Silver's Rebel

Book 1 in the Silver Brothers Securities Family Saga

She’s the rebel I can’t control and the past I can’t outrun.

Samantha Connors showed up in my life like a ghost. A rebellious one, in fact, who thought peeking in dark alleys was safe. Her uncanny resemblance to my murdered wife confounded me. She was the past I desired and the present I grieved, and she was caught between my client and the mafia. With a target on her back, Sam needed protection. Mine. And so I swept her off her feet and hid her on the other side of the world, where my past finally collided with her present.

Unfortunately, rebels know no borders and break all the rules. 

He’s the billionaire I can’t deny and the adventure I desire. 

Gabriel Silver showed up on a night when I needed it hard and fast. The private investigator had all the right moves to end my dry spell. Tall, strong and handsome, he was that older man younger women desired, and I was one of them.

Le sigh...

His streak of silver experience promised an adventure between the sheets. He should have been the perfect one-night-stand, but he flipped my life upside down instead and turned it into a fairy tale. 

After all, who needs a bodyguard? Someone who doesn’t listen. A rebel. And that was me.

I was the mafia’s target, and Gabriel could protect me. 

But then the bodyguard I trusted with my life broke the ultimate rule--and lied. 

Join Sam and Gabe on their romantic, suspenseful adventure as the dynamic duo give into temptation and face secrets from their past in this age-gap billionaire bodyguard romance book.

 Silver’s Rebel is an age-gap billionaire bodyguard romance and the first novel in the Silver Securities Family Saga. The story has a happy ending for the couple and a series cliffhanger. Intended for a mature audience. Originally published as Dazzled by Silver in 2013 (no longer available), the novel was re-written. The character relationship dynamics and their storylines are new. 

Silver Brothers Securities Family Saga

Silver's Rebel sneak peek:

Chapter 1

When I woke up this morning, I didn’t expect to run into my past.

I parked across the street from the club and  turned off the ignition. The dark alley seemed like a good place to keep an eye on the crowd. Less than fifty feet from me, New York’s nightlife awakened. Tonight’s surveillance would be easier than most.

Sit. Watch. And wait.

I lifted my hands behind my head and lowered the driver’s seat a quarter down. I’d take babysitting a twenty-one-year-old client over digging for coffins with lifeless bodies, any day. Kendra had brought more trouble to the company than any of us expected, but if it weren’t for her family more would have suffered. Besides, after ten years, she was more than a client. She was family.

Papers shuffled behind the bin, drawing my attention. A pinch of fresh adrenaline squeezed through my veins, reminding me of my investigating days. I rolled down my window. The sound of speeding taxis, revving engines, brakes, honks, and sirens blended into the night’s tune. Much closer, laughter echoed from the street where a line of guests wound around the corner for the opening of my friend’s new nightclub, Kissed.

I groaned inwardly. Crowds meant trouble, and trouble for someone like me was akin to pissing on an electric fence wire. There was nothing pleasant about an electric current zapping through your balls. I knew that from experience on the ranch.

I cranked my neck to the side. As if on cue, a woman stepped out of the vacant building and into the alley. She glanced behind her and tiptoed on the balls of her feet to avoid the clinking heels from connecting with the pavement. Wrapped in a pair of leather pants, her ass swung back and forth as she hurried behind a garbage container.

“What are you doing?” I whispered.

She reached behind her, unfastened her pants, and squatted. The garbage container kept her hidden enough that unless someone walked out the side door from Club Forever, no one would see her. The sound of a powerful stream fizzed in the distance. I held in the chuckle when she sighed with relief. She finished fast, shook her booty, and zipped back up. The rebel double-checked her bearings beyond the container, brushed her hands over her thighs, straightened her shoulders, and stepped over the pool of pee to hurry out of the alley.

Her confident stroll faltered when she finally spotted my car. The young woman glanced behind her and then back to the only way out of the alley, past my vehicle. She reached inside her purse and picked up her pace.

