Chapter Seventeen
Three months later…
There was a gentle comfort about the last few moments before executing an op. All was quiet and you could hear the sound of your own heartbeat. For a man like Rafe, it was often the only times he’d felt peace.
Until Diana, he thought. Then again, Diana had changed a lot of things in his life. Too many to enumerate.
Rafe glanced over at the man on his left. Noah was outfitted in black head to toe just like he was. He also wore an earpiece. Rafe patted the utility vest he wore, which carried everything from knives to tape to zip ties. For years it had been his standard uniform when working. Putting it on this evening before going out had felt like donning an old uniform that didn’t really fit anymore.
“Just like old times, huh?”
Noah shook his head. “Better. Our comms weren’t this good back in the day. Remember the ones we used to have? You’d get all that interference at the worst possible moments. Then it’d let out that high-pitched sound that was loud enough to pop your eardrum.”
Rafe laughed at the memory. Even though ORUS had always had the best technology available, it was undoubtedly true that the tech they’d used ten years ago would seem like absolute shit now.
“Things have definitely changed. But I think it was an advantage. Agents in our time were forced to learn to adapt to less than optimal conditions. The guys coming out now, hell, they’d probably call a whole op off if their tech goes down.”
Noah grunted in agreement. “Probably. They don’t make agents like us anymore.”
“Are you two going to start snogging, or are we here to steal some shit?” Matthias’s voice came over the line, interrupting their conversation.
Rafe almost laughed. It was one of the few times he’d ever heard the kid sound happy. But he couldn’t deny that he had a point. Waxing nostalgic could wait until afterward. When they were safely on the plane back to the States.
He glanced over at Noah. “Is it just me, or is Scotland Yard over there having way too much fun with this? The young ones used to be scared of us.”
“Don’t worry about me, old man. I’m just trying to get this done. If we miss our window, we have to stay another day and I don’t want to have to explain that. I’m not scared of you two but them…”
Noah made a face. He was probably imagining Lucia if he had to call and tell her that their trip had been delayed. Rafe couldn’t make fun of him because he didn’t particularly want to explain it to Diana either. His feisty kitten had claws when she didn’t get her way, especially now that her pregnancy cravings had kicked in.
“He has a point. Let’s do this.”
They crept around the side of the building, following the route they’d mapped out on the plane ride to Argentina. He’d been here before of course with ORUS, but without the powerful organization to grease the right palms, it had been a lot trickier than expected to get the information they’d needed. But somehow Matthias had gotten the information, and they’d landed that afternoon with only a scant eight hours total to execute their op and get out without attracting any attention.
He heard a thump and then a soft “clear” in his left ear. Rafe waited two seconds per their plan and then walked the pathway leading to the back of the house. He stepped over the prone body of the man who’d been on patrol for the past hour. They’d observed him for quite some time to discover his usual routine. He wasn’t the most observant to start with but also had a penchant for stopping for candy breaks. Almost too easy. With the night guard out of commission, he was free to climb the side of the house and enter through the bedroom window that had been left open for them.
A light flashed from the dark bushes up ahead, Noah signaling that all was clear. Rafe reached into his utility vest and pulled out the grappling hook he hadn’t used since he’d rescued Diana. It made him smile to think of it. Who knew that his less-than-honorable skills would land him the woman of his dreams?
Less than sixty seconds later, he was up the side of the building and climbing through the window into a dark bedroom. His eyes adjusted to the light quickly. There was a huge four-poster bed to his left, which meant that the safe was to the right. Exactly as he’d expected.
Rafe crossed the room quickly but quietly. It would have been so much better if they could have done this when the house was empty, but luckily, the homeowner was out for the night. The only people left in the house were staff, one of whom was responsible for helping them get in. He chuckled. Unhappy staff members were the worst security risk in the world. All they needed was a little money, and they were happy to see their employers fall.
In this case, they hadn’t even had to offer that much money to convince the elderly valet to not only leave the window open for them but to plant a hidden camera.
“All good?” Noah’s voice was quiet in his ear.
Instead of speaking and possibly giving away his position to any staff members walking in the hallway, Rafe tapped his earpiece three times, their code for I’m busy, fuck off. He could hear Noah’s soft chuckle in response.
