Boxed Set: Intercepted by Love (The Complete Collection): Books One - Book Six (26 page)

Cade picked up his mother at the house. It seemed awfully quiet with no sign of Andie and the dogs.

“If you’re wondering where Andie is …” His mother snorted at his questioning gaze. “She took the dogs for a walk.”

His shoulders slumped as he held the car door. “Did you tell her about the baby?”

“Yes, I showed her pictures. She says congratulations.”

“She didn’t want to come?”

His mother glared at him, wide eyed and unblinking. “Come on now, is that appropriate? You need to decide what you’re going to do about her first. Ignoring her isn’t going to help.”

“Sure.” He shut the door and got into the driver’s seat. He wasn’t used to communicating with anyone, especially since he’d never grown up in a close family. He was more of a physical kind of guy. “Except what I want to do to her isn’t legal.”

“Humpf, spare me the details. I don’t wanna be called on the witness stand.” She held her hand up. “Plead the fifth.”

His mind whirled with all the ways he could propose to Andie, or even better, steal her away and marry her where it didn’t matter. Too bad one could no longer sail across the ocean to Australia and get a fresh start. As long as she was staying at his house, he had jurisdiction over her. So why couldn’t he enjoy her and make love to her and marry her?

Oh, right. That piece of paper, and the fact that he was an honorable man. If he weren’t under contract with the Flash to be a goodie-two-shoe, he’d string Declan on a rack and torture him good and hard until he signed. Dammit.

His mother prattled on about the baby. “Did you and Rox name the baby yet? I can’t wait to hold him. Is he strong enough?”

Cade jerked himself out of the darkness of what he’d like to do to Declan and eased on his “understanding son” game face. “They have him in the incubator, but he seems to be fine. Breathing on his own. You should have heard his yowl.”

“Strong, like you? I knew it. Maybe he’ll play ball when he gets bigger. I can’t wait to take him around the ol’ hood. Show all my friends. I’m going to spoil him rotten.”

“Well, you might get a chance. Rox asked me about finding daycare.”

“Already? And you volunteered me, didn’t you?”

“Of course. There’s no one better.” His mother, for all her faults, was trying like mad to make up for her past. And the truth was, everyone had a past. “I’m not sure about living arrangements, though. Rox’s apartment’s too small, and well, I can’t have her move in since we’re not, you know, together.”

“Yeah, well, plus there’s Andie. What are you going to do about her? Oh, right. Not legal.”

Cade’s heart felt soggy inside his chest. He hated losing to that punk douchebag of an actor, but he had to be sure. He wasn’t going to risk marrying a woman who had settled for him only because she couldn’t get her first choice.

Now that Andie’s first love was back, she had been given another chance. He’d researched the Reeds. They were an upstanding family in Northern California. Wealthy and pedigreed, hailing to the American revolution.

Cade turned the corner up his street and gassed the engine over the crest. He had a son, a newborn son. Even if it was with the wrong woman, this son was his heritage, a new little Prescott.

“Rox and I agreed to name him Bret. Do you like it?” he asked his mother.

“Bret Prescott. Yes. A nice, strong name. Love it.”

A flash of red hair flailing in the wind gleamed from the direction of the sidewalk. Cade’s heart stopped, crashed, and careened off the cliffs like the Hollywood sign disintegrating in an earthquake.

Declan had Andie dipping to the street, and he was kissing her. Her legs were stiff, and she was either struggling or that was one heck of a passionate kiss, while the two dogs were on either side of them.

His dog, Red, lunged and pulled on his leash when he spied Cade’s car, causing Andie to fall on her behind. The other dog, Gollie, ran circles around them, her leash tangling Declan’s legs, causing him to fall on top of Andie.

Cade screeched to a halt and was out of the car in a flash.

“Cade, get back here,” his mother yelled. “Leave them be.”

No douchebag should be forcing himself on a woman who’d told him to get lost. He’d do serious violence to Declan if Andie was hurt in any way, shape, or form. He ran up to Andie and pulled her to her feet. Even if she wanted to kiss that ass, she could have been hurt, maybe broken her tailbone.

“Are you all right?” He practically growled.

Andie’s eyes glittered as if he were her savior.

“I’m okay, now that you’re here.” She swiped at her mouth with the back of her hand and spat. “I need a restraining order. I can’t even go for a peaceful walk without being attacked by that clown.”

Cade’s chest puffed, and he tugged Andie into his arms. She hadn’t wanted Declan’s attentions. She’d been waiting for him to come to her rescue. He gave her an extra squeeze and pointed her to safety. “Go to the car. I’ll deal with the punk.”

