by Amy Olle
Prue tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “I don’t know, exactly. Not yet. But since he left Blackstone, he’s been running around the globe causing all kinds of trouble. Already he’s worked for at least one wannabe, two-bit dictator, and he’s about to marry into one of the most notorious mob families in Europe.”
Faith’s eyes grew huge. “He is? Wow, he’s a real social climber, isn’t he?”
“For sure. But what if there’s more to it than that?”
Skepticism clouded Faith’s features. “What more?”
“He’s started a new private military company, and he seems hell-bent on causing instability and corruption everywhere he goes. There’s big money in armed conflict. Lots of opportunity for power grabs. If Aron King is capable of love, it’s going to be for things like money and power.”
Faith’s gaze slid away. “I have to say, it all sounds remarkable. A little… unbelievable even.”
“Aron’s goons broke into my car.”
Faith’s head came up. “Seriously?”
“They’re trying to intimidate me so I stop investigating what they’re doing,” Prue said.
“Then you should stop.”
Prue gaped at her sister. “Are you kidding me? You’re a journalist. Would you stop reporting because your subject didn’t like you asking questions?”
“If I were being stalked and harassed? Yes, I probably would. No story is worth my life. Or yours.”
Prue wanted to argue but she suspected she’d never be able to convince her sister otherwise.
“Let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that you do uncover some plot for world domination or whatever,” Faith said. “What are you going to do about it?”
“I’m going to expose him.”
“To who?”
“To everyone. To anyone who can stop him. It depends what I find, of course, but I’ll go to the police, or maybe the FBI.”
Faith tipped her head to one side. “Do you really think anyone is going to believe you?”
Prue reared back with the stab of pain Faith’s words caused.
“I don’t mean that like it sounds,” Faith rushed to add. “But when people find out what happened between you two, they’re going to think you’re just bitter or vengeful. That it’s all just a conspiracy theory you cooked up to get back at him.”
“Well, none of those things are true, so it doesn’t matter what those people think.”
“It does matter. Aron King is a powerful man. He knows powerful people. Mob-connected people, apparently. This isn’t science, just facts laid out in a logical sequence to be observed. Public opinion, legal interpretation, optics—it all matters.”
“All that stuff will work itself out. If it’s the truth—”
Faith was shaking her head. “You need to let this go.”
“Why?”
“C’mon, even you have to admit it sounds crazy. People are going to think—”
At Prue’s sharp intake of breath, Faith bit off her next words.
“What are people going to think?” Prue hated the tremor in her voice. “That I’m crazy?”
Faith’s silence hurt worse than any words could have and Prue’s throat constricted with the aching. “Is that what you think?”
“Of course not. I think he’s a bastard, and if I were you, I’d want revenge, too.”
“God, Faith, I don’t want revenge. I want the truth.”
Faith eyed her. “That’s all you want?”
“Yes,” Prue said, and then, considering, added, “All right, a little justice would be nice, too. Not revenge. Justice.”
“Justice, huh?” The corner of Faith’s mouth quirked. “How noble of you.”
Her appetite ruined, Prue nonetheless picked up her slice of cold pizza and bit off a mouthful.
“So, if you’re not still hung up on him, why haven’t you dated anyone since you two broke up?”
Prue frowned. “I’ve dated.”
Faith shot her a look. “More than three dates.”
“I haven’t met anyone.” At least no one she trusted. And after Aron’s betrayal, she wasn’t sure she’d ever trust anyone again. At least not a man she wasn’t related to.
She ripped off another bite of the pizza.
“Not one guy?” Faith demanded. “It’s been years. How many? Four? Five?”
Prue lifted one shoulder. “I’m picky.”
“Let me set you up with someone. I know this great guy….”
But Prue was no longer listening to her sister. Struck dumb by the sight of the man at the opposite end of the bar, she stared while prickles of awareness lifted the hairs on her arms. She blinked several times, trying to clear the webs of deception from her eyes.
