Close to the Edge

by Dawn Ryder

  “Hard ass,” she accused him softly.

  His lips twitched. “You like that best about me.”

  She did.

  And she didn’t want to think.

  No, all she wanted was to lift her hips for his next thrust, absorb the way he drove deep, making her feel like she couldn’t take him and then staying inside her long enough for her to realize she could.

  Pleasure was building inside her, rising up from the ashes of her first climax, burning brighter as this time everything was deeper, more intense.

  And he was right there with her when it all broke. They clung to each other as pleasure ripped them apart. It was hard and primal, Dare shoving her face into his shoulder as he smothered his own cries against the top of her head. He jerked, his hip driving into her with a frantic need in those last moments as ecstasy claimed them both.

  * * *

  Kirkland waited for privacy before he growled at Carl Davis.

  “What the fuck is going on with this bitch?”

  Kirkland turned his cell phone toward Carl, the coverage from the Coast Guard ceremony playing across the little high-definition screen.

  “She can cause a whole lot of trouble for me,” Kirkland informed Carl. “I need her cleaned up before she fingers me for that night on the docks. Servant set me up, or I’d have killed her then.”

  Carl shoved the phone down. “Don’t be stupid. You know how powerful some of those camera lenses are.” He looked across the lawn to where the concert kids were lining up to get on their buses.

  Kirkland flashed a couple of hang-loose signs to the delight of his fans before he sent a hard look at Carl. “If I go down, you do, too.”

  “Servant and his team are fishing with her,” Carl exclaimed in a harsh whisper. “Showing her off and seeing who surfaces. I brought you here to keep your head down. If she had anything of any value to add to the investigation, you’d already be facing a judge. Stay here, smile, and be seen as unaffected by her little press event. Don’t be stupid enough to make a move towards her.”

  “But she knows my voice. Knows I’m involved in shady dealings down on the dock. There was a fucking body laid out next to her. One she knows I knew about,” Kirkland growled. “I give you a healthy share of the profits from my empire. When are you going to get these Feds off my ass so I can get back to making real money?”

  “When I’m president, I will shut them down,” Carl answered.

  “That’s five months away.” Kirkland scowled.

  “Servant runs a Shadow Ops team,” Carl said under his breath. “As it stands, shutting them down will have to be done carefully or they could darken my reputation.”

  “I pay you to take the risk,” Kirkland shot back.

  “And I make sure you stay in business,” Carl cut back. “I can find someone else who will pay for my partnership. How long do you think you’ll be running those prostitution rings if I don’t shelter you? I can make it so you never get another load of girls from overseas in to staff your places. A good percentage of the money you send me is used to keep the Feds off the docks when your shipments arrive. That will leave you with nothing but crackheads and runaways,” Carl sniffed. “Don’t threaten me Kirkland. We’re too deep in bed with each other for one of us to pull out now. Do it my way.”

  Carl flashed him a smile before he strode out of the secured area where they’d been standing. His security escort formed around him as he waved and made his way to a waiting car.

  Kirkland didn’t have to smile. His stage persona allowed him to look mean, and he pulled his hat a little lower on one side of his head as he enjoyed not having to kiss ass the way Carl did. When he left, the press leaned over the line confining them to get parting shots of him. He liked the way they strained, showing him that he was a force to be drawn toward.

  Carl should remember it, too.

  Kirkland settled back into the plush seat of his limo and made sure the privacy screen was up between him and the driver. He pulled a phone from his pocket and typed in the number from memory.

  “The chef bitch was on the news.”

  “I saw,” Mack answered.

  “Davis says they have no evidence. Make sure there is none to find.”

  Kirkland didn’t wait for a reply. He ended the call and popped the battery out of the prepaid phone. He dropped it into a glass and opened a bottle of water before pouring it into the glass. He pried the data card out and broke it. He scooped up all the pieces and put them back into his pocket before getting out at a nightclub. There was a roar from the people waiting to get inside as he appeared. The rumor that he was in town having sparked a flood of hopeful fans out to some of his favorite spots.

  Much later, he dumped the pieces of the phone in different trash cans. In the densely populated urban center, they would never be reunited.

  Clean.

  * * *

  Miranda Delacroix smiled.

  She was known for her sweet smiles, but this was one of complete contentment.

  Victory even.

  In her hand was her cell phone. She tapped an icon on the screen and played back the conversation between Kirkland and Carl Davis.

  She hadn’t imagined the exchange.

  It was a victory against Carl and the way he’d hurt her daughter Damascus. No mother ever forgot a wrong done to their child.

  Her expression changed to one of seriousness.

  Carl had forgotten he’d brought Kirkland to her event and the secure area was not for them alone. Carl was too accustomed to be the highest ranking person at an event.

  Carl thought everything revolved around him. Miranda enjoyed knowing she’d managed to catch him with his pants down. Carl hadn’t just worked out a deal with her late husband to force their daughter Damascus to marry him for the image Carl wanted to present to the voters. No, Carl had turned nasty and tried to force Damascus to fall in line by having her kidnapped to prove Carl could do whatever he wanted.

