Cade hadn’t taken a bite yet, but he reached for the bottle of Sauvignon Blanc in the ice bucket to the side and poured us each a glass. “I hope this one is up to your standards. It’s not the 2009, but the 2008 is a darn good substitute.”
“Ha ha. I’m hardly a wine snob. I learned everything I know from you.”
Cade lifted his glass. “To new beginnings.”
I picked up mine and clinked it against his. “To new rules.”
Cade chuckled. “What new rules are you going to lay on me, baby?”
“Oh, I have a list.” I took a bite of salad, eating everything directly from the containers and ignoring the plate in front of me.
Cade lifted out some chicken from one dish and set it on his plate. “Lay it on me, baby.”
At least when he called me baby, I knew he wasn’t pissed. I set my fork down. “First of all, you can’t mess with my job.”
He smirked.
“I mean it, Cade. Don’t come into my office and order me around. Don’t pop into my meetings and take over. Don’t do anything that causes me to have to apologize for your behavior or gives the impression that I’m getting preferential treatment.”
“You could quit.”
I was taken aback. “What? Hell no. Erase that idea from your head right now. I worked hard for this degree, and I earned the respect of my employees. I’m not quitting.”
He chuckled. “Relax, baby. I was just giving you shit. I know what your job means to you. Hands off. I hear you. What else?”
He was making this too easy. I wondered when he would lower the gauntlet. “No sex in my office. No making out. No bringing me to orgasm. No touching me inappropriately.”
Cade rolled his eyes. “Not sure I can oblige on that one, baby. If you spend too much time there, you might find me popping in for conjugal visits.”
“Cade,” I warned.
“I’m just sayin’.”
“Cade, I’m serious.”
“Me too, baby. You come home at night to my bed and leave at an appropriate time in the morning, and I’ll do my best.”
“Okay.” I could do this. Compromise.
“Next.”
I took a sip of my wine. “I’m messy, Cade. I leave clothes on the floor and dishes in the sink. It’s who I am.”
“It’s who you were.”
“It’s who I am, Cade. And I won’t have you bullying me to be someone I’m not. I’ll get to my messes. In my time. Not yours. And you’ll learn to live with it. I can’t have you rolling your eyes every time I leave a sock on the floor.”
“You won’t be able to see my eyes from your spot in the corner, baby.” He grinned as he stuffed a bite of rice in his mouth.
“Yeah, about that.” I waited for him to look at me. “I’m not a child, Cade. You can’t put me in time out. I know I let you spank me before. And I won’t deny it turned me on. I’ll probably let you do it again. It was hot. But standing in a corner doesn’t make me warm and fuzzy, Cade. It just makes me feel pissed.”
“It’s supposed to make you feel pissed, baby. It’s to correct behavior.”
“And it’s reserved for small children, not twenty-four-year-old women. I don’t need you to correct my behavior. Are you listening to me?”
He set his fork down. “I’m listening, Amelia. I’m just not sure I agree. Can we come back to this one? Maybe you’d be willing to try it one time? Or maybe you’d be willing to not do anything to earn you a time out in the first place.”
I took a deep breath. I could see this was going to be a tough one. “Cade—”
He cut me off. “Leave it, Amelia. Let’s come back to that.”
“Why?”
He huffed. “Because I’m a Dom, baby. That’s why. I dominate. That’s what Doms do. And you submit. That’s what submissives do. I’m trying to be reasonable, baby. I’ve agreed, for the most part, to all your other requests, but I feel strongly about this one. When we’re at home alone, I want you to bend to my will. It makes me hot, and it makes you horny. That’s why we fit together so nicely. If I don’t have any means of correcting your behavior, I’m not really a Dom, am I?”
I could see his point. I chewed on my lower lip. “Okay, how about this—I’ll let you control me any way you see fit as long as it pertains to our interactions with each other, not my messiness or how the toilet lid is placed, or whether or not my toothbrush makes it to the holder.”
“Hmm.” He considered my suggestion. “You’ll let me put you in time out?”
