Waiting For You (The Guardians: Book 3) Read online

  Sean always dated beautiful women, and Amanda was definitely that. She was a swimsuit model with golden blonde hair, perfectly tanned skin, and had a sleek, toned body. Malika couldn’t help but note that, despite the vigorous activity between the couple, Amanda’s flawlessly round ass and breasts didn’t jiggle, as those natural body parts should. Her long hair cascaded like a silky curtain onto the bed, and her cries filled the room and spilled into the hallway where Malika hid.

  “Oh yes, please more, more,” Amanda shrieked loudly over and over.

  Malika closed her eyes in despair, and her stomach churned with the bitter bile of jealousy.

  Sean, at a few inches over six feet, towered over his lover. His hard, chiseled body was a visual feast to any woman’s eyes. He was never short of women because they loved his carefree, teasing playboy demeanor. Although she had always been in awe of his impressive physique, Malika was still stunned when confronted with such a graphic display of the muscular cheeks of his ass tightening as he drove into the other woman. He was built like a sculptured work of masculine art, a visual bounty she had not anticipated. The brief glimpse of it made her flash hotly; the surface of her skin had a slight sheen of sweat, and her body pickled with arousal. She was helpless in her body’s response and was keenly aware of her nipples tightening and her folds tingling and damping with her essence.

  “Fuck me harder, Sean,” Amanda demanded.

  Malika heard the springs of the bed protest with what she imagined was Sean jack hammering in and out of Amanda’s body.

  “Yes, yes,” Amanda screamed.

  Malika slapped her palms over her ears in a vain attempt to block the sound of the other woman’s passionate cries.

  “I’m coming, oh, oh.” Amanda’s loud shrieks echoed throughout the room as she seemed to convulse and dissolve in ecstasy.

  Malika wanted to break something, preferably Amanda. Fake-ass bitch!

  Sean groaned his pleasure as he climaxed.

  Malika’s eyes prickled with tears as red-hot envy blazed through her. Oh God, Sean, why can’t you see me? Why can’t you love me like that? Sean liked to treat her as a little sister, but she wanted much more from him. She would be eighteen in a few months, and she hoped that he would see her as a woman then. As she wiped the moisture from her cheeks a few moments later, she heard Amanda’s soft giggle and a door inside the room close.

  Malika had to do something. There was no way she could walk away and not let off some of her anger. They had to pay.

  She crept to the bedroom a few doors down from Sean’s. Being careful to not make a sound, she entered Sean’s brother, William’s room and stared at the cage in the corner. William’s pet, Brutus, looked as though he had just woken up and seemed very active. Malika shivered in revulsion, but her desire for revenge far outweighed her creepy, crawly feeling as she approached her target. Lifting the heavy cage and stumbling slightly under the weight and her own fear of the occupant, she carried her weapon slowly to the door of Sean’s room. With the cage placed just inside the door while she hid behind the wall, Malika edged the cage door open and quickly moved away.

  At almost eleven feet long, Brutus liked to snuggle.

  She waited and counted. The first scream of outrage and fear came when she reached the number eighteen. And then all hell broke loose.

  Amanda’s ear-piercing screams carried throughout the house.

  “William!” Sean bellowed.

  Malika snickered with amusement, knowing Sean hated snakes just as much as she did.

  A few seconds later, Amanda flew out of the bedroom naked as the day she was born and screaming at the top of her lungs. She sprinted down the hall and to the stairway.

  Damn, I didn’t know heifers could move so fast. I sure hope she doesn’t give poor Mr. Wilkins a heart attack.

  The butler always lingered in the entryway. The way Amanda was running she looked as though she was running for her car.

  I should’ve brought my phone to get a picture of this! That shit was funny. Okay, it’s time to bounce!

  No sooner had she thought it than the prickly sensation of discovery made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Malika slowly glanced up. In her eager attempt to get a better look at Amanda running down the hallway, she had moved away from the wall and had unfortunately revealed herself to the lone human occupant of the bedroom.

