Page 6 of Her Protector (Ember Heart Ridge Search and Rescue #4)

Chapter Six

MARCUS

I wake to Abby's soft, warm body pressed against mine, her head on my chest and her hair tickling my shoulder. For a moment, I just lie there in the early morning light, hardly believing this is real.

She stirs against me, making a soft sound that goes straight to my cock. I'm already half-hard from having her naked body draped over mine, and when she moves, her thigh brushes against my growing hard-on.

“Morning,” she murmurs, her voice husky with sleep as she lifts her head to look at me.

“Good morning, Trouble.” I brush a strand of hair away from her face, marveling at how beautiful she looks in the sunlight streaming through the cabin windows.

“Mmm.” She stretches against me, and the movement presses her breasts against my chest. “I think I like waking up like this.”

“So do I… I could get used to this.”

“Is that a promise?” she giggles, wrapping her arms around my neck.

“It's whatever you want it to be. I’m here to serve…” I lean down to kiss her, slow and deep.

She responds immediately, her body arching beneath mine. I can feel how wet she already is when I rock my hips against hers, and the knowledge that she wants me just as much makes my head spin.

“I want you,” she whispers against my mouth, her hands roaming over my back and shoulders.

“You have me.” I kiss my way down her throat, pausing to suck gently at the spot where her neck meets her shoulder. “You've always had me.”

I take my time, relearning every curve and hollow, every spot that makes her gasp and arch beneath me. When I close my lips around one taut nipple, she cries out, her hands fisting in my hair.

When I try to work my way lower, she stops me.

“Inside me…” she whispers. “I need to feel you.”

I can't argue with that.

I guide my rock hard cock to her silky wet entrance. When I sink into her, we both moan. She's so warm and tight around me, it feels like she’s welcoming me. I give her a moment to adjust, then start to move, slow and deep.

“Oh…yes,” she gasps, her legs wrapping around my waist. “Exactly like that.”

It’s different from last night. Less desperate, more unhurried. I want to memorize every little sound she makes, every expression that crosses her face. I want to show her with my body what words can't express; that she's everything to me, that I'll never let her go again.

“You feel so good,” I growl against her ear. She tilts her hips, changing the angle, and I hit that spot inside her that makes her cry out. I file that information away, making sure to hit it with every thrust, quickening my pace.

“Marcus,” she pants, her nails digging into my shoulders. “Don't stop.”

Her perfect pussy is tightening around me, her breathing becoming more erratic. I slide one hand between our bodies, finding her clit and circling it with my thumb.

Her thighs tremble as she comes, crying out my name as she clenches around me.

The sensation pushes me over the edge, and I follow her into pure bliss with a groan that makes my chest rumble.

We lie tangled together afterward, breathing hard, our bodies slick with sweat.

I press kisses to her temple, her cheek, anywhere I can reach.

She turns in my arms to face me, her eyes soft and content. “This feels like a dream.”

“If it is, I don't want to wake up.”

Risky suddenly starts barking from the living room. Not his normal happy bark, but the sharp, warning sound he makes when strangers approach.I'm out of bed and reaching for my clothes before the second bark.

“Stay here,” I tell Abby, but she's already pulling on her shirt.

“Like hell.”

I don't have time to argue. I grab my jeans and pull them on, then move to the window to peer through the curtains.

Darrell Varjek is standing on the front porch, and he's not alone. Two other men flank him, both looking like the kind of muscle you hire when you want to intimidate people.

“Back door,” I motion to Abby, who's now fully dressed and moving quietly across the room.

But before we can make it to the kitchen, Varjek’s voice booms through the cabin.

“Miss Brooks! I know you're in there. We just want to talk.”

Risky's barking gets more aggressive, and one of the men curses. “Stupid dog. That’s the one we saw in the cave. I told you…”

“Abby Brooks,” Varjek calls again, his voice taking on a harder edge. “I'm a reasonable man, but my patience has limits. You have something that belongs to me.”

"Like hell I do," Abby mutters, but she follows me toward the back of the cabin. I try to get Risky to follow, but he’s growling at the door, the fur on his back bristling.

“Your grandfather made a deal with me years ago,” Varjek continues, clearly trying to bait her into responding. “He promised me a share of whatever he found. Now that he's gone, that debt falls to you.”

