Dane - A MacKenzie Novel (16 page)

***

Ten hours later, the last thing Bayleigh
wanted to do was laugh. She’d shown up to her shop to find that
Cade had instituted a bodyguard inside her store who made her
clients more wary than curious, and several of them had left before
even getting the chance to browse. And if that wasn’t bad enough,
two of her scheduled fittings hadn’t shown, and neither of them had
bothered to call to let her know they weren’t coming.

By the time Cade came in to pick her up that
evening, her temper had reached the boiling point.

“You ready to go?” he asked, ignoring her
response to get a report from the guard dog he’d sicced on her.

Bayleigh locked the front door and grabbed
her purse and sewing bag—since she had several projects she was
going to have to spend more time working on at home—and she went to
wait by the back door for Cade, her foot tapping impatiently.

Damned, high-handed man, she thought.

She’d gone from living a perfectly normal
life to jumping at shadows and watching everyone that passed by her
doors with suspicion just because she’d had the bad luck of having
Cade MacKenzie move next door to her.

He came toward her, still talking quietly to
the watchdog, his eyes watchful as he took in her mood. His steps
slowed the closer he got. It was obvious by the look on his face he
remembered perfectly well where her knee had ended up that morning,
and he wasn’t looking to repeat the experience.

“What’s wrong, Bayleigh?”

“Other than the fact that you have me under
lock and key, and I can barely go to the bathroom without
Neanderthal man standing outside the door and listening to me pee?
I didn’t agree to this, Cade. He’s scaring off my customers.”

She could tell by the twitch of his mouth
that he wanted to laugh, and she swore that if she heard even one
chuckle she was going to belt him right in the nose. She turned her
narrow-eyed gaze to the Neanderthal in question just to make sure
he didn’t make the mistake of following Cade’s lead. He paled
appropriately under her stare and she nodded her head in
satisfaction.

“Take me home, Cade, and then kindly take
your cartels and stupid agency high-handedness and jump off the
nearest cliff. I don’t care how good the sex is. I can’t live like
this.”

Neanderthal man choked on his laughter and
brought his hand up to rub across his mouth to cover his smile.
Cade wasn’t nearly so amused.

“Now listen here, sweetheart,” he said,
taking a step toward her, but she put her hand to his chest and
pushed him back as she heard her cell phone ringing from the bottom
of her purse. She sighed as she saw who was on the other line. One
of her no-show clients of the day.

“Ginny,” she said, answering the phone with
false sweetness. “I’m so glad to hear from you. I was starting to
worry.”

Bayleigh listened to the other woman’s
half-assed excuses about how her society schedule was just so
packed with luncheons and charity events that she’d forgotten all
about Bayleigh’s cute little shop. Bayleigh gritted her teeth in
annoyance, trying to remember that Ginny Van Sice had ordered
enough lingerie for her third wedding/honeymoon that Bayleigh would
be able to pay two full months of expenses from the purchase. All
she had to do was let Ginny feel superior and listen to her
bragging. It was a small price to pay for the result.

By the time she hung up the phone and had
rescheduled Ginny for later in the week, a headache was brewing
behind her eyes, and all she wanted to do was go home, open a
bottle of wine and sleep for twelve hours. Cade sure as hell hadn’t
let her get a lot of sleep the night before.

“What was that all about?” Cade asked.

“I had two clients scheduled for fittings
today that decided not to show,” she said, following Cade out to
his truck, trying not to be intimidated by the way the two men
flanked both sides of her to keep her safe. “It’s a common
occurrence with Ginny. It’s Becca I’m worried about. She’d never
missed an appointment, and she’s not the flighty type like Ginny
is. She’s a sweet girl.”

Cade got into the truck cab and started the
engine, pulling out first and letting the guard trail behind
them.

“What’s her full name and address?” he asked,
pulling out her phone and hitting speed dial.

“Becca Whitson. Short for Rebecca,” she said,
pulling up Becca’s personal information on her iPad.

Bayleigh read off the address to Cade and
watched him curiously.

