Blackout: A Romance Anthology Read online

  Table of Contents

  CLOSE ENCOUNTER

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  ABOUT STEPHANIE ST. KLAIRE

  BOOKS BY STEPHANIE ST. KLAIRE

  THE DO-OVER

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  ABOUT CHRISTI BARTH

  BOOKS BY CHRISTI BARTH

  NIGHT & DAY

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  EPILOGUE

  BONUS EPILOGUE

  ABOUT BETHANY LOPEZ

  BOOKS BY BETHANY LOPEZ

  NIGHT GAMES

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  ABOUT T.K. LEIGH

  BOOKS BY T.K. LEIGH

  ABSOLUTELY MINE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT TERRI E. LAINE

  BOOKS BY TERRI E. LAINE

  JUST US

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  CHAPTER 18

  CHAPTER 19

  CHAPTER 20

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT J.H. CROIX

  BOOKS BY J.H. CROIX

  BLIND FAITH

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT LAUREN RUNOW

  BOOKS BY LAUREN RUNOW

  DIRTY THOUGHTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT C.A. HARMS

  BOOKS BY C.A. HARMS

  GOING DOWN

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  ABOUT LISA SHELBY

  BOOKS BY LISA SHELBY

  HARD LUCK

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT K.A. WARE

  BOOKS BY K.A. WARE

  BECOMING HIS

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT K.I. LYNN

  BOOKS BY K.I. LYNN

  HONEYMOON HIDEAWAY

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  CHAPTER 13

  CHAPTER 14

  CHAPTER 15

  CHAPTER 16

  CHAPTER 17

  ABOUT CARY HART

  BOOKS BY CARY HART

  FREE BIRD

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT LEDDY HARPER

  BOOKS BY LEDDY HARPER

  THANK YOU

  CLOSE ENCOUNTER

  By Stephanie St. Klaire

  CHAPTER 1

  With his hands around her waist, Cane held Charlie bent over the weight bench while he drove into her, giving her everything he had. This was what they did — how they did it — and it wasn’t anything more than doing a friend a solid. Literally.

  It had been six months since Cane O’Reilly had picked up his current client, Charlotte Adams, in Portland and brought her home with him. Unconventional, but it was the only way to really protect her. Cane was in private security. His company, Brother’s Keeper Security, only dealt with the rich, famous, and high profile. They were the best at what they did, hence landing the only surviving victim of international serial killer, Anson Deveraux, as a client.

  Anson was a master of deception, always changing his appearance and identity. He even hacked his way out of prison while awaiting trial. The man was a diabolical genius. Nobody was out of his reach — not even the President of the United States’ daughter and her security detail, who all became victims of the notorious killer. Deveraux found Charlie three times since being in protective custody, merely escaping the law each time he tried to finish what he’d started with her. That meant Charlie was lucky t
o be alive — lucky four times. It was the President, using his executive power and influence, who quietly brought in a special prosecutor and Brother’s Keeper Security to keep the only surviving witness alive. Then there was the part where they were to hunt the man down with all their resources and bring Deveraux to some sort of justice once and for all — dead, alive, it really didn’t matter.

  Six months with Cane and her newest identity, Charlie was still safe, and apparently grateful as she called out Cane’s name while her pleasure peaked and came down hard around him like an invitation to take his happy ending too. Cane was glad to oblige as he barreled into her, joining her in the waves of satisfaction that followed. They were good at this and made a great team — not just at scratching each other’s itch, but staying alive and under the radar.

  “Jesus, Charlie,” Cane panted.

  “You’re welcome?” Charlie teased, still bracing herself over the weight bench in their home gym.

  “Well, you said you wanted a hard workout to release some stress.” Cane slapped her ass as he grabbed a nearby towel and pulled away. “How’d we do?”

  Charlie grabbed her clothes from the floor in one swoop, heading for the door. “Not the workout I was thinking, but it’ll do.”

  “It’ll do? Seriously, Charlie?” Brows cocked and arms out to his side, Cane was mildly offended.

