GRAY WOLF SECURITY, Texas: The Complete 6-Books Series

by Glenna Sinclair

“We have to get out of here. This…this is not helpful.”

  “This is what he did, Harley. This is what he confessed to.”

  “He didn’t do it.”

  But her voice was as weak as mine had been, and she wouldn’t look me in the eye. I grabbed her chin, forced her face up.

  “Do you think he’s capable of this? Do you think he strangled my little girl and raped my wife? Do you think he killed her?”

  “No.”

  But still, there was weakness in her denial.

  “She never slept naked, not even when I was here. She didn’t like people to look at her when she was vulnerable. She liked to be covered up, to always have something covering the most beautiful parts of her body. Even when she was giving birth, she refused to be exposed. She insisted on those blue coverings that you see on television shows, those paper sheets so that nurses and doctors coming through the door, people who have seen everything, wouldn’t see her. But she was discovered that way by the neighbor who spotted the broken glass in the back door.” I groaned a little. “I often wonder how mortified she must have been to have him look at her like that.”

  “Kipling—”

  “She must have been horrified when he came into the room, when he stripped her of her dignity in that way. I think removing her nightgown was probably far worse than raping her. I think she would have preferred to have her body violated rather than her modesty.”

  “Please…”

  “And then to leave her like that? That was—”

  She slapped me. It stung, the feel of her palm against my cheek. And then she pushed past me and ran down the stairs. When I followed, moments later, I found her standing in the middle of the backyard, puking up the fruit she’d eaten at the hotel that morning.

  Standing there in the cold November breeze, watching this beautiful woman lose her breakfast over a decade old crime, my life suddenly felt ridiculously surreal. It was as if I was moving on autopilot. I locked the back door and made my way around the front of the house, reminding myself once again that I really needed to oil the hinges on that damn gate. And then I was pulling away from the curb in the SUV David had given me as a perk for working with him.

  Harley curled up in the passenger seat, not saying a word, not making a noise. We drove in silence for a long time. I had no idea where the fuck I was going. I just…this cloud of unreality enveloped me and I was desperate to find a way to escape it.

  I ended up stopping at a liquor store. I went inside and bought a fifth of whiskey, taking a huge gulp before I even left the store. Harley snatched it out of my hands as I climbed back into the SUV, drinking so much that I had to grab it back from her.

  “You’re going to make yourself sick again.”

  “I’m the doctor, remember? I think I can handle it.”

  “Being a doctor makes you a better drinker?”

  “It makes me an intelligent drinker.”

  I laughed, but I handed the bottle back to her. When she handed it back, it was halfway gone.

  “My brother might have been capable of shooting your wife. He might even have killed your daughter, by accident.” She dragged her fingers through her thick hair, rearranging it around her face. “But he never could have raped her.”

  “What makes you so sure?”

  “Because he…” She shook her head. “There could have been someone else there, but then the time line wouldn’t make sense.”

  “Because it took so long for him to unhook the electronic equipment.”

  She nodded. “Whoever did this, they were inside that house for hours. Grace was killed between midnight and one, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And Jesse wasn’t killed until closer to five.”

  “That’s what the coroner thinks.”

  “That’s four to five hours. Do you really think it would take that long to unplug some televisions, even for a man who was suffering from withdrawal?”

  I didn’t answer. Instead, I sucked more of the amber liquid from the bottle, closing my eyes as it burned its way down my throat. I could feel the haze of it beginning to work its magic, beginning to take the cloud away and turn it into something else, something less surreal and more ethereal.

  I believed in Mickey Connors’ confession because I needed someone to pay for what had happened to my family. I needed a face to put to the guilt that sat heavy on my shoulders. But had I been grabbing at straws just because they were convenient?

  I set the bottle on the console and began to turn the key in the ignition. Harley reached over and clumsily pulled my hand away.

  “You’re drunk.”

  “No, you’re drunk. I’m just a little happier than I was before.”

