The second one cleared his throat. “Maybe we should read you your rights.”
“Me?” Cade bolted to his feet. “On what charges?”
“Attempted murder. You have the right to remain silent …”
Cade blocked everything out. He gazed at Andie and her mother, both of whom seemed shocked. The cold metal of the handcuffs were too tight for his wrists, and his left hand throbbed from the broken fingers.
This was all wrong. Everything. He fell to his knees and closed his eyes.
* * *
Andie’s tongue was stuck in the back of her throat. She held onto Bret and shuddered. How could they charge Cade? With what evidence?
The police officers pulled Cade to his feet. They spoke into their shoulder mics to report the arrest. They were taking him away from her.
“Wait.” Andie rushed toward Cade. “Anyone could have put the heroin into the diaper bag. How do you know it wasn’t me?”
“Are you confessing?” one of the officers asked.
“No, I didn’t, but you can’t arrest Cade. He loves his mother.”
The other officer raised his hand to shut her up. “We have other evidence. You can call his lawyer.”
She reached out and touched Cade, but he shrugged away from her. “Go back to New York. Go live your life, Andie. Thank you for everything you and your mother have done for me.”
“This isn’t right.” She clutched his arm and shoved the baby at him. “They can’t take you away from Bret. You’re all he has.”
“Someone hates me, Andie. Someone’s out to get me.”
“I’ll figure it out. I swear I will.”
“No, you need to leave before you get caught in this.” Cade kissed Bret’s forehead, then leaned over and kissed her. “Bye. I’m breaking up with you, so please, go back home.”
“Breaking up with me? But why?” Andie’s heart shattered and her chest tightened. “What about Bret? Who’s going to take care of him?”
“He’s not ours, Andie.” Cade’s eyes filled with tears. “His parents can always take him back.”
“But I love you, Cade. I can’t let you go.” She hugged him, pressing Bret between them. “We should be a family together.”
“You deserve better. My mother said for you to stop undervaluing yourself. She thanks your mother too.” He kissed Bret one more time. “This is from your nana.”
Behind her, her mother snorted. “About time he got something right.”
Andie wanted to kick her mother. Even the police officers had stood back to allow them to say farewell. But she wouldn’t ruin the moment. “I deserve you, Cade. You’re innocent and we’re going to all be happy together.”
“Ahem, we better get going,” one of the officers said. “You can visit him once we process him.”
“No, Andie, don’t come visit. It’s over. We’re over. Finished. Go home.” His voice was so strong and firm, it terrified her. Did he no longer want her? For real?
“No, my home is with you.” Andie refused to let go. She clutched him and pressed her face into his chest.
“Okay, I’ve waited long enough.” Her mother grabbed her by the shoulder. “Listen to him, Andie. He doesn’t want you, and I have evidence he lied to you all along.”
Cade jerked away from her while her mother pried her hands from him.
“What are you talking about?” he muttered. “I never lied to Andie. Ever.”
“Oh yeah?” She waved an envelope and slid out a piece of paper. “I had you and Bret tested. A perfect match. You’re Bret’s father. Dick Davis was covering up for you. Look for yourself.”
The piece of paper wavered in front of Cade’s eyes, but the result could not be disputed. He’d seen paternity test reports before, so he skipped the table of markers and indices. On the center of the page was a box with the damning numbers: Probability of Paternity 99.99%.
Bret was his son, but how could it be?
[to be continued]
Look for the exciting conclusion to Cade and Andie’s love story in Book 5 of Intercepted by Love
Cade is arrested and thrown in jail. To save Andie from danger, he tells her they’re through, done. Instead of abandoning Cade, Andie is drawn into a sting operation to prove his innocence.
After Cade gets out of jail, he finds Andie and blows her cover, putting her in more danger than ever. Can Andie and Cade unravel all the forces conspiring to keep them apart and intercept the love they both deserve?
—
Be sure to pick up Intercepted by Love: Part 5 where all is revealed and see how Andie and Cade get to that happy place they so deserve.
