Wild on You (32 page)

Risk stepped away and pulled Addie to his side. “There are five men down, possibly more of them out there hunting Addie and me.”

Wilson called in for medical aid.

“And there’s a cave with a tiger cub in it,” Addie said. “We have to find it.”

“How many men do you have out there?” the agent asked Elrod.

Elrod turned his angry face to Risk. “Five down? You took out all five of them?”

“They might be alive,” Risk said. “How about you tell us how we find the cave from here, and I’ll tell the medics where your men are?”

Elrod’s face tightened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I know is that you came here to hunt a deer and you went crazy, murdered my employees.”

Risk gave him a hard smile. “What do you think the authorities are going to find when they do a full-scale investigation on this land? When they interrogate your employees? And we will find the cub. Meanwhile, your people might be suffering out there. And if they die, it’ll be on your head.”

Elrod paused, anger rippling across his expression. “Fine. I’ll show you on the map.”

Risk and Addie gave everyone a quick rundown of the events of the last few hours. Sax shook his head. “Damn, I missed all the fun.”

Addie’s laugh was near-hysterical. “Fun.
Fun?
You people are crazy!”

“Kidding,” Sax said softly, as one might speak to a crazy person.

Sirens wailed in the near distance. Elrod opened the gate after they escorted him to his office. Right behind the ambulance and cop cars from another county screaming down the drive was Shirley in the white van.

Addie broke loose from her death grip on Risk and ran to the van, wrapping her arms around Shirley. He couldn’t hear what she was saying, but he did hear a stream of high-pitched words. Then Addie brought Shirley over. “We need to find the tiger. Now.”

He’d seen the little guy’s face, heard his mewling. He wanted the cub out of that cave almost as much as Addie did.

Thirty minutes later, they backed the van up to the rocky entrance. Before anything could be touched, a swarm of investigators went in first to document what they found.

Risk held a container with two raw steaks cut up into small pieces. Some of the very steak that Elrod had been about to enjoy with his thug buddies when they realized their quarry had escaped. Addie was nervously wrapping and unwrapping the leash around her fingers while one of the cops questioned her.

Shirley came up and gave Risk a hard hug, then kept an iron grip on his arms as she stepped back. “Thank you for keeping her safe. Don’t let her push you away because she thinks having a life will detract from her purpose. I’ll threaten to quit if she lets you walk out of her life.”

He had to quell a smile at her vehemence. “I appreciate how much you care about Addie, but she has to come to that decision on her own.” His gaze slid to Addie, passionately describing what had happened at the deer stand. Something in his chest expanded. He returned his attention to Shirley. “But I have no intention of giving up easily.”

Two men in uniform and one plainclothes officer came out of the cave, the latter saying, “Okay, go on in.”

Addie stared at the entrance, and he saw her fear of facing that dark place. She swallowed, shored her shoulders, and walked straight in. Then turned and invited him to join her with a soft smile. Damn, he was in love with this woman.

When they reached the cage, Addie spoke softly to the cub, sweet words that washed over Risk like honey. “You little darling, you’ve been through so much. I’m so sorry about that. But you’re safe now, thanks to that handsome kick-ass guy standing over there.” She glanced at him, in case he didn’t get the reference.

He gave her a smile. “You were pretty kick-ass yourself, doll.”

She blinked at the endearment, then turned back to the cub and readied the leash. A couple of the officers stood at the ready, along with Shirley. Addie led the cub down the entrance, using the meat as lures. Tigs followed Addie and the meat right into the van and the cage. Addie kissed the pad of her finger and pressed it to the cub’s nose. “Have a nice life, little one.”

Shirley closed the back door once Addie climbed out. “I meet the sanctuary owner
in an hour. Which means I have to scoot.” She gave Addie a fierce hug and then pinned her with the same look she’d given Risk earlier. “Don’t do anything stupid.”

“I’m not going to be sneaking onto anyone’s land any time soon, that’s for sure.”

“I don’t mean that.” Shirley nodded subtly toward Risk. Then she released Addie, got into the van, and drove away.

