“It’ll go back to the client through the third party, and the client will either decide to forget it or whether he wants the third party to get another hitman on the job.”
“The client asked for you to do it, though?”
“My family, yes, which means either me or my siblings, since my father retired from this part of the business a while ago. Whoever it is, they have to know we’re in Cypress with you. We’re close, so it would be an easy job.” Cade didn’t sound too happy as he added, “Nothing’s easy with you, though.”
I chose not to react to that, instead saying, “And if you take the contract and then never complete it? What then?”
Cade sighed. “Won’t get paid until the job is done, and our reputation with the Guild would go down. The Cunninghams are some of the best out there. Only very rich clients can afford us. A lower reputation means we get jobs from less rich clients—not something my father would appreciate.”
“So it’s a damned if you do, damned if you don’t situation, hmm?” The whole Guild situation was new to me, but I understood it well enough that I didn’t need to ask questions about it.
“Kind of, yeah.”
I was silent for a while. Together, Cade and I gazed out at the city, at the street below. Cars drove by, a gloomy sky above us. No sun to shine bright and reflect on the windows of the buildings around us—something that normally made this balcony impossible to sit on during the day. Just a dreary atmosphere. A storm was coming.
“What are we going to do, then?” I whispered. “Or, I guess, what the hell am I going to do?” Cade wasn’t obligated to help me. He wasn’t obligated to tell me any of this, actually.
“As pissed off as I am that you’re married—and don’t get me wrong, I’m fucking pissed, princess—I’m not leaving you up shit creek by yourself. We’ll figure something out. I just don’t know what yet, and I’ve been racking my brain since hearing about the contract. I have a few more days before I need to tell the Guild what my answer is.”
There was too much going on, too much to worry about to really take in the relief that should’ve filled me when he said that. If Cade’s contract was the only thing I had to deal with, then that would be great—but it wasn’t, hence why I stood there, not knowing what to do.
“Don’t tell Luca or Zander about the contract,” I said. They already knew someone was after me, and right now, they thought it was my father. If something happened to me, they’d go after him. I knew it without a doubt, so I could rest easy in that aspect.
Don’t get me wrong. I wanted to be the one to take my father down, and then Rocco, but they were the second-best options.
Still… I didn’t think my father would go for an assassin. It had to be someone else.
“I won’t,” Cade agreed. He continued to stare at me, the intensity of his gaze making me shift my weight on my bare feet. Without the sun, the concrete balcony was a little chilly.
“Where does this leave us?” I whispered out the question, unable to turn away from him. It was just like it was in the Playground; I was drawn to him, compelled to be near him. Something magnetic, instinctual. Like I’d known, even back then when he was nothing but a stranger with nice words and a sexy voice, that I could count on him. That he would protect me.
I didn’t need protection, but it was nice to know someone wanted to save me rather than do me harm.
Cade didn’t say anything for a while, but his body had begun to inch toward mine. “You tell me, princess. Even if you don’t want to be, you’re a married woman now. That’s as good as untouchable. I don’t want to be the other man.”
“So because of this ring—a ring I don’t want and never even agreed to—you’re going to pretend there isn’t anything between us? Fine, whatever. Forget everything you said to me, then. Go. I don’t need you, Cade.”
He practically sneered out the words, “That’s not what I said.” As he spoke, he moved his tall frame around me, boxing me in against the balcony railing, setting both arms around me, hands grasping the rail.
He was so close to me I could feel his body heat. I could smell him, too, and he smelled just as musky and manly as he had in that club. It took everything in me to not lean into him, to instead lean back against the railing, to not reach out and touch that muscular, thick chest. Every nerve in my body cried out with a desperate need, and I had to do everything to keep myself reined in.
“You’re married,” Cade whispered. “If we continue, who’s to say Luca won’t try to take me out? He might not care now, but he’ll change his mind. If you were my wife, I wouldn’t want anyone else touching you, either.”
The heat in his gaze filled me up, and I wished we were back in that club with nothing but masks on, our need for each other enough to fill the room and make it last all night.
“I wouldn’t want anyone else making you moan,” he murmured, head lowering to mine. The arms on either side of me slid closer until I could feel the fabric of his sleeves curled around my arms on the railing. “I wouldn’t want any other man making you squirm as you begged for more.” I closed my eyes the moment his face dipped low to my ear. His lips brushed up against that ear with every word he spoke, “The only cock I’d want buried between your legs would be mine.”
“Are you sure Cade Cunningham can’t learn to share?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and I opened my eyes to watch him lift his head, staring squarely at me.
His lips quirked into the tiniest of smirks. “The audacity, princess. No one asks Cade Cunningham to share.”
“I believe I just did.”
Amusement flashed on his features, and it looked like he was going to say something else, but right then the door swung open and Luca and Zander waltzed out, carrying drinks. Luca chimed in, far too jubilant and dramatic, “Wow, the weather sure is great today, isn’t it? Isn’t it, Zander?” He then turned his head to look at Cade and me. “Oh, Cade! I totally forgot you were here. My bad.”
Behind him, Zander only grinned, like he’d wound up Luca and set him out here to interrupt our time together. And the weather? Come on.
Cade’s chest let out a grumble of a growl, the irritation clear on his face, and he went to take a step back, hands slipping off the railing, no longer boxing me in.