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Chapter 1
Kiana Williams leaned her head back against the thin seat of the commuter plane that would carry her and Devlin Mulhaney from the Hawaiian island of Maui to Oahu. Flight time was less than forty minutes from wheels up to wheels down. She closed her eyes in an attempt to discourage conversation with the man. “Thank you for being on time to catch our flight this morning.”
“My pleasure,” he said, his tone low, sexy and too much for that early.
A shiver of awareness rippled across her skin.
“Since I’m here to protect you and, potentially, your friend, you should bring me up to speed on her—where she lives, what she does for a living, and anything else I might need to know.”
Kiana’s lips pressed into a thin line. “You’re supposed to be the expert protector. I would think you could react to any situation.”
He chuckled. “I’m not a mind-reader. As a former Marine Force Reconnaissance operator, I am combat trained; however, you can never have too much information about your opponent or the situation. We never went in blind unless we absolutely had no other choice.”
She sighed. “Fair enough.” Without lifting her head, she told him what she knew, which wasn’t much. She’d been up through the night worried about her friend and former roommate, trying to guess what could have happened. Every potential scenario she came up with was increasingly horrible, giving her a bad feeling in the pit of her belly.
Kiana opened her eyes and sat up straight. “My friend and former roommate, Meredith O’Neil, shares an apartment with my other friend, Tish Brinks. As you know, Tish called yesterday to say Meredith was missing.” Dev had been there when she’d gotten the call. “Normally, I wouldn’t be too worried. Meredith has been known to stay a night or two with her boyfriend. When Tish clarified Meredith had been gone for a week, that was different. Staying over with a boyfriend for a night or two was one thing; not coming home for a week is another.”
“Did Tish try calling Meredith’s boyfriend?” Dev asked.
Kiana grimaced. “Tish said Meredith had broken up with her boyfriend over a month ago. He’s out of the picture.”
“Still worth a call,” Dev pointed out. “They could’ve gotten back together.”
Kiana nodded. “Tish called. No answer. The last she’d heard from Meredith was that she was taking an escort job to help make rent money. Apparently, that was the night she disappeared, as far as Tish could tell. Meredith hadn’t texted to say she was staying the night with a friend, a man or anyone else.”
Dev frowned. “An escort job? What do you mean?”
Kiana glanced at Dev, her brow wrinkling. “It’s like going on a date with someone, only you get paid.”
“That could be dicey,” Dev said.
Kiana’s brow dipped. “It’s not prostitution.
Dev gave her half a smile. “I didn’t say it was.”
Kiana had the sudden urge to defend her friend and the profession of paid escorts. “Usually, it’s a businessman wanting someone to attend a corporate function with him, or a wealthy man who just wants someone to eat dinner with him, rather than sitting at a table by himself.”
“Do the clients expect more?”
“Some do,” Kiana admitted. “Before an escort is assigned, the escort service explains the rules and emphasizes the service isn’t for sex. It’s up to the escort to state upfront about what she expects and her limits to reinforce what the service already told them.”
Dev met and held her gaze. “How often does the client push for more?”
Kiana looked away. “If the escort states the ground rules, the client usually abides by them.”
“What percentage of the time?” he persisted.
Kiana’s gut clenched. “About fifty percent of the time.”
“And you know this because...” he asked, his voice quiet, carrying only to her over the roar of the jet engines.
Kiana’s lips curled into a tight smile as she turned to meet his gaze. “I used to work as an escort. When modeling jobs weren’t plentiful, we had to make money for food, gas and rent.” She lifted her chin, daring him to make a disparaging comment about being an escort. “And no. I didn’t sleep with the clients. Yes, I had to fight off a few.”
Dev’s eyebrows dipped low. “Assholes.”
She let out a short bark of laughter. “You have no idea.”
He reached for her hand and gave it a quick squeeze before releasing it. “Why did Tish wait so long to call you?”
