Cassidy

by Irish Winters

  “I rescued Judith, and now I’m here for you. What are you afraid of?”

  Bull’s eye and so, so not fair. Out of her peripheral, she sensed Mark on her left, Zack at her right. Eric was out there and nearby. Murphy, too. Watching.

  “But he died, and you... you left me.” The gut-wrenching words came of their own volition, betraying her to all. She blinked fast but not fast enough to stop the torrent of tears or her big mouth. “He said he loved me, and then he left, Jude. Just like you did. Like you’re going to do again. So I had to leave you... first.”

  His hands moved easily to the back of her head and neck, his fingers laced through her hair. Tilting her forehead to his, he murmured, “You ran so you wouldn’t get hurt again. I understand. It hurts when the people you love die, but I’m not going anywhere. This time I came for you.”

  Her hands reached for those strong wrists. “But... but what if something happens to you?”

  A twinkle danced at the corner of his eyes. “I think the two people who brought down Lucien Cain can survive anything if they stand together.”

  Even a rugged, outdoorsy kind of woman who always had to win couldn’t argue with that. He was there. He did want her.

  “Did I ever tell you that you’re my very own warrior princess?” he asked. “I know I’m just a nerdy accountant. You’re bigger than life, and you do important work. But Cassidy. Sweetheart. I don’t want to live another day without you. I honestly don’t think I can. Take a chance on me. Take a chance on us. What do you think? Come home with me?”

  The truth was she couldn’t think, not with those sexy lips of his so close to hers. Not with his breath in her face, and the feel of his skin once again beneath her fingertips. She closed her eyes and breathed him in. No, she absorbed him. She wanted inside of his arms again, inside that strong, honorable heart that had fought all odds and won.

  No sooner did she open her mouth to tell him yes than his lips met hers with the softest kiss. Her knees turned to jelly. The puzzle piece that was her crazy life clicked loud enough into place that everyone in the office should have heard it. If they were still out there. She didn’t know anymore.

  With the man she loved in her face exactly how she’d wanted him for so long, the world fell away and The TEAM went with it. Her hands filled with the scratchy feel of the stubble on his chin and cheeks, the softness of his hair slipping through her fingers. She pulled herself into him, needing to be closer than just a kiss. Her body melded into the one place she belonged.

  He picked her up off the floor and gathered her into his arms. She had no choice but to hold on. Tight. So she did. And she breathed. For the first time in days, she could breathe.

  But gradually, her ears picked up the faint sound of clapping. It grew closer. Louder. Damn. They were still out there, and she was indeed in the middle of her office, making a spectacle of herself.

  “Way to go, girl!” Zack exclaimed proudly.

  Eric whooped like a teenage boy at a Friday night football game. “Right on!”

  “Woot hoot!” Teague bellowed.

  Even traitorous Paige had something to say. “Kiss her again.”

  Cassidy blushed ten shades of scarlet when Jude finally balanced her to the balls of her boots. She shot a shy glance at Mark.

  “I guess this means you’re going to miss the fun times in the Hoh?” he teased.

  “Yes, she is,” Jude answered for her, his arm extended to Mark. “I’m Jude Cannon, and if you don’t mind, sir, Cassidy is coming home with me for a while.”

  Mark accepted his handshake with a boyish grin. “I can see that. Damned good to finally meet you, Jude. Call me Mark.”

  “I really can speak for myself,” Cassidy told Jude, but when she turned to Mark, the sap had a glow on his handsome face. He winked, the brat. She could only scrunch her shoulders and repeat what Jude had just said. “I, umm, need some time off. I’m going to Florida.”

  Mark called over his shoulder. “Hey, Murph? Are you willing to approve time-off for this junior agent of yours?”

  “Of course.” Murphy chuckled. “If she promises to come back in a better frame of mind.”

  “Yes, sir. She will.” Jude spoke for her again, and looking up at him from the shelter of his very secure grip, Cassidy smiled. She had her mojo back.

  His name was Jude.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  They didn’t make it out of The TEAM elevator. They barely made it in.