Rafe removed the painting from the wall that concealed the safe. It was one of those high-tech, digital safes. They could have used some advanced technology to crack the safe, but honestly it was just easier to watch the video footage and wait until the owner entered the code.
Maybe the younger agents aren’t the only ones who are spoiled, Rafe thought wryly.
These days the challenge of an op wasn’t what drove him anymore. Getting home safely to his fiancée was what mattered the most.
He entered the code and then stepped back as the door swung open. He ignored the stacks of cash and reached all the way to the back to grab a black fabric pouch. With one tug the drawstring loosened, and Rafe smiled down at his palm.
“Hello, beautiful.”
Diana was dreaming.
She was conscious that it was a dream the whole time, but strangely it didn’t bother her to know that. In the dream she was pushing a grocery cart. Pushing a grocery cart was actually a strange thing for her to dream about since she hadn’t done it too many times. Growing up, her father’s staff had done all that. She hadn’t gone to a grocery until she was in college. But she was happily pushing a cart and checking items off a list. In the front of the cart, happily chewing on its fist, was a baby.
Her baby.
She smiled at the cherub-cheeked toddler and passed a hand over his short, dark curls. His brown eyes were bright and watchful as she grabbed a few things off the shelf and put them in the cart. It was such an ordinary scene, a mom shopping with her little boy in tow, but it hit Diana with all the force of a battering ram. This simple, everyday domestic scene represented the most secret longing of her heart. To have a family of her own that she could love and care for. There was only one thing missing.
Strong arms encircled her from behind, and she sighed into the embrace. The little boy let out a squeal at the sight of his daddy that brought a deep, rumbling chuckle from the man.
Diana loved that laugh and that she was one of the only people who could coax it out of him. He was her husband and the love of her life. She’d never felt safer or happier than she did right then.
“I love you, Rafe.”
His answer was a soft kiss to the side of her neck.
“Diana. Wake up, sweetheart,” he whispered.
After a few moments, Diana opened her eyes and blinked as the dream faded away. She’d come into the room for a nap right after lunch and meant to wake up after an hour. Rafe, Noah, and Matthias had been out of town on a quick business trip overnight, and the place had seemed so quiet and boring without them. She knew Lucia felt the same way even though JJ had been working hard to take her mind off Noah’s absence. Diana had been counting down the hours until they were expected back. She suspected that everyone else was too. Having one cranky, lonely pregnant chick, with a worried wife and toddler in residence couldn’t be fun for the others either.
The light in the room indicated that she’d slept much later than she’d intended. At a soft brush against her cheek, she turned her head. Rafe knelt beside the bed, watching her with a gentle look on his face. It shouldn’t have been such a surprise; she’d been expecting him home in the early evening. But it still took her off guard how happy just the sight of his face could make her.
“You’re home!” She sat up and threw her arms around his neck. Laughing, he caught her to keep them both from tumbling to the floor.
“Careful. You’ve got precious cargo on board.” He rested a hand on the curve of her belly. His thumb traced a gentle path back and forth. Gently. Reverently.
She was barely showing at four months, but if you were looking, you could definitely tell she was pregnant. Diana thrilled with every new change in her body because it was evidence of the amazing little person she and Rafe had created.
Together.
“I was so tired that I wanted to take a nap before you were due home. But I must have slept longer than I meant to.”
He kissed her forehead softly. “Is my daughter wearing you out?”
She grinned. They’d had a running feud for the past month about the sex of the baby. Neither of them wanted to find out beforehand, happy to leave it as a surprise. Rafe, however, was convinced it was a girl. Mainly because he said the universe loved to challenge him.
“Our son is doing just fine. I was craving sauerkraut yesterday, but I managed to survive it.”
She cringed just thinking of it. Jonas had been a great sport and gone out to buy her some. It had been delicious while she was eating it, but thinking back on it made her gag a little. It was so strange how she could crave things so intensely and then as soon as she had them, revert back to thinking they were gross.
“Do I owe the guys a favor? You didn’t make them watch you eat ice cream and pickles, did you?”
“That is a stereotype. I have never eaten anything weird with my ice cream.” Diana had eaten the sauerkraut and then eaten a cherry Popsicle right afterward, but he didn’t need to know that.
