by Lori Foster
Star had assumed they’d eat in the kitchen again, but Cade explained that wasn’t the norm, just something that seemed to happen during unusual occurrences.
The breakfast room was large and airy with windows that faced the mountains and the man-made lake below. There was no end of incredible views in his father’s home.
Sipping from his coffee, Reyes glanced up, caught Star yawning and lifted a taunting brow. “Cade didn’t let you sleep, huh?”
“Don’t start,” Cade ordered, unsure how she’d react. This morning she dragged a little, and yes, she kept yawning, but then, they’d had a trying day yesterday, and a satisfying night...that hadn’t allowed for much sleep.
Today, he felt the activity in his collarbone but he wouldn’t complain. No way did he want Star having any regrets, not when it was his own fault for waking her once in the middle of the night by nibbling on her shoulder. He hadn’t been able to resist, but then, she’d come awake with her own intentions, completely on board in a nanosecond.
“What?” Reyes asked with mock innocence. “She looks...exhausted.”
Taking a seat across from Reyes, Star picked up the silver knife at her place setting and studied it quietly. When she glanced at Reyes, Cade had to stifle a grin. He knew exactly what she was thinking.
Even sluggish, Star didn’t disappoint, saying to his brother, “On top of all your other skills, are you good at dodging knives?”
Smile banked, Reyes sat back. “Depends. You planning to use it up close or throw it?”
“I’m thinking...throw it.”
Reyes’s amusement grew. “It’s not really a throwing knife.”
And, Cade recalled, Star had said she kept her knife for close contact.
“True,” she agreed, placing the knife beside her plate—and reaching to the small of her back, where she kept a real blade strapped in a clip-on holster. She lifted it for Reyes to see and asked sweetly, “What about this one?”
Bursting out a big laugh, Reyes said, “Should I be ducking?”
“Not right now.” She returned the lethal weapon to the sheath. “If I decide you deserve it, I’ll wait until you least expect it.”
Grinning ear to ear, Reyes flagged his napkin in the air. “Then maybe I should call a truce. What do you think?”
“If you stop needling me...maybe.”
Bernard handed her a glass of orange juice. “A hearty breakfast will improve dispositions all around.”
Star inhaled the scents of breakfast meats, scrambled eggs, muffins and potatoes. “It certainly smells good enough to cause miracles.”
Laughing, Madison loaded her plate. “This is fun, isn’t it?”
That earned her a quelling frown from Parrish. “We have plans to make.”
“I know, but usually we’re all deadpan other than Reyes and Cade sniping at each other.” She turned her smile on Star. “You’re shaking things up, and I, for one, love it.”
Bernard set fresh-cut fruit on the table. “I, as well.”
Everyone looked at Reyes, but with one hand he just waved his napkin again while forking two sausage links with the other.
The ease with which Star dealt with his more bothersome sibling amazed Cade. Reyes didn’t warm up to many people. Most never really knew him. He excelled at showing only what he wanted others to see, but with Star, he’d relaxed and opened up.
That may or may not be a good thing, considering Reyes’s brand of humor could wear thin quickly, but so far Star didn’t seem bothered.
Putting a hand to her back between her shoulder blades, Cade stroked her. He loved touching her, and he enjoyed the way she got up on his brother, how she didn’t let Parrish intimidate her.
The urge to kiss her again nearly had him skipping breakfast, except that she was obviously hungry.
Parrish gave him a frown, making it clear he didn’t condone the familiarity. Too bad. With Star near, keeping his hands to himself wasn’t possible. Smiling, he let his father know what he could do with his judgment.
While helping himself to a slice of cantaloupe, Parrish said, “I assume Adela called you from an unlisted number.”
“You assume correctly,” Star said. “She’s been very cagey about any details. It took some coaxing—or she wanted me to think I had to coax her—just to get a location on where to meet.”
“She doesn’t live in Coalville,” Madison said. “I already checked. My guess would be that she’s in another area altogether, that she chose Coalville because, one, it’d be easy to set a trap. Two, not many witnesses, since the town is so tiny. And three, it gave quick access to I-25, meaning she could make a hasty exit once she had you under wraps.”
“Any idea why she wants you?” Reyes asked.
“I don’t know her.” Star shrugged while dishing up a bite of fresh pineapple. “I assume it’s Mattox who wants me, and he’s either forcing her to help, or she’s a willing accomplice.”
That careless attitude rubbed Cade the wrong way. “It occurs to me that you’re in more danger now.”
Brows lifting, Star asked, “How do you figure that?”
“They probably don’t know where you live, but they do know that you frequent the bar. It’d be easy enough to ask around there and find out about your truck. You travel that way often. Some of the roads are long, lonely stretches.”
“Perfect to shanghai me? You could be right.” Star sipped her juice. “But you’re in the same shape, right?”
Cade conceded the point. “If anyone at that church recognized me, then yes, they’ll trace me back to the bar.”
“And you travel back and forth, too,” Madison pointed out.
Yes, and Cade hoped they’d come after him instead of Star. He could handle himself, but if they overwhelmed her...
