His to Keep
MINK
A bodyguard’s work is never done, especially when you’re protecting a girl like Cara. For months she’s teased me, showing me glimpses of skin and flaunting her innocence. I’m a hard man, one who has a job to do. Bringing down Cara’s father and his crime syndicate is why I’m here.
It should be the only reason I’m here.
It’s not.
I’m here for Cara, and I’ve wanted her since the day I was first assigned to her protection detail. Claiming her was never an option, not when my plans always ended with her father’s death.
But the more I see of the sheltered girl with the innocent eyes, the more I think she belongs by my side. Even if it goes against my family’s plans, I intend to make Cara my bride and my queen.
And if anyone gets in the way of my love for Cara? Well, like I said, I’m a hard man, one who doesn’t mind getting blood on his hands for the woman he loves.
1
Cillian
“You can walk the grounds, but make sure you keep to the path.” I don’t look at her as I give these instructions. Looking at Cara is the quickest way for this conversation to end on a sour note.
“What if I don’t want to walk the grounds alone?” She pouts.
I don’t have to look at her to know her plump bottom lip is jutting out, her bright green eyes focusing on mine. “Take your cat.” I shrug and keep my gaze on the ground.
“I will, but Sasha and I would love some company.” Cara rises and comes toward me, though I remain in the hall outside her room. I never venture inside, never go near her bed with the pink sheets and white canopy, never so much as think of running my fingers along her neat panty drawer or taking a pair every so often. At least, I never do those things when she’s home.
“You’re my guard. Aren’t you supposed to guard me?” She stops right in front of me.
All I see is a long expanse of smooth legs dotted with freckles. An Irish beauty, one that could bring any man to his knees. But I’m not just any man. I’m her guard, her protector. Her father has entrusted her to my care, and I won’t let him down. Even if Cara can sometimes be … difficult. For example, as I stare down at her shapely legs, I don’t see a hem. I lift my gaze higher and finally find one, a thin white skirt that gives me an ample view of her lavender panties with the pretty pink blooms along the edges.
“You can’t go outside like that.” I fist my hands.
“Like what? You haven’t even seen my dress.” Her petulant pout has returned. Just the sound of it thickens my cock, and my palm itches to redden her pale ass for every moment of teasing she’s put me through.
“Cillian.” She puts her hands on her hips. “Look at my dress.”
“No. Put on some real clothes.”
“These are real clothes.”
“No, some see-through negligee isn’t real clothes, and if your father finds out you’ve been parading half-naked in front of his men, you and I are going to be in some deep fucking trouble.” Not to mention the fact that I never want anyone to see so much as an inch of her skin. I get a murderous urge whenever one of the McKibbon soldiers looks her way, much less has the nerve to smile at her.
She’s not to be touched, not to be drooled over by the rank and file. Cara is destined to be gifted to another mafia family, her virginity a sign of her clan’s desire to form an alliance. Kaden McKibbon is a shrewd man, one who handpicked me to safeguard his daughter’s life and virtue.
“I’m going in this.” Her haughty tone finally has me lifting my gaze.
I stop when I see her pink nipples, the tips hard and pushing against the thin white linen. My mouth waters. Desire roars through my veins like fire through a dry forest. I fight the same battle I’ve been fighting for the past six months. This girl has teased me relentlessly, and I’m only a man. A strong one, but not when it comes to her. Still, I have to remember my place here, my purpose.
I finally meet her fiery green eyes. “Cara, get back in your room and put on some real clothes.”
“And if I don’t?” She smirks. “What will you do?”
I step closer to her, far closer than I’ve ever allowed myself before.
Her nostrils flare, her eyes widening. “Nothing. You’ll do nothing.” She kicks her chin up in open defiance.
“Cara, I don’t have time for your games today.”
“I don’t have time for your overbearing asshattery today, but here we are all the same,” she shoots back.
“Cara.” I’m standing on a knife’s edge, my need for her fucking with my head. “Go back inside and put on some clothes.”
“No.” She huffs out a breath. “And you can’t make me.”
She turns and starts to push past me.
That’s it. That’s fucking it.
I grab her by the elbow and haul her back into her room, slamming the door behind us as I spin her around and pin her to it. Wrists above her head, her body stretched taut against the door as I lean into her, letting her feel every inch of muscle as I stare down into her wide eyes.
“So help me, Cara, if you don’t put on some fucking clothes right this minute, I will drag you to that bed, drape you over my knees, yank those panties off, gag you with them, and spank your ass until your mascara runs down to your chin and you beg me to stop. Do you understand?” I’m breathing heavily, my mouth only a whisper from hers, and my voice is so low and gravelly I don’t recognize it.
She whimpers, her gaze darting to my lips. “Cillian.”
Fuck, the way she says my name. It’s like a shot of adrenaline straight to my veins. I did this to scare her, to make her fall into line. But with the way she’s looking at me—and with the way my cock is trying to burst free from my goddamn pants—I realize this was a mistake. A big one. What the fuck am I doing?
“Get dressed,” I growl and release her, then back away. I point to the closet and bark, “Go!”
She glances down at my cock, and her gaze is like a feather touch. But she obeys this time and scampers past me and into her closet.
I take a breath. A deep one.
I almost went too far. Fuck, who am I kidding? I did go too far.
But now it’s done. Over. I’m here for a mission, nothing more. I have to do a good job with guarding Cara to gain the McKibbons’ trust. Then I’ll bring them down from the inside.
At least I’ve got Cara in line now. She’ll be afraid of me, too scared to step out of line now that I’ve shown her the sort of man I am. Good. She should fear me.
I straighten my tie and look up when she prances out of her closet wearing nothing but those goddamn lavender panties and a mischievous smile.
2
Cara
I stare at my bedroom door. I can’t believe he locked me in here. I’m not sure how that’s even possible. There’s a lock on the inside of my door that I hardly ever use. I really don’t have a reason to since Cillian is always standing guard outside of it. He must have jammed something into the mechanism before he yelled that he’d let me out once I was dressed. Yet those words aren’t the ones that keep running through my mind. It’s what he said before that.