Stolen Chances (37 page)

Maren’s eyes narrowed. A bond had formed between the two quickly. One she’d hoped for but hadn’t truly expected. “What are you two up to?”

A sly smirk spread across Thad’s face. “You didn’t think I’d forget your birthday, did you?”

He held out his palm, and the object Isabel had just given him glittered in his hand.

Maren tipped her head. “You can’t give me the same present you gave me nine years ago.”

He snapped open the locket and peered inside. “I think you need an updated picture of me. This one’s a little old.”

“It’s all I had,” she said as he clasped the chain around her neck.

“I’ll get you a new one. Much better.” He fingered the heart against her chest. “But it’s missing something.”

She glanced down at the locket. “Missing what?”

“A mate.” In his other palm, he held a heart-shaped diamond ring.

She drew in a deep breath. The gem sparkled in afternoon sunlight. “When did you get that?”

He laughed and reached for her hand. “I’ve had this since I first went to your mother’s hotel to find you.” His laughter faded, and his eyes filled with love. “You’ve always had my heart. Now I’m giving it to you the right way. I love you, Blondie. Say you’ll marry me so we can be a real family.”

She’d thought her heart was full, but she’d been wrong. There was so much room left inside for him. Tears blurred her vision. “Oh, Thad.”

His eyes danced with laughter, and he brushed a tear away from her cheek. “Well? What will it be?”

“I will... As long as… Well...” She glanced at her daughter. “Isabel?”

The goofy grin across Isabel’s face said it all. “I will too.”

Maren looked back at Thad. “I guess it’s official. We both will.”

“It’s about damn time.” He slipped the ring on her left hand. Heat encircled her finger where the gold, warmed by his hand, rested against her skin. “It looks good,” he said, peering down at her hand, tipping it so light could reflect off the diamond. “Let’s try starboard light.”

He dragged her around to the other side of the boat. A balmy breeze blew her hair away from her face. She laughed. “You’re crazy, you know that, Leighton?”

“Crazy for you. I always have been.” He pointed across the water toward the Mexican shore. “See that, Blondie? Paradise. Let’s go find it.” Hefting her over his shoulder, he stepped up to the railing.

“Don’t you dare, Leighton!” she shrieked.

He took one quick glance at Isabel. Their daughter grinned wider and nodded in approval. Before Maren could protest again, he tossed her over the side and into the water.

She was smiling when she broke the surface. And when she looked up and saw the man she loved and the daughter they shared jumping into the deep after her, she knew there’d be no more stolen chances. The past was exactly where it was supposed to be.

Buried. For good.

And the future was all that mattered.

Thanks for reading STOLEN CHANCES!

I hope you enjoyed Maren and Thad’s story!

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To see a list of my other books and to read an excerpt from FIRST EXPOSURE, the prequel to my upcoming Aegis Security series, please turn the page.

FIRST
EXPOSURE

Prequel to the Aegis Security Series

Available in the WICKED FIRSTS Anthology

Read on for a sneak peek at

A film that could make her career.

A weekend that will change her life.

C
HAPTER
O
NE

F
ame always came with a price. Avery Scott knew that better than anyone.

Climbing out of the rental car, she drew in a deep breath that did little to settle her churning stomach and glanced around the quiet parking lot. A gardener trimmed shrubbery off to her left. The sound of a mower echoed from somewhere beyond the palatial main house. There were no other businesses out here in the middle of Kentucky horse country. Just miles of rolling green hills, old knotted trees, and pristine white fences. No other people that Avery could see besides the man and woman standing in the shade of a giant oak at least two hundred yards out, gazing at a possible Triple Crown winner.

No one noticed her. No one seemed the least bit interested in what America’s sweetheart was up to. Relaxing just a bit, she closed the car door and crossed the circular drive toward her destination. If Jake Ryder couldn’t help her…

She pushed the thought aside and pressed the intercom button near the massive double doors. When a voice echoed asking her business, she gave her name and waited.

Please let this work…

One side of the door pulled open, and an attractive brunette with large brown eyes and a warm smile greeted her. “Welcome, Ms. Stone. I’m Brandi. Mr. Ryder is running a tad behind. Can I get you anything while you wait? Tea? Coffee?”

Avery forced a smile and stepped into the cool entry, relieved the receptionist showed no spark of recognition. “No, thank you. I’m fine.”

The woman closed the door at her back. “Then please, have a seat. It’ll be just a moment.”

Soaring pillars opened to a living room that had been transformed into a reception area. Leather furnishings, burgundy walls, and rich slate floors gave the room a cozy yet trendy feeling. Expensive artwork by well-known artists screamed both attention to detail and professionalism, but it was the large, chrome letters mounted on the wall above the receptionist’s immaculate marble counter that gave her hope. The ones that spelled out the words Aegis Security.

Nerves strung tight, Avery crossed to the leather couches. She hated waiting. A perk to having your face splashed across every tabloid was that she rarely had to wait for anything anymore, but for anonymity today, she was willing to wait as long as it took.

A collection of magazines littered the coffee table. Seeing a picture of herself on the cover of one, she quickly pushed it under the rest. She didn’t need the distraction of Hollywood today. And after what had happened to Melody, she didn’t care what the gossip magazines were saying about her. Couldn’t believe she ever had.

Voices echoed from a hallway to her left. To keep from jumping to her feet, she smoothed the pencil skirt against her legs. Deep laughter met her ears, followed by heavy footsteps.