The vision before her remained. It was really him.
Prue had first met Leo Nolan a lifetime ago. As an awkward fourteen-year-old girl, she’d spoken to the handsome eighteen-year-old briefly, on exactly three separate occasions. But for years afterward, she’d fancied herself in love him. That was back when she was young and naïve and prone to silly dreams about things like falling in love.
She was no longer that girl, and while he resembled the memory of the boy she’d held in her heart all those years, everything about him had changed.
“Hello? Earth to Prue. What are you looking at?” Faith craned her neck, then turned back with a wide grin. “Oooh. Do we know him, or are we just appreciating the hotness?”
“He was one of Owen’s friends.”
Faith peered across the bar. “He doesn’t look military. Did they go to high school together?”
“He’s military, all right. Marine.”
“Really? He looks kind of… scruffy.”
Rather than the buzz cut Prue remembered, Leo wore his dark hair longer, so that the curling ends brushed the tops of his ears and nape. The dark shadow on his jaw marked the hour well beyond five o’clock. His faded T-shirt had a tiny hole in the shoulder, and his board shorts hit well below his knee. And… were those flip-flops? Prue agreed, he looked less like a trained warrior and more like a California beach bum.
“You should go say hi,” Faith said.
Prue shook her head. “I haven’t seen him in years.”
Last she’d heard, he had retired from the military and gone to work with a private security company—
Her spine snapped straight.
He’d worked at Blackstone, hadn’t he?
Her mind scrambled to pin down the details, but her memories were too clouded. She bit down hard on her bottom lip.
Leo knew Aron King. Had they worked closely together? Were they friends? She discarded the notion at once. Aron King wouldn’t have bothered with such things as friendships. But at the very least, Leo knew of him. What kinds of things did he know? Certainly things she didn’t. Would he tell her those things if she asked? Could he be… persuaded to tell her?
But even as her mind calculated, her heart constricted to see his troubled expression, visible even with the distance between them. The urge to go to him overwhelmed. She wanted to pull him into her arms and brush her fingers through his thick hair. She longed to smooth the lines of worry from his forehead.
“You know what?” she heard herself say. “I think I will go say hi.”
“Really?” Faith’s smile blinded, and then she plucked her purse off the bar. “Okay, well, I’ve got a networking thing I’ve got to be at in, like, seven hours.” She waggled her eyebrows. “Call me if anything good happens.”
Prue rolled her eyes, mainly to distract from the heat warming her cheeks. “Stop it.”
“See you Sunday?” Faith slid off her barstool.
“Yep.”
“And Prue, think about this Aron King thing, okay?” Concern stamped her features. “I don’t like it.”
Prue’s heart dropped. “I’ll think about it.”
As Faith strode toward the exit, Prue fought off the morass of misery her sister’s reaction threatened to engulf her in. She chucked
the straw from her drink and gulped down the last of the daiquiri.
With the tip of one finger, she wiped a sticky droplet from the corner of her mouth. Then she slipped off her barstool, squared her shoulders, and aimed directly for Leo.
Chapter Three
The after-dinner crowd flocked to the bar, and she squeezed between a few big bodies to reach him. When she slipped into the space beside him, her elbow brushed against his forearm, and he turned his head to look at her.
Even her adoring memories hadn’t done him justice and her breath caught in her throat. The last traces of boyhood had melted away, and a man stood before her. He possessed the same dark coloring, though he somehow seemed brighter, more vivid, and the sharp contours of his straight nose and high cheekbones were more pronounced than she remembered. When her gaze dropped to his soft, supple mouth, a sigh rattled through her.
“Hi,” she breathed, still struggling to reconcile her memory with the man.
A light flashed in his heavily lashed green eyes, but he didn’t speak. Instead, he shifted on his barstool, and suddenly, she stood between his thighs.
His gaze wouldn’t let her go, and she shivered in response, even as uncertainty flooded her. What should she say after so many years?
