"Nope. This is strictly between you and me."

Beth held his gaze for a long moment, then nodded and started them walking back to the hotel.

"Okay, then," she said, "I'll go in first and leave the door open for you.

You'll follow me a few minutes later."

"Better synchronize our watches, huh?"

Her glance was narrow. "Just do what I tell you, okay?"

"Yes'm. You got it. Going into sneaky mode now."

She said something nasty and slapped his arm.

"Ow! Okay! Sneaky mode later, then. No pain stuff, lady."

Beth started giggling, then had to stop and lean on the wall as her giggles turned into laughter. A cop car slowed and looked as if it would stop near them, but Beth laughed even harder as she shook her head and waved them on.

The pa.s.senger side cop looked at Cade and asked, "Have you people been drinkin'? What's so funny?"

"She just realized something, I think."

"What?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure. It's business related, I think."

Nodding, the cop waved the driver on as he said, "Uh, huh. Well, it's late, so hold the noise down, okay?"

"Sure. No problem."

Beth suffered another spate of laughter as the cops drove away. Cade went to stand by her and waited for the laughter to abate, thinking she must have been strung pretty tight to be so thoroughly amused by so little.

She levered herself off the wall and began walking again as she caught her breath.

"You okay?" asked Cade.

"Fine. You were right. I realized something."

He waited as she took a breath and seemed to collect herself a bit.

"Cade, were you trying to make me laugh?"

"Nope. Not really. I was just trying to make you feel a little more comfortable about dragging me back to your cave."

"I'm not dragging you anywhere. You conned me."

Hand over his heart, Cade said, "Never. Not me. No way. Nuh-uh."

"Bulls.h.i.t."

"If I don't agree with you, will I still get laid, ma'am?"

"Of course you will. I want laid and you've got the duty."

"Ah. Well, then, okay. I conned you. Just a little, though."

"Just enough."

"Oh. Yes. Of course. Just enough, then. Yes, ma'am."

She smacked his arm and said, "Stop that."

"Yes, ma'am."

"That, too."

"Yes, ma... Okay. You caught me. Now what?"

"Now you'd better be the best lay I've ever had, that's all."

"No problem. I'm very motivated, ma'am. Are you still worried about getting caught having a legal good time?"

Beth stopped just outside the hotel doors and said, "No. Well, not like I was. I see no reason to advertise our business, but I also see no reason that I can't have you."

Giving her a small salute, Cade said, "Roger that, milady. We're both adults and we're on separate teams."

"Exactly right."

"You betcha." Indicating the doors, he asked, "Ready?"

Leading the way, Beth said, "Ready. Let's do it."

Pointing at the bar, Cade asked, "Want a another couple of beers for later?"

Beth looked toward the bar and said, "You get some beer. See if they have any white wine coolers."

"Okay. Why don't you go on up and take a few minutes for yourself before I get there? I'll tap on the door when I come in. Good?"

Nodding, Beth said, "Yeah. Good. Don't be all night," and turned to go. A few steps later, she turned and said, "Thanks," without explaining why before getting underway again.

Thanks for the laughs? Thanks for setting her up to get laid? Thanks for allowing her some time to herself, or for letting her go on ahead so they wouldn't be seen entering her room together? Mix and match the answers?

Whatever. Didn't matter. The idea was to make Beth happy while making himself happy.

A sense of being watched caused Cade to rub the gooseb.u.mps off his arms.

Someone from one of the teams? As likely as not; sometimes they were ordered to follow each other around just to keep skills sharp. Cade drank a beer at the bar and stalled ten minutes, then followed Beth upstairs.

The fourth floor hallway looked clear, but that didn't mean anything. It was highly unlikely that Carter hadn't installed some security cams in their floor's hallway.

Cade felt Mandi's presence in his room as he pa.s.sed it, ambling along until he reached Beth's door, which he shouldered open on his way into the tiny hallway beyond.

Closing the door, he tapped on it as he'd said he would and Beth answered, "In here, Ed."

He found her sitting in the chair by the desk, flipping channels until she found an old movie. She turned the sound up a bit and turned to face him.

"Your white wine, milady," he said as he set the bottles on the desk and opened one for her. "I'll get you a gla.s.s."

Putting a hand on his arm, she said, "No. Don't bother," and stood up. After kissing him soundly, she turned around and said, "Unzip me, please."

He did so, then helped her slither out of her dress. As she went to hang it up, he opened a beer and leaned on the desk to watch her. Eyeing her tall form from the ankles up, his eyes met hers and she smiled. Nice. Very nice, indeed.

"Cade," said Beth with a short laugh, "You look like a kid on Christmas morning."

"That's because you look like an unwrapped present." Going to her, he took Beth in his arms and said, "In fact, you look delicious. Mind if I have a taste now?"

Kissing her, he let his fingers trail down the backs of her arms and finished the motion with a reach for her bra strap. Beth giggled when he licked her shoulder, then nibbled. As her bra came loose, she bit her lip and waited for his reaction.

Inhaling the scent of her hair, he whispered, "Ohhh, yes. You taste great, ma'am. You smell great. You look great and you feel great. I'm really going to enjoy nibbling on you."

