by Liliana Hart
She relaxed around him bit by bit, and he didn’t give her the chance to change her mind. He slammed inside of her to the hilt, her eyes widening at the invasion and then becoming dazed as passion overwhelmed her. He dropped her legs from his shoulders and arched over her, bracing his arms on either side of her body, his mouth going to her breast as he pummeled in and out of her.
This was heaven, he thought, scraping his teeth across her nipple and feeling her inner walls clench around him. Come boiled in his balls, but he held back, wanting to give her more pleasure. But when he looked into her eyes, it wasn’t passion he saw there, but panic. She was thinking too hard. About what, he didn’t know, but he’d noticed she was unsure of herself sexually. And he knew she believed she’d disappoint him, and that she was expecting not to be able to orgasm with him inside of her.
“Don’t fight it, Bayleigh. Just feel. Feel my cock inside you. It’s all that matters, baby. Nothing else.”
He changed the angle of his thrusts so they were more shallow, hitting at a spot that had her jerking against him in surprise and wrapping her legs tight around his waist. Sweat dripped from his temples and he knew he wouldn’t be able to last much longer.
“Now, Bayleigh. Now, goddammit.”
The ripples around his cock started in slow undulations and then grew to pulsing waves as the orgasm exploded through her body. She screamed his name as he continued to drive into her tight flesh, and she tightened like a vise around him. There was nothing he could do to hold back his own release, and his back bowed and his skin tightened as he shot stream after stream of hot come inside of her. Never in his life had he regretted the use of a condom so fiercely. He wanted to own her. Possess her. And the thin latex had kept him from doing that.
He collapsed on top of her, barely having the forethought to catch his weight with his arm before he crushed her. Bayleigh lay limp beneath him, her eyes closed and her breathing ragged. She was out cold, and a smile twitched at his lips as he released her wrists from the restraints.
He went to the bathroom and discarded the condom, bringing back a warm cloth to wipe away the evidence of their lovemaking on her swollen skin. His phone buzzed from the pocket of his jeans and he picked it up, his expression grim as he read the text. He’d have two hours of downtime before he had to get back to work.
He looked at Bayleigh, still in the center of his bed, wondering what he was going to do with her. He hadn’t made it a point of actually sleeping with his lovers over the last couple of years. Not since Carmen had a woman shared his bed. But even as he had the thought, Bayleigh rolled to her side and seemed to curl in on herself. She wasn’t like the women he normally took to his bed. She was softer. Not as cynical. And she deserved to be held.
Cade sighed and blew the candle out on his nightstand before pulling Bayleigh into his arms and jerking the blankets over them. He could hold her for a little while. It’s not like it was permanent. The reminder did little to ease his conscience as he snuggled against her, wondering if she was supposed to feel so right in his arms.
Chapter Nine
Cade slipped out of bed two hours later and dressed in the dark, leaving Bayleigh cocooned beneath the covers. He wore black cargo pants and a long-sleeved black t-shirt, and he pulled his hair back at the nape of his neck so it wouldn’t get in his face.
The safe in his closet opened silently and he grabbed the two pistols he had on hand that weren’t service weapons, and he stuffed extra ammo in his pockets and slipped night vision goggles over his head. He didn’t believe in going into any situation unprepared, and he had no intention of dragging his captain or any of the local cops into his mess. It was his to clean up, and that’s just what he was going to do.
He flipped off the lamp he’d left on in the living room and double checked all the windows and doors to makes sure there was no way anyone could see inside. He’d be back long before Bayleigh woke, but he still didn’t want to take the chance that someone could pinpoint her so easily.
He snuck out of the house quietly, making sure his back yard was clear before heading down to the creek. He knew Declan was there, but the man was like a ghost, slipping in and out of the shadows like the mist over the water. A twig snapped to his left, and Cade knew Declan had made the noise deliberately to pinpoint his location.
