FORBIDDEN: Book 1;: Sizzling HOT Detective Series (The Criminal Affairs Collection 2) Read online

  FORBIDDEN

  Book 1: The Criminal Affairs Collection

  By

  Taylor Lee

  FORBIDDEN: Book 1 in USA Today best-selling author Taylor Lee’s Sizzling Hot Detective Series, The Criminal Affairs Collection.

  •She’d almost erased the memory of the outrageous undercover agent who’d captured her heart while betraying her soul.

  •To her horror, the devious man she’d relegated to the ash bin of her tortured pride reappeared. And as her commanding officer, no less.

  •Certain that he could control his reaction to the renegade detective he’d betrayed, the arrogant agent accepted the command of her elite unit.

  •It only took a fusillade of challenging skirmishes to prove that far from being over, their fierce affair was stronger than ever with the power to bite them both in the ass.

  WARNING: Romance so HOT it singes the pages. HOT, tough, explicit. Not for the faint at heart. Definitely bring a fan!

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  FORBIDDEN: Book 1

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  Prologue

  Refusing to believe what she was seeing, Viviana Moreau grabbed the edge of her desk and held on for dear life. She knew if she didn’t, she was likely to crash to the floor. Snagging a frantic gasp of air, she did what she could to breathe, but the bile surging in her throat made it impossible. Swallowing the vile gush, willing herself not to faint, Viviana acknowledged the unbelievable sight in front of her.

  Standing between Commissioner Davis and Police Chief “Mac” McElroy was the man she’d promised herself she would banish from her memory if it were the last thing she did. Now, three months after seeing him for the last time, Viviana was proud that she’d succeeded. At least, she’d managed not to think about him during most of her waking hours. But even as determined and fierce as Viviana was, she’d been unable to contain her sleeping time. If tossing and turning in her bed each night careening from the lust tearing at her body and the rage her mind couldn’t contain constituted sleeping. When she allowed herself to face the truth, Viviana admitted that her nighttime dramas, make that nightmares, were the most erotic elements of her life. Almost as erotic as what had actually happened.

  Peeking a glance at the tall, dark-haired man standing in the doorway of the Violent Crimes Unit headquarters, Viviana looked down when he turned his gaze toward her. Grasping for what little control she had and shoving at her roiling gut, she acknowledged that the commanding man knew what few men did. He knew what she looked like naked. Not only naked—as in without clothing—but naked to the essence of her soul. As bad as that was, and it truly would be her undoing, she also knew what he looked like naked. Astonishingly lean, muscular, and without a doubt sporting the most impressive penis she’d ever seen, the handsome-as-sin man had done to her what no other man had dared attempt. He’d taken her in ways that she hadn’t known were possible and in the process had touched the erotic core of her very being. A core she hadn’t known existed. Even now, remembering his sexy command “No games, sweetheart—only the ones I want to play . . . ” sent a storm of unwanted sensations riveting between her legs.

  Clinging to the edge of the desk, Viviana forced the X-rated scenes that were swirling across her ravaged brain to vanish and made herself remember who he truly was. In addition to being the only man who had ever dared to breach her defenses and connect with a libidinous nature she didn’t know she had, he had thoroughly and egregiously used her. As if she were an unwitting pawn on a chessboard, he’d pretended to want her, to desire her. But it was all a hideous ruse. And unknowing simpleton that she was, she’d fallen for the powerful, deceitful Lothario even though at the time she’d thought he was part of the violent cartel she was infiltrating. She now knew that when he had discovered she was an undercover cop and was likely to blow his cover and fuck up his high-level mission, the bastard had decided to fuck her instead.

  When the mission came to a hideous end and she would have been killed by one of the vile cartel members, to her shock, the man she’d known as a drug dealer had revealed himself. Risking his life, he overpowered the head of the cartel and killed her assailant but not before the vicious man shot Viviana. In the chaos that ensued, the blinding pain from the bullet in her side blessedly plunged her into unconsciousness. Incongruously, the last thing she heard was her would-be lover holding her and insistently murmuring in her ear, “Breathe, baby, dammit, breathe.”

  After she regained consciousness, her distraught SJPD captain, who had flown to Belize to bring her home, told Viviana the truth about the multilayered mission she’d inadvertently stumbled into. Apparently the special operative team led by her cunning lover was close to taking the Morales cartel down. Viviana’s renegade and ill-formed attempt to capture one of the cartel leaders had nearly torpedoed an international operation that was two years in the planning.

  In addition to being horrified at the damage she could have caused, Viviana had to deal with an even more devastating challenge. Now, three months after returning to duty in her role as a sergeant in the elite San Jose Police Department’s Violent Crimes Unit, Viviana forced herself to admit that the man who had worked his way into her body and her spirit had used her. More flagrantly than she’d ever used the men she targeted in her undercover roles. She acknowledged with no small amount of pride that her undercover “slut on the make” reputation was well-earned. She was known as a cock-teasing tart who never gave her target anything but a rock-hard dick they never got to satisfy. It was a reputation Viviana was proud of—frankly a rep she reveled in. Until someone even more duplicitous than she was had turned the tables. She admitted that the man now standing in the doorway had used her as blatantly as she’d used the most despicable criminal she’d ever taken down. She also admitted that she’d never known how deeply that ugly action could hurt.

