Dane - A MacKenzie Novel (13 page)

“You’ll take me, Bayleigh. Don’t fight it.”
His thumb went to her clit and pressed down on the taut bud, and
the ripples inside her pussy almost had him coming too soon. “Fuck,
you’re tight.”

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.