Protected, page 1
part #1 of Holt Agency, Book Three Series
Protected
Holt Agency, Book Three
Becca Jameson
Copyright © 2023 by Becca Jameson
Cover Artist: Original Syn
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. And resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Created with Vellum
Contents
Newsletter
About the Book
Letter to the Reader
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Author’s Note
Also by Becca Jameson
About the Author
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About the Book
It’s been over two years since Melanie’s life was forever changed. Over two years since she met Holden on a Panama Canal cruise that went awry. Over two years since she had the best sex of her life for ten amazing days before returning to the real world and tucking that vacation adventure away forever.
* * *
After walking away from Melanie, Holden worked several long-term assignments for the Holt Agency, keeping himself busy, keeping his mind off the woman who had seemed so perfect for him in every way. Their lives weren’t compatible. She was a professor at Georgetown. He thrived on dangerous rescues and protection details.
* * *
Time has not changed how either of them feels for each other, nor has it changed their circumstances. But Melanie’s apartment has been ransacked and another professor has been found dead. Someone is after her. She might not like it, but she needs Holden’s protection.
* * *
The two of them can try to keep their feelings for each other at bay, but for how long?
Letter to the Reader
Dear readers,
* * *
KaLyn Cooper and I are very excited to bring you this collaborative series, the Holt Agency. If you’re a fan of the Shadow SEALs books, you might remember us introducing this agency in each of our first two releases. The men who open the Holt Agency were all rescued SEALs who appeared in Shadow in the Desert and Shadow in the Mountain. The following year, several characters were once again featured in Shadow in the Darkness and Shadow in the Daylight.
* * *
So, welcome to the Holt Agency! The headquarters is located at a farm in Indiana. The former SEALs who have joined forces and opened the agency will each get their own happily ever afters in the coming books.
Holt Agency:
Rescued by Becca Jameson
Unchained by KaLyn Cooper
Protected by Becca Jameson
Liberated by KaLyn Cooper
Defended by Becca Jameson
Unrestrained by KaLyn Cooper
Prologue
Two and a half years ago…
* * *
“What time is it?” Melanie murmured against the pillow as Holden slid his strong hand up over her naked ass and then her back. Please tell me it’s not morning yet. She wasn’t ready for this time with Holden to end. In fact, she was surprised she’d fallen asleep at all, but judging from how groggy she felt, she suspected she’d succumbed for a few hours.
He kissed her shoulder as his hand continued around until he skimmed the side of her breast. “Six,” he whispered, his voice filled with regret.
She groaned. “Are we docked?” She extended her senses to discern if the cruise ship was moving and how loud the engines were, but she was too tired to be certain.
“Not yet, babe. Soon.” His lips… God, his lips. They trailed across her shoulder blade toward her neck, which he then nuzzled, inhaling deeply.
She hadn’t moved from her position on her stomach yet, hugging the pillow, but she managed to smile. “Are you sniffing me?”
“Mmm hmm. Memorizing your scent.” Suddenly, he flipped her over, unceremoniously.
She gasped as she landed on her back, blinking up at him in the dim light. Under normal circumstances, she would complain about the hour and demand more sleep, but nothing about the past week had been normal, and she was going to have to catch up on her sleep after her “vacation” ended and she returned to Georgetown.
When Mel had embarked on this Panama Canal cruise with her best friend, Callie, she’d pictured eleven days of fun in the sun, relaxing and enjoying a much-needed vacation. Instead, all hell had broken loose when the Chinese had blown up a container ship on the Atlantic side of the Panama Canal, trapping the cruise liner in Lake Gatún.
Callie, who was a Mandarin translator for the CIA, had been airlifted away to help the government, leaving Melanie to finish off the strangest cruise of her life. It had been stressful, but as Holden lowered his face to flick his tongue over one of her nipples, she reminded herself the last eleven days had also been filled with the best sex of her life.
“God, I love it when you arch like that,” Holden murmured against her breast as he cupped the full globe and gave it a slight squeeze just the way she liked it.
She grabbed the tangle of sheets at her sides and moaned. It had only been a few hours since the last time he’d ravaged her, but the clock was ticking, so she didn’t complain. She needed this. Needed to milk the last few hours on this ship for all they were worth.
Before this cruise, Melanie had never dreamed sex could be this good. She’d had a few scattered boyfriends in her thirty-two years, but not a single one of them had made her body hum the way Holden did.
