Point of No Return (36 page)

After a while and several promises from me to call again soon, we hung up. I was sitting on the couch, watching the waves crash along the shore, when Kade came out of the bedroom. He was drying his hair with a towel, another wrapped around his waist.

“Who was that?” he asked.

“Alisha,” I replied. “You’re in such deep shit with her.”

Kade raised an eyebrow at me, and I could tell he really didn’t care. I sighed. Looked like it’d be up to me to make things right with her and Lewis.

“So what do you want to do today?” he asked. “We can swim in the pool, sit on the beach, go sightseeing
. . .
”

I pushed him down on his back against the couch and gave a sharp tug on the towel around his waist. It fell aside.

“Or we could stay here for a while,” he added hoarsely as I took him in my mouth. Then he stopped talking altogether.

We spent three weeks in Hawaii, touring Oahu, Maui, and the Big Island. Sometimes we stayed in a hotel, sometimes on the yacht. The days were perfect and blended together into one long memory of blissful happiness. My morning sickness had at last passed and I felt great. Kade taught me to snorkel, which was really cool, until I came face-to-face with a fish as large as I was.

I screamed through my snorkel, immediately getting a noseful of water, and Kade had to help me back onto the yacht, giving me a hard time the entire way.

“He was big enough to eat me for dinner!” I complained as Kade took off my flippers.

“He was not,” he chided me, sliding his sunglasses back on and running his fingers through his wet hair. “He was just coming closer to get a good look at you.” Kade smirked at me, the sun making his hair shine like a raven’s wing. Leaning toward me, he said, “Though
I’d
be happy to eat you for dinner.”

I smacked him lightly on the chest. “You’re insatiable,” I complained, but I was smiling. My bump seemed to be getting larger by the day, and I would’ve been self-conscious about it, except that every morning Kade would lay me on my back and scoot down my body to kiss my abdomen and croon, “Good morning, baby.” The first time he’d done it, I’d laughed.

“What the heck are you doing?” I’d asked.

“He gets to hear your voice all the time,” Kade had explained. “I want him to know my voice, too.”

It’d been such a sweet sentiment, I couldn’t stop the big, stupid grin on my face. “How do you know it’s a
h
e
?” I’d asked.

Kade had looked up at me as though I’d asked him what color the sky was. “Because I know.”

Of course he did. I’d rolled my eyes and left it at that.

That night, Kade took me to dinner at a beautiful restaurant right on the beach. The meal was five courses, and Kade had poured more Perrier in my glass as he told me about the time he’d gotten snagged at customs when he’d been entering Russia. I was completely enthralled with his story as I listened to him talk about how he’d ended up spending three months in a Russian prison, which was how he’d learned the language.

“How did you get out?” I asked.

“Luck and circumstance,” Kade said evasively. “The guy I was there for was actually another prisoner, so once it was done, I managed to get out. Rusty was helping me on that job.” He laughed. “Man, he hated being there. Said the food sucked and that the only decent thing the Russians made was vodka.”

My eyes were wide. “Yeah, but
. . .
a Russian prison? For three months? Wasn’t it
. . .
dangerous?” Which was probably a stupid question. Kade’s entire life had been dangerous.

He shrugged, finishing off the wine in his glass. “A couple new scars for mementos. Not a big deal. People learned quick enough to leave me alone if they valued staying ambulatory.”

A shiver went through me and Kade frowned, reaching for my hand.

“Should I not have told you?” he asked.

I shook my head. “No, it’s not that.” I wanted to hear what Kade would tell me about his past, though I knew a lot of it was sanitized—and there were some things he’d never tell me. My face heated and I looked away from him, embar
rassed. “It’s just that sometimes, when you talk like that, it’s
. . .
”
I couldn’t say it, so I just shook my head.

“It’s what?”

I didn’t answer. Instead, I raised my gaze to meet his. His brow was furrowed as he tried to puzzle out what I had been unable to say, then understanding dawned and he laughed softly.

“You, my dear, are a cliché,” he teased, leaning toward me. His hand traced a length of my hair, wrapping the long curl around his finger as he spoke into my ear. “And here I thought my being such a sexy badass had no effect on you.”

The warm touch of his breath sent another shiver through me even as my cheeks flushed hotter. Maybe I was a cliché, but I didn’t care. The fact that Kade was more than capable of taking care of himself and me was a turn-on. I’d own it.

“Admit it,” he whispered. “You love it when I go all Batman.”

I giggled at his teasing, but before I could reply, his cell phone rang.

Kade heaved a sigh, then reached into his pocket for it, glancing at the display.

“Probably should take this, princess,” he said soberly. “It’s Blane.”

My stomach dropped. I quickly nodded and Kade hit the button to take the call.

“Yeah,” he said. He listened for a minute. “Are you sure?” He was silent for a few moments, listening, then glanced at me. “She’s fine. She’s here with me.”

I chewed on a fingernail, wondering what Blane had said.

“When?” Kade asked, then glanced at his watch. “No, you couldn’t get here in time.” Silence again as he listened, his brows furrowing in irritation. “Because he’s already here.”

My breath caught at that, my eyes wide.

“Trust me,” Kade said. “I know.” He listened some more, his eyes glancing at me, and when he spoke again, his voice was softer. “You know I’d die before I let anything happen to her.”

