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  “It’s not him. Though he was used to recruit me, Wheeler hired me to oversee your group directly.” She gave an apologetic sigh. “I’m sorry.”

  “That’s not possible. The last time Wheeler and I spoke—” He broke off, remembering the conversation. Wheeler had told him he’d be getting a new person in the team. Or maybe he’d said someone to lead the team. Fucking hell! She couldn’t be his new boss. What kind of messed up game was Galvez playing?

  “Look, James—”

  “Brock.”

  She pursed her lips. “Fine. Brock. The past is the past. We can’t change it. Let’s focus on the job. Though I am sure you’ve been great at leading this team, they want someone with more experience doing physical retrieval of victims.”

  “Is that what you’ve been doing?” When she’d left, he’d been hurt, angry, and lonely. But he’d ignored her wishes and tried to find her. Every search brought him up empty handed. She’d disappeared. Left him alone. Left him hurting to be with her, near her, again.

  “Yes… I-I’ve been working for the Bureau for a few years now. Let’s try to find common ground to help this team succeed. I really want to prove to Galvez that Wheeler made the right move.”

  He shot to his feet. In a fluid move, he walked around his desk and stopped in front of her.

  “Brock…” Her voice had that little tremble he recognized when she was trying really hard to act tough. Unfortunately, for her, he’d learned each of her body’s reactions. He also picked up on the scent of pain seeping from her pores.

  “Okay, you want to find common ground? Let’s start by you telling me why you left after accepting my proposal.” He ground the words out past the knot in his throat. The beast inside him hurt. He’d missed her. His mate.

  Raw pain flashed through her eyes. Pain that made his breath catch. Pure agony drifted from her and shot straight to his heart, stabbing holes into him.

  “Don’t do this, James.” Her soft plea wrapped around his gut and squeezed. Squeezed until his muscles burned from how hard it was to stand there and not grab her. Hold her. Touch her. But how could he not ask? He needed to find out what drove her away, or he’d never move past it.

  He stepped toward her. Watched her eyes widen. Need urged him to touch her. To slide his fingers over the side of her face liked he’d done countless times before. Then she would lean into his touch. And he’d lick a slow trail over her full lips. The animal inside him urged him to get a taste.

  Of her skin.

  Of her lips.

  Of her scent.

  Those pouty lips beckoned him closer. Lust roared through him like a volcano erupting for the first time. He had to control himself. They were at his office. In full view of everyone. No matter what his animal wanted, he couldn’t have her. Yet.

  “Brock, wh-what are you doing?”

  The beast pushed under his skin. Power danced over his pores. It was the ultimate high. Her presence had created a chain reaction he hadn’t experienced since she’d left. The room shook. He wanted to let go. To let his thick dark pull of power reign.

  “Brock! Control yourself,” she demanded in a barely audible whisper. Her gaze darted out of the room to the work floor. No one seemed to realize what was going on in his office.

  He inhaled and reined in his power. “Sorry. Got a little excited there.”

  “Yeah, I know all about that.” She glanced at his lips. Seductive gold eyes met his gaze. Lust shone bright.

  “Listen—”

  Ringing stopped him short. She frowned, dug into her pocket and pulled out a cell phone. Her frown deepened as she pressed the talk button. “Vega.”

  “Cici?”

  Brock heard both sides of the conversation without a problem due to his enhanced hearing.

  “Clara?”

  “I need you, Cici.” The female voice on the other end of the line sounded upset.

  “What’s wrong? We haven’t spoken in so long, Clara. What do you need?” Cyn rubbed a hand over her right temple, brow puckered in confusion.

  “It’s my little girl, Roxy. She’s missing. I think something’s happened to her.”

  “The best thing to do is call the police,” she replied slowly. “Have you tried that?”

  He wondered why she was speaking as if the woman couldn’t understand.

  “Yes, I did. They are looking for her boyfriend. Stupid girl,” the woman’s voice grew angry. “I told her that boy would get her into trouble. Now look at her.”

  “Okay, Clara. Let me call your local police department and speak to them directly.”

