by Lexi Blake
He strode out the door.
“Your family is scary,” Josh said, standing up and closing the space between them. “I like them.”
She went up on her toes, wrapping her arms around him. “I think they like you, too. And I know I love you.”
He kissed her, a sweet brushing of his lips. “I love you, too. Does that mean you’ll marry me? You know after I sufficiently wow you with a spectacular proposal?”
Her whole soul felt light and happy. “I think as long as the proposal is suitably extravagant, the answer will probably, absolutely be a yes. But you should know my dads are going to want a hell of a wedding.”
“Jared is trying to train the dolphins even as we speak. I thought they would make excellent bridesmaids,” he teased and then got sober. “Baby, I’m going to tell my story to the press. To everyone.”
Her jaw nearly dropped. “You don’t have to now. There’s no more blackmail.”
“But I do have to. I have to tell it for every kid who’s in danger. I have to tell it for everyone who went through it. I have to tell it for Hannah. I have to tell it for me because I’m done being ashamed. I was a victim then and now I’m a survivor. If I can help one person, then all the flack I’ll get will be worth it.”
Now she was crying for another reason. Because she was proud of him. “You are the strongest man I know. And I’ll be by your side the whole time. Anyone says shit and I’ll assassinate him.”
His smile took her breath away. “My own personal bodyguard.”
“You better believe it.”
She would protect him for the rest of their lives. Hey, a girl couldn’t ask for more.
She kissed him again and looked forward to the rest of her own personal happily ever after.
* * * *
London, England
Two Weeks Later
Ezra Fain stood outside the door, looking straight up into the camera. It was the first time in weeks he’d wanted someone to see his face. After a second the door clicked open.
It was time.
It had been two weeks since he’d woken up in a hospital in Mexico City, barely hours out of surgery and knowing damn straight he wasn’t going to lie in that room and recover like a normal person. Oh, no. He’d known from the grim look on Case and Theo’s faces that his rest period was over.
Burned. Disavowed.
A decade of his life he’d given to the Agency and they had chosen Levi Green over him without even giving him a trial. It seemed that the powers that be at the Agency were more interested in what Green had promised them than in what was right or moral. It had been naïve of him to think it would be different.
His chest still ached where he’d pulled out the tube. Luckily, Faith Smith had been waiting on the plane with her husband, Tennessee. Faith had stabilized him again while Ten and Ian and Bishop talked about what to do now.
After a week recovering in Dallas, his chest had hurt for another reason. Mia had come to see him. She’d been sweet and kind and everything he would never have. She’d promised she would look into the story and try to clear his name. Of course, her massive husband had stood behind her, promising to keep her safe while she looked into the Agency.
It was better she’d picked Case Taggart. Ezra was cursed and he knew it.
Still, even a cursed man could do some good, and he was about to prove it.
If the Agency wanted a war, McKay-Taggart would give them one. And Ezra Fain would play his part. He had a new team now.
He strode into the lobby and past the pretty blonde who waved him through. He moved through The Garden, to the back of the club where he’d been told his new job awaited him.
There they were—six men who’d had their memories wiped, their whole worlds taken from them so Hope McDonald could prove she could. Now their bodies held secrets every intelligence agency in the world would kill to get hold of.
“I thought I was only taking five.” He settled his duffel bag over one shoulder. Everything he owned in the world was in that bag, the rest left behind because like these men, life as he knew it before was gone.
Damon Knight stood amid what looked like his whole team. His wife, Penelope, was dabbing at her eyes, her small son on her hip as she moved around the men they’d come to affectionately call the Lost Boys.
But he’d thought Owen Shaw was staying here in London. They’d made the call because Owen was different. He’d had his memory wiped, but he knew his real name, had all the documentation he needed to be safe. The Agency wasn’t going to swoop in and take Owen. He had too many ties. Like Theo Taggart.
Unlike the rest of the men who didn’t even know their real names.
Yet, Owen had a backpack on. “This is my family. You’re not leaving me behind. If we’re going to ground, I’m going, too. Robert can’t leave me behind like he’s leaving her.”
More than one face frowned Robert’s way. Robert was the oldest of them, well, in Lost Boys’ years. He’d been around the longest. He’d been in the first group. Only he and Theo Taggart had survived that first round of experiments.
“It’s better that she stay here,” Robert said, his eyes staring straight ahead and not back at the gorgeous woman named Ariel Adisa.
Damon stepped in, his voice going low so only Ezra could hear him. “Ariel wanted to come along. Robert won’t allow it. It had to be a unanimous thing or you would be dealing with disharmony where you need peace, brother.”
“I take it the others wanted to bring the good doc along?” Ezra looked at her, her face strained and tight in a way she normally wasn’t. Ariel was the group’s psych expert.
She was also firmly in Levi Green’s line of fire, according to Kayla. Well, and Levi himself.
Damon sighed. “Yes, they disagree with how to deal with the threat against her. Levi Green called her last week. Bold as brass, that one. He asked if she wouldn’t mind forwarding the files on the lads. Of course she said she had no idea who he meant. He asked if they could discuss it over dinner, said he would be in London soon and would love to see her.”
