by Katie Reus
Is this about who I’m meeting with today? You know I don’t mix business and pleasure. So even if her new partner was sexy as sin it wouldn’t matter. He might as well be sexless. She didn’t have any interest in anyone, anyway. Not since… She swallowed hard, shutting that thought down.
“You look really familiar,” the man next to her said.
Since Mara hadn’t responded Isa tucked her phone into her purse and gave the man a neutral smile. When she looked at him, however, she realized she had seen him somewhere. The memory of that ‘meeting’ was disgusting. “I don’t think so,” she murmured. Yeah, she really didn’t want to talk to this guy.
“No, I’m really good with faces and I’m certain we’ve met before.” He watched her carefully, looking at her as if he was trying to decide if he’d seen her naked or not.
The guy’s whole demeanor was off-putting and she wondered if he was a new client for Red Stone. She certainly hoped not. “The reason I probably look familiar,” she said quietly, dropping her voice so that the others around them couldn’t hear, “is because I was at Club Bardot the other night and saw a prostitute give you a blow job right in the VIP section.” She’d been there following someone for one of her past jobs—seeing if there was another angle to being able to infiltrate the company. Meaning, potential bribery of an employee. She hadn’t had to use that angle, thankfully.
He blinked in clear surprise, but he didn’t seem embarrassed. “She wasn’t a prostitute.”
That was his response? She coughed to cover up an uncomfortable laugh. “Oh, I just assumed.”
He straightened, clearly not deterred. “Well, listen—”
She shook her head. “I’m not trying to be rude, but I literally had to see your dick against my will when you whipped it out for the entire VIP section to see. I don’t think we have anything to say to each other.”
Isa heard a woman snicker behind her and realized she hadn’t been as quiet as she’d thought. But seriously, it was too early in the morning for this. She hadn’t even had her coffee yet.
The guy shrugged, not even fazed. “Your loss.”
She snorted to herself. Yeah, she was sure she’d lose a lot of sleep over this guy. When two elevators’ doors opened, she slipped into the opposite one he got into. At thirty she was too young to be out of the dating game, but damn, if this was what was out there, she was fine being single. She hadn’t been in any state of mind to start dating again over the last year, and right about now she was glad for that.
As people streamed into the elevator, her phone dinged a few times in a row. Scrolling through her messages, all from work, she started responding as the car whooshed to life. A few people quietly talked amongst themselves but one by one everyone disembarked as the elevator rose higher and higher. Normally she made an effort to talk to people and be polite but this morning she didn’t have it in her.
After leaving the restaurant yesterday evening she’d been feeling off. She knew why, too. She’d thought of Graysen West all night. Had even dreamed of him. It was making her edgy, and she hated that—but she didn’t hate him. That was what drove her the craziest. She should hate the man after what he’d done, but…some stupid part of her still held on to all those sweet memories.
Lies, she reminded herself. All those memories might be real but everything about them had been a lie. Ugh, get the freak over it already. She wished life was that easy, that she could just order herself to forget him and move on. Unfortunately, getting over a man like Graysen was hard. It wasn’t just that he was sexy—which he was. He was giving and sweet… Gah, and a giant liar. What the hell was wrong with her? He wasn’t giving or sweet. He sucked.
As a woman moved off past her, Isa slipped her phone into her jacket pocket and glanced at the shiny chrome keypad on the elevator wall. Only three floors to go. She hadn’t dressed as sexy as Mara had said to, but she was wearing a dark green sheath dress with high heels that she could admit showed off her toned calves. She didn’t love everything about her body—what woman did?—but she liked her legs.
“You really need better spatial awareness.” A familiar, deep voice from behind her made her jump out of her skin.
Feeling almost numb, she turned to find Graysen West standing there—and looking way too sexy for his own good. Or for her own good. She’d thought she was completely alone in the elevator now.
She blinked once. Yep, he was still there. Well over six feet of raw masculinity, bright blue eyes she could drown in, and a disapproving frown that somehow made him look sexy.
“When did you get on?” Okay, that was probably the dumbest thing that could have come out of her mouth, but whatever. She was just glad she’d found her voice.
“Same time you did. But you were too busy on your phone to notice.” He frowned, looking all judgmental, and she just about snapped.
“Seriously, that’s the first thing you say to me? You criticize me about being on my phone?” She’d been working, not that that was remotely the point. He had no say in her life. If she wanted to play games on her phone, she damn well would.
“You’ve got to pay better attention to your surroundings. Did you even know there was someone else still on the elevator with you?”
Isa felt almost possessed as she lashed out. A year of built-up anger and hurt came bursting to the surface with his obnoxious ‘I know better than you’ tone. Her arm was moving before she’d processed what she was doing but when her fist connected with his nose, she cursed at the pain that jolted through her hand. Punching someone hurt.
He grunted as his head snapped back. But other than that he barely reacted.
She belatedly realized he hadn’t even moved to defend himself, and considering his training, he would have with anyone else. Stupid tears stung her eyes because she felt bad for punching him and she hated the insane way she’d just reacted to seeing him. It was completely nuts. She’d literally just assaulted someone in an elevator.
But Graysen apparently brought out the crazy in her. She spun away from him as the elevator doors opened, glad that no one was waiting and thankful for the escape. She didn’t care why he was here. She wasn’t dealing with him right now. Not now, not ever.
She heard him call her name but she ignored him and ducked in to the nearest women’s bathroom before he could see her cry. She’d cried enough over that man and she’d punch him again before she let him see her have an emotional breakdown.
