Harlequin Romantic Suspense May 2018 Box Set

by Regan Black

  Being a local cop had crossed her mind, and she’d even mentioned it to Corey, but he’d waved his hand and said “no way” enough times that she’d started to believe him, accept that his assessment of her talents and capabilities was spot-on. Being a marshal was the best fit for her and Jake. Besides, he was only five. She had time to figure it all out.

  She’d left a voice mail with her brother and save for the brief two-word text reply, Got him!, she hadn’t discussed her situation with Nolan. How could she tell anyone she was with her son’s father when she hadn’t told Rob yet? The anger and betrayal at finding out he was alive and had been this whole time would take a long while to work out in her mind. And yet she knew she couldn’t keep his son from him. Rob deserved to know he had a son. And Jake deserved to know his father.

  The bottle of body wash she’d had with her in her backpack whistled out its last drops. She looked at the bar of soap that sat on the shower’s tiny shelf. There was only one, and sharing it with Rob felt too intimate, too much like something a real boyfriend and girlfriend, or husband and wife as they’d posed as in the lobby, would do.

  She was overthinking everything. A side effect of the adrenaline rush.

  She rinsed off the sudsy shampoo in the shower stall and thought of his hands on her. God, she wanted to run to his arms, allow him to comfort her as she accepted he was still alive. He was alive. Her body had no reason to defend itself against Rob, apparently as her attraction to him was still incredibly hot, over-the-top.

  Vibrations shook the shower glass as the bathroom door banged open, followed by Rob’s deep baritone.

  “Trina!” She’d never heard such a strident tone from him before, and her fingers shook as she shut off the water.

  “Yeah?”

  “We’ve got trouble. Get dressed and get ready to climb out that window over your head.”

  She blinked away the last of the suds and stared at the small sliding opening. “You’re kidding. That can’t be more than twelve by twelve inches big.” One square foot was not enough for either of them to squeeze through.

  “Get out and dressed. Hurry!” His demand was punctuated by pounding on the room door and shouts of “room service!” Since the motel didn’t have room service and they hadn’t asked for anything, she knew Rob was correct. They were about to be ambushed. Trina wiped at her skin with the towel she’d thrown over the stall door.

  “I called 911, and I’m sure as soon as they hear the sirens they’ll take off, but we can’t count on it.” He didn’t have to say what they both knew. ROC didn’t care if the local LEAs found both of them with a bullet between their eyes. And they’d make it look like it had been a murder-suicide.

  “Fine.” She shoved open the shower door to face him, the puppy clutched to his chest, his face a map of painful injury. Save for his eyes, which heated at her nakedness. “Stop being a perv and hand me my clothes. And put the dog down—he’ll be okay. We’ll carry him when we have to.” She’d hung them on the hooks on the back of the door, her weapon on the sink’s minuscule counter. Silently he held out her panties, bra, jeans and T-shirt, followed by her body armor and holster. She put her gun in its place while still barefoot.

  “You need body armor, Rob. Can you move quickly? Where are my boots?” The pounding was louder and they both tensed, looking to each other for what the next move should be. “Crap. We’ve got to go now.” She turned back around and looked at the window, which wasn’t looking so bad. “But we’re on the second floor. You’ll never make the fall.”

  “That’s why you’re going to jump first.” Rob looked like he was about to push her through the window, bruised skeleton be damned. He still held the dog, at whose comfort she couldn’t guess.

  “And leave you and the puppy here? Never.”

  * * *

  Rob bit back the harsh order on his lips. Trina wasn’t a Trail Hikers operative and had never done deep undercover ops. Her loyalty to him was misplaced, but he’d have to address that with her later.

  When they were both safe.

  She’d literally shoved her soaking wet body into her clothing and now stomped her bare feet into her boots. A distant siren pierced the spell of silence in between their pursuers rapping on the door and their own heavy breathing.

  Trina stood up fully and held her hand up. “Is it…”

  A second, shriller siren sounded, followed quickly by the echo of footsteps running away from their room.

