by Jenna Payne
“And even if what they say about that stuff isn’t true, everyone knows when it comes to business, he’s ruthless. Through and through.”
Skye nodded. Although Margo had never been married herself, she always exhibited a well-developed understanding when it came to human relationships.
Margo carried on, “Things can get in the way of good judgement sometimes. Don’t let it happen to you. Some things are out of bounds.”
*****
That evening, Skye left her hotel room, and walked the grounds of the resort. She needed the fresh air to clear her head. Outside lighting illuminated the golf courses, and beyond that, Skye could see woodlands in every direction she looked. It was a striking place, and she welcomed the serenity. She’d changed out of her work clothes into a pale lapis-blue summer dress. Dee, the doorman, had nearly fainted when Skye appeared at the entrance of the hotel building. Her near-black hair blowing in the wind.
As a precaution against any further chance encounters with Cace, Skye had added a touch of make-up–but she hoped not to come across anyone.
After a stroll through the grounds, Skye decided to head back to the bar for a quick drink. It had been a long day, and she thought she would probably sleep better this time round. She pulled up a chair in the same spot as the night before. About to slip into her usual habit of wandering into deep thought, she heard a voice from behind say, “I was hoping to find you here again.”
She turned around, but already she knew the owner of the voice. It was Cace. He stood there, smiling with a drink in his hand, wearing a white shirt, the top buttons undone. Skye couldn’t resist smiling back as he pulled up a chair facing her.
“You were here last night, weren’t you? I thought I saw you catching the elevator?” Cace continued.
“Yes. Every night, I come here to drown my sorrows that I’m working for Cace Arrington,” joked Skye.
Cace laughed, surprised by her response. “Am I really that bad?”
“According to some people…” she replied, keeping her expression neutral.
“But what do you think?”
She paused for a moment, studying his face. He had the kind of face that made her want to lean in and kiss him.
“Just going on my own experience. What I’ve seen first-hand…it’s all good,” Skye replied.
“Wait. Are we talking about my personality or something else?”
The two of them broke into laughter at that remark.
“So, what do people say about me?” Cace continued.
“Well, they would probably say this is part of your standard pick-up routine,” Skye offered. A part of her worried she was being too direct with her boss.
“It isn’t,” Cace replied simply, a touch of sincerity in his tone.
In her head, Skye could hear Margo’s voice reprimanding her for being so gullible, but Skye believed him on that comment.
“I know about questioning people’s motives,” Cace said. “It’s not always easy knowing who you can trust.”
Skye nodded, and she sensed Cace wanted to elaborate.
“That girl from last night…” He paused to see if Skye followed. Believing she did, he continued, “She’s someone I see from time to time. I see her because I’ve known her for years. I can trust her. Know she won’t sell me out.”
A valid point, thought Skye. And she realized Cace could just as easily question her motives too. The only positive she took from what he said was the revelation that the girl from last night was not a serious girlfriend.
“Stereotypes can be wrong. I get that,” she said.
“Not all stereotypes,” said Cace. “Follow me.”
Skye didn’t know the first thing about cars but at the front of the hotel was a luxury sports car that even Skye could tell cost serious money.
“What’s a billionaire playboy if he doesn’t have one of these?” asked Cace, beaming. He opened the passenger door, and Skye obliged. She felt as though she was going on a first date with her prom partner.
As her body sank into the luxurious leather seating inside, Cace got in the driver’s seat and started the engine.
Within seconds, the car was reaching a speed that Skye had never experienced in any car. She felt herself gripping the sides of the seat.
Normally, she would have found this type of grandstanding juvenile. But around Cace, she was starting to feel a careless abandon; as if she didn’t want to think things through rationally.
After a minute or so, Cace brought the speed of the car down, and turned on the stereo. A smooth R&B track played through the speakers. Cace wound down the windows, and Skye enjoyed the cool breeze, blowing against her face, whisking her hair up in all directions.
“I want you to know–I’m not behind any of those criminal acts,” Cace said. “You do know that, right?”
Skye was surprised he felt the need to explain himself. She found it endearing.
“I have no reason to believe you are. But you’ve still been a bit of a dick to those residents!” Skye said with a smile.
It had been a while since anyone had displayed that level of candor with Cace. He savored it.
“I’ve just always believed in having direction in life. And being in the driver’s seat. Going after what you want. Don’t you have an ultimate goal?”
So far, Skye felt she had been holding up against the charismatic businessman, but the last question caught her off guard.
“Not really.”
“Well, that’s a waste in my opinion. I’ve known you for two days and I can see you have talents. You could do so much…”
“Wait, are we talking about my personality or something else?” Skye quipped back.
“Both.”
And with that Cace Arrington drew the vehicle to a halt, and leaned his face into Skye’s. His lips met hers with such passion, she felt her whole body responding.
Back in the master suite, Cace placed Skye on the king-sized bed, kissing her slowly down the sides of her neck. Like a lion with its prey, he prowled over her; slowly…making her crave more. Skye felt herself swallow with anticipation, her body in a heightened state of arousal.
