Glitter and Gunfire (14 page)

She frowned at him. “Where’s the choice?” Her voice was a bit stronger.
Good.

“You can go where he sends you...or you can come with me.
I
can take you out of the city. I can keep you safe with me.”

“Both options have me leaving,” Cassidy whispered.

Yes, they did.

But who she left with—

“Going with Cale would be a mistake. He didn’t keep you safe before,” Mercer’s growling voice cut through the room as he stormed inside. He glared at Cale. “She was taken, stabbed, on your watch.”

Cassidy sucked in a sharp breath. Cale knew, understood with every fiber of his being, that if Mercer took Cassidy away from him right then, he would never see her again. Mercer would make her vanish.

I can’t let that happen.

Cassidy’s gaze slid over Cale. To Mercer. “Did you find Genevieve?”

Cale saw Mercer shake his head. Then he glanced at an avid Tina. “Wait outside, Doctor.”

Tina hurried to obey. She was probably already afraid that she’d crossed a line with Mercer.

Folks needed to stop jumping when the big, bad wolf growled.

Cale wasn’t in the mood to jump.

Mercer waited for the door to shut behind Tina. Then he said, “We found the man you shot.”

Cassidy sat up a bit straighter. When she winced, Cale’s fingers caressed her arm. He hated for her to hurt.

“H-he can tell you where Genevieve’s...body—” she stumbled over that part “—is. You can make him—”

Mercer shook his head. “Doubtful. Dead men don’t tell a whole lot.”

Cale swore.

“I killed him?”

“Only if you shot him twice, once in the stomach and once in the heart.”

Cassidy tried to stand. Cale made sure he gave her the support she needed.

“No. I just shot him once.”

“Then it looks like his partner wanted to make sure that he didn’t talk. He was left, dead, in the van. Techs are dusting for prints, checking for any evidence that was left behind.”

Her breath heaved out. “He knows I’m your daughter. That was why they took me. It had nothing to do with the Executioner, and everything to do with
you.
”

Mercer actually backed up a step at the heat in her words. “Cassidy, you need to calm—”

“Calm down? Really? You think that’s what I need to do?” She shook her head. Finally,
finally,
more color came into her face, even if it was in an angry burst across her high cheekbones. “I didn’t ask for this life. You’re the one who sought it out, not me. I’m just the one who had to pick up the pieces after you.”

Silence.

Mercer inhaled slowly. “I have a plane waiting—”

“You always do. Like sweeping me away is going to fix things. This guy
knows
who I am. He knows the secret that we’ve both tried so hard to cover. If we don’t find him, how do we know that others won’t discover who I am, too? I’ve tried your way, Mercer. I’ve tried it for years.” She sounded weary. “I don’t want to disappear for you anymore.”

Mercer’s hard stare cut toward Cale. “And you think you can just walk away with him? That he’ll be able to protect you?”

Cassidy’s brows rose. “Only recently,
you
thought he could keep me safe. Isn’t that the reason you sent him to Rio?”

Mercer’s lips thinned. “That was before!”

“Before what?” Cassidy demanded. She still weaved, just a bit, but her voice was much stronger.

“Before I knew he was sleeping with you!”

Cale had been quiet up until that point, but Mercer had just crossed the line. He positioned his body right next to Cassidy’s as he faced off against Mercer. “Father or not, you don’t use that tone with her—you don’t
ever,
understand?”

Mercer stared back at him. Was that shock in his eyes?
Get ready for more.

“I’m done,” Cale said bluntly. He hadn’t anticipated saying those words, but he had no choice.

“Done?” Mercer parroted.

“I’m out of the EOD. Consider our test run over.”

Definitely more shock now. “You’re just going to walk out on Cassidy when she needs—”

“I’m taking her with me. Provided that she wants to come.” Cale threaded his fingers through Cassidy’s.

Cassidy’s lips parted in surprise.

“I told you,” he said, focusing just on her. “You have a choice. You can go with Mercer, you can get on his plane, or you can come with me.”

