Before Paxton could answer the bike zipped forward. He found the pegs for his feet and held onto the underside of his seat as Coco pushed the bike faster, only pausing to enter the code to admit them to their destination.The conservation part of the park was located in the old resort area. What he'd read online had impressed him. The operations side of the resort had moved into the old, main building. They'd opened up research facilities for different teams on the grounds, allowing several studies to be conducted at once. Most animals inhabiting this part were temporary patients on the road to recovery and re-release. Those animals that couldn't be released were kept until a suitable new home could be lined up. It was all rather impressive.Here lights chased away the shadows. There weren't any people around, unlike earlier when it had been bustling with activity. Coco steered them toward a cinderblock building with a corrugated metal roof just like any other set of buildings. The

"Yes," Coco said. Paxton could do whatever he wanted so long as he kept touching her.He pushed up and undid the button on her shorts then yanked those and her panties down her legs and over her boots. She didn't even have the presence of mind to be self conscious it all happened so fast. And then Paxton was leaning over her again, touching her stomach, kissing her chest then her hip. Her mind was awash in pleasure and sensory overload.A kiss on her mound made her jump, both from surprise and because it was too much. He pressed his palm to the spot, as though he understood her nerves were too raw. But the respite only lasted a moment.He sank to the floor, his arms under and around her legs holding her prisoner, and then she felt his tongue. A very intimate touch against her folds. She reached down and grasped his wrist in a vain attempt to pull him up. He pressed against her, exploring her sex with his tongue and mouth, kissing her in a far more intimate way.His blunt fingers pr

LUKE NODORF STALKED around his desk. The office was too small. He was too far up to pace out to the street and take a walk. Times like these, he missed the little home he'd grown up in. He'd been something of an anomaly in those days, a white boy in the ghetto, but it was the best his family could afford. Even now he'd buy his parents a real home if they'd let him, but they just turned their nose up whenever he offered to help.The simple fact was that Luke didn't need them anymore. He'd offered out of respect. If his parents wanted to ride their high horse into the grave, so be it. That was their dying wish.Luke had bigger problems to worry about. Like the National Council of Provinces.Two more of his loyal men were out. This was after nearly a dozen representatives Luke had counted on lost their elections. At this point there were less than twenty-four sitting representatives for him to ply with cash and promises to sway votes his way.And what a time to be on the outs with so

PAXTON WRAPPED HIS arm around Coco's shoulders from behind and knelt with her in the grass. Sobs shook her. Hell, just looking at the wounds that had taken down such a magnificent creature made him want to weep. But he had a job to do. Aegis Group had volunteered to come down and help with the poaching problem and here it was for him to see.He pressed a kiss to the silk turban still containing her curls then stood.Before leaving home, Paxton had sat in on a seminar like everyone else on the basics of poaching and what they were up against. There were many similarities in the methods used to combat the crimes that ran parallel to Paxton's current work, both making use of his training from the Marines. He dusted off his hands and pushed the animal loving kid inside of him to the side so he could examine the scene.He circled the body.Several tranq darts stuck out of the animal's thick hide. He wasn't a good guess at the rhino's weight, but it had to at least weigh over two tons. T

PAXTON KEPT HIS hands on his knees, tapping his fingers against his shins.There was still time to leave. Lots more people than he'd anticipated had shown up for the wedding. No one would miss him.Probably not even Coco.He didn't like admitting that, but it was the truth. Why did that truth bother him? He wasn't in the habit of letting people get to him this much.Fuck it.He was going.Paxton stood as a man wearing clerical robes accompanied Shane to stand under the spread of flowers and leaves that had been hung from the trees overhead. Lights twinkled behind him as the sun cast a riot of color across the late afternoon sky."Sit, man." Silas chopped the back of Paxton's knee, causing his leg to buckle.He sat down hard as the first strands of music hushed the crowd.He'd waited too long.His throat tightened, and he clenched his fists. He really didn't want to be here.The stragglers rushed to their seats and most people turned to watch back up the aisle. Paxton wasn't