Cace unbuttoned his shirt, tearing it off, then moved to his trousers, undoing the zip, and taking out his huge, hard manhood. He was so aroused for her.
Skye swapped their positions so that he was lying on the bed, and she started to pleasure him with her hands. Watching him thrash about on the bed with pleasure made her wet. This powerful, dominant man squirming with ecstasy as she held him in the palm of her hands.
Cace’s muscular body started tensing from the sensation. When it became too much for him to take, he pulled her on top of him. Sliding her dress up above her head, exposing Skye’s full breasts, he entered her. It was his time to show her who was in charge.
Skye felt herself moan with bliss as he moved in and out of her. God, he made her feel so feminine… There was a fervor to his love-making she had never experienced from anyone. She craved the sensation of him inside of her.
Cace’s love-making became more intense, like he needed her body so much at that moment. Skye felt herself contracting.
This was one big man.
She wrapped herself around him; both giving all they had to give until there was nothing left but to give in. Give in to the sweet release of pure climax.
*****
The next morning, Skye woke before Cace did. Her body alive from what had been a night of continuous love-making. She turned to look at her lover, who was sleeping peacefully. She wouldn’t wake him.
Kissing the top of his head before leaving, Skye took the elevator to her room on the second-floor. There was still a full day of work ahead, and she needed to switch into more suitable attire.
The whole time, her mind remained fixated on Cace. She stared at her reflection as she applied her make-up, still feeling his hands all over her body.
When she continued down to the hotel lobby, an uncontrollable urge to smile overtook her. The carel
ess abandon she’d felt in Cace’s car was still there.
It ended when she saw police officers entering the hotel lobby. Petra was racing across the lobby to address the officer in charge. Skye froze dead in her tracks.
“What’s going on?” Petra demanded to know.
The head officer, a beefy man with a mop of dyed hair, wasted no time: “We’re executing an arrest warrant for a Mr. Cace Arrington. He’s wanted in connection with an arson attack on a local resident’s home, which occurred around 7am this morning.”
“You have got to be kidding me!” cried Petra. “We just had something like this, and it was established that Cace wasn’t involved…”
“This time the resident claims they saw Mr. Arrington…” explained the officer.
“But, you can’t just…if Cace gets arrested, the board of directors will lose it!” Petra could barely get her words out.
“I’m sorry, ma’am,” replied the officer.
Skye’s head was spinning. This time she knew without a doubt that Cace hadn’t committed the attack. She had been with him at that time. Making love to him. But what was she supposed to do? Yell this out to the lobby full of officers. Excuse me, sir, it couldn’t be Cace…I was with him…we were in the throes of orgasm at the time.
Her heart sank as she saw officers yanking Cace in handcuffs through the lobby.
“It will be alright, Cace,” yelled Petra. “We’ll get your lawyers down to the station immediately.”
Skye wanted to offer her own words of assurance, but didn’t know how to behave in the busy lobby. Cace had managed to throw on a t-shirt and shorts. But Skye was enraged at the way the officers handled him so roughly. Pulling him through the lobby without any trace of human compassion. She felt her protective instincts kicking in as they manhandled her man. Yes, her man, she found herself thinking.
As the officers dragged Cace to the door, he looked out to Skye, a vulnerability in his eyes she had never seen before. In seconds, the officers had exited the lobby, and Cace was bundled into the back of a police car.
Other resort staff were coming over to Petra, holding up their phones and tablets.
“The story is already out there!” one of them was saying. Skye glimpsed a forum-post that said: “ARRINGTON WOODLANDS CEO, MAIN SUSPECT IN ARSON ATTACK.”
Petra was clutching her hair in panic.
Knowing she was out of options, Skye walked straight up to Petra, and said, “I need to talk to you.”
As Skye stared back at Petra’s imposing face, she knew why people would have been intimated by her. Petra was beautiful without question. She had long blonde hair that fell in waves by the side of her face, and big penetrating blue eyes. But there was something cold about her. Something that said she could kill you if she wanted to, thought Skye.
“This is not the time,” Petra snapped.
“It’s about Cace,” Skye said, unflinching. “I know where he was this morning. He was with me.”
***
That afternoon, once Skye provided a statement to police, Cace was released without charge. He celebrated by driving her to an exclusive restaurant on the other side of town. It would have drawn further attention if they’d dined at the resort.
Over scallops and dishes Skye had never heard of, Cace recounted his experience from the morning. It turned out that the so-called witness to the incident was the same resident, who’d previously expressed outrage when his CCTV was deemed insufficient to lead to Cace’s arrest. Hearing how the police had arrested Cace on such little evidence, Skye felt a resolve to help find out who was behind these incidents. She would not let him get arrested again. It was something she didn’t want to relive. She would ponder the topic later, but for now, she would concentrate on enjoying the moment.
Skye had never dined at such a lavish restaurant before. Normally, she would have felt intimidated, but with Cace, she felt protected. She noticed he responded to a certain softness in her, and seemed keen to shield that quality in her. As though his everyday life was full of such brutal business dealings and people like Petra, that Skye’s softer way was an endangered animal worth guarding.
