by Sofia Finn
“Of course,” he smiled.
More guilt. Tell him.
No, not yet.
Cage took care of the hospital bill, but luckily Ela had great health insurance through me, so everything was only a couple of hundred bucks.
Afterward, as we approached Cage’s car, Ela stopped.
“Is this your car, Cage? It’s so cool!”
“Thanks, Ela,” he smiled down at her. “Do you like cars?”
She nodded fervently. “Uh-huh. My friend Brandon has a toy car. We play with it all the time.”
“I didn’t know you liked toy cars, Ela.” I looked down at my daughter. “Since when?”
She shrugged. “I dunno. I just like them.”
“So do I, Ela,” Cage caught my eye. “It seems we have more in common than we thought.”
Shit. I had to tell him. Soon. Before my lies got caught up with me.
14
Maddie
Something tickled between my thighs.
I opened my eyes to find it was still dark out, although the birds chirping suggested it was nearly daybreak. It’d been a week since we moved in with Cage, and the birds were always there like clockwork. I tried to move but found both legs secured to the bedposts, my arms too.
“Having a little trouble?” Cage smirked up at me from his position, with his head in between my legs.
Oh, Lord. It was my fantasy come to life.
“Cage…” I struggled against the boundaries. He seemed to be in a torturing mood, and I didn’t know if I could take it. But God, I wanted to.
“Speak now, Maddie,” he murmured as he kissed his way up my thigh. “Or forever hold your peace.”
The closer he got, the more my heart raced in anticipation. I could feel my hips moving upwards in welcome, urging him to go faster. I felt the wetness of my lower half.
Cage chuckled. “I can’t believe you’re this turned on already.”
“Please, Cage.” I wasn’t above begging for it. I always ended up doing it anyway. “I’m ready. So don’t tease me, ok?”
“You’re not in control of this, remember?” He got even closer. The heartless bastard brushed his lips over the sensitive patch of skin between my thigh and my pussy. “And unfortunately for you, I really really like teasing you.”
I bit my lips to halt more pleas. He wouldn’t listen anyway. I could feel his breathing over my slit. He was so close. My hips raised again involuntarily, seeking his mouth. He nuzzled my pussy, breathing in deeply.
“You smell so good, Maddie.”
“Cage…” A gasp escaped me as his nose nudged my clit, already raw and sensitive from the play.
“You’re already wet for me, aren’t you?” Cage continued in that sultry voice of his. “God, do you know what it does to me to see you like this?” His fingers came into play, mapping out my center before coming up to flick the clit. “And when I do that, you just shake all over. Did you know that?”
I could feel the vibrations overtaking my body. I couldn’t take it. “Cage…” The protest ended in a moan, as he spread my lips apart and took one long swipe right at the center. My toes curled into the sheets, body arched in the air. I felt like I was levitating. I wanted the sweet torture to end, but I also wanted it to continue. Clearly, I was losing my mind.
“Mmmm,” Cage said. “Peaches and cream. My favorite.”
I looked down to see an intense look on his face as he considered my cunt. And then, with a lusty moan, he buried his face in it and began to eat me out earnestly.
“Oh God.” It was difficult to describe the sensations tearing through my body. It was like being struck by lightning, but instead of going through me, the current was trapped inside, bouncing around. I gasped for air, only to have it stolen again when he began to nibble at my clit. Oh God. My limbs struggled against their bonds. I wasn’t going to survive. It was all too intense. My vision became hazy and crazed words babbled from my mouth.
But it was fine because Cage seemed to be as lost in the moment as I was.
In between licks and sucks, he would also mutter things, unintelligible things about how good I tasted and how much he wanted me. More of me. All of me. I nearly cried when I heard it, ached with the need to give him everything. The truth was right there at the tip of my tongue as the fever reached its peak. I wanted to scream out my love for him as my whole body strained. My head drove back into the mattress, and my chest burned with the incoming release.
“Cage!” The climax tore through me then, but Cage didn’t stop working until I had sagged against the sheets limply. I felt like a wrecked ship after a storm.
“Wow,” was all I said as he brought his lips to mine. I tasted myself on him, but I didn’t mind. He pulled back, looking very happy with himself.
“Good?”
“If it had been any better, I would have died,” I jiggled the silky strings he had tied my hands with. “Where on earth did you get these?”
“I had them lying around,” he said with a secret smile. I rolled my eyes. Of course, he did. Cage was always prepared for everything.
“Well, inspector Gadget, better release me before my arms start to lose blood flow.”
To tell you the truth, the ties were not that uncomfortable, and I was certainly in no danger of loss of blood flow. But I had a plan that required me to have hands and feet, and I didn’t want him to suspect.
And the moment he released them, I set my plan in motion. Before he knew what was happening, I shoved him onto his back. He held himself up by his elbows and grabbed hold of his cock, which already stood hard and ready between his legs.
Cage swore when I grabbed at him, his head falling back. “Careful, Maddie. You’re playing a dangerous game here.
“Am I?” I squeezed experimentally, leading to another curse and his hands snapped around my palm.
