Three months later…
“Slow down, hon. I promise you’re not going to be late.” Tavis tried not to chuckle as Colette rushed around the apartment, grabbing things and sticking them in her backpack.
He was fairly certain the pregnancy hormones had caused this daily frenzy. She hadn’t been this frantic when he’d first met her, but as the weeks went by, she’d taken on this urgency, always worried she would be late getting to campus. They never were. He always got her there on time.
“Have you seen my laptop?” She spun around the room in circles.
Tavis set the last dish he’d been washing from breakfast in the drainer and came to her. He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into his arms. She didn’t fit as well as she used to. Her belly was growing larger. But he could still wrap his arms around her and hold her tight to help her relax.
He brushed the hair from her face. “It’s in your backpack already. I put it in there last night after you went to bed.”
“You’re sure?” She looked skeptical, her eyes narrowed.
“Well, it’s kinda big. You can take a glance and see it easily enough. It’s not an eraser.”
“Oh. Right.” She sighed and dropped her forehead to his chest, her hands gripping his belt loops. “I’m sorry. I get kinda crazy. I don’t know why.”
“It’s okay. I happen to like you kinda crazy.” He lifted her chin, his heart beating. Now. Do it now. This is your moment. The perfect segue. “I happen to love you kinda crazy.”
She licked her lips. “Yeah?”
“I happen to love you, Colette. I love you. I’ve been in love with you for a long time.”
A slow smile spread across her face. “Why didn’t you say something?” She swatted at his chest.
He chuckled. “I was afraid you weren’t ready to hear it, and you might take a step back.”
“I might not have been ready to hear it as far back as you felt it, but I’ve been ready for a while. I love you too.”
He grinned. “Yeah?” he said, repeating her word.
“Yep.”
He turned her around so the table was behind her and then grabbed her waist and lifted her off the floor.
She squealed as he set her on the table. “Tavis.” She swatted at his shoulders. “You have to stop lifting me. I’m too heavy.”
He rolled his eyes. They’d had this conversation far too many times. “You’ve put on about eight pounds, hon. Eight. Not enough.”
“I’m fine. The doctor says that happens sometimes. He’s not worried.”
“Okay, but don’t worry about me lifting you either.” He slid his hands to her belly and cupped it before easing them up under her shirt to palm her full breasts. They weren’t tender anymore. But they were growing. He loved nuzzling them. And he wanted to do so right now.
When he swept her shirt over her head, she protested. “We have to leave soon.”
He kissed the upper swell of her breast. “We need to leave in about forty-five minutes, hon. Plenty of time for me to make you come and still gather your belongings.” All of which were already in her backpack because he’d made sure last night. He did so every night to avoid this frenzy every morning. The frenzy happened anyway.
He didn’t complain, mostly because it was comically cute. He also didn’t laugh because he enjoyed staying alive.
She moaned as he reached under the edge of her bra and flicked his tongue over her swollen nipple. While she had her head tipped back, her backpack forgotten, he unfastened her bra and tossed it aside so he could get his mouth around her nipples.
The woman loved it when he sucked her nipples. It drove her wild and caused her to forget whatever she’d been stressing about. As soon as he was certain she was gone for him, he leaned her onto her back on the table and slid his hands down to the waistband of her maternity jeans.
They’d ordered several pairs of pants online when she could no longer button her own. She wore baggy shirts and sweaters at school, so no one had noticed she was pregnant yet, or if they suspected, no one had had the balls to say anything.
Tavis eased the jeans down her legs and off her body, stripping her of the clothes she’d just put on ten minutes ago. He’d also made her come before she’d gotten out of bed this morning, but now he needed her.
He kissed his way from her breasts to her tummy, lingering over the pooch that was growing more and more difficult to hide. She was the most beautiful person on Earth.
“Tavis…” She squirmed, reaching for him. It was amazing how he could make her forget they needed to be anywhere.
He found her clit with his fingers and flicked it over and over while he watched her eyes roll back and her hands fist at her sides. Pregnancy hormones were not lowering his woman’s libido. If anything, she was hornier now than she had been when he’d first met her.
She reached for him. “Need you. Stop teasing.”
