Lost in Bliss Read online

  Nights in Bliss, Colorado 4

  Lost in Bliss

  Laura Niles left her past behind. She fled Washington, DC, with

  her career in ruins and her love life decimated. In her desperate

  flight, she found a home in Bliss, Colorado.

  For five years, Rafe Kincaid and Cameron Briggs have searched for

  the only woman they’ve ever loved. The FBI agents couldn’t share

  her before, and it tore them apart. Now they have tracked her

  down, and they want answers. Why did she run? Why did she

  hide? Why are there so many naked people in Bliss?

  Laura is shocked when her former loves show up in her new

  home. And when they bring the full force of the FBI with them,

  Laura knows Bliss is in for a rough ride, because a killer has been

  watching and waiting for a second chance. And so have Rafe and

  Cam.

  Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Western/Cowboys

  Length: 97,120 words

  LOST IN BLISS

  Nights in Bliss, Colorado 4

  Sophie Oak

  MENAGE EVERLASTING

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Everlasting

  LOST IN BLISS

  Copyright © 2011 by Sophie Oak

  E-book ISBN: 1-61034-731-5

  First E-book Publication: August 2011

  Cover design by Les Byerley

  All art and logo copyright © 2011 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be

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  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance

  to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Lost in Bliss by Sophie Oak from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank

  you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or

  group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing

  rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this

  book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying

  readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Sophie Oak’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect

  Ms. Oak’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  www.BookStrand.com

  DEDICATION

  No book of mine gets written without an enormous amount of

  support. I want to thank my husband, my mom, the best PA a girl

  could have, Chloe Vale, Jen Kubenka (who often entertains my

  kiddos), the Righteous Perverts chat group for their unflagging

  support, and my writer friends—Shayla Black, Kris Cook, Chloe

  Lang, Jen August, and Heather Rainier. I love you all!

  LOST IN BLISS

  Nights in Bliss, Colorado 4

  SOPHIE OAK

  Copyright © 2011

  Chapter One

  Cameron Briggs felt like he was storming the castle. His heart was

  beating, adrenaline coursing through his body as he charged through

  the double doors that separated the FBI offices from the lobby. It had

  been years since he’d walked through those doors, but he wasn’t

  allowing anyone to keep him out today.

  Luckily, the guard on duty was a small, gray-haired woman who

  smiled brightly at him as he strode through the double doors.

  “Agent Briggs!” Helen Angelo exclaimed, getting to her feet. “It’s

  been so very long.”

  Cam shook his head. “I’m not an agent anymore, Helen. Is Rafe

  in?”

  If Rafe wasn’t in, then Cam would find his ass. The bastard hadn’t

  answered his phone, and Cam had left three messages. The printout in

  his hand nearly burned his skin. Five years. He’d looked for her for five years.

  Helen frowned, and Cam felt the weight of her disapproval. “Yes,

  I did hear that you had left the Bureau. I do not think it was a good

  career move for you.”

  He hadn’t given dick about his career when he’d left the Bureau.

  There had been nothing for him here after what had happened to

  Lost in Bliss

  9

  Laura. A vision of Laura Rosen leapt into his mind. Blonde, gorgeous,

  with a soft body and a softer heart. The vision didn’t really have to

  leap all that far. It was always there. Every time he closed his eyes he saw her, smiling and looking down at him, her blonde hair around her

  shoulders as she rode his cock.

  And every time he went to sleep he saw her another way—

  battered, beaten, and stabbed, being shoved into an ambulance.

  “Where’s Rafe?” Cam didn’t have time to argue. This was the

  best lead he’d had in five fucking years. He wanted to follow it now.

  He would already be on a plane if he hadn’t made that damn

  promise to Rafe Kincaid.

  “He’s in a meeting. A very important meeting with the chief and a

  task force. He and his partner are giving a briefing.”

  Yeah, yeah. They were all important. Everything was important to the goddamn FBI except the agents who didn’t perfectly toe the line.

  They could go to hell.

  Or they could go to Bliss. What a fucking name. How on earth

  had his cosmopolitan Laura ended up in some podunk Colorado

  town
? Cam doubted she’d ever been out of the city.

