Wynn tossed down money on the table and scooted from beneath Kevin’s arm and the booth. “I’ll catch you boys another time. Thanks for the climb.”
Wynn glanced back inside Angelico’s. Kade was getting up from the table, but he was quickly blocked in by a three-year-old little girl and her mom. Whatever was being said had Kade smiling. He hunched his big, muscled body down to the little girl’s shoe. She pointed her foot out, and Kade grabbed her shoelaces, tying them. The moment was so completely unexpected and endearing that it had Wynn taking a closer look at Kade.
Their gazes locked through the front windows. Wynn really didn’t want to have the conversation that was soon to come.
She knew it was wrong, but she got into her Wrangler and drove away. Fresh air blew her hair around as she drove. She loved having the top down in the summer. Wynn was halfway back to her hotel when lights flashed behind her. She pulled over in Junior Williamson rest area. He shut off his lights and got out of his vehicle. He looked dangerous when he was in work mode. She didn’t want to admit it, but it turned her on.
“Hello, ranger,” she said.
“Running from me again?”
She didn’t say anything. She couldn’t. She was done with lying to him. He leaned on the Wrangler. She smiled. “I suppose I am.”
“I know you’re hiding something from me.”
“Perhaps it’s okay for a woman to have a little mystery about her.”
The corner of his mouth hitched up as he considered that view of their situation. “Would you feel the same way if I were the one with all the secrets?”
Ouch. “It’s complicated, Kade.”
“I suppose it always is.”
Wynn smoothed her hand around her steering wheel. “Kade...”
“Don’t say anything else, Wynn. I’m tired of the lies. Don’t talk to me again until you want to tell me the truth about why you’re really down here in the Red.”
He walked away, and tears stung her eyes. He sat down in his vehicle and drove away. Wynn reached for her cell phone and made the call she knew was always coming. The phone rang, and then she heard the line connect. Her boss was answering, and it would all be over soon.
“Special Agent Anders.”
“It’s me.”
“Tell me you have something.”
“The growers are local. I think we went about this the wrong way. I think I should’ve gone inside the department.”
“Has your cover been blown?”
“Yeah...Gentry doesn’t trust me.”
“Is he clean?”
“Yeah, I’m sure he is. I think he thinks I’m down here as a buyer.”
Anders blew out a sigh on the other end of the phone. “Okay, it is what it is. We’ll have to go about this another way. Let me think on it.”
She didn’t want to say it, but she knew she had to. “Maybe it’s time to partner with the DEA.”
“I think you’re right.”
Wynn hung up her cell phone. She had to tell Kade the truth. She knew he’d be angry, but there was nothing she could do about it.
Fog hovered above the dewy morning grass at Kade’s house. Early morning sunshine hadn’t yet cut through the trees. The lights were on in the kitchen. Wynn gripped the steering wheel. She didn’t want to do this, but she didn’t have a choice. She had to tell him the truth.
She thought about showing up in a FS polo shirt and her khaki tactical pants. She decided against it. It was going to be enough to tell him the truth. She crossed the lawn to the porch.
She took a deep breath and knocked on his door. Nerves had her body strung tight. She knew he wasn’t going to be happy about the lies. Wynn’s hand hovered over her badge clipped on her belt. Indecision made her hand shake. At the last second, she moved it off her belt and into the pocket of her cargo pants.
Kade answered the door, and she totally fucking chickened out.
His gaze went head to toe, as did hers. He wasn’t working today. He was in a pair of relaxed jeans and a light-blue, faded T-shirt with old paint splatters on it. His hair was messed, and his feet were bare.
“Hey, Wynn.”
There was heat in his gaze. The kind that sent an erotic chill down her spine. He was making it very clear that he wanted more of her, and he was going to do everything in his power to have her, if she told him the truth.
Things wouldn’t be happening between them again. It’d be best if Wynn let him down fast and easy. He smiled that charming grin as he came in close to give her a quick kiss. His smile soon faded into a cautious curiosity when she pulled away from his kiss.
She thought fast but couldn’t come up with anything. “I’m leaving,” she said.
Hurt flashed through his eyes. She hated how she put it there.
“I expected it.”
