Reckless Pleasures
Tori Carrington
Six months apart is a long time. For security expert Megan McGowan, it feels like forever since she's felt the strong arms of Darius Folsom around her. Since Dari's military deployment six months ago, every minute apart is another minute that Megan finds herself tempted….Bad boy Jason Savage is Dari's best friend– and a partner in the new private security firm Dari and Megan have formed. Only as Megan and Jason work closely together on an emotionally charged case, the attraction between them goes from hot to nuclear meltdown.But even as Megan's libido screams "Oh, yes!" she wonders if it's possible to love one man– and give in to her hunger for another….
“That should never have happened,” Jason said.
Megan nodded, trying like hell to grasp the situation. What was she thinking? She loved Dari. Missed him. Lived for his texts and phone calls. So what, then, was she doing practically devouring Jason? It didn’t make any sense. And yet it made perfect sense.
“Look, what just happened doesn’t have anything to do with us. It’s about physical need.”
She bit her bottom lip, trying but failing to quiet the pool of desire in her lower stomach. “But the kiss…”
“The kiss was too intimate,” he said.
She released a breath. “Oh, boy, you’re not lying there.”
The side of his mouth inched up in a smile. “So let’s not kiss.”
“Good idea…” She relaxed and started to walk away.
Jason caught her arm, his grip soft but insistent.
“Let’s just sleep together…”
Dear Reader,
Sexual need is a purely physical condition easily remedied without emotional attachment…right? Going without can lead to heightened stress levels and impact job performance. So what’s a simple sack session between friends? Not just friends, but fellow ex-marines involved in an important case on which the success of their newly formed company, Lazarus Security, rides?
In Reckless Pleasures, we put this theory to the test. Of course, a Tori Carrington book wouldn’t be complete unless we further complicated the issue: What if Megan McGowan was already involved with a third marine, Darius Folsom, currently posted overseas? And if the other participant, Jeremy Savage, was Darius’s best friend? And what if it just so happens Darius returns unexpectedly right after the dirty deed is done?
We hope Darius and Megan and Jason’s sizzling story keeps you riveted long after you’ve reached the end…and moved onto books two and three— Wicked Pleasures and Undeniable Pleasures—in our Pleasure Seekers miniseries out in July and August.
We’d love to hear what you think. Contact us at P.O. Box 12271, Toledo, OH 43612, or visit us on the web at www.toricarrington.net, or www.facebook.com/ toricarrington where there’s fun to be had every day.
Here’s wishing you love, romance and hot reading.
Lori & Tony Karayianni
aka Tori Carrington
P.S. Check out the new Blaze Authors’ Pet Project at blazeauthors.com!
Reckless Pleasures
Tori Carrington
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Multi-award-winning, bestselling authors Lori Schlachter Karayianni and Tony Karayianni are the power behind the pen name Tori Carrington. Their more than forty-five titles include numerous Harlequin Blaze miniseries, as well as the ongoing Sofie Metropolis comedic mystery series with another publisher. Visit www.toricarrington.net and www.sofiemetro.com for more information on the duo and their titles.
We dedicate this book to readers like us who enjoy
a healthy dash of the forbidden with their sex.
And, as always, to editor extraordinaire Brenda
Chin, who merely smiles when we come up with
our outlandish ideas, her red pencil at the ready…
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Epilogue
Prologue
Eighteen months…
MEGAN MCGOWAN LAZILY rubbed her calf against Darius’s leg and curved her body close against his, finding it impossible to swallow the amount of time he’d be away.
A year and a half…
Seventy-five weeks…
Five hundred and sixty-three days…
A long, long time until she’d be able to feel his skin against hers again… His breath teasing her ear… His thick, hard length stroking her wet softness… Filling her… Making her whole…
“It’s not like we haven’t had time to prepare,” Dari whispered and then kissed her hair. “The order came down months ago.” He kissed her mouth, igniting in her a desire to feel his skillful attentions directed toward other more strategic areas of her anatomy. “And we’ve both been here before.”
She hummed, pressing her nose against his neck. “I know. But back then we were both shipping out. Now…”
She caught herself up short. Now she was like the spouse being left behind.
Only she wasn’t a spouse. Not yet. Dari kept threatening to propose, and while they both joked about marriage, they were still very single. They even maintained separate apartments, although they mostly spent their time together at her place. Dari said it was because she was more likely to have something in the refrigerator; she knew it was because his place was more like a true bachelor pad, where he left his military neatness at the door.
They were both Marines. But where she had completed her tour of duty and accepted honorary discharge, Dari remained a reservist and thus could be called back at any time. And he had been.
“Would you feel better if you were being sent back out with me?”
She realized she would. “Yes.”
And that knowledge helped her relax.
“You’re good at that, you know,” she said, kissing his neck, tasting the salt of his sweat there from their hours-long sack session.
“I’m good at everything.”
She laughed. “I mean, you’re good at telling me exactly what I need to hear, exactly when I need it.”
She pulled back to look into his handsome face draped in shadows. It would be dawn soon…and shortly after that she would drive him to Petersen Air Base where he would catch a ride on the first transport out.
“I try,” he joked.
She smiled.
He kissed her leisurely. “I’m sure Lazarus will take a lot of your energy.”
Lazarus Security.
In her vulnerable state, the name stirred emotions both of sadness and hope…and served to distract her, however briefly, from the other more pressing issues at hand.
Was it really over a year ago that their friend Barry Lazaro had surrendered to the ultimate enemy?
Still, it seemed impossible. He had survived so much while they were on the front lines overseas. He’d been the most capable of them, the go-to guy, the one to lead the charge… Ironic that returning to civilian life had proven the one battle he’d ended up losing. Lazaro had been home only a couple of months when he’d been found hanging from his own shower-curtain rod, dead.
Megan went still, the memory almost too much for her to handle just then.
