by Lexi Blake
Adam had to admit it. Things weren’t looking great for Serena Brooks. If he’d wanted to brutally murder her, he’d already gotten past her security system. He’d made friends with her guard dog, and so far, no one had shown up to clock him with a baseball bat.
Either Serena was very naïve or she wasn’t that terrified.
His concern must have shown on his face since Jake slapped him across the shoulder. “There it is. I knew you could do it. I knew you could think with the other head.”
“You’re an asshole.” His gut churned a little at the thought that he was wrong about Serena.
Jake shrugged. “Yep, but I’m an asshole who so far has managed to keep us in one piece.”
There it was—that odd invisible tether that somehow kept them together. They had met their first day of basic training. Adam had felt the weight of generations of service on his shoulders. Jake had joined because he had nowhere else to go. Adam had come from privilege and Jake from poverty. And they had fit. Ten years, a war, several near-misses with death and countless women later, Adam couldn’t imagine his life without Jacob Dean in it.
And he’d never forget the way his father had called him a faggot after they had gotten kicked out of the Army for sharing a woman.
His father would never understand. No one would.
Adam cleared his head and got back to the case. His father would never forgive him. Neither would his brothers. Jake was his only family now.
“Do you hear anything?” Adam asked. The house seemed perfectly quiet. Serena had turned off most of the lights. He was in a small breakfast area. Her kitchen was to the right. There was a bottle of wine open on the counter. Sauvignon Blanc. It looked like a decent year.
“At least she has good taste in wine,” Jake noted. “Probably not the best idea to drink when someone is trying to kill you, though.” His head came up. Jake gestured down the hall. That way.
And he saw her. She was in the living room. Her figure danced across the opening that led to the large space. She was actually dancing. And then she stopped, as though having a revelation. She was still for a moment and then a single fist pumped in the air and she began dancing again. Ear buds sat in her ears, connected to a small device hooked to her shirt.
Serena Brooks looked completely different than she had earlier in the day. Gone was the bulky sweater and loose fitting jeans. Her hair was out of its messy bun and flew out at odd, strangely sexy angles. In the soft light from her lamp, he could see that her hair wasn’t a simple brown. It was threaded with blonde and red and dark brown, and there was a ton of it. Without the confines of a comb, the soft stuff seemed to go everywhere in a silky cloud. She wore red cotton underwear and a black tank top. Neither was inherently sexy, but on her the cotton clung to her every curve, accentuating her hourglass figure. Her breasts bounced, obviously free of confinement.
“What the hell is she doing?” Jake asked, his mouth slack as he watched her dance.
The dance wasn’t some seductive siren call. It was odd and slightly awkward and joyous. It was the dance of a woman who was completely sure that she was alone. Adam relaxed a bit. She sure as hell didn’t look like a woman who would ruthlessly plot her own stalking to get a little publicity. Maybe he was the naïve one, but damn, he didn’t want to believe it.
“I got it. So simple. Why didn’t I think of that before?” She started to sing. Again, it was probably not a thing she would do if she knew someone was watching. And Adam found her entirely adorable.
“She’s insane.” But there was a smile on Jake’s face.
He had to see that Serena wasn’t anything like Jennifer. Jennifer had been utterly perfect. She was an elegant female, never a hair out of place, even when she was in uniform. She always did the right thing and knew exactly what to say. She’d been ambitious, and she’d known exactly how to get what she wanted.
Serena didn’t even know the words to the song she was trying to jam to. And she played a terrible air guitar. But damn she had pretty tits.
“I could have killed her ten times by now.” Jake didn’t even try to keep his voice down. It was obvious that the music was far too loud for Serena to overhear their conversation.
“You need to get your head on straight and forget the violence,” Adam tossed back, never taking his eyes off Serena. The big mutt had sat down in the middle of the floor between Adam and Jake, as though he belonged there. “Think about the other things we could have done to her by now. We could have her stripped, tied up, and part way to some sweet double penetration.”
