Fighting Chance (Misty Grove Book 1) (13 page)

This rattled Trent more than any revelation tonight. Someone was after Cassie to use as a guinea pig. Over his dead body.
 

The discussion delved deeper into Bowman’s possible involvement given the Timberline apartments were owned by his real estate company and Deuce Walker had been in his employment. Trent told them about his brief interview with Bowman, including his denial.

“Keep us apprised of what you find out,” Colt said.

“I expect the same courtesy,” Trent returned evenly. “Let’s face it, Montgomery. You have more access to classified databases than a mere sheriff would.”

“Ah, but let’s not play coy here,” Colt said. “You do have friends in high places.”

Bottom line. Trust was still an issue. Fair enough.

Time to quit while he was ahead. Trent stood up. “There is that matter of Stratford’s illegal activities.”

“About that,” Lucas said tentatively. “Can we forget that happened?”

He looked at Cassie’s brother incredulously. “This has put me in a difficult position and has already gotten Frank Briggs suspended. I’ll have to reinstate him, of course, in light of mitigating events, but I am not turning a blind eye to underground fighting and gambling in my county. I will have to delay the investigation until I can determine how this will impact everyone involved.” Protecting a bunch of ex-assassins sounded like an oxymoron.
 

Colt rose to his feet as well. “I appreciate it, Sheriff. I’ll tell Stratford it’s in his best interest to lay low for a while.”

“You do that,” Trent said. He didn’t trust himself alone with Stratford. He might kill the guy. Trent still couldn’t get the image of a broken Cassie from that night of the fight out of his head. He walked over to her now and held out his hand. “Walk with me.”

Her eyes flashed with defiance. He probably should have added “please,” but he grinned cockily instead. Rolling her eyes, she ignored his hand and walked past him and out the door.

“Bossy is not gonna work with that girl,” Millie drawled, amusement in her tone.

Trent caught his lower lip between his teeth, gave a slight shake of his head, and said, “Can’t help it.” He wasn’t about to explain that just thinking of taming his hellcat was making him fucking hard. Thank God, he had changed into jeans before coming over.

“Bring out the popcorn,” Lucas clapped a hand on Trent’s back. “I’m going to enjoy this show.”

“Lucas,” Matt rebuked quietly. Clearly, Trent had not won over that one yet.

Trent went in search of Cassie and found her pacing the front porch. He rested a shoulder against a wall and watched her.

“You’re out of excuses, Cassie. We’re happening.”

“We’re not happening.”

“Yes, we are.”

“No, we’re not. This is crazy.” Cassie stopped pacing and faced him. “Look, I’m okay with occasional hookups.” She lowered her voice. “I don’t mind sex. You give the best orgasms. I can imagine how good you are with your cock.”

Trent winced. “Babe, you need to work on your dirty talk.”

“I wasn’t trying to talk dirty to you,” Cassie snapped. “I’m trying to explain,” she exhaled deeply and shook her head. “I don’t know how to do this. You’re the most bullheaded man I’ve ever met. Why can’t you be like the others?”

“What?” Trent cut in harshly. “Wham, bam, thank you, Cassie? That’s not my scene. You deserve more.”

“You don’t get it!” Cassie yelled. Then, as if remembering there were people on the other side of the wall, she whispered in desperation, “I don’t want more. The only time in my life I tried a relationship, someone ended up in a hospital. You saw what I can do. Why are you not afraid?”

“Because I’ve seen worse shit in my life,” Trent said roughly. “I’m not a boy, Cassie. I’m a man who has survived torture, starvation, a shot to the gut. I’ve watched my brothers die in front of me. I’ve seen the best and worst of humanity. I’ve lived through a lot, but I’ve never met someone who could twist me up inside like you do. Afraid of you? Even now I know how strong you are, I still want to bubble wrap you and keep you away from harm.”

“I don’t know how to do this.” Her shoulders slumped in resignation.

“I’m not asking you to marry me, Cassie. I just want to get to know you.” Trent’s voice gentled. “I want to spend time with you outside of the bedroom. Though believe me, we’ll be spending a lot of time in it too.” And fucking in other more creative places. “Look, who knows, after a few weeks, we may realize physical attraction is all there is and we can part as friends. Unless maybe you’re afraid to fall madly in love with me and become obsessed with me.”