“You might be biting off more than you can chew here.”
“Relax,” I said teasingly, keeping my eyes on him as I leaned down to brush my lips over the head. His gaze had turned stormy. “Lucky for you… I don’t bite.”
Cage hopped out of bed and headed to the bathroom only a few minutes after we finished.
“Wait.” I caught his hands and pouted. “Where are you going? I thought we were going to cuddle a little bit?”
Cage smiled at me, reaching down and brushing a kiss over my forehead that went straight to my heart. “I would love to, babe. But I have to get to work.”
Babe. My heart warmed at the affectionate term, but I frowned at the rest of his words.
“Didn’t you have an afternoon shift today?” It was probably around 5:30 in the morning, and morning shifts didn’t start till 7:00.
“I know. I have a few proposals I need to look over for Burke international, then get some charting done and start reviewing all the cases I have for next week.”
Jeez, what a workaholic. No wonder Cage always looked exhausted lately. I had seen him once or twice at his desk, rubbing his skull as if he had a massive headache. All the stress couldn’t be good for his health.
“You work too much, Cage,” I said. “You ever think of slowing down and letting someone else take the rails every once in a while?”
“Yeah, someone else like who?” His voice had a trace of bitterness. “Ben?”
I didn’t miss the accusing undertone. I let go of his hand, the warm cocoon of a moment broken. “I was just trying to help you.”
He sighed. “Yeah, I know. I’m sorry I snapped at you. It’s just that there’s no one else for the responsibility to fall too.”
“Surely, someone else at the company…”
But he was already shaking his head. “People screw up all the time, so I would need to double-check anyway. My great grandfather built this company from the ground. I won’t let anything jeopardize that.”
“That’s a little neurotic.”
He shrugged. “It’s who I am.”
I didn’t want to fight anymore, so I decided to let it go. For now
.
Paola, the new nanny, was early today as usual. Cage was right. She really was perfect for the job. She had an easy-going but professional demeanor and was always attentive to Ela. I liked her a lot, and more importantly, Ela liked her too.
I let her take Ela to school that morning, so I could get to work early. Cage had gotten me a car, arguing that the subway was simply too far to walk to. It was a sensible little BMW that I liked, but I had only given in to driving because it was between that and letting him drive me to work every morning. Cage didn’t care about exposing our relationship to the world, but he was the boss, and I was just an employee. I had to worry about these things. And I didn’t even know if what we had was a relationship or if it was just a fuck buddy thing. We had not put a label on it yet, both of us simply letting things happen. Either way, it was probably something short-lived, and I wasn’t willing to jeopardize my job over it.
After I got there, I went straight to room 6.
“Hey Tate,” I said as I entered his room. “You finally get to go home today. Are you excited?”
The boy looked up at me with such sadness it broke my heart.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
He shook his head.
I walked to him and put my hand over his, the one without the IVs. He had been an in-patient for a month, but three weeks of that were ups and downs for him. Although, in the past week, he had been stable and improving physically. We were observing him to make sure he remained that way.
I had noticed him getting more and more withdrawn as the days went by, but anytime I asked what was wrong, he would simply shut down. Well, I was finally going to get to the bottom of it.
I sat by his bed. “Tate, we’re friends, aren’t we?”
He looked up at me and nodded.
“And because we’re friends, we’re supposed to tell each other secrets. Or whatever is bothering us. I’ll start. I have a friend who works way too hard, and I want him to stop because it’s not good for him. I’m worried he’ll get sick with how hard he’s working and die at a young age from a heart attack or something like that. But whenever I tell him, he doesn’t listen, and that frustrates me. So now I don’t know what to do.”
Tate gives me a sympathetic look, and I smiled.
“Okay. Now you tell me what’s wrong?”
He was quiet for a long while, then he finally admitted quietly, “I don’t want to go home.”
I figured as much. “Okay. Why not?”
His fingers began fidgeting with his blanket, and then he clutched them so hard his knuckles turned red. Finally, he shook his head.
“Tell me, Tate,” I said firmly, in my best Cage Burke impression.
“I can’t,” he said, and his voice broke in a sob. “If I do, they’ll send me back to the orphanage, and I don’t want that. That’s even worse.”
Growing as I had, I had been around many kids who were victims of the foster care system. These kids were abused by foster parents but were too scared to say anything because they did not want to face the abuse of orphanages or group homes. Kids who would rather be homeless than that.
“What do your parents do?” I asked gently. “Do they hit you…touch you…”
He was quiet at first but shook his head after that.
His parents physically abused him.
Rage. I could feel the blood rising in my veins at the realization and would not have been surprised if smoke came out of my ears. I didn’t want Tate to see me lose it. He might think it’s his fault. I had to get out of here.
“I’ll be right back, Tate,” I made for the door, ignoring his stricken look.
Only to find that Tessa had led his foster parents, Mr. and Mrs. asshole, right up to Tate’s room. They looked unassuming, like a normal middle-aged couple. The father was tall and lanky, the mother short and round. They had smiles that looked like they stepped out of a Hallmark movie. But to me, they might as well have been Satan themselves.
