Seb's Surrender

Seb's Surrender

by Carol Lynne
Seb's Surrender

Seb's Surrender

by Carol Lynne

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Overview

After a lifetime of abuse, Jared Grant was rescued by Brier Blackstone and taken to one of the safest places he knew, the bodyguard dormitory of the Three Partners Protection Agency. For the first time, Jared is surrounded by men whose job it is to protect, not hurt him.

One of his protectors, Sebastian James, knows a little something about abuse. Once a victim of abuse before he and his brother were taken from an abusive household and put into separate foster homes, Seb learned to harden his heart as a way of survival. Now, the soft spoken and scared Jared threatens the shell Seb spent years fortifying.

When Jared's tormentor threatens him from jail, it's up to Seb and the rest of the bodyguards to keep Jared safe until he can testify at his abuser's trial. However, the close contact might be more than Seb's hard shell can withstand.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780857150233
Publisher: Totally Entwined Group
Publication date: 01/11/2010
Series: Bodyguards in Love , #2
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 86
File size: 409 KB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

An avid reader for years, one day Carol Lynne decided to write her own brand of erotic romance. Carol juggles between being a full-time mother and a full-time writer. These days, you can usually find Carol either cleaning jelly out of the carpet or nestled in her favourite chair writing steamy love scenes.

Read an Excerpt

CHAPTER 1

Jared Grant pulled his thin jacket tighter around him and walked into the cold, blowing wind of a cloud-covered Albuquerque evening. He was so intent on getting to work on time, he didn't notice the car that pulled up beside him until a horn honked.

Jared jumped and spun around, ready to run. The driver of the shiny black El Camino SS rolled down his window.

"What're you doing out here?" Sebastian James asked.

Jared took a tentative step towards the car, truck, whatever it was. "Going to work."

Seb sighed and put the car in park. "Get in."

Jared opened the door and a blast of heat warmed him within seconds. He buckled his seatbelt and waited for Seb to pull away from the kerb. "It's just up here another six blocks."

"Yeah, I know where it is. Mind telling me what the hell you're doing walking to work in this weather?"

Confused by the man's anger, Jared inched closer to the passenger door. "Um ... going to work?"

"Are you asking me?"

"Huh?" Seb confused Jared more than anyone he'd ever been around.

"You do that a lot, you know."

"Do what?"

"Make statements into questions. It's the lilt up on the end of your sentences, like you're not sure if you're going to work or not."

"Oh. Yes, I'm going to work."

Seb shook his head and pulled back into traffic. "So why are you walking instead of catching a ride?"

"Brier went home sick."

"So why not ask someone else?"

Jared tried to concentrate on the questions, but he kept getting distracted by Sebastian's dangerous-looking beauty. "I don't know anyone else well enough to bother."

With a disgusted sigh, Seb reached into the pocket of his black leather jacket and handed Jared a business card. "Call me when you need a ride. If I'm not on a job, I'll take ya."

Jared read the black and red printed business card. It listed Sebastian James as a security specialist and gave his phone number. "What's a security specialist do?"

"Whatever needs doing. Mostly I assess situations and make recommendations on the level of security a specific job requires."

Sebastian pulled into the small gas station parking lot. Jared opened the door, glancing back at the handsome man. "Thanks for the ride."

Seb reached out and grabbed Jared's arm. Out of reflex, Jared tried to jerk his arm back and lowered his head. Sebastian released his grip with a growl of what sounded like irritation. "How late're you working?"

"I don't get off until two."

"In the morning?"

Jared nodded his head. He knew his job sucked, but beggars couldn't be choosers. "It's the only shift they had available."

Seb rubbed his hands over his face. Jared could tell he irritated the man, but he wasn't the one who'd asked for a ride. "Call me, and I'll pick you up. You've got no business being on the streets that late."

Jared walked home from work every night at that time. He wondered why he was suddenly being told he had no business doing it. As grouchy as Seb acted, Jared doubted the man would appreciate a wakeup call at two. Instead of arguing, he stuffed the card into his jacket pocket and got out of the car. "Thanks again for the ride."

