A Little Harmless Lie: Harmless, Book 4

by Melissa Schroeder

  “Dee. Her name is Dee now,” Devon said.

  She smiled at him. “Of course, sorry. Dee wants to testify.”

  “Not going to happen.”

  Micah settled against the bar. “I think it is.”

  Devon glared in his direction. “Don’t you have any control over her?”

  Micah shrugged. “Sure, I could talk her out of it, for a time. But it’s what she needs to do. It’s what she wants to do. If that’s what Dee wants, that’s what Dee gets.”

  Dillon decided to add to the conversation. “I have to side here with Devon. It would be best if she didn’t testify.”

  He glanced at the former agent. “Oh, you do? Was it best that you couldn’t be on her protection team, so you allowed them to remove you from the team and left her open to attack?”

  Dillon clenched his jaw. “Be that as it may, I understand her father better than anyone. It took me a long time to be able to bring the bastard down.”

  “You didn’t. He’s still out there,” Devon pointed out. A flush of anger filled Dillon’s cheeks.

  “Yeah, just a little reminder here, if you had brought him down, it wouldn’t have been because of you. It would’ve been because a scared girl put her life on the line. She allowed you to protect her and you fucked it up. So don’t tell me you know her father well. No one knows him better than Devon and Dee. Dee probably better than Devon since he ran away to play spy.”

  “Oh, that’s how Striker Force is so realistic, right?” Maura asked, admiration in her voice.

  “Stay on track, Maura,” Zeke spoke for the first time.

  She shot the dangerous-looking man a dirty look but said nothing else.

  “So, we need to figure out a way to get to Rizzoli,” Zeke said.

  “How? I admit to knowing more than the FBI knows, but even then, it would be hard to get to him,” Devon commented.

  Micah glanced at him. “How would you know? When was the last time you even talked to your father?”

  “The day he told me my sister was dead.”

  A beat of silence filled the room.

  Dillon sighed. “Well, I think the best thing, the one thing that your father would listen to is—”

  “A threat,” Dee said. They had been so intense in their discussion, they hadn’t noticed that she’d joined them. “He would only listen to some kind of threat.”

  She looked tired. There were smudges beneath her eyes, and she looked so tiny wrapped up in the big, white, fluffy robe. Micah went to her, took her hand and led her to a couch for both of them to sit on.

  “She’s right,” Devon said. “Dad doesn’t believe in negotiations. If we wanted something from him, it took threats.”

  “So how do we threaten him?” Dillon asked.

  Micah studied Dee for a moment and read what she had decided. With a sigh, he said, “We tell him Dee is still alive.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  All hell broke loose.

  Dee would have laughed if all the noise hadn’t added to her already fragile nerves. She had listened to all of them fighting over her, over what to do, and she had gotten sick of it. For ten fucking years she had given up her life for her bastard of a father. She was tired of living with an axe hanging over her head.

  “Shut the hell up,” Dee yelled. When everyone had, and was looking at her, she said, “It wouldn’t be done in person. Devon is a computer genius. You can email Dad some way, right? I mean, make sure you hide who and where you are, right?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, that’s kid’s play. Dad probably has some top-notch computer folks though, so we need to be careful.”

  “I can help,” Maura said. “We have some accounts that we use for work that are completely untraceable. That is if my brother and Zeke agree.”

  Both men nodded.

  “Well, we need to email him, let him know I’m alive, and then set up something.” She was scared, that was true. She didn’t care. She wanted this over one way or another. Her life wasn’t worth anything if she couldn’t live it freely. No more hiding. Micah stroked his thumb over the back of her hand.

  “Be honest. Mention Dee is still alive. Say that she is ready to talk for some money and he’ll come running.”

  Dee looked at Micah with surprise. She had expected him to throw a fit when she announced her plan. In fact, she’d thought he would be the one fighting her the hardest. The fact that he trusted her judgment made her heart happy. Men in her life had not always been that trusting of her opinion.

  As if on cue, her brother shook his head. “So you want to use yourself as bait? I don’t think so. No way.”

  Her brother was being the pain in the ass, which was a little surprising. He’d always been the one who’d backed her up, and now he was refusing her. She had thought he might be a little easier than anyone else.

  She held up her hands as if she could ward off his objections. “Listen. It’ll work. Dillon can set it up with the US Attorney’s office. They can watch the whole thing. We can accuse him of killing someone. Hell, you could be the one to do it. It’s not like you don’t know how to protect yourself.”

  He gave her an odd look and it made her want to roll her eyes. Did they all think she was stupid? Some of what she was feeling must have shown on her face because she caught Micah’s smile.

  “You were up to something, Devon. You gained twenty pounds of muscle when you went away to your fake college. Correct me if I’m wrong, but most people gain fat when they go to college. Then there was that one time you had a call, had to leave right away.”

  He grimaced. “I thought I hid it.”

  “You did, from everyone but your twin. I knew better than to pry. Are you going to tell me what you were doing?”

  Devon glanced around at everyone, then shrugged. “In school for the CIA.”

