Beloved Bodyguard Read online

  Beloved Bodyguard

  By Bonnie Dee

  SMASHWORDS EDITION

  * * * * *

  PUBLISHED BY:

  Bonnie Dee on Smashwords

  Beloved Bodyguard Copyright © 2013

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

  Smashword Edition License Notes

  This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. Thank you for respecting the author's work.

  Chapter One

  The new bodyguard her father had insisted on assigning her looked like a block of hewn granite and had about that much personality. He was a rock, with dark almond eyes, a blade of a nose, and cheekbones sharp enough to cut through his skin. His jaw could stop a truck, and his lips were so straight you could use them as a ruler. If coal were shoved up his ass, he’d press out diamonds. Only his sleek black hair showed a hint of unruliness as strands fell over his forehead.

  “I’m sorry, miss. It’s for your safety. The situation isn’t stable right now.”

  Leelah glared at the man in the charcoal gray suit before slamming the door closed in his face. Retreating into the bright garden of colors decorating her bedroom, she flopped on the bed and gazed at the star-spangled ceiling before switching on the comset implanted in her ear.

  “Trianne Abet.” She said her friend’s name aloud and the comset connected them.

  “Hey, girl, what’s up?” It was hard to hear Trianne’s voice above the background noise of a party. “Where are you? You need to get your ass over here.”

  “Can’t.” Leelah picked at her purple bedcover. “Would you believe this shenje? Almost twenty-five years old and I’m basically grounded.”

  “What?” Trianne yelled.

  “They’re not letting me leave the compound. We’re on high alert, so this new guy has me on lockdown. There’s always some new threat! When will I be allowed to actually start living my life and making some kind of difference in the world?”

  “Stop it!” Trianne’s shriek echoed in Leelah’s head, and she dialed down the comset. “Sorry. Burdah’s grabbing my boob. Listen, your dad’s practically the ruler of the Free Worlds. You should know the drill by now. Remember when you were twelve and there was that uprising that never came to anything? You managed to get out and we spent the day at the beach. Are you telling me as a grown woman you can’t manage to shake your bodyguard?”

  “This guy’s different. He’s like a hawk.” She thought of Ja-hun’s intent eyes watching everything at once, taking in every detail, and giving nothing back. A glimmer of arousal spiked through her and she wondered what fucking such a cold man would be like. Enough to frost her pussy, no doubt. “Anyway, this is not just about going to a party and having fun, although it sounds like you’re having a helluva good time. I could actually be useful. I do know a little something about how to play the diplomacy game.”

  “Oh, yeah. You’re good at intergalactic relations. There’s this guy from Anu, named Danje, you’ve got to meet. He’s gorgeous.”

  The mental picture of an Anuvian male, a beautiful golden specimen of his race, wouldn’t come into focus. It kept being supplanted by Ja-hun’s granite face.

  “I’ve tried everything, but I can’t get this bodyguard to let me go out, even though he’d be right there to, you know, do his job and guard me.”

  “Try harder.” There was a loud laugh, then Trianne said, “Gotta go,” before abruptly ending the transmission.

  Leelah sighed. If her father weren’t in the middle of a summit meeting, she’d call and have him order Ja-hun to free her from house arrest. Her dad understood that parties really were about more than socializing.

  Because of the big event tomorrow evening, royals and dignitaries from worlds across the galaxy were currently on NewEarth. Many of the younger generation of those prominent families would be at Burdah Garan’s party today. Forging connections with them was important. She could influence policy, sway future decisions, and get them to open their pocketbooks to fund some of her father’s new programs. If she happened to have some fun at the same time, that was a well-earned perk.

  She kicked her legs against the bed for a few moments, venting her frustration, then called up the vid screen only to find nothing interesting on. At her command, the screen disappeared, revealing the scarlet-draped wall behind it again. Staring at the wall, she wondered if it was time for a makeover for her room. The profusion of brilliant colors was eye-catching, but hardly restful. Maybe that was why she had so much trouble sleeping at night. Even the starry sky on her ceiling didn’t lull her. She was always shifting and moving, too full of energy to relax.

  A shrink would probably find all sorts of interesting things in her psyche, but she refused to go to one. She didn’t want some stranger poking around inside her. What she wanted right now was to be with Trianne and her other friends. She wanted to help her father in his campaign of change and knew exactly how to present his plans so the younger set would get on board. She could be an invaluable tool for him, if he’d loosen the reins.

  The only thing standing between her and what she wanted to accomplish was that stony lump in the hallway outside her bedroom. The bodyguard infuriated her, but also piqued her interest. Ja-hun’s broad shoulders, big hands, and stoic expression had infiltrated her sexual fantasies ever since he’d arrived. Imagining the chiseled muscle and sleek skin under that somber suit awoke an itch she couldn’t quite scratch.

  She squeezed her thighs together against the pulsing between them and cupped her breasts, through the fabric of her shirt. She rubbed her thumbs over her nipples and glanced down at the erect buds molded by clinging cloth. What would happen if she opened the door and called Ja-hun into her room from his post in the hallway? He was a man, not a rock. Surely his gaze would slip down to her chest, and a light would spark in those inscrutable eyes. His cock might harden, a different sort of stone filling out the front of his pants.