He shifted his attention to her other breast, flicking, licking, sucking, driving her mad. When he nudged her thighs apart with one of his knees, she opened for him, arching again as he pressed his muscular thigh against her pussy.
“Fuck, I love watching you come apart,” he whispered as he lifted his gaze. The sun was starting to come up, bathing the room in its faint light through the sliding glass doors. They hadn’t bothered pulling them closed last night.
Holden’s thick erection pressed against her hip as he cupped her breast again and pinched her nipple. “Come for me, babe. I want to hear you before I enter you.”
She’d learned something about herself this past eleven days that she hadn’t known before. She could be noisy in bed when she came. Holden did that to her. He made her lose her mind.
He pinched her nipple again and then smoothed his hand down her belly as he eased his thigh back enough to create space for his fingers. And then he was stroking her clit. Circling, flicking, pinching… God, he played her well.
“Melanie… Come for me, babe.” He usually called her Mel, but her full name coming from his demanding lips was hot. It worked too.
Melanie’s body stiffened as she arched her hips off the bed, hovering for a few seconds in that perfect state of bliss that came right before an orgasm. If she could bottle up that fleeting sensation so she could relive it over and over, she would.
As she succumbed to her release, crying out his name, her body shaking, her hands fisted tighter. It surprised her that she could come so hard, pulsing against his fingers so violently, considering how many orgasms she’d had since she met him.
She was panting as she dropped her ass back onto the bed, un-fisting her hands and reaching for him. “Need you…”
He obliged, climbing between her legs and thrusting into her so hard she slid back a few inches. His mouth crashed over hers too, delving into her. Without moving his body, he devoured her, licking and sucking her lips. They would be swollen and tingly later today after she parted ways with him.
Her entire body would remember his for days. Her pelvis was bruised from having sex so many times. Her wrists ached from him holding her down. In fact, while he kissed her senseless, he found her hands, dragged them above her head, and gripped her wrists in the way she’d learned he often preferred when he fucked her.
He didn’t just thread their fingers together. No. Holden Billings gripped her wrists and restrained her completely. As usual, her arousal shot back up to an eleven when he did so, and she moaned into his mouth as he finally eased out and thrust back into her.
He could be bossy and rough and demanding in bed, and she loved every moment of it. She’d never experienced anything like what she’d had with Holden. She’d never even dreamed of sex like this. She doubted she’d ever find another man who could make her blood pump like he did again in three lifetimes.
She was going to have to find a way to move on though. This was likely the last time she would have sex with Holden.
Shaking thoughts of the future from her head, she fully engaged in the present. Every groan coming from his mouth. Every second of friction inside her. Every squeeze of his hands around her wrists. Every press of his hips against her pelvis. The pressure. The dominance. The mind-blowing force of the experience.
Holden’s breath hitched a moment before he came. He released her lips, met her gaze, and stared at her as he held still deep inside her, his release so violent she swore she could feel the pulses of his come.
When he was done, he didn’t move for a long time, holding her gaze, his brow furrowed, his face tense. “Melanie…”
She swallowed back the tears that threatened to fall and shook her head. “Don’t.”
He nodded and dropped his forehead against hers. They’d had this discussion. There was nothing left to say. She was a professor at Georgetown; he had a dangerous job with the Holt Agency. He would be sent all over the world, rescuing people, hunting down criminals, saving the day.
Holden’s job was important, not just to him but to countless others who needed help around the world. At thirty-two, Melanie was living her dream, teaching International Affairs and Mandarin. She wouldn’t be quitting so she could move to rural Indiana and spend her days waiting around for the crumbs Holden could offer in between his assignments.
They’d agreed. This was it. A fucking amazing eleven days together. Unplanned. Unexpected. But so very cherished.
Don’t cry. Don’t cry.
Melanie sucked back her emotions. She could let herself fall apart later tonight when she got home. She could take tomorrow to wallow in self-pity and regroup. On Monday, she intended to return to classes, having put this unlikely adventure behind her.
It would hurt. She knew in her heart she’d never find a more suited man. But there were no other options. Life was taking them in two different directions. Better to have lived and loved and all that. Or perhaps, lived and fucked hard.
She could put this behind her and return to her regularly scheduled life. She had to. There were no other options.
Chapter 1
Present day…
* * *
“I’ve got what you need.”
“Good. I’ll be at the café on First Street at noon. I’ll sit outside. Bring it to me, but you don’t fucking know me. Trip near my table and drop it in my satchel.”
“This is it, right? You’re fucking done with me after this.”
“If you really have what I’ve asked for, I’m done with you.”