  Cam gave Helen a little wave. “Thanks. I’ll take it from here.”

  Cam took off. He heard Helen yelling behind him, but he wasn’t

  about to sit in the waiting room for the briefing to be over. He wasn’t

  Rafe’s lapdog, as so many had claimed. Sure, he’d taken money from

  Rafe over the years, but only because they had a single goal in mind.

  A goal Cam had accomplished.

  Cam opened the door to the briefing room, but was startled to find

  absolutely no one there. It was empty and silent, though Cam

  remembered a time when he’d stood in the room and listened for quiet

  words.

  You don’t believe me. How could you stand there and tell them all

  I’m wrong? How could you advise the chief to take me off the biggest case of my career?

  10

  Sophie Oak

  Cam shut the door. There were only ghosts in there. There were

  ghosts everywhere in this building. If they weren’t in the briefing

  room, then they were in the auditorium.

  Maybe Helen was right. Maybe this meeting was important.

  Cam slipped into the small auditorium where large-scale briefings

  were held. The lights were dimmed, and the only illumination came

  from the projector. No fun movies for the FBI. Only horror shows,

  and this was no different. Cam was immediately assaulted by the

  picture projected on the wall. A woman, young, but no longer vital.

  Her glassy eyes stared out of the picture, utterly unseeing. Her flesh

  was a pale white, the only bit of color a shiny mauve-colored lipstick

  painted on her lips.

  She was naked, her hands tied over her head. The victim’s wrists

  had been bound so tightly that her hands were almost blue. She would

  have lost feeling in them long before she died. Her pale flesh was a

  map of cuts, some shallow, some terrifyingly deep. The killer liked to

  start with small stabbing wounds to the lower abdomen, painful, but

  not fatal. Long strips of flesh had been lashed from the victim’s

  breasts and thighs. This woman’s death hadn’t been quick. It had been

  a long, slow opera of torture ending in her throat being slit like a lamb led to slaughter. He had seen it before. Cam let his eyes drift down as

  his stomach did a flip.

  The Marquis de Sade.

  Yeah, this was an important meeting.

  “The victim was discovered just outside the warehouse district on

  Tuesday morning. Her name is Christine Parker. She was a prostitute

  working the area.”

  Cam shrank back, all thoughts of breaking up this meeting gone in

  a tidal wave of fear and self-loathing. De Sade had been gone for five

  years. He’d been utterly silent, like a shark who feasted in the

  shallows of the beach before sinking back into the deep. He was

  surfacing again. Cam had always known he would. De Sade loved his

  work too much to stop. Cam knew Rafe had been watching for him,

  Lost in Bliss

  11

  too. They had theorized that he was in prison, or he’d moved to

  another city after his close call with the law. Five years had sped by

  with not a hint of the serial killer.

  How was this happening again? How the hell was this happening

  just when he’d found Laura, the only victim of the infamous serial

  killer to have ever gotten away?

  A tall, broad figure stood by the projector, his solid body almost

  ghostly in the shadowy light. Cam’s former partner had been a little

  like a ghost these last few years. Cam had seen him rarely and only to

  update Rafe on the progress he’d made in finding Laura. Rafe had

  become a bank account Cam tapped into when he needed money to

  follow a lead. There was a man standing beside Rafe. Cam couldn’t

  see his face, but he knew the name. Brad Conrad. Ex-college football

  star and all-around asshole in Cam’s book. It was kind of hard to

  believe, but in another year’s time, Brad would be Rafe’s partner for

  longer than Cam had been.

  Rafe Kincaid’s deep voice continued. It was far steadier than

  Cam’s heart rate, and, for a moment, jealousy and rage curled in

  Cam’s belly. Rafe had never loved Laura the way Cam did. How

  could he, if he could stand there and talk about the man who had

  almost killed her the same way a college professor talked about a

  Shakespearean sonnet?

  “As with all previous victims, this one was found with lipstick on

  her. Forensics has already verified that it’s the same as the others.

  Purple Passion. Also, according to forensics, the victim had been

  killed at least twelve hours before. Blood spatter indicates she was

  killed where her body was found.”

