Page 83 of Recurve Ridge

That comment might make me sound vapid, but I took little interest in a man who sailed under his own flag at the cost of others. Plus, I couldn’t vote in the US, so it all seemed a moot point. Robe was right; George Petersen had earned himself a reputation for always turning a negative situation to his own interests.

My knowledge stopped there. Gideon kept me busy. Running between departments and maintaining his office made for a full-time position for more than one person. I managed that job on my own for the last year on my visa, never seeing what an evil man I worked for until….

I clenched my teeth tight, waiting for the inevitable sea of invisible hands, but they didn’t come. Robe’s touch warded my demons away.

“My friend, he….” Robe’s arms stiffened around me, and he pulled me closer. “He made a good officer. Once. Not any longer.” He tipped his head back, studying the ceiling.

I searched my memory, coming up with too many blanks. “You worked with him after?”

“When we returned from our last tour, we formed a partnership. He swore he hadn’t been involved in the gun heist. I pretended to believe him, wanted to…. So many of my men faced disciplinary action based around what I now know werehisconsequences. The idea that he used the additional money to fund a joint start-up business hit me as wrong, but at the time, my family trust was locked away. I didn’t receive that until my parents passed a year later in a break and entry.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered, clinging to his shoulders.

“Don’t be.” He pressed his lips to my temple. “We opted to work in security logistics, a field we both knew well. As it turned out, we ended up with two teams, splitting the business in half less than a year after its inception. We… disagreed on the type of work. He wanted to focus on mercenary contracts that blurred the moral line. I took a stand.” He offered me a humorless smile. “Funny how that line moves when it’s convenient.”

“You do what you have to in each circumstance,” I replied, tracing the line of his mouth over his beard. “My boss is very rigid in his beliefs.”

Peridot eyes gleamed an unusual shade of gold in the skewed light as he stared up at me. “There’s always a choice, Mari. Gi—he let me keep the business name. I paid him out, though he took plenty of equipment with him. Knight & Watchman began as a small security firm. Bodyguards and glorified mall cops.” The corner of his lips tilted beneath my fingers. “After I let him screw me to the wall because I didn’t want to play hardball back then, I realized who—and what—I’d become. I opened my eyes and worked out what the people around us needed, developing elite squads and security for hire, and founded a law firm to protect everything I’d built.

“I spent more hours counting dimes and protecting what I’d rescued than anything else. In the end, the expected attack didn’t come from any of those avenues. He didn’t need my money to bolster his efforts; he came with plenty of his own. His paramilitary squad turned into one of the most brutal teams of mercs I’ve seen activated outside the Middle East. While I let him distract me, he wormed his slimy way under the nose of officials who reopened the investigation. My men were disciplined. He targeted me as the weak link, turning over evidence only one person could have known, claiming he stole it from me while we did business together.

“I found myself dishonorably discharged, and when I tried to fight the charges he brought against me and Will, an offer of leaving under our own steam arrived. It was either that or remain loud, proud, and locked away for an extended period.Treasongot tossed around enough that I knew we needed to walk. Miller didn’t get charged, though I couldn’t do anything more to help Will. Both men were so fucking loyal to a man who couldn’t see around the shadow of the man next to him.”

“Discharged dishonorably,” I amended, then straightened, curving my fingers around his jaw to draw him back to me, looking straight into his eyes. “You’re not the man they claim, Robe.”

He laughed self-deprecatingly. “Aren’t I?” He released me and shifted, pushing both hands through his thick hair.

No matter how rustic Robe Huntingdon’s life had become, he didn’t seem able to perceive the natural authority that exuded from his pores that every man reacted to. Kind of cute. If a mountain of a man could be calledcute. But the haunted look in his eyes told me he hadn’t forgiven himself for the hurt his actions had caused others.

“No.” I prayed he saw the truth in my eyes. “You’re not.”

Robe let out a harsh breath, freeing his hair to slide his hands down my body, stopping at my hips. “You might be the only one who believes that.”

I caught a lock of his short silver hair among the russet, running my fingers through its silky strands, thinking of the men who resided in the house with him, who trusted him and knew him to be so much more, but I knew he wouldn’t listen to me right now. “I don’t think that’s true.”

“Isn’t it?”

He ran his fingers up my spine again, but when he reached my neck this time, he curved his palm against my nape, angling my head until my lips rested against his for a brief, fixed breath. His tongue sought entry, pushing inside with little resistance, his natural dominance rising.

Goose bumps rippled over my skin as I gave my silent permission, pressing my breasts to his chest and kissing him back. Our tongues danced, stroking and teasing until his grip found my waist.

He squeezed, then dropped his hands, reaching between us. “Ride me, Mari.”

I drew back to look over my shoulder, but we were alone. “What if they come back?”

I sucked on my lower lip, trying to deny the urge to rub against him where I ached between my thighs. I never had Robe to myself; somebody else was always around. Call me selfish, but I didn’t want our moment of solace interrupted.

“I don’t care if the entire household watches me fuck you on the kitchen table, coating my cock with your fluids.” Robe’s filthy mouth sent ripples of desire shooting through my body.

One knee pushed me to standing. With a rough tug, my pants slid around my hips and tumbled to the floor, and then Robe pulled me back where I’d been a moment before, straddling him.

“It’s going to be a quick, hard session, right?” My joke fell flat, the air between us fizzing and pensive.

Robe cursed as he reached around me, gripping my buttock and pressing his fingers against the sensitive nerve endings along the crack of my ass. He fingered my back hole, tracing around the edges as a distraction. I moaned, memorizing the new sensations as his other hand rose up my spine.

Without a single breath of effort, he took hold of the back of my shirt and ripped it open. The flimsy material stood no chance against his determination, splitting down the middle with his undeniable force like so much cotton candy to leave me bare on his lap.

In so many ways.

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