by Jessie Lane
Roses are red, my life is blue, and the man I love is a fool.
Virginia Wellington has accepted her fate of being a pawn in her father’s criminal underworld games, especially if it keeps the people she loves safe. The problem is Lucas has discovered her secrets and the reason she walked away from him. Now he’s determined to save her, even if she doesn’t want to be saved.
I’m not Prince Charming. I’m the guy who kicked Prince Charming’s ass.
Lucas Young now knows why the woman he’s loved since he was a boy disappeared from his life. It’s time he rescued his angel and showed her once and for all that by his side is exactly where she belongs.
*Warning: This is the third and last book in a three-part serial spin-off from the Ex Ops Series. All three books feature a piece of Lucas & Ginny’s story and lead directly into the next installment. IN OTHER WORDS, NO MORE CLIFFHANGER! YIPPEE! Also, be forewarned that this story will make you laugh, cry, and possibly throw your E-reader at the wall… more than once! You have been warned. ;)
Raves for the novels by
JESSIE LANE
Secret Maneuvers
“…I couldn't put it down. It’s not just the love story between Belle and Bobby, the suspense, the action, the drama, the friendships, the loyalty... I could go on and on. There is relatability to the characters, it’s a well written, well thought out and developed plot… I loved this one, by far one of my top ten reads so far this year!”
- Chelsea Camaron, USA Today Best-Selling Author
“First loves, second chances, and too many heart-stopping moments to count!! Secret Maneuvers is without a doubt sure to be a huge hit, because this story is romance magic from page one up until the very end!! I lost count of how many times I had to use the highlight feature on my iPad with this story, there were just so many great moments and lines that I wanted to go back to! Whether they were tender or filled with raw emotion, hilarious or beautiful, this was just one of those stories that gives you a little of everything to endure and enjoy!”
- The Autumn Review
“The author manages a lightness and humorous atmosphere, even though the story is highly emotional at the same time… Not only does it have bone-melting romance but thrilling action scenes as well. The writing is, as always, engaging and draws you in on page 1. I’m excited to find out who is next in the Ex Ops series! If you haven’t read Jessie Lane yet, what are you waiting for?”
- Swept Away By Romance
Stripping Her Defenses
“STRIPPING HER DEFENSES Blew. Me. Away! I liked this one even better then the first book, SECRET MANEUVERS. The characters were engaging, the pacing perfection, and the story-line was dynamic. This is Jessie Lane's best work yet!”
- Reading Between the Wines Book Club
“In this installment, Lane addresses the serious topics of depression, death, and how to deal with being married to a military spouse. A deep emotional tidal wave ebbs and flows throughout the story as Lane flips back and forth to let us see the reasons behind a failed marriage and the steps one woman takes to reclaim her life and self-worth. Steamy sex scenes spice things up the storyline while heart to heart dialogue keeps the story from becoming just another “trope.” Humor injects randomly to offset the somber tones while interesting new characters are introduced to announce a spin off series Lane is creating with fellow writer, Chelsea Cameron.”
- Smexy Books
Ice
“There is angst, yes. There is drama, yes. There is suspense, yes. There is sexiness, yes. But I think what it is, the reason behind why I liked this so much is the reason behind the MC. The driving force, the reason why they do what they do, why they were founded. I don't know that I have read a book like this one before.”
- Books chocolate and lipgloss
“The action in this book truly has you on the edge of your seat. Chelsea and Jessie have you smiling and then nervous with each page turned. There was one scene that I was shocked and gutted. It was hard for me to read (and I have read some shocking, gruesome scenes) but this one...WOW this one was truly shocking!”
- Halos and Horns Book Blog
Hammer
“This story was so much more than I expected… I just love a badass with a warm gooey center!”
- Belle’s Book Bag
“I have waiting for a year for Hammer and it was WELL worth the wait. Camaron and Lane did not disappoint in this story. I actually think they kicked the volume WAY up in this one with Hammer and Desirae. This story was intense and sexy… If you enjoy a different type of MC romance, then definitely add this series to your TBR list.”
- The Book Chick
Sweet Eternity
Ex Ops Series #5
Sweet Series #3
By Jessie Lane
Copyright © 2016 by Jessie Lane
Published by Whiskey Girls Publishing
All rights reserved.