His brother was dressed similarly in black, and Cade realized not for the first time how much they resembled each other in looks, much more so than Shane and Grant, who took after their mother. The only difference in his and Declan’s coloring was their eyes. Dec’s were an eerie shade of silver-gray that could turn cold as ice or hard as steel. He was also a couple of inches shorter than Cade, just topping an inch over six feet.
“There’s a rise just on the opposite side of your street,” Dec said by way of greeting. “It’s heavily treed and there are plenty of good hiding places. They have a straight shot over your neighbor’s house to yours. You keep all the lights off and the blinds closed so they’re not seeing much except for your coming and going. On the other hand, your neighbor lady is another story. They can see straight through her house, and it wouldn’t be hard for a good sniper to get a bead on her if that’s what Carlos wanted. The only time they can’t see in is when you go on your nightly visits.”
Dec’s brow raised in a silent question, waiting on Cade to tell him exactly what was going on during his nightly visits, but Cade chose to ignore him and ask his own.
“I thought you were leaving for an assignment.” He followed Declan along the creek edge for about half a mile before his brother answered.
“It turns out you were the assignment.” Dec turned back and Cade saw a flash of white teeth as his brother smiled. “My superiors had a feeling you’d try to draw Carlos out. They never believed for a second that you were serious about becoming a city cop. It’s a good cover though. I’ve been keeping up with the cases you’ve handled the last couple of weeks. You’ve done a lot of good for them. Cleaned up a lot of messes. Captain Kelly is certainly impressed. Maybe you should stay on.”
“I don’t know,” Cade said, shrugging. “It’s different, that’s for sure. I haven’t been shot or stabbed yet. It’s a nice change.”
“Give it a few more days. I’m sure you’ll have another scar to add to your collection.”
They circled around and headed up the steep rise that looked down on his street. Carlos wouldn’t put anyone too important on watch duty, not unless he was planning on escalating things by getting rid of Bayleigh. He had to take Declan’s suggestion about a sniper trying to take her out to heart, but Carlos wasn’t usually that impersonal. Carlos wanted Cade to suffer, and killing Bayleigh up close and personal would be the surest way to do that. If Carlos knew how much Bayleigh was beginning to mean to him then there would be no telling the extremes he would go to.
Cade watched Declan as he followed close behind him—the way he moved as if he were part of nature itself, his movements fluid, his intent deadly. More of a ghost than Cade could ever hope to be. And he wondered not for the first time exactly which part of the government Declan worked for. Dec had his fingers in a lot of pies, and he always seemed to be available to whatever organization needed him. He also didn’t follow the same rules as regular agents were constricted to. Declan was a law unto himself.
They stopped at an outcropping of trees slightly above where Carlos’ men had taken up position, and he and Dec used hand signals to indicate how many they saw. Cade’s mouth tightened when he saw the sniper lying flat on the ground, completely focused, looking through the scope of his weapon in the direction of his house.
It was a damned good thing Bayleigh had been determined to avoid him and turn all her lights out, or she could have been dead before he’d gotten to her. Carlos was going to pay for this.
There were five men total, and Declan indicated with hand signals that he needed at least two of them alive to take back with him for questioning. Cade nodded reluctantly, but he understood the value of information.
There were too many components of this mission left to destroy. They still had the scientists and labs to deal with. But the sniper wasn’t going to be one of the survivors.
He and Declan moved as one, coming down on their targets from the top of the hillside and flanking them on either side. There was no need to use their guns, not when their hands were just as efficient a weapon.
Cade dispatched the sniper quickly, twisting his neck with deadly precision. He felt the air shift behind him, knowing another was coming up behind him, and he dodged just in time to avoid the wicked blade, so it sliced along his arm instead of into his back. But the sting in his flesh didn’t stop him from achieving his goal. He finished the second man off quickly and then went to help Declan tie up and gag then two men he’d knocked unconscious.
“Go back to Bayleigh,” Dec said. “My team will clean up this mess.”
“Shit,” Cade said, feeling the gash in his arm.
