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.
* * *
THEY’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.
She arched toward him.
He thrust into her.
Her nails dug into the covers. Pleasure hit her, cresting over her almost instantly as he withdrew and thrust deeper. Again and again, and she was lost. She gasped out his name and let the release sweep over her.
The thunder of her heartbeat filled her ears, wild and drumming. And Cale was there surrounding her, holding her. Kissing and stroking and making the desire build again. Always, again.
The second time the release hit her, he roared his pleasure, too. Cale stiffened over her, then drove inside her, even deeper than before.
This time, the pleasure wasn’t sharp. It was long and consuming. Ripping away the brittle facade that had surrounded her and leaving her feeling exposed, empty—
And very, very much…his.
* * *
“IT’S TIME TO go, Cassidy.”
She smiled at his voice, loving that deep rumble of sound, but Cassidy didn’t open her eyes.
She was in the middle of a really good dream. She and Cale were in a meadow. The sun was shining down on them. They were walking. He had her hand cradled in his.
There was no fear.
No danger.
Just life.
“Sweetheart, we have to go. The car’s waiting for us.”
His voice was louder now, breaking through the dream. The peace she’d known an instant before began to slip away.
Her eyes opened. Cale stood beside the bed, fully dressed. His expression was carefully guarded, almost blank.
Where was the heat that had blazed before in his eyes? So much passion. A desperate need.
That sensual pleasure hadn’t been a dream.
Sweet reality.
“I should have woken you sooner.” Now his voice seemed almost hesitant. “But you just looked so…peaceful.”
She hadn’t exactly enjoyed a lot of peace in her life.
“But we have to hurry. The car’s outside.”
Right. They were leaving. He was taking her home.
I want to have a home. A real one.
Could Cale give that to her? Did he even know what she wanted from him? Why?
Swallowing, Cassidy turned away from him. Five minutes later, with her hair combed, her teeth brushed and clad in the clothes he’d prepared for her, she was ready to go.
He stayed close while they hurried from the building. Dawn had just come, and streaks of sunlight slid across the D.C. skyline. Gunner was by the vehicle. So was Logan. She glanced to the left and caught sight of—
A flash of red hair.
Cassidy froze.
“Cassidy? What is it?” Cale’s hold tightened on her.
Cassidy glanced back at the alley. “Genevieve.”
A frown pulled his brows low. “The agents are still searching for her. They’ll find—”
“I just saw her.” The words were pulled from a throat that suddenly seemed dry. What was happening to her? Was she seeing ghosts? Seeing what I want to see?
“Where?” Cale demanded.
She pointed to the alley.
Cale didn’t head toward the alley. Instead he guided her to the vehicle. “Make sure she stays inside,” he told Gunner.
“What’s happening?” Gunner demanded.
“I—I saw…” Wait, had she seen her? Cassidy wasn’t sure, not anymore. She rubbed temples that ached. “I thought that I saw Genevieve in the alley.”
Gunner shook his head. “I cleared that alley. No one is there.”
He sounded so certain, but she’d been certain a moment ago, too.
“I’ll be right back.” Cale pulled his weapon and headed into the alley.
Gunner closed the car door, sealing her inside the vehicle.
Cassidy waited, barely breathing, as the seconds slowly ticked past. Then Cale was back, striding toward the car. His face grim.
He climbed into the vehicle. “No one was there.”
Maybe…maybe she’d just wanted Genevieve to be there. Wanted so badly that she’d made herself see a ghost?
The car slowly pulled away from the curb. Helpless to stop herself, Cassidy glanced back.
No one was there.
The car slid easily through the empty streets. Cassidy swallowed, trying to ease the sudden dryness of her throat. “Did you…did anyone find Genevieve’s body?” She hated to think of her friend that way. Broken. Lost.
Cale shook his head.
“Maybe he lied to me.” Killers lied, right? That was what they did. Lied, killed.
Cale’s fingers caressed her arm. “Maybe he did. Agents will keep searching for her. They won’t give up.”
Maybe they wouldn’t, but… “But I’m giving up. If I’m just running away with you, I’m giving up on her.” She couldn’t do that. It wasn’t right.
“No, you’re staying alive.” His voice had hardened. They were in the back of the vehicle. Gunner and Logan were up front. The other agents would be able to easily hear every word that they said. “That’s what you have to do.”
“What if she’s in this city?”
Cale shook his head. “What are you going to do? Search every street? Every house? Every building?”
If she had to, maybe. “I can’t…I can’t do it, Cale.” She wanted to, so much, but running—enough.
“What can’t you do?” He’d leaned toward her.
She dropped her voice to a whisper. “I want to go with you. I want to get on that plane and go home with you. I want to pretend that we’re starting some kind of life together, far away from Mercer and everyone else.” She licked her lips. “But I can’t.” Then, voice louder, she focused on the men in the front. “Take us to the EOD headquarters.”
Logan didn’t even slow down. And he didn’t turn around.
“Logan.” She snapped out his name. “Take us back.”
They eased under a row of bright streetlights—still on because the light of the day wasn’t heavy or clear yet—and, in the rearview mirror, she saw Logan’s gaze shift toward Cale.
“It’s not his choice,” Cassidy said, lifting her chin. “It’s mine. And I’m not running.”
“Are you dying?” Gunner wanted to know as he glanced back at her. “Because that’s what almost happened to you.”
Yes, she had almost died, and Cale—no, all of those men—had risked their lives for her.
For her secret.
She opened her mouth and said, “I’m Mercer’s daughter.”
Wait, had she meant to say that?
Yes.
The silence in the car was heavy. She could feel Cale’s gaze boring into her.
“Thank you for all that you’ve done to protect me,” she said, her voice sounding too calm even to her own ears. “But the threats to me won’t ever end. They can’t. And as much as I want to just run away, to be with Cale…” Her chest was aching. “I can’t. I can’t leave Genevieve.” If there was a chance that her friend was alive, then she had to keep searching for her.
And if Genevieve was dead… I need to find her body. I can’t leave her out there, all alone.
Gunner was still staring at her. “I know who you are.”
“Me, too,” came from Logan as the car accelerated.
Cassidy blinked. Well. So much for her big reveal.
“Syd can uncover anything with her computers.” Gunner shrugged. “She didn’t want me walking in blind in that park, so she made sure I knew.”
Cassidy had laid out the puzzle pieces for her. Because I wanted her to tell him.
“And you told Logan,” Cale muttered to Gunner.
A slow nod from the sniper. “We figured you already knew, seeing how…close…you’d gotten with Cassidy here.”
She was grateful for the dark because it hid the heat that stained her cheeks. She and Cale had definitely gotten close.
“I don’t see how you being Mercer’s daughter changes anything. You and Cale have a plane waiting on you.”