by Elle James
“Cocky much?” Maggie interjected.
“Nope.” He puffed out his chest. “Confident. I’ve never had any complaints.”
“But I can’t remember last night. That must mean something,” Maggie pointed out.
“It means, we drank some killer tequila,” Chase said. “If you want a repeat performance while we’re both sober, I’d happily demonstrate.” He stepped toward her.
Maggie’s face reddened, and she raised her hand. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll take your word for it.”
Chase chuckled. “Let me know when you’d like physical proof. I’d be glad to oblige.”
“Not happening,” Maggie insisted.
Gina raised her hand. “I’ll take a sample.” She waggled her eyebrows and grinned.
“Geez, Gina. Didn’t you get enough with Carson last night?” Maggie shook her head. “Chase is a married man.”
“Not according to you,” Gina pointed out.
“Sorry, Gina. I would never cheat on my wife,” Chase said. “My mama taught me better.”
Gina shrugged. “Didn’t hurt to ask.”
“Gina, I’ll take you up on those shorts and a shirt,” Maggie said. “I can’t go around Cabo in evening attire.”
“Coming right up.” Gina ducked into her room.
Chase glanced around the suite consisting of two bedrooms and a sitting room with a red leather couch and two arm chairs.
“Where do you want me to put my stuff?” He drew in a deep breath and let it out. “And don’t say where the sun doesn’t shine. I’m staying until the danger is past. If you don’t want me to sleep with you, I can sleep on the couch. But I’d prefer to ditch my bag in your room, if you don’t mind.”
Maggie’s eyes narrowed, and she seemed to chew on his words before she answered. “Fine. Put the bag in my room. And no, you’re not sleeping with me.”
He nodded his head. “Although, since we’ve already consummated our marriage—”
“We’re not married.”
At least she didn’t yell that time. Chase grinned. Maybe she was getting used to the idea.
His smile faded. Not that he was interested in continuing the insanity of married life, but he could be worse off. Maggie was a pretty blonde. And he must have seen something in her last night to have gone so far as to marry her. His curiosity piqued, he vowed to discover what it was that had pushed him into agreeing to marry her when he was shit-faced drunk.
He opened his duffel bag and pulled out shorts and one of the polo shirts Trevor had insisted he needed to wear in Cabo. Chase preferred a T-shirt or a cotton button up, but the polo shirt might be better for daytime investigations.
He walked to Maggie’s room and knocked on the doorframe. “Mind if I use the bathroom to shower and change?”
She closed her eyes and shook her head. “Would it matter if I did?”
“I could ask to use Gina’s?” he suggested, waggling his eyebrows.
Maggie inhaled and let go of a long, steadying breath. “No. You can use mine, after I shower.”
“Thanks. Let me know when you’re done. I’ll need to let my buddy know I’ve switched rooms.”
“What buddy?”
“Trevor Anderson, another former Navy SEAL. He might come in handy if text man decides to get physical.”
“Don’t forget Carson,” Gina said from the other bedroom. “Three Navy SEALs ought to be able to put the hurt on one cartel thug.”
“I’m not worried about one cartel thug,” Chase said. “I’m more concerned about a gang of them.”
The musical sound of a text message reminder jingled from Gina’s room.
Chase stiffened.
“Uh, Mags and Chase…” Gina emerged from her room, carrying shorts and a shirt in one hand and staring down at her smart phone screen in the other. “Text dude isn’t happy that we haven’t responded in an hour.”
Maggie set her suitcase full of lingerie on the floor and crossed to where Gina stood. “What did he say?”
Gina handed her the phone.
I know where your friend is staying.
If she wants to live, her husband better show.
“Maggie, this problem isn’t going away. He knows where you are.” Gina hugged her friend. “Thankfully, your husband is here to save the day.” She gave Chase a chin lift. “Get to saving, Frogman.”
“All joking aside, I’m on it.” He captured Maggie’s gaze. “You’re up first in the shower.”
