by Dawn Ryder
It was hard and sharp, tearing the urgency away but leaving her only partially satisfied.
“Nice…,” he said raspily, too smug for her pride.
The bed shook as she curled up. He wanted to keep her on her back but she locked her legs around him, threading her hands through his hair so she could press a kiss against his mouth.
It distracted him as he returned it in full measure, gripping her hair while his mouth took hers. She was throbbing with need, his cock driving her insane inside her passage.
But she didn’t want to rush things, either.
Who knew when it would end?
He shifted around, sitting on the bed. She curled her knees beneath her and lifted off his cock.
His eyes glittered with anticipation.
“Ride me, baby…”
His hands settled on her hips, gripping them as she started. Her nipples were hard little nubs that rubbed against his chest hair while she rose and fell. His shoulders were the only solid thing to hold on to as the bed rocked hard and faster in reaction to their motions.
“Yeah … make me behave…” He leaned back until he was flat on the bed as she took command of the pace.
“I like you … bad…”
The need to climax was building in her again, but he opened his eyes and sent her a look that made her fight it off in favor of controlling their pace.
“I know the feeling…” he said.
A need flashed through his eyes a moment before he was rolling her over.
“Bram!” she said with a growl, but it was too late. He thrust hard and fast into her.
“I’m going to make you squeal, baby…”
“I won’t … be … alone…,” she insisted as she lifted her hips to catch every thrust.
He sent her a look full of need. “No … you won’t…”
He was on the edge, using every last bit of his self-control to hold back his own climax. He bared his teeth as he drove faster and harder into her body. The head of his cock was hitting her G-spot and his balls slapped against her when he penetrated completely.
She was twisting once more, caught in the grip of need so intense, drawing in a breath was too hard to manage. They were straining toward each other, intent on pulling one another into the vortex. The bed was shaking violently as it all burst inside her.
Jaelyn cried out, twisting and writhing in the bright burst of pleasure. It went deeper this time, wringing more sounds from her, but what she heard was the harsh grunt Bram released as his cock started to jerk and spurt inside her.
And then there was nothing, except the twisting motion of the vortex. It wrung them both, leaving them spent, but satisfied.
Two quivering masses of flesh, entwined as slumber dragged them down into oblivion.
As far as moments went, it was epic.
* * *
The breeze she’d notice when the sun was going down had turned into a full Santa Ana wind condition. The trees were being whipped around by the powerful gusts but that wasn’t what woke Jaelyn.
There was a man in bed with her.
A naked one.
Jaelyn indulged in a long look at Bram before she plucked her clothing off the floor and shimmied into it. A second glance showed him still lying on his back, one forearm covering his eyes while his chest rose and fell in an even rhythm.
She turned the doorknob slowly, opening it just as carefully. But she froze halfway down the stairs, a frown on her face.
Why was she leaving?
Honestly, she wasn’t sure.
But something on the lawn near the curb caught her attention. She blinked, trying to absorb just what it was. Shock had her moving forward, toward the person lying there. Maybe she should have been more on guard but the need to help was too strong. She moved forward, reaching out to shake the person.
White hot pain went smashing through her skull. Then she was oddly aware of it growing brighter and hotter before she felt like it exploded, leaving her sliding toward the ground in an unconscious heap.
* * *
Too easy.
Ricky Sullivan scooped up his victim and watched the way her head lolled around. He shook her a few times, just to make sure she was out good. Gideon was casting them nervous looks from behind the wheel of the car they’d stolen.
Ricky dumped her into the backseat before slipping into the front one.
“Shouldn’t you cover her up?” Gideon asked as he pulled away from the curb.
“Nope. Any cop who sees her will just think she’s drunk,” Ricky replied as he reached up to loosen his tie. “That’s why I told you to dress nice. We look like great guys, no reason to pull us over.”
“Unless this car is reported stolen.” Gideon was gripping the steering wheel so tightly his knuckles were white.
“Not a chance,” Ricky responded with a grin. “I gave the dude a full ounce of coke. He’s partying hard right now.”
“You should have let me kill him.”
Ricky’s grin faded. “Bodies attract attention ass-wipe. I thought you were overseas because you’re some techie genius. Looks like your smarts don’t carry over into the rest of your brain. Blood splatters in tiny fragments and can be smelled or detected. Don’t kill unless you have to, and when you do, make it look like an accident.”
“Is that why you know so much about messing with cars?”
Ricky grinned. It was a smug expression and he wasn’t a bit ashamed of it.
Gideon snorted as he made the final turn into his private drive. “They hired me because they can’t recruit my kind of brainpower. Maybe I don’t know the hands-on stuff but I can deal with the cyberworld. These days, there are cameras everywhere, just waiting to tell everyone where you’ve been.”
Sullivan was losing interest in the guy but forced himself to remember that he needed Gideon. “So you remembered to kill the security cameras?”
Gideon scoffed at him. “No shit. And for the record, since you think I don’t see the obvious, killing the cameras would be a tip-off. I’ve got a nice replay from a couple of months ago playing in case anyone is actually doing their job.”
