chapter Eleven
Cade slid his weapon from his inside pocket, swung it beneath the table and released the safety with a click. “Tell me what you told them right now or you’ll never be able to father another sorry SOB as long as you live.”
The lazy smile froze on Kevin’s lips. His faded blue eyes darted around the bar.
“Looking for support? Hoping to muster a defense from those fair-weather friends at the bar? Or maybe the waitress you disrespected will help out? Don’t you get it, Kevin? The people you charm and con aren’t real friends. You don’t have the depth or loyalty to have a real friend...or a family.”
Kevin wiped a trickle of sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and chugged the rest of his beer. “Just so you know, I didn’t contact them. They contacted me.”
“That’s not saying much, Kev. How would you know to contact them, anyway?” Cade rested the gun on his knee. “How did they get in touch with you, and what kind of offer did they make you?”
“They called me out of the blue last month. Said you had something they wanted, and they’d be willing to pay big bucks if I could get my hands on your kid and turn him over.”
Cade tightened his jaw. “You never talked to Mom before she died about me, my son or anything else, did you? You found out about my son from a bunch of international thugs.”
“That’s what I told them, boy.” He hunched forward, almost tipping over his empty mug. “I said I didn’t even know you had a son, so there was no way you were going to let me get anywhere near him.”
“Did they believe you?”
“I think so. They didn’t contact me again, although I think they followed me for a bit. I can tell when I’m being shadowed.”
“Maybe it was the FBI tailing you again.”
“Those boys got nothing on me.” Kevin winked. “So where’s my thanks? I told them to get lost.”
“Only because you spoke the truth. You knew I’d never let you within a hundred miles of my son.”
“We can do this together, Cade.”
The man couldn’t sink any lower in his estimation. “You really expect me to help you turn my son over to an arms dealer who has the worst intentions toward our country?”
Kevin tapped his head. “I’ve got it all figured out. If that rich bitch you’re married to won’t give you any dough, this can work out for you, too.”
Did he just call Jenna a rich bitch? He should shoot him now and be done with it.
“Let me take your boy, and I’ll hand him over and get my money. You give them whatever it is they want in exchange for your son, and then I’ll split the cash with you.” He poured himself another beer, which foamed over the side and puddled on the table. “Doesn’t that sound like a good plan?”
Cade’s lips twisted into a smile. “You’re really a dumb SOB, aren’t you? Do you really believe these people will let my son live? Wait, wait. I know you don’t care about that, but do you really think they’ll let you live?”
Kevin’s face paled beneath his tan, and the lines on his face deepened.
“These people aren’t like some hick in Vegas you can fleece out of his first jackpot.” He gripped Kevin’s wrist in a vise. “Where are they now? Do they know you’re meeting with me here?”
Kevin jerked his arm but couldn’t break free of Cade’s grip. “I told you. I blew them off. This is my scheme.”
“It’s not a very bright one. Did you really think I’d turn over my son for money?”
“You abandoned him once, didn’t you?”
A cold anger crept over Cade’s flesh. He threw Kevin’s arm back at him and slid from the booth, pocketing his weapon. “Not for money.”
Kevin rubbed his wrist. “Whatever you tell yourself to get through the night, boy.”
Cade leveled a finger at the man he’d never call father. “If you come near me or my family again, and that includes Kyle, I’ll kill you.”
He spun on his heel and stalked out of the bar just as a cheer went up for the basketball game.
When Cade got into the car, he slumped in the front seat and dug his cell phone from his pocket. He called the hotel room and Jenna answered on the first ring.
“Is everything okay there?”
“Everything’s fine. Gavin is still out, and I’m watching a movie. I-it’s still early. Is everything okay there?”
“I’m on my way home.” He’d already decided not to tell Jenna about Kevin’s betrayal. Why add to her worries?
“It didn’t go well, did it? I can tell by your voice.”
“Once a scumbag, always a scumbag. I don’t know why I thought it would be any different.”
“Because he’s your father and you wanted to salvage something of that relationship.”
He put his cell on speaker and wheeled out of the parking lot. “There’s nothing to salvage there.”
“That bad, huh?”
Worse. So much worse. “Yeah, that bad.”
“Is he really dying?”
“As he put it, we’re all dying from the day we’re born.”
“Seriously? What did he want from you?”
“Money.”
“Oh, Cade, I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not. Seeing him for what he really is freed me. I don’t have to wonder anymore.”
She sucked in a breath over the phone. “I can hear it in your voice—closure. Hurry back.”
“Why?” He’d blurted out the word in a sharper tone than he’d intended. What if Kevin had been lying? What if he’d told Zendaris’s men about their meeting?
Jenna paused. Then her low voice poured into his ear like sweet honey. “Because I’m your wife, and we haven’t been together for three long years.”
His anxiety morphed into desire in a second, and he let the car have its way on the highway. “I’ll be right there.”