He grinned before unbuttoning his jeans and lowering the zipper. Two seconds later, he was at her entrance, his cock so hard it was impossible to believe he’d had sex with her just last night.
“Tavis,” she shouted. “Now.”
He grabbed her hips and thrust into her, forcing unintelligible sounds from her lips. Sounds that drove him higher and made him pump into her faster. It had taken him weeks to allow himself to fuck her like this. Raw, fast, hard, primal. But she liked it. She begged for it sometimes. And who was he to argue?
What he wouldn’t do was leave her hanging. And that included now. He reached between them, circled her clit, and then pinched it.
“Oh, God…” Her head rolled back. She was close. He knew the signs. That moment when her breathing became erratic and her hands flopped at her sides because she couldn’t seem to control them.
He loved everything about her. Every inch of her body, mind, and soul.
Finally, her pussy clamped down on his cock, milking him as she rode the waves of her orgasm. He watched her, holding his breath, letting himself follow her over the edge seconds after her orgasm was complete.
Spent and satisfied, he eased out of her. “Don’t move, hon.” He tugged his jeans over his hips and padded over to the sink to get a wet washcloth so he could clean her up.
She watched him, a goofy, satisfied grin on her face. “You take such good care of me.”
“It’s my job.”
She rolled her eyes. “Is this what my father’s paying you for?”
He shuddered. That situation worried him, and he didn’t need to be reminded. There was no telling what Secretary Loughlin was going to do when he found out about Tavis.
Shaking thoughts of her father from his head, he set his hands on her belly again. She did too, her palms on top of his. Their eyes locked, and they stared at each other.
Suddenly, her stomach moved.
Colette gasped, but so did Tavis.
“Did the baby just kick?”
Colette shifted her hands to find a spot to feel herself directly, though it was hard for her to squeeze her palms in between his, and he wasn’t willing to give up this front-row seat to the baby moving.
And then it kicked again. Tavis grinned wide. “Oh, my God. That’s so fucking amazing.”
Colette giggled. “It feels so weird.”
Another kick made them both chuckle. “He’s going to be a linebacker.”
“My kid is not playing football. Stop it. Besides, maybe it’s a girl, and she’s going to be a trapeze artist.”
Tavis shook his head. “No kid of mine is going to swing up in the air doing death-defying acts.”
Colette giggled and then grew serious. “There’s a baby inside me.”
It was suddenly far more real. “Yes. Apparently there is. I think I’m in love with him or her already,” Tavis informed her.
She smiled at him, not saying a word.
He was pretty certain he had her convinced she was his forever, but he still had his doubts on occasion and he worried about what might happen when they got home. He worried about that often.
“We should get to campus,” she murmured.
“Yeah.” He helped her sit and then handed her her bra while he found her panties and jeans. He never took his eyes off her though. He loved the way her body was changing. He knew she was self-conscious about it, but he thought she’d never been sexier. She grew more appealing with every passing week.
They weren’t late. Not even close. He had her on campus and in her lab with plenty of time to spare. When she was settled, he took a seat outside on his usual bench where he most often waited for her.
It had been five months, so many of her classmates knew by now that Tavis wasn’t just her boyfriend but also her bodyguard. No boyfriend spent as much time as he did following someone around. That ship had sailed, but no one seemed to care.
He could see where it might have been annoying for her in the past to have her classmates hitting on her bodyguards, but since Tavis had been introduced first as her boyfriend, no one tried to steal him. He knew that pleased her.
When it was time for her to come out of the lab, he started paying closer attention. This was his usual routine. He never took his eyes off her if he could avoid it. Though not one thing had happened in the past five months to give him cause to believe her life was in danger, he was still being paid to protect her, and he didn’t give a fuck about the money. He was in love with her. He would move mountains to protect her.
Someone kept occasional tabs on Steve Lacoste, but the man was still working for the same diplomat in Ethiopia, so Tavis had checked him off the list of people to be concerned about.
As for Richard Tillerman, for some mysterious reason, he’d stopped texting. Cold turkey. Suddenly, one day went by and then two and three and four and so on until it had been a week without a single text. And then a month. And then two.
