by Dawn Ryder
She needed to let it slide.
It was the right thing to do.
She dropped her phone back in her purse and followed the signs toward the cafeteria.
Less sucky coffee would help.
* * *
“Your plan crashed and burned.”
Ricky turned the wheel and headed away from the hospital. “You need to enjoy playing the game a little. If you just want your cock drained, I know a place to take your money for the ride of your life.”
Gideon watched him for a moment before looking out at the road in front of them. “I think the other one is his girl. The cheerleader.”
Sullivan didn’t agree but he also knew that Bram was sitting on LeAnn, which meant she was important to him. Either one, it didn’t matter to him. What he wanted was a way to strike back at the members of the Shadow Ops team that had taken down the Raven.
Not that Ricky cared a bit about Marc Grog, who had used the underworld name of the Raven. Nope, Ricky hadn’t shed a tear over the guy who was gutted by Saxon Hale and his team.
What Ricky cared about was that Carl Davis and Tyler Martin had decided to tie up Ricky like a loose end, after they’d hired him to track down Ginger Boyce.
They’d failed, or at least Tyler Martin had, because Carl Davis was running for president of the United States and Tyler was the guy taking care of all the dirty work. Like making sure it never came to light that Carl Davis had been dealing with Marc Grog.
That was where Ginger Boyce had come in. She’d seen Marc murder someone and Saxon Hale had been close enough to extract her while she was still alive. In a way, it was fun to see how a team of Shadow Ops had gotten the jump on men like Carl Davis and Tyler Martin. Ricky liked a good fight more than anything else and watching the good guys take on the elite of Washington was proving to be pretty cool.
At least until it had landed him in a Mexican jail.
Now it was time for payback and Bram Magnus was exposed, so that was where Ricky planned to start. Besides, Ricky would bet Tyler Martin was going to make a try for Saxon Hale’s team. Bram Magnus was the only member crossing into the open. It was their weak spot. Tyler would be along to exploit it.
So he’d put up with Gideon while he waited for Tyler to pop his head up.
Gideon was pathetic. Lusting after Bram’s girl when Gideon had a nice plump bonus from his service in hostile territory.
That was another sort of opportunity, the money-making kind. Gideon had cash and Ricky was going to make sure to take advantage of that as well. Just as soon as he finished paying Tyler Martin back, it was going to be time to retire. Maybe head back to Russia where he could open a fight club. He had the funds. But a Sullivan never let anyone pull one over on him.
As far as honor went, it was his only creed.
* * *
“I thought you worked from a home office.”
Jaelyn wasn’t used to being the second one up in the morning. Bram watched her take in his presence before he reached over and pulled the coffeepot off the machine and poured her a cup.
“Your grandfather offered the garage loft to me,” he said by way of explanation.
“Right,” she said as she took a sip of the java. “I should have changed the sheets.”
Bram offered her a shrug but pointed at her suit. It was a little unnerving the way he noticed details about her.
And hot.
Now don’t go down that thought path …
“I telecommute a lot but there are times my employer likes to see me,” she said.
“We still haven’t talked.”
Damn but she liked the sound of his voice, especially when it had a tone of determination.
Yeah, like wine. And you know what’s going to happen if you let him intoxicate you …
Yep she did … and the idea was growing on her.
She was drinking coffee to avoid answering him and it suddenly bothered her a whole lot.
She wasn’t going to be a chicken. Jaelyn lowered her mug and looked Bram straight in the eye.
“Maybe it’s best we don’t have that particular conversation.”
There, she’d said the right thing.
The sensible thing.
It sucked.
Her cell phone started chiming, the morning beginning with a bang. Yeah, reality was cold and hard, and he was something else.
Something that belonged in the midnight hours when practicality didn’t have to be listened to.
* * *
“You do know your stuff.”
Ricky offered the compliment to Gideon as he fast-forwarded through the surveillance footage their little camera had taken throughout the night of the Sondors home.
“Shit, you can get those little cameras at Costco these days,” Gideon said. “Putting location beacons on the cars, that was a little more tricky.”
“But worth it,” Ricky crowed. “Now we can get on with nabbing your pet.”
“But … which one?” Gideon was rubbing a hand over his head. “We still don’t know…”
Ricky shrugged. “We just need to test out which one Bram goes after.”
Gideon looked at him with bright eyes. It was almost too easy to manipulate the guy. Like showing a dog a treat and making him sit before you tossed it to him.
“Come on,” Ricky said with a grin. “I’ve got an idea. Bring your toolbox, I’m going to need you to kill a surveillance system.”
* * *
The rat race …
Jaelyn left the boardroom on steps that sounded sturdy. Her feet ached and her smile felt frozen in place but there was also a sense of satisfaction filling her. She slid into an elevator alone, because being a remote employee meant the days she did report in were longer, since her employer made sure they were still getting their money’s worth.
It was worth it.
