My Silver Fox Protector by Lauren Cole
MASON
With my gun cocked,I softly opened the door and inched down the dark hallway. It was well after midnight. Maybe Viktor had decided to send the team, anyway. Or maybe whoever Emma had been snooping around on had actually sent someone to finish the job I’d started.
I peered into Emma’s room. The door was open; the lights were off, and no sign of Emma. My pulse quickened. If anything happened to her on my watch, after what I’d done to her myself, I could never forgive myself. I quickly made my way to the end of the hallway and pivoted around the corner.
My heart caught in my throat.
Not because of an intruder.
But because of Emma.
She was standing illuminated by the soft glow of the hall night light in her lacy little underwear, with her giant T-shirt hardly covering a thing as she strained on her tiptoes. She struggled as she reached for a blanket on the top shelf of the linen closet.
I knew I should either help her, or go back to bed, but I couldn’t help but stand frozen, as I admired the soft curve of her ass. I shook my head, willing my thoughts to change.
Emma whirled around. “Holy shit!” She breathed. “You startled me.”
“What are you doing?” I could hear the huskiness in my own voice as I spoke.
“You keep your house mother f-ing freezing. I was trying to get an extra blanket down.” Her eyes flicked down to the gun in my hand, but she said nothing more.
I turned the safety back on and set the gun on the hallway table. “Here, let me.” I closed the space between us, and she stood wedged between the closet and me. I could smell her sweet coconut scent as I reached around her. “Which one?” I huffed.
She turned around and pointed to the one she was reaching for. “That one there, the fuzzy one.”
I leaned forward over the top of her and reached for the blanket above her. Our bodies momentarily pressed together, and my cock lit up at being pressed against her back for a moment. I stepped back and handed her the blanket.
“Thanks.” she whispered, looking up at me with big doe eyes. She was so innocent, so inviting. The look in her eyes was uncertain. And there she was, standing in front of me, half naked. I ate her up with my eyes silently. Her breathing was fast and shallow. Even in the darkness I could see how dilated her eyes were, looking at me.
Fuck.
I found myself imagining things, all kinds of things I shouldn’t be. I could push her up against the door frame right now, and sweep those thin little panties to the side so easily. And that’s all that stood between us, just a thin little piece of fabric. Based on the way she was breathing, I had a pretty good idea of what I might find on that fabric, too. A warm damp spot.
Get it together, man. This is your best friend's daughter, for Christ's sake.
And then my eyes flicked back up to her face, where I could just barely make out the bruises across her face that were developing into a deeper blue hue. I felt hot shame pour through me. If being light years older than her wasn't enough, if her being my friend's daughter wasn’t enough, then the fact that I had made those marks on her body was. I didn’t deserve the thought of fantasizing about being with Emma, not after what I had done to her.
She deserved someone who would touch her tenderly, who would never leave a bruise on her body. But something in me felt the urge to be the one to make all those bruises and pain go away. Something in me felt the urge to leave different kinds of marks on her skin.
I felt myself trying to break the trance I was in. “You shouldn’t be skulking around the house in the dark.” I barked, and it came out more aggressive than I intended, but I was trying to do anything except get seduced by sweetness itself. And that’s what Emma was. She was sweet and pure, and yes, sometimes spunky. But she was quintessentially good itself, even if she did have a habit of getting into trouble.
Her expression shifted to one of irritation, and she pushed past me roughly. “Maybe you shouldn't be lurking around in the dark with that.” She waved to the gun as she walked past and went back into her room and closed the door firmly.
I went back to my room and closed the door even harder.
Fuck.
This was going to be more difficult than I anticipated. She had always been my best friend's daughter to me, but suddenly I realized she was a woman now. She had the body of a woman, and she wasn’t the little girl I used to know anymore. Even with sheer terror in her eyes the other night, she was so fucking beautiful. Even pissed at me and covered in bruises. She was so fucking tempting.
The next morning, I got up around six, and when I came out of my room, Emma was nowhere to be found.
Fucking hell. She knows she is not supposed to disappear. The whole point of staying with me was so that I could keep an eye on her. I felt myself getting more and more agitated, wondering if this was her being rebellious, or if she was actually missing.
After numerous calls and texts, she finally appeared. She came gliding through the front door with her headphones in. She had her hair crammed under a hat and she wore tight leggings that perfectly wrapped around her curves; she was zipped into a tight fitted athletic jacket that accentuated her breasts. She looked like a sleek panther, her hips swaying as she walked into the kitchen.
“Where were you? You can't just up and leave like that.” I grumbled. I was mad she had disappeared, but I was having a real hard time holding onto my irritation as she sweetly responded.