When she tried to stand, Rafe put a hand up to keep her from rising. Before she could ask what he was doing, he reached into his pocket and pulled out something that she couldn’t see. Her heart started beating wildly for some reason, but she wasn’t sure why. Diana just had a sudden feeling that Rafe was up to something.
Then Rafe opened his hand.
Diana put a hand over her heart. “Is that… is that really…”
“The Jewel of the Sea,” Rafe finished for her. “Yes, it is. I thought long and hard about what I could possibly buy for you that would express my feelings. Diamonds are traditional, of course, but you and I have never been the traditional sorts. Starting our lives together shouldn’t be traditional either. So when I give you a gift, I need it to be something more. Something meaningful.”
“So you found my mother’s stone for me?” Diana almost couldn’t speak over the lump in her throat.
She’d long ago reconciled herself to the reality that the Jewel of the Sea was lost forever. It had been stolen, sold, and likely crossed many paths on the black market since. Something that valuable wasn’t going to be easy to find. Then she’d found peace with it. Her connection to the stone had nothing to do with its value but its legacy. Her fingers trembled as she reached out and touched the cool surface of the jewel.
This was the only thing she had left of her mother.
The authorities had seized her family estate in Austria, and they’d gotten word that it had been looted shortly after that. Probably payback from her brothers’ many enemies. It made her sad to think of her mother’s things being carted off by criminals, but again, she’d made peace with it. She’d had no plans to go back there anyway.
Her life was here now. Her life was Rafe now.
“Do I even want to know what you had to do to get this back?”
Rafe suddenly looked cautious. “Probably not. But I wanted you to have it because it was your mother’s.”
Diana would never stop marveling at his kindness. If asked to describe himself, Rafe would undoubtedly use words like stoic, determined, and relentless. But Diana saw an entirely different side to him. She saw attentiveness and a sweetness that should have been impossible in someone who’d been through the things he had. Quite simply, he’d shown her what it was like to be loved unconditionally and completely.
She pulled him in for a soft kiss before turning her attention to the stone in his hand.
“I never expected to see this again. My mother told me when I was a little girl that the Jewel of the Sea had been handed down from mother to daughter for more than ten generations. It’s supposed to carry good fortune. Not that it worked for my mother.” She smiled sadly.
“Well, you don’t need it for good fortune, but I figured this was as good an engagement gift as any.”
Her eyes shot wide open when she realized what was happening. They’d discussed marriage of course, but Rafe had always talked like it was a done deal. She hadn’t expected to get a proposal.
“I love you.”
Her eyes watered at the heartfelt declaration. “I love you too.”
“Which is still a revelation to me.” Rafe laughed. “From the moment I saw you looking all dirty and defiant, I knew that my life would never be the same. Happiness wasn’t something I thought was possible for me. But somehow that’s what you do. You make me happy. I want us to always be together, getting in and out of trouble and fighting our demons together. There’s nothing in this world that I want more. Larissa Diana Vandergraff, will you marry me?”
The words were barely out of his mouth before she was screaming, “Yes!”
Laughing, Rafe wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Thank God. This jewel really is lucky. I just got the most beautiful woman in the world to agree to be my wife. I’ll get you a real ring later, but I figured I’d better bring my A-game to this proposal.”
“You didn’t need any help. Just you.” She closed her eyes. “I’m so excited for all this. Our whole lives.”
“Me too. Because I can’t do this without you,” Rafe said.
“You’ll never have to. I’m in too deep to get out now, Rafael DeMarco.”
Which was exactly where she wanted to be.
THANK YOU for reading the DEEP duet. The next book, SIN, is about Matthias! It will release on 5/29/18. PREORDER NOW at
While you’re waiting, catch up on Jonas and JJ's hilarious antics in their steamy, suspenseful novel - FORCE.
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EXCERPT of FORCE © August 2017 M. Malone and Nana Malone
Jessica Jones closed her eyes, exhausted. Day after draining day of pulling double duty while her bestie and partner in crime was on maternity leave was starting to take its toll. Like hell was she going to start complaining, though. If anyone deserved happiness, it was Lucia. Her best friend had been to hell and back and deserved the time off.
JJ could deal. After all Lucia would do it for her. Besides, JJ wasn’t letting a prima donna fashion designer run her into the ground and call uncle. She’d rather burn her Jimmy Choos first. She could handle anything their boss Adriana could dish out.