Stepping back, Cade used a finger to pull the bra free of her and hung it on one of the hangers as he leaned to kiss her shoulder again.

Leading her back to the desk, Cade handed Beth her open wine and openly admired her as she took a long sip of it. She started to snicker again and choked a little on the wine. Some few drops of it trickled down her chest.

"Hm," said Cade, "Guess we'd better wash that off, huh?"

Smilingly nodding, Beth took another sip as Cade stripped off his clothes and set them on the desk chair. The hackles on the back of his neck were up and a light coating of goose b.u.mps formed on his arms as a response to a strong sense of being watched, and not just by Beth.

As he draped his pants so that nothing would fall out of the pockets, he glanced around the room and wondered whether his instincts were being triggered by a hidden camera. If so, screw 'em. He'd order eight by ten glossies unless Beth had any objections.

Should he mention anything to Beth? No point. They were both naked. They'd been drinking and smooching. If they were being filmed, it was too late to give a d.a.m.n about it.

Then he realized that the watcher might be Mandi. After all, she'd watched him deal with Na.s.sir. And she was watching? Same answer. Too late to matter. He looked toward his room as he sipped his beer.

On general principles, he nodded slightly as an acknowledgement and tipped the bottle to her, then sipped again and rubbed his forearms to quell the gooseb.u.mps. Setting his beer down, he rubbed his neck, as well, then moved to accompany Beth to the shower. A few moments later, his sense of being watched winked off abruptly.

Mandi had returned to the room after an hour or so of unsettled boredom aloft. She'd heard the door to Beth's room open and had glanced that way through the walls. Seeing Beth alone had puzzled her, and she'd scanned the hotel for Cade.

Finding him standing at the bar drinking a beer puzzled her further. Had something gone wrong? Mandi glanced toward Beth's room to see if she appeared upset at all and saw Beth hurrying about, tidying up the room. A few moments later, Beth swilled some mouthwash and checked her face and hair in the bathroom mirror.

Hmm. Not the actions of a despondent woman.

Looking back down at Cade, Mandi saw the bartender put some bottles in a bag and hand the bag to him, then saw Cade head for the elevators.

Uh, huh.

As far as Mandi knew, Cade wasn't that fond of booze. Unless she was mistaken and he was bringing the drinks to her, he and Beth were going to party.

A few minutes later, Mandi heard Cade's almost inaudible footsteps approaching in the corridor. He wasn't sneaking; the sounds of his striding steps were no different than usual.

She watched him glide past their door and on to Beth's door, then open it and enter, after which he used a knuckle to tap softly on the door. Beth answered, "In here, Ed."

The way Beth kissed Cade after he delivered the wine let Mandi know that there were definitely no difficulties between them. She watched a few moments longer, mostly just to see how Cade would proceed.

In a rather gentlemanly manner he soon had Beth down to her panties and was removing his own clothes by the desk when something about his demeanor changed in some barely perceptible manner.

Cade straightened up, turned slightly to face Mandi's direction and sipped his beer, then he nodded slightly and tipped his bottle toward her. Sipping again, he rubbed his forearms before rubbing the back of his neck as he set the bottle on the desk and walked with Beth to the shower.

Mandi sat down in her desk chair in openmouthed amazement. Cade knew! He actually knew she was watching him! But how? And did he really know, or was he just a.s.suming..? But he'd looked right at her. Not toward the bed area or anywhere else. Straight at her. Just a lucky guess?

Somehow Mandi didn't think so. Switching her vision to normal, she lay back on the bed to think and fell asleep sometime before Cade let himself into the room.

Although he moved as quietly as ever, Mandi came awake and watched him through the darkness. Almost as if he, too, could see in the dark, he went to the desk, stripped, and headed for the bathroom, where he didn't turn on the light until he'd closed the door.

Hm. Considerate of him, anyway.

After a quick shower and the use of his toothbrush, Cade padded across the room to the bed, slipped under the sheets, and went to sleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Chapter Twenty-one

Cade snapped awake Sunday morning for no good reason that he could imagine.

The phone wasn't ringing, n.o.body was knocking on his door, and the TV was off.

He sat up and glanced around the room and saw no Mandi, but her luggage was still by the desk. His travel alarm clock -- set not to go off at all -- read almost eight o'clock on the nose. Hm. What the h.e.l.l had wakened him?

Feeling ravenously hungry, Cade visited the bathroom and drank several gla.s.ses of water to fill the void. That took the edge off his hunger as he cleaned up and dressed, then headed for the restaurant for breakfast.

As he left his room, he saw Ray Lewis enter the ops room across the hall and headed that way to see about some wake-up coffee and a general situation report.

Tony answered the ops door and let him in, and as Cade entered the room, he saw Beth by the coffee pot.

Beth looked up from stirring her cup and saw him. She paled slightly and bit her lip. Aw, h.e.l.l. Was she having morning-after recriminations or was she just worried that he'd say something about last night?

With a smile, Cade said, "Leave me some of that stuff, lady," as he approached. He snagged a cup and filled it, then tossed in a few small ice cubes from the nearby ice bucket.