He’d already made sure no one followed him out of the bar’s parking lot. His lead foot got him back to the hotel in less time than it had taken him to get to that sports bar. He met the security guard doing another round on their hallway.
“No trouble tonight?”
“Everything went just fine, sir, and management never noticed I was spending most of my time on the ninth floor.”
Cade slipped the man another bill. “Thanks.”
He tapped on the door, and several seconds later Jenna opened it against the chain. “Just want to make sure what I’m seeing out of the peephole is the real thing.”
He spread his arms. “I’m for real.”
She shut the door, and the chain scraped. This time when she opened the door, he stepped through, slamming it behind him. With one hand, he reengaged the chain, and with his other arm he swept Jenna against his chest.
She wrapped her arms around his waist and he buried his face in the honeyed strands of her hair. He should’ve never left her for Kevin, for some illusion of a father who didn’t exist, who’d never existed.
Turning her face to his, she cupped his jaw with one hand. “Are you okay?”
“I have you and Gavin. That’s all I need.”
She stood on her tiptoes, her body leaning against his, and kissed his mouth. With her lips forming the words against his, she whispered, “I need you, too.”
“Gavin?” He peered over her shoulder into the hotel room lit with the TV’s blue flickering light.
“He’s sleeping. I put him in the bedroom.”
Cade swept her up in his arms and carried her toward the bed. Clasping her to his chest, he kissed her and once again felt like a drowning man. He never wanted to come up for air.
She kicked her legs. “Put me down. As much as I want to make love with you right now, I’m not going to do it standing up. I’ve waited too long to be satisfied with a quickie.”
He snorted. “A quickie? I hope you had a nice rest while I was gone because I’m going to spend all night reacquainting myself with every inch of your hot body.”
He dropped her onto the bed, and her cotton nightshirt hiked up her silky thighs. At least they looked silky. He perched on the edge of the bed beside her and ran his hands up her legs as she shivered beneath his touch. Definitely silky.
She reached up and her fingers fumbled with the zipper on his jacket. “Why are you still wearing this? Why are you still wearing anything at all?”
When his jacket gaped open, he yanked it off and tossed it toward the chair. He missed.
She sat up, her knees wedging against his thigh, and began unbuttoning his denim shirt. She grabbed the material in her fists and brought it to her face. “You smell like booze.”
“The hazards of hanging out in bars. I can fix that.” He shrugged out of his shirt and sent it the way of his jacket.
“How many layers do you have on?” She plucked at his T-shirt.
“A lot more than you.” He gripped the ends of her nightshirt and yanked it over her head.
Goose bumps raced across her creamy skin and he chafed her upper arms. “Now you’re cold. Get under the covers.”
“Not without you.” She tugged at his T-shirt, and he pulled it off.
He pulled of his boots and dropped them to the floor. Then he slipped out of his jeans, taking his boxers and socks with them.
Jenna’s gaze traveled over his naked body, heating his flesh, making him hard.
She tilted her head to the side, and her blond hair fell over one eye. “Everything looks pretty much as I remember, but I’m going to have to do a closer inspection to make sure.”
He stretched out on the bed next to her, his feet hanging off the end. “I’m all yours.”
She straddled him and began a long journey down the length of his body. Her fingertips traced his grooves and the hard lines of his muscles. Her tongue followed, licking and tasting and driving him wild with impatience.
When she skimmed her fingernails up the insides of his thighs, he’d had enough. He encircled her waist and flipped her onto her back, taking the upper hand.
She widened her eyes, a wicked smile claiming her full lips. “I thought you were enjoying that.”
“A little too much.”
“Is that possible?”
He pinned her hands above her head. “Do you want to find out?”
He kissed her lips and the sweetness he found there blotted out the bitter taste from Kevin’s words. He trailed his tongue to her throat, stopping at the base. When he pressed his lips against her beating pulse, he felt warmth and life. It soaked into his skin, giving him sustenance.
He cupped her breasts, fuller since the birth of their son, and buried his face in their fragrant warmth.
She dug her nails into his buttocks. “If you’re going to take a half hour on every body part, I can see why this is going to take us all night.”
He nipped at her nipple and she squeaked. “I’ve waited long enough. If I want to take a half hour with each of your delicious body parts, I will.”
“Okay. Wake me up when you’re done with the inventory.” She wrapped her legs around his thighs, crossing her arms behind her head.
Heat crept up his neck. For their first time together, Jenna didn’t need a man interested in slow, healing love. She needed a man who knew how to take care of business. The healing part could come later.
“You think my efforts are going to put you to sleep, huh?” He hooked his arms beneath her knees and hoisted her legs over his shoulders.
Then he dragged his tongue down the length of her body. When he dipped below her navel, he brushed her warm folds back with his thumbs.
She shuddered and arched her back, positioning herself inches from his mouth. He blew on her moist flesh while he rotated his thumbs.
