by Reina Torres
Owen jogged on, eager to get back and see Blyss. He’d let the good times roll, all right. But first he had to make sure his woman knew that this was forever. That she was his everything. The way it always should have been.
Chapter 11
Lance Soffer wasn’t a man who started out on the wrong side of the law. He’d always wanted to be good guy. The kind of guy people wanted to know. The kind of guy that people looked up to.
A family man.
A hero.
And being a hero came at a cost.
Patrolling Lake Texoma during a particularly busy summer, he was doing safety checks on boats. He’d grinned and suffered through enough drunk assholes to fill purgatory and then some, but they just kept coming.
He’d been tired and eager to get off the lake as the sun hung low over the horizon. And maybe it had been the exhaustion creeping up on him, or maybe it was just that he’d had more than enough of people expecting him to just cut them a break, but he’d made the mistake of looking down at his phone for a moment and that’s when it happened.
A boat without any lights had been coursing across the lake and he’d hit it at full speed.
The impact had thrown him forward onto the bow of his boat, breaking his kneecap and tearing through tendons.
He’d been laid up for weeks in a hospital bed before they told him that he’d made a crucial error when he’d signed up for his medical insurance. He would be broken and homeless before he had recovered and finished his physical therapy.
That’s when he’d had a visit from ‘him.’
He promised to cover all his medical bills, take care of the payments for his apartment. A new car that would be easier on his leg when he was out, but not too nice to attract suspicion.
All he was asking for in return was for Lance to stay away from certain locations at certain times. Turn a blind eye to cars and boats traveling through remote areas in the darkness.
He never asked Lance to get his hands dirty. He never had to touch anything that went back and forth through the areas he patrolled. He would never have to do much more than just make sure his people weren’t picked up by law enforcement.
And the money? It didn’t make him rich beyond his means. It gave him a nice account in the Cayman Islands. Something he wouldn’t touch until his retirement. And when he left the service, he’d have more than enough to live comfortably and be able to enjoy the twilight years of his life.
No harm, no foul.
Not really.
And everything had gone on smoothly. Until people started poking their noses in where they didn’t belong.
The FBI had become involved.
And then the Game Wardens had found some of the couriers from Mexico.
If that hadn’t been enough bad news, the Texas Rangers had gotten involved.
It was all because some of the men who were in charge of transport got greedy, stupid, or both.
And that meant that things had to step up.
Lance had to turn so much of a blind eye that he’d almost twisted his head right off.
Suddenly it wasn’t enough just to ignore, he had to actively make sure that the way was clear.
That was all that he was doing the other day when he’d seen that his patrol area had been changed and Blyss Hardy was put in his place.
The same day that a bunch of the lower level couriers were being given a bigger piece of the pie. They were going to hike from a picnic area and through a preserve to meet a truck on an access road, miles away from any witnesses.
It had seemed like a perfect solution. Ride along with Blyss. Get a chance to impress her and when they got to the picnic area, he’d have her talk to part of the group. While she was busy investigating a couple of kids truant from school, he’d be warning the others and letting them leave while she was busy calling parents to come pick up their kids.
Except Blyss had left without him.
Why? He didn’t know.
She’d left and somehow ended up at the picnic area even without his ‘hunch.’ From what he could figure out, a concerned citizen had told her about the kids and she had to go and check it out herself. No backup.
Well, it wasn’t like she knew she’d be in trouble.
And no one had told him the boys were carrying weapons.
A phone rang and he shifted on his couch, picking up the fucking flip phone he’d been given as a burner, and answered it. “Yeah?”
“You sound a little ‘put out.’”
He hunched over the phone and sat back from the table to keep an eye on the almost empty bar. His empty glass mocked him. “A Game Warden ended up in the hospital.”
“Someone you know?”
Lance should have kept his mouth shut. “No one important.”
Why did he almost see a smile in the shadows of his mind?
“Then you shouldn’t be worried.”
“A law enforcement officer in the hospital because your couriers put two bullets in her vest and then dumped her into the river?”
“Her?” Even through the phone Lance could hear the blistering curses. “You said hospital? She’s alive?”
“She had a Kevlar vest on. Instead of killing her, she managed to escape with a few bruised ribs.”
“What does she know?”
“I… I haven’t been able to see her.”
“Find out.”
“I don’t know where she is. I stopped by the hospital, but she was released. I stopped by her apartment-”
“Just how well do you know her?”
Not as well as he wanted to.
“There aren’t that many Game Wardens in Texas. We all know the others in our areas. It’s unavoidable that we have some kind of relationship with the others.”
“Well, if you want to keep her alive long enough to keep getting to know her, you’ll find out what she knows. Maybe you’ll get to look like a concerned friend. But I need the truth. If she’s going to cause trouble-”
Lance’s hand pounded the tabletop, making his glass slide an inch to the side. “They shot her. They tried to drown her. They stole her vehicle. If they were too stupid to wear gloves, there are probably fingerprints-”
“Are there?”