  Forcing herself to take several deep breaths, Viviana managed to look at the trio of authoritative men in the front of the room. She knew both Commissioner Davis and Chief McElroy well. She should, given the number of run-ins she had with them. The two imposing men had been only marginally successful keeping her untoward behavior somewhat close to the required line. But it was the serious, emerald-eyed man standing between them, who at that moment met her gaze, that caused her heart to skip several beats. Too late, she acknowledged that she recognized him. The slight upward tilt at the corner of his mouth confirmed that as before, he knew more about her than she likely knew about herself.

  Chapter 1

  Jaxton Hughes waited until both the commissioner and police chief made their introductory remarks and prepared to leave the room. As he left, Chief McElroy warned the group that they would rue the day if they mistook Jax’s debonair ways. He intoned, with a barely hidden grin, that the handsome guy who was about to become their boss was the “hardest badass” he’d ever known, and “that was saying something.”

  Planting a smile on his face, Jax stepped up to the mic. He surveyed the room and then said pleasantly, “One small qualification to Mac’s admonition. While Mac might think I’m the hardest badass around, you should talk to some of my men who really know me if you want to know what you’re actually in for.”

  At the round of appreciative laughter from the group, Jax continued. “A bit about me that you won’t find in my official CV—after graduating from USC, where m
y biggest accomplishment was being the skinniest running back the Trojans ever let play, I decided to go into the Army rather than take Yale up on their offer to become an ambulance chaser. Since I like sticking it to assholes better than sticking my nose in a book and am an inveterate rule-breaker, I found myself in the job of a lifetime. I was Delta Force for eight years, and there isn’t a hellhole in the world or an evil asshole alive that at one time or another my men and I didn’t tangle with. Not able to stay away from the action and with an insatiable hard-on to tangle with the scum of the earth, I went undercover with the NYPD and most recently the LAPD. For some unknown reason, the powers that be think I ought to forego my badass rep and play the good guy for a change—at least if I ever hope to lead a major police department. And that, my friends, is why I’m standing before you, preparing to take advantage of you as I burnish my good-guy cred and continue my relentless climb up the ladder of success.”

  Jax was relieved and amused at the surprised laughter and raucous catcalls from the assembled group at his unabashed cockiness. Knowing cops as well as he did, he knew that the good ones appreciated honesty and hated disingenuousness. Never one to put a party dress on a pig, he wanted them to know that he was the most ambitious and frankly most ruthless guy they were likely to meet. Certain that tales of his being groomed for the LAPD chief’s position had already circulated throughout the precinct, Jax saw no need to dissemble. Or at least dissemble about his ultimate ambitions. What he wouldn’t tell the appreciative group of hardened cops in front of him was that he had another darker, more questionable motive for accepting the position as their commander. That reason was standing to the side of the room. Notable in that not only had she not laughed or applauded his boasts, except for one guarded glance his way, but she had patently ignored him.

  Jax knew that the beautiful woman who was studiously ignoring him had to believe the worst about him. Moreover, he deserved her animus. The undercover mission in Belize was never far from his conscious mind, but it thrived in his unconscious, surfacing when he least expected it. Particularly in some of the most erotic dreams he’d ever had. When he’d discovered who the beautiful blonde woman who had a gang of hardened undercover guys and violently dangerous cartel members struggling to hide their hard-ons truly was, he was as angry as he’d ever been. Certain that she could torpedo their mission, he’d decided the only way to protect and control the outrageous chameleon was to seduce her. His erotic efforts were astonishingly successful. She’d succumbed to his amorous overtures more powerfully than he could have imagined. The only problem was that he’d fallen under her spell as completely as she had under his.

  He’d promised himself that he wouldn’t contact the troublesome renegade, that their illicit affair needed to stay in the past where it belonged. That pledge stood the test until Jax was approached by his Delta Force buddy, Mac McElroy, who happened to be the SJPD police chief. Mac told him that the word in the ranks was that the only thing Jax needed to secure the spot of chief of one of the major PDs in the country was a commander role in a decent-sized precinct, such as the VCU unit in his San Jose department. Even knowing how dangerous and potentially unethical it was to accept the position, Jax acceded to his friend’s arguments.

  While first arguing against what was assuredly a role fraught with danger, Jax surprised Mac and himself when he accepted Mac’s offer. Jax blamed his acceptance on his relentless drive for success and certainty that he could deal with the potential repercussions with the alluring sergeant. That was until he saw her standing shell-shocked in the mass of uniformed officers before him. Too late to rethink his remarkably bad decision, he admitted for the first time that while he’d lived his life feeding his gargantuan ambition, the primary reason he’d accepted the SJPD position was because he couldn’t close the door on what had happened in Belize. Or with her.

