Stripped Bear (5 page)

“Not anymore.” His hand wandered up her back and Leah suppressed a pleasant shudder. His fingers wound in the tangles of her hair and he urged her head to one side. “Not since the moment you put your hand in mine. The choice has been taken away from both of us, Leah. The only option left is surrender.”

Leah’s heart fluttered at the possessive edge to his heated words, and at the same time, the truth of them resonated in a way that left her shaken and confused. She’d spent so long convincing herself that no part of him still resided in her heart, and now it seemed as though he was more embedded there than ever. “It’s been sixteen years, Cade.”

“It has.” His thumb brushed once again over her lower lip. “And I can’t wait another sixteen minutes to have you.”

“You’d want a faithless woman who could so easily set aside her vows? You’d want me, knowing that I’d promised myself to another man while I gave my body to you?”

“Your problem, Leah, is that you think I live by the same laws that you do.” Cade kept one hand firmly on her throat and the other wound in her hair. He dipped his head and put the wet heat of his mouth to the valley between her breasts. Leah’s nipples hardened against the fabric of her bra and the friction caused her breath to hitch. “What’s happened between us supersedes any other vows.”

“What’s happened between us, Cade?” The passion that muddled her mind cleared in a breeze of anger. “What is this magical connection that you think sparked between us that can justify me walking out on my own wedding?”

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me,” Cade said. His eyes burned with desire; his nostrils flared as he inhaled a slow, deep breath as though savoring some pleasant aroma. “A lot you don’t know about my family. For now, you’re just going to have to trust me.”

“Trust you?” Leah said on a bitter laugh. “I don’t even think I like you.”

“You can hate me if it makes you feel better.” Cade’s dark voice slid over her like black satin, tickling her senses. “But it won’t change the fact that your pussy is swollen and dripping for me right now. It won’t make my cock any less hard. It won’t keep me from wanting to be buried deep inside of you right now.”

For months, Leah had bemoaned the lack of passion in her life. She’d found herself wishing over and over again that there was some spark between her and Adam that would prove to her that they were meant to be together. That she’d found that with a man who’d all but spurned her sent Leah’s temper into a tailspin.

“I do hate you,” she seethed.

Cade shrugged a shoulder as though her hatred was inconsequential. “It doesn’t change the fact that you’re dying for me to fuck you.”

God, she hated herself far more than she could ever hate Cade. Because he was right. Her body hummed with awareness of him. Her sex clenched and released with want, her clit throbbed. Her breasts tingled and her nipples drew into tight pearls that ached for his touch. Leah’s own body had betrayed her.

“You’re right,” she said on a breath. “I want you to fuck me so badly that I’m out of my mind with want. I want you to pound so hard and so deep into me that I forget my own goddamned guilt for wanting you. But that’s not going to happen, Cade.” Leah dug deep and found the fortitude she needed to finally push him away. Cade took a step back, his expression no less intense for her rejection. “It’s
never
going to happen.”

It took every ounce of willpower in her stores to push past him, but she did it. Leah rushed through the empty gallery, her own footfalls sending her heart into a frantic rhythm in her chest. The sensation of being pursued overtook her and she ran, pushing open the heavy glass door. She burst out onto the sidewalk and took desperate gulps of air into her lungs. She didn’t care that she’d left Cade standing in her office or that she was about to flee the gallery without locking up for the night. All she knew was that she needed to get away from him. Before she did something she’d regret for the rest of her life. Wanting Cade would surely be her undoing, and she made another vow, this one to herself. She’d never see him again.

Five

Cade paced the confines of his bedroom. He was every bit an animal, balancing on the razor’s edge of his control. Leah had managed to avoid him for days. The gallery remained closed, she refused to answer his phone calls, and he’d gone so far as to drive to her house, only to find she wasn’t there. She’d hidden herself from him and it agitated the animal part of his nature to the point that Cade could no longer form a rational thought.

There was a reason the Sortiari paid him well for his services. Cade could be a ruthless bastard when the occasion called for it. He checked emotions at the door and did what had to be done. Sometimes that meant pulling the trigger first and asking questions later. Sometimes that meant putting his fist into some fucker’s face. And sometimes it meant doing whatever it took to get the results he needed and being 100 percent unapologetic about how he went about it.

