by Paige Tyler
Cade’s gut clenched. Was it the same SUV that Riley claimed she’d seen outside her apartment building? The same one that he’d seen driving by the other night? He had no way to be sure.
Cade tightened his grip on the wheel, torn for a moment as to what he should do. Should he follow the SUV, or check on Riley first? he wondered. His fear for the beautiful blonde outweighing his desire to check out the SUV, he pulled into the driveway and hurried up the front steps.
Seeing no signs of forced entry, Cade felt himself relax a little. But that didn’t stop fear from continuing to grip him. The thought that even now Riley could be lying on the floor bleeding to death from some hit man’s gunshot made Cade’s hand tremble as he hurriedly punched in the code to unlock the door.
Hand resting on the weapon on his hip, Cade took a deep breath and threw open the door.
For a moment, Cade just stood there in disbelief. Whatever he had expected to find, it wasn’t the scene that me this gaze. Riley was leaning against the back of the smaller of the two couches, talking on her cell phone. She looked startled to see him, as if she hadn’t expected him back quite so soon, but at the glower he gave her, she hastily brought her conversation to a close.
“I have to go, Mom. I’ll call you when I get settled in my new place,” she said quickly, and then, without waiting for a reply, snapped her cell phone closed and dropped it back into her purse with a hasty nonchalance that suggested she would rather he not have seen her talking on the phone.
And with good reason, Cade thought as he slammed the door shut.
“What the hell are you doing?” he demanded.
“I...uhm...I was just talking to my mom,” Riley stammered.
Cade ground his jaw. The relief he had felt at finding Riley safe and unharmed when he’d walked in had been replaced by anger at seeing her on the cell phone. “That much I figured out,” he growled. “What I meant was, what the hell were you doing talking to your mother after everything I told you?”
Riley shrugged. “Well, she called me,” she explained. “And I couldn’t just hang up on her. It would be rude.
Besides, I had to tell her that I was moving again, and that we couldn’t use the mail anymore because it was too dangerous.”
“And calling her on the phone isn’t?” he said incredulously, unable to believe how Riley could be so smart, and yet be so stupid at the same time. He shook his head. “You know, I could give you a fifteen minute lecture on how easy it is for someone to tap into a cell phone conversation, but I don’t think it’d sink in. It seems that the only time I can get through to you is when I’m spanking you, so I’ll take that approach instead.”
At his words, Riley’s eyes went wide, but before she could so much as take a step back, Cade closed the distance between them and grabbed her arm. Jerking her forward, he bent her over the back of the couch in one swift motion, and then held her there while he peppered her jean-clad bottom with quick, hard spanks.
She began protesting immediately, squirming and kicking to free herself. But Cade ignored it, instead wrapping his arm around her slender waist so that he could hold onto her more tightly as he continued to bring his hand down over and over on her wiggling bottom. Somewhere in the back of his mind he remembered telling himself that he should cut her a break, but seeing her talking on her cell phone had made him forget all about that. Once again, she needed to be reminded what the rules were, and why it was important that she follow them.
But the sight of that incredible ass of hers wiggling all over the place was almost enough to make him completely forget about spanking Riley altogether. A growing tightness in his jeans had him wanting to instead just yank down her jeans and thrust himself inside her. But he knew he couldn’t do that. Not only would he never force himself on Riley like that, but the reality was that she needed this spanking. If she didn’t learn to start doing what she was told and being more careful, she was going to get herself killed. That thought steeled his resolve.
“Owwwww!” she protested as his hand came down again. “That really...owwwww!...hurts!”
“Good!” Cade growled. “Then maybe you’ll remember this the next time you want to go off and do something else foolish!”
She let out another high-pitched yelp. “You can’t...owwwww!...expect me to just...owwwww!...cut all ties with my...owwwww!...family!” she told him. “I won’t...owwwww!...do it!”
Cade’s jaw tightened. “You’d damn well better do it, Riley, because if you don’t, you’re going to wind up dead,” he said harshly. “Is that what you want?”
He could tell from the way Riley stiffened that he had finally gotten her attention, but that still didn’t stop him from delivering a hard smack to the sweet-spot right where her ass cheeks met the tops of her thighs.
“Is it?” he demanded.
In the silence, there was a sound outside, like the crunching of gravel underfoot, and Cade jerked his head up to listen.
Unaware that he was no longer paying attention to her, Riley turned her head to glare at him over her shoulder.
“Of course it’s not, you...”
But the words were muffled as Cade clamped his hand over her mouth. Infuriated that he wouldn’t let her finish calling him the nasty name he had coming to him, she began to struggle to free herself, but his hold on her only tightened.
“Quiet!” he hissed in her ear. “There’s someone outside!”
Riley immediately went still at his words, forgetting all about her stinging bottom as terror gripped her. Oh God, she thought. They had found her!
Taking his hand from her mouth, Cade pulled her upright and slid his gun from the holster at his side. “I’m going to go check it out,” he said softly. “Stay here.”
She caught his arm. “By myself?” she asked fearfully.
He gave her a hard look. “Just do as I tell you, and you’ll be fine.”
