Breaking Protocol
By Michelle Witvliet
Covert operative Piper Jordan’s first solo assignment came at just the right time. Her attraction to her off-limits boss, Carter Riggs, was making work problematic, but gathering intel on a South American cartel wasn’t exactly her idea of a break. Before her cover is blown, Piper cuts the mission short, and now she’s on the run.
No woman gets under his skin the way Piper does, but company policy forbids fraternization—and life in the navy taught Riggs to follow the rules. When the agency loses contact with Piper, Riggs insists on leading the rescue mission to the Colombian rain forest, and it’s clear that months apart have only fanned the flames between them.
But things aren’t just heating up between agent and boss. It turns out Riggs wasn’t the only one searching for Piper. Someone wants her dead—and they’re resolved to find out who. When Piper’s accused of turning traitor, everything is on the line—their jobs, their reputations, and their lives.
75,000 words
Dear Reader,
Usually I begin these letters with some chatty information, but I’m departing from my norm this time to give you the opportunity to talk to me. At Carina, we’re always discussing our books and making sure we’re meeting your needs—not just with story and content, but also in the way they’re put together. This month, I’d like to reach out to you and ask your opinion on how the Carina Press books utilize the front and back matter. Do you like having the dear reader letter in the front? Would you prefer if it were in the back? Is there something more—excerpts, book lists or other information—we could be providing after the books? We welcome your comments and hope you will reach out to us with your thoughts at [email protected].
In the meantime, it’s business as usual here at Carina Press headquarters, and that means a lineup of excellent books (no bias here!) for the month of September. We welcome author Jael Wye to Carina Press with her science-fiction fairy-tale retelling, Ice Red, in which the tale of Snow White plays out on the deadly and beautiful planet Mars 300 years in the future. Joining her in launching a new series is return author Nico Rosso, who grabbed my attention the first time he pitched this series to me as “demon rock stars.” Misty is thrown into rock star and immortal demon Trevor Sand’s supernatural world of music, monsters and passion in Heavy Metal Heart.
More unique voices this month include urban fantasy author R.L. Naquin’s newest Monster Haven novel, Fairies in My Fireplace, as well as Agamemnon Frost and the Hollow Ships, book two of Kim Knox’s male/male science-fiction trilogy.
Sandy James wraps up her Alliance of the Amazons series with The Volatile Amazon. The Water Amazon leads the Alliance as they face their archenemy in their last and greatest fight. Veronica Scott joins Sandy in the paranormal category with Egypt-set Warrior of the Nile.
We have multiple releases in the erotic romance genre this month, including Love Letters Volume 5: Exposed, in which the Love Letters ladies strip away everything but the hot truth, and four couples see each other in a tantalizingly revealing new light. Forbidden Obsessions by Jodie Griffin features Bondage & Breakfast owner Gabe McConnell, who finally gets his chance at love when he meets a novice submissive who touches a part of his dominant heart no one else ever has. In Lynda Aicher’s Bonds of Hope, former America’s sweetheart Quinn Andrews has an opportunity to revive her career by playing a sexual submissive in a highly anticipated new TV series. Quinn is ready to throw herself into the role, and sex club The Den is the ideal place for a crash course.
Also in the erotic romance genre, we’re pleased to welcome author Lise Horton to Carina Press with Words of Lust. A career spent teaching erotic literature does not prepare brainy Professor Serafina Luca for NYC construction foreman Nick Stellato, but his lessons in lust promise to fulfill her wickedest desires, and his promise of love, her wildest dreams.
For historical romance fans, Alyssa Everett offers up A Tryst with Trouble. The arrogant heir to a dukedom and a blunt-spoken spinster take an instant dislike to each other, but must join forces to solve a murder mystery in this clever regency romp.
Kaylea Cross returns with another edge-of-your-seat romantic suspense novel, Lethal Pursuit. An air force pararescue jumper and a female security forces officer are locked in an intense battle of wills, but when they’re captured by an enemy warlord, it takes everything they have to survive and fight their way back to friendly lines together. Check out the other books in this series, Deadly Descent and Tactical Strike.
We’re excited to present Corroded, the next book in Karina Cooper’s St. Croix Chronicles. Now fixated on revenge, bounty hunter Cherry St. Croix must bend all her intellect on catching a murderer—no matter whose help she must ask, and to whose demand she must submit.
Last, I’m thrilled to announce the release of three debut authors this month. Rebecca Crowley’s contemporary sports romance, The Striker’s Chance, gives us passion on and off the pitch when ambitious PR manager Holly Taylor has to revamp the playboy image of sexy, stubborn professional soccer player Kepler de Klerk. Michelle Witvliet breaks onto the romantic suspense scene with Breaking Protocol. She can’t let go of a tragic past; he faces an uncertain future; so they live in the moment and discover all they really need is each other. And in our new adult lineup, debut author Melissa Guinn offers a new adult romance novel about first love, second chances and learning to let go in Headfirst Falling.