Edited by: C&D Editing, Read Head Editing & Shannon Webb
Cover Design by: Cover Me Darling
Cover Images by: © Golden Czermak | Furious Fotog
Cover Model: Chase Ketron & Hannah Nicole Lee
Copyright © 2016 by Jessie Lane
The purchase of this e-book allows you one legal copy for your own personal reading enjoyment on your personal computer or device. You do not have the rights to resell, distribute, print, or transfer this book, in whole or in part, to anyone, in any format, via methods either currently known or yet to be invented, or upload to a file sharing peer to peer program. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. Such action is illegal and in violation of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return it and purchase your own copy. If you no longer want this book, you may not give your copy to someone else. Delete it from your computer. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Trademarks: This book identifies product names and services known to be trademarks, registered trademarks, or service marks of their respective holders. The authors acknowledge the trademarked status in this work of fiction. The publication and use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
This book contains mature content not suitable for readers under the age of 18. This book contains content with strong language, violence, and sexual situations. All parties portrayed in sexual situations are over the age of 18.
For more information on Jessie Lane:
http://jessielanebooks.com/
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Other Titles From Jessie Lane
Ex Ops Series
Secret Maneuvers
Stripping Her Defenses
Mission Delivery
Sweet Agony
Sweet Recovery
Sweet Eternity
Bullets and Bluebonnets
Regulators MC Series
(co-written with Chelsea Camaron)
Ice
Hammer
Big Bad Bite Series
Big Bad Bite
Walk On The Striped Side
Star Series
(co-written with M.L. Pahl)
The B
urning Star
The Frozen Star
Kindle World Stories
Lone Wolf Wanted
Sassy and a little Bad-Assy
Bears Do It Better
Sweet Eternity
Sweet Series Book 3
&
Ex Ops Series Book 5
Jessie Lane
Dedication
To my best friend Chelsea Camaron.
What would I do without you?
Love you long time!
Acknowledgements
It takes a village to polish a book. This where I thank the people who helped make this book nice and shiny! Thank you so much to Chelsea Camaron, Abbie Zanders, Read Head Editing, C&D Editing, and last but never, ever least, Shannon Webb. Thank you ladies for rocking my literary world with all of your love and help!
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Epilogue
About the Author
Chapter
1
Ginny
Wishes or weapons?
If words were weapons, I would be bleeding out this very moment, cut more deeply than flesh and bone, straight down to the heart. I would be bleeding out internally while the man I hated as much as I loved watched from above as he pinned me to the mattress.
If words were wishes, I would be in heaven on earth: whole, happy, and complete, because the love I had longed for was finally being returned in equal measure. The proof of it was engraved in precious metal, set in the same shape of the metaphorical heart I had given him years ago, hanging and unlocked. It was on display for the world to see, from my very own neck.
I didn’t need for the world to see it, though. No. In a way, I wanted to keep this moment and the sight to myself, sort of like a dragon hoarding her treasure.
“G on the outside, and L on the inside. Our initials on the same heart, angel … because you’ve always carried mine with you wherever you go.”
The problem was, words were both wishes and weapons. They destroyed as much as they fixed. As much as I wanted those words to heal every scar, fill every hole, and make me whole again, there were other words—promises, really—that prevented it.
Words spoken by another man in my life: my father.
“I would hate for something to happen to you, darling.”
The man truly didn’t care one way or the other if anything happened to me. My mother, however, was an entirely different story.
Richard Wellington lived and breathed for his wife. He wanted to conquer the world for her; present it on a silver platter as if it were her heart’s desire. He had convinced himself that, if he could give her anything and everything, she would never leave him again. Therefore, he had to be the strongest, the richest, the best. Nothing else would do.
What he couldn’t comprehend was that, instead of giving her everything she wanted, he was holding her hostage in a prison of love and hate. As in, she hated herself for how much she loved him. She also hated that he would use me, the child she loved beyond measure, as a pawn to keep her in line.
If I didn’t find a way to get back to my father, there was no telling what he would do.
What was the saying? There’s a thin line between love and hate?
Was it possible for Richard Wellington to go off the deep end and hurt my mother in his determination to get me back? I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her.
Staring silently into Lucas’s imploring hazel eyes, I knew what I had to do, even if it killed every emotion I had left.
I took a deep breath for courage and forced the words out, “Take me back.”
He flinched as if I had slapped him. I supposed hearing that from me had been a metaphorical slap in the face.
“Are you fucking kidding me, Ginny? Why in the hell would you want to go back?”
If I told him the truth, he would never let me walk out the door. No, if Lucas knew I was trying to go back because I was afraid for my mother’s safety, he wouldn’t let me move an inch. His angry outburst at the restaurant when he had confronted me about not telling him the truth about my situation had shown me a side of Lucas that I had convinced myself was only the wishful dreaming of a young girl—the boy from across the street had turned into a man who would ride off into the sunset with her. Or, perhaps it would be better to describe him as a warrior determined to protect his territory.
