A Wedding Story (6 page)

His mind cut away to the last time they’d done this. The situation had been completely different. His hands were shaking then too, but because she’d been smiling, waiting for him to push her shirt up over her breasts, to take what she was offering…

“I’m most concerned about the cut Frank gave me. It might need stitches.” She groaned, oblivious to his memories. “Asshole shredded my favorite jacket.”

He peeled the fabric of her T-shirt over her ribs, baring a four-inch slice in her perfect, golden skin.

Skin that should never have been abused like this.

Given the arc, she must have just barely gotten out of the way of Carter’s blade. Not out of the way enough.

“I have to get my kit.” He kept the cabin stocked for just about any emergency. There’d be a suture kit in there. He’d know if she needed it once he got the wound clean.

Trina’s hand clasped his, dragging his attention from her body and back to those deep blue eyes.

“I’m sorry I dragged you into this, Cade.” Her voice had dropped to that husky, raspy tone. The one that always felt like a slow lick from the base of his cock to the aching, sensitive tip. “You’re the only one I can trust.”

Just like that, she had him tied up in knots al over again.

Cade grunted. It’s what she’d expect from him.

Inwardly, he was having a hel of a time not jumping up to get a gun and hunt down the son of a bitch who’d done this to her. He knew Frank Carter wel .

Had dragged him into the Sheriff’s Department often enough, not that anything ever stuck. The sadistic bastard headed
Wheels Of Pain
, a biker crew that based itself in the usual y quiet rural California town of Marketta. Carter’s offenses ran from domestic violence to drug running to suspicion of murder, and he had the record elsewhere to support al of it.

Everywhere, in fact, except Marketta. As soon as he hit the town limits, suddenly Carter was so clean you’d think he’d been shat right out of an angel’s ass. Him and every ex-con who ran with him…

Including the impossible to resist Katrina Kil ian.

Tamping down a gurgling rage, Cade pul ed his hand free and went to gather his supplies. First things first, he grabbed his T-shirt from the chair and dragged it on. Being half-dressed around Trina was an invitation to trouble. Next, the kit was easy to get.

As big as a fishing tackle box, he kept it under the bottom shelf in the pantry. He stopped at the cabinet beside the spartan dinner table and pul ed out a bottle of whiskey. Catching his own reflection in the mirror over the cabinet, he took another precious second to pour himself a shot in one of the many glasses stacked there. He threw it back, the fire spreading down his throat for long seconds before final y fading into a warm, smooth aftertaste. Blinking his stinging eyes, he grabbed the bottle by the neck and went back to the couch. More importantly, to the wounded woman waiting there for him.

“Tel me I get a swig of that.” Trina sighed. “After the day I’ve had, I could use some.” She raised a hand for the bottle and, given he didn’t have much else to numb her pain, he handed it to her readily. It had nothing to do with his appreciation of the way she gripped the neck and slid her ful pink lips over the rim to drink it down.

He knew exactly how it felt to be that bottle.

Or at least, he did. Once.

It hadn’t lasted long enough.

And it could never happen again.

He lifted the heavy-duty latches on the case and flipped open the lid to reveal the supplies within.

First things first, gloves. Then he’d clean her up and get a better look at the field. “How about you tel me what happened
this
time while I fix you up?”

“You say that like I’m always bleeding around you.”

“You are a woman who likes attention.”

“I like
your
attention,” she groused. “There’s a difference.”

His hands stil ed, but when he looked at her face, her eyes were closed, her brow furrowed into deep, shuddering grooves. “Whose attention did you have today?”

“Everyone’s.” Trina’s thick lashes rose, her mouth quirking as she brushed unwanted moisture from the corner of her eye.

Would she slap his hand away if he tried to do it for her?

Without question.

Didn’t stop him from wanting to, though.

“Tel me something, Evigan,” she demanded, clearing her throat and shifting restlessly against the couch. Moment of weakness over, apparently. “You ever pul a train in a dirty bar?”

That raised his eyebrows. “Not that I remember, no.”

“Wel , I haven’t either and today wasn’t going to be my first time.” Her body went taut beneath the swipes of the towelette he used to clean the blood, before relaxing with decided effort. Which sucked because that was the easy part. “Carter doesn’t kil people that piss him off, not right away. He’s a big believer in making them pay three times over first.

His plans for me involved ambushing the shit out of me and throwing me like a chew toy to his men.”

He daubed the wound with a gauze pad, forcing himself to keep his hands steady. Strangely enough, being so angry he could strangle someone went a long way toward derailing his usual reaction to the smel of blood and antiseptic. “How’d you get out of it?”

“Wel , it turns out that when two guys are holding you in place by your arms, your legs are free to kick other people in the face and bal s.”

He wouldn’t have thought it possible, but she managed to draw a grudging grin from him.

Something about her always seemed to pul the humor out of him, even when he’d thought it long gone. “I’m guessing you’ve known that for a while.”

