His to Protect: A Fireside Novel(16)

If my mom were to get sick like Trina’s had, I had no doubt she’d move heaven and earth to see that my brother and I were taken care of, even if it was at her own expense. She was just that kind of mom.

If it wasn’t so damn early, or the middle of the night in Arizona, I’d pick up the damn phone and call her just to let her know how much I loved her.

Yeah…I might be a bit of a mama’s boy.

That was only because she showed her family what love was.

I was an idiot who settled, far too soon, for a woman I let pull the wool over my eyes because her pussy tasted sweet.

I sneered and looked outside to see Boomer meandering back to the door. I met him there, quickly slid the door open, and closed it behind him when he came in. He gave me a dopey look. I swear he was almost grinning as I fed him.

I left the kitchen to the sounds of Boomer slopping up his food while I went to the living room and turned on the news.

But as hard as I tried to erase the thoughts about what Trina told us that were still clamoring inside my brain, it was entirely futile.

I had completely misjudged her when I first saw her and when I first invited her into my home. Even with the fading, fancy hair color and the polished, manicured nails, she was nothing like Mara.

Trina might have had money, but the more she spoke last night, the more she seemed to loathe her wealth. At the very least, she despised what it could do to people.

I should have known from the first night I saw her.

No woman who looked like her, who had the money she clearly did, dug through a dumpster to find her dog dinner.

Now that I knew the truth, had seen her for who she really was, I wasn’t sure I could stay away.

I was definitely sure I didn’t want to.

There was something about this woman, with her southern drawl and kind eyes, that made me despise any man who would lay his hands on her.

She was the kind of woman you cherish.

The kind of woman you wanted to protect.

And hell if I didn’t want to do both of those…while also acquainting my hands with her soft and curvy flesh.

I didn’t even care if it was the right time to start something with her. She had loads of baggage I would need to help her unpack, and that had nothing to do with the duffel bag she was trying to haul out of here last night when I returned home.

But as I sat and stared at the early-morning news broadcast, not actually hearing anything I was watching, I no longer gave a shit.

No good relationship was without its share of troubles.

We’d just have to fight our battles early on and hope for smooth sailing later.



My breathing was ragged when I finished my morning run. I had used all the frustration inside me and pushed myself harder and faster than I usually did. It was necessary, and the results were worth it.

I no longer felt like slamming my fists into something hard and unforgiving as I unlocked the front door to my house.

Before Trina, I would have left it unlocked.

Since Trina began staying with me, I was doing a lot of things differently.

Like keep her safe, as if it were some inherent instinct inside of me. Knowing the truth about who she was, where she came from, and what she’d endured only strengthened that desire inside of me.

Fortunately, she told us that Kevin had only called her phone number and goaded her by asking if she really thought she could run away from him. Since she also told us that she had ditched her old cellphone and bought the pay-as-you-go phone before she left Kentucky, there was still a good chance he didn’t have a clue where she could be.

I’d managed to get her to agree to stay until Tyson could look into things a bit further, to figure out if Kevin really knew where she was.

I was careful to open the front door quietly, in case she was still sleeping. It was early, before seven, and I’d learned that Trina was not a morning person. She often zombie-walked her way down the stairs around nine.

Between the stress she was under and being at Fireside until the early morning hours, I figured her body needed to adjust to a new routine.

Plus, I suspected sleeping in wasn’t possible for her before. From what she’d said, she had been expected to wait on her husband for every one of his needs and wants or face the consequences.

I believed her, too. Not only did she not have a reason to lie to us last night, but the fear in her eyes was evident as she relived some of the times where Kevin used a hand, or foot, to reprimand her.

The thought made me growl and, at the last second, I thrust the door open harder than necessary, making it bang against the wall.

I cringed at the sound and then at Boomer’s bark as he barreled around the corner from the kitchen straight into me.

His front paws hit my chest, forcing me to brace myself to keep from taking a step back.

“Boomer!” Trina shouted from the kitchen.