This night could only end in trouble. I could sense these things.

“I hope you’re relieved,” I called out as she hurried by. It probably wasn’t my best opening line, but it had been a while since I’d been around… people.

She turned towards me, braced on her high fuck-me-now heels, and removed her hand from her clutch, pointing a nozzle to my face.

“You sick bastard!”

I gotta hand it to her—I didn’t expect the pepper spray. I should have.

I reached my hand out to block the stream before she pressed the button. “Wait! Don’t! I mean no harm.”

She held her finger steady on the button. Her arm stretched forward, and my attention lifted from the nozzle to her bewitching eyes. Our gazes locked like in some fucking happily-ever-after movie, and all I could do was suck in a sharp breath, because I thought I was seeing a ghost. Her upturned nose, rounded cheeks, a blonde side-braid, and lips that begged for kisses were a heartless reminder of everything I’d lost. The uncanny resemblance stopped my heart. I blinked repeatedly until my body shook, pushing the flooding memories away.

“What’s wrong with you?” She lowered her hand, stepped away from the club’s side entrance, and moved closer to my car.

I’d practiced controlling these attacks before. This one was nothing new, but it had been a while since I’d had one. I recalled the guided therapy words in my mind, and my pulse finally slowed.

Fucking embarrassment.

“Nothing. I’m fine,” I barked back.

The second-long pause felt like an hour. The fresh memories haunted me and were the exact reason I stayed away from people. I simply wasn’t good company. But I wasn’t about to let her walk inside Club Forever, either.

“You don’t want to go in there.” I pointed to the side door.

“I wasn’t going to, but now you have me intrigued. Why do I not want to go in there?”

The fresh grunt vibrated deep in my lungs. Her voice, her demeanor, and piss-off attitude were a grave reminder of how I’d failed to keep a rebellious girl like her safe. 

Because Club Forever likes to keep its women there—forever. Or so I’d heard. I didn’t tell her that because we were in an alley, and it was dark. I didn’t want to scare her more than I already had and get bear spray in my face. 

“Club Forever is not for girls like you.”

“How do you know what kind of girl I am?”

“For one thing, the kind who can’t hold her bladder.”

“That’s not my fault. I had to hydrate for tonight. I’m celebrating. And what are you doing in a dark alley?” she asked, as if I were the beautiful woman — which I wasn’t — strolling down dangerous streets.

“I’m not the one who can’t find a bathroom.”

Her cheeks flushed red through the darkness.

“You’re a rebel. And trouble. That’s what you are.” I pressed the button on my steering wheel. The car door lifted open in a lazy semi-circle. I stepped out and leaned against the hood like Magnum P.I. Well, I sort of was one. Just a little younger and with better gadgets. She shifted from one foot to another uneasily. I approved of this extra caution around strangers, but she shouldn’t have been in a dark alley in the first place.

“You get off on watching people relieve themselves?” she asked.

“No. I get off on making sure vulnerable women stay safe. This alley isn’t safe. You shouldn’t pee here.”

That part was totally true.

She chuckled. “Was that a pun?”

“Maybe.”

She placed the can of bear spray, or whatever poison I’d avoided, inside her sparkling clutch and secured the square accessory underneath her armpit. The gesture guided my eyes straight to the beautifully wrapped corset top around her body. It complimented the curvy ass in her tight leather pants.

“As you can see, I’m safe. And I don’t need a man telling me what to do. Besides, isn’t it past your bedtime?”

I laughed, shaking my head. “Yeah, sure. But if you had a man like me, he’d never let you pee in an alley.”

She shivered.

“Then it’s a good thing I don’t have a man like you because I’d pee in my pants. The line’s too long.” She pointed across the street.

“That’s a contradictory statement. You’re going to Kissed?”

Was she even old enough to be there? Her timid nod, just a subtle gesture, reminded me of someone. Someone who was innocent and good-hearted, yet stubborn and definitely born to make trouble. It was always the quiet ones who got me in trouble. I let out a shallow sigh.

