Acceptance had eased her mind and filled her with a sense of belonging she hadn’t felt since Reese’s death. The nightmare was over, which meant the long-overdue call to her folks would require patience and repeated explanations. If her luck held, they wouldn’t visit until the following week, after she and Caden had settled.
Living in a secluded cabin wouldn’t be possible without Caden’s presence. His assumption that she’d stay with him lent a comfort all its own. Four other rentals spaced a good distance apart would make it a great location to enjoy nature yet have the security of others nearby. Lucas and Billy had rented two of the other lodges, claiming they needed a vacation after the past several week’s madness of watching over the baby of the family. Her sixth sense declared something amiss, but Caden wouldn’t budge with an explanation.
“Do you know how much a good camera costs? You don’t know when your insurance company will reimburse you for your losses.”
“I figure if you’re looking for a nonproprietary, high-end megapixel pro camera with all the bells and whistles along with a backup DSLR—I’d think this would more than cover the cost.” Caden retrieved a check from his wallet. Snapping it open, he held it up for her to see.
“Where’d you get this?” She didn’t recognize the business name written on the paper’s corner.
His expression sobered as he explained. “The reward for finding Ciera’s abductors. Her parents refused to take no for an answer.” Tucking the check back in his pocket, he couldn’t hide the guilt over Ciera’s fate.
“How’d they physically tie the Asian to the case? I never saw his face.”
“They found his digs. He had information on others, all of which has been turned over to federal authorities.”
“The nightmare really is over.” Stepping into his embrace, she inhaled his unique scent. All Caden.
“Yeah, sweetheart. It’s finished.”
When she pulled back, the others had dispersed, leaving her cocooned by his potent strength. Nearby traffic faded to a distant hubbub under the fast, erratic beat of her heart. Need washed through her, the tsunami drowning any qualms about public displays of affection. “I want you.”
“I can’t wait to get you alone. Speaking of which, we could make a stop before shopping...” Each murmured word was an aphrodisiac, filled with a promise only he could satisfy utilizing the vast components of his specialized skill set.
“It seems we took a step back in cuddling on the couch last night, but I didn’t want to sleep alone in the guest room.” Close proximity to Caden was an addiction.
“Like I wouldn’t have joined you?” Lust branded his words.
“Yeah, but I can’t be quiet, and Lucas would’ve set up a tape recorder outside the door. I can hear it now as he played it back at a family dinner or barbecue. I have a good grasp of your family’s dynamics. They would laugh. My parents wouldn’t.”
Caden leaned in to kiss her, gently, slowly, thoroughly.
It wasn’t the bone-gnawing, back-clawing, urgency that made her want to scream for more. This sweet invasion began with a nibbling at the corner of her mouth then evolved when his tongue invaded and twined with hers to ignite a passion growing from the delicious infiltration. She could no longer deny her feelings.
Nothing else mattered more than his hand sifting through her hair, the taste of him on her lips, or the warmth he imparted with his nearness. He ended the kiss and rested his forehead against hers, their alliance remaining strong with unspoken words. The soft stroke of his fingers up and down her arms stilled while their breathing came under control and she regained her composure.
A young man smiled in passing as his female companion harrumphed and mumbled about inappropriate exhibitions.
When he lifted his head, and ran his tongue along his bottom lip, she groaned.
“You did that on purpose. You sidetrack my thoughts to insert your will.”
“Looks like it worked. C’mon. Let’s go, pirate.” Taking her hand, he tugged her toward the parking lot.
Sunset on the lake, grilling hamburgers on the screened back porch of their cabin, and surrounded by her surrogate family, Kaylee enjoyed a sense of calm and belonging reminiscent of years past.
Caden’s assumption that she’d stay with him, which should have equaled the culmination of her dreams, brought both pain and pleasure. To regain her self-confidence, she had to face her fears, realized after standing in the clutches of a killer. That achievement entailed living on her own and regaining her independence. The length of time depended on how long it took to obtain her figurative balance. Yet she’d had a taste of sleeping in his arms and the thought of a cold bed felt like punishment—not a path to rejuvenating her self-esteem.
