TooDangeroustoLove Read online

  Four days later, she was still working on files. Brandt and his father had returned from their jobs earlier and now, most likely, Brandt stood in the shower. Naked. It was close to early afternoon when a knock came on her door. Quickly removing the evidence of what she was working on, she moved to a chair and picked up another book and began to read as she said, “Enter.”

  It was Brandt. He was in blue jeans and a white t-shirt. Looking fresh from his shower and very yummy. Making her wish he would just and claim her as his own. “Sherri is here to meet you. Come down and wow us with your emotion.”

  * * * *

  Brandt hadn’t been sure what to do when he awoke alone four days ago. He’d heard her in the shower and headed back to his own room. A door slamming told him that his father knew where he had spent the night. He waited all day for her to come down but she never showed herself. He knew she was there. She was always around. His shadow, his own private warrior. His woman.

  When Sherri finally arrived, he had to go get Raven. Now that he saw her in jeans, tank top—blue this time—and a short-sleeved white dress shirt, looking all delectably delicious, he didn’t want to share her with anyone. This woman had made a permanent home in his mind. Always there, never wavering.

  The book had been put down, and he watched as she checked her reflection in the mirror. Most of the women he knew would have been checking to make sure that the woman they were going to meet knew just how beautiful they were. Not Raven. She was making sure that her gun wasn’t obvious to others around her.

  Those damn shades were slipped back on her face, hiding her beautiful eyes before she looked at him. “Ready.”

  “Can you smile? I mean, we are wonderful friends, show it.”

  Nothing. She was as blank as a wall. Raven gestured for him to leave the room and she closed the door behind them.

  Raven said to Brandt in a voice only he could hear, “Gee, what a surprise. Another petite blonde.”

  “Jealous, sweetling?” He slid his arm through hers.

  “Not on your life.”

  “Brandt,” the blonde cooed, “this is your friend Raven?”

  “Hello. I’m Raven.” She shook her hand. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting some of his friends while I was here.”

  Sherri’s blue eyes narrowed. “How long have you known my Brandt?”

  Raven smiled and spoke a velvety sound that kicked Brandt right in the groin and made him wish they were alone. “I have known Brandt since my first year at Stanford, he was a junior then. We had an architecture class together.”

  “Why would you two have a class together if you were so far apart in years?”

  “’Cause architecture was my major. I had lots of those classes. But I don’t want to talk about that. How long have you known my Ice here?”

  “Ice? Why do you call him that?”

  “Because of his eyes. The color is such a pale blue. That, and he was really cold for a while, you know, kind of a rich boy attitude. Then he warmed up to me, but the name had already stuck by then.”

  Brandt took this as Raven beginning to stake her claim.

  Sherri bared her teeth in a half smile. “So, are you staying long?”

  Raven smiled again. “Not too long. I’m just passing through. Thought I would see him and catch up. And he and his father extended an invitation to visit for a while. I have some business here and then I must press on. Work, work, work. Sometimes it seems that is all I do. What about you? What do you do?” She pulled away from Brandt and had sidled up to Sherri.

  Brandt could only watch in amazement as within moments the two women were talking as if they had known each other for years. And Sherri was the one giving all the information. Raven was effectively gathering intel on the people that lived around the area. She was good. Even with her dislike of most black people, Sherri was treating her like a friend.

  “So do you like horses?” Sherri asked after they had finished lunch, as they headed out into the sunshine filled afternoon.

  “They are all right. I prefer dogs. I show them.” Brandt had no idea about that.

  Not liking that he was excluded from the conversation, he stepped faster and walked beside Raven, sliding his arm back into hers. “There is a huge dog show coming up next week. Do you want to go see it?”

  “I’m entered in it already. My dogs will be arriving this afternoon. I’m going to go pick them up. In fact, I have to be leaving soon.” Her skin felt like silk brushing against his.

  “So,” Sherri said, “Brandt said you two used to be an item. I find that kind of strange since he rarely sees a woman more than once. Except me, of course.”

  “Well, that is true. We had a thing, but we mutually decided that we were better friends. Besides, with him leaving school and me having more time there, we just weren’t ready for a long-distance relationship.”

  Raven turned her head and looked at the blonde beside her. “But trust me when I say it was more than once. I guess before me he didn’t find anything that kept him interested.”

  “And the chances of rekindling things from the past?” Sherri’s words were low and full of uncertainty. Yet, that hint of southern poison was still there.

  Brandt opened his mouth but Raven stretched her arms over her head, giving him a lovely view of her breasts and distracting him. Then she smiled a smile a woman gives when she knows the man in question is hers and hers alone. “I really have to get going; my cargo will be waiting if I don’t leave now. Sherri, it was a pleasure to meet you. Ice, I will see you later.” She began to leave and then stopped and looked back at them.

  She strode back over to the two people, her hips swaying with every step she took, ever the seductive siren. Lips curved into a smile that had a spark of eroticism in it. That smile sent warning bells off in Brandt’s head. “Sorry, I forgot something.” Stopping back in front of Brandt, she maneuvered her slim brown hand down inside the jean material of one tight front pocket.

