Under His Protection
Chapter 11

Though she was asleep he couldn’t help himself, he had to kiss her and when he pressed his lips lightly against hers she woke up. “Morning. I take it you aren’t mad at me.”

“I should be but now that I think about it, it was kind of funny. I’m hungry, are you?”

“Yeah, I am.”

“Ok. I’ll make breakfast if you do the washing up,” she said as she slid out of bed. “Why don’t you shower first and I will after we eat.”

“Hey.” He shouted out and she turned to look at him. “I am sorry for teasing you, I might have taken it too far.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said, then walked out.

After eating she showered and later they went back to the beach. Taking a walk as they held hands and then replaceing a spot to sit she looked out onto the water.

“It’s so beautiful here, thanks for bringing me,” she said, turning to face him.

“You’re welcome. I come here from time to time just to get away from everything.”

“How many women have you brought here.”

“You’re the first,” he answered.

“Really?” She liked hearing this, made her feel special.

“Yes, really,” he said, leaning over to kiss her. “There’s a bar in town we could go to tonight, have a bite to eat and a couple of drinks. Would you like to go?”

Her head slowly moved up and down. “Anything to get out of cooking.”

He chuckled. “You hate washing dishes and now I replace out you don’t like cooking.”

“Oh I don’t mind cooking but if I can replace any excuse to get out of it I will,” she said, smiling.

The day was spent on the beach, swimming and taking in the sun. After changing their clothes they took the short drive into town. It was warm out so she wore a pink cotton sundress, and he wore jeans and a white dress shirt.

She could feel the warmth of his hand through her clothes when he placed it on her lower back as they walked into the bar. It was a quaint little place with several booths and tables scattered all around. Music was playing from the jukebox and there was a pool table off to the side. They chose a booth by the window and he sat next to her.

When the bartender came over Zane ordered a beer for him and a glass of wine for her, along with burgers and fries.

“You asked me if I had ever been in love but you haven’t told me if you ever were,” he said, taking a swallow of his beer.

“I’ve come close a couple of times.”

“What about Trevor?”

“I really cared about him but no, I wasn’t in love with him. Men in the past have let me down with their lies and cheating. I won’t go through that again. So I hope you understand that what’s going on between us is just two people enjoying each other, having fun, nothing more.”

Wow, she sounds just like me, Zane thought to himself as he stared at her. The only thing was he could change for her, but she was making it perfectly clear she wasn’t interested in a long-term relationship. This thought made him sad, she deserved to have someone in her life that would love her and her only. He was about to tell her this but the bartender brought their food over. He still loved that she ate regular foods and not water and carrot sticks that most models ate.

“Oh this burger is so good,” she purred and took another bite. “What?” she asked when she saw him staring at her with a smile on his face.

“You have mustard on your lip. Here, let me get it off you.” Cupping the back of her head drew her close, licking her lip before kissing her. “Hum, that tasted so yummy.”

Looking around to make sure no one was watching she shook her head at him. “Do you not have any boundaries?”

“I see nothing wrong in a public display of affection, especially with a gorgeous woman.” He moved closer, putting his arm around her shoulder. “In fact, I’m going to kiss you again.” Before she could protest his mouth came down hard on hers and his tongue darted into her mouth. He held her tight so that she couldn’t squirm away, his kiss deepened and he knew he had won when she moaned softly into his mouth. “Ready to go back to the cottage?”

“Oh yeah,” she said, out of breath.

Tossing some money down he got up and held out his hand which she took when a drunk truck driver bumped into her, almost knocking her down.

“Watch what the fuck you’re doing,” Zane snapped and gave the man a shove. Taking Jade’s arm went to lead her out when the trucker poked him in the back.

“Who the hell do you think you’re shoving?”

Zane turned to face him. “A drunk who should be somewhere sleeping it off.” It happened so fast he didn’t have time to react when the man’s fist connected with his jaw and he staggered backward and landed on his ass. Jumping to his feet he went for the burly man but Jade stepped between them.

“Stop it both of you.” She looked at the trucker. “You know you just assaulted a police officer and could be charged.”

“He’s no cop.”

“Show him your badge, Zane.”

“Jade,” he started to say.

“Just do it,” she snapped at him.

Pulling out his wallet he showed the guy, but he was not happy that she outed him.

The trucker backed away. “Hey man, I didn’t know. You ain’t going to arrest me are you?”

“I won’t, as long as you apologize to the lady and take a cab home,” he answered.

