by Lee Taylor
Raoul waved his cigar in greeting and showered one of his 500 watt smiles on the frowning cop.
“Greetings, Lt. Rockford. Hell, Dameon, Rocky and I are best buddies. We’re damned near BFF’s, aren’t we, Lieutenant?”
Rocky ignored him and went next door to oversee their team.
Dameon studied Raoul, struck by how good-looking his nemesis was. Dark, charming and dangerous as hell. He pinned him with a hard glare.
“One more thing before I go, Raoul.” He paused for effect. “Jesse is mine.”
Raoul’s eyes narrowed. He took several puffs on his cigar blowing the redolent smoke up in the air.
“You aren’t threatening me, are you Wolf?”
Dameon’s voice was low, commanding. “Damned right I am.”
Raoul’s face split in a mile-wide grin.
“Ah, hell, bro. I know she is. You two have been hot for each other since the night Jesse saved my life. You’re a lucky man, Dameon. Guess I don’t have to tell you that you better treat her right. There’s a few of us waiting in the wings if you fuck up.”
Dameon’s lip twitched. “I guess I don’t have to tell you what will happen to those ‘wing waiters’ if they ever go near her.”
He threw Raoul a casual grin.
“Like you said, Raoul. Old habits.”
Dameon flicked a one finger salute. “Good night. Bro.”
Chapter 38
Dameon stalked up the cobblestone walkway onto the patio. Dark, dangerous, his Kevlar vest, Glock, and other accoutrements of his trade were apparent. Jesse saw the feared police chief that Dameon was. He loomed toward her unaware of her presence. The strain on his face confirmed it had been a challenging night.
Jesse rose carefully, not wanting to surprise him. She knew well the adrenalin rush that accompanied a major action. It was inevitably followed by a letdown. Many men used alcohol or sex to ease the transition. The expression on Dameon’s face when he saw her confirmed for Dameon, it would likely be the latter.
“Jesus, Jesse. You startled me.” His frown disappeared when she stepped out of the shadows. “Then again, tiger, you can come at me looking and smelling like you do any damn day of the year. Christ, Jesse, you are beautiful.”
Jesse was glad she’d had time to prepare for him. She’d treated herself to a luxurious bath drenching her body in scented soaps and lotions. Knowing how much Dameon loved to take her hair down, she’d twisted the fiery mane on top of her head, allowing damp tendrils to spring free. Her gossamer nightgown was an extravagance she’d bought several weeks ago, thinking at the time that how much Dameon would like it. It shimmered over the hills and valleys of her body in a diaphanous cloud.
Sitting in the starlit evening waiting for him, Jesse shuddered to think that only two nights ago she’d feared she would never wear this beautiful gown for Dameon. They’d come so close to losing what they had. Forcing the devastating possibility from her mind, she thanked her angels for giving her the courage to confront him and almost wept with relief remembering his amorous response. She’d known that he was a passionate man. She’d felt that passion from the moment she saw him. It had frightened her. It still did. But now her fear was mixed with anticipation. To her everlasting joy, thanks to Dameon’s expert tutelage she’d discovered that she was as passionate as he was.
“Christ, honey, I don’t dare touch you. You look and smell like an angel. I’m afraid you might evaporate if I put my hands on you.”
Jesse shook her head and smiled softly. “No, Dameon, I’ve been waiting for you. Besides, haven’t you heard, women go gaga over cops and soldiers. All that muscle and those… guns….”
She licked her lips and gave him a saucy wink.
He reached for her. “Damn, tiger, you know better than anyone how little it’s going to take for these guns of mine to go off. You’re playing with fire, baby. Don’t you know it’s dangerous to tease a cop?”
Moving up next to him, she whispered, “What’s makes you think I’m teasing, Chief Macarios?”
He groaned and pulled her hard against him. Stunned she felt his erection pressing against her stomach. She wiggled in to get closer, unable to hide her gasp.
“Oh, baby. You have no idea of who you are tempting. I’m about as loaded up on adrenalin and testosterone as a guy could get.”
Jesse pulled away and gave him an impudent smile.