She gasped and lifted her head, pressing her chin to her chest. “You’re not going to take a half hour down there, are you?”
He dipped one finger inside her. “I just might.”
Groaning, she flopped back against the pillow. With his finger still inserted in her tight walls, he nibbled around her edges, his tongue darting out for small tastes of her honey.
Then he went to work in earnest, and she didn’t stand a chance against his tender assault. He brought her to climax within minutes, and as she began to come down from her high, shaking and moaning, he thrust his tongue inside her again and again.
She clutched at his hair, her fingernails digging into his scalp. Her thighs clamped around his head, drowning him in her musky scent.
He sucked her into his mouth, as gently as a soft, ocean breeze. Must’ve felt like a gale force wind because she screamed as he toyed with her, drawing her closer to the edge of the precipice.
This time he left her hanging. As he straddled her body, she squirmed beneath him, her hands clawing at his chest for release. He nudged her thighs apart and drove into her, lifting her bottom from the bed. He pulled out and thrust again, and she shattered beneath him.
Her climax clutched around him as he pounded against her. She lay spent for a moment and he slowed his movement. Then she reached up and held his face in her hands. Her blue gaze never leaving his, she whispered. “Your turn.”
“Don’t worry. I plan to take it.” He pulled out and flipped her over while she dragged a pillow beneath her chest and lifted her hips in blatant invitation.
He rose to his knees and steadied her with his hands on either side of her rounded bottom. He rode her from behind, his skin slapping hers in an erotic rhythm that signaled their ultimate connection.
When he came, he couldn’t stifle the growls born from his primal satisfaction. He also couldn’t let go of his wife. Still shuddering with his release, he reached around and stroked her where their bodies met. She shivered and pushed against his probing fingers.
Her heat grew around him once again. Her creamy
derriere undulated against his belly, and he hardened in response. This time she climaxed with a whimper instead of a cry. A long, soft sigh escaped her lips, and her body melted beneath his, trapping his hand between her hot flesh and the mattress below.
He slipped out of her and rolled to the side.
She opened one eye. “I can’t move.”
“That opens up all kinds of possibilities.” He traced the beads of her spine with the tip of his finger, lightly following her bottom crease. He tucked his fingers between her legs and stroked her damp inner thighs.
“Mmm.” She burrowed her face into the pillow, inching her legs apart.
He rubbed her bottom with the flat of his hand, while the fingers of his other hand swirled closer to her heated core. “Do you want another?”
She shifted her head to the side, a guilty smile playing across her lips. “I wouldn’t mind, but—” she ran her hand down his belly and stroked him “—you’re not ready yet.”
“Yet is the operative word.” He nudged one finger inside while he pinched her flesh with the others.
She sucked in a breath and jerked at his touch. “You do have magic fingers.”
“Don’t forget my magic tongue.”
“And your magic...”
Without ever releasing his hold on her, he nudged her onto her back and continued his magic.
* * *
CADE HAD FALLEN INTO a drugged sleep, which someone was trying to spoil. The reality of making love to Jenna and his dreams had merged into one long night of pleasure and satiation.
He’d held her close all night, their limbs tangled, their hands always searching, their lips meeting in hot, hungry kisses. He didn’t know where his body left off and hers began.
He reached for her again, his fingers crawling across cool, empty sheets. Empty.
He struggled against the weights on his eyelids as someone poked him in the side. “Cade, Cade, wake up. Isn’t that the bar where you met your father last night?”
Jenna’s words acted like a splash of cold water on his face. He rubbed his eyes, kicking the tangled sheets from his naked body. “What?”
“On the TV. Wait. I think I can pause this and rewind.”
Cade pushed up to a sitting position, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. Why would Ted’s Sports Bar be on TV? He blinked and squinted at the neon snake frozen on the screen, emergency vehicles parked in front of the bar.
“What the hell is going on? What’s this story?”
She kept the remote pointed at the TV as she twisted her body toward him. “Th-there’s been a murder.”
Cade felt as if he was falling and he grabbed the sheets in his fists. Wait. It could be anyone. It was a bar.
“Can you play it back?”
She fumbled with the remote until the figures on the TV sped in reverse. Then she stabbed another button and the morning news anchors changed their demeanors from happy to serious.
“In other news, a man’s body was found in the alley behind Ted’s Sports Bar in the early morning hours when one of the employees went out to dump the trash. Colleen Temple is on the scene. Colleen, has the man been identified?”
Colleen adjusted a strand of hair and arranged her face into a frown. “Pat, the man, in his early sixties, has been identified from his driver’s license, but police are waiting to contact his next of kin. One bar patron, who was here last night, is claiming the man’s alligator boots were stolen. A charge the police will neither confirm nor deny.”
Cade’s gut rolled and he yanked the sheet, ripping it in half.
“Cade?”
“It’s Kevin. They murdered him and we have to get out of here.”