  Jude slapped the stop button the minute the doors closed. He pinned Cassidy to the wall, his hands in her hair, and his mouth planted on hers. The last two weeks without her had been hell. She needed to know how he felt, and he needed to know how she tasted. He’d nearly forgotten.

  “I’ve missed you,” he said between mouthfuls of the sweetest woman. It all came back—the flavor he’d craved those nights on the road with the Brothers Grimm.

  The simple act of his mouth on hers erased the angst of the day. He’d flown all night after making sure Judith was in good hands, and damned near ran all the way from his hotel to The TEAM office. But now, with Cassidy’s slender body folded in his arms, the horrors of it all fell away. Her gentle kisses were a sweet oasis in a blistering desert, and he the parched wanderer who had no need to travel farther. He’d found what he needed to live, and he wouldn’t fail her again.

  Her lips, her tongue, her scent rolled over him as if a soothing gift. One taste wasn’t enough. His mind worked the problem of the day even as he sought after more and more of Cassidy. Was it too soon to ask her to marry him, and how on earth did a man know when a woman was ready for the next step?

  She answered with a hiccup through her own searching kiss, her tongue making love with his, her fingers pulling him into her body with every clutching handful. He smoothed his way down her ribcage and over her hips until his palms came to rest on her delightful ass. Lifting her off her feet, he wrapped her legs around his waist, needing to feel her heat against his belly.

  This woman was no soft and cuddly handful. Her butt hadn’t an extra pinch to it. Everywhere his fingers and palms roamed met strong muscle and firm tendons. She was lean, but hotter than hell, and the feminine center of her body commanded every last inch of his.

  She had no problem maintaining her grip with her legs while she traded molesting his tongue for molesting his neck. Jude cocked his head, craving the touch of her tongue. Everything between them was hot and heavy. Bump and grind. Give and take. They were out of control with no way to slow each other down. It had to stop. They were in an elevator, for God’s sake.

  “Not here,” he mumbled even though his body screamed, ‘Yes, here! Clothes off! Now!’

  She’d unbuttoned his shirt, her slender fingers on his bare chest. Groaning, Cassidy sniffed a deep breath, then moaned. He grinned, his eyes closed with pure unadulterated pleasure at the sound of her enjoying his body.

  His fingernails strummed the seam of her camouflaged work pants, the seam between those two athletically toned butt cheeks. The seam that had to get the hell out of his way. If this fire kept burning, her pants would soon be ash.

  Jude released her and flattened his palms to the elevator wall behind her, his heart an industrial-strength jackhammer. This wasn’t the time or place to prove his love. “How about we continue this conversation in my room?”

  “You have a room?” she asked, her tongue still licking a trail of liquid inferno up his neck, and her legs still hooked to his waist like the belt of a hot-damned sexy backpack.

  “I do. It’s got a king-sized bed.” He didn’t want her to stop. Or drop.

  She clenched her knees, giving him less reason to leave, but a helluva good reason to stay.

  “We need to talk,” he murmured against her temple, drawing in the flowery scent of her shampoo mingled with a hint of sulphur. “You’ve been at the range.”

  She nodded, her breath hot against his cheek. “I can’t hit anything for shit right now, and it’s all your fault.”

  J
ude bowed his forehead to hers, grinning at the whining, petulant woman wrapped around his waist. This was what he’d travelled all night for—this woman. The one with the heart of a little girl and a blonde lioness combined into one.

  Holding and kissing her had a powerful effect on his body, but the logic he’d built his life around hadn’t failed him now when he most wished it would. Oh, to be a headstrong teenager, out of control, and ruled by hormones. He’d have her on her back in no time. But responsible men didn’t act on their impulses. They didn’t allow wild abandonment. They controlled their urges and…

  To hell with that. He grabbed her ass again. Sex in the elevator might not be the smartest, but it was a damned good idea.

  At last he broke the connection, his eyes closed as he stilled the thunder in his heart and head. She must have felt it too, pressed against his chest and panting like she was. Tracing the edge of his lower lip with her fingertip, she posed the problem in both their minds. “We’re moving way too fast.”