  As Leelah pictured Ja-hun’s arousal, she squeezed her legs together tighter and tugged her nipples harder. She’d been around the guy less than a week, and he intrigued her in a way men seldom did. As a rule, the male sex was pretty easy to figure out and very easy to manipulate. But Ja-hun was such an enigma, so emotionless and reserved that she kept jabbing him with verbal barbs to try to arouse a response.

  She’d never before tried to dally with the help. Throughout the years, as bodyguards came and went, she’d always understood they were there to provide protection, not to be teased or toyed with—although she had cajoled Drummond into playing endless games of jabarta when she was eight. But Ja-hun had invaded her mind and her senses.

  She found herself speculating about what he’d be like in bed. Leelah exposed her breasts so she could touch them while imagining Ja-hun’s rough-hewn hands covering them. After flipping up the hem of her skirt, she pulled off her panties and began working he
r fingertip over her clit. Her pussy was already slippery from bodyguard-inspired daydreams. She dipped a finger inside herself and spread the moisture up her seam. She rubbed her clit until her hips lifted and her pussy ached for release.

  Leelah reached for the vibrator in her nightstand drawer, turned it on and guided it into her entrance. It was the best toy money could buy, with a texture and movement similar to the real thing. Her trusty vibe was probably better hung and certainly less trouble than most men. She should be glad to spend an afternoon with it—even if it didn’t give her a kiss afterward.

  As her muscles clenched around the pulsing faux penis, she again pictured her bodyguard out of his sober gray suit. Underneath she was sure there were muscles like iron bands, solid but not bulky, and she imagined his skin would be golden-tan all over. If he was on top of her now, his hard chest crushing her breasts, their skin would glide together. His eyes, as they gazed into hers, would be alive with electric sparks instead of their usual flat calm. The aching tension inside her grew stronger as her fantasy grew sharper and more detailed. The buzzing vibrator hit a perfect spot deep inside and sent sparkles of delight through her.

  Leelah moaned. Couldn’t trust a real man to hit that sweet spot. But then, the vibrator didn’t make the intoxicating grunts and groans that a man did.

  A few more thrusts brought her to the peak. Plunging down the other side, she cried out her pleasure. More than cried—she wailed in release, which explained why her bodyguard burst into the room a second later.

  She froze with the vibrator buried deep, her body arching off the bed, and her mouth still open.

  Ja-hun also froze, a zynpher half drawn from the holster beneath his jacket. He stared at her, glanced around the room as though there might be hidden intruders, then stared at her again. But he didn’t blink once, and no expression disturbed his stony countenance.

  He put the zynpher back in its holster, and his jacket fell forward, concealing it again. “Pardon me.” His voice was low and as smooth as glass. He dipped his head and withdrew from the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

  Leelah’s orgasmic high evaporated like raindrops on hot pavement. She pulled the still pulsing vibrator from her pussy and threw it across the room at the door. It clattered to the floor before it reached that far. Forget the granite comparison. Her new bodyguard was a fucking block of ice.

  * * * *

  Outside his new charge’s door, Ja-hun stood breathing heavily, his heart racing and blood rushing through him. Right to his cock, as a matter of fact. He was like a boy when it came to Leelah, completely losing control over his body’s reactions and surrendering the hard-won discipline with which he governed his mind.

  This glorified babysitting position should have been the easiest job ever. He’d taken the position for a chance to breathe, regroup, and think about what he might do with the rest of his life. Instead, keeping Leelah safe was turning into a nightmare. Not because he thought she was in any imminent danger, but because his unruly hormones burst like fireworks whenever he looked at her.

  But then what man wouldn’t be affected by the sight of a woman with a vibrator buried in her pussy and her body writhing against a tangle of blue satin sheets?

  He groaned and closed his eyes, but couldn’t shut out the shifting images of what he’d seen in that bedroom; tangled brown hair, flushed cheeks, and full lips parted to reveal a flash of white teeth. Topaz eyes fringed by long, dark lashes stared right into his. A shirt pushed up to reveal pert breasts with erect nipples. How he craved a lick of those rosy tips. Naked legs spread far apart, offering him an explicit view of her pussy stretched around a fake cock—one he would have been happy to replace with his erection.

  In the few seconds he’d stood staring, his cock had swelled to massive proportions. He prayed Leelah hadn’t seen the fast-growing bulge in his pants or registered the surge of lust reflected in his face. He knew his mouth hadn’t dropped open or his eyes widened in shock. He was too well schooled in concealing his emotions for that, but still his desire must have burned across his face.

  A job. Leelah was just another job. He’d reminded himself of this every day since he’d begun working for President Rogent Blaine, but the resolve didn’t hold. Only six days into the job and he was in turmoil over a headstrong, bad-tempered bitch he normally wouldn’t give a moment’s thought to. What the hell was happening to him? Sex. Need. Desire. throbbed through him in an unending mantra, replacing his former credo, Discipline. Calm. Control.

