Dangerous Obsession (Men of Valor Springs #4)

Chapter Three

Jax

I don’t know whether to be surprised or disappointed.

All that arguing and demanding to be let out of the house, and so far, we’ve been to three places. The bakery, an antique shop, and now, we’re in a goddamned library of all places. I had no fucking idea Valor Springs even had a library, and yet, here we are.

My muscles are honed through years of training, my skills finely tuned from my time in the Marines and from working the field for the Andreyevs. Yet, what am I doing? Guarding a girl whose idea of fun is browsing through an antique shop. Disappointment mixes with equal amounts of surprise and frustration. The latter is from sitting still and pretending I don’t want to slam the girl against the bookshelves and rut her like a dog.

Fucking hell!

Just thinking about fucking this little bookworm has my hard cock throbbing behind my fly, and I settle back against a bookshelf, praying she doesn’t look down, or she’ll spot my erection. Up until a few months ago, I barely noticed Arya. She spent most of her life abroad, and during her visits, I was too busy to pay attention to the shy teen who often hid in her room. It wasn’t until she showed up here several months ago with all her luggage that I really saw her.

At first, I wasn’t sure who she was. Beautiful hazel eyes drew me in like nothing I had ever experienced, and I questioned if she was a friend of Rue’s in town for a visit. Aside from her hair, Arya looks nothing like the rest of her family, and she doesn’t behave like any of them either.

The innocence I read in her eyes, I want to guard and ruin it in equal measures.

I wonder how she looks with that sexy little mouth swollen from my kiss or parted around my cock, those pretty eyes leaking tears as I thrust my shaft into her mouth, burying all my swollen inches into her throat before painting her face with my seed.

“Jax?”

My eyes shoot to hers, and I curse myself for dazing off. Some bodyguard I am. There is just something tedious about libraries. Never liked them as a kid, sure as fuck don’t like them now.

“Do you need something?” A club to knock me out with? Jesus Christ, we’ve only been here for half an hour, and I am already bored out of my fucking mind.

“Can you pass me that book?” she whispers, pointing at a shelf of books closest to me. Her voice is low and barely audible even though we’re practically alone in the library.

I grab a stack from the shelf and hold them out to her, and she picks two from the top, flipping through the pages before settling on one. “Is this what you do for fun?” I finally ask, unable to help myself. Does Vlad know this about her? I answer my own question when I recall his unusual insistence that his home library be updated and reorganized shortly before Arya’s return. Vlad is nothing if not indulgent of his baby sister. It’s a wonder she didn’t grow up to be a spoiled brat with how much Vlad overcompensated for their father’s lack of attention.

Arya looks up, and her cheeks turn rosy when our gazes connect before quickly looking away. “What do you mean?”

“Read books.”

“Well, it’s one of the things I like to do.”

“Tell me, princess, what other things do you enjoy doing?” The “princess” is meant to be mocking, but it comes off as affectionate, and I curse under my breath for even saying it in the first place.

“I…I like going to antique shops and flea markets. It’s like going on a treasure hunt. I like to imagine where the things I find came from and who owned them before me. Oh, there was also this animal shelter near my school in Belgium, and I used to volunteer there on weekends. Vlad donates every year to the shelter, so they let me spend time helping the animals, and sometimes I read books to them.”

Jesus Christ.

I stare at her and realize two things simultaneously: I don’t really know her at all and she is far more wholesome and innocent than I’d imagined. To be fair, I never spent much time around the girl until her accident when I had to guard her hospital room, but even then, we didn’t talk much.

I’m not convinced there is anything to even talk about. This girl, with her sexy little body and those tempting lips, is a nerd. If I didn’t know she is related to a pakhan , I would never have guessed she is part of a crime family.

“You have a library at home. Why are we here?”

She blinks at me as if I just asked a dumb question. “It’s different,” she whispers, closing the book, and I watch as she gets up to browse the shelves once more. My eyes drop to her pert ass when she reaches up to grab a book from the top shelf and…I should definitely help her with it, but then I would miss out on this magnificent view. “Reading at home can get lonely sometimes. The books here have a little more life because they’ve been read by others. Do you know what I mean?”