  Sean’s bluish-green gaze remained steadily on her as he held Brutus by the neck with his arm stretched out from his body.

  Busted! Thank God my skin is too brown for him to see my blush of fear.

  Turning on badly shaking limbs, Malika sprinted, her legs pumping and covering the space as though she was running the 100 in the Olympics, along the hall and down the stairs. She wasted no time in exiting the mansion of her mother’s employer and running the half-mile to her mother’s cottage nestled in the Andersons’ backyard. As she closed the door of the cottage behind her, she locked it and leaned against the hard wood surface. She slithered to the floor with her back against the door in relief of having escaped. Her heart felt as though it would jump out of her chest, and her breathing was fractured from the shock of discovery and her mad dash to escape. I should be ashamed of being a secret voyeur to Sean’s very private sex life and scaring the crap out of both of them, but I can’t help it. I can’t bring myself to feel sorry about Amanda though. Sean, on the other hand, what can I say? He deserved it too, whoring bastard.

  Sean is everything that I want. I know he doesn’t see me as a possible love interest. Being eight years older than me, he thinks I’m still a kid.

  On leave from the United States Navy, which he had joined at eighteen years old, Sean had only short visits home, and they had become both the most treasured and most painful times in her life. She had been following Sean around ever since she could walk and was mortified when her feelings for him had morphed into something so inappropriate.

  Although he was the wealthy son of her mother’s employer, Sean never looked down on her or tried to treat her as anything less than a beloved younger sister. He was always protective, encouraging, and supportive when it seemed she needed it most.

  On Sean’s request, his parents had paid for her and her twin brother, Malcolm, to attend the same high school that Sean and his younger siblings had. Unlike his sister, Rebecca, and brother, William, Sean never allowed her and her twin to feel guilty or a charity case because of it. However, as soon as Sean had left to join the SEALs, his parents had cutoff their funding. Malika hadn’t dared to complain. She found a job and told her mother that she had gotten a scholarship.

  It should have been William or Malcolm who Sean had befriended, but it had been her. They had been inseparable from day one. She had always been a serious, intelligent child; a child prodigy others had labeled her. It wasn’t every day that a seven-year-old was in middle school. Sean had been drawn to that.

  As the future heir to his father’s media empire and a member of the Scottish aristocracy, Sean had been given a personal bodyguard until he was old enough to defend himself. However, the former British commando, Leonardo, had been more than a bodyguard to Sean. Leo had taught Sean not only how to protect himself but had also instilled in him the passion to service. It was because of Leo’s influence Sean had insisted on becoming a Navy SEAL. Especially after learning and perfecting his skill in the use guns, knives, and his hands and feet in various fighting techniques, nothing was going to stop Sean from pursuing his dream. Ever since she was five years old, Malika had learned those skills right along beside him.

  Before he left Melbourne after graduating high school, it was common that they would spend hours talking late in the night discussing their dreams. I wonder how he will react when he finds out what I’m really doing with my life. I no longer tell him everything that’s going on with me. It hurts too much to realize that I’m not that important to him.

  She had at first loved him like an older brother, but two years ago, her feelings for him had dram
atically changed. Any attention or care she received from him had taken on a new meaning and only fed her blossoming crush. If he noticed her breathless responses to his nearness or, even more telling, trembling under his touch, he never commented. He remained her older brother and lavished more attention on her that he did Rebecca, his real sister. He never missed her birthday or Christmas, always ensuring she had the same expensive gifts to open those mornings. Yes, he wants to be my brother, but I want him to be so much more.

  Malika quickly stepped out of her damp panties, her usual state whenever Sean was around, and was about to go to her bedroom when a thundering knock sounded at the door. Ah hell!

  “Malika, open this damn door before I break it down,” Sean growled.

  Oh shit! He’s using my name. He never calls me Malika. I’ve always been Duchess to him. Everyone else called her Malika or Mila but never Sean. He had called her Duchess ever since her mother came to work for his parents fourteen years ago.

  Stuffing her panties in her pocket, Malika walked toward the door with great trepidation. She gingerly opened the door and guiltily stepped away from it.

