by Linzi Basset
She leaned into him; her soft curves molded along the unyielding strength of his back. The heat that permeated through his skin threaded a path to weave itself inside the chambers of his heart.
“Years ago, we were bonded by one night of explosive lust. At least, that’s what I told myself. You were all over the tabloids and I believed I’d never be more to you than that. You gave me hope when you told me you loved me and then … my heart shattered into pieces when you tore up that bond, however tenuous, we had started to build. Suddenly the world shifted. I stopped functioning. The emptiness I had managed to always fill by working until I was too tired to think was back, only this time it was all encompassing. I drowned in it. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw your face. I missed you so much. The future I had dreamt up crumbled because I now know that without you I have no future. You have become a part of my being. The thread that had bound us together snapped when you walked away. It made me realize I can't survive without you. I need you, Hunter. You the man, the Dominant—all of you but most of all, your love. It’s the only way I’ll ever be whole again.”
She pressed her face against his cheek. Hunter was surprised to feel the wetness of her warm tears against his skin. “I’m begging for forgiveness, Hunter. I should never have allowed Will’s demented action to make me doubt what we had, doubt us. Would you be able to give me that, honey, and love me like I love you?”
Hunter caught her hand and slowly pulled her onto his lap. He arranged her legs so that she faced him. He drank in every line of her face without uttering a word. He delved deeper, all the way into her soul, searching for the truth of the words that had lightened the heaviness of his soul. He found it in the brightness of her eyes; her heart belonged to him.
She’s the one, the only one in perfect harmony with my soul.
He became enamored with the love that reached out from her to encapsulate him against its bosom. In that moment, his soul emptied of all negativity. It was like a flash of a spiritual enlightenment. He traced her eyebrows, his fingers reverent and loving.
“Rachel … my lovely Rachel.”
It had taken two years but they had finally come to pass. Their hearts had found their home. Hunter leaned his forehead against hers as he soaked in her very essence. A longing so profound burst open inside him. There were only the two of them and she offered what he needed with every fiber in his body. To make her his—in every way possible.
Rachel inhaled sharply as his hand drifted to her hip, caressing the gentle curve. Excitement and happiness churned inside her mind. She could feel the steady beat of his heart pulsing against her fingertips.
“Hunter, I missed you so much,” she lilted as he nuzzled her neck. They were so faint, no more than whispers. Their breaths mingled as he brushed his lips over hers in a delicate butterfly of a kiss.
“I love you, Rachel, so much. I think I fell in love with you the first time I laid eyes on you. You’re my one weakness and my biggest desire. Not just in lust, but in life. You’re my dream come true, the one I need to fulfill my life, to make me whole. To give me the one thing I couldn’t have without you.”
“And what’s that?” she prodded when he kept quiet, concentrating on tasting the scented skin behind her ear, setting a fire alight inside her that made her toes curl.
“A future. I’m an empty shell without you in my life, Rachel. I need you to make me breathe and cherish the warmth of the sun on my skin.”
He palmed her cheeks and his gaze pledged a love that honored and humbled her.
“I do love you, more than I can express in words. I want nothing more than to wake up with you in my arms every day. Will you, Rachel?”
Her voice cracked as she whispered, “Will I what?”
“Make me the happiest man alive and be mine. Will you accept my Dominance, my heart, and my love? Will you marry me and be my wife?”
The sun paled in comparison to the smile that lit her face, which told of a love so profound, he was humbled. She leaned in and kissed him tenderly.
“I do and yes, please … I will.”
The End.
Excerpt: Fierce Paxton
The Stiletto PI Series, Book 1
CHAPTER ONE
“Get your big-ass body off me, Commander Bates!” Paxton Lee hissed like a hognose snake. She struggled to breathe under the sheer weight of the black ops commander who had pressed her flat to the ground. Her anger sprouted from the Cobras arrival minutes after they started their surveillance.
In response to her expletive-laced outburst, he clamped a meaty paw over her mouth and growled into her ear, “Keep quiet or you’ll get us both killed.”
If she could’ve uttered a word, she would have succinctly informed him that she wasn’t an imbecile and knew exactly what she was doing— until he butted in. She was becoming exceedingly annoyed that he and his team continuously pitched up where they weren’t wanted or needed. This was the third surveillance job of the Red Reign PI team with which they had interfered.
“Fuck,” Jared Bates cursed and glowered at the squirming woman under him.
“For the love of god, woman, bite me again and you’ll reap the consequences,” he growled. To her, the sound of his voice snapped like the bark of a feral dog and yet, it had been hissed through barely moving lips.
Although Paxton couldn't see much in the darkness, she was transfixed by the fullness of his lips enough to wonder what they might feel like. That thought quickly metastasized into an almost uncontrollable urge. If that wasn’t bad enough, feeling his hard, muscled frame pressed against her only ramped up the voltage. Her now unhinged libido responded like a five-alarm fire with a white-hot flash of heat to her loins.
An untimely response considering they were on a job to establish if the kidnapped daughter of Senator Wilson was being held in the house they were watching.
