Destroyed

by Jackie Ashenden

  ‘That’s not your choice, baby girl. It’s mine.’

  She let out a sigh, then finally gave a tiny nod.

  I tightened my arms around her. ‘But there’s two things you’re going to do for me in return.’

  That lovely mouth of hers curved. ‘No problem. Especially if it’s something to do with sex.’

  I grinned. ‘I love your enthusiasm, baby, but it’s not about sex. First, you’re going to teach me how to read, and second, you’re going to help me find my mom and little brother.’

  Her big blue eyes sparkled. ‘Are you sure about this? Are you absolutely, completely sure?’

  ‘I’ve never been surer of anything in my entire life.’ The words were nothing but the truth.

  She leaned up then, kissing me, her mouth so soft and sweet. ‘I love you,’ she whispered. ‘That’s the main reason I came back. Because I love you and you needed someone to come back to you.’

  My heart, that fucking piece of crap, swelled up like a balloon in my chest. ‘You know, I was on my way out, just as you knocked.’

  ‘Oh? Where were you going?’

  I stared into her eyes. ‘To find you.’

  She went pink. ‘Why?’

  ‘Why do you think? I haven’t got much to give you, not for everything you’ve given me. But my heart is yours if you want it.’

  Her blue eyes got even bluer, even deeper. ‘You idiot. That’s all I’ve wanted since I was seventeen years old.’

  I blinked like the dumbass I was, and then she kissed me again, harder. ‘I always had a thing for bad boys,’ she went on. ‘Particularly ones who like engines and puzzles, and who don’t find math boring. And have the highest sex IQ of anyone I know.’

  Fuck, she always knew just what to say. ‘I think I love you, baby girl.’

  ‘I think that might be my magic pussy.’

  I laughed, then I picked her up in my arms and carried her upstairs.

  And we made a little magic.

  Together.

  EPILOGUE

  Summer

  CAT AND SMOKE took us out to the airport, but I was nervous. Not because I thought Tiger might have second thoughts, but because I was afraid he might regret his decision. Because he wasn’t just saying goodbye to his club, but to his family, as well.

  We were both a little red-eyed from the party at the clubhouse the night before, both a goodbye party and a public claiming where he made me his old lady in front of his brothers. It had been scary and thrilling, though Tiger had insisted on taking me back to his place before anything had got too wild. Which I was slightly disappointed about. But only slightly. Mainly because I loved him being possessive of me and couldn’t get enough of it.

  This morning was no different and he kept his arm around me the whole way through check-in.

  But I had tears in my eyes when he said goodbye to Smoke, a manly hug and that was it. Then Smoke raised a brow, glanced at me and then back at Tiger ‘Guess you found the answer, huh?’ he asked cryptically.

  Tiger smiled. ‘Yeah. Don’t worry. Your position as love guru is safe.’

  Smoke grinned, pulling Cat tighter against him. She glanced at me and rolled her eyes, which made me laugh.

  ‘I’ll see you round,’ Tiger said. ‘Hey, maybe I’ll even write.’

  Smoke’s grin became wider. ‘You do that.’

  And that was that.

  Tiger didn’t let me go as we walked through security and he didn’t look back. ‘Here’s to the future, baby girl,’ he murmured in my ear. ‘It’s gonna be great.’

  * * * * *

  Love a sexy biker? Read the first book in Jackie Ashenden’s THE KNIGHTS OF RUIN miniseries, RUINED available now from Harlequin DARE.

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  Best Laid Plans

  by Rebecca Hunter

  CHAPTER ONE

  “LESS LIKE A fraternity and more like a real company? What the hell does that mean?”

  Cameron Blackmore leaned back in the plush lounge chair and massaged his temples. He didn’t like this any more than the others, but as CEO of Blackmore Inc. in Australia, he had to be the voice of reason. Or at least survival. He crossed his arms and looked each of the other three members of his team in the eye.

  “You all know exactly what this means,” he said. “After the recent news coverage we’ve gotten, we need to lie low for a while. We’re in high-profile security, for fuck’s sake. No public appearances, no partying and no walking out of a pub with clients.”

  Derek and Simon nodded. Max’s scowl grew.

  “Can your father and his board tell us where we can go and who we can bring home with us?” Max grumbled. “All the way from New York?”