“In that case, I need to protect myself. How about you come and sit over here by the fire and let me take some of that adrenalin down?” She shook her head. “Not with me, but I did find a bottle of Jameson that seems to have your name on it.”
Dameon glowered at her. “I’ll make you a deal. Rather than shoving you up against the wall and fucking the hell out of you, I will sit down and have a drink as long as you are on my lap.”
She tapped her finger against her lips considering. “Hmm, I don’t know, Dameon, that seems… risky.”
“Oh, honey, you have no idea how risky it is. The only thing that is more risky is if you don’t get that sweet perky ass of yours over here in the next five seconds.”
Jesse laughed, excitement cascading over her. She stifled it as best she could and went over to the table and poured two glasses, then sauntered back to him.
Brushing his hand away, she warned teasingly, “Uh uh, Chief. You get this only if you promise to be good.”
Tossing his vest on the table, he unstrapped his back holster and com device. Sinking down in the chair, he raked his eyes up and down Jesse’s body.
“Honey, that’s a promise I can make without reservation. I’m gonna show you pretty damn quick just how good I can be. For now will you please have mercy on a horny son of a bitch and come and sit on my lap?”
Jesse sat down and snuggled against him. She drank in the smell of leather and metal and strong man. Excitement coursed over her hungry body. She wondered how long it would take before they ended up on the floor or against the wall as he’d threatened.
She tried to affect a reasonably normal tone.
“Tell me, Dameon. Did you get him?”
He sighed and took a long swallow of whisky.
“Yeah, we did. After a fashion.”
Jesse frowned. “What do you mean?”
“As I told you before the raid, Sapphire virtually gave up Tomas. Even before I talked to her, he was number one on my radar. It all made sense. Of course, the son of a bitch was threatened by you. Of all Raoul’s men, he was the most old school. He grew up in the barrio and was third generation cartel. He was furious when Raoul had his supposed epiphany. He resisted him all the way. I heard Tomas warn Raoul repeatedly, once you’re ‘in’ you never get out.”
Dameon sipped again on the whisky and settled back into his chair.
“I think like me, Tomas never believed that Raoul was truly changing teams. When you arrived on the scene, you were a threat. Not only because Raoul hired you to protect him, but because you represented the future that Raoul said he wanted. You fit in beautifully in the most elite setting. Tomas looked and acted like what he was: a thug. Tomas knew it was only a matter of time until Raoul replaced him. When Sapphire asked him to ‘scare’ you, he readily agreed. He’d been banging her for over a year in return for blow. Hell, he may even have loved her. According to Raoul’s ‘statement,’ before Tomas had his unfortunate accident tonight, he ‘confessed’ that he upped the ante and decided a permanent solution to the ‘Jesse’ problem was required. Hence the hit man.”
Jesse rose up surprised. “There was an accident?”
Dameon huffed a disgusted sigh. “According to your infamous client, Tomas choked on his dessert. Not surprising given the K-bar in his throat.”
Jesse was aghast. “You… you mean? Raoul… Raoul killed him?”
Dameon raised an eyebrow and snorted.
“We’ll never be able to prove it. Even if I wanted to.” He took a sip. “Which I don’t.”
When Jesse frowned, he drilled her with a hard stare.
�
��I’ll only say this to you, Jesse. The sole reason I’m furious with Raoul is that the lucky son of a bitch got to do what I wanted to do. What my uniform and my principles don’t permit me to do. He made sure that Tomas died as painfully and as publically as possible. In years gone by, we called it barrio justice.”
Jesse gaped at him. There was so much she didn’t know about this man. She put her arms around him and held him close. She needed him to know that she understood. She’d seen enough hideous violence in the hellholes of the world to know that sometimes death was the only answer that good men could give.
They sat together silently for several long minutes. Dameon absentmindedly rubbed Jesse’s back. As she snuggled in closer, his casual strokes became more purposeful, more intimate. She shivered, acknowledging her rising desire. To her surprise, he suddenly lifted her up and set her in front of him. His voice was gruff.
“Jesse, do something for me. Stand there for a moment, okay, and let me look at you? I need to see you so that I can truly believe that the most beautiful woman in the world… is alive, safe, and with me.”
