The Pleasure Seekers

“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 she spent that much time looking at it.

The telephone buzzed, indicating an internal call rather than an external one. She picked up the receiver.

“You ready?” Jason asked.

“For what?”

“The meeting in ten.”

“I could do this one with my eyes closed.”

“Right. You do realize that a one-year contract that will employ ten, twenty agents hangs in the balance.”

“Mmm. So I’ve been told. By you, as the case may be. Anyway, I figured you have it covered.”

“No, Meg, I think this one’s going to take a woman’s touch.”

Twenty minutes later, she saw what he meant. The two representatives from a chain of area nightclubs they were meeting with were women. And they not only appeared immune to Jason’s charms, they looked a wink away from offended.

This was the type of contract Dari could have finalized with a handshake. Instead, Megan took the reins and convinced them that Lazarus was the firm for the job.

Finally, she and Jason were alone in the conference room.

“Good job,” he said with a grin.

“You might consider working on your skills when it comes to female clients.”

“Why? I have you for that.”

She gathered her items together and started to leave the office.

“You sitting in on the next one?” Jason asked.

“Women again?”

His grin widened. “No, men. But I think you’d be equally effective…albeit in a different way.”

“I think I’ll pass.”

She heard voices and the tinny sound of a television coming from the front. She put her papers on her desk and went to investigate, unsurprised to find Jason already there.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

The three women were gathered around a flatscreen TV usually reserved for training videos. They parted like the Red Sea, allowing her a clear view of live news coverage.

“Missing girl,” Jason said, crossing his arms.

In Florida.

A missing girl who was so sweet-looking the case had garnered national attention. She picked up the remote to check. Sure enough, another national news channel was playing the same footage.

She and Jason turned toward their offices at the same time.

“Do you want to call or should I?” Jason asked, passing her open doorway where she already had a telephone in hand.

“You work your contacts, I’ll work mine.” She shouted for one of the secretaries, requesting she get the other available partners on the job. “First one to the finish wins….”

3

CHALLENGE WAS JASON Savage’s middle name and had been ever since he was an unwanted kid. Never one to wallow in the past, he rarely thought about an upbringing that would make anyone gasp…and he certainly never used it to elicit sympathy from the opposite sex. He could count on three fingers the number of people who knew what motivated him…and the first two only because they’d gone through it with him.

The third…well, he was in Afghanistan now.

Speaking of which…

Jason had no sooner pulled the rented SUV to a stop in front of the motel the Lazarus group would call home base in central Florida than Darius’s girl hopped out of the passenger’s seat, her polished combat boots hitting the ground running.

He shook his head, put the car in park and shut off the engine, leaving the keys in the ignition in case it was needed fast.

Jason stared after her, thinking of his friend. In the four months since Dari’d shipped off, he’d been impressed with Megan at every turn. Oh, sure, he knew she was a Marine, and that allowed for a measure of capability, but she surpassed his expectations.

She was strong and smart and knew her way around a minefield.

He’d no sooner made his own contact regarding the missing kid than she’d popped up in his open doorway with one of her own. In his case, it was an old college buddy who’d gone into intelligence and was something or other in the FBI.

Hers was the local sheriff who appeared to be happy for any professional help.

Within four hours the team was on the ground, motel rooms and transportation arranged, and a game plan sketched out.

Jason suddenly realized that his gaze was glued to Megan’s ass under the khaki of her pants. Damn, but the girl had a body on her.

He swallowed thickly and got out of the truck.

While it wasn’t the first time he’d appreciated her curves—sometimes even in front of Dari—for some reason, his attention seemed inappropriate now.

Megan turned toward him. “Jason Savage, this is Deputy Adams. He’s going to be acting as liaison between us and the sheriff’s office.”

He shook the deputy’s hand, friendly enough but instantly dismissing the kid. Jason knew he wasn’t going to be any help at all. He’d be lucky to find his johnson in a windstorm.

“This the place?” he said unnecessarily, since he already knew it was. But it gave him an excuse to round the deputy. He was Megan’s contact; she could handle him.

