by Lora Leigh
"Why?" She didn't trust this new Clint in any way whatsoever.
"So I can show you why little girls shouldn't play grownup games," he growled. "Come on, Morganna; show me how grown-up you think you are."
Chapter 2
MORGANNA FELT HER HEART RACING, a fine Sweat breaking out over her skin. She hadn't expected this from Clint, not in a million years. In her deepest fantasies, he played a lot of little sex games with her, but she had to admit, she would have never expected the dominant, forceful imaginings to meet with reality.
'This isn't a good idea." She fought to breathe, to push the words past the constriction in her throat and the arousal pulsing through her.
"We're agreed." His eyes narrowed further. "Don't make me come and get you, Morganna. Come here now."
Come here now. The rough demand sent her senses careening.
As she tensed to move, a soft voice sounded in her ear, interrupting the sensual spell building in her head.
"Do you need backup?"
Agent Joe Merino and his team was her backup. A crack four-man DEA unit that she had worked with for the past six months. She was the bait on this assignment. Something that it really wouldn't be a good idea to let Clint know. And Merino was listening to every word said.
"No." She kept her voice firm as she stared back at Clint, a hint of defiance in her face. She could feel a flush building in her face at the thought of the ears listening.
Clint couldn't see the small receiver in her ear, but that didn't mean she was safe. It wouldn't take a genius to realize what it was if he got close enough, and he was intent on getting real damned close. She could see it in his eyes, in his expression; she could feel it in the hunger building in her own body.
Clint quirked his lips, certain she was talking to him. And perhaps in a way she was. The eroticism of the room, the sheer disbelief that she was in it with him, blew her mind. Clint was a Dom? It was almost too much to believe. And she had been defying him for as long as she could remember, challenging him, daring him to take what she had always sensed he desired. She just had no idea how intent he could become on what he wanted.
"I couldn't believe it when I saw you out on that dance floor," he murmured, his gaze going over her slowly, sending flames licking over her body wherever he touched. "Dressed like a man's greatest sexual fantasy, an innocent little schoolgirl, ready and willing to be used. Scared now, little girl?"
More than he knew.
"Perhaps uninterested," she answered instead. "I didn't accept an invitation into this room, Clint. You pushed me into it. I believe that's against the rules."
She heard Merino curse in her ear. He knew Clint, and he knew the whole operation was at risk now. Just as she did. How she played this out could mean the difference between success and failure.
And she couldn't forget Merino was listening. She was frantic to get out of the room before Clint actually touched her. He had the ability to make her mindless. Good God, she couldn't afford to be mindless while Joe and his entire team were listening. She would never live it down.
She stepped back from Clint then, turning to allow her gaze to rove over the small room. She had to get out of there, fast. All Clint would have to do was touch her and she would be putty in his hands.
"Morganna, you're playing a very dangerous game with the wrong man," Merino hissed in her ear. As though she didn't already know that.
"Morganna, don't play with me. You won't like the consequences," Clint's voice overrode Merino's as Morganna bit her lip at the insanity of the situation.
She turned-at the bottom of the bed, facing Clint once again. "Unlock the door."
"No."
Her heart raced at the answer, at the brooding carnality of his expression.
Morganna licked her lips nervously. There was no way to get rid of the receiver at her ear.
"Why?" She barely managed to keep her voice firm, to keep herself from stuttering with shock and nerves.
"Because I'm going to lay you back on that bed and show you exactly what you're asking for by being at this club. Then I'm going to paddle that pretty little ass for giving me the chance." His answer shocked her, but her body's response shocked her more.
"And should I cry 'Daddy' or 'Uncle' while you try?" She arched her brow mockingly.
"'Master' will work," he growled. Master? Oh, she so didn't think so. Taking the clothes off? She would have loved to. Under different circumstances, of course.
"This is getting out of control. I'm sending Craig in, Morganna. He'll get you out. Just play along with it."
