by Bonnar King
Unbidden, my gaze trailed down to his amazing abs, which I precisely remembered licking last night. It tapered down to a V beneath the cloth, and just one tug…
A drop of water dripped down, settling tantalizingly close to the light hair trailing down his belly button. My insides squirmed hotly, and I was aching all over again. I wanted to lick him.
I wanted to lick him.
“Good morning, Tony.”
My eyes shot up and met his, which were filled with smug warmth. The combination shouldn’t have affected me, but it only made the throbbing between my legs grow worse. Damn it. I cleared my throat.
“Good morning. I made breakfast.”
That wasn’t so bad.
I turned back to continue cooking, careful to keep myself casual. Cool, casual. Breakfast, then tell him it was okay if he wanted to leave.
But Caden’s hands on my waist stopped me. Suddenly I could feel the warmth of his body behind me, pressing lightly. I did my best to move to the side and flip the egg towards a plate, but his mouth on my neck, cruising softly, made me almost unable to concentrate.
It felt so good. He kissed me in a light, teasing manner, and his hands started moving from my waist down to my hips. I only realized later on, when I was so absorbed in the pleasure of what his mouth was doing, that he’d been lifting me slightly up until my butt was directly pressed against his front. He then ground against me insistently through the towel, and the feel of his erection had pleasure shooting up inside me.
I stifled a moan by biting my lower lip, my hands gripping the countertop. The egg in the plate was forgotten. Caden kept on grinding, his hips moving in a rotating manner that had my legs weakening.
And then he thrust hard, and my grip on the countertop grew tight as fire jolted.
“What are you doing, Caden?” I asked in between broken breaths.
“What do you think?” he murmured, his breathing not much better. “I’m having my breakfast.”
Suddenly he was turning me around and removing my shirt. When I was down to my underwear, he began to remove that, too, and my nipples ached and turned hard at the exposure. He didn’t let it last long as Caden slid his hands on them, squeezing and pinching and eventually trailing his mouth down until he was capturing one in between his lips. A moan came out of my throat, and I was holding on for dear life as he continued pleasing me.
“Delicious,” he rasped.
I wanted him inside me. I wanted him inside me again, but obviously Caden had other ideas as his mouth trailed further down. He slid my pants and boxers down, completely exposing me until I was naked. Then his fingers were gliding up, and I shuddered as my thighs shook slightly when he gently spread them apart.
Whatever ache I was feeling only spread further when his fingers wrapped around my dick. He crooned down below, telling me how hard I was and so sexy, and I closed my eyes and tried to stand still. My throat was dry from trying not to scream as he expertly jerked me off in a repeated motion that had me feeling like a ball of fire was forming in my belly. I felt so hot and so aroused, it was impossible to resist.
Then I felt something hotter and wetter on it. The fire burned higher.
His tongue, slick and firm, teasing my head before he took me into his mouth and continued pleasing me.
Over. And over. And over again.
He didn’t remove his hands and mouth. Caden used both his talented hands to squeeze my ass tightly as he used his mouth and tongue to pleasure me. I was burning everywhere—until I was harder and hotter for him, moaning out his name without restraints now as I used the countertop to anchor myself. But there was no anchoring to this kind of pleasure—and so I spread my legs wider, placed my hands on his head and let go.
Caden increased his speed and his licking until I couldn’t take it anymore. I was blind and deaf to everything but what he was doing, and it was glorious. My vision tunnelled, and my mind scattered.
It didn’t take long. The ball in my stomach exploded, shooting pleasure points everywhere and making me arch against his head. He didn’t move away, instead sucking me dry as wave after wave of pleasure consumed me. When the last of the pleasure ebbed away, Caden abruptly stood up, the towel falling to the floor. I took one glimpse of his raging cock before he was turning me around and sliding inside me to the hilt in one hard thrust.
The desperation and hunger made our action fast, verging on animalistic. I held on for dear life as he pumped inside me over and over, his groans filling the air. I pushed my hips back until every thrust had the tip of his cock rubbing against my g-spot, which was still oversensitive from the pounding I received last night. Caden’s hands never stopped moving, touching me everywhere he could. Before I knew it, I was exploding in pleasure again, clamping down on him tightly as he kept plunging his alpha rod inside me. He jerked my head to the side and kissed me hard, our tongues tangling. Then his hands tightened on my hips and he paused in a long shudder inside me, emptying himself.
Our breaths filled the air until that eventually steadied, too. Caden nudged me up and pressed against me. My mind still dazed, I smiled him like I'd waited for him all my life.
Somewhere in the bedroom, a mobile phone rang.
“Let me go get that,” Caden said, kissing my shoulder.
There was a notable smirk on his face as he looked me from head to toe again before leaving naked, his cock still jutting in the air.
God. I still wanted him.
I distracted myself by redressing and setting the table for two. A few seconds later, he came out of the room already dressed.
The smile disappeared from my face at the look on his.
Something was wrong. Very wrong.
“My father got rushed to the hospital. I have to go.”