“Dinner with your family was fun. I’ve always dreamed of having lots of brothers and sisters.”
“Huh, you’ve entered the madhouse where Matt is the warden.”
Caden sat in the chaise lounge chair beside her, stroking his thumb over the back of her hand. The serenity of sinking into the thick cushion and watching the molten ball of sun settle below the horizon didn’t negate the doubt niggling the back of her mind. It seemed the pall of her past hung like a cloud around her.
“He’s very protective of you all, despite his comments. Must be because he’s your oldest brother.”
“Hmm, he’s got a social security number of one…They can be a pain in the butt sometimes, but when you need them, all you have to do is look around. They’ll be waiting.”
“Why are Billy and Lucas staying close? You said the connection with the kidnapping ring was broken when they caught the third man.”
“It is broken. The feds tossed his apartment and are piecing things together, following the money trail up the ladder. Still, they didn’t find any information on you among the notes of the other girls. We figure you were taken because of the incidental photos and being a new arrival. It’s just that—despite Ciera dressing like a street urchin, she wasn’t. Those bastards had done their homework on the other girls, but we found nothing on Ciera. They haven’t figured that out yet.”
“Maybe they took her on impulse and because of her looks. She was beautiful.”
“We might never know.” Caden shook his head, the weight of the world heavy on his shoulders.
“Which makes me a footnote.”
“No. You’re the lynchpin that brought down their entire house of cards. If not for you, there’d have been no chance of recovering the other girls or preventing more women being sold into sexual slavery.”
“So, the abusive husband is just an asshole. What about his girlfriend, Vasilisa?” She had no more excuses, no justification for delaying assembly of her life’s shattered pieces.
“Matt said they haven’t found her yet. Looks like the banker was just a sadistic prick used by a scheming bitch. They found deposits in her bank coinciding with withdrawals from the husband. She used him, then maybe decided Ciera was in the way. Now, she has vanished, which isn’t surprising.”
“Speaking of this monstrous situation, I’ve kinda come to a conclusion.” Her gaze slid away from the depth of his passion, unable to maintain their link while uttering the words she knew would bring him pain. She had to combine the right syllables and sounds to make him understand she wasn’t rejecting him yet had to do this to restore her soul.
* * * *
Caden held his breath, unable to focus. He’d known the time would come. After surviving his own ordeal, he still hadn’t come to terms with his specific demons. Kaylee hadn’t even had time to catch her breath, much less excise the cankerous succubus siphoning her confidence.
He’d saved her life, but the psychological and spiritual wounds remained, a subliminal bleep that would surface when least expected and derail her intended course. The fact she’d revived and repaired parts of his soul previously unreachable wasn’t the bait that framed his desire and bound them together. Their bond came from something deeper, more primal. “Sounds serious.”
&n
bsp; “Well, I want you to understand. I want you. With every fiber of my being, I need you. I always will. And I don’t want our relationship to change per se.”
“But you’re leaving.” The burgeoning mass of icy apprehension slid along his neural pathways to leave him frozen and unable to contemplate rejection. No one had ever set him aside.
“Not exactly. I need to know and need you to realize that I’m with you because I want to be with you. Not because I’m afraid to be alone.”
“You’re going back to the rental house?”
“No. I’m not ready to spend the night there. I’m going to rent an apartment. Someplace my parents can visit and see that I’m in one piece, mind and body.” A cool breeze lifted her hair as she moved to straddle his lap. “I don’t want anything else to change. I just need my own space for a while to regain my self-confidence.”
“I get that, more than you realize. I think that’s why I hadn’t unpacked most of my stuff.” The instant stirring against his jeans would let her know the subtext flowing through his thoughts. Unpacking his jeans vaulted to foremost in his mind, anything to wipe away the tension of her impending departure.
