I reach out and place my hands to her waist and feel her soft skin under my fingers. She groans at the touch and scoots herself off the edge of her bed so she falls straight down before me. I catch her in my arms and make sure she lands softly down on my legs.
Her arms come up around my neck as my hands travel down her spine, making her shiver. “I’ve missed this,” I tell her.
“I know,” she murmurs. “me too.”
Fuck, that’s like the sweetest music to my ears.
She leans in and presses her lips to mine and it feels like I’m home. She belongs with me and I’m going to fight right until the end to prove it to her. I don’t care how long it takes. Something so right couldn’t possibly be wrong. She must know that.
I pull back and look at her. She’s absolutely radiant and it kills me that I can’t give her what she needs right now. I push a stray strand of hair back behind her ear. “We can’t do this now,” I tell her.
“Yes, we can,” she argues as she tries to pull me back in.
What can I say? I’m a weak fucker and allow her to kiss me again. “No,” I say through our lips. “We really can’t. There’s someone here to see you.”
At that, she pulls back and really looks at me. “Huh?” she grunts. “It’s the middle of the night.”
“That’s exactly what I thought,” I tell her.
I help her to her feet before grabbing her dressing gown out of her closet. She pulls it on and I can’t help but hold onto her hand as I lead her back up the hallway. We come out into the opening of her living room and I look back as she takes in Brandon on her couch.
She takes one look at him shoving a slice of pizza down his throat. “Shit,” she sighs before looking back at me and realizing exactly what’s going on. “I’ll call Katia,” she says before turning back around and heading down the hallway to grab her phone. “There better be some pizza left for me.”
Chapter 19
Imogen
I stand by the door of my apartment building with a slice of pizza in hand while waving goodbye to Katia as she drives off with Brandon. What the hell is going on?
It’s the middle of the night, well actually, it’s now past two in the morning and as much as I love spending time with Brandon, there was probably a better time for him to decide to run away from Katia’s place.
“Well, that was an interesting night,” I say to Caden as he stands beside me in the cold air of the night.
“What happened with Brandon is only the beginning of how interesting my night was,” he says while sliding his arm behind my back and turning me so he can lead me back into my apartment.
If I wasn’t so intrigued by his comment, I’d be focusing on the way his arm around my body has me feeling alive. I want to scold myself for feeling it, but it’s been so long since I’ve had his touch that I melt into him. “What do you mean?” I question as the warmth of the hallway instantly takes the chill out of my bones… or maybe that’s just Caden.
“Come inside,” he tells me. “We have a lot to talk about.”
My stomach sinks. No. He couldn’t mean we’re about to have ‘the talk’. I’m not ready for that. Hell, I’m not even ready to have ‘the talk’ with myself.
He opens the door to my apartment and ushers me in after murmuring something about me learning how to use a fucking lock. He doesn’t once let go of my hand and I find myself really liking it. I’ve had butterflies in my stomach since the second he woke me and I’ve been needing to stay close to him ever since.
But I can’t.
He’s Cole’s best friend. I can’t do that to him.
The second the door closes, I’m pushed up against it with his lips on mine. I melt into him and let out a sigh when he finally presses his body up against mine. I knew I missed his touch, but I didn’t know just how bad it was until this very moment.
His lips move from my lips down to my neck as his hands roam over my body. He pulls back ever so slightly so he can look me in the eye, only he can’t stay away for long. He rests his forehead against mine and his lips move against mine as he talks. “I need to be with you, Imogen,” he tells me.
I tilt my chin up so our lips are smooshed together, the way I’ve been craving for the past few weeks. “I know,” I say, wishing he’d just take me to bed and do it already. “Me too.”
He pulls back again and runs his fingers down my cheek. “As much as I want to be inside you right now, that’s not what I mean,” he tells me. “I want to be with you,” he clarifies, emphasizing the ‘with’.
Dread fills me. He can’t do this. If he forces it, he makes it real. Everything we’ve been doing is suddenly going to have meaning. When it was secret, I could pretend it wasn’t real, that what we were doing didn’t truly exist. “No,” I whisper, terrified of what’s about to happen. “Don’t do this.”
“You heard me, babe,” he says. “I want to be with you.” I try to push him away, but he holds onto me, refusing to let go. “It’s about time you faced the facts,” he tells me, making sure I’m taking in every word he’s saying. “I’m not playing this game with you anymore. I’m not going to pretend that nothing’s going on here when you and I both know that there is. You need to stop being such a stubborn little princess and listen when I tell you that I’m in love with you.”
“Caden,” I say as tears begin to pool in my eyes. “Don’t.”
“Listen to me, Imogen,” he demands before repeating himself. “I’m in love with you and it’s about time you admit that you love me too.”
I shake my head. Why is he doing this? Why is he changing things? “I… I don’t,” I whisper as the tear falls.
His thumb catches the tear and he wipes it away. “You do,” he argues.
My eyes lock on his and I see it clear as day in his eyes and I don’t know how I’ve missed it all this time. It’s the same way he’s always looked at me, but right now I’m seeing it for what it is. He really is in love me and accepting that does something to me. Something I don’t think I understand, but if I was actually honest with myself for once, I’d say I like it. It has the butterflies going crazy in my stomach and my heart racing in my chest.
