Bound to Serve (Dangerous Liaisons #1) Read online

  She’ll bring him to his knees…

  Condor earned his reputation by being Delta Star’s ultimate secret agent. He’s untouchable, unstoppable, and he always nails his targets. But no matter how many times he’s saved the world, he’s a ghost who will never take credit. He works best alone, and to continue to protect his country, he’ll stay alone.

  New Delta Star field agent Bridget Jamison is obsessed with capturing Simon Perez, the elusive terrorist responsible for her ex-fiancé’s death. When the Delta Star director hands the case over to Condor, a mesmerizing ghost agent who has the power to make her weak in the knees with one intense look, Bridget agrees to be Condor’s partner so that she’s not dropped from the case and her chance for justice.

  Now they’re on a mission to infiltrate a dangerous criminal organization and capture Perez. It’s up to Condor to keep this beautiful, determined agent out of harm’s way, and to keep their explosive passion contained long enough not to risk their cover…and their lives.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Discover more mystery and suspense titles from Entangled Ignite… Dying for Keeps

  Hard to Forget

  Irresistible Deceptions

  Her Special Forces

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Copyright © 2016 by Julie Castle. All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit in any form or by any means. For information regarding subsidiary rights, please contact the Publisher.

  Entangled Publishing, LLC

  2614 South Timberline Road

  Suite 109

  Fort Collins, CO 80525

  Visit our website at www.entangledpublishing.com.

  Ignite is an imprint of Entangled Publishing, LLC.

  Edited by Stephen Morgan

  Cover design by Louisa Maggio

  Cover art from iStock

  ISBN 978-1-63375-622-9

  Manufactured in the United States of America

  First Edition May 2016

  I’d like to dedicate this book to my friend, colleague, and talented fellow author, Maxine Douglas. Thank you so much for your encouragement, not to mention our midnight Skype sessions and chocolate martinis. Maxine, you are a true friend.

  Chapter One

  Bridget Jamison’s heart raced as she ran from the computer lab to Bran Frost’s office inside Delta Star headquarters. Maybe this would be the end of her quest. Increased agency chatter said that international terrorist Simon Perez was on the move. All her instincts as a new field agent told her something was going to break soon, and, for her ex-fiancé’s sake, she hungered to be in on the kill. Even though in the end he’d been a lying, cheating bastard, she owed him that much after getting him killed.

  She skidded to a halt in the director’s anteroom and breathlessly waited for Thelma, his personal assistant, to buzz her in. She gave herself a once over and—

  Shit.

  She’d been too busy demonstrating the prototype of her new 3-D system to notice how messy she was getting. Hastily, she smoothed her damp palms over her drab, shapeless but wrinkled business suit, so she wouldn’t be reprimanded for wasting time in the lab. Why couldn’t the director see that the agency would be stronger, smarter, and more effective if the departments combined talents?

  She looked down at her boxy suit and sighed. She purposely chose clothing that concealed her too curvy figure, not wanting her sexuality to detract from anyone’s perception of her efficiency. Not that anyone was asking. Lately, her love life was as out of reach as Perez. Sometimes almost close enough to touch, but never actually in hand.

  At any rate, cocky, immature agents who thought they were God’s gift to women pissed her off. James may have cheated on her, but at least he hadn’t acted like he was the hottest thing in pants. His modesty had all been an act of course, but she hadn’t learned that until she’d lost him in a bombing. She wouldn’t make the mistake of risking her heart, much less her career, again.

  It helped that she’d become a workaholic and never met anyone outside Delta Star. Fraternization was frowned upon, if not downright banned in the secret government agency, and she liked it that way. It kept her from getting her heart broken. It also kept her sexless, but her previous lovers, even her ex, had let her know she wasn’t missing much. Her body hungered for what it had never known, but that need heightened her senses, made her sharper, and helped her play secret agent when she sometimes felt like a fraud, a nerd in an agent’s clothing.

  She realized Thelma was looking at her and frowning, her gaze cautious. No friendly chitchat this morning. Did Thelma know something about what was waiting for Bridget inside that room? Had the director called her up here with bad news?

  Shit…I really am screwed.

  “He’s waiting,” Thelma said, then pressed one of the buttons on her desk. The director’s door swung silently open on well-oiled hinges.

  Bridget swallowed the lump in her throat and walked inside, her head held high, to take her medicine.

  Director Frost, seated on his throne-like leather desk chair behind his huge antique mahogany desk, motioned her toward a chair as he talked on the phone. She sank into the chair and listened to Frost’s crisp, icy tone as he berated some agent who had fouled up. The director’s chilly last name fit him to a tee. His prematurely white hair belonged on an older man, but it somehow fit him and, coupled with his ice-blue eyes, gave him an air of authority.