Tavis hadn’t known what to make of that situation. What had caused Tillerman to stop harassing her? It worried him, but he also counted his blessings. Ryker and Ajax kept half an eye on Tillerman. The man came and went from the bank where he worked with his father. He went on dates. He played tennis with his college roommate. He played golf with clients.
He did not continue to blackmail Colette.
A few students came out of the lab and headed to the left.
Tavis leaned back on the park bench, anxious to have Colette in his sight and then his arms. This damn lab was the most unnerving of her classes for some reason. He suspected it was because it was the place she went for the longest stretches of time. He grew antsy when he couldn’t set his eyes on her for several hours.
He never went inside the lab. For one thing, it would cause a disturbance because technically only trained lab techs were permitted inside. Tavis could have worked around that rule of course, if he wanted to, but he made Colette nervous when he hovered.
Plus, the lab only had the one exit. She couldn’t exactly escape him since he was watching the door.
Several seconds later, Colette stepped out, followed by Isaac Sorter. Isaac must have called to her because she turned to face him, smiling politely.
Tavis chuckled. Isaac often stopped to talk to Colette. The guy was relentless and unwavering, and he always glanced in Tavis’s direction as if he were hoping one day she might break up with Tavis and decide to go out with Isaac.
It should have been annoying, but Isaac was not even close to being competition for Tavis, so Tavis forced himself to keep his blood pressure in check every time the foolish man shamelessly wasted his time flirting.
“Hey there.”
The female voice caused Tavis to glance to the left to find two college girls coming toward him. They were probably freshmen. He figured eighteen or nineteen, twenty years younger than him, but they were geared up to shamelessly flirt with Tavis.
He rolled his eyes and glanced back toward Colette who was still talking to Isaac.
“We’ve seen you hanging around here a lot, but you never show up at any parties.”
He snickered, trying not to be rude as he turned toward them again. “I’m a bit old for you two.”
The brunette giggled and waved a hand around dismissively. “Age is just a number.” Her gaze roamed up and down his body as if he were eye candy ready to be displayed for nude sketches in the art department.
Another glance at Colette. She was nodding at something Isaac said. Isaac glanced at Tavis. He always did. Tavis wondered if the man would be just as relentless if he knew Colette was five months pregnant.
The brunette, who was apparently the spokesperson in this let’s-see-if-we-can-get-the-hot-older-guy-to-go-out-with-us party of two, held up her phone. “Take a selfie with us.”
He frowned. “Uh, no.”
“Oh, come on. Be a sport. We’re from Wisconsin. Studying abroad this semester. I’d love to be able to tell my friends back home that I dated this hot guy from South Africa while I was here.” Her face lit up. “I’ll tell them you were a professor.”
He narrowed his gaze again. “I’m not a professor, and I’m not from South Africa,” he pointed out needlessly. Why am I engaging these two?
“Of course. But no one will be able to tell that from a picture.” She gave him a ridiculous pouty face. “Please.”
“Not a chance.” He jerked his attention back toward the lab. “Fuck.” Tavis started jogging in that direction. Colette was gone. Nowhere in sight. He scanned the entire area as he hurried toward the lab.
Please God, tell me she went back inside for something.
Two more students were coming out as he approached. “Where’s Colette?” he asked them as he pulled the door open and looked inside the room.
The taller man frowned. “She left a few minutes before us.”
Tavis spun around. No Colette anywhere. No Isaac Sorter either. Son of a bitch.
There had to be a logical explanation, but the hairs on the back of his neck were standing on end as he jogged in the opposite direction from where he’d come. There was no way Colette had walked toward him or past him. He hadn’t taken his eyes off her for more than a few seconds.
Heart racing, he tugged on the door of the closest building. It was locked. Dammit. He raced to the next one. Also locked. Motherfucker.
Think. Think think think. He searched the area. She couldn’t have gone far. She could only be seconds away from him. Even if she were running, which wasn’t something she did, and she certainly didn’t move that fast now that she was five months pregnant.
The next building looked like more of a storage room for supplies or electrical equipment. It had no windows. Tavis wasn’t going to leave any stone unturned. He dashed toward it and grabbed the door handle. It opened.
