Provoked Read online

  PROVOKED

  Make Me Series

  An erotic novel

  Riley Murphy

  Dedication:

  A big hug to my genius CP Diane. I love to see your comments in red. They inspired me to write the risk sheet scene in this story.

  And to each and every reader out there who takes the time to review my work Please know that it’s appreciated!

  Acknowledgment

  To the new man in my life, L.A.M. You make my heart smile!

  To my editor extraordinaire, Lillie. You’re amazing.

  Big smooches to my gang. You know who you are. I love you guys to bits.

  To the Renegades! You guys rock!

  A great big fat “I love you Mom!” You know why.

  And as always, to my dad…I miss you, but I’ll see you after.

  Contents

  Cover

  Title

  Dedication

  Acknowledgement

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Epilogue

  Riley’s Books

  Book Videos

  About Riley

  PROLOGUE

  June 1992

  He waited for her to say something. To cry or scream. To do anything besides rocking back and forth in that chair that didn’t creak. He knew better than most that silence was the enemy when life went bad. It turned against a person until they turned against themselves. That’s where she was now. A soldier on the internal battlefield trying to find the moment in the war when things went wrong.

  Unfortunately, the unpredictable couldn’t be predicted. Which meant she’d get no answers looking back, and he’d get no closure moving forward.

  These were the thoughts in his head. The clear reasoning of a man who’d been to hell and back, surviving the trip because he’d made the journey alone.

  He wasn’t alone anymore.

  The heart of him was rocking in that chair.

  Devastated.

  Broken.

  She was hurting in a way that brought him to his knees. He’d lived through pain and suffering. He’d shouldered agonies most men would have died from…did die from and yet, standing here in the pale pink nursery faced with his woman’s sorrow he knew there were worse things for him than death.

  Without a word he went back downstairs and made his decision. She had enough to mourn. A lifetime of tears to shed. She didn’t need to know what else the bastard had done to them. It would be his secret until he had the one answer she was looking for.

  He examined the torn map for the hundredth time and then scooped up the note that had been delivered with it, reading.

  She picked the wrong man when she chose you. I want her to suffer like I suffered and experience the pain of losing someone she loves. You stole my world and now I’m stealing yours. The only chance you have of getting it back is to find the box. It will be like the good old days. You and I working together, only this time you’ll be hunting alone. Do you recognize the terrain?

  He glanced at the map and then scowled, returning to read the rest of the note.

  You should. It’s your own backyard. Somewhere out there I buried your past, present, and future. I locked up your biggest dream. You always said the ranch was worth a fortune, and now it truly is. ‘X’ marks the spot. Oh and there’s a little surprise in there for your wife.

  His chest muscles involuntarily tightened and for the second time tonight his knees felt as if they were going to buckle under. The half of the map that was missing had the all-important ‘X’ on it, and the familiar terrain the bastard had referred to was the seventy acres of bush and grazing land that ran the entire length of the property. Dragging a finger under the last sentence he read it out loud.

  Me and she will be, but if you want to see the key you’ll need to pay a fee.

  He closed his eyes and let his head fall back, thinking about that cryptic clue. One day maybe he’d be able solve this, but not tonight. Tonight he had to comfort the woman he loved, while he walked with her through their darkest hour. All because of a sick bastard he’d once called friend.

  Chapter One

  The fury of a woman scorned leads to quiet desperation…

  September 2015

  Charlie stared at her twin and said, “We have a problem.”

  “Besides that?”

  She followed when her sister pointed to the neat bundles of cash on the table between them, and then sighed. “Because of that.”

  “Did you win it?”

  “Nope.”

  Cat’s index and middle finger walked over the hundred dollar bill on the top of the pile asking, “So where did it come from?”

  Charlie wasn’t ready to get into all that until she knew how her sister had made out. “Did you get yours?

  “Already sent.”

  Relief flooded her and she nodded. Time to spill. At least about the money. The part about the other stuff would have to wait until they pulled this off. “I stole it from Wilde.”

  “Jude Wilde?”

  She wasn’t going to let Cat’s incredulous tone unnerve her. “He’s the one.”

  “Do you have vodka around this place?”

  Yeah, it was bad, but surely not that bad. “It’s nine o’clock in the morning.”

  Her sister craned her neck this way and that, examining Charlie’s counter. “It’s either that, or a gun. Wilde’s connected.”

  “Pure speculation.”

  “Oh?” Her sister stopped looking around and gave Charlie her undivided attention. “Why push to find out? And I thought what I had to tell you was bad.” She got up and started opening and closing cabinet doors. “Vodka? Scotch? I’ll even do gin.”

  Charlie smiled at that. Cat was freaking out. After their second year in college when her sister drank a cup of gin straight-up on a dare and wound up being hungover for two full days, she couldn’t even smell the stuff without turning green. “There’s a wine cooler in the fridge. Go for it.” After Cat returned to the table with the drink in hand, Charlie had to ask. “I suppose you broke the club rules again to get your half of the money?”