  I started to turn the key again, but she grabbed my wrist, yanking my hand back from the ignition. When I fought her, jerking my arm and reaching again, she climbed out of her seat and into my lap.

  “Now what?” she asked, a challenge in her eyes.

  The fantasy that had been so vivid in the shower this morning suddenly came roaring back. It didn’t help that her full breasts were right there in my face and the cold morning had made her nipples hard enough that I could see them even under the loose material of her blouse. I wrapped my arms around her waist with the intention of pushing her back onto her own seat, but the movement pulled her hips forward, her knees falling onto the seat on either side of my hips, tugging her into the perfect position to do things that…shit, did I really want to open this particular box of snakes?

  She slid her hand over the top of my head, her fingers threading through my curls. I looked up at her, sliding my hips forward just enough so that she could feel the level of arousal she’d already caused me to achieve. I think I was hoping it would frighten her, that she would pull away when she realized I—or my body, at least—was not playing games with her. But she didn’t pull away. Instead, she ran her hands over my face, sliding a thin, long index finger into my mouth.

  Fuck me! What was I supposed to do now?

  And then she lifted her shirt up over her head, exposing those perfect breasts that were swelling out of the cups of her bra, like they were begging my hands to hold them. How was I supposed to ignore that?

  I nibbled at her throat as I moved my palms over her breasts, loving the contrast of rough cotton and silky skin, the softness of her breasts and the hardness of those teeny nipples. She tasted like sweat and sweetness, like salted caramels, the vibration of her moans slipping out from between her lips making my body ache in ways it had never done before.

  Was this still the unreality that had been following me around all morning? Or was this real? I wasn’t sure I could tell the difference any more, but I was so hoping this was real. I needed this. I needed it more than I dared admit even to myself.

  She reached behind and freed her breasts from that damn bra, those beautiful things falling free into my hands. I dragged my lips down over her collarbone, wanting to taste everything even as I made my way to her nipples. I so wanted those nipples in my mouth. I nibbled at them, again forcing a few moans from between her full lips. And then I pushed her back, forced her against the steering wheel as I ran my tongue between the tender spaces along each rib and then down toward her navel.

  I didn’t even realize what it was when the horn began to blare, but I was aware of the people standing in the windows of the liquor store, staring out at us like they thought we were insane. Like they’d never seen anything like this take place in their parking lot! Harley burst into near hysterical laughter, jumping off my lap and disappearing into the backseat. After a second, she reached for me, tugging so hard on my shirt that I was pretty sure I heard a seam rip.

  I climbed into the back with her, already working at the snap on my jeans. She’d managed to get her jeans off and was pushing her delicate panties over her hips and down along those shapely thighs. I paused a moment to watch, loving the sight of a beautiful woman undressing for my pleasure. And then I couldn’t ignore the overwhelming need
that was threatening to drive me insane.

  I pushed her down against the leather seat and thrust inside of her even as I was still maneuvering her hips, tugging her into the right position. She cried out as my full girth burst inside her with very little preamble, but she didn’t pull away, didn’t seem unhappy with my touch. And, to be honest, at that point I don’t think there was much she could have done to make me stop. I was out of my mind with need, out of my mind with everything that had happened in the last twelve hours. This just seemed like the cherry meant to top the insanity that was suddenly my life.

  She wrapped her legs around my waist as I’d imagined in the shower, tugging me even closer to her, her hands clinging to my sides, her fingers biting into the flesh over my working muscles. I put my hand against the window, giving myself leverage as I thrust into her, moving quickly, rougher than I would have ever imagined doing before this, before her. But it felt like heaven. It felt like everything sex was supposed to be and then taken to a level so high above that that it could no longer be viewed by simple human eyes.

  I don’t know how I held on so long. I don’t even know how long it was. Hours, maybe. Or minutes. I don’t know, but long enough that she began to cry out, twisting her hips as her cunt muscles began to milk my cock as they tremored with her orgasm. I think it was that that finally pushed me over the edge. I collapsed on top of her as my orgasm released its power inside of her. She continued to hold me tight with her legs around my waist, refusing to let me go. Even when all was said and done and our breathing was slowly returning to normal, she refused to let go of me.