That certainly wasn’t what I wanted to hear just then.

Kade ended the call and signaled the waiter to bring the bill.

“What’s going on?” I asked after he handed his credit card to the waiter. “What did Blane find out?”

“He found out which assassin Keaston hired, then called to say Interpol had spotted him entering the US.”

The waiter returned and Kade quickly signed the bill and pocketed his card.

“He could be anywhere,” I said. “Do we need to worry?”

Kade stood and took my hand, his eyes scanning the restaurant and the darkness of the beach. “He entered the US through Honolulu,” Kade said.

Ice flooded my veins. “But how?” I asked, panic creeping into my voice. “How did he find me?”

But Kade was already hustling me toward the entrance and flagged down a cab, shielding me with his body as he helped me into the backseat. When he slid into the cab beside me, I saw his gun was in his hand. He gave the driver the hotel address rather than the marina, then flashed a hundred-dollar bill.

“This is yours if you can get us back inside of ten minutes,” he said.

The cabbie laughed, then floored it, flattening me against the back of the seat.

“We’re not going to the boat?” I asked. Getting off the island sounded like a pretty good idea to me.

Kade was looking behind us when he answered. “Nope. No escape route. Remember?”

His body was tense, the gun sitting easily in his grip.

“Get down,” he said, suddenly clutching my shoulder and pulling me down into his lap.

I obeyed, though fear clogged my throat. “Do you see something?” I asked. “What’s happening?”

“Relax,” Kade replied evenly. “Just a precaution.” He glanced down at me, a tiny smirk on his face. “I thought you like it when I go all Batman,” he teased.

“Yeah, well, all Batman’s girlfriends die,” I retorted.

“You watch too many movies.”

Moments later, the cabbie was pulling up to the hotel. Kade tossed the money at him and had me out the door faster than I would have thought possible. The path to our bungalow was through dense foliage and skirted small ponds filled with koi. Kade had his arm so tight around my waist, it seemed I could barely breathe as he half carried me.

“If he’s already here, then what are we doing?” I asked. “Shouldn’t we be leaving? Finding somewhere to hide? What if he knows we’re staying here?” The questions came pouring out in a torrent of fear and panic.

Kade suddenly stopped, hauling me close and taking my face in his hands. The cold metal of his gun pressed against my cheek.

“Listen to me,” he said, his voice low and intent. “I know you’re scared, but you have to trust me. I know this guy. I know what he’ll do. You’re going to be okay. Do you believe that?”

I gazed into his eyes, staring so fixedly into mine, and nodded. How could I explain that it wasn’t me I was worried about? If someone was trying to kill me, it only made sense that they’d try to first take out whoever was trying to protect me.

“Good,” he said. “Because I really need you to
be quiet
.”

I bit my lip, my gaze dropping in embarrassment as I nodded again.

Kade pressed a kiss to my forehead, then we were moving. Moments later, we were outside our bungalow.

The lights were on inside and Kade pulled me behind him as he silently turned the knob and pushed the door open.

It was quiet inside but although the silence had been peaceful before, it now seemed ominous.

A sudden movement in the bedroom startled me and Kade whipped his gun around, pointing at the maid, who let out a frightened cry.

“Turndown service,” I said quickly, relieved.

“Out,” Kade ordered, and the maid nodded, scurrying past us out the door.

I stood and watched as Kade turned off all the lights, stashing me in a corner without a direct line of sight to me from any window or door.

“You said you knew him,” I said quietly. “Is that true?”

Kade took a bowlful of tiny decorative seashells and began scattering them on the wooden floor in front of the open doors to the beach.

“I killed people for a living, princess,” he said. “It’s a small world.”

“Is he
. . .
good?” I couldn’t think of another term, though the adjective seemed inappropriate given the profession.

“He’s called the Krait,” Kade said, “after one of the deadliest snakes in the world. It hunts at night, and its bite is almost always fatal.”

Yeah, that wasn’t exactly comforting.

“What’s his real name?” I asked.

“No one knows,” he replied. “Well, I know it, but I doubt many other people do. His name’s John.”

John. A somewhat pedestrian name for a notorious assassin. The stress and tension was getting to me and my bladder decided it needed a timeout. I headed for the bathroom.

“Whoa, wait,” Kade said, stepping in front of me. “Where are you going?”

“I have to use the bathroom,” I said. “Too much water at dinner.” I eyed him. “Is that allowed?” I asked.

“I’ll come with you.”

My mouth dropped open. “Oh no, you won’t!” Yes, Kade was my husband, but I believed there were some things in marriage that should remain a mystery. How I looked while peeing was one of them. “I’ll be quick, I swear,” I promised.

Kade watched as I walked down the hall and into the bathroom. I shut the door behind me and breathed out a sigh. I got that he was trying to protect me, but my nerves were shot and I didn’t know how long it would be like this. Would the guy come tonight?

I flipped on the light just as a hand came down tight over my mouth, stifling my instinctive scream. I was brought back hard against a man’s chest, his arms like iron wrapped around me.

The mirror in front of me reflected the man who held me captive, not dressed as I’d expect in all black but in island garb of khaki pants and a silk aloha shirt. He had a knife to my throat and I could immediately tell by the way he held me that getting away from him wouldn’t be as easy as the move I’d made so long ago in the courthouse.