  She sat up straighter and tensed at the edgy vibes he was giving off. But there was something else setting off her internal early warning system. The nerd in her stayed cool, while the brand spanking new field agent part of her went on red alert. She was being watched, scrutinized by more than the standard security devices. There were eyes on her. She could feel it—

  All her nerve endings tingling, she turned around…and froze when she saw who was waiting inside Frost’s inner chamber. The director had left the door to his war room open, maybe on purpose, and a certain ghost agent sat inside, tucked deep enough back that he’d been out of her sight line when she’d entered the room. Her gaze collided with a hostile dark one, and all her carefully suppressed hormones went haywire.

  Condor.

  His code name beat like a drum in her mind as her eyes locked with the disreputable ghost agent’s compelling brown ones. Lounged in an armchair in the corner, he watched her closely, visually tracking her like the legendary predator he was.

  Stories abounded about the cold as ice agent. Nothing touched him. Certainly no woman on staff, even though plenty had tried. Hell, after the disaster with James, she’d kind of tried to follow his non-fraternization example. His thick dark hair curled over the collar of his black leather motorcycle jacket, and his square jaw was covered with stubble. He looked like he’d just come off the road. And to be honest, he probably had. Ghosts didn’t put down roots. Ever.

  What was it like to be with a man like that? Just for one night. Hell, for one hour. He’d take what he wanted and
then he’d leave her, and she wouldn’t be hurt, because that was his nature. No commitments. No expectations. No attachments.

  Her gaze swept up his long, powerful legs and stopped at the distinct bulge at his crotch—

  Never gonna happen, Bridget.

  Blushing, she tore her gaze off his impressive package in time to see his hunky mouth kick into a slow grin that said, Who’s your daddy? His hot chocolate-brown eyes seemed to strip bare her defenses. She felt more naked than if she were actually nude. A little sample of why he was so freaking good at his job.

  Her whole body sizzled in response. Not for you, honey, the rational part of her mind screamed. Get a grip. He’s not even remotely on your menu. The few times they’d crossed paths, she’d had the same fierce primal reaction, but she hadn’t been stupid enough to get this close, within striking distance. Dino the sexy dinosaur. The girls in the computer lab had conferred that title on him because he was woefully old school and extremely doable—even if he kept himself off-limits.

  And now? The way he was looking at her? She knew his type. He was used to being in charge. Getting what he wanted. If he thought he was going to subdue her with a look, he had another thing coming.

  She scowled back at him, and her lips tingled when she stared at his sensual mouth. The corners of his mouth curled into a slow smile. So he liked her refusing to bend to him. But she could see it in his eyes. For him, her refusal was a challenge.

  Which reminded her how strange it was for him to be here in the first place.

  Something was very wrong. Frost didn’t have visitors in his office unless it was business-related. Condor swooped in when other agents failed. It all added up to one career-shattering explanation: they were kicking her back to IT for insubordination.

  Damn it all, she hadn’t failed on the last case. Only used her better judgment. And despite her team leader reprimanding her for disobeying his orders, utilizing her latest app had been what made the bust successful. And without any bloodshed. Frost wouldn’t take away her case for that, would he? Not this one. Not when she was so close to catching her ex’s killer. She bit her lip. Frost did run a tight ship.

  Shit, the only case still open on her desk was James’s case—the Perez case. It’d been open for three years. But if he was taking her off the case, why not tell her in private? Why bring in Condor now?

  Her spine went rigid at the very idea. No damned way would she give it up! She was too close to closure to kiss it good-bye. And she so badly needed to bring down the terrorist responsible for the carnage. She’d never let go of her guilt for pushing her ex away and into the situation that had led to his death. But if she could catch his killer? Then that might start to make up for what she’d done.

  Assuming she could get past Frost and Condor.

  …

  Ross Longtree, code named Condor, leaned back in his chair. A flash of heat hit him hard as he watched the feisty, buttoned-up redhead react to his presence. Oh, yeah, her reputation as a ballbuster was true. He could read it in her defiant green eyes. He shifted in his chair, uncomfortable and annoyed with the way she made him feel. She shouldn’t be able to make him feel anything at all.

  You’re ice, damn it, fucking act like it.

  He was very good at keeping people at arm’s length. It was what kept him safe, and more, what made him the lone wolf able to protect people from the shadows. But his skills seemed to vanish when he looked at her—and she looked right back. The godawful suit she wore did nothing to hide the curves underneath. And that fire in her eyes. Most women crumbled beneath his touch, eager to be dominated and consumed. But Bridget? If she wanted him to subdue her, she’d make him fight for it. The thought set every nerve in his body on fire.

  She’s not for you, stupid, and you sure as hell don’t deserve her.

  His hand closed over the antique gold band in his pocket anyway, and he fingered the emblem of his dominance.

  Frost wanted to take Bridget off this case, but what if Condor put his slave bracelet on her? Claimed her, carried her off, and took her on this mission as his submissive? Just the thought was enough to jump-start him into a too-stupid-to-survive-this-mission hard-on. The discomfort brought him back to earth fast. Sex was always simulated on missions—especially his missions—for a reason. He wasn’t about to get fooled by Mission Magic, a term he’d coined when a good friend died all because he and his partner got distracted. Hell, he lectured new agents on the subject, and there was no way he would be stupid enough to fall for it himself.

