Page 255 of The Reluctant Hero

Cade follows him, wearing a pair of athletic shorts without a shirt.

I blink at his defined muscles. I kind of figured he’d be more soft for some reason. Ace and Mikael are obvious with muscle. Cade is all clear-cut lines of perfection with a darker red happy trail leading down to his low-slung shorts and a lot of bruising. He has a light dusting of freckles on his shoulders that spill onto his pecs like glitter in a random pattern.

I sit up, bringing the covers with me to keep my breasts hidden. I’m sure that if Cade sees my peaked nipples, he’s going to mock me nonstop.

“What team?” I ask Jake warily.

“While Gabe and his boys are your shields,weare your weapons. They’re all around us to keep danger away. We’re right beside you pointing out vulnerable points, keeping close, and waiting to be tagged in,” Jake shrugs.

Jake is definitely a bomb waiting to go off. Cade? I haven’t seen or heard him do anything more than throw a few lazy punches and ogle women. His well-honed body has me second-guessing that, though.

Jake shuts the door with a soft click and leaves Cade standing awkwardly as he crawls onto the bed. I decided to sleep dead center on the mattress like I’m making a statement. Apparently, that statement is,"HeyJake,pressasmuchofyouagainstmeas you can without falling off."

“Cadey? Grab me one of those controllers, would you?”

Without any glib remarks or cursing, Cade grabs one. He even turns on the TV and the game console for him before he returns to hand it over.

“Trained much?” I mutter with a raised brow.

Jake settles into the pillow with a sigh and starts an RPG. It loads onto a dungeon with outdated graphics.

“Do you know where you’re going?” I ask as I take in the three-way split for a direction.

“I always turn left and follow the walls in dungeons,” he replies absently.

Cade gives him an annoyed glance and crosses his arms.

“He meant that I’m no longer interested in keeping you benched.”

My brow rises further. “Oh, really. And how long is that going to last?”

“Permanently,” his eyes meet mine intently. Like he’s trying to psychically rewrite my brain programming into believing it.

After a pause, I do.

Either I’m turning into a ho, or they’ve suckered me back into trusting them. Maybe both.

I let out a disgruntled sigh and fall back on my pillow.

“Jake, turn it down so I can sleep. Cade, go for it.”

Jake reaches for the nightstand and pulls the drawer open for the remote. He pauses for a second and then turns it down.

“Gabe has a meeting scheduled with Caleb Owen tomorrow at lunch. To see the house you freaked about.”

I feel like I just got punched in the chest. My breath soughs out of me, and I have trouble getting it back. Before I can recover, he keeps going.

“Matthias has two teams in town. One that stabbed him in the back to take hits outside of the company and another to wipe them out. We think they killed Blake and the rest. That team is in the wind and Amanda? They wouldn’t get paid all the money before the hits.”

Oh shit. The account is closed. They’re going to be looking for their money, and I’m missing. A clear sign of guilt. Not that staying in the open would have been any safer.

A faint pulse of doom hits me every time he finishes a sentence. I’m hoping it’s good old-fashioned paranoia. All signs point to that’s a stupid hope.

“We’ll all be there to keep Gabe safe, my imp,” Jake mutters without taking his focus off his game.

“Which leaves you alone,” Cade looks away as he runs a hand through his hair.

That isn’t what I’m worried about.

---