Beyond the Rules (an At the Brink Novel)
Praise for Anna Del Mar
5 out of 5 stars!
“I really enjoy this series…I really enjoy Anna del Mar's work. She is the rare erotica author that not only has really hot, steamy sex scenes but she has a compelling, believable story with fully realized characters. Loved all the characters and their diversity as well as their compatibility. I just couldn't put the story down.”
Pam Steinke, Librarian, https://www.netgalley.com/book/118501/review/21683
5++++Stars!
“When Anna del Mar decides to write a novel of romantic suspense that includes a ménage à quatre, polyamory, and BDSM, she pulls out all the stops, and this third novel in her At the Brink series starts off with a bang and doesn't let go until the very end. I give it 5++++ stars!”
Donna Repsher, Reviewer, https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2084108814
5 Stars!
“Holy hotness Batman! Ms. del Mar obviously was challenged to write as steamy of a piece as possible and then exceeded every expectation. While there were certainly tender and loving scenes, there were also incredibly desperate and heady encounters that left me reaching for the nearest cold drink. As much as I loved every highly charged and well depicted sexual encounter, I was just as appreciative for the sweet moments, both from the guys and from Nina. She is truly more than just their own sex kitten; she heals them each in very different ways and they her… Beyond The Rules manages to offer an intriguing and interesting plot full of mystery that had me often holding my breath and swallowing past a lump of fear. This is very well-done, and I am thrilled to offer the very first 5 star NetGalley review from this reader.”
3Book Babes, Reviewer, https://www.netgalley.com/book/118501/review/416572
5 out of 5 stars
“A hacker meets three former seals when she crashes her plane. She's on the run for her life. When these seals take her in they discover there is a chemistry between the four of them. They will do whatever it takes to protect her. There are plenty of deep desires and wants that they all explore. When the threats are taken care of they will have to decide if there is a possibility of fulfilling all their desires.”
Helen W., Librarian, https://www.netgalley.com/book/118501/review/5171
Beyond the Rules
An At The Brink Novel
Anna Del Mar
Contents
Teaser
Introduction
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
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Coming Soon by Anna Del Mar
Also by Anna Del Mar
Afterword
Beyond the Rules
By Anna del Mar
A brilliant West Coast hacker fleeing for her life runs straight into the arms of a trio of ex-SEALs bound by a sacred, battle-forged pact, men who have agreed to share everything…including her.
When Nina Leon crash-lands in the rugged mountains of Montana, she’s fleeing from a deadly enemy and a painful past, desperately searching for the legendary hacker who can help her defeat the ruthless terrorist stalking her. Instead, she’s rescued by three brave ex-SEALs who will do anything in their power to protect her.
Tanner Vazquez, Aiden Black, and Balthazar Flint live by a pact forged in battle and signed with blood. It’s a bond that has saved their lives more than once. They’re committed to watching each other’s back and sharing everything.
Everything.
As different as they are, Nina hits all their buttons. They agree. She’s the one they’ve been waiting for.
But Nina’s not looking to commit to anyone. She doesn’t believe in love. Her life has made her the ultimate skeptic. Lust? Yes. Sex? Absolutely. Love? What a crock.
Protecting Nina is gonna be hard enough. But convincing Nina to stay, fulfilling her sexual fantasies and getting this brilliant hacker to trust and love them—all three of them—for good?
That’s gonna be a hell of a mission.
This book is approximately 113,000 words.
Edited by Nancy Cassidy.
To my amazing erotic romance readers, who want it all—a kickass plot and fully realized characters on top of sizzling, take-me-away, romantic sex.
Dear Reader,
I’m delighted to introduce you to the protagonists of my latest erotic romance, including the feisty Nina Leon. Nina is a brilliant west coast hacker fleeing for her life, who runs straight into the arms of Tanner Vazquez, Aidan Black, and Balthazar Flint, a trio of ex-SEALs bound by their sacred, battle-forged pact. Tanner, Aiden, and Zar are three very different but equally extraordinary heroes who have agreed to share everything…including her, especially her.
These guys are hot individually. But together? They challenge convention and go far beyond the rules, pushing the level of heat off the charts. Beyond the Rules is a ménage à quatre erotic romance that includes group sex, monogamous polyamory, and consensual BDSM. So, please, don’t tell me I didn’t warn you. And as always, proceed at your own risk.
AdM
Chapter 1
Nina
I was close to my destination when the plane caught fire. Smoke streamed from the nose of the Cessna Skyhawk I’d rented in Kalispell. My guess was that one or more bullets had hit the single engine during takeoff and caused a smoldering fire that was gaining traction. I’d been training to fly for a few months, but now the instrument panel was going haywire and the propeller sputtered, hacking as if it suffered from a terminal disease.
