Fallan and Bishop are thrown together when she's his mark on an undercover government operation. Will he manage to tame the feisty redhead?
Bishop is a government agent, sent to prevent messes before they splurge into the news and wreck lives. His latest mission is to intercept a package before it gets into the wrong hands, and as he sits in a hotel dining room watching his target, he knows if he has to make her his first kill he'll be changed forever.
Fallan Jones is that target—an unsuspecting innocent, sent to drop off the package in return for a free hotel weekend and ten grand to pay off her mounting debts. When sexy—as—hell Bishop follows her after she's secreted the goods then forces her into his car, she realises she's in a whole world of trouble.
Taken to his secret hideaways, Fallan finds herself overly attracted to the gorgeous Bishop and wonders if fear plays a part in how much she wants him. But if he's going to kill her, she may as well enjoy great sex before she dies…
Other forces are at work, though—the government and the men who offered her the deal—and she's a risk. If she talks, she's dead. If she keeps quiet, she may still end up dead.
Their sexual affair turns into something more, though neither can afford to be with the other. But love is a strong emotion and doesn't plan on letting them be apart. However, the government has other ideas…
Reader Advisory: This book contains scenes of violence.
General Release Date: 23rd July 2012
Bishop. He rolled the word around in his mind, testing whether it fitted. He quite liked it as names went. It wasn’t a bad one, better than some of the others he’d had, but it wouldn’t be his long enough to matter, anyway.
They never were.
He stared across the hotel dining room—with white cloths draped over round tables big enough to seat six—to the woman sitting in the far right-hand corner. She hadn’t clocked him watching her since yesterday—or at least he didn’t think she had—and ate her Beef Wellington in delicate morsels, gaze fixed into the far distance as though she had a lot on her mind. And she would have, if the other marks were anything to go by.
He looked at his own plate, the food there unappealing, and wished he’d opted for the Wellington himself. A pork chop—undercooked, the fat around the edge soggy and unappetising—seemed to mock him, the mashed potatoes next to it just as sloppy, just as stomach-churning. He pushed his plate aside and reached for a glass of water, catching a glimpse of his reflection owing to the harsh lighting from the chandeliers.
Bishop sighed. He appeared in sore need of sleep, those dark circles beneath his eyes the bane of his life. The inch-long scar on his cheekbone from an assignment last year had at last faded from deep pink to a paler shade, but it still marred his otherwise handsome face, still reminded him he’d failed.
The one who got away…
He grimaced, placing his glass on the table, turning it this way and that for want of something to do. Occupying his mind on occasions like this was always difficult—he watched, he noted, he waited, over and over again, until his marks did what he’d been told they would and he had to finish them.
A lock of his black fringe caught on his eyelashes, and he shook his head. Focusing on the woman again, he wondered why she’d been chosen for the job. That long auburn hair of hers would get in the way if she didn’t tie it up, and her slender figure brought forth thoughts of a ballerina rather than an athlete who could cope with running for her life if the need arose. It would, too, if things went to plan…and she’d be running from Bishop, lungs straining, leg muscles screaming.
That’s if she ran. He might get lucky and catch her before she had a chance to flee, but things rarely worked out like that when he was on a job. He’d had to fight for the end result every time, Fate or Lady Luck poking her big nose in, stirring things up so he failed to get an easy ride…
He laughed. Couldn’t remember the last time he’d ridden a woman. Relationships were few and far between in his line of work. It was pointless trying to have one, his long hours, days away from home—weeks, sometimes—didn’t bode well for keeping a woman happy. Still, he had his right hand, and that had been enough. Until he’d set eyes on Fallan Jones. Was that her real name or was she hiding, the same as him? He shouldn’t care, hadn’t in the past, but then his marks weren’t usually so bloody…attractive.
Fallan. He rolled that name around too, liking it more every time it echoed in his mind. He imagined calling it out when he came, when she clutched him to her, legs clamped about his waist, crossed at the ankles, heels driving him deeper inside a cunt he imagined would be tight. Soaked.
His cock twitched—the last thing he needed if Fallan got up and left the dining room. He willed it not to grow fully erect, thankful when it didn’t. He needn’t have worried. It looked as though she was going for three courses tonight. A waiter whisked her plate away, and another came by with desserts on a trolley laden with sweet delights.
She ought to be on that trolley, sweet delight that she is.
No, he mustn’t think of her like that. She was a mark, nothing more, someone who needed taking out before she did any more damage.
She pointed to a high mound of profiteroles, and the waiter spooned several into a white dish, pouring melted chocolate over them with such skill that the brown liquid didn’t dribble down the side of the jug. With the bowl before her, she nodded her thanks and the waiter moved away, pushing the trolley out of the dining room. Odd, that. He usually visited every table.
Suspicion took hold, twisting in Bishop’s mind, a nasty coil of barbed wire that pricked all his senses, putting him on high alert. He stood, casually tugging the hem of his black suit jacket, and walked across the room to the doorway the waiter had gone through. The trolley stood in a corridor, abandoned, all shelves below the top covered with another of those white cloths. He smiled, thinking of every bad action film he’d watched, where a gun-wielding man hid behind the material, ready to pounce.
Double doors with circular glass at the top let him know the kitchen lay behind them and that he didn’t have much time. Someone would come out of there in a minute, plate-laden hands held aloft, food piping hot, steam billowing like London fog. He sidled up to the doors and peeked through one of the windows, noting the busy staff in their sauce-stained white uniforms going about their business.
Natalie Dae
Natalie Dae is a multi-published author in three pen names writing in several genres. Natalie writes mainly BDSM erotica. She loves a Dom/sub relationship and is fascinated by how it all works. The trust issue is the best thing about it for her, so creating characters who have to adopt trust is one of her priorities. “Watching my characters bloom under tuition is such a treat,” she says. “I find it such a privilege to be able to write about something that makes me learn something new with every book.”
She lives with her husband and youngest daughter in England and spends her spare time reading—always reading!—and her phone, complete with Kindle app, is never far away. “I can't imagine not reading or writing,” she says. “It's a part of who I am. Without it I'd be more than a bit lost.”
Natalie has many more BDSM tales swimming around in her head, so her workload for the future is very full. “What better way to spend a weekend than writing?” she says. “Saturdays are my main writing days, so I get up, open up a work in progress and rarely leave the desk. Unless I really have to!”
She writes at weekends and is a cover artist/head of art in her day job. In another life she was an editor. Her other pen names are Geraldine O’Hara and Sarah Masters. Natalie also co-authors as Sarah Masters with Jaime Samms, and she co-authors with Lily Harlem under the name Harlem Dae.
Sam Crescent
Sam Crescent is a USA Today Bestselling author who is passionate about romance. She resides in the UK, and loves creating new exciting characters that take her on a journey she never expected.
When she's not panicking about a story or arguing with a character, she can be found in her kitchen creating all kinds of havoc.
You can reach her here.