there dress. And his visions hadn’t stopped there. Now he was dreaming about making love to her to the point that it almost seemed real.
Walking into his kitchen, he felt for the first time ever that his condo was small, cramped, tight. He wasn’t used to being so confined. He needed to get away for a while and knew Jace wouldn’t like it if he did. Caden wouldn’t like it, either. Now wasn’t a good time with all the craziness that was going down. Besides, he was in charge of the Security Department, and Jace was depending on him to stay on top of things.
Opening the refrigerator, he grabbed a beer bottle, then popped the top. He needed to stay focused on Granger and not on some woman whose body he wanted with a passion. Taking a deep swig of beer, he felt the cold liquid as it trickled down to his stomach and wished it could cool off his pecker, as well.
Knowing that wasn’t possible, he finished off the beer and headed back to bed, hoping he could get some sleep this time around.
* * *
“Caden, there’s someone here to see you.”
Caden glanced at his watch before turning around to Hannah. “It’s after ten. Who is it?”
“Shiloh Timmons.”
He muttered an expletive deep in his throat. “Send her out here, Hannah.”
He turned back to stare up at the stars. This was to be his peaceful moment, which was something he needed after all the stuff that had gone down at Granger today. But now Shiloh had invaded it.
He picked up her scent before she spoke a word behind him. “Hello, Caden.”
He turned around. It was then that he drew in a sharp breath. The moonlight combined with the porch lanterns hit her at an angle that made her look even more beautiful than she was. He immediately hardened his heart at such a stunning picture of exquisiteness.
“What do you want, Shiloh?”
“We need to talk, Caden.”
He shook his head. “I don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
“But I need to tell you why I—”
He threw up his hand. “No. I don’t want to hear it. It was years ago. Doesn’t matter now.”
“It does matter, Caden. I can’t let you hate me any longer.”
He chuckled derisively. “You don’t have a choice.” He paused a moment and then said, “I believed in you. I trusted you, and I loved you. Damn it, Shiloh, I waited for you to show up. Waited days in a damn hotel room in Vegas. But you never came, and then I saw those pictures and knew why. There were pictures of you half-naked lying on a private beach someplace with one of those rich businessmen your father was trying to woo.”
“No! That wasn’t—”
“Frankly, I don’t want to hear it,” he interrupted crossly. “You mean nothing to me now. In fact, I can’t stand the sight of you.”
He saw the tears forming in her eyes but hardened his heart against any reaction to them. He wanted to hurt her the same way she had hurt him. She had not only torn out his heart, but her deceit had trampled it.
He stood there, emotionless, and stared at her, wanting her to see he’d meant everything he’d said. Moments later, she turned and walked off the porch and into the house to leave.
He turned back around, staring up at the sky. But instead of feeling peace, he felt pain.
* * *
Jace put in the call to his father first thing the next morning before leaving for the office. The warden promised he would allow Shep to call him back within the hour. His cell phone rang within twenty minutes. “Hello?”
“Jace, what’s wrong? Warden Smallwood said for me to call you. Said it was extremely important.”
Jace had already spoken to his father yesterday to let him know about Freeman and the others involved in the trade-secret scandal. He had awakened to see it dominating the local news with photographs of Swanson, Arrington and Freeman flashing across the screen. And just in case the good people of Charlottesville had forgotten, a photograph of his father—taken fifteen years ago—had flashed across it, as well, reminding everyone that the former CEO of Granger Aeronautics was presently in prison, serving time for killing his wife.
Jace drew in a deep breath. “I was in your office yesterday, Dad. I found the secret compartment embedded in the sofa. I saw the file.” He paused a minute and then asked, “Why didn’t you tell the authorities it