by Sybil Bartel
Copyright © 2019 by Sybil Bartel
Cover art by: CT Cover Creations
Cover Photo by: Eric Battershell Photography
Cover Model: Parker Ramsay
Edited by: Hot Tree Editing
Formatting by: Champagne Book Design
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Books by Sybil Bartel
Fearless
Dedication
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
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Epilogue
Callous
Scandalous
Merciless
Reckless
Ruthless
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Books by Sybil Bartel
The Alpha Bodyguard Series
SCANDALOUS
MERCILESS
RECKLESS
RUTHLESS
FEARLESS
CALLOUS
The Uncompromising Series
TALON
NEIL
ANDRÉ
BENNETT
CALLAN
The Alpha Escort Series
THRUST
ROUGH
GRIND
The Alpha Antihero Series
HARD LIMIT
HARD JUSTICE
HARD SIN
The Unchecked Series
IMPOSSIBLE PROMISE
IMPOSSIBLE CHOICE
IMPOSSIBLE END
The Rock Harder Series
NO APOLOGIES
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FEARLESS
Bodyguard.
Sniper.
Morally corrupt.
I didn’t care who I aimed at. You paid me, I pulled the trigger. I sold my skills to the highest bidder, and trust me, I had skills. The Marines trained me to aim a sniper rifle, but life taught me to get the job done—at any expense.
Except hostage recovery wasn’t on my short list. I didn’t care that the personal security firm that’d hired me was paying double to get some rich businessman’s daughter back without casualties. I didn’t negotiate with terrorists. Ever. I had my own plan. Take out anyone in my sights, recover the hostage, and get out. But then I laid eyes on the half-naked, bleeding brunette, and I changed my mind. I was gonna do a lot more than simply pull the trigger.
Now they were going to find out how fearless a bodyguard could be.
For My Family
MARIUS PULLED UP IN FRONT of the club. “You sure you don’t want me to wait for you? Your father’s in for the night. I don’t have anywhere else I need to be.”
I scanned the long line of people waiting to get into the nightclub before I smiled nervously at my father’s driver. “No, thank you. I’m good, Marius. I’ll call a service when I’m ready to go home.”
Marius eyed all the people in line. “I don’t think your father would be comfortable with you waiting in that line with all those young people.”
Under normal circumstances, I probably would’ve smiled and teased Marius about being almost seventy. Instead, I was anxiously wondering what to expect tonight. A few weeks ago, I’d gotten a call from a Hollywood studio that needed a makeup artist immediately for a shoot in Miami Beach because their usual makeup artist had taken ill. Jumping at the chance, I’d said yes on the spot. A few hours later, I was giving Dreena MacKenzie, Hollywood’s hottest actress, a light dusting of blush over her perfect skin.
I’d had plenty of rich clients, and I’d done makeup for all sorts of events, but this had been my first job working on a feature film. And meeting Dreena MacKenzie had been a career changer. Not only had she been fun and sweet, but she’d spread my name around, and I’d been booked for jobs ever since.
We’d kept in contact over texts, and she’d invited me to her private party after the premiere of the film. So here I was, outside a club at midnight, with instructions to let her know when I arrived so one of her security team could escort me inside.
“I texted Dreena to let her know I was here.” I put the tinted window down and glanced at my cell as a text came in from Dreena, saying someone was on their way out. “I won’t be waiting in that line,” I explained to Marius as I looked up.
A man in all black strode out of the club, aiming right for our car.
My breath caught.
Tall, muscled, so many muscles, stern, imposing—he was everything you would think a bodyguard would be, but it was none of those things that made my heartbeat suddenly go wild.
It was his eyes.
They met mine as he walked straight toward the car, and it was as if the entire world stopped.
I swallowed past the sudden dryness in my throat and forced words out for Marius. “I think this may be one of Dreena’s bodyguards.”
Without any hesitation, the man opened my door, and his deep, clipped voice shook me to the very core of my being. “Miss MacKenzie and company are already inside. This way.” He held his hand out.
My head spun, my thoughts jumbled, and I forgot to breathe.
His hand, outstretched, palm up, was as huge as it was intimidating.
“Ma’am?” he rumbled.
Shaking my head, I sucked in a breath. The scent of masculine cologne mixed with smoke swirled around me. I glanced at my father’s driver. “Thank you, Marius.”
“Of course, dear. Have a good evening.”
The bodyguard’s gaze cut to Marius. “East side of the club is an alley. Park back there to wait.”