“I’ll consent to one trial time. Use good discretion when choosing it. If I don’t like it, I won’t do it again.”
He paused a moment. “You drive a hard bargain, Ms. Kensington.”
“Yep.” I resumed eating, stabbing into the same chicken dish he seemed to be enjoying.
“Okay. One time. I choose when and where and for what misdemeanor. Afterward, you don’t get to dismiss it so fast. We reopen discussion on this issue.”
“Deal.”
We finished dinner in companionable silence. The food was good. And surprisingly, we ate more than a reasonable amount.
When we left the table, Cade led me back to the bedroom, stripped his shirt off me, and sat me on the bed. “I need to feel your mouth around me.” He slid off his pajama pants and stroked his cock in front of my face.
I wanted that too. My sum total of blow jobs consisted of the one I’d given him months ago. I wanted to taste him again. He spent a lot of time with his mouth pressed to my pussy. It was only fair.
Cade stepped between my legs, and I wrapped my fingers around his hips, drawing him closer. I tentatively stuck my tongue out to taste the come on his slit, feeling the power I wielded when he groaned. The vibrations reverberated through his body, making his cock twitch at my lips. I licked a line down the thick vein along the top of his length and then sucked him into my mouth.
Cade grabbed my shoulders and held me steady.
I leaned closer and sucked him deeper, swirling my tongue around his cock as I thrust on and off. It didn’t take long for Cade to stiffen, his entire body rigid beneath my hands and mouth.
When he reached the edge, he grabbed my head and held me to him. He came deep in my mouth while I swallowed him, loving the way he trusted me and seemed to genuinely enjoy my ministrations, experienced or not.
When he pulled out, he leaned my head back, his hand at my neck, and kissed me soundly. “Love that mouth, baby.”
I smiled.
“Climb to the center of the bed. I’ll be right back.” He released me, and I scooted back on my ass.
I was just leaning back when he returned, holding the cuffs he’d bought me—or rather had me run around collecting that first morning of our relationship. I shivered. He’d only used them once, but the memory had kept me up at night. The control he had over me when I lay spread on his bed attached to all corners was heady. I enjoyed giving him that. Immensely. If Cade Alexander needed to tie me down and fuck me to orgasm, I was game.
Cade watched my face as he circled me, attaching first my wrists and then my ankles. “Trust me?” he asked.
“Of course.” My voice was hoarse as though I’d been shouting.
Cade opened the drawer on the nightstand and pulled something out. When he held it up for me to see, I flinched. “Have you ever used a vibrator, baby?”
“No, Sir.”
He smiled. “I really do get all your firsts, don’t I?”
“Apparently, Sir.” And this was a huge first.
Cade turned a dial on the side and the dildo came to life, buzzing in his hand. “This won’t be like my hands or my mouth, baby. It’s much faster to elicit response.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not. I didn’t really need faster. I was already horny every time he entered a room.
Cade tapped my nipple with the vibrator, making me buck my chest instantly.
“I think she understands now.” He smiled and shifted to the other nipple, making it inst
antly as hard as its twin. When he applied more pressure, I gritted my teeth. He teased my nipples back and forth, never using the same amount of force.
My knees were wide, my pussy wet. I could feel it dripping down to my ass.
Cade finally left my breasts to lower the dildo to my core. He tapped the hood of my clit first. I moaned, my eyes rolling back in my head. That thing was amazing. He wasn’t kidding. I could come a hundred times if he wanted me to. The thought made me roll my head. This was Cade’s game. I wouldn’t put that idea past him.
When Cade rolled the vibrator lower and pushed it into my pussy, I bucked. “Holy shit, Cade. I can’t—”
“You can, baby.” He removed the phallus and tapped my nipples again, coating them with my arousal.
The second I had myself under some sort of control, Cade shifted his focus and set the vibrator directly on my clit and held it.
I came so fast, I couldn’t stop it. My clit pulsed so many times in rapid succession I wasn’t sure I would live through the intensity. And still Cade held the device to my clit until I squirmed to get away.
