Steel Hearts - Patchwork Princess Ch. 03

"Roll over onto your other side, beautiful," he said and helped her by rolling with her, snuggling into her back. Holly released a soft moan of pleasure and felt his arms wrap around her. His hand splayed out over the ridged scars on her belly as he pulled her tight against him. His hand slid gently over those ridges to cup her breast as he kissed and nibbled at the side of her neck. She could feel his cock stiffen against the valley of her arse, and she wriggled back against it and moaned as his hand slid down her body again to cup her pussy.

He gently teased her lips, already feeling them moist from the heat within. She gasped when he slid two fingers inside her, preparing her despite the lack of proper foreplay. Repositioning himself, he lifted her leg and shifted so that his cock was positioned along the length of her pussy. Then he used his hand to press the hot hard erection against her, causing her to groan softly.

"You feel almost burning hot," she said, half in a whisper.

"For you," he murmured close to her ear. "Burning hot for only you." Then, with the pressure of his hands and the movement of his hips, he slipped between her folds and found the entrance to her pussy. Then, pressing again, he guided the head of his cock inside her and pushed forward, slowly filling her with all of him.

Holly moaned as he filled her, not stopping until she felt almost too full. Then he stopped, and they lay there breathing heavily and unmoving, enjoying the sensation of being linked bodily and anticipating when he would make his next move. She squeezed her muscles around his cock, and she felt his already wet fingers seek out her clit, drawing circles around it. She squeezed around him again and was grateful when he moved, even if only slightly. The friction was enough to add the sensations emanating from her clit and zinging through her body as she began to build towards a climax.

Teddy wanted her to come around his cock. His lips kissed and nibbled her neck as his fingers played on her clit. He breathed in her ear, whispering how beautiful, sexy, responsive and amazing she was as he pushed her closer and closer to her climax. He knew she wanted to move, but he didn't relent. He listened to her breathing change as her body took control of her. Her soft moans deepened and became more urgent as he became more insistent with his fingers. She was having difficulty holding still, her hips moving slightly within his hold when she was close to going over the edge.

"I want it all," He whispered in her ear. "Give it to me," he practically demanded of her. His words set her off, and she bit her lip just before she screamed out, her body shaking as her orgasm overtook her. She grabbed his arm, pressing her nails into his flesh, but he barely felt it as he revelled in giving her the pleasure she'd denied herself for so long. He took from her what was his to take. Her. Her heart. Her mind. All of her.

As she calmed, his cock still firmly embedded inside her, Teddy smiled and began to move. He thrust into her a few times gently before increasing the pace and force of his stroke as his hands caressed her patchwork body which was as beautiful to him as it would have been without the blemishes. Perhaps even more so because it showed she had survived that awful time when they had been separated by people and circumstances beyond their control to return to him and be his again. His fingers tormented her swollen clit again as he came close to his limit, and when she arched against him and cried out her orgasm, he roared his release into the still air of the bedroom.

"You are so fucking amazing," he growled softly into her ear as he held her tight, his cock softening within her as the evidence of their pleasure leaked on their thighs. He wasn't ready to let her go yet and wasn't sure he would ever be again.

*****

Holly was not some feminist kick-ass bitch, no matter the attitude and training she had and brought out when dealing with arseholes. She was not that stupid blond chick in the movies who made you scream at the screen when she went somewhere or did something you knew would kill her. She took last night's veiled threat for was it was and was grateful to have someone like Teddy, who had shown up just at the right time to help her fend off this psycho. So, when he fell asleep after fucking her into a third orgasm, she texted Carter that she would work from home today and face-time her later when she had her shit together.

Carter was surprised but relieved to hear her friend taking the package's arrival seriously. She returned the text, assuring her that Medusa, Scott and Dean were all the shop taking up space and getting in her way and that Holly was better off working at home. Thanks to the time they had taken to set up the IT business network, thank goodness, they were set up for working together from different places.

Showered and dressed in comfortable workout gear, Holly made breakfast, only to find a giant man in her kitchen drinking coffee.

