Sophie Oak - Lost in Bliss

Laura stood, utterly panicked at the thought of them walking in and realizing that after five years she still wasn’t over them. How pathetic was that?

Rafe moved first, followed by Cam. They stormed into the Trading Post, stalking through the tourist merchandise and the little candy aisle until they made it to the tea room.

“Laura.” Cam was the one who said her name now. “We found you.”

“No thanks to him,” Rafe said, eyeing Wolf, who stood beside her. “He sent us on a wild-goose chase. You look good, bella.” Bella. Beautiful. It was what he’d called her when they had made love. How dare he ever call her that again.

What if they had come after her? What if they had figured out what a mistake they had made? Rafe was eating her up with his eyes.

Cam was pulling his alpha male act, staring Wolf down. What if they had searched for her, longed for her the way she’d longed for them?

“You know what you did was illegal,” Cam was saying, his icy blue eyes laser-focused on Wolf. She stared at him for a long moment. His golden hair was cut short. She’d always wanted to see what it would look like longer, but Cam liked the simplicity. It highlighted his masculine face. Cam was all sharp angles with the exception of his sensual lips. God, she remembered what it felt like to have his mouth on her. “You impeded an investigation. You lied to duly appointed federal agents.”

Laura let her hope die. It hadn’t been a big hope anyway. They were here on a case. Of course. How silly to think they still gave a damn about her.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” Cam asked Wolf.

Laura said the words without really thinking. It was instinct that caused her to protect herself. She slid her hand into Wolf’s and lied through her teeth.

“He’s my fiancé.”

Rafe’s face fell. Cam took a step back.

Wolf hauled her close. “You know how it goes, gentlemen. I’m not one to let a little thing like an investigation get in the way of true love.”

Yep. Wolf Meyer was cool as a cucumber under pressure.

And Laura Niles was definitely under pressure.

Cam Briggs felt like his gut had been kicked straight out of his body.

Engaged? How the hell could she be engaged? Cam had spent the last five years of his life thinking of nothing but Laura, and she had been getting engaged to some dickwad military guy.

He had to be military. Ex-military, Cam would bet. And that dude wasn’t afraid of a little PDA.

“Sorry, I had no idea why you were looking for her,” said the asshole who seemed to be trying to inhale Laura’s hand. He had brought her hand to his lips, and his other arm had snaked around her waist, drawing her close to his body. “When you have something this gorgeous, you have to take care of it.”

“She’s not an ‘it,’” Cam snarled.

Rafe put a hand out, a silent request that Cam stay calm. It was a familiar gesture to Cam. Rafe took over, all smooth professionalism.

“We understand,” Rafe said, gesturing to the table behind Laura.

“If I had a fiancée as beautiful as yours, I would protect her at all costs, too. Please, if you would sit with us, we do need to talk to your fiancée.”

Cam tried to get to that calm place that seemed to come so easily to Rafe.

As Laura and her affianced asshole sat down, Rafe leaned in and whispered in his ear.

“Watch them. There’s something wrong with this scenario,” Rafe said. “Look at her body language.”

Cam settled down. Rafe had always been good at getting him to think. It had been that way ever since the first day they had been partnered up. Rafe had just known how to deal with him. Rafe had made him comfortable.

He hadn’t been comfortable for five years. Maybe he’d missed more than Laura.

“Laura, it’s good to see you.” Rafe’s voice had taken on that soft, soothing tone he used on reluctant witnesses.

Cam looked at her. Really looked at her. When he’d seen her before, all he’d been able to see was the woman he loved, her golden blonde hair, her sky-blue eyes. She was curvier than she had been before. It looked damn good on her. She was wearing a form-fitting pinkish dress that hugged her new curves. And her breasts. Damn, they were bigger, too. Plump and round, they looked like they were about to pop out of her dress. They would fill his hands now.

She’d looked like a model before. She looked like a woman now, a delicious, luscious woman.

And she belonged to someone else.

She smiled, but it was her fake smile, the one she used on people who annoyed her but she had to put up with. It didn’t reach her eyes.

“You, too, Special Agent Kincaid. Apparently you’ve already met my fiancé, Wolf Meyer.”

Wolf’s lips curled up in a smirk. “He’s had the pleasure. Though neither of you seemed interested in giving me your names.” Laura’s manners seemed to take over. “This is Special Agent Rafael Kincaid and Special Agent Cameron Briggs. I worked with them when I was in the FBI. We worked a couple of very important cases together. I take it that’s why you’re here.” Cam felt a foot nudge against his. It was a long-used cue for the bad cop to come out. In this case, the bad cop was the honest one.

