Reckless Pleasures. Tori Carrington

to her. She acknowledged them with a friendly smile, looking over what was a decent crowd for a Thursday night. A waving hand caught her attention at the end of the bar and she waved back at Jason.

      “Up, Marine,” he said to the young guy on the stool next to him when she stepped up.

      Megan was amused by how fast the freshly returned Marine did as ordered. She half expected him to salute Jason, although she could have told him not to bother. Jason hadn’t been honorably discharged; he’d been thrown out of the service and probably had a permanent outline of the boot mark on his behind.

      “Thanks,” she said to the Marine as she claimed the stool.

      “What about me?” Jason asked with a raised brow before taking a long pull from his beer bottle.

      “What? Why didn’t I thank you?”

      His grin widened.

      “Well, it wasn’t as if you’d given up your stool for me.”

      A couple of ohs and ribbing erupted among the others around them.

      One of the females spoke up. “A woman expecting a man to give her his chair doesn’t deserve one.”

      Megan flashed her a smile. “A woman stupid enough to refuse an offered chair should sit on the floor…or be hit upside the head with one.”

      More hoots.

      And just like that, she reentered the swing of things, as if she’d been there a few days before instead of a few months.

      She placed an order for whatever was on tap, along with a cheeseburger, hold the fries. Jason told the girl to add the fries.

      After she left, Megan looked at him. “I hope you plan on eating them.”

      “I may have one or two,” he said. “But my plan is to make sure you eat them. Dari’s not going to be pleased when he hears you’ve dropped at least ten.”

      Twelve. But who was counting? She accepted the beer and took a nice long sip. “Don’t tell me you guys actually waste time talking about me…”

      When you talk. That’s what she’d been prepared to say. Instead, she left the words drift off and took her cell phone out of her purse, placing it prominently on the bar in front of her.

      “Are you kidding? If it were up to him, you would be the only thing we talk about.”

      “Yeah, and next you’re going to try to convince me that the b.s. coming out of your mouth is actually the truth.”

      She’d meant the words as a joke. But as she looked at him, prepared for a funny comeback, she watched him take another drink from his bottle then run the back of his hand across his mouth, his eyes sober and observant, as if trying to figure something out.

      “Are you serious?” She forced herself to laugh.

      “As an IED.”

      She squinted at him.

      Jason shrugged and faced the front of the bar. “I can tell you that he’s probably going crazy right now not being able to talk to you.”

      She caught herself staring at her blank cell-phone display and looked away. Well, that made two of them…

      “Come on. A great deal of your time has to be spent discussing Lazarus.”

      Jason slowly shook his head. “Nope.”

      She paused for a long moment, considering what the conversation between the two guys might sound like.

      “He says he knows we’ll take care of whatever needs taking over in that regard,” Jason said.

      Now that she thought about it, the words sounded like ones Dari would say. He was never one to worry about items over which he had no control. Besides, he probably had his hands full over there. He never shared details, even though she and Jason would not only understand, they’d empathize.

      “Hey.”

      Megan glanced up from where she’d been staring at her silent cell again. Jason’s younger brother, Jackson, wiped down the bar in front of her and then presented her burger. Jason automatically reached for a couple of fries and she slapped his hand away.

      “Hey, yourself, Jax,” she said. “You cook this?”

      “Sure did.”

      She’d heard it said at the compound that Jackson Savage had been by to apply for a job…and that his brother had refused him out of hand: twice.

      “I was hoping you and I could talk sometime soon,” Jax said, looking at her pointedly.

      Jason straightened from his slightly stooped position. “You and the lady have nothing to discuss.”

      Megan took in the exchange. “Sure, Jackson. Give me a call.”

      She’d never talked with the younger Savage outside social situations such as this one, but she knew he wouldn’t find it difficult to get her number.

      Jax smiled. “Enjoy your burger. I put some bacon on it for you.”

      “Thanks.”

      She watched as he walked away, and then opened the bun and fished out the pork in question, putting it on the side of her plate closest to Jason. She wasn’t surprised when he immediately snatched the strips up and ate them.

      “Shall I ask what just happened?” she said.

      Jason narrowed his eyes at her; they glinted dangerously in the dim light. “Ask all you want.”

      “Mmm. Just don’t expect to get any answers: is that what you’re saying?”

      His grin was slow but ultimately complete. “I always knew there was a reason I liked you.”

      For a moment, one brief, irrefutable moment, Megan’s gaze fused with his and a thrill of recognition swept through her—awareness, sexual, full and strong.

      She caught her breath.

      Jason appeared as puzzled as she did before finally breaking visual contact.

      He reached for her fries again and she let him take a couple.

      Her cell phone rang shrilly on the bar.

      Dari!

      She scooped up the phone and slid off the stool, heading toward the door.

      “Hi, baby,” she cooed, her heart expanding to fill her entire body….

      2

      THE FOLLOWING MORNING dawned earlier than it had the day before, or at least it seemed that way.

      Megan dragged herself out of bed, went for her usual six-mile run, then showered and dressed for a day at the office rather than at the training facility. She had back-to-back meetings, so any thoughts of working her frustrations out on the firing range or on overly eager new recruits went out the window.

      Last night, she’d barely spoken to Dari before the line went dead. After five minutes of trying to get him back, she’d received a text message: Sorry, baby. Situation went south, reception bad. Love you.

      She’d finally fallen asleep somewhere around 4:00 a.m., the cell clutched to her chest. But he hadn’t called or texted again.

      Feeling marginally better now that she had immediate business to occupy her time, she sat down in her office chair and considered the paperwork on the desk in front of her. She had yet to decorate the room in any way and heard about it from the two secretaries who manned the front, along with the pretty receptionist Jason was trying to charm. Megan’s immediate response was to ask why they weren’t on any of the men to do something about the starkness of their offices.

      But maybe she should buy a couple of plants or something. There was good light in this room. And the view of the mountains through the window was great. Not that