"Can you show me where the drugs are?" Justin stopped walking and plopped to the ground, rolling over to expose his belly. "Hmm. I take it that your drug is belly rubs." She rubbed his belly for a second as she took in the house.

The house had just had a complete upgrade inside. Everything was new. There was an entranceway with narrow stairs leading upstairs. A half bath was tucked in under the stairs, and an office sat across the front room facing the porch. Past the stairs was a dining room that also connected with the kitchen just beyond that. Cade had obviously knocked down walls to create a large kitchen and living room area in one. The kitchen had brand new stainless steel appliances. A large island with black granite countertops and six barstools separated the kitchen from the living room. The living room held a large leather couch and two matching chairs, one of which was now occupied by Justin. A large LED television was mounted to the far right wall. The back wall had French doors that led out to a brick patio.

Annie walked into the living room and slowly looked around at the pictures and books lining the walls and sitting on tables. There were pictures of Cade with all his siblings, a picture of Cade, Miles, and another one of his siblings in military fatigues in some desert, pictures of an older couple she guessed were his parents, and then some she guessed to be of grandparents.

She opened drawers and looked behind photos but could not find anything relating to drugs or anything else illegal. She decided to run upstairs and check his bedroom before doing a search of his office. Annie hurried up the stairs and peeked into two guest rooms before finding the master suite.

A large, king-size bed with a dark green comforter sat along the far wall in the middle of the room. She walked through the door to his room and couldn't help the slightly giddy feeling she got when she sat on his bed. Against the wall opposite the bed was another LED television and a chest. She felt through his clothes and couldn't find anything. She made her way through his walk-in closet and only found a couple of old unloaded rifles. She pushed open the other door in the room and walked into a ma.s.sive bathroom. A large shower with six shower heads took up most of one wall. Annie couldn't look away from the shower. She knew what she wanted to do in that shower. It was the perfect shower for it, the hot water pulsing all around, the steam rising up, the bodies... she needed to get out of here before she spontaneously combusted!

Annie lifted the small curtain next to the front door and looked out. All was dark and silent. She felt as if she were in her own world out here. Even though she was illegally breaking and entering, well, the door was unlocked she felt very peaceful out here. Knowing she was in the clear, she headed into Cade's office.

"If there is going to be any evidence of drugs, it will be in here." She sat down in his chair and surveyed his desk. He only had a bookcase and a desk with a computer on it in the room. She opened the desk drawer and found nothing. She opened one of the side drawers and found a desk full of small black cases. She picked one up and opened it: National Defense Service Medal. She picked up another box: Silver Star. There were more than ten boxes in the drawer! She picked up another one and opened it: Legion of Merit Medal. She picked up one more and opened it. Holy c.r.a.p! It was the Army's Distinguished Service Cross. She put it back down in the drawer and closed it. She suddenly felt guilty for searching his house with his literally being a national hero.

She quickly went through the other drawers, and finding nothing, pushed back from his chair. She went over to the bookcase and looked at his books, finding a lot of history book such as A. J. Langguth's Patriots, David McCullough's 1776, Dan Jenkins' Semi-Tough and other football novels.

Annie was just about to call it quits and head back outside to wait when she noticed a heavy-duty lock on the wall hidden behind some large plants. She pushed the plants out of the way and found that it was actually attached to a door. Hmm, now this was strange. Annie pulled out her black leather lock pick case and opened it up. It took her a couple of minutes, but finally she heard the telltale click of the lock opening.

She put her tools away and put the case back in her purse before opening the narrow door. Looking around, she took a cautious step forward into the darkness. The room was pitch black, and she pulled out her small penlight. Annie aimed the light onto the wall and gasped. It was lined with weapons. She found the switch and turned on the fluorescent overhead lights and froze.

Rifles lined one whole wall. She recognized the Army's standard issue M24 Sniper along with an M40A3 and a very large M82A1 SASR. Wow, it was a beauty, a .50 caliber beauty. Along the other side of the wall were various handguns. There was an MK24, and oh, there was the new M11 also known as the SIG P228! She had always wanted to try one those. It was calling her name. She would swear to it in court if she got arrested for trespa.s.sing. She picked the M11 off of the wall where it was hanging and tested its weight and balance.

"Oh, you are one handsome guy," she cooed to it.

"Why thank you." The voice slid over her. She jumped, swinging the gun around and pointing it at her target.

"You do know it's not loaded, right Red?"

"What are you doing here?!" Annie accusingly asked him.

"I live here. What are you doing here?"

She heard the laughter in his voice and lowered the gun. Yeah, that's right. She was the one breaking and entering.

"You don't seem surprised to see me. How long have you been here?" Was he here the whole time she was drooling over his guns?