Damn, he’d missed working with Rafe. “I’m not an agent anymore.” Laura’s eyes flared, and her mouth opened slightly.

“You’re sure dressed like one, buddy,” Wolf said. There was no mistaking the mocking tone of his voice.

Laura didn’t seem amused. She shifted slightly, as though uncomfortable. She didn’t look like a woman who was used to the man beside her. Rafe was right. Something was wrong. Though he knew it made him a bastard, a fierce joy lit in Cam’s belly. If something was wrong between Laura and her fiancé, then there was still a chance.

“What do you mean you aren’t with the Bureau anymore?”

“I left. I resigned about a year after you disappeared. I had a job to do, and I couldn’t do it at the Bureau.” Rafe settled back in his chair. “We decided that one of us should look for you full-time. Cam became a private investigator, and I stayed on at the FBI to watch the case.”

“You’ve been looking for me?”

A small, older lady walked up, a pleated white apron wrapped around her slender form. “Hello, welcome to the Tea Room. Can I get you anything?”

Cam softened. The older woman reminded him of his mom. She looked a little tired, but there was a smile on her face anyway. He hated tea, but he couldn’t refuse her. “I’ll take whatever she’s having.”

“And I would love a cup of chai if you have it,” Rafe added.

Laura introduced them, her southern manners taking over. The woman in the apron was named Teeny Green. Cam shook her hand and assured her he was pleased to meet her.

“Anything for you, Wolf?” Teeny asked.

“I’m fine. Laura and I were just discussing our wedding plans.” Wolf’s hand went to the back of Laura’s neck, sliding over it as though he enjoyed the intimate touch.

Teeny stopped and stared for a moment. She looked from Wolf to Cam and Rafe. Her eyes narrowed. “Did you boys know Laura from her days in the FBI?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Rafe said. “We knew her very well.”

“Oh, that’s interesting. Well, we’re so happy to have her in Bliss,” Teeny said. “And we’re thrilled to have so many weddings this year.”

“Well, we were thinking of eloping,” Laura said, fidgeting.

“No, no, dear,” Teeny replied. “I think it should be huge. We’ll have to look over flowers and get those ordered.”

“Absolutely,” Wolf said. “Nothing but the best for my bride.

We’re going to fill the church with flowers. And we’ll want to release doves at the end of the ceremony, won’t we? To symbolize our love.” And he was an idiot. Who released doves? Birds crapped everywhere. It didn’t seem like a smart thing to unleash on a wedding party. If Cam was marrying Laura, he would do just what she’d suggested. He would take her to Vegas, sign whatever papers he had to, and then get to the good part. He and Rafe would keep her in bed for days.

It was getting easier and easier to think that way. She was theirs.

Not just his. Laura belonged to them.

Teeny reached around and pulled two white T-shirts off a rack.

“And Laura, you need to get those boys out of the suits. Mel is going to freak when he sees them, and the Doc will have to tranq him again.

They can have these. Why the mayor thought it was a good idea to let Zane head the Rehab Bliss committee, I have no idea. I knew that boy was up to something when he volunteered to do it. Now I have a hundred T-shirts. What am I going to do with them?” Teeny held out the shirt.

The Trading Post

We make murder clean up easy

Cam couldn’t help but laugh.

“You should see the shirts he made for Stella’s,” Laura murmured. “I’ll make sure they’re properly dressed before Mel sees them. And if you wouldn’t mind letting Holly and Nell know I’m down here with my fiancé?”

“I intend to tell everyone, dear,” Teeny said as she walked away.

“So why did you come all the way out here?” Laura asked, her voice crisp and tight. She seemed to be done with small talk.

Time for the bad cop again. “De Sade is back.” There was no way to soften it, and he wouldn’t try. Rafe’s approach worked on witnesses, but Laura was tough. She wouldn’t want to be handled with kid gloves. She was smart and capable, and Cam wouldn’t treat her any other way.

Her face lost every ounce of color, and it was all Cam could do not to take her in his arms. She might be capable, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to shelter her, or at least let her know she wasn’t in this alone. Fiancé or no fiancé, he wouldn’t walk away from her. Not until the Marquis de Sade was dead or behind bars.