  One black eyebrow rose as his eyes dropped down to meet hers through the tinted glass. Sherri could have just as well been a blade of grass for all the attention she was receiving. The feel of Raven’s hand in his jeans pumped him full of desire to explore these feelings. Made something else harden with desire as well.

  “Shame on you, Ice, those are my keys in your pocket. I wouldn’t get very far without these.” Her nails pressed into his hip as she removed her keys. For the life of him Brandt couldn’t figure out how her keys got there. “I will leave you two to discuss whatever you wish to discuss.” She stepped away from him and her hand trailed down his chest as her glasses fell forward, exposing her dark cocoa gaze to his.

  There was a message in those eyes for him. He understood it and would follow it. One tan hand came up and covered hers as it lay against his white shirt. “Thanks for last night, Ice.” Her words were smooth as Kentucky bourbon with twice the kick that one only got from bootlegged moonshine. Only the two of them knew that they had not been together.

  Her hand tightened on his shirt and pulled him to her. Brandt was unable to do anything except go where the tug took him. Their eyes met and Brandt saw raw lust swirling in the chocolate depths of hers as her tongue traced his lips before her mouth pressed to his. The kiss was brief. Way too brief, but the message was clear.

  Hell no! She got no more than one step away before she was halted by an iron grip on her forearm. Brandt spun her around and reclaimed her lips. The kiss was brief but the message clear. They were not finished with whatever lingered between them. Not by a long shot. Brandt squeezed her firm butt—taking advantage of what he had been wanting to do for a long time now—before stepping away from her and allowing her to move.

  * * * *

  Raven careened her obsidian Spyder careened into the empty lot and saw the white van waiting for her. Back doors opened and out jumped two large dogs. She leapt out of her car and went down on her knees to be swarmed by her dogs. She’d missed them so much.

  Two adults approached
her, the woman moving forward. She was a lovely woman of Native American lineage. Her hair was streaked with gray, giving her a very distinguished look. The man was tall and black and also had some gray at the temples.

  “How is it going?” the striking woman asked as she approached.

  “Well, he is still alive.” A grin split Raven’s face as she rose to give the couple a hug. “He’s learned that I don’t like to play games. It was hard at first and he tried just about everything he could to lose me.”

  “Commander Morgan was right then, about you being the one for the job,” the man spoke.

  “Guess so. Tell me, why did you tell him where I was?”

  “Because he asked.”

  “Damn it, Seth. I didn’t want anyone to know where I was. Especially him. And yes, I know it was you. It took me a while but I figured it out.”

  “He needed to make sure you were alright.” The man tried to pacify her rapidly surfacing anger.

  “He should have thought of that before he put us in that situation. You had no right to tell him where I was. None.”

  “Serenity,” Violet spoke up, pleading for compassion and understanding, “don’t be hard on Seth. Or on Dylan. It was meant to be that you are with Brandt.”

  Brown eyes met, soft to hard, and clashed as Raven spoke. “My name is Raven now. And what do you mean? What did you see?” Violet had visions that had a strange way of coming true.

  “It is fuzzy. All I know is you are in the place you should be in.”

  “I have to go. Give this—” she pulled a thick file out of her car and handed it to Seth, “to Dylan. Tell him time is running out. I need someone else on the ground that I can trust.”

  “He will be there,” Seth said as he took the file.

  “He? He who?” Raven asked as she wordlessly sent her dogs into the backseat of her car.

  “Talon,” Violet spoke with a small grin.

  “He’s coming in?” A genuine smile lit her face.

  “Yes, for you. He agreed to come. And before you ask, he will find you. He is fully briefed and will be up to speed when he gets here.”

  Raven nodded. “Wonderful. With him here, we will be done in no time.” She jumped into her car without opening the door as she had the top down. “Bye, you two. Violet, no more visions. My life is complicated enough without including Brandt Fowler into the mix.” She waved over her shoulder at the two adults as the car headed her back to Brandt’s.

  * * * *

  “You were the one who staked your claim on him, Raven. That had nothing to do with me,” Violet yelled to the rapidly retreating woman as she stood with her husband and watched the car leave the lot.

  “She has already fallen for him. Do you think that will make this harder?” Seth asked his wife.

  “She doesn’t acknowledge her feelings for him yet. Not completely, anyway. She will not fail her mission, but after . . . I am worried about how she will be.”

  “Do you think it was too soon?”

  “No, my husband, she is ready—more than you realize—to begin her work again.” Dainty hands touched the chest of the man she spoke to. “Don’t worry. Your daughter has so much more mettle in her than she realizes. Her confidence was shaken but she has found it again. She is also strong enough to handle the difference between the two personalities at war within her.”

  “I should tell her that she is my daughter.”

  “That, my love, is something I can’t help you with. Let’s go home.”

  “I love you, Violet.”

  “I love you too, Seth.” But even as she hugged her husband, she dreaded the confrontation that was going to happen when Seth finally confronted Serenity about who he really was.

  * * * *

  Serenity Chandi Walker, a.k.a Raven Dare, had been born in Savannah, Georgia. Seth had felt he was not ready to be a father and disappeared, leaving Serenity and her mother to fend for themselves. That act still shamed him to this day. He had not been a man.

