Michelle Hasker

1

Five more minutes, then she was leaving. Jessica slipped her pink flip flops back on and stood up. At least the rain had let up some. She closed the old green umbrella and glanced around for Ryan one last time.

Figures.

She'd had a feeling he wouldn't show up, but like the lovesick fool that she was, she'd sat here, collecting splinters in her arse, for hours. For nothing.

Anyone else would have known better, but not her. She would give a mass murderer a second chance if he swore on the Bible that he'd reformed. Nice gals always finish last, she reminded herself. It would be good to remember that the next time she found herself even thinking about something like this.

As if sensing her mood, the clouds opened up again, this time in a torrential downpour. Jessica growled and opened the umbrella even though it would be useless under this onslaught. She tried to make herself as small as possible as stay out of the rain as she waited for the storm to lessen.

An eternity later, she made her way down the beach to the dock. Gabe had promised to wait for her, and true to his word, there he sat, soaking wet.

"I'm so sorry. I thought you'd have found shelter during that storm," Jessica said as she stepped into the small craft.

"I told you I'd be here waiting, so here I waited." He reached into a nearby bench, pulled out a towel out, and handed it to her.

"It's awfully sweet of you. Thanks, Gabe. You truly are the best friend anyone could ever have."

"That's me, your best friend," he said as he started the engine. He muttered something else, too, but she couldn’t hear him over the roar of the engine.

"What?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

Anyone would have been cranky after waiting out the storm in a small boat, but he'd been in a good mood until she'd told him he was her best friend. Did being friends with her bother him?

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be," he said as he turned back to concentrate on the choppy water.

Jessica didn't know what his problem was, and she didn't have the energy to figure it out either. She'd given this relationship her all, but when Ryan was finally supposed to meet up with her so they could elope, he didn't show. Had he been leading her on all this time?

Caught up in her own grief, Jessica didn't notice they were back to Gabe's dock until he had gently shook her. With tears in her eyes, she looked away, but rose and followed him. He hesitated long enough to pick up her suitcase, then jumped on the dock and turned, reaching for her.

Gabe never let her down. He gave selflessly and expected little or nothing in return. Why couldn't she find a man like him who was capable of loving someone like her?

"He's not worth the tears, sweetheart."

At his words, her tears went from a slow leak to full faucet, and poured down her face as she choked out her misery. "Why? Why can’t anyone love me?"

"Perhaps you've been struggling so hard to find someone to love you that you've overlooked someone who already does."

She sniffled and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

Gabe met her gaze and swallowed. As she watched his throat muscles, he cleared his throat and then offered her his hand. "Come walk with me. I've got a story to tell you."

Jessica looked at him and saw him as if for the first time. He was her best friend. He'd never let her down, and had always been there for her, in sorrow and in happiness. Perhaps he was right. She'd overlooked someone who meant more to her than anyone else in the world.

"This better be a good story," she said and winked at him as she held out her hand.

"Oh, it is. I think it even has a happy ending." He smiled as he took her hand in his and they walked down the beach toward his house.

2

"I know he won't give up this easily," Rebecca whispered as she looked up into her protector's chocolate brown eyes.

He glanced down and licked his lips before he answered. "I know, but I have a plan."

"You always have a plan." She leaned close letting her lips brush over his bare shoulder. "But this time we're both a little underdressed."

Liam winced, and looked back up at her balcony. Perched on the ledge, holding onto him for dear life, she wished now more than ever that he would just give in to the chemistry between the two of them.

"Honey, you're a distraction. A delectable one, but a distraction none the less. I can't do my duty and protect you if I'm in bed with you."

"Maybe I would rather have you in my bed, than have you protecting me."

His eyes gleamed as his nostrils flared. Ooo. She'd struck a nerve.

"You don't even know why this man are after me, yet you willingly put your life on the line. Why?"

"It's my job."

"Not anymore, Liam. I know you stopped doing this when you lost your partner last month. Why me? What's so special about me that brought you out of retirement?"

Liam met her gaze and held it, his black hair plastered to his head by the rain that had started to fall soon after they'd hidden out here.

"I don't know. You tell me," he whispered and broke eye contact as he glanced back up at her apartment. "Your place is no longer safe. I want you to stay with me until we can find and stop your stalker."

"He's not going to come back tonight. He'll know we outsmarted him and he'll be planning something really evil for his next stunt." Rebecca leaned closer, wincing as her bare shoulder scraped on the brick wall. "Put your arms around me and close your eyes."

"Are you crazy? We're twenty floors up and you want me to-"

"Just do it!" she growled as she threw her arms around him and pressed her lips against his. Anything to distract him from what she was about to do.

He flinched, but then met her lips hungrily as his fingers tightened on her shoulder. His other hand still held a death grip on the wall, but as her magic coursed through her veins and she began to glow, they transported back in her apartment and on her bed.

"What the hell?" Liam looked around her room in shock.

"Now you know why he wants me. Now you know why I told your father I don't need protection, but he insisted on sending you here anyway."

"You're wrong. I demanded to be the one assigned to you. He didn't want me near you. He didn't trust me to stay focused on the job."

Rebecca kissed him again and felt his resistance melt under the heat from his answering kiss. "Stay with me, Liam."

"Yes," he growled and pressed her deeper into the mattress. "Forever."

Skipped 3

4

As Tom lay there, flat on his back, naked and helpless as a newborn babe, he stared up at his mistress for the night and wondered what in the hell his sister had been thinking. When he said he wanted Dom, he'd meant a bottle of champagne. But Maggie, true to her fluttery nature, had misunderstood him. Either on purpose or by accident, he hadn’t decided which yet.

"Are you ready for this, slave?"

"Um, no." Tom never moved as fast in his life as he did now. He scrambled off that bed and back into his clothes before Mistress Rae had a chance to maneuver in her 3 inch heels.

"Tom? You aren't leaving are you? Maggie paid for the whole night. She wanted you to have the entire package."

"I don't care. Keep the money. It's what she deserves for thinking I'd do something like this." Tom tugged his shoes on and reached for his jacket, making sure he still had his wallet, cell phone, and keys.

"You almost did."

"I need to learn to say no more," Tom said as he ran for the door.

Once outside, he closed it, and leaned against the solid oak, trying to get his bearings. Why had Maggie done this to him? Why had he almost gone along with it? Thank god Woody hadn't risen to the occasion. His abrupt leaving might have been harder to explain if he’d been aroused.

As he found the stairs and took them two at a time, he tried to decide the best way to make his sister pay. But then again, he thought with a grin, Maggie had already paid. Probably a pretty penny too, judging by the expensive furnishings in Mistress Rae's apartment. Or better yet, he'd set her up with his friend Ty. Ty wasn't into women, but he wasn't about to tell Maggie. She'd figure it out sooner or later.

Tom pulled out his cell phone and barked Ty's name into it. "Hello, Ty? What are you doing Friday night? Nothing? Excellent."