by May Sage
And now, he wanted to feel her pussy. And fuck if she didn't want that, too. Helene was greedy for more of what he had in store.
Cade helped her to her feet, and like the gentleman he wasn't, kissed the back of her hand. Why did even that feel so intense? Maybe Cade wasn't human. He could be a creature right out of one of her sister's new books.
"You're so very beautiful, Helene."
Feeling herself flush, she held her chin high. "You don't have to chat me up. I'm already naked." Mostly. She was still wearing her dress, loose over her hips. She wiggled out of it, and stepped over the fabric.
"I'm simply stating a fact."
Suddenly aware of the fact that he was, tragically, still wearing his well-cut suit, though his pants were open, she brought her fingers to his collar and opened the first button, then the second, and the next. He watched her do it without a word. When she was done, she looked at her handiwork. His chest was hard and tanned, with a fine layer of slightly curled hair. Perfect. Everything about him was perfect.
"Well, in this case, I suppose I should tell you you're quite gorgeous yourself."
His grin was wicked, and cocky around the edges. Damn, the asshole was probably perfectly aware of his effect on women in general—and her, specifically. She was here, naked in an unlocked library, after all.
"Thank you, Helene."
The way he said her name did things to her.
Cade shrugged off his jacket and shirt in one go, before caging her in against the wall between the bookshelves. "I don't think I can get enough of your wicked mouth." Without further warning, her returned to her lips. This time, he was soft and gentle, savoring her taste. Her hands curled around his neck, keeping him closer. One of his slid to her arm, then her hips, before returning to the apex of her thighs, where she needed him. His skilled fingers pressed, coaxed, and teased her. In an instant, her inside were boiling again, demanding more. Her hips curved to give him a better angle, and she breathed hard against him, already close to another mind-blowing orgasm.
"Are you ready for me, sweetheart?"
Was she ever? "Condom."
She was proud of herself for having the presence of mind to remember that, through the haze of lust her brain was clogged under.
Cade's arm, close to her head, moved down, to his back pocket. He pulled out a brown wallet. Thank God he was prepared. That probably meant he was used to sneaking into libraries to have his way with socialites, but Helene couldn't care less. This was just fun. She wasn't going to delude herself into thinking it was anything more. Determined to enjoy the moment and not think about tomorrow for one second, she thrust her hand inside his open crotch, and wrapped her fingers around his hot, hard length, freeing it from his pants.
Damn.
She must have said that aloud, because Cade chuckled.
"Do you like what you see, Helene?"
Hell to the yes.
She swallowed, still fixed on the thick eight-inch length. It was curved upward, with pronounced veins running through it.
Cade removed his fingers from her heat to unwrap a condom, eyes fixed on her. She'd never thought of putting on a condom as something sensual—it was just a necessity, something to get over with—but with the heat of his stare, each of his slow movement made the anticipation rise higher and higher. By the time he'd fitted the latex over his cock, she was desperate for it.
"Turn around, sweetheart."
She practically stumbled in her rush to obey. Facing the wall, she spread her legs, as the head of his cock aligned with her entrance, rubbing over the wet slit. Cade bent her over, gentle, and anchored his hands around her hips.
"God, you look so fucking perfect."
She was so drenched, but Cade's slow, controlled entrance stretched her in ways she didn't think possible, drawing a long moan from her throat. "Oh my God."
This felt so good. So right. The curve of his dick hit just where she wanted it.
She had no warning: he retreated all the way out, and slammed back in again. And again. And again. She could only buck, and wince, and scream. Her hand pushed against the wall to keep her upright, but her legs were giving in. The only thing keeping her up was his iron grasp.
Tears gathered in her eyes. She couldn't form a clear thought, or a word. This was too much. Too fast, hard and intense. Her mind couldn't comprehend the mindless, brutal rutting.
"Fuck. I wanted to go slow, Helene. I wanted to make love to you. Fuck!" he screamed, yet moving faster, deeper inside her.
"Don't." That was all she managed. One word. She didn't want slow, or soft, or caring. She wanted what he was giving her, although her body was telling her she couldn't take much more of it. She'd never been fucked like this, like an animal.
She knew she was screaming. Someone might come in to see if she was all right any minute. She just couldn't bring herself to care.
Without warning, he withdrew entirely from her, leaving her heat. Helene gasped, turning to protest, beg if she had to. But he was already turning her around, as smooth as he'd been during their waltz.
"I need your mouth again." Cade kissed her like she was worth millions, and fucked her like a whore, against the wall, throwing her legs over his shoulders.
She lost all notion of anything that wasn't that moment, anything that wasn't him, his hands on her ass, his cock deep inside her, and his mouth, exploring her with a gentleness.
And then she lost even that, knocked over by an orgasm so intense her vision blacked out. Her body seemed to float, limbless, boneless.
It took several heartbeats to descend back to Earth, and finally hear her erratic breathing, matching his. Feel his breath against her. They were both wet with sweat and gasping like they'd run a marathon. His forehead was resting against her, and her legs, still around his shoulders.
Helene was lost. Lost as to what to do next. What to say.