He walked into the store and acknowledged the older woman behind the counter. Mrs. Bell seemed nice enough, but she was the nosey type and Jared preferred to keep the skeletons in his closet safely locked away.

Jared stowed his jacket under the counter and watched out the window as Seb pulled out of the parking lot. Why had he waited so long? Jared shook his head. In the three weeks since he'd come to Albuquerque with Brier, Sebastian seemed to run hot and cold where he was concerned.

Seb was the one who'd insisted Jared file assault and rape charges against Rick Sutcliff, but since then, it seemed like Seb could barely stand to be around him. Jared couldn't help but to think Seb was disgusted by him now that he knew everything Rick had done to him.

Even thinking of Rick had Jared's stomach clenching into knots. It had been bad enough that Rick terrorized and raped him, Brier and Peter while in the hospital, but then Rick had showed up on his doorstep in Lubbock demanding to be let in.

Jared had been so afraid of the man, he'd done as he was told. From that day until Brier came knocking on his door, Rick had made his life a living hell. It was the lowest point of his twenty-five years, which was saying a lot.

He glanced down at the long straight scars running up both wrists. Even the events that had pushed him into trying to end his life hadn't been nearly as hard as the punishment Rick doled out on a daily basis.

"I'm off," Mrs. Bell called, grabbing her purse from the locked cabinet under the counter.

"Have a good evening."

Officially on the job, Jared took out his hideous smock and put it on. Some nights were harder than others, but Fridays and Saturdays sucked. He knew he shouldn't complain, even to himself. Getting the clerk job in the first place hadn't been easy.

Without a high school diploma or a work history, Jared knew the owner was taking a real chance hiring him. Jared had promised the kind man to be the best employee in the store, and he tried on a daily basis to keep his word. The drunks who stumbled in near midnight always put him on edge, but he often bluffed his way through it.

It didn't matter what he had to endure. For the first time in his life he was making his own money. He was finally free of his abusive parents, the hospital where they'd kept him for so long, and the man who'd almost succeeded in completely erasing what little humanity Jared had left.

He smiled as a customer stepped up to the counter. He may be wearing an ugly smock and doing a job he hated, but at least he was safe to live his life on his own terms. Could his life possibly get any better than that?

* * *

Seb watched to make sure Jared got inside the store safely before pulling out of the lot. He still couldn't believe the man would walk over two and a half miles in the cold with a jacket at least two sizes too small.

He reached in his pocket and retrieved his phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jackie, is Brier there?"

"He's sleeping. Why, what do you need?"

"I need to know why the hell no one's bothered to get Jared a decent coat. I just found him walking to work with that pitiful excuse for a jacket he has."

"Walking? Shit. I didn't even think about him going to work when I took Brier home early."

"Yeah. That's something else I'm not real happy about."

"Hey, man, Brier's my priority, not Jared. He's a nice kid, but there are times I have my hands full with my own business."

Seb pulled into his parking spot and turned off the engine. He knew Jackie was right. Although Brier had helped Jared get away from Rick, neither of them had taken Jared to raise. "Sorry. I guess seeing him walking beside the road like that just got to me."

"By the way, Brier offered to buy Jared some clothes, but he flatly refused. You know Brier, he didn't want to hurt Jared's feelings by pointing out the fact his wardrobe was lacking."

Seb had noticed Jared seemed to wear the same holey jeans and T- shirt almost every day, but he figured it was more a want than a need. "Maybe I'll run by the thrift store and pick him up a few things."

"I'm sure Brier would appreciate it. Not so sure about Jared though."

"Leave that to me. It's the reason I'm not buying him new clothes." After saying his goodbye, Seb started the El Camino and headed towards the thrift store on the other side of town.

He knew what it was to be too proud to ask for what was needed. Maybe he could get Jared to understand what had taken him years to figure out. There was nothing wrong with asking for help from your friends.

