Neither of them answered, confirming his suspicions.
Fine, then. Whatever was going on had nothing to do with him. He was a bounty hunter not a jealous asshole. He stomped on his anger and focused his attention on what Blade had said earlier. “Those men following us. Any ideas who they are?”
“Men are following us?” Reena cried.
She sounded surprised not hopeful, though, which probably meant she really was out here all alone. How the Resistance would allow her to do something so stupid said plenty about this group she headed. They were idiotic and untrustworthy if they didn’t even have protection for their leader.
Bounty hunters he could deal with. He probably knew them. He may be able to get them to back off, too. But if they were coming after him because of Red, then they needed to get moving out of the area and pronto.
“Hunters looking for females,” Blade said coolly.
Cade stifled a curse. Men looking for a woman were desperate. They would kill both himself and Blade in order to get their hands on her. Somehow they’d discovered she was out here.
Cade turned to her and inhaled sharply. Wisps of hair caressed her red cheeks, making her look gorgeous. Her sultry lips were parted and had him thinking of oral sex. Suddenly she tugged off her hat and her fluffy hair blew wildly in the wind. He’d love to thrust his fingers into those silky strands and hold her head while he fucked her mouth.
Cade blinked in stunned amazement at the direction his thoughts were heading. He didn’t know what was going on. Usually he was professional as hell, but the smoldering whimper that escaped her mouth moments earlier when Blade had appeared, and now the heated flush in her cheeks and sparks in her eyes, screamed sex. He struggled to regain his composure.
“You probably have a leak in your organization. Too many people know your whereabouts,” Cade said, his voice way too thick with arousal for his own comfort.
She didn’t answer. Her lips parted more, as if she were about to speak, but she remained silent. He’d seen a similar look on a few other women’s faces before. During the Wars’ mandatory R & R sessions the soldiers were ordered to participate in. He’d only lain with women who were volunteers. And some of them had looked at him the same way as Reena.
Hot. Needy. Submissive.
Uneasiness zipped through him. Mentally he went over the notes the government had supplied him regarding Reena “Red” Wilde. There had been no mention of the X-virus. He’d assumed she’d been one of the lucky ones and was unaffected.
Was she infected? A stab of bitter disappointment shifted through him, but it was quickly followed by denial. No, a beautiful, sexy, vibrant woman like her couldn’t be infected.
Could she?
Chapter Four
Secret eye signals were snapping between Blade and Reena again and it was pissing Cade off. Suddenly she closed her eyes and nodded in surrender.
“So you wantmeto tell him?” Blade growled. He seemed totally ticked yet something else laced his voice. Excitement? Maybe. Whatever it was, Cade sensed something wild racing through his own veins. Something at the back of his brain warned him if she was infected with the X-virus, she may have one of those versions that would make her needy. Wanting sex. Wanting him. Just as Tyler’s woman wanted Tyler and Hunter pretty much every night because of those erotic fantasies she got compliments of the virus.
Man, he was fucking shallow and desperate, wasn’t he? To wish Reena would want sex with him simply because she was infected and needy…instead of out of love and caring.
No, she couldn’t be infected. There had been no information about her having the X-virus when he’d been hired to hunt her down. Unless they’d left it off or they didn’t know…or they hadn’t wantedhimto know.
She shook her head as she caught his gaze. Her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment.
Oh hell.
“She’s infected,” came Blade’s reply.
“Which version?” Cade asked as disappointment and disbelief rocked him. His voice was thick and strangled and distant, as if someone else asked the question.
“The O version,” she whispered. Her reply punched him in the gut.
“O” meaning she would need sex. Eventually. She would need to orgasm. At the very least, she would have to masturbate.
The O version was one of the worst mutations a woman could get. With that particular version, a female’s brain and reproductive hormones were targeted by the virus, twisting them into a cycle similar to that of cats in heat. Once in the heat phase, she would exhibit a sexually receptive behavior.
Was she entering that phase now? Is that why she appeared so…bedroomy sensual?
The erotic way the pink tip of her tongue wet her full lips made his breath hitch. Her condition must have been one hell of a secret if the government didn’t know about it. But it couldn’t have been that big a secret if Blade knew.
Cade noticed both of them watching him closely. Most likely waiting for his reaction.