“Can someone get this dog off me?” Declan was flat on the ground with Gollie licking his lips and eyes, slobbering all over him. Her leash had him hogtied, and he wasn’t going anywhere.

Cade grabbed Declan by his armpits and lifted him clear off his feet so that his pathetic face was level with his. “You’re going to sign those divorce papers if you know what’s good for you. She doesn’t want you.”

Gollie, meanwhile, obviously did. She pawed Declan, standing on her hind legs and wagging her tail, eager for affection.

Despite the dog slobber all over his face, Declan managed to wink and lift one side of his mouth with a smirk. “Andie’s loved me longer than she’s known you. She’s using you to make me jealous, but it isn’t working. I’m not signing as long as I have a chance. You better let me go, or I’ll put a restraining order on you, and then we’ll see whether you ever get starting quarterback.”

Behind him, his mother tugged at his sleeve. “Let him go, Cade. We don’t want any trouble.”

“Don’t you ever touch a woman who doesn’t want you. Ever. Next time, I’ll break every bone in your body.” Cade shook the fool loose from his hands and stood back as Declan untangled the amorous Gollie from him.

Cade tugged Gollie by the collar and brought her to the car. “Andie, you ought to train your dog better.”

Andie hadn’t seemed to want Declan, yet she’d been out walking with him, and according to his mother, she spoke to him on the phone every evening. Sure, she didn’t want the guy’s kisses, but she seemed to be good friends with him.

Well screw that. If Declan wasn’t jealous yet, he would be once Cade got through wining and dining Andie. He’d give the asshole the green-eyed monster in spades.

Starting now.

Andie and the dogs squeezed into the tiny backseat of Cade’s Porsche. How was it even possible for three bodies to get back there?

Her heart was thumping hard after the exertion, fending off Declan and then having Cade swoop to her rescue. Was he angry at her for being caught or more pissed off at Declan? Maybe he’d unfreeze and talk to her again now that he knew she wanted a restraining order against her ex.

Cade slid into the driver’s seat and turned to her, flashing her a wide-mouthed grin. “Do you want me to take you home or somewhere else?”

Wow. Smiling again. Nice. Her cheeks warmed, basking in his attention.

The way he drew out ‘somewhere else’ suggested he wasn’t talking about local geography, unless it was her erogenous zones. He held her gaze a moment longer than his mother was comfortable with, as the older woman cleared her throat and looked pointedly out the window.

“Home.” Andie’s throat finally became unstuck. She loved the sound of that. Her home was his home. “Congratulations on the baby. I’m glad he’s doing well.”

“Thanks. Do you want to see him?” He looked at her, so transparently hopeful, that she couldn’t help but melt.

“Of course I do, if you want me there.” She patted his shoulder, her hand lingering.

“I want you anywhere, anytime.” He squeezed her kneecap. His eyebrows dipped and rose in a suggestive manner.

She licked her lips and gave him a close-mouthed smile. “Is that a promise?”

“Always.” He winked and started the car. “And you know I deliver.”

Wow. What had gotten into him? Instead of being angry at seeing her kissing Declan, he’d turned on the charm full force. Maybe he’d correctly read his dog’s body language and knew that Declan’s kiss was unwelcomed.

Whatever it was, it was good. The look in Cade’s eye had changed from uncertainty to definite, possessive and claiming.

It was making her breath shaky and her pulse race enough that her panties were dangerously damp. Not a great place to be with two big dogs slouched around her.

“No thanks to you, girl,” she whispered to Gollie who swished her tongue over her face. Ewww. That tongue had been cleaning Declan’s nose just a minute ago.

Meanwhile, Red lay halfway in her lap and half on the cramped floor space. He wagged his tail minutely as Andie patted his head and tugged his ears playfully. These two dogs were so adorable, there was no way that she and Cade should part, ever. It would break them up and be unfair. Totally.

Now that the ice had thawed and Cade had his baby safe and healthy, she could slowly rebuild what she almost lost. Her infatuation with Declan was based on a schoolgirl crush, and now that she saw him and that old King David for what they really were, men with black hearts who’d hidden their true selves under a boy-next-door appearance, she’d stop feeling guilty that she was determined to get the divorce.

She’d force his hand. Fling Cade in his face. Be proud to be an adulteress. After all, if only Michal had resisted returning to David’s kingdom, she could have been the only wife to Phalti and lived happily and content in her own little house with her own fig tree and vine. Maybe she would have had children and dogs playing in the courtyard. She would have been called ‘Eemah’ or ‘Mama’ and lived happily ever after.

