The Dom Who Loved Me (Masters and Mercenaries #1)(62)

“Don’t cry, sweetheart.” Adam turned around and reached out to her. Grace moved away from him. He’d lied to her, too.

Grace felt the tears rolling down her cheeks. Damn it. She wished she was one of those people who could bottle up her emotions. She never had been. She’d always worn them on her sleeve, and nothing seemed to be able to toughen her up. The tears rolled down and suddenly the chill hit her. She was wet from pressing herself against Sean, and now the cold seemed to seep into her bones. Maybe it was the cold or the emotion, but Grace felt her teeth start to chatter as a fine trembling began across her skin.

Sean cursed, and she felt him move beside her. He reached into the back of the SUV and when his hand came back, he held a blanket. Grace sat motionless as he settled it around her shoulders. She stiffened when he pulled her into his arms.

“Stop it.” He used his Dom voice on her, but she wasn’t buying it anymore. It wasn’t real. It was just one more trick he had used against her. He’d figured out her fantasies. The loving care he had shown her before had been the bait for his trap. She was across his lap, pressed against his chest before she could protest. Grace squirmed, trying to get away from him, but his arms were a cage around her. Like everything with the man, she was utterly helpless. “Calm down, Grace.”

“I’d prefer to sit by myself.” She wanted to be away from him. It was hard to think about anything but how big his body was and how protected she’d felt when she’d thought he cared about her. The urge to wrap her arms around him and cry her heart out was almost overwhelming.

“And I’d prefer you calm down and let me take care of you.” He was quiet, whispering his words into her ear. “There’s no point in fighting me, Grace. You can’t win. You’re caught. I don’t care why you were doing it. Maybe you needed the money, whatever, but it stops now. So relax. I’m going to take care of it. I’m going to care of you.”

He wasn’t going to give her the dignity of sitting by herself. He seemed to want to take everything away from her. Grace sat stiffly in his arms, tears continuing to fall. She might not be able to get away from him, but he was wrong about the rest of it. There was a reason to fight. And she was going to give him hell.





Chapter Fifteen


Sean hated the stiff way Grace sat in his lap, as though she couldn’t stand to be so close to him. What the hell was her game now? She wasn’t very good at it. When she should have led him on a merry chase, she’d easily submitted. Now, when she should be doing everything in her power to appeal to his soft side, she gave him the cold shoulder. He should shove her off and let her shiver. Instead he pulled her close, unable to deny the need to be close to her.

He’d thought she was dead. He’d seen her body and known he would spend the rest of his life alone. Grace was his soul mate. Grace was the one woman he’d waited for. He hadn’t known he was waiting, hadn’t given it much thought before, but in that moment when he’d thought Grace was gone, he’d known that she was the one.

No matter what she had done, he wouldn’t let her go. When he’d turned her body over and discovered that it was Kayla who had lost her life in that dank little alley, he’d decided on his course. Grace never had to know how much he loved her. It was better that she didn’t. She’d been lying for so long, she probably wouldn’t know the truth if it slapped her across the face. He wondered how long she’d known about him. She’d had the upper hand. Now the tables were turned, and he would be in charge. He would take care of her, but he would never give her a hint of the chokehold she had on his heart.

“Not long now.” Adam’s soft voice made Sean want to put his fist through the other man’s face. He was looking back at Grace as though she needed to be saved from him. Sean stared at the man he’d known for years. He’d met Adam and Jake that first year in the Army. He’d known all about their penchant for sharing, and he’d kept his mouth closed. He’d saved their asses time and time again. This was how Adam repaid him? By coming after his woman? He and Adam would have another talk very soon that just might end with Sean having to hide a body. He could do it, he thought with a sort of savage satisfaction. He would love a long fight. His body was primed with unleashed violence. He couldn’t go after Parnell, not yet. Adam would do.

“I’d like to call a lawyer.” Grace was very quiet, but her words were even and controlled. Her hands were still a jumble of fine trembles, but she’d gotten the rest of her body under command.

He looked at her, wishing she would give him the same courtesy. Her eyes stared forward. “I’ll get you one if it becomes necessary. I don’t think it will.”

He intended to make sure she never had to deal with anything like that. Patrick Wright, a.k.a. Evan Parnell, was the one they were really after. They didn’t need to prosecute Grace. Hell, they probably wouldn’t prosecute Patrick Wright. It made for bad headlines when the CIA lost one of their own. Rogue agents were bad for business. Patrick Wright wouldn’t get the courtesy of a trial. The Agency would want this all swept under the rug. Sean just needed to make sure Grace was protected when the cleaners came.

“Do I get a phone call?”

He sighed. “You aren’t being arrested. I’m trying to keep that from happening.”

Jake turned down the long, winding road that ended in Ian’s very private estate. Ian lived outside the city where there was still breathing room. Of course, Ian didn’t really care about breathing room. He did care about privacy. Ian had selected this little country estate of his for its lack of nosy neighbors. As Jake carefully navigated the road, Sean knew his brother had already been alerted that they were on their way. Ian’s security measures alerted him to anything and everything that made its way onto his property.