Two men rounded the corner. The first was light—sandy-blond hair cut short, soft blue eyes, wearing a white dress shirt and khaki pants. The other was tall, with piercing dark eyes, sun-kissed skin tanned from hours outdoors, and short black hair. His shoulders were broad and muscular beneath the black button-down he wore rolled up to his forearms, and the faded denim hanging low at his hips…wow…fit him to perfection. But it was the scar on the right side of his face that caused her to suck in a breath. A jagged, diagonal line across his cheekbone that ended in the scruff along his jaw. A scar a lot like the one she’d traced with her fingertips, her lips…a scar she knew as well as the marks on her own skin.

Her pulse picked up as the two spoke in quiet voices on their way toward the receptionist’s counter. The sandy-haired one didn’t bother to look Avery’s way. Instead, he leaned his forearms against the marble and smiled down at the brunette in clear flirtation mode. But the other—the dark one—scanned the room, and the moment his searching gaze landed on Avery, every cell in her body jerked to life.

No.
No, no, no. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be. Not here of all places. That would just be one wicked twist of fate she did not need right now.

His gaze narrowed on her, and she froze. Something hot flashed in the depths of his way-too-familiar eyes. Not recognition like she expected, but something primal. Something possessive. Something so intense it sent a wicked shot of heat straight to her center and ignited a buzzing in her ears.

Then he looked away like he hadn’t even noticed her. Muscles flexed beneath his thin black shirt as he rounded the counter, moved behind the receptionist’s desk, pushed open a door Avery hadn’t noticed before, and disappeared.

The door whisked closed with a clap.

Avery’s skin blazed, and her mind tumbled. Placing a hand against her belly, she tried to settle her quaking stomach and focused on breathing. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be him. She hadn’t even thought about him in years.

Liar.

“Ms. Stone?”

Avery jerked and looked up. An attractive blonde in gray slacks and a red blouse stood feet away, holding a folder against her chest as she stared down at Avery expectantly through wire-rimmed glasses.

Pull it together, Avery
. “Yes.”

“Mr. Ryder’s ready for you.”

Avery nodded, but the fine hairs along her neck stood at attention. Mr. Dark and Dangerous was long gone, yet the prickly fingers of heat rushing up and down her spine made her feel like he was still watching. She glanced up and around as she followed the blonde out of the reception area and into a hall, searching for cameras. This was a security company. They had to monitor visitors, right?

Her imagination was getting away from her. It wasn’t him. It couldn’t be him. Aegis recruited from the best of the best. He’d been special to her, but to everyone else he was…a rebel. The kid from the wrong side of the tracks who always managed to find trouble. And boy, had he found it with her.

“Ms. Stone?”

Startled from the memories suddenly rushing in, Avery looked to her right. The blonde was once again watching her with curiosity. Somehow they’d gotten into the elevator. “Um, yes?”

“Your flight? It was good?”

Her head felt as if it were in a fog, but Avery quickly realized the blonde had been chattering the entire time she’d been stressing over the guy in the lobby. Giving herself a mental slap, she straightened her spine. “Oh, yes. Fine. Thank you for asking.”

“Good.” The blonde looked toward the opening elevator doors. “Mr. Ryder will be happy to hear that. We have clients from all over the world. Most have never been to Kentucky before.”

Avery stepped off the elevator into another well-decorated waiting room. A large desk sat to the right. To the left, floor-to-ceiling windows looked out over the rolling green hills, white fences, and horse farms in the distance. “Wow. It’s…beautiful.”

“It is.” The blonde dropped the folder on her desk, then stepped toward double doors on the far side of the room. “Mr. Ryder’s family has been breeding and racing horses for generations. I don’t think many were thrilled when he decided to set up Aegis on the family estate, but he’s a man who does what he wants, when he wants. And he’s been very successful at everything he’s put his mind to.”

She pushed the door open. A huge office filled Avery’s line of sight. A bar sat to her left. Ahead, a rock fireplace anchored the room with a gigantic flat-screen TV mounted above the mantel. On both sides, six, eight…nine more TVs took up the rest of the wall space, each channel tuned to a different news station, the sound muted. Several leather couches were positioned in front of the TVs in conversational seating, and to her right, a large mahogany desk sat in front of a wall of windows that looked out over the rolling fields.

“Ms. Stone is here to see you,” the blonde said.

The leather chair swiveled, and a dark-haired man wearing a crisp dress shirt and slacks pushed to his feet and rounded the desk. He offered his hand. “It’s nice to finally meet you, Ms. Stone. I take it your trip in was good?”

“Yes. Thank you.” His fingers were warm, his grip solid. He was everything the guy in the lobby was not—polished, professional, not familiar in the least. Feeling marginally better, Avery sat when he gestured toward the chair opposite his desk.

“Thanks, Marley,” he said to the blonde. “That’ll be all for now.”

Marley smiled. “If you need anything else, I’ll be right outside.”

The door closed behind her. Jake Ryder leaned back against his massive desk and folded his arms over his chest. His shirtsleeves were rolled up to his forearms, revealing tanned, muscular arms that obviously did more than just sit behind a desk all day. Arms that were tattooless beneath the sleeves, unlike the guy in the lobby.

Stop thinking about him… It’s not him.

“So,” Mr. Ryder said, “we spoke over the phone, and I know what you’re looking for, but I’d like to get a few more details from you, if that’s all right.”

Avery’s nerves kicked in again. “Sure. I expected as much.”

“You said you were an author? And that this…excursion…for which you’re hiring security is…research?”

She could play this one of two ways. Either she could keep up the ruse or she could be honest. She figured being honest about what she was getting his men into was the safer bet.