Andie rubbed her hand through Gollie’s fur and patted Red in equal measure. If ever there were two matchmakers, it would be these two.

The Porsche zoomed onto Cade’s driveway, and he stopped it, then opened the doors. The two dogs scrambled out as Cade folded the front seat and extracted Andie from the cramped conditions.

He swept her into his arms, and her arms wrapped around his neck. There was a strength in his eyes, a determination as he lowered his lips over hers.

Softly, he kissed her, tenderly but determined, marking her as his woman. His, despite that damn piece of paper.

“I missed you, babe.” His deep voice caressed her most intimate places. “I’m sorry I’ve been such a dick, but I’ll …”

She moaned and wrapped herself tighter around him, her lips cutting off his protests as she slipped her tongue into his mouth. Damn, he tasted good—sinfully good, sexy, and rough, with the stubble around his lips grazing her—the way a real man should, not some pretty boy who’d break a kiss to apply ChapStick. Cade was hot and brash, like the sun, and when he was around, all thoughts of the pale, wan ex of hers vanished, burnt and scorched by the lust of true love.

Cade’s hands were firm against her, strong and protective. And even though she’d always thought of herself as a woman who didn’t need a man’s protection—someone who could fend for herself, especially against twerps like Declan, there was something primeval and feminine about being the object of rescue.

“Andie, I’m going to have to take you to our room and spank you for running out there and getting yourself into trouble.” Cade nibbled the rim of her ear, whispering dark promises.

“Now?” She broke away from him and melted into his deep blue eyes, breathless and panting from the lust inducing kiss. She angled her breasts against his chest and would have rubbed herself like a cat in heat, had he not held her sideways.

“Oh, yeah. My mom can wait.” He tilted his head back.

Mom?
He’d just called Barbara ‘mom’ instead of ‘mother,’ except Andie’s brain was so fogged and nonfunctional that she hadn’t even remembered her surroundings.

Again. On the driveway of Cade’s Hollywood mansion, surrounded by two dogs, and having the life kissed out of her.

Except
he
was all she’d ever wanted. Cade, her Cade, and not David, or Phalti, or Jonathan, or Goliath, or Ittai or any other man dead or alive.

Cade Prescott.

Mine.

“Yes, now, and you better make it hurt real good.” She licked her lips and raised and lowered her eyebrow in an exaggerated wink. “I’m sweaty from jogging, so I think a paddling in the shower might be on the menu.”

“Mom?” Cade called out the side of his mouth. “I’ll take you to the hospital tomorrow. I’ve got some illegal activity to do, so you’d better make yourself scarce.”

Cade raced with Andie up the spiral staircase. How the hell had he been so cowed that he’d wasted an entire week moaning about something he couldn’t control?

Damn pussyfooting around was over. Having Andie in his arms made his hard-on so huge, he was liable to bust the zipper on his fly. Crossing over the threshold, he swung around and threw her onto the bed.

Forget the shower. Her sweat mixed with her fragrance had him bewitched, drawn to her ten times more than some flowery shampoo or prissy body wash.

Andie whimpered, her eyes wide open as he advanced on her across the large bed. “I need a shower. I’m sweaty. I smell like dogs.”

“You’re talking to a dog owner.” He growled and nuzzled his nose against her neck. Her sexy scent intensified his deep need for her, imprinting him with the only woman he’d ever love.

Impatient to get her naked, he kissed the sides of her breasts and tickled her belly, then swept her tank top over her face and unclasped her bra in record time.

The ruby red slipper charm sparkled, lodged between her breasts on a longer chain than the one he’d given her. She’d worn it, even though she’d kept it hidden.

He lowered his lips to claim one of her sweet, pink nipples. It peaked in his mouth as he rolled his tongue around it, tasting the slight saltiness of her skin. Using his teeth, he picked up the charm and placed it on her collarbone, where it belonged.

“You’re wearing the ruby red slippers. Why did you hide it with a longer chain?”

“I wanted to keep it closer to my heart. But since you wouldn’t speak to me, I wasn’t sure if I were your girlfriend anymore.”

“You’re more than my girlfriend,” he said, dotting soft kisses around her lips, pecking first one corner, then her upper lip, sucking her lower lip, and tickling the other corner with his tongue. “You’re my very life itself.”

“You’re mine, too.” Her words were breathless, whispered, fervent. “I promised not to hurt you, but I did. I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t know, and I shouldn’t have pushed you away.” He smothered her with kisses. “I missed you, so much.”

