Savage Promise Read online

  Savage Promise

  Max & Brie

  Savage Series Book II

  J. Woods

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Savage Promise

  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

  Two Months Later

  Epilogue

  You wonderful, wondrous thing you!

  About The Author

  Savage Promise

  A Savage Series Novel, book II

  Max & Brie

  Copyright 2014 J. Woods

  caesarsandstraws.com

  J. Woods on Facebook

  J.Woods on Twitter

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, places, events and incidents either are product of the author’s imagination or are used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  BOOK DESCRIPTION: When Brie Murphy moves back to Vancouver she can’t help but think of it as a new beginning... but it’s the dark and charming playboy from her past that continues to consume her fantasies with a passion she has only felt during one heated night.

  Only, she never expected to see Max again, or be drawn into his untamed magnetism as he threatens to expose her true feelings… and the secret she has been guarding for seven months.

  Max Savage can’t believe his eyes at the halo of unexpected blonde hair - the one woman he has been trying to find and who clearly wanted to stay hidden. It’s her fiery independence and the wild seductress she keeps just under the surface that touches a part of him no other woman ever has… his heart.

  Little does Brie know that Max is a man whose charisma has never been refused and he’s not about to let her secrets or her denial get in the way of what he wants. But when faced with an imposing threat, can Max’s determination and Brie’s resilience overcome even the most dangerous of enemies?

  A letter from J.,

  Writing Max and Brie’s story was all I had hoped for and more. Before I had even started writing Max’s story I was already smitten with his charm and mischief. As their story developed, Max and Brie stole my heart as they battled for each other’s and I hope they do the same for you.

  I thought I knew Max Savage with his magnetic suave and shit eating grin but as their story developed and secrets were uncovered, SAVAGE PROMISE took even me to places I didn’t realize either one of them possessed. As each of their layers are revealed, so is the danger that threatens to pull them apart before they can come together.

  I hope you enjoy reading how Max and Brie turn a hot passionate night into something so much more, as much as I enjoyed writing it!

  Warm Wishes & Happy Reading!

  J. Woods

  Chapter One

  Max Savage scrubbed a hand over his face - damn he was tired. He just had to get through this debrief and then he could go home and fall into his bed. He could almost hear it beckoning him - pillow top. His eyes burned with exhaustion and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d slept in a proper bed. He’d just come back from his third back to back mission and every part of him hurt. His muscles screamed at him for a break but he ignored the pleading and powered through. He knew he needed a break, he was running on fumes but a break was the last thing he wanted. Seven months ago he was the one telling his brother Logan that he needed to slow down when he demanded every mission that came through Savage Security. Now the tables were turned and Max was the one dreading the times everything was still. Because during the calm, his mind would take over and the last place he wanted to be was in his own head. Logan had settled down since he met his fiancée Zoe and Max had gladly stepped into his shoes.

  “Cameron, you ready?” Logan asked his sister who sat behind her laptop waiting for Max to start his recount of his latest mission.

  “Ready.” He nodded his head and pushed himself a week into the past. He’d gone on his own, what was supposed to be a simple knowledge gathering mission for one of the biggest missions they had ever accepted turned to shit and left him with five stitches in his left bicep. For the next two hours he detailed everything he did down to what he ate and how he’d perched himself on the roof across from Libby West’s office and then again from her apartment for an entire week. And how relatively boring a life Ms. West seemed to live, especially compared to who they knew her father to be. Frustratingly, she didn’t seem to have any contact with her father during the five days he had kept eyes on her. On the sixth day he almost knew her monotonous routine by heart. The sun had set in the sky and he knew she would be getting ready for her bath and a glass of wine with the steamy romance novel she was reading. But just as he was settling in for another bland and vapid evening his entire night, hell, the entire mission went ass up. The gravel beside the black tarp that was covering him sprayed over him and instinctively he knew the cause was a bullet. Another hit the other side of him and then the third and final landing effectively in his arm. Attempting to roll out of the way and behind a large metal duct, he knew they weren’t kill shots. They were warnings. If they wanted him dead, he would have been dead. He had no idea who it was or from what rooftop in front of him the shooter lay, but the shots ceased and he took it for what it was and got his ass out of there. He didn’t have firepower or the backup behind him to engage in a sniper gunfight. What pissed him off the most wasn’t the fact that he would be sporting a new scar, because really, chicks dig scars - he grinned at his sister’s grunt and the snicker and shake of both his brother’s heads. But it was the fact that he had no idea who the shooter was or how long they had been on him. He felt secure that they didn’t follow him back to Vancouver; he doubted they did more than a cursory background check on him if that at all. The one thing he was certain about - they did not want him anywhere near his target.