Sullivan was out of the car and dragging Jaelyn from the backseat a moment later. Gideon’s new building was perfect because the other flats weren’t finished. The top floor had been the builder’s priority. They made it there in swift time via a private elevator.
Ricky tossed her down onto the bed that Gideon had decked out for her, watching as Gideon locked a collar around her neck while his eyes glittered with anticipation.
He was a sick fuck.
But one Ricky needed to make Bram Magnus pull in his Shadow Ops buddies.
“You did it…,” Gideon whispered as he looked down on the sprawled form of his captive. “You really got her…”
Ricky walked out into the main living area. He stopped to select a very rare bottle of whiskey from the bar and poured himself a double before making his way to a huge leather sofa that looked out over the city. The sofa compressed as he lowered himself onto it, surrounding him with the scent of fresh leather.
Ricky lifted the whiskey up to banish that before taking a sip.
He didn’t give a fuck for what Gideon might be doing, so long as Jaelyn stayed alive.
The whiskey burned a path down his throat and hit his belly with a punch that made him bare his teeth.
Gideon wouldn’t kill her. Sullivan snickered as he sipped again. He might do a whole lot of other twisted shit to her but he wasn’t going to deprive himself of his newly acquired pet.
Which was all the time Ricky needed for Bram Magnus to take the bait and bring in his buddies. It was the action that would bring Tyler Martin into the mix, too.
Ricky was looking forward to it.
CHAPTER THREE
He was a creep.
Jaelyn did know a thing or two about men and the one standing at the foot of the bed fell into the category of creep. He wasn’t a dick, or a douche, but an actual sick-in-the-head creep.
She remembered him from the picnic. Her insides heaving again as she realized her thought about him being crazy was spot on.
There was a chain draped over her shoulder that went to a collar locked around her neck. Her head was throbbing worse than it did when she had a hangover but what really scared her was the look in the guy’s eyes.
He was obsessed with her.
It was a good and bad thing. On one hand, he just might kill her, but on the other, she knew his weak spot. She suddenly realized her grandfather was the best person in the world for making her earn a degree because what she’d learned in the psychology class she’d had to pass was suddenly rising up from her memory.
Like a lifeline punching through her rising panic.
Creeps needed their games. He’d only kill her if she stopped providing amusement.
Her belly twisted with nausea again but the need to survive rose above her horror. Bram wouldn’t let the guy see him sweat.
Make the guy think you’re playing along …
“So…” She shifted and fingered the chain. “Did I sleep through the party?”
Her clothing was still on but it felt like a thin barrier against the gleam in the guy’s eyes.
Okay, and the chain on her neck that was attached to a bed, but she fought to control the urge to panic. She had the sinking suspicion he was looking forward to her hysterics.
Her captor wasn’t expecting that comment. She watched his eyebrows lower as he leaned on the foot rail of the bed. It was made of iron and he curled his hands around it.
“Party is just starting,” he said. “You’re the guest of honor.”
Her eyes widened in spite of her resolve. He grinned in response, watching her like a bug he was making ready to tear the legs off of. She lost control, rolling over and stumbling into the bathroom next to the bed to heave up her guts. When she was done, relief was there to comfort her. No, what she was left with was the feeling of the chain lying against her back. The damned collar was also made of links of metal, big thick ones that sunk into the fragile tissue of her neck just from their own weight.
And her tormentor was leaning in the doorway.
Don’t let him see you sweat …
“Enjoy the show?” she asked as she rose and flushed the toilet.
There was a huge walk-in shower behind the vanity, with four sides of glass walls. The guy glanced toward it, making Jaelyn cringe because he really was looking forward to watching her.
So she’d better get it together because that was the only card she had to play.
* * *
Jaelyn was gone when he woke up. Bram wiped a hand across his face, slightly stunned by how deeply he’d slept.
It had been a really long time since he’d been so relaxed.
He found his pants and pulled them on before sitting on the end of the bed to push his feet into his boots.
She’d left.
He warned himself to not get too upset over it. Sure, he’d been set on winning her for months but she hadn’t known that.
It would take time.
He left the loft and walked over to the house. The kitchen was empty, the coffeepot still cold. Bram looked at it. Jaelyn had primed it the night before, all it needed was the switch pushed.
The fact that it was cold chilled his blood.
He went down the hallway and rapped on her bedroom door a single time before he turned the doorknob and opened it.
The bed was still made.
But the door at the end of the hallway opened. Milton looked out at him, his forehead furrowed for a moment.
“Are there any other vehicles Jaelyn might have used to leave?”
Milton Sondors’s eyebrows rose as a very faint word of profanity crossed his lips. But he shook his head as LeAnn opened her door and looked at Bram.
“What’s wrong?” LeAnn asked.
“Your sister is missing.”
Bram knew it. Felt it in his gut as he retraced his steps through the house and back to the stairs that lead up to the loft apartment. He knelt down, peering at the concrete of the driveway.
