by Piper Knox
“After I stole it back from your father with your help,” he waved his glass at me, “I went to the island and gave it to them. The locals. After all, they needed the emeralds more than two billionaires. That’s where I was. Your father might have heard about it somehow, and that’s why he was like that.”
All this time I thought he was doing it for his own selfish reasons, and I didn’t know that he was doing it to help a group of people. The longer I knew him, the more he surprised me. “I thought you stole it to spite dad?”
“That too,” he grinned, “The face Julian had when he came in here was precious. I will never forget it.”
“But that still doesn’t excuse you going to another country and living me alone and not saying anything for three days.”
He stood up and walked over to where I was sitting and placed his drink on the table next to me. He took my drink and set it down, then he lifted me up into his arms, “Trust me, you were in my thoughts the entire time.”
“I thought you hated me.”
“I do. I hate that you are always on my mind. I hate that I want to be with you, even though I know in my bones that it’s not a good idea. But I can’t help myself. So fuck it.”
That was a compliment sandwich if there ever was one. Yet, I couldn’t stamp the glimmer of hope that was burning inside me.
“Now remove that pout so I can kiss you.”
My lips remained pouted. He kissed me anyway.
28
Her lips were pillowy soft, and she tasted like the brandy she had been sipping. I had missed kissing her. Three days without her and I was already craving her.
I drew her back onto the couch and we both tumbled down with me on top of her. I made a trail of kisses from her lips to her cheek and down her neck. I felt her moving beneath me and I adjusted myself so I was between her legs.
“Caiden,” she said breathlessly. “Caiden, your assistants. Anyone could walk in at any moment.”
I groaned. She was right. I had an open-door policy and everyone here took full advantage of it. Ax being the worst offender. I was very close to overturning that policy. I stopped kissing when she pushed me back. “Let them watch. Who cares.”
She disentangled herself from me, “I do. I care. My reputation may not be pristine, but I don’t want to soil it further.”
“When did you start caring about your quote, ‘reputation’?”
She rolled her eyes.
I looked around, then an idea popped into my head. I lifted her up. She squealed as I carried her to the bathroom and placed her on the counter. “Now they won’t see,” I said as I lifted her chin with my finger and claimed her lips.
It was quick. We barely removed clothes. My hands slid under her dress and I pulled her panties, ripping them on the way down. Her hands were on my belt, unbuckling it, then pulling down the zipper. She took me out and stroked me. I removed her hand, lifted her slightly and plunged into her sweetness.
A couple of orgasms later, we were back in the main office. She went to pick up her drink and as she bent down, the imprint of her naked ass under her dress made me want to drag her back to the bathroom again. I was fucked. The three-day reprieve from her should have made me not want her, but nope, the exact opposite had happened. I was craving her now more than ever. I watched her as she finished the rest of her drink. A functional act, but on her, it was seductive.
“I need to get back to work. Dad dragged me here without my consent, basically.”
“Do you have to?” Who was this person? Why was I sounding like a desperate horny man?
“As much as I want to, I don’t work for you, I work for someone else.”
“Can’t hurt to try.” I went over to the desk and before I buzzed Layla, “Tell Bailey to get ready to take Mrs. Scott back to her offices.” After Layla responded with her perfunctory “Yes sir,” I asked Hailey, “Did Bailey treat you well?”
“He’s fine. Although I was surprised you didn’t tell me. Another oversight.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? I don’t think I‘ve ever heard those words coming from you.”
I was sure I had said them to her from time to time, but maybe she was right. In a few minutes Bailey called back to say he was outside and before she was about to go, I gave Hailey a long kiss that threatened to turn into something more. I really should think about that open-door policy.
◆◆◆
A few hours after Hailey was gone, Ax and Fred came in. They both looked like they had something urgent that they had been itching to tell me. “What is it?” I asked when they came in.
“She did it,” Ax said as he threw himself into one of the visitor’s chairs, “You were right, she did it!”
Fred said, “we got an alert from your assistants that your wife came by and we checked the CCTV we had installed after you were gone.” He threw his iPad on the desk. On it was an image of Hailey leaning over my desk. Another was of her shuffling the papers around as if she was looking for something.
“We figured she would come to your office when you weren’t around,” Ax said.
I scrolled. There was another image of her taking pictures of a mock-up book on the desk.
“It was dummy information, of course. Nothing that would hurt the company. The designs are all fake.”
“She didn’t take photos of everything,” Fred’s calm voice interrupted Ax.
“Are you sure?” Ax asked, “I thought I saw her snap at everything.”
Fred shook his head, “she didn’t. She skipped most of the showpieces.”
