Wicked and Bare (Matt & Madison, Part Two), page 1
part #1 of Wicked Lovers: Soldiers for Hire Series
Contents
About Wicked and Bare
Author’s Note
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Wicked and Ruthless
Wicked Lovers: Soldiers for Hire
Also by Shayla Black
About Shayla Black
Join Shayla Black!
WICKED AND BARE
Wicked Lovers: Soldiers for Hire
Written by Shayla Black
This is an original work of fiction, crafted exclusively by Shayla Black.
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Copyright 2023 Shelley Bradley LLC
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Cover Design by: Rachel Connolly
Edited by: G. G. Royale
Proofread by: Fedora Chen
ISBN: 978-1-958075-13-5
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental and not intended by the author. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by an electronic or mechanical means—except for brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews—without express written permission.
eBooks are not transferable. They cannot be sold, shared, or given away, as it is illegal and an infringement on the copyright of this work.
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All rights reserved.
ABOUT WICKED AND BARE
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He'd give his life to protect her…but he’ll demand everything from her in return.
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Madison Archer-Pershing fled her murderous, soon-to-be ex-husband, running straight to operative Matt Montgomery, despite the fact he once broke her heart. Under his protection and in his arms, she can’t help but fall for him again. Then her husband discovers them together and coerces her back to his glittering, dangerous world of politics, greed, and deception. But Madison knows his deepest secrets…just like she knows he’ll try to silence her forever.
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Matt knows he’s bad for good-girl Madison. He’s too rough, too commanding, but he can’t resist the woman who still owns his heart. Though he’s determined to keep her safe at any cost…he can’t protect her from his own dark desires. As she melts in his embrace, shocking revelations rock them. Peril lurks around every corner. And when he’s confronted with the most wrenching decision of his life, will he rip out his heart to save her or risk everything to claim her forever?
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**This book contains a dominant hero, explicit sexual content, violence, danger, profanity, and dark themes. If you’re looking for a sweet read or a traditionally loveable hero, this is not the book for you.**
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Wicked and Bare is part of the Wicked Lovers: Soldiers for Hire romantic suspense series. Stories in this series are told in a duet of two full-length novels. Each duet can be read as a standalone. Happily ever after guaranteed. Enjoy!
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
If you have not read Wicked as Secrets please STOP.
Wicked and Bare is the second half of a duet in the Wicked Lovers: Soldiers for Hire series about EM Security operative Matt Montgomery and the woman he’ll do anything to protect, Madison Archer-Pershing. In order to fully understand and enjoy this book, you should first read part one of this duet, Wicked as Secrets.
I sincerely hope you enjoy the saga of these two characters I’ve come to love so deeply, which is why they required two full-length books to tell their whole story.
Happy reading!
Shayla
Chapter One
Monday, July 16
Atchafalaya Basin, LA
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Madison Archer-Pershing swallowed her horror. Her estranged husband stood ten feet away, arms crossed over his chest, staring at her with a grin somewhere between smug and malicious.
Oh, god.
She knew nothing about chess, and Todd had come to play the ruthless, four-D kind. The husband who had once tried to kill her was her worst nightmare, bursting the bubble of safety and passion she’d shared with Matt Montgomery for the last twelve achingly beautiful days and threatening to tear them apart.
She didn’t dare let him. She refused to give Todd an inch.
Madison had ducked and run for too long. The time to fight had come.
“No.” She stepped out from behind Matt’s protective body, hands on her hips defiantly, and glared back.
“What did you say?” Her husband’s narrowed eyes filled with threat, terrifyingly reminiscent of the night she’d fled his bloody knife and run straight to Matt, despite their agonizing three-year separation.
Matt shoved her behind him again with a reprimanding scowl. “Madison…”
The submissive inside her yearned to obey almost like a physical ache. Matt had taken on the role of her Dom and her lover. He had listened. He had cared. He had kept her safe. He had shown her a side of herself she’d never indulged and made so many of her fantasies come true. He had become her moon and stars. But the woman in her would not obey. Todd was her mistake. Matt shouldn’t be the one to pay for that. She had to meet the bastard she’d married head on.
Madison wrenched away, burying the guilt for her disobedience, and sent Matt a silent apology. Todd only respected power, and if she gave hers to Matt, her husband would interpret her submission as weakness.
“I said no,” Madison repeated, then faced Todd. “If I didn’t have any leverage, you wouldn’t be here negotiating our divorce in person. You would have sicced lawyers on me while you fucked strippers, snorted an average family’s annual salary up your nose, and engaged in whatever shady shit keeps you from kissing your grandfather’s ass. I’m not spending three months in DC with you.”
“Listen, you little cunt…” Fury twisted his face as he stomped toward her like he intended to crush her with the fingers he’d balled into fists.
Matt stepped between them, his demeanor a warning. “Don’t you ever call her that again.”
