by Amber Malloy
“I never thanked you for helping me with that break up, by the way.”
Cayden blew out a breath, hoping to push down the anger that edged close to the surface. He had no one to blame but himself for Sarah.
Since he couldn’t manage to bait her, he grabbed her waist to pull her toward his mouth. He attacked her with his tongue, which made her already throbbing pussy soaked. She would have batted him away, but her vagina had already betrayed what she really wanted. Before he released her lips, he gave her lower lip a nip.
“We still have that stupid piano to wreck.” He sat up to take his shirt off. “But you’re kind of raw, so…” Levi rolled his Ralph Lauren tuxedo shirt around his hand and gently wiped the cum off between her legs. Tossing his stained shirt off to the side, he scooped her up.
Strong enough to carry her up the stairs with little to no effort, Levi flipped her over his shoulder.
Too tired to move, Cayden didn’t bother with the whole squealy girl bullshit. She didn’t make a sound until he slapped her ass on the way up to his bedroom.
Chapter Eleven
The hard bang from the front door jolted him awake. “Levi,” Mom called out.
Mildly hungover from that bad habit he needed to break, he looked around for Cayden’s sexy ass. He found no trace of her anywhere. He hoped she didn’t show up somewhere naked in front of his mom. Since his parents witnessed their last and most damaging fight, he didn’t want them to watch his fall from the wagon again.
“Levi!” Struggling to move, he snatched his sweats off the floor. Every ounce of energy had been drained from him. Only an hour into sleep, he needed to get rid of his mom fast.
“Good morning, sunshine,” she sang in greeting as he raced down the stairs. She was decked out in her Sunday’s best. “Do you want to go to church with me?”
“No,” he flat out said before he brushed a kiss past her cheek. “I can’t believe you’re up this early.” Levi gave his house a cursory once over and found no physical trace of Cayden anywhere. Her clothes from last night were gone, but the bottle of Riesling still lay on the floor.
“That’s a shame, we could have fun.”
Using his foot, he pushed the bottle into the sitting room, then turned his mother around to block her view. “I doubt it.”
“Cayden’s coming.”
“What?” he asked, confused about his mother’s mental health. “There’s no way you got her to go to church with you.”
“Why not?” Cayden asked outside his screen door. Dressed in a floral number, she’d tied her hair up in a sweet ponytail. He had no idea how she found the time to get ready, but she played her dutiful daughter role perfectly.
Dressed for Sunday school, even he believed the church wouldn’t burn down once she stepped in to it.
“That award’s ceremony must have worn you out. Did you get enough sleep?” She opened the door and walked into the house. “You look tired.”
“Some of us have to get at least a couple of hours to function.” Levi stared at her pointedly.
“Give me a second, Cayden. I have to get the Jell-O mold out of the fridge,” Mom said
“What the… Why is that abomination in my house?”
“Our refrigerator is on the fritz and yours has more space, dear!” Mom screamed on her way to the kitchen. “Besides, I didn’t want your father to eat the Jell-O salad.”
“After all those filthy things you did to me, you really should go to church,” Cayden whispered.
“Do you think she dropped off that Jell-O concoction when I was sucking your clit last night?” he challenged.
“Probably around the fourth orgasm. My screams weren’t that strong by then.”
His cock grew instantly hard, and he cursed the missed opportunity to take her against the wall.
“Did you convince him to get dressed, honey?” His mother came back cradling the dessert that induced plenty of his childhood nightmares.
“Of course not. It’s just so hard to make him come … ow!” Cayden stepped out of his reach. “Did you just pinch me?” She grabbed the spot on her arm where he twisted her skin. Nothing like the doozies he scored from his aunts growing up, but he definitely needed to make her pie hole.
“Levi! Don’t be angry at Cayden for being the good egg. You should be by joining your mother for worship.”
No matter what, his parents would always take her side. Regardless of her saving the family business, she still would have had them wrapped around her pinky finger—a lot like she did with everyone else.
