Slade

by Tee, Marian

OH. MY. GOD.

  She quickly started shaking her head. "I'm not---"

  "You were practically choking on the word when you said 'baby'," Eric derided.

  "But that's because---"

  "There you are, sweetheart."

  Chapter Nine

  I'm Too Sexy

  * * *

  "In order to know virtue, we must first acquaint ourselves with vice." ~ Marquis de Sade

  * * *

  Eric could feel his jaw slacken as a man who was too much of everything pulled his dazed-looking ex-girlfriend off her seat...just so he could take her place and have Kady sit on his lap instead. To top it all off, Right Sexy Fred's I'm Too Sexy had also started playing in the background, and Eric had a crazy urge to yell for management. Are you for real? Do you think I don't fucking remember you played You're So Vain when I walked in, and fuck it, now I know I was right, that song WAS about me!

  Kady's body, already feverishly aware of Slade's masculine hardness - and oh my God, she could feel him everywhere: against her back, under her ass, on her knee - burst into flames the moment his breath caressed her ear, and he murmured, "Your ex looks like he's about to have an aneurysm rupture."

  She almost, almost giggled but ended up coughing instead when her gaze accidentally clashed with her ex's outraged glare.

  Eric couldn't stop gnashing his teeth. Well, fuck. Didn't she have any plans leaving the guy's lap? His gaze raked the older guy from head to toe, Eric determined to find all the asshole's faults. Unfortunately, this proved easier said than done, with the bastard beating Eric in just about every physical category. Taller, a hell of a lot bigger, better looking, and worst of all, even the guy's tan looked a lot more legit than his.

  Left grasping at straws, Eric found himself pathetically clutching at the one and only advantage left to him: this guy might have an uncanny resemblance to a famous superhero, but that was fiction, and this was real life, and bottom line, guys like this asshole would live his entire life working for guys like him.

  The play of expressions on the boy's face, which started off with an expression of insecurity and false pride before eventually turning into bullish pride and blind self-importance, was laughably easy to read, and the billionaire was almost tempted to assure Kady, who was back to being her adorably jittery self on his lap, that she had nothing to worry about.

  But since doing so would take the fun out of things, Slade was content to let things play out a little longer and instead focused his time on more diverting endeavors.

  Kady nearly gasped when she felt her boss shift under her, and the next thing she knew, his rock-hard dick was right between the cheeks of her ass.

  Oh.

  Dear.

  Gaaaaah.

  Eric's eyes nearly bulged when he saw Kady suddenly looking flustered and her tongue darting out to wet her lips. What the fuck? Unable to help it, his gaze automatically swung to the bastard still holding Kady prisoner in his lap, and the other man actually met his gaze head on just before letting his lips slowly and tauntingly curve into a smirk.

  Eric's face turned a blotchy shade of red as he shot up in his seat, feeling like his manhood had just been challenged. But before he could even think of what to throw at the asshole, the other man had already beaten him to speaking.

  "You must be Eric Von Humbug."

  Kady let out a gasp just as the color in her ex's face deepened into that of an overly ripe tomato. And if vegetables could explode, Kady thought weakly, it would probably look like Eric now.

  "It's Von Humboldt, asshole," Eric snarled.

  Kady gasped again. "Eric! That's---" But her words turned into a barely audible whimper as she felt Slade nip the side of her neck.

  "It's fine, little chick," her boss murmured, and with his lips still grazing her neck, every word tickled her skin, and it was all Kady could do not to faint.

  Leaning back, Slade smiled at the boy, saying simply, "My bad."

  The apology was so smoothly delivered it made Eric verbally flounder and feel like he had the tables turned on him, and he hadn't even fucking seen it coming.

  The sight of Eric's mouth flapping open like some caught flounder soon lost its entertainment value, and the billionaire's gaze bored through Kady's ex. Come on, boy. At least make this meeting a bit more worth my time.

  Eric badly wanted to drive his fist into the man's bearded face. Even if the bastard hadn't said a single word, he knew when he was being insulted, and fuck it, but this man...this asshole wasn't acting the way dirt-poor hicks were supposed to act. "Who the hell are you, anyway?" Eric's animosity caused his voice to turn shrill at the very end, and humiliation burned inside of him when he saw both Kady and the asshole wince.

  "I'm Kady's boss..." The billionaire slowly curved an arm around Kady's waist in a languorous gesture of possession. "Among other things."

  Kady's boss? Eric's gaze snapped to Kady. "Is he for real?"

  Kady lifted her chin, saying very firmly, "Yes."

  Eric threw the asshole a look of contempt, demanding, "Aren't you a little too old to be one of those other things?"

  "That's how it would probably look like to boys your age---"

  The complacent tone used by Kady's boss had Eric feeling like he was being indirectly insulted again, despite the man's ready admission to robbing the cradle.

  "But you see, Humbug---"

  "Van Humboldt!"

  "I'm just not seeing to date her."

  The man rubbed his thumb over Kady's knuckles as he spoke, and Eric realized the asshole was subtly telling him he was planning to someday put a ring on his ex's finger. More than that, this asshole from the boonies probably saw his naïve ex-girlfriend as his meal ticket for life, and the thought filled him with self-righteous indignation.