And if the way the deputy hiked up his pants in disdain at his obvious dismissal was any indication, Jason had the feeling she was going to have her work cut out for her.

Locals.

But it was important for the hazards team to have an in there. The sheriff and his personnel could cause them a lot of grief if they weren’t playing on the same side.

He stepped up to the motel sidewalk and walked to the first room, pushing open the door. “Central command,” he said. “Everybody stow their stuff and meet here in ten.” He then walked over to the second room, where he planned to claim as his own quarters.

He wasn’t surprised to see Megan choose the next room down, and the rest of the five-person team they’d brought with them following suit down the line.

He left his door open and dropped his duffel on the foot of the bed before going into the small bathroom in the back and washing his face. No matter where he was, the feel of cold water always gave him the sensation of being in control. It helped shrug off the dirt and hassles from travel and regroup for the task at hand.

And right now that happened to be finding little Finley Szymanski….

WITHIN TWENTY MINUTES a large swivel whiteboard had been brought in that boasted a corkboard on the other side, along with other organizational equipment. Megan walked in front of it, tacking photos of the missing seven-year-old to the board along with physical characteristics, while Jason pinned up a map, indicating where the girl had gone missing and the location of her house.

“According to the report, she was out bike riding at around seven the last anyone saw her,” Jason said.

“Was the bike found?”

“No.”

“Who saw her?”

“A neighbor.”

“The last time she had contact with a family member?”

“Five-thirty, just after dinner. Her sister.”

“How old is the sister?”

“Ten.”

“Friends?”

Jason uncapped a marker and enlarged dots already made on the map. “These are where her friends live…”

The last one he circled edged a large thatch of forest.

They all leaned back and groaned.

“Right,” Megan said. “We’re talking over twenty-five hundred acres of land here. And I don’t think I have to point out that this area of Florida has had a lot of rain and the ground is oversaturated. As a result, there are some parts the sheriff’s personnel haven’t been able to reach yet.”

“Are you kidding me?” Dominic Falzone asked. “What, are they afraid of getting their feet wet?”

A couple of chuckles and added insults.

Megan looked toward the door where she knew the deputy was talking to the motel manager just outside.

“We’ll be working together as a team, guys, so I’d appreciate it if you could keep the insults to a minimum.”

Dominic Falzone was a decorated war vet, a tried-and-true Marine, but his mouth had landed the dark-haired, dark-eyed Lazarus team member into more than his fair share of hot water.

Jason stepped up. “Since conditions today are much like they were yesterday, search personnel probably guessed there was no way the girl could have gotten in and out of those areas by herself.”

Megan’s fingers tightened on her own marker.

Of course, what went unsaid was that someone could have taken her in there.

“Listen up, this is the plan…”

Within ten minutes Jason had outlined where he wanted them to enter the forest, each at twenty-five-yard intervals.

“Okay, we don’t have much usable daylight left,” he said. “Grab your gear and let’s get going.”

It was only 4:00 p.m., but since it would be darker inside the forest without direct sunlight, they estimated maybe three hours before they’d have to call it quits for the night.

Of course, Megan fully expected there to be objections.

She hefted her own bag and followed the team out of the room, watching where Lazarus partner Lincoln Williams stood against the wall outside, having listened without participating, every bit the spook he had once been with the FBI, smoking a cigarette. He pitched it to the curb and followed.

IT WAS AFTER TEN before they returned to the motel and after midnight before the command center emptied out except for him and Megan. Other team members had returned to their own rooms to catch what sleep they could before rising again at 5:00 a.m.

Jason sat back in one of the extra chairs that had been brought in. While they were away, the motel owner had arranged to have the beds removed and chairs and two folded tables brought in instead. Jason didn’t feel tired in the least. They’d made good ground today. But they needed to find the girl soon.

“Where did Linc get off to?” Megan asked, stretching.

“Lord knows. Even when he’s here, I hardly know it.”

A ghost of a smile. “Tell me about it. The guy’s as big as a train car, but if he doesn’t want to be seen, he won’t be.”