He released me from his torture, set the vibrator aside, and climbed up my body. His crotch pressed against my sensitive core. He planted his elbows on both sides of my head. “That was gorgeous, baby.” He kissed my lips and then nibbled toward my ear. “I love watching you come. Every time it’s like you’ve never experienced it before.”
I shivered with his lips pressed to my ear. “Cade, release my arms, honey.”
He lifted his face. “Sorry, baby. Wasn’t thinking.” He reached above me and ripped the Velcro to free my wrists.
I lifted them and wrapped them around his head, burying my fingers in his hair. “Put that thing away. I think I lost brain cells.” I giggled.
“No way. I’m gonna use it often.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course you are.”
Cade chuckled as he climbed down and released my ankles. I pulled my legs together and rolled to my side. “My limbs forget how to work when you restrain me.”
Cade sat beside me and rubbed my arms, shaking them free of the tingles. “I’m gonna go turn off some lights. You need anything?”
“Mmm. Oh, hey, can you grab my phone? I should check my messages.”
“Sure. Be right back.” Cade padded from the room, his naked ass the best view as his muscles flexed with each step. I was a lucky woman. When he returned moments later, he held my purse. “I assume your phone’s in here somewhere. I was afraid to look. If the inside looks anything like your apartment floor, I thought I might get lost.”
“Ha ha.” I sat up and took my purse from his hands. When I reached inside to rummage for my phone, my hand landed on the envelope Lisa had handed me at the office. I pulled it out. “Forgot about this.”
Cade climbed up next to me and settled against the headboard. “What is it, baby?”
“No idea. Lisa said someone left it for me while I was out of the office.” I tore it open and pulled out a trifold piece of plain white paper with no company logo. Weird.
I started reading it as Cade set his hand on my thigh. And then I gasped. “Cade. Shit. What the hell?” I scooted back so he could read it with me.
“What?”
We leaned over the page.
Dear Ms. Kensington,
You don’t know me, but I feel the need to reach out to you in hopes you can help me. My name is Luke Milton. I had a brief relationship with a woman you might know, Olivia Grantham, four years ago. We were never married, but I believe she was married at the time to someone you know well, Cade Alexander. Please excuse my interference in your life, but I’m desperately trying to locate Olivia. I’ve been looking for her for four years. I heard from an acquaintance that she may have paid you a visit some time ago. Perhaps she had a child with her?
I’m confident that child is mine. She disappeared before the birth, and I’ve never met my daughter. Olivia is a slippery woman. I am not a man with enough means to pay for an ongoing team of private investigators.
If you have any information about her whereabouts, I would really appreciate the help. I have no idea if my source concerning her contact with you is accurate, but I’m running out of options. Hearsay is all I have to go on.
Please contact me any time. And allow me to apologize in advance if I’ve caused you any anguish.
Thanks in advance for your help,
Luke Milton
Just as I finished reading, Cade grabbed the paper out of my hand and jumped from the bed. “Holy shit.”
I was stunned. “Is this the man she was cheating on you with?”
“I assume. I never knew who it was. All I knew was she was fucking some other guy, and I wasn’t fucking her anymore. I had her followed and knew she was meeting someone.”
“Jesus, Cade. This woman is whacked.”
“Don’t remind me.” He grabbed his flannel pants from the floor and stepped into them. Then he sat back down on the bed and grabbed his phone from the nightstand.
I waited quietly at his side while he made several calls. I assumed he didn’t mind me listening in, or he would have left the room. The first call was a heated discussion with Riley. The second was another equally strained conversation with a man I hadn’t heard of, Parker. The third must have been to someone he already had looking for Olivia.
Finally, Cade picked up the letter, took a deep breath, and dialed the number at the bottom of the page. I wished I could hear the other end of the line, but I got the gist without, so in the end it didn’t matter.
