DRAGON SECURITY: Volume 2: The Complete 6 Books Series

by Glenna Sinclair

  I was getting into a rhythm, really finding a groove, enjoying the silky feel of his skin against my tongue, my lips. But then he tugged at my hair and my arms, pulling me up onto his lap. My face dripped with water, but he wiped it away as he drew me to him, stealing my lips with a rough, passionate kiss. Lips crushed against mine; his tongue danced inside of me. I wrapped my arms around his head and pulled him closer, wanting to crawl inside of him and live there forever.

  He slid inside of me easily, the familiarity of his touch at war with this sense of newness that came every time. Every time was different, every angle slightly off, every touch different enough that new places came into play and new sensations washed through my over-stimulated body.

  “You feel so good,” he whispered hotly against my mouth.

  I just hummed. There were no words that could adequately express what I was feeling in that moment.

  We began to move together, but the water splashed and his jeans were getting in the way, the button pressed too hard against my ass. I would have lived with it, but he grew frustrated, wanting to pull me closer, but not able to manage the angles he really wanted. He pulled himself up, setting me on my feet and reaching around me to the towel rack. He wrapped me up in the soft cotton, tugging me against his chest as he did.

  “Can’t have you getting cold again.”

  “Would be against the point.”

  He smiled even as he rubbed the towel against my skin. I looked up at him and he kissed my forehead, his smile widening as he pulled back.

  “Why are you smiling?”

  “I don’t know. Because you’re insane? Because you’re making me a little crazy?”

  “Am I?”

  “Who goes swimming in the Gulf of Mexico in November?”

  “It felt good.”

  “Yeah, until you got out and turned blue.”

  I shrugged. “I knew you would rescue me.”

  “That’s what I do, isn’t it?” He kissed my forehead again. “I just can’t help myself.”

  “I’m glad. I’d hate to think that you wouldn’t be there to save me.”

  “As long as we’re stuck here …”

  He lifted me up and carried me into the bedroom after first kicking his ankles free of the jeans that were stuck like glue for a moment. He laid me in the center of the unmade bed and tugged the towel away, using it to dry himself. It was a lovely sight, this big, burly man wiping water from his skin. I rolled onto my side and watched, chewing on my bottom lip as I once again tried to drink it all in.

  He was a handsome man. Broad shoulders, wide chest, narrow hips, that blond hair that was a little long these days, a lock or two falling into his face from time to time. And the goatee … I didn’t normally like facial hair on a man, but it fit him so well that I couldn’t imagine his face without it.

  Mostly dry, he crawled into bed with me, drawing my hips under his immediately. He kissed me gently, the urgency tamed for the moment. His hand slipped along my side, over my hip, his fingers seeking out that magic little nub that had the power to bring me pleasure like nothing I’d ever known before. Only his touch could do it. No one else had ever made me feel the things Hayden could. I would miss that when he was gone.

  But for now … I had every intention of enjoying every second of it.

  I relaxed my hips, opened my thighs, and sighed. He so knew what he was doing!

  His mouth moved over my throat, his tongue doing lovely things all the way down to one nipple, then the other. And his fingers ... I reached down and pressed my hand over his, pulling him closer, deeper. And when his fingertip scraped one of those places, my hips reared up and I cried out, causing him to pull back and study my face.

  He kissed my jaw, his lips moving close to my ear.

  “Cum for me, baby,” he whispered softly.

  Talk about talking dirty …

  I touched his hand again, pulling him tight against me again. He moved his fingers, the heel of his hand, and things burst through my lower belly, drawing all these sounds out of my throat that I hadn’t even known I was capable of.

  Hayden watched me, making me slightly self-conscious at first. But then I realized I liked his attention and the fascination that made his eyes bright. Then I lost the ability to focus on anything but what he was doing to me, to the rhythmic movements of his fingers, the ache that was building faster and faster deep inside of me, making me want to scream. And when it reached its peak, my body exploded with pleasure and my vision darkened on the edges and.

  Hayden rolled on top of me as the waves continued to burst through my body, sliding inside, his invasion touching places that only intensified my orgasm.

  I arched my back up against his body, buried my hands in his ass, tugging him as close to me as I possibly could. He was gentle despite the need I could see pouring from his eyes, moving with a clear level of control. He pressed the hair away from my face, stared into my eyes as his breathing increased and his rhythm built.

  Tears filled my eyes. I’d never had that happen before, but they were there and I couldn’t deny them. I wanted to look away, but the power of his gaze wouldn’t allow it. It was one of those moments that only come once or twice in a lifetime. I was desperate to hold on to it.

  And then he buried his head against my shoulder and cried out, the heat of his passion filling me. I pressed my head back into the pillow, the tears running down my cheeks. I wiped them away quickly, not wanting him to see them.

  After a moment he kissed my shoulder and my throat, his hand moving over my face gently.

  “You okay?”

  I nodded, hiding my face against his neck for a second. He pressed his lips to my ear for a long second, then carefully untangled himself from my limbs. He tugged the bedclothes over our bodies as he settled on the mattress beside me, rolling onto his side and pulling me close against his chest. His breathing changed almost immediately, slowing and growing heavy.

