Cooper's Promise

by Liliana Hart

  ***

  “Oh, baby,” Shane, Cade’s youngest brother, said, still laughing at Cade’s expense. “I think I’m in love. Are you sure you don’t need a roommate?”

  “Shut up and let’s get the rest of this stuff inside.”

  Cade hefted his flat screen TV off the truck and headed inside, ignoring his brothers’ laughter. He should have known they wouldn’t be able to drop it. They were like pit bulls the moment they sensed weakness.

  The urge to go next door and apologize for his behavior was a heavy weight on his chest. He’d hurt her, and there’d been no need for it. When he’d mentioned being left at the altar, her face had paled and her blue eyes had lost the sparkle he’d found perversely arousing when she’d been arguing with him. It was as if the life had all but been sucked out of her. Hell, he’d actually enjoyed watching her in action. It wasn’t often he ran across a man who had the courage to argue with him, much less a woman.

  Cade scowled as he overheard the conversation from the other room.

  “She’d never go for you, Shane,” Declan said. “You’re the runt of the litter.” Cade thought it ironic since Shane was every bit as large as his two older brothers. “A woman with a body like that could only appreciate a real man.”

  And boy did she have a body, Cade thought, irritated his brothers had noticed. She was his neighbor, dammit. Didn’t that mean he had some kind of claim? He shook his head in disbelief. His brothers were turning him into an idiot. He wasn’t about to claim any woman.

  He headed back to the truck for another load, but they followed him with their incessant chatter, as if they were women instead of warriors. It didn’t matter she had the kind of body that had always been his weakness. He liked curves. No, he loved curves. And she had assets that would fill his hands nicely—breasts that were luscious and full and an ass that would look spectacular bent across his lap as he spanked the rounded globes until they glowed red.

  Dammit. He’d be coming in his jeans if he kept up that avenue of thought. The distraction of a sexy neighbor wasn’t what he needed at the moment, and she wouldn’t be an easy woman to get involved with. She’d have expectations, and she wouldn’t hesitate to give her opinion if he did something stupid. That is, if his first impression of her was correct—and his first impressions were always correct. The best thing he could do was stay far away, despite the erection that hadn’t disappeared since she’d twitched those curves across the scrawny patch of grass between their houses.

  “You know, when I was checking the security around the house last night I noticed you could see right into her bedroom from the back deck,” Shane said, shaking his head in mock sympathy at Declan. “It’ll be totally wasted on Iceman here. But I can certainly appreciate attributes like that on a woman. And did you see all of that hair? It’s enough to make a man want to beg.”

  “Fifty bucks says she’s not a real blonde,” Declan said.

  “Oh, you’re on, brother. I’m sure if I stand on the deck long enough I’ll be able to tell you one way or the other.”

  “What the hell is wrong with you two?” Cade bit out. “You’re reducing yourselves to becoming peeping Toms? Just go to the nearest bar and pick up the first blonde you see. You’ll be asking for a headache messing with the one next door. I can already tell she’s going to be a pain in the ass.”

  “Not if you become a pain in hers first,” Shane said, wiggling his eyebrows.

  Cade’s brothers were well aware of the kind of sexual appetite he had. He was the kind of man who demanded everything from his lovers. His thought had always been that there should never be anything sexual between a couple that was considered too dirty or taboo, and he stayed far away from women that didn’t know the score going into an affair. There was no way in hell his neighbor wouldn’t run away in horror at the things he wanted to do to her.

  “And she does have a fine ass,” Shane added.

  “I’m going to kill you,” Cade said.

  Shane ignored the threat and said, “I swear there’s something about her that’s familiar though. I’ve seen her somewhere before. It’s hard to forget someone that looks like she does, but don’t worry, it’ll come to me.”

  “Maybe she’s on one of those Girls Gone Wild videos,” Declan threw in.

  Cade tuned his brothers out and thought about the neighbor. He’d run a background check on her, as well as everyone else on the street. Old habits were hard to break. And it wouldn’t be long before Shane realized who she was.

