by Rynne Raines
Great, another lovebird.
“You could say that.” She opened her eyes and set her gaze on Caitlyn. With any luck, she could avoid paying witness to the customary greeting Evan and his wife shared on a daily basis. Instead, she wanted to hop a cab and be inside her fourth pint of ice cream within the hour. “Fortunately my clients got the urge and let me out early.”
Gorgeous as usual, she thought bitterly as she skimmed the cream satin blouse and snug gray polyester skirt before moving up to Caitlyn’s golden blonde hair swooped back in a tidy and intricate knot. Kill me now. How did the woman always look so damn perfect? If Evan knew what was good for him he’d have her locked away in one of those curio cabinets where fine porcelain dolls belonged. It was no wonder he only needed one woman. She grimaced and absently touched a hand to her own unruly hair.
“I think Evan’s still in the boutique dealing with an inventory discrepancy. I could page him if you want me to—”
“We need to talk. In private, preferably.” Caitlyn interrupted.
“Oh.” Bianca tugged on one of her earrings. “Everything okay?”
“To be honest, no. I’ve a confession to make and I know you won’t like it, but please just hear me out.”
Yeah, the ice cream would have to wait.
There was something unsettling about being in the boss’s office, alone with his wife, and the word “confession” hanging in the air. Thankfully, this wasn’t some B-rated film, she wasn’t the secretary, nor was she the one needing to confess. Even so, it was awkward. Caitlyn perched on the edge of the sofa. Her strappy pewter heels tapped the floor while she wrung her hands in her lap. Hesitantly, Bianca took a seat beside her and tried to keep her own foot from tapping.
“Forgive me. I’m just, well, just searching for the right words.” The nervous energy was coming off in waves. “I understand you’ll continue teaching your classes solo.”
Word travels fast when you were the wife of Evan Chambers, Bianca mused. It was only a few hours ago that Evan called her into his office and informed her Cade had turned down the job. As promised, he was no welsher.
“Yeah,” she said and her gut wrenched. “I’m used to being on my own though, and I’m pretty comfortable that way. It keeps things less complicated.”
“Less complicated,” Caitlyn snapped and plucked at the invisible lint on her skirt. “Is that what you think of Cade? That he’s a complication?”
“I was referring more to working in groups.” No, she wasn’t. “I’m sorry, what was it you wanted to talk about?”
“Life without complication is boring. The same shit day in and out, no sense of excitement. No risk, no reward.”
“Maybe I should grab Evan and—”
“Look, I shouldn’t have done it, but the fact is, I did. I didn’t honestly think you’d have to find out.” A few golden wisps escaped the knot as she shook her head. “I swear to you it started out as innocent. No one was supposed to get hurt.”
Wow. Could the conversation hit any higher on the crazy scale? Perhaps the shrink could use a few hours on the couch.
“Caitlyn,” she said slowly. “If you want me to understand, you’ll need to be more specific.”
“You’re right.” She threw up her hands. “You’re absolutely right, and I’m sorry, but you should’ve heard his voice this afternoon. He sounded wretched.”
“Who? Who sounded wretched?”
“Cade, of course.”
Bianca swore under her breath. Was there a submissive in the metropolitan area Sinclair didn’t know? “So, you know him, too?”
“Yes.” She sighed. “We met at a lifestyles conference two years ago. We share a thirst for knowledge.”
The subtle curve of the kidney-shaped coffee table blurred before Bianca’s eyes. It started out as innocent. No one was supposed to get hurt. As the words replayed, she lifted her gaze back to the stress lines marring Caitlyn’s natural beauty. Confession. Cade. Oh, God.
It came like lightning, the quick flash of anger splintering into a thousand threads of confusion. Her first instinct was to wrap her fingers around Caitlyn’s perfect slender neck and squeeze, but she battled it back and cursed. “Yeah, I really think you should be having this conversation with your husband.”
“What? Oh, no.” She gripped Bianca’s wrist before she could stand. “Evan already knows. He’s been lecturing me about it from day one.”
Evan already knew about the affair and Cade was still breathing?