"Teddy's brother," he said quickly before she could scream, one massive hand landing on his chest to indicate he was talking about himself. "I'm Mitch. It's nice to meet you, Holly."

"Mitch," she nodded, still startled by his appearance. He was the stereotypical biker dude. His hair and beard were a little wild. He wore dark jeans, leather boots, and a black t-shirt that seemed too small, highlighting that the big man was all muscle rather than flab. "Any coffee left?" she asked once she found her voice again.

"Sure, you want some for the kid, too?" he asked.

"Teddy? He's asleep," she frowned. "Why would you call him a kid?"

"He's the youngest of us, and it keeps him from getting too headstrong, which is one of his least attractive traits. You may have noticed that once he gets something in his head, it's hard to dissuade him from it," Mitch chuckled, knowing this woman had been on the receiving end of his brother's single-minded focus.

"Yeah, I might have an inkling about that," she gave a slight giggle in contrast to his deep chuckle. Relaxed now that this man knew Teddy, she approached a bit closer, eager to grab something to fill her empty belly. She hadn't eaten since lunchtime yesterday and was conscious of falling into old habits of forgetting to eat until she passed out.

"How do you take your coffee?" Mitch asked.

"Flat white, no sugar," she answered, seeing the small coffee machine adorning her kitchen bench that hadn't been there before last night.

"Doughnut?" he pushed a box toward her as he began fussing with the machine.

"Thanks," she said and selected a plain glazed one biting into it with relish.

"My girl, Daisy, likes the glazed ones too," he smiled gently at her.

"She has good taste then," Holly grinned.

"Was there ever any doubt! She chose me after all," he winked and grinned. "You going to work today?"

"I told my partner I would be working from home today. Teddy will just get cranky if I disappear while he's asleep, and from what I can tell, he's been up all night," she explained.

"He was, and it's good of you to consider what he needs when he is focused on you and wouldn't mind getting up to take you to work, but as I am his bodyguard for today, I thank you for making my job easier," he said cheerily.

"So, you're not here for me?" she frowned, looking back over her shoulder at the bedroom where Teddy slept. "Why does he need a bodyguard?"

"That's not my story to tell, but there are brothers also watching his crew and your friends for the same reasons. It would be best if you asked Teddy, though, for now," Mitch said gently, but his voice held a resolve that he couldn't be pushed on this.

Holly sat quietly, picking at her doughnut. She hadn't considered that she could be putting Teddy in danger by letting him be involved in whatever this psycho had planned for her. So now she was torn between wanting to let Teddy get some sleep and waking him up to ask what the hell was going on. She looked up when Mitch placed her coffee in front of her.

"Let him sleep," the older man suggested as if reading her mind. "He won't stay down for long anyway when he discovers you aren't in bed with him."

"I guess I'll try and get some work done then since you're here to keep us both safe. Do the others know they have people watching them?" she asked, not wanting to slip up when she spoke to Carter and say something she shouldn't.

"They know there are secondary teams on everyone for now," Mitch nodded. "I know that it seems a bit over the top, but Teddy's sister, Grace and my girl Daisy have been the focus of psychos over the last few years, so we take this shit seriously, and so should you," he admonished.

"I do! I am! Even before last night, I hadn't fought Teddy on any security upgrades. I can't go through kidnap and torture again. Even the threat of it is overwhelming sometimes," she admitted. "At the same time, if I don't live my life the way I want, they win, and all the work I have done to get back to my normal boring life will be for nothing. Can you understand that?"

"I can. I was shot three times attempting to save my girl from arsehole kidnappers when I should have just cut the head off the snake when I realised who it was. Trust me. I will not see one of my brothers go down like I did when they came for my girl. The others feel the same way, including Grace, Teddy's sister who has been through some shit of her own recently." Mitch spoke with genuine feeling.

"So, you all fall for damsels in distress?" she tried to make light of what he had just said, but he didn't smile.

"We all fell for the women we loved long before trouble came to their door, as I know Teddy did too," he explained. "You couldn't be safer than you are right now, and we have our best people working to find whoever is doing this to you."

