The Dom Who Loved Me (Masters and Mercenaries #1)(3)

“And deal with all the interagency crap? No. Mr. Lincoln is amenable to bankrolling this whole op if it gets the Earth League off his back.”

Sean chuckled. “You get the proof you need for a much wider op, and he gets to continue to rape the planet without interference.”

“Fuck you.” Lincoln looked like he was going to come over the top of the table.

“Sir.” Gene tried to contain his boss.

“I wouldn’t if I were you, Lincoln.” The spook’s voice seemed to make the CEO think twice. “That man you’re about to assault is Sean Taggart. He’s a former Green Beret. His brother is the gentleman at the end of the table. You read the file on both of them. I doubt he would kill you here, though you might wish he had.”

The CEO sat back, the arrogance on his face fading for the moment. “I just want you to catch the bastard.”

Ian’s fingers steepled as they often did when he was thinking. “I can’t promise you anything, Mr. Lincoln, but if Matthew Wright is involved with his brother’s activities, we’ll do our best to bring them both down.”





Two hours later, Sean sat looking at the file.

“I’m sending you in, Sean.” Ian stood over his desk, his shadow long, but Sean was used to being in his big brother’s shadow. Though he was thirty-two years old, six foot three, and weighed two hundred twenty pounds, everyone on the team still called him Little Tag. Ian was Big Tag.

Sean tapped the photo he’d been staring at for an hour. Something about the set of her mouth fascinated him. He’d learned she was forty and a widow. She’d raised two boys and seemed to have no life outside her family and her job. According to the file, some of her co-workers whispered that she was sleeping with her boss. “She’s the key, you know.”

Ian leaned his big body over the desk. “Of course she is. You get to her, you find out everything about the place. An admin knows everything about her boss. It’s why I don’t have one.”

Something made him hesitate. She looked almost sad in the photo. “Maybe you should send in Jake and Adam. Their pretend gay act always wins the women’s trust.”

Ian burst into a rare fit of laughter. “I’ll be sure to let them know you appreciate their undercover efforts. As it happens, Jake and Adam will be your backup. If you can’t manage to get close to the woman, perhaps they can. A lot of women like to be in between those two.”

“I’ll handle it.” No way was he letting those two get close to Grace. There was something about her. “I’ll get what you need.” Let that be it. Walk away now, big brother.

“You need to think about dating.” Ian’s voice grated like broken glass underfoot.

“Fuck me.” Sean’s head hit the top of his desk.

“Yes, that would be the point. It’s been a year since you last took a sub.”

Sean groaned. “Would it work if I told you this is absolutely none of your business?”

Ian shrugged. “Probably not. I just don’t understand. Rona was a lovely sub.”

Rona had been a clingy, whiny painslut who didn’t want the heavy burden of anything so difficult as choosing her own clothes for the day, much less having an actual job or ambitions. “I’m not like you, Ian. I don’t want a slave.”

“You don’t want the responsibility.” Coming from Ian, it sounded like an accusation.

Sean felt his eyes narrow. His brother just didn’t understand. Not everyone was as utterly hard-core as Ian. “I love taking care of a woman, you know that. I’m just not attracted to the clingy ones who need me to do everything for them. I want her to need me, but not need me for everything, know what I mean? I want a smart, independent woman who just happens to enjoy submitting to me sexually. Is that too much to ask?”

There was a snort, and then his brother’s sarcasm came spilling out. “It can be your eHarmony ad, bro. Wanted: smart, independent woman to play at D/s. Must like handcuffs, spankings, and anal sex.”

Sean fought the urge to growl. “Don’t make fun of me. At least I haven’t run through every submissive at the club.”

Ian’s easy shrug let Sean know he wasn’t getting to him. “Some of them twice. Unlike you, I have realistic expectations about how a relationship is going to go. It’s best to keep things short and sweet, with a contract in place, so everyone knows how to behave.”

Yes, Ian would think that way. Of course, he hadn’t always thought like that. Ian had been engaged once. No one talked about Holly anymore, not if they wanted to keep their head attached to their body. “Just stay out of my love life.”

“As you don’t seem to have one, I think that will be easy.” Ian stood up. His blue eyes were not unkind as they looked at Sean. “I’m going to head out to the club. I’m meeting the rest of the team there. Why don’t you come with us? You don’t need to start this tonight. Your meeting with Wright won’t be for another few weeks or so. You’ll be in deep cover. I talked to a friend in Chicago, and you’re all set. You’re going in as a man negotiating a contract for labor services. You’ll need to work at Kelvin Incorporated for a few weeks to make it look good.”

Yes, a couple of weeks as a corporate drone sounded very exciting. He should go to the club with Ian. He could pick up a sub for the night and spend a few hours forgetting the fact that the next several weeks would be dull as dirt. Of course, the last couple of years had been long, tedious jobs punctuated with the occasional person who tried to kill him. He was used to boredom. His hand found the file, and the words were out of his mouth before he could stop them. “No, I want to read over this.”