Dusted Star

Chapter One

It was official,Lakyn had lost her ever-loving mind. Dropping to knees, she cursed the day she’d read her first erotic novel. How could one damned hot story lead to her death by sand-blasting? It defied logic.

She’d chatted with a couple at the diner where she’d eaten the best breakfast she’d ever had—who knew greasy food was so tasty?They’d warned her it was supposed tobe breezy today.Breezy? What the ever-loving hell? No one said anything about a hurricane. Holy fucking wind tunnel, Batman, this is nuts. At this rate, there won’t be any need to worry about being recognized because I’m not going to have any skin left.She’d heard about the wild Texas wind, but she’d never imagined anything like the gale threatening to sandblast the top several layers of skinfrom her body.Should have stayed in the car. Should have stayed in the car. Shit. Shit. Shit. Why didn’t I stay in the fucking car?

After three days of traveling without stopping for more than a couple hours cat-nap, Lakyn knew she was running on fumes, and that was when she always made her worst decisions. Piss her off and she could make solid choices like a military strategist, but exhaustion?Give it up. She couldn’t decide her way out of a wet paper bag.

On the rare occasions Lakyn traveled alone, she’d learned stopping to rest invariably led to more problems than it solved. Hotel staff and guests with cell phones were her worst nightmare. If they weren’t snapping her picture, they were alerting their friends to her presence, and within minutes, the place was crawling with photographersand fans. It baffled her how strangers, who weren’t expecting to see a celebrity in their midst, instantly knew who she was. Hell, she barely recognized herself without all the crap the studio’s makeup artists plastered on her face. When she looked in the mirror, she saw Lakyn Hicks, but the rest of the world saw Lakyn Storm.

Yes, indeed, Reggie Parks was going to stroke out when he discoveredshe’d slipped out from under his watchful eye. Her manager rarely let her out of his sight long enough for Lakyn to take a deep breath. He claimed her brother had charged him with her safety, but she knew better. He was like a kid guarding his lunch ticket… any concerns he had about her safety were directly linked to his bank balance. Why had Cooper hired the hulking shadows to follow her aroundeach time she left her apartment if Reggie was supposed to be protecting her?Protecting me, my ass. More like Scrooge guarding his investment.

Cooper was going to be seventy kinds of pissed off as well because she’d given his guys the slip twice in the past week… but she didn’t care. She’d needed a break, and the woman she’d been talking to online had graciously offered her a place to stay ifshe was ever in Texas. They’d become fast friends when they discovered they had mutual friends and shared interests. Of course, Tobi West only knew her as the younger sister of one of her husband’s former teammates, but in Lakyn’s view that made their connection all that more significant because it was real.I hope she doesn’t think I misled her… but I guess I did. Damn, is this fucking wind evergoing to stop? Think about something else, Lakyn… anything else.

Lakyn loved her brother to distraction, but she wasn’t naïve. Cooper was a player of the first order. Any woman who got involved with Cooper Hicks was doomed to heartache and probably more than a little kink for her trouble. She’d figured out her brother was a Dom after reading her first BDSM novel.

Rolling her eyes at her owndistraction, Lakyn couldn’t help but wonder how long she was going to be forced to listen to her brother lecture her when he discovered she’d given his security detail the slip and driven across country alone.Face it brother, mine… if I can slip past them, you weren’t getting much for your money, anyway.

For some reason, Lakyn still couldn’t wrap her head around that Cooper was convinced shewas still the same girl who got lost in the woods behind their family home when she’d been little more than a toddler. It had been ten-year-old Cooper who’d found her battered and bruised at the bottom of a small ravine. He’d carried her up the steep incline and over a mile before other searchers spotted them and pulled her from his exhausted arms. In Cooper’s mind, Lakyn would always be the helplesslittle child he’d carried to safety.

Shaking her head, she blinked as beads of sweat rolled into her eyes. Hiding beneath her heavy jacket had seemed like a great idea when all she’d been worried about was the vicious sting of blowing dirt. Now, she wondered if it was possible to suffocate under a lined nylon jacket. Suddenly, using the coat as a shelter didn’t seem like the stroke of geniusit had a few minutes ago.I should have stayed in the damned car.

*

Juan Rivera lookedout over the wind-swept prairie and sighed. “Fuck I need a break. Another rescue like the last one and I’m going to turn into the biggest pussy on the planet.” His long-time friend, Trac Hughes rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Don’t try to sell that unaffected attitude bullshitto me, man. The conditions we found those kids in got to every man on the team.” It was the truth. Every member of the team had crashed hard as soon as they’d returned to Prairie Winds.

