Monroe, Marla - The Edge of Night [The Protectors 3](Siren Publishing Classic) (29 page)

Dodge nodded his head at each of them. He deliberately walked down the stairs as if to prove that he could. Once he was on ground level, he limped up to Amanda. He looked her up and down and smiled, then held out his hand to shake hers.

“Pleased to meet you,” Dodge said, holding her hands to his lips for a soft kiss.

Amanda didn’t know how to take him. Morgan hadn’t said a thing about Dodge’s flirty side.

“That’s enough, Dodge,” Morgan said with a grin.

The other man laughed and turned to slap Morgan on the back. “Wondered when you would ever show up here.”

“Dodge, how the hell are you?” Tyler asked, shaking his hand.

“Doing fine, doing fine. What about you? Still lovin’ ’em and leavin’ ’em?” Dodge asked him.

“You know it.” Tyler winked at Amanda.

“Come on in, everyone. I’ll let you settle in. There are plenty of rooms. Um, Justin, Jethro, I have you in a room with twin beds. May not be the most comfortable…”

“We’ve slept on far worse. Don’t worry about us,” Jethro told him.

Dodge limped around the house, leading them all to their rooms. The room she and Morgan would be sharing seemed huge to her. It held a king-size bed, dresser, chest of drawers, and a couple of sofa chairs. The bed looked inviting. She really hadn’t slept that well the night before, but she didn’t want to miss out on what was going on, either.

“Let’s get you settled down now,” Morgan said.

He picked her up and sat her on the bed. He began unlacing her boots to pull them off.

“Morgan, I don’t want to take a nap right now. I want to know what Dodge has found out.”

“I know, baby, but you need to rest. I promise we won’t make any decisions or start anything going until you’re up again. Just a couple of hours, baby. You’re pale and have shadows under your eyes.”

He unfastened her jeans and pulled them down and off her legs. Then he did the same with her blouse and bra.

“You’ll come get me if I oversleep? You promise?” She finally gave in.

“I promise. I’ll come wake you up personally. Maybe even join you for a little while before we have to be down for dinner. How does that sound?” He kissed her on the lips, then on the nose.

“You’re trying to distract me, Morgan.”

“Is it working?” he asked, toying with her panties.

“You know it is.” She yawned and hated the telltale sign that she really was sleepy.

Morgan tucked her in under the covers and turned off the light before closing the door behind him. Amanda sighed. He could get her to do anything. All he had to do was ask, and kiss her. Knowing their time was almost gone put a damper on her excitement over finally getting Guy out of her life. She loved Morgan so much that it hurt sometimes just looking at him. Knowing he wouldn’t stick around once she was safe nearly tore her heart out. She wasn’t sure she would have been able to go on if it were not for the little life growing inside of her.

She needed to stop dwelling on what couldn’t be and make plans for the future. She needed somewhere to live and a way to work and save for the baby. Where did she want to live, a big city or a small town?

Questions circled around in her head until she finally drifted off thinking about small apartments and gingerbread houses—and Morgan hanging up a swing.

* * * *

“She’s a nice-looking woman, Morgan,” Dodge said as they all sat in the living room.

“She’s been through a lot over the last week. I sure hope you have something to get this bastard off her back for good.” Morgan stretched out his long legs in front of him.

“I think I do, but a lot of it working is going to depend on how strong she is emotionally.”

“What does that mean?” Morgan asked.

“Let me start from the beginning,” Dodge said.

He stood up and limped over to the TV and popped in a disc. After returning to his chair, he pressed the remote, and the TV came on. Then a very detailed sex scene played out with a dominatrix disciplining a man with a dog collar and chain around his neck. She flogged him, leaving red welts on his back and buttocks.

“This, gentlemen, is Guy Winthroup. The woman is Lady Diane, and a very much sought-after woman for her many skills.”

“Shit!” Tyler leaned forward for a better look.

“Fuck.” Morgan knew this wasn’t going to go over well with Amanda.

“I’ve met her. She’s a solid Dom,” Jethro said.

“Do we really want to know?” Tyler asked.

“Smartass.” Justin shook his head.

“So, we have several copies of this. I suggest she locate a lawyer and retain him, leaving a copy of this with him. Then open a safety deposit box and keep a copy there as well,” Dodge began. “Next, she sends a copy to Guy with the understanding that if anything happens to her or her child, the disc will be aired all over the Internet and news.”

“She can handle it. It won’t be easy, but she can do it.” Morgan knew Amanda. For her child, she would do anything.

“In addition to that, she needs to speak to him in person and get a letter with him signing over all rights to the baby. It’s the only way that the child will be safe with her. Should the disc or something similar get out without our help, he would have no reason then not to go after the child. And, with him running for mayor, someone might end up with a copy of this or something else. That would take away her hold on him, so she needs the letter.”

Dodge swung his bad leg around to the desk and rifled through some papers until he came up with the one he was looking for. He handed it to Morgan.

“What’s this?” Morgan asked.

