BLURB

Jake Evans has been fighting his ass off for others and their causes for as long as he can remember and he’s had enough. He’s outgrown the adrenalin rush he used to crave and it’s time to settle down, maybe even get a job that doesn’t require him to carry a weapon or get shot at. When he gets dumped by the only woman he’s ever really needed, the gracious thing to do would be to just bow out. The problem is, Jake’s never been the gracious type and he’s not used to giving in.

Raine Daniels has been left dangling for years and she’s finally had enough. Jake was meant to be a one-night stand—quick, easy and forgettable—except she’d somehow ended up his regular ‘thing’. Raine’s worked hard to reinvent herself and make a new life, and her nightmare past? Finally way, way behind her. So when Jake comes back into town expecting to take up right where he left off—again—Raine knows it’s time to cut her losses and move on. Regardless of how good the sex is. No matter how much it hurts.

Jake’s been turned down by women before—plenty—but Raine is the only one who’s ever mattered. Too bad it took him so long to figure it out, especially when some jerk from Raine’s past starts harassing her. Hard core. So Jake settles in to do what he does best—take down his target—while trying to convince Raine she can have a life and a future. With him.

 

EXCERPT

Jake glanced across at the redhead who’d been giving him the open invitation with her eyes since he’d walked into the bar. That would be the invitation that said “anything, anytime, anywhere”. It might have been a hell of a long time since he’d been looking at anyone but Raine, but he recognized the message, loud and clear.

“You don’t want to do that, man,” Nash murmured.

“No?” Jake took a deep pull of his beer, his eyes never leaving the woman. “Why’s that?”

“What about…”

Jake cleared his throat against the flash of pain that was sharp and unforgiving. “Raine? Yeah, seeing someone else.”

Christ, it hurt to even say her name.

Nash frowned. “She told you that?”

He shrugged. “Not in so many words. Doesn’t matter. She cut me loose.”

“Jeez, Jake, I’m sorry, man.”

“Yeah, how fucked up is that?” He took another gulp of his beer and motioned the waitress for another one. “She waited for me. As far as I know. Every fucking time I came home and she was here, waiting for me. And now I’m finally back to stay for good? She dumps me. Just like that.” He snapped his fingers in a short, loud crack. “No fucking reason or any I can understand anyway. She’s with someone else. I know it.”

“And you’re just going to give up? Just like that?”

“She doesn’t want me anymore. Told me so.” Jake’s voice thickened as he twirled the empty bottle in his hand, kept his eyes lowered. “She ah…told me I’d never satisfied her, you know, in bed. Not really. That I was…ah…”

“That’s bullshit, Jake.”

Yeah, he wished, except he’d been there. Talk about a kick in the nuts. He might not be good at everything, but he’d always been sure he was good at that. Man, who was he kidding? He made damn sure he was an expert at everything he set his mind to. And pleasing Raine? He’d been pretty single-minded about that. At least he thought he had.

Jake let out a rough breath. “Fuck, Nash. Raine was it for me, you know? And I never told her, not once, not a single fucking time that I… I just took it for granted she’d always be here, waiting until I was good and ready. Yeah…seriously I don’t know what the fuck I’m going to do now.”

The first time they’d met Raine had been cool, collected and classy. So not his usual type and probably way out of his league, but he’d been drawn to her anyway. He’d flirted. Why the hell not? He’d needed the practice. It’d been a long time since he’d let himself mingle in the normal world. He’d expected a sharp put down, maybe a polite “not in this lifetime”, but she’d flirted back. And taken him home.

His expectations hadn’t been high. She’d been nervous that first time and he’d known—picking up rough, from-the-wrong-side-of-town guys wasn’t her thing—that he’d been an anomaly. And then he’d gotten her under him. He almost gasped at the slay of sensation that sliced through him at the memory of how she’d felt, how she’d taken him, how she’d rocked his world.

And the satisfying sex he’d been hoping for? The simple relief he’d been after? Mind. Fucking. Blown.

From that instant, sex and Raine had been linked for him. Sex was Raine and he hadn’t had it with anyone else since. He hadn’t wanted it with anyone else and if he was honest with himself? He still didn’t.

And just where did that leave him? He glanced across the crowded bar. The redhead was still checking him out. Man, before today he probably never would have even noticed her.

Nash leaned forward. “So do what you do best,” he drawled.

“Yeah?” Jake choked out a laugh that had nothing to do with humor. “And what’s that exactly?”

Because now? What the fuck did he really know anymore?

“You still want her? She put a lot of time into you, man, that’s got to count for something. You’ve got the skills and the patience, the determination. Use it. Fight for her, my man, fight for her.”

Fight for her? Jake snorted. Right. And just how the fuck did he do that? Raine was— She’d been—

Son of a bitch.

He needed to face facts. Raine had dumped his ass. So much for his legendary observation skills, his ability to read people. He’d never seen it coming. No one ever did, did they? Of course, it might have helped if he’d been around some.

Jake leaned back in the booth and fought the urge to curl his hands into fists. He’d always considered himself a patient guy—Mr. Fucking Cool all the way—but he’d been stripped raw and didn’t know what to do with the churn in his gut or the icy feeling he hadn’t been able to shake. Not since the it’s-not-working-for-me-anymore speech that came right before the it’s-not-you-it’s-me bombshell.

He ground his back teeth together and narrowed his eyes on Nash. The guy had barely been able to keep his eyes off Lexi on the dance floor and it was starting to piss him off.

Anyway, all this was rich coming from Nash. “I’m a free guy, Nash. She cut me loose. Maybe commitment free, mindless fucking is exactly what I need right now. It worked for you for years.”

“No. It didn’t.”

“Right.” Jake forced out another laugh he didn’t feel in the slightest.

“You’re wired differently than me,” Nash fired back. “You know it as well as I do.”

“You don’t think I had any game before Raine? It’s not like I wasn’t getting my rocks off before her and not just with my hand. And just because you’ve had a girlfriend for all of five minutes, doesn’t mean you’re entitled to give me fucking relationship advice. I was with Raine for five years. Five. I—”

“And I don’t think you know shit about why she really dumped you, so what does that tell you?”

Jake ran a rough hand through his hair. God, he needed a fucking haircut. Bad.

Nash just continued to look at him, an eyebrow slightly raised. “Well?” Nash pushed.

Jake dipped his head so that he didn’t have to meet Nash’s eyes.

Nash was right about something. He wasn’t one to give up on anything without a fight so why would he start now? Why the hell should he just bow out?

“No. I have no idea why she dumped me.” Yeah, nothing added up, except him being a clueless moron. He sighed, gave the redhead a long, last look. It would have been so easy to get up, go over there and just go with the fucking flow. But no. He just couldn’t make himself do it. “I probably couldn’t get it up for anyone else anyway, even if I wanted to.”

Which he didn’t. Because he belonged to Raine. Only to her. And this wasn’t over by a long shot.