I wanted to lunge myself at them for what they did to Tate, but I tried to keep my temper in check. I really tried.
Tessa frowned when she saw me but quickly hid it behind a fake smile. “Are his discharge papers ready yet?”
“Tate’s not going anywhere,” I said, trying to keep my voice from shaking. “We still need the doctor to perform some evaluations on him, and we probably need the social worker to see him again.”
“Why?” Mr. Collins asked, and I didn’t miss his nervous shuffle. “They already saw him and said that everything was fine.”
“Yes, but we found some old bruises on Tate,” I lied. “So, we’ll have to get checked again.”
The father’s eyes shifted. It was him.
“You old bastard.” The words left my mouth before I could stop them.
They all gaped at me.
“Are you insane?” Tessa cried, coming forward. “How dare you treat a client like that?”
“Stay out of this, Tessa.”
“No, I won’t! You think you can run shit just because you’re fucking the boss! Yeah, that’s right, I know. My friend over at Mercy General saw you two getting cozy in the ER last week. What? You looking for a new daddy for that bastard daughter of yours—”
That’s when I exploded. Before I knew what was happening, my hand swung out and landed on Tessa’s cheek with a resounding slap.
15
Cage
Maddie was right.
I knew she was. I can’t keep up this pace. The headaches were nearly every day. Once, I had gotten up too quickly and almost fell over like an old man. My body was clearly telling me that everything was wrong, but there was absolutely nothing I could do about it.
After Maddie left for work, I sat in my study, poring over a new contract, when my phone rang. It was Rob.
“Hi boss.” His voice was excited when I answered. “Good news. In fact, it’s fucking great news. Probably the best news you’ve ever heard in the world.”
“Rob…”
“Ok, ok. I’ll get to the point. Remember that elaborate scheme you concocted with the Umbridge contract that I told you will never work?”
“Yes.” It had been something that came to me after talking with an old friend from the army, Maddox, about the whole issue. The contract my father signed was ironclad, and the only way out would be for Umbridge to cancel it himself. So, I had Maddox and a few other trusted friends—who couldn’t be linked back to me—make exorbitant offers to Umbridge for the land. The story was that they’d heard from the investigators that rare earth elements—REE—had been found on the land very near the rig.
I knew it would be a hard sell, but I dropped a few hints here and there and withdrew my intent to cancel the contract. The cherry on the top had been when he discovered the few REE’s I planted there. Umbridge had to be suspicious at that point, but it appeared his greed finally won over, just like I knew it would.
“Well, once again, I was wrong, and you were right because it worked. It fucking worked. Umbridge called this morning to completely cancel the original contract and declare it null and void! You’re a free man boss, and we get the 100 million back.”
“Good. Great job, Rob.” I wanted to be happy about the win. Honestly, I was too tired to be. It was just one thing amongst a thousand others that I had to take off my list. And, as long as I was still a board member at Burke international, there would always be more things to deal with. It was one headache after another. “Are there any more board meetings?”
“Yup. A virtual one on Tuesday, so you don’t have to fly over here for that. But you will have to come over next weekend if you still want to be here for the private investigation of the Midland rig.”
“What day during the weekend is that again?”
“Saturday.”
Shit. Saturday was Ela’s birthday party. She had been looking forward to it all week, and I promised to be there and put her on my shoulder while everyone sang happy birthday. “Anyway, we can postpone that?”
�
�No can do. The federal inspection is on Monday, and we’ll need at least a day for it to be shut down to get it ready for that.”
“Shit.” I rubbed my temples.
Rob waited for a few beats before suggesting, “I mean, I’m sure Danvers will be able to….”
“No.” While I trusted Danvers immensely, it was too important for me not to be there. “I’ll do it. But make sure everything is ready by the time I get there. I can give you maybe two hours.”
“Aye aye, boss,” Rob said, and I smiled because his sassy tone reminded me of Maddie.
Who was I kidding? Everything seemed to remind me of Maddie.
It had only been a week, but she was quickly becoming a fixture in my life. I was getting far too used to waking with her in the morning, and that morning, it had taken everything in me to pull my body away from hers. It was only sheer determination and willpower that had got me to my desk away from her warm, soft body that I just wanted to bury myself in again and again.
“Um, boss.” Rob’s voice sounded uncertain. “Do you need anything?”
“No? Why?”
“Oh nothing, it’s just…you usually hang up at this point. Not that I don’t love talking to you because I do, it’s just that….”
“Goodbye, Rob,” I said and hung up. Man, I needed to get it together. I had been zoning out all week because of Maddie, and even my coworkers were starting to notice that there was something between us. A few days ago, as I had been finishing up my charts for the day, Dr. Randy had stopped by my office and said, “Hey? Can I ask you something?”
I’d glanced up as he made himself comfortable in the chair across. Not too many of the other doctors in the hospital were on friendly terms with me. I suspect most were intimidated. But, as a former marine, Dr. Randy wasn’t scared of much. Though I wouldn’t exactly say we were on friendly terms, he was likely the only one bold enough to question my authority.
He never did, though.