Bluegrass Undercover (Bluegrass Brothers)

about his fear, his fear that his love wouldn’t be returned.
    He groaned when he heard the knock on the door. If it was Marshall here to give him hell again, he wouldn’t be held accountable for his actions. He gave Justin a pat and got up after he hopped off his lap. His brother just didn’t know when to stop. Cade couldn’t wait until Marshall fell for some woman and then he would have his payback.
    Cade yanked opened the door and froze. He wondered if he had drunk too much and was hallucinating his desires. Annie stood in his doorway looking like a vision. He heard himself whisper her name as he reached for her. She came eagerly to his arms as his lips met hers in unspoken desire. He scooped her up, kicked the door shut and carried her upstairs.
    He placed her before his bed and gently removed her clothes before shedding his. She reached up and with her finger slowly traced his jaw line.
    “I love you,” he heard himself whisper before he lowered her to the bed.
     
    *     *     *
     
    Annie gasped for breath. She was sure she was being tortured. She couldn’t breathe and her face was wet. But then something tickled her. She struggled to open her eyes against the attack. When she managed to open them, she came face to face with Justin lying on her chest. His big hairy paws were planted beside her head, and his face was inches from hers. Slurp! She was drowned again in another doggie kiss.
    She gave him a pat and encouraged him to get off the bed. Cade was still asleep next to her, but Justin obviously wanted to go out. He jumped off the bed and danced around, waiting for her to get dressed.
    “Okay, come on, big boy.” She headed down the stairs and into the living room. Justin ran behind her, his feet slipping on the hardwood floor as he took a corner. He regained his footing, sped past her and ran headfirst into the sliding glass door.
    “Oh my God, are you okay?” Justin just ducked his head embarrassingly and wagged his tail. She opened the door and he bounded out onto the patio.
    She headed into the kitchen in search of coffee. She needed stimulation to be able to contemplate what Cade had said last night. He couldn’t possibly mean it, could he? She had never been loved before. The vulnerability of it and his potential to hurt her was downright scary.
    “Good morning.” Annie looked up from pouring her coffee to see Cade leaning against the doorjamb. His bare feet poked out from his jeans, and his arms were folded across his chest as he smiled at her.
    “Good morning, I hope I didn’t wake you up.” She suddenly felt a little shy. Should she bring up what he had said last night? Or, what if he didn’t mean it? Or, if he didn’t even say it, and she had imagined the whole thing?
    “No, you didn’t. It was the mighty ram there.” He nodded his chin to where Justin was staring into the room, pink tongue hanging out of the corner of his mouth and matching pink bow falling out.
    “I had been meaning to tell you that Trey came by my office. He seemed close to telling me more details on S2 but wanted to confront the users himself. I assum e he did so. He hasn’t been back to see me since.”
    “That’s right. He took the team over and got them to come together better than I ever could. I know one of the boys was Austin, but as you have probably noticed, he’s clean now. I haven’t figured out who the others were, but maybe Trey will tell you now that they’re clean?”
    “I’ll try on Monday. Well, I better get dressed and get home. I have some paperwork I need to get to my boss.”
     
    Cade stared after Annie’s quickly retreating form as she scuttled out the door and to her car. Maybe it was the wrong move to break out the L word last night, although, it wasn’t as if he could have prevented it. Those words had come tumbling out of their own volition as soon as he had seen her.
    He had also seen disbelief and a little fear streak across her beautiful face before he kissed it away. Maybe he should have talked about it with her before she left, but she had seemed so skittish that he didn’t think it would be a good idea. He was hopeful his plan of giving it time to sink in wouldn’t result in her running for the hills, or else he’d be left chasing after her.
    Cade pulled the curtain away from the window in his office and looked out. He smiled at the cloud of dust her vehicle was leaving behind. It would be a fun chase though.

Chapter Eighteen
     
    Cade felt the smile