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Wicked Pleasures
Tori Carrington
It's just a simple surveillance job, right? Former marine and FBI agent Linc Williams is monitoring his target's ex-girlfriend, Regina Dodson. But nothing is simple when he's watching a woman who makes him forget everythingâ € " except for the need to know Regina as thoroughly and wickedly as possible….After all, the best way to observe someone is to get as close as possible. And Linc can't get any closer–the sex is absolutely mind-blowing! Unfortunately, Regina has had her share of bad luck with guys. So what will she do when she discovers that these wicked pleasures started as deceptive measures?
It was sex. Pure and simple.
That’s what this was. Nothing more. Nothing less. Linc knocked on Regina’s door and she opened it immediately. The dampness of the ends of her curls and her change of clothes told him she’d taken a quick shower. The look in her eyes told him she’d been looking forward to this moment as much as he had.
She wore a simple pair of jeans that were anything but simple on her curvy frame, and a plain pink T-shirt that was anything but plain.
Damn, but she was beautiful.
And sexier than any woman had a right to be.
He cleared his throat. “Hi.”
She smiled. “Hi.”
And then he was kissing her.
Linc wasn’t clear on how he moved from Point A to Point B so quickly. All he knew was that one moment he was closing her apartment door…the next he was pretty near swallowing her whole.
And she was eagerly returning his hungry attentions.
It seemed both of them were intent on making sure she didn’t fall asleep again….
Dear Reader,
What happens when the subject of your investigation becomes the object of your desire? We’ve used the “stakeout” theme before, but never quite in this red-hot way….
In Wicked Pleasures, tall, dark and dangerous Lazarus Security partner Lincoln Williams is only interested in one thing—his job. It’s not until sexy Regina Dodson catches him with his pants and guard down that he starts to question the imbalance in his life. But what happens when Regina discovers the true reason behind Linc’s interest in her?
We hope Linc and Regina’s soul-searing story keeps you awake long past your bedtime…and tempts you to pick up the third and final title in the Pleasure Seekers series, Undeniable Pleasures, featuring Jason Savage (from Reckless Pleasures) next month.
We’d love to hear what you think. Contact us at P.O. Box 12271, Toledo, OH 43612, or visit us on the web at www.toricarrington.net or www.facebook.com/toricarrington, where there’s fun to be had every day.
Here’s wishing you love, romance and HOT reading.
Lori & Tony Karayianni
aka Tori Carrington
P.S. Check out the Blaze Authors’ Pet Project at www.blazeauthors.com.
Wicked Pleasures
Tori Carrington
www.millsandboon.co.uk (http://www.millsandboon.co.uk)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award-winning, bestselling duo Lori and Tony Karayianni are the power behind the pen name Tori Carrington. Their over fifty novels to date include numerous Mills & Boon miniseries, as well as the ongoing Sofie Metropolis, P.I. comedic mystery series with another publisher. Visit www.toricarrington.net and www.sofiemetro.com for more information on the couple and their titles.
We dedicate this story to miniseries-loving readers
everywhere; life is about connection, so why
shouldn’t that also apply to the books we read
and write? And, as always, to editor extraordinaire
Brenda Chin, who puts the “it” into editor…
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
1
LINCOLN WILLIAMS knew two things to be true: he was damn good at his job…and he was damn good at his job.
The rest…well, the rest was a crapshoot.
As the only son of a single Caucasian mother and an African-American father he had never met, he’d been relegated to the fence separating each culture: not white enough to feel completely comfortable in his mother’s world; not dark enough to belong in the unfamiliar black community.
So he’d learned early on that the only thing he could control were his actions. And it was those actions on which he insisted he be judged. Not by verbal agreement, but by tacit understanding. It wasn’t until he’d become first a Marine, then was recruited into the FBI at Quantico, that he’d come into his own. Learned not only to embrace his preference to go unnoticed, but to use it to his advantage. Something he was damn good at, despite his height of six foot four and muscular two-hundred-and-fifty-pound build.
Of course, only he knew about his recurring dream of disappearing altogether.
It was on the heels of just such a nightmare that he’d abruptly resigned his position with the Bureau ten months ago and signed on with fellow ex-Marines to establish Lazarus Security based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Their most public success to date was assisting in the recovery of a missing seven-year-old girl in Florida.