  “I love you,” I whispered into the silence.

  It took me a long time to fall asleep. When I finally did, it seemed like I’d only been out for a few seconds when I felt Hayden’s hand press against my mouth.

  “Be quiet,” he hissed in my ear. “Someone’s in the house.”

  Chapter 11

  Megan

  I leaned back in my office chair and pressed the heels of my hands into my eyes. I felt like I’d been staring at the computer screen for days and now I was beginning to have trouble focusing. But there was this sense of urgency that wouldn’t let me take too long of a break.

  We’d been in contact with the police in each of the towns where the copycat murders had taken place and they had all graciously allowed us access to the reports they’d generated thus far in their investigations. But those reports didn’t tell us much more than what we already knew.

  Kasey was talking to Rosalie Matthias’ sister, but we didn’t expect much more to come of that. Her husband was currently awaiting trial for luring Rosalie to the home of her killer, so the woman herself was understandably uncooperative.

  Dominic and Cole were talking to Rosalie’s neighbors and coworkers while Peter and Marcus were running another, more extensive, background check on her. We were hoping to find a place where Rosalie and Hayden had crossed paths, but we were coming up short so far. She’d lived all her life in Houston, with the exception of her years in Austin as a student at the University of Texas.

  Hayden had only come to live in Houston seven years ago when he first took the job at Dragon. Before that he was in Afghanistan. Before that, Coronado. And before that, Louisiana. He had never lived in Austin, nor had he spent time in Houston before Dragon. There was a slight possibility that he’d visited Rosalie’s place of employment—a library—but it was doubtful. Hayden didn’t read that much.

  The investigative team was checking out the alias Waverly had uncovered, but they weren’t making much headway. Whoever was behind all this was good. He’d covered his tracks very carefully, leaving only the c
lues he wanted people to find. This truly was a well-conceived game to this person.

  I was beginning to wonder if we were going to be able to solve this in time to keep the copycat from attacking again.

  There was a tap on my door and Dominic came in.

  “We have a little something,” he said, but he didn’t seem incredibly hopeful.

  “Yeah?”

  “Rosalie Matthias was diagnosed with bipolar disorder when she was eighteen, not long after she began attending UT. She was treated by a doctor in the Austin area, a man who was a strong advocate of peer support. He apparently encouraged his patients to go to group counseling and talk with other patients about their struggles. We’re wondering if maybe Rosalie didn’t meet someone in that group who had something to do with the killer.”

  “You think the killer was a part of one of those groups?”

  “It’s possible.”

  “But what is the connection to Hayden?”

  Dominic shook his head. “I don’t know yet. But … what if there is no connection? What if the kill was personal, but the killer tattooed her with the symbol and brought Dragon in on the investigation in order to make some other statement to Hayden? What if he did it because he wanted Hayden to know that no one is safe?”

  That was definitely a possibility.

  “Maybe we’re looking at this all wrong.” I sat up and picked up a pen sitting on my blotter, twirling it in my fingers as I concentrated. “What if it wasn’t a message for Hayden? What if it was intended for someone else here at Dragon?”

  “Who?”

  I shrugged, twirling that pen between my fingers. “I don’t know.”

  “What about the tattoos?”

  “Those were for Hayden, no doubt. But the identity of the woman … it must mean something to someone.”

  Dominic thought about it for a moment, running a finger over his chin. “Who was involved in the case?”

  I thought about it for a second. “Kasey was the lead operative. Hayden. The tech team.”

  “Was Waverly still here then?”

  “She was put on administrative leave within days of the case’s beginning.”

  “So she wouldn’t have been very deeply involved in the case.”

  I clicked a few things with the computer mouse and studied the screen again. “She did the background check, but was gone before the body showed up, so she wasn’t involved in that part of the investigation.”

  Dominic’s eyebrows rose. “Maybe we should be looking into Waverly’s background. Or Amelia’s. They were the killer’s targets. Maybe there was a reason other than their connections to Hayden. Maybe we’re not seeing the forest for the trees.”

  I didn’t want to go on a witch hunt. I knew that it could lead to trouble sometime down the road. But I couldn’t risk overlooking something important.

  “Do it. But be discreet.”

  Dominic nodded as he got up and left the room.

  I thought about Hayden, about the man he was before Sam and the man he’d become since. I’d worried that he would become bitter and angry after Sam. And he did, for a while. But Dragon, his position here, had given him a purpose. There were still moments when I worried about him, especially when he became so obsessed with getting Waverly out of here.

  But then they began sleeping together and I saw signs of the old Hayden, the man he was before Sam died. I wanted the relationship to work out, wanted that Hayden back. But if it turned out Waverly was involved in this thing … that would crush him. We’d never get him back.

  Please, please, don’t let her be involved.

  Chapter 12

  Hayden

  It was the sound of glass breaking that woke me. The bedroom door was cracked, allowing distant sounds to come into the room. I lay still, telling myself it had been part of a dream, but then I heard the crack and crunch of glass under someone’s shoe.