  Her name was Bayleigh Scott, and she owned a lingerie boutique in the square by the university. She was twenty-eight and came from a military family—a large family—just as he had, and one of her brothers was on the same SEAL team as Shane.

  Cade knew Brady Scott in passing, and he knew her other brother, Brant almost as well as he knew his own brothers, but there was no way that either of her brothers would be happy if Cade pursued Bayleigh. Hell, he’d feel the same way if one of his buddies showed interest in his sister, Darcy.

  The agents and SEALS he called friends were too hard for women like Bayleigh and Darcy—men whose lives consisted of constant danger didn’t have qualms about adventuring into the darker sides of sex, especially after coming off a mission.

  The background check he’d done on Bayleigh didn’t do justice to what he’d just seen with his own eyes. The file hadn’t said she had a body that would make him instantly hard. His cock had almost burst from his jeans the moment she’d pranced across his driveway in those tiny shorts and thin tank top. She hadn’t been wearing a bra, and even now his hands wanted to touch and his mouth wanted to taste.

  She’d looked him over as thoroughly as he’d looked at her, and she’d been almost entranced by the sight of his erection. Her tongue had dashed out to lick her lower lip and he swore he almost felt the motion along his cock. There’d been interest in her eyes, no doubt about it.

  It had been too damned long since he’d been laid. When the itch took over or the dreams of Carmen became too frequent, he found the nearest woman who would have him and fucked himself into oblivion, until the past was buried again and the itch was gone. It was the best he could do with the hand in life he’d been dealt. He never expected anything more, and wasn’t prepared to give anything more in return. Life was sometimes a bitch that way. But the thought of going to another woman wasn’t nearly as appealing as it should have been. Hell, Bayleigh Scott was already complicating his life.

  ***

  Two hours later, the truck was unloaded and furniture was in a semblance of where it was supposed to be. Cade looked at the clock and decided there wasn’t a thing wrong with having beer in the morning if you hadn’t been to bed yet. He took two more into his bedroom at the back of the house and handed them to his brothers, who were putting together an enormous four-poster bed that had belonged to his great-grandmother.

  “You don’t have the sex life for a bed like this,” Shane said, sucking on his skinned knuckles.

  The bed in question was dark and ornate and had been hand-carved by his great-grandfather MacKenzie. It also had to weigh close to a thousand pounds. His Grandpop had been a hell of a carpenter. There was a large matching armoire, with a hidden panel large enough to fit a rifle and two handguns, and two nightstands that held knives sharp enough to cut a blade of grass. His Grandpop also believed that it never hurt to be prepared.

  “You whine like a woman,” Cade said, handing out the beers.

  He went to the large window and looked out at his sloping backyard. It led to a small creek that ran behind all the houses on his side of the street, and huge trees grew from the sides of the bank. Sunlight shone through the branches and dappled across his scarred hardwood floors. There wasn’t a fence between his house and his sexy neighbor’s, so he was able to see all of her yard as well.

  She had a hot tub under a large arbor that was shaded by thick tendrils of ivy and some kind of big bloomed flowers he’d never seen before. Candles were set out around the hot tub
, and he couldn’t help the slow curl of lust that wound through his body as he thought of the heated bubbles kissing her naked flesh, the candlelight glinting off her hair.

  He shook his head at his undisciplined thoughts and turned his gaze to the narrow path that ran between their two houses. Finding the ability to swallow the cold beer was getting harder, and he felt his lungs close up at his discovery. If he stood at just the right angle he could see into the big bay window of her bedroom and through the ridiculous excuse for lace curtains she’d hung. She was going to kill him. He wouldn’t have to wait on Miguel del Fuego to hunt him down after all. Death by lust. It was a hell of a thing to have to tell one’s mother.

  “I think someone’s got a crush on the babe next door,” Shane whispered loud enough that Cade had to roll his eyes. “Maybe we should call the police and tell them she has a peeping Tom.”

  Declan shook his head. “He is the police. It’s a sad world we’re living in when those sworn to uphold the law are the ones breaking it.”