  “No no no. You have to come. You have to find her.” Clara choked out. The poor woman sounded desperate.

  Cyn glanced up. Their gazes clashed. Sparks flew. She bit her lip. Confusion and concerned floated toward him, enveloping him in its grasp. Instinct urged him to hold her. Make it better. He curled his hands into fists, waiting.

  “Clara, let me try the police, and then I’ll see what the best course of action is.” Her voice stayed soft and reassuring.

  “Okay. I’ll wait for you, Cici.”

  She disconnected the call. For a long quiet minute, she stared down at the phone lost in thought.

  “Everything okay?”

  Her head jerked up. “You heard. That was my aunt. I haven’t seen her in a long time. Many years.”

  Emotions played across her features. Sadness. Fear. Resignation. “Will you go?”

  His door burst open, saving her from answering his question.

  Brock turned on his heel to face the intruder. Annoyance at having his time with her interrupted made him react. “What do you want?”

  Ramirez and Donovan’s eyes widened at his loud growl.

  “Sorry, boss. Didn’t realize you were busy.” Ramirez grinned over Brock’s shoulder to Cyn.

  “I’m sorry, Brock.” Donovan glanced to and fro between him and Cyn. Her brows rose. She’d noticed his protective stance in front of Cyn. Fuck. Now he’d have to say something to them about her.

  “Donovan, right?” Cynthia marched around him, leaving a soft trail of Jasmine as she passed him by. The scent continued to torture him with memories of watching her spraying some of the perfume over her naked body. All for him. So he could kiss every place she’d sprayed and start hours of lovemaking that would last all night.

  “Er…yes.” Donovan glanced at him. There were questions in her eyes. Questions he couldn’t answer.

  “I’m Cynthia Vega. The new Director and lead for the FPU.”

  Donovan frowned. “Excuse me?”

  Ramirez’s smiled widened. He took a step toward Cynthia, grabbed her hand, and brought it to his lips. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  Cynthia studied him for a moment. Then a smile split her lips. “You’re Ramirez.”

  He bowed low. “At your service madam.”

  Brock had to check his anger. He wanted to strangle his own friend. Even though he knew Ramirez wasn’t being serious, it bothered him to see him touch Cyn. She was his. Only his. Something tightened around his gut.

  He had bigger problems at the moment. Control. He had to stay in control. Power pushed at his pores, seeking to destroy everything around him. That power was the reason he’d been chosen to lead the FPU. Probably the same reason Cyn was taking over now. What a joke. The heads of the Bureau wouldn’t want someone able to dish out so much destruction in charge of such a special unit. He had known it would only be a matter of time before they took his team.

  “I heard about you, Ramirez.” Her voice lowered. “I know you’ve been dying to get some time off so you can go relax at your beach house.”

  The vice squeezing Brock’s stomach loosened. Cynthia knew what Ramirez was about.

  Donovan had been glaring at Ramirez for his overt display of affection. She smiled suddenly, her green eyes sparkling like two emeralds. There wasn’t another person in the world with Donovan’s eyes. She was unique in every way. A soft giggle escaped her.

  R
amirez winked over his shoulder at Donovan. “You are more than welcome to come to my beach house with me, princesa.”

  Cyn took a step closer to Ramirez, her posture relaxed. She was anything but. “I’ll ignore your stupidity this one time, Ramirez. Because I know you’re trying to provoke me. But be very clear.” She folded her arms over her chest. “I don’t need to write you up or put you on unpaid time off.”

  “Oh?” The cocky grin slid off Ramirez’s lips.

  “I know what you are.” Her smile grew, until it showed the small dimple on her right cheek. “You need the outdoors. You need air. But if you don’t behave while I’m around, I’ll have you go work with the analysts who gather our data for us.”

  Ramirez snorted. He folded his arms over his chest, large muscles contracting. “So?”

  Cyn shrugged. “They work in the basement level.” Her gaze pierced Ramirez in place. “No windows. No sun. No nature.”

