Vaughn

A quarter of a million dollars and two days later, I was only hours away from taking Carissa on her first date. It bore repeating—her first damn date, as impossible as it sounded considering how gorgeous she was. So fucking pretty she made me feel things no other woman had before. It was more than an insane amount of lust, and it wasn’t just my protective instincts rearing up because of the situation with Bellamy. I’d been jealous of all the other men at the gala because of the inches of skin her dress revealed. It was why I’d pulled her behind the curtains, away from their gazes. And then I’d kissed her, and a deep sense of possessiveness took root inside me.

The jumble of feelings she evoked in me made her dangerous. Dangerous enough that I wasn’t willing to trust my instincts when it came to her, so I used the time I had away from her to run a background check on her. It was something I probably should have farmed out to an acquaintance of mine who was damn good at gathering intel, but I didn’t want anyone else to be privy to the intimate details of Carissa’s life.

My research into her confirmed my initial impression. She was an innocent woman who had no idea what was in store for her if she fell into Bellamy’s hands. Digging into her past didn’t uncover a single bad thing. Not so much as a speeding ticket, which was damn good considering she didn’t even have a driver’s license. No sign of a boyfriend, ever. There wasn’t even any porn in her browser history.

Getting information on her had been more difficult than it should have been because she lived quiet. From what I’d managed to discover, she was sweet and a little bit shy. Well-liked by her classmates. A good student. And utterly dependent on her parents—which made her father’s connection to Bellamy particularly disturbing, considering he’d planned to allow the man to take his daughter out on the date I’d won. My background check on him hadn’t come back as clean as Carissa’s. On the surface, he appeared to be exactly what he seemed, but there were some irregularities in his financials which left me with more questions than answers.

I’d allowed my odd possessiveness to prevent me from asking for help in digging into Carissa’s life, but I had no qualms about reaching out for help with her protection and further intel on her father. The primary focus of my mission had quickly moved from putting Bellamy into the ground to keeping her safe. Killing him right away wasn’t an option because I hadn’t been able to confirm he was the head of the operation yet. If he wasn’t, then there was a possibility his death wouldn’t end the danger to Carissa, especially if her father was tied into this somehow. It wouldn’t give the dead girl the justice she deserved, either.

The bottom line was my mission had become two-pronged, and I needed help from someone I could trust. The list of people I could call upon for assistance was damn small because I didn’t make a habit out of depending on others. Gaige Taylor, who’d served as my flanker during my years as a sniper in the Army, was one of the few men I trusted implicitly. Gaige was the first person I’d call for help, but he was already on the hunt for information on Bellamy—which made him the logical choice to dig further into Carissa’s father’s possible connection, but not the right one to help keep her safe. Only one other name came to mind—Brecken Kane.

Brecken and I had crossed paths during a mission in Somalia. My team’s target lived outside a small town near the Djibouti border. There hadn’t been any indication that our intel was anything other than spot-on, but I’d had a bad feeling in my gut just about from the moment I’d laid my eyes on the operation order.

Gaige quickly caught on to the fact that something was bugging me, even though I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what it was. He’d pulled me aside to let me know he’d be extra vigilant. In his role as flanker, he observed the areas not immediately visible to me and maintained my perimeter and rear security. I knew he was damn good at his job, but I still had that damn niggling feeling.

Twenty hours into our waiting game, my instincts were proven accurate when Gaige was ambushed. There had been enough of them that he wouldn’t have been able to take them all out. Luckily for him—and me—the cavalry, in the form of Brecken’s team, came to his rescue. Their impeccable timing saved Gaige’s life, along with mine, and allowed me to complete the mission. It had been more than enough to prove Brecken’s worth to me.

It had also put me in his debt, but he’d called his marker in recently when he’d fallen hard and fast for a woman he’d been sent to rescue. She’d been kidnapped to use as leverage against her father in an illegal arms deal. Brecken had gone into the jungles of Nicaragua to recover her, but hadn’t been willing to return her to the man who’d hired him. Not when it had been her dad who’d gotten her into that mess in the first place. Although, it had turned out to be the Army’s fault just as much as his because he’d been operating under their purview as part of an operation to recover a stolen weapon.

Their mission was a success. The weapon was back in the hands of our government. But that hadn’t been enough for Brecken. He’d wanted the man who’d ordered Hadley’s kidnapping dead, along with anyone else who’d been involved in taking her and holding her captive. So he called in his marker, and I’d made it happen.

When I’d let him know the job was done, he’d insisted he was in my debt. I’d figured we were even, but I wasn’t about to pass up a marker from him. I’d warned him that I wouldn’t forget, but I’d never expected to collect on it for something personal. And I certainly hadn’t ever thought it would be because of a woman. Yet here I was, calling him up for help with Carissa’s protection.

“Kane.”

“Westbrook,” I parroted his greeting.

“Damn, Vaughn. It isn’t often that I get a call from a blocked number on my personal cell. I should have known it was you.”

“Old habits die hard, I guess.” It was second nature for me to switch burner phones on a regular basis. I was a paranoid bastard, but it’d been the reason I stayed alive too often for me to abandon my quirks.

“Not nearly as hard as your targets.”

Truer words had never been said. It made me think of a saying a Marine sniper had shared with me. “You know how the old Chinese proverb goes—kill one man, terrorize a thousand.”

“Or many thousands, depending on how many confirmed kills you have.”

“Speaking of kills,” I drawled.

“Shit, man. What’s going on? Are you falling down on the job and need me to kill someone for you?”

“Not hardly,” I chuckled. “But I need to call in that favor you owe me for upping my body count on your and Hadley’s behalf.”

“Whatever you need, it’s yours.” There wasn’t an ounce of hesitation in his voice. He was a stand-up guy, but I knew the debt he felt towards me had more to do with the love he had for his wife. She’d just given birth to their first child three months ago, a little boy they’d named Quinten, but he’d leave their side in a heartbeat if I needed him because I’d made sure the men who’d hurt Hadley had paid with their lives for it.

I was ruthless enough that I’d ask him to do it, too, if that’s what it took to keep Carissa safe. But I needed more than one man on this job, and Brecken had pulled together one hell of a team when he’d set up his security business. One led by Whit Baker when Brecken wasn’t available for an assignment. The two men had served side-by-side since they went through boot camp together, so I’d seen Whit in action for myself in Somalia.

“I need to borrow your team. Observe and protect. The target may be in danger from a human trafficking ring I’m taking down.”

“When and where?”

“Yesterday would be good,” I half-joked. “But if you can get them to me by tomorrow morning, I’ll make it work.” I gave him all the necessary details before disconnecting, but I neglected to mention how I’d be able to keep an eye on Carissa until they arrived since we’d be out on a date tonight. It wasn’t something I’d be able, or even want, to keep from his team. But I wasn’t ready to talk about her with anyone yet. Not even with Brecken, who was probably the best person to discuss the situation with considering how he’d met Hadley. I’d been around the block enough times with women to know my reaction to her meant something, but that didn’t mean our circumstances were anywhere near what theirs had been.

I was beyond happy Brecken had moved past his experiences in the military and built himself the life he had. But a wife and baby weren’t in the cards for me, no matter how badly I wanted both. I’d seen too much—hell, done too much—to deserve the same kind of happiness for myself.

Plus, Carissa for damn sure deserved more than a man like me. She was soft, where I was hardened. She was innocent, and I’d been corrupted years ago. Our ages were only separated by about a decade, but we were lifetimes apart when it came to experience. No matter how much I wanted her, no matter how fucking delicious she tasted when I’d kissed her—I needed to remember that Carissa Hastings wasn’t for the likes of me.