“How are you?”
With a shudder, her question seemed to set off a battle in him. “Better, now that you’re here.”
Clearly he was not sober, and yet a warm pleasure bloomed in her chest.
He reached out, and one of his fingertips traced the outline of her cheek. “Wow.”
“Wow, what?”
“Your smile.” He pulled his hand away, rolling it into a tight fist. “I like it.”
Her cheeks heated. “I didn’t know you were so charming.”
“It’s the alcohol. Makes me tell the truth.” He lifted his glass to his lips and drank. “Don’t think I’ve ever been accused of being charming though. Most conclude I’m an asshole.”
Behind her, a broad man in pursuit of the bartender’s attention pushed into her space. Leo’s hand slipped to her waist and he angled his bigger body protectively around her.
“I don’t think you’re an asshole.” At his touch, a delicious tension pulsated through her.
The faintest hint of a playful light came into his eyes. “You’re naïve.”
She tried to laugh, but the sound she made rang hollow. “I’m hardly that.”
His gaze dropped to her mouth, and her smile fell away when his dark pupils dilated, swallowing the gold flecks that glinted around the black centers.
Her breaths came quick, so she sounded oddly breathless when she said, “What are you doing here?”
“Drinking.”
“No, I mean in Boston. Are you visiting, or do you live here?”
A body bumped into her from behind and she pitched forward. Her palms landed on his chest when she tried to steady herself. Beneath the fabric of his faded blue T-shirt, hard muscles bunched.
“Just visiting.” His mouth near her ear, his breath stirred her hair when he spoke. “You?”
“I live here.”
She pulled back to see his face. With only inches between them, she got an intimate glimpse of the dark sadness hanging at the edge of his features. Her heart constricted as she remembered a different Leo. Playful, with a quick smile and a sneaky sense of humor. Or maybe she’d only built him to be that way in her mind? Because there was no humor in this man. At least not tonight.
Tonight, he was lost and hopeless. Broken.
Her hammering heart lurched. What had happened to the guy she’d crushed on half her life?
He’s been to war, you idiot.
He would’ve witnessed up close the distant horrors that haunted her.
More patrons packed into the area surrounding them, and his gaze darted around the circle closing in on them. An agitated scowl disturbed his smooth features.
Her fingers brushed against his hand. “You wanna get out of here?”
With his curt nod, she stepped out from the safety of his warm body. He dropped a few bills on the bar and let her lead him through the crowded room toward the exit.
Outside, darkness had settled over the city, though the day’s heat remained, hanging in the muggy air. The bar noises quickly faded away as Leo dragged in a deep breath, and another. His hand still nestled in hers, she reached up with her other hand to touch the side of his face.
He flinched, but then his gaze latched on to her face with the desperation of a drowning victim clinging to a life raft. She pushed a dark lock of hair off his forehead. Some force seemed to draw him to her and he leaned close.
Her hand moved to the back of his neck. “Do you want to go someplace quiet where we can talk?”
“I’m not all that interested in talking tonight.” His voice grew thick, husky.
A delicious shiver ran through her with the slow lick of arousal sloping in her veins. Gently, she applied pressure to his nape, pulling him closer. His palms came up to smack the brick building on either side of her head, as if he needed the support to remain standing.
His head bent low, but he stopped when his mouth hovered above hers.
“There are a thousand reasons why I shouldn’t do this.” His puffy lips parted. “But I can’t recall even one of them right now.”
His hands shook when he cupped her face, as though he was terrified he’d break her, or that he’d screw it up.
He didn’t screw it up.
His lips touched hers with the faintest hint of a kiss. “My God,” he murmured while he toyed with the hair at her temples. “It’s been so long, and now you’re here.”
Her heart cracked open. Could it really be true? That all these years, he had thought about her, too? She ached for his kiss, and his name dropped from her lips as a plea.