"Marshall called me from the Cafe and asked how I felt about getting married in April."

Annie groaned and desperately wanted to hit the light switch and hide under the large wood table in the middle of the gun room.

"I said I thought it would be lovely, but apparently my bride is in a rush and wants to get married in January."

Annie eyed the rounds for the M11 on the shelf and contemplated ending this before she died of embarra.s.sment.

Cade only felt kind of bad for her. He was having way too much fun embarra.s.sing her though to take pity on her. He had been halfway home when Marshall called, wanting to know all the details of their hot night together and telling him Mom was expecting him to bring Annie home for dinner on Sunday.

He had found his house still dark when he drove up and her car empty. It didn't take a genius to figure out what she was up to. He had quietly come in the house from the back door and found the faint glow from his arms room spilling out into his office. When he looked in the door, there was his dog, sound asleep at her feet. Annie was holding his favorite gun and practically wors.h.i.+ping it with her hands.

"If you keep touching my gun like that, I'm going to be jealous." His voice came out a little rougher than normal but her skilled fingers manipulating his gun was making him think of her using those fingers for something else. He was having a very hard time remembering he didn't want a January wedding.

Annie practically threw the gun back onto the wall and he had to laugh. She was so jumpy that he bet he wasn't the only one affected. "So, you like what you see, Agent Blake?" With a small wave of his arm he indicated his gun room.

He could see the momentary shock on her face when she realized he knew who she was, but she recovered quickly enough. He watched as she wiped her tiny hands on her jeans and then as she slowly raised her green eyes to meet his. When he looked into her eyes, he felt transported to pastures during springtime with the multiple shades of green fighting for dominance.

"I would ask you how you know who I am, but after looking around your house, I think there is a lot to you and your military record that was left out of the database." Cade smiled and rocked back on his heels. "You could say that."

Chapter Eight.

Cade held the door to the gun room open for Annie. She walked into his office and leaned her hip against his old desk while he shut and locked the door. He had to look twice for the hidden panel to get the key out of in order to lock the door. Annie just looked so s.e.xy in those tight jeans and simple white v-neck t-s.h.i.+rt that seemed to cling perfectly to her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, her hair haphazardly pulled back into a ponytail. It was driving him crazy!

Annie waited for him to finish hiding the key before asking him about his kidnapping. "So, what was amateur hour about?"

"Actually, I was getting ready to come find you to talk about just that. I think I need your help."

"Did the big bad goons scare you?" she teased.

"Ha! At first I had to go against my instinct to fight, but when I realized they were completely incompetent I had to fight from laughing. They tied loose knots and couldn't even put on a blindfold. Good news, I know exactly where the home base is. They took me into Lexington to the Iron Club and Spa where I got to meet Trevor Gaylen."

"Great. I will pa.s.s this information along to my bosses and we can get some surveillance set up. Good work, Davies. Do you think this Trevor guy is the boss?"

"No." Cade shook his head. "He's a thug in a suit brought over from Scotland."

Annie looked at him and he could see the question in her eyes, "Then what did he want?"

"He wants me to send the best boys on the team to the gym in Keeneston to train with an ex-NFL player by the name of Devon Ross. Furthermore, I'm to be in the locker room sparingly and no longer test for S2. In return, I get a champions.h.i.+p team and you get to live."

He watched as Annie narrowed her eyes as she took in his meaning. "Well, then you have nothing to worry about. As you know, I can take care of myself." She smiled at him and his body went weak.

"It's not just you he threatened. He also threatened my mother and my dog."

"He brought your dog into it? Wow. That's low." Annie shook her head and thought about it some more. Cade was right. This wasn't the boss man. The boss usually kept to the shadows. "We think the boss, whom we call the Scientist, is the actual designer of the drug. Did he say anything that would give clues to the boss?"

"Trevor did say it was only temporarily illegal, that they were going to present it to the FDA," Cade eagerly put in.

"That way he can make two fortunes, one now, while they sell the drug illegally and then a second if it becomes approved by the FDA. That's why I'm thinking the boss is younger, maybe late twenties, early thirties. It takes around fifteen years for a drug to be approved by the FDA, and my guess is he's young enough to be able to enjoy both potential windfalls." Annie knew she was mixing her personal views with what the DEA believed, but it felt like Cade would believe in her theories where the DEA didn't want to speculate. She looked at Cade and saw him nodding his head in agreement.

"That would make sense. An older person wouldn't care about FDA approval. They'd just try to corner the street market. That would also make sense why the boss is keeping in the shadows. When they go legit, they'll need a figurehead with a clean record."

