by J. S. Scott
Dani
“Touch that last piece of pizza and you’re a dead man,” I warned my brother, Jett, as I snatched the last slice of the heavily loaded pie and slapped his hand away.
Generally, I wasn’t the type to invite myself over to somebody’s house, but when I heard that my brother was in town, I’d hightailed it over to Marcus’s place. Luckily, I’d arrived just as the pizza was delivered.
I had impeccable timing when it came to food.
“I’m certainly not going to fight you for it,” Marcus commented drily.
I chewed and swallowed a heavenly bite of the greasy pizza before I answered, “You didn’t eat much.”
“He’s a food snob,” Jett informed me. “He doesn’t like junk food.”
“I didn’t say I don’t like it,” Marcus argued. “It’s just not healthy.”
We were all sitting around the dining room table at Marcus’s condo. Of course, I made sure I was closest to the food. “What is healthy anymore?” I asked.
“Certainly not a ton of grease and cardboard,” Marcus answered stuffily.
I couldn’t argue with the fact that the man was in prime condition. But he was way too regimented. “So no chocolate?” I asked.
“Rarely,” he confirmed.
“And I suppose you don’t eat food from street vendors?”
“Never.”
Good Lord, he really needed to lighten up. Yeah, I probably ate way too much fast food or things that I got on the go. I was usually too impatient to cook, and being on the road all the time made it difficult to grab anything except fast food.
“How do you eat when you’re traveling?”
Marcus shrugged. “I usually have one of my assistants find me something decent.”
“So where are your assistants now?”
He shot me a disgruntled expression as he answered, “I didn’t have time to get somebody to meet me here, and it was personal. I had to chase down some crazy female. And since it wasn’t business, I came alone.”
I kind of liked the fact that Marcus had done something spontaneous and specifically because he was concerned about me, even though he had just called me crazy.
“So none of them know about your assistance to the government?” Jett chimed in.
“Nobody knows except you two outside of my own family.”
“How do you manage that?” Jett asked.
“I don’t let my employees get involved in my personal life.”
I finished off my slice of pizza and washed it down with one of the sugary sodas that had come with the delivery. I usually preferred diet, but I made do. A woman had to save on calories somewhere, and I preferred to sacrifice my drinks rather than my food.
I watched silently as Jett and Marcus became involved in a discussion about cyber security, one of Jett’s favorite subjects. I couldn’t help but notice how closed off Marcus seemed, even though I knew he could be thoughtful when he wanted to be. I’d always seen him as arrogant, but some of his overconfidence probably came from being so self-contained. He’d spent most of his time traveling, so he’d only had himself to rely on, and he hadn’t shared much about his personal mission to keep our country safe. It had to be hard to be unable to share so much of his life.
I knew exactly how he functioned because I’d spent so much of my own life exactly the same way. Maybe I hadn’t been hiding the fact that I was some kind of roaming spy, but I knew what it was like to have to keep everything inside myself. Except for my brief affair with another correspondent who was more like a casual friend and acquaintance, I’d always been lonely. I’d just been too busy and focused to recognize those emotions. Or maybe I’d just never met anyone I really wanted to talk to about my travels except my siblings, and they had their own lives, their own interests.
I knew that the last person I should be attracted to was Marcus, but I couldn’t seem to shake off the chemistry and emotional draw that I felt whenever I was with him.
He was actually dressed casually today, and the look suited him. His butt filled out a pair of jeans like I’d never seen them filled before. Marcus was hot, but there was so much more than just his physical appearance that made me want to fly close enough to his heat to get myself burned.
He might be here now, but he’ll be gone soon. He’s an international businessman who travels most of the time. I can’t even think about getting involved with him.
My body wanted to say yes, but my common sense was screaming at me to ignore how much I wanted him.
I was still trying to figure out who I was after everything that happened to me during my kidnapping. Marcus was guaranteed to mess with my newfound sense of peace.
Maybe I wasn’t the woman I’d been a year ago, but I was okay with that now. Life was full of heartache and change, and I was going through a period in my life where I just had to search for something new.
My first priority was to put away the man who was funding a group of terrorists so they couldn’t hurt anybody else. My sense of justice wouldn’t let me rest until I did.
“Dani?” my brother said in a loud voice.
I heard him, and I suddenly brought myself out of my own thoughts. “Yeah?”
“Did you hear me?” Jett asked, his voice concerned. “Are you okay? I asked you twice what you thought about Becker’s motives for funding the rebels.”
“Sorry,” I answered. “I was thinking about something else.”
I was busy daydreaming about crawling up Marcus’s amazingly hard body and begging him to do me.
“What were you thinking about?” Marcus inquired.
“Nothing important,” I said hurriedly. “So what did you want to know?”
“Becker’s motives?” Jett repeated.
“He’s never talked to me specifically about any of his illegal activities,” I informed my brother. “But I think he’s delusional. His motivation for everything is money, but I think he also wants power. In funding the terrorist group, I think he’s under the impression it will give him control of the resources in the region if they can take possession of the area. Nothing else makes sense, and I’ve watched him pretty closely. Money and power are the most important things in life to him.”