"Thanks," she smiled crookedly, unsure how she felt about any of this. Teddy on his own was a lot to take, but this man and what she knew of Saxon Steele and his connections were a whole lot more. She was coming to realise that Teddy was far more than the sweet guy from her past who owned a security company, and she wasn't sure what to do with that information. No way did she want to get sucked into the underworld of the Golden Mile again. That much she knew for sure.

"I'm going to get some work done. Help yourself to whatever you need," Holly encouraged and went to grab her laptop and work at the dining table. She'd been working for over an hour when, just as Mitch had said, Teddy didn't sleep long and had raced from the bedroom, looking around in panic when he found her gone.

"Fuck!" he breathed. "I thought you went to work without me," he grumbled and bent down to kiss her neck, unconcerned about being naked in front of her or Mitch, as he let the feel of her ease away his panic.

"It seems you have some explaining to do," she said, turning to face Mitch. "Want to tell me why your brothers think you and your crew need bodyguards?"

"Hey, big guy! I was expecting Ian to be here," Teddy said.

"Steve got some additional intel from the Besomar, and Ian was the best man to give them what they wanted in exchange, so lucky you, here I am, and she's right. However, it would be best if you told her why I'm not leaving your side today," he pressed with a serious face.

"Alright, let me grab a shower and some clothes," Teddy said, needing a little time to work out how to phrase his confession about those dark days of his grief when he had thought her dead. He and his crew had decimated the ranks of the Kallikantzaro club with their vengeance. He had the realisation last night that very few people knew of the injuries inflicted on Holly in enough detail to have created the doll. So that meant that the psycho was there when the wounds were inflicted, or they were part of her medical and rehab team.

He didn't believe that anyone who had taken an oath to heal and do no harm could now torment Holly. The thought that it could be the remnants of the Kallikantzaro looking for their own revenge meant they could torment Holly to get to him and his crew. Or perhaps for them to reveal themselves because no one besides the six and his crew knew what they had done. No one had suspected that a group of barely legal teens could have been capable of the reign of terror they had unleashed on the men who had killed most of the Sullivan and O'Callaghan clans and tortured Holly.

What Holly found over lunch and the afternoon when Teddy finally began to explain what had happened when she had left the city to recover shocked her. She had been so wrapped up in her own pain and recovery even to consider what had happened to those who survived the war of the underworld. She was happy to know that the Steel Heart Brotherhood was completely legal and above board, even though they still had contacts in the underworld that they used at times like these. She could see how tormenting her could have been used to flush out the people responsible for the vengeance wrought against those that had tortured and maimed her. It was what she learned about Teddy's vengeance that had left her stunned and speechless.

It was so hard to wrap her head around the fact that he hadn't just killed the man who had taken her but had gone after the whole club when someone in that club had cared enough to dump her at the hospital rather than in a gutter somewhere to die. He'd been grieving and devasted not only for her but his family when he was placed in foster care with strangers who couldn't have understood the trauma he had lived through. Yet, she knew she couldn't blame him for what he had done and should be grateful that he had brought himself back from that brink of insanity.

She was interested in meeting Grace, who he credited for bringing him back to reality once his revenge was complete. Grace seemed to be the centre of the six men who called each other family. Holly had the impression from Mitch earlier that she had issues with some underworld figures, as did his partner Daisy. But, on the other hand, perhaps saving damsels in distress was just par for the course with these men. She peeked up from her laptop, where she was finishing some emails as she absorbed everything Teddy had told her while he spoke with his brothers Ian and Mitch about new information they had received.

*****

"Great, the order is here," Nicky clapped her hands and directed the delivery men to the back of the shop, where Nessa stood to lead them to the space cleared for the large order for their Halloween Event. Everything was coming together, and if it weren't for the dark cloud that hung over them, accompanied by a lot of extra muscle, it would be an exciting and fun time for the four women who ran the costume shop. As it was, they were constantly alert to strangers and strange occurrences around them.