“Trust me, I won’t be long. The sooner we resolve this mess, the better.” Maggie grabbed the shorts and shirt Gina provided and ran for the shower.
Chase didn’t like that the threat knew where they were. They’d have to engage in escape and evasion techniques to stay one step ahead of their predator. If he was the only one involved, he’d circle back and confront his aggressor, but he had a wife to consider.
Wife.
Holy hell, what had happened last night that he’d chucked his vow to remain a bachelor and committed to an entirely different set of vows?
* * *
Maggie closed the bathroom door and quickly shed her dress, hanging it on the back of the door. Considering it was her only decent outfit for the duration of her stay in Cabo, she had to make sure it remained clean and unwrinkled. She hadn’t asked and cringed to think about it, but she hadn’t located her panties in Chase’s bedroom. Hell, maybe he was the creepy type and kept a pair of underwear from every woman he slept with. A kind of trophy. Sheesh, what had she been thinking last night?
In the shower, she squirted a handful of shampoo into her hand, the shiny ring on her finger giving her pause.
How in the hell had she ended up marrying a man she’d only just met? She’d heard that Mexican tequila was potent, but damn. Somebody must have spiked her drink. And Chase seemed as surprised as she’d been. Could it be his drink had been laced with the same crazy drug as well?
If she could believe him. After being ditched at the altar by Loser Lloyd, she wasn’t sure she could trust any man.
Then why had she trusted Chase enough to marry him last night?
She scrubbed her hair, as if by doing so, she could scrub the man, the marriage and the texting threat out of existence. Unfortunately, the situation wouldn’t be that easy to resolve. She rinsed her hair, cleaned her body, the hot water soothing some of the tension in her shoulders.
Gina was right about one thing, Chase Flannigan was hot. If Maggie were interested in a relationship, she might go for a man like him. The fact was that she wasn’t interested in starting something new. Not now. It didn’t seem right that two days before, she’d been happily preparing for her wedding to another man—a man her father approved of. That should have been her first warning.
All the wedding decisions had fallen on her. Lloyd had let her choose the place for the honeymoon, and she’d made all the arrangements. Maggie had laid out all of the plans for their lives together. First the marriage, then the honeymoon, followed by house hunting and settling into married life and children in the near future. At the ripe old age of twenty-eight, Maggie was finally ready to settle down. Marriage was the next step. Hell, all her friends, except Gina, had been married for years and had one or two children by now. She felt as if her biological clock was like a time bomb ready to blow up in her face if she didn’t get on with her adult life.
Looking back, perhaps she’d pushed too hard for that picture-perfect life. She thought she’d loved Lloyd. But other than being embarrassed and pissed off, she wasn’t disappointed the wedding had been called off. She was more disappointed she wasn’t getting on with her plan to be married with children before she turned thirty.
On the flight down to Mexico, she’d realized she’d set herself up for the collapse. The big three-O was going to happen with or without a husband and children. Why was she so afraid of it? God, she’d almost married the wrong man just to put a check in the boxes of “married” and “children.” Not only would she have been miserable with Llo
yd, he would have been miserable with her. She should thank the wedding planner for taking him.
Then why had she turned around and married the first man she’d met in Mexico? It made absolutely no sense. Had she seen something in Chase she hadn’t found in Lloyd?
Chase was a lot better looking, in a rugged, manly man way. He was more muscular, taller and stronger. He’d held her pinned to the bed. No matter how she’d fought, she couldn’t break free of his grip. Lloyd couldn’t have done that as easily. Thinking of Chase straddling her, holding her wrists tight in his, his naked body pressed against hers, sent a shiver of lust through her. Though she wouldn’t admit it to anyone, Chase was hung a helluva lot better than Lloyd. He’d please her much more in bed than Lloyd ever had. Sex with Lloyd had been, at best, mediocre.
Now that she knew Chase hadn’t been attacking her, she could appreciate his…uh…well…package. Her body heated at the memory. It was a shame she couldn’t remember their lovemaking. She ran her hand down her torso to the juncture of her thighs and touched that little strip of nerve-packed flesh. Was it her imagination, or was she a little sensitive down there? She fingered herself, and her breath caught.
