Crime Tells: Cady's Cowboy

by Jory Strong

  Her eyes dropped to the bag in his hand and her cheeks heated. Did he mean what she thought he meant?

  Kix’s husky laugh had her looking at his face. She shivered at what she read there. Part of him was teasing, seeing if she’d really go through with acting out his fantasy. The other part of him was hot and hungry and dead serious about his intentions.

  She licked her lips nervously and he pulled her into a hug. “Trust me, darlin’.”

  “I do,” she whispered back, allowing him to lead her to the bedroom door.

  He paused and removed something from his pocket then tossed it to Ranger. “Here you go, partner.” At Cady’s quizzical expression he laughed. “Beef jerky.” Then he ushered her into the bedroom and closed the door behind them.

  Kix tossed the bag onto the bed and pulled Cady into his arms once again. “Anytime you want to say no, you say it,” he whispered against her mouth before pressing his lips to hers, his tongue thrusting and stroking and twining with her tongue until Cady’s cunt pulsed and her hips ground against the thick, heavy ridge of his erection.

  The need for breath came second to the need to feel skin against skin. Almost desperately Cady’s fingers fought with the buttons of his shirt. When his shirt parted, her hands traced the muscles of his chest, finally settling on the hard, tiny points of his nipples.

  Kix groaned, his hands cupped her buttocks and pulled her pelvis more tightly against his. Damn, it was hard to think about anything else but climbing on top of her and getting his cock into her wet heat. “Cady darlin’,” he whispered, coming up for breath and forcing his hands to get busy with her clothes.

  Even the few seconds it took to get out of their clothing was too much time. Cady was shivering with need, awed by the hard power of his body, by way his cock jerked under her hand, its head glistening with arousal. When she ran her thumb over the silken skin, Kix’s sharp indrawn breath and clenched buttocks, his hoarse, “You’re killing me, Cady darlin’,” built her confidence in a way that nothing else would have. She wanted to please this man, to be his fantasy.

  His cock still in her hand, Cady slowly eased onto the bed. Kix laughed and followed her down, latching onto her breast as soon as her back hit the dark green comforter. Cady arched into him and he responded to her silent demand, his licks turning to dominating sucks and possessive nips until Cady was desperate for him. “Please, Kix,” she begged, her fingers spearing through his hair as her legs widened in a silent plea for him to enter her. She cried out when lifted off of her, his hands going to her hips and flipping her onto her stomach.

  “Not yet, darling. Now get this pretty little ass into the air.”

  Cady shivered when she felt his rough hands smooth over her buttocks. Nervous arousal flared through her as she slowly pulled her knees under her.

  His cock jumped at the sight of her obeying his command, at the underlying trust that had her fighting her cautious nature and nervousness. He brushed his fingers over her ass cheek, trailing downward until he could rub between closed thighs. Damn. Everything about her was a distraction. She was so hot and wet, so swollen that his penis was practically howling with the need to tunnel into her sweet cunt.

  He wrapped his free hand around his shaft, desperate to reduce the pulsing urgency that was like a second, louder heartbeat. “Spread your legs,” he growled, clamping down hard on his penis the instant she complied and her plump, wet folds were exposed.

  He groaned, unable to stop himself from leaning over, from running his tongue through her slit, from tasting her. “Damn, Cady, I can’t get enough of you,” he whispered, pulling back and forcing himself to reach for the bag containing the plug, glad now that he’d taken care of what preparation he could beforehand.

  She tensed and he eased the fingers of one hand back into her pussy, gathering her arousal and then using it to ease into her back entrance. “Relax, darlin’,” he whispered, removing his fingers and taking a second to open a small container and lubricate the plug before pressing it against the pucker of her anus. She shivered and he moved so that he could trail kisses from the base of her spine upward until his tongue and lips were tormenting her sensitive ears, and all the while he eased the plug deeper into her tight, unexplored back entrance. They were both shaking and covered with a sheen of sweat by the time the flared base of the plug was pressed against her buttocks.

  Cady felt like crying…screaming…begging, but all she could manage was a whispered, “Please, Kix.”