It was in Barry’s name the five surviving members of the elite team whose friendship was forever fused while fighting in Waziristan established Lazarus Security: her, Darius, Jason Savage, Lincoln Williams and Eli Stark.
Lord knew building the independent security company had taken all their energy over the past few months, along with the nonstop attention of the four active partners. She, Dari and Jason handled most of the organizational and grunt work. With his background in both the military and the FBI, Linc had the strong government ties that would bring in subcontract work normally seen to by active ranks. And Eli…
Well, Eli had taken the news of Lazaro’s death the hardest, offering up the financial resources with which to start the company, but insisting he remain a silent partner.
Megan wondered if they’d all known, going in, how hard they’d have to work if they’d still have done it.
Then again, seeing as they were all either ex-or semiactive military, hard work was no stranger to them. And they were poised to make some major inroads in the industry, with plans that needed to be implemented, personnel hired, compound expansion overseen.
One day Lazarus Security would serve as the ultimate tribute to a fallen hero, a man they’d all known and loved.
“It won’t be the same without you here,” she whispered now to Dari.
He smoothed his hand over her hair and down her back, eliciting a delicious shiver that left her wishing his fingers even farther south.
“Don’t you dare meet anyone else over there.” Her words were barely audible, and so unlike anything she’d usually say, they surprised her.
But Dari seemed to take them in stride as he chuckled and easily slid her to lie on top of him, toe to toe, nose to nose, setting fire to every inch of her. “I have more than I can handle with you….”
He kissed her, much the same way he had the first time while they were stationed together in Afghanistan two years ago. The night had been cool and airless…the sex sweaty and hot. She hadn’t been able to get enough of him then…and nothing had changed. No matter how often they made love, she wanted more.
She knew he wouldn’t stray. It wasn’t the way he was made. They didn’t come any truer than Darius Folsom. It was the second thing she loved about him.
The first was how he touched her…
His fingers firmly budged in the direction she’d been craving, cupping her bottom then moving toward her shallow crevice. She caught her breath.
“How about you?” he asked.
She swallowed hard, barely able to concentrate over the rush of white-hot sensation. “Me?”
“Mmm…do I have to worry about you being here, all by yourself?”
His fingertips found her slick, swollen folds from behind. She automatically spread her thighs to allow him easy access, her heart beating heavily in her chest.
She searched his eyes. “I don’t know. Do you?”
She flicked her tongue slightly inside his mouth and then withdrew it.
Before Dari, she’d never really been involved in a long-term relationship. Her love life had been dotted with temporary lovers, few of them lasting beyond the three-month mark. And none beyond six months.
Which made the longevity of their relationship all the more special….
And his leaving now all the more frightening…
“Yes, well, I’ve already asked Jason to keep an eye on you,” he said, stealing her breath with a gentle pinch to her clit.
“Jason Savage?” she whispered, fighting to follow the conversation, even as she longed to feel him inside her again. Now.
“Uh-huh.”
She’d known Jason almost as long as she had Dari. But the bond between the two men stretched back even further than that. The two Marines were cut from much the same cloth physically, but couldn’t be more different emotionally.
Where Dari was steadfast, Jason roamed.
She placed her knees on either side of his legs and scooted until her heated folds pressed against his pulsing hard-on. “And you trust him?” she asked.
“He’s been my best friend since I was five.”
She rocked her hips, rubbing her wetness down his thick length. “He also nails everything that moves.”
Dari groaned at her movements, his expression going sober at her words. “Not my girl.”
Funny how those three simple words always made her stomach flutter. It didn’t matter that she was a Marine. Or that she saw herself as his equal. Whenever he laid claim to her, she felt like his girl.
He reached for a condom on the nightstand, quickly sheathed himself and then grasped her hips, entering her in one, long upward thrust that forced all thought from her mind. She moaned into his mouth, all too happy to welcome him into her body again…and again. As often as she could before time and space and the military would force them apart for eighteen long months.
1
Four months later…
MEGAN AIMED THE M-16 semiautomatic rifle at the man-size moving targets a hundred and fifty yards away, testing not so much her own acumen—she’d been a crack shot from the time she’d learned to shoot at ten and was a consummate pro now—but the quality of the exercise Lazarus staff had put together for trainees on the grounds just outside Colorado Springs, Colorado, a place none of them were from…but the place Barry Lazaro had called home.
“Still too slow!” she shouted toward the control booth.
She no sooner said the words than the target sped up and then slowed back down again. She missed.
Blowing a long breath between her teeth, she dropped the rifle to rest against her hips and stared at the control booth where Jason Savage grinned at her.
“You told me you wanted it faster.”
“That I did.”
She considered aiming the gun in his direction then thought better of it. A pro never turned her weapon on another unless she meant to shoot. And while the temptation was strong…
“We done for now?”
She nodded. “We’ll make another assessment during the next training session.”
She walked toward the main complex, let herself in and then entered the armory where she checked and cleaned the rifle before putting it away.
Lazarus Security was growing faster than any of them had dreamed. The property was spread over a hundred acres, the main compound positioned in the southwestern corner, twenty-five thousand square feet of a plain, square, one-story structure that boasted a full gym, firing range, classrooms, a fully stocked armory and even a barracks that held twenty bunks, should the need arise. Outside they had five different training courses, including a dirt track for bike training and a paved one to teach evasive maneuvers while driving.
Word had spread and they were having trouble keeping up with demand, bringing in fresh trainees every two weeks, most ex-military, which made them almost job ready.
Still, while contracts were rolling in, they were mostly of the low-caliber security-detail variety: bodyguards, drivers, installing home and business security systems. While none of the partners complained, Megan had hoped for something a little more…exciting.
She opened the armory door and nearly ran straight into Jason Savage.
He lifted his hands as if in surrender and chuckled. “I give up.”
“Very funny,” she said.
At just over six foot three, Jason was a little taller than Darius…and much darker. Where Dari had light brown hair and eyes, Jason’s were almost black.
