Cade and Bobbie didn’t call anyone that day. Neither of them said so, but they were both still a little leery that after all this time, they were finally going to be able to take their boy home. They tried to kill time by playing cards and watching television in the hotel, but that wasn’t taking their minds off of it or doing anything to quell their anxiety.
Finally, after several hours of waiting Cade said, “You know what the best exercise for getting rid of anxiety is?”
Bobbie shook her head at him and laughed. Since he’d gotten back from Colombia, he’d made love to her every chance they got. “Really? At a time like this? Are you completely insatiable?”
He grinned and reached for her. “Only when it comes to you,” he said before leaning down to kiss her. Bobbie kissed him back and when they pulled out of the kiss, Cade said, “Now that I have you, no one else could ever satisfy me. I love you, Bobbie Treager. One of these days, when all of this is straightened out and in our past, I want to change your name to Bobbie Travers…how does that sound?”
Bobbie’s whole body heated up. “It sounds amazing,” she said breathlessly. “I love you so much.”
Cade kissed her again and her arms went up around his neck. They were sitting on the bed and he lay back, taking her with him. They kissed for a long time, writhing against each other’s bodies and letting their hands and mouths roam. Cade pulled off his shirt and Bobbie’s palms instantly sought out the muscles in his chest. He loved the way she touched him. He wasn’t lying when he said that she satisfied him, but the problem with that was that he felt like he could never get enough of her. Luckily for him, she seemed to feel the same. He reached down and pulled her shirt off over her head, pulling her long hair loose from the bun she had it in. When the shirt was gone, he tangled his hands up in that golden, silky hair and brought it to his face. It smelled like some kind of flower as always. Cade didn’t know anything about flowers, but he knew if he ever found the one that smelled like her hair, it would be his favorite.
They kissed a while longer and then Cade slid his hand underneath her back and unhooked her bra. He loved her beautiful breasts and he spent quite a bit of time using his hands, mouth, tongue, and even the sides of his teeth, pleasuring them. Bobbie arched her back off the bed and she was moaning and making other erotic sounds that went right through him. His erection was becoming painful inside his pants and he wanted so badly to be inside of her. He reluctantly released her breasts and stood up to slide off his pants and shorts. Once he was naked, he helped her take off her skirt and panties and then he tore open the condom that he’d taken out of his pants pocket.
Bobbie sat up slightly and said, “You know…if my last name is going to be the same as yours soon, maybe we don’t need that.”
Cade looked down at her and with his eyebrow cocked he said, “You think we could handle more than one?”
She grinned and reached up for him. “Together, baby, I think we can handle anything.”
Cade tossed the condom aside and made love to the woman he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. It was just as amazing as the other times, and while they lay there tangled up in each other’s arms afterwards, Cade closed his eyes and tried to imagine what it was going to be like meeting his son for the first time. Bobbie still called him Caleb, but the Gleasons or Longs, whoever they were, had named him Clint. Cade actually liked that name. It reminded him of an old cowboy name and it would fit right in, in the little mountain town of Blossom Hill, Texas. As he lay there imagining their future, he must have drifted off to sleep because the next thing he knew, Bobbie was shaking him gently.
“Your phone is ringing,” she said. He was suddenly wide awake. He grabbed the phone off the nightstand, but frowned when he saw the number. It was from West Virginia. Cade didn’t know anyone in West Virginia and he wasn’t in the mood to deal with work just then. He almost didn’t answer it, but there was too much going on not to…just in case.
“Cade Travers.”
“Hey, Cade, this is Robert Stout…Agent Stout.”
“Yeah, hey. What’s up?”