  “Speaking of your new job—” Shane said.

  “Were we?” Cade asked, his expression fierce.

  The last thing he wanted to discuss was his new job with the Fort Worth police department. It was a ruse plain and simple, but no one was supposed to know about it but his former Director at the DEA. His experience with the agency had made the transition easy, and the police department had shuffled him straight into working Vice with little fuss, though they were suspicious of his motives for jumping ship. The only thing that had come into question was his accuracy with a weapon.

  Several years before he’d been shot in the hand stopping a drug shipment from leaving his hometown of Surrender, Montana and crossing the border into Canada. His cousin, Cooper, had been working the job with him, and the bastards had gotten off a lucky shot. The bullet had passed right through the tendons in his hand, and the DEA had had no choice but to stick him with desk duty until he could prove himself useful again. He still hadn’t gotten full use of his right hand back, but he’d worked his ass off with his other hand until he was almost as accurate a shot.

  Then just as things had started to go his way and the DEA had handed him the assignment of a lifetime to infiltrate Miguel del Fuego’s cartel, things had gone to shit and his life had fallen apart completely.

  He’d spent three years undercover in the del Fuego cartel, and the DEA had given him a background sure to make him attractive to a man like Miguel. All traces of his real life and family had been completely wiped from the system, and for all intents and purposes, he was the son of Miguel’s dead cartel rival, a part-time terrorist, and a full-time gunrunner. He’d been just exactly the kind of man del Fuego had wanted to breed with his only daughter. Sick bastard.

  Cade still didn’t know how his cover had been blown—how del Fuego had known to bug his room that night. Someone had betrayed him. Once Miguel had discovered Cade’s true identity and his position within the DEA, he’d had to go into deep hiding for almost two years until most of the major players in the cartel had been taken down. But del Fuego was still alive, and Cade knew they hadn’t snuffed out the cartel completely.

  It wasn’t his problem anymore. He’d chosen a new path—a new life. The DEA hadn’t wanted to let him go, but he hadn’t given them a choice. This was the last job he’d ever work for the agency—though technically he wasn’t working for them, being more of a consultant than an actual agent—and they weren’t happy about it.

  He fully expected for the cartel to hunt him down. Knew they’d come after him. But if Cade’s plan worked out like he thought it would, then he’d be luring them right into his trap and get to take them out once and for all. Then he’d turn in his badge once and for all.

  Cade helped his brothers lift the king-size feather mattress and put it on the bed frame, and he managed to ignore their silent looks to each other. He’d gotten good at ignoring the looks his family gave him every time they were together. They were worried. His time undercover in del Fuego’s cartel had changed him, and there was nothing he could do to bring his old self back. He wasn’t as quick to laugh or tease as he once was. There was a darkness inside of him that would never go away. Too much exposure to true evil did that to a person over time.

  “This is a good move for you,” Shane said, ignoring the warning look Cade gave him. “You’re still doing what you love.”

  Not even his brothers knew that his current job was just another cover, though he had a suspicion that Declan was in on it. His brother seemed to know everything going on all the time.

  “And now you have a house and a sexy neighbor,” Shane said, shrugging. “It’s very mature. You’re thirty-six years old. It’s about time you settled down.”

  “Enough, Shane,” Cade growled, thoughts of the future and children he’d never gotten to share with Carmen clouding his vision. “I don’t want to settle down in some picture perfect life of what you think would make me happy. I’ll do my fucking job. I might even do my fucking neighbor. But I’ll be damned if I bring some woman and a bunch of kids into the misery that is my life. You think del Fuego or his men will ever stop looking for me? My family would never be safe. I’m a wanted man.”

  “Bullshit, Cade,” Shane said. “There have been no reports on activity again in the cartel. You’re just afraid to live again. For the last couple of years you’ve done nothing but be miserable to yourself and everyone around you because of what happened to Carmen del Fuego. I know you loved her. But you might as well be dead the way you’re living now. You’re trying to get yourself killed. You think we’re too stupid to know that you’re setting yourself up as bait?”

