Page 5 of Tempting Her Grumpy Protector
“You…you would what?” she asked at last, finally getting the words out.
“I’d make him fucking sorry he ever came near you!” Greer growled.
“But why?”
“Because you’re mine!” Greer took a deep breath as though trying to control himself. “While you’re in my care, I mean,” he amended gruffly. “You’re mine as long as I’m your Protector and you’re my Ward. Now let me fly the fucking ship, Sunny.”
Then he turned his attention to the controls of the ship again, as though the conversation was closed.
Sunny just sat there and stared at him from the corner of her eye. She had never heard her Kindred Protector sound so…so possessive before. Why, Greer sounded like he wanted her all to himself!
For the first time, she began to wonder if maybe…just maybe, her gruff, stoic, growly Protector might possibly have feelings other than annoyance for her.
Of course, he was very patient with her and even extremely kind at times. He would kneel down to tie her shoe if it came untied, for instance. Or sometimes when she was struggling to reach something on a high shelf, Greer would come up right behind her and get whatever she was reaching for. It always made Sunny feel rather breathless when he did this, because he stood so close that she could feel the heat of his big muscular body against her back and smell his spicy, male musk which seemed to make her slightly dizzy.
He also lifted her down from the shuttle when they went anywhere because it was a long jump for someone with legs as short as hers. And once or twice he had even carried her in his arms when they were walking someplace muddy and he didn’t want her to get her shoes dirty. (Sunny especially liked the way he could lift her with seemingly no effort at all—which was certainly something her ex, Bernard, had never been able to do.)
But despite all his protectiveness and his little kindnesses to her, Greer was still extremely gruff and growly. Sunny had always gotten the impression that she annoyed him with her glass-is-half-full attitude towards life. But could she help it if she’d been born an optimist?
She told herself she wasn’t going to change her outlook, not even for a scarred, scary, seven-foot-tall alien warrior. Plus, sometimes when Greer wasn’t in one of his dark moods, she could get him to talk to her. He had even cracked a smile once or twice—though his version of a smile was lifting one corner of his mouth and quirking one eyebrow—the one that was bisected by the scar on the left side of his face—at her.
This was the first time she’d wondered if he felt anything but irritation and protectiveness towards her though. Could it be that Greer might have some kind of feelings for her?
Unbidden, the time when she’d fallen into the water supply on Prakus Prime rose in her memory. She remembered how all the tissue-paper clothing she’d been wearing had melted off. And then Greer’s clothes had melted off too, when he dived in to rescue her. Somehow he had looked even bigger when he was naked…all wet and muscular and mouthwatering and he had been holding her so close to his bare chest…
Well what about your last mission, where he sucked the bat venom out of your leg? whispered a naughty little voice in her head.
Sunny bit her lip. Yes—that had been quite a provocative situation. The little brown bat had flown right up under her skirt and before she could get it out, she’d felt a sharp little bite on her inner thigh.
“Oh—ow!” she’d gasped, jumping around and dislodging the bat. The Holy Father, who had just finished performing the Joining ceremony they had been there to observe, had gotten a grave look on his wrinkled green face.
“The bite of a boo-yang bat is extremely venomous!” he exclaimed, frowning. “We must bring her to the Health Center at once so that they may extract the venom!”
But Greer clearly wasn’t willing to wait for them to get to a Health Center. He had picked Sunny up and then laid her down right on the soft purple moss that carpeted the forest floor. Then, with everyone watching, he had pushed up Sunny’s skirt and parted her thighs with his broad shoulders.
Sunny had gasped with mingled embarrassment and pleasure as he fastened his mouth to her thigh and started sucking. She was a little concerned that Greer hadn’t spit out the blood, but then she remembered he was some special kind of Blood Kindred, so she assumed it was all right.
She could still remember the feeling of his hot mouth on her tender inner thigh and the feeling of his rough cheek rubbing against her panties. The pain of the bite was gone almost at once as Greer sucked away the venom, but he seemed to linger between her legs for a long, long time.
Sunny still remembered her mingled embarrassment and pleasure as the big Kindred sucked her thigh. There had been a ring of people standing around, staring curiously as he did it, but somehow that had only made her hotter.
Was she possibly some kind of closet exhibitionist, she wondered? Had it turned her on even more to have strangers staring at them while Greer performed such an intimate act for her? And had the big Kindred enjoyed being between her legs as much as she had enjoyed having him there?
Sunny shifted in her seat. Was it hot in here or was it just her? She put a hand to her cheek—she was definitely blushing. What was wrong with her? She really shouldn’t be having these thoughts about her Protector.
But what if he’s having the same kinds of thoughts about you? whispered the little voice in her head. What if all this time, he’s been wanting you and he just doesn’t show it because he’s so growly and stone-faced and stoic?
Sunny wondered if that little voice might possibly be right—maybe she had missed something that she was just now noticing. All this time she’d been telling herself that Greer was just being protective of her because it was his job. But how many Protectors carried their Wards just so they wouldn’t get their shoes dirty in the mud? How many Protectors were so attentive and kind when it came to the little details like an untied shoelace or reaching something off a high shelf? How many let their Wards fall asleep on them—as Sunny had done with Greer on several occasions when a ceremony they were viewing ran late into the night.
The first time it happened, he had just sat there and looked at her with mild surprise when she leaned her head against his shoulder. The next time he had put his arm around her and gathered her close, so she could rest her head on his broad chest. Several times he had even lifted her like a sleepy child and carried her to bed, tucking her in tenderly and making sure she was warmly covered.
Sunny hadn’t dared to think anything of these sweet gestures from her gruff and growly Protector before, but now she wondered…
The thing was, she had always found Greer extremely attractive. Those pale gray eyes and long black hair and his big, muscular body and warm, spicy scent—if someone had offered to make a man out of her fantasies, Greer would have been it. He was the exact opposite of her ex, Bernard.
Bernard was a Theoretical Physicist at USF, where Sunny taught. He was skinny as a string bean and wore thick glasses and had ears that stuck out from the sides of his head. He also had the annoying habit of making fun of Sunny’s vocation since she was in the “soft sciences.”
Even worse, her ex had often told her she needed to lose weight—which was something Greer had never said to her. In fact, the big Kindred often urged her to have as much as she wanted when they ate together. When Sunny had once admitted she was on a diet to try and get thinner, he had frowned disapprovingly.
