by Em Petrova
“Kyle.” She held her breath, waiting for him to call her in to work on her day off.
“I warned you about personal calls, Dahlia.”
“What? I’m not even working today.”
“I know. And some guy named Ben keeps calling demanding he speak with you.”
Oh God. He was going to get her fired.
He’s trying to contact me.
Heart thumping, she stared into space, seeing nothing but the man’s chiseled jaw as he lowered his head to kiss her.
She had to put a stop to this before he jeopardized her livelihood and she ended up broke and living with her father again. No way could she be under his radar again.
“I don’t know any Ben.”
“Hmm. That isn’t what he’s saying.”
Dammit, she was going to have to hunt down the gorgeous man and wring his neck. Only she’d end up on her knees with his thick, deliciously veined cock in her mouth.
Shut off your libido.
“Turn him over to the police for making false 911 calls,” she suggested.
“I did. I just wanted to let you know so you can warn this Ben guy before the police pay him a visit.”
Dropping her head back, she exhaled slowly and tried to come up with some way to respond to her boss. This whole day was really sucking so far. The only good thing about it was she wouldn’t need to take an Uber to pick up her car at the club.
“Fine, Kyle. Thanks for the head’s up.” With that, she ended the call. Two seconds didn’t pass before her door buzzer rang.
“Fucking hell,” she murmured and went to press the button on the wall to answer. She didn’t even get to speak before Ben’s voice filled her space.
“Dahlia, it’s me.”
Her eyes flew open wide as she stared at the speaker as if the man had materialized there.
“Can I come up?” he asked.
Panic set in. She hadn’t stripped the sheets off her bed yet. It was a little rumpled but they could still fall into it. Wait—what was she thinking? She wasn’t having sex with Ben again, wasn’t even going to go downstairs to look at his face. If she did, she’d be a goner, lost in the green pools of his eyes and jonesing for all that muscle.
“No, you can’t come up.”
Good, she prided herself. She’d managed to keep an even tone.
“Dahlia, I’m sorry. Something came up and I had to make an emergency run.”
“Is this for your job?” she heard herself ask. This was ridiculous. Holding a conversation through the intercom was even dumber than getting into his SUV and videoing him fingering her pussy the previous night.
A trickle of warmth slid through her lower abdomen and pooled between her thighs. She still had the video on her phone, but she could have the real thing. All she had to do was unlock the door and let him in.
“Yes, my job. Something came up,” he said.
Anger swept her. “I thought you were in construction. Or demolition. Why are you getting calls in the middle of the night? I think you’re a car thief.” In the back of her mind, she was ignoring that cocky swagger that reminded her of all the Marines her daddy had paraded through their home over the years.
“What?”
“You’re pretty capable of getting my car back to me without even a set of keys. Look, I don’t want anything to do with you, Ben. We had a few nights of fun, but it’s finished.”
There—she’d said it.
Ouch.
Her gut instinct was to take it back, hit the button to unlock the door and let him come in and fuck her brains out.
All day.
It was her day off, after all.
No. She had to get a grip. Not even a man who could use his cock like Ben could was worth all this drama let alone the feelings of letdown each time she woke to find him gone.
“I’m not a car thief, cher. Just let me come up and we can talk.”
“No.”
“Then come down and I’ll take you out.”
“Not a chance.” She could only imagine the things he’d do to her on the street, with all those alleys to hide in.
He pushed out a breath, and she could nearly see him running his hand through his hair. “Fine. Then meet me tonight and let me make it up to you.”
“I have a date tonight.”
Was that a groan she heard cut off by the intercom?
“Dammit. You promised.”
“You promised you were staying till morning how many times now? I’m finished with promises too.”
A second passed, and then his voice came to her clearly. “Fuck, I’m getting a text from my brother that the cops are looking for me concerning a fake 911 call?”
She couldn’t stop a giggle, but luckily, he didn’t hear it.
“Dahlia, open the door. There’s too much between us.”