“He certainly doesn’t value the women in his life,” Marcus grumbled.
“No, he doesn’t,” I concurred. “They’re just something he wants control over. Something he can use to vent his crazy anger on. I’m not a person to him. I’m a possession.”
“Fuck! I hate using you to get information,” Marcus exploded. “It’s insanity to think you might not get hurt.”
“I might. But it’s worth the risk to me. I’ve done plenty of risky investigative work, Marcus.”
“I know. I’ve seen you in action. And it scares the hell out of me.”
“Me, too,” Jett added.
“I’m a grown woman,” I argued. “I have been for a long time. I’ve been out there alone chasing stories for years now.”
“I don’t think either one of us doubts your courage, Dani,” my brother answered. “Hell, I’m pretty sure that you were so confident that none of us even quite understood how vulnerable you really were. If we had, I think we would have put personal security on you.”
“I would have gotten rid of them,” I retorted. “One of the reasons I went blonde and tried to change my appearance was to disassociate myself with the billionaire Lawsons. Very few people even knew I was related to one of the world’s richest families, and I wanted it to stay that way.”
Just like Marcus, I didn’t let anybody into my personal life. I wanted everyone to focus on the problems I was investigating and the story I had to tell, not my identity. My bylines on written articles were published as Dee Lawson, and I used the same name with my on-air reports.
I’d asked my network to use the name “D. Lawson” in the very beginning of my career, and they’d ended up printing it as “Dee Lawson.” The moniker had stuck with me for the rest of my years as a reporter, making it less likely th
at anyone would recognize my unusual first name and immediately associate me with the wealthy Lawson family.
“So nobody ever really knew who you were?” Marcus questioned.
I shook my head. “Nobody really knew me. I was just some pushy American reporter to most people. My crew didn’t even know.”
The only individuals who were privy to that information were the human resources department of my network, and my bosses. Otherwise, I was just Dee. And that freedom had become important to me while I was climbing the ranks within the network.
“I knew you, Danica,” Marcus answered in a hoarse voice.
“I know. I was always afraid you’d give me away, but you never did.”
We’d pretty much ignored each other, or we fought when we were out of earshot of other people. In many ways, I’d tried to push him as far away from me as he could get.
“You could have told me. I never would have outed you,” Marcus answered in a curt tone.
“You never did anyway. We barely spoke to each other.”
My brother stood up and tossed back the last of his soda before he said, “I’m out of here. I want to go dig up as much dirt on Becker as possible.”
I got to my feet, too. “I should get going.”
Jett had left the room when Marcus asked in a low voice, “Why do you have to leave? Do you have a date?”
I knew he was concerned about me meeting up with Becker again. “I’m not going out with Greg without telling you.”
“Somebody else?” he asked as he followed me to the door.
“So what if I do?” I asked him irritably. “What does it matter who I see if I’m not going out with Greg?”
He put his hand on the door as I went to open it and then pinned me into a small space by placing his other hand on the wall. “It matters,” he answered simply.
I looked up at him, my body trembling with need as our gazes met in some kind of heated battle that I didn’t quite understand.
“Does it?” I asked in a husky whisper.
“Yeah. It does. Don’t see anybody else, Danica.”
“Are you afraid Greg will find out?”
“Screw Becker. I don’t give a damn what he thinks. I don’t want to see you with another man.”
I wasn’t sure what he wanted from me, but his eyes were blazing with fire as he held my gaze.
His masculine scent assaulted my senses, and my pulse started to race. I finally answered him with a breathless tone that had nothing to do with fear. “I have to go…do laundry.”
Okay, that was probably a lame excuse for leaving like my ass was on fire, but I was confused, and I knew I couldn’t take much more of Marcus’s presence without wanting to get him naked.
As my words sunk in for him, he started to smirk. “In that case, I have some dirty shirts that need to be done.”
I shot him a fake, sunny smile. “Then I guess you’re going to be busy tonight, too,” I answered in a smart-ass tone. “Good night, Marcus.”
I pulled on the door, and he finally removed his powerful hold on my exit. He leaned down before I could open the door, his warm breath wafting over my ear, causing me to pause with a shiver. “As soon as you leave, I’m going to take a shower so I can get myself off while I think about every dirty thing I’d like to do to you. I can’t look at you without getting hard. I never could,” he shared in a smooth-as-good-whiskey voice that made me crazy.
“Thanks for sharing,” I answered nervously, knowing I was going to be thinking about the exact image he’d just brought to my mind, and it was going to last all night long.
Marcus…
Naked.
Wet.
Hard.
Stroking himself while he thought about doing dirty things to me.
Straining as his body finally found release.
Heat rushed between my thighs. “I hate you for doing that,” I informed him.
“No, you don’t,” he countered. “You’re turned on and we both know it.”
“Dream on,” I said haughtily as I pulled on the doorknob and rushed out the open door, unable to keep trading barbs with him when all I wanted to do was strip off his clothes and climb his body like it was a tree.
As I hurried to the elevator, I heard a sound that was completely foreign to me.