I wouldn’t even say Lucas was acting as if he was a soldier who had put aside his battered fatigues. He might have shed his Green Beret uniform, but as I looked at him now, really looked at him, it was easy to see who he really was.
A champion.
He was a man who got up after he was knocked down. A defender of the weak, and a savior of the oppressed. A man who was more terrified of losing, whereas everyone else was afraid of winning.
His features were schooled into a mask, his lips drawn into a firm line, but his eyes screamed disbelief mixed with anger. His breathing was calm and even, yet I could sense the internal storm raging. His ire was so charged it was like lightning; determination rolling like storm clouds. Somehow, though, he managed to hold his temper at bay.
God, it hurt my heart to see his passion for protecting me. Just when I thought I couldn’t feel an iota more emotional pain when it came to this man, a fresh wound tore through me, and it burned. After all, this man was the knight of my dreams come to life. No armor needed, and the only horsepower he believed in was in a strong engine. He was, nonetheless, a protector of the weak, trying to right the wrongs he saw in the world. He was on a quest to save the princess from the dragon.
Too bad the princess was determined to keep her knight far, far away from the dragon’s lair. And to do that, I had to do some very un-princess-like things: lie, manipulate … stab him in the back—anything if it kept him safe in the end. Wasn’t that the meaning of protecting the person you loved by whatever means necessary?
“I didn’t ask you to come storming back into my life. Nor did I ask you to shoot my fiancé, or try to save me from my father—”
“You didn’t ask me?” He shook his head in frustration. “You didn’t tell me. And you sure as shit didn’t give me an S.O.S. Here’s the thing, angel; I don’t need a bat signal to see you’re knee-deep in shit with no shovel to get yourself out of it.”
My frayed nerves snapped, and I lashed out at him … literally.
With a shriek of rage, I reached up with both hands and slapped them on his chest and abdomen, trying to push him off me. Still, he straddled my waist, effectively holding me down with little to no effort. If I didn’t get some space between us, I was going to lose my mind.
Lucas tried to grab both my hands, succeeding in capturing one, and then froze in place as I pointed an accusing finger in his face with the other.
“You’re still a sarcastic pain in the ass; you know that?” I tried to push him off with my free hand again, but he struck as fast as a snake, grabbing it and securing it against his body.
Leaning forward, he growled down at me, “That’s right, baby. I’m still the overbearing jackass I was when we were growing up. And you know what? You’re still the little girl trying to hide from all her big, bad problems. Looks like we haven’t changed a bit.”
Using my stomach muscles to pull myself up until our faces were only a half a foot apart, I desperately screamed back, “Wrong! You’re wrong again.” Dropping my body back to the bed, I continued, “I’m not the same girl you used to know. Didn’t we already cover this? You told me I was a crappy veneer of who I used to be. Well, this crappy veneer is trying to get it through your thick skull that I’ve permanently changed.
“People change, Luca
s. As much as you want to hold on to the person I was, she moved on. I have a life now with Jay, one you violently snatched me out of without even asking if I wanted to leave. Now you have a problem, because I want to go back. Tough shit for you. Take me home, Lucas, so I can make sure my fiancé is okay.”
For several long seconds, I waited for the verbal shot back, the anger from my accusation of basically kidnapping me—something. Instead, I got nothing. He had gone still the moment I had said fiancé, his muscles locked so tightly he could have been made from stone. Those burning eyes stared a hole into my soul, looking through me and into me, as if I were glass instead of flesh and bone, reading all my deepest, darkest fears.
I was doing my best to stay strong and not let the fear I felt all the way down to my core show in any way, to hide my true intentions of trying to save him. Only, his eyes were looking at me as if he could see it all.
Dread slowly overtook me as he watched, not saying a word, until I felt like my throat had an invisible hand around it, choking the life out of me.
Just when my lungs started to burn and I thought I had forgotten to breathe altogether, he moved. Slowly, steadily, and surely, he started shifting backward.
Hope surged through me as I became certain he was letting me up from off the bed, which meant he had believed my ploy. I would leave, call my father, and then leave Lucas behind where he would be safe and sound. However, it didn’t take long for my hope to stagger as he resituated himself between my legs, using his legs to push my loose pencil skirt up until my limbs were spread out far enough to cradle his hips.
The shift made me realize two things: one, Lucas wasn’t letting me go; and two, the lump pressed snugly against my thigh was my cell phone.
In the commotion of today’s events, I had forgotten all about this skirt having the secret pockets and me having put the phone in the left one before I had left, in lieu of bringing my purse.
That phone was a direct link between me and my father. Not because I could call him, but because he used a GPS tracker on it. As long as I had the phone, Richard Wellington could find me, a fact he hadn’t bothered to hide.