STORY EXCERPT

“He’s got her,” Drew said.

“No shit.” Crue’s voice filled his ears. “Gabe and I have clear shots in the guest room. We can take out all but one of his men. Looks like Esparza’s son is at his twelve o’clock.”

“Don’t take those shots,” Drew whispered, easing closer to Esparza and Suzy. He couldn’t risk a complication. Suzy’s life was on the line.

“Damn it, Drew. If we don’t take them out, you won’t stand a chance when they scatter,” Gabe snapped.

“Then I won’t stand a chance.” He tucked his weapon at his waist and walked down the hallway with his hands in the air. This was like déjà vu, only worse. Suzy was on the floor. Esparza’s gun was aimed at her head. Damn if he didn’t know how that felt. He’d been there. He’d done that.

Damn man must’ve liked reliving moments in life. As Drew locked gazes with Esparza, he reminded himself of where he’d been, what heartache he’d suffered, all at the hands of a monster.

This damn devil had been at the root of all his problems. He’d taken away the heart and soul of his family. He’d killed his father and slaughtered his brother. Now, he had his woman!

He’d be damned if he’d let him take one more person he cared about. And he wasn’t about to lose his life to Esparza so another one of his brothers would face off with him in the future.

It was time to end this. The moment had come. It was time to send a devil back to hell.

“What have we here?” Esparza cocked the gun.

“You’ll never get away with this,” Drew told him, glancing at Suzy. “We have the place surrounded.”

“Really?” Esparza threw his head back and laughed. “My property is twenty-five acres and your team—your team of six or seven men—has my place surrounded?”

“Your surveillance must’ve failed you somewhere, Esparza. We’ve pulled divisions from across the country.” Drew crept forward as he spoke. “I don’t foresee any way out of this for you.”

Esparza sneered. “I don’t see any positive outcome for your girl. Do you?”

Drew flinched. “I still can’t figure out why you have her. She’s been in town for two days and you think there’s some sort of lasting connection between us?”

Suzy shot him a quick glance. He wanted to run to her as soon as he implied she wasn’t important to him. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and reassure her.

Again, Esparza tossed his head back. “You’re living in Vegas now. Haven’t you learned the laws of the land, yet? You can bluff a skilled player, a player who cares about the end result more than the temporary win. But you cannot—or at least you shouldn’t—bluff a true gambler. These individuals will go all-in without considering the risks.”

“Let her go,” Drew said, still holding his hands high. Manny was behind him now. Drew had worked with him long enough to feel him like a second skin. Scott was positioned at the other end of the hall. There was a little red dot on the side of Esparza’s head.

“Do you remember the time we spent together in Virginia, Drew?” Esparza grinned. “Of course you do. I’m the reason behind that drive you have now. When you rise every morning, I’m the only excuse you have to get out of bed. I’m your inspiration when you pound the pavement for four or five miles every day, and I’m—me, Drew, and no one else—the very reason you’ll never know a peaceful rest when you lay down at night and go to sleep.”

“You’re fucking insane.”

“And I speak the truth,” Esparza said. “We share a history that can never been separated. Don’t you feel it, Drew? I do. We’re linked together by what I now consider a very beautiful past, one wrought with murder and deceit, fraud and manipulation. Death surrounds us. Your father took away my family. I’ve slowly killed off yours. We meet, separate, and reunite again. We are so much a part of one another’s lives now that we’re almost family.”

Esparza yanked Suzy’s head back. “When families play together, darling, they stay together. You understand that. Don’t you?”

“I’ll trade my life for hers.” Drew practically tripped over his words as he passionately spoke each of them, meaning every ounce of his offer. He wanted to barter. He was willing to trade places.

Esparza’s nostrils flared. “I know you would. A woman who has only been in Las Vegas for a couple of days, a woman who has no meaning to you whatsoever, but you’re willing to trade your life for hers…because you’re oh so admirable. You Remington men have always been such heroes. I’ve always liked that about you.

“However, with that said, I’ve never found myself particularly fond of saving the weaker sex. It’s tiresome and often very lonely for a man in my position.” He shot Suzy a false look of adoration and the expression on his face was downright wicked. “Men in our position take our vows just like you.

“We’re expected to love, honor, and protect until death do us part or some nonsense like that and then what happens? We travel and we’re gone for months at a time and because we’ve committed our lives to loving one woman, we’re supposed to have our dinners, go to our meetings, and return to our rooms all alone at night. I’ve never been one for sleeping alone.” His eerie smile widened. “Ask your brother Dusty.”

ADULT EXCERPT

She loved him. Oh how she loved him.

Drew removed the vibrator and rose over her like a force to be reckoned with, a powerful surge behind a bolt of electricity. His broad shoulders, cut pecs, and muscular arms and legs were only part of the package. Drew Remington was indeed a beautiful man. He had features so dark they were haunting, a symbol of trouble. That’s what he represented. Danger and seduction, sex. Oh God yes, how much he resembled the epitome of sex.

Even the disturbing gray shadows circling his brown eyes were enticing. They were part of what made the man intriguing, yet explained why he was so distant and reserved.

His fingers plunged inside her pussy and her hips shot off the bed. “Master Drew, please.”

He smacked her bare mound and a gush of racing heat blasted through her channel. She slapped her hands against the mattress and used her heels to pump closer to those prying fingers, that manual stimulation now driving her wild.

Her head tilted forward and back as he fucked her with probing digits. His mouth fell open and his eyes grew heavy.

Reaching for him, she pumped his cock, suddenly aware of the fact that he’d already suited up to play, already slipped the condom on when she’d apparently been too involved in the pleasure to notice.

“You will do what I tell you to do while you’re here,” he said, leaving one finger right inside her cunt as if to show her how well he could give, how easily he could take away. “Tell me you understand.”

“Yes. I understand, Master Drew.”

He shoved three fingers inside her, rotating them in a scooping-like fashion. “And you’ll stay out of trouble, sub. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Sir,” she replied, her pussy now an inferno as he continued to stir her juices, work with her arousal. “I understand perfectly.”

Bending over her body, he flicked her clit and she came apart. His head bobbed up and down as he sipped at the hardened bud, licked at her pussy lips and rigorously fingered her.

Coming to his knees, Drew reached behind him and released her legs. “I want to feel those shapely thighs squeezing me, sub.”

Without another word, he slammed into her with one even thrust. Planting his hands on either side of her head, he worked his hips back and forth, moving them from side to side as he screwed her.

“Now say it,” he rasped, dragging his lips across hers.

Her nipples throbbed. Her pussy wept. It was all she could do to keep from wrapping her arms around him while screaming out his name, chanting about her everlasting love and undying devotion.

“Say what?”

Surely he didn’t want her to tell him again. Had Drew really changed that much while they’d been apart? Did he need her now when he hadn’t needed her in the past? Was he ready for more than he’d given her before?

He pushed the weight of his cock high inside her quivering cunt. “Tell me.” His lips assaulted hers as his cock strummed inside her. “Now, sub. Fucking tell me now!”

As she started to profess her love all over again, her release rolled forward. Her pussy vibrated with the warning and she tried to resist, fought to hold back until her Master gave her permission.

“Damn you! I need to hear you tell me you love me again. Tell me you love me as much as I’ve always loved you!”

There was no stopping her then. She came apart in his arms screaming his name, crying out for more, and yes, oh God yes. She told him she loved him over and over again.

Suzy would love him until the day she died.