I was going down. No doubt about it. My best hope was to land the two-seater right away. It was a hard call to make. The training program I’d been learning on rebooted automatically after you crashed. What were the chances that would happen in the real world?
Don’t panic, Nina, keep it together. I ignored my heart’s frantic pounding and clutched the control wheel as if I could keep the plane in the air by the sheer force of my grip. I’d never attempted an emergency landing. Now I wished I’d forked out the dough to do so with an experienced pilot by my side.
I scanned the terrain below. The peaks of Montana’s Absaroka Range looked pretty jagged, like can openers to the Skyhawk’s flimsy fuselage. I spotted a little meadow ahead, a crooked ribbon of grass. Huge mountains and dense forests hemmed it on both sides and a brook meandered in the middle, a crack in the landscape. Not ideal, but what the hell. I steered the plane in the meadow’s direction and checked my cell’s GPS. As the crow flies, I was less than fifteen miles from my destination. So freaking close.
The smoke in the cabin choked me as it turned darker and thicker. I coughed, then hacked, forcing myself to think through the fear squeezing my throat. My cell. It was my lifeline. I snatched it from the holder and stuffed it securely in my bra. Next I reached over and grabbed my laptop. I’d
be shit out of luck if I lost it. I slung the padded case over my shoulder and tightened it until it was snug against my side. Out of my window, I spotted a red flicker running along the fuselage. Holy hell. If the flames reached the gas tanks, it was done and over.
I aimed for the clearing, applied another ten degrees of flaps and turned the knob to decrease power. I banked the ailerons to correct for crosswinds and pressed on the foot pedals to align with the clearing. In my business, it paid to go for it. So I went for it.
The clearing came at me in slow motion, but the ground collided against the landing gear at brain-rattling speed and the plane careened into the woods and wedged into a cluster of pines. I turned in the seat and grabbed for my duffel, but like the plane, it was also on fire. The flames singed my hands, sending pain screeching through my body.
Forget the duffel. Get away. I pushed open the door and leapt out, but I was much higher than I expected. I hung in the air for a second too long before I hit the ground. My ankle buckled and a sharp jolt shot up my leg. Crap. I dropped on all fours and crawled as fast as I could.
The explosion echoed in the little valley. A hot rush of air gusted over me and shoved me face first into the ground. I braced on my arms and kept going, laptop beating against my hip, hands hurting and knees stinging as I tumbled down to the edge of the creek. The second explosion hit just about then, another thunderous boom that reverberated for miles on end.
I may have lost consciousness. When I came to, I was sprawled on my back and a black column of smoke obscured the sky. My vision flickered. I blinked to clear my eyes and sat up with a groan. My hands throbbed. I looked down and winced. My palms and most of my fingers were red, swollen, and blistered. This was going to be tricky.
My laptop. I had a moment of panic. Where was it? I groped with my forearms and found it secured against my side. I let out a shaky breath. Okay. I was still in play.
Move. Fast. Find Ulysses. My head ached and my ears rang with a ferocity that stunned me. Time. I had none to waste. It was only a matter of hours before Dimayev’s thugs caught up with me. I tried to stand up. My head spun and my ankle hurt so badly that tears sprang from my eyes. Okay, sit for a minute. I eased myself onto a big, flat chunk of granite. Think.
The ringing in my ears became a rumble and then a roar. The earth trembled and, before my brain registered the cause, an ATV climbed over the opposite bank and stopped. A lean, muscular man dressed in cammies and an olive jacket straddled a Polaris. The ATV’s paint job matched the driver’s green woodland fatigues. He focused his mirrored shades on me. My heart shot up to my throat. Had they found me already?
No, they couldn’t possibly be on the ground so fast. Well…maybe. The back of my trembling hand rubbed reflexively around my neck, where a set of yellowing bruises proved that anything was possible. But I’d disabled the only other aircraft in the hangar and made sure they couldn’t follow me. Who was this man?
My pulse pounded in my ears. The cool fall weather filtered through my bewildered senses and became a cold, clammy embrace that iced my bones. Keep it together. This guy wasn’t shooting…yet.
“You okay?” the man asked, face shadowed by a baseball cap. “You need help?”
Yeah, I needed help. No, he shouldn’t give it. I’d say all that, if my throat decided to work and my body stopped shivering. If I could somehow figure out if he was my enemy or not.
“Ma’am?” He slipped the shades up and perched them on the rim of his hat. A pair of mossy green eyes assessed me from above. No murderous glee in his stare. Calm. So calm. Methodic even. “Was there anyone else in that plane?”
I shook my head and managed speech. “Me… Only me.”
“Stand by.” He grabbed the radio attached to his belt. “I’m gonna call this one in.”