“What?”
“Are there fingerprints?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Then find out.” The words were sharp. They were cold. And they didn’t invite argument, or even thought. “Find out if there are fingerprints or evidence. Then I’ll decide where our weak links are.”
Lance didn’t have to ask what was going to happen to them. He knew the stakes. He’d taken the money. He’d looked the other way. Now, he was going to have to stick his nose into this investigation.
It wasn’t a matter of getting dirty.
He was already filthy.
“Did you hear me?”
“Yes,” he cleared his throat, “I heard you.”
“Then get moving. Every day, every hour, I’m losing money.”
The phone call ended and Lance waved at the bartender for another drink. He needed something to drown himself in because while his ‘boss’ was losing money, he was losing the last few pieces of his soul.
What was going to be left when this was all over?
He found her coming out of the bathroom, wearing one of his t-shirts. An old ARMY shirt that he liked to wear around the house. She was walking at a more normal clip than earlier that morning, but he still moved quickly to her side. “You look good.”
“Well, I’m moving almost like a human, so thanks.”
Her humor was intact and the spark in her eyes was good to see.
“Do you need me to wrap you up?” He rubbed his hands gently up and down her back. “I can help.”
There was a wry twist of her mouth. “I do believe that’s probably the first time you’ve ever asked a woman about helping her dress up instead of helping her out of her clothes. Hmm?”
There was an odd edge in her voice that made his st
omach feel like a rock. Sure, she was joking about it, but he’d made this problem. With every woman he’d been with, every meaningless night, he’d made this divide between them. It wouldn’t matter to her that he’d done those things, been with those women, because he didn’t understand the feelings that had been inside of him all of these years. If he’d heard the same excuse from her, it wouldn’t chase out the images he’d have in his head. There was nothing he could say to her to make it all right. No way to excuse the past.
He just had to hope that she’d want to build a future with him.
There weren’t any pretty words to fix his mistakes. He just had to go with the truth.
“I know I haven’t made things easy, Blyss. I’ve been a ridiculous asshole for so many years.”
He saw the shock in her eyes.
“This,” he smoothed his hands down until his fingertips touched the curve of her lower back, “all of this,” the touch of his fingers across the fullness of her ass as he stepped into her and winced when her hips cradled his hard on, “is just between you and me.”
Owen saw her struggle, but he kept going, needing her to know. “It’s not just physical. I chased relief from demons. Thought I’d find it with women. Struggled to free the anger and frustration inside. Thought if I could get off enough, bury myself in enough women, I’d wear myself out.”
She managed to get her hands between them and pushed on his shoulders. “I don’t know if I want to hear this.”
“Please, Blyss. Just hear me out.”
And she did. Blyss was giving by nature and he was so damn thankful. Anyone else would have kicked him in the balls and left him gasping, and he would have earned it and more.
“It never worked. The more I chased it, the further I got from the truth.”
He tried to meet her gaze with his, but she’d dropped her eyes down to the floor, past his shoulder.
“Please? Look at me?”
Owen heard her soft groan as she gave in, and he hardened even more against her belly.
Her eyes were dilated, endless depths looking back at him.
“It wasn’t about sex. It wasn’t about chasing some kind of hormone high. That didn’t work with me.”
She tilted her head and looked up at him and the gentle tremble of her lower lip sent pain knifing through his gut. He’d done this. He’d hurt his friend. And he’d have to spend the rest of his life making up for it.
She’d forgive him, as she’d always done, her heart was that good, but that wasn’t the point. He was going to give more of himself to her. More time. More energy. And he’d start tonight.
“I didn’t realize that it was my heart that needed to let go of all of that anger. The way I was going, nothing was going to be enough to pull me out of that dark hole in my head. And my mother was right. I’d been a fool for too long. I just didn’t realize what she was saying until she was gone.”
Blyss trembled against him. “You don’t have to say anything, Owen. I don’t need you to apologize or… or fix things between us. I don’t need an apology. I’ve never needed one. I just wanted you to be happy. And I knew you were looking for something, I just knew… I just know it’s not me.”
He couldn’t stand to hear her say that, but it was the way her eyes told him that she actually believed it that cut him to the quick.
“For someone so damn smart, you don’t know a thing. I didn’t either back then. It is you, Blyss. I should have seen it, understood it, all those years ago. I just didn’t think I was meant for someone as giving as you were.”
“You make it sound like I’m this… paragon of virtue. I’m not. You should know that,” he could see her cheeks flush with color. “I’m just me. I’m nothing special.”
He kissed her. He had no words capable of telling her what she needed to hear. Empty words of flattery? That came easily from the Mercier side. Blind determination? That was from his mother’s Hebert genes.
He kissed her, coaxing her lips apart. His hands on her hips drew her closer, held her still. Blyss tilted her head back and invited him in. And when his tongue slid over hers, he felt like he’d fallen right into her soul and she, right into his.
