Page 86 of Protected

He stepped into the bathroom for a wet rag and gently cleaned her up. He had slipped on a pair of gray pajama pants. They hung low on his hips, and she might have found them arousing if he hadn’t just milked four or more orgasms from her already.

He settled onto the bed and gently stroked her face. “You’re incredible, baby. You took everything I threw at you and met every expectation I set. I can’t tell you how fun that was.” Darci beamed at his praise. She wanted to earn that reaction from him regularly. He leaned over and pulled a bottle of water off the nightstand. “You should drink this.” He waited while she drank down half the bottle and then gathered her in his arms.

Her phone buzzed across the room a few minutes later, and Darci groaned. It was so far away. Bradley chuckled and padded across the bedroom to his dresser to retrieve it for her. “You’ve missed a couple calls, baby. You were floating pretty hard though, so I just let you ignore them.” She grimaced as she took the phone he held out to her. It was Jim.

“Hi, Jim. What’s up?” she asked when she called him back.

“Hey, Darci. Sorry to bug you at home but we got a last-minute invite to that luncheon at the Washington Hilton tomorrow. I want you there with me. You worked so hard to get us the invitation. The organizers are giving us fifteen minutes to present.”

“That’s awesome, Jim. Of course, I’ll be there. You know I already put the presentation together for you just in case. I’ll have to run it by my goon squad... I mean bodyguards,” she corrected when Bradley scowled at her. “They have access to my calendar. Just put it in there right now with an address, and they’ll do the work to make it safe for me.”

They spent a few more minutes chatting. Tomorrow was also the fund-raiser where Darci was supposed to have her face-to-face meeting with Senator Atleigh, and Jim would be there too. When the call ended, she relayed Jim’s half of the conversation to Bradley.

When she finished, he sat on the bed next to her and pulled her close. “You sure you’re OK? I was pretty rough with you tonight.”

She snuggled close and nodded. “I'm fantastic. I promise it was perfect.”

He kissed her head. “I’m glad. I hate to burst the bubble, but I should probably check my own phone.”

“Go. I’m good here. I’m just going to snuggle up under the covers and wait for you to come to bed.” He slipped out of the room, and Darci crawled under the soft green comforter and settled against the pillows. She couldn’t believe how well Bradley could read her body language while they were playing. It was as if they were tuned to each other in a way she had never been tuned to a partner before. It was intoxicating. She had a feeling he could push some boundaries that nobody had pushed before, and she wouldn’t mind a bit.

Fifteen minutes later, Bradley came in with a frown on his face. “Security called me,” he said at her questioning look. “They have some concerns about your event with Jim tomorrow.” Darci rolled her eyes, and Bradley sent her a warning glare. “They’re going to check out the site tonight, but it’s a little last minute for them to do their routine vetting. I want you to promise me you’ll listen to them if they tell you not to go.” Darci sat up and looked at him.

“Bradley please don’t ask me to do that. This is something we’ve worked hard to be invited to. Jim is speaking, presentingourresearch. There is potential for a lot of funding. You of all people should know how important that is. I don’t want to miss it. I’m sorry it was last minute, but it’s important.” He closed his eyes and seemed to pray for patience.

“I know, baby, and I promise they’re going to do their best to make sure you can go, but I’m warning you right now if they decide it’s not safe and you so much as argue with them about going I will punish you. End of discussion.”

She sighed. They had been having such a nice night. She wanted to argue with him but thought he might get the paddle back out, so she just muttered, “yes, Sir,” and laid back on the pillows.

“Hey,” he said sitting next to her. “I’m not trying to be an asshole. I just want to keep you safe.” She closed her eyes.

“I know. This is just frustrating.”

“I know, baby. It won’t last forever.” He leaned in and kissed her forehead, shut off the lights and slipped into bed next to her. Pulling her close he whispered, “Please don’t be mad at me for wanting you safe.”

“I’m mad at whoever is stalking me,” she murmured as her eyes drifted closed.

32

ON Wednesday morning, the security team delivered the bad news to Darci that they couldn’t safely allow her to go to the luncheon.

“We’re sorry, Miss Sanders. There is some construction at the hotel and we can’t provide enough safe exits if there is a need to escape quickly.”

She glared at the guard standing in her office four hours before the event was supposed to take place.

“Are you sure? Did you ask Peter? This is really important.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Sanders. Mr. Mercer is the one who made the call.”

“Well then I’ll call him and get him to change his mind. I have to go and you can’t stop me.”

The bodyguard didn’t say anything else. Just stepped out of the room. Under two minutes later, her cell phone rang.

“Hi Bradley.”

“Darci, why are you arguing with your security detail?”

She wanted to growl in frustration. “Because, damn it. It’s a hotel. I’ll be in a ballroom a few hundred people and there’s bound to be other security there. It’s ridiculous that they won’t let me go.”

---