by Mia Kayla
When I shut the door behind me, he flipped around.
His eyes zoned in on mine. Locked, lustful, and loaded. The connection between us was like the click of a gun. Instant. Deadly.
His gray eyes smoldered as he took me in from the top of my dark brown hair to my button-down silk blouse to my fitted black work slacks. His stance screamed authority and possessiveness and need. He stalked toward me, stealthy like a cat, and with every single step in my direction, my body became more feverish.
I opened my mouth to speak, but he didn't even allow me to get a word out before he slammed his mouth against mine. His tongue intertwined with mine; it suckled and teased. With one hand on my hip and the other at the base of my neck, he brought me closer. We were chest to chest, pelvis to pelvis, and my temperature went from feverish to holy hell hot.
Will it always be like this? Is it only like this because it’s new or because it’s us?
I had so many questions because I had come to realize, even though I had been in a serious relationship for years, I’d never felt like this. Never this passion. Never this insatiable lust. Never this deep need that I would wither if he walked away from me.
I wanted to believe it was just us, how we were together.
Every touch prickled my skin with goose bumps and awareness, and my every pore radiated with sensitivity.
When he pushed his arousal against my stomach and his mouth devoured mine, my nipples pebbled and everything inside me screamed for him to take me.
"I missed your mouth." He peppered kisses along my neck as my fingers threaded through his hair.
"You just had my mouth," I moaned back. "If I remember correctly, it was on your dick." I rubbed at his hard ridge between us for emphasis.
He groaned. "Why do we have to work?"
I sighed, fully agreeing. "I wish we didn't." We'd be locked up in his bedroom if it were up to us, forgetting responsibility, forgetting everything.
The back of my knees hit the desk behind me, stopping me from moving farther. When he lowered me onto my back, I stilled. "Cade," I lifted my head and glanced toward the door, "it's the middle of the lunch rush."
He unbuttoned my slacks—his hands, his demeanor functioning with hot-blooded purpose. “Yeah. And I'm hungry." The guttural sound he made at the back of his throat had my panties soaking wet.
He ushered my slacks down my legs and onto the floor. When his fingers went to the waistband of my panties, my hands gripped his. "We can't. They'll hear us." My voice was hoarse, hot, and horny.
"Then try to keep it down, will ya?"
The devilish gleam in his eye had my back arching for him to take me. The ache between my legs was almost unbearable. The live wire that was my body was ready for him to release the tension.
"Be quiet." He pushed my panties to the side and slipped a finger in me. I gasped at the pleasure of his touch.
"That's impossible with your skills," I panted.
He threw me a crooked smile, and then I knew I was done for as he slipped my panties off and flung them to the floor.
When he cupped my sex and slipped another finger inside me, my head flew back, and my eyes shut tight. My body arched, and my hard nipples pointed toward the ceiling as he pumped his fingers in and out of me.
"Shit. Angel." He unbuttoned my shirt with one hand while the other hand continually and seductively teased at my clit. He cupped my breast with his free hand and then trailed kisses against my stomach. "You're so wet."
I bit my lip as his mouth went lower, nipping tiny bites down my inner thigh, then lower.
My hands ran through his hair, and my breathing labored. His tongue dragged down my inner thigh until he reached my center, and I bit my tongue instead of screaming. "Cade," I drew out as quietly as I could, "you have to stop."
My man was an oral genius. He had a master's degree in oral sex, and I was the recipient of this gift. He knew where to find the G-Glorious spot, and it was glorious.
"Cade," I moaned, my hips bucking forward, the steamy sizzle between us heightening.
I shivered against his hold, as his mouth continued to feed on me. "Angel, I love the taste of you."
My moans increased with each flick of his tongue, and it didn't take long for the pinch at the pit of my belly and the tingling in my toes to begin.
