The anguish he heard in her brother’s voice told him that he had felt guilt for that all these years.
“What about this Dillon guy?” Micah asked.
“Clean. I thought he was stalking her because he wanted to finish the job, but after I got into some of his files—”
“His files?”
Devon smiled. “I’m a top-rate hacker.”
“My tax dollars at work again?”
“Yep. Thanks for that by the way. But he was pulled off the case. That struck me as odd. It had been his case for years. He had a real hard-on for getting Dad behind bars. So I had to dig deeper. Apparently, the pervert had a thing for my sister.”
Everything inside Micah went cold. “She was seventeen.”
“And other than the hair and the leaner muscles, she looked like she does now.”
Micah sighed. “So you don’t think we should worry about him.”
“My worry is that he’ll lead our father’s people to her. He’s good, but he isn’t that good. And he is former FBI. If he needed help, he might go to them.”
“And that could tip off whoever’s been selling her out.”
Devon nodded. “Right. Why are you worried about him?”
“He’ll find us here.”
“No he won’t. I told you—” A knock at the door interrupted Devon. He pulled out his gun and rose slowly from the chair. Micah followed him.
“You didn’t order room service I take it?”
Devon shook his head.
They got to the door. “Who is it?” Devon asked through the door.
“Open up. It’s Conner Dillon.”
“Fuck off.” Devon apparently wasn’t going to be friendly.
“I know Micah Ross is in there.”
Micah pushed Devon aside and looked out the peep hole. Dillon was with the black Irishman from the other night. Micah felt another person there, but he didn’t see him.
“Who’s with you?” he asked.
“My partner and my sister.”
He put his hand on the door and felt the cold metal of Devon’s gun against his neck. “You might want to think about that again.”
“You said yourself that he’s clean. He’s here. Not like we can go anywhere. And you can shoot him if he does anything you don’t like.”
Devon hesitated, then nodded and moved away, but he kept his gun out.
He opened the door and found Dillon frowning at him, the man with dreads looking down the hall, and the Amazon with long inky hair and big green eyes.
“Come in.” He stepped away and the entourage walked through the door.
Dillon picked up on Devon’s gun right away. “Want to put that away?”
“No.”
The Amazon laughed. “Oh, I like him already. Mr. Ross, I had the pleasure of experiencing your club a few nights ago.”
He remembered her and the hulking man behind her from his club. He shifted his attention to Dillon. “So that’s how you found her?”
“An ad.”
“I found her,” the woman said. “I have a facial-recognition program and I found her in your ad. Most people wouldn’t since I’m the only person who has it.”
The ad. He had forgotten about that. If she had told him the truth from the beginning, he would have made sure that she didn’t show up in any ad.
“Conner?” the woman in question’s voice filtered out over the crowd, and even before he knew he what he was doing, Micah was moving toward her.
“Marjorie.” Dillon said.
“Dee.”
He opened his mouth and then snapped it shut.
“So what the hell is going on here, and just why do you all think you can discuss me as if I am a child.”
Fifteen minutes later, Dee couldn’t believe the crap the men in her life tried to pull on her. “Listen, I understand you all want to walk around dragging your knuckles on the ground. But someone needs to explain to me why being under this protection in Vegas is any good to me.”
Micah said nothing as he sat stoically by her. And that pissed her off. Okay, that was stupid because she could take care of herself. Had for a long time. But there was a tiny part of her that wanted someone to take over. Take her away.
“You’ll be safer here. Under our protection.”
She thought she heard Micah call her brother a dumbass under his breath, but she ignored him.
“Really? Gee, in ten years, no one has found me. They all thought I was dead. And now, in the span of forty-eight hours, a former FBI agent, my brother and my lover all make enough of a mess of things that any idiot could find me.”
“You have to know if I found you, your father could.”
Dillon’s simple words sent a shaft of ice to her heart. The coldness seeped into her blood. “Of course, as your sister said, no one else had that recognition program. So how would they have found me without you leading them to me?”
She thought she heard a snicker and decided it was from Conner’s sister.
Devon wasn’t in the mood to play nice. “I’ve been keeping tabs on you for years. First your sister and her boyfriend—”
“Boyfriend?” both parties said.
“Uh, I thought…”
Dee ignored them. “Finish your comment, Devon.”
He pulled his attention away from the pair. “What I was trying to say was that first they went to Hawaii, then you followed less than a week later. Anyone who has any kind of tracking will know. And thanks to you, we will be on the move again.”
“No,” she said.
Everyone turned to her.
“You have to, honey. It will be safer that way,” Devon said.
She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m sick of running.”
Conner shook his head. “Guerro is going to testify this week—”
“He’s dead.” Devon’s announcement caused silence to fill the room.
“Fuck. How did you find out?” Conner asked.
“I have my connections.”
“Or maybe you still have connections to Daddy.” Conner fairly spit out the words.
Devon started for the former agent with rage burning in his gaze. Dee stepped in front of him to try and stop him. He made a mistake by pushing her aside. Before she knew what was happening, Micah was there, his large hand taking a handful of Devon’s shirt and raising him off the ground.