Riley opened her mouth to protest, but before she could get the words out, the door burst open and a man stepped in, a gun already thundering in his hand.
Cade moved faster than Riley could ever have thought possible. Grabbing her around the waist, he threw her to the floor behind the couch and covered her body with his. Above them, the couch exploded in a flurry of stuffing as bullets tore through it with alarming speed. Huddled there behind it, she knew the piece of furniture was providing very little protection, and that the only thing between her and certain death at that moment was Cade.
Riley barely had time to think about his unselfish act before Cade was up and returning fire with his own weapon.
She didn’t know if he hit the assailant or not, but regardless, the would-be assassin stopped shooting, and she heard the sound of retreating footsteps.
From where she lay on the floor, Riley looked up at Cade. He still had his weapon pointed toward the door. “Is he gone?” she asked softly.
Cade looked down at her. “Stay here,” he ordered. “And stay down.”
Realizing that Cade meant to go after the gunman, Riley opened her mouth to protest, but the Marshal had already gotten to his feet and was racing toward the front door.
Her heart pounding, Riley knelt behind the couch, trembling. What if the gunman came back? she thought. Or what if there was a second man, and the first one was just meant to lure Cade away? Without Cade, she knew she wouldn’t stand a chance against a hit man.
Cade’s order to stay where she was echoed in Riley’s mind, and she chewed on her lower lip, debating whether to disobey it or not. To heck with this, she thought. Ignoring the Marshal’s command, she scrambled to her feet and ran out into the night after him.
It was raining when Cade ran outside, and in the dim light of the streetlamp, he could make out the figure of a man beside a dark SUV halfway down the block on the other side of the street. So much for Riley being paranoid, he thought bitterly.
Tightening his grip on the weapon in his hand, Cade raced down the street toward the man, only to slow his steps as he drew nearer. He wat
ched in amazement as the man, who was clearly oblivious to Cade’s presence, fumbled with his car keys. He had locked the doors? Cade thought in disbelief. What kind of idiot hit man was this guy?
Lifting his gun, Cade leveled it at the man. “Federal Marshal!” he yelled. “Freeze!”
Startled, the man jerked his head around to stare at Cade in surprise. The rain was really starting to come down now, and in the near darkness, Cade could make out a broad face with a long nose, and a pair of close-set eyes.
“Turn around and put your hands where I can see them!” Cade ordered.
The man didn’t move. Probably weighing his options, Cade thought. His finger firmly on the trigger, Cade took a step closer to the man.
“Put your hands where I can see them!” he repeated. “Now!”
Letting out a heavy sigh, the man lifted his hands in the air and started to turn to face him. Then, without warning, he turned and bolted.
“Shit!” Cade muttered.
Deciding that it would be too dangerous to take a shot at the man with all the houses in the vicinity, Cade gave chase instead. Though the man took Cade down sidewalks and in between houses, it was obvious he wasn’t in that good of shape because within minutes, he was already starting to slow down.
Cade was just about to pick up speed when he heard the sound of running footsteps behind him. Did the hit man have a partner? he wondered. Stopping in his tracks, he spun around, weapon at the ready, only to stare in disbelief when he saw Riley coming up behind him. Like him, she was soaked to the skin, her long hair wet, her T-shirt molding to the curves of her breasts. Damn, she looked good, he thought. Then he ground his jaw as he realized that she had deliberately disobeyed his order and followed him.
Throwing a quick look over his shoulder, Cade saw the fleeing assailant disappear around a corner in the distance.
Swearing under his breath, he lowered his weapon to glower at Riley. “What are you hell are you doing?” he demanded angrily. “I told you to stay at the safe house!”
“I was afraid that the hit man might come back,” she explained, and then looked around. “Did you get him?”
Cade clenched his jaw. “No!” he growled. “But I was just about to catch him. That was until you showed up. Now, I can’t go after him.”
She hugged herself with her arms and blinked up at him through the rain. “Why not?”
“Because I won’t have you following behind me, and I won’t leave you here in the middle of street, that’s why!” he snapped, shoving his gun back into the holster on his belt. “I can’t believe you came after me!”
“And I can’t believe you let the guy get away!” she shot back. “I thought Marshals were supposed to be in good shape. Why couldn’t you catch up to him? It didn’t seem like he was running that fast to me.”
Cade clenched his jaw at her insult. That was the thanks he got for risking his life to save hers? Could she possibly be any more irritating? God, he couldn’t wait to hand her over to another Marshal. “If I didn’t have to get you out of here, I’d put you over my knee and spank your ass right now for that, you ungrateful little brat!” he ground out.
Riley didn’t even bother to look the least bit contrite as she glared up at him. “In case you haven’t noticed, those spankings of yours don’t have the effect you seem to think,” she told him.
“That’s just because I haven’t spanked you hard enough yet!” he snapped.
Riley opened her mouth to retort, only to shut it again when he firmly took her arm and steered her back the way they had come. Staying at the safe house now was out of the question, he told himself, but they had to go back there long enough to grab his car. Cade’s first instinct was to take Riley to the District Office in Seattle, but then he realized that there probably wouldn’t be anyone there at this time of night. So, he needed to come up with another plan until he could talk to his boss. He could only imagine what Conner was going to have to say when he heard about what had happened.
