Ryan watched Nash hop the fence back onto Mo and Dani’s property. They had all of the cameras installed and turned on. Ryan opened his tablet and saw the open feeds. He turned it off and set it down on the small table on the back porch. He picked up his beer, took a sip, and looked out over the rolling hills bathed in moonlight.
As he scratched Hooch’s head, he realized that the whole time he was in L.A., he had missed Kentucky. But since being home, he hadn’t missed L.A.
“Maybe it’s time I moved back home after all,” Ryan told Hooch. In response, the dog growled. “Okay, so maybe you don’t want me to come back.”
The screen door gave a slight creak and Hooch growled again. Ryan didn’t have time to look at the person trying to sneak up on him. Instead, he dove off the chair right as the sound of a taser crackled through the air.
Ryan rolled up onto his legs and reached for his gun. He silently cursed, remembering he left it in the living room. The man dressed all in black stepped forward again, but Hooch’s large body lying on the porch stopped his forward progress.
“Mr. Parker, your company has been requested,” the man said in accented English. He’d heard similar phrases and accents when he was in L.A. But, what would Abdul and his crew be doing in Kentucky? Abdul was in solitary confinement at a secret FBI facility. This didn’t make sense.
“I’m sorry, I don’t accept invitations without knowing the host.” Ryan’s mind was running at full speed, trying to find a connection. Did this have anything to do with Sienna or was this about his undercover operation in L.A.?
“I’ve been instructed not to take no for an answer. If you don’t agree, then I’ll just come back for your girlfriend,” the man told him as they started to circle Hooch.
“I’ll be happy to go with you. Let me just call some of my buddies and we’ll make a party of it.” Ryan kept his eyes on the man across from the dog as they slowly continued to circle around Hooch. It would only be a matter of seconds before the man in black made his move, so Ryan decided to make it first.
“Very humorous, Mr. Parker, but . . .” Ryan didn’t give him a chance to finish. He dove over the dog and tackled the masked man at chest level. The momentum carried them into the porch rail. Ryan heard the taser drop a second before the railing broke and they fell from the porch
With a bone rattling hit, the two landed on top of the railing, now covering the dewy grass some feet from the porch. Ryan thought he had the upper hand, but when he leapt up, the masked man did as well. Hooch howled from the porch and thumped his tail as he watched the two men size each other up.
Enough waiting . . . Ryan kicked out and connected with the man’s knee. The stranger grunted, but Ryan had been too far away for the impact to do any serious damage. The man jumped forward and, just like that, the circling was over.
The assailant connected a punch on Ryan’s face. He felt the blood dripping down around his eye, but that didn’t stop him from landing an elbow to the man’s midsection. Air whooshed from his body, and he instinctively bent at the waist. Ryan pressed his advantage and followed up with an elbow to his opponent’s upper back. As the man went down, he hooked his arms around Ryan’s knees. Ryan teetered before falling backward.
Hooch barked and Ryan doubled his efforts. “Are you the one who hurt my dog last time you were here?” Ryan asked. They both scrambled away from each other.
“That was my superior. And he wants to see you. You’re coming with me, Mr. Parker, or I’ll simply kill you and take you that way.”
“I’d like to see you try. You haven’t had too much success yet, and I still have my secret weapon.” Ryan grinned.
The sound of a siren broke through the night and steadily grew louder. The masked man looked quickly toward the road and Ryan leapt. They went down in heap of fists, elbows, and palm heel strikes. As the siren grew closer, the fighting became more frenzied. They rolled and Ryan lost his upper advantage. With a swift uppercut to his chin, Ryan was seeing lights—red and blue lights, to be specific.
“Ryan!” he heard two women scream.
“Police, freeze!” he heard a voice call out. The man who had tried to punch his lights out didn’t listen. They never did. And the weight on his chest was relieved as he rolled off Ryan and took off toward the horse farm. Good, let Nash catch him.
