Steel Rush (In the Shadows#5) (20 page)

I can’t even be mad at his arrogance. He’s entirely right. I smile and press my body closer. “All of the above.”

Calder shuts the water off, his expression suddenly serious as he takes the hand towel off the hook and dries his hands. “All I want is your trust, Cass.”

My eyes widen. “You have it. What I just told you about my past, no one knows. Not my parents, not even Talia.”

I hold my hand out and uncurl my fingers, revealing his tags. “Why do you still wear these? You’re no longer in the military.”

Calder takes his tags and returns them to his neck. “After my father died, my unit became my family.”

Yet he’s no longer with his SEAL team or in the Navy at all. “Why did you leave?”

“I went on missions non-stop for over three years. When I ended up in the hospital, recovering for three months…” He pauses and shrugs. “I realized if I kept going at that pace, I wasn’t going to make it to the hospital. At some point, I had to come home.”

He doesn’t say “to be alone” but I see the lost look in his eyes. I slowly trace my fingers along his Solus tattoo, then slide my hand up his ribs and over his pectoral to cover his heart. “I’m sorry for all that you’ve lost.”

He shakes his head, his hand clenching on the towel. “It’s in the past, Cass.”

“Grieving is a process, Calder. I miss my sister every single day, but I try to lessen the loss by recalling the special moments we had together, no matter how small.” Straightening my arm in front of him, I turn my palm up toward the mirror. “Now you’ll never be alone.”

He looks at our reflection and his gaze follows my arm to see I’ve lined my tattoo up with the Solus on his waist. His throat bobs as he drops the towel to trace his finger up my forearm and along the Never script.

Turning in my arms, he captures my face and presses his lips to mine, murmuring, “Are you trying to wreck me?”

I squeeze his waist and press my naked chest to his, teasing against his lips, “I’m just kissing you.”

He spears his fingers into my hair, his voice gruff. “I’m never letting you go.”

“Hold tight,” I whisper, loving that we’ve come to an understanding about us. No matter what our past relationships were,
we’re
together and that’s all that matters.

Sliding a hand down my back, Calder palms my ass and pulls me fully against his erection, deepening our kiss. The moment I reach up and wrap my arms around his neck, he groans and swiftly lifts me in his arms, carrying me into the bedroom.

When he lowers me to the bed and presses a tender kiss to my forehead, whispering, “Get some sleep, angel,” my heart jerks. Sitting up, I grip his hand as he starts to walk away. “Where are you going?”

Calder lifts my fingers to his mouth, his gaze full of hunger and regret. “It’s almost dawn. I need to get back to my room.”

I clamp my fingers around his, not wanting to let him go. “But…”

He slides a simmering gaze over my chest, then glances toward the ceiling, exhaling harshly. Returning his attention to me, he hooks his finger under my chin. “The way I want you won’t be soft, angel. I’ll be insatiable and relentless.” My lips part on a breath of aroused excitement, and a wicked smirk crooks his lips as he runs his thumb down my chin. “I want to fuck you very much, but in my own space, not someone else’s.”

Without another word, he turns toward the bathroom and disappears into the linen closet.

M
y phone beeping with a text wakes me just two hours after I fell into a fitful sleep. All I could think about was Calder. My head throbbing, I rub my eyes and glance outside to see early morning fog is still in the air. Grabbing my phone from the nightstand, I unplug it from a charger I found in Celeste’s desk.

As I click on Talia’s message, I see that Calder sent me a text an hour ago.

Talia: Go outside in twenty minutes.

I blink to wake myself up and respond to her text.

Me: What’s happening in twenty minutes?

Talia: You’ll have a visitor.

Me: Who’s up at this ungodly hour? Do you have any news?

Talia: Ha, I’m texting you from my warm bed. You’ll see. No news yet. See you tonight.

I click on Calder’s message expecting something personal after last night.

Calder: Get out of going to the shooting range.

He doesn’t ask. He commands. As much as I want to balk at being ordered around, it’s probably for the best if I cancel. After I send him a message that I’ll take care of it, I quickly jump up and finger-comb my bedhead hair, then rush into the bathroom to brush my teeth. Sliding into a pair of jeans, sneakers, and a coat, I quietly open my door and walk down the stairs. I’m thankful no one’s around, but when I see Beatrice instructing a younger housemaid how to mop the front entrance hallway properly, I turn and head for the side entrance that leads into the garden.

According to my phone, I have more time than I thought, but instead of going back inside, I decide to take the long way around the massive house to get to the driveway. As I follow the stone pathway and avoid patches of ice that haven’t thawed yet, I turn the corner from the back side of the house and hear people talking ahead of me near the separate garage.

Ugh, I’m a mess. What if it’s someone important? I’ll never hear the end of how I embarrassed Celeste from Beth.

I quickly step behind a tall juniper and Calder’s voice reaches my ears. “Thanks. I owe you.”

