by Lacey Black
Submerged
Bound Together Book 1
Lacey Black
Copyright © 2016 Lacey Black
Photograph & Cover design by Sara Eirew
Website: www.saraeirew.com
Cover model: Michel Giroux
Editing by Kara Hildebrand
Format by Brenda Wright, Formatting Done Wright
This book is a work of fiction. Any reference to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
No part of this publication may be reproduced by any means without the prior written permission of the author.
All rights reserved.
Index
Also by Lacey Black
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
Epilogue
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Also by Lacey Black
Rivers Edge series
Trust Me, Rivers Edge book 1 (Maddox and Avery) – FREE at all retailers
~ #1 Bestseller in Contemporary Romance & #3 in overall free e-books on Amazon
~ #2 Bestseller in overall free e-books on iBooks
Fight Me, Rivers Edge book 2 (Jake and Erin)
Expect Me, Rivers Edge book 3 (Travis and Josselyn)
Promise Me: A Novella, Rivers Edge book 3.5 (Jase and Holly)
Protect Me, Rivers Edge book 4 (Nate and Lia)
Boss Me, Rivers Edge book 5 (Will and Carmen)
Coming Soon:
Trust Us: A Rivers Edge Christmas Novella (Maddox and Avery)
~ This novella was a part of the Christmas Miracles Anthology and will be releasing as an individual e-book soon!
Dedication
For my beautiful niece, Allex.
Follow your dreams no matter where they take you. Believe in yourself above all else. And always smile because it lights up your eyes.
To me, you will always be two years old, wearing a pillowcase on your head, and staging a wedding in the closet. I love you to the moon and back!
Prologue – One Perfect Night
Blake
2 years ago
“Come on, don’t be a pussy,” my little brother, Luke, says as he slides the little glass in front of me with that shit-eating grin plastered across his smug face.
“Don’t be a dick. I’ve already had four shots tonight, and I don’t want to show up for my first day tomorrow hungover,” I defend weakly before taking my fifth shot of Jose Cuervo of the night. The burning liquor sliding down my throat isn’t quite as harsh as it was earlier in the evening. Maybe that’s because the tequila has already warmed me all the way down to my steel-toed boots.
“Shit, you’d be expected to show up hungover. They’d probably think something was wrong with you if you didn’t look like hell,” he says before mirroring my actions and taking the shot of golden liquid.
Tomorrow is my first day on my new job. Or should I more accurately say that it’s my first day on our new assignment. Tomorrow starts the day I become someone else. I will no longer be Blake Thomas, special agent with the FBI. No, tomorrow I become Blake Crisp, mechanic at First Class Auto Repair. After months of hard work, intel, and setting this job in motion, I’ll finally be going undercover to help rid the world of one more scumbag. One more crook. One more dirty businessman; if you can even call him that. First Class Auto Repair is anything but a reputable repair shop; at least not behind the scenes.
The FBI has been building a case against Roman Hernandez for the last decade. The auto repair is a front for something much deeper and darker, but how deep and dark, we have yet to truly reveal. The last two agents to go underground in the company both disappeared, never to be heard or seen from again. Oh, we have our speculation as to what happened to the agents, but no trace of their bodies have ever been found. Their intel just stopped, their handlers unable to contact them, their trail gone cold.
“I’d really like to be able to think clearly, though,” I tell Luke as my attention is pulled towards the front door.
My mind is always busy; it’s a result of the job. My eyes continually scan the crowd, watching hands and body language, observing the exits. I absorb everything around me, taking it all in with an eagle eye, filing it away in my expansive memory. It’s one of the things that makes me damn good at my job. Reading people: it’s the thing I excel at.
When a minor rotator cuff injury my senior year of UNLV killed any future at a pro football career, I packed up my shit and moved to Quantico, Virginia. My mom cried the entire time, but there I found a place I felt like I truly belonged. A purpose. Over eight hundred grueling hours of training that tested and pushed me to the breaking point, both physically and mentally. I graduated in a small ceremony where my family stood and cheered, was selected as recipient of the Director’s Leadership Award by my peers and superiors, and finally handed my brand new credentials and a shiny Glock 22 .40 Smith & Wesson.
Before I can throw a smartass comment back at the man sitting across the table from me, my attention is drawn back to the front entrance; or more precisely, to the woman who just walked through the door. With long, black hair and the darkest brown eyes I’ve ever seen, she’s a goddess, and I’m completely enamored by her. The tight black tank top accentuates my favorite female feature, that’s for sure, but the short little black skirt is what has my attention right now. It fits snug around her beautiful heart-shaped ass and hits mid-thigh, with lean legs, a mile long, enticing me with each step she takes. All I can picture now is how they’d look wrapped around my neck. Her entire outfit leaves little to the imagination, and if the lustful looks on half the jackasses in this bar are any indication, she’s fulfilling many fantasies all over the fucking room with her mere presence.