  It was enough.

  He covered her body with his and pressed the head of his cock to the opening of her slit. “Damn darlin’, you’re so tight,” he groaned, working himself in and sending waves of sensation pulsing through Cady, the pain and pleasure melding so intensely that they nearly overwhelmed her.

  Kix felt like a snorting, lust-crazed bull. He’d never fucked his cock into such a tiny place before, and it was just about to kill him with pleasure. He buried his face against her sweat-slick shoulder as he pushed the last inch of penis into her and fought the need to pound in and out of her furiously.

  “Easy, darlin’,” he whispered desperately against the smooth skin of her shoulder. Her whimpers and pleas were eroding his control just as surely as the tight fist of her channel was sweet agony.

  His cock was pulsing and straining, his balls tight and burning with the need for release. But damn he didn’t want to move, didn’t want to rush this moment of pure bliss. He wanted to savor the feel of her hot muscles squeezing and rippling along his penis as her delicate feminine body shivered in submission underneath him.

  Goddamn, he hadn’t counted on liking this so much, on facing the fact that he might need it. He should have though, should have realized that everything about Cady was pure addiction.

  She moved, pressing backward and sending a rush of lava-hot need along his shaft, shattering his control. He couldn’t stop himself from answering her silent plea, from pumping in and out, slowly at first, and then faster, his pants and groans echoing her own as he pushed them higher and higher until they both yielded to the pleasure of a mind-numbing release.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Cady came out of the bathroom, fresh from a shower just as Kix was slipping his cell phone back into the holder on his belt, his tense expression telling her that the call hadn’t been good news. “What happened?”

  “They found coke in Terry’s locker at the track.”

  She moved to stand in front of him, her mind already examining the different possibilities. “What does Terry say?”

  “She swears that she’s never touched the stuff and doesn’t know how it got there.”

  “Do you believe her?”

  “Yeah. I think she’s rabid as a junkyard dog half the time, but she’s not dumb enough to mess with cocaine and lose the chance to ride. Hell, that’s about the only good thing I can say about her—she’s got a dream and she’s pursuing it, personality aside.”

  “Will the track officials run a blood test on her?”

  “They sent her to a lab for a blood-draw. Terry’s suspended as of this morning. She can’t even set foot on the grounds.”

  “This looks bad for Adrienne.” Cady shook her head. “Why now? Why not plant this stuff in Terry’s locker the day that Adrienne’s horses raced with the coke in their systems?”

  Kix’s face became harsher, but there was the brief glimmer of guilty knowledge in his eyes, and despite everything that had happened between them, Cady suddenly had a hollow feeling that once again he was keeping something important from her.

  “I’ve got to head out,” he said.

  “You’re going to Adrienne’s house?”

  There was the slightest flicker in his eyes before he nodded. It was so slight that if Cady hadn’t learned from the best, from Bulldog, about how to spot subtle tells, she’d have missed it completely.

  The warm glow at the center of her heart faded. It looked like trust only worked one way with him. “I’d like to go with you.”

&nb
sp; The silence stretched for a long tense moment before he said, “Why don’t we meet up at Adrienne’s in an hour. You’ve got to see to Ranger and I want to run by the track and talk to some folks about this first. Addy said that the track officials are authorized to search for illegal drugs, but unless someone is dangerous or causing trouble, they don’t go looking for problems.”

  “You’re going to try and find out who was behind the search?”

  Kix nodded and moved to where she was still standing with only a towel wrapped around her. He slipped a finger between her breasts and used the towel to pull her closer then leaned down and gave her a soul-searing kiss. “Give me an hour, then meet me at Adrienne’s place.”

  Cady got dressed, let Ranger out in the backyard before feeding him, then decided to take him for a walk before fixing her own breakfast. Her stomach felt queasy, like she’d just stepped off a roller coaster ride that had taken too many turns and too many steep drops. The sensation deepened, changing shapes, and shifting from Kix to the case when Cady finally got a chance to look at the newspaper and saw the small article at the bottom of the page.