  Brock knew she’d never do that. But her words had the desired effect. Ramirez turned pale. He glanced at Brock.

  “She’s in charge. Behave.”

  Cynthia jerked sideways, narrowing her eyes at him. “That goes for you too. Behave.”

  If she only knew. He’d closed off his feelings for any other woman after what she’d done. His team was what mattered for the past ten years. The work they did. Saving those people who had disappeared had been his main goal in life. But now she’d returned. There was no way in hell he was going to sit by and not take advantage of that.

  In order to find out why she left him, he’d need to spend time with her. Wear her down until she opened up to him. He’d find out. If it meant dragging her deliciously curvy body into his bed and doing some really unprofessional things to her, then so be it. He could live with that.

  She headed for the door, stopped at the entrance, and turned to Ramirez. “Try not to get into any more trouble.” She nodded at Donovan. “Keep him in line.”

  Donovan grinned. “Welcome to the team.”

  “Aw, hell,” Tony groaned.

  Brock watched her leave his office. His gaze immediately dropped to her ass. She still had the curves that made his mouth water. He’d always loved that about her. She wasn’t a stick figure. She was fucking hot. Cyn was tough enough to never let anyone take her for a ride. But she was also a good person. Kind. Caring. Compassionate. He’d seen that inner beauty of hers. It made him want to fight against whatever it was that drove her from him in the first place.

  Chapter Three

  Cynthia tried to keep her cool as she headed for her office. After all the training and extractions she’d done, it’d suck completely for her to lose her self-control now. Dammit! She clenched her teeth. James’ body had pulverized every brain cell and shot her thoughts straight to the gutter. To that place she was familiar with—where he’d ruled her mind and body, and she’d given up all pretense of even caring that he was in control.

  Her blood sizzled with awareness. It wouldn’t do her any good to give in to her desires. This was a different time. She was a different woman. James was…fucking hell! He looked so good he made her eyes water.

  Memories drifted through her mind. Of all the times he’d shown her how much he wanted her. They’d been explosive in bed. Heck, they’d been explosive out of it. He’d been the only man who made her melt with a single smile. One grin and her body temperature skyrocketed. If only those feelings stayed in the past. Instead, she felt like she’d gotten an electric shock from her head to her toes. Tingles swept down her body, pooling at her core. Carajo! Great time for her hormones to remember he was her biggest—hell, her only, desire.

  Galvez stood by her window.

  Tension twisted in her stomach, into a thick uncomfortable knot that pushed her to lash out. “What are you doing here?”

  He lifted a bushy dark brow. “You seem to forget who I am.”

  She ground her teeth. Tomorrow she’d have a horrible pain in her jaw, but that didn’t matter right now. “I assure you, I’ve tried very hard to forget who you are, but it’s not working.”

  A vein twitched on his left cheek. She watched it, fascinated.

  “Cynthia, I only want to help you succeed.”

  She rolled her eyes. “I don’t need your help.”

  “I want to move past this awkwardness. I want us to grow—”

  “I don’t know what the heck gave you the impression I’m interested in growing anything with you, but lose that idea.”

  “Cynthia, your being here means a lot to me.”

  Anger urged her feet, and she marched around him to her desk to sit. Leather squeaked. She hated the tall chair. Her damn feet dangled. At five–two, she knew she was short, but that chair just made her feel like a midget.

  “Look, Galvez, we both know you are only interested in what you want.” She adjusted the chair until her feet touched the carpet. “Now, what do you want?”

  “I know you don’t believe me, but I want to see you succeed with the FPU.”

  “I already met half of the team. We’ll get along fine. I don’t need hand holding.” Not that he’d ever tried any kind of niceties with her.

  “I’ve heard about Ramirez, and his little Casanova ways.”

  She stopped searching through her files to glance up at him. “Ramirez is one of the best field operatives. I’ve read his file. He and Buchanan work as a team. In and out. No messes. No problems.”

  Galvez’s features tightened. “He’s also a flirt.”

  “Not everybody is perfect.” She flung back. “You certainly aren’t.”