  She looked up at him, her expression triumphant. “Score! Thank God you called emergency right away.” She arched her brow, its smooth shape in sharp contrast to her tangled hair. Her eyes, the deepest shade of gray, framed by her clumped lashes, drew him in.

  “Trina.” Slowly, he put the dog down. There was so much to say, and nothing. Words escaped him as quickly as his pulse shifted into overdrive and the erection he’d been fighting came on hard and insistent. Her lips were moist, plump, parted.

  She placed her hand lightly on his chest. “Rob, no. You said that Justin was dead. So is the woman you knew. So—so are we.”

  Her words would cut later, when he replayed them in his mind. All he could sense was his body’s need for her. He allowed her to maintain the space between their upper bodies with her hand as he grasped her hips and pulled her up against his cock. And God help him, he ground into her pelvis, unable to stop the bliss-inducing movement. He closed his eyes to the pain from his ribs and focused on the sensation of her hot center rubbing against his erection.

  “Are you sure about that, Trina?”

  She looked at his mouth, and her pupils dilated as her breath hitched. When her eyelids lowered, he took it as the invitation it would have been five years ago.

  He kissed her.

  Rob expected Trina to pull back, push him away or endure a few seconds of lip-to-lip contact. As a courtesy to a dead man come back to life. What he never envisioned was how quickly her arms would wind around his neck, her breasts press against his chest, how their staccato breathing and soft sucking noises would be the only audible elements in the tiny bathroom. The biggest surprise was how forcefully she kissed him back, her tongue demanding all he had to give her.

  Rob had everything to give Trina. If she’d let him.

  It was a kiss of loss, regret, sorrow. Affirmation that they were together again, in the same place, not separated by war or death.

  Distantly he heard a siren, close enough to cause alarm. “Trina.” He hated to pull back, to end the moment that felt frozen in the timeline of their relationship with each other. A relationship that’s over. He’d be better off if he kept that in mind.

  “I know.” She groaned as she pulled away and took a step back. “We have to meet the cops, tell them what’s going on. I can have Corey call their supervisor. What county are we in? Did you see the township?”

  He grasped her shoulders. “No, we absolutely cannot see the police—or rather, they can’t see us. I’m an undercover agent and you’re being chased by ROC. Their connections are far and wide and we don’t know who these officers are.”

  Her stunned expression shook him. Trina might be a US Marshal, but she obviously still wanted to believe all cops were good, on the right side. “Trina, we have to get out of here.”

  “Right. They’re still not on this floor—we can walk out of here.” He was touched and annoyed by her concern for him. But she was right—if he jumped out the window, normally an easy move for him, he’d risk blowing everything, as he might not be able to stand back up from the ground.

  “We have to move now. Get the dog. And follow my lead.” This was his turf, staying clandestine in a fully connected world.

  CHAPTER 6

  Trina’s lips still quivered from Rob’s kiss when he stopped short in the parking lot behind the hotel and pulled her to him. The puppy in her arms wiggled between them. She’d put up no argument as they ran togeth
er to the hotel room’s door, cleared the hallway and made their way down the cement steps to the back parking lot.

  “Act like we’re long-lost lovers.”

  His lips were on hers again, but this time it was for show. She could be professional at this. She opened her eyes a slit to see the police cars pulling up to the hotel, sirens blaring and lights flashing in the dimming light. Sometime between the totally unplanned kiss in the bathroom and this strategic gesture, day had faded into dusk.

  “Don’t look at them.” He moved his hand over her waist, her hips, to the fullest part of her ass.

  “Really?” She spoke against his mouth, her lips acting of their own volition, as well as her tongue. Dang, she’d missed how it felt to have Rob’s mouth on hers, their breath one motion in the midst of their raging desire. And it was theirs, for sure. This was something she’d never experienced with another man, no matter how good the sex was. Rob was special, their tie to each other inexplicable.