The moment he swung it wide, he heard her. It was a faint muffled scream of distress, and it tore at his soul. If someone hurt her…
Tavis pulled his weapon from its holster at his side and raced toward her voice, unable to see her yet.
“What the fuck? You’re pregnant?” This voice was Isaac’s. Motherfucking fuck.
Tavis considered strangling that piece of shit with his bare hands when he got to them.
From Colette came nothing more than a whimper, and Tavis realized why a second later when he rounded the corner of shelves piled with stacks of boxes. Isaac had one hand plastered over Colette’s mouth and one hand on her stomach, pressing against it far too hard for Tavis’s taste.
“Get your fucking hands off her,” Tavis shouted as he lifted his gun. “Right fucking now, asshole.”
Isaac spun around, but he took Colette with him, holding her in front of him as a human shield.
Colette’s eyes were wide with fear and she screamed for a moment before Isaac covered her mouth again. He lifted his other hand to her neck. The guy held a long serrated knife against her tender skin.
The fury Tavis felt was indescribable and mixed with a certain amount of fear. But seriously, did this motherfucker think he could win a battle against Tavis?
“Do you have any idea who I am?” Tavis asked.
“How the hell do you have a gun on you?” Isaac responded. The guy’s eyes were wide and he was trembling now. Good.
“Navy SEAL, jackass, and I’ve accurately shot dozens of men in the head in situations far more dire than this one to save a hostage. You want to take that chance or let her go?” He kept his voice level and even. It was his job.
Tavis had done this sort of thing more times than this asshole could count. This was not the same. Not even close. The hostage had never been his woman. But somehow Tavis managed to keep his cool.
“Shit,” Isaac muttered. He only hesitated a second before releasing Colette and holding up his hands.
Colette gasped, her hand coming to her neck as she hurried toward Tavis.
He kept his gun raised, his gaze on Isaac as a commotion behind him alerted him more visitors had arrived.
“Campus police. What’s going on?”
Tavis didn’t need to turn around to recognize that voice. It was David Strickland, head of campus police. The man was six five and built like a truck.
Tavis knew every single person who worked for campus police. They knew him too. After all, he was the personal bodyguard for the secretary of state’s daughter. Tavis had made a point of checking in with security at least once a week to make sure there were no rumblings of a threat against her.
David and two other men marched straight toward Isaac, whose eyes were wide as he looked around. “What the fuck, man? I didn’t do anything.”
David chuckled, his dark eyes dancing with mirth as he flipped Isaac around and flattened him to the wall. In seconds, Isaac was cuffed. He continued to grumble about it not being a crime to ask a girl out. He even argued that he’d simply been protecting her from Tavis.
David and his men said very little as they manhandled Isaac and removed him from the building.
Tavis kept a hand on Colette at all times, mostly shielding her behind his back. His heart was beating out of his chest as he waited for Isaac to be removed from her sight.
Finally, Isaac was out of the building. The only people left were two more police officers who had arrived a few seconds after the first three.
Tavis spun around, grabbed her shoulders, and let his gaze roam up and down her frame. He tipped her head back, relieved to see that she hadn’t been cut. After verifying she wasn’t bleeding, his hand came to her belly.
“I’m okay, Tavis,” she whispered. She was shaking, but she didn’t appear to be injured.
“He had his hands on you,” Tavis growled, unable to contain his fury now that the immediate threat was gone. “I fucking glanced away and you were gone.”
She grabbed his waist and stepped closer. “I’m fine.”
He shook his head as he pulled her against his chest, threading his fingers in her hair and palming the back of her head to hold her tight. “This is my fault.”
“It’s not,” she mumbled against his pecs. Her arms came around him. “It happened so fast. You’re here now. I’m okay,” she repeated.
He held her tighter, kissing the top of her head, not caring that two police officers were watching this exchange.
Colette shoved against him and tipped her head back when he gave her an inch. She cupped his face. “I never once picked up on the fact that Isaac could be a danger. He seemed like a nerdy college student to me.”
“Me too, hon.” Tavis took a deep breath. “My focus was on so many people who could have been a threat. He never entered my mind.” He searched her face, looking for signs of distress.
She was shaking still but didn’t look like she might panic. “Let’s get out of here.”