Summer Fire Read online
Summer Fire
20 Reasons to Love When It’s Hot
Gennita Low | R.J. Lewis | L. Wilder | Victoria Danann | Kym Grosso | Cat Miller | Mimi Barbour | Clarissa Wild | Teresa Gabelman | Helen Scott Taylor | Victoria James | Mona Risk | Patrice Wilton | Linda Barlow | Joan Reeves | Danielle Jamie | Terri Marie | Lorhainne Eckhart | Brandy L Rivers | Nicole Blanchard
Sizzle
Copyright © 2015 Gennita Low
Sinful
Copyright © 2015 R.J. Lewis
Summer Storm
Copyright © 2015 L. Wilder
A Season in Gemini
Copyright © 2015 Victoria Danann
Solstice Burn
Copyright © 2015 Kym Grosso
Sun Burnt
Copyright © 2015 Cat Miller
Big Girls Don’t Cry
Copyright © 2015 Mimi Barbour
Killer
Copyright © 2015 Clarissa Wild
Rodeo Romance
Copyright © 2015 Teresa Gabelman
Irish Kisses
Copyright © 2015 Helen Scott Taylor
Sweet Surrender
Copyright © 2015 Victoria James
Husband for a Week
Copyright © 2015 Mona Risk
A Man for Hire
Copyright © 2015 Patrice Wilton
My Mile-High Mistake
Copyright © 2015 Linda Barlow
Heat Lightning
Copyright © 2015 Joan Reeves
Tan Lines and Salty Kisses
Copyright © 2015 Danielle Jamie
Someone Exactly Like You
Copyright © 2015 Terri Marie
His Promise
Copyright © 2015 Lorhainne Eckhart
Summer Rhythm
Copyright © 2015 Brandy L Rivers
Anchor
Copyright © 2015 Nicole Blanchard
EPUB Edition
Box Set Contents
Gennita Low
Sizzle
Spies, Lola and Jake, fall hard for each other. Is their love strong enough for one assignment that would risk everything?
R.J. Lewis
Sinful
Two different people from two different worlds find their lives colliding in the most sinful way.
L. Wilder
Summer Storm
VP Guardrail’s life has always been his MC club. It’s up to him to fix a wrong, but he wasn’t expecting Allie to take him by storm.
Victoria Danann
A Season in Gemini
The first time sexy biker, Brant Fornight, saw Garland St. Germaine, he knew she was going to turn him inside out. And she did.
Kym Grosso
Solstice Burn
Love and temptation flare in a tropical paradise. When Chase rescues Penny, she learns to embrace her inner fantasies.
Cat Miller
Sun Burnt
Kesslyn inherits a ranch, but the city girl is unsure she’s up for the challenge. Can her sexy foreman rope her into staying forever?
Mimi Barbour
Big Girls Don’t Cry
He’s everything she’s ever wanted in a man. And she’s nothing like the girl she wants to be. Something’s gotta change…
Clarissa Wild
Killer
Secrets could kill you. He murdered her husband. She’s the prime suspect seeking justice. Only one of them can win.
Teresa Gabelman
Rodeo Romance
Jake McCabe had one rule. Never date a client. Trisha Summers had a new rule. Never date a man again. Rules were meant to be broken.
Helen Scott Taylor
Irish Kisses
Ten years ago he said he loved her, then he left and broke her heart. Now he’s back, and he wants her again, but can she trust him?
Victoria James
Sweet Surrender
Cade showing up on her doorstep is not what Julia wants-but this bad-boy is back and ready to convince her that this time is forever…
Mona Risk
Husband for a Week
A Sicilian vendetta, a fake husband, and a matchmaking grandmother complicate Jonathan and Isabella’s lives. Can love conquer all?
Patrice Wilton
A Man for Hire
Jordon’s ex-boyfriend is bringing home a bride. To save face she hires a hot guy for the weekend. Sparks fly—can this be love?
Linda Barlow
My Mile-High Mistake
Six years ago, she yearned for her sexy, forbidden high school teacher. Now she can’t resist his temptation at 35,000 feet.
Joan Reeves
Heat Lightning
Her husband found her, claimed her, rescued her. His touch makes her throb. Her body knows him, but she remembers nothing about him.
Danielle Jamie
Tan Lines and Salty Kisses
Becca and Parker have a second chance at summer romance. The spark is hotter than a Georgia July. Can it withstand news of his secret?
Terri Marie
Someone Exactly Like You
Cameron Barron’s plan was solid. A few lies, a disguise, and an apology to Chastity Newberry… What could possibly go wrong?
Lorhainne Eckhart
His Promise
A love they thought would last forever. A promise forgotten. Until one summer night.
Brandy L Rivers
Summer Rhythm
Doug never could resist Chloe. She always runs. Will this time be different or is their summer rhythm destined to repeat.
Nicole Blanchard
Anchor
I thought it was a weekend from hell, until he showed me a little piece of heaven.