Slowly, he let his touch flow over her hips, flanks, and under the curve of her breasts. Beyond the porch, darkness reigned, the normal night sounds filling the air along with the scent of night-blooming flowers.
In his arms, the first blush of desire tinted her cheeks, her aura shimmered with heat as she stretched languidly, her gaze promising Heaven on Earth.
“Are you going to rebuild on the same spot?” Her eyelids fluttered closed as she tilted her head back on a groan.
“Yeah. I will—but with a design more to my specifications. I don’t want to live in a house of glass. There are always changes we make after traumatic experiences. This’ll give me the opportunity I need to finally adjust.” Understanding her predicament on a visceral level dissolved the gelatinous lump forming in the back of his mouth. The concept he struggled to voice, given full volume after reflecting on her circumstances, relegated his current desperation to the back burner. This is what she needs to feel whole. Give it to her. Help her from the background.
A small wiggle brushed her hair aside.
“Glass half-full, got it. I also want to learn more self-defense moves. Will you teach me?” A slight twist of her hips ground her against him while deft fingers unbuttoned his shirt. Thin bars of illumination spilled through kitchen blinds to paint channels of light across her face. The play of shadow mimicked their time together.
“I’m not a black belt, but I’ve learned techniques from a good street fighter.”
“So much the better. Speaking of belts, this one looks too tight.” Giving thought to action, she slid the leather free of its loops and tossed it to the cement floor. “Ya know, after all we’ve been through, I can still find comfort in the dark. It doesn’t scare me.” On a deep sigh, she gazed out at the trees surrounding their yard, their grasping shadows falling short of the cabin. “Maybe I’m more whole than I thought. But right now, I want you.”
For the first time in his life, the soul-jarring demand to join with a woman issued from a source that required baring his spirit, his heart. “You own my soul, Kaylee.” Gently, he coaxed her to lay back on the lounge chair, showing her with the softness of his touch and the devotion in his gaze exactly what she meant to him.
Their lovemaking was slow, enriched by a mutual need to pleasure before igniting a fire neither could fully quench. The unspoken command to hold his gaze allowed him to delve underneath her invisible shields and strengthen their bond with each slow-burning glide.
When her warm breaths became short pants, his energized pace quickened until her nails raked his back and her scream, muffled by his kiss, filled his mind. No other woman had ever consumed his thoughts or driven him to such heights of ecstasy. The slow drift down to Earth deepened his need to keep her close.
Only when her body shivered under him did he realize the night had cooled. “How about we take this inside?” When her sheath released its grip and their bodies unlocked, the bone-deep completion he’d felt faded to an insidious hunger.
“On the sheets with cartoon winged avengers and spider silk?”
“That was Luc’s idea of a joke. I think he failed to hit the mark on that one.” Soft shafts of moonbeams highlighted the contentment written in her expression. A moment he’d love to capture on film.
“Hey, at least it isn’t a princess theme.”
“Wrap your legs around my waist.” With all the graceless aplomb of a sated lover, Caden stood and started for the back door. He understood her fear in explaining the need for space and time to regain her mental footing. He’d answered her unspoken concerns with his body, letting her know they’d remain together regardless of the distance between them.
“What about our clothes?” Shirts and slacks lay strewn around the chaise.
“Not going anywhere. We’ll get ’em later.”
Cold seeping from the cement floor urged him to hurry as much as the chill breeze across his bare ass, but the benefits of the air currents on Kaylee’s breasts outweighed his discomfort. “What a wonderful beginning to our night.”
“Son. Of. A. Bitch!” From the cabin’s side, the deep voice threatened epic violence with four choked words.
Oh hell no. Lack of recognition declared the speaker an instant enemy while nudity betrayed an uncharacteristic vulnerability. A mental tally of possible weapons contributed nothing harsher than a slingshot condom.
“Oh God.” Kaylee unlinked her ankles and dropped her legs. The fact she ducked behind him should’ve been a clue. She’d proven fearless when facing a gunman.
