The Alpha Male Romance Boxed Set (23 page)

Panic began to shoot through her. It had been real and she was alone.
Oh my God! Did he leave me?
She rushed to the front door and threw it open rushing out onto the porch. She let out a sigh of relief as she peered out and saw her car still parked where they'd left it the night before.

Where was the man from the coffee shop? The man that...
oh-my-god!
She blushed, when the thought of what she'd done with a complete stranger came to mind. She turned and started to make her way back into the cabin in search of some clothing.

"I didn't think you'd ever wake up."

With a yelp, she jumped at the sound of the seductive male voice behind her. Spinning around she came face to face with the man from the coffee shop, the man who could do amazing things with his tongue. A sudden dampness began to gather between her legs.

"Oh God," she groaned.

Her eyes travelled the length of him, from his work boots, to his torn blue jeans to the black t-shirt which stretched across his muscular chest and shoulders. By the time her eyes made it to his, there was an amused grin on his handsomely chiselled features. His eyes shone with amusement and.... hunger... for her.

Oh,
God!
She looked down at herself and once more became very aware of her near naked body. The blush that was starting to fade, rose again, making her cheeks hot and, she guessed, turning them bright crimson.

"You know... about last night. I don't usually..." Gripping tight to the blanket with one hand she ran her other shakily though her blonde, dishevelled hair.

Adjusting the firewood that he had gathered in his arms, he nodded, the amusement growing in his green eyes. "I get it. You were scared."

She nodded her agreement. "Yes. I needed comfort."

He stepped closer, climbing the stairs of the porch. "You'd just been shot at; it's a completely natural thing to want to seek out comfort sexually in times of high stress. I get that."

"Exactly..."

He brushed past her, his arm grazing her breasts as he walked by, and sending a shiver of arousal through her. Quickly she regained her composure and it occurred to her what he was suggesting.

"What? No." Lily frowned as she followed behind him into the kitchen.

"No?" he raised a questioning brow at her as he unloaded the firewood.

"No." She cocked her head at him, and gave him a stern look. "I did
not
seek out your comfort sexually."

Straightening up after unloading the last of the logs he wiped his hands on his jeans and looked up into her eyes. "Well,
you
called me into the bedroom. And
you
were the one to kiss me."

Lily huffed. "I did not"

Crossing his thick arms over his chest, he stood waiting for the events of the previous night to clink into place for her.

A hand went flying to her mouth as her jaw dropped open. She almost lost hold of the blanket. "Oh my. I
did
seduce you."

Chuckling, he walked over to her and planted a kiss on her forehead, before giving her a swat on the rear and heading back towards the still open door. "I wouldn't say you seduced me," he called over his shoulder to her.

Spinning around, she watched as he strolled away.
Damn, his ass looks good in those jeans.

He stopped at the doorway and turned to give her a wink. "In order to seduce me, I would have had to have been reluctant." His eyes slowly swept up and down the length of her body pausing at her breasts and he gave her a smirk. "Trust me, I'm more than willing to do whatever you want... wherever and whenever you want to do it."

Lily opened her mouth to speak, but words failed her, not that it would have mattered anyhow, he had already disappeared out of the front door, she assumed to retrieve more firewood.

Nervy bugger
, she growled to herself as she scampered back into the bedroom in search of clothing. She'd show him. She'd known many men like him over the years, egotistical, self-indulgent, alpha male types who thought that women should just fall to their feet for them. She'd show him she wasn't just some bimbo he could add to his list of conquests.

Feeling Scott's hard, rigid chest against her back, his arms wrapped around her waist and his breath on the back of her neck was unbelievably distracting, but she'd be damned if she was going to let him know it. She tried to concentrate on his words and the target that he'd set up for her. It was a simple board, with a bull's-eye painted on it.

The cool metal of the pistol felt ominous to her, as he placed the gun in her hands. The day had seemed like some surreal dream that she hoped to wake up from. She wasn't a killer; she'd never even
seen
a gun up close until today. She was a hostess at a coffee shop; she served customers for minimum wage plus tips. She didn't know anything about guns and really didn't want to start learning now.

Trying to remain calm, she attempted to focus on his words.

"Keep it pointed down, angled towards the ground at all times unless firing, understand. And always keep a firm grip."

She nibbled at her lower lip and nodded, tightening her grip on the gun, and keeping her fingers clear of the trigger.

"Alright, now. What I…"

"I don't think I'm cut out for this," she interrupted. "I don't think I need to learn it either, I trust you."

Scott sighed loudly in her ear. "Look. We discussed this at lunch. These people are serious people. I doubt they'll find me again - find us, before I find them, but there are never any guarantees. The fact is this;
if
they find us, we'll be dead before we know they're here."