And all I want right now is to throw her over my shoulder and walk straight out that front door.
“She’s hot,” my brother says, noticing the direction of my gaze while taking a handful of peanuts from the bowl in the middle of the table.
“Who?” I ask casually, returning my gaze back to the man who resembles me so closely.
“Really? Is that the best you’ve got? The hottie in the black, that’s who. You were watching her so closely that you had no clue what I was saying a few moments ago,” Luke says with another of those arrogant smiles. Cocksucker.
“She’s good lookin’, but so are half the girls in this place,” I finally retort, taking another long pull from my beer bottle.
“So you won’t mind if I go say hello?” Luke asks as he stands up from the stool across from me at our small pub table.
“Nope. Give it your best
shot,” I say with a shrug of my shoulder as I give my attention to the group of girls across from us. Even wearing their Friday night best, none of them pull my attention like the beauty at the bar. The fact that I have this sudden, crazy urge to punch my brother in the face for even looking at the woman, leaves me unsettled. Maybe I need another shot of Jose.
Just as he starts to take a step towards her, I grab his arm, halting his progress. “That’s what I thought,” he says with a huge grin. Seriously, I’m gonna fuckin’ punch him.
“Just sit down and shut up,” I mumble, doing everything I can to not look back up at the bar. But since my eyes have a mind of their own, I can’t stop from turning my head and glancing her way again.
“Go talk to her,” he adds.
“I don’t think so.”
“Come on, man. When was the last time you dated? Hell, when was the last time you took some chick home from a bar and screwed her brains out?”
Longer than I care to admit. And since that’s a conversation I don’t want to get into with Luke, I change the subject back to the job. “So, I’m going to try to reach out to you tomorrow night and give a report, but I’m not sure when I’ll have the time.”
“Nice distraction,” he says, raising one corner of his mouth.
Luke resembles me so thoroughly that when we were younger, everyone thought we were twins. Despite the two year age difference, our features were the same: brown hair, strong jaw with an always present dusting of facial hair, green eyes, athletic build, and taller than most boys in class. At six foot four, we both sport hard, lean muscles from intense training and rigorous workouts.
“Just check in whenever you can. I know we’ve been over this, but the cell phone you have is self-cleaning. It’s designed to leave a basic trail in case someone checks it for contacts or call history. Any data that you send me will automatically be expunged from your phone following transfer with a master file stored at the bureau,” Luke says seriously.
My job on the inside is to gather information on the day-to-day operations of First Class Auto Repair, an auto repair shop in Las Vegas dealing with top of the line automobiles. That’s the front. What we know about them is that they use the business to scout out potential heist jobs. Of course, not every car that comes through the shop is stolen. That would throw too many red flags that even a kindergartener could figure out. But, that doesn’t mean that the shop isn’t dirty. The Las Vegas field office of the FBI has been watching them for ten long years, well before my time with the bureau, building their case piece by miniscule piece. Every time we think we’re close, our operative mysteriously disappears.
That’s where I come in.
“I’ll get you whatever you need. It may take me awhile to build their trust and infiltrate where needed, but I’m not doing this shit to fail. Roman Hernandez and his entire empire are going down. I’ll see to it,” I tell my brother, munching on a handful of peanuts.
“Just be careful. Mom will never forgive me if I get you killed. She barely leaves my side long enough to let me breathe as it is, but if you -” Luke stops abruptly, eyes smiling just over my shoulder.
I glance over my right shoulder and my eyes instantly clash with deep brown eyes the color of smooth, melted chocolate. Her rose colored lips are plump and perfect for kissing. God, what I wouldn’t give to kiss those lips. Desire tears through me like a tornado hell bent on taking down everything in its path. My pants are so damn tight right now, I’m afraid I might pop the button.
“Ladies, would you care to join us?” my asshole brother asks to the two attractive women just over my shoulder.
“Sure,” the blond says with a friendly smile.
I give her a quick once-over, but rapidly avert my eyes before someone sees me. She’s definitely hot with her short platinum blond hair and crystal blue eyes. Her outfit screams “sex” as she reveals plenty of soft, peachy flesh from head to toe. If I wasn’t so damn drawn to her friend, I could see myself taking this one home for a night to burn up the sheets. But my attention is definitely drawn elsewhere.
I feel another presence over my left shoulder moments before I feel her arm brush against mine. Contact. My entire body ignites into flames from that one little touch. My raging desire for this dark-haired beauty is so intense that it practically steals the very air I try to breathe. My instant attraction for her is all-consuming and beyond powerful. Yeah, I want to feel this woman naked underneath me more than I want my next breath of air.
“Hi,” she says shyly with a sweet smile filled with innocence. That one little smile does something deep inside me. It’s like my entire life has changed instantly and I don’t even realize it.