That she heard loud and clear. Time to cut ties and be the strong, independent woman her daddy had raised her to be.
She pressed the button and leaned close to the speaker, trying not to think of his lips next to her ear. “I can’t see you tonight or any night, Ben. Please forget this address.”
* * * * *
Ben didn’t think he could be in a fouler mood. Running on no sleep, the woman he couldn’t quit thinking about had dumped him, the cops were on his ass about making fake 911 calls, and he was on orders to show up at a fucking barbecue for Colonel Jackson at eighteen hundred hours.
Or risk being court-martialed.
And now his brothers were relating a story about his little sister that was threatening the enamel of his teeth as he viciously ground them.
He glanced in the rearview at Dylan, who was speaking. “The guy was trying to take advantage of Lexi.”
Ben growled. “Let me get this straight. Some asshole came into the flower shop where Lexi works and tried to schmooze money from her.”
Dylan gave a solemn nod. The rest of the Knights were grim-faced, and even Rocko appeared to be bothered by the story. Ben gripped the steering wheel hard, wishing the cracking of his joints was this motherfucker’s bones.
“Start at the beginning,” Ben ordered.
“I guess Lexi’s been seeing this guy on the down-low,” Dylan said.
“And you know this from Lexi herself?”
“No, from Tyler.”
Lexi’s twin counterpart would know. The two were like one and the same person, equally as beautiful and drawing male attention since they were thirteen and Ben and their brothers had started beating the boys back. Only Tyler was savvy in the ways of the world while Lexi was too sweet to be anything but sucked in.
“Fuck,” Ben bit off.
“What’s the big deal about your sister seeing some guy?” Rocko asked. All five Knights turned their glares on him. To his credit, the SEAL did not flinch, just shrugged. “Well?”
“Lexi suffered a lack of oxygen when she was born. She’s not handicapped, but she’s… special. She’s perfectly capable of dealing with anything life throws her way, unless it has to do with numbers.” Ben waited for Rocko to catch on. When he didn’t, he said, “She can’t deal with numbers, and that includes money.”
“Ohhh. Fuck,” Rocko said softly.
“Yeah, she’s smart as a whip when it comes to literature. Quotes things that none of us can understand the meaning of and she’s sporty as hell. Lexi can even outrun Ben here.” Dylan waved at him.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Ben grumbled. “Though she’s damn fast. So, what did this asshole do to try to get money from her? He must have known her weakness.” Just saying that pissed Ben off. Nobody fucked with his family, let alone Lexi. Each Knight protected her like the Templars protected the Grail.
“Tyler says Lexi was dating him. She must have gotten close enough to the jackass to tell him about herself.”
“Dammit,” three of the brothers said together.
“Okay, I’m lost again,” Rocko spoke up. “Tyler is…?”
“Lexi’s twin.”
“An
other Knight brother? How many of you assholes are there?”
Ben shot him a glare over his shoulder. “Tyler’s female. And watch your mouth.”
Rocko was nonplussed. “There has to be a story behind Tyler having a boy’s name.”
“Yeah, she was a surprise twin. Our parents didn’t know she was coming then out she came, and since they had so many boys, they never expected one girl let alone two. Our mother had always loved the name Lexi, so she got the one and only female name they’d picked out.”
“And Tyler got the leftovers.” Rocko bobbed his head as he put it all together.
“I’m so kicking your ass,” Ben warned.
“Save it for this guy who tried to get into Lexi’s bank account,” Sean said from the passenger seat.
“Fine. We’ll get through this mandatory barbecue of the colonel’s and then tonight we’ll go look up Lexi’s ‘boyfriend,’ shall we?” Ben took the final turn that would take them to the private road leading to Colonel Jackson’s home.
“Why are we invited to a barbecue again?” Sean drawled as they were swallowed by a grove of trees on either side of the road old enough to have been planted when Louisiana was founded.
“I don’t for a minute believe it’s for the food,” Ben said.