  Maybe. Maybe not fast enough. A shudder raced up his spine. One of those shudders when a man knows exactly whom his body wants, but it has to wait. He hit the call button and sent the elevator on its way before temptation got the best of him.

  Cassidy released her grip. Slowly, she slid down his body until her boots hit the floor.

  “I want you,” he admitted hoarsely, his fingers tucked into the waistband of her pants and itching to slide lower. Maybe into. “I want you in every possible way a man can want a woman.”

  She blushed and lowered her eyes. “But I think you were right,” she said softly, fingering the top buttonhole of his still undone shirt. “We don’t really know each other. The only times I’ve ever talked with you were during the worst possible hours of my life.”

  He tipped her chin up to read her eyes. “I’m glad I met you when I did, and I’m glad for everything that happened. I am.” He meant it with his whole heart. He’d come out of hell with two of the fairest ladies in the land. He’d do it again. Every second of it.

  “Maybe we should just talk for now.” She leaned against his shoulder, her hand roaming to the buttonhole.

  Just talk, hell. Unless she meant to talk in Braille.

  He planted a kiss against her forehead. “I agree, but my goal won’t change. I want you in my bed and in my life. I love you, Cassidy.”

  The way she gulped through more tears had him worried for all of one split second. Where had his warrior princess gone? This woman was someone else entirely. Instead of winking in outright sassy defiance, she seemed shy. Hell, she seemed as scared as he’d been when they’d first met.

  “I was going to tell you the same thing only... only...” She hesitated.

  “Only you got scared. I understand. Believe me, I know. I’m sorry about the way things happened the morning I went home. I should’ve never let you go like you did.” He buttoned his shirt to help her focus.

  “It wasn’t your fault. I ran. I panicked.”

  “You wouldn’t have if I’d been smarter and included you in that hug I gave Judith.”

  “No. That was your time. Judith needed you. It’s just that...” She looked away, still thinking about something she obviously wasn’t ready to share.

  He recognized the signs. Sometimes it took Judith a while to verbalize her emotions, too. Women. So complicated. So beautiful. So, so mine.

  It didn’t take long to get to his hotel room. He’d chosen well. The historic Fairmont Hotel ended up being less than five city blocks from The TEAM’s Seattle office. Within minutes, he’d ushered Cassidy into his twenty-first-floor room overlooking beautiful Elliot Bay. The sheer drapes on the huge picture windows were drawn, allowing just the right amount of light into the room. His suitcase still sat near the door where he’d left it.

  But by then, the fire had cooled. Cassidy stopped just inside his hotel room door, like another piece of luggage. She blinked toward the open bedroom where its king-sized bed beckoning with tasseled throw pillows galore, a gold and black comforter, and crisp white bed pillows.

  He motioned her to the sofa in the sitting area, and instantly detected relief washing over Cassidy’s face. “Now, where were we?”

  She did what she was told, taking her place beside him, but he sensed trepidation. She looked unsure, her bottom lip bitten like a little girl who knew she had a spanking coming. Tears glistened. She looked so adorable, he had to let her off the hook. He lifted her clenched fist to his lips and kissed the back of her hand. “Judith loves you, and I love you. How can you not know that?”

  Cassidy shrugged. “All of a sudden you were there, and she’d been so sad, and I... I just, umm, panicked.”

  “I made you a promise that night in the cellar.”

  “I know. You promised to get to know me better.” Her voice softened. “We both promised, only so much has happened since then.”

  Jude didn’t understand. One minute this woman was on fire, the next damned near cool to the touch. She wasn’t the same Cassidy he remembered. Somehow, they’d traded places. He was the confident one in this op and she the timid little mouse.

  Smoothing his hand through her curly blonde locks, he brought their foreheads together. Yeah, she’d run away, but he knew what it was like to be the odd man out, and he didn’t want her dwelling on it. He changed the subject. “Let’s start over then. How about if you tell me what it was like growing up in Utah?”

