Protecting Katherine

Katherine leaned up and batted her eyelashes at him. "How am I fucking around with you?"

"You're trying to turn me on just to torture me. You're teasing me. It's not fucking cool."

She leaned in so close that Joe stopped breathing.

"It's only teasing," Katherine whispered, "if I have no intention of fucking you."

"This isn't funny, Katherine," Joe said through gritted teeth.

"This isn't a joke, Joe," she retorted.

She held his gaze, her pretty blue eyes boring into his -- her lips only an inch from his. Shit. Joe was really fucking turned on right now, and Katherine was practically begging to be fucked. He'd never touched a client before, but these weren't exactly normal circumstances. Katherine was driving him up a fucking wall, and it was tempting as all hell to take out some of that frustration on her.

Joe lunged forward and kissed her, hard. She let out a squeak, clearly surprised he'd called her bluff. Joe grabbed her face and held her close as his tongue pushed into her mouth. While Joe wanted to make a point, he certainly wasn't one to force himself on women, so he pulled back, giving Katherine the opportunity to slap him or hop out of bed.

She blinked a few times, then dove back in for more, kissing him enthusiastically, her hand moving down over his crotch. Joe groaned against her mouth, her gentle touch making him hard as steel.

Joe wasn't in a foreplay mood. He needed to get inside of this girl now.

He pushed Katherine flat on her back and moved on top of her, his injury slipping his mind.

It came roaring back when he tried to push himself up, the pain so blinding his arm gave out and he collapsed onto Katherine.

"Joe...you're...suffocating...me," she wheezed out.

"Fuck, my arm." Joe rolled back onto his side, trying to figure out how the hell he could do missionary in his current condition.

"I'll just have to be on top." Katherine pushed him onto his back and straddled him. While his cock certainly liked the feeling of Katherine sitting on him like this, Joe huffed out a frustrated breath.

"I don't want to do it this way."

She rolled her eyes. "What, you're too much of a macho man to let a woman call the shots?"

Basically, yeah. Joe wasn't opposed to mixing it up, but nine times out of ten, he wanted to be the one in control. And when it came to Katherine, he needed to be the one to fuck her -- not the other way around.

"I want to be on top," he insisted.

Katherine rolled her eyes again. "Well, you can't right now. So either you let me, or we don't do this."

"Get off." Joe tried to sit up but he couldn't, thanks to his wound. Katherine had him good and pinned.

She pouted at him, then started to grind against him, swirling her hips in slow circles.

Joe's eyes rolled back in his head. If she kept going, he'd come in his pants like a teenage boy.

"S-stop," he panted out, grabbing her hips.

She leaned down over him, still grinding away. "I know you want me, Joe," she whispered, brushing her lips against his cheek. Katherine lifted her hips and unzipped Joe's jeans.

Fuck. He really might let her do this. She was just sliding her hand into his boxers when Joe's phone started buzzing loudly.

"Shit." The sound startled him so badly he sat bolt upright, reigniting the shooting pain in his chest. He gave Katherine a shove, and she flopped over to the other side of the bed.

He grabbed the phone. "This is Joe."

"Joe. It's Thomas."

Joe's eyes doubled in size. "It's your dad," he whispered to Katherine, putting the phone on speaker.

"Dad?!" Katherine shrieked, crawling towards the phone.

"Hi, honey." The man sounded choked up. "Are you safe?"

"Yes, yes, Dad, I'm fine. What's going on? Are you okay? What about Mom?"

"We're okay for now." He cleared his throat. "They allowed me to call you to beg you to reconsider."

Katherine opened her mouth, but Joe put a finger to her lips. "Reconsider, sir?"

"Come to the house," Mr. Thorne said. "They just want money, and then they'll let all of us go. But if you don't come, Katherine, they'll kill your mother and me."

Tears welled up in her eyes and she looked at Joe, bewildered. Joe's expression matched hers. Mr. Thorne had always given Joe the impression he would rather die than put Katherine at risk. This made no sense.

"Sir, you want me to bring Katherine there?"

He paused for a long time before saying, "Katherine, don't you want to read in your favorite spot again? You always felt so tucked away and safe there. I'll see you soon. I love you, honey."

Now Joe was wondering if his boss was starting to lose it, but the call disconnected before he could think to say anything else.

"What the hell?" Joe stared at the phone as if that would help him understand. "What was that about reading?"