“You think he’s sending us somewhere?” Chaz spoke up from the back.
Ben didn’t respond as the house came into view. Not any house, but one of those big old Southern homes that seemed to sprawl across acres, with big front windows and columns that had probably kept the place standing during some battle of the Civil War.
Sean whistled. “Guess it pays to be a high-ranking officer.”
After parking and cutting the engine, Knight Ops piled out of the vehicle and fell in behind Ben. As the natural leader, he led them to the double doors. Using the doorbell irritated him, though. It roused bad memories of earlier that day when Dahlia had not only told him she wasn’t seeing him but that he should forget her address.
Pressing his lips into a firm line, he waited for a butler to answer the door, but it was Jackson himself. Out of uniform, he might be any guy at a country club. In summer slacks and a polo shirt, he could even be a golfer. Ben should be golfing right now, and instead he was neck-deep in special ops that so far had sent them on some bullshit missions. Knowing what he did of Jackson, though, he figured those operations were just warmups.
Ben saluted his superior officer, as did the rest of the team.
“At ease, Marines. This is a party and I see none of you dressed for it.” He glanced over their cargo pants, combat boots and black T-shirts. “At least leave the weapons at the door.”
They stepped into the grand foyer and it was easy to see some belle sweeping down that curving staircase in a big dress. Sean let out another low whistle.
Jackson was waiting for them to check their weapons, but nobody was willing to make the first move. Ben reached for his sidearm and set it on a table next to a huge vase of fresh-cut flowers most likely from some extravagant Southern garden it took two gardeners to keep up.
One by one, the guys disarmed and when Jackson was satisfied, the tough old fucker actually smiled. He took off through the entryway. “Party’s out back on the lanai.”
Ben had been in a lot of odd situations, and this was gaining a top spot on that list. In his position, he’d pow-wowed with a lot of higher ranking officers, but why they were invited to a barbecue at the colonel’s personal residence was weird as fuck.
Outside, the fragrance of grilled meats hit them, and Jackson gestured to a metal tub of beer on ice. “Help yourselves, boys.”
“Now this is turning out to be a real nice party,” Sean drawled as he moved off toward a small group of women sitting by the pool. Any bikini had a Knight’s head turning, and typically Ben was no different. But not today, not with Dahlia’s scent still filling his mind and the silky feel of her sliding down over his cock fresh in his memory.
Jackson let the Knights and Rocko mill with the guests at their leisure as he stood talking and joking with some other old gentlemen.
“I don’t know a fucking person here, do you?” Dylan asked.
“Nope.” Ben tipped the beer to his lips. “Just see where this thing goes. And don’t hack Jackson’s computer.”
Dylan cocked a brow. “I’m insulted that you’d think I’d do that. I wouldn’t bother with the computers. If I was hacking anything, it would be the security code to Jackson’s gun safe.”
* * * * *
Dahlia descended the stairs and stopped dead when she reached the bottom. She stared at the weapons piled on the entry table. “What the…?” Her daddy threw some weird parties in his time, but she’d never seen this. Typically, his guests were old friends and family members, especially when it came to his birthday barbecues.
She took a second to glance in the mirror at her appearance. Her eyes weren’t red or swollen—a good thing. She’d gone upstairs to shed a few tears, which wasn’t like her at all, and her daddy would pick up on that like a flea on a dog.
She was just so out of sorts today, and she didn’t feel like mingling with guests at all, though she didn’t have any choice but to slap a smile in place and party like her father was turning fifty-nine.
Pausing at the lanai, she smoothed her hands over her long black sundress. Her sandals made a soft clicking noise as she crossed the patio and stopped dead at the sight of the Marine at the bar. That back, the broad shoulders, were so familiar that her heart somersaulted.
But something about the man wasn’t quite right. She watched him as he turned into profile, and relief swept her. That wasn’t Ben at all. Besides, why would he be here when…
Hold on.