  Jockey Jumps From Golden Gate Bridge

  The body of Angel Valdez, a popular jockey at Bay Downs and Golden Gate Fields, was retrieved by the Coast Guard early this morning. The Coast Guard was called to the area when fishermen found the body under the bridge. According to authorities, Valdez’s car was found parked near the entrance to the bridge. No note was found, but a substantial amount of cocaine was in the car. Authorities suspect that Valdez was under the influence of drugs at the time of his death, but until the medical examiner completes an autopsy, this cannot be confirmed.

  Cady’s first instinct was to call Kix. She even went so far as to reach for the phone before remembering his hesitation, the small flicker in his eyes.

  She gathered the newspaper and Ranger instead and left for Adrienne’s house.

  Kix was there, already in a heated argument with Terry McKay. They paused when Adrienne led Cady into the office.

  “I guess you heard the news about Valdez,” Cady said, taking a seat and putting the folded newspaper on her lap.

  Adrienne’s eyebrows drew together. “What news?”

  The roller-coaster ride sensation returned with a rush and Cady knew that wherever Kix had gone, it hadn’t been to the track. “They found Valdez in the bay. Right now the authorities are saying he may have been high on coke when he jumped off the bridge.”

  Cady offered the newspaper to Adrienne but Terry screamed incoherently and snatched it. Within seconds Terry’s face was buried in her hands, her sobs filling the room.

  Adrienne joined her cousin on the couch and slipped an arm around Terry’s shoulders while Cady and Kix waited for the storm to pass.

  Kix could see the writing on the wall as clearly as if it was painted there in blood. Trouble was coming. His little darlin’ knew he hadn’t been up-front with her.

  Damn. He’d hightailed it over to Valdez’s place when he should have headed for the track. If he’d done that then he would have known about the jockey’s dive off the bridge.

  His gut tightened and sickened. He’d played that one wrong, too. He’d figured that whoever was behind this thing would either back off or maybe do something stupid like come after him. He hadn’t counted on the jockey ending up dead. And he wasn’t ready to buy a suicidal dive off the Golden Gate Bridge, not on the heels of a protestor’s death being set up to look like an overdose.

  Damn. All he’d wanted to do was get this mess settled and keep Cady safe. Now he was going to have to come clean about the visit with Valdez. He couldn’t afford to sit on the evidence, not with the police looking into Valdez’s death, not when he was pretty sure that the ME was going to determine that the protestor’s death was murder.

  And as soon as he told Adrienne about Valdez’s confession, she was going to insist on heading straight for the race officials so she could get her suspension lifted. Not that Kix blamed her for that, but… Hell, that wasn’t even the worst of it. Cady was going to be mad. And hurt.

  Kix rubbed his chest. Hurting Cady and seeing it in her eyes when she looked at him was going to feel like a knife slicing into his heart.

  Terry’s sobs petered out, replaced by gulps and the sound of air struggling through clogged nasal passages.

  Kix took charge, though there was a hint of compassion in his gruff voice when he said, “Let’s get this over with and put it behind us, Terry. Start talking about Valdez.”

  A couple more gulps and sobs followed the command, but then Terry nodded. “I was so stupid. I thought he loved me.”

  “You were dating him?” Adrienne looked like her head might start spinning. “I thought you hated him!”

  Another gulp of air, now followed by hiccups. “I do hate him. Now.” Terry paused long enough to draw in a steady breath of air. “I caught him in a stall fucking one of the exercise riders.”

  “Was that the day you got into a fistfight with him after a race?” Kix asked.

  “Yeah.”

  “Did you know he used coke?”

  Terry nodded. “We argued about it almost every time I went to his apartment. He started using it after he took that bad fall in January. Something happened, he lost his nerve. He said the coke helped him. He had family depending on him, he said. Most of what he made got sent back to Mexico.”

  Adrienne nodded slowly, a look of reluctant realization forming on her face. “I remember that spill.” She took a deep breath. “When the horses tested positive for coke, did you suspect him?”

