Thrive (Guardian Protection) Read online

  Her infectious smile faded and surprise lit her face.

  I took a sip before setting the beer on the tire well we so often used as an end table. “It’s habit now, I guess.”

  Suddenly, she threw a leg over my hips and straddled me. Folding forward, she palmed either side of my face and pressed a deep, closed-mouth kiss to my lips.

  I gripped her hips and sucked in, desperate to inhale her, to absorb her, to make myself a part of her the way I knew she would always be a part of me.

  “You can taste me whenever you want, Jeremy,” she murmured against my lips.

  But she was so fucking wrong. “Whenever I wanted” meant every minute of every day.

  Not the secret moments we had in the woods.

  Not the late-night phone calls.

  Not the stolen kisses when no one was looking.

  I wanted Mira York all day, every day, for the rest of my life.

  I’d dared to dream that, one day, I’d have that.

  Though the stabbing pains in my chest told me otherwise.

  “Unfortunately, that’s not the way this works, baby,” I whispered.

  Her eyes flashed dim, and she cut them off into the distance. “No. I guess it’s not.”

  “But I got you right now, don’t I?” I murmured, rolling my hips so my cock pressed into her core.

  She gasped.

  Moving my hand to her chin, I turned her head back to face me. “So dip that sexy mouth of yours down here and give me a sample before I forget what you taste like.”

  She kissed me deep and slow until there wasn’t a chance in hell I’d ever be able to forget her.

  Even when I would need to.

  When she pulled away, she planted her hands on my chest and stared down at me as though she were waiting for a response.

  I had no answers. I didn’t even know the question.

  Desperate to keep my overflowing emotions locked away, I went for a subject change. “A hot tub in your bedroom is a terrible idea.”

  Sniffling for reasons I couldn’t fathom, she replied, “You can’t get naked on the deck, dummy.”

  I smirked and slid my hands up her sides, allowing my thumbs to glide over the curve of her breasts. “I can. Even the mountains deserve a good show every now and again.”

  She giggled. “So, we’re living in the mountains, huh?”

  That pain in my chest spread like a wildfire over my body. Her words pierced through me, allowing an avalanche of hope to douse reality.

  We.

  Stunned, I stared at her, the moon lighting her from the back, her dark hair cascading over her shoulders.

  I had no words. At least none I could tell her.

  I love you.

  Leave him.

  Be with me.

  When I failed to say anything, she snagged the beer and took a pull. “I didn’t mean to insinuate… I’m sorry.” Passing it my way, she avoided my gaze and asked, “What mountains?”

  The beer never made it to my lips. I moved quick, setting it down and rolling her all at the same time. She laughed as I gently laid her down and settled my hips between her legs, careful not to give her too much of my weight.

  And then, just before I kissed her, I told Mira York the most honest thing I would ever say to her.

  “Any of them.”

  Present day…

  “Motherfucker!” I grumbled as I dove across the hood of a Prius parked on the curb.

  My fingertips skimmed the back of his black Polo shirt as he darted out of my reach.

  “Go left! I’ll cut him off at the back of the building!” Johnson yelled, storming past me, his black-tattooed arms pumping at his sides as he disappeared around the corner.

  The sound of feet thundering against concrete behind me made me whirl around in time to see Jude’s blond, chin-length hair flapping in the breeze.

  “You get him?” he asked as he slowed to a stop in front of me and offered me a hand.

  I clasped it and pulled myself up. “Does it look like I got him, Fabio?” I brushed the dirt off my navy slacks. Those damn things had cost me a mint, and the price tag hadn’t been off them for a full three hours. If there was one thread out of place, I was going to nail that punk to the wall.

  “No, it looks like all buck-fifty of him put you on your ass,” he smarted back.

  “That little shit is fast.”

  Jude chuckled. “Or your old ass is getting slow.”

  “My old ass?” I repeated, incredulous. I was a big guy at six three, two sixty, but Jude was tall as all hell and I had to crane my head back to glare at him.

  He grinned and shoved a hand into the pocket of his perfectly pressed slacks. “Retirement’s just around the corner.”

  I scoffed and slapped my hard chest. “Fool, you didn’t look this good at twenty-one. Talk to me when you turn forty. I’ll still be running circles around you.”

  As one of the oldest members of Guardian Protection Agency, I heard this bullshit a lot. I didn’t take it to heart. Trust me. When it came to bullshit, I gave as good as I got.

  I pushed up onto my toes and narrowed my eyes on his forehead. “Is that a receding hairline coming in?” It wasn’t. The man had a mane.

  “What?” he barked, lifting his hand to pat the top of his hair as if he could catch the strands before they fell out.

  I shook my head and laughed, muttering, “Dumbass.”

  He twisted his lips and jutted his chin to the back of the building. “You think we should go help catch him?”

  “Nah.” I pointed to the front door of Murphy’s bar, which was only a few feet away, and then down the block to where Guardian’s southern beast known as Alex Pearson was standing at the other corner of the building. “Johnson’ll smoke him out eventually. All points of exit are covered.”

  Jude nodded and ran a hand under his hair, where thick scars covered the back of his skull. We all knew how he’d gotten them, but we didn’t talk about those. Not even to give him shit. It wasn’t fun if the jokes actually shredded the guy.