  She nodded. “Figured it was something. Anyway, we can have you be the person to confront him. Conner’ll make sure there is some muscle around.”

  She glanced at Micah, waiting for him to say something but he kept watching her with a strange expression. Then she remembered what he said about watching her order people around. A blush burned her face and she cleared her throat and tried to pull her attention away from him.

  “I have my secure computer here with me,” Devon said, heading to his bedroom.

  “No. Use Maura’s. Hers has some stuff on it you could only dream about,” Dillon said. “Some of our computer security programs are kept in-house, not released to anyone.”

  He nodded as he followed Maura, who grabbed some bags and they headed into the kitchenette area of the room.

  Zeke followed, apparently not happy to have Maura around her brother. Then, when the room was cleared, it was just Micah, Dillon and her.

  “I wanted to talk to you about what happened before.” Dillon looked uncomfortable, more than uncomfortable. He looked positively ill.

  “Go ahead.”

  He sighed. “I was pulled off the case. It wasn’t my choosing.”

  “I understand.”

  “No, you don’t. I had lost my focus. I was too worried about you. I had gotten emotionally involved, and my bosses didn’t like it.”

  She swallowed. “And so you were forced to leave.”

  He looked at her with bleak eyes. “Both John and I fought it, but they refused. We had to actually break up our partnership because of it. Neither of us wanted to leave, so John insisted that he would stay.”

  Pain swirled in her chest then slammed into her heart. He’d died, and he could have left.

  “Don’t.” His voice was as gentle as it had been years earlier. It made her want to lean on him, take comfort in the fact that there was someone there who would take care of everything.

  She could feel the tears burning the backs of her eyes.

  “I never wanted anyone to get hurt. And if he had left, he would have watched that little girl grow up.”

  Dillon walked to her then, took her in his arms. “I know. But it was his job. An
d even if I had wanted to talk him out of it, I couldn’t have done it. We both knew just what your father would do to you if he found you. And we knew he had someone on the payroll when you got attacked.”

  She sniffed and pulled out of his arms, away from him. He had been the man she had leaned on all those years ago. And yes, he’d had to leave because of the job, but…she was sick of people leaving her.

  “The last thing he told me was to run. To not trust anyone. It was what kept me alive.”

  Conner shook his head. “I wish you would have come to me.”

  “How was I supposed to do that? I didn’t know where you were, what you were doing. Besides, John said whoever attacked us was someone in the FBI and he was the only one I trusted at the moment.”

  She regretted the words the moment she said them. Pain etched across his features in sharp lines.

  “Yeah, well, I don’t blame you.”

  She nodded.

  “We’ll get him this time.”

  She nodded again. “I need to get dressed.”

  As she walked back to her room, she knew better than to expect anything good to come out of this. She wanted to get this crap done and over with. Getting on with her life had become so damned important. When she shut the door behind her, she closed her eyes and sighed with relief. She couldn’t handle any more surprises.

  “I think I deserve points for not ripping his arms off his body and beating him senseless with them.”

  She laughed as she opened her eyes and found Micah watching her. God, it seemed like a lifetime ago that she had been lusting after him, not really knowing what to do about him. She hadn’t known if she could trust him. Strange, because now she trusted him more than any other person in her life. Even her brother.

  “You want to beat Conner? Why?”

  “He touched you.” He shrugged. “It happens again, I’ll remind him who you belong to.”

  She rolled her eyes. “There are times you sound like some kind of knuckle dragger.”

  He smiled, but not the tender smile he’d shared with her earlier. This was something else, seductive and a bit…wicked. It sent a rush of tingles racing over her skin, through her blood.

  “What?”

  “I think I remember saying you would be punished for not coming to me.”

  A lick of fear and arousal slipped down her spine and she drew in a deep breath.

  “I was going to.”

  One eyebrow rose.

  “I was. I can’t help that instinct. I heard Conner talking and I panicked. It had been ten years since I’d heard his voice, and seriously, I had no idea if he was involved or not.”

  He cocked his head. “But you don’t think so now.”

  “No. Devon has done a background check on him.”

  “Let’s get back to the punishment.”

  “I said I would have called you. But Devon drugged me.”

  Oh, shit. She shouldn’t have said that. A deathly calm washed over Micah as his face turned from the seducer she knew to lethal man.

  “Well, not really.”

  “Did he or didn’t he drug you?” Every word was measured, and while part of her was upset with him, another part of her sighed over the fact he was ready to protect her against anything.

  She sighed. “He did.”

  “I’ll deal with your brother later. You will be dealt with now.”

  “But I said that I would have called you.”

  He nodded and started walking toward her. No, he was stalking her. His slow, long strides reminded her of a jungle cat stalking its prey.

  “Yes. But once you landed here, you didn’t. You’re a smart woman, Dee. You could have figured out how to get a hold of me.”

  He stopped within a few inches of her.

  “I didn’t want to put you in jeopardy.”

  He shook his head, his hair sliding over his shoulders. “You knew your brother had devices to hide your connection from anyone watching me.”

  She opened her mouth, but the look he gave her made her snap it shut.