Shit. Shit. This was going to get ugly. She had to get out of there before Craig showed up.
"Unlock the door, Clint," she ordered, frantically fighting for a way out of the situation. Damn her luck, it was starting to suck fast. "I'm not in the mood for you or your games tonight."
He rose from the chair, six feet, four inches of sheer male muscle, primal animal, and began to stalk toward her. There was no place to run. No way to evade him. And her legs didn't want to move anyway. She could feel her body tensing, preparing for him, anticipating his touch.
Craig Tyler would be here in a minute. The burly ex-Marine could play the outraged Dom like nobody's business. Clint wasn't a man to attempt to poach on another's territory. At least, not staked territory. Her collar proclaimed her a free agent, an unrestrained submissive, free to choose a Dom. Craig's cover of the Dom attempting to acquire her wasn't going to work here.
"Do you know how long I've been dying to fuck you?" Clint stopped before her, his hands settling on her bare hips as she stared back at him in shock. Her hands gripped his forearms as the heat of his fingers sank into her flesh.
"Well, you sure could have fooled me," she gasped. "You are the same man who has run from me at every opportunity. Right?"
She hadn't expected this, couldn't believe she was standing here with him, his eyes burning down at her rather than freezing her with dismissal.
"I can have you now, can't I, baby?" he whispered, his voice immeasurably gentle as he watched her. "You're learning the rules of the game. Happily ever afters don't happen here."
A wave of pain suffused her senses as his whispered words processed in her brain. He hadn't taken her before because he had known what she wanted? Because he knew she loved him? But he could take her now because he thought she was a whore? He thought she was available to any bozo willing to give her the fix he thought she was looking for?
She stared back at him in shock as her hand flew toward his face in a violence she hadn't known she was capable of. He caught her hand. Inches from his face, his gaze igniting as she glared back at him.
"I don't want you now," she said, fighting the tears that threatened to flood her eyes. "Not even on a bet." She jerked at her arm, enraged by his arrogance. "You're a jerk, Clint. A complete vicious, dirty jerk."
Surprise flickered across his expression as he let her go. "If you're not part of the scene, then what the hell are you doing here?" His eyes narrowed on her as she stilled before him.
"Who says I'm not part of the scene?" she bit out. "I said I didn't want you. Sorry, Clint, but just any Dom willing to play the game isn't enough," she informed him rashly, furious, using the only weapon she had left now. "You had your chance how many times over the past few years? You turned them down. Remember?"
"And now I'm picking them up."
Morganna's eyes widened and she felt fear slam into her as he reached for her. If he touched her, if he did as the hunger in his gaze warned her he was going to do, then she was screwed. She had fought to get on Joe's team, pulling every string she could think of to work this assignment.
If she showed a weakness now, then Joe would have her replaced so fast it would make her head spin. He hadn't been comfortable with her on the team to begin with. But she was the only recruit he had who was a regular at the Masters clubs.
"Clint, no." "No" meant no.
He paused, his eyes narrowed, his chest heaving, as she ba
"Unlock the door and let me out of here. Don't force me to lodge a complaint with Masters."
Drage Masters, the owner of the club, did not take kindly to patrons forcing anything from the members. His rules were strict, and everyone knew it.
"Lodge all the complaints you want," Clint said. "I want answers, Morganna, and one way or the other, I am going to get them."
He took a step closer and Morganna knew the game was up.
"Morganna Chavez, I'm going to whip your ass red," a drunken voice yelled from the other side of the door. "Open this door, you little wildcat. I told you no other men until we've settled our deal. Period."
Her eyes widened in shock as she watched rage transform Clint's features. It wasn't just anger; it was a killing rage that terrified her.
"Open this door!" Craig yelled, pounding at the metal panel again. "Did you think I wouldn't find you?"
Oh God. Wrong move. Surely they knew better than this. Merino couldn't be so insane as to send one of his best men in like this, at this moment. It was like sending a baby into a war zone. Clint was going to mow right through him.