But the differences went beyond the physical: Jason was somehow also darker in demeanor. Something lurked beyond the surface, shadowy and dangerous.
Still, she’d be the first to admit surprise at the way he’d stepped up after Dari had shipped back out. She guessed it was because they were both being forced to go without someone important in their lives.
“Where you heading?” Jason asked.
She glanced at him as they walked, both of them dressed in training fatigues. “The front offices.”
“Me, too. I’ll walk with you.”
They headed down the hall that would take them outside to a pathway leading to the public offices, each structure separate and secure from the next.
And miles apart in appearance.
“Still haven’t heard from Dari, huh?” Jason asked as he opened the door and she passed through it.
Megan stared at him, blinking against the early-afternoon sunlight as they crossed to the more aesthetically pleasing building that housed the main offices. It looked more like a small, modern home than a commercial structure.
Jason shrugged. “Hey, you’re always a little more uptight when you’re out of contact.”
She grimaced, recognizing he probably was right. But it didn’t make her feel any better to be called uptight.
“I haven’t heard from him in two weeks,” she admitted.
“Yeah, me, too. Field trip.”
Field trip was code for extra-remote mission where an elite group was sent into a sensitive area and all contact with the outside world was off-limits unless they needed help from command.
Megan caught herself scratching her arm.
She was well versed on the life of a Marine. Hell, she was one herself, albeit retired, despite the saying that a Marine was always a Marine. But that hadn’t made the past four months any easier. Especially now that Dari was out of contact. At least before, they’d been able to arrange the occasional video chat and had spoken on the phone a couple of times a week when their schedules meshed…and sexted like there was no tomorrow.
But now that he’d gone silent, she felt oddly as if the world had stopped spinning.
She and Jason entered the office building.
It always caught her off guard, moving from one structure to the other. In her fatigues, she felt out of place in the nicely decorated, civilized surroundings; a sensation she didn’t experience when she came in dressed to impress in client and business meetings.
“I guess this is where we part ways,” Jason said, grinning. “I have a certain receptionist I need to charm.”
Megan gave a surprised laugh and an eye roll. “If she’s got half a brain, she’ll shoot you down flat.”
“Who said I was interested in her brain?”
She smiled. “Who, indeed.”
She opened her office door.
“Hey,” Jason called. “Why don’t you stop by The Barracks later?”
Every day he extended the same invitation to drop by his favorite watering hole; every day she refused.
“Maybe,” she said noncommittally.
“A step up from no,” he said.
She supposed it was, but she wasn’t entirely convinced…
MEGAN’S ONE-BEDROOM apartment on the west side of Colorado Springs had always seemed small, but ever since Dari had left, it felt somehow…too big.
It was eight-thirty and the sun was, for all intents and purposes, down, even though it was more blocked by the Rocky Mountains to the west than truly set. She lay across her double bed in one of the old denim shirts Dari had left behind, staring at the ceiling. She wondered what he was doing that moment. Was he navigating the remote region of Waziristan, seeking out enemies that knew the caves and rugged terrain better than he and his guys ever would? Was he camped out under the starry dome of the sky, one eye on the nearby hill where an enemy combatant could appear any moment?
Was he thinking about her?
She groaned and rolled over, burying her head in his pillow and breathing deeply.
She was pathetic.
Lord knew she had enough to occupy her time.
Then why was she spending so much of it pining after a man who was already hers?
Because she missed him…with every fiber of her being.
She turned her head on the pillow and stared at her cell phone on the nightstand. The ringer was set to High in case he called. Still, she couldn’t stop herself from reaching for the silent piece of technology and lighting the display: no calls, no messages, no texts.
She sighed heavily, suddenly aware of the rumbling of her stomach.
Had she eaten dinner? She couldn’t remember.
Probably not a good sign.
She tried to think of what she had in the kitchen and smiled. Dari would be amused that for the first time she didn’t have much of anything in the refrigerator, solely because she was too distracted to think about shopping before coming home.
She forced herself from the bed and padded barefoot toward the room in question, hauling open the fridge door. Nothing but a half gallon of milk that held all of an inch worth of the liquid, a few wrapped slices of American cheese, a single serving of yogurt that had been in there for God only knew how long and the requisite condiment bottles.
She took out one of the pieces of cheese and unwrapped it, snacking on it as she closed the fridge door and checked out the cabinets. Not a thing she could use to fix herself a decent meal.
She thought of the delivery menus in the drawer…but usually the only time she ordered in was when Dari was over and they were too exhausted after sex to even make themselves a sandwich.
She smiled at the memory and then immediately grimaced.
“Oh, screw it.”
She walked with purpose back into the bedroom, checked her still-silent cell and then got dressed…
MEGAN HADN’T BEEN to The Barracks in four months—not since the night of Dari’s sending-off party. But the thought of spending one more night in her apartment by herself had chased her clean out. That the bar also served burgers was a bonus.
One good thing about a place like this was no matter how long you’d been away, they always remembered you. She caught at least four shouts out to her. She acknowledged them with a friendly smile, looking over what was a decent crowd for a Thursday night. A waving hand caught her attention at the end of the bar and she waved back at Jason.
“Up, Marine,” he said to the young guy on the stool next to him when she stepped up.
Megan was amused by how fast the freshly returned Marine did as ordered. She half expected him to salute Jason, although she could have told him not to bother. Jason hadn’t been honorably discharged; he’d been thrown out of the service and probably had a permanent outline of the boot mark on his behind.
“Thanks,” she said to the Marine as she claimed the stool.
“What about me?” Jason asked with a raised brow before taking a long pull from his beer bottle.
“What? Why didn’t I thank you?”
His grin widened.
“Well, it wasn’t as if you’d given up your stool for me.”
A couple of ohs and ribbing erupted among the others around them.
One of the females spoke up. “A woman expecting a man to give her his chair doesn’t deserve one.”
Megan flashed her a smile. “A woman stupid enough to refuse an offered chair should sit on the floor…or be hit upside the head with one.”
