Protector: Doms of Mountain Bend Book 1 by BJ Wane (good books to read for 12 year olds .txt) 📕

“Mo, Curly, back.” Shawn held his free hand palm out toward the dogs and they halted a foot from them, looking at him with adoration in their dark eyes and tongues lolling out. “Good boys,” he crooned in a tone she’d never heard him use.

She grinned as he scratched behind their ears, one at a time, the dogs’ obvious trust easing the tension their sudden appearance had produced. Having never owned a pet, she’d never understood the bond between a dog and owner, but there was no denying Shawn’s attachment to the pair.

Tugging her up next to him, he gave her a reassuring glance. “They’re friendly if you want to pet them. I adopted them from a rescue shelter not long ago, and they’ve come a long way with a healthy, steady diet and socialization. But even so, they’ve never shown a sign of aggression, which is surprising, given the breed and their previous neglect.”

Twenty years and he is still saving kids, and now animals, she mused, recalling the article on Shawn’s rescue of the young boy who had fallen down a well. She needed to remember part of his interest in her stemmed from his nature to jump in and help those in jeopardy, the other part as a Dom intent on fixing

whatever had been holding her back.

Reaching a tentative hand toward the closest dog, Lisa sank her fingers into his thick fur and got a lick on her wrist that tickled. “He’s soft.” She frowned, feeling his ribs. “And still too skinny.”

“Yeah, that’ll take time. Once they’ve put on more weight and can handle the extra exercise, I’ll take them on the range with me. But right now, I have to put them in the house before we leave. I just installed a dog door and built a fenced run on the other side so they’re not cooped up all day.” He nodded toward an oversized truck parked next to his department-issued cruiser. “Let me help you into the cab then give me a minute to take them inside.”

“Where will we be going?” she asked, patting the other dog before following Shawn, smiling when the pair trotted behind them.

“To the stables, where Dakota has a docile mare picked out for you. You can get used to her in the corral first then I’ll take you on a trail ride to the creek that has the best fishing.” He opened the passenger door, releasing her hand to lift her onto the seat.

Grasping his shoulders for balance, Lisa found herself at eye level with him, their faces a mere inch apart, his eyes going dark and her pulse skipping a beat. She moistened her suddenly dry lips, wanting him to close the small gap between their mouths in the worst way.

His hands tightened on her waist as he growled, “Fuck,” and took possession of her mouth.

Digging her nails into his thick muscles, she groaned at the insistence of his tongue stroking hers, sweeping her gums, then returning to taste her again. His lips moved with hard aggression over hers, working her mouth until she couldn’t tell them apart. The ball of heat his touch produced in her stomach slowly unfurled to spread up to her breasts and down to her pussy. His hands slid from her waist to her butt, pushing her forward on the seat as he spread her knees with his. She grew hot with arousal, quivering as he settled between them, pressing his denim-encased, thick erection against her mound while easing up on her mouth just enough to sink his teeth into the soft flesh of her lower lip.

“Shawn, this…”

He stroked his tongue over the sting, soothing the throb that matched the ache between her legs. “Not a good idea, I know,” he finished for her before pulling away and dropping his hands. “I’ll be right back.”

Lisa touched her lip, watching him interact with the dogs on the way to the house, her heart heavy. No good could come of letting him touch her again, but she seemed unable to resist. The heartbreak she was courting just might be worth it to pass the next few weeks submitting to his possession.

The drive to the stables took about ten minutes, and on the way, Shawn told her a little about the Coopers, who had taken the three of them in, and Buck’s recent death.

“You really cared for him.” It was there in his voice and the sadness in his eyes.

“Yeah, we all did. Shocked the hell out of us when he left us in charge of this spread. Miss Betty was happy to move to Mountain Bend, and into the one retirement neighborhood where she had friends who were also widows.” He pointed to the forested area on the right. “Buck caught us hanging out in there instead of going to school one morning. How the hell he knew we skipped is still unknown, but we paid the price when he made us spend the day polishing every saddle and oiling all the tack then writing apologies to each teacher. He never raised his voice, didn’t have to. He could come across as disappointed and pissed at the same time.”

“And you stayed.”

He nodded. “We stayed. Despite the hard work and the rules we weren’t used to, the three of us admitted to each other we were intrigued by the change from everything we’d grown up with. The education in caring for livestock and farming crops was a lot more interesting than algebra and English lit.”

“I liked school,” she admitted but could see how this ranch with its endless open ranges, woods, and creeks that offered the chance for teenage boys to ride and work in the outdoors could alter their adolescent bad behavior.

Shawn flipped her a rueful grin as he parked in front of a massive stable painted beige with red trim and surrounded by