  But her baby had been in love with Vitus Hale.

  Miranda dropped her lipstick into her little clutch purse and enjoyed knowing that going to fix her make-up was the reason she’d caught the two unaware.

  Carl Davis certainly didn’t know anything about women and the fact that touch ups were necessary. And doing it out of sight was a must when the press was so very eager to snap a picture of her looking less than her best.

  She moved forward and felt her own security people join her. They kept up with her quick pace as she moved toward her car. Miranda waited until her driver had pulled away from the curb before she dialed a number she wasn’t even certain would connect her with the man she’d met on the night of her husband’s murder. He was a legend in the Shadow Ops world, a man with whom people didn’t want to be publicly associated. Kagan was the only name she had for him and in spite of her connections, Miranda had been wise enough to not go looking for any other information.

  The line might be disconnected. The number she had might be for a burner phone long since discarded as Kagan moved on to another case. She hoped not. She owed Kagan, and he would be the only one to see that what she had on Carl was significant enough to move on.

  * * *

  Jenna was shaking.

  Dare smoothed a hand down her back.

  Satisfaction was glowing inside her like a lantern light in the middle of a moonless night. The need to drift off into sleep was only being held back by the fact that she suddenly felt awkward.

  Maybe exposed was the better word.

  She’d laid it out. Followed her impulses, and she didn’t regret it. She had a firm knowledge of what she’d done left and she had no idea how Dare would react now that the moment was past.

  His phone started ringing.

  He pulled away from her, withdrawing the little buzzing machine before frowning. It landed on the dresser beside her as he cleaned up and closed his fly.

  “Got to take this,” he said.

  There was something flickering in his eyes that looked lik
e reproach but he’d retrieved the phone and hit the redial before Jenna got a long look at him. He crossed the shag carpet and started to open the door as she scrambled to stand up so her skirt would fall back into place.

  She was staring at the door a second later, wondering if she imagined the scent of his skin still clinging to hers.

  No, he’d been there.

  Of all the dates she’d ever had, Dare wasn’t the sort of man she could say she’d been less than impressed by.

  He’d captivated her. Bringing a new meaning to the word passion.

  The only problem was, she had a bad feeling she was going to be left looking for the same level of intensity for the rest of her life.

  Well, it beat regrets.

  Or at least that was what she was going to keep telling herself.

  * * *

  Dare hesitated.

  It wasn’t something he had a lot of experience with. Looking down the hallway toward the closed door he’d left Jenna behind, he was torn between the call he’d just received and the need to tell Jenna what he was doing.

  Duty had always come first.

  He didn’t like the way his emotions were trying to chance his priorities.

  Dare let out a whistle as he came back into the living room. “The firefighter paramedic called. He’s got the woman who tried to claim the bodies. Zane, Thais, you’re on nest duty.”

  Dare made a circle with his hand, one his team knew well. He’d already made it out of the front door and into the front seat of the car they were using when Greer looked across the seat at him.

  “Sure you don’t want to tell Jenna you’re leaving?”

  He turned a scathing look toward his teammate.

  “Do nae try it,” Greer bit back, the brogue breaking through to prove the Scot was more than willing to rise to the challenge Dare was issuing.

  “Ye’re being a dick,” Greer advised as Dare pulled into the flow of traffic.

  “I never misrepresented myself to her,” Dare said.

  “Didn’t say you did.”

  Dare grunted, earning a snort from his teammate.

  “The timing is less than perfect but I didn’t make the call to myself,” Dare explained. “Jenna knows I’m working a case.”

  “If she shoots ye with your own gun, I’m going to laugh until I piss myself at your expense,” Greer replied.

  Greer gained a half grin from Dare. Greer might feel strongly enough to speak his mind but that was only because they were teammates.

  Nothing came between them.

  Not even personal privacy.

  * * *

  Dare drove toward a traffic accident. The scene was lit by the swirling lights from the fire engine and the flickering blue and white ones from the patrol cars. He flashed his badge, driving along the shoulder to get ahead of the cars stuck creeping along as people rubbernecked. Dare and Greer were out of the car the moment he parked it, striding into the mess. Ramos, the veteran firefighter who’d first called Dare, caught sight of him as he moved through the scene. Ramos moved close and turned to look at a woman arguing with a cop.

  “Glad you answered. That’s her.” Firefighter Ramos pointed at a woman standing across the way. “Ji Su Shin. She used to run the massage parlors, and she tried to claim the other two bodies.”

  The woman in question was arguing with two uniform cops.

  “I told you … no treatment … I am fine,” she insisted. “You must let me go now.”

  There were the remains of three cars on the side of the road, the scent of burnt rubber and flares filling the night air.

  “You need to go to jail!” one of the other drivers yelled. “Driving a BMW doesn’t give you the right to cut other people off and try to run away from the accident you caused!”

  The cops had their hands full dealing with the occupants of the three smashed cars. Ji Su’s companions weren’t interested in anything but getting her into another car that was waiting with its engine running.

  “Glad you got here quick,” Ramos continued. “She’s not going to let me trick her into going to the hospital.”