More hoots.
And just like that, she reentered the swing of things, as if she’d been there a few days before instead of a few months.
She placed an order for whatever was on tap, along with a cheeseburger, hold the fries. Jason told the girl to add the fries.
After she left, Megan looked at him. “I hope you plan on eating them.”
“I may have one or two,” he said. “But my plan is to make sure you eat them. Dari’s not going to be pleased when he hears you’ve dropped at least ten.”
Twelve. But who was counting? She accepted the beer and took a nice long sip. “Don’t tell me you guys actually waste time talking about me…”
When you talk. That’s what she’d been prepared to say. Instead, she left the words drift off and took her cell phone out of her purse, placing it prominently on the bar in front of her.
“Are you kidding? If it were up to him, you would be the only thing we talk about.”
“Yeah, and next you’re going to try to convince me that the b.s. coming out of your mouth is actually the truth.”
She’d meant the words as a joke. But as she looked at him, prepared for a funny comeback, she watched him take another drink from his bottle then run the back of his hand across his mouth, his eyes sober and observant, as if trying to figure something out.
“Are you serious?” She forced herself to laugh.
“As an IED.”
She squinted at him.
Jason shrugged and faced the front of the bar. “I can tell you that he’s probably going crazy right now not being able to talk to you.”
She caught herself staring at her blank cell-phone display and looked away. Well, that made two of them…
“Come on. A great deal of your time has to be spent discussing Lazarus.”
Jason slowly shook his head. “Nope.”
She paused for a long moment, considering what the conversation between the two guys might sound like.
“He says he knows we’ll take care of whatever needs taking over in that regard,” Jason said.
Now that she thought about it, the words sounded like ones Dari would say. He was never one to worry about items over which he had no control. Besides, he probably had his hands full over there. He never shared details, even though she and Jason would not only understand, they’d empathize.
“Hey.”
Megan glanced up from where she’d been staring at her silent cell again. Jason’s younger brother, Jackson, wiped down the bar in front of her and then presented her burger. Jason automatically reached for a couple of fries and she slapped his hand away.
“Hey, yourself, Jax,” she said. “You cook this?”
“Sure did.”
She’d heard it said at the compound that Jackson Savage had been by to apply for a job…and that his brother had refused him out of hand: twice.
“I was hoping you and I could talk sometime soon,” Jax said, looking at her pointedly.
Jason straightened from his slightly stooped position. “You and the lady have nothing to discuss.”
Megan took in the exchange. “Sure, Jackson. Give me a call.”
She’d never talked with the younger Savage outside social situations such as this one, but she knew he wouldn’t find it difficult to get her number.
Jax smiled. “Enjoy your burger. I put some bacon on it for you.”
“Thanks.”
She watched as he walked away, and then opened the bun and fished out the pork in question, putting it on the side of her plate closest to Jason. She wasn’t surprised when he immediately snatched the strips up and ate them.
“Shall I ask what just happened?” she said.
Jason narrowed his eyes at her; they glinted dangerously in the dim light. “Ask all you want.”
“Mmm. Just don’t expect to get any answers: is that what you’re saying?”
His grin was slow but ultimately complete. “I always knew there was a reason I liked you.”
For a moment, one brief, irrefutable moment, Megan’s gaze fused with his and a thrill of recognition swept through her—awareness, sexual, full and strong.
She caught her breath.
Jason appeared as puzzled as she did before finally breaking visual contact.
He reached for her fries again and she let him take a couple.
Her cell phone rang shrilly on the bar.
Dari!
She scooped up the phone and slid off the stool, heading toward the door.
“Hi, baby,” she cooed, her heart expanding to fill her entire body….
2
THE FOLLOWING MORNING dawned earlier than it had the day before, or at least it seemed that way.
Megan dragged herself out of bed, went for her usual six-mile run, then showered and dressed for a day at the office rather than at the training facility. She had back-to-back meetings, so any thoughts of working her frustrations out on the firing range or on overly eager new recruits went out the window.
Last night, she’d barely spoken to Dari before the line went dead. After five minutes of trying to get him back, she’d received a text message: Sorry, baby. Situation went south, reception bad. Love you.
She’d finally fallen asleep somewhere around 4:00 a.m., the cell clutched to her chest. But he hadn’t called or texted again.
Feeling marginally better now that she had immediate business to occupy her time, she sat down in her office chair and considered the paperwork on the desk in front of her. She had yet to decorate the room in any way and heard about it from the two secretaries who manned the front, along with the pretty receptionist Jason was trying to charm. Megan’s immediate response was to ask why they weren’t on any of the men to do something about the starkness of their offices.
But maybe she should buy a couple of plants or something. There was good light in this room. And the view of the mountains through the window was great. Not that she spent that much time looking at it.
The telephone buzzed, indicating an internal call rather than an external one. She picked up the receiver.
“You ready?” Jason asked.
“For what?”
“The meeting in ten.”
“I could do this one with my eyes closed.”
“Right. You do realize that a one-year contract that will employ ten, twenty agents hangs in the balance.”
“Mmm. So I’ve been told. By you, as the case may be. Anyway, I figured you have it covered.”
“No, Meg, I think this one’s going to take a woman’s touch.”
Twenty minutes later, she saw what he meant. The two representatives from a chain of area nightclubs they were meeting with were women. And they not only appeared immune to Jason’s charms, they looked a wink away from offended.
This was the type of contract Dari could have finalized with a handshake. Instead, Megan took the reins and convinced them that Lazarus was the firm for the job.
Finally, she and Jason were alone in the conference room.
“Good job,” he said with a grin.
“You might consider working on your skills when it comes to female clients.”
“Why? I have you for that.”
She gathered her items together and started to leave the office.
“You sitting in on the next one?” Jason asked.
“Women again?”
His grin widened. “No, men. But I think you’d be equally effective…albeit in a different way.”