  It was against every rule in the proverbial book to sleep with a client, but what they were doing wasn’t really sleeping together. It was just sex. Cane and Charlie spent every waking moment together — she was never out of his view — so helping each other satisfy a need here and there was inevitable. No strings attached, no emotions involved, just satisfying a primal need they each had. It could have been worse.

  Cane gathered his things and headed for the shower in the guest room he occupied. It was his house, but the only way to get Charlie on board with sharing a residence with a stranger — a man — was to sell her on the idea that he would stay in the guest house on site…which happened to be a small private wing of the main residence, not really a separate unit. He hadn’t lied, it was just semantics.

  After three years in hiding and zero freedom, Charlie craved independence. So, Cane gave it to her. A living space to herself, a job alongside him where he could have eyes on her at all times, even her own vehicle to use if it meant he was in the vehicle right behind her everywhere she went. It wasn’t total freedom, but he did his best to provide the closest thing to it.

  If it were any other client, he wouldn’t have gone to such measures. There was something about this one, though. Charlie survived torture, sexual assault, and the terror of watching others be murdered right in front of her. She was a fighter determined to be anything but a statistic, and he admired that — even if she was a pain in the ass ninety-five percent of the time.

  “Drive together today?” Cane asked, catching up with Charlie in the kitchen after showering.

  “Nah. Henry Davenport will be checking in today. Biggest whale yet, and his people asked for me specifically to handle his stay. I think I’ll drive myself and get my head straight,” Charlie said, finishing off her bottled water.

  “Asked for you?” Red flags and warning bells always went off when clients asked for Charlie. She’d built a reputation and was building her own clientele, so it was to be expected, but never got easier for Cane. “You dig into the guy?” Cane was already several steps ahead of the game and thoroughly vetted the guy days prior. A final report should have been waiting once he arrived in his office.

  “Of course. This guy is big. Should bring in a nice chunk of change for the casino.” She buckled her stiletto and grabbed her purse.

  “Okay. Just another day then. You sure you don’t want to ride in together?” he asked.

  “Why?” She paused, caution in her stare. “Do you know something? Did you find something on Davenport?”

  Charlie did a really good job keeping it together, given all she’d been through over the years. By all rights and purposes, it would have made sense if she wasn’t okay or able to keep it together. Hell, it would have made sense if she never wanted to leave the house again, given all she’d endured. Not Charlie, though. She spent a lot of time working on herself, determined not to let her past hinder her future. But, every now and again, something triggered her. In this case, it could have been something as simple as Cane’s tone…or the fact that they’d just had sex.

  Intimacy was hard for her. It was purely physical to satiate a need she’d clearly rather not have. It was a switch she couldn’t shut off. Charlie trusted Cane, plain and simple, and he was the only man she’d been with since her attack. But even after all these years, trust only went so far because facing Cane during sex stirred panic. They’d learned that the hard way. The bloody nose Charlie gave Cane lasted only minutes; the black eye only a week. She had felt so bad, she didn’t leave her room for three days, at least while he was up, but he would hear her late at night, stalking to the kitchen for something to eat.

  Something about that experience softened Cane where Charlie was concerned. He wasn’t a relationship guy. At all. But his instincts were heightened where she was involved. His need to protect her from everything, including her nightmares, grew daily. So, when she returned to him, wanting to conquer her fear, he helped her. They tried and failed many times until they finally found what worked for her. Charlie enjoyed sex, especially with Cane, but only if she was turned away with her back to him.

  It made sense to Cane. While being with him may have brought her pleasure, looking in the eyes of her lover was easily replaced with the eyes of her attacker. Charlie was satisfied with the progress, and it had been their thing ever since. But there were times when Cane wanted to show her how much he desired her, wanted her to see every touch and well-placed kiss he left.

  He wanted to witness the heat in her eyes and see if it matched the fire in her moans. Cane wasn’t falling for her — or so he said — he was just done fucking her. He wanted to make love to her instead. He wasn’t ready to admit that, though, and being careful with her was always priority one. Love wasn’t on the table anyway. Cane didn’t have the capacity to love like that, given his line of work. Loving someone put an instant target on their back. He settled for strong like instead, even if it only made sense to him. So, this was them — friends with mind-blowing benefits — until she was ready for more.