“Come on, Cayden.” Mom sniffed.
Before the beauty could follow his mom out the door, Levi caught her arm. “I know what you’re doing,” he whispered.
“Uh, yeah … I’m going to church.” She reached toward his forehead. “Do we need to get you checked?”
He grasped her hand. “You’re using my mom to ask questions about Shana,” he hissed.
“That’s because you told me I couldn’t. Do you need to see a doctor? You seem to be forgetting a lot of stuff lately.”
“I also told you to stop investigating this one, but that doesn’t seem to matter.” He glanced over her head at his mom.
“Everyone will open up to Lydia and no one will be the wiser.” Cayden turned to leave.
Without letting her go, he brought her hand to his lips and planted a kiss to her palm. “Be careful,” he told her.
Cayden gave him one of her megawatt smiles. “Always.” Her eyebrow twitched at her lie.
She slipped out of the house to his protest. In all honesty, he worried about her, even when he resented the shit out of her.
Chapter Twelve
Levi searched around the kitchen for his favorite mug. Turning the K-cup holder, he plucked Butter Toffee out of the ring. A party of six needed a guide for fishing, and he had drawn the short straw, which stuck him with the morning shift.
As the motor of his hot tub grew louder, he shut the top of the coffee maker on the small cup. He glanced out of the window at the deck he built last year. Not at all surprised, he found an intruder in his spa, and it didn’t appear to be the furry animal variety.
With the coffee forgotten, he opened the door to the deck. Freshly turned red and orange fall leaves provided the magical backdrop for the water nymph in his spa. Steam rose from the water, inviting him to strip off his clothes and join her. Facing the forest, he got an eyeful of her naked back. Since it was too close to the time to meet the fishermen, he couldn’t find someone else to take them out.
“I’m guessing you’re washing church off of you from yesterday. There are hunters in those woods, by the way,” he warned her. Gray and overcast, Levi couldn’t make out anything past the first row of oaks. He knew the locals went deep into the forest, using Goosebay Lake as their entry point.
“Do you think I’ll be mistaken for Bambi and get shot?” Her voice came out as a sexy morning rasp. He tried to keep his distance and catch up on errands yesterday, but ended up thinking about her more than he liked.
Cayden turned to face him. The top of her breasts peeked from beneath the water’s surface. She grabbed a wine glass filled with orange juice and, he suspected, champagne.
“Nah, you’ll just change the trajectory of their day, that’s all… What did you find at church?”
“A few rumors.”
He kneeled near the edge of the hot tub, beckoning the woman closer with the power of his mind. “Hit me with your best one.”
“The cops’ main suspect was a teacher at Chesterfield. He went missing around the time Shana was murdered. They searched his house but found nothing useful.”
“I think I heard that one before.” He envied the way the beads of water dripped down her neck. He wanted to catch them all with his tongue. “Do you think they stopped investigating once they hung all their hopes on the missing teacher?”
“Seems like it, but I would need their files to be sure.” She glided closer.
“Shana’s family could
get you permission.”
“So could your friends in the DA’s office.” She slipped her tongue around the rim of the wine glass before she drank from it.
“You want me to ask about a damn near thirteen-year-old murder case? Nope, that shouldn’t draw any suspicion.”
Once she floated close enough, he caught her by the shoulders and pulled her up to his mouth. He licked the orange juice and alcohol off her lips, sinking into her for a kiss.
“Mimosa?” He released the chocolate beauty back in the tub.
“If you wanted to know, all you had to do was ask.”
“What would be the fun in that?” He winked and stood to leave. “I’ve got to take a group out. What are your plans for the day?”
“Off to the big city to play adult.”
“I would kill to see what that looks like,” he half-joked. Pretty much hands-off with the resort, to the rest of the world Cayden appeared nothing more than an entitled brat. However, she ran all her grandfather’s businesses with stellar results.