“I think I’ll pass.”
She heard voices and the tinny sound of a television coming from the front. She put her papers on her desk and went to investigate, unsurprised to find Jason already there.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
The three women were gathered around a flatscreen TV usually reserved for training videos. They parted like the Red Sea, allowing her a clear view of live news coverage.
“Missing girl,” Jason said, crossing his arms.
In Florida.
A missing girl who was so sweet-looking the case had garnered national attention. She picked up the remote to check. Sure enough, another national news channel was playing the same footage.
She and Jason turned toward their offices at the same time.
“Do you want to call or should I?” Jason asked, passing her open doorway where she already had a telephone in hand.
“You work your contacts, I’ll work mine.” She shouted for one of the secretaries, requesting she get the other available partners on the job. “First one to the finish wins….”
3
CHALLENGE WAS JASON Savage’s middle name and had been ever since he was an unwanted kid. Never one to wallow in the past, he rarely thought about an upbringing that would make anyone gasp…and he certainly never used it to elicit sympathy from the opposite sex. He could count on three fingers the number of people who knew what motivated him…and the first two only because they’d gone through it with him.
The third…well, he was in Afghanistan now.
Speaking of which…
Jason had no sooner pulled the rented SUV to a stop in front of the motel the Lazarus group would call home base in central Florida than Darius’s girl hopped out of the passenger’s seat, her polished combat boots hitting the ground running.
He shook his head, put the car in park and shut off the engine, leaving the keys in the ignition in case it was needed fast.
Jason stared after her, thinking of his friend. In the four months since Dari’d shipped off, he’d been impressed with Megan at every turn. Oh, sure, he knew she was a Marine, and that allowed for a measure of capability, but she surpassed his expectations.
She was strong and smart and knew her way around a minefield.
He’d no sooner made his own contact regarding the missing kid than she’d popped up in his open doorway with one of her own. In his case, it was an old college buddy who’d gone into intelligence and was something or other in the FBI.
Hers was the local sheriff who appeared to be happy for any professional help.
Within four hours the team was on the ground, motel rooms and transportation arranged, and a game plan sketched out.
Jason suddenly realized that his gaze was glued to Megan’s ass under the khaki of her pants. Damn, but the girl had a body on her.
He swallowed thickly and got out of the truck.
While it wasn’t the first time he’d appreciated her curves—sometimes even in front of Dari—for some reason, his attention seemed inappropriate now.
Megan turned toward him. “Jason Savage, this is Deputy Adams. He’s going to be acting as liaison between us and the sheriff’s office.”
He shook the deputy’s hand, friendly enough but instantly dismissing the kid. Jason knew he wasn’t going to be any help at all. He’d be lucky to find his johnson in a windstorm.
“This the place?” he said unnecessarily, since he already knew it was. But it gave him an excuse to round the deputy. He was Megan’s contact; she could handle him.
And if the way the deputy hiked up his pants in disdain at his obvious dismissal was any indication, Jason had the feeling she was going to have her work cut out for her.
Locals.
But it was important for the hazards team to have an in there. The sheriff and his personnel could cause them a lot of grief if they weren’t playing on the same side.
He stepped up to the motel sidewalk and walked to the first room, pushing open the door. “Central command,” he said. “Everybody stow their stuff and meet here in ten.” He then walked over to the second room, where he planned to claim as his own quarters.
He wasn’t surprised to see Megan choose the next room down, and the rest of the five-person team they’d brought with them following suit down the line.
He left his door open and dropped his duffel on the foot of the bed before going into the small bathroom in the back and washing his face. No matter where he was, the feel of cold water always gave him the sensation of being in control. It helped shrug off the dirt and hassles from travel and regroup for the task at hand.
And right now that happened to be finding little Finley Szymanski….
WITHIN TWENTY MINUTES a large swivel whiteboard had been brought in that boasted a corkboard on the other side, along with other organizational equipment. Megan walked in front of it, tacking photos of the missing seven-year-old to the board along with physical characteristics, while Jason pinned up a map, indicating where the girl had gone missing and the location of her house.
“According to the report, she was out bike riding at around seven the last anyone saw her,” Jason said.
“Was the bike found?”
“No.”
“Who saw her?”
“A neighbor.”
“The last time she had contact with a family member?”
“Five-thirty, just after dinner. Her sister.”
“How old is the sister?”
“Ten.”
“Friends?”
Jason uncapped a marker and enlarged dots already made on the map. “These are where her friends live…”
The last one he circled edged a large thatch of forest.
They all leaned back and groaned.
“Right,” Megan said. “We’re talking over twenty-five hundred acres of land here. And I don’t think I have to point out that this area of Florida has had a lot of rain and the ground is oversaturated. As a result, there are some parts the sheriff’s personnel haven’t been able to reach yet.”
“Are you kidding me?” Dominic Falzone asked. “What, are they afraid of getting their feet wet?”
A couple of chuckles and added insults.
Megan looked toward the door where she knew the deputy was talking to the motel manager just outside.
“We’ll be working together as a team, guys, so I’d appreciate it if you could keep the insults to a minimum.”
Dominic Falzone was a decorated war vet, a tried-and-true Marine, but his mouth had landed the dark-haired, dark-eyed Lazarus team member into more than his fair share of hot water.
Jason stepped up. “Since conditions today are much like they were yesterday, search personnel probably guessed there was no way the girl could have gotten in and out of those areas by herself.”
Megan’s fingers tightened on her own marker.
Of course, what went unsaid was that someone could have taken her in there.
“Listen up, this is the plan…”
Within ten minutes Jason had outlined where he wanted them to enter the forest, each at twenty-five-yard intervals.
“Okay, we don’t have much usable daylight left,” he said. “Grab your gear and let’s get going.”
It was only 4:00 p.m., but since it would be darker inside the forest without direct sunlight, they estimated maybe three hours before they’d have to call it quits for the night.
Of course, Megan fully expected there to be objections.
