SUNRISE FOR THREE
A
Sexy Siesta
NOVELLA
TALINA PERKINS
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SUNRISE FOR THREE
SEXY SIESTA NOVELLA
Copyright© 2014 Talina Saine
Edited by Em Petrova
Cover Artist: Bookin' It Designs
eBook ISBN: 9781310307300
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without the permission in writing from the Author.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
As always, a heartfelt thank you to my husband for always encouraging me to dream big and to my children. Love you!
To my readers: Thank you! Your amazing support and enthusiasm for my Recon Marines has encouraged me to write more sexy bad-boys which has lead to more books in the Sexy Siesta series! I am so excited for you to meet Colt and Marc and I hope you fall for their charms as hard and fast as I did.
Xoxo
Talina
DEDICATION
For those who follow their hearts.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title
Copyright
Acknowledgements
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Epilogue
Other Titles
About The Author
Chapter One
Mia Vega tapped her pen on the mahogany table that took up half the small conference room, staring out over the Los Angeles skyline. From the sixteenth floor of the Re-Con Securities building the entire city spread out beneath her like a tapestry of multi-colored patches all pieced together by an interlocking grid of asphalt. The ripples of heat emitting off the top of the surrounding building made everything appear as if caught in the shimmering web of a mirage.
All a figment of your overactive imagination, chica.
She bit back a nervous laugh. There was one thing about this morning that definitely wasn’t an illusion.
Mia wet her lips and passed her thumb across the smooth glass surface of her cell phone. She recalled the photos from her email earlier this morning. She’d been checking her messages while waiting for coffee and damn near choked on the first sip of the steamy liquid when provocative images of herself splashed across the small screen. Intimate pictures of private moments. Images no one could have or should have of her in their possession. Especially since she had no romantic life to speak of.
Mia shuddered. The thought of the ill gotten images on the loose… Oh, God, my reputation will be ruined.
She tried to swallow, her throat suddenly dry. Yet no one had contacted her. Stranger yet, there had been no email to mark who the sender was. Anonymous or otherwise.
Some blackmailing son of a bitch would sooner or later reach out. Right? Her fingers flexed around the hard case of her phone. And when they did, what? What would she do?
At first, she’d thought it was her ex-fiancé, but she didn’t want to condemn the man without proof. After so long would he still be angry with her? And if it wasn’t him? Who else could it be? Her life began and ended with her job. No going out for drinks or rowdy weekend parties or hookups to etch into her bedposts.
Sweat trickled down her spine and her foot danced in place beneath the table.
A deep masculine voice and a hand on her right shoulder brought her out of her turmoil with a jolt. She swiveled in the office chair, startled. Her attention flitted between the two sets of inquisitive eyes locked on her. Demonios.
Heat flushed her cheeks. “Lo siento, Mr. Dangere, Mr. Dessire. Did I miss anything?” When she first started working for them, she’d thought their names must have been a joke. She quickly learned the opposite. Nothing about these two former Recon Marines was funny, especially when they were dead set on getting what they wanted.
Like now, from the looks of it.
She looked back and forth between her two employers, pulling her lower lip between her teeth in the process.
Crap and double crap. She’d messed up now. Both Marc’s and Colt’s signature expressions were set firmly in place. Their lips quirked up in that half grin, bad-boy tilt that drove her freaking crazy. Not that they knew she found them both as tempting as sin on a Sunday though. They probably didn’t even have her on their radar.
She couldn’t prove it, but she bet every guy that signed on Uncle Sam’s dotted line received a handout on how to rock the intimidation with a side order of sexy. She bit her lip a pinch harder to get her thoughts back on track. You wouldn’t know what to do with two men anyway, chica. That little admission stung.
Colt, who stood with his hand still resting firmly on her shoulder, was the first of the two men to speak up. “Miss Vega, you might say you missed the entire day with how distracted you’ve been since keying in late this morning.” Colt released her shoulder and stepped back a pace, waiting. His deep voice brought her attention off her problems and around to him, inviting her to answer his unspoken question. Mia didn’t miss the eagle sharp stare of her other employer from the head of the table either.
Demonios. They operated under a strict zero tolerance policy. If she failed to complete her duties or misrepresented their company in any fashion, her contract with them would be terminated.
Mia winced. Without her Re-con Security's job, her student loans alone would put her under a bridge within a couple of months. But if she was honest with herself, she’d feel worse about letting both men down. They’d stuck their necks out for her by hiring a woman with a freshly inked diploma and no experience out of so many applications. She loved her job, being part of a team and working to build one of the country’s most successful security companies.
Her heart swelled and despite all the anxiety eating away her insides, she had to smile. One night over takeout, when Marc, Colt and herself had punched in overtime, Colt relayed the story of how he and Marc had met in boot camp.