“Not a good idea, Adam.” But his voice was tight, as though he was a bit uncomfortable.
It seemed like a perfect idea to Adam. She was unattached, obviously submissive, and in definite need of male attention and protection. They could handle all of her needs. They were a one-stop boyfriend shop. “I don’t see why not.”
Jake turned and shook his head. “Let me show you why not. In three point two seconds, she’s going to be the one thinking about violence.”
Jake strode down the hall just as she turned and finally opened her eyes at the precise right time.
Serena’s pretty green eyes widened to the point of looking slightly painful and she screamed. It wasn’t a girly scream. It was a full-on death scream that must have hit the Richter scale somewhere. The dog whined and ran to his mistress, his tail down but thumping. She pulled the ear buds out, grabbed her dog’s collar, and started to run for the front door.
Jake was on her in an instant, moving almost faster that Adam could see. There was a reason his call sign had been Ghost. He moved like one. Jake wrapped an arm around Serena’s waist and pulled her backwards, lifting her feet off the floor. She dropped the dog’s collar, and the poor boy just whined and turned in circles as though trying to figure out what to do. Serena kept screaming, her legs kicking out, her fists trying to find purchase.
Adam sighed. They were both drama queens. The whole scene could have been avoided if she’d simply answered either her phone or her door. Or Jake could have been a bit softer. Attacking her after breaking in was sure to make her angry. It might have been a better idea to simply break into her kitchen and cook her a nice meal. Then the whole breaking-and-entering blow could have been softened with a little pasta. He’d been taking some lessons from Sean. Cooking seemed like a good way to get a woman into bed. But no, the caveman had to attack in an attempt to prove he could.
He spied her half full glass of wine. The yelling was reaching a level that threatened to shake the walls. Yeah, he was going to need that. He picked it up and, without a single regret, took a long sip.
“Stop yelling!” Jake ordered. Adam recognized it as his big bad Dom voice.
“Let me go!” Serena screamed back. She seemed to be in excellent physical condition. No one could fight that hard and long without some serious stamina. He was impressed. And the Sauvignon Blanc wasn’t half bad.
“You’re both scaring the dog.” Adam held out a hand, and the dog ran to him, cowering behind his legs. A Chihuahua would have at least made some noise.
Serena finally seemed to focus. “Adam?”
He winked her way. “In the flesh, sweetheart.”
Jake’s hold had made the tank top ride up. And he’d been right, the pretty girl wasn’t wearing a bra. He got the slightest hint of nipple. Now that she’d calmed down a bit, she looked right in Jake’s arms. She would be a sweet handful in between them. He’d never loved skinny girls. He wanted curves and boobs, and Miss Serena had plenty of both.
“What the hell are you two doing here? Motherfucker.” She tried to pull away.
She also had a potty mouth. “Oh, I would watch the language, sweetheart. The big, nasty Dom doesn’t like swearing. He just might spank you.”
Serena stopped, every inch of that fair skin flushing in an instant. Yes. She liked that idea. He was going to have to read some of those books. Her laptop was open on a small desk in the corner. Her whole living room seemed to have been converted
“Let me go, please.” Serena’s voice was hoarse from the screaming, but there was a tight control to it.
Jake hesitated. “Are you going to be calm now?”
“Yes,” she replied, going completely still in his arms. “Now that I know you’re not here to kill me, I think I can be calm. You aren’t here to kill me, are you?”
Adam smiled before taking another sip. “Not at all. We’re here to congratulate you. We’re taking your case, sweetheart. We’re your new bodyguards.”
Chapter Five
Serena forced herself to calm down. Her heart was racing like a runaway freight train. She clutched the phone. Her bedroom was down the hall from where the two men who had invaded her home sat, but it still seemed a little too close for comfort.
“I want them gone.” She peered around the corner and could see Adam sitting back, her traitor dog’s head in his lap. She’d thought he was hot before in his perfectly cut suit. Now that he’d ditched the tie and jacket, she could see hints of just how cut his body was. And she’d felt for herself just how fit Jacob Dean was.