Morning came too soon. Just like it always did, and Blyss had the unwelcome reminder of her injury when she tried to stretch. As soon as she flinched, she felt Owen wake up behind her.
“You okay?”
“Just a little stiff, I guess.” She really didn’t want to bother him with any complaining, but a moment later she felt his hand settle on her hip as he pressed his hips closer. His erection shifted, pressed in between her cheeks, as a ragged groan fell from his lips.
“Me too.”
She laughed and didn’t feel much in the way of pain. It felt good to just laugh even when it made him grumble.
“You’re not supposed to laugh at a man like that.”
“I’m not,” she giggled a little. “I’m laughing at your childish humor.”
“I’m all man.” She felt him shift against her again. He turned his hand on her hip, letting his fingers slip under her shirt and brush against her belly.
“Why are men so focused on their dicks for humor?”
“It starts young,” he told her. “Tell me you haven’t thought about it.”
“About your…” She had just said it a few seconds before, but that had been in a more general way. Now she’d be talking about his… thing.
“Don’t blush,” he teased her back, “although I’d love to see how far the blush goes when you’re really aroused.” Blyss felt him leaning closer and that’s when she felt his lips against her neck. “Does it go all the way there?”
“I,” she had to focus on the answer, “I don’t think I’ve ever really looked at my blush. I think I’d probably get flustered if I did.”
“I’ll do all the looking so you won’t have to.”
“That’s so…”
“Sweet? Magnanimous? Horny of me?”
She laughed again and felt his lips at the base of her neck, just along her shoulder. It wasn’t easy with the t-shirt on, but she was happy to let him try. “I’m guessing all three?”
“Well, I was hoping you found it sweet.” His fingers crept across her belly and he pressed his palm over her belly button. “Magnanimous? Hardly. I want to see every inch of your skin bare in my bed.”
“And-” her breath caught when one of his fingertips slipped under the waistband of her panties, “and horny?”
His teeth nipped at her earlobe as his palm edged lower, catching the delicate elastic waistband on the tip of one of his fingers.
She dragged in a breath and swallowed when the tip of his tongue soothed the bite.
He let his palm ease lower and the waist of her panties came with it, only to feel her palm settle over his and slip his hand further down over her sex.
It was Blyss who spoke first. “I think horny describes us both.” She turned her knee to the side and guided his fingers into the heat between her legs. “I don’t want to think about those other women, Owen. I don’t ever want to think of them and what you shared with them.” She gasped when his fingers moved deeper into her heat and curled into her body. “I just want to think of the two of us here, in your bed.”
His fingers slipped through her heat, exploring her body in ways she’d never been touched by another.
The way he worked his fingers inside of her felt like heaven and she curled her hips forward to give him more access.
“It is just us, Blyss.” He placed a line of kisses along her neck. “No one but you has ever been in my bed.”
She went still, completely still, at his admission. “What?”
“It’s just as I told you. You’re the only woman I’ve ever had in my bed.”
Opening her eyes, Blyss could see their reflection in the mirror above his dresser, the look on Owen’s face as he touched his cheek to hers.
“You’re the one, Blyss. You’ve always been the one.”
“You too,” he
r voice was barely a whisper. “I thought I would be happy just being your friend, but I knew. When I was alone and staring up at the ceiling at night, I knew it could only be you. I just never thought-”
He rubbed the pad of his finger through her heat and circled her clit.
Words failed her. It took everything she had just to remember to breathe.
Owen kept it up. Touching her, sliding his fingers in and out of her body. He worked his other hand under her and managed to stir her nipples into tight peaks through his shirt.
Maybe it was just mind over matter, or maybe it was just that she’d forgotten how to draw in a breath, but soon all she could utter were soft and a keening cry as her orgasm broke through her body. Her arms covered his, holding him tight against her.
“Don’t,” she gasped and felt tears on her cheeks, “don’t let go.”
“Never.” She felt him curl around her and the added pressure of his hips and the continued pressure of his fingers against her, brought another rush of pleasure crashing over her like a wave.
Through all of it, Owen held her against him. Held her tight. And held her together as she realized that this, this just might be everything she’d ever told herself she couldn’t have.
Chapter 12
You can never get too much of a good thing.
Liars.
Blyss had been having a lot of a good thing. Time with Owen. Even better when Leon and Nora could stop in to say hello. Her friends were still coming by. And she was even fitting in quite a bit of work for the office. Typing up notes? Oh, be still her heart.
She had a ton of good things in her life, but silence wasn’t one of them.
They’d found her SUV and some prints to go along with it, but no matches to anything in AFIS, the National Fingerprint Database.
The area they’d been in had two security cameras, and neither one of them provided a clear enough image to see a face in the windows of her SUV. The deputies and SAPD had put out the word to their criminal informants for news, but no one was saying anything.