It took a moment for the noise to connect to its source for me.
It was Marcus Colter’s wicked laugh.
Dani
I was busy for the rest of the week.
Marcus and Jett insisted that I move my clothes and belongings to Marcus’s condo just in case I got caught and needed to hide out after my meeting with Gregory Becker.
Actually, most of the orders were coming from Marcus, and over a space of several days, I found out how careful, cautious, and annoyingly anal he could be. I knew the fact that he was covering all of his bases came from his years of gathering intelligence for the CIA, but he wasn’t exactly subtle about what he wanted. When he “suggested,” what he actually meant was for me to move my ass and do whatever he wanted. Even though being bossed around grinded on me, I respected his experience, so I complied gratefully, wondering why I’d never thought about or planned for some of the things he mentioned.
Probably because I’ve never been a spy. I was sure Marcus’s life depended on him being anal about planning.
“Are you really ready for this, Dani?” Jett asked nervously as I stood in the living room of my condo Friday night, ready and dressed exactly the way Greg liked.
My brother and Marcus had come to the house as soon as it was dark, only entering after they’d verified that I wasn’t being watched.
Jett’s concerned tone made my heart ache. Even if I wasn’t ready to try to get information from Greg’s home, I wouldn’t let Jett know it. He’d been through way too much himself to worry about me. If I showed the slightest hint of hesitation, I knew my brother and Marcus would cancel the entire mission. “I’m fine. I think that Marcus more than covered any possibility,” I answered confidently, yanking on my tiny red skirt so it completely covered my ass.
“No, I didn’t,” Marcus said stoically. “Nobody can ever be ready for everything. But we’ve taken some measures to ensure that you’re safe.”
My cell phone rang in the tiny clutch I was holding, and I dug into the bag, worried that Greg was calling to cancel.
But it wasn’t Becker.
“It’s Ruby,” I told Marcus, turning away to answer the phone, stepping toward my bedroom where Ruby wouldn’t hear the two guys in my condo.
“Hey Rubes,” I answered cheerfully.
We’d spoken once earlier in the week, and she’d been safe. I’d called Marcus after the conversation, letting him know that I had to get Ruby out of the bad situation she’d fallen into.
“Dani,” she replied in a relieved voice. “It’s tonight. The auction is tonight. The people taking care of me just called. They told me to shower and to shave. Everywhere.”
My heart fell. I had been hoping I could swing by and get her out of her hotel tonight, right after my last encounter with Becker. That had been my plan. The moment I was finished gathering information to bust the bastard, I’d have no reason not to pick Ruby up and get her to a safe place.
“Where is it happening?” I asked breathlessly.
“I think it’s some kind of underground club right down the street, from what I could get from conversations. Dark Satisfactions is the name of it. I heard people talking here. That’s all I know. They’re coming to get me, and to make sure I’m completely shaved. I get why they’re doing it. I might be a virgin, but I’m not stupid. They cater to kink.”
I was more than certain that the club did indeed cater to unusual preferences, and they wanted Ruby to appear as young as possible.
Jesus! What in the hell was I going to do? I turned and looked at my brother and Marcus. As I remembered how much info Jett had been able to get on Becker, I was struck with an idea. “Jett!” I said urgently, holding the phone away f
rom my mouth.
My brother broke off his conversation with Marcus to answer, “Yeah?”
“Did you see any information on Dark Satisfactions when you were looking for info? It’s an underground club.”
He nodded. “Connected to Becker, but in a convoluted way. It’s on the dark web.”
The club’s connection to Becker wasn’t really a surprise. I’d always suspected he was involved with Ruby’s plight in some way. I lifted the phone again to tell Ruby, “Don’t argue with anything they want. We got the location, and I’m sending somebody to help. Please trust me. I won’t let anything bad happen to you. Can you believe that?”
The line was silent as Ruby seemed to contemplate what I said. Finally, she answered. “Right now, you’re all I have, Dani. You’re the only hope I’ve got unless I get a chance to escape.”
“Not a hope, sweetie,” I assured her. “I’m sending you a sure thing. But don’t make them hurt you by trying something crazy. Somebody is getting you out of the auction site safely.”
“Okay,” she answered, her voice reflecting a spark of faith.
I knew she had no real reason to believe in anyone, and she had no reason to trust. I had no way of showing her that not everybody wanted to exploit her, or hurt her, except by showing her that some people were worth putting her faith into.
I hung up and then approached Jett. “I need you to be a hero tonight,” I informed him. “Please. I need your help.”
He frowned at me. “I’m always willing to help you, but I’m nobody’s hero.”
“You will be tonight. I need you to work your way into Dark Satisfactions and help a friend. It’s not just a sex club. They’re human trafficking, Jett. At least in Ruby’s case.” I was fairly certain there were more, and we needed to close down those businesses completely.
I explained to my brother and Marcus quickly, knowing I was short on time.
“Jesus, I hate this prick even more than I did before,” Jett cursed. “I’m on it. I’ll get her out of her situation, and then we can go to the authorities.”
I put my hand gently on my brother’s arm. “She’s scared, Jett.”
