01 Cade (8 page)

“Thank you,” she said softly.

He cleared his throat. “I didn’t know if you’d eaten already, so I stopped by to pick up some Chinese food,” he said.

Riley glanced down at the bag in his hand in surprise, realizing that she hadn’t noticed it before. This was definitely not an official call, then. “No, actually I haven’t,” she said. Giving him a smile, she took the bag. “I’ll get some plates.”

“That’d be great,” Cade said as he followed her into the kitchen. “But I was hoping we could talk about what happened the other night first.”

Riley’s heart plummeted, the smell of the food wafting up from the bag making her feel sick all of a sudden. This was the part where Cade told her that he hoped she hadn’t read anything into what had happened between them at the hotel, and that while they couldn’t have a relationship, he hoped they could still be friends, she thought.

Swallowing hard, she set the bag down on the counter and turned to look at him.

Cade cleared his throat again. “I know that we didn’t really get off on the right foot, and that there was a lot of stuff that happened between us at the safe house, but I think we have a connection,” he said, and then immediately held up his hand. “Before you say anything, let me finish.”

Riley almost smiled. She hadn’t been going to say anything, but it seemed obvious that Cade had rehearsed whatever he was going to say quite a bit and didn’t want her to interrupt him. In all honesty, she didn’t know where he was going with this, but the part about them having a connection definitely made her pulse quicken.

“Actually, there’s more than a connection. As cliché as this is going to sound, I think we were meant to be together,” Cade continued. “I know that when this started, you were just a witness I was supposed to protect, but even though you drove me crazy most of the time, I found myself drawn to you. And that feeling got stronger the more we were together. I don’t know if you feel the same way, but I do know that for my part, I want you in my life.”

She blinked up at him, suddenly unable to breathe. “What are you saying, Cade?” she asked softly.

Cade reached out to gently brush a strand of hair back from her face. “I’m saying that when you were in danger, I could barely think straight, and that made me realize what you mean to me.” He paused and took a deep breath.

“What I’m trying to say is that I’m in love with you, Riley Barnett.”

Riley caught her breath, speechless. Of all the things she had expected Cade to say when he had come over tonight, telling her that he had fallen in love with her had definitely not been one of them.

In front of her, Cade suddenly looked unsure of himself. “I think this is the part where you’re supposed to say something,” he told her quietly.

She took a step closer to him, her lips curving into a smile. “Well, then how about this?” she said. “I love you too, Cade Cutler.”

A grin spreading across his handsome face, Cade slid his hand into her hair and bent his head to kiss her on the mouth. Riley melted against, parting her lips to urge him on with her tongue, and by the time he lifted his head a few minutes later, she could barely breathe.

“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way,” he said. “We need to talk about what happened in those woods behind the safe house today.”

Her brow furrowed in confusion as she looked up at him. He wanted to talk about that now? “What about it?” she asked.

He lifted a brow. “I told you to go back to the safe house, and instead, you decided not to.”

She chewed on her lower lip. “I told you,” she said. “I was worried about you and thought you might need help.”

Cade’s jaw tightened. “Riley, you once again foolishly put yourself in danger,” he said. “And more importantly, you refused to do what I told you to do.”

Riley looked up at him from beneath lowered lashes. “I’m sorry,” she said softly. “I promise I won’t do it again.”

He let out a sigh. “I know you believe that,” he said. “But I need to make sure, and since the only way I can ever seem to get you to really listen to me is to give you a spanking, that’s what I’m going to have to do.”

She blinked at him in surprise. “A spanking?” she echoed. “You’re not serious!”

Cade couldn’t really mean to spank her, not after telling her he loved her, she thought. But he had already taken her hand and was leading her into the living room.

“But you said you loved me!” she protested.

“I do love you,” he told her over his shoulder. “That’s why I’m doing this.”

That could only make sense to a guy, she thought. “But what about dinner?” she reminded him. “It’ll be cold.”

He turned to face her. “We’ll reheat it,” he said, and then his mouth quirked. “Right now, I’m more concerned about warming that sexy, little bottom of yours and making sure that you don’t do anything as foolish as you did today again. At least not until you forget how much a spanking stings.”

Though her lips formed into a pout, Riley allowed Cade to draw her over his knee without too much more protest.

Considering how that most recent spanking he’d given her at the hotel had culminated in some incredibly hot sex, she supposed she could put up with a sore bottom. But she really would have to talk to him about this habit of his to spank her every time she didn’t do what he told her. He was going to have to learn that just because he was from in Texas, he couldn’t spank her like this was the old west.