Holly eyed Carter where she stood, marking off the inventory list with Medusa standing slightly behind her, their bodies touching or brushing against each other when they moved. It was unsettling for Holly. She wasn't jealous, women didn't do it for her the way men did, but it was like she was losing something important as her best friend focused her attention on another woman for the first time in their lives. She hadn't thought Carter swung that way either, but the attraction between the two women was palpable, and Holly tried to be happy for Carter, just as Carter had tried to be happy that she had reunited with Teddy.

Startled from her reverie, she looked up at the hulking figure of Jack, who had nudged her to get her attention. He nodded his head toward one of the two deliverymen who carried one small carton on his box trolley, where both men had been taking several boxes at a time, depending on the size.

"Oh, wow, is that the last one?" Holly asked the man having stepped into his path. "I thought I ordered more," she looked between the man and the growing pile at the back of the shop.

"Nah, this one's fragile," he said, licking his lips nervously and indicating the fragile sticker on the side.

"Oh, I better take it then, so the girls don't damage it when they go to unpack," she held out her hands. "I'll put it on my desk for safekeeping."

"It's heavy. I'll take it in there for you," the man seemed to consider her as he looked her up and down with distaste evident on his face.

"Yeah, good idea. It's not like there are any strong men around here to help her," Jack grumbled. He knew he was here because his face wasn't as well known as that of the six, and while babysitting duty chafed at him, he would ensure nothing happened to this girl or her friends on his watch. As far as he was concerned, Teddy's crew could handle themselves well enough to fend off any idiot stupid enough to come at them. He'd seen footage of the fight between Dean and the Viking and knew the others by reputation amongst the brotherhood, and that alone was enough to convince him that they could handle themselves. Including Medusa, who was one of the few women to have taken her place with the Steel Heart soldiers.

"Wait," Jack held Holly back as the man pushed past him with a stiff shoulder check as he walked toward the office and delicately put the package on Holly's desk. "The office is now off limits til I get a guy here to look at that fragile package," Jack instructed in a whisper, watching the man retreat out of the shop as his co-worker brought in more boxes to stack with the others. He typed out a message to his brothers and slipped his phone away before the man returned with what seemed like the last load.

"Did you mark off that box the guy put into your office on your list?" Jack asked Carter, who had signed for the finished delivery after checking off her list when the two delivery men left.

"It must be extra samples because everything on my list is here," Carter said, looking at the office door curiously and starting to walk towards it.

"Let's leave it where it is as a precaution until my guy comes to check it out, and you can all head to the café for lunch while Kris and I watch the front counter," Jack suggested. He liked the computer nerd from Teddy's team and knew he would keep a cool head if shit went down.

Holly reluctantly left the store with her friends, and rather than going to the café, she gave in to the guy's suggestion that lunch would be better at the pub with a cold glass of wine. It was further down the street than the café, and she worried about returning to the store if everything went badly for Jack and the friend he had called. It wasn't hard to guess what they thought the package contained. She let herself be led through finding a table and ordering and even ate as if on automatic pilot as her mind filled with worse-case scenarios, and she waited for the boom that would tell her she'd lost everything she'd worked so hard for since her return to the coast.

"Holly?" Nicky wrapped a hand around her waist and gave her an awkward side hug in their chairs. "It's over now. We can go back," she smiled as Holly blinked out of her thoughts and looked up to see Teddy striding across the restaurant toward her.

"Just in time," Holly gave a half-hearted smile and pushed her plate away before standing and letting Teddy hug her to him. It was shocking to her how much she needed his touch after such a short time of letting him back into her life.

"It was something meant to shock, not harm," Teddy said quietly. "But we need to talk and find out who sent it." Holly nodded silently and let him lead her out of the rear of the pub. She raised an eyebrow at Teddy, who smiled and leaned down to kiss her softly. "Trust me," he smiled reassuringly.

"Your brothers are here?" Holly frowned when she saw the vehicles and bikes crowded into the small lane behind her shop.

"There are some things you need to see," he gave a vague explanation.