“It’s my friend’s opening night,” she said, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, and I realized I must be staring at Samantha Connor, Kendra’s friend. I was supposed to have met her a while back, but my wounds had been too fresh and my mind too absent to care about work – and anyone hanging around Kendra was work. After failing as a private investigator, I’d stepped down the ladder and joined my brothers, James and Hunter, at the surveillance department of Silver Securities.

“Wouldn’t your friend have you on a guest list?” I pointed my thumb over my shoulder and back to the street. “You know… to avoid the line and peeing in the alley.”

“Possibly.”

“I’d check that out before I peed with rats.”

She tilted her hip and placed more pressure on her right foot. Her ass stuck out provocatively to the side. She blinked three times with her mascara-heavy lashes, smiled through those innocent lips, and blushed. This girl would cause trouble tonight, and she didn’t even know it. 

“But if I avoided this alley, I wouldn’t have met you,” she chirped. That voice sang through my ears with familiar tones. It flowed right through my veins, awakening the dormant memories in my heart.

Suddenly, an alley was the last place I wanted to be. 

Fuck.

Seeing her now, I couldn’t help but wonder whether we’d met before. In a different life, perhaps. She tilted her head to the side and her braid spilled onto her cleavage. I imagined that same hair scattered over my chest. Her gaze slowly lowered to my groin, and I realized I was hard.

She cleared her throat, making me feel like a total pervert.

“Ahem, I better go.” Her voice broke with nerves. She turned around once more before stepping onto the sidewalk and called out, “I’ll check the guest list, and thanks for the tip!”

Samantha ran off towards the nightclub, leaving me alone in the alley. I’m not sure how long I stood there thinking about her and my new assignment, but it would have been much longer if my cousin and partner at Silver Securities hadn’t pulled up in his Bentley.

Julian Silver rolled down the window. “Hey, Gabe! You’re going to be late!”

I checked my watch with a grunt. “I’m never late.”

He turned off the ignition, and the headlights faded. 

“Was that Kendra’s friend?”

“Sure was.”

“She hook you? Kendra’s been teaching her self-defense.”

She’d definitely hooked me, but not in the way that Julian thought. 

“Thanks for doing this.” He reached out the window and handed me a file.

“I want to say you owe me, but you already owe me.” The words scraped my throat like rough gravel. Life’s bitter taste had remained in my mouth ever since the funeral.

My watch beeped with a three-minute warning. “I have another minute. Give me the brief.”

“Kendra made a deal two nights ago and fell through on another one tonight. This time she stiffed the wrong people. Hartley’s one of them. There’s a buzz of retribution. They’re coming. I don’t know how long we can keep her under the radar, especially now that she’s opened Kissed. People are going to ask questions. Her profile is in jeopardy, which puts Silver Securities in jeopardy as well.”

“Figures you’d fall for a troubled girl,” I puffed out.

“It’s not her. It’s the drugs.” Julian always defended Kendra, but the man also loved her like a fool. And Silver Securities owed her.

I reached out and lowered my hand to my cousin’s shoulder. “I know. We’ll get her out of this and past it. I won’t let her out of my sight. She’s family.”

Julian could have done this job just fine. So could Tristan, his younger brother. But when you fooled around with a client, life got complicated. Kendra tested my aunt and uncle’s patience daily but they loved her like a daughter. My older brother had a sick daughter to care for, and Hunter was barely out of diapers, focused on adventures underneath a different skirt every weekend. His twenty-three-year-old energy bounced off the walls.

“Kendra has ways,” Julian reminded me.

“I’ll read the full file first thing in the morning. Tonight, I’m on duty.” I nodded to the nightclub across the street, where trouble lingered.

“All right. Call me if you need me. I’m not far away.”

I looked him directly in the eye and followed up with an overenthusiastic thumbs-up. 

He rolled his eyes. “Get your life in order, Gabe. Decent work will do you some good.”

