AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Seth really knew how to kill a mood. “What do you want?”
“I was just going to ask you if you knew how come all the women we fall for are so much smarter and understanding than we are?”
Brock chuckled. “I don’t know, but they are. But given the level of stupid we’ve been known to display…” Alicia stomped on his foot. “Ouch! What was that for?”
“I know you Doms don’t let your subs speak badly about themselves. So, if I don’t get to talk badly about me, you don’t get to talk badly about the man I think I’m falling for.”
Brock clicked off the feed from Cerberus. The last thing he needed was for Seth to put his two cents in.
“Fair enough, but the dowdy clothes and trying to downplay just how gorgeous you are is off the table. The next time Ewan Rennault gets a gander at you, I want him to see that you will no longer hide your light under a bushel. He’s going to know just how spectacular you are and what a fool he was to ever have harmed you. And then I’m going to kill him, so it won’t really matter.”
“That would almost be funny if I didn’t half-believe you were serious.”
“Baby girl, trust me when I tell you, there’s no half. If he gives me a glimmer of an excuse to drop him, I will.”
She stood up on her tiptoes, wrapped her arms around him, and kissed his mouth before saying, “Yes, Daddy. And if we have to run because there’s a murder charge hanging over your beautiful head, I will still choose you, and we will run together. Rise or fall, we do it together.”
Energized, Brock got on the phone with Royce, gathering the team together to get them back to Cerberus. Ewan Rennault may think he had the upper hand, but he didn’t. The big fist of Cerberus was about to come down, and they wouldn’t be bothering with a velvet glove.
CHAPTER 13
ALICIA
Alicia was surprised at the speed and precision with which the team moved. She shouldn’t have been; they’d all been special forces, and most had been in the same units. Brock hustled her into the back seat of one of the Cerberus SUVs instead of his Range Rover.
“First chance I get, the Range Rover’s getting heavily tinted bullet-proof glass.”
She leaned forward and put her hand on his shoulder. “I’m fine, Brock, and I even have my seatbelt on.” She looked at Camille, who was sitting next to her with a calm demeanor. “Not that I’m not happy to see you…”
“The team decided that this is one of the few times being neighbors with Brock could be an issue,” Camille said. “If the asshole…” Royce growled from up front. “Well, he is. If the asshole who used to beat you is as whacko as they think, he might come after us as well, so we’ll be neighbors up on the third floor.”
“I’m sorry that my melodrama is leaching out all over the place.”
“Not to worry. As I’m sure you’ve heard, Cerberus is family. King cancelled Samantha’s book tour. She was pissed until he told her why. She’s on a Cerberus plane as we speak.” Camille reached over and took Alicia’s hand. “Don’t let this bother you. It’s par for the course. The guys tend to circle the wagons and keep us womenfolk safe, except for Miley who can outshoot the lot of them.”
“I hope you know I really did love the things you picked out. They were exactly what I’d have bought.”
“I understand. I just got you the basics. Maybe we can while away our time spending our Doms’ money doing some online shopping.”
“You are so screwed,” Royce said to Brock.
He glanced in the rearview mirror, catching her eye. “I am perfectly okay with that.”
Alicia leaned back and talked to Camille about all kinds of things that had nothing to do with their current situation—just normal, everyday things that she’d never been able to talk about before, as her life hadn’t been normal for a long while.
Once they were inside Cerberus’ secure parking lot under the building, they took the armor-plated freight elevator that only went from the third floor to the parking lot and the basement below.
“Is there really an armory complete with Stinger missiles in the basement?” she asked Brock.
He chuckled. “Not only is there an armory that would make the military drool, but there are also a couple of rendition cells where we can question bad guys who aren’t quite as forthcoming as we might like them to be.”
She glanced back and looked at Camille. “He’s talking about torture, isn’t he?”
“Basically, yes,” answered Camille.
“Camille, that’s enough,” snapped Royce.
“No way. She’s one of us now. Hey, do you really do burlesque?”