  No, delightful as the thought of taming her was, keeping her was not an option. Besides, a buttoned up kitten like her would probably freak before he taught her how to let down her hair and purr. He would be going after Simon Perez all right, but with a junior agent of Frost’s choosing, playing his submissive. A sweet and obedient window dressing that would allow him to get on with the job and nail the son of a bitch.

  Anyway, he had already studied the Perez file as well as Bridget’s personal one. After that, he’d hacked deep into confidential records to find out everything about her. If he was going to go along with her removal from such a personal case, he wanted to know who she was.

  He knew all about her special link to the case—her secret engagement to reckless young agent James Clayton. And he’d discovered that her old man was the former director. Whether she wanted to admit it or not, that connection gave her an advantage in the agency. After the disaster that had ended with her boyfriend vaporized, strings had been pulled. She’d been suspended when she’d defended her ex at the top of her lungs, and her father had put out the story that she’d been fired to keep her off Perez’s radar. Thank god for that or the bogeys that had taken out Clayton might have made a move on her.

  Six months later, she was reinstated under an alias and allowed to transfer to the field agent ranks. A fact that had been hidden from everyone but a few, and even Condor only knew because he hacked into the confidential records. Brilliant but headstrong, Agent Bridget Jamison rapidly climbed the ranks after she made the move from computer analyst to field agent. She had some bumps along the road—more thanks to how willful she was. But she earned her place in the field, and now she was about to get her pet case ripped out of her hands.

  She sure as hell wouldn’t take this lying down.

  He was always called in to do the dirty work. It was one reason he was a pariah at Delta Star. Agents tended to be territorial; they also didn’t like admitting that they fucked up. Ordinarily, he didn’t care how they felt about him, but something about the woman—now openly glaring at him—brought out his protective instincts.

  Frost brought me here for this?

  He would do his job, but he suddenly wished he was back on vacation, finishing the roof on his newest project, The Seadrift Inn. He only hoped a hurricane wouldn’t hit the Keys in the meantime.

  The fierce glare in Bridget’s eyes let him know what kind of fight this would be. Good. If he had to take this from her, he wanted her to fight. Let her show him—let her show Frost—what this means to her. Let her turn that fire on Condor.

  The corners of her lips turned down, and her nostrils flared. Yeah, she knew why she was here. And she knew why Condor was here. Or at least suspected it.

  He was dimly aware of Frost hanging up the phone. The director’s speculative, icy gaze lingered on the two of them. The man was a born manipulator, but every man had his tell. Frost’s eyebrows raised ever so slightly as he looked at Condor and Bridget.

  Holy shit, Frost was getting a kick out of them squaring off. The man had brought him here intending for this conflict to happen.

  “Agent Jamison,” Director Frost said. “You came here to do a job. Now do it.”

  …

  Bridget tore her incensed gaze off Condor and spun to look at the director. His irritated tone told her he’d been trying to get her attention while she’d been glaring at Condor. Embarrassed to be caught staring, she felt her cheeks flame, but she held her head high. She t
ook a calming breath, nodded serenely, and folded her damp hands in her lap. Condor’s presence wouldn’t distract her.

  “Yes, sir,” she said.

  Frost eased back in his chair and played with one of his desk toys. He swung a small ball that smacked into another and started a never-ending lulling pendulum motion. “As I was saying, you’re to be commended, Agent Jamison. Your tech squad has managed to ferret out a discernable pattern for Simon Perez.”

  Her stiff shoulders softened with relief while she listened to the mesmerizing click, click, click of the swaying balls. All her worrying about losing her case had been for nothing. She winced inside at how she’d glared at Condor, but she could apologize later.

  “Thank you, sir. It’s wonderful news.” Lord, there was so much to do: put her team together, combine field and lab agents, work up a plan of attack. There’d be time to celebrate after she brought down Perez.

  She even flashed Condor a friendly smile, which was met with his enigmatic gaze. He didn’t have friends, at least not around here. She told herself again that ghosts didn’t put down roots. That wasn’t their function, and they certainly didn’t smile back at junior agents. Well, you couldn’t win them all.

  Filled with new purpose, she turned back to Frost. “Give me his location, sir, and I’ll put together my team.”

  The director’s puckered brow, coupled with the stiff set of his broad shoulders, broke through her elation. He was cutting her. She read it in his unyielding gaze, and her heart sank all over again.

  Frost eyed her closely and reached out to stop the swinging toy. “I’m reassigning this to Condor and Agent Harrison. You can fill him in before he goes.”

  The breath left her lungs on a gasp and made her a little light-headed. Her reassignment was the reason for Condor’s infuriating presence after all.

  Damned poacher!

  She slanted a glare his way and watched his hard mouth kick up in a half smile.

  Now he smiles. Great!

  The bastard had expected her hostile reaction, and he was getting off on it. No, she cried inside, incensed, and struggling not to show it.