“Yeah, this is MacKenzie,” he said into the
phone. “Can you do a drive by and check out an address for me?”
Cade rattled off the address and hung up the phone. “Are you
hungry? I haven’t had a chance to eat dinner yet.”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Why are you having
someone check on Becca?” Bayleigh asked, fear starting to creep
across her skin and cling to her body like the sticky weaving of a
spider web.

“You said she was a reliable client. My gut
just had a twinge, and I’ve learned over the years not to ignore
it. I’m sure she’s fine. How about Chinese?” he asked, driving
through a strip mall where there were several different
restaurants.

“Sure.”

They got a table and ordered, but the silence
was strained between them. She chewed at her bottom lip, wondering
if she’d somehow gotten Becca in trouble. Her nerves were working
overtime and her appetite was non-existent. She’d done nothing but
push the food around on her plate since it had arrived.

“Bayleigh, look at me,” Cade said softly.

She forced herself to meet his gaze, felt the
emotion settle over her as she saw the sympathy and compassion in
his gaze.

“None of this is your fault, sweetheart.
You’re just an innocent bystander. If this is anyone’s fault it’s
mine for not staying away from you when I knew I should have. But I
took one look at you and knew I wasn’t that strong. You can’t
control what other people do, especially when those other people
are pure evil. Just stay with me, and I’ll keep you safe.”

“For how long, Cade?” she asked sadly,
knowing the answer before he even spoke the words.

“For as long as I can, love. For as long as I
can.”

The drive back to her house was made in
silence, and Cade kept checking his phone, almost willing it to
ring. But there was no word from whomever he’d contacted to check
on Becca. Cade parked his truck in his garage and then he led her
through his house, turning on a few lights as they went, before
leading her out the back door and over to her own house.

“Carlos has men watching the house,” he
whispered as he unlocked her back door. “But my brother and some of
his men are keeping them contained for the moment, tracking their
movements. They still haven’t caught sight of Carlos. He’s who
we’re after, and he’s a slippery bastard for a lunatic.”

She’d left several lights on throughout the
house, and all her blinds were still down from when Cade had
lowered them earlier that morning. She went directly to the fridge
and pulled out a bottle of white wine, pulling out the cork with
expert movements and pouring herself a full glass. Cade grabbed a
beer and stared at her warily, obviously unsure how to handle her
in this particular mood.

“So are you staying here tonight?” she asked
once the wine was gone and her body began to relax.

Cade looked at her in surprise. “I figured
you were going to try and come up with some lame excuse for us not
to sleep together again.”

“I was,” she said shrugging. “But like you
said, the sex is good. Why not enjoy while it lasts?”

Chapter Twelve

Cade made sure his face didn’t betray his
feelings, keeping it carefully blank as Bayleigh made her
announcement with all the enthusiasm of reciting a grocery list.
When she referred to what they had between them as just good sex,
it left a bitter taste in his mouth and an anger that wanted to
refute her words. But that’s what he’d wanted. Just mindless sex
for as long as it lasted, no emotions, and she was giving it to him
in spades.

She unbuckled the wide black belt that
cinched her waist, letting it drop to the floor, and then pulled
the red cashmere tunic over her head as she went past him and
headed toward the bedroom. She tossed the sweater onto the couch as
she passed by and his lungs tightened in his chest as he saw what
she was wearing beneath.

He followed behind her slowly, the sway of
her hips erotically hypnotic, and his cock was swollen to the point
that just the touch of his boxers was painful against the sensitive
skin. She unzipped the long black skirt she wore and it slithered
down her legs, leaving her in the tall, black leather stiletto
boots and the most incredible underwear he’d ever seen in his
life.

“Sweet Jesus,” he whispered reverently as she
turned around to face him.

“You like it?” she asked, her voice throaty
as she purred the question. “I just got it in this morning.”

Answering was out of the question. He was
having a hell of a hard time catching his breath, and even his skin
felt like it was too tight for his body. The corset she wore was
fuck me red, and it plumped her breasts to impossible heights,
making his cock jump at the thought of what it would feel like to
thrust between the abundant mounds of flesh. Her waist was small
and one hand was cocked on her flared hip in a pose meant to
showcase every line and curve of her body.