“These are the names of several good lawyers who specialize in child welfare issues. Any of them would be good for her to work with. I’d suggest she use one close to where she is going to settle down.”

“Something we haven’t had time to discuss,” Morgan said.

“She’s welcome here as long as she wants to stay,” Dodge said.

“You making a play for her, Dodge?” Tyler asked in a serious voice.

“Hell, what woman in their right mind would want a cripple like me?” Dodge said in a bitter voice.

“Nothing wrong with you, man,” Morgan said. He didn’t like the idea of Amanda staying there, but then he didn’t like the idea of Dodge talking about himself like that either.

“Yeah, tell that to Lynn.” Dodge stood up and had to steady himself on the desk before he stomped out of the room, his limp even more noticeable than before.

“Shit, he’s really not that much better. When he was talking about Amanda and all, I thought he was doing better,” Tyler said.

“I could throttle that woman,” Morgan said.

Lynn had been Dodge’s wife until he came home missing part of his leg. She’d lasted all of one month before she had filed for divorce and walked out. Morgan had never much liked the woman, but Dodge had been crazy about her. She’d always seemed too uppity to him. Dodge had used all of their savings to build the house and furnish it like she wanted. Now it was a living monument to her, and Dodge refused to sell it.

“So, what do we do now?” Justin asked.

“Relax and keep our eyes and ears open for anyone snooping around. Just because we have a way out of this doesn’t mean it’s all over yet. It will take a while to put it all in place and for him to get the money off the streets so everyone will back off,” Morgan said.

Jethro nodded. “I say we take turns patrolling the area. I’ll take first. Justin, you’re up next. Then Tyler and Morgan.”

“Good idea,” Morgan agreed.

“You better go talk to Amanda and let her know what’s going on,” Tyler said.

Morgan wasn’t looking forward to that part, but it had to be done. He just hoped she would go along with it. It was a risky plan, but the best one under the circumstances, he decided. He checked his watch. She’d been asleep for a little over an hour. She should be about ready to wake up now anyway. If she wasn’t awake, he’d crawl into bed with her until she did wake up.

Something about the thought of easing in close to her relaxed him in a way he hadn’t been relaxed all day. He wanted to pull her back into his arms and hold her and protect her from everything that would upset her. But he didn’t have that right. He wasn’t sticking around. One day she would find someone to love her like she deserved.

So why did that just piss him off?

Chapter Twenty-Two

Amanda slowly became aware of a warm body pressed close to hers. She froze at first, then remembered where she was and knew it was Morgan. Although he had removed his shirt, he still had on his jeans. Still, his erection pressed hard against the crack of her ass. He wanted her. It never failed to amaze her that he wanted her even though she was growing round with Guy’s baby. How much longer did she have with him? A few days? A week?

He nuzzled her neck beneath her ear with his nose and lips.

“Wake up, sleepyhead. I know you can hear me.”

Amanda slowly rolled over until she was staring up into his eyes. They were heavy-lidded with desire. His cock insistently throbbed against her thigh, begging for attention. She knew what sort of attention it wanted, too.

“Something tells me you’re horny,” she teased.

“I want you, Amanda. I want to bury my cock so deep inside of you that you’ll never forget me.”

That one sentence nearly broke her heart. Already he was pulling away. She knew it would happen, but she had hoped for a little longer. It must mean that they had a plan to get Guy off her back sooner rather than later.

“I want you to fuck me, Morgan. Fuck me like you mean it—like you’ve never fucked another woman before.”

Morgan leaned over her and took her lips in an almost gentle kiss. It wasn’t what she wanted. She wanted hard and demanding. She parted her lips so she could stab into his mouth with her questing tongue. He picked up on her urgency and took over the kiss, taking it deeper and hotter than ever before.

She encircled his neck with her arms, pulling him tighter against her. The hair on his bare chest rasped against her nipples. She moaned into his mouth and moved from side to side for more stimulation. Morgan caught on and began to pluck and pull on one of her nipples while he held himself up with his other hand. Her breast ached, swelling even as his fingers twisted and tugged on the elongated nub.

He left her mouth after a few seconds and traveled down her chin and around her jawline, sucking and nipping as he moved. When he reached her earlobe, he pulled it deep into his mouth after nibbling insistently at it. She moaned and hissed at the slight pain, but didn’t mind at all. He was making her feel too good all over.

As his mouth trailed kisses down her neck to her shoulder, his hand left her breast to head for her pussy. He stopped when he reached her rounded belly, hesitating for a few seconds before continuing his trek to her hot cunt.

When his mouth closed over one nipple, she arched her back and grabbed at his hair to hold him there as he sucked and teased and titillated her with his tongue and teeth. The feel of his teeth pulling on her nipple sent shock waves to her already wet pussy. They traveled down her spine until she felt her toes tingle.

“More, oh God. More, Morgan. Please,” she begged, digging her hands into his hair.

He answered by changing nipples and dragging one finger through the juices from her pussy. He circled her clit without touching it. Amanda tried to chase his finger with her pelvis to no avail. He kept her from stimulating herself on his questing finger. Finally, she growled in frustration.