Bluegrass Undercover (14 page)

They slammed on the brakes, and the steroidasaurus triplets from his last visit to the gym jumped out with bats. Great, just what he needed. At least it wasn’t Larry, Moe and Curly. “Our boss said you were wavering on the deal we have. You better get out of the way of your boys. Boss is turning them into champs,” one of them said. Honestly, with their tight white t-shirts and shaved heads they all looked the same.

“
No, your boss is turning them into aggressive, egotistical teenagers who think they know everything. Look what it got us. A loss. Tell your boss he’s making the team implode.” Cade was so angry he had to talk himself out of beating them up then and there, staring parents be damned.

“
This is just to remind you to keep your mouth shut.” Bats were swung, headlights were smashed, windows were shattered, and the hood was dented as they busted the SUV up. Cade rocked back on his heels and tried not to laugh. They had done it again.

“
Hey! What are you doing to my car?!” Coach Parks yelled as he sprinted towards them from the field house. The triples froze and looked from Parks to the car they were currently destroying. One of the men, the one with the tattoo of himself on his forearm, at least Cade hoped it was of himself and not one of his buddies, pulled out a piece of paper.

“
Says he drives a year old Black SUV. Toyota.” One the three men leaned forward to look at the front of the car.

“
Ford. Oops.”

“
Dammit, Steve. Boss is going to be pissed.” He shoved the guy he called Steve and then noticed Parks was closing in on them. They began to push each other and trip over one another as they leapt back into the Escalade and tore out of the parking lot.

Cade shook his head and tried not to laugh at the mess-ups the lackeys Gaylen had sent continued to make. He looked at the damaged vehicle. Poor Parks, he wasn’t going to take this very well. He loved his SUV. He fell to his knees in front of his broken headlights, his hands stretched up to the heavens and cried, “My Baby!” before collapsing into tears.

Chapter Eleven

Annie sat on the old floral couch and looked at the wall. She put the glass of Sangiovese down on the small, wood side table and leaned forward. She had lit candles in the living room and poured a glass of wine in an effort to relax. She hoped it would trigger something as she looked at the wall where she posted all the notes on the case. There were pictures of the players with different color yarns attaching them to other players and pieces of evidence, but so far nothing was connecting them. There was no common thread.

Just this afternoon she had received the information that S2 had spread from Kentucky to Florida and now to Texas. She had looked through the file before the game but couldn’t figure out how it had gone from Miami to Houston. Hence the wine and candles. She took another sip of wine and looked at the cases. The only common factor was that the buyers were all high school athletes. With a sigh, she slouched back against the couch. This was what her Friday nights had consisted of for years now, and boy it was almost as depressing as the fact she couldn’t figure out the connection in these cases.

The knock at the door surprised her. Maybe the Rose sisters had taken pity on her again and brought her some food. They had surprised her once a week with some home cooked goodies that made her excited every time the door rang. She did kind of feel like Pavlov’s dog, but if it was any more of the pumpkin spice cake that Miss Violet had dropped off last week, she’d happily drool. Suddenly giddy to see what goodie awaited her, she got up and hung the picture of some saint over her notes before bounding to the door and quickly opening it.

“
Hi.” Oh crap. That was not who she thought it was going to be.

“
Hello, Cade. What brings you by tonight?”

She tried to hide herself behind the door. She was wearing a pair of baggy flannel bottoms from Victoria’s Secret and an old Florida State t-shirt that was a size too small. She had kind of filled out some since college. She was definitely not in any kind of outfit to see Cade in, especially when she desperately wanted to apologize for the punch. It was a good punch, though, but he didn’t deserve it. She knew that now.

She just didn’t really know how to deal with men who might care for her, and she believed that he did care for her. She was used to men putting her down, always thinking that because she was a woman she could not do what they did. They didn’t want to be her partner in the field because they didn’t trust a woman to have their back. They didn’t want to go undercover with her because they never thought she’d be able to pull it off. And they never wanted to hang with her after a case because she wasn’t one of the guys.

“
Something happened after you left that I thought you should know about. Can I come in?”

Oh double crap. He looked so good in his jeans and black pullover. Of course, not as good as he looked out of them. She took a quick look down at her black flannel pants with pink polka dots and shrugged. It wasn’t like he was interested in kissing her again.

“
Sure.” She opened the door and waited for him step inside. “I’m guessing what happened wasn’t too bad since you are smiling. Come into the living room. I was just having some wine and trying to find the common connection to all the cases that have appeared in Kentucky, Florida and now Texas.” She walked into the living room and took the saint picture down, leaving him to follow.

He stopped in front of the wall and took a quick glance at it. He stood with his hands on his hips, the same hips that she had dreamt about straddling. She downed the rest of her wine and coughed when it went down wrong.

“
You okay?” Cade turned and asked.

“
Yes,” she croaked. She took a seat on the couch and watched as Cade grinned. Oh, no, don’t do that. She needed more wine to handle sexy smiles.

“
Wine?” she asked and bolted straight up.

“
Sure.” He followed her to the kitchen and took the glass of wine she poured for him. Cade took a sip of wine to hide the smile on his face. She was so flustered and it was such a good look on her. So was that shirt she was wearing. It fitted her like a glove and outlined those breasts he desperately wanted to feel. It was a shame he would never get that chance. She had made it clear he was to keep his hands to himself. It was strange for him. Most women flung themselves at him and his brothers. As a result he actually hadn’t wanted to date anyone, anyone until the redhead sitting on the couch next to him punched him, that is.