  That seemed to do the trick. She relaxed and told him about her hometown of Ogden, Utah, where Washington Boulevard was the main hangout for teenagers, troublemakers, and a few too many police officers, some of which she knew by name. Her parents still owned a small cattle ranch west of the city. The story of skinny-dipping at Pineview Reservoir made him laugh, but the minute she mentioned skiing, he sensed her excitement. He’d heard about the greatest snow on earth. Hadn’t everyone?

  “I think you’re an avid sportswoman,” he announced with pride. Everything Cassidy did made him smile.

  “I am. Do you ski?”

  “I water ski. Never tried snow skiing.”

  “You’d love it. We should try it. I know a few secret spots where the powder’s dry and the moose still roam.”

  He twirled a strand of her hair over and around his index finger while she rested comfortably against him. By now they were sprawled across the couch, their legs intertwined like lovers.

  “How’s the snow here in Washington?”

  She scrunched her nose. “I’m spoiled. Once you ski the powder at the Alta or Snowbird resorts in Utah, you’ll see. Everything else is just slush or ice.”

  He tapped the end of her upturned nose with the tip of his finger. “I’d love to spoil you rotten.”

  The hint of a shadow passed over her face. His arms tightened around her in an automatic, protective response. Whatever caused that shadow was his next assignment. Her smiles turned his life into a rainbow, and anything that diminished them diminished the light in his life. “Tell me. What are you thinking about right now?”

  Reluctantly, she told him about Rourke, and how he’d died saving Melissa, Tucker, and Judith. Alex had already explained what had happened, but listening to Cassidy’s version of the tragic ending to what should have been a successful operation gave Jude a different perspective. She’d really cared for Rourke. It showed.

  “The thing is, he always used to tell me I was hardheaded, that I was going to get myself into a lot of trouble some day, and then he’s the one who goes and gets shot.”

  Jude didn’t comment.

  “And he used to call me Butch. You know, like Butch Cassidy? Like I was an outlaw or something?”

  “And you loved him.” He saw it in her eyes.

  “Yeah.” She nodded. “I think I did. I mean, we never dated, and he never even made a move on me. I kind of wish he had, but he was always so proper. But then, when he’s dying, he finally says he loved me, and—what the hell, Jude?” She pushed away from him with that question. “I mean, what good is telli
ng a person that you love them when you’re dying? What was he thinking?”

  Jude let her talk. He felt sorry for her friend. Waiting until he was dying to reveal that kind of a secret must’ve been hard on the guy. Rourke had to have died with a broken heart—not something Jude intended to do.

  “The big jerk. I always figured I’d have to make the first move because he sure never did. And it’s not like I’ve had a lot of boyfriends in my life. It’s not like I—”

  The way she shut her mouth right then and there drew his attention from her hair to her locked lips. She hadn’t just shut her mouth. No, she’d snapped it closed as if she had a secret she wasn’t ready to reveal.

  And because he was all man, he had to ask. As immature as it was going to make him sound, he needed to know. “How many men have you had?” It wasn’t his business and yet, it was. To lessen the pressure of the telling, he offered a few ridiculous numbers. “A dozen? Twenty? Hundreds?”

  “Ha!” She looked away, biting her lip in that little-girl way that was fast becoming his favorite habit. “I wish.”

  He felt the truth in the way she’d just spoken. Cassidy was a virgin. He was pretty sure. That also explained why she’d run out on him. She’d been scared, but not of him. The reality of love and the consummation of that love was what frightened her, even now. That’s why the hesitation at his hotel room door, too.

  She might be the leader of the pack when it came to running a covert operation or acing survival tests in some far-off rainforest, but Miss Dancer had no intimate experience with men. The fact that she was pure and clean resonated to the very core of his masculine soul. Tucker was so, so wrong about her and Rourke horsing around on remote ops together.

  “Men don’t like me.” The petulant tone in her voice betrayed her. “I’m not one of those fluffy little cheerleaders with big pompoms and a back flip.” Cassidy turned in his arms to meet him head-on. She eased one fist between them. “Most guys won’t date a woman who can run faster, ski better, and kick their ass when they’re done showing off. I may not look like it, but I can beat you at arm wrestling right here and now. You want to try me?”