There wasn’t just one Marine here but six, by her weapons count in the foyer. She scanned the group of guests, drinking, laughing, talking, even swimming. And standing in groups, sticking out like aliens at a Fourth of July parade, were men dressed in black T-shirts and cargo pants. Two of them had the same way of holding their shoulders that Ben did. And—
“What the hell are you doing here?” The gritty voice speared her as Ben’s lips were suddenly at her ear.
She whirled to face him, and God, did he look amazing as a Marine.
On the heels of that thought was something along the lines of fuck, he’s a Marine.
She should have guessed that her father had some hand in this. Leave it to him to meddle in her love life.
Without waiting for Ben to say more, she grabbed his arm and hauled him several feet away from the nearest group that could overhear their conversation. In a low urgent tone, she said, “Did you tell my father about us?”
He blinked down at her. All she wanted was to throw her arms around him and slide her thigh up his hip, tilting her pussy toward that thick cock she craved so bad.
“Your father?” A stunned expression crossed his rugged features. “Jackson’s your father?”
“You didn’t know that?”
“Hell no. How could I? No last names, remember?” He narrowed his eyes at her. “Did you know my position?”
“Well, now I’m guessing that you’re the new OFFSUS team, but I’m not supposed to know anything about that. But no, I did not know when I met you in the club.”
“Shit.”
“Shit is right. I need a drink.” She took off for the bar, leaving Ben behind her, though she could feel his hot gaze burning into her back. She picked up a wine glass as he reached her side again.
Hovering over her, he said, “You look fucking stunning in that dress. I want to rip it off you, Dahlia.”
Her insides melted but she took a sip of the wine to cover her reaction. The only way to deal with this man—and keep herself from fucking him in the pool house—was to find some semblance of cool. Though that was difficult when the real problem struck her.
She was screwing around with a member of a special ops team that was put into danger daily. Something she never wanted for herself.
All h
er life, she’d watched her mother struggle with worry over where her husband was and if he’d ever come home. Dahlia had never gotten over the idea that constant stress had taken her mother in the end and the cancer had just been the final blow.
She sipped her wine and tried not to reveal any of this on her face, but Ben was looking at her too closely.
“Were you crying?”
“What? Of course not.” She buried her nose in her glass again, inhaling the fruity notes of the Zinfandel.
He wrapped his fingers around hers holding the glass and stared down into what felt like her soul. “You’re not throwing me away so easily. I—”
“Dahlia, dear, could you come here for a moment? I’d like you to meet someone.” Her father’s raised voice ripped through whatever sexual wall wouldn’t crumble between her and Ben.
“Excuse me.” She relinquished her wine glass to him and walked away to join her father. He held out an arm and slid it around her shoulders as she stopped before another Marine. Though he wasn’t dressed like the others in attendance, there was no doubt in Dahlia’s mind of what he was.
“Dahlia, this is John Winters. I’ve told you about him.”
She extended a hand, fighting the tremors she still felt after being in Ben’s presence. As she accepted the man’s firm handshake, she swore a growl came from somewhere behind them.
“Yes, my father speaks highly of you.”
Winters squeezed her hand a moment too long. He had a nice smile. A direct, straightforward gaze. There was no nonsense about this man. She wouldn’t be left wondering if he was a car thief and discovering he was just a member of OFFSUS.
Ha! Just a member of OFFSUS.
“Why don’t you two get better acquainted? I see Charles flagging me down,” her father said, leaving them alone.
From the corner of her eye, she spotted Ben angling their way as if to break them up, but her father intercepted and sent him off in another direction, probably on some errand. The fact that her daddy didn’t want her involved with a Marine like Ben but was matchmaking her to Winters had her swinging on a pendulum of confusion.
On one hand, her inner rebel child wanted to make a beeline right for Ben and to hell with her father’s thinking on the matter. But she wasn’t into scary missions and not knowing where her lover was or if he was even alive either. She’d sworn off that life long ago and most likely, Winters was in a very cushy position.