Now he couldn’t stop kicking himself for kissing her. It was a great kiss, but it had scared her off, and for that he’d always be mad at himself. So, he was stuck longing for her from afar. He was nice when he passed her in the hall but didn’t impose himself on her. He looked for her every game but made sure she didn’t see him looking at her. God, he was a mess.

“
So, what happened after the game?” she asked.

“
Ah, the triplets came back for a visit on command from Gaylen.”

“
The Three Stooges?”

“
No, the steroid triplets.”

“
The bald ones with no necks?” she asked.

“
Yup. They somehow found out I was unhappy with the team’s performance and came to remind me to keep our deal.”

“
How did they know you weren’t happy?”

“
Anyone at the game could tell I was not pleased.”

“
Yes, but the triplets weren’t at the game. Someone must have told them. And that someone is who we need to find.” He watched as Annie jumped up and took a yellow index card from the small side table and wrote out ‘Mystery Game Watcher’ on it and stuck it on her board with a link to Gaylen. Annie stared at the wall for a couple more minutes, then sat back down on the couch. She turned to him, “What happened next?”

“
Well, this is where it gets funny. I walk out of the field house and start heading for my car. When I’m about twenty feet from the car, I hear tires squealing. The triplets jump out with bats and start destroying the car.” At her shocked expression he smothered a laugh. “But they destroyed the
wrong
car.”

Her hand covered her mouth and he heard a muffled, “No!” Her green eyes were wide in both horror and laughter as he watched the emotion play over them. “Whose car was it?” she asked through her fingers still covering her mouth.

“
Coach Parks,”

“
Oh! Poor Parks! He’s such a nice man.” She lowered her hand from her mouth and Cade couldn’t tear his eyes from her lush lips. Just one kiss. That was all he wanted. “What did Coach Parks do?”

“
He yelled at them and then they started arguing over what car they were looking for. Apparently the guy named Steve gave the others the wrong description. Then Coach Parks started yelling and running at them so they high-tailed it back to their car and took off. Parks started to cry then.”

He watched as Annie’s face turned red. Her shoulders were shaking, but she wasn’t laughing. Then as if erupting, she laughed. Tears started to roll down her cheeks as she grabbed his upper arm as she laughed.

“
I shouldn’t,” she gasped out, “be laughing. Poor Parks! But it’s too funny thinking of the guys messing up over and over.”

Cade felt the rumbles in his belly as the laughter came. Annie’s face was bright red, and he placed his hand on her arm, just as she was doing to him. Suddenly he wasn’t laughing anymore. They were close and touching, and her eyes were looking into his. Suddenly he didn’t know what to do.

“
Um, more wine?” she asked as she broke eye contact and jumped up.

“
Sure.” He stood and handed her his glass, but she didn’t move. She was standing right in front of him, and this time she met his eyes and held his gaze.

Cade watched as she leaned forward. Was she going to kiss him? No, she wouldn’t do that. She made it clear, no kissing. But, she took another step forward. He felt the soft outline of her breast as it brushed against his fleece pullover. He watched as she tilted her chin up, offering him her lips.

Cade didn’t know what to do, so he just stood still, debating. Kiss. Punch. Kiss. Punch. He was debating when the choice was taken away from him. Her lips met his. He felt her hesitatingly kiss him. He had to admit it wasn’t his finest kiss. He was just too shocked to do anything. Finally his baser instincts won out, and he felt all restraint leave his body. It was definitely worth another black eye.

He opened to her then and felt her tongue tentatively seek entrance. That was his undoing. He was tired of being still. He wrapped her in his arms and pulled her against him. Her body was so damn sexy. She was all lush curves and felt as a woman should. He applied more pressure to her lips and slipped his tongue around hers. God, he wanted her, and wanted her now. The couch was somewhere nearby, and all he cared about was getting her naked and exploring the fullness of those breasts and the gentle curve of her hip.

He took a step back and bumped into the small side table on the far end of the couch. Thinking it was the couch, he moved to sit down, bumping onto the table top instead. He put his hand out behind him to steady himself when his foot got tangled in the phone cord. He tried to kick it off, but instead lost his balance and fell back onto the table.

Annie couldn’t believe she had done that. It was so obvious he didn’t want to kiss her. But, she’d been thinking of kissing him before he came, and it just sort of happened. She had never chased a guy in her life, but it seemed to work. He had wrapped his arms around her and the kiss had turned hot!

And then it ended. What the heck? Annie opened her eyes and found Cade falling backward onto the table, the table covered with lit candles! He landed in the middle of the table, the action causing some of the candles to fall to the ground. Annie immediately stomped them out with her fuzzy socks.

“
Wow. That was smooth,” Cade murmured as he righted himself.

Annie was about to throw him a smile when she saw it. “Cade! Your arm. It’s on fire!” she said slowly, not wanting him to panic and start running around making it worse.

He looked down at his arm, and she was pretty impressed that his eyes didn’t even go wide. He slipped his arm out of the sleeve and pulled the fleece and the t-shirt stuck to it off. He folded it carefully, wrapping the shirt over the fire and extinguishing it.

“
Well, that was convenient. I wanted your shirt off anyways.” She shrugged and stepped forward to grab the smoldering shirt and toss it in the sink. “Now. Where were we?”

“
I’m pretty sure I was about to do something like this.” She felt herself be scooped up into arms. She thought for a moment to fight it, but when had she ever let herself be treated like a woman? No, she was going to enjoy it.

He carried her through the door to her bedroom. She felt right in his arms. He looked over her head and into the room and froze for a moment. A twin bed? That was seriously going to limit his smoothness in bed.

“
Is everything all right?” He heard the nervousness in her voice. He would do whatever it took to banish any signs of nervousness.