Mag-log in"My parents died in a car accident years ago, so there is just me, Debby, and my three brothers. They all know. Jett told them. Since he got injured on the last mission, he did not have much of a choice. I think they are all trying to get information from different sources. I could not wait any longer. I came to ask Marcus to help when we kept hitting obstacles from conventional methods. I did not realize he had never told anyone but Blake about PRO. Pretty much all of their covers were exposed." "Only to some of the governments," Christine responded. "Basically the very people they did not want to know about them. Our government did not leak the information to the public, so Marcus did not have to tell Aileen or the rest of the family." I thought about how worried this woman probably was about her husband, and I felt guilty. "I am sorry. Really, none of the Roberts family should have had to get involved." "I do not blame you," Christine replied in a quiet voice. "If I had a siblin
I knew the former Special Forces Roberts brother had married a previous FBI agent. My brother, Jett, kept me updated on Roberts family news since he had been a teammate of Marcus's for several years. He had mentioned the unlikely pair of lovers once or twice. "I am Sophia Bennett. My sister is the reason your husband is not home right now." Christine nodded toward the cabin. "Come in, please. I will get you something warm to drink. You look like you are freezing." She turned and gestured for the dog to go back to the house, and I followed her. We were settled into the large but welcoming cabin before she spoke again while she was making coffee. Not knowing what else to do, I sat at the table in the small dining area. "I am sorry about your sister," Christine said kindly. "It is terrible when an innocent person gets caught up in the madness of the world." I sighed. "Your brother in law, Marcus, said that Debby knew what she was getting into, and she knew the dangers. He was corre
SOPHIA Still feeling confused and worried, I had grabbed my jacket and put on a pair of hiking boots not long after Blake left my room, needing to be somewhere that I did not feel trapped with my own thoughts. Unfortunately, I had not been able to escape my mind, and I was just as anxious several hours later, even after I felt like I had walked for miles. I was an experienced hiker, but I realized that I had thrown every rule of hiking and navigation out the window as I had walked in a daze, paying no attention to anything except my internal thoughts. Damn it. I finally became aware of where I was, and eyed the snow that was still on the ground. Spring was coming, but it had not arrived yet, and I was cold, following a path that seemed like it led nowhere. Pine trees lined the concrete road, and I kept moving when I saw smoke in the distance, quite certain it was someone's fireplace, so there had to be people ahead. I kept moving. Even after hours of thought, I was not any clo
I smiled at her. "I still consider myself the luckiest bastard on the planet to have been your first." "I am glad it was you," she said in a serious tone. I could not say that Sophia was the only woman I had ever been with. I had been a horny young man before I met her, but I could say being with her had deeply changed me. After Sophia, and the way I had felt with her, no woman could ever touch my soul in the same way. Jealous emotions seized my heart, squeezing it like a clamp as I thought about Sophia being with any other man. It did not matter if thirteen years had gone by without me seeing her. What was it that made me feel like she belonged to me just because I had once made her scream and tremble in a powerful release? Seeing her again was making me lose my fucking mind. I stood up suddenly, worried that I could not control my primal instincts to drag Sophia away as my very delayed reward. I was a respected public servant, and all I could think about was getting Sophia na
SOPHIA I could hear the fear in my voice, a doubt that was not typical for me. His gray eyes grew darker. "They will try everything they have to extract her if she is still alive." That was the possible truth I did not want to speak, the one thing I could not accept. "She cannot be dead." I said the words because I desperately wanted them to be true. Blake stood and came to sit beside me, pulling me into his arms as though it was completely natural for him. "I hope she is not." The comforting tone of his voice finally made me break down. I had worried for weeks, wondering if Debby was still alive. The stress fracture in my heart finally split completely open, and I cried. BLAKE I felt fucking helpless because all I could truly do was hold Sophia in my arms as she sobbed out every bit of fear she had kept inside about her sister's safety. I could not promise her that Debby was still alive. The international correspondent was in a world where nobody would care if she was behead
A single tear fell onto my cheek, and I grieved for what could have been if I had not been so fast to make assumptions, or if I had answered his call just once. I knew I could not have a serious relationship with him, but maybe we could have been friends. Maybe the resentment between us would have been resolved years ago. "I do not know what to say." "Do not say you are sorry again," he requested. "You have nothing to be sorry about. I did not realize until Marcus told me what you had said to him that you had seen him with somebody else. It would have hurt me back then. I am sure it was painful for you." I nodded as I wiped the tear from my face. "It did. I suppose it was because you were my first." "You will never know how much that meant to me, or how much it destroyed me that you would not speak to me again," he answered in a low, rough voice. "I wanted it to be you," I said in a voice that was barely audible. "I knew the feelings were right. I never regretted it, Blake." "Ev
“Blake is his best friend. I have no doubt he knows, but he must have decided not to say anything. Chloe pesters me every day about you. I’m glad she’s coming home. I hate brushing her off and pretending I accept that you aren’t coming back. Hell, I hate lying to her.” Just the thought of seeing
She smiled at him through her tears. “Even though you say you’re not romantic, I think what you just said is probably the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard.” They stayed in Denver for the next few months, and Ellie was happier than she could remember being in her whole life. Most of the day, she wor
Ellie wished he would have left her alone. “No. He stayed that night, using every minute to try to scare me into obeying him. Every time I argued, he hit me. It was a very long night.” She felt Zane’s body tense under hers as he asked, “Did he strip you, or did you do it yourself?” “He used a ca
She shook her head, breaking the connection of their locked eyes. Her gaze fell to the flute of champagne in her hand, and she ran her fingers along the stem. God, even that seemed to excite him. He wanted those fingers on him, all over his fucking body. Remembering why he’d been gone for so long