“
Oh, no,” I protested. “I told Marius he could retire for the evening.”
The bodyguard’s sharp stare landed on me. “Then how did you plan on getting home?” he demanded.
A shiver went up my spine. None of my father’s bodyguards had ever been this imposing. All at once, I wanted to bend to this man’s alpha dominance and push back against it. Thankfully, I didn’t have to do either.
Marius cut in. “My sentiments exactly. I will wait for her.”
The bodyguard gave Marius a curt nod, then looked at me. “Ready?”
I’d been surrounded by drivers and some form of security my entire life. Being the daughter of a bank president wasn’t all that exciting in itself, but when your grandfather and uncle were the largest inside owners of a bank holding company and your father was on the board of said holding company, it made life more complicated.
So I wasn’t the girl who went clubbing.
I was the quiet, only child of a rich family who’d been sheltered at private schools her whole life and allowed to pursue my “hobby” of doing makeup. And until this very moment, it had never truly sunk in how very sheltered I’d been.
Stripped down to flesh and nerves and sudden insecurities, I reached for him. “I’m ready.”
His giant, rough hand enclosed mine, and awareness like I’d never felt shot up my arm and danced across my skin. Pulling me out of the car as if I were a mere feather, he made my stomach flutter and my nerves swirl into a symphony of excitement.
Unladylike, I sucked in an involuntary breath.
His eyes on mine, his stare more intense than any I had ever experienced, he didn’t step aside.
He didn’t even move.
He stared, and my heart rate catapulted.
His masculine scent, his intense presence, his sheer size, it all spun together in the perfect storm. All at once, I was both intimidated by him and desperate for more of him.
Shocked, by him, by my thoughts, I forced words out. “Thank you.”
With a quick frown, he let go of me, only to move his hand to the small of my back. “This way,” he practically growled.
I fought for a deep breath as the heat of his touch stirred something deep inside me I didn’t understand.
A mere minute ago, I’d been a makeup artist who’d lucked her way into a Hollywood blockbuster movie. Thirty seconds ago, I’d been the daughter of the president of Miami Bank and Trust who’d been dropped off by her father’s driver for a movie premiere after-party.
Now I was a woman who’d measure every single glance from any man up against this one by a dark-eyed bodyguard.
DARK HAIR, DARK EYES, RED lips, and curves for days—Jesus Christ, she was beautiful.
Helping her out of her car, I lost my fucking mind for a second and stared at her.
Mentally shaking myself out of it, I put my hand on her back. “This way.” Goddamn, I needed to get laid.
As if she had experience with a bodyguard, she ducked her head, moved closer to my side, and fell in step with me.
Fuck my life, jealousy reared.
Who the hell was this girl, and who’d trained her how to walk next to her security detail? Whoever the asshole was, I hated him.
I touched the communication device in my ear. “Approaching side entrance.”
Collins snorted through the comm. “Think you can manage to get your tongue back in your mouth by then?”
I refrained from telling him to fuck off. “Ten seconds, open the door.”
“Already open, asshole,” Collins clipped. “But you would know that if you’d take your eyes off her.”
In a fucking daze from her sweet scent and full tits, I snapped my head up, taking my eyes off her cleavage.
Collins, the jaded prick, stood at the open side entrance looking at me like I was an idiot.
“Now, now, children.” Tyler, another bodyguard we worked with, chuckled through his comm from somewhere inside the club. “Do I need to come out there and separate you two?”
“If the look on Trigger’s face is any indication, you’re gonna have to separate him from a brunette before the night’s up,” Collins hazed.
Tyler chuckled again. “She that hot? Who is she?”
Wanting to throat punch both Collins and Tyler, I settled for glaring at Collins.
Collins smirked at me, but answered Tyler. “Friend of the client.”
“Dreena isn’t a fucking client, you pricks, and neither am I,” Tank clipped through his comm. “Do your jobs and keep the paparazzi away from us tonight.”
“This is a job?” Collins asked sarcastically. “We’re getting paid for tonight?”
“No one asked you to be here,” Tank reminded him.
“We all just wanted to come out and see what kind of scandal you and your woman cause next,” Tyler joked.
Tank growled.
Ignoring all the bullshit the fucks I worked with dished out, I pressed my hand against the brunette’s back with more pressure than I needed to. Possessive shit I’d never entertained about any woman reared, and I opened my damn mouth.