Even the stillness of the parking structure didn’t bother her. The regular office personal had departed at five, a good two hours ago. It didn’t concern her because she didn’t have to report back in at eight in the morning.
Besides, it wasn’t like she was parked in a seedy part of town.
Being an accountant was mundane, but companies needed good people who could keep the books straight. Lucrative companies. The modern age meant she could compile all those reports from any computer, including the one in her home office. It was a job that met all the criteria of being successful in the adult world.
So why did she feel like she was waiting for her life to begin?
Was that the source of her fascination with Bram?
It was a fair enough question. Jaelyn slid behind the wheel of her car and turned the key.
But nothing happened.
A little tingle of dread went through her as she looked at the switch for the headlights.
Nope, they were off.
She tried the key again but there wasn’t even a little click-click-click to tell her anything was responding. A tap on the emergency roadside assistance button failed to bring her any response, either.
She pulled her cell phone from her purse but the garage was blocking her signal. With a grumble, Jaelyn opened the door and got out, heading toward the outer edge where she might be able to get a signal.
The sound of her dress shoes echoed through the empty space, bothering her a lot more than it had when she’d arrived.
Amazing how vulnerable she felt.
It was just a dead battery. No need to get jumpy.
But it was still strange the way her body grew tense, all because she knew her car wasn’t working. It was almost as if she was tapping into some sort of hidden survival instincts lurking in her DNA. Her senses were heightened, her heart beating just a little faster.
She jerked her head around at the sound of a motor. A quick look at her phone showed her the thing was still searching for a signal. The car came into sight at the edge of the ramp, turning down the lane and coming toward her.
Overreacting or not, she ducked into the stairwell,
jumping down the flight with little tapping sounds from her heels before she came out on the floor below. Her phone rewarded her with a connection and she punched the call button.
But the problem with business centers was that there were very few people left around at the end of the day. The sun was setting as she walked along the well-kept walkways and listened to the phone buzz.
“Jaelyn?” her grandfather answered. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she replied. “Just have a dead car, so I’ll be late.”
“Sun’s already going down.”
“I know. I’ll be fine.”
There was a muffled comment on the other side of the conversation.
“Really, I’m just going to call a tow truck to give me a jump start. Don’t worry.”
“Bram says he knows who to send over.”
“Um … really, I can handle this,” Jaelyn replied.
“Already done.” Bram’s voice came over the line. “There’s a coffee shop a block away from your location, wait there.”
“Ah … how do you know where I am?”
There was a slight pause. “All phones have location chips in them these days.”
“Right.” Honestly, she needed the help but there was still something unnerving about the way he operated on a different level from the rest of the civilian world.
Of course, that was it in a nutshell. Bram wasn’t a civilian. Off duty, sure enough, but there was part of him that would always be something different.
“Thanks.”
She cut the line, feeling like she was clinging to him. Part of her wanted to be braver, more confident.
More worthy …
Yeah, that’s going to get you into a world of trouble.
The thing was, she had a sinking suspicion she’d love every second of it.
* * *
“You let her get away,” Gideon griped.
Ricky looked across the front seat of the car. “Thought you wanted to know for sure which one was his girlfriend?” He turned the steering wheel and continued out of the garage. “Personally, I don’t care. Both of them look like juicy fucks.”
“I want to know…”
Ricky wheeled into a parking place on the floor above where Jaelyn’s car was. “Let’s see what happens.”
Gideon swept his finger across the tablet he was holding and typed in some numbers. A moment later, the security cameras from the garage turned back on, giving them a live feed. Gideon scrolled through the images until he had one of the cameras near Jaelyn’s car.
The guy was smart.
Ricky admired the way he knew his way around security tech. It made it so much easier to track Bram Magnus.
It didn’t really matter which one the guy was banging. Being sisters, he’d come looking if one of them went missing.
At least, that’s where Ricky was placing his bet. Gideon was getting on his nerves with his obsession but Ricky was going to wait the guy out. The prize was worth the fight.
And a Sullivan never quit.
* * *
“Nothing wrong with the battery.”
Jaelyn watched as the tow truck driver tried to jump-start her car.
“Or the cables.”
The guy arrived in a truck that sparkled and looked like it could handle pulling a car out of an avalanche. He was going through the engine with a flashlight and a look on his face that told her he knew his business very well.
“How many miles on her?”
“Thirty-two thousand,” Jaelyn answered.
The guy made a sound under his breath as he continued to look.
Another vehicle came up the ramp, its engine growing louder as it came into sight. Bram pulled up next to her, sweeping her from head to toe before he looked at her car. He was driving a truck with a shell on it and a full-size spare tire secured to the side of it.
Of course he was. She looked at the truck, realizing it suited Bram perfectly with its “take on the worst nature might throw at it” demeanor.
“You didn’t need to drive out here.”
Bram surprised her by grinning. “Your grandfather would have come if I didn’t.”
Jaelyn felt her lips twitching. Bram sent her a knowing look.