By this time tomorrow, Leah would be a married woman, making their relationship a hell of a lot more complicated than it already was. The primitive part of his brain didn’t give a single shit about something as trivial as the exchange of rings. Leah had claimed him. She was his mate. No amount of vows spoken to another man before a priest was going to change that fact. That didn’t mean he’d stand by and wait for it to happen, either.

A quiet knock came at the door and his grandmother walked in. Her expression remained serene as she slid a folded-up piece of paper into his palm. He raised a brow in question and she said, “The hotel where Leah is staying and her room number.”

Luanne Mitchell might have looked like a harmless old woman on the outside, incapable of malice. But on the inside, she was every bit the animal he was. Maybe more so. She protected her family with a ferocious determination that belied her true nature. Cade had learned much about ruthlessness from her.

“Lawrence gave this to you?”

She shrugged. “I told you, he doesn’t want to see his daughter marry a fool.”

Cade grabbed his bag, packed and ready to go, from the bed and scooped up his jacket. He gave his grandmother a peck on her cheek and said, “Don’t worry, she won’t,” before striding from the room. He’d be damned if Leah gave herself to any other man but him. It was time to do what needed to be done. Screw the consequences.

*   *   *

Cade left his car running near the back exit of the Holiday Inn where Leah was staying. He double-checked the map of the property he’d gotten from the front desk, making sure that the window to Leah’s room was situated close to the car. He expected her to make a scene and he wasn’t interested in drawing any attention. He was through playing games, tired of beating around the bush. Leah was the most stubborn girl he’d ever known and that trait had only intensified as she’d become a woman. It infuriated him and at the same time turned him on. He was about to turn that stubbornness on its ear, however. He planned to make sure that by the end of the weekend, Leah knew where—and with whom—she belonged.

He took the elevator up to the fourth floor and headed down the hall to room 426. The sound of the TV filtered through the door, but any conversation was absent. If she was alone, it would make what he was about to do a hell of a lot easier. Knocking the fiancé out on his ass probably wouldn’t earn him any points with Leah, but he’d do what he had to.

Cade brought his fist up to the door and knocked, careful to keep out of the line of sight of the peephole. When she didn’t answer right away, he knocked again. His gut twisted into a knot. What in the hell was taking so damned long?

After a moment, the door cracked open. He pushed his way inside and put his hand over Leah’s mouth before she could scream. It hadn’t been his intent to frighten her, but she never would have let him in unless he’d ambushed her. The panic ebbed from her bright blue eyes as recognition dawned, but her struggles to free herself only intensified.

“Cade!” she gasped when he took his hand away from her mouth. “What in the hell are you doing here?”

Dressed in a pair of short boxer-style shorts and a sheer, strappy top that left very little to Cade’s already raging imagination, her only other adornment was a towel slung over her shoulder. The shower ran in the bathroom and steam gathered in the room. Beads of perspiration gathered on her skin and her cheeks bore an attractive flush that instantly hardened his cock. If he wasn’t in such a goddamned hurry, he would have laid her out on the bed and proved to her right then and there that they were meant to be together.

“You can’t be here, Cade. Get out.”

Like hell
. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way, Leah,” Cade said. “Choose.” His patience had finally reached its breaking point. His skin tingled with the onset of a shift, a telltale sign that his emotions were volatile. It was a defense mechanism programed into his DNA. In instances of extreme stress, the animal took charge.

“Choose?” Leah said in an incredulous burst. “Are you
kidding
me
, Cade?”

“The hard way then,” he said with a sigh. “Just remember, Leah, this was your choice.”

Cade snatched her in his arms and tossed her over his shoulder. Leah let out a surprised yelp as she wriggled and kicked against his hold. He gave her ass a solid swat. “You could have chosen the easy way,” he reminded her. “Now you have to deal with the consequences.”

