Before Nightfall - Kat Martin Page 0,34

stay another week. He was willing to move to Dallas full-time, he had said. Chase had even offered him a job.

But Lissa wanted to wait. She owed it to Colt to consider the possibility of working in Denver. They would be making a trip there soon. It really didn’t matter where they wound up as long as they were together.

One thing was certain. They were sticking. They were going to make a life together. There was no doubt Colt was the man for her and she was the woman for him.

When she reached him, he opened his arms and she walked right into them. It was a perfect fit.

Colt kissed her and she could taste the hunger that always sparked between them. “You ready?” he asked, his voice a little gruff.

It was lunchtime and she was starving, but looking at him made her want something more than just food. “Where are we going?”

“I bought takeout. I thought we’d eat at home.” And there was the added benefit of having the privacy they needed for what both of them were clearly thinking.

“Sounds purrfect,” she said with a playful feline growl.

Colt flashed her a grin as they walked out the door. There was no mistaking the heat in his gaze, and desire slipped through her.

It was going to be a long, hot afternoon.

* * *

Keep reading for a special preview of the third thrilling book in the

Maximum Security series

from New York Times bestselling author Kat Martin.

To prove her father’s innocence, Jessie Kegan will have to turn a terrorist’s sights on herself...

The Ultimate Betrayal

Coming August 2020 from HQN Books.

The Ultimate Betrayal

by Kat Martin

Chapter One

Dallas, Texas

TOO MUCH DOWNTIME always made him nervous, kind of edgy as he waited for the other shoe to drop. It had been a week since his last client had headed back to Nashville, Bran’s services as a bodyguard no longer required. A week of peace and quiet he should have enjoyed.

Instead, he had a nagging feeling that something bad was coming down the line.

Lounging back in the chair behind his desk at Maximum Security, Brandon Garrett ended the phone conversation he’d been having with Heath Ford, a Dallas police detective. Ford was working a murder case that involved one of Bran’s former clients, a white rapper who called himself String Bean. Unfortunately for Bean, when Bran’s services had ended after his last concert tour, he had been murdered.

Bran’s jaw clenched. String Bean had been a cocky, arrogant little prick, but he didn’t deserve to die. The only good news was that Ford was the best detective on the force. He was following a lead that looked promising, and he wouldn’t give up till he brought the killer to justice. Bran would do whatever he could to help him. Which might turn into something, but not enough to keep him busy.

The sound of the front door swinging open caught his attention and he glanced up. A gust of cool, late October air swept in, along with a petite, whirlwind of a woman with the prettiest strawberry blond hair Bran had ever seen.

She had a sweet little body to match her fiery long hair, he noticed, enhanced by the dark blue stretch jeans curving over her sexy ass and the peach knit top that hugged her breasts.

It wasn’t tough to read the anxiety in her big green eyes as she surveyed the room, gripping a wheeled carry-on, probably coming straight from the airport. But instead of walking to where the receptionist, Mindy Stewart, sat behind the front desk, she paused.

Her glance slid past the dark red, tufted leather sofa and chairs in the waiting area, over the antique farm tools decorating the walls, to the rows of oak desks where Jonah Wolfe, Jaxon Ryker, Lissa Blayne and Jason Maddox were all hard at work.

Those green eyes landed on Bran, and as she started toward him, there was something about her that rang a distant bell. Interest piqued, he rose from his chair. “Can I help you?”

“You’re Brandon Garrett, right? You were a friend of my brother’s. Danny Kegan? I recognize you from the photos Danny sent home.”

The mention of his best friend’s name hit him like a blow, and the muscles across his stomach clenched. Daniel Kegan had been a member of his spec ops team, a brother, not just a friend. Danny had saved Bran’s life at the cost of his own. He was KIA in Afghanistan.

Bran stared down at the girl, who was maybe five foot four. “You’re Jessie,”