Savage Seduction

Savage Seduction - Chapter One

Alex Sullivan sat behind his desk staring at the photograph of the woman smiling back at him. Her dark hair, her smiling eyes, her perfect skin was exactly as he'd remembered. She hadn't changed in the ten years since he'd last seen her. He'd finally pulled his life together after a couple years of drowning himself inside of a Jack Daniel's bottle when his mother had surrendered to her stage four lung cancer. She was the only thing he'd had in this world and when she had died it felt like his cruel life was slapping him in the face, again. His high school days were ones he'd rather forget and after prom, the only night he'd wanted to maintain, he'd left town as fast as he could. Over the years he would hear about her, read about her in the paper and he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride; she was his for one night, in a red dress that even today made his mouth water.

He sipped his coffee knowing more than half the guys who'd used him as a punching bag were now fat and lazy, saddled with kids and a wife who had a secret boyfriend on the side while they worked their minimum wage job. And after his mother's passing he'd been worse than that. He'd gone completely underground and stayed there without any communication to the outside world. He would pace the dark confines of his lair, day after day asking the same question, why? But now...now he'd pulled himself together, raising his middle finger to the sky. His company was fast growing and he was ready to take it bi-costal. Back to his hometown. Where she was. He straightened his shoulders feeling his impatience starting to creep through the adrenaline in his veins. He looked down at the pen in his hand and the series of information he'd acquired with a little string-pulling of his established connections. His first class plane ticket sat inside his passport underneath his wallet. He took a deep breath and one last look at the woman on his computer screen before shutting it down altogether. He stood up straightening his suit jacket and placing his things in his black designer briefcase, before taking the elevator down to his waiting limo.

He stared at the passing traffic, a triumphant smile growing across his lips. Memories of his only night with her surfaced, her smell, her smile, the glow in her eyes. He was a boy then, didn't know what to do with a girl like her. But he'd grown into a man and had no apprehensions with what to do with her now.

He'd ensured that over the past year he'd gotten everything he wanted - the cushy office, the fancy car, the penthouse suite. And now he wanted her.

***

Logan Savage ran a hand over his face, staring out through the small round window of the plane that was taking him home from a mission that had taken double the time it should have. What was supposed to be a simple in and out had turned into a clusterfuck the moment he had stepped off the damned jet. He'd had a bad feeling in his gut from the start, but he kept telling himself it was emotions and memories that were getting too close to the surface. Pushing them aside he'd directed orders to the two other members of his team before finding themselves balls-deep in a nightmare of uncooperative targets and egomaniacal kidnappers. Reclining his chair back, he closed his eyes still feeling wired and buzzed from the adrenaline of the mission.

"You alright?" He turned to see his teammate and his best friend staring at him, his arrogant raised eyebrow filled with amusement. Ace had stuck by his side when they were kids, running the streets and causing trouble, picking fights and successfully ending them. They'd travelled the world together from the inside of a military aircraft and now Logan had successfully convinced him to join Savage Security.

"Yeah." Logan didn't want to admit to the moaning and protesting of his muscles and he knew the big man had to feel it too. They'd stomped through an untouched, humid jungle, spent nights hidden beneath the palms of trees before finally locating the cabin they'd been hunting for. It was one of the most dilapidated structures Logan had ever seen. Its roof completely sunken in places, moss and vines growing over the slatted wood and splintered windows. The men holding the young girl were inside; their whoops and calls from the soccer game they were watching on a handheld screen echoing throughout the rural area. Ace was in charge of acquiring the target while Logan and Greene created a distraction for her captors. What was supposed to be a simple in and out turned into the complete opposite. The girl didn't want to leave thinking they weren't the good guys. Her screams taking away from their distraction and when the entire thing imploded he felt nothing but frustration. But it was those moments on a mother's face when she was reunited with her daughter that made everything worth it. Seeing the tears in her eyes the moment they landed on her little girl made Logan think of his own mother and the love she carried for her children. His mother was a saint, raising four children of her own and taking on four of her second husband's. Logan's childhood was anything but boring. She was always there when one of them skinned their knee, had a blackened eye, got their heart broken from their first crush; and even now when they were all grown up she still maintained her role of ruthless protector. It was those emotions, those connections that he saw mirrored in the eyes of other parent's like the young mother he'd met today and her endless gratitude that made him get up every day with a love for his job.