I hope you enjoy this month’s releases as much as we have, and find them satisfying, remarkable and memorable!
We love to hear from readers, and you can email us your thoughts, comments and questions to [email protected]. You can also interact with Carina Press staff and authors on our blog, Twitter stream and Facebook fan page.
Happy reading!
~Angela James
Executive Editor, Carina Press
www.carinapress.com
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Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
About the Author
Copyright
Chapter One
Present Day
Colombia, South America
Undercover operative Piper Jordan, currently known as Isabel Fuentes, dropped her backpack and kicked off her huaraches the second she hit the door. The rough-hewn floor chafed at the soles of her feet as she made her way across the room to light a kerosene lamp. She struck a match and held it to the charred wick, her gaze moving through the flickering light as it caught and flared.
The isolated cabin looked far less cozy and romantic than when she’d first found the place months earlier. Not much could be done about it now, she mused, her attention shifting to where she’d tossed her bag near the door. Retrieving it, she tugged hard on the strained zipper, and lightened the bulging load by one bottle of Enrique Tequila La Reserva, the best she could find on short notice.
Her thumb rubbed the webbed fabric of th
e backpack’s worn strap like a cherished worry stone. Not much to show for this particular lifetime, she reflected, at the same time realizing there wasn’t one thing in that bag she couldn’t leave behind or live without. That she thought she could get out at all was already presumptuous. Whether or not she took the backpack and its contents was totally irrelevant. Tossing the bag aside along with her troubled thoughts, she carried the tequila into the bedroom.
When she returned to the front room, she drew aside the sun-bleached curtain from the window and peered through the dirty glass. There wasn’t much to see in the clearing or the dense rainforest beyond. Night was descending, and the only illumination in the deepening cloud-strewn sky was a waning half moon. Inner turmoil elevated by a hefty dose of adrenaline dampened any possibility of her appreciating the stark beauty surrounding the cabin. All she saw in the settling cloak of darkness and thick cloud cover were additional tactics to aid in a successful escape.
A sad smile played at the corners of her mouth as she fiddled with the heavy hammered links of her gold bracelet. The memories rushed toward her swifter than she could stop them, and it took an even greater effort than usual to keep them from overwhelming her. She hardened herself against the onslaught and focused on the moment, not the memories, and the moment told her not to wait any longer.
Not surprised by the turn of events, she murmured, “He’s not coming. I might as well leave.”
Her words were no sooner spoken than the door banged open and in he strode, sturdy and swarthy and all hers for one last time. Without a word, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her with a rough, restless passion she found both frightening and compelling, and oh, so irresistible.
“I thought you’d changed your mind,” she said between hasty kisses.
“I’m here now,” was all he said, without a word of explanation for his tardiness, and she didn’t care. Words were never his forte or what had attracted her to him in the first place.
He tugged at the slender ribbon gathering the neckline of her peasant blouse. Rough knuckles grazed her collarbone as he slid the embroidered fabric off her shoulder.
She frantically tore away his shirt, kissing each exposed inch of flesh in the process. The tangy saltiness of his warm skin filled her mouth as her tongue flicked across the detailed black scorpion tattooed around his left nipple. The virile mixture of unadulterated maleness and clean, healthy sweat, the kind a man exudes by simply existing in a hot climate, further heightened her arousal.
She trembled and moaned and pressed herself deeper into his fevered caresses. He stepped back to steady his stance and stumbled over her backpack.
He glanced at the menacing object, giving it a little nudge with his toe. “What’s this?” he questioned.
“I’m leaving,” she told him. No sense in prolonging the inevitable, she decided with an audible sigh as she reached for the offending bag.
He gripped her arm and yanked her back. “When?” he asked, sounding only slightly more startled than angry.
“Tonight,” she replied, turning away from the intensity of his unblinking glare.
“Does Carlos know?”
She tried to hide her surprise, having expected his interest, but to bring Carlos Escobedo into the mix caught her off guard. After weeks of meeting on the sly like this, they’d never spoken of their mutual employer, not even in passing. She could hardly believe he chose that moment to mention the cartel capo, but she wasn’t about to open that line of conversation at this late date. She didn’t want to know the extent of Miguel’s involvement with the drug lord any more than she wanted him to know about hers.
“I have to go,” was all the further explanation she offered. There was nothing more she could tell him.
With a heavy sigh, he braced his palms on each side of the wood window frame and stared into the darkness, leaving her to wonder what it was that held his attention as the seconds turned into minutes and the quiet turned into absolute silence.
She tightened her grip on her bag straps. “Guess I’ll be going. Goodbye, Miguel.” Another leaving, another goodbye.
His reaction to her farewell was quick and sure, and when he spun around, his demeanor had made a shocking transformation. An inordinately seductive smile brightened his brooding features. He wound the dangling ribbon from her blouse around his finger and reeled her nearer. “Is there anything I can do to convince you to stick around a little longer?”