And how hard his cock could get. There had been no way to mistake the fact that once she’d started wriggling around on him, he’d responded. And so had she once she’d realized that he wasn’t there to hurt her. She’d felt a deep pull on all of her girl parts. She needed to get laid. And not by someone like Jacob Dean.
There was a long sigh on the other end of the phone. “I don’t think that’s a good idea, sweetie. Ian wouldn’t have assigned them if he didn’t think they were the best men for the job. I know you don’t know Ian Taggart, but he’s an honorable man. I trust him. My brother thought he could walk on water.”
Serena softened. She knew Lara’s story. She knew how much she missed her brother every day. “Why can’t this Ian person babysit me?”
“Ian is the head of the company. He can’t be with you twenty-four seven until this asshole is caught. And it’s a bodyguard, not a babysitter. You are in danger. Don’t you dare not take this seriously.” Lara’s sharp voice practically cut through the phone. When Lara loved someone, she could be fierce about it. It made her a hell of an agent. She viewed her clients as family.
“I am taking it seriously. I promise. I just wish they hadn’t broken into my house and caught me in my underwear.” That had been past humiliating. She’d ditched her PJ pants because the house had gotten warm. At least she’d managed to leave her tank top on. She really wished she hadn’t taken off her bra though. She could just imagine what those two intensely fit men had thought of her cellulite and her saggy boobs.
Lara laughed. “Oh, no. Did they catch you doing that crazy dance thing you do when you can’t quite figure out an action scene? Or did they catch you with the ménage dolls?”
She sometimes used dolls in order to get down the physicality of a love scene. She’d rapidly discovered that male dolls were deeply inflexible, so she had to use three ballerina dolls to make things work. Luckily, they were hidden in her desk drawer. “The dancing thing.”
It made her weird. She knew that, but she’d given up on finding a man who would understand her a long time back. Her friends got that she thought better while singing and dancing. They ignored it when she talked to herself because she was working on dialogue and made crazy hand gestures. They didn’t care that she non-sequitured her way through life because she had a million ideas going at once.
They didn’t make fun of her.
“The dancing thing is cute,” Lara assured her. “Ian told me that these guys know what they’re doing. Adam Miles and Jacob Dean are former Special Forces. They worked with Ian’s brother, Sean. He speaks very highly of them. They’ve been working in the private sector for five years. They’re the best in the business. And this is only until we figure out who this asshole is. I promise Ian is working on that, too.”
The cops hadn’t done much. At least if they were paying these guys, they might actually look into it. She didn’t have a problem hiring a security firm. But she did have a problem with Adam and Jake. “They’re already making fun of me.”
It was stupid. She was a twenty-eight-year-old woman. She shouldn’t give a crap what people thought, but it hurt. She’d gotten the crap kicked out of her about a million times since she’d started writing erotic romance. She’d thought she could be happy and proud telling everyone that she was a published writer. Her aunt had asked when she was going to write a real book. Her husband had read it and promptly divorced her because he hadn’t meant to marry a woman of her obviously low character. She couldn’t even find writer friends outside of her genre. The one writers’ group she’d gone to had asked her to leave because they didn’t want her to tarnish the chapter’s image. She was sick to death of being made fun of.
Lara’s voice turned cajoling. Serena had to smile because she’d heard Lara use the same tone on authors who went all diva on her. “What did they do? Look, sweetie, guys don’t understand romance. I know your covers are salacious, but they sell books. You can’t expect some straight guy to get it.”
“No, Lara. They started talking about Doms.” She could still hear her ex-husband berating her for wanting to explore BDSM. He’d called her everything from a freak to a whore. The last thing she needed was two bodyguards who thought they could look down on her.
There was a long pause. “What exactly did they say?”
She felt her whole body flush. She looked around the corner to make sure they weren’t listening in. Adam was still sitting in her desk chair, drinking her damn wine. He looked gorgeous. His dark hair fell perfectly over sculpted features. He spoke quietly to Jake, who she couldn’t see.