No, I do not, and I don’t know anyone that would.

Her skirt rides up even more, and my eyes stay locked on her porcelain legs, my cock twitching in response to my desire to touch her. It’s taking everything in me not to crowd the girl against the shelves and fuck her into oblivion.

Has she even been touched before? A girl who spends time in libraries and antique shops, reading or talking to animals… I wonder if she’s ever felt the touch of a real man. Felt his mouth trail those perfect legs to her inner thighs, parting them to reveal her hot little core.

What kind of sounds would this little temptation make as I bathed her pussy with my tongue?

Fuck! I can’t think about this now.

Arya is my boss’s sister, and she is more than a decade younger than me. I know better than to entertain these thoughts, let alone touch her, but she’s not making it easy for me to fight my desire for her.

“Jax,” she calls out, getting on her tiptoes and reaching up. “A little help here.”

My eyes coast her body, and when I step behind her to grab the book she’s trying to reach, I barely resist the urge to rock my erection against her ass. I manage to grab her book without so much as touching her, but the little tease pushes back against me as she drops back to her heels, rubbing that perfect ass against my erection, and I almost shoot in my jeans, something I haven’t done since I was fourteen and swamped by adolescent hormones.

“Fuck!” I growl, clenching my teeth as an ache shoots to my balls.

“S-sorry,” she whispers, her voice shaky despite doing it intentionally. At least I think it was intentional, but with the way her innocent eyes shift to mine, there is no way of knowing for sure.

“Be careful,” I tell her, stepping back from temptation and passing the book to her. She grabs it and whispers another apology before rushing back to her seat where she starts flipping through the pages, but this time, even I can tell that she isn’t taking anything in.

Did I scare her?

She seems flustered at the very least. Her attention seems shot now, and she’s actively avoiding looking my way. Even with her head bowed, I can tell she’s blushing, and I can’t help but wonder what she’s thinking.

I expect the rest of the time to pass in an awkward silence, but I am surprised once more when Arya lifts her gaze from the book she’s clearly not reading to me. “You asked me what other things I enjoy doing, but you have to know I am not exactly free to do anything I please.”

“Why not?”

She smooths her hands over her lap before fully shifting to face me. “A lot of activities…involve other parties, and most people are scared to approach me because of Vlad. Having a crime boss for a brother doesn’t exactly earn you friends, even in a foreign country.”

Don’t ask.

Do not fucking ask her.

“And what kind of activities do you need other parties for?”

“Dancing, traveling, trying new restaurants. They aren’t as fun to do alone, not that Vlad would ever let me.” Thank fuck . “And dating, kissing; you kind of need someone else for those.”

Fuck!

I should not have asked her, but a part of me couldn’t resist. It wouldn’t be totally unexpected to learn she dated while she was in Belgium. Vlad, of course, would have tried to put a stop to it had he known, but Belgium is half a world away from Valor Springs. There are limits to what even Vlad can manage. While something inside me warms at the knowledge Arya has never dated anyone, it’s still better for everyone if I quickly wrap up this conversation and move on to something else. At this point, awkward silence is better than the direction this conversation is headed.

“I don’t think this is an appropriate conversation to be having with your bodyguard.”

Arya bites her lip, and I expect her to drop it, but she gets up on her feet. I read the nerves in her eyes as she closes the distance between us. Her eyes drop when she stops in front of me, and the blatant submissiveness in the gesture has my cock throbbing hard and moisture pooling at the tip. I have to clench my hands to stop myself from reaching out to her and grazing a finger over those flushed cheeks. Christ, she is a fucking dream, so breathtaking standing there, fighting her own shyness.

“Who should I talk to about it?” she asks, reaching out and lightly fingering the buttons of my shirt.

“Your friends,” I manage hoarsely.

Arya looks up at me through her long eyelashes. “They are not here,” she whispers, trailing her fingertips up my chest and toying with the buttons, making it hard for me to focus on what she’s saying. “I just… I have some questions I don’t think my friends would know the answers to.”

“Arya.”