“You want to rethink what you are doing here. And you will want to apologize to your sister.”
Devon looked ready to fight, but Dee stepped up and put her hand on Micah’s. “Put him down.”
“Your brother needs to learn respect for women.”
“Yeah, I agree. But he’s my brother. I would really hate it if the man I love were to beat him up again.”
Micah’s head whipped around. He watched her, those gray eyes studying her to make sure she wasn’t lying. Then he released her brother, allowing him to collapse on the floor. He pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
“While this is all nice, we need to be on the move again if Devon’s information is correct. Her father is severing all ties,” said Conner, always the FBI agent.
She shook her head as she snuggled closer to Micah and laid her head upon his chest. She’d made her decision. “No. What am I supposed to do, run my entire life? I can testify.”
“No.” That came from the two most important men in her life.
She looked up at Micah, who was grinding his teeth, then at her brother. “It’s what has to be done. The only problem is getting a hold of the prosecutor. Can we trust him?”
Devon shrugged. “I guess as much as anyone. He wasn’t involved in this when you disappeared, so the chances he is on the take are really slim. Even saying that, there’s someone involved. Someone in the know around the FBI has been feeding your father info. Still.”
“Could you find out who has been on the case? There has to be someone that is connected. We just have to find out who has been there all these years.”
Devo
n nodded. “I can try. I worry because I left so fast, I didn’t bring any of my security gear for the computer.”
Maura stepped up with a smile. “That’s where I come in. I have mine, and some of it is like my facial-recognition program. It’s not on the market.”
Devon smiled at the tall woman. Dee thought she heard a growl from Zeke, but when she looked at him, he appeared bored.
“Get to work on that. Conner, you have your connections still, right? You can contact this prosecutor?”
He nodded.
“Make sure he doesn’t know where you are when you contact him. Tell him you have another witness.” She sighed. “I need a shower. Come on, Micah.”
He followed her into the bedroom with a smile on his lips. When he shut the door, he leaned back against it. “You liked being in control out there.”
She nodded. “I did a little bit. It was more about not letting my father ruin my life. I have allowed that for too many years, dammit. I want my life back.”
“It was sexy.” The way he was staring at her made her heart turn over. He looked like he wanted to devour her.
Her stomach fluttered. “Yeah?”
He nodded. He just kept watching her with those gray eyes.
“What?” she asked.
“Did you mean what you said out there?”
She worked back through the conversation, trying to pick up on what he was talking about. But she couldn’t remember anything that would put that look on his face.
“You said you loved me.”
Well, crap. “I did not.”
“You did. When I was threatening your brother.”
Did she? Oh, God, she did.
“And you can’t take it back.”
She closed her eyes. “It’s your fault, all of you. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep in two days. I’m stressed… God, I can’t believe I said that.”
He walked to her then. Even though his feet were silent on the plush carpeting, she could sense him just in front of her.
“Can’t take it back.”
She glared up at him when she saw his smile. “Why not?”
He grinned. “You said it in front of witnesses.”
She sighed. “They can be bribed. I have a feeling my brother would never be happy with any man I was involved with.”
“Well, I’m the only one you are, have been, or will be involved with.”
She cut him a look as he pulled her into his arms. “Is that some kind of ultimatum?”
“Reality.”
She huffed out an irritated sigh. “You’re not going to order me around.”
“Yeah?”
She settled her head on his shoulder. “What the hell have I got myself into?”
He chuckled but said nothing as he slipped his hands beneath her legs and lifted her off the floor. She would never get used the way he carried her around as if she weighed nothing. He walked into the bathroom and then set her down. He pulled off his T-shirt and then shucked off his pants.
God, he was beautiful. Tall, golden, he was the picture of masculine beauty. She allowed her gaze to travel down his body and settle on his cock. He was hard. She licked her lips. He groaned, but before he could tell her no, she dropped to her knees in front of him and slipped her tongue over the head. The salty precome danced over tongue, skittered over her taste buds. She cradled his sac in her hands as she leaned forward and pulled his cock into her mouth.
He groaned, the sound echoing in the bathroom. It spurred her arousal. Delicious heat spiraled through her blood, warming her body from within. Inch by inch she took him in, adding her other hand to the base of it. Then she started to suck so hard it hollowed out her cheeks. His fingers slid through her hair, then gripped it as she started on him in earnest. Each thrust into her mouth drew him closer to his orgasm. She could feel it there. He grew harder as he started to flex his hips in rhythm, the head of his penis bumping the back of her throat. But she didn’t care. She wanted this. She wanted to feel him come in her mouth, taste him.
Soon he groaned her name, his hot seed shooting into her mouth and sliding down her throat as he held her still. She licked and sucked it up. He sighed, leaning against the tiled bathroom wall, and looked down at her. The hands that had been gripping her hair gentled, then slid down to cup her face.
