Lethal Jeopardy

Corruption. War. Mayhem.

It’s all coming to a head. And Keeper’s Operative, Ryker O’Reilly has witnessed the worst the world has to offer... but even that couldn’t prepare him for a shattered heart.

The best way to move on is to bury himself in work... but getting stranded on a dangerous mission chasing down the ghost of a beautiful Keeper only complicates things.

From Navy recruit to top Interpol agent, Neily Dalton made a name for herself rising above the ranks in a world dominated by men— an admirable feat that earned her friends— and enemies— in high places. 

How far will Ryker go to pull back the maniacal curtain… and avenge the woman he loves?

Another great installment of these amazing Keepers to suck you in and not let you go until you are finished! Love it!

Each book is better than the one before! The plot in this one has so many twists it keeps you guessing til t end!

Another amazing, can't put down, keep you on the edge of your seat books from Stephanie St Klaire!!

This book was so so so good!

I so enjoyed reading this series. Hate to have it end, my hearts still pumping!

Stephanie St. Klaire can surly write a book to capture your attention. I believe that I held my breath for more than half of the book. Wow, just wow!

This thrilling story immediately captivated me and had me on the edge of my seat through a forbidden love, ups and downs, suspense, family drama, and more!

The plot is devious, intriguing, with several twists all rolled into an epic story. Talk about a plot thickens!

Wow! Story just keeps getting better! I didn’t see this coming! So many webs, so many spiders…Stephanie is an amazing storyteller!
Whew! What a ride!

Excuse me while I pick my jaw (and heart) up off the floor. Holy toledo! From page one, this book will keep you on the edge of your seat, while desperately trying to figure out what’s going on!

Man, SSK certainly knows how to get my heart going. I always feel as if I’ve run a marathon by the time I’ve finished reading one of her books.

Highly recommend this book and this series!

Another 5 Star Book by Stephanie St Klaire!

Stephanie has done it again with Lethal Jeopardy!

Romantic suspense at its best!

A book that in true Stephanie St Klaire fashion, kept me on the edge waiting to see what’s going to happen next. The suspense was next level!!

Incredibly written romantic suspense!

Holy-freaking-twisted romantic suspense!!!!

Author Stephanie St. Klaire KNOWS how to make your head spin!

5 head-spinning stars from me!

5 head-spinning stars from me!

SSK out does herself once again!

This book kept me glued to it until the end!

WOW! Very intense story! Fantastic writing!

Stephanie is rockin the Romantic suspense with this Keeper's series!!

SSK went above and beyond in this one! Seriously my head is still spinning!!

This book is the perfect mix of suspense, intrigue, redemption and love!

Ms. St. Klaire does not know how to not bring the twist and the suspense!