23
Caden
Seeing my father unconscious in a hospital bed was terrible.
He’d always been a healthy alpha. He’d never been in a hospital a day in his life, which made me upset as I thought of all the things that could have happened to him.
As it turned out, he had a heart attack. The doctor explained how sudden heart attacks happened, even when the person wasn’t doing anything particularly taxing. The good news was that his condition had stabilized.
The awful thing was that I wasn’t handling it well.
I wanted to lash out at the doctor—for being so calm and cool about it, for telling me that the heart attack could happen anytime again without warning. I didn’t like that one bit, and I wanted to tell the doctor so. But I couldn’t.
So I lashed out at Tony instead.
“You can go home now,” I clipped out when I entered my father’s private room. There were monitors attached to his body, and he looked frail.
He looked around uncertainly. “Any relatives?”
“None close.”
He seemed undecided for a few seconds. Then his mouth firmed. “I’m staying,” Tony said stubbornly. “Who’s going to help you out?”
“I can pay people for that,” I replied coolly.
Something flickered in Tony's eyes, but he banked it down and sat firmly on a chair. I ignored him, my thoughts going to my omega father, who was probably in Europe right now. He left when I was a kid, then tried to return and reconnect with me when I was rich enough—but I didn’t want him back, not when money was obviously all he was after. He never even communicated with my alpha father, who’d done everything to provide for me. Bitter feelings rose inside me at the thought of him knowing my father was here, because I knew he was just going to take advantage.
So I didn’t call. I also kept monitoring my father’s condition, watching quietly as Tony kept at my side and brought me food when morning became noon. He kept worriedly asking the doctor about updates, kept comforting me in him own little ways.
He kept caring.
And I wasn’t ready to analyze how I was feeling about it.
When noon became afternoon, I didn’t know if I could last any longer without any updates
about my father—and with him still here.
So I turned to him one more time.
“You need to leave,” I said.
He opened his mouth to argue. But I cut him with a look.
“I don’t need you here, Tony. This is a private family matter. Please leave.”
I saw his eyes flicker again. This time, it built up until I was able to see the hurt there. But he was already taking a step back and nodding.
“I’ll see you at work,”Tony said softly.
Then he was leaving the room.
I looked at my father’s unconscious form, the emotions swirling inside me. Along with the bitterness was an anger that I couldn’t place, as well as a longing that I didn’t want.
But there was also regret—a deep, dark regret that called out to him.
I inwardly cursed. Then I was yanking the door open to call Tony back and apologize.
But he was gone.
24
Tony
By the time morning had come, I was irritable, tired and just wanted to get through the day. However, this didn’t feel like just any other groggy day—I felt very different, unlike anything else I had ever felt before. Before I even had time to gather my thoughts, I was rushing to the bathroom to puke my guts out.
What was this? Surely not. It couldn’t be!
I opened the cabinet and pulled out my pregnancy test and read and re-read the instructions. I had this purchased for over a year just in case, but obviously never needed to use it. It hadn’t expired, which was good. I peed on it and patiently waited for the results. The minutes seemed like an eternity.
The results were in. I was pregnant. Pregnant with Caden’s baby. God, I felt so overwhelmed with happiness more than guilt or shock. Deep inside I knew I always wanted to be a parent. I would have to put a pin on this moment and keep this to myself for now until I knew how to go about it.
For now I would act as if nothing had changed. Business as usual. I think I could manage that.
When I got got to work, of course Kevin noticed something was up right away when he saw me. I could see he was dying to ask, but I’d gone inside my office with barely a hello before settling down to work right away. I predicted he’d be barging in here within an hour to demand details, but suddenly there was an influx of client visitors that prevented even that.
It was for the best. I did trust Kevin, but I wasn’t even sure if I wanted to tell him what happened. Everything felt so intimate and private—from our date to our time in my apartment, the hospital and especially the pregnancy.
Caden’s cold words flashed in my head. A scheduled client walked in, and I shook it off.
And it was like that for the rest of the morning. It kept me busy and it kept my mind blank, which was really all I could ask for. I pasted on my cheerful smile and got to work.
By the time ten had clocked in, it felt like a whole day of work had been accomplished. I was feeling pretty proud of myself as I finished a mountain load of papers when the door to the office opened without the sound of a knock.
I didn’t even have to hear footsteps to know who it was.
I braced myself, focusing on arranging the papers before standing up. Then I walked over to him with my head held high.
The sight of Caden had me inwardly gasping right away.
The usual alpha I’d known normally would came to the office looking like he just jumped out of a magazine cover, no matter the occasion or problem—but there was none of that now as he looked wearier than I’d ever seen anyone look. There were bags under his eyes, and his face was narrower than usual. He looked broody and temperamental as he walked to his desk, as if the world itself was troubling him.
Then his head turned in my direction.
Time stopped.
My gaze met his, and in them I found passion and hunger, along with something else. But it was gone as soon as it came, his face becoming a façade of formality as he approached me.
“How’s your dad?”