“Stop embarrassing yourself, Romeo. You think Madison cares about you?” Todd scoffed. “You’re a stiff dick to her. I stopped giving it to her more than a year ago, so I’m not surprised she went looking for a chump with a hard-on. But her spread legs don’t mean anything. Do yourself a favor and bail. Her pussy is nothing special, and there’s plenty more out there.”
“I’m going to fucking end you.” Matt lunged for him.
Madison pushed him back with a silent entreaty.
“Oh, try it. Please,” Todd drawled, looking almost gleeful. “What was it your pal said? You’d look pretty in prison?”
“You’re disgusting,” she spit at her husband. “And transparent. Stop attacking Matt and deal with me. I’m the one you’re married to. I’m the one who captured you murdering your cousin on video. I’m the one threatening to blow up your house of cards.”
To her left, Deke chuckled, enjoying Todd’s humiliation. When she glared at him, he disguised the sound by clearing his throat behind his fist. “Sorry.”
Todd glowered at Matt. “See what happens when you give the girl some dick? She grows a set of balls. Given the dungeon equipment I saw through the open door at the end of the hall, I’m guessing you like her a lot more when she only opens her mouth to scream or suck cock.”
Matt looked an instant from beating the hell out of Todd, and Madison had to stop him. His fury merely told Todd their weakness and gave him a cudgel to use.
One-Mile stepped between the men, shooting his best friend a quelling stare before he addressed her husband. “How about less trash talk and more negotiation?”
Todd acted like the proceedings were beneath him, but he relented with a roll of his eyes. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Matt?” One-Mile prompted, asking indirectly if he’d gotten his temper under control.
He cursed under his breath, then nodded. One-Mile turned to her, gesturing with a sweep of his big hand.
The floor was all hers.
“Like I said, I won’t spend three months with you,” she told Todd. “I need to be with my dad.”
“Don’t act like his condition is life-or-death. He’s going to survive, for fuck’s sake.”
“The doctors think so. But it’s cancer. It’s unpredictable. And he’s going through it alone.” Guilt for that was killing her. When her dad needed her most, it must seem as if she couldn’t be bothered to spare him even a phone call. If not for Todd, she would be by Daddy’s side, holding his hand through every test and procedure.
“Stop being dramatic. And don’t use your father’s illness to avoid your obligations. If you want a divorce, come play the good little wife for the cameras until my grandfather’s reelection.”
She wasn’t going to talk Todd out of this. He had no good side to appeal to, and—as he’d reminded her—his grandfather was a powerful senator who could buy off the press and threaten social media companies into suppressing the video of Brent’s murder.
“All right. But I will visit my father before coming to DC.” When Todd opened his mouth to object, she held up a hand to shut him up. “The optics would be bad if I didn’t. Publicize my visit if you want. I don
t even care if your grandfather tries to get sympathy votes from my pain anymore. But you’re not stopping me.”
Todd dissected her with a familiar, flat stare, as if he sought to identify a dead bug on the sole of his shoe. That expression used to hurt. Once, it had reminded her how badly their marriage was failing. Now it only assured her that she was getting to him.
“One visit,” he snapped. “In the next week, we’ll coordinate a trip to your father’s hospital, complete with press. You’ll wave, be appropriately teary, and take someone along to support you. Not him.” Todd tossed another glare at Matt. “After that, you’ll come crawling to DC like the white trash you are, and you’ll be mine until after the election. That’s nonnegotiable.”
She glared back, secretly relieved Todd hadn’t insisted on coming with her. “Press is fine for my walk into the hospital, but the actual visit and my father’s room both remain private.”
Todd shrugged as if conceding that point meant nothing. “A sick, shriveled old man isn’t good for our image, anyway.”
Madison gritted her teeth. How had she ever been vulnerable enough to be taken in by this snake? “After that, I’ll return to DC, but I want separate residences.”
“No. If we don’t live together, the separation will be noticed. You’ll stay in our apartment.”
She’d known the request was a long shot. And as much as she hated it, Todd was right. “I’ll pretend to play house, but I will not be alone with you—ever. I’ll be hiring round-the-clock bodyguards.”
He laughed. “Do you think any muscle in DC would protect you against a Pershing?”
If they ever wanted to work in the swamp again, no. She resisted the urge to lean on Matt and considered her options. But she was out of her element, and she needed protection guaranteed to put her safety first. “You’ll pay for two bodyguards of my choosing, not based in DC, to watch over me twenty-four seven.”
“Why are you stupid enough to imagine I would do that?”
“Spin it to your advantage to increase the family’s likability and win your grandfather more votes. Say Winston’s enemies have made political threats against me, and being the protective husband you are, you insisted on ensuring my safety. Since the rumors of your—how do I say this nicely?—leisure activities have been a part of Winston’s image problem, that might go a long way to quieting the rumors that our marriage is empty and you get your jollies by seducing too-young girls. By the way, how is Todd Junior?”