I think over the past few weeks to the strange feelings I’ve been having for him. I know I like him, that part is startling clear to me. It’s clear in the way I need to touch him, in the way I search him out everywhere I go, in the way I miss him when he’s not around. But am I in love with him? Do I want to truly be with him? I don’t know.
“I…” I shake my head again. I don’t know how to respond to him. I mean, what am I supposed to say? Thanks, but I’m happy to just keep using you for sex.
“You love me,” he says with confidence, as though it’s a well-known fact.
The tears continue to fall as the more he says it, the more I realize he could be right. He’s been the one constant in my life, apart from Cole and my parents, of course. Ever since I was a kid, people would always make jokes about me and Caden ending up together and I always laughed it off, but what if they were onto something, what if they saw something that I’ve been blind to?
But Cole. Even if this thing that I’m terrified to admit is true, it still couldn’t be. Not without Cole being ok with it.
“Stop,” he says. “Stop trying to come up with reasons why we can’t do this. I see the wheels in your mind turning. You’re mine. You always have been and it’s about time you see this for what it is. I’m tired of sneaking around and I’m tired of it being about just sex when it’s so much more than that.”
“We can’t,” I argue. “Cole will kill you and I-”
“I spoke with Cole tonight. We’re good,” he says, cutting me off.
I look up at him with wide eyes as I search his. “You went to Cole?” I question on a whisper.
“Yeah, babe,” he says. “How could I not? If we’re going to do this, then I want to do it right. He’s ok with you and me, though, he’s still hoping you’re going to turn me down. But he doesn’t see w
hat I see.”
“What do you see?” I ask, still looking at him wide-eyed.
“I see the way your eyes light up when you look at me. The way you gravitate towards me when we’re in the same room. I see how your body reacts to my touch and I saw the emotion in your eyes when I told you I love you,” he tells me. “You can’t resist trying this thing with me because you’re in love with me too.”
I stand in silence as I look up at him, completely unsure what to say. Every word he’s spoken is true, except for maybe the last part, but I still need to think that over.
“I know you’re not ready to admit it, but that doesn’t matter because I know it enough for the both of us.”
“How are you so sure?” I murmur.
He presses his body harder into mine and I close my eyes in absolute pleasure and the satisfaction of him being so close. “Because of that,” he says. “I feel it just the way you do.”
My eyes reopen and he’s right in front of me, all I’d have to do is tilt my chin up to meet his lips. I can’t help myself. I need him. His hands come up and wipe the tears away just as my lips meet with his. He kisses me with an intense passion, one I’ve been craving from him since before we even started this little dance.
“I need to hear you say it, Imogen,” he murmurs against my lips. “Tell me you want this.”
With my lips still on his, I finally give in and nod my head. I search his eyes as my hand winds up behind his neck and into his hair. “Yeah,” I murmur. “I think I do.”
Caden’s eyes close for the briefest of moments and he looks as though the weight of the world has just been lifted from his shoulder. When he opens his eyes, they’re filled with fire. “It’s about fucking time,” he tells me before his hands snake down my body.
His lips crush to mine and he lifts me off my feet. My legs wrap around his waist and before I know it, he’s laying me down in my bed with him hovering on top of me.
I swallow as I look up at him. This time feels different and I find myself nervous, it’s like there’s meaning to this and it feels so damn good.
Caden opens my robe and the second his fingers graze the skin of my stomach, I gasp out. I arch my back and push myself up into him. I need his touch like I need my next breath. “Be patient,” he warns as his fingers trail down my body, leaving a desperate burning behind. “I want to enjoy this.”
He leans into me and I watch as his lips hover above my breasts before he slowly takes my nipple into his mouth. He runs his tongue over it as his other hand continues its way down. He cups me between my legs before his fingers slide in between my folds.
He presses down on my clit and slowly makes tight little circles. I need more and I need it now but I have a feeling this is going to last until the sun comes up. I see it in the determination of his eyes. He’s going to worship my body until I’m begging him to stop.
I need to touch him, but he holds himself just far enough away. I forget everything as his fingers continue exploring between my legs. He finds my opening and he slides two fingers straight in, massaging me as he goes.
His fingers move within me and I groan out as the feeling overwhelms me. I feel his smile against my beast before he releases my nipples and brings his mouth down on mine.
I moan into him as he continues his pleasurable torture on my body, and just when I think I can’t take anymore, he slides down between my legs and adds his tongue to the mix.
Up. Down. In. Out.
“Caden,” I pant. “I can’t… I need…”
I reach for his head and I twine my fingers into his hair. The feeling builds and Caden continues his slow torture on my body.
Up. Down. In. Out.
Fuck. It’s the sweetest torture I’ve ever endured. I want it to last forever, but I’m desperate for my release. He works my body right to the edge and holds it there, dangling me over, but never letting me go.
“Please,” I beg. He gives in to my plea and picks up his pace. He sucks a little harder and slides his fingers in deeper. “More,” I cry out. He gives it harder and with one more swipe of his tongue over my clit, I detonate.