  His loss of perspective might have something to do with the fact that his last job had been as protector to Crin-tai, the despicable criminal who controlled two-thirds of the Jens Quadrant. After two years of working for that horrible weasel, it was no wonder Leelah felt like a breath of fresh air and sunlight. He hadn’t been around an attractive female in too long was the problem.

  Ja-hun glanced down the empty hallway, and stroked the ridge of his cock through the fabric of his trousers. He shivered beneath his own touch. He needed some relief and this wasn’t the place for it.

  “Stedman.” He activated the comset with his voice.

  “Yes, sir.” The “sir” was grudging and bordered on being disrespectful. Nigeri Stedman, head of household safety, took Ja-hun’s hiring as a personal affront. President Blaine had undermined his authority by bringing in a special consultant. Having a personal guard placed on Leelah inside the compound suggested Rogent doubted the security team’s ability to truly protect her.

  “I’m taking a break. Send someone to replace me.”

  Just a few minutes to himself to get his head on straight, that was all he needed. Please don’t let the girl come out here and confront me about what I saw, or worse, parade around in her skimpy little outfit, flaunting her body and mocking me.

  Stedman didn’t bother to reply, but a young guard, Pratt, showed up to relieve Ja-hun a few minutes later. “I’ll be back in an hour.” Ja-hun walked quickly down the hall toward the room he’d been given for the duration of this assignment.

  Closing the door behind him, he breathed in the cool, mashiki-scented air. The room was a soothing haven in shades of gray, which made entering the dimly lit space somewhat like walking into a fogbank. Since Ja-hun liked solitary walks on misty days, the atmosphere suited him perfectly. He shrugged off his jacket and tossed it over a chair, kicked off his shoes, loosened his tie, and fell back on the bed. It was the most comfortable mattress he’d ever slept on, conforming perfectly to his body, not overly soft like the one he’d occupaied at Crin-tai’s or hard like the cot in his prison cell on D’jeering.

  A few moments’ rest and a mental reminder of why he was here would center him. Recent threats from sources possibly tied to the Insurgent Alliance had prompted President Blaine to hire the best to ensure his daughter’s safety. Since the threats specifically mentioned her, Ja-hun was hired to watch Leelah around the clock. He couldn’t blame the girl for thinking his presence outside her room was overkill. Perhaps if someone had shared with her the specifics of those messages, she’d understand the danger wasn’t exaggerated. But her father hadn’t wanted her to know the exact content.

  Leaving the compound to attend a party was an unnecessary risk right now, but vivacious Leelah must feel she was being held captive. Still, she’d found a way to pass the afternoon, hadn’t she? Images of the woman lying half naked across her bed, pleasuring herself, rose in Ja-hun’s mind. His cock surged upright again.

  He un-tucked his shirt and slid his hand down his bare stomach to open the fly of his trousers. Freeing his cock from its cloth prison, he grasped his shaft at the base and gave a long stroke all the way to the tip, which was already leaking. He moved his hand up and down the length of his cock in hard, almost punishing strokes. His hips jerked, and his breathing was fast and shallow. He wanted it over quickly and took little pleasure in masturbating. He’d come to view orgasm as simply a biological function he must serve now and then with either a one-night encounter or his own han
d.

  Ja-hun had long ago weeded out useless emotions from his character. They were distractions that didn’t help him accomplish the kinds of jobs for which he was hired, jobs that made guarding the Blaine princess seem like a vacation. In his youth, he’d become skilled at wet work, but as he’d grown older, he’d decided to offer himself as a protector rather than an assassin. Guarding Crin-tai, there’d been a thin line between business and crime, and Ja-hun had still occasionally acted as a hired gun. This job with the Blaines was supposed to begin a cleaner, better phase of his life.

  He hadn’t counted on Leelah’s dynamic personality ruffling his calm sea like a stormy gale. Her lithe body and sweet, round breasts kept a low-grade fever burning in him. Her pouting lips begged for kissing and her laughter sent ripples of pleasure through him. But what disturbed him most were her nearly golden eyes, hinting at her Anu heritage, which seemed to shine a searchlight into his very soul.

  Ja-hun groaned as his cock spurted its release onto his stomach. When he came, it was not with thoughts of her body, but with those topaz eyes filling his vision.

  With a grimace, he grabbed the tail of his shirt, and wiped the sticky mess off his skin. He’d never much liked the earthiness of bodily fluids, which was pretty ironic, considering all the blood he’d dealt with in his life.

  Rising from the bed, he stripped and headed into the bathroom to shower. After cleaning up and dressing in fresh clothes, Ja-hun watched the vid screen for a few minutes. The news clip about the Insurgent Alliance’s increasingly violent demonstrations against the current government confirmed that Blaine and his cabinet were right to be worried. Whether one agreed with the I.A.’s principles or not, and it so happened Ja-hun thought they made some good points, the organization was a dangerous force.

  After turning the vid off, he went to resume his post at the princess’s door. As he entered the hall leading to her quarters, his heart jolted in his chest. No one was stationed in front of her suite, and the door was ajar. Ja-hun raced to the room and threw open the door. The space was open, so her living area and bedroom were one. He stared at the tumbled purple bedcovers on which she’d recently sprawled like a hologram fantasy.