Smash and Grab: Action-Packed Thrilling Romantic Suspense (Callahan Security Series Book 2) Read online

  Smash and Grab

  Callahan Security, Book 2

  Lori Matthews

  Wild Coyote Press

  About Smash And Grab

  Logan Callahan knows he’s out of his depth. As CEO of Callahan Security, he thrives on balance sheets and bottom lines. But there’s a huge different between running a company and running for your life. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a choice. The woman he came to the Bahamas to investigate was kidnapped and he was taken right along with her. He knew the sexy lady lawyer was trouble. He just had no idea how much.

  Taken again. Lacy Carmichael was not new to the Kidnap and Ransom game but usually she managed to talk or fight her way out of it. After all, when your father was one of the largest arms dealers in the world danger comes with the territory. Since Logan was grabbed with her, she’ll have to reveal all her secrets in order to save their asses.

  Logan is hesitant to trust Lacy but a power grab by her father’s enemies removes his choice. If only she wasn’t so damned smart and sexy, staying neutral would be easier. Searching for a way out of the mess, and fighting their mutual attraction to each other, will take all of Logan’s and Lacy’s skills. Unfortunately, deception and betrayal by those they trust the most has changed the rules of the game, and they find themselves battling for their lives and their love.

  Contents

  Acknowledgments

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  About Lori Matthews

  Also by Lori Matthews

  Smash And Grab

  Copyright © 2020 Lori Matthews

  eBook License Notes:

  You may not use, reproduce or transmit in any manner, any part of this book without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations used in critical articles and reviews, or in accordance with federal Fair Use laws. All rights are reserved.

  This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only; it may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, please return to your eBook retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Disclaimer:

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or the author has used them fictitiously.

  For Joan Matthews

  Thanks for teaching me about the importance of fun!

  Acknowledgments

  Thanks once again to all the inhabitants of my city – the one it takes to bring this book into the world. My deepest gratitude my editors, Corinne DeMaagd and Heidi Senesac for making me appear much more coherent than I actually am; my cover artist, Llewellen Designs for making my story come alive: my virtual assistant who is a social media guru and all round dynamo, Susan Poirier. My personal cheer squad which I could not survive without: Janna MacGregor, Suzanne Burke, Angi Morgan, and Stacey Wilk. Thank you all for talking me off the ledge more than once. My mother and my sisters who told me to dream big. My husband and my children who make my life complete. You all are my world. A special heartfelt thanks goes out to you, the reader. The fact you are reading this means my dreams have come true.

  Chapter One

  “I’m not going, Markus,” Lacy Carmichael hissed as she tugged her arm from the large man’s grasp.

  She took a step back and glanced around the party to see if anyone had noticed. It was packed, and the beat from the music was vibrating in her chest. “Like I told you when you called, I’ll meet my father on Monday. He expressly told me not to come to see him before then. If he wants me to come now, he’s going to have to call me and tell me himself. I’m only following orders.”

  She straightened her dress. “Now,” she said above the noise, “I’m on this yacht to enjoy myself, not to discuss business.” With that, she turned on her heel and disappeared into the crowd. She glanced over her shoulder to see if Markus followed and smashed right into someone, a man’s chest to be accurate.

  Looking up, she almost choked on her champagne. “Logan, what are you doing here?” she sputtered. Of all the people she could have run into on a yacht party in the Bahamas, this was about the worst-case scenario.

  “It’s nice to see you too, Lacy.” A small smile played at the corners of his mouth as he wiped champagne from his chest.

  He looked amazing. His dark hair was a little long, and the moist Caribbean air was making it curl more than usual. One lock tumbled over his forehead, and she started to raise her hand to push it back but caught herself.

  “Is everything OK?” His blue eyes, so piercing, glanced over the top of her head, but when she whipped around, there was no sign of Markus. Thank God.

  She should have been ready for his next question, delivered seconds after the first one, but somehow she wasn’t.

  “Who was that man you were fighting with?”

  This time she did choke. She coughed and coughed. Logan, concern written on his face, drew closer, but she waved him off.

  “Sorry,” she croaked. “Went down the wrong pipe.” She coughed a bit more. “Ah, nobody.” She ran a hand over her own hair, smoothing down any wayward strands. “It’s nice to see you, Logan. I’m just surprised you’re here in Nassau. I didn’t know Callahan Security had clients in the Bahamas…unless you’re on vacation? Being the CEO of your own company has some perks, eh? Are your brothers with you?”

