“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.