My tone is a harsh warning, but she doesn’t heed it as her eyes drop to the massive bulge in my pants. Arya's eyes widen in fascination, and her hands drop from my shirt to my belt, then lower, sucking in a sharp breath when her delicate fingers graze my hard cock.

“Jax,” she breathes, and I snare her wrist before she can do any more, pulling her hand away from my cock. Fucking hell, how can someone shift from a blushing maiden too scared to meet my eyes to bold vixen in a matter of seconds?

I should not have let her touch me, but a part of me thought it might frighten some sense into her, but it seems to have had the opposite effect. The bright-eyed girl now has a curious determination in her eyes that I know is going to cause trouble.

I squeeze her wrist and force her focus back to my face. This is insane, and there is no fucking way in hell I am going to entertain touching this girl. Not in a library—albeit an empty one—where anyone could walk in on us. She’s forbidden to me. Vlad would kill me if I touched his sister, and I bet he wouldn’t take into account how much she’s chipping away at my control.

This girl is smaller, younger, and Christ above, so fucking delicate, and yet, she holds so much power over me with a simple caress. I should… I need to stop this before it gets too far.

Her eyes dart from mine to my erection then back to my face. “I have questions.”

“Arya,” I groan at the impossible girl. “You are killing me.” I know she is stubborn, which is quite frankly the one certain thing I do know about her, but I did not expect to experience it firsthand, not like this at least.

“I just… Will you let me try?” she asks, trying to shake off my iron grip. “I just want to know what it feels like to, uhm, touch you.”

“Princess…” Fuck!

“If I can’t touch you then, will you kiss me?” she pleads, stepping closer, and my eyes drop to her low-cut top that reveals her exquisite neckline and cleavage. Fuck, she doesn’t have a fucking bra on. When we left the house earlier, she was in a soft pink sweater that is now draped over her chair. I tried not to look earlier when she shrugged it off, but now, there is no avoiding it.

“Jax?”

Her eyes are glassy, needy, pleading with me to break my own rules and touch her. I cave like I knew I would. With her wrists firmly clasped in one hand, I brush the back of my knuckles over her soft cheeks, watching those sexy lips puff open as I do so, that perfect mouth practically begging me for a kiss.

I should resist. Deny us what I know we both want. She’s a forbidden fruit, but aren’t those the sweetest, juiciest kind? Fuck, she looks the tastiest of all, and I am a weak man. One whose control is in shreds, but the fact is, I want her.

And I have no fucking idea how to stop.

“Jax…”

Fuck it!

I lean down and press my lips to hers, and her mouth opens underneath mine. She sighs against my lips, almost as if she’s been waiting for this moment forever rather than a few minutes. The kiss is slow, her inexperience evident, but she’s eager and quick to learn. I grab her chin and tilt my head to the side, dragging my tongue hotly over hers, the friction sending a storm of heat to my aching balls. Arya tries to pull her hands from my grasp, but I tighten my grip, unwilling to let her curious fingers send me over the edge.

Her lips are smooth and sweet, like the rest of her. I taste coffee and chocolate icing on her lips, and it’s a hundred times more addictive than the real thing. Everything about this girl is so fucking addictive. From the smooth texture of her mouth, to the taste of her lips, down to the little whimpers she makes at the back of her throat.

I drop my hand from her chin to trail it over the sexy swell of her tits, fondling them with my free hand as I sweep my mouth over her soft skin. She moans into the kiss when I tease her nipples with my thumb then squeeze the pebbled buds between my knuckles. Her breathing grows ragged as she presses into my hand, pushing against my greedy palm.

We—I need to stop. I have gone much further than I intended. Reluctantly, I break the kiss and drop my forehead against hers, fighting to rein in my need. But she shatters my resolve by pressing the length of her body against mine.

“Princess…”

“Need you,” she whispers, her glazed eyes locked on mine, pleading with me to take things further, to give her more. Her voice drops a little. “Jax, please…”

Say no.

I have to tell her no.

“What do you want?”

Arya keeps her gaze on mine and doesn’t look away once. She doesn’t seem uncertain about anything. My judgment may be impaired right now, but I am well aware of our environment.

“You,” she breathes. “I want you , Jax.”