She hefted her own bag and followed the team out of the room, watching where Lazarus partner Lincoln Williams stood against the wall outside, having listened without participating, every bit the spook he had once been with the FBI, smoking a cigarette. He pitched it to the curb and followed.
IT WAS AFTER TEN before they returned to the motel and after midnight before the command center emptied out except for him and Megan. Other team members had returned to their own rooms to catch what sleep they could before rising again at 5:00 a.m.
Jason sat back in one of the extra chairs that had been brought in. While they were away, the motel owner had arranged to have the beds removed and chairs and two folded tables brought in instead. Jason didn’t feel tired in the least. They’d made good ground today. But they needed to find the girl soon.
“Where did Linc get off to?” Megan asked, stretching.
“Lord knows. Even when he’s here, I hardly know it.”
A ghost of a smile. “Tell me about it. The guy’s as big as a train car, but if he doesn’t want to be seen, he won’t be.”
Jason thought about pushing the box of cold hot wings her way, wondering if she’d refuse. He hadn’t seen her eat much of anything all day, always busy doing something or other, either checking notes or surveying the map and detailing tomorrow’s route.
He nearly sighed in relief when she reached for the box herself, pulling it forward and taking out one of the sticky chicken wings. He leaned back and took a beer from a cooler, twisted off the top and handed it to her.
“Thanks.”
He opened himself one and then rocked back on the chair legs, watching her.
She made no attempt to take dainty bites, the way he’d seen countless women before her do. And when she took a pull from the beer, it was a genuine tip-your-head-back slug that emptied half the bottle.
He grinned and absently rubbed his chin. If not for the way her T-shirt emphasized her breasts, he might think she was one of the guys.
His gaze homed in on her mouth and he felt a strangely familiar tightening of his pants across his groin. Oh, no, even without makeup and a dress, there was absolutely nothing masculine about Megan McGowan.
“What?”
He blinked up into her blue eyes, realizing he’d been caught. “Nothing.” He pointed toward her mouth. “You’ve got a bit of sauce…yeah, right there.”
She wiped at the red dot with her napkin and continued eating.
“Good?”
“Huh?” She looked at the wing in her hand. “I didn’t even notice. I’m operating on automatic right now.”
Jason let the chair legs clunk to the floor. “Yeah, me, too.”
“They’re not bad, I guess.” She shrugged. “I’m not a big wings girl, really.”
“What kind of girl are you, really?”
She smiled. “A regular fried-chicken kind of girl.”
He chuckled and swallowed a good portion of his beer.
He wasn’t sure what he’d expected her to say. Given the direction of his earlier thoughts, maybe something like filet mignon or salmon.
Instead, she’d chosen what might possibly be an even sloppier and more fattening alternative.
This from the girl who had passed on fries the other night.
Of course, like him, she understood her body needed the calories. Running as they had that day, they could easily burn double a regular day’s nutrients.
“You’re staring again.” She laughed.
“I am?” He was.
Jason ran his hand over his face, watching as she checked her silent cell phone for the tenth time in the past ten minutes.
“Heard anything more?” he asked.
She shook her head. “You?”
“Nope. Figured you were lucky to have heard from him when you did. Lord only knows how long he’ll be out.”
He watched her frown.
In all the time Megan and Dari had been a couple, he didn’t think he’d talked to her as much as he had in the past four months. Or looked at her more than he had today. She was his best friend’s girl—period.
Yeah? Then what was he still doing there watching her eat rather than hightailing it back to his own room for some shut-eye?
“So…” he said. “You two talk about getting hitched?”
Her brows hiked up on her forehead. “Nah. Not seriously.”
“But you have talked about it.”
She shrugged noncommittally, her movements seeming to slow.
Finally, she put down the wing she was eating and wiped her hands.
“Well,” she said, looking everywhere but at him. “It’s going to be an early morning, so I think I’m going to hit the sack.”
Jason cleared his throat. “Yeah, me too.”
She began gathering the boxes and empty bottles on the table.
“Leave it. I’ll make sure the motel staff picks it up before five.”
“Thanks.”
She moved toward the door. Was it his imagination, or did she seem a little distracted?
“God. Where is my head?”
She backtracked to the table and picked up her phone.
She’d forgotten her cell?
“Well…good night.”
Jason cleared his throat and reached for another beer. “Good night.”
He stopped short of adding “Sweet dreams.” Truth was he was afraid his dreams tonight were going to be too sweet. And chances were high they were going to feature her….
4
MEGAN LAY BACK in the king-size motel room feeling as if sand coated her eyeballs. It was after two and she hadn’t been able to close her eyelids for more than a moment, much less fall asleep. Which was par for the course lately.
She reached over to check her quiet cell and then lie back again with a heavy sigh.
In recent weeks, she’d become aware of a sort of silent humming. Oh, she missed Dari with her head and her heart. But her body had been fine. Of course, sexting had probably helped. But now, now she felt as if she wanted to jump out of her skin it was so uncomfortably alive.
The sensation began at the tip of her toes, traveled upward to her inner thighs, making her nipples constantly hard, making her panties constantly damp.
An image of Jason chanced through her mind. She frowned, attributing the aberration to the fact she’d just seen him.
She groaned and rolled over onto her side, back to the nightstand and the cell phone on top of it. Despite the nonstop hum of the air conditioner under the window, it was still hot and she wore nothing but a white tank top and a pair of white cotton panties. She’d stripped the blankets back and was lying on the sheets. But the humidity was brutal and seemed to contribute to her sense of longing.
Without realizing that’s what she had in mind, she slipped her hand between her thighs so her wrist pressed against her damp crotch and then she squeezed her muscles together tightly. She groaned again as white-hot need shot through her every cell.
She’d been known to take matters into her own hands before. But certainly not since meeting Dari. He saw to every one of her needs and beyond.
But now that he was gone, she was all too aware she was a living, breathing female in need of release, preferably with a willing, skilled male.