Sizzle
Gennita Low
Prologue
We didn’t meet often, but every time I saw her, my brain went to my dick. Every. Fucking. Time. The way her big eyes looked at me. That half-pout of a smile. The slinky walk with those long, long legs.
I wanted her so badly.
At first, I chalked it up to her beauty. Some spies could turn people on with a look. Sex trappers, we called them. It was fine to play along and I’d been trained to do my job, get my own information and leave the other side alone. She had her own job and I had mine.
Our paths crossed so many times. We started to talk and became friends. If people like us could be friends. One thing led to another and we started flirting.
She made me laugh, which surprised me. She was light to my darkness, like a sliver of sunshine amid stormy clouds. I began to dream of seeing her more often. Sometimes, during the dark hours of watching and waiting—spies did that a lot—I’d idly fantasize about going dark, working on my own, and kidnapping and spiriting her away somewhere. She’d be all mine and I’d finally make love to her and spend time doing all the things I wanted to do with her.
It wouldn’t be easy, what with today’s technological advances, but it was possible. So, in the dark, during an operation, waiting for action, my mind searched for ways to be erased.
Tsun Tzu, in the Art of War, taught of there were five classes of spies: the local, the inward, the converted, the doomed and finally, the surviving spies. I used to wonder which class I belonged to, and which one I should work towards as a goal. I mean, even spies, cynical lot as we were, should have a few goals.
As a young man, I was interested in history and philosophy. I wanted to see the world and find out its secrets. Back then, it was more like: so this important person died in this country, so let’s travel there and retrace the steps and se
e if I would agree with what the historians told me about this figure.
Now, at thirty-one, I realized I’d captured my dream in a perverted sort of way. My duties carried me around the world and gave me privilege to many of its secrets. There were important people running through my life all these years—people who had shaped history and given me a calling. We named it the game of cloak and daggers, but life and death wasn’t a game for those of us in the field. It was a reality.
I’d lost friends. I’d given up loves. I’d ignored family.
Not any more. I could not lose her.
I’d come to a decision to create another class of spies. Not just a surviving spy, one who returned to give news to his master—I was already that many times over—but one who could erase himself. The disappearing spy. Yeah, some hokey term like that would do.
So, it started with my wanting to fuck this woman, this spy known to seduce with a look. Fucking was easy and I’d avoided that. Avoided it all so I could talk to her, to see what was behind that smoky voice and too-innocent face. In the end, I fell like a ton of bricks for her and the plan to be the disappearing spy had taken root.
Why would I do this, you ask? Cynicism, perhaps? Overgrown disillusion about the state of affairs in the world? Well, yes, partly that. But, the top reason would make Tsun Tzu very angry and disappointed with me as a soldier of the game. I did it…for love.
Chapter One
Lola cut her steak carefully into little bites. She popped a piece of meat into her mouth and enjoyed the burst of flavor on her tongue. She was sent here on “holiday,” amid the chaos that was the Ukraine. Her other mission was to meet with a man called Stanov but that was later. Right now, she’d enjoy her “holiday.” Right now, she’d sit quietly and contemplate whether her recent decision was too crazy.
She took a sip of her wine and looked out of the window to enjoy the view of the Azov seaboard. It was a nice hotel, undamaged by the unrest in the city. Outside, the ceasefire was holding. Here, she was given a room as a “guest” and there was enough staff left to take care of her needs.
What she needed wasn’t here, though. But he would be soon.
Wouldn’t he?
A part of her mind nervously played on her naturally suspicious nature. What if he changed his mind and didn’t show up?
Then you continue with your job, came the quiet assurance. It’s not the end of the world. Easily said but not easily believed. She’d known Jacob Travis long enough to know, if he didn’t show up, it could only mean two things—he’d been found out and was prevented somehow to continue, or, he’d decided the risk wasn’t worth it, and if the latter were true, then all his words had been lies, falsehoods to persuade someone from the opposite side to betray her job.
There were tensions between their countries, after all. It was the growing tension this past year that had decided their course of action. If they waited any longer, it’d be dangerous for them to talk as “acquaintances.” Previously, an alliance was allowed here and there during operations of mutual benefit but the opportunities were getting fewer as both their sides were playing their version of Cold War spy games.
It was time, he’d said, when they’d last met. And her heart had bloomed like a flower at the thought of being with him, away from all this.
“Yes,” she’d replied.
His smile back was so damn sexy. “Cannot wait.”
That was a few months ago and with many dangerous messages hidden through various means, communicating the next location, the next possibility, they’d finally found the right place and the right time. And here she was, Lola Kalina, waiting to disappear with the man she loved.
A man entered the restaurant. Lola looked sideways. It wasn’t him.
Although there was unrest in the area, there was a cease fire in place and people were venturing about the city, cautiously hopeful as they enjoyed a rare day without the sounds of shelling and gunshots. She felt sorry for Mariupol’s citizens. Russians love to come here for their vacations and in happier times, she’d visited with a few friends. Now, there were Russians here with a different agenda.