I breathed hard, pulling at the end of his hair. His movements were electrifying and erotic as he fed on me with new fervor. "Please." My back arched against his desk and then I decided I didn't care. I didn't care about anything else but his hands and his mouth on me and the inevitable orgasm that was coming. "I'm close … Ahh.” I tried to stifle the moans leaving my mouth, but it felt oh so good. Too good. I forgot about every single thing around me. The whole restaurant could’ve been burning down, but I wouldn't have cared.
I gripped his hair, pushing him lower, closer, and he suckled my clit, working it over and over. When I shifted, he steadied me with his hands, increasing the flick and push and pull and magic of his tongue, while my body wriggled and bucked above him.
I felt a familiar tug in the deepest part of my belly, and I knew I was close. So close that I bit my lip to minimize my cries of ecstasy.
"Don't stop, Cade." Forget it. Forget them outside. Forget everyone else but us in this moment. "Don't stop, baby. Don't st—"
"Omigod. Please stop." A familiar voice brought me from the edge, my orgasm robbed as horror instantly overcame me. The door slammed shut, and I jerked up to see Tene staring directly at me, fully exposed.
Chapter 17
"Well, look what we have here.” Tene’s eyes widened, but her voice stayed evenly calm. “This is definitely not something a sister should see." She strutted in, readjusting her Chanel purse on her shoulder and shut the door behind her.
I jolted up to a sitting position so quickly my head spun. I blinked, eyes wide, mind disoriented. My vision clouded and my body in orgasm-robbed-shock quivered at my sister simply standing there.
"Oh, my god. I'm blind. I'm fucking blind." She gawked at me, a slow smile building on her face as Cade picked up my panties and slacks, handing them to me.
Nothing seemed to faze him, but I was mortified.
I wanted to run or hide or something. Anything but lay naked in front of my sister.
Cade brushed his fingers comfortingly down my arm, simultaneously stepping in front of me to block Tene's view. When he handed me my panties, I slipped them back on.
Tene piped up, "Please, Cade. She's my sister. We used to bathe naked. But I can say I've never seen Angie at that angle before. I could’ve lived without it, quite honestly." She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth like I was the one in trouble. "No wonder you aren't answering my calls. I tracked your phone, then I saw your car outside, but would’ve never guessed this." Her eyes took me in, as though she were looking at me for the first time.
"Don't," Cade commanded, his face hard. "This is all me. Not her."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Tene propped a hand on her hip. "Like the saying goes, ‘it takes two to tango.’" She eyed Cade with a mischievous grin. "Or it takes a guy with a thick tongue to give good oral."
"Tene," I gasped, finally finding the ability to speak. My hands shook as I slipped into my pants. "Cade, can you leave so I can talk to my sister?"
His jaw tightened, his protective stance not changing as though he had to shelter me from my own sister, but she was the least of my problems at this point.
I placed my hand on his chest, begging him with my eyes. "Please."
He hesitated at first, but then he reached for my hand, kissed it, and turned to the door. "You know where I'll be."
"Oh, Cade," Tene sassed. "Just a word of advice, maybe you should brush your teeth before you go out there." She pointed to me and back to his mouth area. "Ya know, good hygiene and all."
He grunted, and his eyebrows pulled together before he walked out and closed the door behind him.
"Oh, Angelica Armstrong!” Tene chided. “I didn't know yo
u were such a freak. And to think you've picked the unattainable Cade Ryder. The finest man in Rosendell.” She appraised me, looking impressed and pleased, shocking me yet again. Then she shook her head. “It's always the good girls. I would high-five you, but I don't know where your hands have been." She grimaced.
I backed up and leaned against the desk for support. The room, my world, my life was crazy messed up. I rubbed the back of my neck, unable to look her in the eye. "Please, Tene. Not now. Please stop." I swallowed hard, on the verge of tears, mortified at the position she’d caught us in and not knowing where to start, how to explain the fact that I’d slept with our tenant.