Oh, yes. She was sensitive. Drawing her finger down lower to the entrance of her channel, she poked a finger inside. There, too, she was a little more sensitive than usual. The condoms in the wastebasket were pretty damning proof they’d had sex. Her sensitive girly parts only evidenced what she’d thought impossible.
She’d had sex with Chase. Not once, but twice. And she couldn’t remember a thing. Her curiosity made her wish she could. The only saving grace to her lack of memory was his total lack of the same memory.
While she was down there, she swirled two fingers inside her channel, and then dragged her finger up to her clit. A jolt of sensation made her moan softly. As soon as the sound left her mouth, she clapped her other hand over her lips. But she couldn’t stop what she’d started. And she didn’t want to. Slowly circling that nubbin of desire, she closed her eyes and embraced the feelings building inside.
As the intensity increased, she stroked faster and faster until the tingling started at her core and spread outward to the very tips of her fingers and toes. She rode the wave all the way to the end. By the time the tingles dissipated and she returned to sanity, her breathing came in ragged gasps, and her knees shook. She turned her face into the warm spray of the shower and let the water run over her breasts and down to her sex, adding to her overall satisfaction.
She turned off the water and stepped out of the shower, a little cockier and more self-assured than when she’d stepped in. “Take that, Chase Flannigan. I don’t need no stinkin’ man to get me off.” She toweled dry and dressed in the shorts and shirt Gina had provided. The shorts were shorter than she preferred, and the top hugged her breasts a little too tightly, but she couldn’t complain. At least it was better than wearing her red dress throughout the day and night. Maggie slipped her feet into a pair of flip-flops, the only other pair of shoes she’d found in her suitcase. Tossing her hair up into a turban, she left the bathroom, a smile on her face.
“It’s all yours,” she said as she emerged from the bedroom with her brush.
Chase’s wicked smile took some of the wind out of Maggie’s sails. “Just so you know, there’s barely any sound insulation between the bathroom walls and the bedroom.” He leaned close to her as she passed. “You might not need me to get you off, but I promise, I’d make you moan a lot louder.”
Fire filled her cheeks. “You did not…”
“Oh, yes we did,” Gina sang from the sitting room. “Quite the entertainment.”
Chase’s chuckles followed him all the way into the bathroom. Even after he closed the door, his soft laughter could be heard.
Maggie glared at Gina. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Gina laughed and held up her hands. “I wouldn’t dare come between you and your personal pleasuring, and I hope you’d do the same for me. I must say, I was turned on. And based on the tent in the shorts he put on, so was Chase.”
Covering her face with her hands, Maggie groaned. “This day couldn’t get worse.”
“Be careful,” Gina warned. “You might jinx yourself. Remember, you have a bad guy gunning for you.”
“Oh, Gina, don’t be so melodramatic.”
Gina’s smile faded. “Honey, I hope it’s melodrama. I don’t want you to be hurt. We’ve come too far together for me to lose you now.”
Maggie hugged her friend. “I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t gotten me out of that church before my father arrived. And I certainly wouldn’t have come here, if you hadn’t come with me.”
“I love you, sweetie,” Gina said. “You’re the sister I never had.” She pushed Maggie to arm’s length and touched her cheek. “I’m just glad you didn’t marry that spineless piece of shit, Lloyd. He didn’t deserve you.”
“I’m glad, too.” Maggie grimaced. “I think I was so caught up in the whole promise of getting to my happily-ever-after that I never stopped to consider he wasn’t the right guy to get me there.”
Gina tilted her head toward the bathroom where Chase was singing some song about blessing her beautiful hide at the top of his voice. “While you’re out retracing your steps from last night, keep an open mind. Even drunk, you wouldn’t have married Chase if you hadn’t seen something in him worth marrying.”