My eyes clench and my hands ball into fists in the sheets of my bed. My orgasm rocks my whole body, but he doesn’t stop and it feels as though it lasts a lifetime. I start panting as it’s almost too much for me to bare. My toes curl and I throw my head back. “Caden,” I groan.
I hear his deep chuckled come from deep between my legs and it’s clear he’s proud of his handiwork. He should be, I couldn’t even get myself off that good. I’ll have to get him a trophy for that one.
As I come down from my orgasm, he crawls back up my body. I’m quick to pull him down to me and he presses his lips to mine, letting me taste myself on him. “That was incredible,” I tell him.
“I could tell,” he says with a proud grin. “But I’m not finished with you yet.”
“Tough luck,” I tell him as he let me roll us so I straddle his hips and feel his arousal through his jeans. “It’s my turn.”
He lets me take control and before I know it, I’m sliding down his jeans and watching as his cock springs free. Like a kid in a candy store, I can’t control myself. The excitement gets the best of me and I lick my lips as I take it in.
My eyes greedily roam up his body, past his narrow waist and over his deep ridged abs. I start drooling by the time I get to the wide chest and shoulder, but it’s the hooded eyes that watch me back that has me desperate for round two.
I bend down to him and with my eyes on his, I take him into my mouth. My tongue laps up the bead of moisture on his tip before my lips work their way down his length. I cup his balls and he groans in pleasure. I try not to smile as to not ruin my flow, but I can’t help it. The sound of his pleasure is nearly enough to get me off again.
Just as he did to me, I tease him to the point of near insanity. I drive him wild with my tongue and he begs for more. Only when I’m desperate for the taste of him on my tongue do I pick up my pace. I suck harder and move faster.
Caden winds his hand into my hair and holds onto my ponytail, giving himself the control, but he doesn’t take it. He allows me to continue setting the pace and enjoys every second of it.
His hand tightens in my hair and I know he’s close. I run my tongue over his tip one more time and he stills as he comes. I swallow down every drip as he groans, spurring me on.
I release him from my mouth and crawl back up to him when he kisses me and flips me onto my back. My legs open for him and he’s already there, sliding up into me. He holds me close as he moves and it’s like nothing I’ve ever felt before.
He makes the sweetest love to me and doesn’t leave one inch of my body untouched.
It’s past six in the morning when I finally curl into his side and fall into a deep, exhausted sleep.
Chapter 20
Caden
“Jab, Jab, kick, duck,” I say to Brandon as he pummels his fists into me with a speed that has only increased over the last few weeks. “Again.”
He huffs out, but he does it again before dashing across Rebels Advocate in a hard sprint, only to return and do it again.
He collapses to the floor as he tries to catch his breath and I find myself deep in thought as I watch him annihilate his bottle. The kid still tells me how he doesn’t feel safe and ever since I saw him at my doorstep, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about ways I could help him.
I help him to his feet and we turn to face Imogen, Susan, and Katia.
The second my eyes connect with hers, she lights up and I can’t help but grin. Fuck, she’s incredible. I can’t believe my fucking luck. How did I score a woman like her? She’s independent, fierce, and knows what she wants and how to get it, well, except for me. I had to force her to see what was right in front of her face, but the second she did, she’s never looked back.
Imogen and the women get to their feet as we reach them and they thank me before leading Brandon out the door. The second they’re out of sight, I c
an’t resist wrapping my arms around her and pulling her in.
“Hi,” I murmur as she raises her chin to allow me to kiss her.
“Hi to you too,” she smiles.
“Ugh,” Cole groans as he steps out of the front office. He looks down as he walks past us, but I have no doubt his next comments are directed right at me. “This really isn’t helping me not wanting to knock you out.”
Imogen presses her lips into a tight line as she attempts not to smile at her brother’s discomfort, but her eyes sparkle, telling me just how much she truly loves it. “Do you have another client?” she questions. “We could go to lunch?”
“Sure,” I tell her. “I want to run something by you anyway.”
Her eyebrows crease as she tries to work out what I could possibly be talking about. Curiosity grows in her eyes, but I don’t say a word, not yet. I haven’t mentioned this to any of the boys yet and I’d prefer to get her professional opinion on it before I say anything and get anyone’s hopes up.
“What? Tell me now. I don’t like to wait,” Imogen demands.
I smirk at her little attitude. “Shut up and get your things,” I tell her. “You’ll have to wait.”
She rolls her eyes and huffs as she turns around to grab her bag off the chair. I duck into my office and grab my keys, phone, and wallet before dashing out and escorting her into my truck. “What do you feel like?” I ask.
She turns to me with pure seduction in her beautiful eyes. Her bottom lip slips in between her teeth and she looks me up and down. “I wouldn’t mind a bit of you, right about now.”
“Say that again and I’ll fuck you on the sidewalk,” I warn her. Her eyes go wide and I see the inner battle between her need and her morality, though, when it comes down to it, there’s no way I’m about to let the world see what’s mine. “Now, what do you want to eat?”
She grins at me but actually answers the question. “I’m good with a salad,” she tells me.
“Alright,” I say as I start heading for the salad bar down the street.
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