Tossing her backpack aside, she looped her finger into his waistband and backed into the bedroom. The flickering candlelight cast their coupled shadows in every direction, distorting their frantic movements as they tumbled to the bed in a desperate dance of goodbyes.
He stroked her cheek and whispered, “I will miss you when you’re gone, lovely Isabel.”
Isabel... Hearing him call her that made her suddenly realize after tonight that person would no longer exist. She’d existed on this unstable precipice for so long; this clandestine affair had been just one more edge on which to teeter before taking that important first step toward finding solid ground again. As eager as she was to be rid of the woman who’d lived and worked within the walls of Escobedo’s cocaine empire, finding her way back might not be so easy this time. All she could do was wait and see if Piper would be waiting for her when she returned.
Miguel rose up on sturdy brown arms stained dark from the equatorial sun, his brown eyes flashing, and smiling that mysterious smile that had captured her attention from the first moment he’d bestowed it upon her in the Monteria cantina.
“Take me with you when you go,” he whispered.
That simply wasn’t an option, not for her, certainly not for them. The very reasons that had placed her there months earlier were the same ones that forced her to flee now. She’d arrived alone and she needed to depart in the same manner.
Her eyes fluttered shut as she breathed, “I can’t.”
“Then you leave me no other choice. I can’t let you go.” The resolve passed from his lips as his tender caresses turned rough and demanding. He’d never once displayed this blatant, one-sided brutality before. Her eyes flew open and before she could react, he straddled her chest, trapped her forearms beneath his legs and wrapped his calloused hands around her throat.
The face that stared back at her was that of a man she no longer recognized, yet she had no trouble interpreting this stranger’s intentions.
“Get off me,” she rasped as she struggled against him.
He laughed, shifting his weight forward and tightening his grip around her throat. “Not until I finish what I started.”
“You are finished,” she grated on her last breath. Just as she felt herself losing consciousness, she heard it, a faint click and scuffling from the other room.
Miguel heard it, too, and turned to the source. The distraction was all she needed to break free and reach for the .38 she’d tucked under the corner of the mattress. Her fingers curled around the gun’s grip just as the bedroom door banged open. A deafening blast followed, ripping a scream out of her as Miguel’s body crumpled and tumbled off the bed.
Digging her heels into the mattress, she scrambled back and fired off two rounds. The first shot winged past the attacker wielding the shotgun and left the man momentarily stunned. Before he could recover and raise his weapon, the second bullet hit him right between the eyes. He was dead before he or his weapon hit the floor.
When the man behind him saw what she had done, he lunged at her with fists raised. His bulk knocked her back and pinned her down. They grappled for the revolver wedged between them. Still trapped between their bodies, the gun went off. The hot jolt kicked her in the gut, searing her flesh, and for a split second she wondered which of them had caught the bullet.
The twisted look of surprise filling his face delivered the answer. His body recoiled, as if suspended by his belt loop, then slumped
against her. Levering her fists against his shoulders, she heaved him off and climbed from the bed.
Knowing that every tick of the clock worked against her, she stepped cautiously over the collection of bodies as she gingerly touched the split in her lip and swelling cheek. The contact burn on her stomach stung like hell, but she pushed the pain into a place where she could ignore it now and deal with it later.
Pausing, her feet only inches from Miguel’s body, she stared at what was left of his once handsome face. Her heart pounded, her stomach clenching against the gruesome scene. She steeled herself against the sickening urges rising in her tender, swollen throat and forced a deep breath past the choking pain to purge her nostrils of the gagging stench of gunpowder and pooling blood.
The blood. There was so much of it. She hadn’t seen that much blood since... Germany. No! She couldn’t go there. She needed to stay focused.
Turning away sharply, refusing to acknowledge the similarities, she willed herself to move. Clutching her skirt and blouse, she promptly dropped the blood-soaked garments. That’s when she realized she, too, was splattered and smeared with the dead men’s blood. She tugged the sheet off the bed and found a clean corner to wipe herself off.
With no other choice, she hurried out of the bedroom and grabbed her backpack. Unzipping the main compartment, she pulled out a plain white tee and her favorite jeans. Arms and legs working in tandem, she tugged the shirt over her head as she stepped into the jeans and pulled them up. As she finished buttoning the fly, she crammed her feet into her sandals on her way out the door. She paused, one foot over the threshold, hesitation visibly forming second thoughts, and she turned back.
Bracing herself, she re-entered the gruesome bedroom and moved to the opposite side of the bed where two pillar candles still burned. Gripping the tequila bottle by its slender neck, she whacked it against the nightstand until it shattered, spraying its contents in whatever direction the glass flew.
Without giving the room or anything in it a second glance, she lifted one of the thick candles and stepped back. Checking behind her to make certain she had an unobstructed path to the exit, she dropped it into the spreading puddle of 180-proof accelerant. She hoped the fire would create enough of a diversion to give her a little extra time to slip away before anyone discovered she wasn’t one of the casualties.
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