LITMIR.BIZ

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so why would he be any different? “I want you out of my room.”

      He didn’t move.

      Fine. She skirted around him, made it to her nightstand and grabbed the smart phone there. One press of her fingers and— “Mercer?” she said when the EOD’s director answered the call. “What have you done now?”

      She heard Cale’s sharp inhale.

      “You’ve got the EOD director on speed dial?” he asked, seemingly shocked.

      On speed dial? Um, something like that.

      “Your agent is going to ruin everything,” she said, her words tumbling out. “I don’t know if you’ve heard about what happened tonight, but—”

      “I heard.” Mercer’s flat voice, completely devoid of emotion, cut through her frantic speech. “I heard, and that’s exactly why Cale Lane is staying with you.”

      Her fingers tightened around the phone. “If he’s here—”

      “Then nothing will happen to you,” Mercer told her. “Cale is one of the best agents I’ve got. No one will get to you while he’s on guard.”

      If no one could get to her...then how am I supposed to complete my mission? Only, Mercer didn’t think she had a mission. Mercer thought she needed to be coddled. Protected.

      That she wasn’t strong enough to face the dangers in the world.

      Wrong. Mercer didn’t know her very well. “This is a mistake.” She fought to keep her own voice as emotionless as his. Impossible. Emotion always ruled her.

      Never him.

      Hadn’t she learned that lesson long ago?

      “No. This is your life, and I won’t risk it.” There was no give in his voice at all. “While you’re in Rio, Cale Lane stays with you.”

      She was going to break the phone. In her mind, Cassidy could see it splintering beneath her hand into a dozen pieces. “If that’s what you want...” Because he always got what he wanted. When would she ever get what she wanted? Not bothering with any more words, Cassidy ended the call. After all, there was nothing else to say.

      Her fingers trembled.

      Cassidy turned toward Cale. She needed to phrase this right, in order to match up with the conversation she’d just had. Cassidy cleared her throat. “Mercer agreed that he’d made a mistake. Your services are no longer—”

      Her phone rang.

      Cale reached for her hand and pried open her fingers. He took her phone.

      “Sir?” he said, and she knew he was talking to Mercer.

      “Yes, she’s right here.”

      Then he leaned forward and turned on the bedside lamp. She flinched when the light hit her. The sudden flow of light should have made Cale look less intimidating.

      It didn’t.

      She could see the hard edge of his jaw and the intense lines of his face. “I’ll stay with her. Every minute.”

      The hell he would.

      After a few more moments, Cale ended the call and stared down at her.

      Emotions wanted to rip Cassidy apart right then. All of her hard work, for so long...for nothing.

      “Mercer just promised me a briefing at 0600,” he said as his assessing gaze drifted over her. “You really going to make me wait until then in order to find out what’s going on with you?”

      Not much time. “What’s going on is that I’m working a case, and your presence here jeopardizes its success.” Truth.

      “Mercer doesn’t think so.”

      That was because Mercer didn’t think she could handle things on her own.

      “And you know the director...” Cale continued, rolling his shoulders as if pushing away a heavy burden. “When that SOB says jump, we’re all supposed to learn how to fly.”

      Her breath rushed from her lungs. He doesn’t realize who I am. Cale had obviously decided that she was, indeed, another EOD agent.

      Not quite, cowboy. Not quite. And he did remind her of a cowboy. Maybe it was that Texas drawl that slipped out every now and then. Maybe it was the hard edge that clung to him. The tough exterior.

      But she was thinking of him as cowboy tough and he—he was thinking of her as the spoiled debutante. It grated, but as long as he didn’t realize exactly who she was, then his guard would stay lowered.

      She’d had plenty of babysitters—um, bodyguards—over the past few years. She’d gotten pretty adept at handling them.

      And dodging them.

      Since Cale didn’t realize her true identity, that would make things even easier for her.

      She smiled at him. A real smile.

      He blinked. A furrow appeared between his dark brows.

      “I think we got off on the wrong foot.” Cassidy even offered him her hand. Why not be friendly? That would help to make him feel even more at ease with her. “It looks like we’ll be...close...for the next few days, so maybe we should just start fresh.”

      They’d be close until she could manage to ditch him and go after those gunmen on her own. They were in the city. Pinpointing their next attack area had been the tricky part. Now that she knew they were in the general area, she just had to track them.

      Cale silently regarded her offered hand, the hand that was still hovering in the air between them. She wiggled her fingers.

      His own hand lifted and finally closed around hers. Well, swallowed hers was probably a better description. Cale used his grip to pull her closer to him.

      Caught off balance by that stronger-than-expected hold, she had to take a few quick steps forward.

      She was suddenly way too conscious of her thin robe and of the fact that she had nothing on beneath that robe.

      Had he noticed?

      The gleam of awareness in his eyes said he had.

      Oh, boy.

      “Partners?” Cale murmured.

      She nodded. He could believe that they’d be partners for a bit. A few precious hours remained before dawn and Mercer’s promised briefing. She could fool him until then, and surely she’d manage to slip away in that time.

      “Partners don’t keep secrets from each other,” he continued.

      He hadn’t let go of her hand.

      Mere inches separated their bodies.

      “Tell me about the case.”

      His fingers slowly freed hers.

      She took the breath that her starving lungs so desperately needed.

      “I’m working on an abduction case.” Again, mostly true. And to think that Mercer believed she spent her days just spinning lies. There was some truth to her existence. Cassidy thought the best way to deceive was to use a mix of truth and lies. “Those men tonight, they took someone else a while back.”

      More truth. A painful one, at that.

      “Who?”

      Before she did this “baring of the soul” bit, she’d really prefer putting on some clothes. If her soul was going to be exposed to him, then her flesh could at least be covered more. “Do you mind if I get dressed?” The question was supposed to be flippant.

      Instead, her voice came out hoarse and soft and inviting.

      She hadn’t meant it to be that way. Yes, Cale Lane was attractive—sexy and compelling in that dark and dangerous way of his—but she wasn’t

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