Her eyes snapped to his, suspicion awash in them.

“You don’t have stalker tendencies, do you?” Trent added for good measure.

“Is that some kind of reverse psychology?”

“Of course not, Cassie. Rumor has it that you were pretty obsessed with Stratford once.” And he almost choked on his tongue with the jealousy that bubbled up his throat. But, dammit, he’d never met a more stubborn woman. He’d say anything right now to trick her into giving him a chance because he was going to take it and run with it.

“That was just a stupid crush,” Cassie mumbled, looking away from Trent. The envy that threatened to choke him now saturated his head and every vein in his body.
 

“Are you over him?” Trent asked in a tight voice, taking the steps to close the gap between them.

“Honestly, I don’t know,” Cassie admitted, staring up at him. “Would that be a problem?”

This saucy wench was asking for it. He wrapped his arms around her, still mindful of her injuries, and lowered his head, capturing her lips in a long, searing kiss. When she moaned into his mouth, he slightly lifted her up, squeezing her ass to press her against his hardness. She felt so damned good, molding perfectly against him. He had to have her. Pulling away, he muttered, “Come home with me.”

“Why?” Cassie whispered.

“Because I intend to fuck him out of your system.”

“What? Who?” she asked dazedly. She’d already forgotten about Stratford. Good.

“Fuck, I’m such an ass. You just came out of a coma,” Trent said ruefully. “We don’t have to have sex. I just need you with me.”

Even in the dim light, Trent could see the struggle on her face. His heart sank when she pushed away from him. At least there was a measure of reluctance.

“I think it’s best for me to stay here for now. Colt and Matt just got back.”

“If you’re worried about who’s after you, I can protect you.”

Cassie chuckled. “Unless it has escaped you, I’m quite capable of preventing my own abduction, Sheriff.”

“You do wonders for a man’s ego,” Trent said dryly. “I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Annoyance furrowed her brows. “Don’t you ever ask? Is it always an order with you?”

“I’m learning how to deal with you. I’m just taking preemptive measures on whatever likely excuse you may come up with not to see me. You can’t deny this attraction between us, Cassie, and if that’s all I’ve got to work with right now, I’m taking it.” Trent started down the porch steps.

“Of all the arrogant, conceited...” Cassie sputtered angrily behind him.

Trent opened his pickup door, leaned casually against it, and said, “I’ll be here at 6:00 p.m.”

“I won’t be here.”

“You better answer that door when I arrive. Don’t make me hunt you down, or I’m going to make you beg for it.”

With that parting shot, he climbed into his vehicle and drove off.

Glancing at his rearview mirror, he chuckled when he saw Cassie throw up her arms in annoyance and slam into the ranch house.

*****

“I want to kung fu his ass into the next millennium. God!” Cassie stomped into the living room where the others had retreated to after the meeting with Trent. “What an infuriating man.”

Lucas and Millie exchanged knowing looks.

“I am not in denial!” She glared at the two.

“Honey, we didn’t say anything,” Millie drawled.
 

“He’s so damned cocky. I’ll admit he’s sexy as hell, but I’ve met a lot of men damn sexier than him.” This was not true, of course. Trent Stone didn’t only look good, but he exuded some kind of animal magnetism that made her want to go down on all fours and push her ass against his cock or his face. She had seen the outline of his erection that day when he went down on her and she’d been having lustful daydreams ever since, wondering how he would take her with it. “What makes him think he can order me around?”

“Why do you let him order you around?” Lucas pointed out.

“Damned if I know,” Cassie retorted. “It’s as if he’s got this magic voice, in that perfect timbre that makes me nod my head. You don’t think he’s some kind of spy, do you? Maybe I’ve been brainwashed and I don’t know it.”

“You’ve been living in our world for too long,” Matt said dryly.

“Or you could have simply met the man who could push all your right buttons,” Millie piped in.

“Or all the wrong ones,” Cassie mumbled. God, was she protesting too much? She glanced at Colt who seemed to be observing her mini-meltdown with contemplative amusement. Blood rushed to her cheeks in embarrassment, so she changed the subject. “We didn’t tell him about Piper.”

“No, we did not,” Colt said. “I’m glad Matt cut me off when he did. I’m slow on the uptake when it comes to observing male-female dynamics, but I see now how Trent Stone could be a problem if we decide to use you as bait.”