Jason thought about pushing the box of cold hot wings her way, wondering if she’d refuse. He hadn’t seen her eat much of anything all day, always busy doing something or other, either checking notes or surveying the map and detailing tomorrow’s route.

He nearly sighed in relief when she reached for the box herself, pulling it forward and taking out one of the sticky chicken wings. He leaned back and took a beer from a cooler, twisted off the top and handed it to her.

“Thanks.”

He opened himself one and then rocked back on the chair legs, watching her.

She made no attempt to take dainty bites, the way he’d seen countless women before her do. And when she took a pull from the beer, it was a genuine tip-your-head-back slug that emptied half the bottle.

He grinned and absently rubbed his chin. If not for the way her T-shirt emphasized her breasts, he might think she was one of the guys.

His gaze homed in on her mouth and he felt a strangely familiar tightening of his pants across his groin. Oh, no, even without makeup and a dress, there was absolutely nothing masculine about Megan McGowan.

“What?”

He blinked up into her blue eyes, realizing he’d been caught. “Nothing.” He pointed toward her mouth. “You’ve got a bit of sauce…yeah, right there.”

She wiped at the red dot with her napkin and continued eating.

“Good?”

“Huh?” She looked at the wing in her hand. “I didn’t even notice. I’m operating on automatic right now.”

Jason let the chair legs clunk to the floor. “Yeah, me, too.”

“They’re not bad, I guess.” She shrugged. “I’m not a big wings girl, really.”

“What kind of girl are you, really?”

She smiled. “A regular fried-chicken kind of girl.”

He chuckled and swallowed a good portion of his beer.

He wasn’t sure what he’d expected her to say. Given the direction of his earlier thoughts, maybe something like filet mignon or salmon.

Instead, she’d chosen what might possibly be an even sloppier and more fattening alternative.

This from the girl who had passed on fries the other night.

Of course, like him, she understood her body needed the calories. Running as they had that day, they could easily burn double a regular day’s nutrients.

“You’re staring again.” She laughed.

“I am?” He was.

Jason ran his hand over his face, watching as she checked her silent cell phone for the tenth time in the past ten minutes.

“Heard anything more?” he asked.

She shook her head. “You?”

“Nope. Figured you were lucky to have heard from him when you did. Lord only knows how long he’ll be out.”

He watched her frown.

In all the time Megan and Dari had been a couple, he didn’t think he’d talked to her as much as he had in the past four months. Or looked at her more than he had today. She was his best friend’s girl—period.

Yeah? Then what was he still doing there watching her eat rather than hightailing it back to his own room for some shut-eye?

“So…” he said. “You two talk about getting hitched?”

Her brows hiked up on her forehead. “Nah. Not seriously.”

“But you have talked about it.”

She shrugged noncommittally, her movements seeming to slow.

Finally, she put down the wing she was eating and wiped her hands.

“Well,” she said, looking everywhere but at him. “It’s going to be an early morning, so I think I’m going to hit the sack.”

Jason cleared his throat. “Yeah, me too.”

She began gathering the boxes and empty bottles on the table.

“Leave it. I’ll make sure the motel staff picks it up before five.”

“Thanks.”

She moved toward the door. Was it his imagination, or did she seem a little distracted?

“God. Where is my head?”

She backtracked to the table and picked up her phone.

She’d forgotten her cell?

“Well…good night.”

Jason cleared his throat and reached for another beer. “Good night.”

He stopped short of adding “Sweet dreams.” Truth was he was afraid his dreams tonight were going to be too sweet. And chances were high they were going to feature her….

4

MEGAN LAY BACK in the king-size motel room feeling as if sand coated her eyeballs. It was after two and she hadn’t been able to close her eyelids for more than a moment, much less fall asleep. Which was par for the course lately.

She reached over to check her quiet cell and then lie back again with a heavy sigh.

In recent weeks, she’d become aware of a sort of silent humming. Oh, she missed Dari with her head and her heart. But her body had been fine. Of course, sexting had probably helped. But now, now she felt as if she wanted to jump out of her skin it was so uncomfortably alive.

