Free Sacrificial Muse (A Sabrina Vaughn Novel) by Maegan Beaumont Page A

uneven from lack of sleep.
    She shrugged. “How long you been here?” she said, reaching out to pick at what looked like a ketchup stain on his pant leg. It flaked off—Lord knew how long it’d been there.
    “All night. Your turn.” He dropped his feet to the floor, jerking the stain away from her fingers, forcing her to focus on him and what they were talking about.
    She sighed. “You know that B&B O’Shea stayed at while he was here?” She waited for her him to nod. “I’m staying there.”
    “He back?” Strickland said, his jaw clenched as tight as his tone. It wasn’t jealousy that had him asking. It was the fact that he blamed Michael for everything that’d happened to her over the past eight months.
    “No … I just needed some quiet.” She looked at him, suddenly feeling lost, hoping he’d understand without asking her to explain. He did.
    Strickland nodded. “You need to call Val. She’s beside herself. The second you walked out, she crawled up my ass—said you just disappeared. I camped out here, knew you’d show up eventually.”
    “Yeah, did she tell you I left because she invited Croft in for afternoon tea?”
    Strickland went still. “She failed to mention that part.”
    “I’m not surprised.” Val was stubborn but not stupid. Some part of her knew that what she’d done was wrong.
    “Did she explain why?”
    “Because she thinks I’m gonna crack up again. Says I need to talk about it. ” She shook her head at the look that settled on Strickland’s face. “She’s wrong. I’m fine. And I don’t need to talk about anything.”
    He shrugged, looking a bit deflated now that his anger had run its course. “You know I’m here, right? I’m always gonna be here,” he said to her in a low tone, his hazel eyes filled with concern.
    Her throat went tight, like someone was strangling her. She couldn’t talk, just nodded and looked away for a second.
    “You going back?”
    Sabrina cleared her throat. “Home? I don’t think I can. Not yet anyway.”
    Strickland stood. “Call her at least. Let her know you’re okay—after that … ”
    Sabrina shook her head. “Val can wait.” Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the envelope. “Right now, you and I have bigger things to worry about.”

FOURTEEN
    Dubai City, Dubai
    Michael barely made it to the living room before he stepped out of his pants and took off his shirt. He was completely nude in seconds.
    The woman behind him cleared her throat before speaking. “This would be easier if we could—”
    He didn’t even spare her a look. “I don’t want easy. I want fast. The sooner this is over, the sooner I can ask you to leave.”
    She didn’t answer him. Probably hurt her feelings, but he didn’t care. Why would he? He barely knew her. In fact the only thing he really knew about her was that she was a First Security Solutions employee and her name was Mary. At least that’s the name she went by. Who knew for sure what her given name really was—not that he gave a shit about that either.
    He fixed his eyes on the door Ben had disappeared behind, waiting for the tickle of cool fingers along his spine. Ben’d been on the phone when he’d come in. Who was he talking to?
    Her fingers were colder than he expected, but he didn’t flinch. They traced over the bumps of his spine, one by one, until they reached the base and pushed. The hard disc, as big and flat as a dime, dug into the muscle that couched it.
    He kept his eyes trained on the door while she walked her fingers around the surrounding tissue. Whoever Ben was talking to, he didn’t want Michael to hear the conversation that was going on—
    She pushed a bit more before letting her fingers drop away. “Have you experienced any shortness of breath? Heart palpitations?” she said, wrapping a blood pressure cuff around his bicep.
    He laughed. “Seriously? The man had a dirty bomb grafted to the base of my spine and he’s worried about my breathing?”
    Mary waited