Katherine had the trace of a smile on her lips. "It was a message. He doesn't want us to go to them." She got to her feet and grabbed her backpack. "My favorite spot to read as a kid was on the back porch of our lake house. It's totally secluded, and it's not public knowledge that we own it. Dad must think we'll be safe there."

Joe wasn't entirely sold on the lake house idea. Since the Thornes owned the house, even if no one knew about it, it would be a logical place to look for Katherine if they found out.

But Joe and Katherine couldn't keep bouncing from motel to motel -- and he was relieved to finally have a destination in mind.

"Is the house far?"

"Few hours north."

Joe stood, winced, and nodded. "Let's go."

***

They rode in silence for the first stretch of the journey. Joe wasn't really in shape to drive, but he insisted on it. When he heard Katherine sniffle, he snuck a peek at her.

"You okay?"

She shrugged. "It was good to hear from Dad, I guess. But these people aren't going to be happy when I don't show up like they're expecting."

"I think it's a good sign they're still alive," Joe said, meaning it. "I just don't understand why they need you, too. Surely your parents would give them any money they want."

"They don't have a lot of liquid assets. Most of their money is property, investments -- and my trust fund," she replied. "To move that money around, they'd need all three of our signatures. It doesn't become totally mine until I'm twenty-five."

"How much is in there?"

She shifted uncomfortably. "Thirty million."

Joe almost swerved off the road. "Jesus Christ." He let out a laugh. "Why are you even bothering with school then, when you can just live off that? Seems like a waste."

He'd been going for levity, but Katherine shot him a look that made his balls shrivel.

"Maybe because I want to pursue a real career, and not just lay around doing nothing like a mindless socialite for the rest of my life?"

"Whoa. Okay, sorry."

"Fuck you," she muttered.

"I'm just saying, if I had that much money, I sure as hell wouldn't be working."

"Then I guess it's a lose-lose," she replied. "Because if I had planned on taking the no job route, you would think I'm more of a spoiled brat than you already do."

"I'm sorry," Joe repeated, irritated. He imagined this is what it'd be like being married -- just trying to have a conversation with the woman and always somehow saying the wrong thing.

"And it seems like, best case, I'm about to be very poor -- and worst case, I'm about to be an orphan."

With a growl, Joe pulled over onto the shoulder. Startled, Katherine held onto the dash while the car came to a stop.

"What are you doing?"

Joe turned to face her. "I'm being an asshole to you."

She narrowed her eyes. "Yeah, you are."

"You wanna hit me?"

Katherine reared back. "What?"

"Come on, you know you want to."

She considered this for so long, Joe thought she wasn't going to do it.

Then her open palm came flying out of nowhere, connecting with his cheek with a resounding crack.

"Shit." Joe's head smacked against the headrest and he brought his hand to his stinging cheek. There had been a lot of power behind that.

Katherine stared at him until he moved his hand away. That was definitely going to bruise.

"Feel better?" He asked her.

She leaned forward and planted a soft kiss on his aching cheek. "Yes."

Joe laughed out loud and pulled back onto the road, lake house-bound.

***

It was dusk when Katherine and Joe pulled up to the lake house. When they'd turned onto the familiar, secluded road, Katherine's eyes teared up -- she was that happy to be back in a place that felt like home.

Joe pulled into the garage, and the two of them unloaded their bags and the groceries they stopped for. They dumped everything in the kitchen and Joe drew his gun.

"Stay here," he whispered. Katherine watched him methodically move through the first floor, checking behind every curtain and inside every closet. He did the same on the second floor. When he returned, he put the gun down and started checking that the doors and windows were all locked. Katherine finished putting away the groceries.

"All clear, soldier?" She asked.

"Yeah." Joe sighed and eased himself into a chair at the kitchen table.

"How are you feeling?"

"Like shit."

Katherine tossed him the bottle of ibuprofen. Joe stared at it like the label was in a foreign language.

"You got any booze here?" He asked.

Katherine located the proper cabinet and selected a bottle of bourbon and two glasses. "I have no idea how old this is, but beggars can't be choosers."

She poured them each a glass, and Joe washed down the pills with his bourbon.

"I don't know about you, but I'm starving," Katherine said.

"I could eat."

Katherine busied herself preparing dinner -- an already cooked rotisserie chicken, a quick salad and some bread. Joe tried to get up to help, but she waved him back into his seat.

"I could get used to this," Joe said as Katherine set a plate in front of him. She sat down across from him and dug in.