  “In the most disgusting way imaginable. Are you sure this is the strongest you got for booze?”

  Charlie leaned around the frosty bottle her sister held up, and answered, “You know me. I’m the tea drinking book worm, remember?”

  “I bet you weren’t thinking that when you were shaking your ass on that stage last night.” Charlie watched her down half the wine cooler, before she placed it on the table, and shook her head. “How did you not win? You’re fucking gorgeous.”

  With everything they had going on here that’s what had her sister confused? “Nice of you to say, being that we’re identical, but as to me not winning? The opportunity to do so kind of got swallowed up by Jane Remington.”

  Cat sat forward and snatched the bottle off the table. “No. The Marilyn Monroe wannabe
? She entered the contest? She’s got nothing on you. How’d she win?”

  This time, Charlie purposely waited for her sister to take another mouthful. “She promised to swallow Wilde’s meat so he’d vote for her. He was the last judge bribed with the promise of sexual favors to come before the contest.”

  After she finished coughing, Cat choked out, “That’s not fair.”

  “I know. So I made him pay for it.” She indicated to the money with a glance.

  Cat’s gaze dropped and her tone was matter-of-fact. “This isn’t going to be good for either of us if he finds out— Hey, how come there’s so much? I thought the cash on hand for the contest was ten K?” She looked up. “There’s the full twenty here, no?”

  Charlie tried to sound casual about it. She didn’t want to deal with Cat’s usually chipper-doom predictions. “Twenty-one thousand actually.” She held up her hand and patted the air. “Before you ask, this money didn’t come from the contest.”

  Cat mouthed the phrase, “Holy fuck”, then gently put the bottle down and whispered, “Where did it come from?”

  She was willing to take one more shot at trying to keep the situation contained. After all, if Cat didn’t know everything she’d be more believable if she was questioned about it. “You want the truth or do you want to hear the story I’m going to tell Mom and Dad when I send them my half?”

  “Charlotte.”

  She hated when her sister pulled the formal first name thing on her. “You know I would have robbed the U.S. Treasury to get the money we need.”

  “Me too as it would have been safer. They play nice with criminals. We’re in this together so give me the lowdown.”

  “Okay. A few of us losers went home with Wilde and a couple of his friends. The boys were going to have an all-night poker tourney—”

  “Gambling! No. How could you even think about that after—?”

  “I wasn’t going to play. None of the girls were. We were invited to,” she popped her brows to emphasize, “entertain them.”

  No surprise that Cat nearly fell off her chair when she heard that. “You? You were going to entertain them? With what? Your razor-sharp tongue and holier-than-thou feminist attitude?”

  Charlie chose to ignore those comments and glowered at her. “As I was saying, one thing led to another and before we knew what had happened—”

  “We?” Cat prompted.

  “Me and Regina.”

  “You brought your weird assistant from the museum to the crime scene?”

  “She was my wing-woman.”

  “Wing-woman? More like the link in the chain they’re going to lock you up with.” Cat looked away and then turned back. Her expression grim. “Oh, no, no, no, this isn’t good. Didn’t I always tell you to never mix business with pleasure? Vagina will hang you out to dry the first chance she gets.”

  Charlie could always tell when Cat was jealous. She became over dramatic to get her point across and then started lobbing insults. “Regina, but she goes by Reggie, actually. Don’t be crazy. She’s my friend. She’s not going to hang me anywhere. Now, as I was saying, I had Wilde in his room with two of the other redheads. After that there really isn’t too much more to tell. While the girls did each other on the seat in his bay window, pills were slipped into his drink before I stole his poker money, and left him to sleep it off in his warm and cozy bed.”

  Cat blinked, and then scowled. “There isn’t too much more to tell? I beg to differ. You roofied him?”

  “I don’t even know what that means.”

  Cat’s expression? Bland, was putting it mildly. “Since when do you entertain strange men? Or hang around when there’s a ménage situation going on? What the hell happened to you last night? I thought you were participating in a legit suntan lotion bikini contest for the ten grand you needed?”

  “Legit?” She snorted. “The second I saw all the redheads that made the final cut it should have tipped me off. We don’t do sun well, so why all the gingers? Wilde. He loves them.” When Cat continued to glare at her she went on the defensive. “What? It would have been a perfect plan if…”

  “If?” Her sister fell back in her seat, and cried, “Oh no. You got caught?”

  Charlie pointed right at her. “Not yet.” There was still room to hope. She got up and started pacing. “Reggie sent me a text a few hours ago. It seems Wilde and his buddies are planning on pulling a Cinderella.”

  “What the fuck does that mean? He thinks you rocked his world and he’s looking for you?”

  She stopped pacing and swung around. “Kind of. He’s looking for the redhead with the tattoo.”