  That was the pattern. The lipstick. The victim was a prostitute.

  She’d been tortured before she was killed. Everything fit the pattern.

  Cam just didn’t want to believe it. “He’s been quiet for years. Why

  has he started working again?”

  At least twenty-five heads turned.

  12

  Sophie Oak

  Rafe put a hand over his eyes as though trying to see across the

  distance. “Cam?”

  Even in the low light of the auditorium, Cam could see Brad

  puffing up. “Briggs, this is a closed session. We don’t need low-level

  PIs here. If you need information on something, please go and ask the

  secretary.”

  Rafe turned briefly and exchanged words Cam couldn’t hear.

  Before Rafe could turn back, the lights came on. There was an almost

  relieved sigh that swept through the room. The picture on screen

  seemed to recede a little, no longer the main focus of the world.

  “Cameron Briggs, you son of a bitch!”

  Cam turned and couldn’t help a little smile. Joseph Stone, his

  former Bureau chief, took the stairs two at a time, his familiar face lit with a smile. He’d aged very little since the last time Cam had seen

  him. Joseph was a big, athletic guy. As long as Cam had known him,

  he’d been bald, but even that made him seem a bit powerful. Joseph

  was the type of man other men followed.

  “Special Agent Stone.” Cam took his hand and shook it. Joe had

  always been a good boss. He was Harvard educated and highly

  connected, but he’d always known how to make Cam feel welcome.

  Joe pumped his hand twice and slapped Cam gently on the back.

  “No need for formalities any more, Cam. Did Rafe call you? I have all

  the paperwork set up to bring you in as a contractor. We need

  everyone we can on this. It’s going to take everything we have to

  catch this one. I don’t have anyone on the team with your computer

  skills.”

  Cam looked to his former partner who had his head down, one

  foot tapping against the floor. Guilty as sin.

  “No, he didn’t call me.” Betrayal burned through Cam.

  Apparently, despite their oaths to one another, his former partner

  didn’t think it was important enough to call and tell him that the man

  they had hunted for years had resurfaced. “I was here on another

  matter, but I can see plainly that Special Agent Kincaid is very, very

  Lost in Bliss

  13

  busy. I won’t interrupt him. Call
me sometime, Joe. We can have a

  beer.”

  Joe’s brows came together in a V. “What are you saying? You do

  understand what we’re talking about here? This is the Marquis de

  Sade’s work. There’s no denying it.”

  Oh, Cam understood. He understood perfectly fine. He also

  understood that he had played his part, and he was an idiot for

  thinking Rafe would play his. Rafe’s head came up, and those dark

  eyes of his narrowed for a moment. Ruthlessly intelligent, it wouldn’t

  take long for Rafael Kincaid to figure out why he was here

  interrupting this briefing. It wasn’t like Cam would come for lunch.

  “I understand. De Sade is back.” It was time for Cam to make a

  strategic retreat. His fist closed around the paper in his hand. He was

  gentle with it. He didn’t want to crush it. It was the first glimpse he’d gotten of her in years. It was strangely precious to him. “Rafe’s your

  man. He and Special Agent Conrad can handle this. You don’t need

  me.”

  Cam turned and walked out of the door. If Rafe wanted to renege

  on their deal, he sure as hell wasn’t about to give the man the keys to

  the kingdom. He would go after her himself.

  Yes. It was better this way. Rafe could go after the killer and

  further his career. Cam could get what he wanted. He wanted Laura.

  Without Rafe around, maybe she would fall for him again. Yeah. He

  had a better shot without pretty, rich, smooth-as-silk Rafe around. It

  had been a flat-out miracle Laura had even noticed him.

  “I need you, Cam.” Laura had turned to him, her plump lips red

  and swollen from Rafe’s kisses. Cam had kissed her and tasted the

  Scotch on her lips. Rafe’s drink. He’d plunged his tongue inside, not giving a damn that Rafe was behind her, his hands playing with her

  breasts. Somehow, in that moment, it had felt right to be there with Rafe. It had been perfect.

  “Cameron!”

  14