Page 7 of Ferocious Protector

Dancing, dinner, more dancing. Patti Ann moves in my arms as though she fits like a glove. Another slow song comes on and when our friends head back to the table I keep her on the floor, drawn close so I can hear every little breath she makes.

My lips hover over her ear. “I want you in the worst of ways. Are you ready to leave?”

Her eyes meet mine. “So ready, I was ready an hour ago,” she says, smiling mischievously at me. Patti Ann is enough to keep any man interested both with her body and her intelligent wit, and so much more. “Let’s get your purse. I’m on the second floor.”

If I thought this was going to be awkward, she doesn’t make it that way at all. I keep a hand on her lower back as we walk back to the table. She puts her purse across her shoulder and looks at her friends. “We’re going to head out. We’ll see you tomorrow.”

The guys’ eyes meet mine, and the ladies all have smiles on their faces, but other than that we don’t get the business I thought we might. My hand stays possessively on her lower back as we walk past a table of men who have been eyeing her ass all night long.

She’s quiet on the way to my room. I’m sliding the key card into the reader when Patti Ann touches my hand. She swallows before saying a word. “I don’t do this a lot. Every once in a while, but not after just meeting someone. I just feel safer because you’re a friend of Beckett’s and not just some stranger who blew into town.”

I tilt her face with the tip of my finger. “Never once did that cross my mind. The attraction between us. You could light a fire with the sparks. You’re safe with me, Patti Ann.”

I open the door and let her in. She scans the well laid out room. “I haven’t been up to the rooms. It has that lodgy feel, with all the wood trim and this bed made out of logs,” she says, running a hand over the smooth round wood of the footboard.

“Beckett said Kenny remodeled a few years ago and updated the rooms. The guys have stayed here before. It’s a comfortable room. Would you like a drink? I don’t have much up here but water, but you’re welcome to a bottle.”

Her eyes meet mine without answering my question as she walks to the window and pulls the curtain back just a little to look out. “Great view of the main street and beyond. I didn’t realize you could see right toward the historic area.”

I close the distance between us and slide my hands around her waist from behind, whispering in her ear. “Turn around, love. I’ve been waiting all night to kiss those gorgeous lips that have been taunting me since we met.”

She inhales a deep breath and spins in my arms as my hand nestles beneath her hair and on her nape. Her silky strands spill down her back as I draw her to me, capturing her lips in a kiss meant to please because Patti Ann is as anxious for this as me.

Her fingers find my buttons as I find the zipper to her dress, letting it slide to the floor. My eyes glaze over the magnificent creature standing before me, left only in the sexy little heels that I plan to have wrapped around my back or my neck for the remainder of the night.

A couple hours after we’re sated and gone to sleep, the slow downward movement of her hand causes me to wake. “Finding what you need, love?” I ask sleepily.

“And then some. You were mumbling in your sleep.”

“Dreaming about you.”

She laughs that melodious tinkling laugh in the darkness of the night. “I love that answer,” she says, kissing my chest and spattering kisses following the path of her hand. I let her play for as long as I can take, but she should know right away that I’m in charge of her pleasure. In one swift move I catch her off guard and swing her around. She exhales a deep half laugh. “Blake!”

“Quiet, love, let me have what I want.” Patti Ann doesn’t argue, instead she purrs with pleasure giving and taking the way love is supposed to be. Damn this woman is perfection. And that’s exactly the same thing I’m thinking about when we’re sated again and I fall into a deep sleep.

In the morning, I run down and grab us coffee and sandwiches. The door clicking behind me as I return to the room causes her eyes to flicker. “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.”

“You went for coffee? I think you’re too good to be true.” She turns her phone on, and it beeps continually as it powers on. “That’s a whole lot of messages,” I tease. “Let me guess, the ladies checking up on you, wanting the scoop?”

Patti Ann blushes. “How did you know?”

I shrug. “Just a guess.”

She scowls as she continues going through her messages, visibly shaken as she sits up in bed, pressing the silky sheet to her chest in an attempt to keep herself covered.

I set her coffee and sandwich on the ledge that doubles as a desk in the corner. “That look. What’s wrong?”

Her lip tightens in a grimace, and she hands me her phone. I read every single one of the threatening messages, misspelled and garbled probably in a drunken rage but all say as clear as day that Tucker’s not going to stop, and that his involvement with the Chicago boys runs deeper than anyone here knew.

“Damn, I’m sorry, Patti Ann.” I start tapping buttons. “I’m putting my number into your phone.” Then I call my phone from hers. “There, now you have mine too.” I glance up because she’s quiet.

A tear slips from her eye. “Thank you. Never, never did I or anyone else think he could be tied in with the Chicago boys or the Eldridge crew. I mean, it just seemed like he was a decent guy who moved to town over the holidays. There’s a lot going on here during the holidays, all the parties and stuff. We ran into each other a few times and hit it off. Went on three dates, he wanted more, and I didn’t.”

“Wanted more, sexually?” Anyone not completely satisfied with Patti Ann in bed is just not doing it right. Because we’ve gone all night and I still want more.

She blushes. “Um, let’s just say I didn’t think we were very compatible in that area or any area for that matter. It kind of makes sense now though. He kept asking me about Cole and his land.

“I never saw the connection until today. He didn’t want me; he was after the land. I swear the Chicago boys will try every trick in the book to get what they want. And they want land and business in this town.”