He shifted slightly. To her mortification, his hips settled snugly between her thighs. Paxton didn’t appreciate being held down and silenced in such an intimate manner— however much unintended.
“Gahh!” She desperately tried to get a word out from behind his hand before she embarrassed herself.
“Behave. If you weren't where you shouldn’t be, this wouldn’t have been necessary.” He stilled her squirming body by pressing himself down harder. Her eyes widened when she felt a hard ridge pressing against her stomach.
That had better be your gun, you asshole!
She forced her body to remain still as a raw grunt escaped his lips. It seemed he was just as annoyed with his body’s reaction as she was with hers.
Of course, the horny devil on her shoulder urged Paxton to throttle up her power to show the oaf she wasn’t intimidated by his size and sexual allure.
Sexual allure? Where the devil did that come from?
The thought shook Paxton out of her carnal thoughts. She glanced at his face. He was holding her down with his body, his one hand pressed over her mouth while he gazed through a pair of night vision goggles. She relaxed and waited.
“Get ready, Cobras. We move in ten,” Jared barked through a headset as he lifted his weight ever so slightly off her.
“Oomph!” He grunted at the unexpected twist of the shapely woman under him that resulted in her knee grazing his cock. He growled furiously as she rolled away into a crouching position.
“Keep your paws off me, Bates. My team is exactly where we’re supposed to be, so why don’t you just hit the road?” Paxton sneered under her breath.
“Not only do I outrank you, Miss Lee, I’m also here acting on official orders. You have no idea what you’ve stumbled onto. You and your kitties either play by my rules or piss off.”
“Kitties? Kick his fucking ass, Paxton!” The disembodied voice of Jordan Sutton, her best friend and second in command, spoke into her earpiece.
“No, squeeze the shit out of his nut sack, the fucking dick!” Kezlin Bates snapped, the newest member on Paxton’s team— and, ironically, who happened to be Jared’s younger si
ster. She was the only one who would dare speak like that about the commander.
“Heads up. There’s movement inside the gate,” Knox Clark, the lookout on the Red Reign Team, warned.
“Get down and shut the fuck up,” Jared barked as the voice of his lookout, Cruz Powers, warned of an approaching vehicle. Paxton and Jared hit the ground simultaneously and wouldn’t you know it, his mammoth body was on top of her again.
“I’m beginning to think you just can’t help yourself,” Paxton snapped irritably. “Get the fuck off me, Bates,” she ordered.
His warning grunt quieted her. Why he had the sudden need to protect her, Jared hadn't a clue. Every time there was a slight indication of danger, he acted instinctively.
Yeah, maybe that’s it. Being aroused by her curvaceous silhouette was part of the male DNA but that didn’t mean he intended to act on it.
“Be quiet,” he snapped and cursed to himself as a raw seam of lust broke open in his voice.
Paxton was speechless for the first time in her life as she listened to the unchecked eroticism in his gruff tone. It didn’t sit well with her to be struck mute. Not at all. She resented that he, of all people, was the one who stole her usual snarky remarks that were always at the ready.
Is he reading my playbook? Is that where all these carnal thoughts came from? Because of the dark tones in his voice?
“Would the two of you like a room?”
“Maybe we should postpone this mission until you both figure out what the sexual score is you’ve got going on over there.”
The voices of Jordan and Brock Carter, Jared’s second in command, cackled over their earpieces.
“Shut up,” Paxton and Jared replied in unison, both highly annoyed that the sexual tension between them had been noticed by their respective teams.
“Silence! Down,” Jared ordered but didn’t move from the protective hunch over Paxton. He pushed the night vision goggles back over his eyes. “Tanner, report the body positions on the heat scanner. Can you identify if there’s a child in the house?”
“I detect four large bodies on the ground floor— sleeping from their positions. Based on the size of a fifth signal from the top floor, it’s definitely a small child,” Tanner’s hushed voice echoed in Jared’s ear.
“We’re not waiting for that warrant. There’s enough here for reasonable cause. Holding a child against his or her will is a crime. With the arrival of the three who just pitched up, their guard is down. We need to move now if we want to extract the little girl with the minimum amount of disturbance.”
“How the devil do you know about her?” Paxton snapped.
Jared didn’t respond. He was furious at Senator Wilson for tasking civilians in a case that involved a criminal mob. Jared knew Paxton and her team were in danger. It was serendipitous that he had arrived in time to keep them from going in half-cocked to extract the girl.
“Alpha and Bravo teams, we move on my Go. Brock and Tanner, move left. Cruz you’re with me to the right. In, one, two... GO,” Jared ordered.
The next moment, Paxton felt the heat of his body disappear. She squinted to watch as they descended on the house.
“How the hell is it that they always pitch up at the last minute on our gigs?” she muttered. Her voice vibrated with anger. “Knox. Report.”
“They’re a bunch of assholes, but Christ, can they move like ghosts,” Knox said in awe. “Shit, they’re already bringing out cuffed people.”
“Really? They just moved two minutes ago,” Kezlin said. “Goddammit, we missed out on some action again,” she complained loudly.
“You know very well we aren’t here to extract, Kezlin, just to find and report,” Paxton said.