  They had a staring contest that lasted a long tense moment. She curled her fingers into fists, nails biting into her palms.

  “Let me know if you need my help.”

  Of course she would. When hell froze over. “Anything else?”

  “Yes. Keep me abreast of all that goes on with the team.”

  She took a breath and counted to ten backward and forward before replying. Her attempt at tamping down the surge of anger hadn’t worked well. “How many times do I have to tell you, you’re not my boss?” Heat kissed her cheeks. Her temperature had risen to the point she knew sweat would start gathering on her upper lip. She tried not to growl when she spoke. “This is my team. I do things my way. If I have a problem, I will let Wheeler know.”

  Galvez marched to the door. His pristine, black suit only made his brown skin appear even darker. He gripped the handle. “Don’t forget why you’re here.”

  Was he for real? Like she could.

  “Oh, I won’t.” She got out through gritted teeth. “I’m here to lead a team of paranormal agents. You, on the other hand, are here to piss me off.”

  He jerked the wooden door open. “I’ll be watching you.”

  “I’ve no doubt you will.”

  Would he leave already and stop his stupid taunts? He marched off in silence. Rage licked at her skin. She wasn’t one to anger easily, but Galvez just pushed the buttons that made her want to pull out some missiles and go World War III on him.

  She sat there, silent. Galvez might be a jerk, but he had pull. No matter what happened, she needed to keep her team under control. If she didn’t, they’d surely remove her, and only God knew who they’d put in charge.

  Buzzing sounded from her pocket. Shit. She’d forgotten Clara. She sent Donovan a message, asking her to pull up the missing person’s report and email it to her. A few moments later an envelope popped up on her screen. It was the missing person’s report for Roxana Santos.

  Her sixteen-year-old cousin had been missing for two days. Aunt Clara had reported her missing yesterday. No definitive information on who might know where the teen had gone.

  Sixteen and missing. She reached for the phone, dialed the Holy Oaks Police Department, and waited. Ten frustrating minutes later she had no more information than she’d had before. She gripped the squishy stress ball from her desk and hurled it at her door. At the same time it opened. Brock’s hand shot out and caught it.

>   “Nice shot. Didn’t realize you knew it was me.”

  She licked her lips. Christ how was she gonna survive this day from hell? Fuck. She tried really hard not to ogle him again, but failed miserably. “I didn’t. What can I do for you?”

  “What’s wrong?” His brows dipped low. Muscles shifted under the black T-shirt. Big smooth muscles. Muscles she knew were warm to touch. Her throat dried like the flames from yesterday had licked away all the moisture.

  “Nothing’s wrong.”

  She tried to blink the vision of his naked body away. Her brain focused on the image of his tight pecs and six-pack abs. Of the dark lines tattooed on his arms and chest. Jesus. She would never get any work done with that on her mind. She blinked. Only now her focus moved to his hands. Those big hands with thick digits. Oh, hell no. Don’t even go there. Don’t think of sex. Don’t think of sex. She was screwed. The things those hands had done to her had been magical.

  “Something’s clearly wrong. I sensed your fear when I walked in the door.”

  Yeah, and he probably smelled her arousal right about now. If only she could control her hormones like she should, everything would be fine. Instead, an insane mental storm of adult rated memories sat at the front of her mind. They were the really good kind too. Incredible memories bombarded her mind, the type where he’d given her multiple orgasms of the screaming kind.

  “My cousin. She’s missing.”

  He entered her office the rest of the way. She watched him. With a loud click, he shut the door and moved closer to her.

  “The call you got earlier?”

  She nodded. “She’s been missing for two days.”

  He leaned on the door, arms folded over his big chest. “Any clues where she could be?”

  “No.”

  Brock’s face was incredibly sexy. A decade later, and he still had that bad-boy expression that had made her heart beat double-time from the first glimpse she’d had of his face.

  “No?”

  “What?”

  He grinned. Shit. She’d lost track of the conversation. There was no helping it. All those muscles. That mouth. Those hands. And if she thought of body parts lower than his belly button, he’d know for sure she was turned on.