  She bit the inside of her cheek to stop herself from rambling and tried to make her expression as neutral as possible, but she’d always felt Logan could see right through her. It wasn’t something she was willing to admit to anyone else. She knew his former associates had nicknamed him “Lucifer” for that very stare which, rumor had it, could see right into a person’s soul. Not to mention he was a devil in the courtroom if the case ever got that far.

  “Callahan Security doesn’t have clients here, and I left Gage and Mitch in charge in New York. A bit of a risk, I admit.” He smiled. “Actually, I have some business to attend to for my old law firm. They flew me down.”

  He had finished wiping his chest, and now he gave her the once over, even studying her arm where Markus had grabbed her. “You sure you’re all right?”

  “Um, yes. Fine.” She started to bring her hand up to fix her hair again but stopped herself. No need to let him know how much he rattled her.

  “What about you?” he asked. “What are you doing in the Bahamas and, more specifically, at this party? Do you know the Dobsons?”

  “The who?” She had been distracted by his cool blue eyes checking her out. The smile was back, threatening the corners of his mouth again.

  “The Dobsons. This is their party. They own the yacht.”

  “Right. The Dobsons. Well, actually, I was invited by an old college friend who’s here in town. He asked me to dr
op by.”

  Logan glanced around as if looking for the person in question.

  “Oh, he’s around here somewhere.” She pretended to look for him. In reality, she had been invited by a woman she met by the pool at her hotel. She wouldn’t normally say yes to something like this, but life had been stressful of late, and she just wanted a chance to dress up and go to a party without the hassle of having to talk to anyone. Now she very much regretted her decision to party crash.

  She saw Markus coming up from below. He was talking on his cell. Holding up her empty champagne glass, she said, “You know, I think I’ll go find some water. Great to see you!” She quickly turned and fled. The last thing she wanted was for Logan and his super-stare to see her and Markus arguing again.

  She made her way through the crowd to the railing and leaned over the side of the yacht. It was a perfect Caribbean night. The breeze was warm but not hot. The boat was decorated with twinkly lights along the railings and lanterns hung high up across the decks. They had even turned on the lights by the water so the hull was illuminated. She saw a fish swim alongside the yacht and then disappear into the inky water.

  She peered up at the night sky. The bright light on the yacht made it difficult to see the stars. She made a mental note to look up once she left the yacht. The pier and the parking lot weren’t well lit so she might be able to see the brilliant white dots in the heavens, if there were any visible.

  Rolling her shoulders, she tried to ease some of the tension in her neck. Some vacation. She wanted a weekend to decompress from work, which had sucked lately. Well, it always sucked. The truth was, she wanted out. Out of being a lawyer. She had enough clients to make a good living, but she just found the whole thing boring. And there was her father…but she wasn’t going to think about that. This was her weekend off. She wanted to enjoy it.

  She glanced up, spotted Markus again, and then breathed a small sigh of relief when he disappeared around the bow of the yacht. She wasn’t surprised he found her at the party. Her father had eyes everywhere. It was weird though, that her father hadn’t contacted her directly to tell her he wanted her to come home. Why send one of his henchmen? He knew she wouldn’t go with Markus unless he called her. She was following his instructions. The whole thing was off somehow. Come to think of it, Markus was acting weird, too. Nervous.

  She exchanged her empty glass of champagne for a full one from a passing waiter and took a large sip. One for the road. It was time to abandon ship. This wasn’t the way she’d wanted to kick off her weekend break.

  She caught a glimpse of Logan through the crowd. Logan Callahan. The man who always had made her knees weak. From the moment she saw him across a boardroom table, she’d been hyper aware of him. She’d been a newly minted lawyer and thought she knew a thing or two. He quickly ground her into dust.

  She’d never forgotten him, or forgiven him for that matter. Still, their interactions had made her a better lawyer. She had been much better prepared the next time they’d met. She even scored a point or two on him.

  Since then, she’d improved greatly, and now she was pretty sure he saw her as a worthy adversary. Or at least he had until he quit and started running Callahan Security with his brothers. She didn’t want to think about her weekend with Callahan Security. It was part of the reason she needed this weekend off.

  She prided herself on being a very capable and strong woman. She knew she couldn’t have gotten far in life—her life, specifically—if she didn’t have her shit together. But Logan always threw her for a loop. She’d gotten better at hiding it but, still, the moment she saw him, she turned into an idiot. Case in point. She’d just spilled her drink all over him.

  Keeping one eye out for Markus, she worked her way across the length of the yacht and down the stairs to the deck below. As she neared the gangplank to get off the boat, she heard a splash and then a scream. The world seemed frozen for a second before people rushed to the railing. The partygoers were yelling, pushing, and shoving, and someone yelled, “Call for an ambulance!”