Her

answering

smile

was

tinged

with

exhaustion. “It’s come in handy every now and then.”

“Doesn’t look like it did you much good this time.”

“That’s what you think. If they’d managed to get me down, at least
Frank
wasn’t gonna get any. Steel toe, baby. If he’s not in the hospital right now, it’s a friggin’ miracle.” She hissed as he irrigated the shal ow—thank God—wound. “Shit, Cade, why don’t you just pour the whiskey in? Might hurt less.”

“You wouldn’t have come here if you didn’t want it done right, Tee.”

She made a face at the name. She usual y complained that it made her sound like a four-year-old. As if the moniker “KK” sounded so much more mature.

“Maybe I came for the company.”

He grunted again. “We both know I’m not fit for that.”

She sighed, the way she always did when he said things that irritated her. “You’re about the only one in this town worth spending time with and you know it.”

“That’s not true. There’s good people here.”

“You always say that, but no one believes you.

They’re al cowards and drunkards who turn their backs rather than take a stand.”

“I wouldn’t be here if there weren’t people needing protection.” From
her
gang. Even if he didn’t say it, he knew she heard the accusation.

“Why’d he ambush you?”

Her face turned toward him, her usual cocky grin nowhere to be seen. Instead a seriousness drew lines around her mouth and shadows in her eyes.

Didn’t seem right, real y. He was the one who did maudlin and brooding. She was the one who dragged him into using the side of himself he’d almost forgotten about. Worse, if he didn’t know better, he’d think the shade of those shadows was guilt.

“He found out I’m not who he thought I was.”

Cade let his hands fal to this lap. This couldn’t be good. “Who are you then?”

“Undercover DEA.”

For an entire three seconds, elation fil ed him.

Pure, excited relief that he hadn’t gone off the deep end for a criminal who may or may not kil him in his sleep. But then he remembered who he was dealing with. Suuuure she was undercover. He shook his head, going back to his work, irritated. “You don’t need to lie for me to patch you up.”

It wasn’t like he had a hel of a lot of restraint when it came to Trina. The only thing he’d been able to hold to was not giving into the unholy need he had for her again. From the moment she first strode up next to him outside the Sheriff’s Department, he’d been snared by her. By that devilish grin and that spark of interest in her blue eyes. Her tal , curving body that he’d known in an instant would wrap around his like she’d been made just for him. But he wasn’t about to tie himself up with a convict who refused to change her way of life. He hadn’t come home with much from the war, but he did stil have his ethics. They might make cold bedfel ows, but they kept his head up when damn little else could.

“I’m not lying, Cade. I’ve been undercover in Carter’s crew for two years and it’s for fuck al now that he knows the truth.”

He opened the packet of butterfly bindings, his temper ramping up. “Why the hel should I believe you? After everything else you’ve put me through, why should I even care, Tee? Because if you’re tel ing the truth, that means you’ve been lying to me for a year. If you’re not, you’re just trying to twist me around your finger again. I’m done being your toy, goddamn it. Give me one good reason why any of what you’re saying should matter to me now.”

She wouldn’t do that to him. Not the woman who had charmed her way into his life, who had seemed as if she actual y cared about him. As if she might even lo— He didn’t let his mind finish that thought. It didn’t matter. If it were true that she were undercover, she would have told him months ago. She knew him wel enough by then to know she could trust him. At the very least, she would have said something before they’d found themselves denting the shit out of his car hood, knowing nothing else could ever come of it. Before she’d ripped out what was left of his heart.

No, this had to be another game. He was sure of it.

Absolutely sure, until she opened her mouth again.

“Because someone in your department sold me out.”

Curious what happens next?

Find out in "
Convicted
" by
Dee Tenorio

Also available in a special anthology, "
Undercover

Lovers
"

with three fan-favorite authors
Dee Carney
,
Chloe
Cole
and
Cari Quinn
!

Other titles by Dee Tenorio

10 Ways To Steal Your Lover

Convicted

(Individual Re-release of "Undercover Lovers"

story)

Deceiving The Protector

Undercover Lovers

(Anthology with Dee Carney, Chloe Cole & Cari

Quinn)

Shaken

Tempting The Enemy

All of You

All or Nothing

Burn for Me

Love Me Knots

Love Me Tomorrow

Kiss Me Again

Test Me!

Midnight Legacy

Midnight Temptation

Midnight Sonata

Betting Hearts

Available wherever ebooks are sold!

About The Author

Dee Tenorio has a few reality issues. After much therapy for the problem—if one can cal being awakened in the night by visions of hot able-bodied men a problem—she has proved incurable. It turns out she enjoys tormenting herself by writing sizzling, steamy romances of various genres spanning paranormal mystery dramas, contemporaries and romantic comedies. Preferably starring the sexy, somewhat grumpy heroes described above and smart-mouthed heroines who have much better hair than she does.