“Okay, you’ve got me in a box with that reasoning.”
She conceded the point before Bram went and shook hands with the tow truck driver.
“Doesn’t make any sense,” the driver said as he looked into the engine compartment again.
Bram stopped and pointed a flashlight at the driver-side window, right at the weather seal.
“Think someone used a Slim Jim on it?” the driver asked.
“Wouldn’t be this dead if someone hadn’t tampered with it,” Bram responded.
“Come on,” Jaelyn said. “No one … tampered with my car.”
Bram looked up at her and she caught sight of the man who had chased a prowler around their house. He was all business, determination blazing in his eyes.
“Someone was on your property and now your car is suddenly dead without reasonable explanation…” Bram laid out what he saw. “I don’t believe in coincidences. Especially when they keep happening.”
He turned to the tow truck guy. “You have a secure impound yard?”
“Of course.”
Bram pulled out his wallet and withdrew a credit card. “Tow it. We’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
The man was already reaching for his clipboard, swiping the card through a portable machine, before Jaelyn had the chance to intercede.
Bram sent her a look. “There’s no point in arguing.”
“Maybe I don’t want you to feel like you have to take care of me.”
It was the truth and yet, very exposing.
There was too much noise from the truck as the driver hooked up her car and pulled it up onto the bed of the truck. Which gave Jaelyn too much time to notice the way Bram looked at her. There was an intensity in his blue eyes that made her insides quiver. No one had ever made her believe she was quite so important before. The tow truck guy gave a quick toot on his horn before he pulled away, leaving her feeling like she was alone with a tiger.
Thing was, she liked the idea a whole lot.
“Why are you so determined to talk to me?”
Bram stepped closer. “Why are you so worried about being alone with me?”
Now there was a question.
It was tempting and razor edged. Impulses were bubbling up from cracks inside her she hadn’t even realized were there. It was like he freed some part of her that she’d never even known about before.
“Because I can’t seem to keep my hands off you when we’re alone,” she answered ruefully.
As far as wise things to say went, it was about as far from the mark as it got.
But it was oh so very honest.
She watched the way Bram’s eyes glittered with victory. His lips thinned with hunger as he stepped closer.
“If I scare you, baby … say so, and I’ll leave you be.”
It was a challenge, one her body leaped to in response. Damn if he wasn’t the bull she wanted to wave the red flag in front of.
“You know you don’t scare me, Bram, that’s the problem. You make me want to throw a gauntlet down just to make sure you know how much I refuse to be scared by you.”
His eyes narrowed. It was part warning and part declaration. He reached for her but honestly, she’d dared him to do it.
He curled his hand around her nape, holding her with a grip that stopped just shy of pain. Instead, it sent a tingle down her spine as she absorbed his strength on a cellular level.
He loomed over her, titling his head so he could claim her mouth. If it was a kiss, she’d never been kissed before. This was different. Far removed from what she’d experienced before.
It was hungry.
And primal.
He took her mouth with a motion that twisted her insides with anticipation over just what he might do if he got his hands on the rest
of her.
And it wasn’t one-sided.
No, she reached for him, flattening her hands on his chest, rubbing over the muscles she’d only been able to look at before. Her heart was thumping like a jackhammer, sending her blood pulsing through her so all she longed for was to strip down.
Right after she clawed his clothing to shreds.
“Damn it…,” he said with a growl, his mouth an inch above her own. “I shouldn’t have started this here…”
“Now who’s chicken?”
God, she was a piece of work. When had she become a hussy?
When you kissed Bram …
There was a spot-on truth if ever she’d heard one. He made a sound under his breath as the grip on her nape tightened.
Bram’s lips twitched, curving into a little smile that sent a shiver down her spine. It wasn’t a congenial expression, not by a long shot.
Nope, this was a warning, one she felt curling her toes. He was such a pure man-animal. Maybe it had been impulsive to kiss him but she was a hell of a long way from repentant.
“Inside…” He was pulling away, leaving her feeling his retreat keenly. There was a chirp before he was pulling the back door of his truck open. Inside, there was a black lining on the bed to protect it from dents and rolled up bedding.
Of course he was prepared.
He flattened his hands on either side of her as she ended up leaning against the side of the truck. The sheer intensity of his presence both delighted her and sent her reeling. It was like someone had turned up the volume on her senses to the top of the scale, making her aware that she’d been existing in a world of whispers until that moment.
Now, the thunder was loud enough to shake her core.
“Or you can get in the front seat and I’ll drive you home.”
His tone was soft and full of challenge. Hell, the guy was being aggressive and calling her bluff.
Uncivilized?
Savage?
A threat to her independent woman?
Truthfully, she wasn’t really sure what exactly it was but she sure as shit knew what she wanted from him. And with him so close, the scent of his skin being drawn in with every breath, intoxicating her, there was no filter left.
He wasn’t the only one who could be bold …