In between bites of fried shrimp and noodles, she’d earned an insight to their decade-long friendship and how they’d known since those first grueling weeks of training that they were either going to hate each other or use their combined strengths to do something great.
After that night, Mia knew she belonged here, a part of their working family. And to not see her men every day…her heart did a triple beat against her chest at the thought. They weren’t hers outside of her fantasies, but she’d take whatever her warped imagination could give her.
Mia wet her lips. “You’re right. It’s nothing, it’s….”
What else should she say? She couldn’t mix her job with her personal life by telling them. Plus, what if it was just some prank? She’d only been working for the Re-Con Securities for a little over five months. She couldn’t burden her new employers with whatever the he
ll she was dealing with. Could she? That’s what the cops were for anyway.
Besides, all lust-filled fantasies of her with two gorgeous men set aside, she was here to help solve problems, not bring them problems.
From her seated position, her gaze danced between the men. “It won’t happen again, sirs.” She caught a flash of something light the men’s eyes. A spark of heat gone so fast she questioned if she saw it at all. What was that about?
She could analyze it later. Much later. Right now she needed to work fast and salvage her job. Mia pushed back from the large table, gathering all her folders she’d brought for the conference call she’d been summoned to help organize.
She stacked the files neatly, running her fingers over the sides multiple times. If she lost this job… Her mind kept playing on a loop, unable to focus. Mia turned to both men slowly. They stood, their arms crossed and their eyes lit with an intelligence that never missed a detail.
She looked between them. “Are you…” She paused mid-sentence to clear her scratchy throat. How the hell did she phrase this without sounding rude? Where the hell is your bravado? Obviously taking a back seat to the show.
And if they did decide to let her go, she couldn’t blame them. She’d dropped the ball and during a major deal for them and their company.
Mia squared her shoulders, and despite the butterflies doing the cha cha cha in her stomach, she pushed forward. “Am I fired?” She mentally patted herself on the back. Her voice sounded wobbly, but didn’t break. That had to say something for her.
An astonished look plastered on their faces simultaneously. It would almost be funny, but no way in hell she’d crack a smile. Marc dashed his surprise away and replaced it with a stoic expression. Colt moved closer and settled his hand over hers, stilling her hurried motions. This close…Dios, he smelled like a god. He smelled something like…she inhaled again and it danced across her senses—like fine silk on cool skin. Pure heaven and pure sin all in one.
“Look, Mia,” Colt spoke up and pulled her out of her dazed thoughts. Focus, chica. He flicked a thumb toward Marc standing at the head of the table. “It’s not nothing and I think you know us better than to believe we’d give you the boot so quickly. Now tell us so we can help.” For a split second he looked hurt.
That smarted.
Her heart rate quickened at the small gesture of comfort from Colt’s touch and the dismissal of her question. Her tense body relaxed a fraction and the butterflies calmed to a waltz. “Sorry, I understand your no tolerance policy so I had to ask.”She mentally rolled her eyes at the Latin infliction to her words. It always gave away her emotions no matter which side of the scale she was on.
From the head of the table, Marc stood listening to her with his arms crossed and his attention on her. His white dress shirt stretched across the wide expanse of his shoulders, tightening in all the right places that made a woman’s feminine side sit up and take notice.
“You’re biting your lip, which is a nervous tic and the worried look in your eyes adds to the layering of clues, darling. Another is the way you’ve been looking out that window for the last two hours like you’re waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
He had a point, but all her freaked out mind took away from that was his sweet endearment. Before today they always used her given name when at the office and Miss Vega when accompanied by Re-con clients.
If she thought her lack of professionalism today would get her fired…what if her soon-to-be blackmailer sent the photos to Marc and Colt? The butterflies were back to dancing and goose bumps flushed down her arms.
In the same calm, controlled voice Marc continued. “Remember, we do this for a living. Reading people. So tell us, Mia. You’re not leaving until you do.” Marc unfolded his arms and leaned forward, resting his hands on the back of his chair. He wasn’t going to take another dismissive answer.
Too bad for him she didn’t like ultimatums.
Mia pulled her hand out of from under Colt’s and turned to make her way toward Marc. She pinned him with her best don’t-mess-with-this-chica glare. Looks like tomorrow I’m hunting for a new job after all.
“Marc Dangere…” She whipped his name out with a roll of her tongue. Before she could dish out the rest of her sentence and tell him exactly what he could do with his high-handedness Colt stepped in. “Hold up. Don’t pay any attention to him, sweetheart. Marc’s an ass. Especially if he’s worried for someone he cares about.” Colt threw a death glare over his shoulder at Marc—who only shrugged—before returning his attention to her. “You can talk to me while he pulls his foot out of his mouth.”