  He buried his head in her neck and gave her a deliciously moist kiss, his tongue tracing the sensitive skin with exquisite pressure. “Really. They’ll think we’re having a sordid affair. As soon as they’re inside, we’ll take off.”

  Her mind was frantically trying to keep hold of what needed to happen to make the mission successful. But her hormones and emotions were at war with reason, and heat rushed into her cheeks when Rob said “inside.”

  Trina knew there wouldn’t be another kiss after this; she wouldn’t allow it. So why not go along for a bit longer?

  Rob’s lips were on hers again, but after only a second or two he lifted his head, looking past her. “Okay, the coast is clear.” He turned his focus to her. “You all right?”

  “Of course.” She wrenched herself away from him and placed the dog on a patch of grass to relieve himself. Part of her hoped Rob would collapse on the asphalt. How could he kiss her like that and maintain any kind of logical thought process?

  He’s a trained operative. And he was the same man who’d allowed her to think he’d been killed. She wanted to add the fact that he was the father of her son, a son she was raising as a single mother. But as unfair as the entire situation was, she couldn’t accuse Rob of being a derelict dad. He didn’t even know he was a dad.

  * * *

  “You’re awfully quiet.” He spoke from the passenger seat as she drove them to a hotel twenty minutes away, in the opposite direction of where the ROC thought they were headed. The darned dog was on his lap, curled up as if he was the one fighting the bad guys and mentally exhausted.

  “It’s been a full day. And I’m freezing.” Shivers had started to rack her and she pushed the buttons for the heater. “I’m sorry to need heat in the hottest part of the summer.”

  “Hypothermia can set in on the hottest of days. We need to get to the hotel and get your wet clothes off.”

  “Not happening.” Even through her chattering teeth, the tone of her statement was sharper than she’d meant. “I mean, something between us. After the kiss. The kisses. I don’t want to lead you on.”

  “Trust me, that’s the last thing I’d ever expect from you. The leading me on part. As for kissing you, hell, Trina, it’s been five years. We had amazing chemistry when we were together, and that’s not gone away.”

  “We had more than chemistry.” She wasn’t letting him off so easily. “If it was only a physical attraction, you going off the radar by allowing Justin to officially die wouldn’t be such a big deal.”

  “I thought you were married, Trina.” His quiet words weighed heavy with what sounded an awful like pain. Regret.

  “Not good enough, Rob. Even if I’d remarried, was still married, whatever. What we shared deserved more than you walking away when you saw me again.” She fought to keep her words aboveboard, fair. Her heart screamed at her conscience that if she were really fair she’d tell him about their son, how she’d really felt about Rob. How she hadn’t been able to let go for so long.

  “You seem really angry, Trina.”

  “You don’t know the half of it.” She spotted the hotel sign and maneuvered to make the left into the parking lot. “You’re correct in that I need to get these clothes off, and into another hot shower. Wait here while I check in.” She mustered as much dignity as one could in soaking-wet clothes and dripping hair and slid out of the SUV. She felt his gaze on her back as she walked into the hotel lobby. Hollywood and sometimes real life allowed for over-the-top, joyous reunions of lovers thought lost or dead. But in her case, seeing that Rob was still alive and as attractive as he’d ever been was pure agony. The sooner she was able to get them both back to Silver Valley, the better.

  * * *

  Rob stared at the muted television from one of two double beds in the much older, run-down hotel. Trina was talking in low murmurs to someone he thought might be her brother. She’d made it clear she wasn’t married, but hadn’t said she’d never gotten married or hooked up with anyone since him. And he hated the part of himself that burned to know if she’d fallen in love with another man.

  “Hey, buddy!” Trina’s voice lifted into pure happiness, and he couldn’t help taking a surreptitious look at her. She was wrapped up under her blankets, her hair dry thanks to the yellowed but still functional wall hair dryer unit in the bathroom. He’d found an extra comforter in the closet and placed it over her. She’d uttered a quick “thanks” and busied herself with calling whomever she was still on the line with.