“I’ve got him,” I called back. With my hand on the top of his head, I gave him a playful shove. “Down, boy.”

“Woof!”

His tongue lolled to one side of his mouth as he pranced in place, waiting impatiently for me to shut the door. When I turned back to him, dropping my phone, earbuds, and keys on the small table with the ugly purple bowl, I rubbed his head again. “I’ve already fed you,” I told the dog, and walk passed him.

The rich scent of bacon assailed my senses and my stomach growled. I generally had a protein shake before I headed out for my run and workout, but this morning I had extra adrenaline to burn off and I didn’t waste the time.

I was not only starving, but sweating like a beast.

The shower could wait, I decided as I headed toward the kitchen.

When I got to the doorway, I was stunned speechless when I saw Trina at the stove, frying bacon wearing a tight, fitted tank top and a pair of even tighter shorts. She twisted to place bacon on a plate, and I could see her leg muscles flex.

Words lodged in my throat. She was sexy. Curves and muscles in all the right places. My fingers itched to trace the line of her exposed collarbone down her arms to her fingertips to the inside of her wrist where I wanted to feel her pulse. Would it race as fast as mine currently was?

“Good morning,” I barked out, sounding rude and rougher than normal.

“Morning,” she muttered, keeping her eyes fixed on her task.

Bacon grease spit into the air, and I knew she was concentrating, but I still scowled when she refused to look in my direction.

It had been a couple of days since I’d seen that tightness in her shoulders, or the way she avoided me.

“You okay?” I asked and walk past her for a fresh cup of coffee. The pot was full again, which meant she recently brewed some more. “You had a rough night last night.”

I watched her back.

“Yeah. Sure.” She paused and looked at me over her shoulder. “Why? Did I say anything?”

I sipped my coffee and shook my head. “No. Do you normally?”

She turned around and I watched as one shoulder lifted then fell. “Sometimes.” She reached out and turned off the burner, plating the rest of the bacon. “Bacon’s ready if you’re hungry.”

Still without meeting my eyes, she wiped her hands on a towel and turned to leave the room.

My kitchen was small and U-shaped. With one adult, there was barely room to move around. With two adults and a large oaf of a dog, we should have been tripping over each other. Instead, she was trying to keep as much distance as possible between us.

“Trina?”

She paused but still didn’t face me.

My brows knit together as I tried to figure out why she was avoiding me.

Whatever the reason, I didn’t like it.

“You avoiding me?”

“No. Of course not.”

Her cheeks flushed pink and her gaze dropped. The involuntary actions belied her words and I set my mug down, taking a step toward her.

“You embarrassed about last night?” I asked.

“No. I don’t care that you know about Kevin.”

“I’m not talking about Kevin, sweetheart,” I whispered, and unable to stop myself, I lifted my hand to press her hair behind her ear. Small bumps prickled on the side of her neck and I watched her body’s reaction to me, even as she tried to fight it.

But she was fighting it.

Which meant the attraction wasn’t one-sided.

Something warm, like pride, or the thrill of a victory, surged inside my chest.

“I’m talking about me sleeping next to you in your bed.”

She made a choking sound and looked toward the dining area. Away from me.

I didn’t know if I should push this or not, but I did. I didn’t think it was embarrassing at all that not only did she need me last night, but that she’d had the guts to ask. She might have been half-asleep and not fully aware of what she was doing, which might be a blow to my ego if I believed it.

Luckily, I have a large egoamong other things.

“Why should that embarrass me?” she asked, her voice slightly scratchy. The pink was back in full bloom on her cheeks and my hand, which had been resting behind her ear, moved until I brushed her cheekbone with my thumb.

“It shouldn’t,” I told her. “And if you’re embarrassed, or upset that you woke up alone, it’s only because you felt so good in my arms and next to me that I had to leave before I did something we might regret.”

“You…” Another garbled sound escaped her throat before she looked up. “What did you say?”

I chuckled softly, just once, and slid my hand down to cup the side of her throat. My fingertips pressed gently into the skin at the back of her neck, holding her firmly.