A Little Harmless Ride

by Melissa Schroeder

  She stepped into his library and found him sitting in front of the big window.

  “I think you need to leave,” he said without turning around. He was sipping whisky and said it just like he could have said they were expecting rain. No big deal. You need to leave.

  She looked at him, irritated that it hurt her to hear the words. She had been through this before. Not exactly this, but something similar. Finding your Dom and fiancé fucking his personal trainer was a little different. Still, the rejection was the same.

  This hurt more, even knowing what was behind it. He was trying to protect her and she would not have it. If she left, he lost everything. It would give whoever was doing this the result he or she wanted. She would feel like a coward.

  She wanted to pick up one of the massive books in the library and hurl it at his head. “I’m not leaving.”

  He turned and gave her a narrowed look. “Didn’t you hear me?”

  The coldness in his voice turned her blood to ice. “Yeah, I heard ya.”

  “What did you not understand about it? I don’t want you here. I want you gone.”

  “Seriously?” She snorted trying to hide the pain that was now ripping her heart to shreds. It seemed so easy for him, and maybe it was. Maybe she had been the one to think there was more to their relationship than just submission and sex.

  “I think I have the final say on who stays and who goes.”

  “I might be your sub—was your sub—but I don’t have to listen to you outside of the bedroom.”

  “Really? I think I run this ranch.” He stood and set down his whisky.

  She walked closer and looked at him. Crysta was trying to hide her emotions. It was amazing that the words hurt her more than anything in the world.

  She crossed her arms more for protection than for warmth. Tears were burning the backs of her eyes. She blinked.

  “I think we both own this ranch, and I’m not leaving. Even if you are a fucking ass, I can’t let you lose it. Joe wanted you to have it and I will be damned if I leave. I can, however, avoid any time with you.”

  She turned to leave, knowing that any second she was going to cry in front of him. She would not do it. Giving him that satisfaction was a little too much for today. She might not have a lot, but she had her pride.

  She was at the threshold when he grabbed her by the wrist. Before she knew what was happening, he’d backed her up against the wall and was nuzzling her neck.

  “I’m sorry.” His mouth touched the tender skin just beneath her ear. “Babe, I’m so sorry. I went a little crazy. For a second there, I thought the blood was yours.”

  Crysta closed her eyes and tried to ignore how wonderful that made her feel. She shouldn’t be happy he was scared for her, and she definitely should still be pissed. But his body crowded hers, the heat of his flesh warming her.

  “I…I just couldn’t stand it if something happened to you.” He said the words in a jolting fashion, something that tugged at her heart. It was as if the words had been pulled from somewhere dark.

  He pulled back from her and settled his forehead against hers. “I don’t know what I would do.”

  “Nothing happened to me. I’m fine.”

  He closed his eyes but not before she saw the pain there. How could she have thought he was cold? She knew that’s what he showed a lot of people but inside he was warm. So warm, and loving.

  “I haven’t done a good job at protecting you,” he said, the words filled with torment.

  She shook her head and cupped his face. She gave him a long, sweet kiss.

  “I was shot at once.”

  His lips twitched. “All in a day’s work. I don’t think so.”

  “And it’s not your job to protect me, Eli.”

  “I promised your father I would take care of you.”

  She shook her head. “Alphas. Surrounded by them all the time.”

  “I told you to leave.”

  She smiled, but then she felt it fade. She cupped his face again and leaned in for a slow, wet kiss. “I won’t leave you, Eli. I love you.”

  He didn’t say anything for a few moments. She started to wonder if she made a mistake, but she fought the urge to take it back. Loving him wasn’t a mistake. It might not be smart, and it caused so many issues that she didn’t even want to think about it, but it would never be a mistake.

  Eli still said nothing as he stepped back and took her hand. The house was still quiet, just the two of them, as he led her up the stairs to his room. He let go of her hand and bent down to pick her up. He walked into his room and laid her on the bed. He undressed her slowly, kissing and loving every inch of her. He slid his tongue over her body. He left no part of her flesh untouched.