Excerpt from
Resurrection
Redemption Harbor Series
by Katie Reus
Copyright © 2017 Katie Reus
Colt Stuart looked through his government-issued binoculars at the terrorist bastard beating the shit out of one of his subordinates for whatever imagined slight. The guy working for their target was no saint either, but still. “What a pussy,” he muttered.
“Hey!” Flat on her stomach, the sexy redhead perched on the hill with him gave him a dirty look before returning her gaze to the scope of her custom Remington 700.
Or he assumed it was a dirty look, because he didn’t look directly at Skye Arévalo, his new partner of two weeks in the CIA. Because when he did, it was hard to focus and hard to hide his attraction to her. For a multitude of reasons. Everything about her called to him on the most primal level. “What?” he asked.
“You like pussy?”
Okay, now he looked at her. Was this a trick question? “Uh, yeah?”
She lifted an eyebrow, her ice blue eyes cold. “You respect pussy?”
“Hell, yeah.” Didn’t even have to think about that.
“Then don’t insult it by calling him a pussy. Call him what he is. A dick. Or an asshole.”
His lips kicked up as he drank in her pissed-off expression. “I’m pretty sure I’m going to marry you.”
She stared at him with horror in those Mediterranean-blue eyes before rolling said eyes and turning away to look back through the scope. “You’ve got problems,” she muttered.
“Is it inappropriate tha
t I like it when you say the word pussy?” he murmured, returning to his binos and trying not to imagine what she’d look like naked. Trying and failing.
For this mission they’d had to change clothes in tight quarters and she’d had no issue stripping down to her boyshort panties and sports bra in front of him. She was average height, lean and ridiculously sexy. When he’d seen the text on the back of her panties—Badass with a good ass—he’d fallen just a little harder for her.
“Pretty sure that’s sexual harassment, dude.”
“File a report.” They were working undercover, basically didn’t exist to the civilian word. There would be no report to file.
She snorted at the ridiculousness of his words. “To answer your question, yes, it’s inappropriate. But it’s okay. I like inappropriate.”
He wasn’t sure how to respond to that. Wasn’t sure how to respond to most things that came out of Skye’s mouth—a woman who carried C4 in her purse and called it “being prepared,” as if she was a freaking Boy Scout. The one thing he was sure of: he hadn’t been kidding about that marriage comment. Not locking down this woman would be pure insanity. Because he was pretty damn sure there was no one else in the world like her. And even if he was also pretty damn sure she was a little crazy, he liked her brand of it.
“You’ve got a clean shot,” he murmured. For this mission they’d literally done rock, paper, scissors to decide who was behind the rifle. Her idea, of course. He was pretty sure she’d cheated too.
Acknowledgments
Thank you never seems enough, but here goes; As always, I owe a big thanks to Kari Walker. In addition to all the behind-the-scenes work Sarah does, I also owe a HUGE thank you to Sarah for answering all my questions about the Deaf culture. Thank you for taking the time to beta read and offer so much wonderful insight. Any mistakes in this book are my own. Once again, thank you to Jaycee for a stunning cover. Julia, I’d be lost without your editing skills! Thank you to Joanna Moreno for the translation help. Carolyn Crane, thank you so much for your insight as well! For my wonderful, wonderful readers, thank you for all the emails and private messages about this new series! Starting a new series is a scary thing and you all have let me know that I made the right decision with launching Redemption Harbor, a series that’s been running around in my brain for years. As always, thank you to my family for putting up with my crazy hours. And, of course, thank you to God.
About the Author
Katie Reus is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Red Stone Security series, the Darkness series and the Deadly Ops series. She fell in love with romance at a young age thanks to books she pilfered from her mom’s stash. Years later she loves reading romance almost as much as she loves writing it.
However, she didn’t always know she wanted to be a writer. After changing majors many times, she finally graduated summa cum laude with a degree in psychology. Not long after that she discovered a new love. Writing. She now spends her days writing dark paranormal romance and sexy romantic suspense. For more information on Katie find her on twitter @katiereus or visit her on facebook at: www.facebook.com/katiereusauthor. If you would like to be notified of future releases, please visit her website: www.katiereus.com and join her newsletter.
Complete Booklist
Red Stone Security Series
No One to Trust
Danger Next Door
Fatal Deception
Miami, Mistletoe & Murder
His to Protect
Breaking Her Rules
Protecting His Witness
Sinful Seduction
Under His Protection
Deadly Fallout
Sworn to Protect
Secret Obsession
Love Thy Enemy
Dangerous Protector
Lethal Game
The Serafina: Sin City Series
First Surrender
Sensual Surrender
Sweetest Surrender
Dangerous Surrender
Deadly Ops Series
Targeted
Bound to Danger
Chasing Danger (novella)
Shattered Duty
Edge of Danger
A Covert Affair
Non-series Romantic Suspense
Running From the Past
Dangerous Secrets
Killer Secrets
Deadly Obsession
Danger in Paradise
His Secret Past
Retribution
O’Connor Family Series
Merry Christmas, Baby
Tease Me, Baby
It’s Me Again, Baby
Mistletoe Me, Baby
Redemption Harbor Series
Resurrection
Savage Rising
Title TBA
Paranormal Romance
Destined Mate
Protector’s Mate
A Jaguar’s Kiss
Tempting the Jaguar
Enemy Mine
Heart of the Jaguar
Moon Shifter Series
Alpha Instinct
Lover’s Instinct
Primal Possession
Mating Instinct
His Untamed Desire
Avenger’s Heat
Hunter Reborn
Protective Instinct
Dark Protector
A Mate for Christmas
Darkness Series
Darkness Awakened
Taste of Darkness
Beyond the Darkness
Hunted by Darkness
Into the Darkness
Saved by Darkness