Lily's heart stopped for a moment and she found herself having a hard time swallowing the lump forming in her throat. His words were so grim that whether he meant to or not, he was greatly increasing her nervousness and fear and she felt her hands begin to shake.

She was suddenly relieved to have the support of his body behind hers to lean back against. As much as she disliked his slightly arrogant attitude, she was grateful to be with him. He made her feel safe, even when telling her the grim truth about their situation.

Taking the gun from her hands and thrusting it into his holster, he spun her around in his arms. She placed her palms on his t-shirt clad chest and looked up into his serious green eyes.

"I need you to be able to defend yourself, just in case."

"But…"

Her protest was cut off as his mouth came crashing down on hers. She moaned, as she slipped her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him, her breasts crushing up against his massive wall of a chest. His hands gripped her bottom and he pulled her groin tight against his, the ridge of his cock pressing against her.

Memories of how he'd touched her the night before, and how he'd made her come so hard that it nearly brought tears to her eyes came crashing over her. As much as she kept trying to deny it, she wanted him. Wanted him despite his arrogant demeanour, shit, perhaps even
because
of it. He was so sure of himself, so in control, so calm. And in turn his calm, mellow attitude seemed to help sooth her frazzled nerves.

Lily ground her body up against his, sucking his lower lip into her mouth and nipping gently. Scott groaned and squeezed her ass, again pulling her tighter against the ridge of his thick, hard dick.

Suddenly he pulled away from her, spun her back around, her blonde hair whipping wildly around her head as she turned and he pulled her bottom tight against his groin.

He leaned back into her, his warm breath on her ear sending shivers down her spine and fuelling the throbbing between her legs. "Be a good girl and shoot the target for me and maybe we can continue with the fun stuff later, in the bedroom," he said, his voice deep and husky.

A low growl came from the back of her throat. She wasn't sure which she felt most: aroused by him or pissed because he thought so highly of himself as to offer himself as a 'reward' for a job well done. She decided on offended.

Lily huffed, "The only way you got to see me naked last night was because you got me drunk beforehand."

A deep throated chuckle was her only response to that.

Yeah,
it sounded like bullshit to my ears as well
, she admitted to herself.

"Alright, back to it." Bracing himself behind her, he removed the gun from its holster and placed it back in her hands.

She reluctantly accepted the gun and kept it pointed to the ground as he had previously instructed, grip tight and finger away from the trigger.

"When it goes off, it's going to be loud and it's going to be a little scary."

Lily nodded.

"Alright? Ready it to fire."

Lily nodded again, never taking her eyes off of the gleaming gun in her hands, she pumped a bullet into the chamber and turned the safety off. With his gentle guidance she lined the sights up, aiming for the dead center of the bulls-eye.

"Strengthen your stance, Lily."

Another chill ran through her. She wanted to tell him to back away, his closeness was distracting, but at the same time having him close made her feel secure and helped her confidence. So, she gritted her teeth and pushed back her body's cravings for him.

Readjusting her footing, she once again lined the pistol up to the target.

"Ready? And remember, this is very, very important. Whatever you do, don't close your eyes. You need to be able to see your target in order to hit it."

"Yes." She gulped down the nervousness rising up within her.

"Fire."

She took a deep breath in, exhaled loudly, and then squeezed the trigger. The sound was near deafening and her first instinct was to yelp and duck as the gun jerked in her hands, but his solid, unyielding body behind her and his hands over hers denied her that instinctive reaction.

Silence settled upon them for a moment and she was disheartened to see that she hadn't even hit the board with the bulls-eye on it.

The sound of Scott clearing his throat finally broke the silence after what felt like an endless minute and he clucked his tongue against the roof of his mouth. "You closed your eyes didn't you?"

Chewing at her bottom lip she nodded and turned her head to look up and behind her at him, her nervous eyes catching his amused ones. "Kinda..."

His stern expression suddenly turned soft and a slight smile tugged at the corner of his lips. In that instant the cool arrogance his eyes usually displayed seemed to wash away to reveal a kind, sweet man that she was certain only a rare few people ever got to see. The bad thing was that she almost preferred the egotistical version of Scott, because this softer side of him was one that she could find herself falling hard for.

Lily's mouth went dry and her eyes traveled down to his lips, which seemed to be tempting her, and then back up to meet his eyes once more.

"Well, let's try again. This time with your eyes open," he teased.

Laughing, Lily refocused on the target. "I have to keep my eyes open. Got it."

In more ways than one
, she mused.

****

Scott looked up from the keyboard of his laptop and watched as Lily, who was sitting next to him crossed-legged on the futon, poured herself another glass of red wine. "You had better lay off that wine; I don't want to be accused of taking advantage of you while you're in a drunken stupor again."

Setting the bottle down on the coffee table Lily held back her laughter and settled for sticking her tongue out at him. Taking a sip from her wine, she set the glass on the table beside the bottle and directed her attention to watching him.