  I slipped out of bed and silently closed the door, flipping the thumb-lock to give us a second or two to escape. Then I grabbed my duffle, searching through it for my 9mm. Knowing Luke, he had definitely packed it. And he had, tucked away at the very bottom with a box of ammunition.

  Thanks, brother!

  I took a second to tug on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt before I went back to the bed. Waverly was sleeping peacefully on her back, an arm over her face. For a brief second, I regretted having to wake her.

  I slipped my hand over her mouth, afraid she’d cry out if I didn’t.

  “Someone’s in the house,” I whispered harshly against her ear. “Get dressed.”

  Her eyes went wide, but she nodded. I let her go and she quietly slipped out of bed and tugged some clothes out of her bag, dressing quickly. I loaded the gun and went to the door, listening to the silence of the house. And then I heard it again, the footsteps. They were closer now, coming up the hallway.

  Waverly was tugging a pair of tennis shoes onto her feet. I grabbed her hand just as she finished and pulled her over to the French doors that led out onto the deck.

  “Stay close.”

  Instinct told me to go around the back of the house even though the car was parked in the front. I made a habit of listening to instinct.

  I pulled Waverly along with one hand, the 9mm in my other hand held at my side. We paused at the edge of the house and listened. I couldn’t hear anything, so I craned my head around and saw nothing.

  I pulled Waverly, keeping my head down low so that whoever might be in one of the empty bedrooms wouldn’t see me through the windows. I was hoping Waverly was doing the same, but didn’t take the time to look back to see. When we came to the sliding glass doors, I could see that someone had used a heavy object to break the glass near the handle. So much for locks.

  I studied the floor for an instant, making note of the disturbed glass. I had no way of knowing how many people were in the house, but I guessed there was more than one by the way the glass was scattered over the bare wood floor. Two, at least. Three? How heavily armed were they? What were their intentions?

  I had to get us out of there.

  Just as we began moving again, the sound of shattering wood shattered throughout the house. They were breaking down the master bedroom door. They’d know we weren’t there soon enough. Our best hope was that they would assume we’d gone forward, not back.

  I pulled Waverly, running around the far side of the house. We had two choices: we could try to make it to the car, or we could make a run for the neighbors. The closest neighbor was about a half mile on the other side of the house. On this side was a curve in the land that led to a cove where Megan had once taken me to swim. There was no escape on that side.

  I cursed softly under my breath, forced into movement at the sound of heavy boots on the wooden deck.

  “Hayden Dubois!” a deep male voice called out. “I know you’re here! Don’t you think it’s time to come out and play?”

  Waverly stiffened behind me, her hand tightening in my grip. I glanced at her and saw terror flash briefly across her face. That was all I needed to confirm the identity of the speaker.

  It was the man who’d attacked her in her home.

  We ran in the dead leaves and natural debris that had been blown against the side of the house, pausing when we reached the front corner. I peeked around even as the footsteps behind us came closer. There were two men sitting on the front hood of the car we’d driven up here.

  Cursing again, I tugged Waverly after me as I ran for the trees. We were out in the open for less than ten seconds, but it felt like forever. I’d never so clearly felt as though there was a target on my back. But there was no sound, no hiss of a gun fired with a silencer, no slap of a bullet against a tree. It was impossible, but they must not have seen us.

  Thank God for idiots.

  I pulled hard at Waverly’s arm, dragging her through the thick stand of trees that shaded the front of Megan’s house. The road was only a few yards ahead, but I turned to the right, working though the vegetation in hopes of
reaching the neighbors before the intruders figured out we were gone. It took longer than I expected to hear footsteps rushing after us in the underbrush, but the sounds came.

  We hit a dead end, a space where the trees stopped and the sand came all the way up to the side of the road. If we continued, we’d be out in the open.

  I stopped and pulled Waverly around in front of me, hiding her between the tree and my body. She was shaking, as much from the cold as from fear. I kissed the top of her head, breathing in the sweet scent of her as I tried to listen to those footsteps. They reverberated off the trees so it was hard to pinpoint them exactly. But then they came closer.

  Waverly whimpered softly, clearly recognizing the same thing I had. I wrapped my arms tightly around her and pressed my lips to her ear.

  “Shh,” I whispered.

  We stood still in the darkness of the night. Not a yard away, a man walked right past us, moving to the edge of the stand of trees, peering off into the distance.

  “I think they made it to the road,” he called back to someone else.

  “That would be stupid. They’d be out in the open.”

  “But they’re not here, and there’s nowhere else for them to have gone.”

  Another man joined the first. He stood with his hands on his hips, looking around. At one point it seemed like he had focused on us, there behind that tree. But then his gaze moved on.

  “Go get the car. I’ll walk this way, you drive back the other way. If you don’t find them, come get me.”

  “If we don’t find them—”

  “We’ll just track them again. The boss has that bug on them. They can’t go far without us knowing about it.”

  The men parted ways then, one headed back toward Megan’s, the other stepping out onto the sand, pausing again there to look back into the trees before heading up to the road. I waited until he was a quarter of a mile down before I moved.