“Am I interrupting?” Evan’s large frame filled the doorway and Bianca nearly choked.
“Not at all,” Caitlyn replied before shifting her gaze back to Bianca’s. “Just clearing the air.”
“Glad to hear it.”
Oh hell, Bianca gaped. She’d entered the goddamn Twilight Zone, shit was about to hit the fan, and her only exit was twenty paces away and blocked by a human refrigerator.
“Secrecy irritates the hell out of me.” He shut the door behind him and shrugged out of his designer suit jacket. “So, you haven’t strangled my meddlesome wife yet. Always a good sign.”
“I wasn’t meddling. I was matchmaking.”
“Same difference, sweetheart.”
“Matchmaking?” Bianca’s head swiveled from one to the other.
“Maybe minor meddling.” Caitlyn’s scowl slipped into a frown as she covered Bianca’s hands with her own. “Okay, okay. I’m sorry, he’s right. I was major meddling, but I only did it because I care about both of you. When I discovered you were the one who got away, I thought if you shared some time together that maybe…well…that maybe you would give it another chance. Please, don’t blame Evan. The extra instructor was my idea. I still think it should’ve worked. You’re clearly perfect for each other.”
The room spun, along with Bianca’s head.
“Wait—y—you’re not having an affair with Cade?”
“What?” Caitlyn squeaked, then swatted Evan for his boom of laughter. “Whatever gave you that idea? An affair?”
“I’ve heard Sinclair’s good, but I assure you,” Evan arched an eyebrow and grinned, “no man alive is that good.”
After the initial shock, and when the reality of the situation sank in, the knots in her shoulders loosened. Bianca unclenched her fingers that had gone white. Relief. Confusion. More relief. It was all a set-up. Perhaps an innocent one and with good intentions, but a set-up.
“He’s in love with you, you know.”
“Caitlyn,” Evan warned. Bianca’s heart jumped as her gaze settled on Caitlyn’s matter of fact expression. In love with her? If Cade was in love with her, he certainly had a funny way of showing it.
“What?” Caitlyn gave her husband innocent eyes. “Doesn’t the woman have a right to know what she’s giving up?”
“Apparently Cade has a lot of love to go around,” Bianca muttered, before she could stop herself.
Because she could see the confusion contorting both of their faces, and because she was tired of keeping everything bottled up, she let it out. “Had an interesting conversation with a young woman at Halo yesterday. She clarified just how high I ranked on the food chain and, out of the goodness of her blackened heart, suggested I should cut my losses.” Oh, it felt good to say it. “And I know some people in the lifestyle don’t mind the sharing factor, but I’m not one of them.”
“This woman, her name wouldn’t happen to be, Karlie, would it?” Bianca didn’t have time to answer before Caitlyn leapt to her feet. “That lying little shrew—now you listen to me, there’s no way in hell Cade would touch that little slut with a hundred foot pole.”
“Why on earth would she lie?”
“Because Cade’s the only man she can’t wrap around her little finger and it pisses her off, that’s why!”
“She’s quite the troublemaker,” Evan added while Caitlyn fumed. “I actually heard the owners of Halo are going to ban her from the club, to cut down on the drama she’s been causing.”
“Look, I appreciate
you guys trying to help, but even if Karlie’s a lying bitch, this has happened before, four years ago, when I went to drop off my information to pursue a relationship with Cade.” Bianca pinched the bridge of her nose as she remembered being confronted by one of Cade’s other women. After so many years, it shouldn’t have bothered her. But it did. It had been the most mortifying experience of her life.
“Trust me, Bianca, if there’s anything I know about Cade, it’s that he’s a one-woman man.” Caitlyn looked to Evan, then back at Bianca. “It must’ve been another misunderstanding. Did you ask him about it?”
“No.”
“That’s it. Get up.” Caitlyn yanked Bianca off the sofa and dragged her toward the door. “After tonight, he’s planning on taking a month off to clear his head, get away from the scene. He’s leaving for Baltimore in the morning. I think we can still catch him at Halo if we hurry.”
“Wait. No.” Bianca dug her heels into the carpet. “I honestly don’t think he’ll want to see me. I—things didn’t end well between us yesterday.”