The Remingtons: Leap, Laugh, Love
If you loved Melissa Foster’s Love in Bloom Series: The Remingtons, you’ll find your favorite Remington Twins, Dex and Siena in Rachelle’s Kindle Worlds story: Leap, Laugh, Love.
What’s more dangerous, a man-eating shark or a shark-eating man? Kerry Mills, a professional surfer, meets Finn Meriwether, Army Ranger, on vacation at Dex and Siena Remington’s Montauk beach cottage when a shark attacks. Will love bite, too?
Kerry Mills is a professional surfer who travels the circuits of the world’s surfing competitions until a broken heart and a shark encounter send her reeling to a tiny beachfront cottage. Focusing on her recovery, she has no interest in a rebound relationship. That is, until a tattooed hunk she spies in an outdoor shower asks her to teach him to surf. Suddenly, romance doesn’t look so bad.
Finn Meriwether used to be the life of the party and the class clown, but years of war in the Middle East have replaced his smile with a deep frown. He’s overdue for a vacation and heads for his friend’s seaside cottage for some well-deserved R&R.
Kerry soon discovers that sharks are the least of her worries. Her heart is at risk of being swallowed by a man whose grief and guilt overrides his ability to live and love. Can Kerry and Finn rise above their fears and take a leap for true love?
—
Pick up your copy of The Remingtons: Leap, Laugh, Love today and take it to the beach. Will you go into the water?
Roaring Hot! Excerpt
If you love excitement and dangerous sports, you’ll love Roaring Hot! - Billionaire Biker Romance - a story combining motorcycle racing, reality shows, and Zen Buddhism. On the surface, Teo Alexiou is an arrogant playboy who gets what he wants. He meets his match in actress Amy Suzuki, a woman he hired to play his girlfriend. The fun starts when he falls for her, and suddenly, the billionaire bad boy is wishing she’d cut the act and show him her true heart.
Roaring Hot! - excerpt
Copyright 2014 © Rachelle Ayala
Chapter 1
“I’m not afraid of Japanese girls.” Twenty-seven-year-old Teo Alexiou blinked in disbelief at his grandmother’s onscreen image.
Oba-chan grinned toothily through the chat window. “Then why haven’t you dated any?”
“Haven’t gotten around to it. Too busy enjoying the women of the world.”
“Last I looked, Japan’s still part of the world,” Oba-chan said in her matter of fact voice, the one she’d used on Teo whenever he was too stubborn to pick up his toys or refused to wash his hands before dinner.
Teo wiped his fingers through his short-cropped hair. “Take a number. I’m still working my way through Europe and Latin America.”
It wasn’t that he had anything against Japanese women. After all, he was part Japanese, thanks to Oba-chan, but knowing his grandmother, any dalliance with a Japanese woman would carry expectations—expectations a young, single, swinging motorcycle racer was unprepared to fulfill.
“You’re taking too long,” Oba-chan said. “I’m not getting any younger. Do you think it makes me happy to see you with all those party girls? Two or three on each arm. It shames me that your father didn’t instill more honor into you.”
Why would his father, a Greek billionaire, waste his time instilling honor and respect when the world was full of jets, yachts, and continents of sexy women?
Being traumatized at such a young age, try three, made Teo a crazy bastard. If it wasn’t for Oba-chan and racing, he would have joined the ranks of the drug addled billionaire boys’ clubs.
“What do you want me to do?” He regretted his words as soon as they left his mouth. Oba-chan had an uncanny way of extracting her pound of flesh from anything he promised.
Her catlike grin elongated as she stroked her cheek with one long fingernail. “My eightieth birthday’s coming up. Your father’s thinking of surprising me with a gala party at one of his properties. I prefer Beverly Hills over Paris. It’s going to be swank.”
Sweat erupted under Teo’s collar, and he swallowed hard. She was setting him up. No doubt. The longer her prefaces, the bigger the deal. That woman was seriously scary. How would she know what his father was planning?