She rose up to her feet, brushed a kiss over his lips, then led him to the bed. He collapsed, then rose to his elbows as she climbed in beside him.
“I need to give you pleasure.”
She smiled and rose up to kiss him. “You will. Now go to sleep.”
He sank down on the mattress, pulling her with him. “Just so you know, I’m not going to let you boss me around.”
She smiled as she snuggled up against him, not caring just who was in charge at the moment. All that mattered was that he was there with her.
Micah walked out of the bathroom and looked over at Dee. She was snuggled in the bed, her face relaxed in sleep. The woman was tying him up in knots and she had no idea. He knew, or at least was beginning to understand.
From the moment he had become sexually active, his need for control, to dominate his partner, had always been a compulsion he rarely ignored. Dominating her added to the satisfaction, but the fact that he didn’t seem to need it to feel complete scared him more than anything he’d dealt with before.
He sighed. This wasn’t the time to worry about it. They had to figure out just what the hell they were going to do about her father. Then they could get on with their lives. He bent down, brushed his lips over her cheek and then walked out the door into the hallway.
“We have to have some kind of plan.”
Micah heard the irritation in her brother’s voice the moment he stepped out of the bedroom. He rounded the corner and found Devon facing off with Dillon over the bar. It was still unbelievable to him that he was in this situation. His life had never been easy. The hard road to his success had been filled with pitfalls. No one would choose to become an ultimate fighter, or a bounty hunter. But it had suited him and the money had been worth it. He’d had worse jobs before he found those. Now he was in love with a woman who was on the run from her father who wanted to kill her. Her older brother wasn’t only a pain in the ass, but a multimillionaire…if not billionaire. And he was having to deal with a former FBI agent who’d had a hard-on for Dee when she was seventeen.
“I agree, but going after your father head-on is never the answer.”
Devon made a sound of disgust and whirled away to pace. Nervous energy vibrated off him in waves.
“Sorry to interrupt the little pow wow here, but I think I can add my two cents.”
Both of them tossed him an irritated look. He smiled.
“Now I agree that going after your father face to face is stupid.”
“Fuck you,” her brother snarled.
His smile turned evil. “No, thanks.”
Devon snarled again and then collapsed into a chair.
“What do you think you can add to this discussion, Ross? Hell, you led Dillon right to her.”
The irritation in her brother’s voice didn’t surprise Micah. He could understand it himself. He was still pissed off he was so worried about getting to Dee that he hadn’t taken precautions. But the past was past, and they needed to move on.
“I know how to take care of her better than either of you,” said Dillon.
Micah rolled his eyes. He knew they didn’t have time for the macho crap, as Dee often called it.
“I think all of you need to settle down. A girl could faint with all the testosterone in the room,” the Amazon said. She walked into the room with a swagger that made him smile. “We have to bring all you idiots together to help Marjorie.”
“Dee. Her name is Dee now,” Devon said.
She smiled at him. “Of course, sorry. Dee wants to testify.”
“Not going to happen.”
Micah settled against the bar. “I think it is.”
Devon glared in his d
irection. “Don’t you have any control over her?”
Micah shrugged. “Sure, I could talk her out of it, for a time. But it’s what she needs to do. It’s what she wants to do. If that’s what Dee wants, that’s what Dee gets.”
Dillon decided to add to the conversation. “I have to side here with Devon. It would be best if she didn’t testify.”
He glanced at the former agent. “Oh, you do? Was it best that you couldn’t be on her protection team, so you allowed them to remove you from the team and left her open to attack?”
Dillon clenched his jaw. “Be that as it may, I understand her father better than anyone. It took me a long time to be able to bring the bastard down.”
“You didn’t. He’s still out there,” Devon pointed out. A flush of anger filled Dillon’s cheeks.
“Yeah, just a little reminder here, if you had brought him down, it wouldn’t have been because of you. It would’ve been because a scared girl put her life on the line. She allowed you to protect her and you fucked it up. So don’t tell me you know her father well. No one knows him better than Devon and Dee. Dee probably better than Devon since he ran away to play spy.”
“Oh, that’s how Striker Force is so realistic, right?” Maura asked, admiration in her voice.
“Stay on track, Maura,” Zeke spoke for the first time.
She shot the dangerous-looking man a dirty look but said nothing else.
“So, we need to figure out a way to get to Rizzoli,” Zeke said.
“How? I admit to knowing more than the FBI knows, but even then, it would be hard to get to him,” Devon commented.
Micah glanced at him. “How would you know? When was the last time you even talked to your father?”
“The day he told me my sister was dead.”
A beat of silence filled the room.
Dillon sighed. “Well, I think the best thing, the one thing that your father would listen to is—”
“A threat,” Dee said. They had been so intense in their discussion, they hadn’t noticed that she’d joined them. “He would only listen to some kind of threat.”
She looked tired. There were smudges beneath her eyes, and she looked so tiny wrapped up in the big, white, fluffy robe. Micah went to her, took her hand and led her to a couch for both of them to sit on.
A Little Harmless Lie Page 16