On Her Master's Secret Service (Masters and Mercenaries #4)(85)

“I do not have a boat, but I do have two good hands with which to borrow one without the owner knowing, so the glass is truly half full. I’ll go clean up a little before we go. I know a little harbor down the road where the night guard is usually asleep by this point in time.”

Sean started to clean up the kitchen as Kristen walked off.

“Are you all right with this?” Eve asked. Sean was a dad now. He might not want to become an accomplice to probably justifiable murder.

Adam shook his head. “Has she done this before? Why would she know about when the night guard at a harbor sleeps? Is she Dexter?”

Eve snorted a little. “She’s not a serial killer.”

Sean shook his head. “I don’t think she is either, but she does seem to pay very close attention to her surroundings.”

“If she grew up in an abusive household, she very likely had to,” Eve mused. “But really, are you all right? I could wake up Alex and we could go with her.”

“Nah. I’d rather keep an eye on her. And I buy her story about Carl. I’ve only worked with the * for a week and I saw him harassing most of the waitresses. They’re afraid of him. The kitchen staff, too. I think he’s blackmailing some of the illegals, telling them he’ll call in immigration if they don’t turn over a cut to him. He was also carrying, so one less * we have to worry about. Maybe Chazz will lean more heavily on Alex now.” Sean glanced back toward the hall where Kristen had disappeared. “She knows more than she’s saying. One of us needs to get closer. She seems to like me.”

She remembered the last time Sean got close to a female involved in an operation. They had a baby together. “Sean, you can’t.”

He rolled his eyes. “God, Eve, I’m not going to seduce her. I might top her a little, though. You can do that without ever touching a woman. She’s hiding a lot behind her sarcasm. Maybe I can get her to open up a little, figure out what she’s really doing here. What’s wrong with you? I’m not the one who tries to screw around with women who don’t belong to him.”

Adam groaned. “I swear I would kill him if he wasn’t such a good cook. He has the memory of an elephant.” Adam’s eyes went wide. “Got it. I pulled the files straight from the feds. Sixteen. No Carmen Garcia. Could they have classified it? Why would they do that?”

Eve had absolutely no idea.

“Why are you up?” Alex asked, walking out of their bedroom wearing nothing but a pair of sweats. Adam could keep his perfectly cut suits. She loved Alex just the way he was. He didn’t need a suit to make her drool.

“Couldn’t sleep.” Nor could she help the little sigh that came out of her mouth. Such a lovely Master with his sleepy eyes and broad shoulders.

“Then I didn’t do my job. Come back to bed, angel.” He held his hand out. “I can’t sleep without you.”

And she just left everything. It would still be there in the morning. The fact that a file was missing was very likely a mistake on the government’s part.

“Did I miss anything?” Alex asked.

Eve filled Alex in. “Adam thinks he’s found Evans in New York. Kristen got a look at Chazz’s day planner and thinks Evans is going to be here the day after tomorrow. Oh, and Kristen killed a bouncer.”

“Was it Carl?” Alex asked, seeming perfectly fine with every single piece of news she’d given him.

“Yes.” She really should have paid more attention to Carl.

“Good for Kris. Who’s on corpse duty? Tell me she has the body.”

Kristen stepped out of the hallway. She’d changed her clothes and was now wearing all black. “Of course. I’m not a tourist. It’s in the back of my Navigator. Dude was heavy.”

“I’ll handle it, Alex,” Sean said.

“And I’m on Evans.” Adam was back to focusing on his computer. “I’m running some programs to see if I can figure out what name he’s using. Kristen had found about four of them. Hopefully he’s using one of those. We’ll get him. You and Eve get some rest.”

“So he’s really coming here?” Alex asked, his hand tightening on hers.

Kristen nodded. “I told you I would give him to you on a silver platter.”

“All right.” He turned and started leading Eve back to the bedroom.

“Alex?” She’d expected him to go into full-on commando mode, but he was walking away.

He pulled her into his arms. “No, Eve. No more talk about this. We’ll figure it out in the morning. We’ll sit down and talk it out. All right? I won’t leave you out of the decision-making process, but you have to know I’ll let his ass go if it’s a choice between hauling him in or you getting hurt again.”

He would choose her. Tears threatened again and she laid her head against his chest. She would always choose him. “Yes, Master.”

“Kiss me.”

She tilted her head up. The Master wasn’t done with her yet.





Chapter Fourteen


In the low light just before dawn, Jesse checked the safety on his SIG. He’d decided to make it quick. Clean and easy. No fuss, no muss. The boss had called again, in an agitated state.

And Jesse hadn’t told him everything. He hadn’t told him what he’d witnessed.