Where the hell had that come from? He barely knew Jared. He certainly wouldn't call the younger man a friend. Seb knew in any other circumstance, he probably would have already had the cute little blond in his bed, but Jared definitely wasn't someone to mess with. The blue eyed beauty made Seb feel too many things to allow him to get that close.

* * *

Seb was in a dead sleep when his alarm clock woke him. He reached over and automatically smacked the snooze button, affording himself another ten minutes. He picked up his dream almost immediately and groaned as the rose coloured lips sucked his balls before moving up to engulf his cock.

"Do it, baby," he groaned, grinding his cock against the mattress.

His dream lover somehow managed to swallow Seb's cock to the root, which he knew from past lovers was no easy feat.

"That's it. Take it all." Seb wound his fingers around the near-white strands of hair as his lover continued to bob up and down on his length.

He felt the signs of his imminent release when the alarm clock once again disrupted his sleep. Slapping once again at the snooze button, it finally registered why he'd set the alarm in the first place. "Shit."

He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. It wasn't until he reached for his jeans he remembered the blond-haired head bobbing up and down on his cock. "Ahh, fuck."

Having dreams about Jared definitely wasn't allowed. It would be hard enough chauffeuring the guy around without dipping his finger in the honey pot. Dreams? Not going to help his control one bit.

Still half asleep, Seb pulled on his boots and shrugged into his jacket. He grabbed his keys off the small kitchen counter on the way out the door. Stepping outside into the cold air, he shivered and quickly got into his car. He wished he had the luxury of letting the car warm up, but he was late as it was.

Seb pulled out of the parking lot and headed towards town. A glance at the clock on the cassette player told him it was already twenty after two. "Shit."

He stomped on the accelerator, and almost immediately saw the flashing red and blue lights of a city police vehicle riding his ass. With a groan, Seb pulled over to the side of the road and turned off the engine. He reached into his back pocket and came up empty. I'll be a sonofa ...

A tap sounded on the glass and Seb rolled down his window. "Evening."

"License and registration, please."

Seb reached over to the glove box, extracted his registration papers and handed them to the policeman. "Sorry officer, I seemed to have left my wallet at home. I was just going ..."

"Is this the correct name?" the officer asked, gesturing to the papers.

"Yes. I work at Three Partners Protection."

"Just a minute." The officer walked back to his car.

Seb just knew the asshole was going to give him a ticket. Movement in front of him caught his eye. Jared walked to the driver's side window.

"Trouble?" he asked.

"Forgot my wallet. I'll probably get a ticket."

Jared looked at the police car and smiled. "No you won't."

Seb watched in his rear view mirror as Jared approached the police car. He couldn't hear what was being said, but both men ended up laughing. The officer got out of the car and approached Seb's window as Jared climbed into the passenger seat.

The cop handed Seb's registration over. "Watch your speed and grab your wallet next time."

After the officer walked back to his car and pulled back onto the road, Seb looked at Jared. "What the hell did you say to him?"

"That you were my friend who insisted I was too frail to walk the two and a half miles back to the dorm."

"And that worked?"

Jared grinned. "I know him. I give him free coffee and donuts when he comes into the store."

Seb couldn't get over the difference in Jared's face when he smiled. Already gorgeous, the younger man practically radiated angelic light with a flash of those shining white teeth and big blue eyes.

Jared yawned as Seb pulled away from the kerb. "Thanks for picking me up."

"You didn't call," Seb grumbled.

Jared yawned again. "I'm used to walking home, and I didn't want to wake you up."

Seb's hands gripped the steering wheel even tighter. The thought of Jared walking alone, down the country road towards the training facility dorms, bothered him. The convenience store was at the edge of town, but once you reached the limits, the sidewalks disappeared. The thought of some drunk ploughing Jared down on his way home from a bar, sickened him.

"It's getting cold."

"Yeah," Jared agreed. "When I think of New Mexico, for some reason cold doesn't come to mind."

