Beneath the Secrets
Part 3
By Lisa Renee Jones
Part of the Tall, Dark, and Deadly Series
Copyright 2013
Includes:
Sample excerpt from IF I WERE YOU, now optioned to STARZ for TV with Suzanne Todd producing (Alice in Wonderland, Austin Powers, Must Love Cats and Dogs and much more!)
Read about the TV show HERE
Books in the series:
Secrets Exposed
Hot Secrets
Dangerous Secrets
Beneath the Secrets Serial:
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the supplier and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please contact the author at
[email protected] All characters in this book are fiction and figments of the author’s imagination. www.lisareneejones.com
Table of Contents
Titlepage
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Bonus Preview Book
Bonus Book - Excerpt
Beneath the Secrets
PART 3:
***Begins EXACTLY where Part 2 leaves off***
Chapter One
I know who you are, Kara.
Kara’s heart raced at Blake’s declaration, his strong, powerful body trapping hers against the entry wall inside her apartment and preventing her escape, his hands pressed to the surface by either side of her head. He was caging her, trying to intimidate her. Trying to get her to admit what he couldn’t know. Reassuring herself she’d covered her tracks well, she searched the hard lines of his handsome face, probing his rich brown eyes, and finding none of the passion and heat they’d held only hours before—just hard steel and anger.
Memories of what had passed between them before she’d left him sleeping in her bed, of hours of erotic lovemaking, of the connection they’d shared that defied him working for one of the most lethal cartels in the world, confused her and twisted her in knots. She hadn’t wanted to want him. She hadn’t wanted to leave him. “If this is about me sneaking out—”
“I know who you are, Kara,” he repeated, and that same hard steel from his eyes was in his voice.
He couldn’t know, she assured herself. It was impossible. “No matter how many times you insist otherwise, I’m still just me. I’m still Kara Tatum—”
“Wrong answer,” he said, and there was no time for her rebuttal. In a flash, he’d grabbed her purse, with her gun nestled inside, and tossed it to the ground. Kara jerked to retrieve it at the same moment Blake lifted her and threw her over his shoulder.
“Blake, damn it,” Kara hissed as he started up the stairs, her long, dark hair falling like a mask over her face. She was all too aware of how he played control games and manhandling her was one of them. She was even more aware of how much he, and them, turned her on, and what dangerous territory she was in with this man.
“Curse me all you want,” he said, as if it was the exact reaction he wanted, his hand sliding to her backside, “but you’re going to tell me what I want to know.” His fingers splayed wide on one of her cheeks, stirring the memory of his threat less than an hour before. I'm not going to kill you. Turn you over my knee and spank your pretty little ass, most likely. That I’d enjoy.
“I know what you’re doing,” she accused, certain he was taunting her, trying to jumble her thoughts. “It won’t work.”
“We’ll see,” was all he said, reminding her that the threat of the spanking had been both erotic and frightening simply because he’d been furious when issuing it. Considering they were already at the top of the stairs, she needed a plan to make sure he didn’t get to act on it. Already, though, Blake was pacing forward, and the living area to her left told her he was headed straight to the bed again. The bed where she’d once dared to think she could seduce and control him. That had been a joke. Convincing herself otherwise as she almost did would be a mistake, one too easily repeated.
Desperate to get him talking, and keep her clothes on, she blurted, “I had to go help those girls. You have to know that.”
“This has nothing to do with them,” he half growled, “though you can bet we’re going to talk about you sneaking out and stealing my truck.” His fingers flexed on her backside and he gave it a hard smack.
Kara jerked in shock, heat racing from her backside through her body at what was a decidedly angry and erotic contact. “Damn you, Blake,” she ground out again, only to find herself planted in a sitting position on the mattress with Blake towering over her. “Stop trying to intimidate me. I told you. It won’t work. It’s just pissing me off.”
“No?” he challenged, staring down at her, looking every bit the renegade she’d found him to be, his eyes half-veiled, long strands of raven hair falling from the tie at his nape, framing his perfectly carved, handsome face. “Because I’m pretty sure I can find a way to be intimidating if I need to be. Maybe, considering the games you’ve been playing, you should be far more afraid than you appear to be.”
“I’m not afraid of you, Blake. And I’m not afraid of your spanking me or handcuffing me for that matter.”
“Maybe you like those things a little too much.”
“Maybe you just want me to like them.”
“Maybe,” he said, his voice both a soft caress and a rasp of sandpaper, “I do.”
Kara’s nipples tightened and the air crackled with sexual tension. Was she seducing him or was he seducing her? Wait. Was she trying to seduce him? No. She wasn’t. That was dangerous, and yet somehow her eyes went to his mouth, that seductive, punishing, pleasing mouth. Dangerous didn’t seem to matter anymore. All she could think about was how much she wanted that mouth on her body, how good it would feel. How good he would feel. She was pretty sure she’d thought these things were all bad ideas a few minutes ago but she couldn’t remember why.
