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“Garrett is going to stay as your bodyguard. Levi will relieve him for a few hours midday. More or less depending on what else Garrett has on his plate that day, but you will be his priority.”
Mallory looked at Monroe, and he watched her lip thin in a stubborn line and her body stiffen. He knew what that meant and leaned down to whisper before her rebellion surfaced more. “It’s this or nothing, my girl. I don’t want you to go back at all, but I’m trying to understand how you might see things. I promise you; it all goes away if you refuse this offer.”
She hissed back, “I’m an adult.”
“Who is dangerously close to getting her ass kissed vehemently by my paddle. I’m compromising here, but you are my hip buddy if you choose not to take the precautions. I told you that when you turned over the hard decisions to me, I took that responsibility very seriously. This is my call, not yours. I will decide when you are ready to handle the stress and strain of holding the reins again. You agreed.”
“But that was before,” she snapped hotly.
“Before what? Before the kidnapping? Before the arrest, the copycat, the subsequent murder of someone else or the death of the other captive? Was it before they found more bodies? How many shit things have to happen? How many horrors do you have to experience before you believe me when I say enough? How fucking long before you believe I would die trying to keep you safe? Before you trust me to do the right thing?” He waited a few seconds. “Well?”
Mallory looked like she would cry, and it killed Monroe, but tough love was called for here. He knew she understood the problem, but maybe it hadn’t sunk into her foundational beliefs.
“Okay, fine.” She said tightly. Her voice rose with her level of anger as she struggled to remove herself from Monroe’s lap. He strengthened his grip, unsure who she was angry at, but he figured she was angry with the world. “I’ll take a fucking bodyguard with me when I decide to go back,” she hissed. “But it won’t be because you told me to.”
There was that instant she processed with dismay what she’d said, and Monroe saw Mallory’s face when she realized how childish her last words had sounded. Then, as though the charged emotion of the moment and the conflicting ups and downs of her levels of fear since the kidnapping was suddenly too much for her, her face crumbled. The silence in the room was deafening. And then she burst into tears.
Monroe stood to go. The intensity of the flood was overpowering everything else. Time to leave and get his baby home. Monroe smiled tenderly and kissed her. He was still irritated, but he swallowed it down. Mallory was the one he had to pay attention to, not himself. She tried to kiss him hard, and he returned it but cut things off short. Mallory whimpered her need. The emotional deluge of anger, embarrassment, and fear of the unknown that she had been battling for weeks created the need to get his physical reassurance. He could give her that.
“I know, sweetheart. I know. Let’s get you home,” he whispered into her hair but didn’t expect her to hear him. He gave the nod, then tilted his head at Garrett, who jumped up and followed the two out.
***
The ride seemed only a few moments to Mallory. She found herself in the back seat of the SUV, thinking of nothing but getting skin to skin with Monroe. The smoke glass between the front and back seat was in place before Monroe spoke.
“My way, my speed. No noise, no movements to meet me. This is going to be down and dirty.”
He pulled her clothes around to expose the parts he needed, and with little foreplay, Monroe entered her slick entrance. It was hot as hell as Monroe took from her what he needed and gave her what she needed. Hot, heavy, intense sex brought her to climax without the edging, the foreplay, the concern that she got off first. Monroe followed her almost immediately.
“Get yourself around, baby, because we have just entered the gate to the house.” If Monroe hadn’t held her tightly to himself, she was sure she’d have fallen over.
“We’ll take a nap before we start dinner,” said Monroe. “After I check the perimeter.”
Garrett, the good man that he was, said nothing.
***
Over the next week, Sharlee kept feeding the FBI possible leads but was frustrated because she wasn’t getting anything but a confirmation of what she had sent them. Monroe and Garrett turned away from the safe house, and Mallory went back and forth on the bodyguard agreement.
When Monroe was gone, she didn’t mind the thought of one, but when he was with her, she voiced her opinion on how stupid an idea it was. How impractical it would be and how uncomfortable it would make everyone. The team knew none of those things were true, but for now, until the rubber met the road, there was no use arguing the unchangeable fact that if she went back to work, she’d do so with a bodyguard.
It was Garrett who ultimately got through to her. His friend was right when he said he seemed to have a rapport with her that others on the team did not, and Monroe was not above exploiting that. Monroe was glad they’d connected. Since losing Callie, Garrett held back from the other couples more than he did with Mallory. Monroe would be jealous, but Garrett was Monroe’s best friend, and it meant a lot to him that Garrett had taken the time to get to know and like Mallory.
It was official. There were no more things happening concerning the case, so Mallory decided to go back to work. To say that declaration was met with anything but enthusiasm, would not have been the truth. But to say Mallory seemed to understand the hesitancy wouldn’t have been entirely accurate, either.
“I think you are all used to drama happening, and you can’t let go of the fact that someone is out there looking for me. There isn’t anyone. We over-reacted to things we found. No DNA on anything outside the offices. No women are being abducted. Nothing.”
“Don’t forget, he tried to stick to women that seemed to have no one in their lives that would have noticed them gone for a while. Not like you. He overestimated your lack of engagement. And you underestimate my amount of engagement.”
Monroe’s Dom had been coming out more often, causing some heated conversations. Mallory had picked her battles, which helped the level of harmony. Monroe sat back and supported her by holding her hand and rubbing her neck as Jac went over the work plan, but he did not enter the discussion. No one was rude, and everything was civil, so while it irritated Mallory, she was doing as she had said, determined to put this behind her. She was a victim no longer in her mind, and Monroe was hard-pressed not to shoutthank fuck.
“I can’t live my life as though I’m made of ancient porcelain, nor can I show fear. Therefore, I’ve decided I’m through living my life in anticipation of the other shoe dropping. I won’t torture myself like that. I appreciate your willingness to help me, but I can do this on my own. Thanks, Jac, but no thanks.”
Monroe almost laughed at Jac’s disbelief. The man who could convince a blind beggar to give up his walking stick was being thwarted by Monroe’s woman. He watched with amusement as Mallory stood her ground, causing Jac to flex his hands and run the palms over his khaki-clothed thighs. He would not enter the fray because Monroe had already paddled her, pleaded, and had angry sex. While that was hot as hell, he preferred to keep more control when fucking her brains out.
Garrett came around and squatted in front of Mallory, and Monroe immediately knew he’d get through. The earnestness in his face and the no-nonsense tone he spoke with assured Monroe that she would capitulate.
“Mallory, listen to me, sweetheart. I know you’re tired of all this crap, and I get you want to take control, but there is taking over the right way, and then there’s throwing away your command of the situation because of over-zealousness. You want to continue to manage the way your life goes, and that starts by easing back into your former life.” He grinned, “But this time, you have handsome, brawny brothers and cute kick-ass sisters to come alongside you. You aren’t alone because we have your six.”
