BarelyBreathing Read online

  Barely Breathing

  Lacey Thorn

  Book eight in the Bare Love series.

  Griff doesn’t know what is missing until a six-foot knockout walks into his life. She cusses like a sailor, calls it like it is and has him wrapped in knots from the word go. He wants her. She wants him. Only question is how long it will take to get her naked.

  Honor needs help and Midnight, Inc. security firm, comprised of ex-Marines, Rangers and martial arts specialists, seems the perfect choice. But their help has her safely tucked away with a hunk named Griff as her bodyguard. Oh, she’d definitely like him to keep a close eye on her body. Hell, she’d like him to do just about anything to her. One look and she’s barely breathing. Only question is how long she can keep him.

  A Romantica® contemporary erotic romance from Ellora’s Cave

  Barely Breathing

  Lacey Thorn

  Chapter One

  “Son of a bitch!” Honor hopped around on one foot, grabbing at her big toe. It was throbbing since she’d slammed it against the desk in her rush to gather her stuff. She didn’t have much time, so she forced her foot back down and did her best to shake it off.

  He wasn’t who she’d thought. He wasn’t the “nice” guy he’d led her to believe. He was a cold-hearted bastard who wasn’t about helping people. No, he was about using them for his own means. And now Honor was the person he planned to use. No fucking way. She would say over her dead body, but she was afraid that was exactly what he had in mind.

  As if that wasn’t enough, he’d accessed her computer. How had he breached her firewalls? Hers? She was the best. Period. But there was no denying it. Someone had not only hacked into her system but managed to open some of her zipped files. Files no one should ever see. Even worse, he knew where she lived, had been a welcomed guest in her home. Correction, where she had lived. Because in two more minutes she was out. And she knew just where she was going. Stace.

  It had all begun with her friend Stace Anders a little over a year ago. Stace had come back from her last rescue and discovered her baby sister Chloe missing. Kidnapped, to be precise. Honor should have worked with her to find Chloe, but her dad nixed that. Instead he’d advised Stace to call in help from a local group, Midnight Inc., a security company run by ex-military people. Apparently her dad knew the owner and respected him, a rare thing.

  Honor snorted as she grabbed the zipper pouch that contained her flash drives and disconnected the hard drive, tossing both carefully into her backpack. Stace should have worked with Honor as she always did. But Stace had told Honor’s dad she was ready to quit, and the crafty bastard had used it as an excuse to force Honor out as well. He should have left well enough alone. Then none of this would have happened because Honor would have been too busy to try to have a “normal” life.

  Now she would have to go on the move until she figured out how to clean up this mess, a fact that thoroughly pissed her off. She wasn’t a fucking amateur. She could do this shit in her sleep. But her dad had given her the boot. Why did Stace deciding to retire from the rescue business make Honor’s dad decide it was time for his little girl to retire from the handler business? Bullshit! He raised her to be one of the guys, then wanted her to settle down, date, get married, maybe have a grandkid or two? What the fuck? Old man was getting bat-shit crazy in his twilight years.

  She hit the door running, not bothering to lock up behind her. He’d just break it down when he realized she was gone and she’d never be able to come back now anyway. This location had been compromised. Her Jeep was already packed with essentials. She put her backpack, laptop case and a duffel, which held the few personal mementos she allowed herself, in the passenger seat then hurried around to the driver’s door.

  She was headed to some small city named Legacy. Legacy? Really? What the hell kind of name was that? Stace was living with one Donavan Shepard, former Ranger. Six-feet-four-inches of pure muscle. He looked like a fucking Viking. Plus, Stace was working with him at the Midnight place now. It seemed legit. Apparently they had pretty good firewalls as well. She’d only been in their system for two minutes forty-five seconds when they kicked her, infecting her desktop with a virus that gave it a hard kill. Pretty nice. She’d like to know the mind behind that baby.

  The old man had called her and said one sentence before hanging up on her.

  Leave Midnight alone, Honor.

  But Stace was there and old habits die hard. She’d been gathering intel since she’d been old enough to operate a computer. If Stace was going to work for Midnight, Inc. then Honor was going to know them as well as she knew herself. Stace was important to her, more like a sister than anything else. And she was the only female friend Honor had.

  They knew her dad. At least well enough to call and tattle on her. Sons of bitches. Not cool, using the dad card. So she’d gone a more roundabout route to find out what she wanted to know. She had files on everyone who worked for Midnight, complete with photos and as much background as she could manage. There was only one she’d had a hard time finding anything on. Michael Chetan Donavan. The man was like a ghost. Interesting.

  She glared at the GPS and took a left turn. It would take her almost the entire day to get to Legacy. Which just pissed her off more. She should be back at her cabin, perfectly safe, digging into a new case. But no. She was running from some fucking psycho who had a hard-on for her dad. As far as she was concerned, her dad should be here now, saving her ass. But he was in the wind, just as he’d been for most of her life.