"Let me guess, you like your women in the kitchen," she said with an eyeroll.

"Sweetheart, I like my women everywhere."

Katherine raised an eyebrow. "Just not on top."

He paused before saying, "I bet you'd like my way better."

Katherine wasn't sure if it was the good food or the booze, but Joe was in a very flirty mood instead of his normal irritated one. She decided to capitalize on it, because she couldn't stop flustering herself by thinking about straddling him that morning.

"Is that an invitation?" She asked, stretching her socked feet out under the table until they touched Joe's.

He shook his head. "We're not gonna fuck, Katherine." Though she noticed he didn't move his feet away.

"Why not?" Katherine stuck out her lower lip and started running her foot up and down Joe's leg. He trapped her foot between his calves.

"It wouldn't be professional."

Katherine snorted. "Nothing in these last few days has been professional."

Joe responded by shoving more chicken into his mouth.

"You didn't seem to care about professional this morning when I had my hand down your pants," she remarked.

Joe's lips twitched. "That was a moment of weakness. Won't happen again."

Wanna bet? Katherine thought smugly as she went back to her dinner. She decided then and there that her new goal would be to seduce Joe. God knew how long they'd be stuck in this house together, and if she didn't work off some of this restless boredom, she'd go insane.

"So, tell me more about yourself," Katherine said once they'd finished their dinner and poured more bourbon. "You know a hell of a lot about me, and I know nothing about you."

Joe shrugged. "There's not much to tell."

Katherine tried not to scream. "How old are you?"

"Thirty-two."

"You got a girlfriend?"

"Based on the events of this morning, I should hope not."

Katherine shrugged. "A lot of guys don't care about that."

Joe maintained eye contact with her as he sipped his drink. "I do."

So Joe was loyal. Unsurprising given his line of work, but still. She liked that.

"How'd you end up working for my dad?"

"I was kind of aimless after high school. I tried to join the Marines, but I couldn't hack it. In hindsight, I'm so fucking glad I flunked out. Then I thought about becoming a cop, but I didn't want to spend my life writing speeding tickets. So I found my way into private security, which was a good way to make decent money and use my skills."

Yes, Joe's security skills were impressive, leading Katherine to wonder what other kind of skills he had.

"How long have you worked for my dad?"

"Two years."

Katherine frowned. Surely she would've noticed hunky Joe milling about the house or attending events with her family when she was home from school.

"Why had I never seen you before?"

He shrugged. "Guess you weren't paying attention."

Well. It was safe to say he had her attention now.

"How'd you get that scar?" Katherine asked, gesturing to her own eyebrow.

"Bar fight. Some crazy guy came after me for no reason, smashed a bottle into my head. I ended up killing him."

"What?"

Joe's face remained stoic for a few seconds more before he cracked a smile. "Kidding. When we were kids my brother pushed me, and I landed head-first into a coffee table."

Katherine let out a laugh and shook her head. "You're funny."

"And you're strange," he said.

She furrowed her brow, trying to decide if that was an insult. "How am I strange?"

"You're just not how I expected you to be, that's all."

"What were you expecting?"

"I thought we covered this already." He grinned to let her know he was joking. "Vapid, self-absorbed Instagram girl who's a spoiled brat and living off Daddy's money."

"Just living off Daddy's lake house," she replied, finishing her drink.

Joe leaned back in his chair, taking a look at their surroundings. "This is a really nice place."

It was a nice house. If it were up to Katherine, her family would live here all the time, but her dad needed to be closer to New York City for work.

The lake house was by no means small, but it still felt cozy. It had a spacious, open concept first floor, and the back porch had stunning views of the lake. There were three bedrooms and two bathrooms upstairs, the master having a balcony with another amazing view. Katherine was even more delighted to realize she had clothes here, and wouldn't have to keep wearing the same smelly things she had been for the past three days.

And no more Walmart underwear, either. Thank God.

"Let's go upstairs," Joe said.

Katherine fanned herself dramatically. "I knew you'd change your mind about the sex."

Joe got to his feet, unamused. "There's going to be some rules, and rule one is I don't want you down here alone, got it?"

"What happens if I disobey?" Katherine asked, getting up and moving close to him. "Will you...punish me?"

"Rule two," Joe continued, ignoring her, "is that the curtains stay shut and the doors stay locked." He put the dishes in the sink, grabbed his gun, and took Katherine's arm, leading them up the stairs. He stopped outside Katherine's room.