But the winds were still blowing, pushing the dirt around. He moved toward the grass, looking for tracks. Milton joined him, surprising Bram with how adept he appeared to be.
The signs were thin at best. He wanted to see tracks but had to stop himself from leaping to conclusions. Under the large tree that shaded the front yard he found his evidence though. The ground had been moist until the wind dried it out during the night.
There were clear prints in the dried dirt.
“Cops will try and tell us it’s nothing,” Milton muttered.
Bram straightened and Milton rose, too.
“They won’t even take a report for twenty-four hours but I’m calling anyway,” Bram informed him. “There’s an evidence chain.”
“Jaelyn is stronger than you think.” LeAnn had followed them. Bram caught the tremble in her tone but she looked at him and sent him a surprisingly steady look. “That’s why she slept with you last night. She’s no wimp.”
“My granddaughter is a lady,” Milton muttered.
“Sorry, sir,” Bram replied.
“If you are sorry,” Milton informed him, “you’re not the man I thought you were. Best sort of gal in the world is a lady who knows exactly when to strip her gloves off.” He winked on his way back toward the house.
* * *
Milton went straight to a china cabinet and pulled open a lower drawer.
“Grandpa,” LeAnn said. “What are you looking for?”
Her grandfather plopped a case down on the kitchen table before sitting and working the combination locks on it.
There was a click and then her grandfather was opening the lid of the case to reveal his set of guns. “Every now and then, a good man has to go to war LeAnn. You and your sister are all I have left of my blood. All I have left of my sweet Jeanie and your mother.” He wrapped his hands around one pistol and lifted it with a surprisingly steady hand. “Bram understands what I mean.”
Bram stood with his feet braced apart, his arms crossed over his chest, and his chin tucked down as he looked at her grandfather with a very critical eye.
“Yes, sir, I do,” Bram said. “On both accounts.”
“So,” LeAnn began. “Since I don’t see you in any hurry to dial the cops, does that mean you have a different plan?”
Bram sent her a confident look. “I have resources.”
“Good,” her grandfather said. “What resources?”
Bram stiffened. Milton sent Bram a look LeAnn knew as one no wise person toyed with.
“Ones I can’t officially tell you about.”
Her grandfather chuckled. “Those are the best sort, son. Can’t wait to meet them.”
Her grandfather seemed content with the answer. LeAnn found herself fighting to keep her jaw from dropping. Shock zipped through her as she looked from Bram to her grandfather.
Family was always number one with her grandfather. He didn’t back down or settle for half explanations.
Today he did. One look at Bram and he was content. A tingle went down her spine because she realized she didn’t really know Bram at all.
But Jaelyn captivated him. LeAnn decided she’d never been so happy to lose a boyfriend. She found herself pondering her grandfather’s words. Cancer had taken her mother and her grandmother. Somehow, LeAnn had forgotten just how few members of their family were left. It really was all that mattered.
And she was going to start living like she cared.
“I’ll … do something about breakfast, Grandpa.”
* * *
Dare Servant was a desperate man.
Okay, maybe he was being a bit dramatic but he reached for his phone on the first ring because construction wasn’t his idea of what a Shadow Ops agent should be doing with his time. Even if he understood the need for an off-the-grid command center.
“I need y
ou.”
Dare listened to Bram’s voice and heard the seriousness in his tone.
“Bring me up to date.”
* * *
Bram killed the call.
He’d stepped over the line. However, it wasn’t bothering him too much. Something was shifting inside him. Maybe it was that last thing that he’d been wrestling with, about stepping all the way into the Shadow Ops world.
The final tie that he’d needed to sever completely before Kagan would welcome him on board with a badge.
The willing desire to pledge himself completely to the life of making sure no one could track him. His team would be his family. His badge, his identity.
Bram didn’t lament it. Nothing mattered but getting the resources into play that would make recovering Jaelyn a possibility. The numbers were clear. The local police wouldn’t even begin a missing person’s investigation until the following day.
That was too long.
But Bram knew thugs.
He’d brushed elbows with the type of men who lived without consciences. To fight them, he had to be ruthless.
Whoever had taken Jaelyn was about to discover just how good he was at doing his worst.
* * *
“If you think…” Thais Sinclair must have held the copyright on husky feminine drawls because Dare felt the sound of her voice rippling across the nape of his neck.
She drifted in through the door, moving in a way that drew his attention, even though he knew full well nothing was ever going to happen between them. Of course that was what made her an asset to their Shadow Ops team.
Fine, it wasn’t politically correct. Not in the least. But bad guys didn’t tend to play by the rules, so if Dare wanted his team to gain the upper hand against the seedier elements at play in the world, he had to load the deck in his favor.
Thais Sinclair was dark and seductive. She knew her art well, her eyes slightly narrowing as she pinned him with her gaze. Thais didn’t just stand, either—she flowed, coming to rest sometimes in a position that was far more elegant than just standing.
She took the concept of bombshell to the limit. Blowing away a man’s ability to focus.
