Reckless Pleasures. Tori Carrington

at everything.”

      She laughed. “I mean, you’re good at telling me exactly what I need to hear, exactly when I need it.”

      She pulled back to look into his handsome face draped in shadows. It would be dawn soon…and shortly after that she would drive him to Petersen Air Base where he would catch a ride on the first transport out.

      “I try,” he joked.

      She smiled.

      He kissed her leisurely. “I’m sure Lazarus will take a lot of your energy.”

      Lazarus Security.

      In her vulnerable state, the name stirred emotions both of sadness and hope…and served to distract her, however briefly, from the other more pressing issues at hand.

      Was it really over a year ago that their friend Barry Lazaro had surrendered to the ultimate enemy?

      Still, it seemed impossible. He had survived so much while they were on the front lines overseas. He’d been the most capable of them, the go-to guy, the one to lead the charge… Ironic that returning to civilian life had proven the one battle he’d ended up losing. Lazaro had been home only a couple of months when he’d been found hanging from his own shower-curtain rod, dead.

      Megan went still, the memory almost too much for her to handle just then.

      It was in Barry’s name the five surviving members of the elite team whose friendship was forever fused while fighting in Waziristan established Lazarus Security: her, Darius, Jason Savage, Lincoln Williams and Eli Stark.

      Lord knew building the independent security company had taken all their energy over the past few months, along with the nonstop attention of the four active partners. She, Dari and Jason handled most of the organizational and grunt work. With his background in both the military and the FBI, Linc had the strong government ties that would bring in subcontract work normally seen to by active ranks. And Eli…

      Well, Eli had taken the news of Lazaro’s death the hardest, offering up the financial resources with which to start the company, but insisting he remain a silent partner.

      Megan wondered if they’d all known, going in, how hard they’d have to work if they’d still have done it.

      Then again, seeing as they were all either ex-or semiactive military, hard work was no stranger to them. And they were poised to make some major inroads in the industry, with plans that needed to be implemented, personnel hired, compound expansion overseen.

      One day Lazarus Security would serve as the ultimate tribute to a fallen hero, a man they’d all known and loved.

      “It won’t be the same without you here,” she whispered now to Dari.

      He smoothed his hand over her hair and down her back, eliciting a delicious shiver that left her wishing his fingers even farther south.

      “Don’t you dare meet anyone else over there.” Her words were barely audible, and so unlike anything she’d usually say, they surprised her.

      But Dari seemed to take them in stride as he chuckled and easily slid her to lie on top of him, toe to toe, nose to nose, setting fire to every inch of her. “I have more than I can handle with you….”

      He kissed her, much the same way he had the first time while they were stationed together in Afghanistan two years ago. The night had been cool and airless…the sex sweaty and hot. She hadn’t been able to get enough of him then…and nothing had changed. No matter how often they made love, she wanted more.

      She knew he wouldn’t stray. It wasn’t the way he was made. They didn’t come any truer than Darius Folsom. It was the second thing she loved about him.

      The first was how he touched her…

      His fingers firmly budged in the direction she’d been craving, cupping her bottom then moving toward her shallow crevice. She caught her breath.

      “How about you?” he asked.

      She swallowed hard, barely able to concentrate over the rush of white-hot sensation. “Me?”

      “Mmm…do I have to worry about you being here, all by yourself?”

      His fingertips found her slick, swollen folds from behind. She automatically spread her thighs to allow him easy access, her heart beating heavily in her chest.

      She searched his eyes. “I don’t know. Do you?”

      She flicked her tongue slightly inside his mouth and then withdrew it.

      Before Dari, she’d never really been involved in a long-term relationship. Her love life had been dotted with temporary lovers, few of them lasting beyond the three-month mark. And none beyond six months.

      Which made the longevity of their relationship all the more special….

      And his leaving now all the more frightening…

      “Yes, well, I’ve already asked Jason to keep an eye on you,” he said, stealing her breath with a gentle pinch to her clit.

      “Jason Savage?” she whispered, fighting to follow the conversation, even as she longed to feel him inside her again. Now.

      “Uh-huh.”

      She’d known Jason almost as long as she had Dari. But the bond between the two men stretched back even further than that. The two Marines were cut from much the same cloth physically, but couldn’t be more different emotionally.

      Where Dari was steadfast, Jason roamed.

      She placed her knees on either side of his legs and scooted until her heated folds pressed against his pulsing hard-on. “And you trust him?” she asked.

      “He’s been my best friend since I was five.”

      She rocked her hips, rubbing her wetness down his thick length. “He also nails everything that moves.”

      Dari groaned at her movements, his expression going sober at her words. “Not my girl.”

      Funny how those three simple words always made her stomach flutter. It didn’t matter that she was a Marine. Or that she saw herself as his equal. Whenever he laid claim to her, she felt like his girl.

      He reached for a condom on the nightstand, quickly sheathed himself and then grasped her hips, entering her in one, long upward thrust that forced all thought from her mind. She moaned into his mouth, all too happy to welcome him into her body again…and again. As often as she could before time and space and the military would force them apart for eighteen long months.

      1

      Four months later…

      MEGAN AIMED THE M-16 semiautomatic rifle at the man-size moving targets a hundred and fifty yards away, testing not so much her own acumen—she’d been a crack shot from the time she’d learned to shoot at ten and was a consummate pro now—but the quality of the exercise Lazarus staff had put together for trainees on the grounds just outside Colorado Springs, Colorado, a place none of them were from…but the place Barry Lazaro had called home.

      “Still too slow!” she shouted toward the control booth.

      She no sooner said the words than the target sped up and then slowed back down again. She missed.

      Blowing a long breath between her teeth, she dropped the rifle to rest against her hips and stared at the control booth where Jason Savage grinned at her.

      “You told me you wanted it faster.”

      “That I did.”

      She considered aiming the gun in his direction then thought better of it. A pro never turned her weapon on another unless she meant to shoot. And while the temptation was strong…

      “We done for now?”

      She nodded. “We’ll make another assessment during the next training session.”

      She