Page 58 of Ruthless Protector

I slid my hand into her hair and turned my head so my mouth was at her ear. “I want you, Willa, so damn bad.”

She lifted her head slowly, her hand cupping the side of my face, her thumb sliding over my cheek, just above my beard, and pressed her mouth to mine. “Take me home and fuck me, Jude,” she said against my lips.

That’s all I needed to hear. I stood, lifted her to her feet and took her hand, leading her out the back to collect her things.

Fifteen minutes later, she had changed her clothes and was on the back of my bike, wrapped around me.

I headed for home.

Willa

The anticipation fizzing through my veins had me trembling as we neared the brownstone. My arms were wound around Jude’s waist, my fingers fisted in his t-shirt above his abs. The smell of motor oil and the leather of his jacket filled my head, making me dizzy from wanting him.

Jude pulled up in front of the house and turned his bike off. His big hands came down on top of mine, cool from the ride, one of his thumbs sliding over the inside of my wrist. “Tilly?”

“She’s spending the night at Fay’s.” She was helping me out while I worked nights.

He gave my wrist a squeeze. “You need to let go so I can get off the bike, beautiful.”

His voice was rougher than I’d ever heard it, tight, like he was trying to hang onto his control. I didn’t want him to. I’d had men pawing at me all night. I’d worked two shifts. I was tired, and as soon as I’d seen Jude, something had shifted inside me. I’d needed him more than my next breath; needed his strength, his goodness, his solid presence—I’d needed those big capable hands on me.

I needed him to wash everything away.

I was still on the bike, hadn’t moved, and I opened my hand against his tight stomach, rubbing my forehead against his broad back. He’d seen me struggle—with my life, with my niece—and I hated that he might see me as weak or breakable. I needed him to know that wasn’t me; that pathetic woman, she wasn’t me. For some reason, I couldn’t look at him when I said this, needed him not to see my face, my eyes, when I told him what I needed. “I don’t need you to treat me like I’m fragile. I don’t need you to play the good guy, Jude. Tonight…just for tonight, I want the guy who rappels from buildings, who chases bad guys. I don’t need careful and I don’t need nice.”

His long broad fingers, that had already warmed up, flexed around my wrist again. “If you think what’s about to happen between us could ever be as insignificant a word as nice, then, babe, you haven’t been paying attention. What I’m about to do to you isn’t going to be nice, or gentle, or sweet. It’s going to be sweaty and dirty. I’m gonna do all the things I’ve been wanting to do since I laid eyes on you, understand?”

I shivered, and he had to feel it since I was still plastered against his back.

“Off, Willa. Now.”

His voice was hard, an order, and that made me shiver as well. I did as he said and waited while he kicked down the stand and swung off. Then he walked straight at me. One of his hands pressed against my lower back, sliding up under my hair to lightly grip the back of my neck.

“My place,” he said.

I was more than happy with that. It was closer and after what had happened at the club, I needed him. Between my thighs ached and throbbed, my panties damp with need, and the ride, pressed against all that insane strength and size, had only made it worse.

He unlocked the door and shoved it open. I crossed the threshold as the light flicked on. The door slammed shut, then he was there, against my back, walking me forward, crowding me, pressing my front against the wall. His beard tickled my neck when his mouth went to my ear.

“I’ve been hard for you for weeks, beautiful, out of my mind with wanting inside you. And after tonight, what you did, the way you got off in my lap in that room full of people, I’m fucking starved for you.” He ground his erection against my ass. “So damn hard I can’t think straight, so no, you won’t be getting nice tonight, not by a long shot.”

His hands went to the front of my jeans and he tore them open, shoving them and my panties down my legs. I just managed to step out of them when his hand went to the small of my back, holding me where I was, and he dropped to his knees behind me. A second later, both hands went to my hips and yanked me back, my upper body dropping forward, and he buried his face against my ass with a rough growl.

His hot tongue slicked through the center of my pussy and a low moan tore from me. Christ, one swipe of his tongue and I was close to coming again. That wasn’t normal, that didn’t happen to me, but our need for each other had built to such a peak that everything felt hotter, more intense, desperate.

He tapped one of my ankles and I automatically stepped out, opening wider for him, and he growled again. His whiskers prickled, tickled my bare flesh, his tongue, hot and slick, lapping at me. His hand came up between my legs, his fingers joining in. Rough, warm skin, spreading me, grazing my clit.

I blew up. I should be embarrassed by how fast I came, how easily he had me undone, but I didn’t care, I just wanted more of him. I wanted him inside me.

He stood, turned me around, and looked down at me. “Knew you’d be sweet. The reality doesn’t even come close.” Then he picked me up and swung me over his shoulder like I weighed nothing.

I squealed, a bubble of laughter breaking free. One of his hands came down on my bare ass as he walked to his room, hard enough I knew it would leave a mark. That just turned me on more.

He lowered me down onto his bed, and I lifted to my elbows, watching as Jude stripped out of his clothes.

“Top off,” he said, after he shrugged out of his jacket, yanked off his t-shirt, and toed off his boots. I ate up every hard inch of him, his wide chest, thick waist, and abs roped with muscle. Just the sight of his chest had the pulse between my thighs intensifying all over again, and I barely resisted dropping a hand to my pussy.

His hands dropped to the button of his jeans, then they were open, and he shoved them down and off. The black boxer briefs he was wearing couldn’t hide his monster erection. It strained the fabric and my mouth actually watered, my legs falling apart all on their own in anticipation.