Protecting Rose (11 page)

She closed her eyes and pressed against him as he suckled her aching peaks. His tongue’s warm caress left her flushed with desire. A bolt of electricity shot from her breast directly to her core, and she moaned her pleasure. Nate playfully bit her nipple before sucking it further into his mouth.

His hand slid up under her skirt, and heat burned along her inner thighs where he touched. He placed his hand over the damp cotton material of her panties. “Sweet, Rose,” he groaned, “you’re already wet for me.”

A sudden sense of unease gripped her. Her heart jumped and her breath quickened.

His mouth once again claimed hers with a savage intensity that washed away her anxiety, and replaced it with a hot carnal need. The sound of their passion filled the room as his hand moved to the spot between her legs that cried for him. He caressed her through her panties, increasing the gentle rhythm with her moans.

With a groan of impatience, he slid his hand under the soft material to insert a finger into her warm, sweet spot. He gently caressed the flower that blossomed at her center, and a fire ignited within her.

“Nate,’ she moaned.

“Do you like that, Rose?” he asked in a husky voice, filled with passion.

She stiffened. Those words, they were familiar, but somehow...different.

The words filled her mind.
Do you like that, bitch?
She closed her eyes as terror washed over her. Images of a man flashed behind her eyelids and sent her into a state of panic. She became lost between past and present and pushed in desperation at the man that held her down.

Rose screamed.

Nate’s heart leaped from his chest when Rose began to struggle, then she screamed. For a moment, he was too stunned to react when she pushed him away and scrambled across the bed. But when she fell with a hard thud to the floor with panic-filled eyes and crab-walked away, he snapped out of his stupor.

Sonofabitch
!

Rose was having a flashback. He’d seen post-traumatic stress enough times in Iraq to know the signs.

He clenched his fists at his sides and a dark rage consumed him. Every cell in his body boiled with fury at the sight of her suffering. He wanted to kill the bastard that had caused it, wanted to hunt the motherfucker down and make him suffer a slow and painful death. Then he was going to kick his own ass for his part in her pain.

You should have had better control, Stone.
Anger and guilt sucker-punched him.

Nate stood, took a deep breath to control his rage, and walked to where she lay curled on the floor and knelt down beside her. “Rose. You’re safe, sweetheart. No one’s going to hurt you.”

His chest tightened with regret at her pain and the sound of her soft moans that filled the room. He leaned down, placed one arm under her legs and the other around her back, and lifted her into his arms. He settled into a chair by the fireplace and cradled her in his lap.

“Everything’s all right now.” Her body trembled against him as waves of fury rolled over him. There was nothing to do but sit there and wait for her tremors to subside.

Nate held her close and stroked her hair until her fear fell away. Whatever traumatic memory had pushed her to this state of panic had finally faded.

“Rose,” he said gently. “Are you with me now?”

She nodded against his chest. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.” He tilted her face up so he could look into her eyes. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“I’m not really sure what happened. One minute we were...we were,” she paused. A blush gave color back to her pale face. “You know.”

He swept her hair back off her face to palm her cheek. “Yes, I know.” He kept his tone soft and soothing, although his anger percolated just below the surface. He assessed her for any further signs of distress.

Rose took a deep breath and then continued. “One minute everything was wonderful...more than wonderful. And then...a man’s face flashed in my mind, and I...just panicked.” She shrugged. “I don’t remember much after that.”

“Do you remember what this man looked like?”

She shook her head. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

Nate stroked her hair. “That’s okay. You’re better now?”

“Yes, I’m fine.” She blushed and reached down and snapped her bra closed. “Besides feeling a little foolish,” she said with a shaky laugh.”

Nate pushed her trembling fingers aside and buttoned her blouse. He leaned in and brushed his lips across her forehead. “You’ve been through a terrible ordeal recently and your body is just trying to cope.”

He didn’t have a clue how to deal with her breakdown, worried he would make matters worse with his clumsy attempts at counseling. He needed to get her in to see Sheila Williams, ASAP.