“I was just blowing off some steam. I’m fine really.” Emma opened the fridge and pointed to the OJ. “May I?”
“You don’t have to ask. What’s mine is yours.” I shook my head. “While you’re here, I mean.” She was getting more under my skin this morning than she had last night.
“Right.” She tried to conceal a smile as she poured herself a glass. She sat at the kitchen table and opened her laptop.
I came over and leaned on the table. “Are you being good?” I prodded. “Staying out of trouble?”
She shifted uncomfortably, “Uh, yeah.” And she gave me a look.
“What are you working on?” I prodded again. I wanted to see how tight-lipped she was going to be.
“You know I can’t tell you that.” Her shoulders were tense as her eyes scanned me, evaluating. “I’m just doing boring ol’ data management. Nothing exciting, Mason.” The sound of my name in her mouth made my core tighten hungerly. But she was doing well. She was keeping her head down and not saying too much. Though I could sense she wanted to.
The team I ran was a black op cyber security team, and she was one of a handful of analysts who supported the team. I knew she was good, but I was also worried about her. I didn’t want her to accidentally stumble into something she wasn’t supposed to see. That’s why our division was under the radar, because sometimes the government needed us to do things, that were exactly that, under the radar. If she started digging too much, just like the general public, she might not like what she found. She’d find information, documents, contracts all containing more of what I’d been forced to put her through the other night; intimidation, torture, and secrets.
Emma was far too sweet to be diving that deep. No, she needed to stay on the surface where she could breathe, and let me troll the underwater for those predators. She had to have blind faith in the system, trusting that her team leader, me, wouldn’t let anything come up from the depths to hurt her.
I caught her eyes, and she was studying me. “Do you work with Viktor?” She asked cautiously.
Fuck.
She’s not being quiet at all, she’s being cautious about how she asks. “Sometimes.” I responded somewhat truthfully.
Except the truth was that I worked with him extremely closely. He was the main person I reported to. Viktor currently had me working to get more information from a terrorist group that was acquiring military weapons at an alarming rate. Emma shouldn’t be getting tangled up in that anymore than she already was, certainly not with her track record. I could see her getting unknowingly tangled up in bigger charges, and wrongfully taking the blame for things she wasn’t even a part of. She had to be smarter than this if she was going to last in this position. And she had to last in this position, or I couldn’t protect her anymore.
“I’m going to work from home today.” I let her know as she made her way up the stairs, presumably to shower.
“Oh?” She spun around with her eyes with a question in them.
I felt the corners of my mouth twitching. “So I can keep an eye on you.”
She chewed on her lip for a moment and then went upstairs without another word.
After she had showered, she came back downstairs. She sat quietly, working for a long time, before she finally spoke.
As I sat across from her, I opened a new secure chat line as her team leader and initiated with her. She perked up right away and began to type furiously.
Analyst04: Where the hell have you been? You didn’t respond and I got freaking assaulted and kidnapped. I think I have a lead on something too. The guys that hacked me were in Iran.
Fuck.
She wasn’t lying low at all. I gritted my teeth and typed out a response, watching for her reaction.
CSTeamLeader: You shouldn’t be going down rabbit holes. You need to lie low. Just keep your head down and do the work.
She huffedand furiously typed out a response.
Analyst04: This is big. I know it. I think someone from the agency is allowing these breaches. It’s too coordinated and repeated. Something is not right.
CSTeamLeader: Leave it. Do your job. There’s a reason you have the security clearance you do.
Analyst04: If you would just let me look at some of the contracts, maybe I could get a better idea of what they’re after.
CSTeamLeader: You’re not cleared to view them, and do not let me catch you hacking into our own system. There will be consequences. I will not say this again. Do your damn job, and let everyone else do theirs.
I watchedher as she huffed and slumped back in her chair. Her eyes were fiery. I meant what I said in the chat, but I couldn’t help chuckling a little at how worked up she was. “Everything alright?” I asked her across the table.
“No.” She ground out, rolling her eyes. I didn’t speak, letting her respond again. “It’s just– ugh! My boss is driving me insane. They’re so ignorant. I have something, something is not right. And they don’t even care.” She placed her elbow on the table and propped her cheek up using the heel of her hand. She blinked at me in irritation.
“Want to tell me more?” I pushed. I needed to see how much of a loose cannon she was, how much she was willing to step over the line.
She thought for a moment and sucked her teeth. “I can’t.”
“That’s alright.” I nodded.
Good girl.
“It’s just that they’re not even using me to my full capacity.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t work so hard.” I responded.
“Maybe you should mind your own business, Mason.” She said it with a coy smile that was playful. I felt my dick light up, and I swear she could feel my turn on, because her eyes flicked down to my lips for a moment before she met my eyes again.