Chapter Six

James

After seventeen years in the military, my senses have sharpened to notice even the slightest sound, and I detect the movement of the person attempting to creep up behind me in the dark. Without looking back, I anticipate their presence until they’ve drawn near, then I turn around with my flashlight held like a weapon, prepared to crack open their skull but stop in time when I see who it is.

“What the hell, James!” my little cousin shrieks, glaring at the massive flashlight I always keep in my truck.

“You should know better than to creep up on a Marine. Our senses are always on guard!”

“Yeah, that was probably dumb of me.” Lizzy stops beside me and leans back on my truck, and from the look she gives me, I can tell she has questions. “So…”

“Spit it out.”

“This Abby girl, how long have you known her?”

“I just met her tonight.”

“Wait, but you two showed up here holding hands. I saw it. Don’t you even think of denying it!”

I smirk at the nosy girl. She’s always been too curious for her own good. “I am not denying anything,” I say, reaching into my truck to grab my duffel bag. I travel light, but there will be no more traveling now that I am back in Valor Springs. I wasn’t sure I was going to stay once I returned, but now I plan to be wherever Abby Miller is.

Lizzy falls in step with me as we walk toward the inn but grabs my arm before we make it to the entrance. “Does she know?” she asks, her eyes dropping to my knee. “About your injuries?”

“I’m fine, Elizabeth.”

“You were in the hospital for five months with tubes all over you. You have no idea how terrifying that was for the rest of us.” I don’t point out how much she’s exaggerating the extent of my wounds, because I see how much the memory hurts her. She is the closest thing to a sibling I have, and despite our age difference, we’ve always been close. “We were scared we would lose you, James. We’d finally gotten Jax home safely, then you were hurt. You should make the rounds so everyone can see that you are fine. Jax especially took it hard when we found it you were in the hospital.”

Jax is another cousin of ours, and he had also been a Marine. But unlike me, he’d never intended to make a career of it, choosing instead to return to Valor Springs at the end of his enlistment to work for his best friend’s family, something Jax’s father had also done.

“Tomorrow,” I promise her.

“And please tell Abby about your injuries. Don’t go playing tough guy and risk further damage. If you are going to be together, she deserves to know what happened.” I nod my head at her. One way or another, Abby is going to notice the scarring on my shoulder, chest, and knee and question it.

“Fine.” I roll my eyes at the girl. “Now, are you staying at the inn or going home?”

“I live in one of the rooms on the second floor,” she says as we walk back inside. “Only the rooms on the first floor are open for guests right now. Most of the staff left when Melissa died, but we still need someone on site at all times, so that’s been me while we’ve been waiting for the new owner.”

“Did my aunt live here?” Abby asks, joining us as we make our way toward the elevator.

“Oh, yes. She lived here her almost whole life.” We take the small elevator to the third floor, and Lizzy leads us down a short corridor, stopping at a door at the end of the hall before turning to Abby. “This was your aunt’s suite. This hotel was her entire life, and she spent most of her time here. Tomorrow, I’ll show you around the place and introduce you to everyone.”

“Thank you,” Abby says.

Lizzy opens the door for us to a large suite and doesn’t look surprised when I follow Abby in with my duffel bag. “I can tell you are tired, so I’ll wish you a good night. We don’t have enough staff to provide room service, but you can find the chef in the kitchen in the morning and ask him to fix you something. If you get hungry tonight, James knows where the kitchen is.” Turning to James, she adds, “If you go down now, you might be able to catch the chef before he leaves for the night.”

Abby nods, thanking my cousin once more. “Thank you so much, Elizabeth.”

“Please, just call me Lizzy,” she says with a smile, slapping the key in my hand before closing the door softly behind her and leaving me alone with my clearly exhausted girl.

Abby walks to the bed and falls back with a sigh, her eyes immediately going to the ceiling before she suddenly sits up, her eyes panicked. “The cat!”

“I checked on her when I went to get my bag; she’s still sleeping. I’ll go get her in a minute. I’m sure she’ll be excited to explore the inn,” I say with a laugh.

“Oh, thanks.” She sighs, falling back on the bed. “I never pictured Whiskers as much of an explorer. She rarely left the couch, but I guess you can’t compare an eight hundred square foot apartment to ten thousand square feet of room to explore.”

I drop my duffel bag and walk deeper into the room, extending my hand to the girl. “How about you grab a shower, and I’ll find something for us to eat from the kitchen and get Whiskers settled.”

“I’m not really hungry,” she says, but takes my hand anyway, letting me pull her to her feet.

“I don’t usually mention this in case it comes off like a brag, but I’ve been told I make the best instant noodles,” I tell her, and she smiles, which was the desired effect. “Back in the military, thousands of people would line up, offering to pay me to make them my world-famous noodles.”

“By that logic, then can I assume I am in the presence of a billionaire.”

“My skills have never been for sale, but I am willing to impress you with them,” I say, walking her to the ensuite. I stop by the door and bring her fingers to my lips. “You look tired. Take a shower and get some rest. I’ll be back with my world-famous instant noodles.”

She nods and walks into the ensuite. I leave her to freshen up and leave the room to find the kitchen. I need to get away from Abby before I am tempted to tear off her clothes once more and kiss every inch of her body. My cock is hard—has been for hours—but I’ve been forced to push back my needs so I don’t hurt her.