Matt’s face appeared a second later. “Are you okay?”
“Fine. Help me up.” Ryan held out his hand to the state trooper and groaned in pain as he stood up.
“How are you feeling?” Matt asked.
“It sounds as if it’s thundering all around. I can feel it echoing in my head.”
Matt grinned as Ryan rubbed his chin. “Then you’re all right. That’s just Hooch’s tail thumping on the porch.”
“Oh my gosh, Ryan!” Sienna cried as she and Sydney weaved their way toward him.
“Did I get hit harder than I thought, or are they falling-down drunk?” Ryan asked as he watched them veer to the right and then to the left.
“There was a pitcher of Rose Sisters’ Iced Tea involved. I thought it best if I drove them home. Now, would you care to tell me about this little incident?”
The sound of an ATV started to fill the night and Matt’s walkie-talkie went off. Sienna and Sydney stumbled up to Ryan.
“You’re hurt!” Sienna cried, touching his bleeding eye. “What happened?”
“Lexington requesting 10-66 for a high priority 10-82.” Matt responded with his ETA and tried not to laugh as Sienna and Sydney “helped” Ryan.
“Copy that,” dispatch said and then rattled off an address in Lexington.
Sienna could hardly pay attention to Ryan with the sound of Mo’s security guards on ATVs racing toward them, mixed with Hooch’s tail thumping and Matt’s radio. All she knew was the man she loved was injured, and she wanted to take him inside and protect him. But then the dispatch started talking again and a feeling of dread had her falling against Ryan.
“Wait,” Sienna shouted and turned to Matt. “What was that address?”
Matt repeated it as three of Mo’s guards on the ATVs veered off in the direction the assailant had gone. One ATV started to patrol the fence line and another stopped. She hardly noticed the security guard jumping the fence as she clung to Ryan.
“That’s Jaylen Cox’s address. Is he all right?”
Matt let out a low whistle of astonishment. “Yes, but he’s most likely injured. That’s what a 10-82 is. Look, I have to go. They are asking for our assistance.”
“Ryan,” Sienna cried. “Not Jaylen, too.”
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I'll go with Matt and see what I can find out. I’m sure Detective Braxton will be there, and I need to tell her what just happened here. Nash will stay with you. Won’t you?”
Sienna hadn’t even known Nash was standing behind Ryan, but he stepped forward when Ryan said his name.
“She’ll be safe.”
Ryan leaned down and placed a kiss on the top of her head. “I’ll call you with information on Jaylen.”
Ryan turned from her arms and Sienna fought back fear that this was the last time she would see him. Another of her players had been attacked at the same time as her boyfriend. Whoever had killed Malik was after all those she loved. She only prayed they would be stopped before they moved onto the next target.
She watched as Matt tossed Ryan a first-aid kit, and they both climbed into the cruiser. “I love you,” she whispered as the car drove off.
* * *
“So, what’s your involvement in this?” Matt asked Ryan as he stopped the cruiser at the yellow crime scene tape.
“I don’t know yet. But I’m hoping it’s not what I think it is.”
“And what are you thinking it is?”
“That we’re either looking at two crimes that just coincidentally happened tonight at the same time, or these two crimes are connected under the umbrella of a larger crime ring. I’m hoping they’re not, because if it’s the ring I think it could be, then there is going to be trouble,” Ryan told him, getting out of the cruiser.
Police forensics technicians were snapping pictures of the sidewalk covered in blood. He spotted Detective Braxton interviewing a woman in a skintight white dress. He saw the dress was smeared with blood under the police-issued blanket. The coroner's van was nowhere to be seen, so that bode well for Jaylen.
“You let me know what I can do to help,” Matt told him. Ryan gave him a nod, and Matt was whisked up in the duties of gathering evidence and speaking to witnesses.
“Agent Parker. Why am I not surprised to see you here?” Braxton narrowed her eyes as she got closer to him. “What happened to you?”
