It was like she was a kid again, and Mom’s friend had called to see if her parents really were dead. Shelby had been home alone. She’d taken refuge in her parents’ bed, telling herself that at any minute, her parents would come home. They’d be fine. Dad would laugh and say he decided to treat Mom to a night out and they were sorry they’d forgot to call and tell her.
Instead, she’d cried herself to sleep, passing out so hard she didn’t hear the cops and CPS knocking on her door.
That’d been the worst night of her life.
Until now.
So many questions. Not enough answers.
The guys had left her alone, or as close to it as they dared, for which she was grateful. There was a guard outside her door and more downstairs, but she was alone in the room.
Rusty had promised her food. Kade had promised her a few moments to herself.
It was beyond late. People were heading out to other accommodations or home. Shelby had nowhere else to go.
She’d gone from being the asset in the field to the…what? Princess in a tower? What with Kade’s online notoriety, it was an almost comical parallel. Except she’d never been hemmed in or locked up. She’d never been a target. At least not by anyone who scared her this badly.
If Ogden wanted her, he’d get her. She had no doubt about that. His reach was too wide. Chances were, he had someone here. Under this very roof, even.
She’d been playing in the spider’s web all along.
The skin between her shoulder blades prickled.
They’d said as much earlier, but she hadn’t really processed that thought…
Oh, God…
Shelby sat up.
If someone part of the investigation knew… If they were on the take… Then Ogden would have known about the fakes, the sting, all of it.
The bedroom door swung open.
Her body went cold.
She was defenseless—
Kade entered, two boxes of take-out in his hands.
“Something wrong?” He paused, foot poised to nudge the door shut.
“Lock the door, will you?” Shelby scrambled off and took the food.
Kade didn’t act as if that were an odd request at all. He twisted the flimsy lock, grabbed a sturdy, ladder-back chair and wedged it under the door.
“Do they know who?” she asked.
“We don’t know if there is a who.” Kade cupped her shoulders. “Just to be safe, Rusty and the—whoever is in charge—are shifting people out of the house. It should just be us, Rusty and a few other guys.”
“You should leave.” Shelby needed him to go. To be safe. Far away from this.
“You’re crazy.” Kade bent and pressed his lips to her brow, then took the food from her. “You want to eat now, or later?”
“I can’t eat.” She crossed to the bed and sat on the end.
Kade deposited their food on the table and perched on the mattress next to her. He looped an arm around her waist, giving her no choice but to lean on him.
He’d been doing that since day one.
She didn’t like needing people. It made her weak. And yet, Kade had saved her life, watched her back and still no hesitation. She was bad for him. Wicked even, and for some reason he was determined to be here.
“Why are you still here, Kade? You don’t have to be.” She let herself relax into his hold, snuggling up against his chest. She might not like his answer.
He tugged her closer, folding his arms around her.
“Because this is where I’m supposed to be,” he said.
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe, maybe not. It’s what the cards told me, and…yeah. I’m supposed to be here. I want to be here.”
She pulled away so she could get a look at his face.
“You pretty much left your Romani family, so why are the cards important? You don’t…I mean…”
“Tarot is not Romani. Is that where I learned it? Yeah, same place I learned bujo and a lot of other crap. I don’t believe the cards are magic or tell the future. I do think that…in the right hands, someone with the right intuition can see options. Paths that maybe you didn’t before. It’s not magic. There’s no mythical power to it, just a different way of seeing things.”
“Bujo, you said that before. What is it?”
“Conning people out of money.” He shrugged.
“You used to do that?”
“When you’re twelve years old, and your parents tell you to do something, you don’t ask a lot of questions. Sasha was good at getting jobs done. He was intimidating, even as a kid. Anton could charm the pants off someone, so they wanted to buy whatever he was selling them. I was good at reading people. My intuition…I was just better at making a real connection with people than Anton.”
“Wow. Okay. We strayed pretty far from my question.” Shelby studied Kade’s face.
He wasn’t anything like Anton. Or Sasha. Was that because he’d chosen differently? Or because he was made differently? She couldn’t tell, but there was a difference.
There were times when she could almost read him, like a page in a book. Other moments, she had no idea what he was thinking.
Like now.
The way he was looking at her, she felt as though he were stripping her bare of everything. Even her soul. When he finished, what would be left of her?
“Your eyes are dilated, which means your pulse is high.” He stroked her cheek. “Intuition just means I’m better at spotting your tells. The way you suck in a breath when we touch. How you push people away when there’s the prospect of danger. You’re a classic Lone Wolf. You carry too much weight on your shoulders, and you can’t quite bring yourself to trust that someone else will be there for you.”
Did he see through her so easily?
He pinpointed her so easily it almost hurt.
But he didn’t know everything.
She couldn’t admit how she felt about him, and he couldn’t tell by looking at her.
Everyone she cared for died.
Kade—dying?
No.
She couldn’t begin to consider that as a reality.
This, between them, had to stop. Or she needed to…fuck—what? Die, so he didn’t have to?
