Nights in Bliss, Colorado 4
Lost in Bliss
Laura Niles left her past behind. She fled Washington, DC, with
her career in ruins and her love life decimated. In her desperate
flight, she found a home in Bliss, Colorado.
For five years, Rafe Kincaid and Cameron Briggs have searched for
the only woman they’ve ever loved. The FBI agents couldn’t share
her before, and it tore them apart. Now they have tracked her
down, and they want answers. Why did she run? Why did she
hide? Why are there so many naked people in Bliss?
Laura is shocked when her former loves show up in her new
home. And when they bring the full force of the FBI with them,
Laura knows Bliss is in for a rough ride, because a killer has been
watching and waiting for a second chance. And so have Rafe and
Cam.
Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys
Length: 97,120 words
LOST IN BLISS
Nights in Bliss, Colorado 4
Sophie Oak
MENAGE EVERLASTING
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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting
LOST IN BLISS
Copyright © 2011 by Sophie Oak
E-book ISBN: 1-61034-731-5
First E-book Publication: August 2011
Cover design by Les Byerley
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www.SirenPublishing.com
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DEDICATION
No book of mine gets written without an enormous amount of
support. I want to thank my husband, my mom, the best PA a girl
could have, Chloe Vale, Jen Kubenka (who often entertains my
kiddos), the Righteous Perverts chat group for their unflagging
support, and my writer friends—Shayla Black, Kris Cook, Chloe
Lang, Jen August, and Heather Rainier. I love you all!
LOST IN BLISS
Nights in Bliss, Colorado 4
SOPHIE OAK
Copyright © 2011
Chapter One
Cameron Briggs felt like he was storming the castle. His heart was
beating, adrenaline coursing through his body as he charged through
the double doors that separated the FBI offices from the lobby. It had
been years since he’d walked through those doors, but he wasn’t
allowing anyone to keep him out today.
Luckily, the guard on duty was a small, gray-haired woman who
smiled brightly at him as he strode through the double doors.
“Agent Briggs!” Helen Angelo exclaimed, getting to her feet. “It’s
been so very long.”
Cam shook his head. “I’m not an agent anymore, Helen. Is Rafe
in?”
If Rafe wasn’t in, then Cam would find his ass. The bastard hadn’t
answered his phone, and Cam had left three messages. The printout in
his hand nearly burned his skin. Five years. He’d looked for her for five years.
Helen frowned, and Cam felt the weight of her disapproval. “Yes,
I did hear that you had left the Bureau. I do not think it was a good
career move for you.”
He hadn’t given dick about his career when he’d left the Bureau.
There had been nothing for him here after what had happened to
Lost in Bliss
9
Laura. A vision of Laura Rosen leapt into his mind. Blonde, gorgeous,
with a soft body and a softer heart. The vision didn’t really have to
leap all that far. It was always there. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her, smiling and looking down at him, her blonde hair around her
shoulders as she rode his cock.
And every time he went to sleep he saw her another way—
battered, beaten, and stabbed, being shoved into an ambulance.
“Where’s Rafe?” Cam didn’t have time to argue. This was the
best lead he’d had in five fucking years. He wanted to follow it now.
He would already be on a plane if he hadn’t made that damn
promise to Rafe Kincaid.
“He’s in a meeting. A very important meeting with the chief and a
task force. He and his partner are giving a briefing.”
Yeah, yeah. They were all important. Everything was important to the goddamn FBI except the agents who didn’t perfectly toe the line.
They could go to hell.
Or they could go to Bliss. What a fucking name. How on earth
had his cosmopolitan Laura ended up in some podunk Colorado
town
? Cam doubted she’d ever been out of the city.
Cam gave Helen a little wave. “Thanks. I’ll take it from here.”
Cam took off. He heard Helen yelling behind him, but he wasn’t
about to sit in the waiting room for the briefing to be over. He wasn’t
Rafe’s lapdog, as so many had claimed. Sure, he’d taken money from
Rafe over the years, but only because they had a single goal in mind.
A goal Cam had accomplished.
Cam opened the door to the briefing room, but was startled to find
absolutely no one there. It was empty and silent, though Cam
remembered a time when he’d stood in the room and listened for quiet
You don’t believe me. How could you stand there and tell them all
I’m wrong? How could you advise the chief to take me off the biggest case of my career?
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Sophie Oak
Cam shut the door. There were only ghosts in there. There were
ghosts everywhere in this building. If they weren’t in the briefing
room, then they were in the auditorium.
Maybe Helen was right. Maybe this meeting was important.
Cam slipped into the small auditorium where large-scale briefings
were held. The lights were dimmed, and the only illumination came
from the projector. No fun movies for the FBI. Only horror shows,
and this was no different. Cam was immediately assaulted by the
picture projected on the wall. A woman, young, but no longer vital.
Her glassy eyes stared out of the picture, utterly unseeing. Her flesh
was a pale white, the only bit of color a shiny mauve-colored lipstick
painted on her lips.
She was naked, her hands tied over her head. The victim’s wrists
had been bound so tightly that her hands were almost blue. She would
have lost feeling in them long before she died. Her pale flesh was a
map of cuts, some shallow, some terrifyingly deep. The killer liked to
start with small stabbing wounds to the lower abdomen, painful, but
not fatal. Long strips of flesh had been lashed from the victim’s
breasts and thighs. This woman’s death hadn’t been quick. It had been
a long, slow opera of torture ending in her throat being slit like a lamb led to slaughter. He had seen it before. Cam let his eyes drift down as
his stomach did a flip.
The Marquis de Sade.
Yeah, this was an important meeting.