“Yeah, well, seeing anyone chained to a damp wall and covered in their own excrement will give you pause.” Trac’s cool assessment didn’t fool Juan, he’d seen the horrified look on his friend’s face when they’dstepped through the barn doors. The worst had been the knowledge they’d been so damned close to home. Discovering representatives from a slave-trading organization, headquartered in the Eastern Block, had somehow managed to establish a holding facility less than five hundred miles from their front door had been damned humbling.

Juan frowned when the visibility dimmed to less than a quarter mile.“Fucking dust, I hate not being able to see what’s coming at me.” Squinting, he slowed to get a better look at a dark sedan, sitting too close to the edge of the road. “What the hell? Who leaves their fancy ass car on the side of the road in this wind? There won’t be a speck of paint left on the passenger’s side by morning.”

“I didn’t see anybody in the car. They probably caught a ride and calledfor their auto club. Hell, nobody with any sense would try to walk in this wind. You know this is blowing up a fucking storm. Keep going, I want to get back to Prairie Winds before we get hammered.”

Biting back his laughter, Juan had lost track of how many times he’d reminded his friend not everyone had the same level of understanding of everyday situations. Trac had zero-tolerance for what heconsidered a lack of common sense.

Juan continued driving, but something about the abandoned car keep niggling in the back of his mind. A couple of miles down the road, the hair on the back of his neck began standing on end as he fought to see through the blowing dust crossing the highway in reddish-brown clouds. He barely caught a glimpse of what looked like someone dropping to the ground beforehis view was once again obscured by the dark cloud of moving dirt. Slowing, he edged closer to the side of the blacktop, careful not to run over whatever was huddled a few yards ahead.

“What the hell is that?” Trac was leaning forward as Juan jumped from the truck as soon as it rocked to a stop. As Juan approached, he could hear a muffled voice, but whoever was hiding beneath what looked likea winter coat didn’t respond when he asked if they needed help.Who the hell wears a winter coat in Texas?

The question was quickly erased from his mind when he knelt close, blocking as much of the wind as possible and lifted the corner of the dust-covered coat. Looking down, he found himself gazing into the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen. The unique striations of deep blue reminded him ofthe violet lilacs his mother loved so dearly, but those distinctive outer rings faded to the palest blue he’d ever seen. The effect was haunting, and his breath caught when the woman blinked in surprise that quickly morphed to fear when he didn’t speak for several seconds. Before Juan managed to speak, Trac’s booming voice sounded over the howling wind.

“What the fuck, Rivera? If it’s a critter,you’re not picking it up. No more fucking strays, our place is already a damned zoo.” As a former Special Agents with the FBI, he and Trac had worked together for longer than Juan wanted to think about, so there was no reason to deny his soft heart when it came to animals in need. Giving a startled yelp, the angel with the beautiful eyes pulled the coat back over her, quickly ducking out of sight.

“Damn it, Hughes, you scared her.”Great, now I find my traitorous voice.

“Her?”

“Yeah, her as in person. Two legs, not four.” Pulling the coat back up, Juan smiled and held out his hand.

“Come,Chiquita. Let’s get you out of this wind before we all get run over.” Standing on the edge of the highway wasn’t safe. He was anxious to get back in the truck. The thunderheads were moving in fast,and once the lightning started, the danger of being out in the open would increase exponentially.

Juan was relieved when she finally slipped her small hand into his much larger one. Her fingers were so delicate in his palm, he was worried about crushing them just by pulling her to her feet. A white-hot bolt of electricity streaked up his arm at the initial contact, making him suck in a quickbreath, and he knew his eyes had widened in surprise.

Helping her to her feet, Juan had the strangest feeling he’d seen her somewhere, but her face was so smudged with dirt, it was difficult to tell. She was petite, the top of her head barely reaching his shoulder, and she was wearing a ridiculous pair of heels. When she stumbled against him, murmuring an apology, he heard Trac swear, “Holy shit.”

Before Juan could ask Trac what was wrong, the woman surprised him by asking, “Do you know Tobi West?” When he and Trac both stopped and stared at her, the woman ducked her head and grimaced. “Sorry, I was hoping perhaps you knew how close I was to her house. She told me if I was ever in Texas, I was welcome, and well, I was hoping to surprise her. She said her place was… well, special. You knowand… safe.”Safe?Why did the angel with the beautiful eyes need a safe place?

Without answering her question, Juan took her hand in his and led her to the truck. Opening the driver’s door, he lifted her effortlessly into the center of the seat before getting in beside her.