  When she was nude, he undressed, his gaze on hers. It had been two weeks of pleasure, of play, and now this. He climbed on the bed with her and pulled her up. He sat back, slowly entering her. Together, they moved. No hurry, no rush. This was about feeling, about love. It was about mutual pleasure, sharing together this one moment in time.

  She bent her head back as he kissed her throat. His teeth grazed along her jaw as he licked and nibbled her sensitive skin. Crysta wanted this to last forever.

  “God, your skin is the most amazing thing,” he said. “So sweet and tempting…it’s like you’re made of honey.”

  She shivered, loving the way he talked to her. She always did. The lazy pleasure they took in their bodies soon dissolved into the rising need of completion. The urge grew and almost without warning, her orgasm exploded through her. She convulsed as she whispered his name. He kissed her then, thrusting up into her once more, and followed her into bliss.

  * * * *

  The creak of the floor was the only thing that gave Eli a warning that someone was in the house. He slipped off the bed, taking his handgun with him.

  “I would rather you not shoot me, St. John,” Dillon said from the hallway. “And I really don’t want to embarrass Ms. Miller the first time I meet her.”

  Turning, he walked away.

  “Wait. What?” Crysta said starting to wake up. She was nude, of course, the sheet falling to her waist as she sat up.

  Eli sighed. “It’s Dillon, love. He apparently doesn’t understand when I say I can handle things on my own.”

  He leaned down and gave her a long kiss. “Let’s see what he wants.”

  By the time the two of them made it to the kitchen, Dillon was already making coffee. “I take it you didn’t bring Jillian with you?”

  He shook his head. “She’s still in the self-imposed deadline area. The woman is tyrannical about her writing time.”

  Dillon smiled at Crysta. “Crysta Miller I assume. Nice to meet you. Sorry about waking you up, but I made coffee.”

  “Thank you for making yourself at home, Dillon,” Eli said, but he wasn’t going to complain beyond that.

  A good cup of coffee would get his blood pumping. Of course the sex he had wanted to have would’ve been better, but Eli didn’t see a way of getting that to happen at the moment.

  “I didn’t want to waste time. I’ve gone over everything and we have little to go on. But, there is one person I think we both need to talk to and I don’t want to involve the authorities.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” Crysta said.

  Both men ignored her and her snort was filled with disgust.

  “Who?” Eli asked.

  “Sean Kaheaku.”

  “He wasn’t here. He was on Oahu,” Crysta said.

  “Yeah, but he’s got something going on. I can’t get into his records, and he was back that night. There’s another problem.”

  “What?”

  “He had a meeting on Oahu with his stepbrother. Then, five thousand dollars was transferred from Sean to Sam’s account. Sam also acted suspiciously while he was on the island. He was out buying ammo.We need to figure out what those two are up to. I want you with me, St. John.”

  “And I’m going,” Crysta said.


  “No.” Both men said it at the same time. Eli knew from the look on her face, they had a fight on their hands.

  “Stop me. I’m not staying here at the house by myself, or with a guard. And I am not going to spend a bunch of time arguing with you about it. I have my own questions for Sean, if you don’t mind.”

  “I said no,” Eli said. He tried frowning at her, but it did no good.

  “If you order me to do something one more time, I’m going to stab you with a fork. I want to be there to keep you from killing him.”

  “And why would you want to do that?” he asked.

  “I don’t want the man I love in prison for killing someone. Let’s go.”

  With a sigh he gave Dillon a look as she marched off. “We might as well let her go.”

  Dillon nodded. “I’ll call the office, see if they have anything else. Plus, Maura was trying to hack into some…sites.”

  Eli chuckled thinking of Dillon’s sister. There was a good chance that whatever she was doing, it was illegal.

  “Give us ten minutes then we can go kick Kaheaku’s ass.”