“Then we’d better hurry and get reacquainted.” His fiery sex goddess moaned and wriggled, her heartbeat throbbing under her skin tinted with a rosy blush.

“I’m hurrying as fast as I can.” He grinned, rubbing her nose. “I’m going to spank you good.”

“So you keep saying, outlaw,” she taunted him by rubbing against his ballooning erection. “Tie me up and punish me.”

Saucy girl. She was never afraid of him, and he was only too happy to indulge her fantasies of being dominated by a powerful king. That time she mentioned BDSM in the library had sparked his curiosity. She was convinced King David was into it with his wife, Michal. Oh well, he might as well enjoy her overactive imagination. Except …

“Oh no, not this time,” he crooned in a low, silky voice. “This time, your hands will be free, but you won’t be allowed to touch me. Go ahead, spread them to your sides.”

Let’s see how much self control she can muster.

He guided Andie’s arms to each side and pulled her legs down so she resembled a tree. First, he removed her shoes and socks, caressing her feet. Then, he made his way up her legs, alternately brushing his stubble against her super sensitive skin and wetting it with his tongue, then blowing and cooling patches of it. He’d tease her until she begged for him, ached to come and realized that he was the only man she’d ever need. He could be patient … real patient.

Andie basked on the bed, waiting. Her heart thumped with anticipation as Cade’s smoldering stare burned holes into her flesh, arousing her beyond measure.

It was all she could do to stay stock still. She trembled inside, excitement bubbling underneath her skin. It would be more sensational if she couldn’t see him, had to rely on her other senses, but she couldn’t ask him to blindfold her.

She no longer wanted to pretend he was anyone other than Cade Prescott, her very own twenty-first century quarterback. The only man in the entire universe, past, present, and future—for her.

“Only you, Cade.” She met his wicked gaze, his blue eyes sparkling with mischief, as he yanked her shorts and panties from her bum. She’d been right to keep her legs shaved during this week without him. A girl never knew, and oh boy, was she going to get her reward.

“Hold still.” He licked his lips. “You have no idea how beautiful you are, and how that thatch of red over your pussy drives me insane. So crazy, babe.”

Holy jalapeño.

Her eyes rolled all the way back in her head when he lowered his face to her still closed legs and rubbed his nose over her mound of delight.

“So good, sweet, so Andie,” he muttered as he dotted tiny kisses over and around her clit. Every nerve he touched sprang alive, blooming with intense need, fervent, responsive, only for him.

Andie couldn’t help bucking her hips off the bed to press herself against Cade’s mouth, yearning for more direct pressure. “Damn, Cade. More.”

“Uh, uh, uh. No moving.” Cade’s breath disappeared between her legs.

“That wasn’t what you said before,” Andie uttered, desperation setting in. “You were going to punish me.”

“I am.” He blew on her clit, chilling her heated nub with a combination of shivers and heat so hot it ached. “It’ll go easier on you if you comply.”

“Oh, please … stop the torture.”

Cade only chuckled, and resumed his teasing. His fingertips traversed her torso, tickling her nipples as his palms massaged her breasts.

Andie could feel the fire light up everywhere he touched, but he was being so delicate and tender, he was utterly frustrating.

Since she couldn’t move, she had only one recourse.

“You know what I’ve never done before?” she said in as husky a voice she could muster.

“Hmmm …” he mumbled between her legs and gave her a quick flick across her clit, causing her to moan with sweet agony.

“Given a blow … job.”

His lips tightened over the bud of her pleasure, probably shocked that a woman her age had never done so. Except it was true. No one had ever made her want to take him in, every which way. She’d set limits, or it had never come up, because she’d been too nerdy and too conventional. She was, after all, a research librarian, and she had had to maintain a certain sense of decorum, even in the bedroom. But that was before Cade drew the crazy out of her.

“You telling the truth?” Cade removed himself from between her thighs and advanced over her, his body hovering above her. He was still completely clothed—totally “in control.”

“Yes.” She met his gaze hard on, not flinching. She’d own it. Wear it. Be proud of it. “I’m a mouth virgin.”

“Shit.”

Got him.
Andie couldn’t help chuckling. She could see the wheels turning, the arousal cranking up in the flush of his skin, and the heightening of his breath, the edge of sweat on his chiseled face, the gleam of lust overtaking his senses.

She slid her tongue around her lips and opened her eyes wide and innocent. Pouting slightly, she said. “I don’t know if my mouth is big enough, and I have no clue what to do with my tongue. Can I try it on you?”