“I had a visitor tonight.”
“I take it that it wasn’t a friendly chat?”
“Not exactly. He told me someone wanted a word with me,” Ryan told her.
“And where is your visitor now?” Braxton calmly asked.
“He got away. But I have a lead I want to follow.”
“Care to share?”
Ryan shook his head. “Not yet. It may be linked to a confidential case. I need to get permission to bring you in on it. Now, what happened here?”
Detective Braxton turned toward the sidewalk and pointed. “Jaylen and his date were walking from the restaurant a couple blocks away. He reached there,” she pointed to the blood on the sidewalk, “and was ambushed by a man in black, driving what we are guessing to be a stolen car. The man shot him in the side and was about to fire again when Jaylen collapsed onto the ground. The woman dove on top of him to protect him. People were pouring out of their houses and that little old man there fired at the car, forcing the shooter to flee.”
Ryan looked at the old man with a walker and gave him a nod. “So, there are at least two men carrying out orders for someone. Is there a description of the person in black?”
“Yes. It matched the description of the man seen at Malik’s house perfectly.”
“Which matched the man I saw at the same time tonight. So, they’re a professional group. It’s their uniform. They’re serious, and you better get Jaylen a protective detail immediately.”
“We have officers posted at the hospital, but I think you’re right. We need to get him into a secure wing right away.” Braxton walked off to issue orders but stopped and turned back to him. “They’re going to be out for blood. Stay safe and let me know when you can read me in.”
Ryan stepped away from the crowd and dialed the Boise, Idaho, number his handler, Arnie, had given him.
“Agent Shaw, this is Agent Ryan Parker. Arnie Packers is my handler. I need to get a message to him and if my number shows up, it may draw some attention since I’ve been temporarily transferred.”
“Sure thing, Agent Parker. What do you want me to do?”
Five minutes later Ryan hung up. He had conveyed his worry that The Suit had tracked him to Kentucky and even passed along his belief that Nash was tracking the same person. What he couldn’t figure out was The Suit’s connection to the Lexington Thoroughbreds and Sienna.
* * *
Sienna paced the length of the living room more times than she could count. Nash sat quietly on the couch with Hooch as she vented.
“He shouldn’t have just run like off like that. He was injured,” Sienna complained for the hundredth time.
“He’s a grown man, Sienna. A little scrape isn’t going to hurt him,” Nash said as he kept glancing at his tablet.
“But what does he think he’s doing, running off like that? I mean, I’m so glad to know Jaylen is alive and out of surgery, but Matt could have told me that.”
Nash shook his head. “For a shrink, you don’t know much about how the male brain works.”
Sienna stopped pacing and put her hands on her hips. “What exactly do you mean by that?”
“It means that some of us have dangerous jobs. It’s what we do. It’s who we are. If you can’t accept that, then you shouldn’t be with that person. It’s obvious Ryan cares for you. He’s here protecting you. And when someone comes to your house and makes threats against you, what would you want a man to do? He’s going to protect his own or die trying,” Nash said, looking back at his tablet.
Sienna started pacing again before coming to a stop in front of Nash. “For your information, I understand his job is dangerous. But Ryan is smart. He always has been. He’ll be careful, and he’ll figure this out. Did you know both the FBI and DEA wanted him? He’s the most capable man I know. However, when you love someone nothing will prevent you from worrying. Even if that person is a big badass like you, your wife will someday worry about you, too. It has nothing to do with not believing in that person. It has everything to do with loving that person.”
“Loving who?”
Sienna spun to the door in surprise. “Ryan!” She hurried across the living room and flung her arms around him.
Nash picked up his tablet and headed for the back door. “I think this is my cue to leave. Call if you need me. I’ll be watching.”
“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”
“I do too. Goodnight, Nash.” Sienna smiled.
