Love Another Day
Page 37
He turned so his face was staring up at her. “Do you really think so?”
So open and innocent. He was like a gorgeous manchild, and she felt a desperate need to protect him. “I know it.”
He sighed, seeming to settle. “I hope so.”
“What did Theo Taggart have to say about it? Or Robert?” After all, if anyone would know, it would be Theo or Robert. They had been held by Dr. McDonald, though she’d never heard either mention a second doctor.
“Theo said he’s never seen me before,” Tucker said. “Robert either, but who knows. There was a second site, one Big Tag doesn’t think Theo and Robert ever saw. What if I ran that site? What if I’m the one who did this to Jax and Sasha and Dante and Owen?”
“I don’t believe it for a second.” He was too sweet. It was his nature. She couldn’t see how simply erasing a person’s memory would change something so fundamental. No one as sweet as Tucker could do those things to another human being.
He sighed. “I pray you’re right. I don’t want to have been some crazy monster doctor. I like being me. I know that sounds stupid since I don’t know who me is, but I like it here. I like my brothers, and you’re the best sister anyone could want.”
Yep, that was what she got here. She was everyone’s sister or aunt. Not that she was truly attracted to any of the Lost Boys, but damn, couldn’t Damon hire a hottie who wasn’t certifiable?
“I’m glad, buddy.” She glanced up and saw Fain coming her way. He wasn’t alone. Damon was with him, and that gorgeous hunk of American snark Ian Taggart. She totally understood why her twin sister had been all over that while she’d been in the field.
Of course, now he was married to a woman Kay respected. Mostly because Charlotte Taggart was a woman who truly got what the “sisterhood” meant, but also for her assassin skills. Kay appreciated any woman who could murder a man with a pair of Louboutins.
“I think I’m about to get pulled into an impromptu meeting, buddy,” she said. “Why don’t you go and find Teresa? She was looking for someone to dance with.”
Tucker sat up quickly, straightening his shirt. “Really? Maybe they’ll play a slow song and I’ll be able to show her how good I am at rubbing myself on her. That’s what Big Tag says dancing is all about.”
Big Tag gave him a thumbs-up. “That’s exactly what it’s about. You go for it.”
Tucker scurried off, seeming to forget his ennui at possibly being an evil motherfucker in a past life. Kayla stood, putting a hand on her hips. “You are going to get that poor boy slapped.”
Tag shrugged. “It’s all one big learning process for him. You got a minute?”
“Sure, what’s up?”
“Fain would like to borrow you for a job,” Damon explained.
She hoped she managed to keep her face perfectly bland because inside she was dying a little. If the Agency was asking, then it had to be something down and dirty. If the Agency was asking her, it probably had something to do with her prior MSS contacts. She’d worked for years as a double agent, trained to take her twin sister’s place as a spy.
She’d lost her sister and sometimes she worried she’d almost lost her soul.
But still, if Damon wanted her to do something, she had to consider it. If her country needed her, she would have to go back into hell.
“What’s the gig?” That was good. Very normal, as if she wasn’t screaming on the inside.
Ezra looked down at her. “Do you know who Joshua Hunt is?”
She snorted a little. “Uhm, he’s only the hottest actor in the world right now. He’s starring in that new action movie—The Quick and The Enraged. I love that series.”
What she wasn’t about to admit was that she kind of had a supercrush on the man. He was tall, dark, and handsome. Right up her alley.
“I need you to go undercover as his bodyguard. I’ve already got the job lined up, but he doesn’t know the name of the new guard yet. This job would require you to stay close to him and go to many of the functions he would attend.” Ezra frowned as though thinking through how to say what he needed to.
He was hesitating and she didn’t understand it. He wanted her to go undercover as the hottest man in Hollywood’s bodyguard? The only thing that would have been better would have been to be asked to be his freaking fake fiancée, or anything that would get her in the man’s bed.
Although bodyguard was pretty hot. She could likely still seduce him.
So she would have to go to a bunch of hoity-toity parties in one of the most glamorous places in the world. “What’s the catch?”
Damon’s jaw tightened. “Well, there is one small item of concern.”
Taggart shook his head. “They’re worried you’re about to be offended. I think you’re going to jump at the chance.”
Now they really had her attention. “Like I said before, what’s the catch?”
Ezra’s shoulders squared as though he was readying himself for rejection. “He wants a bodyguard who will also serve as his sexual submissive and his in-public girlfriend.”
Holy shit. She was getting the whole Fifty Shades. So, so many slutty thoughts went through her head. Beautiful, slutty thoughts.
It would be a montage of shopping and partying and sex with a movie star god.
Who might not be as good in bed as he looked, but she could work with that. She could whip him into shape.
Quietly, since she was the sub. But she’d found she could do amazing things from the bottom.
“Kayla, he’s not trying to insult you,” Damon began.