  “How’s Rhion?” I asked.

  His lips twitched almost imperceptibly. They did that any time anyone mentioned his girl. He loved that woman something fierce, which was good because Rhion Park had been a part of Guardian long before Jude. There wasn’t a man in the entire agency who wouldn’t destroy him if he even thought of hurting that crazy woman.

  “She’s good. Working on a new book.” He paused and fisted his hands on his hips. “She is going to lose her shit when we haul Apollo in like this.”

  My eyebrows drew together. “Leo didn’t talk to her first?”

  “Nope. And, I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I agree with this, either.” He shrugged. “But he’s the boss. So here I am.”

  “So here we all are,” I corrected. “This isn’t on you. Leo didn’t talk to her first. She finds out about this, you make sure she talks to him first.”

  Jude shook his head and folded his arms over his chest. “How’d court go this morning?”

  I groaned. “It went about as well as a court date with your ex-wife who wants to double her child support can go.”

  “Ouch.”

  “It was a crock of shit. But I try to keep her happy. For the girls. That ‘happy wife, happy life’ shit doesn’t end because you get a divorce.”

  “I feel you. Val isn’t even mine and I swear I spend more money keeping April happy just so I can keep visitation than I would if I were paying child support.”

  I laughed. “You put a ring on Rhion, money wouldn’t be an issue. Word is she’s loaded.”

  His eyes flashed dark. “Is that why you married Melissa? Word is her family has plenty of money too.”

  “Nope. I married Melissa because I thought she was sweet, had her head on straight, gave it to me good between the sheets, and we were both getting older, so we agreed to start a family ASAP. Three years later, we divorced because she was not sweet anymore, her head was so fucking crooked it was a wonder she could walk s
traight, she started manipulating me before she gave it to me good between the sheets, and I was thirty-nine with two little girls to look out for. But Rhion is not Melissa. The two of you have been together for over a year with no signs of slowing down. There a reason you’re holding out?”

  He raked a hand through the top of his hair. “Jesus Christ. When did we become sorority sisters?”

  “I’m just stating the facts. With a woman like that, you don’t solidify what you got, another older and wiser man might come along and try to slip his way in there.”

  His chin jerked to the side. “Are you fucking kidding me here?”

  I grinned wolfishly. “I’m just sayin’… My girls love her. And the other day, when she came into the office in those heels—”

  His body turned rock solid, and it was a miracle of epic proportions that I managed to keep my laughter locked down.

  “Do not finish that fucking thought,” he growled.

  I lifted my hands in surrender, but my smile grew. “All right. All right. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  He jabbed a finger in my direction. “You stay the hell away from my woman, asshole.”

  It was too easy to fuck with Jude. Sometimes I honestly felt bad about it. This was not one of those times.

  “Okay. Okay.” I took a step away. “But for real. You two got plans tonight? Because I was thinking maybe she and I—”

  He lunged toward me, and I was laughing so hard that I barely got out of his reach in time.

  All humor was forgotten when the door to the bar suddenly flew open and Apollo Park dashed out.

  “Shit!” he yelled as he saw me. He spun and bolted in the other direction only to come to a screeching halt when he saw Alex. “Fuck!”

  He threw both of his palms up to stop our advances. But the sooner we dragged his ass back to Leo, the sooner we could get some lunch. I was starving. And bored.

  “Stay back!” he ordered, his gaze frantically flicking between the three of us.

  “Don’t fight it, my man. This is not going to end well for you,” I called.

  He turned his wild eyes on his soon-to-be brother-in-law and pleaded, “Jude, come on. You know this is fucked up.”

  “I know you’re an idiot for blowing off Leo…again.” Jude prowled closer. “He gave you plenty of opportunities to plant your ass in his office. Now, he’s sent us to plant it there for you.”

  “I own a bar! I’m not fucking working for Guardian,” he snapped.

  “See, you should have thought about that before you told Leo you would.”

  “It was one job!”

  Silently, I crept closer while Jude had his attention. Alex was doing the same, moving with a stealth invisibility no man his size should be able to possess.

  “One job you did not complete,” Jude replied, stepping up onto the sidewalk.

  “Stop moving!” Apollo yelled without ever taking his gaze off Jude. “And make them back off!”

  Alex and I pulled up short, and I started to think maybe Leo was onto something with this kid. What he lacked in brains, he definitely had in sixth sense.

  However, that sixth sense did not take my patience into account.

  “Oh, for fuck’s sake,” I grumbled, bolting toward him.

  Less than a second before I got my hands on him, Johnson came barreling out the bar door, a world of pissed-off energy vibrating off him. “You,” he growled, stabbing a finger toward Apollo.

  Swear to God, I thought Apollo had turned into a ghost. He spun so fast that I was barely able to register his movements.

  Being the closest, I tried to grab him, but my efforts were rendered useless.

  He slid in behind me and fisted the back of my button-down. “Okay! I’ll come. Just keep him away from me.”

