Tortoise Tango Page 8

  She wanted to. There was something…secure about keeping an eye on him. Maybe it was some idea that she might be able to maintain her sanity if she kept out of his reach. For some reason, his touch caused her brain to fall into a coma. All she seemed to do was react on some primitive level that she’d only discovered she had since meeting Joe. But his mother’s word floated across her memory as she peeked sideways at him. SEAL? You heard about Navy SEALs in movies and read about them in books but girls didn’t run into them just by chance. At least, Amber didn’t think that sort of trained man carried tortoises up hills very often.

  It fit him though. Amber looked at the hard body and the way Joe moved his eyes. Yeah, SEAL fit. It wasn’t that she knew all that much about Navy SEALs, it was just the idea that she got in the pit of her stomach. Joe could be deadly if he needed to be. She saw it in his eyes.

  “What on earth is that?”

  Joe laughed in the deep amused tone. Amber turned to see his shoulders shaking with his reaction to his mother’s first sight of Flamingo. Her pet had wandered into the kitchen, drawn by the conversation.

  “That’s Frank, Amber’s pet.”

  “Shouldn’t that animal be in a zoo?”

  Joe reached down and scratched the tortoise’s head. Flamingo stretched his neck out for the attention. Amber glared at her pet. Joe smirked back at her as he continued to rub along Flamingo’s head.

  “Nope, Frank is a yard tortoise. Kind of like a dog, only vegetarian with a shell.” Joe winked at Amber. “And he really likes cantaloupe.”

  Oh, unfair! Amber glared at her pet but the reptile just moved his head to offer the other side to Joe. Flamingo would roll over for anyone that brought him cantaloupe.

  “I see.” Deborah lifted her masterpiece and placed it into the oven. She turned and looked at the tortoise again. “I do believe he must outweigh you, my dear.”

  Deborah suddenly smiled that bright smile again before she reached up to hug her son. Joe had to lean over for the embrace. She was heading for the front door a second later. Amber felt her blood surge forward as she understood that the woman fully intended to leave her and Joe alone.

  The reason for the privacy was pathetically obvious in the woman’s gleeful expression. Her cell phone chimed for attention and she eagerly ran down the hallway to answer it before her voice mail caught the call.

  Joe watched her run. His skin tightened as he pressed his boots into the floorboards. He wanted to chase her. That idea made him snarl. He hardly recognized it as his own and it was pure reaction. He enjoyed the burn of need as he listened to her voice on the phone. Yeah, he’d like to chase her down the hallway and right into the bedroom.

  His cock began to stiffen as he considered her sleeping under his roof. That knowledge was practically mind-numbing. It seeped into his brain and turned off every gentle maneuver he knew to court a woman. Instead he wanted to hunt her. Use every skill he’d ever learned in the Navy to stalk her and corner his prey before she even knew what kind of predator was scenting her.

  A grimace twisted his mouth as he gave the fly of his jeans a pull. He’d get the chance, maybe not tonight, but her little hard nipples told him it wasn’t a one-sided desire.

  Joe just needed to stay sane long enough to see her accept what her body already knew.

  Life could be a real bitch at times.

  * * * * *

  She managed to ignore Joe for five whole hours. The man was giving her less and less space to do it in as the night went on. An odd pulse of electricity shot down her spine as she noticed his slowly decreasing circling. It was almost excitement but Amber refused to label it such.

  Her behavior left a lot to be desired. Amber checked her email account for the thirtieth time before letting out a sigh. She was inventing things to do in order to ignore the man sharing the house with her. That didn’t make any sense. She was an adult and well past the age when sex was considered immoral.

  It was just so intense with Joe. Sex became some kind of mind-shattering experience that left her clinging to him. The way her body responded to him gave him so much power over her. That scared her right down to her toes.

  Wanting to have a relationship with the man that included sex was one thing. Needing that man and craving him was another.