  “Any ideas?” Logan asked to no one in particular.

  “All I know, is that guy was a perfect shot. If he wanted my head, he could have had it.” He looked over to Cameron’s fingers flying across her keyboard, searching for something they all had no idea how to find. His sister was a whiz kid when it came to technology, but it was computers that seemed to bow down at the very touch of her small hands.

  “Nothing yet,” she mused. “Anything else you can give me? A general description of the shooter, bullet size, anything?”

  “Sorry Cam, I got out of there as fast as I could. I couldn’t even tell you from what direction they were shooting from other than ‘in front of me.’”

  “Okay while we try and put something together,” Logan interrupted. “I received a phone call this morning from Jack Pederson…”

  “CIA?” Max interrupted.

  “Yes. We need to have a team locked and ready to go in forty eight hours.” They didn’t need to ask where or what the mission was - their job was to be ready. Logan was the man to go through and he only took missions
he knew would benefit both sides, the client or victim and Savage Security. Their main goal wasn’t to benefit the government agencies that contacted them, which is why they knew they were always top of the list to be called in. Danger was part of the job, it was what they all signed up for, what ran hot through each and every one of them and they would be prepared for whatever came their way.

  “I’m in, sign me up,” Max volunteered. He saw the brief look that passed between Logan and his older brother Aiden who sat beside him.

  “No, you’re not. You’re taking a well deserved and well needed break.”

  “No, I’m fucking not,” Max growled back. Immediately Cameron closed her laptop and made a lame excuse about finishing up in her office while Aiden gave a quick nod, following her out. That left Max and his closest brother, the one who didn’t actually share the same bloodline but would often be considered his twin, in a tension filled staring contest.

  “I’m not taking a break,” he repeated through a clenched jaw.

  “Yes, you are. A few months ago you told me I needed a break because I was working myself too hard. I’m only returning the favor. I don’t know what is going on with you. You can pretend all you want that everything is fine, but I know you better than anyone and I know something is going on that you are trying to run away from. You know I’m here if you need to talk about it, but I will not have you run yourself into the goddamn ground. You were just shot Max, you need to take a break.” He couldn’t argue that his brother knew him better than anyone, he quite possibly knew him better than himself. But he didn’t want to admit what was going through his head. He wanted to pretend it wasn’t there. He watched as Logan piled his papers together before pushing out of his chair and walked toward the door.

  “A few months ago I didn’t make you take a break.” It was his only rebuttal.

  “Well than that proves to you that I am the better brother.” Max snorted, listening to the door close behind his brother’s smug grin as he ran his hands through his hair.

  Fuck!

  What the hell was he supposed to do now? At that thought his phone buzzed and he saw his youngest sisters face pop up on the screen.

  “Hey Rox, what’s up?”

  “Max, I’m so glad you’re back! You’re still coming for dinner tonight right?”

  Shit.

  Today was not his day. He’d completely forgot that he had promised his sisters he would have dinner with them tonight. He could just picture Roxy’s puppy dog eyes as she laced the question with expectancy that he couldn’t say no to. Ever.

  “Yeah, I’ll be there. I have to go home and get a few hours sleep before I come, can we push it back an hour?”

  “Of course. See you at seven!” He couldn’t help but smile at her ability to completely manipulate a simple question. God help the poor sucker who gave her his heart.

  Max lived in one of the penthouse apartments of his building in the heart of downtown Vancouver. He often thought about moving, maybe to a log cabin in the country like Logan, but it seemed too secluded for him, he liked being around people, especially women, but he knew his apartment wasn’t ideal for his work. If anyone ever found him, apartment living, especially top floor apartment living, didn’t provide for very many exit plans. It didn’t help that his brothers had banded together to put the thought in his head. Maybe that’s what he would do with his forced time off. He knew his desk would be piled with paperwork and things to do but right now he felt like swiping it all into a garbage bin and saying fuck it. Max despised the administration part of their job. He wasn’t good at paperwork, he was good in the field. Damn good. They needed a secretary, project number two. Thinking of the women who would sit across from him as he put on his best interview act he felt the grin tug at the side of his mouth. Maybe this vacation wouldn’t be so bad after all.

