Cane looked me hard in the eyes before walking around me and meeting beside Dad. They laughed and their voices boomed as Cane teased him about who the stronger person was now, but I couldn’t find it in me to laugh.
I couldn’t find it in me to accept what was unfolding right before my very eyes.
Cane came here with Kelly.
Did he spend last night with her?
This morning?
Did they wake up together?
All of it hurt my heart much more than it should have. And hell, I could have been assuming things, but when Kelly placed a hand on Cane’s chest and looked into his eyes—an intimate gesture that made my belly clench—I just knew he’d called her over, or he’d told her he was coming to visit.
Perhaps he wasn’t satisfied and had to find a reasonable woman to unleash himself on and that woman just so happened to be Kelly.
Did he think about me when he fucked her? Did he remember what he did to me, and pretend she was me?
I think I found that answer when he and Kelly shared a laugh. His eyes shifted over to mine. He scanned me twice. I wore another dress that day. It was white, stitched with cotton, and stopped just above my knees.
Cane’s tongue rolled over his bottom lip as he studied me. His eyes were smoldering and hungry. It was a short look. A fleeting glance.
In that moment, I realized that yes, he had most likely imagined sliding between my legs and stealing my innocence.
Yes, Quinton Cane still wanted me, despite the realities laid bare right in front of us.
Despite the friendships and relationships.
Despite the rights and the wrongs.
Despite my age and naivety.
I saw in his eyes the same look I’d seen the night he finger-fucked me, an insatiable hunger and so much lust.
Even though I knew the consequences—feared knowing my father could find out how I felt about Cane and what I wanted him to do to me—I was tempted to make him sin all over again.
15
KANDY
My father's recovery took a little over a month. He hopped around on crutches and attended therapy sessions to strengthen his leg.
Even though he asked me to fetch every little thing for him—and had even made me drive to the store in his truck to get him a Snickers bar—I didn't mind doing it. I was thankful he was alive.
During Dad's recovery, Cane only visited twice, and to my complete and utter satisfaction, Kelly wasn't with him during either visit.
The first time he came around, he hung out with Dad in the basement that Dad liked to call his man cave. Little did he know that it wasn’t, and that I spent more time down there than he did during the day.
I heard them talking about the nasty gun wound on Dad’s thigh (that he so often liked to flash to me and Mom, saying it was a battle scar) and they talked about Cane getting the big opportunity to open a Tempt factory in Canada.
I heard all of this from the kitchen over my lonely dinner at the counter. Mom was working that night—another late shift as divorce attorney Mindy Jennings—and I'd taken Dad's heated-up lasagna down to the basement for him a few minutes prior to Cane’s arrival.
I should have been bummed when Dad said he wanted to celebrate Cane's big promotion, but I wasn't. I heard talks about the beach and beer, but I stopped eavesdropping when Kelly’s name was mentioned.
I went upstairs before Cane could come back up, and started typing about my day, which somehow led to typing about my relentless infatuation with him, just like a girl with a crush would.
Only this wasn't just a crush anymore. This was my heart. My all. This was my love for him...the love he would never, ever understand.
The second time Cane came around, neither of my parents were home. I was on the sofa in the living room watching reruns of Breaking Bad when the doorbell rang.
Pushing off the sofa, I slid into my fuzzy pink slippers and shuffled to the door. I expected it to be the delivery guy, seeing as Mom had told me she was expecting a package and wanted me to be on the lookout for it.
I didn't think to check the peephole. I opened the door swiftly and regretted answering it. In pink slippers and sweatpants, I looked like an unprepared idiot while standing in front of the always well-dressed Quinton Cane.
He wore dark gray pants with a creaseless sky-blue button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His hair had been trimmed and was gelled in the usual modern-casual style.
His gray-green eyes landed on mine, and as if he wasn’t expecting me to answer the door, he blinked rapidly and straightened his back.