Ax shrugged, “Doesn’t matter. What matters is, you, my friend, were right, and she’s…” he pointed at the tablet in my hand, “… a plant sent by her father to steal information from us.”
“And steal information from her father to help me,” I said. The news felt like a slow gut-punch. The images on the screen were of her, it was her, but a part of me didn’t want to believe it.
“Doesn’t matter. She probably did that to make you trust her.”
“I don’t know. ”
“Maybe she didn’t know what she was giving you, you know.”
“Or maybe she didn’t care,” I said.
Ax frowned, “Are you siding with her?”
“All I’m saying is, things might not be as they seem.”
“I’m with Ax.” We both turned to Fred, “I did a little more investigating about that apartment she was lying to you about,” he took the tablet from me and scrolled through rapidly then turned it back to me, “Apparently she was living here.” On it was a picture of an apartment building that had seen better years. “A few people correctly identified her, when I showed them her picture, including the landlady.”
I was in shock. Never in a million years would I have thought that Hailey Lyndell would live in a place like this. It was unbelievable.
“You must have the wrong person.”
Fred shook his head, “it’s her.”
“Why was she living like this?” My gaze was firmly on the photo in front of me. I couldn’t take it away.
“I’m not sure yet. From what I can gather, they have cut her off from the trust fund pool. And since she didn’t have an income stream, she had to work. And since her last name is toxic these days, and has a humanities degree, she had a tough time finding a job. She only got her current position because her friend referred her. Honestly,” Fred leaned back in his chair, “If it were me, I would assume that she’s desperate.”
I tried to work it in my mind, and I would hit walls each time.
“You see,” Ax said, “She’s still the same person who betrayed you. Who’s currently betraying us.”
29
I got myself ready to put on sexy lingerie that I had bought on a whim on my way back from work. My heart was racing. I had never done this before. Surprise a man with my half-naked body. He was keeping to a schedule nowadays, and I knew he would be home by now. When I heard the sound of the elevator, I positioned myself in the most provoc
ative way possible. From the reflection on the window, I looked like I was posing for a photo-spread. His footsteps sounded louder and louder the closer he approached. I took a deep breath to calm myself down.
Caiden entered the room. His tie slightly undone, making him look devilish in the gray suit and a briefcase dangling in his hand.
“Welcome,” I said to him. His eyes burned with what I interpreted as desire as he raked his gaze over me. A boost of confidence to dampen my insecurity. But it went away, and an uncomfortable coldness replaced it. Maybe I was seeing things. I shifted when he strode forward. “Surprise.” I said again. He was silent. Instead, he took out a tablet and threw it on the bed.
“Care to explain this?” he pointed at the device.
His seriousness made my confidence falter. He wasn’t looking at me and had instead turned away and began taking off his tie and jacket. I got up to a sitting position. The room suddenly felt colder, and I wished I had something else to cover me. I took the device and swiped it open. On it, right there in color, was a picture of me. It was a blurry image captured in motion. And it was me. In his office. Taking photos of that damn book.
Stupid, stupid me. I wanted a hole to appear and swallow me.
“Yo—,” getting words out felt like a chore, “your office has surveillance?”
He turned back to look at me. He was so devastatingly sexy in a white shirt and gray pants. His hands were in his pockets. His demeanor, though, felt like ice radiating from him. “Is that a relevant question?”
“I—” My first instinct was to lie. But what would I say when he had caught me red-handed? His eyes were daring me to lie, as if he could tell what was on my mind. I could feel the shaky understanding we had built crumble beneath me.
“No answer?”
“Would you believe me if I tell you I didn’t want to do it?”
He smirked, “Of course you’d say that. Nothing’s ever your fault, is it? You’re forced into doing something or someone framed you.”
“I’m not saying it’s not my fault! It is. But if it was only up to me, I wouldn’t have done so! I tried not to give them anything.”
“Did you now?”
I got up to my knees on the bed, grabbed my phone that was on the bedside table and crawled forward. “It’s true! You can look through my phone if you think I’m lying,” I shoved the phone at him. He was stiff as a statue. He flinched a little, then grabbed the phone. We made a few swipes. Then he swiped a few more times.
“You could have deleted them,” he said, handing me the phone back.
“I didn’t! I sent him a couple of images! ”
“Doesn’t matter. You still betrayed me.”
“That’s because I was being blackmailed!”
“By your own family? You want me to believe that?”
“It’s true. I wouldn’t have done so if it wasn’t the case.” I took in a deep breath. Everything was going wrong. The night wasn’t supposed to go like this. “My father threatened to sell the house my mother left me if I didn’t do as he said”
“That’s it?”