“Adam made a crack about Jacob spanking me if I didn’t watch my potty mouth.”
Lara’s laugh came over loud and clear. “Well, you can cuss a blue streak.”
“He said the big bad Dom wouldn’t like it. I’m sick of this shit, Lara. I’m sick of men who make fun of me because I’m not some perfect little vanilla princess.”
Lara sighed. “Okay, sweetie. I’ll talk to Ian. I’m sorry. He’s a good friend. I thought he could help. Have you talked to Storm about this?”
Storm was the Dom Serena had been talking with for a couple of months. She’d only recently met him, but he was an incredibly open man. Maybe she should talk to him. He might have some connections. She turned away and walked to the back of her bedroom. “I have a meeting with Master Storm in a couple of days. I’ll talk to him.”
“All right.” Serena could hear Lara’s tiredness. She wished she wasn’t the cause of it. “I’m sorry. I thought it was the best I could do. Please don’t throw them out. They really will protect you until we can get someone else in place. Just go to bed and don’t talk to them.”
She hated the thought that she wouldn’t see them again. She really was an idiot. They were jerks who had thrown her out of their office, broken into her house, and made fun of her work. And she was hurt at the idea of them walking out of her life.
She really was a masochist.
She should probably talk to Master Storm about that, too.
“I promise.” She felt her whole body sag. “I’ll be a good girl. I really do appreciate it, you know. I just…I can’t deal with it. I’m so tired of getting the shit kicked out of me for being honest. But I’ll handle it while we find someone else.”
“All right, sweetie. Talk to Master Storm. I’ll talk to Ian tomorrow. I’ll find someone who works. Hey, Brian just walked in. He says hi. You know he loves you, too.”
Brian was Lara’s husband and her partner. He handled the more mainstream clients. Serena wasn’t sure he loved her. Sometimes she thought he could barely stand the erotic clients his wife had brought in, but he was still Lara’s husband. “Tell him hi. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, Lara.”
She hung up the phone. She felt weary, too. She pulled her robe around her and took a deep breath. It was time to set the ground rules with her new bodyguards. She steeled herself. This time when she talked to them she wanted to at least sound like a professional.
“Who is Master Storm?” a low voice asked.
She shrieked like a five-year-old girl. Jake Dean had somehow gotten into her bedroom and behind her when she wasn’t looking. “You have to stop that! God, you’re going to give me a heart attack.”
“He’s good at that. It’s one of his great life skills.” Adam leaned negligently against her doorframe. Mojo sat beside him, their enormous bodies blocking her escape route. Mojo’s tail thumped and his mouth hung open, tongue panting. At least her dog found them amusing.
They were both here in her small bedroom. It was the most straight-man attention this bedroom had gotten in years.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that.” She forced herself to look at Jake. Between the two of them it was obvious Adam would be easier to deal with. Jake was the hard-ass. She didn’t deal well with hard-asses.
A single brow arched above his model perfect face. “I didn’t sneak up. You weren’t paying attention to your surroundings. You were far too busy telling your agent to fire us.”
Adam’s face fell. “What? But we just got here. Look, sweetheart, I know the whole breaking-in thing was scary, but we did have a point. Your security system sucks. And, in our defense, we did call and ring the doorbell. We can’t do our job standing on your front porch waiting for you to finish with the dancing thing. That was adorable by the way.”
She flushed. God, she hated the fact that a part of her wanted to believe he wasn’t insulting her. His teasing tone was soft and cajoling. When he smiled, the most gorgeous dimples showed up on his face. Adam Miles was just about everything she could want in a boyfriend. He was charming and smart, and he came with a built-in alpha-male partner.
Stop right there, Serena Brooks. Your imagination is running wild. The world doesn’t work that way.
“I don’t think this is about the break-in. She said we were making fun of her.” Jake’s brows drew together in a serious expression as though he was working through a problem. “I didn’t make fun of her. I told her to stop yelling. I have excellent hearing. I can’t stand yelling.”
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