The Cane Series: Complete 4-Book Box Set

by Williams, Shanora

We laid down together after the shower.

  He held me. Kissed me. Cuddled me from behind.

  I was wrapped up in his warm arms and, though I was naked and damp, I’d never felt safer. It was the perfect night, and all because he was brave enough to give it to me.

  That night, it didn’t matter that we weren’t meant to be. It didn’t matter that he was seventeen years older, or that he was CEO of a million-dollar company and I a soon-to-be college student.

  None of it mattered because in that freshly made bed, beneath the white cotton sheets, with his muscular arms around me and his soft lips in my hair, we were one, and I refused to let the harshness of reality ruin our perfect moment.

  * * *

  I don’t know when I’d fallen asleep, but when I woke up, it was still dark outside, and I was no longer tangled in Cane’s arms. The candlelight still flickered, creating bouncy, bold shadows on the wall.

  I was naked, the thin white sheets the only thing covering my body. I slid off the bed and found a black robe hanging on the door, looking into the mirror as I slid my arms into it. My hair was wild, my curls all over the place. They were going to be a bitch to tame in the morning.

  I headed out of the bedroom, down a moonlit hallway. From where I stood, I could see the moon through the tall arched window. The view was so stunning. The milky moon was perched there, on the horizon, the water rippling beneath the silky light.

  I walked down the hallway, checking each room to see if Cane was in any of them. All of them were empty save the very last room closest to the window.

  The door was wide open, this room slightly smaller than the bedroom I was just in. A large desk with a computer on top was in the far left corner, right next to a window that gave the same perfect view of the moon and lake. The seat in front of the desk was empty, but the love seat that was against the light blue wall was occupied.

  Cane sat there with no shirt on, just sweatpants, his legs spread slightly apart, with a laptop balanced across his legs. He seemed deep in thought with his eyebrows pinched together and his eyes narrowed as he clicked away at the keyboard.

  I could have watched him like this for hours. Shirtless. Tattooed. Muscled. Working. I had no doubt that Cane was passionate about his job. He talked about it every time I saw him. From where I stood, he looked boyish and innocent, like a kid in elementary school would look if he didn’t know how to answer a question on the spot.

  I was about to go back to the room and let him work, but before I could make a move, the typing stopped and he tilted his head, catching sight of me.

  “Did I wake you?” he asked with a low, soothing voice.

  “No. I just woke up and saw you weren’t there.” I held a hand up. “It’s okay. I can go back to sleep. I don’t wanna bother you.”

  “You’re not bothering me.” He shut the laptop and placed it on the stand beside him. “I’m having a hard time concentrating right now anyway. Come here.”

  My heart drummed. I tightened my fingers around the lapels of the robe, making my way toward him. I was about to sit beside him, but he shook his head and caught my waist, twisting me around so that I was facing him, and lowering me until I was on his lap.

  “You belong here,” he murmured.

  I smiled, unable to ignore the warmth gushing through me, down to an area that was now sensitive and raw. “Good thing I like it here.”

  He scanned my face before asking, “Why are you really awake?”

  “I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I always wake up around this time for some reason. At home I’ll usually go downstairs for water or juice or something and then go back to sleep.”

  “Yeah. Now that you mention it, I do remember hearing someone in the kitchen around three in the morning when we were in Destin.”

  I put on a soft, bashful smile. “It was most likely me.” I chewed on my bottom lip for a brief moment before asking, “Why aren’t you sleeping?”

  He let out a weary exhale, like he was stressed just thinking about it. “I was sleeping for about two hours. Then something came up with work. My assistant has handled most of it so that I don’t have to rush back, but I’ll have to get there eventually.”

  “Oh.”

  “To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I slept a full night.”

  “No?”

  “No.” He thought on it, looking past me. “Probably before Tempt started. I’m a napper.” He smirked. “I nap throughout the day, work all morning and night. My body is used to it now. Took that short snooze with you and then got back up to work. It’s all I can really think about these days.”