She sighed. How did Jake put it? Sometimes, following orders sucked canal water. He’d made her laugh with that. Such a strange term. Exchanging silly colloquial terms, they giggled like kids sharing a secret.
There hadn’t been much laughter in her life. It was a strict upbringing, with many rules and not much freedom. Even now, the freedom she had was a restricted kind. The first time she’d laughed spontaneously was when Jake put on the most ridiculous disguise at an assignment in which she’d been tasked to get someone’s attention through the usual seduction. Jacob Travis had arrived dressed as a clown, big nose, big feet, the whole make-up, even an act. Nobody had recognized him but she did. The fake bald patch with the rainbow tufts of hair couldn’t disguise the way he walked. He’d shown up, apparently at the wrong party, and started giving a show, even though there were no kids around. By the time the people came along to get him out of there, he’d already accomplished his task—handed off a balloon animal to a woman. No doubt, with a secret message in it.
Lola had enjoyed the ridiculousness of it all, so much so, she hadn’t reported it to her superiors. The clown act was in direct contrast with her usual method, and had given her a few minutes of pure surprise, then laughter. She’d wished…she’d wished she could be a clown.
How odd was that moment? And yes, it was then she’d started feeling more than attraction for “that American spy,” as she’d called him. His eyes had caught hers and his gaze had lingered for an extra moment. He’d then winked conspiratorially, as if daring her to expose him. He’d even leered at her, with his tongue hanging out. Wicked man.
She took another bite of her steak and then a sip of her wine. She frowned. Then smiled secretly, a glowing joy welling up her heart. It wasn’t what she’d ordered but she’d tasted that particular drink before. He was here.
*
“This plan will get her killed.”
Jake turned to look at the other man looking through the small two-way mirror in the office. Lola was sitting eight feet away, facing them, looking relaxed and enjoying her meal. She took a sip of her drink. Her brow furrowed a little, then a small smile appeared, as if she suddenly remembered something.
“I hope so,” Jake said, quietly.
He couldn’t take his gaze away, drawn to the way she was eating. Little bites. She picked a small cherry tomato and slowly popped it between her luscious lips, her tongue licking away the juice. He must remember to get finger food so he could feed her himself. He wanted to lick the juice off himself. In fact, he wanted to lick her all over. What would she taste like?
“If this plan fails, we will die,” his companion interrupted his reverie.
Jake slanted Marco a glance, studying the demeanor of the other man. He didn’t appear nervous or hesitant. Good. He didn’t want someone who would change course from the original plan.
“Your side needs the information. I can’t get this directly without attention.”
“Too many news people,” Marco agreed. “Can’t have an American getting any mention in the news right now.”
“We’ll give them a story,” Jake said. He nodded toward to Lola. “Her info will be good. Whether we succeed or not, the exposure alone would be worth it for your side.”
Marco nodded. “True, but it’d be 100 times better if we could get our hands on the weapons.”
“It’d be nice, but the Russians are wily. They layer all their information so I doubt Lola is the only one giving the whole message.”
“If there are other women like her hanging around restaurants in Mariupol right now, all the ‘Russian militia on vacation’ are lucky men,” Marco joked cynically. His fingers bracketed his phrase in quotation marks. It was well-known the Russians were using that term as an excuse to bring fighters into the city. “Where are all these pretty women, I wonder?”
Jake shrugged. He was only interested in one
. “There will be different couriers. She is just one I know.”
“What if she’s a decoy? Then what?”
Jake had wondered about that. Perhaps he was just a foolish man to place his heart above his head, to really believe everything Lola had told him. It was too late now. He was going through with it, no matter what.
“Then I’ll deal with her,” he said. “Just one step at a time. We first trick Viktor. The rest follows.”
Marco inhaled deeply, paused, then let out his breath slowly. “All right. We’ll do it, but there are no guarantees she’ll make it.”
Jake nodded back. “You just leave her to me,” he said.
He watched Lola finished her drink. She unwrapped a small piece of complimentary chocolate and bit into it. He’d made sure it was her favorite kind. Her face lifted and her smile of pleasure radiated all the way into his heart. Soon. Soon he would be part of that pleasure too.
“And so it begins,” he murmured.
*
She had a text from her handler on her disposable phone. Her instructions for Day 1 were relatively simple. It was sent right on schedule, right after lunch.
You’re on holiday. They’re watching. Go shopping. Seduce someone tonight. Convince them you’re there for fun.
The Ukrainians were looking for Russian infiltrators, soldiers coming in and then secretly joining the rebels. That was why they’d sent her. One might overlook a woman doing some shopping and having casual sex. She sighed. She knew she was being watched by both sides. If she didn’t bring a man into her room that night, there would be questions.
The summer weather was perfect for market day. Despite the fear that the ceasefire wouldn’t hold, the citizens were out, taking a chance to enjoy life and resume normalcy. Lola strode, casually stopping at a stall and moving on to the next, picking up scarves and sunglasses and donning them.