“I can go to a party, no problem,” Teo said. He made a show of glancing at his watch and yawned. “It’s getting late here. I have a race tomorrow.”
“I know.” Oba-chan leaned into the webcam, making her face take the shape of a wide-eyed guppy. “Move your camera around. I want to see your bed. Is it occupied?”
He swung his front-facing camera at his empty bed. What did she think? That he’d distract himself the night before a race? Hadn’t she taught him to quiet his mind and meditate? Preserve his concentration?
One micro-second was all it took to wipe out and crash. Of course after the race, all bets were off and his bed became a revolving door.
“Good boy, you’re redeemable,” Oba-chan said. “As I was saying, my birthday party is in three months. My challenge, should you be brave enough to accept, is for you to bring a girlfriend.”
Teo’s stomach took a flying loop. Girlfriend was not in his vocabulary. Hook-up, vacation fling, one-nighter, friends with benefits, groupie, yes, groupies were the best, they even came in pairs or triplets.
“A date to your party? Piece of cake.” Teo put on his most charming grandson smile.
“Not just any date, a relationship. From now until my birthday, you’re to find and hold onto a real girlfriend. Got it?”
“Yeah, well, sure. How do you define a real relationship?” Prickly heat wiggled under his skin like the feet of a million centipedes. Even though he was only one-quarter Japanese, he still respected his elders and wanted to please his grandmother.
“I have my ways,” Oba-chan deadpanned. “I’ll know if it’s not real. Don’t cross me. Three months. Think you can stick to one woman?”
He heard the sound of knuckles cracking, something his grandmother always did before applying the belt of correction back in the days when she brought him up. What she was asking him was impossible given his sport.
“I’m on the road, a different race circuit every two weeks. Qatar, Australia, Malaysia, Argentina.”
Oba-chan wagged her finger. “You have all this technology and oodles of cash. Surely you can afford to fly her to your races. I think you’re scared.”
No way. He liked women he could take or leave, but he wasn’t afraid. He just didn’t have the time or energy to invest in a relationship.
“I can afford a lot of things,” he said. “Sticking to one woman isn’t something I want.”
“It’s because of your mother, isn’t it?” Oba-chan’s nostrils flared. “You have to remember, she didn’t leave you, she left your father.”
Same difference. She’d left both of them, except Papa hadn’t cared. Teo’s heart twisted with that old, familiar pain. He didn’t want to be disrespectful, but the conversation was over. He’d agree and deal with it later.
“I’ll do it.” He puffed up his lips. “Only until your birthday, then I’m breaking it off.”
“Fair enough. I expect you to … how do you kids say it these days … to ‘hook up’ with someone right away.”
“Hai, Oba-chan!” He saluted her. “Anything else?”
“Nope, she doesn’t even have to be Japanese. Sayonara.”
* * *
Amy Suzuki dipped her manicured fingertips in Tabasco sauce. How the heck was she going to land an acting job if she kept chewing her nails to the bone?
“Yow, that looks lethal,” Peter, her roommate, said. “It’s the same principle with cat repellant, except it won’t work if you actually like hot, spicy food.”
“Who’s going to be there again?” Amy wiped her fingers with a napkin and cinched up her mesh swimming bag. Crashing a pool party held by one of the biggest directors in Hollywood called for subtlety. Of course it helped that Peter was one of the lackeys, or as he called himself, a PA, or personal assistant. More like personal ass-kisser, but hey, at least he knew the gatekeepers at Amanda Silver’s pool party.
Peter snapped a towel at her. “All the most influential directors and agents, not to mention the Queen Bee herself.”
Amanda was as old as Hollywood, but a nod from her could mean a bit part in a miniseries, or a stint on a cable network drama, a decent start.
“Sure this is going to work?” Amy tugged her bikini straps in place. “I need to land a part soon or I’m on the streets.”
Peter quirked a flamboyant eyebrow. “Did I hear you right? You’re finally going to let me pimp you?”