Bastard. “We can take her along, but it might be smarter to keep her here. Green is trying to provoke a response. Does Robert have a thing for her?”
“Robert is hopelessly, madly in love with her,” Damon replied. “Not that he’s done anything about it. They’ve kept it professional up to this point. He’s panicked and not thinking straight. Give him some time. We might be shipping her out to you soon. In the meantime, she’s left you profiles of all her boys, as she calls them. We’ll keep her safe.”
“Do that,” Ezra replied. “I don’t trust Green. He’ll do anything to win.”
Damon held a hand out. “Everything is set. The plane is waiting. Good luck to you all.”
Ezra looked at his new team. “Men, I know it sucks to leave home, but we’re going to make it through this. We keep our heads down and let the men and women of McKay-Taggart figure a way out of this for us. We’ll go to ground, but not to hide. We’ll do our best along the way to earn our keep, to use our talents for the betterment of those around us. Up until now very little has been asked of you, but that changes today. We’re on our own in a few short hours. We’re going into a war where you are the prize.”
“Have you seen my abs?” That had to be Tucker. He pulled up his shirt and slapped his cut stomach. “I’ve been told they are a prize in and of themselves.”
“Stop talking about yer abs, ye bastard,” Owen said, his thick Scottish accent coming out. “You painted those things on.”
“I did not,” Tucker shot back.
“I could shoot you both and put us all out of misery,” a Hungarian-accented voice said. “This would be good fun, no?”
They were bickering like siblings.
Damon slapped him on the back. “Good luck, brother.”
Luck had nothing to do with it. There was a plan in place. An audacious plan that only McKay-Taggart could have come up with. It was time to hide in plain sight. “Let’s go, boys. We
’ve got to get to our new home. I think you’re going to like it.”
“Where are we going?” Jax asked. “Because I was thinking someplace tropical. Girls in bikinis.”
Well, there would be naked people. “Colorado. We’re going to spend some time with a friend.”
Then they were off debating and fighting and arguing over where they should be going and who got the window seat.
Ezra took it all in. This was his army and they were going to war.
It was a war he intended to win.
The Lost Boys will return in the exciting spinoff to Masters and Mercenaries—Masters and Mercenaries: The Forgotten. Coming to all retailers August 2018.
Close Cover
A Masters and Mercenaries Crossover Event
By Lexi Blake
Coming April 10, 2018
Click here to pre-order
Remy Guidry doesn’t do relationships. He tried the marriage thing once, back in Louisiana, and learned the hard way that all he really needs in life is a cold beer, some good friends, and the occasional hookup. His job as a bodyguard with McKay-Taggart gives him purpose and lovely perks, like access to Sanctum. The last thing he needs in his life is a woman with stars in her eyes and babies in her future.
Lisa Daley’s life is finally going in the right direction. She has finally graduated from college after years of putting herself through school. She’s got a new job at an accounting firm and she’s finished her Sanctum training. Finally on her own and having fun, her life seems pretty perfect. Except she’s lonely and the one man she wants won’t give her a second look.
There is one other little glitch. Apparently, her new firm is really a front for the mob and now they want her dead. Assassins can really ruin a fun girls’ night out. Suddenly strapped to the very same six-foot-five-inch hunk of a bodyguard who makes her heart pound, Lisa can’t decide if this situation is a blessing or a curse.
As the mob closes in, Remy takes his tempting new charge back to the safest place he knows—his home on the bayou. Surrounded by his past, he can’t help wondering if Lisa is his future. To answer that question, he just has to keep her alive.
* * * *
“The Daleys are perfect examples of what a family can do when they band together, work hard, and help lift each other up. I’m the only failure.”
Remy sat back as though considering how to handle her. “You have an MBA, Lisa. That’s not a failure. The job market isn’t great right now. That’s not your fault.”
Of course, he didn’t know the whole story. “I got a job easily enough. Two weeks out of school and I was making seventy K. Then I blew the whistle on my employer. Apparently that gets around.”
He frowned, the expression doing nothing to make him less gorgeous. “Blew the whistle?”
“I work in accounting. My boss runs the biggest valet service in DFW. Lots of cash,” she began.
His eyes widened. “Cash? He was laundering money?”
Well, no one could accuse him of not understanding how the world worked. She hadn’t even considered it. She’d walked into that job like fucking Snow White, with birds singing on her shoulders. Everything was happy and shiny in her eyes. “See, that’s what Bridget said the minute I mentioned he offered valet services. She told me I had to be careful because cash intensive businesses are magnets for the mafia and drug dealers and…how did she put it…douche canoes with dirty money. Have you ever met a crazed, paranoid person who turns out to always be right? It’s annoying. Something happens or we meet someone new, Bridget comes up with some crazed theory and we all laugh and bam, a month later the guy who sent Lila flowers for saving his life in the ER is taken away on a seventy-two-hour psych hold after trying to break into her house.”
Remy shook his head. “Your sister had a stalker?”
Lisa sighed. “Yeah. And he seemed so nice.”
“Maybe you should listen to Bridget more.”
