I came to the door and looked outside, as well. Van’s truck was indeed gone.
“It was there when I pulled up, Alise. I know you think I have an agenda with you, but will you trust me on this one, for once?”
“That’s just it. I do trust you. It’s just that I don’t see it now.”
“He must have left after I pulled up, which is why I’m glad I came here. I wouldn’t forgive myself if something happened to you,” I admitted in a caring tone. I wasn’t used to caring like this, and definitely not expressing it, so this admission stunned me as much as it did Alise.
She stood there, looking at me with a frown that masked her appreciation. I knew her by now, so I could see the uncertainty in her brown oval eyes. She was a woman putting up a hard exterior, doing her best to maintain her independence when all she needed was the right man to pull her into his arms and kiss her like there was no tomorrow before bending her over and fucking her like she’s never been fucked before.
“I’ll always make sure you’re safe, Alise. But you can’t ditch your security. Don’t ever do that again,” I said, my usual gruff tone lowering an octave.
“Bruiser, I know you are trying to help me, but you can’t just tell me what I can and can’t do. You do not control me.”
There was that control thing again. She so desperately wanted to hold onto something that she didn’t have. I figured now was as good of a time as any to show her what her control was worth. I pulled her by her arm, and she came crashing into me. I then pushed her firmly against the foyer wall and closed the space between us.
“You don’t know a damn thing about control,” I whispered close to her ear. Her vanilla fragranced shampoo entered my nose and aroused my senses. Along with the lavender filling the air, her scent drove me up the very wall I had her pinned to. “If you knew about control, you would know that, right now, you don’t have any.”
She leaned back and looked into my eyes with fear. Yeah, that’s what I was used to. People fearing me. But she wasn’t afraid that I would harm her. No, she was scared of what I would do to her poor little body, and possibly her heart, if given the chance.
With the vulnerable way she was looking at me, I wanted to peel those pretty brown thighs apart and fuck her confidence back into her right then and there. She would take every inch of me happily. I just knew she would.
“You can’t say…”
“Say what? What’s obvious? You have no control.” I ran my free hand over the contours of her soft caramel-colored face to keep from running them over her thick thighs that would lead to me tasting tha
t sweet pussy tonight.
I didn’t want to have such lustful thoughts about Alise. I shouldn’t be. I should be doing my job. But my desire to give her everything she needed went beyond my contract to guard her. It was a different desire than I’d had for any other woman in my life. This was unavoidable. Like a train wreck.
“I think you should leave,” she said, her breaths coming quickly.
Was it the excitement of the night that had her breathing erratic, or did she feel the same way as I did about her? I would put money on the latter.
“I’m not leaving.”
“Yes, you are.”
“Go and get me a blanket. I’ll sleep on the sofa.”
“Bruiser, you can’t.”
“I am. It’s not up for debate.”
“If you don’t leave here, I’m calling the police.”
“Call.”
“Bruiser, I’m serious.”
“I am too. Call them.” I handed her my phone to make her call. She didn’t take it.
“Wouldn’t it be better for you to just leave?” Alise walked away from me toward her phone that was sitting on the side table in the living room.
“I’m protecting you.”
“Against my will.”
“If that’s the way it needs to happen, it will.”