I want her.

That has not changed one bit. In fact, I think I want her more now that I know what her lips taste like and how her pussy feels wrapped around my cock. I’ve felt those tits in my palms and tasted the velvet of her nipples on my tongue, and I want more…

Fuck, I want everything.

I find, Davis, the chef, in the kitchen, stripping off his apron, and I can tell he’s getting ready to leave. His face lights up when he sees me, though. “It’s great to see you, James. Thank you for your service,” he says with genuine happiness.

“Thank you,” I respond, reaching out to shake his hand. “It’s good to be home.”

“We all heard about what happened, and we are happy you made it home safe,” he says before quickly changing the subject. “What are you doing in here anyway? I was closing up, but if you need something…”

“Don’t worry about it,” I tell the man, who clearly seems to be in a hurry. “I know my way around a kitchen and can make something light for my…girlfriend and me,” I say before quickly adding, “That is, if you don’t mind me borrowing your kitchen for a few minutes. I will pay for everything I use.”

“No, please, I don’t mind. Be my guest.”

I nod at the man, and we exchange a few more words before he excuses himself, leaving me alone in the kitchen. I search the shelves for the instant noodles but immediately change my mind. I need more than just five minutes away from Abby to shore up my control, so I decide I might as well make a stir fry. I gather the ingredients on the counter and get to work.

It takes me half an hour to finish making the meal. While the meat simmered, I ran outside and gathered a sleepy Whiskers and her supplies and got her settled in our suite. She seemed unimpressed and quickly curled up on the couch. Abby was still in the shower, so I was able to slip back down to the kitchen unnoticed.

I fill two bowls with rice and stir fry and clean up the kitchen before making my way back to our room. Abby is seated on the bed, blow-drying her hair when I walk in. Her eyes droop with sleep, but she perks up when she smells the food and moves to help me set up the table.

“Oh!” she gasps when I remove the lid from the tray. “This looks delicious, James.”

We settle down to eat, and I watch as the girl enjoys her food, humming and complimenting me with every bite. She offers to return the bowls to the kitchen, but I don’t trust her not to get lost in this massive place, so I offer to do it instead while she feeds Whiskers and finishes up getting ready for bed. I clean up the dishes and leave everything where it was before heading back to our suite.

Abby is fast asleep with Whiskers at her feet when I make it back to the room, and I can tell she tried to stay up waiting for me from the awkward angle she’s sleeping in. Her eyes stay shut as I adjust her to a more comfortable position before leaning in to kiss her temple.

My lips linger on her skin, and I close my eyes, inhaling the cheap hotel shampoo, but on her skin, the scent is addictive. I groan when my painfully stiff cock presses against my zipper, begging me to take this girl, to wake her with my kisses, get her all wet with arousal and ready for my cock before pounding into her tight heat. I want those thighs wrapped around my waist as I sink my manhood fast and hard into her.

Fuuuck!

I have never felt anything like this about another girl, and my desire for her is driving me to the brink of madness. I brush her hair back and watch that beautiful face, vowing once more to protect her with my life.

With a sigh, I tug the covers over her shoulders and walk to the ensuite to grab a shower. My thoughts are still on the girl in the bed when I step under the hot spray, pressing my forehead against the cool tile as I fist my hard cock, using the shampoo to slick my hand.

Mine!

“Fucking hell!” I choke out as I stroke my hardness with images of Abby dancing in my mind. My girl spread on the bed as I kiss every inch of her body. Those beautiful amber eyes locked on mine as I hammer my cock into her tight pussy, taking her in every corner of the hotel room. Those eyes growing teary when she takes my cock down her throat…

Need claws my chest, leaving me helpless. The girl sleeping in the next room is oblivious to the force of desire and all my dark fantasies. I bet the sweet girl has no idea of the lengths I would go to protect her.

To make sure she stays mine!

I slap my left hand on the glass door as I fuck my fist like an animal; my movements are fast and the noises leaving my throat are inhuman. I imagine her slippery sex around my cock, taking me deeper and clenching hard around my shaft. I can almost hear my name on her lips as I slam harder into her tight heat, breeding her…marking her…claiming her!

Abby Miller seems to have awoken something in me no one has before. A feeling so possessive and dominating, it’s dark.

Mine!

It’s her name on my lips when I explode, spraying my release across the tiles. My tense muscles ripple as I stroke myself through the blinding climax, my vision doubling from the intensity of it before I slump over with a heavy sigh. I close my eyes, my breaths coming out in short pants, and it takes a while before I calm down.

Abby is still fast asleep when I make it back to the room in nothing but my boxers, but I don’t care to change into anything else.

The second I am on the bed, the girl pushes back against me, tucking her sweet ass against my growing erection, and I bite back a curse when she squirms in an attempt to find a comfortable position. I wrap my arms around her to stop her movements, and it takes all my strength not to loosen the belt of her robe and thrust my cock into her.

I sigh as I pull her tighter against me and smile when Whiskers gets up to curl into a ball against Abby’s stomach. The chubby little demon clearly loves Abby more than she lets on.

Despite the coziness of sharing a bed with my beautiful girl and the soft sound of Whisker’s purring, sleep doesn’t come easy, and I can already tell that it’s going to be a long night.