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
Hopelessly.
“Well…I…” Bianca sighed and wrinkled her nose, “…yes. I love him.”
Caitlyn tapped the tip of Bianca’s nose with her keys and smiled. “I’ll drive.”
****
Bianca’s palms were damp with sweat. Something surreal took place inside a person after admitting to a long-harbored secret love. Although she hadn’t told Cade yet, saying it to Caitlyn somehow made it more…real.
As she stood in front of Cade’s office door, her heartbeat was rapid and her knees were knocking. Bianca credited half her shaky physical state to what Caitlyn referred to as “aggressive driving” and half to the fear of rejection.
This was ridiculous. He wouldn’t want to see her, not after the charade she’d put on last night. Remembering his eyes, remembering the raw exposed pain that had flashed in them before he’d left her standing alone and quaking in the studio, she winced. Even if he did love her, how could he want to see her after she’d been so cold?
Regardless of every excuse that would make leaving things alone seem the lesser of the two evils, her feet remained planted firmly to the floor. The standard sized door in front of her somehow seemed massive and intimidating. She could hear it snickering at her with its haunting, chilling laughter.
Don’t be a coward, Bianca.
She raised her shaking fingers to the door and rapped her knuckles three times. Breathe. Out of habit, she shoved her hair back behind her ears as her toe drummed the concrete. Maybe Cade had already left—the scuffle of feet across the floor grated in her eardrums. Maybe not.
The door opened.
In slow motion and in disbelief, Bianca’s eyes rose from black-currant heels, up snug denim jeans, over a beautiful cashmere sweater and settled on the face of the woman who had haunted her nights the last four years.
****
Traffic in Los Angeles was a bitch. What in the hell was every idiot and their dog doing taking a joyride down the strip when he had places to be? Cursing, Cade jerked off his chinstrap, leapt from his bike and stormed toward the smoked glass entrance of Eden. Frustrated, he clenched his fists and muttered as adrenaline propelled him up the steps two at a time. On the way over, he’d pushed the speedometer higher than he should have, taken the corners carelessly and ran three red lights. He didn’t care. Too much time lost. Too many lies.
“Hey, pal, can’t park here.” The officer’s voice didn’t breach the chaos of his mind. “Ye hear me, fancy pants? This here’s a tow-away zone. Move the bike.”
Fancy pants? Christ.
He jogged up the last few steps and without looking back, hollered, “Just write me the fuckin’ ticket.”
There could’ve been a hundred tickets flapping on his windshield when he came outside and it wouldn’t have bothered him, not so long as he got to Bianca and convinced her he wasn’t the bastard she thought he was.
A knot coiled in his stomach as he entered Eden and raced a gaze around the room. He squinted and clenched his helmet in his hand. Why were these clubs always so goddamn dark? The sight of Chambers had him across the dance floor in five long strides.
“Where the hell is she?” Evan frowned, then waved off the young woman holding a clipboard and pen. “Where’s Bianca?”
“Not here.”
“Fuck.” Cade shoved a restless hand though his hair. “Then where?”
“I was under the impression she was going to see you. The girls left about half an hour ago and, with my wife’s ‘aggressive driving,’” he rolled his eyes, “they probably made it to Halo in fifteen.”
“What? No. No.” He stumbled back. “God, no.”
****
This was hell, Bianca thought as she teetered and fought the need to grab the doorframe for stability. Only this time, the Devil wasn’t sneering at her, like she’d done four years ago. The elegant brunette who’d accosted her the Sunday after the masquerade, in Bianca’s opinion, had seen better days. Wisps of dark, frazzled hair framed those gaunt, sculptured cheeks. Her nose and eyes were red, her lower lip quivering. If the woman’s image hadn’t been burned into her subconscious, she might have questioned if it was, in fact, the same person.
“I—I’m looking for Cade.” Bianca squared her shoulders, her tone rigid. “Where is he?”