  “You know. Maybe I will ride with you after all. No sense in wasting the gas.” Charlie grabbed a new water bottle to ward off the unusually warm winter day and headed for the garage. “I can finish preparing for the client while you drive.”

  Cane nodded. He knew this was more about fear than practicality. Whatever triggered her paranoia had her on alert, so he’d play chauffer under the guise of frugality. Being considerate, he made it seem like it was no big deal, because it wasn’t, and blew it off. “Yeah, good for the environment and all that.”

  “Let’s get going, O’Reilly,” Charlie hollered from the garage as she stepped into his car.

  Cane saluted to absolutely no one, and said quietly, “Got it, boss.”

  He stood there for a moment and looked around for no real reason other than to stall. Any time they left the house, Cane gave himself a quick pep talk and got his head together. Once they left his impenetrable fortress, the real work began, and instincts needed to be on point. It was easy to keep her safe within his compound, but when duty called, it was time to face the real world, and it was a real son of a bitch — especially when Anson Deveraux was roaming around in it.

  CHAPTER 2

  “When’s your…?” Cane stalled, distracted by a blonde couple sucking face at the VIP check in counter at the hotel casino he and Charlie worked at.

  Charlie snapped her fingers in front of his face. “Eyes over here, O’Reilly. It’s not a free porn hub video.”

  Cane whipped his head Charlie’s way. “A…what? I don’t…watch…that.”

  “Uh huh, just strangers making out in the
lobby then?” she questioned as she flipped through her files.

  “Yeah. I mean, no,” he corrected. “I’m not even watching that,” Cane insisted. “There’s something about them. Are they on your list?”

  “Nope. Kandi brought them to my attention. I guess they’ve been in town a week or so and have been cleaning up all over the strip,” Charlie said, leaning against the counter, just out of ear shot. “I upgraded them to a suite and comp’d some dinner and show reservations. See what they’re all about.”

  Anyone commanding that much attention in a public place typically meant something. They were causing a scene for a reason. They wanted to be noticed. Most would think someone up to no good would lay low, go under the radar, and stay unnoticed. But Cane knew better. He had been in this town long enough to know two-bit cons made their presence known. They were likable, earned the trust of those around them — they were the last to be accused because they were hiding in plain sight and never appeared to be missing, because everyone saw them, remembered them. It’s the quiet ones who were always first on the suspect list — and the real crooks were long gone before they were figured out.

  “I don’t think they’re whales.” Cane was sizing them up. “They don’t have real money. If they’re cleaning up, it isn’t the honest way.”

  Charlie rolled her eyes at Cane’s judgement. “Oh, come on. Not everyone is a criminal, Cane. You think anyone fun, or having fun, is up to something. Newsflash, the world’s not out to get’cha. Not everyone is a bad guy waiting to get caught by big, bad Cane O’Reilly and his crew.”

  “His accent isn’t real.” Cane crossed his arms and tilted his head as he began to profile the glowing couple who seemingly couldn’t get enough of each other.

  “They’re just a couple of Orange County airheads,” Charlie defended, even if it was a bit of an insult. She thought they were fun and cute — and may have earned her a nice bonus. “Maybe he’s just had a few drinks and that’s all you’re hearing. He’s just…slurring.”

  “Speaking of Orange County — that orange tan came from a bottle, and if booze can make your British accent sound Australian every other word, then yeah, a few drinks.”

  “As long as they’re spending money on the casino floor, all is good.” Charlie shrugged. “Fake accent or not, their head to toe couture is worth more than our salaries combined, I’m sure.”

  “Knock off,” Cane deadpanned. “That couture is as real as the Rolex I’m not wearing, and if you think that bottle blonde is natural, I’d suggest you comp a waxing at the spa and take a peak. See if the curtains match the drapes.”

  “Pfft,” Charlie spat. “Maybe you should watch some porn hub. You’re sounding a little desperate if you want to look under robes in the spa.”