“There’s a whole lot more than me to fear, Kara.”
Her gaze jerked to his and reality slammed back into her. If he only knew just how true those words were, and suddenly she was angry with him for his involvement in all of this and for making her actually want to believe he could be saved. “Maybe it’s you who should be afraid of me.”
His mouth curved in a sardonic smile before he grabbed her vanity chair from beside her changing panel, and sat it and then himself, directly in front of her. “Why don’t you tell me why that would be, Kara? Enlighten me.”
Her anger deflated instantly. Oh, crap. Something in his tone had her doing a double take. Did he know the truth about her? “Because,” Kara said, driving forward with her intended point, albeit missing the bite of anger she’d been embracing previously, “I see too much. I know there’s more to you than what you’re doing for Mendez. Or maybe there was and there isn’t any longer. How else can you work for a man like Mendez? He’s selling women to the highest bidder and you’re supporting that indirectly.”
“I’m no more a part of the cartel than you are, sweetheart.”
“Wrong answer,” she bit out angrily, using his own words. “No one takes the money of these kinds of people without justifying what they’re supporting.”
“Well, then,” he purred, with a kind of poisoned seductive quality to his voice, “let’s talk about how looks c
an be deceiving and how you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. Ladies first, and I’ll spare you the talking in circles. You say you’re Kara Tatum, a secretary trying to make a living to help your poor, sick mom. I say you’re Kara Michaels, an FBI agent on a vigilante mission.”
His words blasted through her like a freight train, crushing her chest, and all but flattening her. It was all Kara could do not to flinch. There was no way he could know this unless he had someone inside the feds. “Ex,” she lied in a last-ditch effort to save herself. “I’m ex-FBI.”
He flattened his hands on the bed on either side of her, his big body crowding hers. “Stop lying to me, Kara. I know you think you have to, but it’s really fucking pissing me off. I can deal with you being FBI. I already suspected it. The lies are another story.”
“Is that your plea for trust? I’m fucking pissing you off?”
“I’m done with pleading.” He grabbed her legs and tugged her forward, closing his legs around hers. “Consider this a demand. And just in case you think I don’t know as much as I do… you’re on leave of absence and you’re not on any documented undercover operation.”
“If you know so much why do I need to tell you anything?”
“What are you after?” he demanded, ignoring her question.
“I don’t—”
“Don’t fucking lie to me again, Kara.”
“Stop with the fuck fuck fuck!” she exclaimed, grabbing handfuls of his t-shirt. “It’s getting old, Blake, and now you’re pissing me off.”
A moment of surprise flashed on his too-handsome face that only made her glare harder at him. She didn’t want to desire this man, yet over and over he made her. He glared right back at her. Words were lost to the crackle of electricity between them. Seconds ticked by and with each one she became more aware of him, of how close her actions had brought their bodies, their mouths.
He cursed softly, and then his hand slid to the back of her head, fingers splaying wide into her hair before his mouth slanted over hers. Kara moaned as his tongue dipped into her mouth, for a fast, hot caress followed by his demand. “You’re going to tell me what I need to know. You know that, right?”
“You can’t fuck me into telling you,” she replied, trying to sound tough despite the warm tease of his breath against her lips and she failed miserably. Instead, she sounded breathless, and as needy as she felt.
“I’ll fuck you, sweetheart,” he promised, “because I want to and you want me to. Foreplay is you telling me what you’re after.”
Heat pooled low in Kara’s belly and rushed through her body, proving this man was dangerously in control of her in ways she should be, not him. He had torn down her mental shields, made her vulnerable in ways she swore she never would be with anyone. “I hate you right now,” she whispered, only she didn’t hate him at all. In fact, she felt more for this man, this dangerously wrong man for her, than she had any before him.
He laughed low in his throat, a sexy rumble that made her sex clench, a moment before he kissed her again, stroking his tongue against hers in several deep, luxurious caresses. “If that’s how hate tastes,” he murmured against her mouth, “I’m addicted.”
“I bet you say that to all the FBI agents before you—”
“Don’t say ‘kill them’ or I might seriously have to—”
“Spank me?” she challenged, before she could stop herself from her deep need to challenge this man. “You can try but you won’t succeed.”
Chapter Two
Kara had barely issued her challenge when she was flat on her back with Blake on top of her and her hands pinned over her head. “Don’t tempt me, Kara,” Blake warned. “That would be a hell of a lot better than killing you, which is what every one of the cartel would do if they heard you were FBI. What the hell were you thinking coming in here alone?”
Alone was dangerous. Alone made her disappear too easily. “Who says I’m alone?”
“I know you’re alone. Why, Kara?”
Kara squeezed her eyes shut and fought her urge to trust Blake, but the fight lasted all of two seconds. She was alone. She was alone and she needed his help. She forced her gaze to his. “I was desperate.”