“She’s not insulted. She’s already planning on how she’s going to top him from the bottom.” Taggart did know her better than the rest.
“I absolutely am doing that. I already have ideas.” She was also planning her wardrobe. She would need a bunch of designer wear.
Ezra seemed to relax. “Then you’ll take the job?”
She smiled at the thought. “There’s no business like show business, right? Hollywood, here I come.”
Kayla, Joshua, and the entire McKay-Taggart gang will return in Nobody Does It Better coming February 20, 2018. Click here to pre-order.
Author’s Note
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Nobody Does It Better
Masters and Mercenaries 15
By Lexi Blake
Coming February 20, 2018
Click here to pre-order
A spy who specializes in seduction
Kayla Summers was an elite CIA double agent, working inside China’s deadly MSS. Now, she works for McKay-Taggart London, but the Agency isn’t quite done with her. Spy master Ezra Fain needs her help on a mission that would send her into Hollywood’s glamorous and dangerous party scene. Intrigued by the mission and the movie star hunk she will be shadowing, she eagerly agrees. When she finds herself in his bed, she realizes she’s not only risking her life, but her heart.
A leading man who doesn’t do romance
Joshua Hunt is a legend of the silver screen. As Hollywood’s highest paid actor, he’s the man everyone wants to be, or be with, but something is missing. After being betrayed more than once, the only romance Josh believes in anymore is on the pages of his scripts. He keeps his relationships transactional, and that’s how he likes it, until he meets his new b
odyguard. She was supposed to keep him safe, and satisfied when necessary, but now he’s realizing he may never be able to get enough of her.
An ending neither could have expected
Protecting Joshua started off as a mission, until it suddenly felt like her calling. When the true reason the CIA wanted her for this assignment is revealed, Kayla will have to choose between serving her country or saving the love of her life.
At Your Service
Masters and Mercenaries~Topped Book 4
By Lexi Blake
Coming November 14, 2017
Click here to pre-order
Juliana O’Neil’s promising future was burned away in the heat of battle. She had been an officer with a bright future in the military, but now she is struggling to survive. Her husband gone and her career in shambles, she finds a job at Top as a hostess and tries to put together the pieces of her life. The last thing she needs is any kind of male attention, but she can’t help but be amused at her neighbor and coworker’s lothario antics. Not that she would have anything to do with him, at least not for more than one night.
Javier Leones doesn’t understand monogamy. No woman could ever be enough for his endless libido, but he has to admit Juliana has his attention. For reasons he doesn’t fully understand, he can’t seem to get the gorgeous redhead with the sad eyes out of his head. After one scorching night together, he realizes he’ll never be able to get her out of his system. But with his reputation, he fears she’ll never see him as more than a one-night stand.
When their passions collide, these new lovers will be forced to confront Juliana’s past and come to terms with Javier’s present. Will they find their way or will this reservation be canceled at the last minute?
Smoke and Sin
The Perfect Gentlemen, Book 4
By Shayla Black and Lexi Blake
Coming September 26, 2017
Click here to pre-order
More than a decade ago, Roman Calder had a scorching affair with the sister of one of his best friends. Augustine Spencer drove him so crazy he thought of nothing but her. The only thing they did more often than heat the sheets was fight. Unprepared for the intensity of their relationship, Roman broke things off and concentrated on things that made sense to him: his career and putting his best friend, Zack Hayes, in the White House.
Gus Spencer is known to Washington insiders as the president’s secret weapon. Gorgeous and brilliant, Gus runs the press pool with the determination of a shark. No one dares to cross her, not when she’s known for having a spine of steel…but long ago one man melted her down. Despite the fact that she’ll never forgive Roman for breaking her heart, now that they work together she can’t get him off her mind.
When a dangerous investigation leads both Roman and Gus to London, the heat between them becomes unbearable. As they begin to unravel an international conspiracy, they find themselves falling all over again. But when a killer threatens their world, can they fight to stay together or will the sins of their past keep them forever apart?
Thieves
A new urban fantasy series by Lexi Blake
“Author Lexi Blake has created a supernatural world filled with surprises and a book that I couldn’t put down once I started reading it.”
Maven, The Talent Cave Reviews
“I truly love that Lexi took vampires and made them her own.”
KC Lu, Guilty Pleasures Book Reviews
Stealing mystical and arcane artifacts is a dangerous business, especially for a human, but Zoey Wharton is an exceptional thief. The trick to staying alive is having friends in all the wrong places. With a vampire, a werewolf, and a witch on the payroll, Zoey takes the sorts of jobs no one else can perform—tracking down ancient artifacts filled with unthinkable magic power, while trying to stay one step ahead of monsters, demons, angels, and a Vampire Council with her in their crosshairs.