"Oh, hey, Kandy," he sighed, and his voice did the same thing it always did: made me weak in the knees.
"Hey, Cane," I breathed, tucking my hair behind my ear. "W-what are you doing here?"
"Uh..." Cane looked back at the driveway, like he was waiting for someone to arrive. "Your dad told me to come by at five to pick him up for the Atlanta Hawks game tonight..."
"Oh.” I glanced over my shoulder. “He had therapy today. Mom took him this time since she was free. They're probably just running a little late." I fidgeted on my feet. I knew I was going to have to invite him in, but that meant I would be alone with him…again.
"I'll call Mom and see where they are.” I turned, leaving the door open, leaving it up to him to decide whether to come in, go back to his car, take a smoke, or do whatever he needed to do as long as it meant we weren't alone in the same room together again.
Of course, he came in. My heart was delighted, but my brain and body whirled with anxiety. I went to the sofa and picked up my cellphone, sending Mom a quick text. She replied a few seconds later. I sighed while reading the message.
“What’s up?” Cane asked, and I put my focus on him. He was already looking at me, but his eyes dropped to my phone.
“Oh, uh…she said they just left the hospital but have to stop by the pharmacy to pick up a prescription.”
“Oh, okay.” Cane looked around the living room and then focused on the TV. “I guess I’ll wait here and watch some TV with you then…if that’s okay with you.”
“Sure—yeah. Feel free.” I stepped back as he smiled at me and took the single recliner behind him. He took the single recliner, so he wouldn’t have to sit next to me—at least that’s how I saw it.
“Do you want something to drink?” I asked, and he shook his head.
“I’m good, Kandy Cane.”
I sat down, slightly rolling my eyes. He knew how I felt about that name, yet he still used it, even after what’d happened.
I tucked my feet under my butt and pretended to watch the show, but it was impossible to focus. Cane was only a few steps away, but it felt like he was right next to me.
I glanced over at him, unable to stop myself, and he was watching the TV in an almost boyish manner. His face was relaxed, eyes wide, like he was amazed by what was going on—like he hadn’t watched TV in years.
His legs were spread slightly apart, and my eyes landed on the bulge between them. I could see the print of his manhood—thick and long. From this angle, it looked appealing, the way it rested on the inside of his thigh.
I fidgeted then, finding it completely and utterly impossible to remain still and comfortable in the same room as him by myself. I kept thinking about that night. That godawful, beautiful, terrifying, yet euphoric night. I sucked in a breath.
Cane looked up, as if he felt me looking, and his eyes landed on me. I jerked my head up to look away, but was sure he’d caught me.
I caved and looked back. “Do you plan on going to the beach with us next month?” I asked, looking down at my phone.
“I do, actually. Figured I could use the vacation. Haven’t taken one in years.”
I frowned. “Years?”
“Yes, Kandy. Years. I’ve been working so hard to build Tempt that I haven’t actually gotten around to scheduling one. But since Derek and Mindy are putting it together and things are going pretty well for the company, I don’t see w
hy not.”
“Oh. Cool.” I swung my eyes over to the television, pretending Jesse calling someone a bitch was more important. “You bringing Kelly?”
I avoided his eyes but felt him staring a hole into the side of my head. “Do you want me to bring her?”
“No!” I blurted, and then immediately clamped my mouth shut, realizing how pathetic and stupid I sounded. His eyes widened, like he was surprised by my sudden outburst.
“You really don’t like her, huh?” He chuckled, and I pulled my legs from beneath me, placing my feet on the floor, and sitting up straight.
“I never said I don’t like her.” I chewed on my bottom lip, and he watched me do it. “I just…think she’s in the way.”
“In the way of what?” he asked with a slight frown, like he honestly had no clue. How great of him to play dumb when he knew how I felt about him.
“She won’t be there. Don’t worry,” he assured, and I was beyond relieved to hear it.
“I’m glad you’re not being too weird,” I laughed.