“Kade, can I come in?”
He turned and left the door hanging open as he headed back down the hallway. The way he dismissed her felt like a smack to the face. She had a moment where she felt like walking away from this bomb with the fused unchecked. She took a steadying breath, and she went inside and shut the door quietly. She followed him and hovered within the doorway to the kitchen.
Paintbrushes were drying on a step ladder in the kitchen, and the windows were open.
Breakfast was on the table. He sat back down to homemade pancakes that he hadn’t yet started on. Butter slipped over the top. He poured maple syrup over the cakes and dug in with his knife and fork. She ignored the way her stomach grumbled. She sat down across from him, and he glared. In the middle of all of it was a miniature slinky.
“So you were on vacation for a few days?” he asked.
Wynn reached out for the slinky nervously and rolled it from hand to hand. “I wasn’t planning on staying in the Red for very long.”
He snorted. “I guess I was your summer fling.”
She knew it was going to be bad. She shook her head and tossed the slinky onto the table. “No...you were never a fling, Kade.”
He looked at her as though he didn’t believe a word that came from her mouth. That hard, bad boy glint to his eye flashed with heat.
“So why are you here?”
That was the question she couldn’t help but keep asking herself. She could feel the simmering heat in his words and tried to remain calm. “To tell you I’m sorry for leaving this way.”
“Where’s home?”
“Lexington.”
He linked his hands behind his head and leaned way back in his kitchen chair. That natural sneer was twisted into something more dangerous she didn’t want to experience.
“Lexington. I would’ve put my money on Boston.”
She shook her head, blushing. He knew she was still holding things back from him. “I’m sorry, Kade.”
He shrugged a shoulder like it didn’t matter, like she didn’t matter, like what they did together over the last week didn’t matter. “What’s your plan now?”
The thought of leaving Kade this way made her sick inside. “I go home.”
“You make a mess out of my life and then you go home.”
Kade pushed his breakfast aside. “Just go, Wynn.”
“Kade. I’m sorry.”
He shoved back his chair and started clearing the table with forced, jerky movements. Kade scraped his half-eaten pancakes into the trash. He dropped the plate and utensils into the sink with a clatter that could’ve cracked the porcelain sink. She tried to reach for him when he turned back to the table.
She jumped up from the chair she had her ass bolted down to. “Kade...I really want to be friends. I don’t...want things to go like this.”
He slammed his hand down on the table. “Stop it! I don’t want to hear how damn sorry you are.”
She flinched.
He paced away from her to brace his hands on the sink. He stared down, trying to gain control of his anger.
“I know you’re hiding something from me, Wynn. What is it? Are you married?”
“No. I’m not married.”
“Engaged? Is there another guy you’re sleeping with?”
He tossed the pan on the stove into the sink. He reached for the bottle of Vermont maple syrup.
“There’s no one else.”
“Then what is it?” He spun around. “Stop lying to me for thirty seconds!”
Wynn gasped as a line of syrup accidentally hit her across her chest. Both of them froze as she looked down at the V-neck plunge of her T-shirt. A thick line of maple slithered around the curve of her breasts.
“Look, I just came here to apologize for leaving things this way. I didn’t mean for you to get hurt in all of this.”
She turned and was grabbed by the elbow so fast that she spun around, hitting into Kade’s chest. He pushed her up against the wall and braced both of his palms by her head.
“I know. That’s what’s pissing me the fuck off.”
“Maybe that will make things easier when I leave. I’d rather you be angry with me than love me.”
She pushed on his chest, but he stopped her by swaying his body against hers. “Oh, I don’t think so, sweetheart. You care about me. Admit it.”
She ground her back teeth together and set her chin. “I care for the time we spent together.”
His gaze narrowed. “Stop being a coward.”
She gasped. “I’m not being a coward! I can’t stay here with you!”
She knew what was coming, and she couldn’t stop him. His gaze dropped to the plunge of her shirt and the slow drips of syrup now glistening on her breasts. There was a flash in his eye that could catch a woman unaware if they weren’t paying very close attention. Wynn knew there was a fine line between dancing around an issue and dealing with it. They were going to dance until she sashayed right out his front door. She wasn’t about to fall into his lap again.