“That’s my other concern. He’s damned overprotective.” She wouldn’t admit that it strangely warmed her heart seeing how everyone else around her thought she could take care of herself. But this could get worrisome if it hindered them from cracking down on the last remnants of Chrysalis.

“Why did we tell him so much about our business then?”

“He needs to feel involved and feel sympathy for our cause,” Colt said. “Chrysalis has brought the war to us when they sent Piper after you. We’ll be operating under CIA directive if we decide to engage them on our turf.”

“And the CIA can’t conduct operations within the homeland without domestic agency involvement,” Cassie finished, remembering the rules of the agency.

“Exactly.”

*****

Dr. Xavier Sanchez steepled his fingers under his chin and contemplated his conversation with Arnold Bowman. The real estate developer called him personally to inform him that his affairs were being investigated by the Buckland County Sheriff’s department. It was a courtesy call. Bowman didn’t know that he—Xavier Sanchez —was responsible for all the trouble he was in. To the public, Xavier was the dynamic CEO of Quantagen, a Bio-Research lab that was part of a huge pharmaceutical conglomerate with popular drugs on the market for heart disease, Parkinson’s, and diabetes. In his own private laboratory though, Xavier aimed to succeed where his predecessor and mentor, Dr. Moses Devlin, had failed, by removing the expiration date on ES subjects. He was close to achieving his goal, but he was also running out of time. His last ES was reaching her “gloaming” age. From what he had concluded from his experiments, the serum needed to be administered before the HGH levels dropped to their lowest levels.
 

He had to remain ahead of the game. Human genome editing had gained popularity with the CRISPR method and gained notoriety in the intelligence community because basic elements could be bought online for less than $100. The top U.S. spy chief had recently ranked genome editing as a WMD. He was not wrong. Yes. He had to remain on top of his game. Once he had cracked the code of the ES expiration, the possibilities could be endless. He’d received numerous partnership offers from several entities, but he was a scientist first and a businessman second. He would explore the monetary implications later when he’d achieved his scientific goal.

The door opened. Piper Callahan and Dr. Deborah Stiles entered the room.
 

“You said she would come out of it,” Piper raged instantly. Her aggression and short-temperedness were getting worse by the day.
 

Ignoring her outburst, Xavier turned his attention to the other woman. “How is Kate?”

“Still catatonic,” Deborah said gravely. “The administration of the HGH-12 was too much for her system to handle. She woke up from the coma in the expected duration, but this time she’s unresponsive.”

It had been a month.
 

“And yet Scout came out of the coma two days early and bursting at full strength.” He split his gaze between the two women. “What does that tell us?”

“The HGH-13 I shot her with is better than the last one,” Piper responded in exasperation, like it was needless for him to ask the question.

“Or, she’s simply a fresh test subject or the best subject,” Deborah observed. “Scout’s blood work looks promising. I’m still doing the DNA workup.”

“You did a good job, Nurse Pia.” Xavier smiled derisively at Deborah.

“I told you, you won’t regret hiring me.” His blonde and buxom assistant smiled smugly.

“You failed in your attempt to seduce the sheriff though,” Xavier pointed out.

“We don’t really need him since we have an inside man planted in the sheriff’s department,” Deborah stated, her expression turning peeved. Xavier knew she was still smarting over the fact that Trent Stone was impervious to her charms in her guise as a sexy nurse for County Hospital. “Our ploy of sending Scout to the hospital by running her down backfired, and she’s only won the sympathy of the sheriff.”

“Good thing the underground fight was a backup plan, even though that match was beneath me,” Piper said disdainfully. “What are we going to do about Deuce?”

“My man will take care of him,” Xavier replied. He had planted Deuce into Bowman’s inner circle. The real estate developer was also a loose end, but Xavier didn’t take action without big payoffs. There were pawns on the chessboard and he had to make his moves wisely. The return of Montgomery and Foster complicated things. He had hoped to have had his hands on Scout before they returned, and now the sheriff had developed an attachment to her.
 

Scout had always been his favorite ES. There was something about that girl that inspired protectiveness even from Kate. She’d always doted on Scout. Xavier winced at the thought of Kate. What a waste. She was as beautiful as she was strong-minded. He had broken her and he felt some regret. He realized Piper was speaking to him.