Read Online The Protector by Marliss Melton - Free Book Online Page A

  
     
    “N-nothing,” she said, coming unsteadily to her feet. “I didn’t know that was you outside.”
     
    His gaze skimmed over her camisole, reminding her that she’d discarded her bra so she could sleep more comfortably.  
     
    “What do you need?”
     
    “I can’t sleep,” she said, folding her arms against his all-seeing gaze. “You shouldn’t have thrown away my pills.”  
     
    He shrugged. “Nothing I can do now.”
     
    Heartless man. You could reassure me. “What time is it?” she asked.  
     
    He glanced at his watch. “Zero hundred hours.”
     
    Midnight. “And you haven’t even gone to bed yet?”   
     
    He pushed his hands into his pockets. “Don’t sleep much,” he admitted.  
     
    “Then you can’t sleep either.” Maybe they could play a board game or something.
     
    But the way his eyes touched on her bare arms told her he was thinking of something else. Her body prickled with sudden awareness and not a little caution.
     
    “Does anyone know I’m here besides my father?” she asked, bringing up the Commander intentionally. Ike’s allegiance to her father would keep him from doing anything inappropriate.        
     
    “Just Cougar.”
     
    “Who’s he?”
     
    “Former teammate. You were supposed to go with him,” Ike added, with resentment that cast light on what had put him in such a foul mood earlier. “But he never showed up. His wife is sick. She’s dying.”
     
    “Cancer?” she guessed, with a twinge of compassion for the faceless Cougar.
     
    “Yeah,” he said.    
     
    She thought she detected some compassion in the single syllable. “But, I’m safe here, too, right?” she added, still craving reassurance.   
     
    His gaze dropped to the strip of bare flesh above her low-rise jeans. “Go back to bed,” he said, in lieu of an affirmative.  
     
    The inference that her virtue might be at risk made her pulse quicken. Did he honestly find her alluring? He sure had an odd way of showing it.
     
    “You mentioned books I could read?” she said, taking her chances.
     
    He swiveled wordlessly toward his bedroom. Returning with a handful of books, he dumped them on the coffee table.  
     
    Her stomach rumbled. “And I don’t suppose there’s something I could eat?”    
     
    His gaze jumped at her so predatorily that Eryn caught her breath. Perhaps it was reckless of her to push him, but she was more intrigued than frightened by his body language.  
     
    Turning toward the kitchen, he grubbed inside a cupboard, coming away with a foil-wrapped nutrition bar which he thrust at her en route to the door. “Go back to bed,” he repeated, exiting swiftly.
     
    A puff of cold air left her shivering and alone. Just as I thought, she considered with a rueful smile. He wouldn’t dare lay a hand on General McClellan’s daughter.
     
    Bending over the pile of books, she refused to admit to a tiny pang of disappointment.  
     
     
     
    A vision of Eryn’s ripe breasts, so clearly outlined beneath her strappy little top burned the backs of Ike’s eyeballs. Their generous shape, the shadow of her hardened nipples, abraded his nerves like the rasp of a cat’s tongue.
     
    Christ, it wasn’t like she needed to be any easier on the eyes.  
     
    Stalking to where his driveway began its descent, Ike gnawed on the hankering inside of him, then pushed it ruthlessly aside. Wanting more than what he already had was dangerous. It upset the delicate balance he had struck for himself, here in the Blue Ridge Mountains.  
     
    Up here on Overlook, nothing ever happened to disturb the peace. Nothing but his dreams forced him to recall the past. In the present time, his only preoccupation was survival, which he excelled at, which was why he taught that skill to others. In his solitude, he could almost convince himself that the enemy no longer existed. After all, Osama Bin Laden was dead. A significant dent had been put into The War on