"He's dead." Clint's voice vibrated with wrath as he pushed her aside and headed for the door.
"Clint, wait!" Morganna cried out as he swiped the card through the lock and jerked the door open.
His hand latched onto Craig's throat before Morganna could yell out in warning, pushing him across the hall and slamming him into the wall.
Years of backbreaking training and SEAL maneuvers had hardened Clint's body, turning it into a living weapon of mass destruction when needed.
"Back off!" Clint snarled into Craig's amazed expression.
The DEA agent was decked out in an overabundance of leather and chains that sang in an unholy jangle as Clint seemed to shake him without effort.
"Clint, dammit, let him go!" Morganna grabbed Clint's arm, her nails biting into his forearm as Craig's body tensed to fight.
"Get back, Morganna, before I rip your pansy-assed boyfriend in half," Clint snapped.
"You're crazy!" she yelled, attempting to shake him loose. "Let him go."
"Is this how you get your jollies?" he snarled back at her. "Does Reno know where you go for fun, Morganna?"
The threat. There it was. That familiar warning that assured her Reno was going to get a phone call.
"I don't know; does he know how you have your fun?" she sneered back. "Go ahead and rat me out like you always do and I'll tell him what you had in mind for me before you were interrupted. Now let him go." She slapped at Clint's arm, furious, terrified. Craig was starting to turn blue.
Clint jerked his arm away, turning back to her, the primal danger she glimpsed in his eyes taking her breath. It wasn't violence; it was lust. Pure, hot, unadulterated lust.
"Get out of here." His voice was hoarse, his hands balling into fists as he faced her. "Get out of this club and get your ass home. Now. Right now, Morganna, or God help us both if I get my hands on you again."
She jumped back, watching as Craig quickly moved around him. Craig's hazel eyes were concerned, his wavy hair disheveled, as he gripped her arm and began pulling her backward down the hallway.
She stared back at Clint and knew it wasn't over. Not by a long shot. The look in his eyes promised her he would come after her. Soon.
"Move it, girl," Craig muttered as he dragged her behind him. "Merino is having fits in the van. This has fucked the entire night up."
No shit. Morganna turned and followed him through the throng of dancers, nearly stumbling more than once as she fought to make her limbs cooperate. She could still feel Clint's touch, still ached for his kiss. She wanted to look back, see if he was following, but she knew he was. She could feel him.
"He's behind us," she informed Craig as they moved through the front door.
"Tough," Craig growled as the warm night air washed over them, the sultry South Carolina heat reminding her of Clint's touch. "Get in your car and head home. We'll meet up with you at the house later."
"You can't do that," she snapped as they moved into the parking lot. "I'm telling you, he's going to follow me to the house; he'll have a fit. You've got to give me time to explain."
"You get out of here; Merino will take care of the SEAL."
Morganna turned on Craig. She jerked her arm away from him before slamming her hands into his chest and pushing him back.
"I said no," she repeated furiously, aware that Clint would be turning the corner into the parking lot at any minute. "I'll come in tomorrow and that's final. Merino can wait on me this time."
This was too important to allow male ego and pride to suddenly mess it up. If Clint found out what she was doing, he would fly to Hawaii himself to tell Reno all about it. Clint had always been a damned tattletale, ratting her out every chance he got. There was no way he would let this pass. And once he did tell, Reno would hit the roof.
What made her think she could keep this from her brother or Clint, she had no idea.
"Don't mess this up, Morganna," Craig hissed as he checked the parking lot for curious ears. "You know what's at stake."
"Then don't you mess it up." Her furious whisper was followed by her finger poking into his chest as she turned on him. "I told you when we'll meet and that's it. Because trust me when I tell you blood will be shed if he finds you at the house tonight. And it won't be his."
She didn't wait for an answer. She turned away from Craig stiffly, moving across the driveway and heading for her car. She turned to glare back at him, barely catching the sudden alarm on his expression before she heard the squeal of tires.
