Page 1 of Burning for Him

CHAPTER ONE

“I’m still not happy about this,” Angie’s husband, Ian, grumbled while staring across the backyard at his goddaughter, Jennifer Mullins, excitedly chatting with a few friends. Her large surrogate family and many others had gathered for her going-away party.

Angie turned her head to the side so Ian couldn’t see when she rolled her eyes for the third time in less than an hour. She wasn’t in the mood to rack up punishments, which usually resulted in Ian’s hand making hard contact with her ass. Since they were in the BDSM lifestyle, spankings were normal for them, but she preferred erotic ones over the others.

“We’ve had this conversation dozens of times over the past two months, my love. She’s a grown woman now and allowed to make important decisions like this on her own. You can’t confine her to this compound for her entire life.”

The well-guarded, fenced-in complex, situated on dozens of acres on the outskirts of Tampa, Florida, was owned by the Sawyer brothers: Ian, Devon, and Nick. They bought it at an auction, years ago, after the government discovered it was used to run an illegal drug operation disguised as an import/export company and seized it. At the time, retired Navy SEALs Ianand Devon wanted the place for their new company, Trident Security. Then, their cousin Mitch approached them with the idea for an elite BDSM club, The Covenant, which now occupied the first of four warehouses when anyone entered the compound. The next two buildings housed the Trident offices, bunk rooms, a firing range, training areas, a gym, and a vehicle garage.

The fourth and final warehouse was converted into four penthouse-size apartments. On one end, Ian and Angie lived below Devon and his wife, Kristen, while at the opposite end, Jenn had her own three-bedroom apartment, with Nick and his husband, Jake Donovan, occupying the one above hers. In between the last two warehouses was Ian’s Oasis, the backyard Angie designed for him as a birthday gift a few years ago. Then, after Kristen and Devon’s son, JD, was born, the brothers had a cottage built for their wives where the two women could focus on their respective careers—Kristen was an author, while Angie was an artist. The building had plenty of room for each of them to spread out and a play area for the kids, which now included Ian and Angie’s ten-month-old daughter, Peyton.

“Why not?” Ian asked.

Shifting Peyton to her other hip, she glared at her idiotic husband—not that she’d call him that to his face. Alpha men could be so damn stubborn sometimes, but the ones like Ian made up for it in so many other ways. “She’s twenty-three and a college graduate with a great career ahead of her. She just wants to do this first. You can’t control where she goes, what she does, and who she dates anymore.”

His gaze whipped to hers. “Who shedates? Who the fuc—fudge is Baby-girl dating?” Like all the other retired-military Trident Security men and women, he made an effort not to curse in front of Peyton, their nephew, and their friends’ little ones, but he was still a work in progress. Too bad it was after Marcoand Harper’s daughter, Mara, learned to say twatwaffle, which probably wouldn’t go over well when she started preschool soon.

“Ugh.” She fought the urge to roll her eyes again. “No one. At least, not that I know of. My point is that you have to let her live her life the way she wants to. Jeff and Lisa raised her right. And after they were killed, you stepped up and finished the job for them. They would be so proud of her, and you should be too.”

“I am, but?—”

“But nothing, Ian. I know you’re worried, but you have to let her go. You gave her the watch with the tracking device in it, a backup satellite phone, pepper spray, a collapsible baton, and probably a dozen other weapons and doohickeys. You’ve met Dr. Sanchez before, and Carter knows her well. You told me her place is guarded by expats, and nothing has ever happened to any volunteers who stayed there. Jenn’s also not going alone, and you investigated everyone who will be with her. And Carter, Jordyn, and your teams put an end to that drug and sex trafficking cartel that operated nearby.”

Carter and Jordyn were friends and members of the club, as well as undercover agents who worked for a highly classified government organization that most Americans were unaware of.

“The cartels are like rats—you destroy one colony, and dozens more are waiting to take over.”

“But Dr. Sanchez told you there’s been no new activity at Diaz’s old estate down there.”

“Once they found out he was dead, the Colombianfederalesseized everything they could and then let the jungle take the rest. It doesn’t mean the area is safe, though.”

She handed him Peyton when the baby reached for her Da-Da, and then she kissed him on his rigid, stubbled jawline. “Jenn will be fine. You and the teams trained her to think like an operative. She’ll have protection there and the self-awareness you instilled in her. Let her spread her wings.”

“I still don’t like it.” His intense gaze remained pinned on the young woman he loved as much as his own daughter, but it softened a little as Peyton patted his cheek.

Angie glanced around the party and spotted someone else glaring and frowning at Jenn while trying to hide from her. She knew better than to say anything to Ian, though.

You’re not the only one, my dear husband.

Why the hell is Ian letting her go to fucking Colombia for three months? Is he out of his fucking mind?

Doug Henderson kept his feet rooted to where he stood for the past hour, fighting the compulsion to demand that his boss lock Jenn in her apartment. Better yet, Doug should drag her in there himself.

No, you shouldn’t, you asshole. You’ve gone over this time and again. She’s too damn young for you, and she’s got a hero complex since you took a bullet for her.

As he repeated that last line over and over in his head, like a mantra, he absentmindedly rubbed the puckered scar on the right side of his chest under his T-shirt. It was a reminder of how he fucked up nearly four years ago, while guarding the then nineteen-year-old, and almost got her killed. It was bad enough that she was kidnapped, but Doug also had to deal with the murder of his partner during the same incident. With his own injury, he hadn’t been able to save either of them. Thankfully, her surrogate uncles, the six original Trident Security team members, and some of their associates rescued her along with Angie, who’d also been taken hostage.

“You’re gonna go nuts while she’s in Colombia, aren’t you?”

Doug turned his glare to Jason “Tuff” Tanner and his massive brown and white pit bull, Meat, who snuck up on him while his mind wandered. Tuff worked for another company, Blackhawk Security, which had a strong relationship with Trident, despite the two being technically competitors. The owners of both were retired military—most of their employees were too—and they often helped each other out with personnel and equipment. In fact, Doug initially worked for Chase Dixon at BHS, and it was then that he was assigned as one of Jenn’s bodyguards to escort her to and from her college classes because of an ongoing threat against Angie. On their way home one afternoon, they were ambushed, and Jenn was taken by crooked DEA agents and a few gang members they’d hired.

After it was all over, he expected Ian to finish killing him. Instead, once Doug had fully recovered, the man shocked him by offering him the supervisor position for Trident’s new Personal Protection Division. Had he known how often he’d run into Jenn on any given week, Doug might have turned down the job. He’d been attracted to the younger woman, eight years his junior, but despite his best efforts, his captivation had only grown stronger. It didn’t help that she had a crush on him and kissed him eleven months ago. It was also fucked-up that he kissed her back before his brain overrode his body. Since then, he tried to avoid her, but when he worked in the same compound she lived in, it wasn’t always possible.

“No, I’m not gonna go nuts, asshole. What are you talking about? Jenn is—she’s my boss’s goddaughter and a friend. Nothing more,” he said, knowing it was a lie. “Like everyone else here, I’m just worried about her safety, that’s all.”

He couldn’t stop himself from glancing toward the stunningly beautiful blonde woman. When he first met her, she had strawberry blonde hair, but about two years ago, she started adding highlights to it, making the color more blonde than red.Even with the distance between them, he could see her brilliant blue eyes sparkle as she laughed at something one of her friends said.

Tuff chuckled and slapped Doug on the shoulder. “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that, dude. Maybe someday you’ll convince yourself that’s all it is. C’mon, Meat. Let’s grab a beer.”

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