  It was dark and quiet tonight. There was almost no moon in the sky. Only the hint of a breeze blew in the open window next to her desk. An odd scrape and shuffle came to her ears as some kind of muffled noise.

  Amber looked at the window and pushed her chair back. Her fingers were just moving the sheer curtain aside when she was pulled away from the window and back into the hallway.

  “Don’t move.”

  Her back was flat against the wall with one hard hand over her chest. Light spilled out of her room and onto Joe’s face. There wasn’t a hint of the man she knew. His opposite hand held a gun as his head angled to catch any further sounds coming through the window.

  His eyes were hard as stone and his face expressionless. Every muscle in his body was tight and ready to spring. Whatever strength she’d guessed he might have in all those muscles it was clearly displayed at that moment.

  It sent a shiver down her spine. This man was deadly. Another sound hit their ears and Joe reacted to it. His eyes caught hers as he turned towards the sound again.

  His hand pulled the hall coat closet open but his eyes were still moving over the hallway and doorways with razor-sharp movements. “In and don’t move.”

  He didn’t wait for her to comply. Instead one solid hand grasped her arm and pushed her into the closet. There were only a few things hanging in it. Joe kept pushing her until her back hit the wall. He released her and pulled the clothing in front of her. “I mean it, Amber. Don’t even think about coming out. Someone is on the property. Backup will be here soon.”

  The door shut and with it went any scrap of light. Hiding in a closet made her temper rise but she clamped her common sense down onto it. The sight of that pistol in Joe’s hand was all she needed to resign herself to staying exactly where he’d put her.

  Seconds moved by like hours. Each and every noise was horribly loud. She was certain her own breathing could be heard as far away as the kitchen. Amber shook her head and tried to think of anything but the hunt going on in the darkened yard. She held no doubt that Joe was stalking his intruders. All of the tight muscles that turned her knees to jelly suddenly hit her as the weapons of a trained warrior. The word SEAL was more than a title—most importantly, an honor that Joe had earned.

  * * * * *

  There were things a man never left behind him. Joe hit a knee with one eye on the sight of his pistol. He scanned the yard and waited. A crunch of gravel sent him at a dead run for the opposite side of the yard. The fence came into sight and he watched a boot disappear over its top.

  One well-placed step and Joe was head high with the top of the barrier, pistol muzzle first. Tires squealed as an old truck punched its accelerator with one man still scrambling to get into the passenger side. He pulled his legs in as the truck took the corner on two wheels. Joe squeezed off two rounds but missed the back tire. Damn truck was fishtailing too much for a clean shot.

  Yanking his radio off his hip he depressed the transmit button.

  “Suspect is northbound. Twin-cab truck, no back license plate.”

  “Ten-four.”

  A sharp sting hit his arm making him snarl. The damn bees were returning after foraging and finding their hive destroyed. Jumping down, Joe sprinted back across the yard until he was far enough away from the kamikaze insects. He listened to his deputies as they tried to pick up his suspect vehicle.

  He cussed as it looked like luck wasn’t his friend tonight. Using a flashlight, he inspected the ground between the main house and his guesthouse. There wasn’t a single sign of any fresh movement.

  Whoever they were, they’d come over the back fence and discovered the unhappy bees. At the moment, Joe was kind of fond of the little devils. Amber wasn�
��t in the guesthouse due to their presence and for that he owed them a pleasant thought.

  Turning on his heel, he headed back towards the object of his thoughts. It could have been a random burglary but that would be too much of a coincidence.

  Dantrolp had the reputation of never getting convicted, and unless Joe missed his guess, the man was trying to ensure his record stayed clean.

  Amber blinked as Joe opened the door. Joe let his temper erupt into rage at the sight of her nervous face. Those blue eyes flickered over the space behind him before she let him pull her out of her hiding place.

  He wanted to kill in that moment. Whatever the reason, he didn’t like his woman being scared and certainly not under his roof. He wasn’t exactly sure when he’d begun thinking of Amber in the terms of his, but he was and that was all he cared about right now. He would have taken any threat to one of his citizens as important. The fact that it happened to be Amber made it personal.

