STORY EXCERPT

Riley kept his truck close on the tail of Maddie’s Lexus, Axel at its wheel. That was a good move on his buddy’s part. The shadows beneath Maddie’s eyes suggested that she hadn’t been sleeping well. Wiped out emotionally, she was likely still grieving for her father and worried about all the weird stuff that had happened to her over the past few days. Riley didn’t blame her for having taken a couple of large glasses of wine with her dinner, but she definitely wasn’t safe to drive.

Riley thought about the case as he waited for a signal to change. He’d made light of the information Raoul had come up with, not wanting to freak Maddie out completely, but it had bothered him. Something big was going on here. Houses weren’t broken into by professionals, nor were civilians put under surveillance, unless there was a good reason for it. Stuff like that cost big bucks to arrange. If the military had finally decided that Maddie’s dad’s death was suspicious, they would have told her, wouldn’t they?

“Yeah, right,” he said aloud, rolling his eyes.

Riley was no longer a naïve recruit and was well aware that the Army CID Command was a law unto itself. If they thought Maddie could be used as bait to get them whatever evidence they needed, they wouldn’t hesitate to use her without bothering to ask her permission.

Sorry, guys, that ain’t gonna happen.

Riley had only just met Maddie but would be fooling himself if he tried to pretend his interest in her didn’t transcend the purely professional. She wasn’t the first attractive woman he’d been asked to help since leaving the military, but he’d never even thought about crossing the line with any of them. The possibility had flashed through his mind several times over dinner. There was something about Maddie that broke through his defenses and made him want to go that extra mile for her.

But then what? Riley didn’t do relationships—not anymore—and Maddie wasn’t the type who’d settle for a one-night stand.

“Don’t think about that now,” he muttered aloud. “Just concentrate on keeping her safe and getting to the bottom of this mess.”

Nothing would happen to Maddie on their watch, Riley would make damned sure of that, but they couldn’t hang about indefinitely, waiting for action. Being passive wasn’t an option, so Riley figured they’d have to rattle a few cages and see what fell loose.

He started to pay more attention to his surroundings as they drove into a better part of town. The houses became larger, with wider gaps separating them from their neighbors. There didn’t seem to be any foot traffic, which helped. Anyone walking around would be easier to spot. The same went for out-of-place vehicles.

Axel pulled the Lexus into the driveway of a house that probably sat on a lot of over an acre. The electronic doors to the garage opened, presumably because Maddie had pressed a button, and Axel pulled the Lexus inside. Riley parked their truck alongside it. There was no sense in advertising their presence here.

The garage door closed noiselessly as they exited their vehicles and Maddie led them into the house through an internal door from the garage.

“Nice place,” Riley said, taking a good look around.

They continued to make general conversation as Maddie gave them the guided tour of the five-bedroom home. She’d been warned not to say anything about their suspicions until they’d checked the place out for bugs. Axel extracted his magic wand and found two listening devices—one in her father’s home study, the other in the eat-in kitchen. They took it for granted that the phone line was tapped, but since they would only communicate through Riley’s and Axel’s secure cell phones they didn’t bother to remove that one.

Riley and Axel threw their overnight bags into the rooms Maddie assigned to them and got right down to business.

“Okay, babe,” Axel said. “The place is clean now. We can talk freely, but don’t answer the phone if it rings.”

“Oh, but it might be important.”

“Are you expecting any calls?” Riley asked.

“Well no, but what if someone wants to talk to me about Dad?”

“We can remove the bug from the phone, but there are other ways that determined people can listen in to landlines,” Axel said. “Better not to use it for now. Use our cell phones, and you can give the numbers to anyone you need to keep in touch with.”

“Thanks. There’s no one right now but I’ll bear that in mind.”

The fact that she didn’t have some man tucked away in New York, anxious to hear from her, made Riley smile with vicarious possessiveness.

“We now know for sure your visitor was here to bug the place,” Axel said. “He probably exceeded his orders and couldn’t resist having a quick look around, which is why you knew he’d been.”

“Whoever sent him will know we found the bugs,” Maddie said.

“That’s the general idea,” Riley replied. “Hopefully it will flush him out. Okay, let’s set to work in your daddy’s office.”

They all moved into the spacious room that had bookshelves lining three walls. There were at least four file cabinets and several separate credenzas full of drawers.

“I see what you mean about neatness,” Axel said, opening a drawer to the first file cabinet and gulping when he saw the row of neatly labeled files crammed into the space.

“Precisely, and unfortunately there are no files labeled ‘dodgy findings’ in any of the drawers.”

ADULT EXCERPT

“Look at all this mess,” she said, pointing to the boxes littering the floor.

Okay, she still doesn’t want to talk about personal stuff. “What made you decide to start looking in here?”