  Opening his front door, a sense of nostalgia hit him - he couldn’t remember the last time he had stepped foot into this place for more than a few hours before he was shipped off again. He moved to the fridge and smiled when he saw it was stocked with homemade meals. “Thanks Mom,” he murmured out loud. He couldn’t remember a time when he came home to an empty fridge, his mom almost better at stealth than any of them as she slipped in and out, the only sign of her were the well cooked meals she undoubtedly spent hours cooking. Max remembered the first day he met Juliette, the glowing smile on her face and the slight trepidation in her eyes. She was everything his real mother wasn’t. She was warm and caring and full of boundless love. He had helped bring in her bags while he kept a safe distance from his new brothers and sisters. They were like dogs, needing to sniff around each other before they accepted one another. He didn’t know how to feel, he was both happy and angry at the same time and as a kid, he didn’t know how to handle it. Once he took his stepmom’s bags up to the room she would now be sharing with his father, the room he once shared with Max’s mom, his feelings almost instantly disappeared when she crouched down and pulled him into her arms. “Thank you, sweet boy. How about I go make us all some cookies and because you were such a big help today you can have first pick.” Max remembered nodding his head eagerly, not knowing if he had ever had homemade cookies before. His dad would buy them the odd time but with a mother who preferred partying over family and a military father, Max’s childhood up to that point was sorely lacking in homemade cookies. It was then that he realized Juliette wasn’t anything like the mother who walked out on them and she softened his father to an embarrassing puddle with just a smile. She loved unconditionally and immediately and as they grew together as a family, the prefix of step quickly fell away. It felt natural to call her Mom and her children his brothers and sisters. Juliette, paired with his father had enforced the need and passion for family - they were a unit through and through and while all eight of them went through their own anger and grieving period for their personal pasts, there was never any judgement, only an understanding patience. He had fused a fast growing bond with each of his siblings, all of them unique in their own way but it was the diversity Max loved. And it was those times when his parents thought they were alone where his father would dance Juliette around the kitchen. Her giggles echoed off the walls before he dipped her and planted a kiss soundly on her lips. He and his siblings would watch from the door and mummer words like gross and ew. Before they knew it, his parents would be chasing them around the house. He could still hear the squeals of his little sister like it was yesterday. A smile played at the corners of his mouth as those memories played in his mind. Those were the moments he felt grateful for.

  Standing on his sisters’ doorstep now, he could hear the sound laughter coming from the other side and immediately felt his smile grow. His sister Stella opened the door and practically flung herself into his hug. “Hey Stel,” he murmured against her hair before kissing the top of her head. Pulling him inside, he found the other two troublemakers in the kitchen huddled over the stove. “Please don’t tell me you’re making that healthy, seaweed shit again,” he announced, walking in to greet them. Cameron turned to look at him, glancing at his face and then specifically at his stomach.

  “No, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea,” she mused turning around with a teasing grin.

  “I’ll make sure to ask the girl in my bed in the morning what she thinks,” he said with a smirk, leaning against the counter. But even as he said it, the words felt heavy and uncomfortable on his tongue.

  “You’re a pig,” Roxy laughed, slapping at his shoulder. He hadn’t had a woman in his bed in months and he had to admit that he was starting to feel lonely. He could head to the bar, where he knew without a doubt, there would be a woman waiting for him, or he could pull up one of the names in his phone and he could have a warm willing body beside him tonight. But the thought of a naked woman underneath him tonight, one who knew there would be no strings, stirred nothing within him. He instinctively looked down at his jeans and mentally cursed the woman who had effectively ruined him. Because at just the thought, a fl
eeting memory of her, had him clenching his jaw against the jump of excitement he felt down below. What was supposed to be a one night stand with what had to be the most beautiful woman he had ever laid eyes on, left him alone in the morning and his chest feeling hollow. For over a month, it had become an obsession to find her, to find that halo of blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, that teasing smile framed by the most luscious lips he’d ever kissed, nibbled, sucked. But because of a rule she had laid down from the very beginning after he bought her a drink, first names only, all he had to go on was four letters - Brie.

  “Hey, Earth to Max?” He shook his head seeing Cameron’s raised eyebrow. She tilted her head as if waiting for him to answer a question he hadn’t heard.

  “What? Sorry.”

  “Are you alright?” she asked.

  “Yeah, fine. Just tired still I guess.” She nodded her head, handing him an open beer and told him dinner was ready. This was why he was taking back to back missions and why he needed to take the next one. Because if he didn’t, she was like a fog, blanketing every part of his mind. And as much as he wanted her there, he didn’t want her there. A constant war waged in his head because with as much effort he was putting in to thinking about her, finding her, remembering how her body fit so perfectly against his, he knew she was doing the complete opposite. She had left before he even woke up and he’d felt his own humiliation at the plans he’d already made with her knowing they were never going to happen. Some might call it karma, but Max had never lied to a woman, she always knew what she was getting from the beginning and those he’d shared nights with always received his full attention. He was known for treating women right, even if it was for just a short period of time.

  Halfway through dinner, the shrill of Roxy’s phone pierced through the goading and laughter. She pulled it out of her pocket staring a moment at the screen before her eyes lit with excitement.