“I just thought you might like to know…I couldn’t accept the fact that Simms had just gone rogue for a million bucks, so I flew out here to meet his family. His wife and kids are devastated, but what I found out was that his oldest boy has a rare blood disorder and there’s no approved treatment for it in the US. While Simms was in Colombia, his wife had been in France with the boy, getting treatment. It doesn’t excuse the way he went about it or change the fact that men are dead because of it, but I think that he thought he was doing the only thing he could to save his boy’s life. His wife said that he was calling her a lot lately and she could tell that he was depressed and not doing well. She didn’t know where he got the money, but she didn’t question it because it was going to save her boy. Now she feels horrible about that and she thinks he didn’t try to get out of that tunnel because the pressure of what he was doing was just too much. My heart’s breaking for her.”
“Damn.” Cade had mixed feelings. Simms was still responsible for the deaths of a lot of men as far as he was concerned…but the man thought he was doing what he had to do for his family. Cade wasn’t sure that he could say beyond a doubt that he wouldn’t have given in if he was under that same kind of pressure. “Thank you for letting me know, Stout. At least I have my answer.”
He hung up the phone and Bobbie must have been able to sense that the news had brought him down. She wrapped her arms around him and just held him, running her hands down his back and rocking his body gently. Cade couldn’t believe that she worried for so long that she wasn’t going to be a good mother. She was so kind and gentle and loving. Their children were going to be the luckiest kids in the world. He was about to tell her that when his phone rang again. He picked it up and then looked at Bobbie…it was the detective.
They both took a deep breath and Cade said, “Hello?”
********
“He said he’d be here. He wouldn’t say that if he wasn’t sure.” Billy was trying to calm Nate down. It was half an hour before his wedding was supposed to start, and Cade and Bobbie were still in New Orleans the last time he’d spoken to Cade that morning.
“I know. I just hate the thought of him not being here for my wedding. He’s been such a huge part of my life, you know?”
Billy grinned. “Yeah, I think I do know.”
“Sorry. Of course you do. This is just such a big deal.” Nate looked down at the still healing scars on his right hand. The scars went all the way up his arm from the burns he’d sustained in Colombia. His hair had just finally grown back over the scar on his head. They’d shaved it in the hospital when they performed the surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain. Nate had been dead-set against going to Colombia to kill Dominguez, but when he found out that Cade had killed him, he hadn’t been sorry. He was torn about that from a moral standpoint, but Angel had told him once that some people were just born evil and no amount of rehabilitation could change that. From what Nate knew, Angel was rarely wrong.
When Nate talked to Cade that morning he had been tight-lipped about his and Bobbie’s quest to get their son back, but he’d told him they had a surprise for everyone. The whole team had been speculating on that all day and most of them concluded that Cade and Bobbie had gotten married secretly. If that were the case, Nate would be happy for them, but slightly disappointed as well for two reasons. The first one being that he wanted Angel’s day to be special and he didn’t want anything upstaging that, and second because being at Cade’s wedding was as important to Nate as Cade being at his.
“Any sign of him yet?” Grant stuck his head in the tent where Nate was pacing.
“No,” Billy said, “and worrywart here is losing it.”
Grant stepped into the tent as Nate said, “I’m not losing it. I’m just concerned.”
“He’ll be here,” Grant said firmly. “He never says he’s going to do something and then doesn’t follow through.”
“Who?” Marcus asked, stepping inside the tent.
“The boss,” Billy said. “Nate’s afraid he won’t make it.”
“You think I would lie?”
They all turned at the sound of Cade’s voice and their jaws dropped. Cade made it all right, and he had brought another guest. A tiny little blonde haired boy was tucked into Cade’s big arm and hiding his face in his shoulder. “Guys I’d like you to meet my son, Clint. Clint, these are my best friends.”
The little boy looked at the big men around him. His green eyes were wide and they widened even further when they landed on Billy, who hadn’t even stood up yet. Then he turned his little face up to his father and in a tiny little voice, he said, “I thought Mommy was your best friend.”
For the first time since the four men had known him, they saw Cade Travers, their boss and their hero, cry. Nate was overwhelmed with joy for him and Bobbie, and he thought the little boy was the luckiest kid in the world with Cade as a father. He would never want for anything and if he took after his dad, he was going to be one hell of a badass someday.