Of course, her male was thousands of miles away in a sweltering desert just then, and her release was nowhere to be found.
She rolled back onto her back, shifting her hand so that it lay directly against her aching womanhood through the damp cotton. Heat shimmered up to her breasts and then sank back down to pool in her lower belly.
Yes…
It had been four long months since she’d felt Dari…right there. Touching her. Thrusting deep into her…
She stroked herself through the cotton and restlessly licked her lips, surrendering to what she was about to do and ultimately embracing it. Only, the connection wasn’t nearly intimate enough, so she edged her fingertips under the elastic of her panties, diving lower still until they met with her slick, shallow channel.
Megan stretched her head back and moaned, riding the delicious waves of sensation, a willing surfer bent on exploring deeper waters.
She ran her fingertips along the damp length of her swollen folds, working her middle into the tight pool for a dip. Her muscles immediately contracted, closing around the digit, begging for an even more meaningful meeting.
Her other hand trailed down her stomach until it, too, took up residence under the cotton of her panties. But where her left had focused on exploring dark, damp places, her right found her fleshy center, rubbing against it once, twice…
Megan gasped, her muscles contracting, allowing her the release she’d sought. She rode it out, welcoming every last spasm even as she clamped her legs together, trapping her hands where they were.
For long moments she lay there, absently stroking her pulsing flesh, curious as to why her cheeks were suddenly damp. She was surprised to find she was crying…
JASON SQUINTED UP at the blinding orange ball of the midday sun, thinking conditions couldn’t possibly be worse.
“Things could always be worse,” Megan said next to him. “There could be a hurricane heading this way.”
He stared at her. “Is there?”
“Nah.”
“Thank God for small favors.”
He blew out a long breath from between his teeth, staring at the clearing around them. Five minutes ago they’d both emerged to find the nonstop rain they’d woken up to this morning was being replaced by the scorching sun. It didn’t feel like a sauna—it felt worse.
Megan plucked the material of her T-shirt away from where it clung, soaked, to her stomach. He tried not to watch, but couldn’t help himself.
Another team member emerged from across the fifty-yard clearing in the middle of the forest.
“Anything?” Megan called.
The agent indicated in the negative and then backed up until he was once again protected by the tree line.
Good idea.
Jason did the same and Megan followed suit. He glanced at his watch. They’d been at it since early this morning. That meant five hours of slogging through the trees with only a minimum of breaks, a protein bar and water bottle the only sustenance.
Megan leaned against the trunk of a tall pine and drank sparingly from her own canteen, dragging the back of her hand across her mouth afterward as she considered the clearing.
“Not a scrap of fabric, no sign of tracks…nothing.”
Jason grimaced. “Same here.”
Of course, had any of them found anything, they would have contacted the others via the radios they each carried.
Jason picked up his radio and told the rest of the team about the clearing, then advised they take at least a twenty-minute break and eat something before continuing.
Megan edged down slightly, propping her back against the tree in a semiseated position without actually sitting down. The ground was so sodden, she was denied that luxury.
“Christ, it’s hot,” she said.
“Tell me about it. I’d take a hundred and twenty degrees in the desert heat of Afghanistan over this any day.”
She looked at him. “Me, too.”
They fell silent. Jason quietly cursed himself. He hadn’t meant to inspire thoughts of Dari, but he was sure that’s where her mind had wandered. If he had any doubt, all he had to do was watch her take out her cell and check it before frowning and putting it back in her pocket.
They’d all been supplied with lunch rations, modified MRE—meals ready-to-eat—that were fresher and a little more appetizing, but just as safe and portable. He took his out and offered it to Megan. She stared up at him.
“Thanks, but I have my own.”
Her curious gaze made him look the other way, even as he tore open the package. Of course she had her own. What the hell was he thinking, offering her his?
He wasn’t sure what was happening here, but he’d better snap out of it before Megan started thinking something was up.
Problem was, something was up. Big-time. Last night he’d woken up in the middle of the night with a massive hard-on…and it had Megan’s name written all over it.
He was relieved when Dominic popped up some twenty yards to his right and headed in their direction.
“Hey,” he said, leaning against a tree on the other side of Jason.
They answered in kind and all three ate in relative silence.
“There’s still so much ground we’re missing,” Megan said quietly, tucking away the wrapper from a piece of cheddar.
Dominic said, “We could have organized the volunteers lined up outside the sheriff’s office.”
“In this weather? We would have ended up searching for half of them.” Jason shook his head. “It was just as well the sheriff sent them to the mall and other public venues where they could keep an eye out but stay out of the elements.”
“Besides,” Megan added, “in cases like these, untrained individuals haven’t a clue what they’re looking for. Shortly into a search of this nature, they generally stop paying attention and are more at risk of accidentally trampling evidence than finding any.”
“Which is why we’re here.”
Dominic took a deep breath. “We getting paid for this?”
Megan and Jason shared a look.
“You are,” Megan said.
“And the company will if we deliver results.”
Essentially that was the deal they’d struck with the sheriff’s office. From what Jason understood, they had a matching guarantee from the federal government by way of Lincoln’s FBI friend…all on the down low, of course.
Of course, that actually depended on whether or not they found the girl.
Megan pushed up off the tree and stashed her wrappers in her pockets.
“I’m heading back out. See you on the other side…”
5
Eight days and no results…
MEGAN STOOD AT the sink in her motel bathroom and stared at herself in the mirror, the light slanting through the doorway only slightly breaking the darkness. The cold water she’d doused her face with dripped down over her chin, spots dotting her black T-shirt. Over a week of grueling days spent scouring thick thatches of dark woods, hampered by rain and heat. A sensation of sheer exhaustion combined with growing fear that they may not find little Finley Szymanski created a dark cloud that pressed from within as well as without.