  She’d have to see if she could manage to speak to the little clairvoyant chick, Allison St. John, aka Ally Samms, soon to be Ally Summers. Honor had a few things of his. Maybe this Ally would be able to help Honor the way she had helped Stace find Chloe. Ally was engaged to the local fire marshal, Blake Summers. He was another six-feet-four-inch behemoth. What the hell did they feed the local guys to grow them so big? Honor had to admit she was intrigued though. It would be nice to be around people she didn’t tower over like the Jolly Green Giant. Men always seemed to get their dicks in a twist when she came around. Wasn’t her fault she was close to six feet. It was genetics, plain and simple.

  She thought about Vince. If it was too good to be true, then it usually was. Her dad had drilled that into her head. So how had she forgotten? Vince had been suave, a perfect gentleman. She’d been thinking about having sex with him. She shuddered. It was bad enough she’d kissed him and done some heavy making out. It just made her feel dirty and used. Which is exactly what he’d done. Used her.

  She would have remained completely clueless too, if she hadn’t overheard the conversation. He’d stepped outside to take a call. She’d gone out front to water a freaking plant and just decided to walk around the cabin instead of going through it. She’d heard him mention her father. Vince had said the old man would learn he didn’t get to call all the shots. Then he’d laughed at whatever the other person had said.

  “Nah. I’ve found his weakness. When I’m done playing with her, she’s going to die nice and painfully. Let him see what it’s like when you’re not around to protect the ones who mean the most.”

  Those words would haunt her for the rest of her life. She hoped it was a long time. She wasn’t stupid though. She’d been cautious, but not enough. Then there was the fact he knew about her connection to Stace. She should be running as far in the opposite direction as she could. But damn it, her dad was gone and she needed someone she could trust to have her back. Vince had others helping him. She was smart enough to know she needed help too. She couldn’t do everything. Besides, her strong point was gathering information. She had been taught how to handle and fire a gun, the proper use of a knife, plus hand-to-hand combat. But she’d never been in a combat situation. Shit tend
ed to go wrong when it was real.

  Her hands were shaking. Stace was all she had. Her and hopefully the new pals she hung around with. She would be willing to help them out in any way that she could if they’d just help her with this little mess she was currently in. Obviously they knew her dad. And she’d done enough research to know they were decent guys.

  She should have done the same with Vince. But, no, she’d been trying to be normal and just go with the flow. Fuck that. She wouldn’t make the same mistake ever again. Bottom line was that her normal was just different from most people. She’d been lonely, and when Vince came along, he’d said and done all the right things. He’d probably had someone put together a file on her. The thought had her seething as she drove. She purposely turned her thoughts to Stace’s new friends and coworkers. One guy in particular had caught her eye and made her catch her breath as well.

  She recalled with perfect clarity the profile she’d put together on one Griff Daniels. He was six-feet-six-inches of lean muscle. Long black hair in a ponytail and blue eyes as bright as a sunny sky. She bet he had all the girls swooning over him. She snorted, probably had an ego the size of a small country. Guys who looked like him tended to like dainty, helpless girls. There wasn’t a single thing helpless about her. She could kick ass with the best of them. And as for dainty? Well, her pinkie was small. Sort of.

  She shook her head. She was lonelier than she realized if she was fantasizing over a stranger. She shouldn’t have kept herself so isolated these past few months. She should have gotten out more, dated, had one-night stands and casual sex. But that just wasn’t her life. Never would be. When your father hunted bad guys for a living, you grew up seeing the worst of society. It made it hard sometimes to remember decent people existed. She sighed. And look what happened when you tried to disregard that simple fact and think the best of people.

  She focused on the road, cranking the radio up and singing along. The sooner she arrived the better she’d feel. She’d called her dad a dozen times. She knew better. Knew if he didn’t answer then he was in the middle of something and would get back with her as soon as he could. And when her dad was in the middle of something it usually involved life and death. But she hadn’t been able to stop herself from calling. She worked behind a computer, not in the field. She wasn’t used to having her life threatened, at least not that she’d ever known about.

  Her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. She glanced down at the screen on her console. You had to love the integrated phone systems available in cars now. Of course she’d tinkered with hers a bit to get it just the way she wanted it. It was easy to get exactly what you wanted when you were the one installing it.

  She sighed with relief. It was her dad. Maybe he was done and back stateside. She could just go to him. He’d take care of it.

  “Sir.”

  His sigh came through her radio loud and clear, as if he were in the car with her.

  “Can you ever just call me dad?”

  He spent her entire childhood informing her when she spoke to him it was “yes sir” or “no sir” and now he wanted her to call him dad. She sighed. Yes, he was going bat-shit crazy.

  “Yes sir. Hey, Dad.”

  Silence. Dead silence and she knew she’d hit the mark with that one. Bull’s eye.

  “Where are you?”

  “On the road.”

  “Why? Did something happen?”

  “I decided to take a road trip, that’s all.” Now that she thought about it, did she really want to tell him about Vince? Did she want to hear the disappointment in his voice when he learned how gullible she’d been? And what if something happened to him while he was trying to protect her? What if that was exactly what Vince wanted? Could she live with the fact that she had been the one to bring down the mighty Zachariah? She decided to take a page from his book.