The sensation began at the tip of her toes, traveled upward to her inner thighs, making her nipples constantly hard, making her panties constantly damp.

An image of Jason chanced through her mind. She frowned, attributing the aberration to the fact she’d just seen him.

She groaned and rolled over onto her side, back to the nightstand and the cell phone on top of it. Despite the nonstop hum of the air conditioner under the window, it was still hot and she wore nothing but a white tank top and a pair of white cotton panties. She’d stripped the blankets back and was lying on the sheets. But the humidity was brutal and seemed to contribute to her sense of longing.

Without realizing that’s what she had in mind, she slipped her hand between her thighs so her wrist pressed against her damp crotch and then she squeezed her muscles together tightly. She groaned again as white-hot need shot through her every cell.

She’d been known to take matters into her own hands before. But certainly not since meeting Dari. He saw to every one of her needs and beyond.

But now that he was gone, she was all too aware she was a living, breathing female in need of release, preferably with a willing, skilled male.

Of course, her male was thousands of miles away in a sweltering desert just then, and her release was nowhere to be found.

She rolled back onto her back, shifting her hand so that it lay directly against her aching womanhood through the damp cotton. Heat shimmered up to her breasts and then sank back down to pool in her lower belly.

Yes…

It had been four long months since she’d felt Dari…right there. Touching her. Thrusting deep into her…

She stroked herself through the cotton and restlessly licked her lips, surrendering to what she was about to do and ultimately embracing it. Only, the connection wasn’t nearly intimate enough, so she edged her fingertips under the elastic of her panties, diving lower still until they met with her slick, shallow channel.

Megan stretched her head back and moaned, riding the delicious waves of sensation, a willing surfer bent on exploring deeper waters.

She ran her fingertips along the damp length of her swollen folds, working her middle into the tight pool for a dip. Her muscles immediately contracted, closing around the digit, begging for an even more meaningful meeting.

Her other hand trailed down her stomach until it, too, took up residence under the cotton of her panties. But where her left had focused on exploring dark, damp places, her right found her fleshy center, rubbing against it once, twice…

Megan gasped, her muscles contracting, allowing her the release she’d sought. She rode it out, welcoming every last spasm even as she clamped her legs together, trapping her hands where they were.

For long moments she lay there, absently stroking her pulsing flesh, curious as to why her cheeks were suddenly damp. She was surprised to find she was crying…

JASON SQUINTED UP at the blinding orange ball of the midday sun, thinking conditions couldn’t possibly be worse.

“Things could always be worse,” Megan said next to him. “There could be a hurricane heading this way.”

He stared at her. “Is there?”

“Nah.”

“Thank God for small favors.”

He blew out a long breath from between his teeth, staring at the clearing around them. Five minutes ago they’d both emerged to find the nonstop rain they’d woken up to this morning was being replaced by the scorching sun. It didn’t feel like a sauna—it felt worse.

Megan plucked the material of her T-shirt away from where it clung, soaked, to her stomach. He tried not to watch, but couldn’t help himself.

Another team member emerged from across the fifty-yard clearing in the middle of the forest.

“Anything?” Megan called.

The agent indicated in the negative and then backed up until he was once again protected by the tree line.

Good idea.

Jason did the same and Megan followed suit. He glanced at his watch. They’d been at it since early this morning. That meant five hours of slogging through the trees with only a minimum of breaks, a protein bar and water bottle the only sustenance.

Megan leaned against the trunk of a tall pine and drank sparingly from her own canteen, dragging the back of her hand across her mouth afterward as she considered the clearing.

“Not a scrap of fabric, no sign of tracks…nothing.”

Jason grimaced. “Same here.”

Of course, had any of them found anything, they would have contacted the others via the radios they each carried.

Jason picked up his radio and told the rest of the team about the clearing, then advised they take at least a twenty-minute break and eat something before continuing.

Megan edged down slightly, propping her back against the tree in a semiseated position without actually sitting down. The ground was so sodden, she was denied that luxury.