne, you can’t do that. You don’t mean it.”

“What do
you
think, Mom? Do you feel sorry for those guys too?”

“Well, it wasn’t as if the police gave them a chance to give up did they?”

“I’m done with you too,” Cheyenne whispered immediately, tears gathering in her eyes. “All my life I’ve tried to be good enough. I’ve done everything I could think of to make you feel a fraction of pride toward me as you do for Karen. But it’s obvious you don’t and can’t. So that’s fine. Don’t call me again. Just leave me alone.”

Turning on her heel, Cheyenne left the coffee shop. She beeped her car doors open and climbed in on autopilot. She wasn’t surprised when she didn’t see either her mom or Karen storm out of the coffee shop in pursuit of her. They were probably inside gossiping about her and reassuring each other that they’d said nothing wrong.

Cheyenne drove to the beach. She’d always loved the sound of the waves against the sand. It usually relaxed her, but not today.

She’d had no idea the media was airing “specials” about what had happened to her. She felt sick inside about the spin they were putting on the men who’d taken her and the two other women hostage. They’d terrorized her. Cheyenne honestly thought she was going to die and it had scared the shit out of her.

To think there were people who felt
sorry
for those men was sickening. That her own flesh and blood felt sorry for the men, was disheartening and made her feel more alone than she’d ever felt before.

Cheyenne sat facing the ocean on the stone wall that lined the parking lot. She’d been so happy. She’d just spent the last four nights in Faulkner’s bed and every single night, that week and when they’d been together in the past month, he’d made her body hum. He’d shown her how good “submitting” to him could be. She trusted him with her life.

Just when things were starting to look up for her, her own damn family had to ruin it. She should’ve known Karen would be jealous of the media attention she was getting, even though Cheyenne had always refused to speak to the press.

Cheyenne should’ve waited for Faulkner to have lunch with her family. She’d honestly thought she could work on repairing their relationship though. It was her
mom
. Moms were supposed to love all their kids equally, but
her
mom never had.

Pulling her feet up onto the wall in front of her, Cheyenne linked her arms around her shins and put her cheek to her knees. How long she sat like that she had no idea, but eventually her butt went numb and she had to move. Stiffly she released her legs and let them fall to the ground. She wasn’t ready to leave yet, but knew she’d better get in touch with Faulkner. He’d wanted her to call him when she was done with lunch, but Cheyenne hadn’t wanted to talk to him, or anyone else.

She walked to her car and grabbed her phone out of her purse. She walked back toward the beach and set off down the sidewalk until she got to a part of the beach that wasn’t as crowded. She kicked off her flip-flops and wandered into the sand. Finding a place that seemed as good as any, she sank down.

She turned on the screen to her phone and winced. Three texts and a phone message. All from Falkner. The fact that even with what she’d said, neither her sister nor her mom had tried to get a hold of her, cut deep.

She looked at the texts first.

Just checking in. How was lunch?

I haven’t heard from you. Call me.

CALL ME.

Somehow, even though it was written, she could sense Faulkner’s irritation with her. Cheyenne really didn’t want to listen to the voice mail from him. He was probably pissed at her. She couldn’t deal with someone else being pissed at her.

Scrolling through her contacts, Cheyenne hesitated over Caroline’s number, then clicked “send message.”

One night after dinner, Faulkner had taken her cell and programmed in all his teammates numbers. He’d even added in all of the women as well. She’d protested, telling Faulkner that she didn’t even know them, but he’d ignored her and done it anyway.

Then, bizarrely, he’d pointed to one name he’d put in her phone and told her seriously, “If you are
ever
in trouble and can’t get a hold of me, call Tex.”

“Tex? Who is that? Is that another nickname for one of your teammates?”

“Tex is a former SEAL who lives in Virginia. He can find anyone. It’s a long story, but suffice it to say, he’s had a hand in helping us protect all of my friends’ women at one time or another. I’d trust him with my life. He’s got connections we can’t hope to have. Just promise. Okay?”

She had.

But this wasn’t a situation where she wanted to talk to a stranger, and she wasn’t in trouble. She just needed a friend. She quickly typed out a text.

Hey Caroline, it’s Cheyenne. U around?

The response came almost immediately.

Hey C. what’s up?

Suddenly Cheyenne didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know why she’d texted Caroline in the first place.

Cheyenne? U ok?

Yeah. Got a sec to talk? Can I call?

Of course.

Cheyenne took a deep breath. She had to start somewhere. She liked Caroline and the other women and she needed a friend. She hit Caroline’s number and waited for her to pick up.

“Hey, Cheyenne.”

“Hey.”

“Seriously, are you okay?”

“Yeah. I need some advice.”

“Let me guess, about a certain SEAL we both know?”

“Yeah.” Cheyenne let out her breath. “I think he’s mad at me,” she whispered, not knowing why she was whispering.

“What’d you do?”

“I was supposed to call him, and didn’t. He sent three texts and the last one was all capital letters.”

Caroline laughed. When Cheyenne didn’t join in, she sobered. “Hey, you’re serious aren’t you? Look, I piss Matthew off all the time, but he gets over it.”

“I don’t want Faulkner to yell at me,” Cheyenne’s breath hitched. “I’ve had a bad day. But the longer I wait to call him, I know the madder he’ll get.”

“Where are you? You aren’t home are you?”

“No. I’m sitting on a beach watching the sun go down because I’m a wuss. I can’t go home because he’ll find me and yell at me. He’s…he’s bossy. And I…fuck. This is embarrassing.”

“I get it, Cheyenne. We all know Faulkner is a lot more intense about his bossiness than the other guys are. But, Shy, he won’t yell at you if he knows you’ve had a bad day.”

“Everything has been so good between us. I like the way he is…the way we are…I don’t want to ruin it.”

“Listen to me. These SEALS are intense. They’re big, bad, and brash, but as I told you when you were at my house, inside they’re big teddy bears. All you have to do is be honest with him. Tell Faulkner that you’re sorry you didn’t call but you needed some time. Then apologize for it and let him make your day better.”