Bridget thought she should be in a safe house. The idea sent a shiver through her. “Anyway, I found the doctored books, went to the cops, and now my old boss got off on a technicality and I’m left without a job or any way to get a job because I have zero references and oddly enough, no one wants to hire the whistle-blower.”
Remy had sat back up, his spine going straight and that hawkish look he got when he was hyper aware coming into his eyes. “Whoa, are you telling me the man you tried to send to jail is out and you were walking around this afternoon without any protection?”
Did everyone think she was an idiot? “Of course not. I have pepper spray.”
“Pepper spray isn’t going to stop the damn mafia.”
“Well, neither did the truth, so I don’t see why they would come after me now.” This wasn’t the conversation she wanted to have with him. Of course she wasn’t sure what she wanted from him.
Except sex. Except comfort. Except one night where she didn’t sit up and worry about what was going to happen to her.
He was leaving soon. Not just leaving the apartment building. He was leaving town and he wouldn’t be back. That actually made it way easier. Was she brave enough to ask him again? He’d said he was scared of her, but if she promised she wasn’t looking for anything but a couple of hot nights from him, would that change his mind?
Or had it all been bullshit? Had he been attempting to be kinder to her than he’d been before?
“Lisa? Are you listening to me?”
Nope. “Yes, of course.”
He stared at her like he knew she hadn’t. “I was saying you need to take this seriously. You’re in a dangerous position.”
“Jimmy isn’t violent. He’s a jerk but he’s not violent.” Suddenly she wasn’t so hungry. The whole day had been one long mistake. Did she need to cap it by making one more? “You know what? I’m really tried. I think I’m going to go to bed.”
“So I hit on a touchy subject and you punish me by sending me away?”
“No, I’m tired and I had a shitty day and I want to go to bed.”
“I want to go to bed, too.”
The moment seemed to stop, his words right out there in the open, his eyes intent on her. There was heat in those eyes.
“Ask me again, Lisa. Give me another chance.”
All the reasons she shouldn’t fell away because damn it, she was an optimist and at some point in time her luck had to change. She didn’t want to miss that because she was too scared to try. “Would you like to go to bed with me, Sir?”
“Tell me why you left the club.”
Damn it. That wasn’t an answer. “Because I gave up my car and I didn’t want to admit it to my family because they’re nosy as hell. Because I’ve been too depressed to play. Because I couldn’t play with the man I wanted to play with.”
His hand came out and he tugged her up, maneuvering her until she was sitting on his lap.
And what a comfy lap it was. She fit easily, her butt on his big thigh, his muscular arm around her waist making her feel dainty and feminine.
“I’m going home soon and I likely won’t be back,” he explained.
She nodded. “It’s okay. I wasn’t looking to get married. I’ll be honest. When I asked you six months ago, I was looking for a Dom, but not now. Now I just want someone to help me get through the night.”
“I don’t want to hurt you, ma crevette,” he whispered in her ear. His cheek rubbed lightly against hers, letting her feel that masculine scruff he always seemed to have. “But I have to go home and it’s not a place you would be happy.”
“I have a home, Remy.” God, how had she gone from bone tired to every cell in her body awake and alive with anticipation. “I don’t need some man to come in and save me. Well, except from how long the nights are lately. I could use a rescue from that. I’m not asking you to be my knight in shining armor. I’m just asking if you want to spend tonight with me.”
“No.”
She stiffened and started to get off his lap, but his arms were a cage around her.
�
��Hush,” he admonished. “We’re talking and we’re negotiating. I’m not about to lie to you again. I will want more than one night with you. I won’t be able to hop into your bed and hop back out again and pretend like it never happened. I’ve wanted you for far too long for that to happen. Can we make a deal? A contract?”
A contract with her dream Dom? It was likely one more bad idea in a long line of them, but she found herself nodding. Why would she say no? Her pride? Her pride hadn’t gotten her anything good lately. Because she was worried about being hurt? She’d been numb for so long that being hurt seemed like a halfway decent trade-off for feeling anything at all. He was being upfront with her. “Yes.”
His hands moved on her waist, brushing up toward her breasts. “God, chère, this is where I’m supposed to set you across from me and we talk about what we want and need out of this contract.”
“I want an orgasm, Remy,” she stated plainly. “Can we forego the negotiations tonight and agree that we’re going to get into bed and not leave again until you’ve made me come a couple of times?”
“Oh, I like how you negotiate,” he whispered.
Lexi Blake Crossover Collection
Coming April 10, 2018
Justify Me: A Stark International/Masters and Mercenaries Novella
by J. Kenner
Click here to purchase
McKay-Taggart operative Riley Blade has no intention of returning to Los Angeles after his brief stint as a consultant on mega-star Lyle Tarpin’s latest action flick. Not even for Natasha Black, Tarpin’s sexy personal assistant who’d gotten under his skin. Why would he, when Tasha made it absolutely clear that—attraction or not—she wasn’t interested in a fling, much less a relationship.
But when Riley learns that someone is stalking her, he races to her side. Determined to not only protect her, but to convince her that—no matter what has hurt her in the past—he’s not only going to fight for her, he’s going to win her heart. Forever.