  It wasn’t until some minutes later that I realized she was crying silently against my shoulder. She hid it well, turning her face away from mine and wiping the tears subtly. But I’d seen enough tears on a woman’s face to know.

  We dressed quietly, moving back into the front seats without any fanfare. She let me start the SUV this time. We once again drove in silence, circling the city without so much as looking at one another, almost as if nothing had happened and we were still lost in thought over the crime we were there to investigate. But something had happened and it left me confused, not sure where the hell my head was and what the hell I was doing. Or what I was going to do next.

  Maybe this had been a mistake. Maybe I should send Harley back to wherever it was she’d come from and deal with this business on my own. That was how it began. Shouldn’t that be the way it ended?

  But then I glanced at Harley and I realized that I had never really been alone. She’d always been there, too. Maybe it was fitting that we end this together.

  Whatever that might mean.

  Chapter 4

  At the Compound

  David stepped out into the mid-morning air and held a hand up to shade his eyes from the bright sunlight. Knox, Alexander, Ingram, and Elliott were standing beside him, each in the proper stance of a soldier about to meet his commanding officer. That was kind of how this whole thing felt.

  The back door on the SUV opened and a little boy, a little less than six months older than Chase, burst out and ran toward David. The smile that burst over David’s face was one he couldn’t have suppressed given all the warning and all the rehearsal in the world. He swung the boy up into his arms and hugged him tight, laughing as he did.

  “Hey, Ford,” he said against the boy’s shoulder.

  “Uncle David! We flew in the special plane! It was so much fun, all the clouds outside the windows!”

  “Is that right?”

  “And the baby threw up all over everything.”

  David chuckled—even as he watched his brother unfold his tall frame out of the back of the car with his daughter, two-year-old Jane. His wife, Mina, emerged behind him, followed by Donovan and his wife, Kate, carrying their thirteen-month-old daughter, Madeline. David set Ford on his feet and stepped down the porch steps, prepared to greet his brother when another person stepped out of the car. Joselyn Grant Hernandez Matthews. Joss.

  “I can’t believe you’re here,” David said, as he approached her, his eyes moving slowly over her slight figure. She was pregnant again, the swell of her belly just beginning to show. And there was a glow to her face, a rosiness on her cheeks and a light in her eyes that had not been there when he first knew her. In fact, when he first knew her, she refused to speak. She’d gone through a worse grief than his own, losing her husband and her infant son to a senseless car accident. David couldn’t begin to imagine, just as he couldn’t imagine what it was Kipling had gone through in losing his family. But then she met Carrington Matthews and her life had done something of a three sixty, turning right around and becoming a life worth fighting for.

  She held out her arms to him, and he picked her up and swung her around in his arms. She laughed, the sound of her voice music to his ears.

  “You call everyone to arms and honestly believe I won’t show up?” she demanded.

  “I guess I should have known better.”

  Donovan came over and slapped David on the back. “This is about one of our own, brother. That’s all we had to say to Joss to get her to come along.”

  David smiled, once again reminded of what a great family he had in the people who were once the heart and soul of the original Gray Wolf Security.

  Kate came over for a hug, too, then Mina. David touched little Jane’s cheek, admiring how much she looked like her mother—lucky kid!—before finally turning to his brother.

  “Thanks for coming on such short notice.”

  “It’s for Kipling.”

  David nodded, aware of how highly Ash thought of his head of operations. Kipling was Ash’s superior officer on his first tour of duty in Afghanistan. Kipling taught him everything he knew about being a good soldier, and that was a lot. David’s brother not only fought alongside his brothers in arms, but he also helped the CIA run multiple operations in country, likely stopping over a dozen terrorist attacks in their infancy. His brother was one of those heroes that no one heard much about. And then he came home and began Gray Wolf Security for David. To give him a purpose after the accident that killed their parents and to give his discharged military buddies a way to channel their aggressions. He’d even asked Kipling to be a part of it, but he wasn’t ready back then.