But that would have to wait, she supposed, because he was obviously intent on spanking her right now. Wiggling into a more comfortable position, Riley pillowed her head on her arms and waited for Cade to begin.

Even though she knew it was coming, the first spank still caught her by surprise. Ouch, she thought. Couldn’t he start a little bit softer? But before she could ask him about it, he landed a second smack to her other cheek.

“Owwwww!” she cried. “Cade, that stings!”

“Good,” he told her, bringing his hand down again in another stinging smack. “That way you won’t be tempted to do anything foolish for a long time.”

After another dozen spanks, her bottom really felt like it was on fire, and unable to control herself, Riley reached her hand back to protect her tender ass cheeks. But Cade only grabbed her wrist and held it pinned against the small of her back.

“You’re not getting off that easy,” he told her with a chuckle. “I tend to remember you hitting me with that branch pretty hard.”

“But I didn’t mean to hit you!” she protested even as his hand came down on her bottom again. “If you...owwwww!...had stayed still...owwwww!...for a minute, I would have...owwwww!...gotten him!”

“You know,” he said, pausing to rest his hand on her stinging bottom. “I don’t think you’re getting the point of this spanking. Maybe I should try a different approach.”

Before she could even ask what he meant by that, Riley felt Cade push up her skirt, exposing her skimpy black thong. She had worn it because she’d hoped they might end up making love that night, but the realization that he was seeing her wearing something so sexy was enough to get her pussy purring. Which was strange, she thought, considering that the spanking stung so much. She’d definitely have to give that some thought later, she decided.

“Very nice,” he commented, running his hand over her bare bottom. “It’s almost as if you knew you were going to get a spanking tonight.”

Riley gasped and started to tell him that she knew nothing of the sort, but the words disappeared on her lips when his hand connected with her right cheek.

“Owwwww!” she yelped, going rigid over his lap. “Not so hard! You may not realize it, but that skirt provided a lot of protection.”

Cade chuckled. “Then it’s a good thing I pushed it up,” he told her as he began to apply his hand firmly to first one cheek, and then the other in an east rhythm.

That had her kicking and squirming all over the place. The spanking wouldn’t have been nearly that bad if it weren’t for the cell phone, or whatever it was he had in his pocket, jabbing her in the hip every time she wiggled.

“Okay, okay!” she squealed. “I get the point! I promise to be good and do exactly what you say from now on!”

“I really doubt that,” Cade drawled, a hint of amusement in his voice. “In fact, I imagine you’ll be getting yourself in trouble frequently. Which is fine with me, as long as you realize that you’ll be getting a spanking every time you do.”

He punctuated his words with one more hard spank to her bare bottom before he took her hand and helped her to her feet.

Riley gave him a pout as she stood there rubbing her sore bottom. Her poor ass was on fire! But just like with the spanking he’d given her at the hotel, her pussy was soaking wet. Of course, there was no way she was going to let Cade know that the spanking had gotten her all excited. He’d want to give her one every day! That thought made her face turn almost as red as her bottom.

“That was a really hard spanking,” she pouted. “Next time, could you remember to at least pull the cell phone out of your pocket before you put me over your knee. That thing is really uncomfortable when I’m wiggling around.”

Cade’s mouth quirked. “Sorry about that,” he said, getting to his feet. “It’s not my cell phone, though. But I’m glad you brought it up. I was going to give it to you later, but I think that now is probably the perfect time.”

Riley watched as he pulled something out of his pocket, only to feel her heart begin to beat wildly as he dropped to one knee in front of her. The spanking she’d just gotten all but forgotten, she stared transfixed at the ring box Cade held in his hand.

“I know this might be kind of sudden,” Cade said. “And I don’t want you to feel that you have to give me an answer right now, but when I said that I wanted you in my life before, I meant forever.”

With that, Cade opened the box in his hand to reveal the most beautiful engagement ring Riley had ever seen. Oh God, she thought, he was really asking her to marry him!

“Like I said, there’s no time table here,” he told her. “But I hope that someday you’ll agree to marry me.”

Riley smiled down at him, tears of happiness in her eyes. “I can give you my answer right now,” she said. “Of course, I’ll marry you!”

For a moment, Cade seemed surprised that she had given him an answer so quickly, but then he grinned. Taking the ring from its velvet-lined box, he slipped it onto the third finger of her left hand, then got to his feet and pulled her into his arms for a passionate kiss.

Lifting his head a moment later, Cade gave her a serious look. “You know what this means, don’t you?” he said.

“You’ll have to change your name again.”

Riley laughed. “That’s okay. I’m used to it,” she said pulling his head down to kiss him again.