His mouth caught hers, and he pressed her against the building, his hard body steadying her while the lush pressure of his mouth sent dizzying sensations spiraling through her. The delicious smell and feel of him scalded her senses. Clean skin and whiskey mingled with the prickly delight of his day’s beard growth.
Unsure how to please him, she mimicked his slow licks and soft bites. With one hand, she stroked the hair at his nape, while with the other, her fingers captured his earlobe and she rubbed the soft flesh, because honestly, even the man’s earlobes were sexy.
She’d meant only to talk to him. To poke at his life a little, maybe find out some information, any information, about Aron King. But when his mouth grazed the sensitive skin on her neck, every thought except one scattered from her mind.
It wasn’t even a thought, really. It was a feeling. A sensation. Her eyes fell shut and a low moan vibrated in her throat. She wanted to chase the feeling, explore it. Revel in it. For once in her life, she wanted to spurn facts, shun rationality, and let her heart take over. She wanted to let her desires rule her and find out where they might lead.
For as long as she could remember, she’d wanted Leo Nolan to be hers. And by the way he kissed her, he wanted her, too. Later, she’d figure out a way to get some information out of him. After she knew the feel of his body on top of hers and the sounds of his pleasure.
His hot mouth found the throbbing pulse point on her neck.
She whimpered. “Are you staying at the hotel?”
“I’m staying wherever you are tonight.” Desperation overrode the hint of playfulness in his tone.
“Wait.”
He pulled back instantly, concern puckering his brow.
She peered into his face. “What do you want from me? I mean, other than the obvious.”
All traces of humor vanished and he dropped his head. “I just… I need some peace.”
Pain rolled off him in terrible waves. Unable to bear it, she reached for him. Taking his face in her hands, she pressed a kiss to his forehead. He sighed and closed his eyes, so she dropped kisses on his cheeks and his temples, too.
“Okay, Leo.”
His head came up. “Are
you sure?”
She hadn’t been so sure of anything in as long as she could remember, but her heart had wedged in her throat and she couldn’t speak. Her pulse pounding in her ears, she led him to her car. When he appeared slightly unsteady on his feet, she slipped her hand inside his. Her mouth still tingled from the heat of his kiss, and if not for the crunch of gravel beneath her feet, she might’ve believed she floated across the parking lot on a poufy, wanton cloud of carnal lust.
Leo climbed into the passenger seat as she slipped behind the steering wheel. At the sound of crinkling paper, she glanced over to see the police report balanced on his fingertips. He frowned down at the paper in the dark.
She snatched the white sheet from his grip and sent it sailing into the back seat.
As she steered the car through the city streets, she was hyperaware of him in the seat next to her. He flooded her senses. His heat and his size, his clean, masculine scent and his dark beauty. Her nerves grew taut. She could do this, couldn’t she? She’d never picked a guy up in a bar. Had never taken one home, from anywhere. As Faith so helpfully pointed out, Prue hadn’t even dated a guy in years. Was she really prepared to jump into bed with one now?
She gave herself a small shake. This wasn’t some random guy she’d met at the bar. It was Leo. Her brother’s friend. A soldier willing to risk his life in the protection of others. The first boy to capture her notice, and, moments later, her heart. To her, Leo Nolan was as improbable as Bigfoot or a fluffy unicorn. He was a man she trusted.
But how could that be? She barely knew him. Other than the fact that he’d served in the military and was friends with her brother, she knew very little about him. Next to nothing, actually.
Yet there she was, ready, eager to let him into her bed and her heart, as though he belonged there. Maybe she was crazy, and Faith was right about that, too.
Prue frowned at the road in front of her. It was a cruel thought and she inwardly scolded herself for entertaining it. After years of building Leo up in her mind, she was just a little nervous. Which was completely reasonable. Logical. Once she knew the man better than the memory, her anxieties would recede.
Her hands clutched the steering wheel too tightly and she loosened her grip. “Uh, so, where did you grow up?”
