I didn’t reply, instead I headed into her office and threw myself down on her flower-patterned love seat.
A few minutes later, I heard Amy May’s footsteps and thrust my hand out without looking up. Once it was filled with a cupcake, I pulled it back and dove in to the fudgy goodness.
She got me a fudge cupcake with dark chocolate frosting. Amy May so got me.
“What’s going on?” Amy May asked from somewhere beside me. “I haven’t seen you look this crazed since you found The Douche behind Starbucks.”
I told her everything in between bites, holding the tears at bay as I let the rage take over. When I’d finished my story, I looked up to see Amy May looking at me thoughtfully.
“What?”
“I think you should talk with him, let him explain.”
“What?” I practically screeched.
“Look, Lila, what happened with your marriage sucked, totally, and you were one thousand percent in the right to do what you did after you found them … but, Cade isn’t your ex. This isn’t history repeating itself.”
“It sure as hell looked like it was.”
“I think you need to give him a chance to explain,” she repeated, then placed her hand on my thigh as she came to sit next to me. “Everything you said about him up to this point has been great. Amazing, in fact. I can’t believe he was putting you on. There has to be more to it.”
“But I saw it with my own eyes,” I argued, a little miffed that my best friend wasn’t taking my side.
“You also thought you saw Jason with another woman, with your own eyes, and you were mistaken,” Amy May pointed out gently. “Just hear him out.”
“I’ll think about it,” I grumbled, then stood to leave.
“Do you want to come over, talk some more?”
“Nah, thanks, I think I’m just going to head home. Maybe take a bath.”
“Want some cupcakes for the road?” she asked, and I instantly forgave her lapse in judgment.
I dried off, threw my robe on and, thinking a glass of wine was just what the doctored ordered, padded out to the kitchen. I had music playing in the bathroom while I took a bath, the strains of it filtering through my apartment so it wasn’t totally still.
I placed the already opened bottle of red on the counter, then reached for my favorite goblet when Cade’s voice behind me caused me to jump.
“You ready to talk?”
I whirled, my hand clutching my chest.
“What the fuck? How did you get in here?”
Cade was sitting at my kitchen table, legs casually stretched out before him, his hands behind his head. He was wearing a white V-neck, had cuffs and bracelets on his arms, and his hair was hanging loose with a beanie on his head.
I was trying hard to hold on to the fact that I was pissed at him. It was hard, when all I wanted to do was lick him.
“Cade, seriously, you broke into my house? What the hell?” I asked, finding my anger.
“I told you we needed to talk and you weren’t answering your phone or the door, so I let myself in.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him.
“Fine, you want to talk?” I asked, uncrossing my arms and placing them on my hips. “Did you fuck her?”
Cade’s face darkened and he sat up, no longer relaxed.
“No. I told you in the beginning that when I’m with you, I’m with only you. Don’t question that shit again.”
Is he seriously getting pissed with me?
“I saw you with your hands on that cokehead, and you told me to leave … What was I supposed to think?”
“You’re supposed to trust what I tell you.”
“How can I trust what you tell me when you’ve obviously been lying to me.”
“I haven’t lied,” Cade argued, standing and moving closer so he towered over me.
Damn the man was imposing.
“Omitting shit is lying, Cade.”
“Darlin’,” he began, and I felt a sharp stab in my belly.
“Don’t call me that,” I pleaded softly, lifting my face to his. “I heard you call her that, and it may be stupid, but I thought that was just for me. You ruined it.”
I didn’t care if I sounded like a petulant child, he’d hurt me.
His face clouded and he lifted a hand as if to touch me, but I backed away before he could.
Cade clenched his jaw and said, “I may not have told you everything, but what I didn’t share was club business.”
“What kind of business? Have you been working the entire time we’ve been together?”
“Let’s just say we have a mutual interest in Hector, the Coke Club, and the man who hired you and Moose to get dirt on them.”
My jaw dropped and my heart constricted painfully.
“You have been lying to me this whole time.”
“No, Red, look…”
“Don’t call me that,” I said sharply, having no problem finding my inner bitch now. I was pissed. “Only my dad calls me Red. Forget the endearments, since it’s all obviously been bullshit. You can call me Delilah, or Lila, or better yet, don’t call me anything and get the hell out.”