If only her love life could be as simple. Zoey and Daniel Donovan were childhood sweethearts until a violent car crash took his life. When Daniel returned from the grave as a vampire, his only interest in Zoey was in keeping her safely apart from the secrets of his dark world. Five years later, Zoey encounters Devinshea Quinn, an earthbound Faery prince who sweeps her off her feet. He could show her everything the supernatural world has to offer, but Daniel is still in her heart.
As their adventures in acquisition continue, Zoey will have to find a way to bring together the two men she loves or else none of them may survive the forces that have aligned against her.
Now Available:
Steal the Light – Free for a limited time!
Steal the Day
Steal the Moon
Steal the Sun
Steal the Night
Ripper
Addict
Sleeper, Coming October 17, 2017
We Own Tonight
By: Corinne Michaels
Coming September 7, 2017
Click here to pre-order.
From New York Times Bestseller, Corinne Michaels, comes a sexy new STANDALONE romance novel.
I’m not a one-night stand kind of woman. I’m especially not the woman who has a few drinks at a concert and ends up in bed with my childhood celebrity crush, Eli Walsh.
However, that’s exactly where I find myself.
What’s a girl to do after a drunken mistake? Run. I grab my clothes and get away from the powerful, irresistible, and best-sex-of-my-life superstar as fast as I can. His gorgeous green eyes, rock-hard body, and cocky smile have no place in my world. My life is complicated enough.
Someone forgot to tell him that.
Eli is relentless. Pushing his way into my heart, wearing me down, proving he’s nothing like I assumed, and everything I need. But when my world shatters to pieces, he holds the broken bits together. Unwillingly, I fall desperately in love with him.
He made me think we’d have forever . . . I should’ve listened when he said we could only own tonight.
* * * *
Chapter One
Heather
“Damn it, Heather. We’re always late because of you!” Nicole yells from outside the bathroom. She’s been my best friend since the sixth grade. You’d think by now she’d know to pad things by twenty minutes if she wants a snowball’s chance in hell of getting anywhere on time.
“The peril,” I taunt her as I finish putting my hair up.
“You drive me nuts.”
“Such is life.”
I hear her mutter something under her breath as she walks away. I don’t know why she gets so upset. We have plenty of time. With the way Nicole drives, her lead foot will have us at the concert fifteen minutes before the opening act.
Of course, I’m taking my sweet ass time getting ready. I have zero desire to be forced to put on makeup or any version of pants.
Nicole’s idea of girls’ night out and mine are totally different. I could stay home, drink a martini, and be happy. My best friend wants to paint the town red. I’m too old for that shit. I end up smelling like a garbage can and feeling like I ate a jar of cotton balls. I’d rather be comfy in pajamas than wear these jeans that I had to lie on the bed to shimmy into. I can only imagine what I looked like while I was sucking it in and bending backward to get the damn button closed. Then I did about fifteen lunges to “stretch” the pants, all the while praying I didn’t bust a seam. Nothing like a workout just to get dressed.
I make a mental note to call my trainer friend at the boxing ring.
She knocks again. “I’m leaving you.”
No, you’re not.
I open the door a smidge. “I have the tickets in here. So, you know what? Go ahead.” I stick my tongue out and then quickly close the door and lock it. If they hadn’t already left me twice before, I wouldn’t have to go to such lengths. I learned quickly that I always had to have the upper hand with my three best friends. Then again, if I had let her leave me, I could be watching Netflix and shoveling popcorn into my mouth.
Nicole may not have fig
ured out to pad time, but she has learned I have a spiteful side, so she lets me finish without another interruption. I could stay in here longer just to piss her off, but that would mean more time staring at the pink tiles on the wall that I loathe.
My house isn’t bad, but it isn’t great, either. When my parents passed away, it was passed down to me. It’s old and probably falling apart more than I’d like to admit. Yet, I can’t get rid of it. It’s the only thing of them I have, and it’s the only place I can afford.
The mortgage is paid off, which allows me to put what little money I have left over after my monthly bills to go toward my sister’s medical care.
Once I’m happy with my appearance, I head out with a shit-eating grin.
She looks at her watch as I emerge and shakes her head. “I swear.”
The best way to keep Nicole from blowing up is with diversion. “You shouldn’t swear, it’s unbecoming of you. Are we picking up Danni and Kristin?”
“No, and I’m grateful we aren’t, because we would miss the opening band.”
She and I are the two most sarcastic and the biggest assholes out of the group. When we start to bicker, it gets bad—quick. Without our two mediators, it’s best not to engage.
“Are you sure?” I ask ignoring the jab.
“Yes, I’m sure. They’re meeting us there.”
Nicole and I walk out and get in her car. I wish she’d buy a normal size vehicle. I’m five-foot-five, and my knees mash my boobs because of how squished I am. Between my already tight jeans and this sardine can, I’m going to bust a gut.