I frown and peer through the evergreen. The girl from last night, Alana, is wearing tight, ripped skinny jeans, a moto-jacket and matching boots. Her black hair is down around her shoulders, but this time the tips of her bangs are a deep red color that matches her lips. She’s fucking hot as hell.

“You’re welcome,” she purrs. Rubbing her fingerless-gloved hands together, she lifts a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. “So…does this mean you’ll reconsider?”

Calder snorts and shoves his hands in his jeans. “Of course you
would
go right for that.”

She releases a low, sexy laugh as she runs her finger along his jawline. Tilting his head, she eyes him appreciatively. “Yeah, I’m thinking just the barest of profile.”

Disliking her I-just-woke-up husky voice intensely, I set my jaw and glance down at my phone as it buzzes in my hand.

Talia: Are you there?

Crap. I need to get to the driveway.

Me: Coming. Got delayed.

Turning, I run back the way I came until I reach the driveway.

As I jog up, Mina steps out of her car and shuts the door. Shifting the white gift bag from one hand to the other, she pushes her blonde hair over her shoulder and smiles. “Hey, Celeste. I just thought I’d pop by and see how you’re doing.”

Breathing heavily, I wave to her little girl, Josi, still in her car seat. “Hey, Mina. It’s good to see you.”

Mina’s brown eyes widen with concern and she glances around to see if anyone’s about. “Are you all right, Cass?”

Swallowing, I take a breath and nod. “I’m fine. I went for a walk and lost track of time. I had to run to get back here to meet you.”

Relief flickers across her face. “You’ve got us so worried.” Glancing down at the bag in her hand, she continues, “Oh, this is for you from Talia…and me. Don’t open it until you get to your room.”

I take the bag from her and smile my appreciation. “Thank you for driving out here to check on me and for the gift.”

She nods and starts to say something when a motorcycle cranks from the side of the house. A second later, the person zooms up the driveway.

“Who was that?”

I see the black helmet first, then the ripped jeans and moto-boots, but the vanity license plate holds my rapt attention as the bike disappears up the driveway. INKART. My gaze narrows. “
That
answers a lot.”

Mina’s gaze slides back to me. “You um…don’t sound happy.”

“I’m fine, just tired.” I force a smile and lift the bag up. “Thank you again for the gift and please remind Talia not to hug me when she sees me tonight.”

“Got it.” Mina waggles her fingers at Josie who’s getting antsy in her car seat. Opening the car door, she shakes her head. “I don’t know how you’re doing this, Cass. I would’ve given myself away so many times.”

“It’s not easy,” I say on a sigh. “But whether Celeste is missing or just hiding out, I hope to collect evidence tonight that points away from me as the first person the police might suspect in her disappearance.”

“Good luck tonight. I truly hope Celeste is all right and this is her way of getting back at her father.”

As I watch her get into her car and drive away, I murmur, “Me too, Mina.”

Calder’s just coming down the stairs at a brisk pace when I walk in. Marco turns on his way up the steps and walks back to the main floor, his gaze watching us like a hawk. Calder immediately walks over to me in the entryway, his tense expression relaxing. “You need to inform me when you leave your room, Miss Carver.”

It’s not fair that he appears to have had a full night’s sleep, is freshly shaven and smells like sin, while I look like I’ve been on an all night bender. I start to inhale his appealing scent, but the INKART license plate pops into my head. I lift the bag up. “Mina dropped off something for me.”
Maybe there’s a miracle facelift in it.
“If you’ll excuse me, I need to get a shower. I have an engagement to keep.”

He falls into step beside me, a frown creasing his brow. “What engagement? I’m not aware of anything on your itinerary until this evening.”

I glance his way as I take the steps. “Ben’s taking me shooting today. He’s picking me up around ten, so I want to be ready.”

“Miss Carver,” Marco calls out and waits for me to pause. “I was on my way to inform you that there is a breakfast meeting in the dining room in fifteen minutes to discuss tonight’s event.”

When he grins as if knowing I’ll be rushing through a shower to make the meeting with such short notice, I press my lips together in annoyance and continue up the stairs.

Calder follows silently until I reach for my door’s handle. “You said you were going to take care of it.”

His tone is low but tense. I glance at him and lift my shoulders. “I decided it’s best to keep things real and in the present. You should know all about that.”

“Meaning?” he asks, scowling.

I step into my room and turn to face him. “Considering that you conveniently left out the part that your
old friend
, Alana, is your tattoo artist, your argument of what constitutes innocent gestures is full of shit.”

“No, it was on point. My argument was about
intent
and it still stands.” His green gaze sharpens. “I strongly recommend that you cancel.”

“Oh well, in that case, I
intend
to learn to shoot today. And I
strongly
recommend that you stay outside the building.” Shutting the door in his face, I lock it and head straight for the bathroom.

I set the bag on the counter and pull it open, hoping for something to put me in a better mood. When I pull out two sets of super sexy bras and underwear, one black and one ruby red, both made of lace and barely there scraps of silk, I let out an ironic snort and retrieve the note Talia had put in the bottom of the bag.