“Who the fuck are you?” Caden’s roar didn’t faze the intruder. The trembling in Kaylee’s fingers at his waist stirred a rage he’d unleash regardless of his nakedness. Spreading his feet shoulder width gave him a fighter’s stance and a cold breeze on parts not meant to feel it.
Behind him, Kaylee’s continued mantra of, “Oh God”, set off a different type of alarm. He sensed her gathering their clothes and shoving jeans at his clenched fists before the rustle of fabric indicated her dressing.
Mere yards from the house, a tall stranger dressed in jeans and flannel shirt bore an equally enraged expression. “Who the hell are you?”
Lights from the next cabin filtered through pine trees separating the yards before the back door slamming preceded pine branches slung aside. Lucas appeared, gun in hand. “What the hell’s going on?” Dropped jaw and slumping shoulders defined his brother’s shock.
Caden stuffed his legs into his jeans while keeping an eye on the bull-necked man with murder in his gaze.
“That’s what I’d like to know!” The stranger’s dark hair cut high and tight along with a braced stance bore the semblance of a man with a long military experience. “And thanks for the visual.”
Or police experience. “Oh shit.” The resemblance hit him like a club. The same eyes, same turn of the mouth, about the right age.
From the other side of the yard, Billy’s voice provided more humiliation. “Don’t move.” The quiet metallic draw of a pistol’s slide drawing a round into its chamber drew the stranger’s attention.
“Except for you, Caden. You might feel a little exposed.” Billy wasn’t usually the smart-ass.
The intruder glanced at Lucas then over his shoulder at Billy but gave no indication of fear or uncertainty. His bulk overshadowed Lucas despite their equal height.
“Daddy, what are you doing here?”
“Did you call him daddy? Oh, fuck.” Caden’s mouth dried as he briefly closed his eyes.
“No, not yours. Though from what I’ve seen, I think that might be how you should address me—and very soon.”
Lucas chuckled, lowering his gun, and holding out his hand. “Hello, Mr. Tate. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, despite the, ah, particular circumstances.” Throwing a look over his shoulder, he added, “You’ll have to forgive my bro
ther. He seems to lack social graces.”
Muffled guffaws behind him induced prayers Billy hadn’t pulled out his cell and started filming the scene.
Glowering at Caden, the older man added, “Not to mention pants. I imagine you’d like to dispose of your funsock and clean up while I talk to my daughter.”
Caden’s normally glib tongue failed as pieces of desiccated thoughts filtered through his mind. He merely nodded while tugging on his shirt then realized it lacked a few buttons.
Billy took a step back, shaking his head while no doubt reviewing how and to whom he’d recount the events. “I’ll catch you later, bro. Have a good evening.” Murmured words resembling, “Antarctica” and “nice place to visit”, filtered back on the suddenly frigid atmosphere.
“Caden, if you need me to bring some food or drink for your guest or contact your friends, let me know. I realize how busy you’ve been.” Murmured names all included the precedent father.
Jesus. It’s an avalanche of smart-asses. “Go away, Billy. I don’t need any help.”
“So I’ve heard.” The muffled reply ended with a snort.
Kaylee stepped forward, now fully dressed. “I’ll meet you inside, Dad. Where’s Mom?” Her deer-in-the-headlights look faded slightly.
“In the car, thank God. Nobody answered the door. I called the station after our bloody plane landed, and your brother Matt gave me the address. Go on over, he says. Make yourself at home.”
“It’s um, nice to meet you, sir.” Caden swallowed hard, silently vowing to disembowel his oldest brother. “Why don’t you and your wife come around front?”
A low growl answered his question.
Without another word and a cloud of rage surrounding him, the older man stalked around the side. Muttered words promised death and dismemberment.
“Sorry, Caden. He said he wouldn’t drop in, but I should’ve guessed Mom would push until he did.”
His siblings’ chuckles drifted on the breeze before the distant slamming of cabin doors resounded in the awkward silence.
Bound By Shadows (The McAllister Justice Series Book 2) Page 23