  It was Cat’s turn to point. “I told you not to get that. But nooo, you wanted to be different.”

  “I did.” Charlie nodded, as she sat back down. “So sue me. For once I wanted to have something you didn’t have, and since I do it’s going to work to our benefit with this.”

  Cat folded her arms over her chest. “How?”

  “We’re swapping lives for a couple of days. Don’t look at me like that. I’ve called in sick so you don’t have to go into the museum. All you have to do is wait around here until the guy shows up and finds out you’re just one of his harem of redheads without a tattoo. Easy-peasy.”

  She expected an argument, so when Cat slapped her palm on the table, and smiled, she cringed waiting to hear what she had to say. “I’m in. This is perfect. It solves my most recent problem.”

  Charlie was almost afraid to ask. Her sister had a way of attracting trouble, that’s why the current situation with Wilde was extraordinary. To her recollection, this was the first time they were in deep with man problems and Cat wasn’t at the root that had caused it. “Which is?”

  “My boss was furious when he found out I did some freelancing last week. You know, to get the last of my share of the money. Anyways, as punishment I either get to work reception at the club, or do a timeout in the hole. I’ll simply pick the hole and while I’m watching TV here being you waiting for Wilde to examine my ass, you can read your books and sip tea in the hole being me, doing my punishment. It’s a win-win for both of us.”

  “I’m probably going to regret asking. What’s the hole?”

  “It’s like a rich guy’s prison cell. Cozy, but confined. Ever since Maxie built the extra dungeon when he expanded the club, no one uses the room anymore. I usually take my breaks in there. It’s very relaxing. Calming. A veritable oasis tucked away from the chaos.”

  Chaos? More like whip smacks.

  “I’m sure.” Charlie wasn’t buying it. Her bullshit flag was snapping in the wind of her sister’s overblown selling of the idea to her. Cat had been known to be a little on the eccentric side when it came to her personal tastes. Just thinking of some of the shit she did prompted Charlie to ask, “Did you have to sleep with the client to make your share of the money?”

  “Worse. I had to take a bubble bath in front of him.”

  “That’s it?”

  “No.” Cat turned away and plucked imaginary lint off her T-shirt. “There were rubber duckies floating all around me.”

  After everything she’d done over the last few days, Charlie gritted out, “I repeat. That’s it?”

  “No.” Cat stopped plucking, and turned back. “I had to talk in baby talk and suck on a soother.”

  Charlie deadpanned, “That’s just not right.”

  “There was a rattle too.”

  “Stop.”

  “And—”

  Charlie covered her ears and sang, “Lalalala.”

  After a few seconds of her doing that, her sister gave up. There was a companionable silence between them, and then Cat said, “Seriously. Is there something you’re not telling me about this?”

  Charlie didn’t want to outright lie, but neither did she want to share the fact that for months now she’d been gathering information on Wilde with Reggie’s help. The museum may have logged that long ago shipment as “missing in transit” and insurance claimed “paid in
full”, but she hadn’t. Her most important donor had never forgiven her. He’d entrusted her with that item when he loaned it to them, so she’d done her own investigation. And after nearly two years of searching she found it. Whether Wilde had stolen the original shipment, didn’t matter. He’d been the man in possession of the very item she wanted back. Reggie was the one who discovered that he had it. There’d always been the chance that they were wrong. That’s why Charlie hadn’t known whether to laugh or cry when she’d found it in his safe last night.

  “There is something, isn’t there?”

  Charlie blinked and then recalling what her sister wanted to know, she quickly shook her head.

  “Okay, then. No turning back, I guess. We have to pull this off for the folks, right? I’ll call Maxie and tell him I’ve decided my punishment.” She dug into her purse and pulled out keys. “Here’s the car key.”

  When Charlie saw the swing of metal hanging from her sister’s hand, a burst of adrenaline surged through her. “I get to drive the Vette?”

  The swinging stopped. “Yeah, but remember it has a low undercarriage. No driving into the potholes.”

  Charlie made a grab for the fob, but was unsuccessful. “I don’t do that.”

  “You do.” Cat tossed her the keys. “The one for the house is on there. I’ve got a mechanic coming at noon to install a new filter in the Porsche. After that you’ll have some time before you need to go to the club. You won’t have to report to Maxie until eight o’clock. The bed in the hole is pretty comfy, but you may want to bring your own pillow.”

  Charlie adjusted to shove the keys in her pocket and snorted. “Pillow? I’ll be bringing a body sleeping bag. Can you imagine the germs in there?” She figured her sister was ignoring that comment because this was where they parted ways. When it came to a chosen lifestyle? Charlie had chosen wisely and Cat hadn’t. Of course they never saw eye-to-eye on that so they agreed to disagree on the subject. Over the years they’d learned to come together whenever it benefitted the greater good and right now was especially one of those times. “You were getting your baby in shape to sell it if I couldn’t come up with my half of the money, weren’t you?”