Jesse stepped back and gave him a shy smile.
“You forgot to add the woman who is in love with you.”
Dameon’s eyes widened. He rose to his feet and pulled her up close to him. Burying his mouth in her hair he tipped up her chin. His eyes were dark, intense.
“Honey, we were talking about playing with fire a little earlier. What you just said is like throwing gasoline on a cache of C-4. FYI, tiger, that isn’t something you should admit to unless you are serious.”
She shook her head and narrowed her eyes. “Let me put it this way, I’m as serious as you were in the coffee shop today when you casually mentioned that you are in love with me.”
Dameon jumped back in mock horror.
“Holy Christ, honey, you are that serious?”
He scooped her up in his arms. Jesse could feel Dameon’s heart pounding against her chest. Or, she admitted, it could have been her own.
He murmured in her ear.
“It’s only right that we should cement that mutual declaration in a momentous fashion.”
He set her on her feet and stepped back. Reaching out, he took her hand.
“Major O’Donnell, request permission to ravage the hell out of you for the next sixty to seventy years.”
Jesse laughed through her tears.
“Permission granted, Chief Macarios. Ravage away.”
~~~
Four days later, they waited at the airport for Trey’s plane. When he came down the jetway, he nervously looked at the families waiting at the gate. When he spotted Jesse, a huge smile spread across his face. He ran toward her; then seeing Dameon, he stopped. He looked uncertainly from Jesse to Dameon.
“Coach? You’re here too?”
Jesse smiled at Trey and hugged him. “Honey, we have some news.”
A worried frown crossed his forehead.
“Is it… good news?”
Dameon winked and clapped his arm around Trey’s shoulders.
“If being in love with the most beautiful woman in the world and having her love you in return is good? Then yeah, son. It’s good news.”
COMING
October 2013
Red Rock’s Revenge
Book 2
The Red Rock Sexy Romantic Suspense Series
Excerpt
Jesse struggled to breathe. She took tiny sips of air, trying not to panic. Too late, she made the mistake of turning her head. The blinding pain in the back of her skull sent a wave of nausea surging in her throat. She did her best to swallow the acrid tasting blood. She willed herself not to vomit, knowing that the gag in her mouth would cause her to choke.
Trying to decipher the messages her fuzzy brain was sending, Jesse forced herself to make sense of her situation. Where was she? How did she get here? And how in hell would she ever get free if she couldn’t stay conscious for more than a minute at a time?!
She recognized the sickeningly sweet smell of chloroform on her gag. No doubt that was how they got her here. Thankfully the strong odor was fading so that she could begin to think. Unfortunately with consciousness came devastating pain. The excruciating ache in her arms and shoulders confirmed that she was hanging by a rope around her wrists from a hook in the ceiling. Her bare feet barely brushed the ground, further straining her bound limbs. The musty smell and sound of dripping water confirmed that she was underground. She fought against her panic. It had to be a basement. A dank, cold, musty basement—God knows where.
Looking down she saw the blood on her torn dress. For the first time Jesse fought tears. Dameon loved this filmy purple flowered dress; incongruously she thought how upset he would be to see it ripped and bloody. Another wave of nausea brought relief as unconsciousness swept over her, blessed darkness drowning out the searing pain.
~~~
Dameon stepped away from the crowd surrounding the urbane candidate and began looking for Jesse. He chided himself. When he hadn’t seen her for all of seven minutes, he began hunting for her. Anxious for his ‘Jesse fix.’
He needed to tell her again what a rousing success the party was. It had been Jesse’s idea to hold the final fundraiser for Ethan Stockton’s gubernatorial campaign on the Old Town Plaza. The golden fall afternoon had cooperated and the festive crowd competed with the beauty of the auspicious surroundings.
Gazing across the Plaza, Dameon forced himself to ignore his dislike for the handsome candidate who had lately been spending entirely too much time with the woman Dameon loved. He’d managed to keep from interfering knowing how important Stockton was to Jesse’s career. Ethan epitomized the kind of client Jesse sought for her budding security company. Ethan was a wealthy political leader and required high level security protection that was as discreet as it was professional. All of which Jesse provided in spades.