  “You really love your job.” It was a statement, not a question.

  “Very much.” When he said that, I was almost jealous of his job. He treated it like a baby—he was proud of it and refused to let anyone mess with it. I was slightly envious, but admired him even more because of it.

  “That’s a good thing,” I said. “Not many people care about their jobs.”

  “What makes you want to major in English?”

  My lips twisted for a moment as I pondered. “I don’t know. I really love writing, and in school one time, we had to go over someone else’s paper and edit it, which was fun to me. While everyone else hated it, I was thrilled. Ever since that conversation we had at the baseball game, I’ve also considered modeling. Is that weird?”

  “Not at all. You’d make a beautiful model.”

  “Shut up,” I laughed.

  “I’m not kidding.” His eyes were serious, but his soft smile remained. “You’re beautiful, Kandy. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.”

  “Thanks.” I blushed. I could feel it all over my face. My neck.

  Cane gripped my hips, lowering his eyes to the robe. “You look good in that.”

  “Your robe,” I noted.

  “Yeah.” His fingers trailed up the cotton. When he reached the top lapel, he slid it over, revealing my left shoulder and breast. My nipple instantly tightened when the air hit it, and as his eyes drank me in, he sucked in a sharp breath, like he couldn’t believe what he was looking at. Like seeing me bared before him was so good it hurt.

  He used his other hand to push the fabric away, and both my breasts were exposed, my nipples pointed at him.

  I had to fight the urge to cover up. This was all so new to me—being completely naked and revealed—but he loved it as far as I could tell. I had a feeling not only did he get off on my nakedness, but also the vulnerability of the situation.

  “Lift up for me,” he murmured, his voice a little more gravelly.

  I lifted my hips, and he dropped his hands to lower his sweatpants and pull out his beautiful cock. It was stiff and thick, and even with only the moonlight as leeway, his size was still daunting.

  Cane gripped my hips and brought me forward so that my entrance was directly above his dark crown. I swallowed hard, wrapping an arm around the back of his neck.

  “I told you I would teach you things,” he mumbled. “Right now, I’m going to teach you how to ride me.”

  “I’m afraid I won’t be that good at it,” I whined.

  “I’ll guide you. Just do what feels right.”

  His words calmed me. I bobbed my head, and he held my waist with one hand, dropping the other to grip the base of his cock. My body shuddered when I felt him at my entrance, then slowly he lowered me, filling me up inch by slow inch. I tightened the arm I had around the back of his neck, sucking in a sharp breath as I tried adjusting around his size. It stung again, the pain spreading between my thighs, but it wasn’t as painful as the first or second time.

  “Breathe, my sweet Kandy,” he cooed. The hand he had on my hip came up to the back of my neck. He slid it up until his fingers were tangled in my frizzy hair. Those same fingers brought my head forward to press our foreheads together. The hand that had been guiding his cock came up to my waist, and he used it to shift my hips forward and back.

  “Ride it,” he growled on my mouth. “Fuck me like you
’ve always wanted to fuck me.” I clenched around him, and he felt it, groaning deeply, breathing raggedly through his nostrils. “Your pussy belongs around my cock, baby. You know that?”

  I shook my head, trying to find the rhythm and keep it there. He was so big inside me, making me feel fuller than ever before.

  “Talk to me,” he groaned. “Let me hear your voice.”

  “It feels really good,” I confessed. “So good.”

  “Yeah? You like having me inside you?”

  “Yes,” I breathed.

  “How long have you wanted to fuck me like this?”

  “For so long. So long.” I wrapped both arms around the back of his neck, and he dropped his hands to my waist, guiding my hips again.

  “Fuck,” he groaned. He squeezed my ass, like he couldn’t hold on tight enough. I was getting a little better at it, rocking front to back then sideways and up. I was sure he was enjoying it. He’d dropped his hands to my ass to squeeze it, then sucked on the bend of my neck, burying himself deeper. “Don’t hold back on me, baby. Moan for me. Let me hear all the sexy noises you can make.”