"Rule three," he said, "is you leave your door unlocked."

"So you can sneak in in the middle of the night?" She teased.

"So I can get to you if someone breaks in to kidnap you."

Katherine frowned. "That sounds significantly less fun."

"I'll be next door if you need me." Joe pointed to his room. He tried to go, but Katherine held onto his arm.

"I need you right now, Joe."

He let out a long sigh, but he didn't try hard to get away. Katherine put her hands on his neck and leaned in, bringing her lips to his. One major advantage of her height -- she could kiss Joe whenever she wanted, no tip toes or stretching required.

Joe didn't entirely kiss her back, but he let her kiss him. Katherine pressed her hips against Joe's, hoping that if he got hard again, he'd have another 'moment of weakness.'

Joe took his mouth off of Katherine's, but he backed her against the doorway. "You need me, huh?" He whispered, his hands gripping her hips.

Heat pooled between her legs. "Mm-hmm."

Joe's right hand moved from Katherine's hip to the button on her jeans. Katherine inhaled sharply and bit her lower lip as Joe unsnapped it.

"Is this what you want?" He asked, breath hot against her ear as he tugged down the zipper.

Katherine closed her eyes and leaned her head back against the doorframe as Joe's hand slid into her underwear.

"Shit," he murmured as he felt how wet she was. Joe put the slightest bit of pressure on her clit, and Katherine let out a breathy moan.

"Please, Joe." She squeezed his neck and bucked against his hand. After a painfully long time, Joe started rubbing slow, deliberate circles around her most sensitive spot.

"Yes," she breathed, thrusting against him as he worked his magical fingers. Joe leaned in and brought his lips to Katherine's neck, planting a few kisses before he stuck out his tongue and gave her a long lick from the base of her throat to her chin. Katherine's knees buckled.

"I'm...so...close," she managed as the pleasure continued to build inside her.

"Yeah?"

"Yes."

Just when Katherine was seconds from going over the edge, Joe's hand suddenly stopped. Her eyes snapped open as Joe took his hand out of her underwear, zipping and snapping her jeans for her.

"What are you doing?! Why are you stopping?!"

Joe took a few steps away from her, wide grin on his face.

"You're not the only one who knows how to tease, sweetheart." He popped his fingers into his mouth and sucked them clean. "Night."

And with that, Joe went into his room and shut the door, leaving Katherine slumped against her doorway, hot and bothered and unsatisfied. She quite literally could not believe what had just happened.

"I hate you!" She yelled as she went into her own room and slammed the door.

"No you don't," Joe replied, his voice muffled through the wall.

Katherine flopped on her bed, furiously undoing her jeans so she could finish what Joe started. It only took her fifteen seconds to come, the memory of his tongue on her neck making her moan into her pillow as the orgasm washed over her.

When she recovered and her head was clear, Katherine was more determined than ever. She wasn't going to let Joe win. She was going to get what she wanted.

Game on.

***

Joe woke with a start, sitting bolt upright in bed. He blinked a few times to see Katherine crouched over him, worried expression on her face.

"What's wrong?" Joe demanded.

"I heard a noise downstairs."

Heart pounding, Joe grabbed his gun off the nightstand and got to his feet, not bothering to put on pants.

"Wait here," he whispered, creeping on his bare feet towards the hall. Gun raised, Joe took the stairs as lightly as he could, praying they wouldn't creak.

When he made it to the living room, Joe checked the front door -- deadbolt still secure. Confused, he swept his gaze over every window, but nothing was out of place. No broken glass, no signs of forced entry. Joe flicked on the lights and checked all the closets and other nooks and crannies, but nothing. And when he padded back up the stairs and re-entered his bedroom to find Katherine under the covers, it hit him.

"You made it up, didn't you?" Joe threw his gun back onto the nightstand with a clatter.

Katherine looked at him, wide-eyed. "I really heard something!"

Joe groaned and climbed back into bed. "Go back to your room."

"But, Joe, I'm really shaken up. Can't I stay here?"

Exasperated, Joe flopped down on his back. Katherine took the opportunity to cuddle up to him, wrapping her arm around him and putting her head on his chest.

Joe knew he could make Katherine leave if he really wanted to. Problem was, he didn't. Yeah, she irritated the hell out of him, but she was sexy and interesting -- and he actually was starting to enjoy her company.