  Once upon a time, Johnson had worked as a bodyguard for Rhion and Apollo’s father. He’d always been good to Rhion, so I thought it was improbable that he was going to behead Apollo on the sidewalk in broad daylight. Though, with that said, Aidan Johnson could be a scary motherfucker when he wanted to be. From his dark hair, even darker eyes, the tattoos running down his neck and arms, the gauges in his ears, and the recent addition of a beard, the whole package screamed don’t fuck with me. It appeared Apollo had gotten the message loud and clear.

  I considered questioning what the hell he could have possibly done to piss Johnson off that badly in the five minutes since he’d disappeared around the building, but honestly, I didn’t give a fuck.

  Twisting around, I grabbed Apollo by the bicep and gave him a rough shove toward the Guardian office across the street. “All right. Party’s over, kids. Let’s deliver the package to the boss man and then get some grub. Who’s in the mood for Mexican?”

  Johnson continued to glare.

  Jude rubbed the back of his head, obviously nervous about hauling his girlfriend’s little brother in.

  Alex nodded. The man was always up for food.

  And I smiled. All in a day’s work.

  Six weeks before I lost him…

  “He doesn’t even say bless you,” I confessed to the stars, the sound of classic country playing on the radio in the background.

  “What?”

  “When I sneeze, he doesn’t say bless you.”

  “Yeah,” Jeremy drawled. “He’s always been more of a gesundheit kind of guy.”

  I pushed up onto my elbows as a bolt of heat lightning illuminated the sky. “No. He doesn’t say anything when I sneeze.”

  His lips tipped up, but he never gave me his gaze. “I’m not sure that’s his worst quality, Mir.”

  I rolled my eyes. Given that Kurt was out God only knew where, it definitely wasn’t, but it still pissed me off to no end. “I mean, what kind of person hears someone else sneeze and doesn’t say bless you? It’s, like, the rudest thing you could possibly do.”

  He turned, planted his elbow on our T-shirt pillow, and propped his head in his hand. “How in the hell is that the rudest thing he could possibly do?”

  “It means he doesn’t care! It means he doesn’t even pay attention enough to hear a sneeze. It’s a common courtesy. Everyone knows that. I could sneeze in a crowded movie theater and someone would say bless you. But not Kurt. It’s like he doesn’t give a rat’s ass about anyone but himself.”

  He licked his lips, and a strange shadow sifted through his features. “Maybe he doesn’t.”

  I inched toward him until my front was pressed against his side and kissed the underside of his jaw.

  Resting his hand in the curve of my hip, he gave me a firm squeeze.

  “He cares,” I defended.

  I lied to myself about stuff like that a lot. It was easier than facing the facts. The truth was: Kurt wasn’t the one I wanted to care.

  I loved Jeremy Lark. I’d fallen for him fast and hard over conversations about mansions with swimming pools and expensive sports cars neither of us would ever be able to afford. We laughed and counted quarters to buy beer because both of our paychecks were usually gone the same day we got them. I knew in great detail how he’d spend a million dollars, and he knew the exact design of my custom closet that would house my vast collection of heels and designer handbags. But, short of winning the lottery, neither of us was ever going to have that. However, money wasn’t everything. There was a lot to be said for a man who would treat you well. I just couldn’t find one of those, either.

  I’d heard too many stories from Kurt to believe that Jeremy would ever view me as anything but a woman to keep him entertained. He and Kurt were two of the same. They were gorgeous and they knew it. Neither of them had ever had a girlfriend they hadn’t cheated on.

  Boy, did I know how to pick a man—or, in this case, men.

  Over the last few months, it had become clear that, even if Kurt wasn’t in the picture, Jeremy and I had no future together. But that didn’t mean I didn’t love him in the present.

  Gliding a hand up his strong shoulders, I pulled him closer and brushed my nose with
his. “Enough about Kurt. Kiss me.”

  His eyes sparked, and his hand drifted to my ass. And then his mouth came to mine with the intoxicating flavors of desperation and need that would forever remind me of Jeremy Lark.

  Only it was my need.

  And my desperation.

  His lips moved to my neck as he forced me to my back and rolled on top of me.

  Moaning, I arched off the hard bed of his truck, pressing my breasts into his chest.

  “Bless you,” he murmured, his hand moving under my shirt, where he palmed my breast.

  I giggled softly. “I didn’t sneeze.”

  He peppered kisses down my chest. “No, but I’m sure I’ll miss a few while I’m in the field next week.”

  My heart cracked. I told myself that it was because he was being sweet, but I knew that it was because I was going to miss him like hell when he was gone.

  And he wasn’t even mine to miss.

  “Mmm,” I hummed, not trusting my voice.

  “And I’m sure I’ve missed a few this month when I wasn’t around. Clearly, I should make up for being so rude. Can’t have my girl’s sneezes going unblessed.”

  My girl.

  I smiled despite the way my nose started stinging.

  “Of course not,” I murmured, threading a hand into the short, auburn hairs on the top of his head, and closed my eyes, pretending we never had to leave those woods.

  “Bless you,” he whispered against my stomach.

  “Bless you,” he whispered as he popped the button on my jeans open.

  “Bless you,” he whispered as he kissed my inner thigh.

  “Yes,” I hissed as he sealed his mouth over my core.