Whatever.

He turned his ignition, and the car purred. Julian glanced across the street once more, shook his head, waved, and left. I locked my car and walked across the street to the club’s back entrance. The busted lock reminded me to change it.

I crossed through the back to the private area where Ace and Axel Wagner were waiting in a corner. The brothers were each holding a glass of iced bourbon. The orange liquor glistened in the dimmed lights. We shook hands, and I sat across the table.

“What’s going on?” 

The waitress must have had seen me when I entered because she came with my favorite drink.

“Thank you.” She left us in the private corner.

“Guess who bought the place across the street?” Ace asked.

“Your father bought it. Everyone knows that.”

“Not Club Forever. The property beside it.”

“Hartley? He already has the hotel on one side.”

I lifted my glass to my lips, but stopped.

“Why does Scar need a strip club again?”

“It’s a back-up plan… we found out something new. The organization is growing.” The brothers eyed one another in a way that made the hairs stand up on my arms.

“Scar believes Infinity will operate in the building next door. Rebels will be sandwiched between the Hartleys. It could be our in.”

“Rebels?”

“The new strip club.”

Axel moved in closer. “This is an opportunity Silver Securities cannot miss. Hartley knows no limits. The longer the DA waits, the more brazen he becomes.”

I set the drink down and leaned in. “Get Julian involved. I’m not in that business anymore. The case belongs to the Flintstones.”

“Until someone you love gets involved.”

That’s why I don’t have anyone to love.

“You’re connected. We’re all connected. And if Infinity operates across the street, your girl’s business is in trouble.”

“Kendra’s not my girl. She’s a client. I’ll talk to the team, and we should set up a meeting. Obviously all Silver resources are yours..”

Resources were not the issue, and my empty offer felt a little nasty, but I wasn’t in a fucking good mood. I hadn’t been in a long time.

My focus shifted to the small crowd around the bar. “Enjoy yourselves tonight. The drinks are on the house.”

The brothers clinked their glasses and relaxed in the cushioned seats.

I jumped over the bar and removed my leather jacket. 

Morgan, the other bartender on duty, frowned. “You’re late, and the crowd’s thirsty.”

I stuffed the jacket underneath the counter and washed my hands. “I’m not late.”

“Well, it’d be better if you were here a few minutes early to prep.”

“It’d be better if I got paid for this job.”

That was a lie. I didn’t need any payment to help family. Besides, a couple of extra hundred bucks wouldn’t exactly change my wealth portfolio.

“That kind of attitude will get you in trouble with the boss.”

“She’s your boss, not mine. Where is Kendra, anyway?” I asked.

Morgan shrugged as a glimpse of a blonde braid caught my attention from the other side of the bar. “And that one? What’s she drinking?” I pointed to Kendra’s friend from the alley.

“A virgin Mary.”

“Maybe not such a rebel after all.” The devilish smirk that lifted in the corner of my mouth was new. I didn’t expect it, but it had been a while since a woman had lifted my spirit.

“What, Silver?” Morgan asked.

“Nothing. Let’s do this.”

“Apron.” She handed me the black fabric with an extra large pink lip print glowing in the dark.

“No, thanks.” 

Her laugh echoed above the hum of the crowd. “Come on. This place is gonna get crazy. Someone’s bound to spill one on you.”

“I. Don’t. Spill. Things.” I lifted my hand to stop her reply and pointed to the side of the bar where the blonde ‘rebel’ was sitting on a stool. “I’ll take that side. Let me know if you see Kendra.”

I stuffed the horrid apron underneath the counter and strolled around the corner of decoratively stacked beer mugs.

She was sitting at the bar cross-legged, sipping on her tomato juice. 

Gross. 

As much as I hated tomatoes, I wouldn’t hold that against her because I knew someone else who loved the fruit. And I loved her dearly.

Get a hold of yourself.

She lowered her gaze to her breasts, and I blabbered the first thing that popped in my head.

“Find anything in there you like?”