  Cameron surveyed the dark room and caught a couple glances in their direction from other patrons. Damn. They were attracting attention. He had moved their impromptu meeting
to the hotel lounge to be discreet, but discreet wasn’t Max’s strong suit.

  Cameron lowered his voice and leaned in. “It’s not like any of us were planning on finding the love of our lives in the next two weeks.” He turned to Max. “And to answer your question, yes. When you land on the front page of the Sydney Morning Herald, yes.”

  Derek and Simon looked at Max.

  Max threw his hands up. “Hey, I was fact-finding with her.”

  Derek smirked. “Is that what you call it, mate?”

  “We don’t need to get into this again,” said Cameron. “You did what you needed to do. The client understood that, even if the board doesn’t. They’re owned by my father, so what do you expect?”

  His smile disappeared. Harlan Blackmore still managed to wield some control over his life, even a continent away. Cameron’s dislike of his father was no secret. When he joined the family business, Cameron had expected his grandfather to hold on for a few more years. Enough time to take the ruins of the business his father had left in Australia and turn it into the kind of company his grandfather had built. Cameron had fond, if hazy, memories of Sydney from the two years he’d spent here as a child—back when his parents were together. So, he’d jumped on the opportunity to return a couple years ago. But his grandfather’s heart attack wasn’t in Cameron’s plans, nor was his father’s scramble for control over Blackmore Inc.

  And Harlan Blackmore had no fucking idea how to run an international security company. He just looked the part and acted the part, all while running Blackmore Inc. Australia into the ground with his US strategies. And the board rewarded him for this grand performance by making him president.

  But maybe, just maybe, this whole recent turn of events could be Cameron’s chance to run the business his way. His grandfather’s way. A chance to show the board that focusing on a strong, loyal team and the demands of the current market had a better business payoff than making strategic golf partners or any of the other shit the board wanted him to do. His father could play golf or do whatever the hell he pleased, as long as he left the business strategy to Cameron.

  Low grumbles came from around the table.

  “No women? Sounds like a waste of two weeks,” said Max.

  Derek took a swipe at Max’s head, but Max ducked. “You’re whining more than you did back on the footy field.”

  “Piss off,” said Max lazily. “Not all of us have a hot woman at home to—”

  “Watch what you say about my wife,” growled Derek, all two-hundred-plus pounds of muscle ready to tackle his former teammate.

  “Enough,” said Cameron.

  The discussion was over. He trusted this group of men with his life. If he asked them to keep a low profile, they’d all do it. And so would he. Starting tomorrow.

  Cameron took a gulp of his beer and scanned the lounge to see if anyone was still watching them. He stopped on a woman sitting at the end of the bar, her eyes on him. Red lips and long brown hair in waves down her back. A silky shirt, see-through, thanks to the angle of the lights, and a black skirt riding up her thighs. She was looking, not listening, and there was something dreamy, unfocused, in her gaze. As if she were thinking through the course of her night, too.

  The woman pulled her bottom lip between her teeth and looked down into her drink. Damn. How soon could he get this meeting over with?

  Simon leaned in and grabbed the paper off the table in front of him, scanning it again. “So they’re sending this asshole—” he pointed at the name in the middle of the page “—Jackson McAllister all the way from New York just to follow us around for two weeks?”

  “What kind of wanky name is Jackson McAllister?” Max waved his hand around, almost knocking over his beer.

  “The kind that will be firing all of our asses if we’re not careful,” said Derek.

  Cameron sighed. “Look, he’ll be around the office a bit, but it’s really me he’s supposed to follow. To see if a little public relations training can ‘fix’ our image. Fix my image, actually. It’s my job that’s on the line. The board was pretty specific on that.”

  Max blew out his breath. “Sorry, mate.”

  Cameron swallowed the bile creeping up his throat and shrugged. “So the plan is to give this dickhead a grand welcome to Sydney, show him that this is all a big misunderstanding, that we’re not all drunken brawlers who like to pick up women every night, and then send him on his way back to New York.”

  Derek snorted. “Good luck with that.”

  “It’s fine,” said Cameron. “I can play nice for a few days. And so can you all.”

  Derek raised a skeptical eyebrow at Max.

  “Piss off, Derek,” said Max and punched him in the arm. “You were partying just as much as the rest of us before you met Laurie.”

