Dangerously Entwined (Aegis Group Lepta Team, #5) Read online

  Dangerously Entwined

  Aegis Group Lepta Team #5

  Sidney Bristol

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  Inked Press

  Dangerously Entwined

  Aegis Group Lepta Team #5

  The mission: Don’t die.

  Retired Marine Grant Anderson is used to tough situations. He's never shied away from putting in hard work. Perhaps he should have known a secret romance with his fellow team leader, Melody Nguyen, would be his toughest job of all.

  Melody has had it with alpha men and secrets. After a year-long romance that went nowhere, she ended it and is determined to make the most of her career.

  When an old enemy attacks, Melody and Grant will have to put aside their differences to save the team. But that's easier said than done when their lives and their hearts are on the line.

  Explore the whole Aegis world in these series...

  It all began with the Aegis Group.

  Dangerous Attraction

  Dangerous in Training

  Dangerous Games

  Dangerous Assignment

  Dangerous Protector

  Dangerous Secrets

  Dangerous Betrayal

  Dangerous Heat

  Dangerous Exposure (2020)

  Dangerous Connections (2020)

  More Coming Soon!

  Within Aegis Group, special teams take on special jobs, beginning with the Alpha Team.

  Dangerous in Love

  Dangerous in Action

  Dangerous in Transit

  Dangerous in Motion

  Dangerous in Charge

  Other specialized teams exist under the Aegis Group umbrella, including Lepta Team.

  Dangerously Taken

  Dangerously Involved

  Dangerously Deceived

  Dangerously Broken

  Dangerously Entwined

  Troy Team has signed on to work an ultra-secret case in the Aegis Group Task Force series.

  (prequel) First Risk: a newsletter exclusive serial

  Stolen Risk

  Forged Risk (2019)

  Technical Risk (2020)

  More soon!

  In Dangerous Games it continued with the Gone Geek girls.

  Beauty and the Geek

  Mr. Purr-fect and the Geek

  The Jock and the Geek

  The Gamer and the Geek

  The Adorkable Girl and the Geek

  The Fake Boyfriend and the Geek

  When the Seattle office of Aegis Group opened the Twisted Royals took the stage.

  The Origin Story

  Alpha Prince

  Her Prince

  Bad Boy Prince

  Noble Prince

  Stay tuned for the appearance of the Troy Team and Omega Team.

  For short reads, tune in this December for the Body of Danger novella series kick-off.

  Heart for Danger

  Mind for Danger (2019)

  Soul for Danger (2020)

  The other Smith brother takes us to the Texas SWAT series, a small town suspense series.

  Fighting Redemption

  Stolen Redemption

  Forbidden Redemption (coming soon)

  Reckless Redemption (coming soon)

  Thanks to the SWAT team, Ransom, Texas enjoys a slower pace of life beginning in The Love Barn.

  Give Me Back My Man

  Summer of Love

  Party out of Bounds (2019)

  For my sweet husband who put up with every crazy day.

  If you want to see the sunshine, you have to weather the storm.

  ―FRANK LANE

  Dear Readers,

  A quick author note about this book. I’m sorry about the names. I try to carefully select characters names so that there isn’t confusion. This book had so many existing characters that it became impossible to avoid confusion. I hope I made it clear enough.

  -Sid

  Table of Contents

  1.

  2.

  3.

  4.

  5.

  6.

  7.

  8.

  9.

  10.

  11.

  12.

  13.

  14.

  15.

  16.

  17.

  18.

  19.

  Epilogue.

  1.

  Wednesday. Safe House, Playa d’en Bossa, Ibiza.

  Melody Nguyen stared longingly out of the windows of the safe house at the crystal beaches beyond. She wished she was headed out for a relaxing day on the sand. Hell, she’d take a day of cleaning her bathroom and kitchen over what she was about to do.

  Her co-leader, Grant Anderson, herded the rest of their team out the front door. He’d been practically growling at them to leave for the last hour. Because Grant expected them to fall into their routine.

  “You guys stay out of trouble.

  Melody gripped the back of the tall chair and watched her last glimpse of the four men headed out to enjoy the day.

  She really wished she were going with them.

  Grant closed the door. The thunk of the deadbolt was loud in the sudden silence.

  She held her breath as he turned to look at her. Her skin prickled and her traitorous body warmed at his attention. After all this time she should be used to it, but she wasn’t.

  Grant was an attractive man. Tall. Muscular. Dark brown hair. Gray eyes. Chiseled features. He’d have problems keeping women off him if it weren’t for his near-constant sour expression. But even that lemon face of his had grown on her.

  Just looking at him she was nearly overwhelmed by a cocktail of emotions. Desire. Sadness. Longing. Anger. Lust. Denial. The list went on.

  Things between them had never been simple. Why start now?

  To think, two years ago when she’d accepted the job at Aegis Group, Grant had pretty much hated her on principal. They’d verbally sparred, he’d undercut her authority, they’d even been hauled into their boss’ office on several occasions. Despite their boss’ ultimatum to figure it out or he’d fire both of them, the only thing that had fixed them was sex.