“You don’t have any place to take her,” Mercer snarled. “You don’t—”

“Whiskey Ridge isn’t more than a spot on the map, but you won’t feel hunted there, Cass. My sister and brother-in-law have a ranch. There’s plenty of room for us. We can stay there until it’s safe for you.”
Or for as long as you want. If you like Whiskey Ridge, then I’ll buy land for you. For us.

But he didn’t tell her those plans. Not yet. It was too soon. She had enough to deal with at the moment.

“I don’t want to put your family in danger,” she whispered.

“My brother-in-law was EOD, too. Trust me, he’s used to danger.” And his brother-in-law, Jasper, knew how to protect what he valued most.

Hope flickered in Cassidy’s eyes. “I don’t want to be sent away again. I don’t want to become someone new.”

“You stay yourself, and you come with me.”

Now Mercer was the one who wasn’t speaking.

“Trust me, Cassidy.” Wasn’t that what it came down to for them? Her trusting him? Her believing that he was more than just another agent following Mercer’s orders?

“I—I do.”

Those were the sweetest words he’d ever heard.

“I’ll come with you, Cale.” She gave him a small smile, one that made his heart race even faster. He couldn’t wait to get her back home.

“You’re not making the right choice, Cassidy.” Mercer’s angry voice.

Only when Cale looked at the EOD director, Mercer’s eyes didn’t match his voice. No, the expression in his eyes actually looked...pleased.

Like he just played us?

“But if that’s your decision, so be it.” Mercer hesitated. “I just want you safe.”

And he’d been willing to do anything to get her out of D.C. Even use a bit of manipulation?

Would Tina really have gone against him? Or would she have followed his orders—and helped manipulate me, too?

Mercer...always the puppet master.

“Keep her safe, Agent Lane,” Mercer ordered.

“I told you, I’m done with the EOD.”

“We’ll deal with what you are and what you aren’t later.” Mercer turned for the door. But he didn’t open it. His shoulders were ramrod straight, his spine tall. But his voice was a rasp as he said, “I don’t want you to wind up like Marguerite.”

Cassidy’s fingers tightened around Cale’s.

“I loved her more than life. I should have made different choices. Maybe it’s always about our choices.” He glanced back. “I won’t make the same mistake.”

Then he was gone.

And Cale realized that he had just been well and truly played.

By a master. And a quiet, nervous doctor.

* * *

T
HEY
’
D
GONE
BACK
to the safe house on Donaghey. Back for a few precious hours before their plane left for Texas. Cale was inside the place with her, just down the hallway, but Cassidy wanted him closer.

She stared at her image in the bathroom mirror. She looked like hell. Not exactly femme fatale material, but there wasn’t much to be done for that then.

Her fingers curled around the doorknob, and a few moments later, the heavy carpet was swallowing her footsteps as she slipped down the hall.

She needed Cale. They were alone, no other guards inside that safe house, and she wanted to be with him.

“Cassidy. Stop.”

Cale’s voice came from the darkness of the den. How had he even heard her? She’d tried to be so quiet.

“You’re hurt.” His words were gruff. “Go back to bed. Just rest.”

“I don’t want to rest.” She’d done plenty of that in the hospital, thanks to those ridiculous sedatives. Resting was the last thing on her mind. Cale was what she wanted.

“Cassidy...” Her name was a rough sigh. In that sigh, she could hear need and longing, the same emotions that were rushing through her.

When she was alone, Cassidy thought of all that she’d lost—her mother, Helen, Genevieve. She didn’t want to keep thinking of death and fear.

She wanted to think of Cale.

Of pleasure.

She wanted to be reminded that life waited for her. Not just the grim promise of death.

There could be more for her, more for them. Cale wanted her to return home with him. That meant something, didn’t it? She was more than a mission to him.

He’d offered to give up the EOD.

That meant—it had to mean—that he felt the way she did.

She took a few more steps toward him.

“I can smell you.”

She froze.

“You should smell like the hospital. Antiseptic. Sanitizer...something different...but you’re still just like roses. You smell so good. Too good.” The lamp flickered on beside him, but instead of illuminating Cale, it just sent dark shadows chasing across the room. His body was a hard outline against the chair. Powerful. She had the fleeting impression of a predator just waiting for his prey to foolishly walk by.