  Shane was always the more hotheaded of his brothers, and he never knew when to shut his mouth. Cade could see Declan shaking his head from the corner of his eye and moving into position to get between them if things got violent. And Cade knew that Dec wouldn’t pull his punches if he was forced to break up a fight.

  Cade had worked with his middle brother on several ops over the years, and Cade still had no idea what branch of the government Dec worked for or exactly what he did. He only knew that his brother always showed up when he needed to, and he wasn’t someone to mess with.

  “It’s my life, Shane. They’re my memories, my regrets, and it’s my fucking guilt. I’ll do what I need to, and I’ll do the job I’ve been given. Even if it means I spend my last breath watching the cartel come to an end. Don’t ever expect anything more from me. I don’t need the hero worship you had for me as a kid. I know my duty.”

  “You’re sure as fuck not anyone’s hero anymore, Cade,” Shane said. “You think it doesn’t break Mom’s heart every time she sees what you’ve become? Miguel del Fuego might be the most unimaginable bastard to ever walk the face of the planet, but even he’s got life in him that you don’t have. Because he has a purpose. His purpose might be to kill you, but it’s a purpose all the same. What the hell do you have?”

  “A brother who doesn’t know when to shut up.”

  Shane grabbed his shirt off the floor and jerked it on, and Cade followed him into the living room, feeling the acid churn in his gut as his brother grabbed his duffle bag and slipped on his sunglasses. He wanted to stop him. To apologize. To just do—something. But he didn’t say anything.

  “You know what the shitty thing is, Cade?” Shane asked as he turned back, his eyes hidden behind his glasses. “It’s like your whole family died with Carmen that day. I don’t know why the hell we all bother. I’m leaving on assignment tomorrow. I’ll be back in country in six weeks.”

  Shane waved a hand negligently as he walked out the door, and Cade decided he’d be better off going to the kitchen for another beer rather than throwing something against the wall like he wanted to do.

  “Are you leaving too?” Cade finally asked after Declan had been silent for what seemed like forever.

  “Might as well. I’ve got a job coming up.”

  “I can’t help the way I feel, Dec. And I can’t change t
he way I am.”

  Cade heard Declan sigh, and his grip tightened around the bottle in his hand at the disappointment that one breath of air seemed to express.

  “That’s not for me to say, Cade. And I know it won’t be one of us who has the power to make you feel differently. Maybe it’s time to just open your mind to the possibilities of having something more. I’m not saying you have to,” he said, before Cade could interrupt. “But maybe there’s a chance you didn’t die that day with Carmen after all, and there’s a lot of life ahead of you. She wouldn’t want you to do this to yourself.”

  Cade grunted and brought the beer up to quench his dry throat. He was just so damned tired. And empty. And lonely.

  “Just be grateful Darcy and Grant aren’t here to add their opinion to Shane’s.”

  A rusty laugh rumbled from Cade’s chest as he thought of his two other siblings. Grant had just gotten married and was settling in nicely with his new wife, and his sister, Darcy, was finishing up her Master’s Degree and trying to figure out what she wanted to do with her life, driving everyone crazy in the meantime. One of the reasons he’d moved from Montana to Texas was because he never had any peace. Someone in the family—between his parents, siblings and cousins—was always trying to give him advice on how to get his life back together.

  “Oh, believe me. I’m grateful.”

  Declan nodded and grabbed his own bag from the hall closet. “You’ve got a nice house here, Cade. It’s older, and it’s going to need some care and maintenance, but she’s got a solid foundation. You’ve got a lot in common, I think.”

  “You know I love you guys, don’t you, Dec?” Cade said, feeling the urgent need to let his brother know it. “I just need some time.”

  “I know. Try to stay out of trouble. We haven’t heard rumbles of the cartel moving again, but my gut’s been churning ever since you took this job. They’ll find you, and I know you’re expecting it, but shit happens. I’ll be mighty pissed if you end up getting killed.”