She listlessly reached for a coarse towel and patted her chin and throat dry. It didn’t help that she had yet to hear from Dari. Every moment that ticked by inched up the worry quotient and made her itch in places she couldn’t possibly scratch on her own. Areas she tried to ignore, ones that transcended the mere physical.
She put the towel down and went back into the other room where the television droned on, broadcasting the late local news, which was dominated by the continuing search for the missing girl. The team’s final briefing of the day had broken up a short while ago, each member returning to his room, all of them experiencing discouragement to some degree, but vowing that tomorrow was another day.
Megan sat down on the edge of the made bed and checked her cell where it lay on the nightstand before grabbing the remote and flicking through the stations.
“Don’t bother. News and more news,” Jason said from the open doorway.
Deciding she was tired of the endless rattle of the air conditioner, not to mention the soggy, barely cold air it coughed out, she’d asked the front office for a fan and more often than not, she also left the door open until it was time to sleep.
She tossed the remote to the bed. “You’re right.”
He pushed from the jamb and came inside. “I’m always right.”
She smiled. “I’d laugh if I didn’t think you believed that.”
He sat down on the edge of the bed next to her, near but not touching. “Have I not proven myself and then some yet?”
Strangely, he had. But he was the last one she’d let know that.
She fingered the cell phone again, tilting it to look at the blank display.
When she turned back, she caught Jason watching her, wearing an expression with which she’d become familiar in recent days…and found somewhat disconcerting. If only because it touched some of those itchy places.
“What?” she asked.
“Oh, nothing. Just thinking that it must be hard. You know, to be in the middle of this and having Dari so far away and out of contact.”
She looked forward and nodded. “Yeah.”
They sat silently for a few minutes.
The nightly visits had become a ritual of sorts, with one or the other of them showing up at the other’s room for a few minutes of conversation, something to help them relax a bit after official business was taken care of. Megan realized she’d come to look forward to them.
Maybe a little too much.
She slanted him a look. “You know, you don’t have to do this…”
“Do what?”
“Take care of me.”
“Who says I’m doing this for you?”
She laughed. “Right. Isn’t there a barmaid or waitress somewhere you should be chatting up?”
He rubbed his chin and averted his gaze, his self-conscious expression making her throat tighten in awareness.
Uh-oh…
JASON CONSIDERED HER QUESTION and what he’d almost said in response—that lately he wanted no one but her.
He ran his fingers through his hair several times and pushed from the bed. This wasn’t happening. There was no way he was gunning for his best friend’s girl.
Why, then, wasn’t he with the waitress he’d met the other night? She’d slipped him her number with his beer and she’d certainly been a stunner. Just his type with golden-blond hair, lush curves and a smile designed to make any guy think of getting her between the sheets.
But whenever he imagined taking a woman to bed, the only woman he was thinking about was Megan.
Which was crazy. He wasn’t that guy. The one who slept with his best friend’s girl.
He turned around and bumped straight into her, not realizing she’d also gotten up and stood behind him.
She was close. Too close. Their noses were nearly touching.
The first thing he registered was the clean scent of her skin. Just the soft smell of motel soap, no perfume, no flowery lotion.
The next thing he saw was the way she licked her lips anxiously.
Jason groaned deep in his throat.
This…was…not…happening…
“Um, I think I better go,” he managed to grind out, trying not to notice the way the hard tips of her breasts strained against her tank top, skimming the wall of his chest with every shallow breath she took.
“Yeah. That, would, um, be a good idea.”
Neither one of them moved.
Truth was, Jason was afraid to. He was afraid that if he twitched a muscle, it would be to back her up against that bed and down on top of it.
No, she would have to be the one to move first.
Hopefully away from him.
Instead, she stepped in closer.
Christ…
MEGAN CAUGHT HER BREATH. To say she hadn’t known this might happen would make her a liar. She and Jason had been working too closely together over the past ten days for some attraction not to develop.
They probably should have been a little more careful, though.
Of course, she had no way of knowing her power to deny her own fundamental needs would hover somewhere around zero when the moment did occur.
Or accept the possibility that Jason’s would, too…
She swallowed hard, watching his eyes sharpen, much like a black panther that had just caught sight of his mate. His nostrils flared slightly as he tried to drag in air that suddenly seemed scarce in the too-hot room. She could smell his sweat…and, yes, his sex.
She was caught between needing to step away, yet yearning to move closer.
Without realizing that’s what she was going to do, she leaned ever so slightly forward, pressing her open mouth against his in the lightest of kisses. She didn’t expect him to respond. But the instant their lips made contact, she felt a fire ignite in her veins, burning her from the inside out. She wanted him to respond.
Oh, God…
He groaned somewhere deep in his chest and she felt his hands on her upper arms, as if poised to push her away. Instead, he hauled her closer.
Megan caught her breath, unprepared to have him crush his mouth down on hers…or for her welcome of the thought-robbing action.
Urgency welled up in her stomach and then exploded outward as she tangled her tongue with his. It had been so very long, too long since she’d felt this depth of need for a man.
Then it dawned on her how long—four months.
She broke free from him, gasping for air and pressing the back of her hand against her mouth.
“I’m…sorry,” she rasped.
Jason stepped back. “I’m the one who should be apologizing. I… We… That should never have happened.”
“I know.”
They turned away from each other, Megan trying like hell to grasp the situation.
What was she thinking? She loved Dari. Missed him. Lived for his texts and phone calls.
So what, then, was she doing practically devouring Jason?
It didn’t make any sense.
And yet it made perfect sense.
“You know, what just happened had nothing to do with either of us,” Jason said.
Megan’s heart skipped a beat at his words.
She slowly turned back to face him.
“Look, what I’m about to say probably won’t excuse my behavior. But maybe it will help explain it.”
She nodded. “Go ahead.”
“Well, the best I can figure it, what just happened doesn’t mean there’s really anything between them.”
“Then what does it mean?”
“Physical need—plain and simple.”
She bit her bottom lip, trying, but failing, to quiet the pool of desire in her lower stomach.
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