Sophie Oak: Back in Bliss

She walked up as boldly as she could and cocked a hip at Kent whose eyes went right to her chest. “I’m game. You said you would be honest, well, I will, too. I’m a practical girl. I’ll go with the guy who offers me the best deal.”

No lying there. The best deal was the one Seth and Logan offered her. Pure, no-holds-barred, stick-together-even-when-the-going-went-to-complete-shit love. They offered her nothing less than a life where things could go wrong and they could fight and make each other crazy and still know that they would get in bed at the end of the day and turn to each other because they were in it together. They were the end game. No one else.

So she didn’t even have to lie to him. She was telling him flat out who she would choose.

“I can offer a lot,” Kent said.

He had nothing on her men. “I imagine you can. So who’s this Bishop guy? I want to help out if it gets us out of this dingbat town.” She loved Bliss. She could stay here. She would even get used to the moose and stuff, but she would bet that Mr. Big Suit didn’t love small-town living. “I don’t know why he dragged me here.”

Kent smirked her way. “You’re a big-city girl. That’s obvious. So you’ve never heard of John Bishop? Think hard, sweetheart. Any information you can give me would help.”

She scrunched up her face, pretending to tax her brain. “I’ve worked for Seth for months. I don’t think he’s on the payroll, but I could find out, maybe get you an address. I just need a computer. Or I could call into the office. We don’t have to make this bloody. This carpet is like, really expensive and stuff. I think the blood would make it less pretty.”

Yeah, she was good at this.

Kent smiled at her, watching her lips as she wet them with her tongue. If she only had her heels, she would bring one very slowly down on the bridge of his foot, letting it sink into the skin, and then she might actually get to shoot a son of a bitch. “Bishop isn’t working for Stark, sweetheart. I rather think it’s the other way around. You see, John Bishop was a ghost, a spook.”

“OMG, you’re a ghost hunter.” A little blondeness never hurt. It always got the guys to think she was cute and stupid and harmless. Why was Seth involved with the CIA? She knew exactly what a spook was. Her brothers were Delta Force. “Do you have one of those EMFBS thingees? Like on TV? They like hear ghosts and stuff. I don’t think Seth believes in ghosts.”

Kent laughed. His right hand relaxed. That was his gun hand. Yes, he was relaxing around her because he really believed she wasn’t a threat. She was sweet and pretty and only good for a fuck. Oh, she was going to show him. “I really wish these guys understood a lick of English because they would be very amused by you. So pretty and so vacant. Just like I like my women.” He turned to his henchman, giving them a shorthand gesture. “ Señor ?”

The man closest to Seth planted a fist in his gut. She heard the air whoosh out of his lungs and then his harsh moan of pain wracked her. She rolled her eyes as though the sound annoyed her when it really hurt her down to her soul. She wanted to take the pain for him, but he would never allow it.

Where was Logan? She needed Logan. They needed him so badly. Had it just been a few hours before that she’d held him tight and promised him everything she had? Logan was the hero. He was the one who came out of nowhere and saved the day. Seth was the one who held them together. She needed them both.

“No, sweetheart. Bishop is supposed to be a real ghost, but after my counterpart in South America got through…interviewing…an old barkeep who thought he could get away from us, well, we found out that Bishop isn’t exactly as dead as he should be. If only his counterparts in the CIA had as good intelligence as we did. Turns out Bishop has a couple of half brothers he didn’t know about, and they’ve been looking for him. Surprise. They weren’t happy to discover that their long-lost sibling died at the hands of the evil cartel. They’ve been rather angry, you see. They killed my boss’s brothers. Three of them. Seems like Trace and Levi Conners were some serious shit in black ops before they found out big brother was missing. Now they’ve gone mercenary, and guess who their target is?”

She had no idea what any of this had to do with Seth. There was no way Seth was John Bishop. Was he related to him? She knew how close family could be, even when they were miles apart. Please let Win be alive. “It sounds like they don’t like your boss. Or his brothers.”

He actually purred a little as his free hand came out to pull her close. She was pulled hard against his body, his hand going low to cup her ass. “You are just a little bundle of joy, aren’t you, blondie? You’re going to be a lot of fun to keep around. No. They don’t like my boss and my boss sure as hell doesn’t like them. They’ve been busy torching multimillion-dollar crops and blowing up our safe houses.”

They sounded kind of awesome to Georgia, but it wasn’t a thing she would point out now. Not while they kept pounding on Seth. How much could he take? They were using him like a punching bag.

And Kent, the giant asshole, had an erection he was rubbing against her. “As we knew we didn’t kill John Bishop, my boss found the last man to see him alive. Bishop faked his death. After we paid a hacker a ton of money, all we were able to find was a cell phone we suspect belonged to Bishop. It was used shortly after his car exploded and he went up in a ball of fire and smoke. Do you know who he called?”

She shook her head.

He turned his eyes to Seth. “You, Mr. Stark. He called you. Why would a CIA operative contact a college kid? Was his father not the only one who liked to mess around and leave his bastard kids behind? Is he your father? Or just a guy who liked to bugger college boys?”

He held a hand up. Apparently his goons were well trained. They stopped immediately, and Seth’s head rolled forward, his exhaustion and pain apparent. “Don’t know what you’re talking about, man. I don’t know anyone named John Bishop.”

Georgia looked around. She’d lost track of two of the men. One seemed to have stayed out front and another had walked to the back door. There was a man hovering in the hallway to her left, leaning against the wall, watching the action. The last man she could account for had walked back toward the bedroom looking for anyone else in the house. He’d been gone for a while. She couldn’t stand the thought of that man walking into their bedroom, the room where she was safe and loved.

There was a banging noise that came from that direction and a crash as something broke.

Kent’s head whipped around. “What was that?”

Seth spit blood before talking. “That was very likely a priceless antique. Your henchmen don’t seem to appreciate the value of fine vases. If they destroyed the one I think it was, it was from China. Ming Dynasty. Or they might have smashed a couple of Fabergé eggs. Idiots.”

There was nothing like that back in the bedroom. It was tastefully decorated, but not with antiques. What was Seth doing?

A little light hit his eyes even though he was in rough shape. He gave Georgia a wink.

Logan was coming for them, and Seth knew it. She had to be ready.

She put a hand on Kent’s chest. “He’s not lying. He’s got some seriously amazing stuff back there. We don’t want to leave without it. It’s a fortune just sitting there and collecting dust. And I think I have the code to his safe.”

She looked over at the hall that led to the secondary bedrooms. The man who had been leaning there so negligently didn’t see that Nell Flanders’s husband was walking up behind him. What was he doing here? God, she hoped he didn’t get hurt. Nell was such a sweetheart.