  Terry wouldn’t meet her cousin’s eyes. “Just because I caught him fucking that slut, it didn’t mean he’d wreck your career just to get at me. He rode for you sometimes. He always said you were a fair trainer. And he liked the horses.”

  “Answer the question,” Kix growled. “Did you suspect him of doping the horses?”

  Terry flashed him a hateful glance, her grief starting to meld into her normal personality. “Yeah. Are you satisfied? I suspected him, but he kept avoiding me. So I never got a chance to talk to him about it. You’re the hotshot who is supposed to get Adrienne back on the track. So don’t blame me if you didn’t talk to Angel before now!” She leaped from her chair and ran from the room, slowing only long enough to slam the door behind her.

  A muscle twitched in Kix’s cheek. Adrienne ran a shaky hand along the edge of the sofa cushion and said, “What now?”

  Kix sighed. It was just as well that Terry had stormed off. He’d just as soon not have her here to witness this. He shot a glance over at Cady and his chest went tight at the sight of her wary eyes and tense features. Turning back to Addy he said, “Go ahead and get one of those envelopes I gave you out of the safe. Get the one with the C in the corner.”

  Surprise and a touch of hope flared in Adrienne’s eyes as she rose and moved to a floor-model safe behind her desk. Kix leaned forward, thinking to take Cady’s hand in his and felt a stab of pain when she settled deeper in her chair, her body language warning him off.

  Adrienne returned with the envelope. Kix took it from her and opened it, pulling a photocopy of the picture of Valdez and Danny out, along with a copy of the confession. “I’d hoped to hold off using this,” Kix said, setting them on the coffee table, “but that might not be a good idea now that Valdez is dead.” His eyes met Adrienne’s. “The originals are in your safe. Don’t touch them. Don’t tell anyone that you’ve got them in your possession. The police are going to want to take a look at them, probably take them in as evidence, and it’d be better if they didn’t have a whole mess of fingerprints on them.”

  Adrienne nodded and said, “This is probably enough to clear me. I want a copy.”

  Her voice held all the determination that Kix had expected. “Getting back on the track isn’t the end of it, Addy. We still don’t know who was behind getting you suspended in the first place.”

  “I know that. But for now it’s enough if the race officials think it
was just a grudge because of Terry. I need to get back on the track.”

  Cady stood abruptly. “And I need to head out and tie up some loose ends.”

  “I’ll walk you out.” Kix left his seat, moving to take her arm but she avoided his hand.

  “That’s not necessary. The race officials are going to want to talk to you about Valdez’s confession.”

  “I’ll walk you out,” he said through clenched teeth.

  Cady straightened her spine and turned without speaking, her entire focus on escaping without breaking down in front of him. When he grabbed her arm before she could get her truck door open, she tensed and said, “When did you talk to Valdez? Last night?” The answer was in his eyes. He’d met with Valdez before he’d gotten to her house last night and… Humiliation rushed through Cady at the memory of how vulnerable she’d been, of what she’d allowed him to do. Pain charged in after the humiliation. They’d gone from the door to the bedroom in record time, not allowing for the possibility to discuss the case. Sex as a distraction. She didn’t have to examine last night any further to see that truth. She tried to pull away from his grip. “Don’t bother answering, Kix. Now let me go.”

  “Not until you listen to me, Cady.”

  “Then talk.”

  One look at her face and he could tell she wasn’t going to believe a word he said. Goddamn. He needed to try and talk some sense into her. He needed to make things right, but damned if he knew how.

  “Darlin’…” he began, his heart jumping painfully at the way her body vibrated with hurt, at the way her eyes flashed with disbelief and anger and a hint of tears. “Cady dar—”

  Cady jerked her arm out of his grasp, knowing that she could only handle so much before falling apart, and the sound of his calling her that… Cady’s chest went so tight that for an instant she couldn’t breathe.

  She ducked her head in an attempt to hide the tears that had fought their way through her emotional barricade and started streaming down her face. “I need to leave, Kix. Please don’t embarrass us both by dragging this out. From now on, anything I find out, I’ll pass on to Alex and he can pass it on to Adrienne. You can get it from her.”