CHAPTER 1:
“It was a beautiful wedding.” Neily lay beside Ryker in his bed, wrapped in his arms, the sheets and blankets a chaotic mess from what they’d just done.
Ryker weaved his fingers with hers and kissed the top of her head, noting the feel of her bare skin against his. “Yeah. It was. I’m really happy for them.”
“Funny how life turns out. It didn’t seem all that long ago we were hunting Daily down only to find this entire life that had been waiting for Ro to find it. If I recall, neither of us were exactly happy with what we found when Daily and everything surrounding her entered the picture.” She giggled and looked up at him from his chest where she’d laid her head. “It seems like a lifetime ago.”
“I think time works different for people like us,” he said. “Life runs at a different pace. We see so much and do so much in such a short time that it feels like days are really months and months.”
“That’s because, in our line of work, one case has far more energy and excitement than most average people's entire life. Sometimes, I’m envious of the slower pace they live where days run long, memories are built on the small things we don’t often see, and summers last forever. Our days fly by in a blink of an eye.” She shrugged as she propped herself up on one elbow to see him better.
“You want a regular life like that? Ready to hang up your gear and get like…a cat?”
“Not on your life, O’Reilly.” She ran her free hand down his chest. “I wouldn’t give all this up for anything. As much as the slow and easy sounds…easy, I don’t think I could stand sitting still that long. I’d get restless. And bored.”
“I hear you on that. I’ve never been one to sit still either. It’s something in the O’Reilly blood. We may not have all been called to do the kind of work we do here at BK Security, but none of us sit still well. At all.”
“I wonder if getting married will change things for Ronan? You think he’ll slow down now that he has a wife, a baby, and another baby on the way?”
Ryker chuckled. “Not at all. The only thing I think will change is that he has one of those baby slings on with a baby in it on his missions. Take your kid to work day looks a lot different in our line of work.”
“Stop. That’s not even funny. Could you imagine? He shows up with Brodie in one of those baby, toddler backpack things and goes chasing after some fugitive?” Neily laughed at the image they’d painted. “Okay. It’s funny.”
“I wouldn’t put it past my brother,” Ryker said, referring to his twin brother. He paused, running his fingers through her slightly disheveled hair. “I really am happy for them, though. I’m happy things turned out the way they did. Don’t get me wrong, I do care for her deeply, but not the way I thought I did. Not the way a man really loves a woman forever. I think it was more about what she represented. But her and Ro – those two were meant to be. Made for each other.”
Ryker was referring to the relationship they all had with one another less than a year prior. When their dear friend Daily Thorne went missing and was in danger, the two brothers were nearly pitted against one another, fighting to save the same girl. Instead, Ryker quickly realized there wasn’t anything to fight for because his feelings for her weren’t reciprocated. At least, not in the fashion he’d thought he wanted with her. Though Daily loved Ryker for their friendship, her heart belonged to someone else. His brother. When a baby was added to the complicated web of relationships – his brother Ronan’s baby – it became abundantly clear, if it wasn’t already, that there was nothing to fight over. Daily had made her choice, and it was never Ryker. Not in the way he’d imagined, anyway.
“I agree,” Neily replied. “I think we both felt a little lost and maybe even a little rejected at the time, but in the end, everything worked out the way it was supposed to.”
“You think?” he asked.
“I really do. I was suddenly jealous of Daily over a man who wasn’t even mine to be jealous of. I didn’t even care about him like that. I think it was the entire situation. Seeing you and Ronan conflicted as you were. I think it was more about her coming between the team than I was jealous for myself. I mean, Ro and I went out a few times, but it was only ever as friends. I knew he was never emotionally available, so I didn’t even let my thoughts wander there.”
“She was taking your friend,” he interrupted.
“Yeah. Maybe. Don’t get me wrong, I have always liked Daily. But she went from our friend to something so much more, at least where Ronan was concerned, and I didn’t like it. In case you haven’t noticed, they’re dropping like flies around here. Everyone is finding their soul mates and happily ever afters.”
“I’ve noticed. Believe me. All of my cousins, my brother, and some of the other Keepers have all paired off. It definitely makes things different. Instead of hitting the pub after we close a case, it’s like some big family gathering with the team and their plus-one now.” He laughed.
“And kids everywhere. Kids and dogs. Like it’s in a rule book somewhere. Have a kid…get a dog. It’s weird.”
“You don’t like kids and dogs, Neils?”
“I love kids and dogs. Especially the part when you just hand them off to their parent or owner when you’ve had your fill, but I swear, if I have to endure another princess party or day at the zoo this month, I might lose my shit.”
“I hear you there. I think I’ve seen the live raptor demonstration so many times at the zoo the birds remember me. It’s creepy how they stare me down.”
“Yeah, well, birds of prey is a little more exciting than getting your hair braided and fucking glitter shit all over every surface of your body and your face painted. That shit gets everywhere, and you can’t get rid of it. I literally hate butterflies now because I’ve had so many painted on my face. Why is it always butterflies?”
Ryker laughed. “Because princesses don’t paint camo on their faces? I agree about the glitter, though. What’s the fascination? At the last party, the kids were eating it. Apparently, it’s edible now and of course all over the cupcakes and cookies at all the parties. It was even in the mac ’n’ cheese at the last one. What’s the point in that? It’s like bedazzling your asshole because you know what goes in has to eventually come out. I just don’t get it.”
“I’ll never throw glitter princess parties at the zoo for my kids. I’m ruined.” She chuckled.
He gave her a serious look. “You want to have kids?”
“I mean, yeah. Someday. I’m not trying to have a baby tomorrow or anything, but I think that’s one of my somedays.”
“Somedays?”