It was certainly not her first fuck in incongruous places. She had to get a hold of herself, dammit. She was a grown-ass woman, not some innocent girl.
Finally, Cade withdrew his cock from her pussy, and helped her down to her feet.
She took in the dress pooled on the floor.
Cassie's expensive dress. Fuck! What if she got it dirty? Were cum stains easy to get out of velvet? She didn't have a clue.
Panic rose higher inside her chest with every moment.
"I…I'd better…" She took the dress and hastily put it on. Her trembling hands weren't making the ordeal any less awkward or embarrassing. At long last, she was dressed. She forced herself to look at Cade. "There. All dressed. I should go. It was…" She didn't have words to say what sex with him had been like, though. Mind-blowing. Unforgettable. Stupid. And so much more. "Well, thanks. I needed that. Nice meeting you."
Helene spun on her heels and moved to leave.
"Nice meeting you?"
She grimaced. Gosh, that was bad. "Yeah. You seem like a nice guy. I had…fun. But now I need to go." Get back to her reality, the one that didn't include the likes of Cade Lawson.
"Wait."
But she didn't wait to wait, dammit. She couldn't.
"Helene, wait. We have to talk. Seriously."
Serious talk didn't sound like something she was capable of right now.
"The condom broke."
Three words.
Three words that stole any hope of a quick, painless escape.
"What?"
Helene
The condom broke.
The condom fucking broke.
She was going to be sick.
Forcing herself to breathe in and out, Helene sat down on the closest armchair.
"I take it from your expression that you're not on the pill?" Cade asked.
He sounded far too calm right now. Matter-of-fact.
She managed to shake her head. Helene hadn't been in a relationship for years. When she had sex, maybe three or four times per year, she made sure everything was properly wrapped. She'd believed it to be adequate protection.
Until now. Right now, she was regretting every unfortunate life decision that had led her to this point. How could she have been so stupid?
"Breathe, sweetheart. You're turning blue."
Of course she was. The question was, why wasn't he?
Cade was a wealthy man, worth tons of money. To men like him, a potential pregnancy was—should be—the stuff of nightmares. And yet, here he was, the picture of poise and control.
"Here." He was handing her a glass of water, which meant that he must have gone to the adjacent bathroom and back to produce it. She hadn't even noticed him moving at all. She was having a hell of a panic attack.
Meanwhile, Cade spoke low, soothingly, rubbing her shoulders with his excessively talented hands.
He removed one of her borrowed heels, then the other, and worked his strong thumb through her tense skin.
Oh, God, why did it feel so good?
She blamed those hands for everything. Although his mouth shared in the guilt, too.
"I can't be pregnant. I can't."
"Well, technically—"
Helene looked up, glaring straight into the depths of his dark, maddeningly amused eyes. She might have growled, too.
"Right. Of course, you're likely not pregnant." Cade might have been more convincing if he wasn't smirking. "Not right this second, anyway. But in case it turns out that you are later…"
"I don't have a house. I work all the time. For low pay. I'm not pregnant."
"I have a house." He shrugged. "And enough money for nannies 'round the clock. I'm told that's the way to go, when one has workaholics for progenitors."
Helene was ready to bite his head off. "I'm not throwing a non-existent child at an army of nannies!" Her voice had reached an all-time high, probably breaking the sound barrier. She was hysterical, and she didn't even care.
And Cade had the gall to chuckle. "All right. No nannies. One of us would have to take a break, then."
There he was again, with all his logic and serenity.
"This is an entirely pointless discussion, because I'm not pregnant." She crossed her arms.
Cade looked down at her. He felt sorry for her, she could tell. "Of course." Why did it sound like he was just humoring a stubborn child? "And there are measures you can take to remain that way, if that's what you'd like. A morning-after pill."
She perked up. He was right. There was no point panicking at all. She could just take one little pill and forget about the accident.
"Right. Thank you. I had…a lovely time." Helene rushed to her feet, and waved awkwardly. "I'd better get going. Upstairs. To sleep. I'm…" She faked a yawn. "Yeah, so tired. Good night."
And on that note, she fled, so quickly she didn't even bother to put her shoes back on.
One day, Helene was going to win at being an adult. That day wasn't today.
She hadn't stopped running since her alarm at rang at ten in the morning. She woke up to an email from a rental agency, offering to let her visit an apartment she'd enquired about half an hour later. After a quick shower, she rushed out, arriving just three minutes late. The agent had been pissed about her tardiness, but he let her visit anyway.
The place was a dump. It smelled damp and the rushed paint job did nothing to hide the fact that the walls were falling apart. There were suspicious marks on the carpet that may or may not have been rat droppings. Helene was desperate, but not nearly that desperate.
Then, like every Sunday, she had the family dinner in Long Island. She was late for that, too. Usually, Cassie and Carter were here as a buffer, but they'd skipped today, no doubt because of the previous night's party. For the first time since the fire, Helene had to endure the full scale of their parents’ interrogation, and two hours of painstaking advice about the mess that was her life.
She didn't even have the strength to defend herself today.