  “Strip.”

  Heat rolled through her, her body reacting immediately to the soft command. She’d known this was coming, known that he would have to exert some kind of punishment for doing what she’d done.

  “I need room.” She took two steps back as her hands went to the belt of her robe. Once she undid the knot, she allowed the robe to fall off her shoulders onto the floor. His gaze moved over her, his nostrils flaring.

  “I should have known you were naked underneath.”

  She opened her mouth to explain, but he shook his head.

  “No talking unless you’re answering a question or using your safe word.”

  She said nothing as he approached her. Her nerves were shot, really, and she didn’t know just how to handle this, what was to come. Micah needed this, and there was a part of her that needed it, yearned for it. He walked around her, and she stood trying to keep her wits about her. She knew tonight would be about a complete submission, her complete indoctrination into the life. And she knew part of her should be scared, but she wasn’t. In fact, she wasn’t sure that anything had ever felt so right before.

  He slipped his hand down her spine to her ass, then skimmed the crevice between her cheeks. She shuddered, her need rising. From the first time he’d mentioned it, she had been dreaming of him taking her ass.

  He must have read her mind. “Not tonight. I want to…damn I want to. But just not tonight.”

  She wanted to ask him why, but she didn’t, knowing the rules.

  He stepped closer, moving his hand around to her waist and pulling her back against him. Damn, he was hot. His body heat warmed her back, his jean-encased cock pressed against her rear end. He slipped his hand up her torso to her breast and plucked at her nipple. Pleasure with a shot of pain spurted through her. He took her other breast in his free hand and gave it the same treatment.

  “Tonight you will not come until I give you permission. I will control everything. Your pleasure is mine to give and if you can’t understand that, you will be punished.”

  His breath feathered out over her sensitive flesh, his heated words causing her to shiver. Before this, she would have never guessed just talking about it, about how he would control her, would get her wet. But she was. Her body pulsed with arousal, with an overwhelming need that shot straight to her sex. It made her want to rub against anything to release the pressure building between her legs.

  He stepped away, his hands falling away.

  “On the bed, on your knees, that ass up in the air.”

  For a moment she couldn’t react, couldn’t get her body to move. It had nothing to do with fear, but the arousal now pounding in her blood. He had her ready to come just from ordering her onto the bed.

  “Dee, do it now.”

  She forced herself to act, crawling onto the bed, moving to her hands and knees. He said nothing else, but she could hear clothing being removed. She wanted to look, needed to watch him strip, but she knew better than to turn around.

  The dip in the mattress told her that he had joined her on the bed. He kneeled beside her, and she did chance a glance over at him. He was nude, his cock thick and hard bobbing against his stomach. She licked her lips.

  Smack.

  Without warning, his hand came down hard on her ass. Vibrations spread out over her body.

  “You should have known to wait in the bedroom. I would have kept you safe in Hawaii.”

  Smack.

  The sting intensified as did the throbbing in her pussy.

  “Don’t ever run again.”

  Smack.

  She moaned this time. She couldn’t help it. The last one had sent a heated wave of desire rolling through her body, causing cream to fill her sex, her clit to pulse, and her nipples to tingle.

  She thought he would spank her again, but instead he smoothed the palm of his hand over her ass. His cool skin against her heated flesh was arousing. His mouth followed, his tongue moving over
her.

  He shifted, moving behind her.

  “I was right. Your ass does look sexy red.” His voice had deepened, the arousal in it easy to hear, to feel moving over her nerve endings.

  His hands smoothed over her cheeks and then he smacked her once again. She moaned again.

  “Feel good, baby? I bet it makes that pretty little pussy hot and wet.”

  She couldn’t answer him even if he’d wanted an answer. Her heart was smacking against her chest, her body shivering with the anticipation he was slowly building. Her cunt was weeping with need.

  He skimmed one hand between her legs, dragging a finger against her slit, then back up to her anus. Slowly, he eased a finger into her anus.

  Before she was ready for it to end, he pulled away.

  “On your back, Dee.”

  Arousal left his voice rough, her body shimmering. She did as he ordered as he slipped from the bed. He bent down and picked something up off the floor. Her robe. He took hold of the belt and pulled it from the loops.

  “I think you understand now to trust me.”

  His gray gaze watched her, moved down her body. Licks of heat followed the path, leaving her flesh hot, burning. She wanted his hands there, needed them touching her, teasing her, driving her crazy.

  He dropped the robe on the floor and walked back to the bed, the belt hanging loosely from his fingers.

  “Hands up, over your head.”

  She did as ordered and he slipped the belt beneath her wrists, then around to tie them together.

  “I’d like to tie your ankles down, but I don’t have anything to anchor them to.”

  The image that brought to mind had her head spinning and her body yearning. He leaned over, his hands skimming over her aching nipples.

  “I love you in this position. Like an offered treat for me.”

  She glanced up at him, the small smile on his face curling into her heart. She had wanted him for so long, but being wanted, desired by this man who could have just about any woman he wanted, was a thrill.

  “Arch your back a little, offer me up those pretty breasts.”