Page 5 of Stalking the Bride

Look at her, sitting beside me while we drive to the hotel where I’ll be keeping her. So innocent. So naïve. So blissfully unaware of the man I truly am. No idea that my only desire is to completely devour her, chain her to me, make it impossible for her to ever leave my side. I want to bury my mouth between her thighs and drag my tongue up her soaked channel to taste her sweet arousal. My body is begging for more of her scent, beyond the little I get from the pink pillowcase I stole from her room when I first was assigned to her.

My Marine training should have prevented all this manic behavior, but I completely lose control when it comes to Belle. Now I’m the man assigned to look after her while simultaneously being the most dangerous man she could be around.

If only she knew who I really was…the bad man I truly am.

What would she do then? Would she run?

“I appreciate you doing this,” Belle says nervously, self-soothing by running her palms across her thighs, hidden fromme by the sheer moss-green fabric of her yoga pants. She’s wearing a loose-fitting T-shirt as well that rises up every time she lifts her arms, revealing just a glimpse of her soft, flat tummy. I try to focus on driving, but I’m thickening rapidly as I sit beside her.

Belle. She’s simply too much.

“Just doing my job,” I assure her. My eyes are on the road, but I see her glancing over at me from her seat.

“And that’s why you’re doing this? Protecting me?”

What’s she getting at? Does she not trust me? “What do you mean?”

“Never mind.” She quickly averts her eyes and shifts awkwardly in her seat, causing her hips and the pert curve of her butt to twist toward me. I have to fight back the urge to slam on the brakes, grab her by the ass, and drag her into the back seat to have my way with her.

Somehow, I manage to maintain my composure, and we drive the rest of the way in silence. It’s the only way I can control myself. Belle is simply irresistible, and while being this close to her has always been a painful struggle, today is even worse. When we finally arrive at the hotel, I leave the car with my men and take her up to the room myself.

“You will be safe here.” I watch her as she looks around but remain by the door. I know if I get any closer, I won’t be able to keep my hands off her.

She circles the room, and I drink in her curves like a man dying of thirst. She stops, nods, and looks back at me. “You’ve done this often.”

Her statement catches me off guard. “Done what often?”

“Taken girls to fancy hotel rooms.” She flashes a cheeky grin at me, and my heart skips a beat. Christ, is she flirting with me? How crazy would that be? The one girl that’s completely off-limits has a crush on me, and it’s in my job description not to act on it.

What a cruel world we live in.

But then again, I’m the one who called in the bomb threat…I’m the one who’s been watching her from afar through my sniper scope, breaking into her house when the urge takes me and watching her from the shadows to stave off the insanity that threatens to consume me when she’s out of my sight.

“No. I don’t take girls to hotel rooms.”

“Oh, no? Not even Cynthia?”

“Cynthia? Who is–” And then it hits me. The girl working at the Cooper manor who practically threw herself at me one night before my shift ended. I told her I wasn’t interested, and she nearly had a manic breakdown.

Surely Belle knows this.

So what’s she getting at?

“Never mind.” Her cheeks are red as she spins around, causing her T-shirt to lift up, revealing the tender curves where her waist meets her womanly hips. I’m growing harder and harder beneath my jeans. Painfully hard as I watch her every move. My cock is throbbing, dying to be inside her. I can’t imagine just how incredible her tiny virgin cunt must feel. “It’s just that…Cynthia’s cute. Why wouldn’t you go out with her?”

I fight back a smile as Belle nervously eyes me for my reaction. She’s teasing me, so I’m going to tease her right back.

“She is cute.” I nod. Belle’s eyes narrow, filling with darkness. “But she’s full of herself and could never give me what I want.”

I shouldn’t be doing this.

I swore an oath to protect Belle–not to try and get in her pants. Oaths aren’t meant to be broken. But she is steadily chipping away at me, and I fear there’s nothing I can do to stop it.

Oh, angel. Send me away now. You have no idea what you’re getting yourself into.

“And what is it that you want?” she asks.

Her eyes blaze with curiosity. I realize I’m moving toward her, step after step, without even meaning to. Her attraction has a hold on me. I simply can’t help myself.

---