The first words out of my mouth stopped him. He nodded tersely. “He’s okay. Resting. His brother ’s there now watching over him.”
Meaning Caden had been in the hospital the whole night and morning. I nodded my head, relieved at the sort of good news. The though of mentioning my pregnancy to him crossed my mind for a split second, but this was definitely not the time nor the place to drop such news. Who knew how Caden would even take the news. Hell, even I wasn’t sure what my next move was regarding my pregnancy.
We looked at each other for a long moment before he started approaching again.
I tensed. He saw it, and stopped.
“You have a meeting in ten minutes,” I said, careful to keep my tone even. I didn’t want him touching me—not when his words were still fresh in my mind.
Not when I knew I wouldn’t be able to resist.
“About the hospital...”
“It’s okay,” I said before he could continue. I smiled. “Just don’t think about it. Do you want me to run intervention and have Mr. Morris come back later?”
There was silence as Caden kept on looking at me, his gaze unreadable. Finally, he shook his head.
“No. Have him come in. I want to get this day done early.”
“Of course,” I said. Then, before he could say anything else, I was back at my desk and pretending to be busy as I looked at a piece of paper that didn’t make sense.
So that was it, I guess. An actual one-night stand, with a morning after session before he deemed it over. I knew what I’d entered into, and at the back of my mind, I had expected this. He wasn’t the type of alpha to stick around, and it was inevitable. I made a good living and knew I could support a child. I just never pictured myself being a single parent. Or even a parent at this stage of my life, it was honest.
What would my parents say about this? Would they be disappointed? Did I even care? I didn’t live my live to please others!
I tried to focus back on my work, but as I kept staring at the paper and ordering my vision not to blur from the threatening onslaught of tears, I knew that a tiny part of me had hoped.
Just for a little bit of true happiness for once in my life.
It was both a blessing and a curse that Caden was distracted enough with his meetings and with his father that we barely spoke as we both kept to ourselves and our work—a blessing because I still didn’t know what to say to him, and a curse because it was pure torture even just being in the same space. The façade was a little bit better now, and the charm he used to ooze was back. Everyone believed it.
Everyone but me.
This made me realize that I’d seen truer parts of him than he’d been showing to the people around here. I remembered his slightly lost expression in the hospital, the one that made me reach out.
Of course, he didn’t exactly accept the comfort I offered.
Forget about it. Forget about him. You don’t need him.
“Lunch?”
I looked up and found Kevin standing in front of me. But his gaze was glancing back and forth between me and Caden, inquisitively. I stood up and dragged him off before he could say anything out loud, then whispered to him that I would meet him in the cafeteria in ten minutes. Kevin’s eyes gleamed knowingly, but he left grinning without a word.
I stood up, too. But instead of heading to follow Kevin, I walked over to Caden.
He was still absorbed in what he was doing, but I saw him tense when he heard my footsteps. Caden looked up just as I stood in front of him. Slowly, he stood up, too.
“You should eat,” I said softly. “I know you didn’t get much sleep last night.”
There was only the desk between us, but it might as well have been nothing with the intimacy radiating between us. I longed to cross over and just give him a huge hug, but I wasn’t sure it was welcome. I waited for him to make a move as he watched me, a small, wry smile tugging on his face. It was more genuine than the charming ones he handed out to everyone earlier, and it made my heart beat ju
st a little bit too fast.
But Caden didn’t cross the distance, either.
“You go ahead. I’ll be fine.”
I nodded. Then I turned around and resisted the urge to look back. Panic engulfed me as I realized a couple of things.
One, I didn’t want our time together to end yet.
And two…I was in too deep.
“Okay. If you don’t tell me anything right now—anything—I’m going to worry until I’m ninety years old and it will be all your fault.”
Kevin’s words got a small smile out of me, but it was gone as soon as it came. Then his voice was overpowered by someone else—someone who was suddenly standing right in front of us.
“Done being a slut for your boss?”
Nathan looked me in the eyes, smirking. The words were said sweetly enough so as not to attract attention. But I had enough of it. I was sick and tired of all his judgment.
And I certainly wasn’t taking it sitting down.
I never let my gaze break. “The boss you’re talking about has a father that was just on the verge of death,” I said steadily, my voice sounding like steel. “If you really care about this company and the person who is running it because you think I’m sleeping with him, then the least you could do is put your head down and actually show some respect.”
Anger filled me, making it hard to stop.
“Mr. Shaw and I deserve better than the vicious gossip you dish out, Nathan—especially Mr. Shaw, who has been nothing but fair to all employees…slut or not. Why don’t you just put your effort into getting all those sales for us instead of running your mouth all around the office and ruining my reputation? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous.”
Nathan gasped, at a loss for words. The gape on his mouth turned into a glare, and he opened his mouth.
Kevin gasped.
Nathan froze.
I glanced to where they were looking. Caden was there, watching us. Hearing the whole thing. Not interrupting, like he’d promised. A surge of affection filled me at the sight of him, and my heart ached at how intense it was. We didn’t do more than exchange a look, but I knew what he was trying to say.