Cares about? Mia stopped in her tracks. What was that suppose to mean? What was going on with these two? She couldn’t shake the feeling she was last on the curve about something.
Her frayed nerves zinged with raw energy and her fingers twitched against her sides. Folders and papers forgotten, she sidestepped Colt and that damn sexy half grin of his and took a detour straight for her favorite liquid poison. Colt stepped a pace back and let her pass, turning to follow her with his gaze.
She grabbed the coffee from the refreshment bar and filled a mug before turning back around to face the Re-con inquisition. These two wanted answers and truth be told she didn’t have a clue where else to go for help. She swallowed her pride, moved back over to the table and palmed her phone from the top of stacked folders.
“I’m showing you both these because my sister didn’t raise a fool.” Mia lifted her eyes to lock with theirs a beat before continuing. She swiped her thumb across the screen and pulled up the violating images. “I was on my way here this morning when this arrived in my email.” She bit her lip and took a deep breath. She couldn’t believe she was going to show these pictures but what choice did she have?
Marc stepped closer on her left, so close she could feel his heat radiate out and envelope her. And in some odd way it comforted her, as if she was doing the right thing. She passed over the phone and relaxed a notch, but her inner woman cringed at what the images detailed. This was definitely not how she pictured them seeing her naked ass for the first time.
“I see. I didn’t realize you were into exhibitionism, Miss Vega.” His biting tone grated on her nerves more than hurt her. But she couldn’t ignore the twinge of pain deep in her chest. The pictures he referred to was of her returning from a midnight dip in the lake behind her house. She lived several miles outside the city limits and miles from her closest neighbor. The thought of someone being so far out there watching her had never crossed her mind.
He flicked a couple more times, oblivious to the power of his words. “Were you worried we’d find out about these through blackmail from some boyfriend or a one-night stand? That we would fire you? Is that what you’re so worked up about?” His soft tone clashed with his hardened indecipherable expression. Even his eyes looked frosty when he locked gazes with her. Mia took a half step back and her mouth fell open. Her breath came in tiny, shaky pants and heat flushed her body. She could do nothing more than gape back and forth between both men.
She moved her mouth a couple of times before the words started flowing. “So we’re back to Miss Vega now and are you serious?” Her voice cracked and she cleared her throat before continuing. “I show you these and that is where you take it?” A furious wave of hurt and embarrassment washed over her. She stepped back from them so she could look them in the eye. Last time she listened to her treacherous gut.
Colt plucked her phone out of Marc’s hand and started scrolling, his expression mirroring Marc’s now.
¡Se acabó! That was it.
Mia took a deep breath to recover from the double punch to the stomach. She was a fool to put so much trust in them. In anyone really. After her rotten childhood and an even worse ex-fiancé, she still hadn’t learned her lesson. And now that Marc and Colt knew her body in various sorts of disrobement, including full commando, she hoped like hell this was the final lesson she needed to drive the point home.
T
rust was no more than a myth.
“No, gentlemen.” Mia slashed her hand in the air between them. She cocked her head to the side, channeling all the hurt in her heart into her tone. She wanted to make damn sure they understood what she had to say next because afterward she was walking out the door and never looking back.“Because you obviously think less of me than I thought, let me explain something to you. I’m not some hussy that sleeps with just anyone. In fact, I haven’t dated a man in a year and before that I was a virgin, so how could the pictures be from some one-night stand as you say, Marc?”
His eyebrows shot up at the use of his given name or maybe it was her almost virginal confession. Demonios, who knew? She let the anger building in her veins overflow and taint her words, so he was bound to be burning from the cut.
His nostrils flared and his chest expanded as he inhaled. And just like that the hard lines around his eyes softened. For a fleeting moment she thought he would apologize, but so true to his character, he sealed his lips instead.
Defeat replaced a fraction of her anger before resolve settled in. She straightened her shoulders. “I’ll gather my things.” It took all she had to hold back the hurt from her tone this time.
White-knuckling her now cold coffee, she placed the mug on the table, gathered her folders then walked past her bosses. Tears pricked the back of her eyes, but she refused to show any more weakness in front of the two men she began to think, for some silly moment, might care for her.
“Stop.” Colt’s soft command had her pausing, but it was Marc’s gentle hand on her elbow that turned her around slowly. “I jumped the gun. I’m sorry about that, Mia.” Regret flashed in his eyes, and she saw he truly meant what he said. She nodded, her mouth set in a grim line.
She didn’t have to completely let them off the hook.
Marc guided her away from the door and deeper into the conference room.
He led her to the table and Colt pulled up a chair for her. She eased down and crossed her arms over her chest. I’ll let them think I’ve sheathed my claws long enough to listen to what they have to say.
Sunrise For Three: A Military Erotic Romance (Sexy Siesta Series Book 3) Page 1