It felt like she’d only shut her eyes for mere seconds before she frowned in her sleep.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
When she peeled her eyes open again, she was in hell.
“Oh my god,” she screamed.
But that scream was her first mistake. It meant emptying out her lungs, which meant she needed to breathe... and that meant lungs full of smoke.
It was so hot her hair plastered against her head and her sheets clung to her naked breasts from sweat. Yeah, she slept topless, so what? It had been so hot lately.
Frantic, she looked around the room trying to find the source of heat. It was so dark she couldn't see anything. But she could feel the smoke all around her, cloying and thick, wrapping around her and constricting her lungs.
“Don't panic.” The sound of her own voice out loud scared her out of her frozen state. Fear immobilizes. Anger motivates. That’s right, get pissed off!
If there was anything JJ was good at, it was being hot tempered. What the fuck was smoke doing in her room anyway? She’d just had a goddamned blowout. She needed to charge that color and cut to whatever or whoever was the source of this fire.
Move your ass girly.
She had to move because she was not dying in this room. She did not survive her past to die like this. Fuck that noise. Besides, if she died like this, Lucia would resurrect her ass and kill her all over again. After Lucia had survived being stalked and almost killed, JJ had a new appreciation for the meaning of life.
She swung her legs over the side of the bed, letting out a sigh of relief when her toes met the carpet. Now that her eyes had adjusted to the dark somewhat, she could see the faint hint of an orange glow from down the hall. Which meant the fire hadn't reached her room... yet.
But the bedroom door stood open to the hall, which was probably why she could already smell the smoke.
It was weird that the door was open. She always closed the door before going to sleep. It was one of the things Lucia’s husband had drilled into her. Noah owned a security company, and his overprotectiveness toward Lucia had spilled over onto JJ. Now she always had one of the annoying, albeit sexy, guys who worked for him trailing her to and from work, and her apartment had been subjected to a thorough security ‘review’ by Noah’s resident IT wizard. Matthias had deemed her place ‘merely acceptable.’
JJ was pretty sure they'd have asked her to move if they hadn’t known from experience that she didn't take suggestions well. The last thing she needed was some man trying to tell her what to do. Maybe Lucia was okay with that, but she wasn't interested. JJ knew from experience that she didn't want any man having control over her life. Never again. That alpha-asshole shit didn't work for her, so they could shove their over protectiveness where the sun didn’t shine.
With a quick glance at the open door, she realized it was actually lucky she'd left it open, otherwise she might not have woken up until the flames were closer. What the hell had woken her? You can think through that shit after you’re safe. Yeah, good point. She grabbed up her comforter and wrapped herself in the thick fabric, bringing it up over her head as she stepped into a pair of slippers.
How far to the door? The window might be an option if the fire escape hadn’t been welded over some years ago. She looked up and then squinted in the darkness. And then she saw the shadow in the hall. The man-sized shadow.
Fuck me. She opened her mouth to scream then reached into her bedside drawer for the nearest weapon she could find. She’d been aiming for the retractable baton she kept in the top drawer. But instead she’d come up with a gag gift from a bachelorette party a couple of years ago. A giant purple vibrator.
What are you gonna do with that? Fuck him to death? Well that was a thought.
“Who the hell are you? And what the fuck are you doing in my apartment?”
He stepped forward slightly, his body still half-hidden outside the door, and JJ raised her makeshift weapon.
“I'm here for you, Jessica. I’m always here for you.”
JJ clutched the blanket closer, and her fingers curled around the vibrator as his voice washed over her. The low tone of his words sliced through her veins. That voice. It had been so long since she'd heard that voice. She'd hoped to never hear it again, except in her nightmares.
“How did you find me?”
His chuckle was almost as terrifying as the words that followed. “I never lost you.”
JJ screamed and backed up so fast that she stumbled and fell on the bed. The comforter tangled around her and she fought against it, certain the next touch she'd feel would be the last.
Strong hands wrapped around her flailing arms.
“Damn it, you crazy woman, I'm trying to help you!”
It took a few seconds before she recognized the voice, her terror distorting it into the one she feared most. When she finally spoke, her voice was tiny.
“Jonas? Is that you?”