She wore a matching red lace thong and he
could see her desire dampening the fabric from where he was
standing. Garters came down and fastened to the black thigh-highs
she wore, and the tall boots came to just above her knees and fit
her like a second skin. If she’d been holding a whip he might have
fallen to his knees in submission. As it was, he could see the
flickers of doubt in her eyes as she let him look his fill, and he
knew this was going to be an important moment in their
relationship—a shifting of power—a mutual satisfaction and need
that neither of them might be prepared for.

“You take my breath away,” he said, peeling
off his shirt and enjoying her reaction to his body as her eyes
filled with lust. He kicked off his shoes and unbuckled his belt,
pulling it from the loops slowly, her eyes mesmerized by his every
movement. He unbuttoned his jeans, giving some much needed room for
his cock, but he didn’t remove his pants. Not yet. This would be
over much too soon if he didn’t try to keep some kind of control
over the situation.

“How many of those contraptions do you have?”
he asked, pointing to the corset and panties she wore.

“A whole store full,” she said, arching a
brow. “I didn’t realize you wanted to talk tonight. I can just put
on my robe if you’d like.”

Cade smiled at the challenge in her voice and
walked closer. “It doesn’t matter what you wear, sweetheart. It’s
all going to end up on the floor anyway.”

He moved quickly, catching her gasp against
his mouth as he pushed her against the wall and tore the lace thong
from her body. His fingers plunged into her just as his tongue
plundered her mouth and she drenched his hand immediately,
screaming out her orgasm as she shuddered and spasmed against
him.

“That’s it, baby,” he said, kissing his way
down her neck to the sensitive mounds of her breasts, his tongue
laving just at the edge of where flesh met satin. He pushed his
jeans down so they fell around his ankles and stepped out of them,
and he tightened his grip around her hair as he pushed her
lower.

“You know what I want, Bayleigh.”

His voice was rough and graveled and her eyes
were wide and open on his as she slowly knelt down in front of him,
her nails raking across his thighs and drawing his balls into tight
knots of anticipation.

He kept his gaze steady on hers as she licked
her lips once before taking his cock in her hand and pumping it
slowly, and he watched as the blue of her eyes darkened as she
licked the tiny drop of pre-cum that had beaded at the head. He
felt that one lick zing through his balls all the way down to his
toes, and he groaned as she kissed and nibbled her way down to the
hairless sac below, rolling them gently in her mouth and then
kissing her way back to his cockhead again.

There was no warning when she opened her
mouth and swallowed him whole, relaxing her throat and taking him
all the way down until her chin touched his scrotum. He held her
there, pressing against her scalp, as she swallowed against him
repeatedly, her tongue laving the underside of his cock.

“Fuck, I could come already,” he said,
dropping his head forward and leaning one arm against the wall for
support.

She moaned around him, the vibrations like an
electric shock up his shaft, and she sucked him harder, bringing
her other hand up to caress his balls. The duel sensations brought
him closer to orgasm. He could feel the tightening at the base of
his spine, the impending pleasure that crackled across his skin and
shot tingles from his scalp to his toes.

“I’m going to come, Bayleigh. Take all of me,
baby,” he commanded, holding her head tight as he began to fuck her
mouth with short, hard strokes.

The groan that erupted from his chest
surprised him in its intensity and his vision went dark as he
spurted stream after stream of thick semen down her throat.

His knees threatened to give out as pleasure
like he’d ever known rocketed through his body, and he pulled his
still hard cock from the soft suction of her mouth. She licked the
last drop of his essence from her lips and smiled seductively, her
eyes glazed with passion.

“I need you, Cade. Don’t make me wait.”

“I’ll give you what you need, sweetheart.
Stand up,” he said, helping her keep her balance as she rose to her
feet, and he led her over to the bed, still dressed in everything
but the underwear he’d torn from her body.