Free Until the Dawn by Desiree Holt, Cerise DeLand

need some clothes.”
    They were all in the kitchen drinking coffee. Dan was leaning against the counter dressed only in his jeans. Maddie had to force herself not to keep staring at his bare chest. How was it possible that not ten minutes ago they’d fucked their brains out and already she wanted him again? No man had ever affected her this way. She just hoped it wasn’t leading her down the path to disaster. Dan had told her he’d be there for her, but she’d learned long ago that trust was a very fragile thing.
    Nicole laughed. “If we could just get Maddie to stop ripping your clothes off you we’d be okay.”
    Maddie felt the heat creeping up her cheeks. Not a person who embarrassed easily, she still wasn’t the type to have her sexual activities discussed in front of others no matter how tight the friendship was.
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    “I’ll do my best to restrain myself.” She sipped her coffee. “Seriously, Nikki. We scrammed out of my house without taking a thing with us and we can’t exactly go shopping in public.”
    “Not to worry.” Nikki fluttered her fingers at them. “Give me sizes and I’ll have my ranch manager’s wife take care of it. They won’t be high fashion but they’ll cover your bodies.”
    “We appreciate you getting us out of D.C. the way you did,” Dan told her, “and bringing us to your ranch. Also it may be the best place for us to work from, besides being off everyone’s radar.”
    Maddie raised an eyebrow. “How so?”
    “We need to take a field trip to Del Rio and talk to the Border Patrol agents at the Del Rio crossing.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “That particular area has been a hot spot for all kinds of illegal activities.”
    “You think any of the officers there are involved?” Nikki wanted to know.
    Dan shrugged. “Hard to tell. I’d like to say no, but money is a powerful incentive.”
    He set his mug on the counter. “I want to take a run down there and check it out.”
    Maddie shook her head. “They’ll be on alert, Dan. It’s too dangerous. You’ll be putting yourself in too much jeopardy.”
    “Not if Nikki can continue to work miracles.”
    Nicole narrowed her eyes. “What exactly are you asking for?”
    “Some fake ID and anonymous transportation.”
    Nikki burst out laughing. “You do have instant confidence in my abilities.”
    He dipped his head. “After that exit from D.C. you have definitely made a believer out of me.” He paused. “Can you do it? Will you do it?”
    Maddie slammed her hand on the table. “If you go, I go. I’m not letting you off on your own again.”
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    Desiree Holt & Cerise DeLand
    “Maddie, be reasonable,” Dan argued. “This is what I do. This is what I’m good at.
    You’re an amateur here.”
    “You can’t be too good at it if they found you out and you’re hiding out here,” she snapped back.
    A deep flush stained his cheeks and a muscle twitched in his jaw. “Maddie, I—”
    She jumped up from her chair and went to stand in front of him, winding her arms around his neck. “I’m sorry, Dan. That was a terrible thing to say. I’m just so worried.”
    “It’s okay.” His voice was soft. “I understand. But you have to let me do this.”
    “Only if you take me with you,” she insisted.
    “She’ll give you a better cover, Dan” Nikki interjected. “A couple—especially two people who can’t keep their hands off each other—will make you harder to ID as well as raise fewer suspicions. Plus Maddie can be frightening when she goes into her Krav Maga routines.”
    Dan’s brows knit in pained delight. “She almost made mincemeat of me a while ago in her foyer.”
    Maggie grinned.
    “But if I agree to this and you come with me, Maddie?” Dan stared at one woman and then the other. “My rules. No exceptions. No arguments.”
    “Yes. Absolutely.” She kissed his cheek. “Whatever you say.”
    He gave her a lopsided grin. “Yeah, right. We’ll see.”
    Nikki rinsed her