He's lying. Jasper Brooks would never have made a deal with a crook like Darrell Varjek. But the fact that Varjek is willing to lie so boldly tells me how desperate he's getting.

We make it to the kitchen, and I'm reaching for the back door when the sound of splintering wood comes from the front of the cabin. They're breaking down the door.

“Go,” I push Abby toward the door. “Get to the woods. I'll hold them off.”

“I'm not leaving you.”

“Abby, please. If they get their hands on you…”

“Then we go together.” She grabs my hand, pulling me toward the door. “Come on!”

We burst out of the cabin just as Varjek and his men break through the front door. Risky is still barking somewhere inside, and I pray they don't hurt him.

“There!” one of the men shouts, spotting us.

We run for the tree line, Abby's hand in mine. Behind us, I can hear heavy footsteps and Varjek shouting orders. A gunshot rings out, the bullet splintering bark from a tree near my head.

“They're shooting at us,” Abby gasps, her eyes wide.

“Warning shots,” I lie, pulling her deeper in the forest.

I guide Abby toward a deer trail that leads up the ridge.

It's steep and hard to follow, but it'll give us cover.

We climb in silence, both of us breathing hard from the exertion and adrenaline.

Behind us, I can hear the men crashing through the underbrush, but they're moving more slowly, unsure of the terrain.

“Keep going,” I tell Abby, pulling out my phone. “I'm calling for backup.”

Logan answers on the first ring. “Marcus? Where are you?”

“In danger. Varjek. Climbing the trail up from Abby's cabin. Three men, at least one gun. We're heading up the northeast ridge.”

“On our way. Ten minutes.”

We keep climbing, but the men behind us are gaining ground. These aren't amateur treasure hunters; they're professionals who know how to track people through rough terrain.

“This way.” I pull her off the trail and into denser brush. It's harder going, but it'll hide our tracks. We push through thick undergrowth. My phone shows no signal here, so I can't contact Logan with an update.

“Where are we going?” Abby whispers.

“There's an old hunting cabin about half a mile from here. We can hole up there until help arrives.”

“What if they find us?”

“Then we’ll deal with them. Logan’s on his way.”

The hunting cabin is exactly where I remembered it, tucked into a grove of pine trees and barely visible unless you know what you're looking for.

It's been abandoned for years, but the structure is still sound.

We go inside, and I immediately start checking the windows and the single door.

There's only one way in or out, which could be good or bad depending on how you look at it.

I wrap my arms around Abby as we crouch under the window. We wait in tense silence until a voice outside the cabin makes my heart jump. Is it my brother?

Varjek's nasal tone carries through the thin walls. “I know you're in there. There's nowhere left to run.”

I move to the window, peering through the grimy glass. Varjek and his two men have the cabin surrounded. We're trapped.

“What do you want?” Abby calls out.

“I told you. I want what your grandfather promised me. The location of the Ember Heart treasure.”

“He never promised you anything, you asshole.”

“Didn't he?” Varjek laughs, but there's no humor in it. “Ask your boyfriend about that. Ask him why he was so determined to keep everyone away from your grandfather's research.”

My blood runs cold. How does he know about that?

“I don't know what you're talking about,” Abby says, but she's looking at me with questions in her eyes.

“Marcus Blake, the great protector,” Varjek continues. “Always one step ahead, always throwing us off the trail. But he made one mistake. He got too good at it. Too consistent. Patterns, Miss Brooks. Everything has a pattern if you know how to look.”

“You figured out it was me,” I say.

“Took me two years, but yes. And once I knew you were protecting the Brooks family, all I had to do was wait for the right moment. Wait for you to lead me right to the prize.”

The bastard. He's been using me, using my feelings for Abby to get what he wants.

“Well, why don't we make this easy? You give me the treasure map, and everyone walks away.”

“And if we don't?” Abby asks.

“Then things get… unpleasant.”

I check my phone. Still no signal, and no sign of Logan and the SAR team. We're on our own.

“Miss Brooks,” Varjek calls again. “My patience is running out.”

That's when I hear it: the distant sound of helicopter rotors.

Logan. Finally.

I squeeze Abby’s hand. “SAR team incoming. We just have to hold out a little longer.”

“How?”

Before I can answer, the cabin door explodes inward. Darrell Varjek steps through, a gun in his hand and murder in his eyes.

“Time's up.”