"Stop?” Her eyebrows rose to her hairline. “I just got started. You'll never live this down, little sis. You know I like to tease you, but nothing will top this." She stood right next to me and crossed her ankles, leaning against the desk. "So, baby girl. Do tell. How long has this affair been going on? Does Roland know? Are you still with him?"
"No!" I snapped. "Roland and I were over a long time ago."
She lifted an unbelieving eyebrow. "Does he know that? He doesn't know where you are, but I think in his mind you are still very much together. How about dear mama? Does she know?"
"We're not together,” I sighed mournfully. “I've been blatantly clear to him. And no."
My parents ...
A sourness hit the pit of my stomach. Gone were the days of my alternate happy universe. Reality had hit the fan. Our families were so tightly interwoven together that I knew our breakup would hurt my parents.
"Not like I'd let this leak, but I just want to snap a picture of mother's face.” She held her fingers in a square as if demonstrating snapping a picture. “Just to spite her. Her reaction would be epic." She grinned with malevolence.
"Tene. Enough." I couldn't handle her jokes. Not now. My voice lost its gusto as the guilt and pressure finally surfaced.
She lowered to my level, and her face pinched. For once, her cheery features fell, and her lips pressed together in a slight grimace. "Tell me you didn't, Ang."
I turned away, but she ducked in to get in my line of sight. "Shit, baby girl. You did." She quieted, her face less animated. "I thought this was just a fling. I thought you knew what you were doing here." She searched my face for answers—answers that I would soon have to own up to—then her eyes leaked with sympathy. "I should’ve known. I know you. You don't do flings." She blew out a long breath, as though she were the one in this predicament. "You did, didn't you? You fell in love with him."
As soon as the words left her mouth, tears erupted, like a dam bursting open, finally after all this time, flowing down my face. Because it was the truth. Above getting caught, tears flowed endlessly because I was in love with Cade, and my family and history would not make it easy for us.
When I cupped my face with both hands, Tene's arms and warmth surrounded me. She rested her chin on my head. "What are you going to do?" she whispered. "What are we going to do?"
When Tene left, Cade entered his office. He walked right up to me and raked in my features, his lips pulled together in a slight grimace. "Are you okay?"
"Yes," I replied. Because although my life was totally discombobulated, like a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle mixed in a box, I was weirdly centered, and it had everything to do with him being right in front of me.
My life had been turned upside down and inside out because of him because I’d chosen him, but for some reason and everything that mattered, together we were rock steady. Even though our future was uncertain, I at least felt that.
He put his hand in mine and intertwined our fingers.
My eyes locked on where we were connected, the warmth spreading down my arm. Then my nervous jitters from my conversation with Tene evaporated.
"What happened?" He brushed a tender finger through my hair—light, soft, comforting.
"She wanted to know what I was going to do."
“And?" Conflict reigned in his eyes. Was he afraid I'd end it? This affair? Us?
"I don't even know where to go from here," I said, feeling lost.
He squeezed my hand and opened his mouth to speak, but then shut it again. After a beat, he spoke, but for some reason, I didn't believe it was what he was originally going to say. "You take it wherever you want it to go, Angel. This is your decision. Your life."
My life.
I sighed.
Roland was selfish in our relationship, but with Cade, I was on an equal playing field. He let me decide, take the lead. But I knew I was falling for him. Last night and my conversation with Tene confirmed that. And I wanted more.
I glanced up at Cade and his crooked smile and took him all in. His steel grey eyes were guarded.
"What are we doing here, Cade?" The thoughts in my head, what I'd been wondering about this whole time we'd been together came out, super fast, without hesitation, without restraint, with all honesty.
He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me in. "We're having fun, Angel."
I winced. What was happening between us was more than that.
He cupped the side of my face, and I leaned into the warmth of his hold, reveled in his touch. I was in too deep with him. Tene was right.