  Ash dropped his hand heavily on David’s shoulder. “We’re here to help as much as we can.”

  David led the way to the porch, offering introductions all around, explaining that his fifth operative was away spending the holiday weekend with his father. David saw Knox checking out Joss, admiration in her eyes when Joss told Ingram that she was one of Gray Wolf’s original operatives. David herded everyone along, sending the kids upstairs with Bailey and Brooks. The rest of them filed into the larger of the conference rooms at the back of the ground floor where Tierney waited.

  “I thought it best we get right down to business,” David announced, as everyone took their seats. “As most of you know, this is about Kipling McKay, head of operations here at Gray Wolf Security 2. Last night, the sister of the man who confessed and was imprisoned for the murders of Kipling’s wife, Jesse, and their nearly three-year-old daughter, Grace, came here to ask for his help. She has accumulated evidence that suggests that her brother, Mickey Connors, was innocent of the crime to which he confessed. And Kipling is now in Houston trying to establish the veracity of that evidence and to possibly locate the true murderer.”

  Silence fell heavy around the room. David could see anger on some of the faces, shock on others. There was a little fear, too, especially on the faces of the two men who knew Kipling the best, Ash and Donovan. They’d both served with Kipling and knew him to be a sincere and honest man. But they also knew him to be a man who would stop at nothing to get revenge for the wrong perpetrated against his family.

  “He won’t this leave out of his control a second time,” Ash said during their phone conversation the night before. “If this is true, if Mickey Connors didn’t kill Jesse and Grace, Kipling will hunt down the real killer
and he will take him out himself.”

  And that was exactly what they were trying to prevent.

  David picked up a copy of a photograph Ricki had located for him last night. It was a mug shot of the drug dealer Harley Connors thought might be behind the false confession her brother had made.

  “This is Jaime Hernandez,” David said. “We have reason to believe he is the real killer of the McKay family. He is a known drug dealer in Houston whom Harley Connors identified as her brother’s dealer. He also had, at the time of the murders, ties to the Bazarov Cartel.”

  Ingram and Elliott exchanged glances, but no one else really reacted, not even Joss or Mina, who had the most reason to react.

  “Gray Wolf came across this cartel a little over four years ago. It was…” David looked at Ash, then Mina, then Joss. “It was not a good situation and one I had hoped to avoid with our organization here. But Kipling is one of our own and we will do all we can to help him.”

  There was a murmur of agreement that went up immediately. It was with a sense of relief that David heard it and drank it in. This group had been together for just a little over a year, having already lost one of their own in the process of building the company. But just like the original incarnation of Gray Wolf, this one was quickly becoming a family. That was the way it had to be. Their work could be very dangerous, sometimes a small decision or a bit of policy the only difference between life or death. They had to trust one another, to rely on one another. David was glad to see that here.

  “Okay, I’ll let our guests tell you what they know about the Bazarovs.”

  Joss stood first, tugging at her blouse to pull it over her growing belly.

  “I’m Joss Matthews,” she said with a shy little smile. “I was an operative for the original Gray Wolf. Four years ago, I was assigned a case where I was watching over the daughter of the owner of a shipping company. The owner had received threats against his daughter because he was refusing to move merchandise for the Bazarovs. In the course of this case, old man Bazarov himself decided to come after the client and his child personally. First they attempted to kidnap the child out of her own home, but we managed the thwart the attempt.” Joss glanced at Ash, a soft smile touching her lips, even as David could see the tension of the memory washing over his brother. Joss had been shot in that attempt. “And then Bazarov and his people followed the client, his child, and myself to the client’s vacation home in Oregon. They invaded the house, but thanks to a little help from our tech support,” she said, winking at David, “the cavalry arrived just in time to clean up the mess.”