"That's right." He got it! Annie almost jumped with joy. Her bosses kept telling her it was too much of a leap to narrow the profile down to younger people. Therefore, they had too many suspects to even make a start in the investigation.

"But, S2 is not legal now, right?"

"No. S2 is currently being made with an illegal synthetic steroid that was rejected by the FDA because it caused heart failure. We've run blood and tissue tests on all the victims over the past six months, and what we're seeing is a slight change in the synthetic steroid from victim to victim." Annie was getting excited now. She was talking about her investigation, her hunches, and her own thoughts on the case.

"What does that mean?" Cade asked. She watched him cross his arms and take a seat in is black leather office chair.

Annie started to pace in front of the desk. She wanted to lay out her theory so he could understand, since it seemed like no one in the DEA seemed to. It meant a lot to her to have one person, just one, see reason in her theory.

"See, I think the Scientist has taken the illegal synthetic steroid and is making tiny alterations to it to try to correct the direct link to heart failure. Why reinvent the wheel? The synthetic was perfect, except for the fact that it caused heart failure. So, if he can fix that problem, he'd have a remarkable commodity on his hands. I'm betting that the DEA scientists will find a different chemical makeup of the drug from Corey's locker than from the drugs we took off the dealer in Miami. Somehow, I hope one of the changes will lead me to him. Maybe through a traceable chemical, something. He'll make a mistake and I will be there to take him down."

"Why go through years and years of drug trials under the FDA rules and regulations when you could make a fortune just selling it as is now?"

"I don't know. That's what I'm trying to find out."

Cade listened to Annie and felt the cold settle into the pit of his stomach. This guy was selling to kids, his kids, just to make money, and only found these heart problems to be a side effect. He didn't like it, but he'd have to delay and play ball with Trevor Gaylen for a while. He needed to find the boss and take him out before any more kids were killed, and he would bet the farm on Trevor Gaylen being the key to taking the boss down.

He pushed off the arms of the office chair and stood in front of Annie. She seemed so small next to him. He just wanted to pull her to his chest and hide her from any danger she may be in because of his deal with Trevor. He stopped himself from reaching for her though. She would kick his a.s.s if he didn't treat her with the respect she deserved. She wasn't the only one who had gone snooping after all. His perusal through her records showed him that she was very capable of taking care of herself. It was just hard for him to accept.

"Come on. Let's go outside and talk." Cade watched her nod and walk through the office door and head straight for the back patio. He took a quick look around his living room and paused by the picture of him with his brothers and sister. It was slightly out of place.

Annie saw the second he saw the picture. She had angled it more than it originally had been. She saw that now. She also saw how he quickly scanned the rest of the area for any other signs of her search. She was so busted.

"There is still one more question I have for you," Cade said to her. His voice only hinting at the anger he was feeling.

"Yes?" Annie straightened her shoulders. She wasn't going to be intimidated by a little thing like feeling bad over an illegal search.

"What were you doing in my house? I can understand my office and the gun room, but what were you looking for?"

"I think you know what I was looking for."

"Well, are you satisfied that I am not dealing drugs to my kids, or do you need more time to search?"

"No, I don't. Thank you for offering though. I will make note of your cooperation in my reports." She was being a brat and she knew it. She should just explain it to him and then maybe he wouldn't get mad at her. It always seemed like a man was mad at her for doing her job, of course, and to be honest she never took the time to explain herself.

"Look, Cade, I know you're mad, but there is no reason to be. You know I have a job to do. You're the only one who should understand my need to make sure you are cleared before I move on to the next subject. I know you weren't selling, but I had to prove it."

She watched as Cade processed her words. "Well, I guess that clears that up. How about we go outside and have a gla.s.s of wine. I believe you owe me an answer."

"An answer?" Annie asked, relief pouring over her. He understood... he actually understood.

"I believe I asked you out on a date. Then Larry, Moe and Curly interrupted your giving me an answer. So, why don't you contemplate your answer outside?"

Annie almost jumped at the ball of fur that popped up from behind the back of a chair in the living room at the word 'outside'. She watched in stunned silence as he leapt out of the chair and ran toward the closed sliding gla.s.s door. He leapt up, his white furry paws. .h.i.tting the sliding gla.s.s door at head level, his long, black coat swis.h.i.+ng in the self-created wind as he leaned his whole body to the right. His big paws pushed the sliding door open as he fell from the air, the force of his fall pus.h.i.+ng the door further open. Justin landed on the ground and put his black nose through the door, and with a twist of his head pushed the door the remainder of the way open.

Annie stared in amazement as Justin trotted through the door and disappeared into the darkness. "How?"

"Yeah, it's pretty wild, but he's always been able to do that. He just jumps up and slides it open."