“The victim was discovered just outside the warehouse district on
Tuesday morning. Her name is Christine Parker. She was a prostitute
working the area.”
Cam shrank back, all thoughts of breaking up this meeting gone in
a tidal wave of fear and self-loathing. De Sade had been gone for five
years. He’d been utterly silent, like a shark who feasted in the
shallows of the beach before sinking back into the deep. He was
surfacing again. Cam had always known he would. De Sade loved his
work too much to stop. Cam knew Rafe had been watching for him,
Lost in Bliss
11
too. They had theorized that he was in prison, or he’d moved to
another city after his close call with the law. Five years had sped by
with not a hint of the serial killer.
How was this happening again? How the hell was this happening
just when he’d found Laura, the only victim of the infamous serial
killer to have ever gotten away?
A tall, broad figure stood by the projector, his solid body almost
ghostly in the shadowy light. Cam’s former partner had been a little
like a ghost these last few years. Cam had seen him rarely and only to
update Rafe on the progress he’d made in finding Laura. Rafe had
become a bank account Cam tapped into when he needed money to
follow a lead. There was a man standing beside Rafe. Cam couldn’t
see his face, but he knew the name. Brad Conrad. Ex-college football
star and all-around asshole in Cam’s book. It was kind of hard to
believe, but in another year’s time, Brad would be Rafe’s partner for
longer than Cam had been.
Rafe Kincaid’s deep voice continued. It was far steadier than
Cam’s heart rate, and, for a moment, jealousy and rage curled in
Cam’s belly. Rafe had never loved Laura the way Cam did. How
could he, if he could stand there and talk about the man who had
almost killed her the same way a college professor talked about a
Shakespearean sonnet?
“As with all previous victims, this one was found with lipstick on
her. Forensics has already verified that it’s the same as the others.
Purple Passion. Also, according to forensics, the victim had been
killed at least twelve hours before. Blood spatter indicates she was
killed where her body was found.”
That was the pattern. The lipstick. The victim was a prostitute.
She’d been tortured before she was killed. Everything fit the pattern.
Cam just didn’t want to believe it. “He’s been quiet for years. Why
has he started working again?”
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Sophie Oak
Rafe put a hand over his eyes as though trying to see across the
distance. “Cam?”
Even in the low light of the auditorium, Cam could see Brad
puffing up. “Briggs, this is a closed session. We don’t need low-level
PIs here. If you need information on something, please go and ask the
secretary.”
Rafe turned briefly and exchanged words Cam couldn’t hear.
Before Rafe could turn back, the lights came on. There was an almost
relieved sigh that swept through the room. The picture on screen
seemed to recede a little, no longer the main focus of the world.
“Cameron Briggs, you son of a bitch!”
Cam turned and couldn’t help a little smile. Joseph Stone, his
former Bureau chief, took the stairs two at a time, his familiar face lit with a smile. He’d aged very little since the last time Cam had seen
him. Joseph was a big, athletic guy. As long as Cam had known him,
he’d been bald, but even that made him seem a bit powerful. Joseph
was the type of man other men followed.
“Special Agent Stone.” Cam took his hand and shook it. Joe had
always been a good boss. He was Harvard educated and highly
connected, but he’d always known how to make Cam feel welcome.
Joe pumped his hand twice and slapped Cam gently on the back.
“No need for formalities any more, Cam. Did Rafe call you? I have all
the paperwork set up to bring you in as a contractor. We need
everyone we can on this. It’s going to take everything we have to
catch this one. I don’t have anyone on the team with your computer
skills.”
Cam looked to his former partner who had his head down, one
foot tapping against the floor. Guilty as sin.
“No, he didn’t call me.” Betrayal burned through Cam.
Apparently, despite their oaths to one another, his former partner
didn’t think it was important enough to call and tell him that the man
they had hunted for years had resurfaced. “I was here on another
matter, but I can see plainly that Special Agent Kincaid is very, very
Lost in Bliss
13
busy. I won’t interrupt him. Call
me sometime, Joe. We can have a
beer.”
Joe’s brows came together in a V. “What are you saying? You do
understand what we’re talking about here? This is the Marquis de
Sade’s work. There’s no denying it.”
Oh, Cam understood. He understood perfectly fine. He also
understood that he had played his part, and he was an idiot for
thinking Rafe would play his. Rafe’s head came up, and those dark
eyes of his narrowed for a moment. Ruthlessly intelligent, it wouldn’t
take long for Rafael Kincaid to figure out why he was here
interrupting this briefing. It wasn’t like Cam would come for lunch.
“I understand. De Sade is back.” It was time for Cam to make a
strategic retreat. His fist closed around the paper in his hand. He was
gentle with it. He didn’t want to crush it. It was the first glimpse he’d gotten of her in years. It was strangely precious to him. “Rafe’s your
man. He and Special Agent Conrad can handle this. You don’t need
me.”
Cam turned and walked out of the door. If Rafe wanted to renege
on their deal, he sure as hell wasn’t about to give the man the keys to
the kingdom. He would go after her himself.
Yes. It was better this way. Rafe could go after the killer and
further his career. Cam could get what he wanted. He wanted Laura.
Without Rafe around, maybe she would fall for him again. Yeah. He
had a better shot without pretty, rich, smooth-as-silk Rafe around. It
had been a flat-out miracle Laura had even noticed him.
“I need you, Cam.” Laura had turned to him, her plump lips red
and swollen from Rafe’s kisses. Cam had kissed her and tasted the
Scotch on her lips. Rafe’s drink. He’d plunged his tongue inside, not giving a damn that Rafe was behind her, his hands playing with her
breasts. Somehow, in that moment, it had felt right to be there with Rafe. It had been perfect.
“Cameron!”
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