And here I am.

Only she didn’t feel like prey.

Cassidy took another step toward him.

She saw his muscles tighten. Saw his hands clench around the arms of the chair.

“
Cassidy.
Where are your clothes?”

Ah, yes, ahem.
“I left them in the bathroom.” Because not having on clothes would help with the whole seduction routine that she was trying to have going on at that moment.

He lunged from the chair and stood right in front of her in an instant. Stood right there, but he didn’t touch her. She needed him to touch her. With the chaos of her life, she
needed him.

“You’re hurt.”

The man was sounding like a broken record. “So? We can be careful.” Thanks to her dive into the pavement, she’d lost skin on her palms and knees. Her palms had been bandaged, but the tips of her fingers were unharmed. She let her fingertips skim over the powerful muscles of his chest. “I know you can be careful.”

His eyes burned down at her.

She rose onto her toes and pressed her lips to his. Her confidence was a brittle thing right then, and when a naked woman offered herself to her lover, well, she expected him to take her up on that offer.

Not stand there, still as stone.

He wants me, doesn’t he?

Her tongue slid lightly over his lower lip. Her hips pushed closer against his. Oh, yes, she could feel his arousal. But he wasn’t touching her, wasn’t kissing her back.

“Cale?” She pulled back just a few inches in order to stare up at him.

“I’m trying to do the right thing,” he said, voice gravel-rough in the dark.

Her hero. She smiled. “Can’t we forget about right, just for a little while? I want to forget everything—right and wrong—and just be with you.” Cassidy kissed him again. His lips had parted, and she dipped her tongue inside that sexy crease.

He growled. The sound rough with desire.

She liked that.

“Don’t you want to be with me?” Cassidy asked softly.

Then the room was spinning. No, Cale had just lifted her up, and he was carrying her—holding her so gently—back to the bedroom. He moved quickly, and her heart raced even faster.

He put her on the bed. The mattress dipped beneath their weight. She immediately tried to reach for him.

“No.”

The harsh command stopped her. She glared at him in the darkness. Touching him was one of the things she liked the best.

“Sweetheart, if you touch me, I’ll go wild.”

She was okay with wild. More than okay.

“I have to stay in control. I
can’t
hurt you.”

Still playing hero. But she thought that was sexy, too.

He spread her arms out on the covers. “Don’t move them. Not so much as an inch.”

She wasn’t about to make a promise that she couldn’t keep. Her fingers were already itching to caress him.

But he was caressing her. He’d bent his head, and his mouth—warm, wet—opened over her breast. He licked her. Sucked the flesh, and Cassidy almost came up off the bed.

His hand was on her stomach, sliding lower and lower until he found the heat between her thighs.

He kept licking and kissing her breast even as his fingers stroked the center of her need.

Cassidy tried not to move—she truly did, at first—but her fingers slid away from the covers. She reached for him.

“Remember the rules, Cassidy.” His head had lifted. His fingers pressed her wrists back against the covers. “You don’t get to move.”

“You were hurt, too.” She’d seen the bruises on him. The cuts.

“And you’re the one that matters more.”

Wait, what?
That didn’t even make any—

His mouth was on her other breast. When he licked her nipple, she could feel the rush of sensual fire go straight to her core. Her hips jerked from the bed, pushing against his. He still had on his jeans, and the rough friction of that fabric was driving her wild.

The man always kept his clothes on too long. Those clothes needed to be on the floor. Cassidy wanted to feel all of him, flesh to flesh.

He was giving her so much pleasure, stroking her with those maddening touches. Using his mouth, those slightly rough fingertips in caresses that were so gentle. Too light.

She didn’t need gentle. She just needed him.

“Cale!” The whip of demand had entered her voice.

He eased away from her, ditched his clothes. When he came back to her, the heat from his flesh seemed to scorch her, and it was exactly what she wanted.

Craved.

Their mouths met. She kissed with the frantic need that had built inside her. Let him taste her hunger and desire.

His mouth was harder. More demanding on hers, even as his hands carefully pushed her thighs apart.

So much care...

Then he was between her legs. The heavy ridge of his arousal pressed against her.