No, he wouldn’t consider the possibility of her being taken again. He’d kill them all before he let that happen.
Parrish held silent, watching, listening, allowing them to work it out. It was his way—not that he hesitated to interject whenever he chose to, but he considered discussion a learning opportunity. That he didn’t object over Star’s participation in what would normally be a family matter meant that he trusted Star, at least in part.
“Your trucking business is an issue,” Reyes said. “It’s too hard to monitor you if you go far.”
Cade waited for her reaction to being monitored, but she skipped right past that.
“Thing is, it gives me legitimacy for what I do. No one questions a truck at a truck stop, right? And I have a reason to repeatedly hit the east-west expressway where long-haul trucks pass through.”
Chiming in, Madison said, “That’s why that area is ideal for human trafficking.”
Glancing around the table, Star asked, “So you guys set up a bar and a gym for legit businesses, huh? Makes sense. I imagine both of you hear all the nitty-gritty, right?”
Reyes didn’t answer, so Cade said, “That’s the idea.”
“You’ve rescued a lot of women?”
“Quite a few, yes.” Parrish fidgeted with his napkin, then crumpled it in his fist. He asked Cade, “You completely trust her?”
Shocked, Cade knew exactly what his father was ready to do. It was unheard of, yet they’d all seen how concerned she’d been for him. And Reyes had probably explained to Parrish just how hard Star had fought against those men trying to take her. Anyone could tell she had the right edge, a sharp intuition and a core strength that couldn’t be faked.
Aware of Star looking at him, wanting clarification for what was happening, he nodded. “Yes, I do.”
Bernard quickly pulled up a chair, expectant anticipation in his eyes as he took in each person at the table.
“Whoa,” Star said, growing wary as tension thickened the air. “You’re not planning to put me through a blood rite or anything, are you?”
Clasping her thigh beneath the table, Cade said, “I believe my dad is ready to tell you more about the task force he funds.”
“A task force? No kidding?” Fascinated, Star folded her arms on the table. “That sounds pretty awesome.”
“It is,” Madison enthused. “It’s at the heart of everything we do.”
“But we keep our involvement quiet,” Parrish explained. “It’s always best to avoid obvious links to your private life.”
“Probably easier to do if you have a lot of dough, right?”
“Yes,” he allowed. “Wealth has its advantages.”
“Benevolence being one of them?”
Parrish gave a slight nod.
Since no one else was jumping in to explain, Cade did the honors. “The task force is possible because of Dad’s funds. It ensures victims get counseling, plus legal representation when needed.”
Bernard took over. It wasn’t often he got to brag on Parrish. “They also get financial assistance to start over, and guidance so that all legal avenues are used to convict the ones responsible.”
“We make sure we have it all zipped up,” Reyes said. “Dates, names, addresses, witnesses—the whole shebang.”
“Wow.” Impressed, Star asked, “I take it that’s for the perps who don’t die in the process?”
Bernard put his nose in the air. “There are, necessarily, a few who do.”
She grinned at the way he said that with proper gravity. “You won’t see me crying about it. I’d wipe them all out if I could.”
“But you’re just one woman,” Reyes pointed out. “Unless you join us.”
Eyes flaring, Star blinked at Reyes. Her gaze shifted to Parrish and Bernard, then to Madison, before she slowly pivoted to face Cade. “Is that a joke?”
“No.” Cade squeezed her knee. “It’d be safer for you, and you’d have more effect.”
As if they couldn’t hear her, she leaned closer. “But I work alone.”
“You work with me.”
“Just that once!”
Cade considered her attitude, but he couldn’t convince her here with his family all riveted. “I think maybe we need to talk privately. Are you done eating?”
“What? Oh, yeah.” Standing, she picked up her plate and started for the kitchen.
“I’ll do that.” Bernard rushed around the table.
She kept going. So did Bernard.
Madison fretted. “She needs a minute, doesn’t she?”
“She’s been alone a very long time,” Cade explained. He’d sway her, but he didn’t delude himself that it’d be easy. Star was one of the most independent people he’d ever met, and with good reason, she didn’t trust easily. Yes, she’d taken to him fast enough, once he’d introduced the idea, but he was one person, not a family unit.
And his family... Cade glanced at each of them. His father had initiated this, but he still didn’t speak up. Cade pushed back his chair. “I’ll convince her.”
“I hope so.” Rubbing his mouth, Reyes stated the obvious. “It’s going to be a problem if she wants to walk away at this point.”
“She won’t.” Cade picked up his own plate and went after her.
He stalled when he didn’t find her in the kitchen, but Bernard said, “She went out the side door to the deck,” as he took the plate from Cade. “I had to wrestle the dishes from her. She’s a very determined young lady, and she was most insistent that she ‘pull her own weight,’ even though I explained that this is part of my job.” He made a rude sound. “But she’s wonderful and I like her—as long as she understands the parameters of my domain.”
Sounded about right. “I’ll talk to her,” he promised again and almost laughed. He had a growing list of things that required his skill at convincing. Usually not a daunting task, but with Star? She could be very bullheaded.