“Doesn’t mean I don’t yearn for some serious ass-kicking,” Kezlin lamented.
“You can come out now, kitties,” Cruz Powers called from the other side of the shrubs from where they were surveilling.
“I’m tired of hearing you call us kitties,” Knox growled in his ear.
“Impressive, kitten,” Cruz drawled, not having heard her approach from the side. “What, no quick riposte? You’re slipping, kitty,” he taunted. “Oh, no, you don’t,” he said, catching the stiletto boot she aimed toward his crotch. He wiggled his eyebrows at her and with a yank, pulled the other foot from under her. She hit the ground with a loud grunt. “Next time you attack me, little kitten, I’ll take it as an invitation to fuck you. Don’t say you weren’t warned.”
“In your fucking dreams, asshole and even then I’ll tear your nut sack off with my bare hands and stuff it up your chauvinistic ass!” Knox responded angrily as she dusted herself off and stomped away with his rumbling laughter chasing after her.
“Enough, you two. This is a serious matter. Leave your personal shit for later,” Paxton snapped. The two of them had been at loggerheads from their first meeting three months ago. She tapped Cruz on his shoulder as she walked past him. “I’d swallow that laugh if I were you. She doesn’t make idle threats,”
The heels of her Jimmy Choo ankle boots clipped out every angry step in the direction of the house. Her target— the self-righteous commander ordering everyone around.
She regarded him through hooded eyes. Just looking at him caused her breathing to become labored. There was much to be said for a charismatic man she found herself struggling to ignore. Standing over six feet, he dwarfed her. His eyes narrowed as he watched her approach. His wide, sensual mouth relaxed as their eyes met. The tip of her tongue flicked over her lips as she visualized what it would feel like to be kissed by him. She shuddered at the thought of his strong arms, wrapped around her, holding her against his hard torso. The thought evoked a ripple of excitement inside her throbbing loins.
Good lord, Paxton! Focus!
His amused expression refreshed her ire as she stopped in front of him. No doubt he already knew how his hot body affected her. He probably had the pick of any amount of booty he wanted.
“We need to talk, Bates.” The sharp edge to her voice cut through the air as she neared the Cobra team members gathered on the front porch of the mansion. The vellus hair on the nape of her neck bristled as she noticed the mocking gesture of his raised eyebrows along with the smug amusement that glinted in his eyes. He was about to learn she wasn’t a woman to be toyed with.
Dammit! Why do I only now notice his eyes are the color of honey? She blinked to hide her fascination with the different shades of gold enhanced by the porch light reflected in them. Warm and oh, so addictive— just like melted chocolate. Get a grip, Paxton. You’re pissed at him and it’s utterly inappropriate to be drowning in those mesmerizing orbs!
“If it’s about anything other than securing the perimeter, it’ll have to wait.” His eyes darkened as she pursed her lips. “The successful recovery of the little girl takes priority, Miss Lee. Cruz verified that some of the kidnappers we expected to be here, aren’t in the house. We need to stay vigilant.”
“How would you know who should be present?” She glanced at the impressive mansion. They’d acted immediately upon knowing that a six-year-old girl was inside and followed the transmitter hidden in her bracelet. Paxton had no idea who it belonged to but it made her wonder why someone, who was obviously wealthy, would kidnap a senator’s daughter.
Jared’s attention was drawn to Brock walking toward them with a little girl clinging to his neck, crying. He looked incapable of calming her down. He cast a distraught look at Jared who took the three risers of the staircase in one languid stretch.
“Come here, little cherub,” he cooed. The little girl reacted immediately to his deep, soothing voice, all but lunging into his arms. “There now, you’re safe, Courtney. We’re taking you home.”
“To mommy and daddy?” she said in a teary voice.
“Yes. They’re waiting for you.” He moved her to his side and dug a handkerchief out of his pocket. “But we can’t let them see all these tears, now can we?”
Courtney shook her head as he gently dabbed he
r cheeks. She smiled tremulously at the man Paxton’s Red Reign team had been referring to as the big bad wolf.
Well, that frightening characterization just didn’t fit the ease he displayed with the little porcelain treasure. Paxton was confused at the stirring of emotions inside her as she watched this hulk of a man succumb to the innocent charms of a six-year-old. It was obvious he was smitten with the child. Neither did it fit the devil-may-care picture she had conjured of him over the past couple of months. It completely shattered that vision and replaced every thought and feeling she had about him.
She couldn’t help but reach out and brush the girl’s cheeks as Jared joined her.
“Hi, Courtney, I’m Paxton. You are such a brave little girl... oh!” she gasped as Courtney flung herself into her arms. She buried her face in Paxton’s hair with her arms wrapped in a stranglehold around her neck.
“You smell nice,” she said in a voice washed with sadness.
Jared studied Paxton as she looked at him. She didn’t understand the feeling of loss mixed with warmth surging through her. It didn’t make sense. She was already the mother of an eighteen-year-old daughter. Maybe it was just that— the loss of being needed paired with the childish passion Courtney displayed. Her only daughter, Lucy, was a free and precocious creature. She hadn’t needed any emotional comfort from Paxton for years.