At least he had an ally. But Addie had to come to the decision to let him into her life wholly on her own. Not that he was above giving her a nudge. And he was about to nudge just a little by pulling her into his arms when Agent Wilson and Chase approached.

Chase said, “You both will have to finish giving your statements before you can go.”

Wilson ran his hand over his hair, shaking his head. “This is going to take a while to unravel. I’m sure Elrod will avoid court and take a plea deal when it comes right down to it. He’s got a lot of blood on his hands, we’ve got your accounts, and two of his employees are singing like birds.” He clapped his hand on Chase’s shoulder. “We’re going to keep TJA and your name out of this as much as possible. But you, Addie, can use this to promote your organization. The national news will eat it up.”

She got the light in her eyes that made Risk want to kiss her. Before he could do that, two agents came over and separated them to finish their questioning.

He would kiss her again. And it would in no way be a goodbye kiss.

* * *

Addie had called her father on the plane ride back and told him everything. Amazingly, he hadn’t blown a gasket. She’d imagined his stoic face as he’d taken in the information. When she’d had to close the call, he’d said, “We’ll talk soon.” For the first time, those words hadn’t sent her into a panic.

Not like something else had. After the interviews wrapped up and Chase was arranging for his pilot to fly her home, Addie had thought Risk would go directly to Miami. But he’d told Chase that he would stay on unpaid to see Addie through the next
few days, when the press would be hounding her.

And now she and Risk stood on her porch, watching the hired car head back down the long gravel road as dawn broke across the sky.

He came up behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Feel good to be home again?”

Two roosters were prowling the yard and crowing. Three pigs were wallowing in the mud outside their stall. The ranch was waking up. She nodded, taking in all the buildings and barns that represented her purpose, and her future became very clear. She turned around in his arms. “Just now I was looking at everything I’ve worked so hard to achieve. I’m very proud of all this. Everything I’ve sacrificed, including my personal life, has been absolutely worth it.”

He gave her a somber nod. “Is this where we promise to keep in touch but inevitably drift apart?”

The thought of that made her stomach sink, the same way it had the first time she’d said it. When she’d considered it imperative to let him go. When she’d believed it was even possible. “Is that what you want, Risk? Because the—”

“Seems your mind is made up, so I’m going to just lay it all out there.” He settled his hands on her shoulders. “Seeing as I don’t have to worry about scaring you away anymore. What I want is right here. I want to wake up every day and see your beautiful face and say, ‘Morning, sunshine.’ Even if I’m on assignment and it’s through Skype. I want to strategize with you when you’re planning one of your trespassing stunts so I can make sure you’re safe. And yes, you’ll have to listen to me. We’ll argue, you’ll call me overbearing and overprotective, but we’ll end up making love, and then you’ll see that I only have your best interests at heart.”

He ran his hands all the way down her arms, twining his fingers with hers. “I want to feed the animals with you every night so you can get that light in your eyes. Then I’ll have to kiss you.” He did. “And more than kiss you.” He kissed her deeper this time, sweeping his tongue through her mouth, running it along the length of hers. Then pulled back a few inches. “But mostly I want you to feel good about taking something for
yourself. And that something is me.”

His words sucker-punched her, especially coupled with the resolve she saw in his eyes. She took a deep breath. “If you hadn’t interrupted me, what I was going to say was the sacrifices have been worth it, because they’ve brought me here. If I hadn’t put my life on hold, hadn’t been thinking I was responsible for my mom’s death, I wouldn’t be here.” She snuggled closer. “It’s good to be home, but it feels even better to be here. I imagined you heading back to Miami and my life going back to the way it was before all this happened. Suddenly my future filled with saving animals and rallying for their rights wasn’t the whole picture anymore. Because now there’s a muscle-bound guy with gorgeous eyes and an incredible smile that makes my heart go zing. And I have fallen completely, totally, madly in love with him.” She narrowed her eyes in mock sternness. “And now
you’re
going to have to deal with the consequences.”

He braced his legs on either side of hers, giving her a very serious look. “Ma’am, I always accept the consequences of my actions. So I give you my word that I will honor”—he kissed her—“respect”—another kiss—“and love the hell out of you.” He swept her up in his arms and turned to the front door. “In fact, I’ll report to duty on that last one immediately.”