He marched across the hotel room to the window. She couldn’t have chosen a room with a fucking balcony? He’d have to make do, he supposed. Leah screamed and shouted, a string of profanity that would have scalded a sailor’s ears. She cursed him, his family, and wished a vile and violent death on him. Cade slid open the window, no screen. Thank the gods for small favors.

“Let me down, Cade!” she shouted loud enough to get the attention of every person staying on the third floor. “Goddamn it, get your fucking hands off me! You hit me, Cade! I can’t believe you hit me!”

“I spanked you,” he corrected. “You’re throwing a fit like a toddler. And since you’ve chosen to behave like one, I chose to treat you like one. See? It’s all about choices.”

A half growl, half shriek escaped her lips. “I’m going to choose to run you over with a car if you don’t put me down!”

This was the Leah he remembered. A smile curved Cade’s lips as he poked his head out the open window to make sure there was no one below. He stepped up onto the window ledge, his precious cargo balanced precariously on his shoulder.

“Cade?” Leah’s voice had gone from enraged to tentative in a beat. “What are you doing? Cade?”

Without uttering a single word, he leaped from the ledge. Leah let out a ragged scream that echoed into silence before he landed on the pavement below with all of the grace and dexterity of a cat. Supernatural abilities certainly had their perks. Leah hung limp in his grasp and he shifted her until he cradled her in his arms. Between stories four and one, she’d lost consciousness.

He couldn’t have asked for a better result. Transporting her would be so much easier if he didn’t have to worry about her bailing out of the car.

On the downside, when Leah finally came to, she was going to be
pissed
.

*   *   *

“Whatever crisis awaits you in LA, I’m sure you can handle it on your own.”

The room came slowly into focus as Leah cracked one eye and then the other. Her heartbeat kicked into high gear as she took in her surroundings. She was spread out on a plush taupe couch and a blanket had been draped over her. All around her, floor-to-ceiling windows looked out on the darkened cityscape, only the tops of surrounding skyscrapers visible, their windows lit like beacons. Rich hardwood floors gleamed in the low light, and a cheery fire burned in a modern version of a fireplace, the flames leaping up from a bed of clear glass pebbles. Beyond the windows, a patio stretched the length of the living space, and Cade paced back and forth, back and forth as he argued with someone on the phone outside. A cool breeze swept in from the cracked patio window, and Leah pulled the blanket higher as she snuggled into its warmth.

“I work alone, McAlister. You know that. If you’re bringing in your slayers to handle your vampire problem then you certainly don’t need me. They seemed to have done a fine job the last time you unleashed them on the vampire race.”

Did she hear him right?
Vampires?
The sound of Cade’s voice in the background grew increasingly agitated and Leah tried to right her reeling world long enough to make sense of what—and who—had ignited his temper. The memory of his palm coming down smartly on her ass and its accompanying sting surfaced in Leah’s mind, and a fresh wave of indignation replaced her confusion.
She’d
been the one to ignite Cade’s temper. And the bastard had actually had the nerve to spank her! Right before he’d stepped out onto the window ledge and jumped …

Jesus. A jump from the fourth story of the hotel should have sent them both to the hospital. Leah remembered screaming. The fear of that hard landing had stolen her breath before her vision had darkened and then …
nothing
. She must have passed out. How had she survived that jump without even a scrape? Leah sat up and threw the blanket from her body. Inspected her arms, pulled up her tank top and checked her legs for bruises or lacerations. Nothing.

Cade continued to argue with whoever he was talking to on the phone. The son of a bitch had actually kidnapped her! He’d always been impetuous. Used to getting what he wanted, when he wanted it. But he’d reached new heights of entitlement tonight. He didn’t want her to marry Adam and he’d seen fit to remedy that problem by breaking into her hotel room and taking her. He hadn’t even bothered to have a civilized conversation before he’d made the decision for her.
You can choose the easy way, or the hard way
. Leah snorted.
Yeah, right
. As if Cade had ever intended to give her a choice.

“I have issues of my own that need dealing with. And until they’re dealt with, you won’t be seeing me. If what you say is true, a single vampire shouldn’t be hard to deal with considering your vast resources. You’ll have to go this round without me, McAlister.”