"He doesn't look smart enough to figure that out. He kind of reminds me of a clown."

Cade handed her a gla.s.s of white wine and led her outside to the brown and green cus.h.i.+oned patio furniture. Annie sat down on the iron scroll chair and looked out into the night. The lawn was dotted with various trees and bushes before opening up into gently rolling pastures outlined with black fences. She closed her eyes and snuggled into the soft cus.h.i.+on, resting her head against the back of the chair. She opened her eyes and looked up at the star-filled sky.

Annie watched as he took a seat in the chair a few feet away from her. No wonder all the teachers in the break room swooned when he came in. His shoulders were wide, his stomach flat, and the way his jeans sat on his hips forced her to think about wild nights in bed...oh no, she was getting sidetracked and she really needed to focus on the case. It didn't matter that he was s.e.xy as sin, nice, great with kids, and obviously secure in his s.e.xuality. His dog did have a pink bow in his hair, after all. And it didn't matter that he seemed to be the only person who understood and supported her theories on the case. But, those things didn't matter. She was here to do a job, nothing else.

"So, what are your plans now?" Cade asked, dragging Annie back to reality.

"I want to go to the gym in Lexington. See if I can join and maybe tail Gaylen. See if I can find the drop locations and also see if I can get evidence of him dealing." Annie was also thinking about doing the same with the personal trainer. See if she could get close to him somehow. Maybe hire him to train her.

"No, I don't think that's a good idea."

"What? Why not?" Did he have a better idea? She watched as he leaned forward in his chair and set his beer on the table.

"It's too dangerous. Larry, Moe and Curly may be amateurs, but Gaylen is a pro. May I remind you, he's also a pro who has already threatened you, a pro who knows what you look like and may be instantly suspicious if you are suddenly around all the time. It's just not a good plan."

She watched as Cade ran his hand through his disheveled dirty blonde hair, his hazel eyes hidden in the shadows. Well, maybe she was wrong. Maybe he didn't get her job. No, don't jump to conclusions, she thought.

"Cade, you do know it's my job, right? I'm good at my job. I have done tons of undercover work. I can easily appear at the club and blend in as just another patron."

"No you can't. I'm telling you, Gaylen is not some street thug you trick into selling some dope to you. He'll know instantly that something is up. I won't have you placing yourself in danger."

Annie bolted up from her seat, "You won't have it?"

"That's right. I won't have it. It's a stupid move and you know it." Cade leapt to his feet and grabbed Annie's shoulders, pulling her towards him. "I don't want to see you in danger. What's so hard to understand?"

Annie leaned forward even more, "Let me set the record straight. This is my job. I'm trained for this. You don't get to tell me what I can and can't do. Do you understand? Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I can't go into danger, Mr. War Hero, and do whatever else a man can do." Great, just when she thought he was different he goes and turns into a patronizing jerk.

"Can you write your name in the snow?" He shot her a c.o.c.ky grin and she wanted to scream.

"Don't demean me! I will do whatever I d.a.m.n well please and that includes running head first into danger. You don't have a say!" she yelled.

The grin fell from his face, "Then maybe I need to make myself clear," he practically growled.

Cade wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. He felt her b.r.e.a.s.t.s press into his chest as and her breathing falter as he lowered his head to hers. He captured her lips with a rough kiss. He ran his tongue along her teeth until she opened to him. His tongue surged into her mouth as he tasted her. G.o.d, nothing was sweeter than his little agent.

Annie pulled her head back and looked at his eyes flas.h.i.+ng with desire. d.a.m.n. Her head was still spinning from that kiss. He may be a patronizing jerk, but he was a patronizing jerk who could kiss. She had to pry her hands from where they were clutching his s.h.i.+rt. She balled her hand into a fist and planted it right into his desire-filled face.

She spun on the ball of her foot and headed towards her car, but not before hearing him laugh, "It was a good right cross, but I can do better." Arg! She didn't know whether to go back and show him her hook or to leap on him and explore what she had felt pressing against her stomach. But sometimes a strategic retreat was necessary to win the war.

Chapter Nine.

Cade glanced at the clock. He had ten minutes until he had to get to practice. His a.s.sistant coach was warming the team up so he could finish grading the tests his freshman biology cla.s.s took the other day. He heard heels clicking on the floor and looked up, hoping to see Annie, but it was just Stephanie from across the hall.

"Hiya, Coach. Getting ready for practice?" She was a nice enough girl. Nice enough that they went on a date about six months ago but nothing came from it. She may be a chemistry teacher, but they had no chemistry. She also always dressed spectacularly for school, which made Cade feel like a slouch wearing his black athletic pants for practice and a royal blue t-s.h.i.+rt with KHS across the front in white.