* * *

Risk ignored the drum-solo ring of his cell phone as he rolled Addie onto her back in the hay. Even on call, no way was he going to answer when he was buried in the sweet heaven that was Addie. Even the world’s ending could wait another few minutes. He caught his breath as he braced his weight on his arms and hovered over her. He lowered his head toward hers. “Your. Mouth. Is. Irresistible,” he said between kisses.

She grinned as he backed up to take her in. “Mm, you’ve definitely added an intriguing angle to the evening feeding schedule.” She reached up and brushed her fingers across his hair. “Can we make this a daily regimen?”

Something swelled in his heart at her words and the sight of her below him, her
blond waves spread out on the blanket. Especially at the lack of panic on her face at making a statement that spoke of the future. A long future.

“I’m up for that, doll. I will never again smell hay and think of being alone with the cows in the barn. I have better memories to go with the scent.”

She touched his face. “Being alone is overrated.”

Now her phone went off, with its song. They were definitely a little bit closer. Hell, they couldn’t get any closer. He was still buried inside her, and he could feel her throbbing around his cock. And she felt perfectly right. Damn, he was in love with this woman.

“I’d give you twenty dollars for your thoughts right now,” she said, mirroring his words at dinner.

“They’re not for sale.” He gave her a soft kiss. “But I’ll give you one for free.” He kissed her nose. “You’ve added an intriguing angle to my
life
.”

“I like that. Any more?”

“I didn’t want to scare you—”

“You won’t scare me.”

He shook his head, tsking. “You. Have. To. Stop. Interrupting. Me.” Again kissing her between words.

She gave him a playful punch in the arm. “You have a lot of room to talk.” Then she tilted her head. “If that’s my punishment, I may interrupt you all the time. But go on. You didn’t want to scare me …”

“I talked to Chase about his preference that his operatives live in Miami. Seeing as how there’s an airport not too awfully far from here, he said it was workable.” He let those words settle in.

She didn’t look panicked, but she definitely looked surprised. “You’re going to live here?”

“I could get an apartment nearby. I mean, we haven’t known each other that long, so you might not—”

She uttered “Yes” on a breath. Her hands tightened where they held his back.

“There you go, interrupting—”

She kissed him now, fast and hard. “Yes, I want you to move in with me. I know it’s only been a few days, but nothing has ever felt so right. You are the one impulsive, crazy move I know I won’t regret.”

There went that swelling feeling again. It was like diving off a cliff but knowing he would make a nice soft landing. With Addie.

His phone rang again. “I’d better get that. There are only so many people who have this number, and every one of them is important.”

“We should probably get dressed anyway. It’s already dark.”

He regretfully eased out, jerked on his jeans, and pulled out his phone. “It’s Julian,” he told her before answering: “Yo, dude. What’s up?”

“You back in Miami? I’m heading there in the morning to start my orientation.”

Risk glanced at Addie, who, despite her words, hadn’t started dressing yet. “I’m making my home base here in Virginia with Addie. But I’m sure I’ll see you on my trips down there, if not on a mission. You with Rath?”

“We’re gassing up at a station somewhere in Texas, about to hit our last bar. He’s intent on heading down to Mexico after he settles his affairs in Tennessee. I tried to get him to join Justiss, even suggested that we could find out the truth through the Alliance. ‘It’s my ass on the line,’ he says. ‘Y’all put on your capes and go save mankind.’ ”

Risk would have laughed, picturing Rath saying that in his accent, if he hadn’t been so worried about his brother getting killed. “Rath’s going to do what he sets his mind to. Maybe he’ll go down and find nothing, which is what I think is going to happen. Once he loses that last mission, he’ll feel the itch like we did. He’ll cave.” Risk could hear a car’s engine in the background, and then it stopped.

“I hope so.” Julian’s voice changed. “Whoa. Hot-chick alert. Not my type but interesting. Light red hair, all wavy and down to the middle of her back. Skin like cream. Getting out to pump gas.”

Risk winked at Addie, who was trying to make sense of the conversation. “Ten bucks she thinks you’re a biker thug and gets right back in the car if you say word one to
her.”