  Intent on saving Kady from her money-grubbing manwhore boss, he turned to her and was just in time to see the asshole's hands disappear under the table. A moment later, Kady started blushing, and a thousand horribly vulgar scenarios instantly popped in his mind.

  Leaning forward, Slade whispered in her ear, "Aneurysm #2 about to rupture." But since the words also strategically coincided with the movement of his hands - a squeeze of her knee on one side and his fingers drifting over her trembling thigh on another - Kady couldn't even think of laughing, and it was all she could do not to moan out loud.

  Eric saw the man whispering into his ex's ear like Manson with one of his girls, and his temper hit boiling point. That was it! But before he could even do his manly best at throwing a tantrum, it was as if the asshole was always ten steps ahead of him.

  "Time we should go, I think." Kady's boss had once again beat him to speaking, and while Eric's mouth started flapping again, the asshole was already gently helping Kady off his lap.

  Eric finally had the wits to scramble up to his feet, but by this time the asshole had also risen to his full height, and Eric's self-confidence took a nosedive when he realized Kady's boss stood a good half-foot taller.

  Slade took his wallet out and placed a fifty-dollar bill on the table. "My treat, kid." And as if he didn't notice at all Eric's face turning from red to a sickly shade of green at being called kid, Kady's boss was already taking one small hand into his.

  Eric saw the man smile down at Kady, and in his mind it was like seeing a wolf leer at the gentle and clueless sheep it was about to eat.

  "It was nice seeing you." But even though his ex was speaking to him, her eyes were glued to the devil beside her like she had been hypnotized.

  Kady's legs were shaking so she found herself silently grateful for the way Slade had pulled her against him as he led her out of the diner. Waiting until they were standing right next to his truck and safely out of earshot, she looked up at him in genuine confusion, asking blankly, "What was that all about?"

  Slade's massive shoulders moved in a dismissive shrug. "I couldn't handle listening to more of his crap. Every word he was uttering just pissed me off."

  She couldn't exactly fault him fo
r that, since it was how Eric's smug assumptions had also made her feel.

  But...

  "Slade," she began uneasily. "Eric might---"

  "Come here, little chick." But he was also drawing her close as he spoke, and Kady couldn't even think of refusing him. "I'm thinking we should give him a proper show," Kady's boss murmured under his breath, "since he's going all out of his way to spy on us."

  A proper what? Spy on who?

  The bewilderment in her eyes almost had Slade's lips twitching. Ah, little chick. You're in for a surprise. He saw her tense and hold her breath when he lifted a hand.

  "Ready?" he whispered.

  "Ready for what?" she whispered back.

  He answered by showing her, his fingers threading slowly through the locks of her hair. And the moment she released her breath and the tension started to ease, he took that as his cue, his fingers fisting her hair, and when he heard her whimper, the billionaire indulged himself with the faintest smile.

  I've only just begun, sweetheart.

  His head lowered, his lips grazing the side of her neck.

  Another whimper.

  His fingers tightened its grip on her hair, and then he began to suck.

  The whimper turned into a moan.

  He took his time, his mouth patiently working, the billionaire wanting the mark to be next to indelible and the color of roses.

  When Slade finally lifted his head and released his hold, Kady instantly sagged against him, and his chest rumbled against her cheek as he let out a low, deep chuckle. Every cell of her body felt wondrously, titillatingly alive, and even the possibility that he might be laughing at her couldn't even make Kady regret what just happened.

  Pulling back, Slade tipped her chin up, and satisfaction blazed through him even as his body grew taut at the look on her face. Her eyes, dark and cloudy with sexual desire that had yet to fully blossom, were unknowingly begging for him to eat her.

  It was seductive as fuck, and just the thought of having another man see this...

  His jaw clenched. Eric, he didn't give a damn about, with Kady's untutored responses telling him everything he had to know about her ex's sheer lack of experience, not to mention expertise. But Eric wasn't the only damn man in the world---

  A tiny gasp escaped Kady when she suddenly found herself being led back to Slade's truck. Doors slammed shut, and suddenly they were within its tight, private confines.

  Confusion and excitement warred inside of her, and she gulped and wetted her lips. "Sla---"

  He moved towards her all of a sudden, and a startled cry escaped her, with Kady falling back until she was plastered against the door and he had her caged once more, one arm on the dashboard while another arm was on the back of her seat.

  "I need you to promise me something." Slade's voice was rough and almost feral, but rather than invoking fear, it had her whole body aching with need. "You will never show this face of yours to anyone else---"

  Kady swallowed hard. "But I don't...I d-don't even know what face you're talking---"

  "I'll teach you."

  And without warning, one large, strong palm pressed against the left side of her chest, and Kady's heartbeat, which was already racing a thousand times faster, practically blasted away in rocket speed at his touch.

  "If your heart's beating mad..."

  His hand gently drifted down, one inch at a time, until his entire palm had covered one globe of swollen and heavily aching flesh.

  "And your breasts are hurting so fucking good..."