She swallowed, those questions knocking around inside of her.
Shelby stood, her legs wobbling, and walked across into the bathroom. Kade’s reflection stared at her, still laying her bare.
There was the truth, staring back at her.
She’d die before she let someone hurt him.
That kind of knowledge, the realization that Kade had crawled that deep inside of her, changed everything. What did she do with that?
She turned on the tap and ran her hands under the cold water for lack of anything better to do. The chill of it seemed to help her think with more clarity, though she still had no idea what to do.
Kade rose, prowling closer.
He braced his arms on either side of the door.
She didn’t meet his gaze in the glass, but she didn’t have to. That look was burned into her mind. It was there even when she closed her eyes. She didn’t need his intuition to understand what he was saying without words.
“I need you to stop,” she said.
Shelby pressed her now-ice-cold hands to her cheeks, then the back of her neck.
How could Kade be so loud without saying a single damn word?
It was like she could feel him all around her, a breath away from calling her on her bullshit.
Kade’s arms wrapped around her, hugging her back to his chest. His cheek rested on top of her head.
“You want to know why I’m still here?” he asked.
“No.”
“I care about you, Shelby.”
“You shouldn’t. I’m fucked up. See what I got you into?”
“No, you aren’t.” Kade turned her in the cage of his arms. “Look at me.”
So he could peel back her skin? No, thanks.
“He
y?” Kade cupped her cheek.
“Kade—no.” She pulled out of his grasp, but he kept coming. He wouldn’t leave, and damn her, but more than a small part of her was glad for it. No one had ever fought her when she pushed. No one had ever…ever wanted her that badly. She turned, and he moved with her.
How could a hug be deadly?
Pieces of her broke lose. They cut her insides to shreds.
He couldn’t care about her.
She was toxic. He’d said as much himself. He couldn’t care for her. She couldn’t love him.
Wait.
She…
No.
That wasn’t right. It couldn’t be real.
She didn’t love him.
That was silly.
Kade tipped her chin up, his fingers swiping tears off her cheeks.
He pressed his lips to hers. Tender. Gentle.
Who couldn’t understand a touch like this?
Even Shelby, with her fucked up history of relationships, knew.
God damn it, she loved him.
This was going to change everything. Was changing everything. Hell, he’d been shifting her ever since that damn moment in the beat-up car. She’d thought she’d been conning him, feeling him out, and all along she was the idiot. This attraction, the chemistry, went both ways. Which meant…
Oh, shit.
Shelby buried her face against his chest and covered the rest with her hands.
Kade was a good guy. The very best.
And he cared for her. He loved her. She didn’t need to hear the words to know that. A man didn’t run into danger for a woman he simply liked. If she stayed, if they continued this, Kade would do something he’d regret, based on his misguided emotions. She’d watched it happen to other couples, other marks, but this was real. And that made it so much worse.
Her parents had loved each other too much. They’d been so wrapped up in each other hardly anything—or anyone—else had mattered. Had that contributed to their deaths? If Shelby and Kade’s crazy theory was right, and Ogden had been in love with her mother, could they be falling down the same rabbit hole? Blinded by emotion, they would be vulnerable to Ogden’s attack. Twisting them around. Making them do things because of the other.
Kade’s hands massaged her shoulders, stroked down her back. There was a need in the way he touched her. Her body resonated with it. Skin he hadn’t touched warmed, her body reacting to him on a cellular level. She’d never felt this for anyone else.
Love would kill him, or her. They wouldn’t both survive this. She wasn’t ignorant enough to believe that everything would work out okay.
Shelby had to protect him. People who loved her died. She couldn’t live knowing she might have contributed to his death.
What could she do?
Would Ogden let Kade go if she gave herself up?
She’d do it. Without a shadow of a doubt.
There was still that email she’d used. In the very beginning. If she could get her hands on a cell phone or a laptop, she could initiate the negotiations. Because that’s what it would be—her life for his. The FBI couldn’t protect her. Too much red tape. Besides, she wasn’t that valuable to them. Except as bait. But the FBI wasn’t cutthroat enough to do what had to be done, and so she would pay the price, they’d lose Ogden, and Ogden would retaliate and kill Kade.
She’d seen it happen before.
It wouldn’t be different this time.
Maybe she could work things both ways, save Kade and deliver something of consequence to Rusty as an apology.
“Where are you?” Kade stroked her hair.
“I’m right here.”
“No, you’re not.” He cupped her chin.
This time, she let him lift her face. If she was going to offer herself as the lamb for slaughter, the least she could have was this. Being with him. Looking at him.
“I don’t want to talk anymore.” The less she said, the better.
“We don’t have to talk.” The simmering heat in his gaze made it hard to breathe.
If she pushed, he’d back off. They’d eat. They’d sleep. But she didn’t want that. She wanted him. Now. Because once she put this plan into motion, who knew how fast it would go?
Shelby pushed up on tiptoes, pressing her mouth to his. Kade sank into the kiss, gathering her to his chest. Her plan of seduction turned against her. His mouth was so damn talented.