  And with that, the jogged up the stairs. The bastard had a lot to answer for if he set Sam to attack the ranch. Bastard would pay for doing that.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The minute Sean opened the door, Eli punched him. He stumbled back as Eli advanced on him. Fear for both of them, knowing just how pissed Eli was, Crysta grabbed his arm, but he shook her free. He hit Sean again before the other man had a chance to recover.

  “That’s enough,” Crysta yelled out.

  They both ignored her. She looked at Dillon, who looked bored. “Aren’t you going to do anything?”

  He shrugged. “I figure one of them will get the better of the other. Then we can talk.”

  “Oh for the love of God.” She grabbed Eli who was about to punch Sean again. Crysta held onto his arm and he gave her a mean look.

  “Let go, Crysta,” he growled.

  “No.”

  His frown turned darker. “He shot at you.”

  “You don’t know that,” she said. As soon as the words left her mouth, a fist came flying up and caught Eli on the chin. Eli fell back. Sean scrambled up and was about to hit Eli again when Crysta smacked him on the back of the head. He looked at her, his eyes wide with astonishment.

  “You hit me,” he bellowed.

  “Yes. And I’ll hit you again.”

  “That’s a girl,” Eli said.

  She looked down at him. “And I’ll hit you too. We don’t have time for this.”

  Dillon stepped forward. “I have to agree. We need to talk about things and we need to sort it all out.”

  With a sigh, Sean moved back and stood up. It struck her then that he was as graceful as Eli. As if they both had the same training.

  She was surrounded by people who hid their true selves all the time. It was getting to be annoying.

  “Come with me to the kitchen.”

  Sean didn’t wait for them to agree. He just wandered off. She looked at Eli, who shrugged and followed him. Dillon and she did the same.

  “Tell me about these connections we found,” Eli said.

  Sean spit out some blood in the sink as he dabbed at the cut on his lip. “What connections are you talking about?”

  “You seem to have some very dangerous men you consort with. Did your stepfather put you up to it?”

  “Sam? What the fuck are you talking about? I thought you were talking about Crysta.”

  He glanced at Crysta, who rolled her eyes.

  “Do you really think they would show up here to talk to you about that?”

  “Dillon might not, but I would, love,” Eli said quietly. “Just thought you would know he’d be in worse shape.”

  She gave him a nasty look and looked back at Sean. “We’re talking about that cow mutilation and the shots.”

  “What?” He shook his head.

  “We had a cow mutilated. Yesterday, someone took shots at Jerry and me.”

  He looked from Eli to Dillon then back to Eli. “Yeah, I had nothing to do with that. I just got back.”

  “Try again, Kaheaku,” Dillon said. “You haven’t used your passport and you weren’t on any plane.”

  He studied the other two men, and again, she was struck by the similarities among them. Not just Eli and Sean, but there something about all three of them that screamed specialized training. It was military or federal law enforcement. The aura of authority dripped off all three of them.

  “Fuck me,” Sean muttered as he turned to rinse the rag off.

  “You bloody did fuck yourself up. Why would you kiss up to that old man after the way he threw you out?”

  He sighed. It sounded like a strange mixture of sadness and frustration. “I didn’t kiss up to Sam. I was out of the country on a job.”

  “What?” Dillon asked.

  “I got a contract for some work in Indonesia. I’ve been gone since the day after I met Crysta at the grocery store.”

  Eli glanced at Dillon, who shook his head. “You have not been out of the country.”

  “You better talk to your contacts again, Dillon. And when you do, talk to Homeland Security. They can tell you all about me.”

  “I don’t have those contacts and you bloody will tell me just what the fuck you are talking about,” Eli demanded.

  Sean’s expression turned even more remote. Apparently, he wasn’t going to be talking any time soon.

  “Sean,” Crysta said. “We’ve had a bad couple of weeks here. And what these two are not telling you is that we seem to be under attack on the ranch.”

  He frowned at Crysta even as his expression softened. She noticed Eli flexing his hands. He was ready to attack Sean for just looking at her. This was not a good situation and it would prove to be counterproductive if she didn’t get Sean to answer their question as fast as possible.

