flying past him.
“Come on,” Gemma yelled as she scooted over to the passenger seat. He dove behind the wheel and slammed his foot on the gas.
As Cy tore through the field heading for the tree line, a black SUV came to a stop on the road in front of him. “Well, shit. I never liked this truck that much anyway. Hang on.”
Cy drove through the tree line and bounced up onto the road as the men with guns jumped out of the way. Cy plowed his driver’s side headlights right above the front wheel of the SUV. The SUV spun as the men had to leap again to avoid being hit. He threw the truck into reverse and ran over one of the men as he drove backward into the field. Slamming on the brakes, he did a controlled spin and then drove off through the field and away from the road.
“Where are you going?”
“Home court advantage. I know every farm around here. I cut through this field and go around the cornfield where I can come out onto a road I can take back to Keeneston.”
“But we know the boss is here. Why aren’t we calling the police and storming our way into that house?”
“Do you know how many guns they have there? If they pick up anything on the police lines, he’ll be in the wind so fast you’ll never have a chance to find him again. It’s personal now and he knows it. No cops. No CIA. Just him and me, and only one of us will make it.”
Gemma finally stopped shaking by the time Cy drove into Keeneston. As soon as he had bounced his way out of the fields, he had placed his hand over hers and was still holding it. He absently brushed his thumb over the soft skin of her wrist during the short trip into town. The small action had her pulse slowing and the shaking anger fading away.
“Thank you. That was sweet of you.” Gemma looked out at the sleepy town and wondered when she’d hear sirens or bullets. “It really helped calmed me down.”
“I know how the adrenaline dump can affect you. I’m glad I could help some.” Cy paused as if searching for the right words to say. “Gemma, you were excellent tonight. With the emotions he was triggering, you kept your cool and really helped get as much information as possible from him.”
“But, what do we do now? Mr. X is here and he’s coming after us.”
“Not tonight he won’t. Tonight was our first run-in. He’s going to evaluate us. It takes time to gather that intelligence. But it will be soon.” Cy parked the car and helped her from her seat. She felt total relief when he put his arm around her, and she leaned into him as they made their way up the path.
“What’s that?” Gemma asked quietly as they both stopped and listened to the night. Whispers were coming from the darkened porch. “They found us already.”
Then she felt Cy shake with laughter, “I don’t think so.” He laced his fingers with hers and pulled her toward the porch.
She heard a giggle then and a deep chuckle. She smelled brownies. “Miss Lily,” Gemma gasped at the sight of the sweet woman on the swing with her white hair messed and her lips puffy from kissing.
“John, how are you tonight?” Cy asked with barely controlled laughter ready to explode.
“Um, fine. Fine. Just replacing some light bulbs for Lily Rae here.” John stood and Gemma snickered at his shirt pulled from his suspenders and the way a piece of his thinning hair was sticking straight out.
“Well, that was so sweet of you. We’ll let you get back to it. Good night.” Gemma didn’t have a chance to say anything else as Cy pulled her inside and slammed the door before he lost control of the laughter. One look at him bent over had Gemma losing it. She started laughing so hard tears streamed down her face.
“Did you see his hair?” she gasped.
“Or the way her red lipstick was smeared and her eyes were so wide at being busted? Oh God, I don’t know if I can stand this—it hurts.” Cy grabbed his side as he tried to stop laughing. “Oh, I know.” Cy turned and ran back to the front door and flipped the switch beside it. Light poured through the windows as the porch was bathed in light.
“Cyland Davies,” Miss Lily shouted from outside.
“Uh-oh.” Cy grabbed her hand and raced upstairs as the front door opened and a large hand slid through the crack of the door and flipped off the light.
Cy didn’t stop laughing all the way upstairs. They stopped in the sitting area between rooms and he tried to figure out what to do. Let her go to bed? Alone? He’d been getting mixed signals. At the dance it had seemed they were of the same mind. That made up his mind: thinking of the way she fit in his arms, the way her legs brushed against his, the way her breasts pressed against his chest.
“Well, um. I guess . . .” Gemma stammered as she looked from Cy to the door. He held his breath as he waited to see what she was going to do. When she didn’t move, he took it as a sign.
“Come here,” Cy said with a gravelly voice. He stood still as Gemma looked up at him and took a step forward. He pulled her to him and closed his mouth over hers. He felt her grasp at his tuxedo as he deepened the kiss, pushing her against his door and leaning into her.
She moaned as he released her mouth to bury his head in the crook of her neck. Her hand raked his hair and she grabbed a fistful when he worked his lips over her delicate collarbone.
“I’ve wanted to do this all night,” Cy murmured as he shoved the strap of the gown off one shoulder, exposing a breast. He looked into her eyes, dark with excitement. With one hand he grabbed her ass and squeezed. With the other, he raised her breast to his lips and with a flick of his tongue had her squirming.
Gemma’s head fell back as he pulled the other strap down. He pushed the dress down, baring her to him. “Cy, don’t stop,” Gemma panted.
“I was planning on a lot of things, but stopping anytime soon is not one of them.” Cy kissed his way up to capture her lips again. He turned the doorknob as he ravished her mouth with his tongue. He picked her up and carried her through the door, kicking it shut.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Gemma took a sip of the sweet tea Miss Lily had brought up and looked at the pictures and notes spread out across her desk. She had scoured the news this morning, but there was no report of a man found dead in a field, so she had turned back to her notes to find out what her sister had discovered that had gotten her killed.
“Knock, knock. Am I interrupting anything?” Cade asked as he came into the room.
“Only your brother’s pacing,” Gemma quipped as she pulled out a picture of a striking blonde. “What’s going on?”
“You were right yesterday. Those words that seemed out of place were the key. I got the flash drive open.” Cade dropped a huge stack of papers in front of her and Gemma felt like groaning. “And I can’t read a single one of them. They’re all in that language of yours. However, there were a couple of photographs and you’re holding one of them. I may not know what’s on these pages, but I’m guessing that woman is important. Do you know who she is?”
Cade and Cy came to stand beside her as they looked at the woman with the blonde hair and oversized sunglasses. “She looks familiar, but I just can’t place her,” Cy said as he examined the photograph.
“Me too. It’s nagging at me. Hopefully, my sister will have her name somewhere in this pile.”
“If you work with me, I may be able to build a program to translate it. It'll take a couple of hours up front but could save you a lot of time,” Cade suggested.
“You could do that?” Cy asked. Cade just gave him a look and Cy nodded. “I shouldn’t have asked. But I need a favor. I want to think over some things and I do that better moving around. I don’t want to be in Gemma’s hair, but I don’t want to leave her alone either.”
“I got it. It’ll take us a while to get this program written and then I can help her go through it.”
“Thanks, Cade. Is that okay with you, sweetheart?”
“Sure. You were about to drive me crazy with your pacing, so it works out perfectly. We’ll just meet up for lunch.”
Gemma raised her lips for Cy as he gave her a quick kiss before heading out. She turned to see Cade