“Sorry, Miss.” He turned and walked away.

When they got to Zane’s car she asked him if he was mad. “Are you mad at me for something?”

“A little. You didn’t have to interfere and I don’t like using my position to get out of a fight,” he said as he opened the door for her.

“The man bumped into me by accident and you go all macho and shove him, causing a fight. Why didn’t you just let it go? But no, you had to show off. If anyone should be mad it’s me,” she snapped angrily.

Grabbing her he pinned her up to the car. It turned him on seeing how her lips pouted out, her eyes blazing with fire in them, making her look sexy as hell. “God, you’re so fucken sexy when you’re mad.” His mouth came crashing down on hers, his kiss rough and forceful. Putting his one leg between hers rubbed it along her inner thigh. He thought for sure she would push him away but instead, she grabbed his head, pulling him close, her tongue exploring the inside of his mouth. He let out a moan, knowing he had better get her back to the cottage before he took her right there in the parking lot. “Get in,” he ordered her and she actually obeyed without an argument.

With his hand on her leg and under her dress he moved it up further as he drove. His cock was hard and aching to be inside her. And when she took off her panties to give him the freedom to touch her he almost pulled the car over. He would have but they heard sirens behind them so he did pull over and she quickly put her panties back on.

A firetruck whizzed past them and that’s when they noticed the smoke billowing up into the sky. One glance at each other and he took off, tires spinning and pebbles flying. It was their cottage that was on fire.

They were stopped by an officer but Zane pulled out his badge, showing it to the man. “That’s our cottage, what the hell happened?” he asked, getting out of the car. Jade got out and went around, putting her arm through his and he felt her trembling and glanced at her and squeezed her hand.

“Don’t know for sure sir. The fire inspectors are on their way. Please stand clear, don’t go any closer.”

Jade grabbed his arm tightly. “How could it go on fire? We made sure the fireplace was cold and all the appliances were turned off. Oh my God Zane, if we hadn’t gone out tonight we might have been inside, we could have been killed,” she said, a sob broke free and felt his arms going around her.

Seeing the pained look on her face, felt how she trembled so he wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair. There was no way the place should have caught on fire, he wondered if it was done on purpose. But how? No one knew they were going to be there, only his partner. “It’s ok, we’re safe.”

They waited by the car and a hunky, good-looking fireman brought over a blanket for Jade to put on. “Here Miss put this on,” he said as he placed it on her shoulders, giving her a sexy smile.

This irked Zane, even in a time of an emergency the man was flirting with her. “Thanks, but you better get back to the fire.” He raised his eyebrows at the man.

It was some time before they got the fire under control and the fire chief walked over to them. “We won’t know what happened till the inspector comes, so you folks might as well go get some rest until morning. If you need a place to stay there’s a small motel on the edge of town, nothing fancy but at least it’s clean.”

Zane looked down at Jade, then back at the fireman. “Yes, that’s a good idea. Here’s my number, and my badge number. We’ll be heading back home in the morning so you can get in touch with us there. I expect a full report on the cause and any information you come across.”

Shaking the man’s hand he helped her into the car and got in himself. She waited in the car while he went into the motel office and got them a room for the night.

Zane went and opened the car door and walked with her into the room. She was so quiet and all he wanted was to comfort her. “Hey,” he said, taking a hold of her hand. “Can I get you anything?”

“No,” she shook her head. “Don’t you replace that fire a little suspicious?”

He did, but he wasn’t about to spook her until he knew what happened and that could take days. “Anything could have caused it.”

“Or it was done deliberately by whoever is trying to kill me.”

“The only one who knew where we were going was my partner,” Zane said. “Unless you told someone, did you?”

“Yes,” she answered, chewing on her bottom lip. “I had to let Reggie know and I told Kenny.” Seeing the angry look on his face she felt she had to explain. “I was expecting an important letter and asked him to sign for it while I was away.”

“Ok, so why tell him where you were going to be? You could have just said you'd be out of town." He ran his hand through his hair as he paced back and forth.

“I don’t know. He asked me and I didn’t see any reason not to tell him. There’s no way Reggie or Kenny is behind the fire. Neither one would want to hurt me.” Suddenly she felt drained. She sat down on the bed and buried her head in her hands and sobbed. She felt the bed move from his weight when he sat next to her, his arms going around her. She leaned her head against his chest. “I don’t know what to think or who to trust anymore.”

He caressed her arm. “You can trust me.”