  “Under attack?” he asked.

  “First, you said you left, but Eli and I were on Oahu the day after we met you. We saw you at Rough ‘n Ready.”

  For a second, he looked like he would deny it but then he nodded. “Yeah, I stopped at Rough ‘n Ready that night. Then I headed out. Tell me what’s going on.”

  Eli stepped up, but Crysta answered.

  “We were called back that night because someone had mutilated a cow.”

  He glanced around the room, settling his attention back on Crysta. “I didn’t have anything to do with that. Why would I? What would I gain?”

  “You would make your stepfather very happy,” Eli said.

  “And why would I want to do that? The bastard hasn’t talked to me in years. And why would mutilating a cow do anything for him, other than giving him some kind sick thrill. And don’t get me wrong, Sam is that sick.”

  Crysta knew Sean was telling the truth. “You had to have heard about the will.”

  When he said nothing, Eli continued. “If Crysta leaves, I lose the ranch. It goes to a trust for charities. They sell it off.”

  Sean frowned. “And? Sam has no money.”

  “But you do,” Dillon pointed out. “I’ve only gotten into some of your accounts, not all of them. But you’re loaded, Kaheaku.”

  “I’d give my money to St John before I would give any to my father,” Sean ground out.

  The three of them shared a look. Crysta knew without a doubt that was true. He wasn’t going to give his stepfather anything.

  “And the shots fired,” Crysta said. “That wasn’t you?”

  He shook his head. “No. Believe me, if I was aiming for you, you would be dead.”

  The absolute certainty in his voice was easy to hear.

  “You can also believe, I wouldn’t give that bastard any money, so there’s no way he would get the ranch with my help.”

  “I believe him,” Dillon said.

  “Dammit. I do too.”

  She could tell that was hard for Eli to admit, but she agreed too. Sean wasn’t telling them the whole truth
, but he also wasn’t lying about his hatred of Sam. It was odd. From what Eli had said, they had been so close when he was younger.

  “And this contract work, what was it?” Eli asked.

  Sean glanced toward Crysta, then to Dillon before settling on his gaze on Eli. “What the hell? Okay, I was Special Forces for a few years, but didn’t really like taking orders—or the pay. I’m sure you understand, St. John.”

  He said nothing. She wondered how many people knew Eli had been Special Forces. From the look on his face, not that many, and he wasn’t that happy about Sean knowing now.

  “No comment?” Sean asked, a cynical smile twisting his lips. “Well, I didn’t last. I was sick of putting my ass on the line for so little pay.”

  “So you sold out and became a mercenary?” Dillon asked.

  “No. I’m not a mercenary. I never liked that part of the job. What I do is surveillance, sometimes up close and personal.”

  “In Indonesia?” he asked, skeptical.

  “Or Japan, Korea…I even spend a lot of time in your old stomping grounds. St. John.”

  “So, you work in Australia?”

  He nodded. “A time or two, but my looks make me a shoe in for places with more Asian influence.”

  “And you have someone who can verify that?” Dillon asked.

  “Yeah. Got pen and paper? I’ll write down my contact.”

  Dillon handed him the paper and pen.

  “Of course, Crysta, I can give you my own personal information if you’re interested.”

  Eli opened his mouth but she wasn’t in the mood for another round of fighting.

  “Sean, first of all, we are one step away from being related and well, I don’t want Eli to get arrested for killing you.”

  Sean shook his head and wrote down the information then handed it to Dillon. “Call that man. He’ll give you all the information you need.”

  Dillon took the paper and his eyebrows rose. Crysta knew then that Dillon knew the man on the paper and that probably meant Sean was telling the truth.

  “Now I’d like all of you to leave.”

  “Before we do, I want a bloody answer,” Eli said. “Why did you and Sam split ways? It couldn’t have been because of money. You went into the military and Sam was almost out of it by then. Truth is, everyone said that once you left, he lost everything, so they assume you were handling most of the aspects of the business. So—why the problem? Did you want more of the business?”