“Hello. Is this Luke Milton?… This is Cade Alexander. I believe you sent a message to my girlfriend earlier today… Yes, she’s with me. We just read your letter together… Uh-huh. Right. Oh, trust me, I’m pissed. I’m trying to hold it together, but only by a thread… I understand, Luke, but that doesn’t make it okay for you to contact my woman behind my back… Fuck no, I wouldn’t have taken a call from you…”
I watched Cade’s face closely, holding on to his free arm, hoping my presence would calm him a little. My mind was stuck on him calling me his girlfriend. Cade Alexander, by his own admission, didn’t “do girlfriends.” My heart beat faster. I wanted to grin, but held it back. Now wasn’t the time.
He met my eyes and relaxed his shoulders marginally. “Oh, I get it. I just don’t like it… Yes, that’s true, that bitch did pay Amelia a visit. Fucked up my life for the last five months too. That crazy slut needs to be locked up… No, I haven’t heard from her personally, and Amelia hasn’t heard from her since that day either… You’re sure the kid is yours...? Fuck no, she isn’t mine. My dick was nowhere near that cunt for months before we split… Why? Because I knew she was fucking someone else, that’s why. And that someone else was you, asshole… Right… Okay…” Cade rolled his eyes, but his shoulders slumped farther.
I took this as a good sign.
“You’re right… Don’t I know it… I understand… Of course, if the kid was mine, I’d feel the same way you do… Yes… I already have an investigator looking for her… Yes… Definitely… If I find out anything, I’ll let you know…” Cade looked at me. “Yes, I’ll tell her… No, you may not… Good luck with that… Right.”
Cade hit the off button and set the phone aside. He ran his fingers through his hair and slumped back against the pillow he’d propped against the headboard. “Jesus that bitch is fucked up.” He turned toward me. “Luke sent his apologies for contacting you.”
I nodded. Cade could make a rock apologize for being in his path.
Cade scooted down until he was flat.
I settled next to him, setting my cheek on his chest. “You okay?” I whispered.
“Yeah.”
A long silence passed. I left Cade alone, knowing he was working things out in his mind. “I just don’t get it,” he finally said.
“Get what?”
“Why? Why did Olivia show up at my house and con you that day? There has to be a reason. It can’t be a coincidence. If she wa
nted me, why didn’t she ever show up after she ran you off? If she wanted money, why didn’t she come for it? If she wanted to pawn her kid off on me, again where the fuck did she go?”
I had no answers. I was thinking the same questions.
Suddenly Cade shot upright, causing me to fall off him. He jumped from the bed and began to stomp around the room. “Fuck me. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”
“What, honey?”
“Christine.”
“Riley’s fiancée?”
“The one and only. It can’t be a coincidence that you met Christine the night before and managed to ruin her life.”
I cringed. I didn’t like to think I’d ruined someone’s life, but on the other hand, I had saved Riley’s, and Christine deserved everything she got. She really was a bitch. “I don’t get the connection.”
“Christine and Olivia were in the same sorority in college, the same college Riley, Parker, and I attended. That’s how we met the girls. Those two girls were thick. I’ll bet my last dime they’re still in contact.”
“And Riley wouldn’t know that?”
“Maybe not. I don’t pay attention to who you talk to, baby. If you spent two hours talking to your girlfriends, I wouldn’t be the wiser.”
“True. Do you even know their names?” I grinned, not expecting him to remember.
“Cheyenne and Meagan. Cheyenne’s the cute pixie with the blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Meagan is the one with brown curls.” He gave me a brief eyebrow lift.
My eyes went wide. “Wow. Impressive.”
Cade shrugged. “I pay attention to women. Especially cute ones.”
“Hey now…”
“Baby, you’re so totally stuck with me. Don’t even go there.”
I grinned smugly. I knew that. He was equally stuck with me. “Speaking of which, who’s Parker?”
“Ah. Parker Darwin. He’s another friend of mine and Riley’s. We’ve been friends since we were kids. He works at another technology company in Charlotte, North Carolina, Edgewater Inc.”
“I suppose you own that building too,” I kidded.
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