  “Did you catch them?” Amber still wasn’t exactly sure there had been someone to capture but the serious look on Joe’s face made her nervous. The man looked dangerous, and in an odd way she almost felt his presence. Her skin tightened in some kind of primitive response to the raw power his body was radiating.

  “No.” His hand caught the back of her neck in a smooth stroke that made her shiver. He repeated the motion before grasping her arm again and leading her towards the kitchen. The light was on, making her blink as her eyes tried to adjust to the brightness.

  The hand on her arm was firm. Everything about Joe seemed too precise, too rigid, but she wasn’t in the mood to cross him. Instinct told her she’d lose the battle.

  The way he kept watching everything around them was too polished to be argued with. He had a systematic movement of eyes and body that formed an almost perfect system of observation. He was relaxed yet poised on the edge of springing into action. He definitely suited the badge she’d seen on his wide chest that first moment out on that highway. Somehow, she’d pushed that image aside.

  Tonight it was radiating over her face. Maybe she didn’t want to see him as such a hardened male. Men like this were the kind that women adjusted to and negotiation was completely nonexistent.

  Another shiver shook her spine and his eyes instantly caught the tiny telltale motion of weakness. His dark eyes rested on her, taking in details. Her breasts gently swelled under their weight as her nipples tightened in response to his raw strength. Her body was frantic to attract his attention and somewhere in her brain she recognized that she did like him. She trusted this man and it was a deep emotion that was growing every time he didn’t let her twist him with her demands.

  Joe’s senses were tight and ultra-keen. Years of application had sharpened them until his body knew exactly how to respond in moments of danger. Joe indulged the hard bite of arousal that always followed being on the edge. That was part of the survival instinct. When you went into battle, your life hung in the balance. When you came away alive, your cock wanted to reap the rewards of coming out on top.

  The hard points of Amber’s nipples burned into his brain as he rode the wave of tight arousal. It was almost overwhelming as he watched her little tongue appear to run over her bottom lip. The way she used that soft tongue rose in his memory while he tried to hold off the image. His men would be knocking on the door any second and Joe needed to keep at least half his mind off Amber’s coral nipples.

  For the moment anyway. A little while later he’d be happy to confront that flicker of defiance still sparkling in her eyes. In fact, his cock twitched with the idea of applying another hard kiss to her lips as she tried to find enough willpower to ignore the desire twisting her little coral nipples.

  A fist landed on the back door. Amber jumped in response. The tension between her and Joe had tightened to such a degree, she’d simply forgotten the fact that he said he’d called backup. Her body sent out a whimper at the arrival of company. Amber pushed her lips into a pout at the very real disappointment racing along her skin. She needed to move to Idaho really soon.

  Before she fell in love with him.

  Grasping at her resolution, Amber headed for the kitchen door and away from the men filtering into it. She tried to ignore the lament her emotions raised over leaving Joe. She couldn’t go falling in love. That kind of thing only ended a girl up in trouble. Besides, with the set of shoulders Joe had, a sassy-mouthed girl wouldn’t be the one to get a ring out of the man. A solid grip caught her arm.

  “Where are you going?”

  Joe’s voice was whisper-soft but it grated on her nerves. She glared at the hand holding her in place.

  “Excuse me, I didn’t know I needed permission to leave your sight, Sheriff.”

  Joe’s eyes darkened with hard promise as he stepped closer to her. “At the moment you do.”

  A shiver tried to shake her and Amber stomped her foot with displeasure. This was ridiculous! She couldn’t decide if she wanted to scream at him or claw at the shirt covering his chest. Her body was twisting as a current of energy pulsed through it. Standing still was impossible.

  “I haven’t got much worth stealing, besides, they’ll just go find some place without bees to rob.”

  Joe didn’t say anything. Instead his eyes turned hard as they looked at her. The expression in those black depths scared her more than any words might have.