Clucking, Scott went back to whatever it was he was doing. Lily attempted to catch a glance at the screen while trying not to look like she was being nosey. Finally, she couldn't keep herself in the dark any longer. "What are you doing on that?"

Ignoring her for another couple of moments, Scott typed in a few more lines, signed off, and shut the laptop down. Sitting back he draped his arm along the back of the futon and fingered a lock of her hair.

The tug of his fingers running through her hair sent a shiver through her. Closing her eyes she sighed softly, giving herself a moment to bask in the feeling.

Once they had finished their target practice that morning and Scott had deemed her good enough to carry a pistol, they had gone on a stroll for a couple of hours through the woods, checking the perimeter and the high-tech security equipment he had guarding the cabin. It was amazing to her, the cabin and the area seemed so plain, so primitive, but as she soon found out, looks were deceptive.

As the day wore on, and they spent more time together, they discussed lots of trivial things, but despite them being trivial, it was enough that she'd finally found herself trusting him. However, he'd been skirting around many of the serious, important questions she had and she wanted to get to them tonight.

"So what's with the laptop? What are you doing?" she inquired a second time.

"Well, I was just contacting some people who know some people who are going to find out
exactly
who is behind the hit on me and once I verify who it is, I'll simply go to their location - wherever it may be - and kill them." He held his hands out, palms up. "And then it'll all be over."

Lily found herself speechless for a moment. He said it in such a disconnected tone, talking about killing someone as if it were just a chore to be taken care of, equivalent to taking out the trash or walking the dog. "Just like that?"

Scott clucked his tongue and gave her a wink. "Just like that."

"Well," she picked up her wine glass and took another sip. "Don't you feel bad about it? You know, killing people."

His eyes locked to hers and the tenderness, the kindness that he'd let filter into his gaze and into his demeanour a number of times during the day was gone now. His eyes were now cold and devoid of emotion. "I don't murder for the sake of murder. Someone doesn't just hand me five grand to go after someone in an alleyway because they caught the man cheating with his wife. My targets are bad men, very bad, powerful men. Men who need to be stopped and an assassination is the most…" he paused, taking a deep breath in and then releasing it, "
effective
way of stopping them. I don't do it because I want to do it... I do it because it needs to be done. It just so happens that there are people willing to pay a lot of money for something that should be done anyhow."

Lily took another longer drink of wine, as she processed the information. He gathered another lock of her hair, and once more watched as the golden strands fell from his fingers, and once again the intimate gesture sent a chill through her. "Do you ever get lonely?"

Scott frowned and released the remaining strands of hair from his fingertips. He stayed silent, redirecting his attention to the window on their left and staring out of it.

Sitting up on her knees, Lily crawled over to him, pausing just before she reached him. Her movement drew his attention back to her and his eyes locked onto hers. The hard exterior he usually kept up was gone and she saw the man beneath the layers of armor once more. She'd been relishing these rare moments all day. Lily pressed her palm to his chest feeling the steady beat of his heart under her fingertips.

She wanted to lower her lips to his, she wanted to open herself up and give herself completely to him, but if she did, what then? There was no fairytale ending with this man, she knew this. From the way he'd talked throughout the day, he figured they'd be able to leave the cabin in a day or two. So, what then?

Last night she had taken comfort in his body, used him to relieve her tension, but to kiss him this time; to feel his naked body against hers a second time would be the beginning of a bond they'd never have a chance to strengthen or discover where it led. Was she willing to take that risk? To risk beginning to care, when she knew he was only a few days’ fling whom she'd never see again.

But the haunted look of loneliness and the longing in his eyes; it was so intense that it left her breathless. Swinging a leg over his thighs, she straddled his hips, settling herself over him. She pressed her forehead to his, and for a moment their breaths intermingled, their breathing synchronizing. The fire within her came to life and the intense need to have him in rushed through her body.

She touched his jaw - that was just starting to show signs of a day old beard - with her palm, and then traced his lower lip with her thumb, watching him intently. Moving her hand back down to his chest she lowered her lips to his. Her lips grazed his tenderly, before she nipped at his lower lip.

"Lily," he groaned, threading a hand into her hair, cupping the back of her head with his hand and urging her lips down harder onto his.

She moaned softly, as their kiss deepened and the passion between them rose. He slipped his tongue between her lips to explore her mouth, his tongue lashing and frolicking with hers.

His free hand gripped her rear and pulled her groin tight against his. Despite his jeans and her borrowed boxers, she could feel his shaft rapidly gaining length and girth between them. She wiggled her hips over him and was rewarded by a deep, feral growl coming from the back of his throat, as he flipped her to her back on the futon. His massive, muscular frame hovered over hers; a hand planted on either side of her head.