Her bags were packed. Her hotel room was paid for. There was nothing left for her to do but get in her Wrangler and drive home. The only thing standing in her way was a six-two, muscled complication with an attitude problem.
She was leaving. End of story for the both of them, as far as she was concerned. She ducked under his arms, scooting away. “We’re not doing this.”
“Oh, I think we are.”
Wynn walked backward, keeping a foot between her and Kade. He stopped, allowing her to put the table between them. They were in a standoff. She started to go left around the table. He followed. “Kade...I have to go.”
The warning was ignored. He kept stalking her down. He was positioning her into the corner of the kitchen.
“I don’t think we’re finished here.”
Wynn was desperate to get away from him. She grabbed for the maple syrup and held the long bottle like a weapon between them. The corner of his mouth hitched. Her heart raced. There were promises in his eyes. “We
are
finished, Kade.”
He scoffed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“Don’t come any closer...”
“Afraid of me?”
She was. The red cap of the syrup was still flipped open. She didn’t want to do this, but she’d do what she had to get out of this situation. She dragged the chair between them as she continued to back away. “Kade...”
“Wynn...”
One chair would be too easy to get around, so she grabbed a second and pushed it between them. The scrape of wood on wood echoed through the kitchen. Still, it wasn’t enough to feel safe from his predatory gaze. She knocked the ladder down between them, too, spilling the paintbrushes across the table.
Kade pressed his hands against the back of the chairs and leaned forward. “It gets a little too hot for you, and you cut and run, don’t you?”
She could hear the heat of sex in his voice. A quiver of anticipation fluttered through her sex. It was then she knew fighting was part of their foreplay. She tried to keep the excitement of the chase in check.
“Are you going to chase me?” She purposely dropped her voice to a husky whisper.
“I am.”
She screamed as Kade shoved the chairs into the table, sending both up against the sink, as if they were nothing. Wynn squeezed the bottle of syrup at his chest. Shock vibrated between them. She turned and ran down the hallway.
She didn’t make it far before Kade grabbed her around the waist with one strong arm and lifted her off her feet. His left hand went for the bottle of syrup, but she clamped down hard on it, sending a stream of syrup up into the air. The syrup came back down, hitting Kade in the shoulder.
“What the hell, woman!”
“I warned you!”
She struggled to get away from him, but he was too strong. He yanked the bottle of syrup from her hands and carried her to the stairs where he dropped her down. Wynn pivoted, trying to get to her feet, but she was blocked by a wall of muscle. Wynn’s gaze went from the man to the syrup as she walked her backside up the stairs away from Kade.
“Give me the syrup,” she said.
“No.”
She moved to back up further, but he reached out and grabbed the waist of her pants, dragging her back. Wynn reached for the bottle but he held it out of reach and held her in place with a firm grip of her pants.
“Kade...hand it over.”
He arched a brow. “Why?”
Slowly, she lifted her gaze up over his body. “I want it.”
“Do you now? Tell me why you want it.”
She leaned forward, dropping her voice to a husky whisper. “You afraid of what I’ll do with it?”
He leaned down. “Remember, turnabout is fair play.”
She gasped as cold syrup was shot over her breasts again. “Kade! That’s mean!”
“You started it, and I’m finishing it.”
Kade stepped back, taking the bottle of syrup with him. He set it on the corner of the banister like a trophy. The light coming in through the window in the door hit it directly, making it glow golden.
Kade reached out with his finger and swiped it over the top of her breast, taking some of the syrup away. His gaze held hers as he licked the sweet confection away. Wynn felt her nipples tighten into hard buds that wanted to be pinched.
She lowered her gaze to his crotch as his hand went to adjust his erection. A shiver fluttered through her belly at the thought of what could happen. Her mouth watered at the thought of more syrup dripping down his abs. She lunged for the syrup, but he blocked her with his chest.
He kissed her hard, stealing her breath away. She sensed him moving but didn’t care what he was doing. Wynn grabbed his head and kissed him with everything. He wrapped his hands around her wrists, moving them over her head. Kade broke his lips away. Her head was swimming with need as their eyes locked.