Inhaling deeply, I put everything out on the line because I had to know. "Is that all this is? Fun? Because ..." I shied away, my voice trailing off, but when I met his gaze again, I said, "Because, for me, this feels ... different."
His fingertips skimmed along my jawline. "If you think you're just an easy lay for me, you're not. I haven't been with another girl for a while. What I said the other night, it's all true. I like you, Angel."
I wanted to ask him, for how long. Until he got tired of me? I couldn't look him in the eye, afraid he'd know I was in too deep.
He gripped my chin to force my focus up to his. "I've got baggage, okay? Things you don't know about, and things I'm not about to tell you."
Pulling his hands down, I said again, "Why not? Why can't you tell me? What are you going through that's keeping this from going any further?"
He was silent for a moment. "I've got obligations."
My body warmed with irritation. "What the hell does that mean?” I asked, my tone sharp. “What kind of obligations?"
Cade was giving me control, so I seized it, dragging things into my playing field. I stepped back, away from him. The man who lit a fire in me. The only one in my whole world who had never treated me like I was some little child who needed guidance.
"I can't.” I shook my head, crossing my arms over my chest. “Because at the end of this ... you move away and I'm the one left behind. And I won't be able to handle that. I won't."
When his arms went limp, and he nodded once, an intense pang hit the center of my chest. "You walk away now, that's your choice." He stared intently with a seriousness I hadn't seen before. "But that's you, not me. I'm here, and I'm staying for you."
I shook my head, unbelieving. "You said you're prolonging your trip. That's not the same thing."
"But it is, Angel,” he urged. “I would be long gone now if it weren't for you. I have no other reason to stay.” He let out a long breath, his look pensive. "Have you ever thought that I'm protecting myself?" I scoffed, but he continued. "You've been with Roland for years. Years. You haven't told him about me, right?"
"I broke up with him," I argued.
"It's not enough. Ninety-five percent of your stuff is still at your old place. Have you even told your family that you’re no longer together?"
I blinked, unable to speak because he had me there. I hadn't told Roland I'd moved on. I hadn't told my family.
"It's complicated," I said, knowing that was a loaded answer.
"And my life's just as complicated." He softened. "I understand. I do. But you have history with him, and your families are close. So, yeah." He leveled his gaze with mine. "How do I know you're serious about me? I know what Tene's thinking. I saw it all over her face when she stormed out of the restaurant today. But how do I know y
ou're not playing me?"
He was right. About every single thing. I could see his reservations, and if that was one of the reasons that was keeping us from being fully together, I could fix this. I could and would rectify the situation.
I wrapped my arms around his neck and went up on my toes to get even closer. "I'm telling Roland. To finalize things with the apartment and finally move out. And I’m telling my family, too.”
A beaming smile touched his face, and he cupped my face and gently brushed his thumb against my cheek.
And when our lips met, I knew with every fiber of my being that I was doing the right thing.
Chapter 18
My first mistake was calling Roland to tell him I needed to talk. My second mistake was going over to my former apartment to talk to him. But I needed to pick up more clothes and toiletries and tell him that I was setting a day to move the rest of my belongings out.
My biggest mistake was getting in his car to go to dinner. He insisted that we discuss our relationship over a meal, and I contested, but then listening to his unusually sullen tone had the guilt eating me up.
Maybe finally and forever and formally ending our relationship over dinner would lessen the blow, so I hopped in the car with him, knowing full well this would be the last time I'd ever get in his vehicle.
My cell buzzed in my purse, and I dug to the bottom and silenced it. It was Tene; I'd call her later. Roland drove, while his hand stayed politely on his side. His fingers had traveled to my knee, and when I pushed it away, he didn’t try a second time.
"Angie, I wish you'd understand. Just because work is important to me doesn't mean that you're not."
His constant excuses about putting me second in his life were no longer good enough.
"Roland, this has to stop." The best way out of this was honesty. "Our relationship wasn't healthy anymore because our priorities are unaligned. Our time ... it's run out."