  Dread washed over her as she elbowed her way to the rail. Her stomach lurched at the sight of what lay below.

  A body bobbing in the water.

  No need for lights and sirens. Markus floated face up, giving her a perfect view of the hole in the middle of his forehead.

  Panic engulfed her, and she white-knuckled the railing. Just breathe. Just breathe. She kept repeating the mantra until everything stopped spinning. She scanned the crowd. Most people were still peering down at the body in shock, but some were already making their way off the yacht. That seemed like a grand idea to her. While she and Markus had been acquaintances and she was sorry he was dead, it wouldn’t do her any good if she got caught up in whatever mess he was leaving behind.

  As she turned, something caught her eye, so she stopped to scrutinize the deck above. Logan was standing there watching her. Their eyes met. A shiver ran down her spine. Then some panicked partygoer slammed into her, and the spell was broken. By the time she righted herself and looked up again, Logan was gone.

  Sirens in the distance made goose bumps raise on her arms. She made her way to the gangplank, pushing through the crowd. Being gone by the time the cops arrived would be best. It was never good to chat with the cops with her father on the wrong side of the law.

  As she hit the pier, the mass exodus created a logjam of bodies heading the same direction as she was going…to the parking lot. Strobing lights on the arriving cop cars lit the sky, rendering any chance of seeing stars moot.

  Glancing around, it appeared the best way out of there was to walk left and back down the pier along the side of the warehouse, away from the parking lot. The pier extended maybe twenty feet past the end of the warehouse.

  She tried to pull up a mental map of the area. Wasn’t there a boardwalk on the far side of the warehouse by the other end of the parking lot? If she traveled around the warehouse, she should be able to get to the boardwalk. She would only be exposed as she covered the last bit of parking lot. There were a couple of hotels if she remembered correctly. She could grab a cab.

  Changing direction, she worked her way through the crowd. She finally broke free and hustled down the pier, sticking close to the warehouse so she would be in the shadows the whole way. The shock of seeing Markus floating lifeless in the water was starting to wear off, leaving dozens of questions in its wake.

  Behind her, cops were ordering people back onto the yacht, so she picked up her pace. There would be plenty of time later to theorize about what had happened. She rounded the corner and broke into a light jog along the far end of the warehouse. Not easy to do in high heels, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

  It was dark, and she stumbled, but caught herself. She glanced upward and realized there were no stars. So much for the perfect Caribbean night.

  Coming to the next corner, she peered around it, making sure there were no cops. She stuck close to the warehouse as she worked her way back down the pier. She was almost halfway down the side when a cop came around the corner of the warehouse from the parking lot. She stopped jogging and quickly hid behind some pallets that were stacked on the pier next to the warehouse. The cop walked directly toward her, and she shrank back into the shadows.

  A hand covered her mouth. All the air left her lungs. Struggling to breathe, she started to fight off her attacker.

  “Stop struggling, or the cop will find us,” a voice breathed in her ear. She froze. Logan took his hand away from her mouth and pulled her deeper behind the stack of pallets. Her pulse skyrocketed. Being pressed against Logan wasn’t helping. Electricity danced across her skin.

  They stood frozen as the cop came closer. He took out a flashlight and moved the beam around the pier. The light didn’t penetrate the pallets, and the officer walked back the way he’d come.

  As soon as he was out of earshot, Lacy turned to face Logan. “You scared the shit out of me!”

  “I didn’t want you to yell and let
the cop know where we were.”

  She couldn’t see his face in the shadows, but she had a sneaking suspicion he was laughing at her again. “Whatever. I need to get out of here.” When she took a step forward, Logan followed her. She glanced at him, “What are you—?"

  “Looks like we both want to get out of here, so why don’t we talk later and just keep moving now, hmm?”

  It was tempting to argue, but she nodded and started walking toward the end of the warehouse. Logan was the last person she’d expected to find hiding out on the pier. He was a top-notch lawyer. Squeaky clean. The fact that he was lurking in the shadows tonight was interesting. Very interesting.

  When they came to the end, Logan glanced toward the yacht. “The cops have the area cordoned off. Looks like they’re questioning people.”

  Lacy took a quick look and confirmed what he’d said. She immediately swore.

  “What?” he asked.

  “Peter Trenthom.”

  “Who?”

  “The guy in the suit standing next to the gangplank. He’s probably the lead detective on the case.”

  He cocked an eyebrow. “And how do you know so much about the police in the Bahamas?”

  “It’s a long story. Let’s just say, my employer has had some legal issues in town.” She peeked around the corner again, trying to figure out her best move.