She wasn’t in back, which would have put her in line with the windows where his family dined. Instead she’d taken up a corner of the wraparound deck, facing the side yard with tree-covered hills.
The second he stepped out behind her, she said, “Don’t start,” without turning to face him.
“Come on.”
That got her attention. She glanced back with suspicion. “Where are we going?”
“I thought we’d take the trail down to the lake. One day we can fish there, if you’d like. Or take out kayaks. It’s a private lake, so pretty damn peaceful.”
Bracing her back on the railing, she smiled at him. “That sounds nice.”
“Today, we’ll just walk.” And talk. He held out his hand.
She didn’t take it right away. “Are we going to have a fight? You want to get me alone so your family won’t hear me yelling?”
So damn astute. He snagged her hand and pulled her forward into his arms. “I want you alone so you can speak freely.”
She snuggled close. “Wasn’t I already doing that?”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Do you need to be a hard-ass to the bitter end?” Pressing a kiss to the top of her head, he suggested, “Meet me halfway here, okay?”
“You’re right,” she said, surprising him. “Sorry.”
Disbelief had him levering her back. “Do you ever say the expected?”
Her mouth opened, then snapped closed as she gave it thought. “I have no idea what the expected might be, so I don’t know if I do or not. Other than brief exchanges with clients who want to hire me to carry a load, or when shopping or requesting food, I don’t really have conversations with anyone.”
“What about the women you’ve helped?”
Uncertainty darkened her eyes. “More like a question-and-answer deal. Like if they had a specific place to go, if they wanted cops involved or not, or if they needed a trip to the ER. Stuff like that.”
He imagined she was a lot more compassionate than she made it sound, but he got her point. “Come on. We’ll go this way.” With her smaller hand held securely in his, Cade tugged her to the spiral stairs that led down to the lawn. From there they circled around for the worn footpath to the lake.
“It’s a long walk?” she asked.
Depended on the perspective. “It’ll take us ten or fifteen minutes to get down there, but with a lot of nature to see along the way.”
“I wasn’t complaining, just curious.” Tipping her head back, she peered up at the bright blue sky. “It smells different here.”
“Fresh,” he agreed. “All the trees and earth and the scents from the mountain...”
Smiling, she bumped him with her hip. “You love it here, don’t you?”
“The land, yeah. Who wouldn’t? There’s something about being surrounded by the mountains, all the peace and quiet, immersed in nature. The scrub oak brush is something to see in the fall.” Would he be able to show her? He hoped so, and that brought him around to the reason for their walk. “It was a huge concession for Dad to include you.”
“I figured.” Distracted by a boulder, she said, “Look at the size of that rock,” and proceeded to climb atop it.
As agile as a mountain goat, she clambered up to the highest spot about six feet off the ground, then spread her arms wide. Cade moved around to the side of the boulder so he could catch her if she fell.
“I declare myself king of the mountain.”
God, he loved seeing her like this. Playful. Relaxed. Mostly unguarded. “You might have to take that up with Bernard, since he claims he holds that title.”
Laughter bubbled out. “No way! Stuffy Bernard does? Are you pulling my leg?”
“He loves it here, says it calls to his soul.”
“I can believe it.” She inhaled deeply. “It’s awesome, for sure.” Putting her head back and closing her eyes, she breathed deeply, but then abruptly looked down at him again. “What’s up with Bernard? Does he live here? He’s like a butler, right?
”
“He and Dad have been best friends a long time, back before Reyes and Madison were born. As Dad’s wealth grew, Bernard came along, working various jobs, though Dad swears he wasn’t helping Bernard, that Bernard made his life easier because he could trust him. He moved in after Marian died—”
“Marian was his love? Mom to Reyes and Madison?”
Cade nodded. “Dad was a mess, and he was so consumed with grief, Bernard picked up the slack where he could. He loves to cook, though, and he’s an organizational whiz, so that’s mostly what he does.”
“Huh. So he’s part of the family?”
“Very much so.” Tired of the distanced chatting, Cade held out his arms. “Jump.”
“Ha! Not on your life.” She looked around for an easy way down.
Cade knew she’d find that getting down was the hard part. “Chicken.”
Her gaze clashed with his. “Take that back or I might just launch at you, and we both know I’m not a lightweight.”
Cade mimicked her “Ha!” and left his arms up for her. No, she wasn’t a delicate woman, but compared to him, she was still very female, smaller boned, curvy where he was straight, soft where he was hard. She needed to stop underestimating his strength. “Trust me.”
Her brows pinched together. “Have you forgotten you were injured?”
No, but he wished she would. “I’m fine.” If he said it often enough, maybe she’d finally believe him.
Softer, with worry, she explained, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I promise you won’t.” He waited and knew the second she planned to prove him wrong. Using her strong legs to propel her forward, she did indeed launch at him.
He was grinning before she landed against his chest and was grinning still as he swung her around, going with the momentum until they stopped, body to body, her feet off the ground. Yes, that impact jarred him, but the pain was minimal and the reward made it worthwhile when she fit him so perfectly.
Not just physically, but in so many other ways, too.
