Stripped Bare (Bare Love #7)

Chapter One

“Nine-one-one, what’s your emergency?”

“Something in my drink.” A feminine voice. Words slurred. “Can’t…drive. Can’t…wake.” The speech was slow and drawn out as if the woman were fighting to push out every word.

Donovan “Shep” Shepard shook his head as he listened to the recording.

“Ma’am, what’s your location? Are you driving your car?”

“On…side…road. West. Tark’s.” The slur was worse.

“Have you been drinking, ma’am?”

“Coke…he… me…” The voice was fading, growing weaker.

“Ma’am, stay with me.”

“Bright…here.”

“Bright?”

“Light.”

Shep leaned closer as if he could force the incoherent sounds that followed to form into words, details, anything that would be useful.

“Ma’am, stay with me. Is someone with you? Ma’am?”

There was a popping noise that Shep figured was the lock being popped. That was followed by the sound of the door opening and feminine whimpers.

“How the hell is she still conscious?” Masculine voice. Deep. Angry.

“I gave her enough.” Another voice. Male.

“If that were true, she wouldn’t have made it out of the bar.” Angry guy again. There were rustling noises followed by whimpers that broke Shep’s heart. “Shh. Be a good girl for me.”

Whoever he was, he was moving away from the vehicle. The other male cussed then the line went dead. He must have discovered her phone.

“What did the cops find when they got there?” Shep asked, glancing to his boss and friend, Jack Madigan, who owned and ran Midnight, Inc. He hired mostly former military, though a few from three-letter agencies hired on, as well. Shep was former Army. A ranger once upon a time, though that life seemed farther and farther away every day.

“Empty car,” Jack answered. “By the time the first officer arrived on scene, there was no one in or around the car. Doors were locked.”

“They took her,” Griff Daniels stated with a bite to his tone. “They heard the same call we did, correct? She was obviously taken, and there was no way that woman we heard had the ability to give consent.”

“They didn’t leave anything behind,” Jack said.

“They knew what they were doing,” Shep added. “Her drink was drugged. She was smart enough to know something was off but didn’t realize she was drugged until it was too late. Damn.”

“What does the police report say? Someone at the bar had to see something,” Griff said. “If I’ve learned anything from listening to Gil over the years, it’s that someone had to see something. They just don’t realize it.” Griff’s oldest brother was a detective who also happened to be married to Jack’s daughter.

“Bartender vaguely remembered seeing her but can’t account for who she was with. Busy Friday night.” Jack looked as if he believed that as much as Shep did, which was not at all.

“Doesn’t matter how busy it was. Someone saw something,” Griff reiterated, voicing what they all thought.

“How long’s she been missing?” Shep asked just as the door to the office opened.

“Four weeks.” Six feet of gorgeous woman in a pair of well-worn jeans and a V-neck shirt strode across the room with another of Jack’s men, Roman Davis. She had long brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, giving them a clear view of her flawless face. Shep stood as he took in her gold-flecked brown eyes and full lips he wanted to taste. Her gaze moved over him, and he fought to keep from reacting then almost growled as she turned toward Griff, who stood tense beside him.

“You must be Griff.” She held her hand out to the other man, and Shep had never wanted to punch his friend so badly.

“That’s me.” Griff gave her his trademark grin that made all the women follow him. “Griff Daniels, at your service.” Then he did a typical Griff move and bowed, bringing her hand to his mouth and kissing the back of her fingers. Shep wanted to smack him out of the way.

Her smile showed she wasn’t immune to the youngest Daniel brother’s charm. Shep gave a grin of his own when her gaze swept back toward him as if she couldn’t help herself. He liked that. A lot. She looked back to Griff as he released her hand.

“You must be the charmer in the family,” she said.

“How do you know my family?” Griff asked. “More importantly, how do I not know you?”

She laughed, and Shep felt the melodious sound wash over him. He wanted to hear it again. Preferably when it was just the two of them. Clothing optional.

“Stace Anders,” she introduced herself. “I served briefly with your brother, Gil.”

She’d been a Marine. Which only made her hotter in his opinion. You had to respect a woman who kicked ass. He gave her another once over, noting the well-defined muscles in her arms. He’d already surveyed her long legs. God, he loved a woman with long legs.

“That explains why you see me as the charmer,” Griff said. “My oldest brother isn’t known for his sweet personality.”

Jack snorted but said nothing.

“Maybe not, but he’s one of the few I felt comfortable guarding my back,” Stace shared.

“That’s high praise,” Shep said, pulling that sexy gaze his way. He liked the way her voice caught slightly when she repeated her name and held her hand out to him in a similar greeting to what she’d given Griff. He took her hand between both of his and held it loosely, letting the heat of his skin surround her. He wondered if she was imagining the two of them in bed, his heat surrounding more of her, all of her, filling her. He shut down those thoughts quickly before he embarrassed them both with a visual display of how she already affected him. “Donavan Shepard, but you can call me Shep.”

“Shep and Griff are two of my best men,” Jack said. “They’ll both be working to help locate your sister, Ms. Anders.”