  Years passed before he got word that his wife had died. Stunned and ashamed, he had returned to find his daughter. There was no sign of her anywhere.

  Over the next couple of years, he hunted her down. When he did find her, she was racing street cars and running with a gang. He took her in as a foster child, never revealing who he really was to her.

  He encouraged her schooling and was pleased when she quickly surpassed her fellow students. Seth allowed her to race cars as long as she kept her grades up. And she did. Graduating from high school at seventeen, she immediately joined up with the Marines where her abilities excelled.

  Seth never stopped encouraging her. But, by the same token, he never told her who he really was. When he met Violet, Serenity was ecstatic and welcomed her in with open arms.

  During her second enlistment with the Corps, she became MIA in the jungles of Africa when their chopper malfunctioned and went down. For two years she remained that way until she just kind of wandered out of the dangerous foliage and headed for a phone to call her then CO, General Hawkins.

  She left the Corps after that and joined Morgan’s private business to be a bodyguard. Commander Dylan Morgan and she had worked together in a special unit a few times and he admired her abilities. She did that until Morgan humiliated her, and then she disappeared into the Alaskan wilderness and lived a quiet life, until about a month ago when Morgan showed up.

  Unfortunately, none of that helped Seth and the fact that he had a daughter who was twenty-nine and didn’t know who he was. She thought of him like a mentor. Nothing else.

  * * * *

  With a smile on her face, Raven looked in her rearview mirror and saw her dogs totally enjoying the air rushing over their faces. Sticking to the speed limit, she drove back to the house. Violet’s words were running through her head. Did she like him in that way? How the hell had Violet known about that kiss?

  Or was it all just a game? Who was she to say if he dated the blonde woman? Oh well, she had—as Violet stated—staked her claim on him. But he had kissed her back. And that . . . well, she didn’t have time to think about the implications of that action.

  She slowed the car to turn into the drive and grinned as her dogs sat up to look at the horses they were passing. Raven went straight to the garage and parked her car.

  She snapped leather leashes on the dogs, just for show, and headed to the house. Brandt came out of the house to meet her.

  Chapter Four

  He saw two German shepherds walking with her, one on each side. But it was her face that captivated him. She was smiling. What had been a beautiful face had transformed into a work of art. She was absolutely stunning. Her teeth shone brightly.

  “Hello, Brandt. How was your visit with Sherri?” Even her voice was gentler. She found peace with her dogs, he knew that instantly. She reached up and kissed him briefly, enjoying the look of surprised pleasure on his face.

  “She left not long after you did. I don’t think she will be back. Are they friendly?” It took so much for him to not respond to the feel of her lips on his. It was so fleeting he thought perhaps he had imagined the whole thing. His eyes moved to her lips as he relived the kiss. What he would give for the single chance to know her body intimately.

  “Of course.” She unsnapped their leashes and the dogs wagged their tails at him and nudged his hand for a quick pat before walking back to Raven.

  “Beautiful. What are their names?”

  “The male’s Jax and the female’s Hella. They’re half brother and sister.”

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile before. You should do it more often.”

  As his words fell, he noticed the change that came over her. Her face once again was expressionless. But she took off her glasses and looked at him directly. “I will play my part. Come for a walk with us.”

  “Are you saying you missed me?” His tone teased, as he tried to bring the smile back to her face. She was so serious. Then again, she was a bodyguard.

  “I�
��m saying that your butler is watching us from inside and we need to talk, so come walk with me.”

  His body cried out to be next to hers, so he eagerly went. The dogs ran and played with a ball she had. Brandt threw it over and over, making fast friends with the dogs.

  “Look. If I can’t be with you, at least have one of them around you. Both if you can get away with it.”

  “Are they really show dogs?”

  “At times. Not their main purpose.”

  “Alright. I will even agree to take one to work with me. But you have to do something for me.”

  “What?”

  “Have dinner with me tonight.” It was halfway between a request and a command.

  “Didn’t we try that the other night?” There was a hint of teasing to her voice.

  He sat down on the ground and waited for her to join him. When she did he leaned back on one arm and tugged her ponytail. “Yeah, but this time I want a real date.”

  She snorted then coughed as if she were covering it up. “I’ve seen where you take your dates. Bars and country music. Gosh, how can a woman refuse? That is so the place I picture myself in.”

  “Where would you like to go? Somewhere fancy? With a maître d' or something like that?” Brandt would willingly take her anywhere if it meant he could just have her to himself.

  “No, I don’t mind bars, but I would prefer somewhere a little more even in color if you get my drift.” She tipped her head back to the sun and closed her eyes.

  “So, do we get to end it the same way we did our last night out?” His mind was holding onto the sight of her in that floral robe like a dog with a bone.

  Raven opened her eyes and arched a brow. “You mean with a two-by-four smacking you upside the head? I think I could arrange that.”

  “Woman,” he growled just before he grabbed her around the waist and tugged. She fell over and rolled on top of him. It felt right to lie beneath her body, it felt good. It was Heaven.