  “Mommy has to work on something for the next few days. Uncle Nolan and Grandma and Grandpa are going to take care of you. Are you okay with that?”

  Rob though it odd that she asked the kid if he was okay with something that he had no control over. Who did that? A mother who loved her kid is who. Nothing he’d know about, as his years in foster care hadn’t given him a good model of a healthy parent-child bond. His gut soured over the realization that another man had fathered a baby with her. Their relationship when they were both Navy hadn’t progressed to the point of discussing a future that entailed family, but he’d hoped it would. Hell, he’d expected it would. When he and Trina had started seeing each other, during the war, it had changed him. He’d begun to think about life in a totally different way. It was a certainty that he’d have wanted a family with her.

  “Sorry about that. You can turn the volume up if you want.” She stared at the ceiling as she spoke. He clicked the television off.

  “Nothing to apologize for. I take it that was your kid?”

  Silence. He’d wait as long as it took.

  “Yes. Childcare is always tricky, but I’ve been so lucky. My brother got out of the Navy a year or so before me, and my parents are still in Williamsport. Not far from here, actually. Maybe an hour or two west, only two hours from Silver Valley. When I landed the job with the Marshals I was lucky to get one tour in Philadelphia and then moved to this one in Harrisburg. It’s allowed both me and—and my child to settle down. My hours are usually pretty conventional, as I don’t do as much in the field as I used to.”

  “When we worked together I never thought you’d leave flying.”

  “Yeah, well, priorities change once you have a kid to think about. And I can’t blame motherhood for it—I would be bored flying commercial airlines. I need something that’s a little more different on a day-to-day basis. I’m applying for an administrative position with the Marshals, as soon as one opens up in our local office. I don’t want to move again. Not while my son is in school.”

  “Settling down has its benefits, I’m sure.” He wanted to say anything to keep her talking. He loved her voice but even more, any little glimpse into the woman she was today. Regret hammered at his insides more than the pain in his bruised ribs. He’d been so damned inconsolable after he’d seen her in Norfolk.

  “What about you, Rob? Why haven’t you settled down?” She was on her side, facing him. Still hunkered down under layers of
blankets, incongruous with the air-conditioning that blasted over his bare chest and barely kept him cool in the hot night. The puppy curled next to her, fast asleep. She’d fed him more of the kibble. They were going to have to do something about that dog. It couldn’t stay with them—it was too risky. It could bark at the wrong moment and give their position away.

  “That’s a good question. I hate to admit it, but I think my head was messed up for a while after the explosion.” He wasn’t going to tell her that memories of her got him through. “I was still in the mode of doing whatever I could to serve my country.”

  “It looks to me like you still are.”

  “Yeah.” He let out a laugh that sounded like a grunt. “But it’s more on my terms. Part-time, if you will.”

  “What do you do when you’re not working?”

  “That’s a good question.” One he wasn’t going to answer, for now. Part of being a Trail Hiker was finding a civilian identity in the community of Silver Valley, so that no suspicion would arise on how an agent earned a living, or where they went when they disappeared on global missions. Rob had pursued a career that would help foster kids and other at-risk youth find their way at a community center for kids with no parental support. He’d earned his master’s degree in social work part-time over the last several years. He wasn’t ready to tell Trina this, though.

  They lay in silence for several minutes, each lost in their own thoughts. Although Rob’s dick seemed to have a mind of its own, with Trina so close. The separate beds and small space between them may as well be a concrete prison wall, though. He sensed she’d created a safe space for her thoughts to inhabit, just as he had. Military training on compartmentalization had its benefits.

  * * *

  Rob’s phone woke him from a deep slumber in which he’d dreamed he had a chance to either work with Trina on a mission or go work with a scary, deadly dude who wouldn’t say what his missions were. The insistent vibration of the device broke through the dream’s cobwebs and he strained to see who was calling at 0415. Claudia Michele, director of Trail Hikers.