  Sean burst through the door and frowned down at her. “What the hell was that? Are you out of your damn mind?” His enraged voice shook the walls of the house.

  Malika wanted to put her palms over her ears, but she didn’t dare, not when he looked ready to blow.

  “You let Brutus loose in my bedroom! What the fuck!” He started pacing in front of her, not waiting for or probably not expecting a response. “I can’t believe you would do something like this. You’ve violated Amanda’s privacy, and I expect you to apologize to her. As for the fuckin’ snake…” He gripped the strands of hair in agitation. “I have no words!”

  Any remorse Malika had been feeling evaporated on hearing his concern for the other woman. If he had ask me to apologize to him, I might have considered it, but to Amanda? Hell no! “You’re dreaming if you think I’m going to apologize to that slut,” Malika muttered.

  “You will apologize to Amanda, or I’ll tan your ass!”

  The fierce frown on Sean’s face should have intimated her and made her back down, but his continued use of Amanda’s name only fueled her jealous ire. “Well, I guess you’re going to have to tan my ass because that bitch doesn’t deserve an apology. She got exactly what she was looking for when she snuck up to your room and left the door open. What if it had been your parents or your sister, Sean?” Malika felt as though smoke was coming out of her ears. She had seen Amanda sneak up to Sean’s room too many times to think that it was a coincidence that the bedroom door had been left ajar. Amanda hadn’t waited long to pounce. Sean had only arrived home a few minutes before and hardly anyone in the family had seen him before Amanda was in his room getting her freak on. “Would you be demanding an apology if it had been Becky or your mother who had come upon that scene Amanda orchestrated?”

  “I’m damn sure my mother or Becky would have done the polite thing and turned away, not watched and then pulled such a childish prank.” His roar made her color with embarrassment all over again. However, as before, she was fairly certain he wouldn’t be able to tell that she was shamed by his observation. “What the hell happened to you? When I saw you last, you were a sweet kid, and now you’re a little rude bitch!”

  Malika lost all sense of reason. She swung her fist and almost connected with his mouth, but he was too fast. He caught her hand and pulled her along behind him as he marched toward an armchair in the corner of the room.

  “Don’t you dare touch me,” Malika screeched, protesting against his firm hold the entire walk across the room.

  Sean ignored her; his grip was unyielding. He sat on the chair and pulled her over his lap with brute strength. With a hand between her shoulder blades, forcing her face against his sweatpants-clad thigh, Sean widened his legs to ensure he held her steady.

  “Let me go!” Malika struggled against his hold and tried desperately to dislodge herself from his lap. Forgetting her state of undress, she only remembered her bare ass when she felt the cool breeze on the suddenly exposed skin. The skirt of her dress had risen to her waist during her violent struggles.

  Sean hissed. “This is how you walk around? My God, who the hell are you?”

  This time Malika felt nothing but shame and extreme mortification that he had sight of her bare bottom.

  The first descent of his hand was mercilessly vicious. “You will never, ever, behave like this again, little girl,” Sean snarled.

  “Aaaah! I’m going to kick your ass, you freak,” Malika screamed.

  Smack!

  He slapped her ass again just as painfully as he had the first time.

  “I hate you! Let me go!” Malika was horrified that helpless tears leaked from her eyes. Yes, his punishment was painful, but she was more hurt that he was disappointed in her.

  Smack!

  “I hope your dick falls off from fucking that nasty bitch!”

  Smack! “Keep that up and I’m going to wash out your dirty mouth.”

  Smack!

  “You piece of shit!”

  Smack!

  “Whoring sonofabitch!”

  Smack! Smack!

  Malika couldn’t contain her cries. Water drained from her nose, and tears drenched her face and his pants. She was a hot mess.

  His large hand settled on the blazing flesh of her butt. “Why the hell did you make me have to do this? I go away and you become this wild thing? God, Duchess, you’ve always been above this shit, even as a damn toddler. You were the most polite toddler I’ve ever met. Who are you now?”