  “Good work,” Dare said.

  He sent Greer a quick glance, but his fellow agent was already in action. They approached from different sides. The uniform cops saw them first. Ji Su’s companions noticed them before she did. In the blink of an eye, the entire scene turned into a brawl. The fight was vicious, taking the cops by surprise.

  Dare expected it.

  They knew they were dirty and were fighting for their lives.

  What surprised Dare was the way one of the younger firefighters jumped into the fray. He was light on his feet and dodged the advanced martial-arts moves being thrown at him, following up with kicks that landed perfectly.

  Traffic was standing still when it was over, the person in the car nearest them recording it all on a cell phone. Dare grunted and hauled Ji Su off the ground.

  “You cannot arrest me…” she sputtered as Dare handed her off to a cop.

  Dare didn’t argue with her but looked at the young firefighter. One of the uniformed cops was grinning at the kid. “Why aren’t you wearing one of these badges?”

  The kid cocked his head until his neck popped. “I want to be a paramedic.”

  “Well someone had you trained,” Dare observed.

  The kid sent him a grin. “My mom. Pretty sure she’s really a Klingon.”

  The firefighter went back toward his engine crew. The uniformed cops were arguing with the motorists over the cell phone and their First Amendment rights.

  “Ever feel like it’s getting harder to be a good guy?” Greer asked.

  Dare nodded. The problem was, what was on his mind was Jenna and just how much he didn’t want the current case to end.

  Because it would mean letting her go forever.

  * * *

  “Nice work.”

  Kagan rang Dare’s phone before they’d made it more than a couple of miles from the accident scene.

  “It was Ramos who spotted her and called me,” Dare replied. “He’s sharp and doesn’t like people messing up his city.”

  “I’ll be back in touch when the drill team gets done interrogating her,” Kagan said.

  “I’m moving my team,” Dare said. “I don’t want to risk being followed in case one of her buddies made it into the road-side brush before the cops got there.”

  There was a pause on the other end of the line. “Check in when you’re settled.”

  Dare dropped the phone into his vest pocket as Greer turned toward the local hospital. They parked the car and headed toward the elevators. When they made it to the top floor, a few nurses tried to stop them but they flashed their badges and walked out onto the helicopter landing pad.

  A military chopper was heading their way. The pilot wouldn’t have any clue who they were, and the guy wouldn’t ask questions. As far as being Shadow Ops went, Dare and Greer would live as men who had no identities.

  That was why Dare had to stay away from Jenna. She deserved better.

  More …

  As they lifted off, Dare lost the battle to ignore just how much he might enjoy more of Jenna. More of her spunk, more of her in-your-face attitude.

  He grinned as he thought about it. The inside of the chopper was noisy, giving him the space to indulge.

  Landing ended his reverie. The details of his case flooding back to the forefront of his thoughts.

  They’d touched down on a military base. It was the classified side of it. The aircraft they’d been lifted in was a common Black Hawk but now they were among some of the meanest helicopters on the planet. They were all sitting at rest, most of them covered by nets or being pushed by ground crews into huge hangars where they’d be out of sight from the air.

  It was a place where hard men were either going to or coming from missions that would never be talked about. A smattering of ground crews were interspersed among them, which made Dare look twice when he spied a female among the group in front of t
hem. Her slighter build was easy to spot, and she turned around looking back at Dare and Greer for a long moment, like she’d known they were there. He felt a tingle across his nape as she locked gazes with him.

  “Sorcha?”

  Dare turned as Greer suddenly took off across the tarmac. His surge of motion caused a nearby group to turn on him with deadly purpose.

  But a woman came barreling out of their ranks, neatly evading the two men who tried to stop her.

  “Greer!” She cried out.

  Greer caught her in a hug and spun her around, looking like he was going to crush her.

  “Step away from my Operative,” the officer in charge insisted.

  Dare was already moving toward Greer, ready to close ranks as the men who had been accompanying all started to converge on Greer.

  “She’s my sister,” Greer declared.

  Dare had worked with Greer a long time and had rarely seen the man lose his temper.

  “Greer,” Sorcha said softly.

  “Well ye are,” Greer informed her. “And I never get to see ye. She is not your damned service animal.”

  “Take it … inside…”

  The officer in charge spoke with a soft voice that didn’t lack command presence. The men around them closed ranks, making it less of a request. Dare ended up waiting while Greer spoke with his sister.

  “This never happened.”

  Dare turned his head to find the commanding officer next to him. A quick glance and Dare realized the guy didn’t have a standard name badge on.

  “Caxton,” the guy supplied. “Major.”

  Dare lifted his badge up. Caxton considered the markings for a moment.

  “That makes it a lot simpler,” Caxton said. “Neither of us exists.”

  * * *

  Kagan never answered the phone.

  Miranda scrolled through her contacts, looking for her daughter’s husband. Vitus Hale had saved her daughter Damascus when Carl Davis had thought to force a wedding because of Miranda’s ties to the Delacroix family.

  “Is something wrong, Miranda?” her son-in-law answered on the second ring and true to his nature, the ex-SEAL cut right to business.