“It’s the only thing of hers she left for me.”
He simmered down. “How’s he able to do that?”
“It’s tied up in the family trust and he basically influenced the executor of my mother’s will to not give it to me.”
“Why would a father do that to his own daughter.”
“He thinks I killed her, remember? He even used it to blackmail me into marrying you.”
He kept glaring at me with that stony stare. He didn’t look like he believed me.
“How do I know that this isn’t one more lie? You lie so much it’s difficult to keep track.”
He was right. I was a liar. I had gotten so used to lying that it was easy for me. But how could I let him see I wasn’t lying now? There were other lies, but those were good lies. Lies I told to keep my pride and dignity.
“Please believe me.” There was nothing more I could say.
He galvanized into action and strode forward until he was standing at the edge of the bed mere inches away from me. “How can I?” he said.
There seemed to be no way of convincing him. I could only think of one way, and that was to show him. Before I could dissuade myself, I grabbed his collar and kissed him. He was so caught by surprise he didn’t react for a second. I brushed my lips over his, coaxing him with my tongue. I could feel all of his anger vibrating. He was like a storm raging. His body was taut when I grabbed on to him for support. He broke the kiss. His eyes raked over my face. “You’re a fucking liar.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. I thought he was about to reject me when he leaned in again and kissed me. His kiss was punishing. I bent into it, accepting whatever he had planned for me. He devoured me.
“You fuck me up,” he whispered against my mouth.
“I’m sorry for betraying you.” He tilted backwards. Then pressed his index finger on my lips.
“Don’t lie to me. Not now at least.” He replaced the finger with his mouth and pushed me onto the bed. The sex was more hungry and desperate. It was as if Caiden wanted to exorcise some demons.
He lifted me off the bed and carried me to the window. He ripped my lingerie and had me against the window. Then again, on the floor. Then again on the bed. By then, my muscles were limb. We both laid on the bed for a long time, exhausted from the passionate session. As soon as he was done, he turned back to his cold self. I didn’t know what else to say to him except to just lie there. After a while, Caiden got out of the bed and went over to his briefcase. He took something out and came back with it.
“I got something for you,” he said, “happy birthday,” and placed a rectangular velvet box onto my stomach. With that, he left and went to the bathroom. A few moments later, I heard the shower being turned on. It was an odd feeling I was having. As if I had both been accepted and rejected. It didn’t feel good. His lack of warmth afterward was making me feel less and less welcome in his room. So I grabbed the box, my clothes and tip-toed out. I still couldn’t explain what had happened between us.
The sex had been wonderful, yes, but it differed from last time. He was there, but he was detached. There was a part of him that had been briefly opened and was now closed off.
I squeezed the box I had been holding. I opened it. In it was a beautiful tennis bracelet. The piece mocked me. He had been the only person who had remembered my birthday. I hadn’t expected him to. I stared at the bracelet again. Had he been thinking of turning our relationship into something real? No. I was only fooling myself with that line of thinking.
The next morning, we were back in the same routine. The old routine of not speaking to each other. Except this time he had made breakfast and left me some. It could have been by accident, of course. But he did this for the next week. Each morning he would leave the apartment before me after making breakfast for two. Then he would come back from work later than me and we would get into an intense lovemaking session. At first we kept to his bedroom, but we soon moved to other parts of the apartment. We rarely talked, if at all. Gone was the warm and gentle person I had briefly known.
30
I got home, itching to confront her for real this time. The only problem was that each time I saw her, it was better to fuck her instead. I enjoyed it that way. She did too. The way she would come apart in my arms was so beautiful to watch I wanted to experience it every time I was with her.
But when I saw her sleeping soundly on the couch, all my weapons shuttered to nothing. She looked so angelic and slept so soundly; I dared not wake her up. She brought out a side in me I hadn’t had for so long, at least not since Liam died. A fierce will to protect another human being. I hated feeling for someone like her. After the revelations I had learned today, she was only becoming more and more of an enigma. I was becoming less and less sure as to what to do with her. She stirred and opened her eyes. I straightened. I felt like she had caught me staring at her, and in a way I had been.
“Hi,” her voice was groggy and sexy. It made me want to forget everything I knew about her and simply be with her.
“You slept on the couch.”
“You said you were going to come back earlier.”
I wasn’t sure if I had promised exactly that, but I could see how she would think so. I had intentions of seeing her earlier, but then something else happened. I took a seat next to her. She made space for me by getting up and into a sitting position.
“If I ask you something, will you be truthful?”
She tilted her head to the side, “where’s this coming from?”