  So I did, because truthfully, I was holding back. I didn’t want to sound stupid or like an amateur porn tape. I had no idea what I was doing, and I was sure there were other women that were ten times better and more experienced than me. Women like Kelly.

  The thought of her sent a wave of jealousy over me, but she didn’t have him right now. I did.

  He was mine.

  All mine.

  He was buried deep inside me, not her, and that thought alone gave me all the satisfaction and empowerment I needed.

  I rode Cane’s cock faster, and harder, moaning in his ear, sliding up and down on his thick, hard, beautiful cock. My fingers got tangled in his dark tresses, my pussy clenching his length.

  “Yeah, baby. Just like that,” he groaned.

  I swiveled my hips, lowering my head to kiss him. I needed his lips. I needed all of him. I wanted to breathe him in, wrap myself up in him. I wanted all of Quinton Cane. Every single trace of him.

  So I fucked him, just the way he wanted me to.

  I rode his cock, even while feeling his body grow tense and his cock harden and throb inside me. I rode him until he was grunting and squeezing and cursing under his breath. I rode him until he was thrusting upward while forcing my hips down to get as deep as possible, making me scream his name and beg for more.

  And then, before I could take in a full breath, he was groaning. “Ah! Shit, Kandy.”

  He was coming.

  Coming for me.

  Inside me.

  All for me.

  I caught his bottom lip between my teeth as I came too, moaning into his mouth as we both shot up to heaven and floated right back down to earth.

  I breathed raggedly against his mouth while he panted. His eyes slowly drifted up to mine.

  “How the hell am I supposed to let this go?” he mumbled on my lips.

  “You don’t,” I told him, gripping his face in my hands. “Don’t let me go.”

  He stared up at me, and I saw the guilt swim in his eyes but chose to ignore it. I was glad when he pushed up on one arm to stand, bringing me up with him. He slipped out of me, but held me snug to his body, walking out of the office to get back to the bedroom.

  He laid me down on the bed and then curled up behind me. I sighed, loving every moment of this. I loved it so much that it pained me to know that, inevitably, this would come to an end. Our time together would soon be interrupted with real-life shit.

  I wanted more nights like this. More moments to cherish. I craved more time with him, but knew I couldn’t have it. At least, not in the way I really wanted it.

  “You know that when we get back, things won’t be the same,” he said, low in my ear, running his palm over the top of my arm. “There’s your mom and dad. There’s work. College. Distance. Life.”

  My eyes burned just thinking about it. “I know,” I whispered, and I hated that my voice cracked.

  “I just…I don’t want you to hold on to this for too long. Okay, Kandy? The last thing I want to do is disappoint you by not being there when you need me. As much as I’d like to be selfish with you, I know you deserve to live your life. Meet new people. Do new things.”

  “I know, Cane. I understand.”

  “No, baby,” he said, laughing so deeply it made my belly flutter. “You don’t understand. You won’t for a while, honestly.”

  “Just promise that you won’t avoid or ignore me. Things will change, yeah, but don’t let it be for the worse.”

  He was quiet for several seconds. All I could hear was my pulse in my ears, trying to find a steady rhythm again. “I won’t avoid or ignore you, as long as you promise to behave when we’re around your family.”

  I turned over, pushing my pelvis into his and sliding into his arms. “I promise.”

  He kissed my forehead. “Good.” Stroking my cheek, he let out a deep sigh, looking over me to the window. “I haven’t felt this good before. Complete like this. It’s a strange feeling.”

  “How so?”

  “To be in bed with another woman and not want to leave? With Kelly it was just a quick fuck and separate showers. We’d lie in bed together but not for very long, and even while I held her like this…I didn’t really feel anything. But with you…” He trailed off, dropping his eyes to mine. The moonlight made his shimmer, and I saw more green than gray this time. “I feel everything, and I don’t understand it. Being with you is fucked up, we both know that, but…it feels so fucking right. And sometimes I hate how right it feels. If it felt wrong, it’d be much easier to let go. End it.”