  “Here’s the thing,” said Cameron, cutting off the exchange. “I called you here because I wanted you to know ahead of time. I’m meeting with the guy tomorrow morning, and we’ll all go to dinner at Circular Quay, all nice and civil-like. But until then, you don’t know anything. So you all have one last night before the ax comes down.”

  He looked around the table. The expressions on all three faces of his team grew into grins, as if they were each imagining what they were going to do with this night. Cameron didn’t need to use his imagination. The woman was sitting right in his line of sight. Her wine was almost gone, so it was time to wrap up this meeting.

  Cameron cleared his throat.

  “Oh, well, thanks for the heads-up,” said Max, all traces of his frown gone. He stood up and set his beer on the table. “So what are we waiting for? Who’s in for the pub?”

  Derek smiled. “Laurie’s out until ten, so I’m up for a couple drinks. But I want to make it home by then.”

  Max rolled his eyes. “Me and lover boy. What about you, Simon?”

  “Of course.”

  “And you, boss?”

  Cameron eyed the bar. The woman was looking in his direction again. This time, she waited an extra beat before she lowered her long dark lashes. A good sign.

  “I’m sticking around here for a while,” he said. “But I’ll call you if I change my mind.”

  “Whatever, mate.” Max shook his head. “You gonna check into a room here and rent some porn for your last night of freedom?”

  “Get the fuck out of here,” he said, chuckling.

  Cameron watched his team head out of the hotel. He took the last drink from his beer and set it down. He turned for one more look at the luscious woman at the bar. If he ended up alone tonight, he’d have plenty of material to get off on. Her skirt rode high enough to get a good look at her shapely bare legs. Was she the type who liked to ride or be ridden? Or both?

  Cameron stood up and started over to the bar. He caught her gaze and held it. She squinted a little. Then her eyes widened, as if this were the last thing she expected to happen. Hmm. One of those curvy bombshells who somehow hadn’t realized just how sexy she was? Even better.

  As he came closer, the corners of her mouth turned up into a little smile. He slid into the stool next to hers. His legs were too long to fit under the bar, so he faced her instead.

  She turned and brushed her silky hair over her shoulder. Her smile grew wider. “Hi, there.”

  She was American? She had one of those soft, raspy voices that was going to get him hard right here in the bar if he wasn’t careful. This was getting better by the minute.

  “What’s your name?” he asked.

  She shook her head and smiled. No names? He could do that.

  “Okay,” he said. “Should I start with, ‘Do you come here often?’”

  She gave a throaty laugh. “Is that all you got?”

  Shit, this was going to be fun. He leaned closer and whispered, “Depends on what you want.”

  A flush crept up her slender neck and onto her cheeks. S
he swallowed. “Just so you know, I’m not into getting picked up at a bar.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “Maybe you’re looking at it wrong.”

  “Is that right?” She gave a little snort of amusement.

  He nodded. “It’s all about having fun. About trying new things you might not try anywhere else. And living for the moment.”

  “How very philosophical,” she said, crossing her arms. “Does that usually work for you?”

  Cameron hung his head and laughed. “I’ve got a good record.”

  She rolled her eyes. “No wonder you’re so cocky. That kind of guy.”

  “If you know my kind, then you know I love a challenge. And you’ve just raised the stakes, sweetheart,” he said softly.

  The woman took the last sip of her wine and licked her lips. She met his gaze again, and for a moment, an electric spark sizzled through him, held him there. Did she feel it, too? Her long, dark lashes fluttered.

  Then the amusement was back in her smile. And maybe a hint of challenge.

  “You’re going to have to work a lot harder than this,” she said.

  Cameron rested his foot on her bar stool to get closer. “I’ll work as long and hard as you want me to.”

  She gasped softly, and her mouth dropped for a brief moment. What was she imagining right now? Then she laughed. “Enough with the lines,” she said, shaking her head.

  “But they’re working so well,” he deadpanned. He shifted back. “You’re not just a little curious?”

  She hesitated, so he continued. “You know what I’m most curious about?”

  She narrowed her eyes and slowly shook her head.

  “I’m wondering what makes you hot,” he said, lowering his voice.

  As he spoke, her gaze darted down between his legs, where he was fighting a full-on erection. Maybe this wasn’t such a long shot after all.

  “Are you wondering how big I am?” he whispered. “What it might feel like?”

  She met his gaze, and the fire sparked between them. Hell, she liked this game just as much as he did.