  Malika didn’t think he realized that he was tenderly soothing the enflamed naked cheeks of her ass. “I hate her,” she stated, her voice dripping with sadness and hurt.

  “Who?”

  “That bitch, Amanda.”

  “Now why would you hate Amanda?”

  Malika could hear the bewilderment in his voice and refused to answer. He would never understand her devastation on seeing him so intimate with the other woman.

  “Talk to me, Duchess. I thought we were friends. What’s going on with you? When did you become this deviant? Help me understand. Are you now sexually active? Is that it?”

  Malika snorted. When in hell would I have time for that shit? I’m always studying. Even as the thought made her sad, she sneakily pushed her ass deeper against his hand, silently enjoying his tender caresses.

  Ever considerate of her, Sean gave into her silent demand. His callused palm was stroking her desires, making her wet all over again without him even being aware of it. She quivered under his touch, and her folds moistened with desire as she again responded to his presence and his scent.

  “Answer me, Duchess,” Sean said impatiently, and his hand momentarily stilled on her heated flesh.

  Ah hell no, that just won’t do. If my talking will get him to touch me like this, I’m going to be Dr. Phil up in here. “Of course, I’m not sexually active.” Ah, his hand is moving again. Oh God, does he think I’m beautiful? “As if I would let those pimply-faced little boys touch me.”

  “So what the hell was tonight about? Why were you watching us like you were watching porn? Do you get off on being a voyeur now?”

  “I did no such thing,” Malika promptly denied.

  “Don’t mess with me, little girl. You had to be watching to know when to pull that stunt. So stop lying.”

  “I would never stand around watching you screw that putrid bitch!”

  Sean suddenly pushed her from his lap and stood up. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

  “What do you care? You didn’t even call me when you arrived, yet you had time for that skank,” she accused. Malika frowned up at him from her position sprawled on the carpet, but her brows soothed at the sight of the bulge clearly delineated by the soft material of his pants.

  “Cover yourself,” Sean told her harshly.

  Malika looked down at herself. Ah hell! Can this day get any more embar
rassing? Her dress was still hiked up around her waist, giving him a little peek of her mons. She tried to brazen it out. “I’m sure it’s nothing that you haven’t seen before,” she muttered as she quickly pulled the hem of her dress down.

  “What are you thinking to go around like that? You’re fifteen years old.” His gaze was still fixated on her bare thighs.

  “Seventeen.”

  “Fifteen, seventeen, what’s the bloody difference? God, you’ve turned me into a fucking pedophile.”

  Malika wisely remained silent, instinctively knowing that Sean was having an argument with himself, not her. He probably wasn’t aware of how revealing his words were.

  “You’re like a sister to me. This”—he gestured a finger to indicate the two of them—“isn’t happening.”

  “Who says I want you? Sorry, Sean, but you’re nasty.” Malika kept her gaze glued to his green ones even as she told that bold lie.

  He gave her one last hard stare before turning to leave the cottage.

  “Sean, wait!” Malika cried desperately.

  He came to a standstill but didn’t turn around.

  “I’m sorry.” Her voice cracked with emotion. “You only just got home. I don’t want to fight with you.”

  Sean didn’t, by even a flicker of muscle, acknowledge her words.

  “Sean, please. I’m sorry.” Malika stood and started toward him. “It’s just that I hate girls like Amanda. They’re rich snooty bitches who think they can get whomever they want, when they want. And I hate that she wanted you, and dumbass that you are, you always fall for her shit.”

  “You call that an apology? And who I sleep with is none of your damn business.”

  Malika sucked in a sharp breath at his rebuke. “But with Amanda, though? You could do so much better.”

  He ignored her distress. “What about the other offense?”

  She couldn’t pretend to not understand what he was referring to. Her breath hitched in an effort to fortify herself to answer him. This will just have to be a whopper because there’s no way in hell I’m giving him that much ammunition over me. “I honestly didn’t realize what I was doing. I was only outside your bedroom door for a few seconds before you saw me. I was too shocked to move. And well, Brutus was lonely, I swear.”