“Hey,” I say, trying to play it Johnny Cool. All the while praying to God or whoever that she can’t read the dirty thoughts parading through my damn mind.
“I’m Tara,” the blond says before taking a drink of something tall and fruity.
“Luke. This is my brother, Blake.”
“And this is my friend, Carly,” Tara says, as she extends her hand to shake mine.
I turn my attention to the goddess on my left and offer her my best smile. It’s a smile I’ve perfected over my twenty-seven years on this earth. The result has earned me phone numbers, bedmates, and plenty of short and long-term girlfriends. But it’s the smile that Carly gives me in return that sends what little blood I have left in my body straight to one concentrated area. I fear that my dick might actually explode at this point.
“Nice to meet you, Carly.” I hop up off my stool and offer it to her. It’s the gentlemanly thing to do, but it’s the bastard part in me who’s doing the thinking. That guy really wants to see that black skirt inch up her thighs when she sits down.
“Thank you,” she replies with a voice dripped in sweet honey.
“What brings you out tonight?” I ask, using the cover of the pub table to adjust my throbbing erection, and inadvertently ignoring the other two at our little table.
“We’re celebrating my promotion.”
“Well, congratulations,” Luke says with a blinding smile. “This calls for a celebratory shot. Another round of Jose,” Luke says to the waitress approaching our table.
“What’s the promotion?” I ask, trying my best to be heard over the growing Friday night crowd.
“I’m going to be the personal assistant to Reid Hunter at Hunter Enterprises,” she says, leaning in just slightly in an attempt to be heard.
“Nice.” I recognize instantly the name Reid Hunter. Shit, everyone in Vegas knows who Reid Hunter is. The man is a genius in the business world at the ripe old age of thirty.
“Yeah, well, it definitely beats filing papers all day long down in legal,” she says before taking another drink from her beer bottle. It was one of the first things I noticed about her when she sat down. She doesn’t have a fruity drink like half the female population in the bar, nor does she have her beer in a frosted mug like the other half. She drinks it straight out of the bottle. My kinda girl.
While Luke and Tara chat about who knows what, another round of tequila arrives. I throw a couple of bills down on the tray and hand out four shots. “Here’s to better jobs and new friends,” I toast with a quick clink of our glasses.
My sixth shot goes straight to my head. I feel the effects of the hard liquid combining with my beer, giving me the perfect buzz. I lean in closer so I can speak to Carly over the noise, and when I do, I’m assaulted by her sweet scent. She smells like wildflowers with a hint of something fruity. My nostrils flare to life as I inhale another lung-filling gulp of her alluring fragrance.
“What are you drinking to tonight?” she asks, leaning forward until her delicious pink mouth is mere inches away from my ear.
“New job for me, too,” I confess, taking another drink.
“Well, it looks like we have a lot of celebrating to do tonight. It’s pretty lucky we were invited to sit at your table. Like fate,” she says loudly. My body sings with different ways for continuing our
little celebration.
After a few more rounds of drinks and one more round of shots, liquid courage has me firmly by the balls. I’ve been flirting like I haven’t in I don’t know how long, and have been touching Carly all night long. The feel of her sweet ass pressed firmly against me while we danced to the jukebox is something I won’t forget anytime soon, if ever. I couldn’t tell you what Luke and her friend, Tara, have been talking about. My focus has been solely on the exotic beauty that’s currently sitting on my lap.
“I have a place not too far from here,” I tell her bravely before I can talk myself out of it.
The look in her eyes confirms my suspicions. Carly wants me as much as I want her. Her brown eyes look charcoal with lust, her pulse beating wildly against the delicate skin of her throat. I can’t stop myself from indulging in just one little taste. I lick that rapidly beating point in her neck, causing her to shiver from head to toe. The goose bumps that break out on her exposed arms aren’t from the temperature in the room. No, it’s from the heat in my touch.
“My place is closer,” she whispers against my ear, sending fire through my veins as if I took another shot of tequila.
“Let’s go,” I say, not giving reason a chance to voice a single thought.
We stand up, Carly’s hand tucked securely in my own as if to keep her from running away, and I turn to my brother. I don’t even have to speak. He knows. “I’ll see you later,” he says, unable to fight the cocky grin on his face. But this time, I couldn’t give a shit about his smug smile. I’ve got Carly, and we’re heading back to her place for the night.
“I’ll be fine,” I overhear Tara tell Carly with their exchange.
“Ready?” Carly’s only reply is a firm nod of her head.
We head out the front door of the bar, and hail the first cab I can flag down. Carly gives her address to the cabbie as I pull her flush against me. Her leg snakes over mine as my lips finally land on hers for the first time tonight. The fact that we’re in the back of a cab leaves me a little unsettled, but when I feel her tongue slide hesitantly against mine, all thought evaporates from my brain. The only head doing any thinking at this point is the one begging to be released from my pants.