Under Cayden’s care, the Young’s family wealth had doubled. Unfortunately, her grandfather died not too long after she graduated from college. Somehow, she still managed to double their family fortune.
“According to Lydia, she overheard you talking with Simone about Dale,” Cayden told him.
“Who’s Simone?”
“Redhead from Chesterfield.”
“Oh.” He smiled at the memory of the flirty girl. “Yeah, she mentioned that you weren’t that interested in him.”
“Why would that even come up?” Cayden asked.
“Who knows,” he lied. “Teenagers passing time, probably. Why don’t you give her a call and ask? It appears you were in the dark about a lot of stuff that went on at Chesterfield.”
Cayden scrunched her face. She probably never considered such an easy solution.
“Did you bring your gun?” Years back, while on leave from the military, he taught her how to shoot.
“No. TSA is a bitch to deal with,” she confessed.
“Do you want to borrow a weapon?”
“I’ll let you know.”
“Yeah, that’s generally past the point when you need one.” Officially late, he headed for the door.
“Hey, Mr. Scott?”
He glanced over his shoulder and once again considered calling off work.
“I have the answer to your pumpkin patch dilemma.”
“Do tell, Ms. Young.”
“Adult treehouses.”
“That’s a thing?” He chuckled, surprised she hadn’t made it up.
“Yep, a big one. Look at it this way … honeymooners in the sky.” She did her Vanna White impression, which delighted him. He got a good full-frontal of her perfect tits.
“Isn’t that what our private cabins are for?”
“Trust me.”
Against his better judgement, he decided to give her silly adult treehouses a shot. Anything to do with business, he would take her word for, but that was about the only thing he would trust her with. Before he took off, he threw a good-bye wave over his shoulder.
Chapter Thirteen
Chilly and downright dreary, the day hadn’t changed much from this morning. Cayden sat in the boardroom of her Chicago office, decked out in her black Gucci dress. She would have preferred her Uggs and yoga pants.
As her team went through stats and figures, Cayden concentrated on her laptop screen. Thanks to Facebook, it took her less than a minute to hunt down Simone.
“We want to add another carrier to our fleet,” one of the seven people said. Not sure who brought it up since she stopped paying attention some time ago, she kept her attention on her research.
“Draw up the proposal and we’ll look at it,” Gil Traymore, her CEO, replied. He flew in last night for the company’s quarterly meetings concerning all of her holdings. She appointed him less than five years earlier and he surpassed all her expectations.
“Let’s call it.” He checked his watch. “We can still make a late lunch.”
“Gil, I have plans. Is there anything else you need me to sign?” Cayden asked.
The executive team of three women and four men gathered their work from the table.
“No food?”
“Not today,” she told him.
Gil waved off the group. “I’ll meet you guys out front.” When he leaned over, the aroma of his cologne filled her nose. “Cutting out so soon? The team loves coming to Chicago for the food. Is deep dish pizza too good for you?”
“Never that. I have some other work.”
“Anything I need to be concerned about?” he pressed.
In charge of several important holdings from her company, she didn’t allow his curiosity to bug her.
“No, everything’s fine.” Cayden scanned the screen. Simone lived in Oak Park, the city of Andrew Lloyd Wright, with her husband and three kids. She ran a home business that centered upon Internet DIY projects.
“Let’s do dinner, tonight.”
“Huh?” Without taking her eyes off the screen, she quickly memorized Simone’s address. “Is there something pressing we need to talk about?”
Dark chocolate and strong, Gil turned her chair around to face him. “Yes … us.”
Focused on him for the first time, she saw the intent in his dark eyes.
“There’s something different about you, and I have a feeling my window’s closing.”
“A window that shouldn’t be opened?” she asked, confused why today of all days he decided to hit on her.
Cayden had almost reached out to him in need a couple of years back, after her big blow up with Levi. However, invaluable advice from her grandfather stopped her. He told her to never make a critical decision out of desperation.