The comforter was pulled back away from her eyes, and Jonas’s handsome face appeared. Jonas Castillo worked for Noah’s security company and was a regular fixture in her life. He was routinely assigned to protect Lucia, and by default JJ, during the workweek. She took great pleasure in giving him hell, and he was usually cursing her name or bickering with her.
“Yes, of course it's me.”
Before she could question what he was doing there, she felt herself being lifted. She clutched his shoulders automatically, disoriented after her fall. Now she wasn't sure if that had actually happened. Had she been dreaming? It was so hard to tell.
“Jonas, did you see anyone else in the apartment?”
“Like who? Don't you live alone?”
Was that jealousy in his voice? Even under these circumstances, JJ couldn't resist the urge to screw with him a little.
“Actually I don't. We can't leave without my favorite guy.”
“Who? And if you have a boyfriend, where is he? Some help he is during an emergency.”
“Well, Fluffy has never been much help during emergencies, but he blows the best wet kisses.”
Jonas didn't pause. “I'll come back for your dog, I promise. But I have to get you to safety.”
It must have been the smoke affecting her brain, because at first JJ didn't realize what he’d said. It wasn't until they were at the front door that she understood he meant to leave.
“No! I have to get Fluffy!” JJ swatted at his massive chest. She must have surprised him because his arms loosened around her legs, giving her the room she needed to jump down.
“Damn it, JJ! This is serious. We don't have time to stop.”
“It'll just take a second.” JJ raced back to the guest bedroom and grabbed Fluffy, covering him with the comforter as she ran.
Jonas picked her up as soon as she hit the hallway and ran for the front door. They passed a crew of firefighters in the corridor outside her apartment. The smoke was thicker out here, so JJ buried her face in Jonas’s shoulder, making sure to keep Fluffy covered too.
When they got outside, Jonas set them down carefully on the grass, safely away from the building. An EMT approached, and Jonas pointed at JJ. She was going to protest, but dissolved into a coughing fit as soon as she opened her mouth. The young man frowned and knelt on the grass next to her. Then his eyes widened when her comforter slipped and she almost flashed an entire boob at him.
“Hey, eyes up, kid.” Jonas glared at him before yanking his shirt off. He put it over JJ’s head, and she maneuvered carefully to get her arms in without dropping the comforter completely. If she hadn't felt so crappy, she'd have told him exactly where he could shove it. She didn't need anyone speaking for her.
Just to annoy him, she gave the EMT a bright smile that had the young man blushing furiously. Jonas scowled at both of them.
After a flurry of activity, blood pressure cuffs, and oxygen, they finally left her alone. That's when Jonas got a good look at her again. Her and Fluffy.
“A fish? You risked your life to save a fucking fish?”
JJ scooped up Fluffy’s bowl protectively. “Fluffy is not just a fish. He’s a Japanese fighting fish. A total badass.”
Jonas looked like he wanted to strangle her. Normally that was exactly the effect she was going for, but strangely, it wasn't as satisfying as usual.
“Thank you, Jonas. For coming in after me.”
He looked as shocked as she felt by her sudden gratitude.
“Of course. It's nothing. The fire department would have gotten to you soon. I just happened to get there first when Matthias said your alarms were triggered.”
The talk of alarms brought back memories of the man she'd seen in the smoke. It had happened so fast, and she couldn't be sure what was real and what had been a dream.
“Did you see anyone in there?” At his confused look, JJ clarified, “In my apartment?”
Jonas knelt and looked her in the eye. “Was there someone in there with you, Jessica?”
It was all such a blur, and she didn't like the way he was looking at her. Noah’s entire crew was extremely overprotective, so if she said the wrong thing, she'd end up on house arrest with Jonas as her jailor. Plus, it was likely it had all been a dream. Jonas had been in her apartment. He would have seen if anyone else was there. The man in the smoke was nothing more than a shadow from a past she'd rather forget.
“No, I meant in the building. I just want to make sure all my neighbors got out okay.”
Jonas looked like he wanted to say something else, but Noah arrived just then with Lucia right behind him.
JJ accepted a hug from her friend, and that was when it really hit her.
“I guess I'm homeless now.”
Noah’s voice carried from behind Lucia. “You'll stay with us, of course.”
JJ’s eyes met Jonas’s, and she knew he was thinking about her earlier question.
“It’s for the best,” Jonas said.
She glanced over at Lucia. “Free rent and a house full of hot men. Count me in.”
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