  She stayed silent. Dead silent. Two could use that card. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

  “Honor.”

  “Yes sir?”

  “Where are you headed?”

  “Don’t know yet. I’ll contact you when I do. Until then use this number to reach me. My cell phone is secure.”

  “You called a dozen times, Honor.”

  “I apologize, sir. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Exactly. You always think. What’s going on?”

  She said nothing.

  He sighed again.

  “I know you put together dossiers on the group at Midnight Inc. More important at the moment is they know as well. I doubt the head of the company is real happy about it.”

  She held her silence. She never meant to piss people off. It just seemed to be another skill she possessed.

  “The head of the group is Jack Madigan,” her dad stated as if she didn’t already know.

  “Midnight himself.”

  “He’s not a man you want to tangle with, Honor.”

  She’d put together his file. Did her dad not think she’d read it? She knew what all of the men were capable of. And, as far as she was concerned, Midnight wasn’t the most lethal of the group. They were exactly what she needed right now.

  “Are you listening to me?”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Damn it, Honor!”

  She softened, just like she almost always did.

  “Yes, Daddy. I’m listening.”

  Okay, so Daddy was a sneak attack. The word got to him like nothing else could. She found it funny how he’d brought her up to be the way she was and now wanted to change her.

  “You can’t go waltzing into their turf and expect them to play nice. Not with them knowing you researched them.”

  “It’s important to research prospective employers.” She hadn’t really thought about a job, but it might be just what she needed.

  “Over my dead body.”

  “You fired me remember? You can’t get mad at me for job searching using the only skills I have.”

  “One phone call and you won’t make it in the door.”

  “One phone call and you’ll never hear from me again.” Most likely because she’d be dead. She wasn’t going to share her stupidity with him though.

  “Are you threatening me, little girl?”

  She snorted. Yet, another habit her dad had taught her that, now, he took offense to.

  “I was taught never to make a threat you didn’t plan to back up.”

  He sighed again. He seemed to sigh a lot when he talked to her. “Think hard about the choices you’re making right now. Be sure you can handle the consequences.”

  She just wanted to be alive to handle them. She decided to try to bluff her way out. He wasn’t here. He didn’t know for sure where she was going.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He had to be fishing for answers. She wasn’t telling him where she was headed. “I’m taking a little vacation. Going to get some R&R for a bit. Stop worrying so much. You sound like an old woman.”

  Her dad laughed and she smiled. His laugh conjured all sorts of great memories.

  “You’re heading straight into the lion’s den, Honor. I can see the dot on the map. At your current speed you’ll be in Legacy by early evening.”

  “Son of a bitch!” she exploded. He had a fucking beacon on her Jeep! “Where is it? Where did you hide it?”

  “I’m not telling you. Searching for it will keep you busy for a while.”

  “I’ll just ditch the damn thing.”

  “The Jeep you’ve had since you were a kid? The one you’ve tweaked and computerized as much as you can? Not a chance. You’ll take it apart and put it back together to find it, but you won’t get rid of it.”

  He was right and that just pissed her the hell off.

  “One of these days, old man.”

  He laughed again. “Keep dreaming, little girl.”

  Silence for a few seconds then his voice filled her car again.

  “Be careful, Honor. These guys are more than a file of facts. And Midnight won’t watc
h out for you like I have.”

  “I’ll be fine.” Did he really think she couldn’t make it without him? Her decision to keep him out of the mess she was in solidified in her head. It was past time to cut the cord and move on. Hopefully, she’d find the help she needed with Stace and Midnight, Inc.

  “When you get there, say hello to Gil Daniels. Give him my name. He’s a good guy. Honest and trustworthy.”

  Gil Daniels. Police detective with Legacy P.D. Black hair, blue eyes. Married to Moira Madigan, daughter of Jack Madigan. They had one daughter. A solid family guy. Former Marine who had served under her dad more than once. Brother to one Griff Daniels.

  “Stop going over the facts.”

  Her dad knew her well.

  “People are more than information in a file.” So funny he said that so often now when he was the one who showed her how to put a file together.

  “I know.”

  “Do you?” He sighed again. “One good thing has come out of this whole mess.”

  “What?”

  “It’s gotten you out of isolation and moving around in the real world.”

  Oh God. If he knew how the real world experience had created the mess she was in, he’d isolate her and keep her under lock and key.

  “I move around in the real world.”

  “A computer is not the real world.”

  As far as she was concerned it was the best world. Facts didn’t lie. People did. Vince had certainly proven that correct. Besides, she just didn’t fit in. Her height, her mouth, and her overall clumsiness seemed to always have people giving her a wide berth and going out of their way to avoid her. So she avoided them instead. No harm, no foul.

  “Just be careful, Honor.”

  “I’ll be fine. Promise.”

  “Call me if you need anything. If I can’t come, I’ll have one of the guys there instantly.”

  Translation, one of the guys was probably already in place or on his way to Legacy. She wondered which one he’d sent.

  “Honor.”