  God, that night. She could still remember it with such clarity.

  The op had gone wrong there toward the end. They’d salvaged it, but Melody along with their assets had been taken prisoner for a few short hours. She’d drawn on all her training to manage the situation as best she could, but deep down she’d expected this to be her end.

  And then there was Grant, swooping in to save her. He’d been her every silly fantasy of him, right down to the over-protective way he’d followed her home, checked on her, bossed her around until she’d snapped.

  While they both claimed that first kiss was mutual, she knew she’d made the first move. She’d set them down this path, because this was what she did. She had a type, and Grant was it.

  Once more Melody was making the same mistake she had before.

  At least this time she was woman enough to realize what she’d done and fix it.

  Grant turned a heated look her way. She swallowed and willed her knees to not buckle. The last thing she needed was for him to come to her rescue again. She might not survive it. Her already knotted stomach twisted tighter.

  She’d been avoiding conversation with him, ducking him whenever he might catch her alone, putting this off while she sorted out what she wanted. Because she knew she was going to break them. She had to. And if that ultimately meant quitting and finding a job elsewhere, she’d do that, too.

  It was her fault she’d broken her rule about no more alpha hole boyfriends.

  At least s
he’d survived him for a year before giving into temptation. And could anyone blame her? Brushes with mortality gave a girl a pass.

  Grant couldn’t help who he was. He was the storm, powerful, unyielding. Nothing could stand in his way. Not even her, and the destruction he left in her heart and life couldn’t be ignored any longer.

  They weren’t good for each other.

  Her knees wobbled at that idea and her mind supplied a few elicit memories of just how useful Grant could be. But life was more than great sex.

  He took a step toward her, his heavy boots thudding on the marble floors.

  Melody straightened her spine. She knew what she had to say, though of course her mouth chose this moment to go dry.

  Damn him. It wasn’t fair that he affected her this way. She couldn’t turn her awareness of him off. There wasn’t a switch for that. He barely seemed to notice her unless he wanted something. She didn’t factor into his life the way he did in hers. They were unbalanced, unhealthy and it had to stop.

  “I missed you last night.” He came to stop at the other end of the long dining table.

  She kept holding the chair as if it were a shield. “Grant...”

  “What?” He rounded the end of the table. “I can’t tell you I missed you?”

  Melody tipped her chin up. She’d faced down scarier people, been in far more dangerous situations and always knew what to say. That was why she was good at her job, be it hostage negotiation or what she did now, liaising with clients. But Grant didn’t know about her past, what she’d done to get to this chapter of her life. All he knew, all he cared about, was getting the job done and sex.

  He didn’t really want her, and that was the hard truth she hadn’t yet accepted.

  She feared she’d learn that lesson soon enough. He’d find someone else to fill his bed, and that would be the real moment he broke her.

  “I’ve been wanting to talk to you about this.” She said the words, just like she’d practiced, but they sounded wooden, clumsy.

  “This? You mean us?”

  She grit her teeth, a bit of the anger and resentment rising to the surface. “There is no us, Grant. We sneak around behind our team’s back and have sex occasionally. We can’t keep doing this. I won’t keep doing this.”

  He stopped a few feet away from her, brows drawn down, mouth open.

  She’d surprised him.

  Sorrow stabbed at her heart.

  It just went to show how little he knew about her.

  “There is no us? Sneaking around?” His brow furrowed deeper with each sentence. “You were the one who said we should be discrete and not let the team know.”

  Melody drew in a deep breath. She’d rather handle a twelve hour barricaded person situation than this conversation. At least she had a guidebook to follow, precedent she could fall back on, people she could call for help. There was nothing to help her through breaking up with Grant. This was the problem she’d made. She couldn’t walk away from it.

  “You’re correct. I did say we should be discrete until we knew where this was going.” She tipped her chin up and looked at him. “The fact is, I don’t want to be in a relationship with you anymore.”

  Grant’s frown deepened and he took two steps, coming to the corner of the table, now just feet away from her.

  Melody’s chair was never going to protect her from him. Physically she had nothing to fear from Grant. That had never been her concern. He wasn’t the type to hurt people, not physically anyway. But emotionally?

  He’d already wrecked her heart and soul, and he didn’t even know it.

  She was the one who’d jumped into the deep end, fallen in love, while fully aware he wasn’t in the same space. So she’d bided her time, waited for him to realize what they had, but his eyes were still closed to it. Maybe he’d never see her in that light.

  She couldn’t keep waiting around for him to love her.

  “What went wrong?” he asked.

  She pivoted to face him and let go of the chair with her right hand, letting it fall to her side. “It’s more that nothing has gone right.”

  Grant kept staring at her. She knew him. He was already strategizing, working out a move, trying to figure her out, how to get what he wanted. Their arrangement was neat. Tidy.

  They spent a couple nights together when they weren’t working. She didn’t bug him, ask him to do things he wasn’t interested in. And when they were working, occasionally they had sex.