He scowled. “You can’t prove he’s my kid.”
“Please… He looks just like you, and your father writes that girl a check every month so you don’t have to submit to a DNA test.”
Todd lunged at her. “If you don’t shut the fuck up, I’m done negotiating.”
“You’re not,” Matt insisted, stepping between them. “She needs two bodyguards. I’ll be one of them.”
Madison gaped. Did he understand that Todd would take every opportunity to humiliate him? And if that didn’t satisfy her husband’s twisted side… Well, he’d proven he wasn’t above murder.
Todd hesitated, his shrewd stare volleying between her and Matt. “Okay, Romeo. This will be fun. I’ll pay whatever your going rate is. Who’s your other watchdog?”
“I am,” Ethan Garrison piped up, settling his ball cap on backward before crossing his inked arms over his chest.
Matt whirled with a narrow-eyed glower. “No.”
Ethan shrugged. “Not your choice, sport. You don’t like it? Take it up with the bosses. They had the same idea about her protection, and this was their decision.”
Madison tried not to wince. Matt and his youngest peer got along, as the old Southern saying went, like oil and water. They neither liked nor trusted each other. How the hell was this going to work?
Deke nodded in confirmation. “Hunter, Logan, and I talked about it for nearly two hours last night. Nash was their first choice, but he needs more recovery time after dancing with the three tangos’ knives. So…Ethan it is.”
One-Mile shrugged apologetically. “Sorry. My dance card is full, buddy. And Zy, Trees, and Kane are all on missions.”
At the Texas border. Matt had mentioned something about a human smuggling ring they were tracking a few days ago… So that left Ethan.
“Then it’s settled.” Todd gave a self-satisfied smirk. “If you want a divorce, the three of you will come to DC as soon as you’ve visited your father so I can get you ‘pregnant.’”
She glared his way. “You’re not touching me.”
“God, no. I’m working on a new pet. Even if I had the time to knock you up, I don’t have the inclination.”
“Who’s the girl?” Madison asked without a drop of jealousy. “I already feel sorry for her.”
“A French attaché’s daughter. She’s got the untouched heart of a child and the mouth of a whore.”
Madison recoiled. “Is she legal?”
“Where’s the fun in that?” Todd quipped.
“You disgust me. Has she even had her first period?”
“Now you’re just being a bitch. We’re done here.”
“We’re not,” she insisted. “I need some time to myself each week.”
“No, you don’t. Because I won’t be languishing at our place with you and your babysitters. Most of the time, you’ll have the whole apartment to yourselves. Do whatever you want.”
She didn’t bother pointing out that, if he was supposedly getting her pregnant, he had to be home often enough to do the job. Instead, she repositioned her demand. “That’s a relief, but I meant away from that stifling cage.”
Because he’d always had uncanny foresight into whatever she was up to, Madison deeply suspected he’d had the apartment surveilled. If she wanted any privacy, especially with Matt, she had to have the freedom to leave.
When he looked like he was about to refuse, she cut in again. “If I’m trying to get pregnant, won’t it look good if I’m exercising? Seeing my doctor? And if I’ll be photographed more, won’t I need to have my hair fixed? My nails done?”
Todd clenched his jaw tight. “Fine. One day a week.”
Madison wanted to push for more, but his limits and patience were clearly at their end. Besides, time away wasn’t her biggest battle. “I won’t be telling you where I’m going.”
“You will.”
“Only if you share wherever you are every moment you’re away…” She stared expectantly, knowing damn well he wouldn’t.
“That’s not fucking happening.” He snorted. “Your day away is during the week, and you’re always home by nine p.m. Nothing can interfere with scheduled campaign stops, most of which are on weekends. Sunday family dinners are sacred.”
Those parameters weren’t perfect, but she’d won a major concession from Todd. That was enough for now. And since she was about to be under a microscope, she would have to choose her “public” outings wisely if she didn’t want Todd and the world knowing her business.
“I’ll make that work. When are we announcing my ‘pregnancy’?”
Todd didn’t scramble for the calendar on his phone, which told her that the Pershings had preplanned everything. “There’s a community event in a key suburban center on the last Saturday of September. We’ll announce there that we’re expecting. At that point, you’ll be six weeks pregnant, not enough to show…but enough to know. Roughly five weeks later, days before the midterms, we’ll give Grandpa’s constituents the sad news of your miscarriage.”
“How am I doing appearances if I’m supposed to be recovering?”
“You’re a trooper. It’s far more important for you to help your beloved family spread the message of democracy for all than to cry in your bed. But since you’ll be bereft, I’ll do the talking. The morning after the midterms, you can leave quietly to ‘visit home.’ A few weeks after that, I’ll announce that I’ve filed for divorce. I’ll break down in mourning over the loss of our child and the devastating news that you’ve begun fucking your former lover since returning to this godforsaken bayou. I’ll use nicer words, but that’s what the public will hear.”