  This time, Kady could no longer keep herself from moaning, her body arching and pleading for more. But his hand was moving again, descending further and further, and with every second that passed, she could feel her throat tightening, her senses reeling more wildly---

  His fingers finally reached the cleft between her legs.

  "And this has become so goddamn wet..."

  She whimpered. Because it was exactly as he said. Her flesh so mortifyingly wet that the moisture had seeped past her undies and all the way to the thin fabric of her leggings.

  Slade raised his head, and blazing blue eyes captured hers.

  "If you feel all three," he rasped, "then you can fucking bet you're making the face I'm talking about."

  Chapter Ten

  Why Do Fools Fall In Love

  * * *

  "This above all; to thine self be true." ~ William Shakespeare

  * * *

  Slade couldn't remember having ever lost sleep over a woman. If memory served him right, it had never happened in the past. Not a single fucking time.

  Until now.

  Swiveling his chair away from his desk, he turned towards the window, but the edges of his mood only turned sharper and increasingly jagged when he saw that the skies, which had been midnight-black when he entered his study, now spread out in a multitude of colors.

  What the fuck was he going to do with Kady?

  He should never have crossed the line, dammit. He should've contented himself with teasing and torturing her with words and playful touches. That would've been the smartest and safest thing to do, and as long as it didn't involve the welfare of his parents or baby sister, Slade had never taken any uncalculated risk.

  Until now.

  It had been all impulse, a foolish, devil-may-care whim that had made the billionaire ignore his personal rule against mixing business with pleasure. Pissed beyond belief at seeing Kady relaxed and comfortable with other guys while still jumping away from him in fright, he had given his common sense the finger and taken a taste of her.

  And that had been the beginning of the end.

  There was just something about her he couldn't get enough of, and if not for the timely interruption of Humbug's call, he was grimly certain her breasts wouldn't have been the only part of her body that his mouth would be acquainted with.

  Cursing under his breath, Slade swung his seat back and tried for the nth time to get some work done. His teeth gnashed as he stared at the words and numbers listed on the screen, but they had suddenly become as incomprehensible as Baybayin and the moment he closed his eyes, all he could see was how they had been in the ride back to the cafe, a nervous Kady trembling next to him and avoiding his gaze as she said tremulously, 'If you want things to go back to normal, it's fine with me.'

  The words had stunned the hell out of him, and instead of making him feel relieved, the billionaire had actually found himself making up excuses for things not to go back to normal.

  If your ex finds out I was never your boyfriend to start with, do you think he's the type to blab it all over your hometown?

  What about your best friend? Do you think she'd be the type to fuss over you for this and end up turning you into an object of pity?

  And your parents? If our little deception reaches them, do you think they'd make a big deal out of it?

  By the time he had finished outlining Kady's worst nightmare in vivid detail, her face had been ghostly pale, and she had been staring at him like he had just killed her (nonexistent) firstborn. And when her lips had started to tremble and her eyes had begun to fill with tears of distress, the sight had been enough to rouse his often-dormant conscience into an acute state of guilt. It had almost made him want to take the words back.

  Almost.

  Until, that was, a ghastly alternative scenario popped in his mind: of things going back to normal, just as Kady had suggested, and with every day that passed, she would drift further and further away from him while drawing closer and closer to another man's arms. Another man, who would then have the right to stake a claim on the body he had only the most fleeting taste of.

  And that had been it.

  So when he had the truck parked in front of the cafe, and Kady, instead of stepping out, had turned to face him and pleaded for advice...

  'What do you suggest I do?"

  Words had rolled smoothly off his tongue like the finest, deadliest trap---

  'Let me help you get back at Humbug, and I'll
even toss in your former best friend's just desserts as a bonus.'

  And when she had asked him why he was going to such lengths to help her...

  'Don't you really know?'

  He had taken her hand while speaking, guiding her fingers to his mouth, and as his lips parted, he saw her eyes widen, saw her swallow and tremble even harder...just before heeding his silent command. Her finger slipping into his mouth. Her gasp as he began to suck. Her moan as he sucked harder. And after one last nip that had her whispering his name -

  'Is that answer enough for you?'

  Kady was already freshly showered and dressed by the time the first song of Farica's morning playlist kicked in, and Why Do Fools Fall In Love by Frankie Lymons & The Teenagers started playing. Was it just her, or was the older woman truly prescient when it came to her choice of music?

  She had barely slept at all, but instead of feeling exhausted and sluggish, she felt insanely lightheaded, almost like she was about to fly and dance in the air any second. Sitting herself in front of the vanity, she shakily ran her brush through her hair, but instead of her reflection staring back at her, Kady's gaze was lost in memories of last night.

  His mouth on her nipple...his mouth on her neck...her finger in his...

  All those things, and possibly more, she thought dizzily, could continue to happen...

  She just had to say yes.

  And she wanted to. Oh God, how much she wanted to. It would be tantamount to having a fling or an affair even - something she would have never imagined herself doing. And maybe, if it had been anyone else, she still wouldn't have considered saying yes. It wasn't that far-fetched, considering how she hadn't been able to get rid of her inhibitions with Eric, never mind if they had been going out for years.

  But because this was Slade...

  Her thoughts continued to swing between yes and no even as she ran down the steps. Do I or do I not---