  “We have always had problems, Grant.” She licked her lips and braced herself to lay it all out there. “From the beginning until now. You’ve accepted me being part of this team, but it had to be on your terms and only after we’d slept together. You don’t view me as your equal, though that’s what I’m supposed to be on paper.”

  He planted a hand next to hers on the chair and leaned in closer, derailing her train of thought. “You didn’t complain last week when you came to my room.”

  Her cheeks heated. “We’re good at sex, Grant. That’s it. I want more, and you aren’t going to give it to me. I’m not sure I’d want it at this point if you decided it’s what you wanted. We’re just too...messed up for this to work.”

  Melody’s phone lying on the table lit up and vibrated, flashing the name Merida, the Seattle branch’s office manager and Melody’s best friend. She knew it wasn’t work related, but Grant didn’t.

  This was her opportunity to say the last word and flee.

  Things were over between them. Words wouldn’t change that.

  “I have to take this.” Melody reached for the phone.

  Grant grabbed her hand, giving it a squeeze. “This isn’t over.”

  She looked into his eyes. Her heart wanted to believe him, but the rest of her was siding with her brain. He had a proven track record, and none of it told her to trust him.

  “Yes, it is, Grant.” She pulled out of his grasp, grabbed the phone and tapped the answer button.

  Melody might want him, in bed everything was perfect, but she needed more. And if Grant couldn’t give her that, she’d do herself a disservice staying with him.

  “Merida, hi.” Melody grabbed her tablet and turned toward the hall leading to the bedroom she’d laid claim to. The floor to ceiling windows and view of the pool had made it ideal in terms of avoiding Grant last night. She didn’t have the hope of privacy. “What time is it in Seattle?”

  “It’s eleven. I’m off the clock. Spill. Did you two talk yet?”

  “I have those in my bag. One moment?” Melody picked up the pace, nearly diving into her room and shutting the door behind her as her knees began to wobble.

  “Is he there? Are you talking right now?” Merida whisper-spoke despite being on the phone and not present.

  Melody couldn’t respond. That last glimpse of Grant’s face was frozen in her mind.

  The determination didn’t bode well for her if he decided to push her.

  She pressed her back to the door and sucked down a breath as her heart seemed to finally realize this was happening. She was breaking up with him.

  “Oh, my God,” she muttered.

  “Talk to me, damn it!”

  “It did not go well,” Melody whispered.

  “Can’t say I’m surprised.” Merida’s tone softened. “How are you doing?”

  Melody had no idea how to answer that question.

  She slid her feet out of her heels and flexed her ankles, willing some feeling back into her toes, all the while her heart began to break apart at all the places it was weakest.

  She’d worn the tall, black ones because they gave her that last added oomph she’d needed. They let her almost look Grant straight in the eye, only now she wished she’d been barefoot. She could run faster and maybe then she wouldn’t have had an up-close look at his face.

  “Mel?”

  “Oh, God.” Melody crossed to the bed and flopped down. “He did not take that well.”

  “Who cares about him? He’s a crappy boyfriend. How are you d
oing?”

  She grabbed a pillow and clutched it to her chest. Her heart was breaking apart. She was smart enough to know her self-preservation instincts had kicked in. The real pain wouldn’t begin until she was home, where she didn’t have to wear a mask. That was when she’d cry and grieve for everything she’d wanted, all the things she’d dreamed about.

  The reality was that Grant was not the man she wanted him to be, and she wasn’t foolish enough to think he’d change for her. Not for all the stars in the sky.

  GRANT ANDERSON STARED down the empty hall, still reeling from his exchange with Melody.

  What the hell just happened?

  He’d known things were off between them lately, but he hadn’t seen this coming. With their last job wrapping up so fast, he’d made plans. A God damn private chef was supposed to be here in half an hour to cook lunch then a masseuse. He’d warned the guys to stay away, that he and Melody would be working. In reality what Grant really wanted was to lay his claim on her publically. Let everyone know they were together. But he’d never done that because that wasn’t what she wanted.

  And now she didn’t want him.

  How was it they were breaking up? And she didn’t even want to talk about it? She’d just decided how it was and that was it?

  Grant pushed off the chair and strode to the other side of the house where the neatly manicured lawn butted up against a high fence dividing this property from the neighboring one.

  It was a tropical paradise, and he’d thought if they scheduled a little downtime here maybe he could use it to—what? Bridge that ever-present gap he couldn’t figure out a way across?

  “Fucking hell,” he muttered to himself.

  Had he been blind? And where did she get off saying that shit about him?

  This wasn’t over.

  Sure, yeah, he could fully admit that in the beginning when he’d shown up for a job and there was Zain with this petite Asian woman who was now Grant’s co-leader, he’d been pissed. Despite Zain vowing that it was to offer a better level of service to their clients, it had felt like a slap in the face. Like Grant couldn’t do his fucking job. So yeah, he’d been an ass in the beginning. But that was before he realized just how good Melody was with people. She really did improve the team. He’d been the problem which he realized and dealt with.