Confused, he asked, “Weird about what?”
“About that night…and what happened, you know?”
“Oh.” He looked away with a big shrug. When he did, I couldn’t help but watch him. His chiseled jaw ticked again, his nostrils flaring a little, as if the memories of what we did would haunt him in the best and worst ways.
Deep down, I knew that Cane wanted me too, and the fact that he wasn’t supposed to want me was making things harder for him. I noticed he didn’t show up as much as before, and that could have been due to Dad’s recovery and because of Mom’s promotion. With her promotion, she had to work more, which meant less scheduled dinners…or it could have been because he was afraid to be around me after what had happened.
I guess I couldn’t blame him, but when I said I wanted to make him sin again, I meant it.
I was bad—so damn bad—and blinded by so much lust.
I swallowed hard, placing my phone beside me and standing up. Cane watched me rise, his eyes narrowing.
I knew what I was about to do was going to piss him off. I knew it was going to make him frustrated and annoyed, but what I also knew was that he was going to react to it.
My actions would turn him on.
He would most likely tell me to stop, but his body would be screaming for me to keep going.
I don’t know what made me feel so bold and confident around Cane, yet still so small and meaningless. I always felt like I had to prove something to him.
The opportunity to be alone with him didn’t come often, and something in the back of my head was telling me to take advantage of it that day…
So I did.
16
KANDY
I wasn’t usually this forward with guys. With the boys at school, I let them come to me, but with Cane, I had to be the one to make the move.
He was older. Mature. He had more self-control than they did. He had boundaries, but I needed him to know that I liked feeling this way.
I walked to him and sat on his lap. He tensed up, his arms on top of the arms of the recliner, as mine went around the back of his neck. Our faces were close, our mouths less than an inch apart.
“Goddamn it, Kandy. Don’t start this shit,” he rasped. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I want you to stop treating me like a kid.”
“But you are a kid,” he mumbled, and he lifted a hand to grip my face between his fingers. “You’re a fucking kid, and not just any kid, you’re Derek’s kid, so get the hell off my lap.”
“No,” I snapped, staring him in the eyes. “I know that’s not what you want.”
“Kandy, your parents will be here any minute.”
“Well, I guess I should make it quick then.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Make what qui—”
Before he could finish speaking, my lips were on his. I kissed him hard and his hand fell. At first he didn’t touch me. He held his hands up, frozen for a moment. I could tell he wanted to push me away—probably shove me onto the floor like I had some kind of disease—but he didn’t.
Instead, his hand slid up my spine, and his fingers caressed the back of my neck. They traveled up until they were tangled in the hair at the nape of my neck, and then he clutched a handful of it in his hand, tugging on it and breaking the kiss.
He looked up at me with damp lips, his eyes on fire now, both of us breathing raggedly. He studied my face, my eyes, probably realizing just how desperate I really was for him.
I didn’t let him say anything else. I knew he would stop this if I didn’t keep going in the heat of the moment, so I pulled his hand away and slid off of his lap, getting down on my knees on the floor and in between his legs.
I couldn’t believe I was doing this—right in my parents’ living room—but I was drunk on lust. What was it about this man? What made me so crazy and hungry for him? Was it because I wasn’t supposed to want him? Was it because he was older? Was it because I knew Kelly was still around, and I was secretly trying to prove that I was better than her? How was that even possible if she was never going to find out about us?
“Kandy,” Cane sighed, voice tight. “Please. Not here. Not now.”
“Why not?” I asked, unbuckling his belt and then unbuttoning his pants. I tugged on them, but he didn’t lift his hips to make it easier for me, which only made me more determined. I tugged harder until I saw his briefs, then I peeled those down just enough to reveal his cock.
He sprung out, hard, long, and dark, with veins running up from his shaft. His tip was round like a bulb, and thick, too. He was so big, and staring at it left me both speechless and curious. How was I going to fit him in my mouth—let alone anywhere else?