Kade walked her back until she ran into the vanity.
He made love to her mouth, holding her face in both hands.
She didn’t know when or how this thing with Ogden would be resolved, which meant she needed to treat every moment with Kade like it was their last.
“I want you to smile,” he whispered against her lips.
“I just want you to fuck me.” She grasped his belt, loosening the catch.
“Do you, now?”
Kade tabbed open her jeans. She shimmied her hips, helping him strip her pants down to her thighs. He cupped her, his lips curling into a grin at the first touch.
Yeah, he turned her on.
She shifted against his hand and he moved with her, stroking her folds.
He took a step toward her, wrapped his other arm around her waist and lifted her onto the counter.
Kade might play at being the gentleman, but there was still a bad boy in there. He hadn’t completely shaken off the mantle he’d been born with, it just came out to play very rarely. She wouldn’t tell him she liked it, though. Her luck she’d find herself tossed over his shoulder more often, not that she’d mind that. There just wasn’t time to grow into a relationship like that.
Because that would ever happen.
Kade slid his fingers inside of her and her vision blurred. She gripped the counter and spread her legs as wide as she could. He edged closer, his lips whispering up her neck.
She wanted to touch him, to feel him now.
Shelby grasped the front of his jeans, ripping them open. His erection strained at his boxers, as eager and ready as she was. He hissed the moment she wrapped her hand around him. Her grin turned into a gasp as he thrust his fingers inside of her.
Kade’s mouth covered hers. She groaned, his fingers twisting inside of her. Her toes curled, and the muscles in her abdomen fluttered.
She nipped his lower lip. He jerked in her palm. She chuckled, but it turned into a gasp. The orgasm took her unaware, flooding her body with endorphins, her muscles going lax, warmth seeping into her.
“Oh, yeah,” Kade whispered.
He eased his hand out of her and wiped it on his jeans. He pulled his wallet out with the other hand and flipped it open.
Shelby pulled her shirt up, but didn’t get it completely off before Kade’s groan had her freezing in place.
Not a pleasure laced sound of promise, more like…regret.
26.
“What?” She peered out of her shirt.
“I don’t have protection.”
She opened her mouth to say, “So what?”
It wasn’t like she expected a long life. But, what if she wound up pregnant? What about the child? If Ogden wanted her, a child would be the ultimate leverage.
“Oh…well shit.” She couldn’t risk it. Not now. Because a baby would also make Kade a target. “Hold that thought.”
“We could just…”
“What? Snuggle?” She patted his chest and chuckled. “Give me a second.”
“Where are you going?”
“Rusty’s still around.” She slid off the vanity, her orgasm-weak legs somehow managing to hold her upright. She pulled her jeans and panties up.
“You’re going to ask an FBI agent for a condom?”
“Well, yeah. I mean, blow jobs are fun and all, I just had other ideas.” Besides, Rusty wasn’t just an agent. He was a friend. And friends helped each other out. “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere.”
Shelby slipped out of the bedroom before Kade could protest.
She’d make this memorable.
Rusty and two other agents stood in the kitchen, going over something.
She entered the kitchen, checked out the fridge.
Her skin seemed to vibrate and she curled her toes in her boots. Was this what being in love felt like? It was all so confusing. She wanted to fuck Kade, run away, never leave his side, scream, laugh, cry. There was no rational thought process, just…crazy. She was batshit crazy.
“All right, thanks, guys. Have a good night,” Rusty said. “What are you doing, Shelby?”
She closed the fridge and smiled. Rusty studied her, amusement curling his lips.
“What?” he asked.
“You…” She crossed to the counter and glanced down at the remains of someone’s dinner. “Wouldn’t have rubbers by any chance, would you?”
“Seriously? That’s what you’re asking me for?”
“Hey, a girl’s got needs.” She shrugged.
“I’m a damn good friend for this. Hold on.” He sighed and headed for the stairs. “I’m coming down here—not up there. Stay put.”
“I will.”
Shelby leaned her elbows on the counter. Having a plan, knowing what she wanted to do, didn’t make the uncertainty of it all easier. If anything, the idea that soon she’d be actively sabotaging Rusty’s investigation would hit her and then the guilt would start. But if it meant keeping Kade safe, Rusty would have to deal.
She picked up the mostly-empty cartons and began clearing off the counter.
Under it all, a white tablet lay face down, the back smeared with some kind of sauce.
She stared at the emblem on the back and exhaled.
Opportunity sitting right there.
She glanced at the stairs, but didn’t hear Rusty.
Shelby turned the tablet over and powered it on.
Password protected.
That hadn’t stopped her before.
She could leave the tablet here and go forward with her intended plan of crazy goodbye sex, and then contact Ogden, or she could take advantage of this. Here and now.
She didn’t need sex to know that Kade loved her. She needed to keep him alive.
Shelby took an unopened toothpick and hit the tablet’s recovery button. As soon as the screen flashed, she ducked into the hall bath.
Her Prince (Twisted Royals #2) Page 23