  “I feel the same way,” I confessed. “If only we both felt the same way you did with Kelly. A small connection. Maybe it would be a lot easier.”

  “Maybe.”

  I pressed my lips, a sudden guilt sweeping over me. “Why’d you have to be my dad’s best friend?” I laughed, but the laugh hurt my chest and my heart. “Why couldn’t you be a stranger I met on a bus or a plane or even in a dirty bathroom?”

  “Why’d you have to want me so damn bad?” His laugh was deep and sweet and made my belly flutter. “And why did I have to want you just as much?”

  “I don’t know,” I mumbled. My eyelids became heavy again, my whole body sated. It was amazing how content he made me. I’d never been so settled in all my life. “I don’t think we’ll ever know. I just know that it’s hard as hell to fight it.”

  He was still stroking my cheek. His touch was comforting. I loved it—being caressed and held like this. I felt safe and whole and my body oozed with warmth and pleasure. I didn’t want to be anywhere else but in his arms.

  “Well, one day,” Cane whispered, just as I was drifting off to sleep, “fighting is what you’ll have to do to save yourself from me.”

  I fell asleep before I could respond.

  39

  CANE

  I watched her sleep until slivers of gold spilled over the horizon and the sky transitioned from a silvery, midnight blue to an orange-y haze.

  I’d never seen anyone sleep so peacefully. My family hardly ever slept, and if they did, it was because they were shit-faced and had passed out. Being around someone this good for so long was strange to me.

  I truly couldn’t figure out what made Kandy so different, though I’d thought about it many times. For a while, I thought that maybe it was because she was my best friend’s daughter. I’d watched her grow up, spent many years around her and her family, which created an automatic bond.

  Maybe it was because she understood me, too. She gave me what I needed during all the right moments, and received just as much from me.

  But the biggest reason that hit me was that I knew I wasn’t supposed to want her. Our illicit time together gave me a thrill, even though that thrill could turn out to be my downfall.

  If there was one thing I knew about myself, it was that I liked to torture myself. Sometimes I felt like I needed
the punishment, especially when things in my life were going too well. I would rather punish myself than let the universe fuck me over.

  I loved Kandy. I loved that little girl so fucking much. It started as something innocent and friendly, and blossomed into more. It hit me like a train when I realized how I felt for her. Before the night Derek was shot, she was just…Kandy. Just a girl. My best friend’s daughter, a friend, and nothing more. But after that, I saw her in a new light. She wasn’t a little girl anymore, I realized. She had breasts and full hips, and a beautiful, fresh face. Her creamy, tan thighs and ass had filled out so much. I noticed all those things and began to want her.

  All I could think about was Kandy Jennings after that. At work. At the gym. While I traveled. Even in those rare moments when I dreamed. It was always Kandy.

  She deserved so much better than this. I wasn’t the right man for her, and deep down, she knew that, but she wanted me anyway. Once this weekend was over, blissful moments together like this would never happen again.

  I loved my best friend. Loved him like a fucking brother. I owed him everything. I couldn’t ruin our foundation or keep stabbing him in the back like this. Our friendship was too strong and our bond ran way too deep, and at the end of the day, Kandy was still his little girl—a sweet, young, beautiful girl who, one day, would get over me. I had no idea how I was going to move past her, especially when the future meant seeing her over and over again, but there would be no choice.

  She was going to school. The distance would separate us and she’d eventually find a guy her age.

  I would continue building Tempt, work my ass off, travel, and stay on top of my empire. I’d worked so hard for my company. I couldn’t let it collapse after everything I’d been through. Kandy was a distraction, but in just days she’d be gone and Tempt would still be here.

  I loved Kandy to death, but I couldn’t let my love for her—or my lust for her body—stop me from achieving my goals. Eventually, we were going to have to let this shit go, no matter how hard it would be in the end.