Blood soaked his shirt and dripped down his fingers. It was deeper than he’d thought, and there was no way he could get it patched up without Bayleigh finding out.
“You’re going to have to make a decision where she’s concerned, Cade. She doesn’t even know what’s going on here, or that you’ve thrown her life in danger. It seems like a hell of a chance to take for a woman that’s just a meaningless fuck.”
Cade had Declan by the front of his shirt and backed up against a tree before the red haze of anger could clear from his vision. He dropped his hand and ignored Dec’s satisfied smirk. God, what kind of complete asshole was he? He’d decided as soon as he’d seen Bayleigh that he was going to have her.
There’d been too much desire between them to exert any kind of self-control. And he’d decided to take her, having every intention of it being a meaningless fuck or seven just as Declan had accused him of. Maybe if he hadn’t just been inside her a couple of hours ago he’d still feel that way. But he had been inside her, and he’d known immediately that she wasn’t going to be as easy to walk away from as he’d planned.
“You could walk away now and we could put her in a safe house. Carlos would forget about her as soon as you lost interest, and your attention wouldn’t be splintered. I can already tell you’re losing focus,” Dec said, gesturing to the wound in Cade’s arm. “She’s innocent in this.”
“I know that, dammit. But I’m not walking away yet. She knows the score, and came to the affair knowing I wasn’t in it for a relationship. This isn’t your business, Declan. I want one of your men on her when I can’t be there. We keep her safe, Dec. It’s non-negotiable. I’m not sending her away.”
“It wouldn’t kill you to admit that your feelings might run a little deeper than you want. You’re allowed to be happy.”
Cade scowled at his brother and turned his back on the words that cut into him like a knife. He walked down the way they’d come, back through the trees that surrounded his street in a private cocoon, and along the shallow creek bed until he reached his yard. Declan was right. He couldn’t afford to have his focus splintered. He could keep Bayleigh safe and keep up their physical relationship as long as he didn’t let emotion come into play.
***
Bayleigh knew Cade was gone the moment he’d gotten out of bed. She’d missed his warmth immediately, the touch of his hands across her stomach, holding her as if he’d been doing so forever.
She sure as hell could pick them.
It was going to hurt when their affair was over, no question about it. She’d already given too much of herself to him. He’d demanded too much. And now there was no way of taking it back. She wished she could approach an affair like a man—with no expectations or emotions involved—but she just wasn’t built that way. And it was a mistake for her to try it with Cade.
She flipped on the bedside light and got out of bed, padding to his open closet doors to find a shirt since all she had with her was a damp bathing suit. Her body ached and throbbed in places she wasn’t used to aching. Cade had taken her like none of her other lovers had before. He’d paid attention to her needs, worked to make sure she was satisfied.
She’d seen the tortured expression on his face as he held back, waiting for her to find fulfillment. It made her love him more. God, she was insane. She couldn’t afford to love a man like Cade MacKenzie.
His shirt hung to her knees and she buttoned it slowly as she walked into the main living area of his house. It was dark as pitch inside, not a light on anywhere, and she wondered again what was going on. Cade wasn’t in the house, and she’d glimpsed the weapon in his hand before he’d left the bedroom.
The back door opened silently, even as she had the thought, and Cade slipped back inside, his brow arching in surprise when he saw her standing there.
“Fancy seeing you here,” she said. “I don’t suppose you’re going to tell me what this is all about, are you?”
He flicked the dead-bolt and headed into the kitchen, rummaging in the pantry for a bottle of whiskey, and Bayleigh hardly contained the eye roll. He blended in with the darkness, only his outline visible as he moved around with familiarity.
“You know, your people skills need work,” she said. “You haven’t been able to keep your mouth shut for the last week, barging into my house and trying to piss me off by disagreeing with me on every stance I have just to be contrary, and now all of a sudden you can’t find anything to talk about. What are you hiding from me, Cade?”