“Stop it!” She slapped him playfully. Peter, her best friend, was always joking around, especially since he’d covered her rent since graduation. Rent she was determined to pay back.
Amy’s stomach curled with anxiety. Her parents weren’t happy she hadn’t landed a job, as if anyone other than engineers and business students had jobs lined up directly out of college. It was either find a “real” acting gig, or go back home and live under their thumb. Cutting off funds was a sure way to add pressure.
“Waterproof mascara coming up.” Peter waved the wand in her face.
Amy obediently leaned over the kitchen counter and let him deftly apply the lash lengthening strokes. She should be counted lucky to have a roomie interested in cosmetology, although here, in Los Angeles, men were always perfecting their makeup skills on anyone who’d let them.
“While we wait for that to dry, let’s do the moisturizer.” Peter squeezed a dollop on his fingertip and dabbed it over her face. “You’ve such pretty, porcelain skin. Don’t want to ruin it.”
“I’ll stay under the umbrellas,” Amy said. Where other actresses sported the tans needed to portray beach girls, Amy was of Japanese descent and the roles she tried for required paler geisha-like skin.
“Not with the sunscreen I’m about to apply.” Peter bent under the counter and pulled out a supersized container of SPF gadzillion sunblock.
For the next forty minutes, Peter covered Amy from head to toe with sunscreen, then finished with her foundation, eye shadow, and lip gloss.
“Ta dum! The ultimate natural look, makeup without looking made up,” he proclaimed with a loud smack, kissing his own palm. “You’re fit to be the next princess on Game of Thrones.”
“Only if they write in a Japanese one,” Amy grumbled, flipping her sunglasses over her eyes.
The movie industry these days were no longer interested in martial arts films, preferring epic fantasies which unfortunately were populated by Caucasian fairies, elves, hobbits, dwarves, and wizards.
Peter grabbed her hand and twirled her around. “You’re going to be a star. I know it. Let’s get our asses to the party and wow them.”
[end of excerpt]
To read on, please pick up Roaring Hot today!
Also by Rachelle Ayala
Michal’s Window
Roaring Hot!
The Remingtons: Leap, Laugh, Love
Chance for Love
Broken Build
Hidden Under Her Heart
Knowing Vera
Sánchez Sisters
Taming R
omeo
Claiming Carlos
Jewells in Love
Whole Latte Love
Sports Romances
Played by Love
Playing the Rookie
Playing Without Rules
Intercepted by Love
Christmas Novellas
A Father for Christmas
Christmas Flirt
Christmas Stray
Non-Fiction
Romance In A Month
366 Ways to Know Your Character
Acknowledgments
Intercepted by Love was designed from the start to be a serial novel delivered in parts. I had a lot of fun preparing the cliffhanger and structuring the story this way. Of course, my beta readers and fellow writers in my Romance In A Month writer’s group helped me with early feedback and comments to hone this story for the hopefully surprising cliffhangers.
Many thanks to: Jessica Cassidy, Amber McCallister, Sarah Miles, Debbie Rosa, Sharon Coady, Marie Smith, Keli Morgan, Tope Awofeso, Racquel Reck, Rebecca Austin, Terri Merkel, Corrisa Palfrey, and Dana Anderson for their awesome feedback as well as guidance while I was writing Cade and Andie’s stories. Their comments and remarks helped me know whether I was hitting the right note or not. I’d also like to thank Kimberly Dawn for proofreading.
Thanks also my high school football team who instilled in me a great love and respect for athletes. We were the Banning Pilots, All City Champions, and I’m proud to have been one of the team managers and friends with the wonderful guys on our team.
I will especially miss my friends, Joe Montijo (#10), Leroy Irvin (#23), and Ronnie Settles (#37), who have passed on way too early. This story is dedicated to them, although all characters and events inside are purely fictional. Thanks guys for being the heroes we looked up to, and being humble and down to earth. Go Pilots!
Intercepted by Love: Part Four: A Football Romance (Playing the Field Book 4) Page 16