“If it costs me my job, so be it, but I feel like a do-or-die situation is happening here.”
“That seems dramatic.” She chuckled at his extreme description.
“Do you know what it’s like working with someone you just want to…” He made no intention to move, but kept her cornered in her chair. There had to be something in the air. First Greg, then Dale. Those two idiots were in a competition, a status boost to score the richest girl in town. However, Gil seemed different. Untainted by the sheen of her youth, she seriously considered him.
“Tell me I’m wrong and we don’t have a spark.”
She wouldn’t lie and say she didn’t feel anything between them. Nevertheless, it lacked the fire she needed to justify sleeping with her CEO. “Maybe there’s a little something, but is it enough to ruin such a great working relationship?”
His frown changed his handsome features slightly. Rising, he walked to the window. The city skyline loomed in front of them. Even covered in gray fog, Chicago shone brightly.
“I have to get going.” She gathered her belongings. It would take a fifteen-minute drive to get to Oak Park and she needed to pick up reinforcements before her last stop. “If there’s anything else, just email me or courier it to my home.”
“Home?” He gave her a dry laugh. “You’ve lived in Cape Town, Florence, and New York, but this St. Geneva, that’s where you consider home?”
“Sentimental, I guess.”
Leaning against the glass, Gil stared at her with an amused expression. “It’s one of your oldest investments. Just curious why you suddenly want to dump … what’s it called, Goosebay Lake?”
She smiled back with no intention of answering him.
“In all honesty, this is the best job I could ask for. I’ve amassed a fortune with the freedom you’ve given me—”
“But?” she asked, wondering why men always wanted more.
“I’d give it all up if I had a shot, and I can see that…” He threw up his hands. “Whoever he is, tell him he’s a lucky man.”
“Why do you assume it’s a man?” As she walked out of the conference room, she left him with a stung expression. No matter how she felt about him, a fishing expedition would never be in th
e cards for Gil.
****
Monstrous Victorians lined the residential street. The neighborhood sprouted from a perfect suburbia playbook on steroids. Cayden’s driver pulled up to the one that resembled the witch’s cottage in Hansel and Gretel—sweet and cozy, but nowhere close to the multimillion dollar price tag of the others.
Carrying her peace-offering pizza and wine, she got out of the car. Not usually the person to spring a tacky pop-up visit on someone, she figured catching Simone off guard would work best. Cayden took a deep breath and rang the bell, but missed the sign that threatened her life not to touch it. “Oh crap.” A dog barked and baby cried on the other side of the door.
“I swear, whoever you are, you better have alcohol and chocolates, or you’re dead.” Simone snatched open the door.
“Wine,” Cayden shouted. “I have wine!” She used the bottle to shield herself.
“Oh, my goodness … Cayden Young.” Still pretty but harried, Simone enveloped her in a hug before ushering her in through the open door.
The picture-perfect house from the outside appeared out of sorts. Children ran around with no real goal in mind, and one mangy dog followed them while the other one pretended to drop dead in front of her.
“Ignore Cookie, he always does that trick when he doesn’t get enough attention. Bryson, go get your sister.” They stepped over the limp mutt. The redhead guided her through the minefield of toys and children. “I’m starving. Please tell me that’s a freaking deep dish. If I have one more chicken finger I’ll scream.”
“It’s Lou Malnatti’s.”
“Hallelujah! I could kiss you.” She plucked the wine out of her hand. “Take a seat.”
Cayden made room on the covered table for the pizza.
“To what do I owe the honor?”
The little boy came back carrying a baby. “Here,” the boy said, handing the infant to her.
“Oh, okay.” She took the baby from the kid before he ran off.
Bouncing the chubby cherub on her knee until Simone uncorked the wine, Cayden waited for her mom to take her.
“This is my one and only girl.” Simone swapped the two glasses for the infant pretending to bite her fat cheeks. “I hope she doesn’t act like hell on wheels like I did.”