STORY EXCERPT

Lany

There are times in life when clarity suddenly hits and you realize that life is one fucked-up mess after another. As I sat on the floor in the backroom of some derelict drug house, cradling my aching cheek in my hand, I realized this was just another dramatic moment in a long line of dramatic moments that seemed to plague me, whether I wanted them to or not.

Either fate really hated my ass or I had done something horrific in every past life I had ever lived. No one could have this much crap happen to them unless they had burned down an orphanage in a previous life or drowned a litter of puppies living with a group of nuns. It just wasn't possible.

I had to be cursed.

How in the hell did this keep happening to me? That's what I truly wanted to know. This exact same thing had happened to me all those years ago, except I had a hot Italian SWAT officer to rescue me. I had been smacked around by some goon who thought he had the right to put his hands on me.

There would be no rescue this time, no handsome man coming in to sweep me off my feet and whisk me away from danger.

I was totally on my own.

I was so fucked.

I should have said no. It was as simple as that. I should have said no when the DEA came to me and asked if I could help them with a case. My dealings with the DEA had not been good up to this point, and this was a perfect example of that fact.

I really needed to stop letting people talk me into things. Yes, I wanted to be one of the good guys and help good persevere over evil, but maybe going undercover as a computer whizz for some drug-dealing street thug was not the way to go about that.

Considering I knew more about the right way to tumble down the stairs or fall from a tree without serious injury than I did about computers, I really should have thought this one over or at least talked to Sal about it before I agreed to anything.

Unfortunately—or fortunately, depending on how you looked at it—he was away for a training conference in Denver, Colorado, and wasn't expected home for another week. I had hoped to have this undercover gig dealt with and done by the time that happened.

Wasn't looking good for me.

“Get up!”

Conscious of the really big silver gun aimed in my direction, I slowly climbed to my feet. Luckily, there was a wall behind me so it made it a bit easier, but my cheek was throbbing from where this asshole had smacked me and my head was spinning and I just wanted to go home.

Doubt that was going to happen.

“I want to know where the money is.”

“Yeah.” I swallowed tightly. “About that...”

If this guy didn't shoot me, Sal would. He was going to be so pissed. I doubted I'd even have the luxury of being placed in a hermetically sealed bubble and grounded for life. He was going to strangle me.

Man, this idea of going undercover was getting worse by the second. Maybe I needed to consider calling it a day and just go home. The DEA could find the evidence on their own. I certainly didn't seem to be making any headway.

The DEA had given me an account to reroute the money to, but under Lyn's advice, I had sent it to an offshore account he had set up for me. Even if the DEA couldn't bust him, the guy was going to be broke soon.

Lyn Philips—my best friend, a former police officer on Sal's SWAT team, and now a member of the FBI's Cyber Crimes Division—had shown me how to set it up so that the money trickled out of the guy's account and into another account a little at a time. The missing money wouldn't be noticed until it was too late.

Hopefully, I would be long gone and back home with my family by then.

“I'm not exactly sure where the money is,” I said.

Floating around in cyber space was my best guess.

“I want my money!”

Before I got smacked again, I decided to go on the offensive. “Look, man, it's the middle of summer. I warned you about the heat. I told you that I needed more fans or the hard drives would overheat. You were the one that didn't want to spend the money to get them. It's not my fault the computers won't work now.”

“You have a fan.”

I eyed the small rusted olive-green fan that sat on top of the desk beside me. That thing looked like it came out of World War II. “That isn't going to cut it. I need cooling fans to keep the hard drives from getting too hot. Electronics like this are very delicate. They simply will not work when it's too hot.”

“You were the one that promised you could funnel my money out of the U.S.” The guy raised the gun and pointed it at my head. “Do it, or you won't need to worry about the heat.”

As if to reinforce his threat, the guy slammed the butt of his gun into the side of my face. I barely had time to register the pain before I was dropping to the floor, the world about me fading in and out and then going dark.

ADULT EXCERPT

Lany

I dropped my clothes into the hamper and then turned the water on in the shower. As I waited for it to heat up, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked just as bad as I felt. There was a large bruise on the side of my face and one eye was swollen. It wasn't quite shut, but close enough.

The bruises on my ribcage weren't much better. I vividly remember getting kicked several times. I had tried curling up into a ball to protect my stomach. That had just earned me several kicks to the back.

I hoped that cop spent the rest of his life in jail.

Once the water was heated to my favorite temperature, I climbed into the shower stall. I groaned as the hot water cascading down over me, partly because it felt so damn good, but also because it hurt like hell.

There was just no winning.

I jumped when I felt hands land on my hips.

“It's just me, caro.”

Relief flooded me, making my knees go weak. “Sal.”

“Get your hair wet, baby.”

I turned into the shower spray and stuck my head under the water. Once I was all wet, I leaned back and wiped at my eyes. A moment later, Sal's fingers sank into my hair and began massaging the shampoo in.

Orgasmic bliss. It was the only way to describe what Sal was doing to me. I always believed he had strong nimble fingers, but this just proved it. Each stroke of his hands sent shudders of delight down my body.

“Okay, rinse.”

I stuck my head under the water spray again. Sal quickly moved his fingers through my hair, rinsing away all the shampoo.

“Need some help with that?” Sal asked once I was done.

I glanced back at Sal. “Huh?”

The instant Sal's fingers wrapped around my cock, I knew what he was referring to. I just hadn't realized I had gotten hard. I moaned loudly when Sal tightened his hand and pumped it up and down a couple of times.

Sal's deep rumble chuckle filled my ears. “I think I can do something about this.”

Oh god, yes, please.

Sal moved around me and then went down to his knees. Before he even took me into his mouth, I had trouble breathing. Anyone that had the chance to see Sal naked would have done the same. Watching the strong powerful man go down to his knees in front of me was like catching a glimpse of paradise.

Only I was this lucky.

Sal leaned down and swallowed my straining cock, wrapping his lips around the flared head. He licked those drops away before swallowing my length to the back of his throat.

I took a swift intake of air and then shuddered when Sal began to suck, his tongue tracing the veins, his cheeks hollowed as he moved my thick erection further into his mouth, bobbing his head up and down.

My thighs tightened when Sal closed his lips completely around my cock and sucked me all the way down before pulling back again. He licked a long path from the tip of my cock down to the root and then down just a bit further. I grabbed a handful of his hair when he sucked one of my balls into his mouth.

My moans of pleasure were growing louder, higher.

Sal took me deeper, flattening his tongue as he slid my cock to the back of his mouth again and then took the heated flesh down his throat. He licked at my erection as he moved his head back.

He started to bob his head, sucking in his cheeks as he moved his lips up my cock. When my balls started to pull up tight to my body, Sal increased the speed of his movements, sucking my length down his throat faster and faster each time, hollowing his cheeks out as he moved back up to the tip.

The suction was insane...and oh, so right.

When my cock began to swell, Sal lowered his head, taking the entire thing into his mouth. As his throat massaged my length, I came hard, screaming Sal's name. Hot seed shot out of my cock and down Sal's throat in hot ribbons of release.

Sal let my softening cock slip from his mouth and then sat back. He caught me just as my legs gave out, cradling me in his arms. Chuckling, Sal ran his hand over my wet hair, stroking his fingers through it.

“What am I going to do with you, caro, huh?”

I smirked as I gazed up at the love of my life. “I have a few ideas.”

And Sal was involved in every damn one of them.