Dameon began hunting through the crowd in earnest looking for a glimpse of the astonishing dress that Jesse was wearing. There was no way he could miss her. No one but Jesse would dare pair a gauzy purple and white orchid print dress with her astonishing bright red hair. That it not only worked but was unforgettable was a credit to Jesse’s unerring sense of style.
Dameon grinned, knowing that for him and only him, the “unforgetableness” of the gown was supplemented by having watched the wearer slip into it. Only Jesse could make putting on clothes as sexy as taking them off. Stepping naked before him, she had teasingly put her finger to her lips deciding between a white lace concoction of a bra and a bright purple one. She chose the virginal white lace, then added a matching lacy thong. Turning her glorious backside to him she’d tugged the satin strip securely between her curvy ass cheeks. With a raised eyebrow and a teasing wink, she’d twitched her bottom from side to side. “You like?”
His low groan was confirmation enough as he’d reached for her. With a delighted peal of laughter she’d darted away from his eager hands.
“Uh uh, Chief Macarios. No touching. Besides, I need to put on these silk stockings and these sexy shoes that my secret lover gave me. If you’re very good, I’ll let you watch.”
“Hmm, what kind of a lover would give you shoes that make your already stunning legs even more enticing?”
She’d given him a wicked grin. “The kind of lover who likes to rub it in every man’s face that I am his woman and strictly off limits.”
Dameon had grunted then let a smile steal through his mock scowl.
“You’ve outed me, tiger. I’m an overbearing, jealous son of a bitch, and you’re right. It does my fragile male ego good to know that every asshole out there leering at you doesn’t have a chance.”
Jesse had scoffed. “Fragile male ego, my ass. You are the cockiest man alive with a mile-wide ego who knows that this woman and her body are yours and yours alone!”
~~~
Not seeing Jesse anywhere, Dameon turned his attention to the sprite of girl darting toward him. His daughter Zoey was a force of nature and
had captured almost as much attention at the party as the gubernatorial candidate. At the moment, her lovely face was twisted with frustration.
“Daddy, my flowers fell out of my hair again and Trey can’t fix them.” She threw an annoyed glance at the gangly teenager at her elbow who was looking beseechingly at Dameon.
“Coach, I’m sorry, but she keeps running and jumping around, it’s no wonder her flowers keep falling out. I tried to pin them back in but before I can finish she decides to run off and out they come.”
Dameon laughed. Zoey had already dashed off leaving Trey holding a crumbled handful of white orchids.
“Now you see what I put up with on a daily basis, Trey. But I asked you to keep an eye on Zoey, not to be her maid. Unfortunately I don’t know much about how to keep flowers in the sprite’s hair. We need to find your mom, Trey. She’ll know what to do.”
He put his arm around Trey as he scanned the crowd.
“Have you seen her, Trey? I’ve been looking for a while and can’t find her anywhere. ”
Trey frowned and shrugged.
“The last time I saw her she was talking with one of Mr. Morales’s friends. She looked like she was having a serious conversation so I didn’t interrupt her.”
Dameon forced down a grunt. ‘Mr. Morales’s friends,’ indeed. Probably yet another ‘colleague’ Raoul was referring to Jesse. Christ, Dameon didn’t know who was a bigger thorn in his side, the golden boy candidate Ethan Stockton, or the cartel-leaning bad boy Raoul Morales, his longtime friend and nemesis… and Jesse’s premier client.
Just then, as if on cue, Dameon saw the devilishly handsome Latino heading toward him.
It was only when Raoul closed in on him that Dameon saw his expression. Gone was Raoul’s ubiquitous grin and sparkling laughter-filled eyes. In their place was a look so grim that it stole Dameon’s breath.
The unease that he’d been feeling for the last twenty minutes surged to ice cold terror. He knew. Without Raoul saying a word, Dameon knew.
He didn’t recognize his own voice. It came from a hideous place in his soul.
“Jesse?”
Raoul’s anguish compounded Dameon’s fear.