“I’m taking her upstairs.” It wasn’t protocol, but I didn’t give a shit. She smelled like sin and fit next to me as if I’d been fucking her for years. In that moment, I didn’t care that this chick was all class and totally out of my league, I was taking her upstairs.
Ignoring Tyler and glaring at Collins so he didn’t say shit, I walked her through the side entrance.
The music from the club assaulted us, and her back stiffened.
Instinctual, ingrained, my hand went to the gun in my holster. “Problem?” I glanced around, but we were the only ones in the short hall.
She shivered. “No. I just….” She trailed off.
“You what?” I demanded, suddenly wanting to turn her the fuck around and take her out of here.
“Nothing.” Inhaling, she gave me a small, sexy-as-fuck, shy smile. “It’s silly. I’ve just… never been here before.”
Protective shit way beyond my job came out of nowhere. “You need to leave?”
“No, no, I’m good.” Her voice dropped, and I almost missed it. “Thank you, though.”
I rarely, if ever, needed to touch a client, and I sure as hell didn’t need to be touching her, but that didn’t stop me from taking it a step further. I put my arm around her shoulders and issued a command. “Left turn at the end of the hall. We’ll take the stairs to the VIP area.”
“Thank you,” her voice stronger, she replied courteously.
I didn’t say dick. If she knew the debaucherous shit running through my head and what I wanted to do to her sweet body and that short-as-hell dress, she wouldn’t be thanking me. She’d be telling me to fuck off.
Taking her up the stairs, I led her to the reserved area in the cordoned-off section Tank and his woman, Dreena, had.
Looking like he’d rather be anywhere else than in a fucking club, Tank tipped his chin at me.
Dreena jumped up, throwing Tank’s arm off her. “Ludeviene, you made it!”
Ludeviene.
Jesus Christ, even her name sounded classy. French or some shit, but still classy as hell.
I dropped my arm from her shoulder as she stepped forward to hug Dreena. “I did. Thank you so much for inviting me.”
Dreena brushed her off. “Oh, please. We share the same birthday month, how could I not?” She winked at her. “Anyhoo, you know Falcon, and you remember my publicist, Janette, and her assistant, Corrine.”
As everyone was saying hello, Tyler walked up and slapped me on the back before dropping his voice. “You done drooling, Trigger?” He wiggled his eyebrows at the brunette.
“Fuck off,” I muttered, hating the nickname.
Laughing, Tyler took a seat next to his woman, Calandra.
Dreena smiled at Tyler. “And these are our friends, Damian and Calandra Tyler.”
Tyler held his hand out to her. “Pleasure’s all ours. Have you met Ty?” Looking innocent as fuck, Tyler, that prick, raised
an eyebrow and nodded in my direction.
I stepped back in to the shadows and positioned myself at the top of the stairs.
The brunette looked over her shoulder at me, and her cheeks straight-up flushed before she turned back to Tyler. “Well, not officially, but he walked me in.” She glanced back at me again. “Hello.”
A single fucking word, and it went straight to my dick.
Goddamn.
I tipped my chin, then focused my gaze over her head.
She blushed harder, then turned back to the group.
“You gonna stand there all night and nurse that hard-on, or you coming back downstairs?” Collins asked through the comms.
I was supposed to be stationed at the bottom of the stairs, vetting anyone going up, but my ass was staring at the petite brunette, and I didn’t feel like fucking moving. There was no reason for me to be in the VIP section, since Tank and Tyler were already up here. They were off duty for the night from our employer, Luna and Associates, but try telling a former Marine to not be on guard when he was in public. Never gonna happen. You could take a Marine off the battlefield, but you never took the Marine out of the man.
I touched my comm. “Fuck off, Collins.”
“Guess that means you’re staying,” he quipped.
“Incoming.” Preston’s voice came through our comms. “Five total. Three males, two females.”
I jogged down the stairs as they approached. One of the chicks looked hammered, and the three pricks in suits looked like Hollywood pretty boys. I glanced at Collins where he was stationed by the side exit.
The asshole smirked. “Looks like you’re gonna have to up your game.”
Preston came up behind the group, his eyes scanning everyone in the club. “Or buy a suit,” he quietly added before slipping back into the crowd and heading toward his post at the front entrance.
I let the group pass.
“Think he can fit in a suit?” Tyler interjected. “I mean, damn, dude. You hitting the roids for those guns?”
“Turn your fucking comm off, prick. You’re off duty,” I snapped, going back upstairs because I was already a junkie, jonesing for a look at the brunette.