"It gets this cold in Lubbock."

"You're right, but Texas doesn't have Mexico in its name."

Seb chuckled. He parked the El Camino SS in its usual spot and got out. Jared joined him in front of the door, and Seb tapped his security code into the pad. He heard the locks disengage and held the door open for Jared.

"I did a bit of shopping at the thrift store in town. I needed some more long-sleeve T-shirts. Anyway, I picked up a few things for you while I was there." Seb waited for the protest he knew was coming.

"I can't take them. I don't get paid for another week."

The elevator doors opened and Seb stepped in behind Jared. He knew he couldn't make a big deal out of the clothes. If Jared thought Seb was trying to give him a hand out, it would never work. After pushing the button for their floor, he shrugged. "Whatever. You might want to look at them though. They had a good sale going on for some reason. I got a pretty big bag of stuff for twenty-seven bucks. I don't mind waiting for the money until you get paid."

Jared didn't say anything as they got off the elevator and walked towards their assigned studio apartments. At his door, Jared dug his key out of his pocket. "I don't know. I still haven't been able to find out how much this room's gonna cost me, and I already owe Brier and Jackie for the groceries they've brought over."

As soon as Jared opened the door, Jelly Bean, his long-haired calico came out to rub against his legs. Seb reached down and gave the little lady a scratch behind the ears. "Let me run over and get the bag. You can try stuff on, see what you think."

Before Jared could protest, Seb had his key in the lock and opened his door. He grabbed the two plastic sacks just inside and followed Jared into his small apartment. Unlike Seb's studio, Jared's was devoid of any personal touches. The plain brown sofa and chair that came with the room depressed him.

Seb handed over the bags. "One has some jeans and shirts, the other a coat," he said in a casual tone.

Jared looked at the closed bags for several moments before pulling the bright red down-filled coat out. His eyes lit up, and Seb knew he'd chosen wisely.

"By the way, I'm sure the partners won't charge you much for rent. Mine's built into my salary. This entire floor's employee housing. When you have a job like mine, you're usually not in one place long enough to justify the cost of a real house or apartment."

Jared looked confused. "What do you mean a real apartment? This is nicer than anything I've ever lived in."

Seb knew from Brier what the living conditions for Jared had been in Lubbock. He swallowed around the foot lodged in his mouth. "Anyway, what I was trying to say is that these rooms aren't meant for students, so Mac, Amir and Nicco aren't losing any money by letting you stay in one."

Jared's gaze was still on the coat he held in his hands. The expression on the smaller man's face bothered Seb more than he cared to admit. "Well, uh, I'll get out of here and let you get some sleep. The receipt's in the bag, and I got them to throw in some wire hangers in case you want to keep them. Like I said, pay me when you can, I won't strong arm you if you have to wait until the end of the month."

Seb turned to leave.

"Thanks. You know, for the ride and the clothes."

Seb could tell by the soft tone of Jared's voice the gestures meant more to him than what they actually were. "You're welcome."

He got out of the apartment before he said something he'd regret. He'd given the guy a ride and a bag of used clothes, yet Jared spoke as if Seb had handed him the keys to a brand new car.

As he let himself in to his own studio apartment, he looked around at the top of the line furnishings he'd brought in to replace the generic shit that came with the place. His transformation into the man who had a couple of grand to drop on a couch had been so slow he hadn't noticed how much he'd really changed.

There was a time when an actual mattress to sleep on would have seemed like a dream. Seb pulled off his jacket and tossed it across the back of the expensive black leather sofa. There were times he wanted to remember every moment of the hell he'd endured as a child. The memories of scrounging the neighbourhood garbage cans for food for him and his brother, Alexander, helped him appreciate what he had. The images of a sick and mentally handicapped Alexander being driven away by a social worker, helped strengthen the walls he'd erected.

(Continues…)


Excerpted from "Seb's Surrender"
by .
Copyright © 2010 Carol Lynne.
Excerpted by permission of Totally Entwined Group Limited.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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