  “I was going to take a shower.”

  Joe gave her a sharp nod of his head as his fingers released her arm. She shouldn’t have needed to tell him where she was going. Her temper didn’t rise up in defense of her pride, instead all she found lingering in her head was the idea that she didn’t want to have any kind of confrontation in front of his men. Just when she’d developed concern for his image, she didn’t know. Maybe it didn’t matter.

  Joe watched that perfect bottom disappear before clamping his control firmly in place. He was going to be finding plenty of opportunity to be close to that sassy little backside. Dantrolp had just given him every reason to stick to Little Red like a puppy. His gut was telling him the evening entertainment had been carefully planned to end any further threat to the scum’s freedom.

  The shower turned on as Joe turned towards his men and the need to collect some kind of evidence. His opinion wasn’t enough to place Amber under his protection even if he wanted it to be. Little Red would delight in casting her own view of the break-in. It was his job to point out her mistakes.

  It was going to be his pleasure.

  Chapter Seven

  “Do you know how to use a gun?”

  Amber jumped and glared at him. Joe didn’t seem to care that she was miffed with his sudden appearance. Instead she caught a flicker of pride in his eyes. He moved past the doorway of her room, making her nervous. She tightened the grip on her towel as the room shrunk now that he was in it. Her skin became ultra-aware of how little effort it would take to lose her towel. She shifted as the folds of her sex began to heat and feel too swollen with her thighs pressed together.

  “No. I don’t like weapons.”

  “How do you know you don’t like them?”

  “Well, I just decided I don’t like them.” Joe gave her a harassed look. She tossed her head in response. Amber didn’t like the little twist of fear that was currently trying to take root in her brain.

  “Fine, have it your way.”

  “What does that mean?”

  His lips rose at the corners as he took another step closer. Her nipples drew taut beneath the terrycloth of her towel, making her cheeks flood with color. She was noticing how strong and wide his chest was again. Her nose even detected the clean scent of his warm male skin. It traveled down from her senses to her belly where it erupted into heat inside her passage. Fluid coated the walls making her feel incredibly empty. Naughty little whispers bounced off the corners of her brain as the event in her kitchen inspired the desire for more escapades.

  “What’s the problem, Amber? Aren’t you happy that I agree with you?”
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br />   His voice dipped as he stepped one pace closer to her again. Her feet itched to move but her body begged her to stand still. It was a tangle of conflicting needs that raced from her brain through her body. One set of emotions aimed at fleeing from his much stronger body and the other set intent on sampling that strength in the most primitive of manners. Her disobedient eyes actually dropped to the front of his jeans. The fabric bulged out making her passage ache for the swollen flesh.

  Joe caught her chin and raised her face to his. His eyes were twin flames of heat that drilled into hers as he stepped forward until they were almost touching.

  “I could show you how to handle a pistol, honey, but I think I might enjoy sticking close to you instead.”

  “Those lessons you mentioned…when are we starting?”

  Joe cocked his head to the side and pulled his gun from where it was tucked into the waistband of his jeans. Amber reached for the weapon but Joe didn’t give it to her. Instead he placed the gun in her hands and cupped his hands over hers. His fingers firmly pressed on her hands until she gripped the pistol correctly. His lean body moved behind hers as he slipped those hands over her frame, adjusting her stance and position to his liking.

  “Line up the sights.” His voice brushed past her ear as he leaned over her shoulder to see if she was looking down the barrel of the gun.

  The fingers that corrected her position weren’t the impersonal ones of a trainer. Joe smoothed each touch over her skin just like he had that afternoon. Her skin rose into delighted little bumps as pleasure zipped along her nerves from each touch. His hips brushed hers making her body tremble with just a hint of hard male erection against her bottom. Her body jumped with need as one cheek of her bottom delighted in transmitting the feel of his cock to the rest of her body.

  “Don’t lose your focus, baby. Steady with the grip, line up the sights.”