Page 58 of False Flag

Beau flinched, but then his lip curled. “Same.”

He’d felt something. She’d seen it. A microsecond later, it was gone. What had happened to him? Why had he changed into this monster she barely recognized?

His smile had a nasty edge that made her stomach churn. “The house isn’t occupied. We could go inside. Get reacquainted.”

“Pass, thanks.”

“C’mon, baby. You know how good I’ll make it.”

The thought of ever having sex with him again made her want to vomit. The fact that she’d ever had sex with him also made her want to vomit.

“Not just no, but hell no.” She stepped to the side, determined to walk away.

He grabbed her arm. She twisted away, just like Chase had taught her, and broke his hold. But he was ready. In a flash, his hands were on her. He shoved her against the front door.

He caught her jaw with his hand and squeezed until pain made her open up. Then his mouth was on hers. She gagged as his tongue invaded. She squirmed and fought, trying to knee him in the balls. His hand slammed down on her knee, and she kicked the door instead.

He was everywhere, this giant man she’d once loved. Hands groping, knee pushing between her thighs. She forgot everything Chase had taught her in her self-defense lessons as he pinned her to the door and smothered her with disgusting kisses.

She tried to bite him, but his fingers dug into her jaw at the joint, preventing her from closing her mouth.

She tried relaxing her body to catch him off guard, but he just used that to switch his hold and twist her arm behind her back. This caused her chest to thrust up against his while his tongue aimed for the back of her throat.

Her feet lifted from the ground as he raised the knee between her legs. She flailed, kicking at the door as she tried to scratch his eyes with her one free hand.

She really was going to vomit. She gagged at the same time the door behind her opened. She fell back, brushing against something—probably the person who’d opened the door—as Beau fell forward, his mouth still on hers, twisting her arm as they tumbled into Heron House.

She landed on the floor with her arm still behind her back. Beau landed on top of her with his mouth still covering hers. She used his surprise to clamp down on his tongue with her teeth as she twisted to free a knee to push him off.

He jerked as she bit hard. She tasted blood and gagged, her jaw opening. He rolled off her—or maybe he was flung. All she knew was that she was free. Rolling facedown, she vomited on the floor, spitting blood that wasn’t hers into the mix.

She pressed her forehead to the floor away from the mess and tried to catch her breath. She would not cry. Beau had taken enough of her tears.

“Anastacia? Are you... Is that your blood?”

The voice. No. It couldn’t be. It was Lloyd. Except Lloyd wouldn’t call her Anastacia.

She rolled to her back and faced Lloyd’s brother.

Chapter Eighteen

Surprise, shock, horror… Those were just a few of the emotions that crossed Anastacia’s face. He couldn’t blame her. He felt all those things except the surprise.

He’d arrived yesterday evening and would have let her know he was here immediately, but Lloyd—who was less than thrilled that Jake had joined the team—had insisted he stay away from Geoduck House until Gerard arrived. It wasn’t like he had a job to perform, and Jake would just be in the way.

That had been Lloyd’s excuse, anyway. Jake figured it was because he’d wanted more time to woo Staci without his wife-stealing younger brother around.

Lloyd had probably hated the idea of Jake taking part in the expedition at all, but he’d been the one to float the idea with Gerard months ago, so he could hardly balk when Jake had reached out to Gerard directly. Why Gerard was so eager to have a SEAL on his expedition, Jake didn’t know, but he—and NSWC—intended to find out.

First, he had to talk to the woman who had, for one tiny moment, been glad to see him, before she rolled to her side and vomited again.

Jake Burns: king of first impressions.

“How do you know Staci?”

Jake turned to the security guard, who would be beaten to a bloody pulp at some point before Jake left the island. He’d do it now if he thought he could without being shipped back to Virginia before morning.

The man remained on the floor where Jake had thrown him. Blood dripped down his chin, and Jake did a mental cheer that Staci had hurt him. But the cost to her had been high.