“I’ve been putting it off. All my mom’s stuff is untouched and I thought…I thought that perhaps—”

“Shush, it’s okay.”

She was crying again. Riley held her tighter and brushed his lips against the top of her head. Her hair smelt of sunshine and wildflowers. He wound it around his hand and tugged until her head tilted backward. Her eyes shimmered with the remnants of her tears, her breathing hitched, and the air between them was charged with expectancy. Her lips were moist and shiny, and Riley knew he simply had to kiss her—the fuck with being professional.

He lowered his head, shortening the distance that separated them until he became conscious of her breath peppering his face. Triumph streaked through him as he claimed her sweet mouth in a searing kiss. With a small gasp her lips parted beneath his and his tongue invaded her mouth, exploring with swirling passes as he deepened the kiss.

Riley’s body was on fire—his cock rock hard and throbbing—a timely reminder that this was a seriously bad idea. Maddie was their client, and Raoul would tear him a new one if he discovered that Riley had crossed the divide. Getting personally involved with a client was a hanging offence, but the feel of her lush body beneath his hands made it hard for Riley to remember why that was so important. He was only comforting her, he told himself. She was upset and was his responsibility. What else could he do?

Yeah, keep telling yourself that and you might even start to believe it.

A needy moan slipped past their fused lips as Riley deepened the kiss. Her T-shirt had ridden up over her bare thighs, offering graphic proof that she definitely wasn’t wearing anything beneath it. Shit! Somehow he found the strength to break the kiss and release the hold he still had on her hair.

“Sorry, darlin’,” he said, trying to gently disentangle their limbs. “I shouldn’t have done that.”

All traces of tears had left her eyes, and the sparkle now reflected in them had little to do with being upset. Her arms were locked around his neck and she didn’t seem to be in any hurry to remove them. On her knees, her breasts flattened against his chest, she leaned into him and expelled a throaty little laugh.

“I disagree,” she said. “It was exactly the right thing to do.”

“Even so, you’re our client—”

“Are you always on duty?”

“Maddie, this will complicate everything.” Even he could hear that his voice lacked conviction. “We need to focus on—”

“Shush!”

A radiant smile lit her features, like she realized the power in their relationship had just shifted her way. Like she was aware Riley couldn’t turn her down, not if this was what she absolutely needed. She flicked a finger against the bulge in his pants and his cock jerked painfully within the confines of his jeans.

“Seems to me you’re already pretty focused.”

“Axel will kill me,” he muttered.

“Why?”

“Because we share everything, that’s why.”

She gasped, causing Riley to suppose that he’d finally found a way to put her off. Instead her eyes glistened, and she canted her head and ran the tip of her tongue repeatedly across her lower lip.

“Perhaps we should wake him up.”

Riley wondered if he’d misheard her. “You like to go with two men at once?”

“I’ve never tried it, but for you two I could be persuaded to give it a go.”

Riley knew when he was beat. Laughing, he took control of the situation by grabbing the hem of her T-shirt and whipping it over her head. Then he took his time, simply looking at her. The view didn’t disappoint. Her tits were pert and firm, her waist narrow, and even though she was on her knees, he could already tell that her legs were long, slim, and toned. She was goddamned perfect.

Riley removed his own T-shirt and pulled her back into his arms, his bare chest colliding with her soft breasts, the amalgamation explosive. This time his kiss was as hard and demanding as the rest of him. He cupped her ass, pulling it against his cock as he deepened the kiss, feeding from her sweet mouth. Her hands were in his hair one moment, scratching their way down his back the next, matching his increased urgency. He gave her ass an experimental tap. She shuddered and bit down on his lower lip as though she wanted more of the same.

Maddie seemed to think she could take control. Not a chance! Riley broke the kiss, stood up, and removed his jeans and shorts. She watched him intently, eyes widening when she saw the extent of his erection. He fisted it, just in case she doubted what she was in for. Maddie’s only response was a sultry, come-hither smile. Riley was more than ready to oblige. He rejoined her on the bed, tossed her onto her back, and pinned both of her hands above her head, holding them down at the wrist with just one of his own hands.

“Normally I’d shackle these so you’d be at my complete mercy,” he said softly. “But today we’ll just have to improvise.”

“Improvisation is good. I like to improvise.”

“Do you like it hard, though, darlin’? That’s the question.”

“I want you to control me and tell me what to do.”

Shit, was she offering to submit to him? To Riley it felt as though all of his birthdays had come at once. He knew there was a reason, over and above the visual, that he was attracted to Maddie. Now he knew what it was. She wasn’t a sexual prude and, as she’d just revealed, was happy to experiment.

“You got it, babe.” He kissed the end of her nose. “But first off I’m gonna lick you all over.”