“You better be. I’m done doing your dirty work.”
“Please tell me you have amazing fabulous plans lined up for this summer that involve beaches and bikinis and hot men.”
Melanie laughed as she juggled her phone and her book bag, switching arms before she could respond properly to Callie, her best friend. “Uh, sorry.”
Callie groaned. “Come on. You’re a professor. I need you to have amazing summers so I can live vicariously through you.”
“I’m afraid my summer is going to be spent working on a research paper for publication. I’m woefully behind on the research part of the job. As a matter of fact, I’m meeting with a visiting professor for lunch. I’m hoping he has some tips for me.”
“A lunch date! Is he hot? Is he single?”
Mel laughed. “He’s about seventy, so I’m not sure it matters if he’d be considered hot in his age bracket, nor do I care if he’s single.”
Callie sighed. “You need to make lunch dates with men closer to your own age, Mel. When was the last time you had a date?”
“I don’t know. Do you need me to pull out my calendar? My hands are kind of full right now. And I’m running late. Can we discuss my exciting social life later?” Or never.
“Fine. But at least try to flirt with the waiter and report back to me,” Callie insisted.
“Sure,” Mel agreed just to get out of this conversation. “Later.” She ended the call and glanced at the time. She had ten minutes to get to the café. At least she wouldn’t be late. She hated being late. She’d meant to get out of her office at the university earlier, but wrapping up the semester had taken her more time than expected, mostly because a few graduate students were hanging around making small talk with her.
She shouldn’t have even answered Callie’s call, but she knew her best friend would keep calling her until she answered. She was pushy that way. She was also pushy about who Mel was dating and how often.
Since the answer would cause Callie to drop everything, drive to Georgetown, and drag Melanie to a club on the spot, Mel avoided the questions.
“At least I really do have a lunch date today,” she muttered as she hurried toward her destination.
Chapter 2
“Why are you still calling me?”
“Because you failed in your task, asshole.”
“What are you talking about? I did exactly what you said. You fucking watched me stumble next to your table. Why would I go to that trouble and not do the job?”
“Yes, but when I got home, I didn’t have it because you put it in the wrong fucking satchel.”
“How was that possible? You said the brown satchel. I dropped it into the brown satchel right under your table.”
“Yeah, well, it turns out my colleague had a similar case. You dropped it in his.”
“It’s not my fault your fucking lunch partner had the same bag. Why can’t you just get it from him?”
“I tried that. I went to his hotel room. He doesn’t fucking have it anymore. He gave it to some professor at Georgetown.”
“Why the hell would he do that?”
“It was an accident. I need you to get it from her.”
“No. I’m done. This was my last job for you. You get it from her.”
“You’re not done until I fucking say you are, asshole. Get it from the woman and meet me at the gas station on the west side of campus at midnight.”
“How the fuck am I supposed to get it from her by then?”
“That’s your fucking problem.”
Mel was shaking as she paced outside her townhome, waiting for Callie to pick up the phone. “Come on. Come on. I need you,” she muttered.
“Hey, Mel. How’s it going?” Callie answered.
Mel let out a long breath. “Not well, actually. Someone broke into my townhome and trashed the place while I was at work today.”
“What?” Callie screamed. She must have covered the receiver a bit because her next words were muffled. “Grant, we have to go to Melanie’s.”
Melanie breathed out a sigh of relief. She’d known Callie would come. She’d hoped Grant would be home and accompany his wife too.
“What’s wrong?” Melanie could hear Grant through the phone. He’d obviously run to Callie’s side.
“Her place was ransacked.”
“Shit. Let’s go,” he responded. He must have also grabbed the phone from his wife because his next words were more audible. “Where are you, Mel?”
“Out front. The police are still here, but they’re leaving soon.”
“We’ll be there in ten minutes. Hold tight.”
Mel nodded needlessly as the call ended. She ran a hand through her tangled curls and stared at the front of her townhome in disbelief. This was a very safe neighborhood. Nothing like this ever happened around here. She was stunned and frustrated and God, the mess. Damn, the mess. She couldn’t fathom how long it would take to clean up. Everything she owned was upside down. Every drawer emptied. Every breakable thing broken. Why?
The police were finishing up, and she crossed her arms as they exited her townhouse and approached her. The female agent spoke, her brow furrowed. “I’m sorry. I know this is unfortunate. If you can, try to inventory everything and see if anything is missing.”
Mel gave a sharp, sardonic chuckle. This wasn’t funny. “It would take a year to know if anything was missing.”