“People do stupid things when they’re inebriated, Gina. Don’t read more into situation than that.” Maggie pulled the turban off her head and ran the brush through her hair, smoothing the tangles.
Gina disappeared into her room, muttering something about getting dressed before Carson returned. How could she be so cool about sleeping with a man she’d just met?
Maggie had never slept with a man on the first date, much less married one.
She pressed her fingers to her temples, trying hard to remember anything from the night before.
Nothing.
She shrugged. “Guess we’re going to have to take that trip down Memory Lane to figure out more then why someone is threatening us.”
“That’s right,” Chase said from the bedroom door. “Are you ready to go?”
She turned, and her heart flipped.
Chase stood there in dark jeans and a powder-blue polo shirt that matched the pale blue of his eyes.
Oh, yes, she was beginning to see why she’d taken a step on the wild side. The man inspired wild thoughts with those wickedly beautiful eyes and an even more panty-melting smile.
One look at the handsome, virile man, made Maggie suspect she was in more trouble than she’d originally imagined.
But when he held out his hand, she took it.
Chapter 4
Chase took Maggie’s hand and led her to the elevator. “We need to start with what we do remember.”
Maggie didn’t pull her hand free of his as they waited for the elevator doors to open. “While you were in the shower, I thought and thought, but I can’t remember anything about you from last night, or any of the events following our meeting.”
“Then we need to back up the timeline even more,” Chase said.
A bell sounded.
Chase stepped in front of Maggie before the elevator doors slid open. The hotel’s appearance disguised the fact that all was not well in Cabo San Lucas. The paint was fresh and the decorations bright and cheerful. Those things didn’t spell danger to him. The text message on Gina’s phone did.
The elevator was empty. Still, he made Maggie wait in the hallway while he checked the interior for any signs of tampering. When he was satisfied it was okay, he allowed Maggie to enter the elevator car.
She shook her head. “You’re taking this protection thing seriously, aren’t you?”
“Yes,” he said. “So, please, set aside your independence for the sake of survival, and let me go first into places.”
“But that would put you at risk.”
“Better me than you,” Chase s
aid. “Apparently, our text dude wants a piece of me. He’s not above using an innocent woman to get what he wants.”
She liked that he wanted to protect her. Maggie couldn’t imagine Lloyd stepping in front of a bullet to save her. He probably would have run the other direction and left her behind. “Back to last night…” Maggie changed the subject. “What do you last remember?”
“I was with my friend Trevor.”
“Who hasn’t made an appearance for me to believe you have a friend named Trevor,” Maggie pointed out.
Chase frowned. “You know, you’re right.” He pulled out his cellphone and texted his buddy.
Where are you?
Chase slipped his phone into his pocket and continued. “While I wait for his response, we can continue. As I was saying, I arrived in Cabo on a plane with my friend Trevor yesterday around noon. We went to our separate rooms and agreed to meet for drinks and dinner later that afternoon.”
“Sounds about like what I remember,” Maggie said. “However, I arrived late yesterday afternoon with Gina.”
“Arriving with your friend, instead of the husband you expected to accompany you on your honeymoon,” he said, raising one dark eyebrow.
Maggie nodded. “I consider it a bullet dodged.”
“And I’m a bullet that hit its mark?”
“Something like that.” The corners of her lips twitched, a good indication the woman had a sense of humor. Chase liked that in a person. He’d spent so much of his time with his SEAL team, and, though they participated in serious life-or-death missions, they still managed to laugh and play pranks on each other.
“Continue,” she encouraged.
“Trevor and I had enough time to catch some Zs before we went to dinner, which was just as well, because we’d been up the night before in Coronado at McP’s Irish Pub. Our old SEAL team threw us a going away party. Trevor, of course, left several months ago, but I had just processed out.”
Maggie looked up at him, her eyebrows hiked. “Out of the Navy? You’re not on vacation?”
He nodded. “Out completely. If I were a cat, I’d used up eight lives on Special Operations missions. I wanted to have a life before I reached my expiration date.”