  Stunned by the uncontestable fact that he’d unequivocally fallen for her, Jax acknowledged that he’d put them both in an untenable position. Accepting that it was too late to change the path he’d willingly chosen, he convinced himself that he could make it work. For better or worse, he was now her commander. It was a role that absolutely precluded anything other than a professional relationship. Knowing how rightfully angry she likely was with him, he determined that he would build on that anger and rewrite their relationship. He owed it to both of them that at the very least he acknowledge that he’d treated her badly and explain the necessity of the decisions he’d made and the actions he’d taken. Seeing that she was unwilling to return his gaze underscored that he would be scaling a formidable mountain. One that not even his vaunted charm could make his climbing the summit easy or necessarily successful.

  Jax chatted with each of the officers who, obviously intrigued with their new commander, crowded around him. Apparently wanting to let him know that they weren’t pussies, they told him one outrageous tale after another regarding the operations the men and women had been on. Jax nodded appreciatively as the braggarts among them did their best to convince him that they could “out-bad” the baddest, even him. One beefy, red-haired detective who introduced himself as Mick O’Reilly made a particular effort to ingratiate himself.

  “I’ve heard about you, Commander, and I’m impressed as hell. Particularly that you stooped to come here.” At Jax’s dismissive flick of his fingers, O’Reilly grinned and barked an infectious laugh. “Seriously, man, some of us could even ‘out-badass’ some of your guys.”

  Knowing that the Irishman had been on the Belize mission, Jax paid attention and said with a genial wink, “I’m confident of that, Detective. Although given the secrecy surrounding our purported successes, we’ll never really know who among us is shooting the biggest pile of shit.”

  O’Reilly good-naturedly joined the laughter at his expense, then shook his head. Glancing across the room, he nodded at Viviana, who was studiously ignoring the raucous group surrounding Jax, and added, “Seriously, dude, I mean, Commander, we’ve got one of the shiniest stars in the cosmos in our ranks.” Pointing to Viviana, O’Reilly called on his buddies for support. “Tell ’im, men. Tell our new commander that he just got put in charge of the most irascible woman he’s likely to meet. Heads up, Commander. There ain’t been a one of us, no matter what rank we claim, who’s been able to corral that little hellcat. Ask our former commander if you don’t believe us. Or, hell, ask the chief or the commish for that matter. They’ll tell you that no matter how big you think your balls are, our little Enchantress will cut ’em down to size.”

  Jax let the laughter subside, then said quietly without looking at Viviana although he was sure she’d overheard her colleagues’ banter, “Forewarned is forearmed, Detective. I look forward to learning more about your galaxy and the various stars, shiny or not, that inhabit it.”

  Working his way toward his office, Jax made a point of angling toward Viviana. Nodding pleasantly at the group on his heels, he excused himself. “Thank you, all. I’m looking forward to working with you. However, at the moment, I need to see my office and determine whether the throne and the crown that I ordered are large enough to fit my ego.”

  At the shouts of laughter from the crowd of clearly impressed officers, Jax approached Viviana. Ignoring her startled expression, he said casually to the group, “It just so happens that Chief McElroy asked me to speak to this charming young woman. Apparently he thought I should meet my would-be nemesis sooner rather than later.” He focused a firm gaze on her and said, “If you’re not busy, Sergeant, I’d like to speak with you.” Pointing to his office at the back of the squad room, he added, “Now would be a good time.”

  Without waiting for an answer, Jax waited until Viviana reluctantly rose from her chair, then placed a solicitous hand on her back and guided her across the room, making it clear that he wouldn’t let her ignore his “request.” Knowing that his singling her out had embarrassed her and caught the attention of the others, he wasn’t surprised to overhear O’Reilly’s guffawed response. “Well, well,
look at that. Another guy who thinks his cojones are big enough to handle our Enchantress. What do you give ’im, boys? A minute or the twenty minutes she gives the bravest of the unknowing assholes.” Jax was glad to hear one of the lieutenants take his back—after a fashion. “I dunno, Mick, as loud as those balls of his clang, he might just be able to stay in the ring with her for an hour or more.”

  The raucous laughter that greeted the officer’s disparaging rejoinder echoing across the room encouraged Jax. He thought, grinning, that it was too bad the chortling men didn’t know that not only had he stayed in the ring with her but he’d taken her inside of his ring. Seeing for the first time the unabashed fury in her eyes as he ushered her into his office, he wasn’t sure that what he’d considered a victory was but a fast train to hell.

  Chapter 2

  Keeping his hand on the small of her back, Jax pointed to the chair in front of his desk. “Please, Viviana, have a seat.”

  She knocked his hand away and squared her shoulders. When she moved toward the chair but refused to sit down, he sighed audibly. Rounding the desk, he stood for a moment, holding her angry gaze, then shrugged. “You may stand if you wish, but know that I want to talk with you. I think it might be more comfortable for us both if you choose to sit.” At her angry glare, he raised his hands and said with a slight smile as he sat down, “Or not.” He added, “The choice is yours.”

  Studying her through narrowed eyes, Jax let the uncomfortable silence stretch for a long moment. Her rigid posture and stony glare confirmed that he would need to make the first move. Leaning back in his chair, he pursed his lips, then said thoughtfully, “How are you doing, Viviana?”