“Why would you be desperate?”
“It isn’t just me on the line here, Blake. You have no idea how much trust I really am putting in you to tell you this.”
“So you’re not alone?”
“I am. I’m alone.” More than she ever had been in her life. “It’s…my sister disappeared two months ago. Officials came up clueless and while they promised they were still trying, it wasn’t enough for me.”
“And your investigation brought you here,” he supplied.
She gave a nod. “She came here for a job as a merchandiser for a large retailer, but it was eliminated when she arrived. The last I heard from her, she was waitressing and trying to find something better. Then…she just went silent.”
Understanding registered in his face and he released her hands, settling his weight on his elbows on either side of her. “And she was working for one of the cartel’s restaurants.”
“Yes.” She hesitated and then let her hands settle on the warm wall of his chest and somehow the connection made her feel safer. “She worked at the one we were at tonight, but of course, the company files have no record she ever existed. And she’d started dating a man who fits Ignacio’s description.” Fear for her sister burned in her belly. “The landlord at her apartment said he’d never heard of her. I know where she was living. I talked to her every day until she disappeared.”
“If the cartel is looking for women they can wipe off the map, her connection to you would rule her out. She doesn’t fit the profile.”
“She has no connection to me on record. My father was FBI. Years ago he penetrated a motorcycle club, and they came after him, and our family. The FBI split us up and created new identities for both me and my sister. We didn’t find each other again until I used my resources to make it happen.”
“Why did your father let them split you up in the first place?”
She glanced down. “He’s dead.” Bitterness twisted inside her and she forced her gaze to his. “Our parents didn’t survive the attack.” Rushing past her confession before he offered sympathy that never helped, she quickly added, “I know my sister got involved with Ignacio. I’m just praying she’s still alive.”
Several beats passed, his expression impossible to read—until, abruptly, he moved, sitting up and giving her his back. Kara pushed to a sitting position, unsure what to think, watching him scrub a hand over his face before he stood up and whirled on her with a challenge. “And you thought you’d just walk into the cartel and find your sister yourself?” he demanded, his hands settling on his hips. “Are you insane, Kara? We’re talking about one of the largest, most dangerous cartels in the world.”
She scooted to the end of the bed and curled her fingers into the mattress. “This is my sister, Blake. This isn’t about the cartel. This is about her. She’s all I have.” Her voice cracked. She hated how weak it made her seem. “I don’t know if you have siblings. I don’t know how important they are, but—”
“Two brothers,” he surprised her by sharing. “And yes. I’d die for either or both of them but that doesn’t mean I’ll let you die for yours. What was the purpose of drugging me in Denver?”
Kara blinked at the sudden turn of subject, but she rolled with the punches, too deep into this to turn back now. “I wanted the documentation you were handing over to the cartel.”
“Why?”
“I never worked for the Denver operation. I knew about the meeting through Mendez and I knew high-level officials would be in the reports. I thought some of them might be tied to the missing women in some way. And I’m not stupid enough to think I could do this all on my own, by the way. That list had powerful names on it. If I can tie one of them to the sex-slave operation, even slip it to the press, then I can convince my superiors to take action.”
He glared at her, fury pouring from his eyes. “I could have killed you, Kara. If I was anyone else, I would have killed you. You’re over your head and headed to the bottom of the bay with concrete blocks on your feet. If you think I’m going to let that happen, think again.”
She should have been comforted by his protectiveness. She wasn’t. Not when she was confident he meant to interfere in all the wrong ways in her investigation. “I’m going to find my sister.”
“I’m going to find your sister,” he corrected. “But right now, I’m going outside to make a call. Don’t even think about trying to leave. I’ll be by the door.” He pushed to his feet and headed across the room and down the stairs.
Kara was on her feet in two seconds flat, running for the kitchen and opening a cabinet, pulling a gun out of a box of cereal and then running for the window, hoping she could hear his call. Praying he wasn’t going to call Ignacio or Mendez. Praying she’d been right to trust him.
Cracking the window open, she squatted down and listened, letting the heavy weight of her weapon be her security blanket. When Blake returned, she was going to be ready for him.
***
Kara had too much in common with Whitney, and Whitney was dead. He wasn’t letting Kara end up that way too.
Fighting a bloody flashback of the night Whitney had died, Blake walked down the stairs of Kara’s apartment with every nerve ending in his body jumping. That night, that damnable night, when Whitney had been undercover inside the cartel, lived deep in his soul, a rabid animal clawing away at him, slowing ripping him to pieces. And now Kara was inside the cartel, just as Whitney had been, too close to a man who would slit her throat and forget her before the blade ever left her skin. She was too close to dead, too easily stolen away. It shouldn’t matter. He shouldn’t care, but he did. This wasn’t how things were supposed to happen. He wasn’t supposed to give a damn about anything but killing Alvarez.