Cade’s Adam’s apple tightened, and he wiped his hand over his forehead. If the bulge inside his pants were any indication, he was already close to detonation.

“Please? Show me?” Andie made no move with her hands. Oh, no. He’d set the rules. No using her hands to touch him. Too bad, so sad, she wasn’t going to help him by grabbing his waistband to relieve the pressure.

No, neither was she going to palm his erection and rub it before lowering his zipper. Nuh uh, nope. She’d lie still, naked, waiting.

It was a big game of chicken, and he knew it. Shaking his head in thinly disguised frustration, he grunted, “Oh, no, ladies first.”

Since the sunlight was still slanting in despite the hour, Cade lowered the room darkening shades. With a push of a button, the black ceiling cranked open above her, exposing a huge mirror right over the bed.

The pounding of the
Fifty Shades of Grey
soundtrack, slowed down to drag like molasses, oozed from the surround sound system.

As if putting a spell on her, Cade lingered overhead, eyes narrowed, veins bulging in his neck, mouth in a tight line, eyes fierce before moving in slow motion toward her.

Above her, his reflection overshadowed her nakedness. It would be so, so hot once he was naked, to watch his muscles contract and pulse as he fucked her good and hard.

But no. Cade looped a black tie around his wrist. He smoothly slipped it over her eyes, darkening her world so she had no choice but to focus solely on the way he’d manipulate and control her to give her the ultimate pleasure of complete submission.

His lips pressed on her, rough and possessive, taking without giving, every movement slow but hard. His tongue dragged hers, and his jeans scraped against her thighs. Calloused hands drew an excruciating line of tingles down her hips, and the buttons of his shirt gouged against her soft flesh.

Every sensation, hard and prickly, concentrated her desire, then spread like thick honey so that pleasure fused in every pore of her skin with a dull yet full-bodied, bone-numbing arousal.

Cade scraped his lips, his teeth, and his fingers over every inch of her body, bringing out the fire, yet subduing it by not touching her nipples or any other hot zone, no matter how she twisted and turned.

“Please … Cade, please,” she begged, barely able to emit a sound.

Loving her, touching her exquisitely, rough yet unhurried, he explored every inch of her, setting her on fire like the smoldering of a giant redwood log.

He lowered his head, brushing his hair against the heightened sensitivity of her breasts, then rolled his huge hands over her breasts, massaging fully as his mouth nipped its way down her lower belly—making her wait—blindfolded, totally under his domination.

She let him set the pace. She had no choice, the more she bucked and moved, the slower he went, and so she waited as his touch awakened every sweet and painful sensation, pinching and nipping, licking and sucking, when finally, holy hot chili peppers, he’d arrived at the promised land between her legs.

To the sound of the pounding beat of the slowed-down soundtrack, he spread her legs and laved her soaking wet folds, his fingers digging into her ass, lifting her and pressing her against his stubbly jaw.

Pleasure shot up her spine, and Andie’s body arched, her hips jerking at the pure spike of ecstasy. She gripped the bedsheets hard, resisting the impulse to grab him, clasping him to her, and locking him in.

She was on the edge, close, his tongue dragging and his lips working her to a frenzy, when he sucked her clit with a long kiss then, unexpectedly, he let go.

“What …” Andie’s breath snagged in her throat, and she was turned onto her stomach.

A sharp smack landed on her behind. It. Really. Hurt.

One.

Another one. Ow … but the pain spread into heat. Heat and fire.

Two.

He lifted her onto her knees and slapped her again. The jagged sensation broiled raw, radiating to her throbbing pussy.

Three.

How much more could she take? The sound of unzipping was followed by the rip of plastic. The blindfold was removed as he shoved his cock into her, filling her and stretching her so hard and fast that her already sensitive, blood-infused nether regions exploded with a deep underground volcanic explosion.

Cade pounded her hard and fast, his fingers digging into her flesh, grabbing and pulling her against him as she screamed her impending orgasm, matching the crescendo of the crazy jangling beat.

Right as pleasure spurted forth like shooting lava, Cade pulled her hair, wrapping it around his hand, and jerked her head up so that both pain and pleasure overtook her like the slamming of a train. A deep orgasm shook her entire clenching body with mind-drugging pain and the purest and longest ride of ecstasy she’d never known possible.

The music shrieked to a scratchy end as Cade cut it and fell on top of her, his heat enveloping her, his mouth nipping and biting the back of her neck, her shoulders, covering her with his brand of crazy, maniacal love.