“No, please!” The words just burst out. “I’m fine. Don’t call the police.”
“Sit tight. It’s not the police I’m calling.” He kept his stare on me and clicked on the radio. “Rogue, this is Eagle, do you copy?”
“This is Rogue.” A deep bass echoed from the radio. “We copy. What was that about?”
“I’ve got a situation at the meadow,” he said. “I might need an assist.”
“Be there in a sec. Rogue out.”
“Okay, let’s do this.” The guy tucked away the radio and gave me a confident smile, a flash of bright white against olive skin that felt oddly soothing to my senses. “You’re gonna have to be patient, so don’t pass out on me. I’m not exactly up to speed, but I’m coming down.”
I fought a wave of dizziness, bent over my knees and, rocking back and forth, tried to function through the haze. Find Ulysses. It had to be my priority. Find Ulysses and maybe survive. I looked down at my singed hands and my throbbing ankle. How the hell was I going to do that now?
The guy revved up the engine and maneuvered the ATV down the muddy bank, clearing the crumpled boulders and splashing across the stream. He edged the ATV next to me and parked. The olive green fleece stretching over his pecs matched the color of his eyes exactly, playing up the luminous browns that deepened his skin. It was a little odd, but he picked up his left leg and, rotating on the seat, brought it over to the right side.
“Made it.” Another dazzling, devastating, self-assured smile. “I’m slow but reliable.”
He grabbed a backpack out of the ATV’s cargo net and slung it over his shoulder. Then he reached for a pair of aluminum poles, lengthened them and locked them in place with a few strategic clicks. Crutches?
I wasn’t sure if I could trust my eyes, or my brain for that matter. I felt pretty woozy at the moment. As he pushed off the seat, he looked too fit to need crutches. Regardless, he fitted his buff upper arms in the cuffs, clutched the handgrips and maneuvered his way to me.
The darkness hit me without warning. A flash of the old nightmare smacked my senses. The water closed in over my head and the cold dark pulled at my feet like a silent monster. I couldn’t breathe. I was drowning again, sinking into the chilling depths of a cavernous ocean. My brother’s blurry face hovered just beyond the surface, a ghost reaching out from the past. His hand broke through the watery wall. I reached up, but my fingers slipped through Daniel’s. In that instant, he was gone. I sank down, ears popping, head pounding, the last bubbles of air escaping from my mouth and rising toward the refracting sunlight.
“Hold on.” Another hand crashed through the waves and caught me. “Come on, girl. I need you awake. Stick with me.”
I opened my eyes and found myself back in Montana. No ocean trying to drown me here, no flashback, only the mountains surrounding me, and the striking hunk who held me in his arms. The steady sound of his heartbeat filled my ears. The scent of him, fresh cut wood, loam, and insect repellent filled my lungs. He looked down at me, green eyes alert as he did a quick check—pupils, pulse, breathing.
“You’re back.” His smile lit up his eyes and raised a pair of devilishly arched eyebrows on his forehead. “Looks like you hit your head pretty hard, but no worries. I’ve got you.”
The man’s confidence, his attitude, his poise—everything about him reassured me.
“I’m Tanner Vasquez,” he said in a soft, melodic voice as he helped me sit up. “Do me a favor. Can you move your toes and fingers for me?”
I did as he asked. Things felt achy and rusty, but everything worked.
“Excellent.” He stretched his fingers before my face. “How many do you see?”
“Three?”
“Ding, ding, ding. Right answer. You win.”
My prize was more of his smile. “Are you like a doctor or something?”
“No, but I trained as a corpsman. Does that count?”
Trained as a corpsman? That meant Navy. Or the Marines. Good news. My luck might still hold up. Something about this guy reminded me of my brother. His rapport. It was as if he was used to finding plane-wrecked women in his backyard every day.
“Let’s take a quick look.” With a gentle hold, he tur
ned my hands around. The single line between his eyebrows deepened. “Ouch. This looks like it could hurt a little.”
He grabbed a bottle from his pack and poured some water over my palms. The shock hit me full on. I’d crashed. Crashed! The shakes ramped up, the sobs rose up from the bottom of my lungs, and a surge of scalding tears stung my eyes.
“Hey, hey, look at me, sweetheart.” He tilted up my face and met my gaze. “That’s right. Eyes on me. Let’s get you warm.” He took off his jacket, put it over my shoulders and rubbed my arms, working up a measure of heat into my limbs. “You’re okay. What’s your name?”
“Nina,” I mumbled and then gave myself a mental kick in the ass for using my real nickname.
“Pretty name.” He pulled out some wipes from his backpack and ran a cool, clean-smelling towel over my face, soiling the white tissue with brown and red smudges. “Can you take a few deep breaths for me?”
I focused on his eyes and took a breath and then another.