“Kandy,” Cane warned, tensing up.
“They’re not going to be here for another twenty minutes or so, Cane.”
“I don’t care. Seriously. We have to stop doing this.” He sat up to grip my shoulders. I pressed in more, my tongue sliding over the tip of his cock to lick the pre-cum away. I could have sworn I felt his whole body shudder. “Fuck,” he groaned. “Fuck, Kandy. Back off before I hurt your feelings.”
“Then hurt them,” I mumbled. “It’s not like you aren’t hurting them every time you come around and act like I hardly exist.”
“You made it that way, by doing shit like this.”
I pressed a hand on his chest to force him back in the chair. “I want to,” I insisted, and then I dropped my head, taking half his cock into my mouth.
“Fuuuccck,” he groaned, and the tension only built up within him. His hands turned into fists on the arms of the chair. His head fell backward, face pointed to the ceiling as I took him deeper in my mouth.
I wasn’t a pro at this—not by a long shot—but I wasn’t a newbie either. I had performed oral before with Carl, though he was very hesitant about it at first.
When we were in his truck after school and even after graduation, I’d attempted it. I would get so angry with Cane for avoiding me that I thought doing something with Carl would be sweet revenge, but it was stupid because Cane didn’t even know about it. Carl would drive somewhere private, one thing would lead to another, and…it just happened.
Turns out, I actually enjoyed giving blowjobs.
I enjoyed seeing the guy letting his guard down to the point that the pleasure would consume him. It was empowering for me, watching him become vulnerable.
In this very moment, Cane was very vulnerable for me. He’d let his guard down for now, and I sucked his cock faster, wrapping a hand around the base and pumping it lightly. My tongue swirled around his tip again, and I licked the saltiness away, which caused a deep rumble in his chest.
“Fuck, Kandy,” he gritted through his teeth. I looked up, and his head dropped. His eyes were fierce when they latched with mine. He was about to tell me to stop again, but when our eyes found each other’s, I was certain his mind had changed.
He watched my head bob, watched as I made his
cock wetter with my tongue. He watched me stroke him with one hand, my lips sealed around his thick, beautiful tip.
His teeth caught his bottom lip, and one of his hands came down to the back of my head. He pushed down on it, making me take him deeper. I gagged as he pushed further in, but I didn’t stop looking at him.
He liked it—liked the noises I made with him in my throat. My eyes became watery, and I pulled my hand away, letting him take the lead. He could do whatever he wanted to do to me, as long as he didn’t stop me. Placing both hands on either side of my head, he tilted his hips up and lightly fucked my mouth.
His cock hit the back of my throat each time, and with each gradually deeper thrust, I choked, but he would ease up, letting me catch my breath before going right back at it.
“You want it? Fine. Keep looking at me,” he mumbled. “Keep looking at me while I fuck this pretty little mouth of yours.”
His voice made my pussy clench. I kept looking at him, feeling his thighs spread apart to position himself better. He was so hard and big. I almost couldn’t breathe, but I knew he was close and I couldn’t let up.
Cane wasn’t like Carl. Carl just sat there and let me do the work. He would tell me what to do sometimes, but it wasn’t much. But Cane? He was different. So different. It seemed Cane was testing my limits, seeing just how much of him I could handle. His eyes were on fire—almost taunting. I’d never seen him like this, so vicious and still so wickedly handsome. I loved everything about it.
The way I felt as he stared at me.
How smooth and warm his flesh was in my mouth.
How my pussy throbbed and ached, dying for him to touch me there again.
He released his grip from my head, but continued pumping his hips. I bobbed my head up and down again, creating a mix of shallow and deep swallows.
“Yeah, just like that,” Cane groaned, and he gripped the arms of the couch, his nails sinking into the leather. “Shit, Kandy. How the fuck are you so good at this?”
The Cane Series: A Complete Forbidden Romance Series (4-Book Set) Page 9