To Cade’s relief, the local police hadn’t shown up at the safe house yet, which saved him a lot of hassle and explanation. But they would be there soon enough, and he wanted to be gone before they did.
As he led Riley up the street, he noticed that the black SUV that had been parked by the curb was gone. Damn.
He had hoped to get the plate number.
“Where are we going?” Riley asked after they had gotten their stuff from the house and were safely in the car.
Cade gave her a sidelong glance. Neither of them had changed out of their wet clothes, and she was shivering. “A hotel,” he told her, reaching over to turn on the heat.
“Why aren’t we going to another safe house?” she demanded.
His gaze flicked to the rearview mirror to see if they were being followed. “That has to be arranged. It’s not like we have a dozen empty houses in every town, you know,” he said dryly. “And for all I know, they might just want to get you completely out of the area. But I’ll leave that up to someone else. Until then, we’ll just stay in a hotel.”
Riley supposed that made sense. Hugging her arms around herself, she turned her head to stare out the window.
The concept of her life being in danger had always been just that, a concept. But after getting shot at tonight, she realized just how real the danger was. If Cade hadn’t been there to protect her, she had no doubt that she would be dead right now. And she hadn’t even thanked him for what he’d done. Instead, she had berated him for not running after the guy fast enough to catch him. Even as she’d said the words, she’d known they were untrue. If she weren’t an avid runner herself, she never would have been able to keep up with Cade back there. The real reason Cade hadn’t caught the guy was because she had followed him.
Feeling more than a little ashamed at the memory of what she’d said to Cade, she turned her head slightly to look at him beneath her lashes. She really wanted to apologize, to tell him it had been fear and stress that had made her say those things, but for some reason, she couldn’t seem to get the words out. And by the time she did get up the courage to say something, Cade was already pulling into the parking lot of a well-known hotel chain.
Promising herself that she would apologize to him when they got settled into a room, Riley tucked her still slightly wet hair behind an ear in an effort to make herself more presentable as she walked into the hotel lobby with Cade. The Marshal registered for a room quickly, asking for one that was neither near the elevator nor the stairwells. If the desk clerk seemed surprised by the request, he made no comment as he handed Cade two sets of keys.
Having grabbed their bags from the car before they had gone into the hotel, Cade and Riley went directly up to the room. Holding the door open for her, Cade switched on the light in the entryway, and then instructed her to wait there while he closed the drapes.
Hugging herself with her arms, Riley let her gaze wander over the room. With its institutional-style furniture, it looked like every other hotel room she’d ever been in, she thought. Her brow furrowed a little when she saw that there was only one bed, though. She wondered if she should point that out to Cade, but then decided against it. He probably wouldn’t be in the mood.
Pulling the heavy drapes closed, Cade turned back to her. “Why don’t you get out of those wet clothes and go take a shower?” he suggested.
She chewed on her lower lip. A shower did sound really good about now, she thought. She supposed that apology could wait until later. “Okay,” she said, and then, added softly, “You’ll stay here, right?”
He nodded. “I’ll be right out here.”
Relieved to hear that, Riley picked up her bag and walked into the bathroom. Closing the door, she leaned back against it for a long moment. Out in the other room, she could hear Cade talking to his boss on the phone, his deep voice strong and sure as he explained what had happened at the safe house.
Considering that she had just gone through a real live assassination attempt, Riley was surprised she wasn’t
feeling more terrified at the moment. But she was actually remarkably calm, she realized as she stripped off her sodden clothes. Maybe she was just in denial, she told herself. Or maybe it was because she knew she would be safe with Cade. She wondered what it was about him that made her feel that way. None of the other U.S. Marshals guarding her had ever made her feel quite so protected.
Remembering the feel of Cade’s strong arms as he had wrapped them around her to shield her from the hit man’s bullets back at the safe house, Riley let out a sigh and stepped into the tub.
In the bedroom, Cade flipped his cell phone closed with a sigh. Well, that had gone better than he had thought it would. He’d fully expected Conner to ream him a new one for letting the shooter get away, but to Cade’s surprise, his boss had commended him on the way he’d handled the situation. Conner had even been impressed with Cade for having the forethought to take Riley to a hotel.
But Cade wasn’t as impressed, not with the hotel plan, and certainly not with letting the shooter get away. It had been pure luck, not his skill as a Marshal that had kept Riley alive today, he thought bitterly. He never should have left her alone at the safe house to begin with. If he had gotten there just a few minutes later, or if one of those bullets had found their mark...
He swallowed hard. The thought of Riley getting shot, or worse, was too painful to bear thinking about.
As he stood there listening to the sounds of the Riley moving around in the bathroom, he suddenly realized that this assignment wasn’t simply about just keeping a witness in the program safe anymore. He might as well admit it. Somewhere along the way, he had developed feelings for Riley Barnett. Feelings that were growing stronger by the minute. More than being unprofessional, though, which it definitely was, it was pointless, because nothing could ever come of it. Riley was going to be relocated soon, probably hundreds, even thousands of miles away.