“Stace,” she corrected then turned back to Shep, though she flicked her gaze briefly to include Griff. “Thank you both for agreeing to help me. The call you listened to was made by my sister, Chloe Anders, after she was drugged while at Tark’s Tavern. She made it to her car before it kicked in, and you heard what happened from there.” She pulled a picture from her crossbody bag and handed it to Jack. “She’s five nine with short brown hair and brown eyes. Third year nursing student. Went to the bar on a Friday night with a few fellow students to blow off some steam and dance. My sister loves to dance.” Shep caught a brief glimpse of fear on Stace’s face before she controlled it. “I was out of the country when she was taken. Didn’t know about it until I returned three weeks after she was taken.”

She’d been back a week then, Shep noted.

“No one reached out to you?” Griff asked.

“I wasn’t in a place where I could be easily reached,” she admitted.

Shep found that interesting. Where had she been?

“When I got back, the house was empty, mail piled up, and no sign of my sister. Once I heard from Chloe’s best friend, I headed to the police station. The Sheriff’s department has no leads, no suspects, and no direction to look. That’s not good enough for me.”

“No, it’s not,” Jack agreed. “My men are good at what they do. Shep and Griff will start at ground zero and work from there. Someone saw something. They’ll find it. We’ll do everything we can to help you find your sister, Ms. Anders, and there’s a lot we can do.”

“Thank you, Mr. Madigan, Mr. Davis. I appreciate you seeing me so quickly.”

“Anything for a friend of my son-in-law,” Jack vowed.

“Again, thank you.” She glanced back at Shep. “I’d like to leave today. You’ll both be staying with me. Hope that’s alright. It’s a big farmhouse. Fully modernized. Plenty of room for everyone to have their own space.”

“What about our current case?” Griff asked Jack, but it was Roman who answered.

“Chetan has it.”

Chetan was another member of their team, a former Marine, too. Jack had done something to earn the other man’s loyalty, and he’d followed when Jack formed Midnight, Inc. There was very little Chetan couldn’t do. He was lethal as hell, especially with the knife that he tended to keep close at hand. Shep wasn’t sure what he’d done in the Marines, but he was lethal with any weapon, including his bare hands.

“Sounds good,” Shep answered while Griff tensed further beside him. Shep had figured Griff would be more accepting of Roman once the man became his stepfather, but marrying Catherine Daniels only seemed to make the tension between the two men worse. Griff couldn’t accept that his mother was happy with a man who wasn’t Griff’s deceased father. He kept a professional but polite distance with Roman while they were at work, and Roman didn’t push. He said it was between Catherine and her son, and as long as Catherine was okay, he wouldn’t interfere. God help Griff if that ever changed. Roman wasn’t a man Shep would want to cross. Honestly, he didn’t know what he’d do if he was ever put between the two men. Hopefully, Griff would work through his issues soon.

“We’ll need at least an hour to take care of a few things here and throw together a bag to leave,” Griff told Stace. “We’ll need to let a few people know where we’ll be.”

“My apologies. I’ll give you the address for your wives or girlfriends. I’d appreciate a heads up if one of you is expecting company, but it was never my intention to keep you from your significant others,” Stace offered.

“Not an issue,” Shep assured her. “Neither of us is married or dating.”

“On that note, Roman and I will leave you to go meet with another client. You’re in good hands, Stace.” Jack glanced between Shep and Griff. “Let me know if you need anything.”

“Will do,” Shep replied.

“I’m going to head out.” Griff gave Shep a knowing look. Apparently, he’d picked up on Shep’s interest in Stace. “Meet back here in a couple hours?”

“Meet at my place,” Shep answered, never taking his eyes of Stace.

“So…” she said when it was just the two of them.

“Why don’t you come with me?” Shep said.

“Come with you?” she parroted.

“Yes. It’ll give us a chance to talk more. You can fill me in on what you’ve been doing since you got back and discovered Chloe’s missing. Tell me more about her. The better I know her, the better I can help figure out why she was targeted.” Shep had no doubt Chloe Anders had been targeted, but was it random or did it have to do with something she’d been involved in?

“Okay.” Turning, Stace walked out the door ahead of Shep. He glanced down, almost groaning at the view of her perfectly rounded ass. The woman was his walking dream. He wanted her. Badly. But he wouldn’t take advantage of a woman in crisis, and Stace Anders, with her missing baby sister, was in crisis.

She turned to face him, and he barely stopped his stride in time to prevent crashing into her.

“I want you. We both know it. At some point, now that I know there’s no one else in your life, I plan to seduce you. Understand, though, I won’t let sex interfere with finding my sister.”

“Understood.”

She stepped into him, and he groaned at the feel of her hardened nipples against his chest. She slid her hands up his chest and wrapped them around his neck, tugging his head down the few inches between them.

“Why don’t we get this out of our systems.”

That was Shep’s only warning before she skimmed her lips along his jaw. It was like a stroke of electricity that seared straight to his dick and had it flexing against the snug fabric of his jeans. She nipped his bottom lip which only revved his lust higher. What really did it for him was the fact her eyes remained wide open and locked on his. This was no tame woman. Stace Anders would be a wildcat when they finally got together. He opened his mouth but let her retain control. Her tongue slipped inside and rubbed against his. He cupped her ass and pulled her closer against him, locking their lower bodies together. She let him hold her there for one long moment before dropping her hands to his chest and pushing away.

“I want you,” she repeated. “This kiss doesn’t mean I won’t make you work for it.”

Shep watched her stride ahead of him. He had no problem working for it, for her. He wanted those long legs wrapped around his waist or resting on his shoulders. Or bent in front of him with that stellar ass on display. Hell, at this point, he could only hope she didn’t plan to make them wait too long.