But what Linc had to do now was in no way connected to Lazarus: a man he had helped put away for a thirty-year term of incarceration had just escaped. And he fully intended to return him to the six-by-eight-foot cell where he belonged.
If his reasons stretched beyond the fact that he’d been the one to capture the sadistic criminal two years ago while still with the Bureau…well, that was between him and his target.
Thankfully, the Friday staff meeting at Lazarus didn’t include anything that required his undivided attention.
He looked over the twenty recruits listening to two of the partners, Megan McGowan and Darius Folsom, as they went over ongoing assignments and upcoming contracts. Just before they drew the meeting to a close, Linc ducked out of the room, as was his M.O. at every meeting.
“Hey.” Dari caught up with him afterward. “You good with contacting your sources on the James contact?”
“Check.”
His longtime friend, fellow Marine and now business partner grinned. “Didn’t have to ask, did I?”
Linc glanced at him.
“Hey, why don’t you drop by the Barracks later? We’re putting together details on Jason’s surprise birthday party next week.”
“I’ll see what I can do.”
The Barracks was a bar and Linc was known to stop in from time to time, mostly to appease his friends who liked to unwind at the local establishment. He had other plans tonight, but figured it shouldn’t take too long to toss a few bucks into the kitty for a gift for their fellow partner. Especially since it wasn’t that long ago that Dari and Megan—who were as much partners outside Lazarus as inside—nearly split because of something that went down with Jason.
It was reassuring to see things were back on track.
Besides, soon Dari would be reclassified as combat ready, following an injury he suffered a month ago, and redeployed overseas. He’d like to spend a little time with him before that happened.
Dari smacked a hand against his shoulder and said, “Hope to see you there.”
They parted ways, Linc heading for a room designated as his office, although it was a space he spent very little time in. He had everything he needed on him, which was the way he preferred to work. But this afternoon he wanted to wrap up a few business-related items so he’d be free to pursue his personal agenda.
Namely, to apprehend one Billy “the Bank Robber” Johnson and return his ass to jail where he belonged.
And he knew exactly where to start: with Johnson’s girlfriend, Regina Dodson.
“COME ON, REGINA! You act like you’re sixty instead of twenty-six. I finally talked you into coming out with me. Is it too much to ask you to actually have fun?”
Regina Dodson thought it was more than an act; she felt sixty. And had for a good long time. Too long. It was one of the reasons she’d reluctantly agreed to come out with Vivienne tonight. The outgoing redhead was the first friend she’d made when she moved from Livermore Falls, Maine, to Colorado Springs a year and a half ago.
Moved? More like escaped. She’d packed up everything, changed her name and was making a new life for herself in the small city nestled against the Rocky Mountains south of Denver.
Still, there wasn’t a day when she didn’t wake up terrified this would be the day her past would catch up with her.
And for some odd reason, lately she couldn’t help feeling she was being watched.
She absently rubbed her arm and then took in Vivienne’s animated face over the rim of the margarita she’d been nursing for a good two hours. Club lights blinked, dance music pulsed and all she could think about was how much she wanted to go home and climb into bed with a good book. Funnily enough, it was through books she and her friend had originally met; more specifically, a library book club to which they both belonged. They were the only two unmarried women in the group that didn’t have kids, and were under the age of a hundred, as her friend liked to say.
“You need a drink,” Vivienne pronounced, waving for the bartender.
Regina held up her margarita. “I have a drink.”
“No, you need one you can’t pretend to sip for hours on end.” The girl stepped in front of them. “Six shots of tequila. And don’t forget the salt and lemon.”
Regina stared at her. “I’m not drinking six shots of tequila.”
“You’re right, you’re not.” The woman behind the bar lined up six shot glasses and began filling them. “You’re going to drink three,” Vivienne added.
“I’m not drinking any,” Regina said over the sound of the loud music, scanning the throng around them. Too many people.
She’d never been much of a drinker. One glass of wine with dinner every now and again was about as adventurous as she got.
Vivienne paid the bill and then edged one of the shot glasses in Regina’s direction. She licked the back of her hand between index finger and thumb and then sprinkled salt there before pulling a bowl of sliced lemons closer, nodding for her to do the same.
“Ready?”
“Viv…”
“Come on. What’s the worst that can happen? The ice wall around you might melt?”
