The Men with the Golden Cuffs (Masters and Mercenaries #2)(9)

He must be getting old. He tried to get his brain back in work mode since it seemed he wouldn’t be playing tonight. Jake turned to Grace.

“Who is this Serena person?” Jake asked. He didn’t want to walk into that room without knowing a thing or two. Grace had been the one to bring her to his office, the unholy gleam of a matchmaker in her eyes.

Grace shrugged. “I don’t know. Ian sent me a message this afternoon that I should prepare the VIP treatment for her, but she’d already come and gone by then. I tried calling her place and leaving a message asking her to come back, but I got voice mail.”

Alex, Eve, and Liam walked past them, filing into what seemed to be the conference room.

Adam stayed behind. “What do you know about her? She said she was a writer. Have you heard of Amber Rose? I didn’t get a chance to look her up yet. She said she writes romances.”

Jake hadn’t had time to look at her work either, but he could bet they were sweet little books about true love where the couple consummated their union with a simple kiss. Amber Rose would never go for what they wanted. She would be shocked and horrified. It was their burden to bear that a woman like Serena was exactly what they wanted and exactly the type who couldn’t handle them.

Grace stopped and looked like she was about to hyperventilate. Her face flushed, and her mouth dropped open. “Serena Brooks is Amber Rose? Are you kidding me? Oh, my god! I have all her books.”

Sean’s brows rose on his face. “Amber Rose—as in Texas Sweethearts?”

Even the title was sugary sweet. “She writes a series called Texas Sweethearts? Is it an old-fashioned western?”

Grace shook her head. “No. It’s amazing. I’ve read them all at least four times. Sweetheart in Chains is my favorite. I’ve heard that Their Sweetheart Slave is coming out soon. I can’t wait. It’s Alexa, Caden, and Duke’s story. I’ve been waiting for it forever.”

“What?” Adam said, leaning in. “Are you telling me that sweet little woman who was in my office this afternoon writes porn?”

Sean winced. “Dear god, don’t call it porn.”

Grace frowned, a single finger pointed straight at Adam. “It isn’t porn. It’s erotic romance. There is a huge difference. Amber Rose writes hot love stories. And if you can’t handle it, then I don’t care. I love her books, and I wish I had known who she was when I met her. Erotic romance helped me figure out what I wanted.”

Jake shook his head. Grace read some rough stuff. He’d never actually read them himself, but he’d glanced through them when Grace had been under investigation. “Are you serious? Those books you read are all about BDSM.”

It was a little incomprehensible, but according to Grace there was a whole category of books that claimed to be BDSM romances. Female fantasies about bondage and * Doms who fell to their knees and let their subs walk all over them. Yeah, Jake hadn’t read those.

Grace nodded. “Yes, they have BDSM elements.” A little smile crept over her face. “And she also writes a lot of ménage.”

Sean laughed. “I forgot about that. Wow. That’s interesting.”

“You’ve read these books?” Jake asked. Ménage? There was no way. This was a joke.

Sean shrugged, his face flushing slightly. “I wanted to know what my wife reads. I will admit Amber Rose’s books are actually kind of good. There are several of those authors who write some pretty hot stuff. It’s very different from what I imagined. Not my bag or anything, but the books have actual plots and stuff. Along with some pretty freaky sex…loving, freaky sex.” He grunted as his wife elbowed him. “You are going to get so tied up after this baby is born. I’m keeping a running tab of all your punishments.”

Grace smiled brightly at her husband. “I look forward to it.”

“Get in here now!” Ian’s bark resounded through the bar. Jake could have sworn every sub in a mile radius hit her knees, though Grace managed to stay standing.

Adam frowned. “I think we f*cked this one up royally, brother.”

Jake followed Adam and Grace into the conference room. He thought about telling Adam that it hadn’t been his fault, but the truth was they had both mishandled the situation. Adam, in his own way, had come on far too strong. And Jake had pulled away too hard. Jake had misread the situation.

Ian Taggart stood in the center of the room, his arms across his massive chest. He might have let his hair grow out, but he still looked every inch the Lieutenant Commander of a Green Beret team. He hadn’t been in command of Jake and Adam’s team. That had been his brother, Sean, but there was enough military discipline ingrained into Jake’s brain that Ian’s stance had him at attention.

“What’s up, chief?” Adam had always had a bit of trouble with authority. Where Ian’s anger would make Jake more professional, it would bring out Adam’s sarcasm.

Jake sent Adam a stare. It was Jake’s “let me handle this” look. “I take it this is about the Serena Brooks case? We were planning on presenting it to the group in the morning.”

It was nothing less than the truth. He had all the notes on his laptop. He’d intended to go over everything later in the evening after he’d burned off some of his anger. He’d intended to run all of Serena’s information and have a perfectly polished PowerPoint presentation for the morning meeting. He’d planned on recommending that they take the case and then have Liam handle the whole thing.