Morganna turned, blinded by a sudden light flaring in front of her eyes as her ears filled with the screech of tires and the sudden awareness of danger.
She heard Clint scream her name a second before something, somebody, hooked her around the waist and slammed her through the air. Gunfire echoed around her. It had to be gunfire, blazing across her senses as time slowed, inching by as she felt herself falling, aware of the hard pavement that would meet the end of her journey.
A thousand thoughts blazed through her mind; uppermost was the fact that it was Clint's arm hooked around her waist, then Clint's hard body bracing hers as they hit the ground and rolled. She could hear his curses in her ear, explicit, enraged, as he took the brunt of the impact before rolling her beneath his body. One hand cupped the side of her head as the ping of bullets pelted around them.
She could hear car alarms shrieking now as shattered glass rained over her. Clint was using his larger body to shield her, holding her in place as she fought to escape the bullets, to get him out of the line of fire.
"Move it!" He lifted her to her feet and with a surge of motion dragged her between the nearby cars, pressing her into the side of the nearest vehicle as sparks flew from the pavement.
The sound of gunfire filled the night again as he grabbed her around the waist and forced her into a ducking run to avoid the bullets firing toward them.
"Son of a bitch!" he cursed as he rushed her deeper into the line of cars and farther from the vehicle now tearing from the parking lot. "Damn it to hell, Morganna, what are you mixed up in?"
Tires screamed in the distance as the sound of frightened cries echoed from behind them and male curses raged around her. She couldn't tell if it was Merino or Clint. Or maybe both.
Chapter 3
WHAT THE HELL IS GOING on?" Clint's voice had Morganna flinching at the pure, undiluted rage that filled it as he pushed her into his apartment, slamming the door closed.
He hadn't waited around at the club for the police to arrive. He had pulled her straight to his truck, unlocked the driver's side door, and stuffed her in before crowding in beside her.
The drive to his apartment had been quick and short. Morganna had kept her mouth shut, using the time to come up with an explanation. She was in trouble and she knew it. Clint wasn't stupid, and he wasn't a man known for his patience.
"You're asking me?" She still hadn't come up with an explanation as she faced him, opening her eyes wide. She didn't have to force the fear that she was certain shadowed her expression. "Ask the bozo who was shooting at us."
Clint stalked to her, one hand jerking out to push through her hair and lift it, revealing a damning piece of evidence. The receiver she had worn in her ear earlier.
Before she could stop herself her hand flew to her ear. Yep, it was hers. The betraying action had his deep blue eyes burning with renewed rage as his teeth bared in a snarl.
"Oh yes, baby, it's yours." His voice was hoarse with his anger now. "What the hell are you doing with it?"
Morganna licked her lips nervously. She had never seen Clint so angry. His eyes burned with it, his arrogant, sharp features tight with it. The harshly defined cheekbones stood out clearly as his lips tightened to a harsh line.
"Get off!" She slapped her hands into his hard chest, desperate to get him away from her now. He loomed over her like an angel of retribution and sent her heart racing with trepidation. And arousal. She hated how aroused she was, hated knowing that despite the past few years, despite her fight to forget him, to get over him, he could still affect her. Even when he was this damned mad.
Morganna gasped as he threw the receiver with a vicious movement. "What are you doing with it, Morganna? Don't play me for a damned fool here. I almost watched you die before my eyes. Do think I enjoyed it?"
The emotion blazing in his eyes shocked her. They were dark, tortured, his expression a furious grimace as he stared back at her.
"I can't imagine it would cause you a sleepless night," she yelled back at him, tugging at the hold he had on her hair. "Now let go of me."
He was breathing as hard as she was. "Not on your life, sweetheart. By God, you'll answer me or you'll answer to Reno. Take your choice."
"I don't answer to either one of you." She was panting with her own anger now. Anger and arousal. The anger she could understand; the arousal infuriated her.
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