“I think we should both get some sleep. It’s been a long day. Tomorrow is your appointment with the counselor. She’ll be able to help you work through what happened.”

She scrunched her adorable nose at him. “Do I really need to see a therapist?”

Nate smiled. “Yes, I’m afraid so. You want to get your memory back, right?”

“Yes,” she agreed with a sigh. “I really am sorry I freaked out on you.”

“Not your fault. I take full responsibility. I should never have let things get so far out of hand. I apologize.”

“It’s not like I wasn’t willing,” Rose said with a blush.

“Doesn’t matter. Everything to do with you is my responsibility.
You
are blameless here, and I don’t want you to worry about it anymore.”

Nate felt like dirt. Worse than that, he felt like the sludge you scrape off the bottom of your shoe. His job was to keep her safe until they could figure out her story. So far, he was doing a lousy damn job of it. With Rose held securely in his arms, he stood and headed for the bedroom door.

“Where are we going?” Rose asked. A tremor ran through her voice.

“I’m going to take you to your room so you can get some sleep.”

“No. No, stop,” she implored. “I don’t want to be alone tonight. I want to stay here with you.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” Afraid he would be hard-pressed to keep his hands off her if they shared a bed.

“Please.” Her bottom lip trembled.

He looked into her pleading eyes.

Oh, hell.

Nate glanced around the room and eyed the loveseat by the fireplace. He supposed he could sleep there. Wouldn’t be the most comfortable bed, but he’d spent nights on worse. He turned abruptly from the door and walked over to put her in his bed, smiling at her relieved sigh. “You just stay put, sweetheart, I’ll be right back.”

“Where are you going?”

Nate studied her. She seemed to have recovered for the most part, although her skin was still pale and her gorgeous eyes glazed with anxiety. Even if she couldn’t remember the flashback, her body hadn’t yet recovered from the shock of it. “To get your pajamas for you.” He brushed her hair away from her face.

“Please don’t be long,” she pleaded.

“I’ll be back before you even know I’m gone,” he promised as he walked out the door.

Nate opened her bedroom door and stepped inside. Lost in deep contemplation on the many ways he was going to make the prick suffer that had hurt her. The sound of a soft click froze his blood. He knew that sound. A sound he’d grown all too familiar with in Iraq. The sound of a bomb being armed.

His heart pounded heavily against his chest as he ran back to his room. How long would he have before the bomb exploded? Five seconds, ten...a minute, if he was extremely lucky.

Rose jumped when he slammed the door open and ran to the bed, pulling her to the floor. “Under the bed, Rose, get under the bed,” he said urgently.

She stared at him as if he was a crazy man as he pushed her under the bed and rolled in after her. Before she was able to utter a word of protest, the world exploded.

Brett smirked and watched the explosion from his speedboat on the lake. He’d armed the device with a short delay to give her just enough time to make it into the center of the room before the bomb detonated. He wanted to make sure he got the bitch this time.

He was filled with satisfaction as he eyed the hole blown into the side of the building where her room was located. Debris flew into the air and fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

He grinned. People streamed out of the building in a panic. Brett glanced down at his watch and laughed as he counted down.

Three...Two...One. BOOM! Another explosion rocked the air. This one took out the exits on the top floor.

The other boaters on the lake were drawn to the scene like moths to a flame, until the waters in front of the condominium was littered with boaters that watched the early July 4
^th
fireworks.

He pulled his cap down further over his eyes and started his engine when the fire trucks approached. He would have liked to stick around and wait for confirmation of her death. But the increasing number of boaters filtering in for the show were starting to create a logjam, and he didn’t want to be caught in the congestion.

Brett slowly worked his way through the array of boats to leave the area. With a chuckle, he grabbed a beer from the cooler and popped the top. It was a good day.

Even if the explosion somehow failed to kill her, with no way out of the building, the fire and smoke would finish the job.