“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.