By the time she made it back to the city, it was time for her volunteer shift at the animal rescue she supported once a fortnight.
Getting home at eight, after grabbing a dollar slice of pizza pie, she wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and pretend the universe didn't exist.
"Helene, that you?" Cassie called from the media room.
Cursing under her breath, Helene nonetheless made her way to greet her sister.
Being a guest sucked.
Cassie and Carter were cocooned under a thick, fluffy blanket, watching what looked like a horror movie.
Oh. Never mind, that sounded like a wonderful idea.
"You wanna join us? We've ordered Chinese."
"Actually, that might be exactly what I need right now."
Tomorrow. She'd adult tomorrow.
Cade
"Mr. Lawson, the report you requested has been sent up." His assistant, Ben, was walking on eggshells around him today. The entire office was. He'd been in a hell of a mood all morning.
Make that all weekend. Even his sister, self-absorbed though she could be, had noticed that there was something wrong with him.
That sort of thing happened when the partner of the best sex you've ever had in your life practically runs out on you like hellhounds were on her heels.
Maybe he'd sucked Saturday night. Maybe the mind-blowing sex hadn't been all that good for her, and she couldn't wait to put some space between them. But no, he couldn't believe that. He'd seen her face as she came, again and again. He'd felt her tighten around his cock. It had been incredible, and Helene Franklin had panicked because she didn't want something like that. Not with him. Not when he was a greedy rich guy—something she'd made no secret she despised.
Cade should have stayed home and worked on his office today, but he had a few things to sort out that could only be done in person.
He thanked Ben, more curtly than he'd intended to be, and opened up his messages.
There it was. Another reminder of the weekend. Of her.
A report on the earning levels of his subordinates. Seeing the five-figure salaries made him wince. He'd spent more on a lunch than what they earned in a year. He kept reading the report that showed comparisons with earning levels in similar firms. He paid his admin staff more than some, less than others, but the difference seemed minimal. Put together, the annual salaries of the fifty-two assistants in the main office were risible.
He pinged Ben again.
"Have HR sent up, please."
Ben's eyes widened. Panic was plain in his features. Gosh, Cade was such a dick today. "I'm not firing you, Ben."
The assistant's shoulders sagged in relief. "Yeah. Of course. Right away, sir."
Before he could leave, Cade halted him. "Are you happy with your level of income here, by the way?"
Ben hesitated.
"Come on, speak plainly. I've been looking into it, and I have a hard time seeing what's a good income level in this city."
The assistant nodded. "You pay me very well, Mr. Lawson. I'm an executive assistant." He said so with a degree of pride. "Plus, the benefit package includes lodging, which is amazing."
There was a “but” somewhere.
"Go on."
"Well, I was just going to say, we do well here on the exec floor. But I have friends in the general admin office who struggle a little—particularly those who need childcare, or have health issues. Some have a second job to pad their income. I mean, most people do."
Fuck. Cade didn't know what was worse: realizing that Helene didn't want him because she believed he was the embodiment of what was wrong in the society, or seeing that she was right.
"Thank you for your honesty, Ben."
He needed to fix it. He needed to start caring about people who worked for him—even those he never saw. And that had nothing to do with wanting to see that damn brunette come apart again.
He glanced down to his phone again, for what must have been the hundredth time today.
Cade had debated all weekend, but resisted his impulse to message Helene. This morning, however, he'd sent her a quick line about starting the survey he'd
promised her he'd run.
And nothing. She'd sent no reply.
Maybe she hadn't even entered the correct email address.
His jaw ticked.
Today sucked.
Cade had a town car at his disposal to get to and from appointments, but he dismissed it that evening. The office was just south of Lexington Avenue, and he lived across the park. On days when it wasn't raining, he liked to walk.
"Hey!"
He spun on his heel, and broke into an involuntary smile. "What are you doing here, Richelle?"
It was rare for his sister to ever visit his office. She could be annoying, but after the day he’d had, he was glad to see her. He was glad for anything that broke through the funk in his brain right now.
"I was shopping down the road. Ben let me know you were coming down, so I figured we could go home together."
He rolled his eyes. "In other words, you wanted me to carry your bags?"
She grinned innocently, letting him take her four shopping bags.
He knew that wasn't right, though. She could have taken a cab home, or called his driver, for that matter. Richelle was worried about him. He wouldn't have been surprised if Ben hadn't been the one to make the call, to ensure she was here for him today.
"How did your day go?" She probably thought she was subtle.
"I'm fine, Rich," he lied. He wasn't anywhere near fine, but he wasn't about to get into a heart-to-heart about it.
His sister would never let him live it down if he told her he was all messed up because of a woman. And worse yet, she'd do her best to interfere.
Cade wasn't one to share his personal business in general, but if he did, it wouldn't be with her. James was on the other side of the planet, Kenneth was sailing, Archer never spoke more than a couple of words in a row, and David would never comprehend why his brain was still thinking of a woman he'd already fucked. That just wasn't in his DNA.
"Cade, if you don't tell me, I'll have to call Mom and let her know her baby boy is feeling poorly. You know she'll be on the next plane over."