“Yeah. Like I’ll do it or have it someday. Like a bucket list.”
He grinned and raised a brow. “What are some of your other somedays?”
“I don’t know. Have a family. Settle down a little. Win the lottery. The usual stuff.”
“Win the lottery? How do you make that part of your plan when it’s purely based on luck?”
“I have a plan. It includes Killion and his brilliant mind. He says it’s not as much luck as you think, and there’s a whole algorithm or something. I don’t know. I just know I’m going to win.”
“I think the only way to win the lottery with Killion’s help includes his hacking skills and comes with a lot of jail time.”
“Nah. He’s good. He’d never get caught. I believe in him.” She winked.
“You continue to surprise me, Neily Dalton.”
“Do I, now?” She leaned down and kissed a trail from his chest to abdomen, stopping where the sheets loosely draped across his hips. “How so?”
“Everything,” he said in a low timbre that left her with goose bumps. “Everything about you. I’m glad Ro was too distracted to see what was right in front of him and Day’s heart belonged to him. I think it somehow brought us together and to a place where we can actually see what’s right in front of us.”
“You and me?” she asked shyly.
“You and me, Neils,” he said with confidence. “That’s why I say things ended up how they were supposed to. Somehow, Ro and Day brought us together.”
“Then I guess it was all worth it?” she asked, and he nodded. “Even the damn princess parties.”
“It was the giant pink butterfly on your face for me,” he teased. “Took my breath away.”
She gently smacked him as she began to laugh. “You know that stained my hair. I don’t even know how.”
“I loved the pink hair,” he said.
“Is that your type? Pink hair and butterflies?”
“I don’t know that I have a type.” He shrugged.
She gave him a bewildered look. “I don’t know exactly how I’m supposed to take that.”
“Don’t take it as anything other than a random thought. I think I’m just finally figuring out life and what I want out of it.”
“Discovering your type?”
He nodded.
“I understand that. I can say the same, I guess. I don’t exactly know what that means, but it feels like everything we’ve been through the past several years has led to this moment, maybe?” She paused and looked away as if lost in a thought that surprised her. “Is this…? Are we…? Is this settling? Are we just a rebound?”
He pulled her closer and kissed her. “I don’t know what to call this, but it’s definitely not a rebound. Rebounds don’t last months. They last days, maybe weeks. This is so much more.”
“Maybe that’s the point then,” she said after giving thought to his words. “Maybe just being is the point, and we don’t have to define it as anything or call it a type.”
“Once you label it, expectations fall into place, and organic becomes orchestrated. A job. Even a chore. Maybe just letting things go however they’re supposed to go on their own is—”
Neily interrupted and finished his thought as if it were her own. “Why we’re still here? Together. At least in this way. On our own terms.”
“No pressure. No agenda. No timeline of expectations,” he continued, piggybacking off her words.
“Wow. So you’ve already thought about this”—she smirked as her brow quirked up—“in great detail.”
“Not at all. Just when you say it out loud, it makes sense. It’s how we are. It’s…us.”
“Us? You don’t think that’s too casual? Like letting things roll however they’re going to roll is too casual? That what we’re doing here can’t be defined because it really is a rebound or a good distraction? What if we’re just less invested, and it’s just…for now?”
“Not a chance.” Ryker didn’t hesitate to respond and said with full confidence, “I wouldn’t say we’re casual either, or that we aren’t invested. I’d say we’re…not complicated. Easy. Like a puzzle and the pieces fit well. Happy. You’re happy, right?”
She nodded with a mile-wide smile as her fingers dragged back and forth over his lower abdomen, just above where the sheet presented a tempting barrier to breach. Like she was teasing him. Tempting him. “I’m happy.”
“I may not know where this is going,” he said, hooking her chin while his thumb swept across her mouth, “or how far it’ll go, but I can tell you I’m not on the rebound. I’m committed to this. To us. With my whole heart on the line, Neils.”
She kissed his thumb before cradling her face in his palm. “How do words like that come out of a guy like you?”
“Like me?”
“Yeah. Six feet tall. Muscles on top of muscles—”
“I’m six-four,” he corrected sarcastically.
“Okay.” She giggled. “Six-four and all the muscles. Beauty and brawn. You can have any girl, O’Reilly.”
“You forgot brains,” he corrected once more with an ornery grin.
She rolled her eyes, trying not to laugh at him making light of a serious moment. “Okay. Brains too.”
“That’s why I choose you. I’m smart enough to know a good thing when I see it. You’re all I see, Neils.” His hand drifted to the back of her neck so he could gently turn her to her back, and he could hover over her. “Especially when it’s in my bed and makes me want to do things.”
“Things?”
“All the”—he began to kiss a trail from her collarbone past her belly, slowly dragging the barely there covers off her as he did—“things.”
“Tell me about all those things, O’Reilly.” She panted, anticipating his intentions when he perched on an elbow and dragged his hand the same path his mouth had journeyed down, only his hand didn’t stop.
Ryker locked in her stare as he began to stroke her between her legs and smiled when he found her ready for him as her legs parted, giving him better access to what they both wanted…again. “I’d rather show you.”
He dipped his head and kissed a new trail up her inner thigh, meeting his hand as his fingers dipped inside her, and he took a quick taste, earning a soft moan. Her legs opened more.
“Jesus, O’Reilly,” she said.
“You like that?” he asked with a wickedness about him.
“I-I love all the things.” Neily gripped his hair in one hand and what was left of the bedding with the other, bracing herself as he moved between her legs and opened her completely to him.
“I know you do, baby,” he said, knowing the vibration from his low timbre added to the heat he was generating between his words. “So. Do. I.”
He was prepared to take his time, but in the end, he didn’t have time. The sound of her moans and cries, how she writhed with every stroke of his tongue, just the simple taste of her made him crave more of her. His mouth traveled the same path as before, stopping at her breasts before that overwhelmed his senses to the point when all he craved was to be inside her.
“So do I,” he whispered as he buried himself inside her.