Their romance had developed quickly, Skye knew that. She still wondered if she was wrong to be falling for a man whose morality was questioned by so many. Regardless, she knew she didn’t want what they had to end.
All that reassured her was the knowledge that she’d always been good at interpreting men. And in Cace she saw a man, who was driven–at times, aggressive in what he pursued–but all of that stemming from a belief that this was part of what had made him successful. There were even times she felt it came from a sense of him needing to prove himself.
Skye wanted him to know he had nothing to prove.
Across the table, Cace was studying Skye just as intensely. Wealth may not have been part of her upbringing, but she carried herself with a gracefulness that meant she didn’t seem out of place in his world. She had a face that looked like it was constantly thinking about something, and that made him hungry to delve deep into her mind. Luxury cars or fancy restaurants didn’t seem to impress her, and he could rarely work out what she was thinking. That was refreshing.
When they arrived back at the resort, Cace wasn’t willing to wait to go back to his suite. He pulled Skye into the conference room, and closing the door, but leaving it unlocked, made love to her on the conference table. Her exposed backside pressed against the coldness of the conference table, she felt Cace moving in and out of her. Skye loved the thrill of hearing him make love to her in a place where they could get caught at any moment. There on top of the conference table, he was in command. A clear, unwavering sense of what he was doing as he brought Skye to a blistering orgasm. Skye pressing herself into his muscular arms to stifle the sound of ecstasy escaping her mouth.
That evening, Cace took Skye back to his master suite, and they made love again on his private balcony. He couldn’t get enough of her, nor her of him. The shock of the morning’s events had stirred a craving for each other’s closeness. In the night air, Skye savored the feel of Cace’s bare skin against her body. He was more tender with her tonight, as though he was drawing comfort from her. He kissed her slowly, and moved his hands lovingly around her body. She loved the sensation of his strong, muscular body on top of her, and the slower pace made it almost more intense to feel his throbbing hardness deep inside of her. He smiled, seeing the effect he was having on her.
There were times it felt as if their bodies were made for one another.
As Cace brought her closer and closer to climax, Skye stared out at the night sky above. An overwhelming sense of love for the man started to fill Skye. She prayed that nothing would ever come between them.
***
On the other side of the resort, Petra Runington sat at her desk, staring at the results of her search-engine query. When Skye Wilder revealed to her only that morning about her relationship with Cace Arrington, Petra knew something had to be done immediately.
She’d always known there was something amiss with Skye from the moment she set foot on the resort. Usually when new staff arrived, they at least seemed in awe to be working amongst the very elite of society–not so with Skye. She had not respected Petra. And that’s to say nothing of the repellent way she tried to humiliate me in the conference room, Petra scorned. It maddened her that men such as Cace could be drawn to someone of such a lower-class as Skye was. In fact, it maddened her that men in general seemed drawn to Skye. From Cace to Dee the doorman–even that silly little errand-boy Alejandro, thought Petra.
Well, maybe…just maybe, they would feel different about her if they knew her past, she decided.
On Petra’s screen, a poster from a night-club filled the window. At the center of the poster, a picture of a beautiful black-haired woman in an erotic pose. Beneath it, read the words: SKYE WILDER. EROTIC DANCE SHOW.
*****
In the early hours of the morning, Skye woke because something was bothering her. As she’d drif
ted in and out of sleep, recovering energy from the passionate love-making of earlier, her brain was churning over the recent arson attacks, trying to work out who was behind them.
Something she’d seen earlier in the day was playing on her mind. Without waking Cace, she snuck quietly out of the master suite, and went to one of the meeting rooms, on the downstairs floor, that offered laptop and internet access.
Seated at a desk, Skye started calling up the news coverage regarding Cace’s arrest. She specifically searched for the forum-post she’d seen hotel staff reading earlier that morning. When she found that post, she confirmed exactly what she’d been looking for. The post had been made shortly after 5am. Skye remembered the police officer from the lobby saying the arson attack happened around 7am. Maybe it was an innocent miscalculation over time.
Or maybe the person who made the forum-post knew in advance of the arson attack, thought Skye. And perhaps that same person was getting the story out there to ensure it made the morning news cycle.
If that was the case, the creator of the forum-post would be directly or at least indirectly, connected with the real perpetrator of the arson-attack. Skye jotted down the username of the forum post and saw something called an IP number, which she copied down as well.
It was not enough to crack the case, but it was certainly a step in the right direction. She would hold off telling Cace until she had something more concrete.
Later that morning, Skye picked up some daily essentials from a convenience store situated a short walk away from the resort. As she sauntered back onto the hotel grounds, swinging her shopping bag, she saw Cace stepping out of the entrance of the hotel, dressed in a suit. He was leaving for a business meeting, she remembered from sorting through the schedules. Petra and several others in his entourage were standing around him, making themselves look busy.
As Skye drew near, she smiled at Cace, thinking he looked gorgeous in his suit. To her surprise, Cace didn’t smile back. He stared at her, a deep pain perceptible in his green eyes. Skye felt her blood run cold.