Page 1 of Relentless Surrender

CHAPTER 1

“Forget the T.V. It’s too heavy. Grab the iPad!”

Conner opened one eye and quickly shut it against the glaring afternoon sun. Dammit, in his exhaustion, he forgot to close the bedroom shades.

“Don’t worry about the clothes or the cheap stuff.”

Conner rolled onto his stomach, tossing a pillow over his head to block out the two female voices from across the hall. Telling himself he didn’t give a damn what they were about. After twenty-two hours in the dank cargo hold of a C-17 with two hundred other men on a flight from Afghanistan to Washington with a five-hour layover in Germany, he didn’t care if they were murdering someone next door, all he wanted was sleep.

“What about the bastard’s PlayStation?”

“Fucking smash it to pieces!”

That’s it, thought Conner. Murder was one thing but standing by why another man’s PlayStation got destroyed, even a stranger’s, was another. It was guy thing.

Jumping out of bed, heedless of his half naked state, he confidently strode across the small apartment. Promptly, smashing his toe into some random boxes in the middle of the living room floor. “God Damn it!” he ground out as he limped for a step or two. The short burst of pain not improving his already sour mood.

The apartment was not his. Having gotten in a little after three am he didn’t get a chance to really get the lay of the terrain before face planting in the bed. Having no home of his own, Conner was crashing at a buddy’s during a five-week leave. Knowing his friend, he should have guessed the place would be barely furnished and littered with half empty moving boxes. His friend spent almost as much time deployed overseas as he did.

Ten years ago, Conner walked away from a tenured professorship to become a Marine. His friends and family blamed his failed marriage. Said he was just confused and going through a phase. Bullshit. Men didn’t go through phases. It was simple. He married the wrong woman when he was too young. Fate stepped in and saved him. Well, fate in the shape of a rich, car dealer. His wife wanted pretty, sparkly things and he wanted more out of life than a shallow wife who only wanted pretty, sparkly things. All’s well that ends well. The ink dried on his enlistment papers before it dried on his divorce papers. He sold everything he owned and lived only for the Corp ever since. He had never been happier. His life had purpose. He made a difference. He relished his role as protector and fighter.

Although at this particular moment, there were two unknown females who were going to need protection from him.

* * *

Sage was breaking the law. It was for a good reason but for some reason she didn’t think the cops would see it that way if they got caught. It was all in the service of her long-time friend, Melissa. Sage loved her friend dearly but she also dearly tried her patience. For all her intelligence, Melissa had rubbish taste in men. This last one was a real doozy. After two weeks of dating, her friend was “in love” and had moved in with “Ricardo”. It took half that time to realize, Ricardo was not his real name…shocker! Her friend’s Lying Latin Lover had also run up her credit cards, put a mysterious large dent in the passenger door of her car and stolen her iPhone. The last straw for Sage was when Melissa showed up at her apartment with a black eye.

It had taken two bottles of pinot grigio, one disgusting roll of raw cookie dough and both The Notebook and Sleepless in Seattle but Melissa finally agreed to leave the lying, probably cheating, bastard. The only problem was the apartment was technically his. So, they had waited till he left for work to sneak in/break in to retrieve her stuff and well…perhaps do a little payback while they were there.

Sage was desperately shoving Melissa’s belongings into a tiny Hello Kitty suitcase she found next to the sofa. Why a twenty-eight-year-old woman had a Hello Kitty suitcase was a conversation that would have to wait for another time. During the euphoric high from too much wine and ridiculously raised romantic expectations (she blamed Hollywood), this all seemed like a great idea, but now Sage was terrified Melissa’s somewhat large, violent boyfriend could return at any moment.

She needed to get Melissa out of here.

Grabbing a teddy bear from the bureau, then sliding her arm along the top to dump all Melissa’s makeup, jewelry and random hair crap into her bag, Sage rushed back into the living room.

At that moment, the front door crashed open. Sage’s heart stopped. Filling the doorway, was over six feet of very angry male. Correction. Over six feet of practically naked very angry male. Good lord! The man was a huge wall of solid muscle, from his broad chest to his thickly, toned arms. He even had the deep ridges from six pack abs that you usually only see in magazine underwear ads. Speaking of underwear. He was wearing navy blue Calvin Klein’s that left absolutely nothing to the imagination. Sage reflexively swallowed. If that’s what his cock looked like slack it must be positively frightening hard and fully aroused! The illicit thought sent a deep flush to her already pink cheeks. Needing to distract herself from this stranger’s large cock, Sage dragged her eyes up to his face. Big mistake.

Christ! The man was gorgeous. Right down to his slightly crooked nose. Probably broken in a fight, Sage mused. Yes, a fight. Where he got all sweaty and worked up…and…and…

“What the fuck is going on in here?” Conner growled.

The deep, masculine voice startled Sage out of her school girl daydream.

“Your eyes match your underwear,” she blurted out.

“What?” he asked, thoroughly confused.

Sage just stood there, mouth agape. Mortified. While it was true his eyes were a deep blue that perfectly matched the dark blue underwear that still hugged his considerable package, she had no intention of telling him so! She had no choice but to go on the offensive.

“I meant…just who do you think you are doing barging in here?” Sage ordered in her most haughty, commanding voice.

Conner ran his hand down his face. Reaching deep into his training for calm and discipline. First some recon.

This apartment was larger than his buddy’s, but the layout was similar. Unlike his buddy’s it was filled with furniture and various belongings, most of which seemed to be tossed on the floor. In the corner was a female in her late twenties, rather tall with curly red hair. She froze the moment he entered, which was good since she had a PlayStation suspended over her head.

It was the second female who really caught his attention. Also, in her late twenties, she was petite with wavy, honey-brown hair cut a few inches above her shoulders. It seemed to twirl and bounce every time she moved her head. The early afternoon sunlight played off what he was certain were faint pink highlights, showing she had a bit of a wild streak about her. Despite her small stature, she had nice tits which were gloriously on display in a tight, baby-doll t-shirt which also showed off her small waist and curvy hips. Conner would need to think of a reason to make her bend over so he could check out her ass.

It was a good thing he didn’t become too distracted by those amazing tits and finally looked up to see her face, otherwise he would have missed those gorgeous, big, brown eyes checking out his cock. He felt his shaft stir to life. Down boy. He still needed to assess the situation. The last thing he needed was a raging hard-on while possibly confronting two thieves, regardless of how beautiful one of them may be.

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