LITMIR.BIZ

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to the no. This is family business. My sister is crazy about this lying motherfucker. Hell, we haven’t had a family meal or party that he hasn’t been a part of. Now I find out he’s been hiding a past. Does she know about this shit?” His eyes widened in question. “No, or she’d have mentioned it. And neither did I, dammit. You’re one closed-mouthed son of a bitch.”

      “Calm down, Daddy Wolf. I was working for the government not hanging around some schoolyard, selling red tops to kids.” Wolf was obsessively protective of his family. When he and Becca got married and started having kids, Quinn didn’t even want to be around. Wolf would be a totally insane parent, micro-managing the child’s every movement. Sadness pulled and twisted at Quinn’s soul. He wouldn’t be around, though, would he? No. He’d be long gone from this city he enjoyed, the angry man across from him, whom he respected like a brother even though he drove him crazy at times, and Cassie—every emotion always brought him back to his heart-faced love. Man, I’ve got to pack this shit away.

      Noah scowled and leaned across his desk, his hands clasped and his gaze locked on Quinn. “Does this have anything to do with what went down in Chile?”

      Aw hell. Quinn’s stomach sank. How did Noah gain access to confidential information? “That’s not open for discussion.”

      His captain’s index finger rose like a flag on a pole. “Wolf knows what’s said in this office stays between us. When you came here over three years ago with eyes as vacant as my brother-in-law’s mind, I got curious. Damned curious. Magna cum laude in college—Harvard, no less—hellacious high scores on the civil service exam and a pristine background check. Exemplary service with the State Department. Yet you wanted to charge into burning buildings?” Noah grunted. “Made the back side of my balls tickle—and not in a good way. I made a few calls to some old Army buddies who work in the State Department.”

      “What the hell are you two talking about? This man’s been my boat pilot for over two damn years, and I’m just now hearing he used to work for the Drug Enforcement Agency? Why wasn’t I clued in?” Wolf’s narrowed scrutiny swept over Quinn like a Mack truck over a pothole. “When were you with the State Department? And what the hell happened in Chile?”

      Wolf would expect a full report. Quinn stared at the tiled ceiling for a few beats, coming to a decision about how much info to share, how much he could, according to the department’s confidentiality agreements he’d signed. Hell, he wasn’t sharing a damned thing beyond general information.

      “I worked for the State Department for two years or more before being assigned to temporary duty with the DEA. Any information beyond that is on a ‘need to know’ basis. You know how that works. I don’t recall you regaling the family with tales of your old SEAL missions.”

      Wolf scowled for a few beats and then nodded. Quinn could have sworn a new level of respect glistened from his commander’s eyes. “I feel what you’re saying.”

      Noah leaned on his chair’s two back legs and grinned in that smart-ass way he had. “So, Quinn, if this has nothing to do with your former work experiences—and I don’t believe that song and dance for a minute—then what are we going to do with little Cassie after you run and hide?” He smirked at Wolf and winked. “Boyd’s newly separated from his old lady. Bet he could use some of your sister’s sweetness to help him over this smoke inhalation thing.”

       Like hell.

      Wolf chuckled, the bastard. “Yeah, he might at that. I’ll have to introduce them, if they haven’t met already.”

      Quinn straightened in his chair, every muscle tensed. Boyd and my angel? No fucking way.

      Wolf’s eyebrows raised in question. “How are you going to feel once the rest of the single guys here find out you’ve cut Cassie loose? Man, you’ve got to know they’ve held back from asking her out because of you. Once they hear you’re leaving, especially after the way you cut her down yesterday, they’ll be sniffing around her like the horny sonsabitches they are.”

      A green haze poured over Quinn’s vision field like monster goo from Cassie’s favorite animated flick and, in a nanosecond, the green morphed to dark red boiling rage. He’d be damned if anyone sniffed around her. Not after he’d gotten a taste of her last night. His chair clattered to the floor as he lunged for Wolf.

       CHAPTER SIX

      A swath of sunlight burned Cassie’s eyelids while some evil fiend inside her head, armed with a blowtorch, scorched her brain cells. She rolled away from part of the source of her discomfort and met Mr. Hangover, the booze beast, the harbinger of queasy stomachs and banger headaches. A long groan escaped as she covered her ears to keep them from tumbling off her head. She pried her eyelids a crack and noted blue and white striped sheets. Where was she?

      Toenails clattered on the steps. Einstein, who must have heard her groan, charged around the corner into the bedroom, jumped on the bed and licked her face, whining a wail of concern.

      “I’m okay, buddy. Just don’t jar the bed, please.” Her hand slipped from the covers to pet Becca’s German shepherd. How did she end up here? Where were her clothes? Memories of last night slowly crept into her muddled mind.

      Quinn.

      She’d thrown up and he’d rushed her to his Jeep as if she was about to disintegrate into a bazillion bits of barf residue. He’d kissed her forehead and murmured words of comfort. Then he’d put her shoes on her feet after wiping off the sand. Her hand covered her eyes, gently, because they were about to pop out of her head and roll down her cheeks. I certainly know how to make a good impression, don’t I?

      Footsteps trunked up the steps. “Cassie? You up?”

      She gasped and snatched the covers over her head. “Stop yelling, Wolf. And don’t come in, I’m not decent.”

      “You’ve got ten minutes to shower and get dressed. Becca’s at work, but she put some clean clothes on the vanity in the bathroom for you. I’m making breakfast and then we’re talking. Don’t dawdle.”

      “God, I feel like I’m fourteen again.” How many times had he told her not to poke around, and how often had she done it just to hear him growl. After her parents died, he’d become her rock, her security.

      Footsteps sounded on the steps as Wolf descended. “Hell, if you were fourteen, you’d be grounded and on some serious-assed restrictions. Ten minutes and counting.”

      She rustled under the covers and scratched behind Einstein’s ears again. “Big man doesn’t scare us, does he?”

      Einstein whined and licked her face.

      A pink wrapped gift on the nightstand caught her eye. Was it for her? Or was it something Wolf had left for Becca? But why would he put it here and not in Becca’s bedroom? She reached for the oblong package and fingered the silver ribbon. A small gift tag read “To Cassie, from Quinn. Happy Birthday, Peanut.”

      Her heart rate kicked into the happy-to-be-me category. He’d bought her a gift. Even if it was something cheap and goofy, he’d thought enough of her to buy it and have it wrapped. So why didn’t he bring it to her birthday party? Her eyes narrowed. Oh yeah, his mystery female visitor.

      Pushing that thought aside, she slid the metallic ribbon off the box. No way could he have wrapped it so carefully. She slid her fingernail along the taped edge and folded back the iridescent pink paper. The embossed logo on the white jeweler’s box impressed her. Had Quinn really gone to Zales to buy her a gift? She snapped the lid open and gasped. From a delicate gold chain dangled a filigree heart pendant. An angel nestled within the open scrollwork edging the heart. Small brilliant diamonds covered the angel’s outstretched wings.

      She blinked back tears. “Oh, Quinn, you do care. No matter what you

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