Ryan was exhausted. And sore. His jaw was killing him, but the second he opened the front door and heard Sienna’s lecture to Nash, he forgot all about it. All he could think about was she had cared enough about him to sing his praises and worry about him. But did she really love him?
He realized he hadn’t released his hold on her, and quite frankly he didn’t want to. She felt perfect in his arms. The top of her head reached the top of his chest, which made it perfect for kissing exactly as he did now.
“Are you okay? You were bleeding, and I was so worried about you,” Sienna said from against his chest.
“I’m fine. Why were you worried about me, Sienna?”
She pulled back, but he didn’t let her leave his embrace. When she looked straight into his eyes, he felt as if she were reading his soul, hoping to find an answer.
“Why did you stop wanting me?” she asked quietly.
Ryan ran his hand down her soft cheek and cupped her chin. He tilted it up to his lips and placed a slow kiss on her mouth. “I never stopped wanting you, Sienna. Not for one single day. Why were you worried about me?”
A tear threatened to spill from the forests that were her eyes. “I love you. I’ve loved you forever, I think. You were right that night eight years ago. I was the one who needed to grow up. I thought it was you; it wasn’t. It was me. I opened my eyes and realized the only person I called when I was in trouble was you. The only person I wanted to call with good news was you. You were in my heart long before my mind caught up. I’m sorry it took me so long. Do we still have time?”
“We have the rest of our lives. I love you, too, Sienna. I think I was born just for you.” Ryan pulled her in tightly and kissed her. It wasn’t the heated kiss from before. It was a slow kiss, allowing him to taste every inch of her. Her tongue caressed his, his hand dropped to her hips, and he pulled her against his arousal.
I’ll be watching, Nash had said. Crap, the cameras. He sure would be watching. Ryan moved his hand to her leg and hooked it around his waist. She moaned as the contact brought them closer.
“I want you to make love to me,” Sienna said and she plunged her tongue into his mouth, demanding his full attention.
Ryan didn’t break the kiss as he lifted her off the ground and wrapped her other leg around his waist. He took a step, and Sienna pulled back gasping for air. “No, here. Now. Against the door, on the floor, over the couch, just here. Now.”
“Um,” Ryan lost the ability to form words when she started to ride him through their clothes. He stumbled forward, and she ripped his shirt from his body.
“I can’t wait to . . .” Sienna leaned forward and whispered what she wanted to do, and Ryan debated the merits of having a sex tape and a room full of private security watching them.
“Bedroom. We can do that in the bedroom,” he panted as he struggled to keep control.
“No, here. Right now!”
Sienna ground against him, and Ryan knew if he didn’t get her to the bedroom in the next five seconds, there was not going to be a debate over a sex tape. It would exist and deep down he knew that John Wolfe would find it. With the Rose sisters’ elderly act of deception, somehow it would be made public. Then by tomorrow morning his mother would be at the door talking marriage, which didn’t sound so bad at the moment, and then the engagement gifts, baby booties, and casseroles would arrive by lunch.
With a herculean effort, Ryan pulled her legs from around his waist and took her in his arms. Running as fast as he could while carrying her, he shoved the bedroom door open and placed her on the bed. The house shook as Hooch lumbered after them, thinking it was a game of chase. Sienna laughed as Ryan slammed the door. But when they looked at each other, the laughter stopped. This had been over twenty years in the making, and he didn’t want to wait a second longer.
Sienna kneeled on the bed and slowly pulled her shirt over her head. The emerald green satin bra, covering breasts he was dying to taste, drew his attention as he unbuttoned his jeans. Not saying a word, they slowly undressed for each other. The feminine curve of her hips and the way she wiggled them as she took off her panties had his mouth watering.
“Will you make love to me now?” Sienna asked with a quirk of her lips as she lay back against the bed.
Ryan stepped to the side of the bed and looked down at her. Everything about this was right. Everything in him screamed to be with her. And when he made love to her, he knew he was right—they were meant for each other.