Cade smiled at her, the flash of his white teeth disconcerting in the darkness, and he threw back the whiskey like it was water.
“Why do I need to talk when you do it enough for both of us?”
“If I was a normal woman, I’d probably be offended by that, but I have brothers. And I promise I’ve heard all the insults before. I also know when a man is being stupid and trying to stall the conversation. You might as well tell me what’s going on. I can be persistent.”
She heard his sigh and went to the wall to turn the light on, tired of being confined to the darkness.
“No, leave it off for now,” Cade said.
“I’m not going to have this conversation with you in the dark.”
“Then I’ll light a candle.”
He rummaged through another kitchen drawer until he came out with matches, and he lit the fat white candle that sat in the middle of his kitchen table.
“Are you okay?” she asked, the feeling that something was off tingling in the back of her mind.
“Never been better. Though I wouldn’t mind a replay of earlier.”
“Not until you start talking.”
She watched Cade warily as he grabbed another glass from the cabinet and set it on the table, a challenging quirk fixed on his mouth. She took a seat and accepted the whiskey he pushed in front of her. And then he sat across from her, his features harsh in the candlelight, and she gasped. His face was slicked with sweat and there was pain in his eyes as he met her gaze. He knocked back the second glass and seemed to deflate against the chair.
“What happened, Cade? Are you hurt?”
She was up and around to his side in an instant, her fingers brushing the hair back that had fallen onto his brow. She held two fingers to the rapid pulse beating in his throat and then worked her way down until her fingers touched the sticky substance on his arm.
He hissed out a breath at her touch and poured more whiskey into the glass. “Don’t touch it.”
“You need a doctor.”
“No, doctor. Not this time. We’re safe here for the night, but I don’t want anyone to know I’ve been hurt. They’ll take advantage of the weakness.”
“Who will? What’s going on, Cade?”
He sighed and rested his head against her chest, letting his guard down for the first time she’d seen. It made him almost human. As if he wasn’t quite as hard as he wanted everyone to believe.
“I’m sorry, Bayleigh,” he said, looking up at her, his eyes fathomless pools of black. “I’ll be honest with you. You’re in danger because of me. Bec
ause I couldn’t keep my eyes and my hands off you.”
“It wasn’t just one sided, Cade. I couldn’t keep my hands off you either. Now tell me what’s going on.”
“I was involved in an undercover operation a few years ago,” he said softly. “I went into Miguel del Fuego’s drug cartel with the purpose of taking them out of existence—from finding where the hidden compounds were, to the scientists, to the buyers in the US. I was one of the worst people in existence for three years because I had to prove that I was who I said I was. And believe me, I was very convincing.”
Bayleigh could see the torture swirling in his eyes, the guilt over the things he’d had to do, and the sight broke her heart. No wonder he seemed so cold and distant. She’d be doing everything she could to close herself off from the past.
“It’s okay, Cade. You don’t have to tell me anything you’re uncomfortable with,” she said, regretting she’d practically forced him to tell her. “Let’s go into the bathroom. I’ll see what I can do for your arm.”
She grabbed the bottle of whiskey and followed him into the small hall bath. It didn’t go past her notice that he had them inside and the door closed before he flipped on the light. This bathroom was under the stairs, so there wasn’t a window. He stripped off his shirt, and she winced as the gash came into view.
“I hate to say this, but you’re going to have to see a doctor. You need stitches.”
“Get it cleaned up and let me decide from there,” he said stubbornly.
“Would it kill you to say please?”
He leaned against the vanity, his legs spread slightly apart, and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her closer until she stood between his thighs. Her heart thudded in her chest, and just that quick she could feel herself dampening for him—with one touch.
“Please,” he whispered against her lips, his tongue tracing the full bottom curve lightly before his mouth pressed against hers.
It was the first time he’d kissed her so gently, where the heat had a chance to begin as a small flame and grow into something more, rather than the immediate explosion she’d grown used to. She pushed away, hers eyes wide and her legs shaking.