“He’s not here but—oh, please, don’t leave!” She snatched hold of Bianca’s wrist. “Please. Please, I’ve made a horrible mistake. Oh, God, I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”
Tears were one thing. She could handle tears. But when the woman pulled her into a death grip and sobbed apology after apology against her shoulder, Bianca found herself at a loss. She’d always wondered how she would react to another encounter with the beautiful brunette who’d tainted the most blissful week of her life by telling her the truth about Cade. She never imagined this.
A torrent of mixed emotions flooded through her, and, beyond the anger, resentment and bitter jealousy, sympathy won out.
“Um…it’s okay. Don’t cry.” She circled her palm over the silky cashmere. “Just try to relax, it’ll be okay…hush…everything will be okay.”
“G—God, how can you be s—so nice…” she sniffled, “…a—after all those horrible things I said to you. No wonder my brother’s in love with you.”
Bianca froze.
“Oh, please, don’t punish him for what I did.”
When the room finally stopped spinning, she cupped the woman’s shoulders and held her at arm’s length. A lump lodged in throat. The rich dark hair was a similar shade. The vivid green eyes, although cat-like and feminine, were the mirror image of Cade’s.
“You’re his sister,” she murmured.
“If he hasn’t disowned me yet.” After a quick dab with a tattered tissue, she extended her hand. “Rachel Sinclair.”
Out of habit, she reached for the hand. Wait one damn second, Bianca’s mind screamed. Are you seriously going to shake the hand of a woman wrenched your heart out and stomped on it? “No. No, I don’t want to play polite—you lied to me,” she snapped. “You told me you were his lover—why? Why would you do that?”
“I know. I’m sorry. Please. Just, please, come inside and let me explain.”
Bianca hesitated. Was it an explanation she was going to get or more lies? Giving the woman the benefit of the doubt might be a mistake but she stepped inside and closed the door anyway.
Rachel crossed the room and grabbed a tissue box off the corner of Cade’s desk before settling into a chair. She cradled the box against her chest and swiped at the raccoon smears under her eyes.
“I thought I was protecting him. You have to believe me.”
“I don’t have to believe anything.”
Years of proper manners, taught by her mother, urged her to take the chair opposite Rachel, but she refused. She didn’t want to sit. She wanted to pace and yell and cry, but unfortunately, throwing a tantrum
wouldn’t get her answers. So she folded her arms and dug her fingernails into her skin to stop from losing it. “Protecting him from what? Me? You don’t even know me.”
“No, no. Not you. The lifestyle.” She sniffled and took a moment to blow her nose. “At the time when I met you, Cade was bartending at the fetish club and already had three years into the university. He and I rarely saw each other for much more than quick visits here and there. Maybe it was jealousy.” She shrugged. “He’s the only immediate family I have. When I felt like I was losing him to something I didn’t know anything about, it made me insane. So I got nosey, started asking around about the lifestyle. My social circle was nothing short of mortified when I brought up the word ‘fetish.’ I was embarrassed for bringing it up and, at the same time, I was concerned for my little brother’s well-being. I confronted him.”
Oh, that must have gone over well, Bianca mused, and relaxed a measure.
“Of course, he was furious and told me I’d been misinformed.” Rachel waved the tissue and dropped her hands back into her lap. “When he tried to explain how it really worked, I wouldn’t listen. I’d made up my mind how I felt about his choice to be involved with such people and I made sure he knew it. After that, we couldn’t be in the same room without arguing. It got to the point where we only saw each other at Christmas and birthdays. Then, eventually, never.”
“I still don’t see how that has anything to do with me.” More confused than angry now, she finally settled into a chair.
“Believe it or not, Cade and I were very close before any of this happened. Even when he shut me out of his life, I hadn’t given up on convincing him that he was going down the wrong path. After much persuading, he agreed to meet me for a quick visit. I was waiting in the entrance when you came into the club. He was bartending, as usual, and the girl at the desk had gone back to tell him I was there.”
“You told me you worked there.”
“A lie. When you thought I was the clerk and said you wanted to leave your information for Sin, I put two and two together and knew the message was for my brother. Though I didn’t exactly know how the lifestyle worked, I knew how women did. I figured he’d be less appealing if you believed he was involved with a series of women, that they were merely his trophies, that it was just a game to him.”