“Stop jumping to conclusions and listen,” Cade said angrily. “What I said about seeing you on the street and everything since we met has been true. Yes, I kept my reasons for being on the street that first time I gave you a ride from you, but that’s because it was club business and you didn’t need to know.”
“What exactly do you do for your motorcycle gang?” I asked snottily.
Cade’s face conveyed that he was losing his patience, but I wasn’t ready to give up my snit yet.
“It’s a club, not a gang, and I’m a man who gets things done.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“It means if someone’s fucking with the club, I fuck with them. If there’s shit going down that’s bad for business, I put a stop to it. If some asshole is bringing drugs to my town and trying to get bitches to sell that shit on my compound, I do what it takes to make that shit stop.”
“Including fucking me?” I asked, and unfortunately, the hurt beat out the anger, and I knew Cade heard it when his face softened and he took a few steps until he was an inch from me.
“No, Lila,” he said gently. “You weren’t part of the plan, but the minute I saw you, I knew no matter what happened with the job, I had to have you.”
“Really?” I wanted so badly to believe him.
His dark eyes took me in and he said, “I really like this look.”
I brought my hand up to the hair piled messily upon my head, as I looked down at my bare feet and robed body and asked, “You do?”
Cade nodded, and I realized the look on his face was sparking something other than anger within me.
“Yeah,” he said gruffly, lowering his head inch by inch. “This look, paired with you bitchin’ at me … it works for me.”
Before I could reply, or protest, his lips were on mine and it was on like Donkey Kong.
Suddenly his lips and hands were everywhere, and the adrenaline that had been pumping within me since I’d seen him earlier made every touch feel magnified. I was burning from within, and was doing my best to set him ablaze as well.
My robe was gone, a pool at my feet, leaving me naked in my kitchen as Cade’s adept fingers explored every inch of me. I was panting unabashedly as I tried to give as good as I was getting, running my hands along the length of his hard cock beneath his jeans.
“You want that?” Cade asked roughly in my ear, his teeth grazing my lobe lightly.
“Yes,” I moaned. “I want it.”
“Tell me…”
“I want your cock inside me,” I begged, my brain turning to mush as his fingers found me.
“You’re so wet for me,” he said, his words only getting me hotter. “How do you want my cock?”
“Hard … Fast…”
The next thing I knew, I was bent at the waist, the hard wood of my dining room table cool beneat
h my breasts and stomach. I heard Cade unzip his fly, his hands continuing to work me over.
I groaned loudly as his fingers fucked me, but it wasn’t enough.
“Hurry,” I urged, and when I felt him rub the head of his cock along my wetness, I pushed my hips back eagerly.
Cade put one hand on my hip, and the other ran up the length of my spine, then loosened my hair from its bun and tangled in it.
“Pull it,” I demanded, wanting everything Cade could give me. Things I’d been afraid to ask for before, but had always fantasized about.
Cade tugged my hair, pulling me up so I had to brace my hands on the table, then slid slowly inside of me.
“Like that?”
“Harder.”
Cade pulled harder, then leaned forward and bit my shoulder before pulling out and pounding back into me.
“Yes…”
I braced as Cade pounded, pushing my hips back to meet his every thrust, the feel of him moving inside me, along with the sweet pain of him pulling my hair, causing my breath to come out in gasps as I reached for my release.
“Touch yourself,” he demanded, grunting as he moved even faster.
I caressed my breast, feeling the fullness in my palm before pinching my nipple and tugging, then I ran my hand along my stomach, down to my clit. I knew it would take no time at all; I was totally primed and ready to come apart.
“So fucking perfect,” Cade murmured in my ear, biting me on the shoulder again, causing me to call his name as I came. He was right there with me, and a few moments later, I fell to the table, trying to catch my breath as I enjoyed the feel of the cool wood beneath me.
Meals were never going to be the same…
“Um … we just had unprotected sex … again.”
That was the first thing out of my mouth when I came out of the bathroom after washing up and putting my robe back on. I’d left my hair down, falling in big, sexy, I-just-had-great-sex waves around my shoulders.
Cade was sitting on my bed. He’d taken off his shirt and his cuffs, beanie, and bracelets were on my dresser. I thought this was strange, since he’d been fully clothed while we had sex.
Why take stuff off now?
He must have seen me looking at his things on my drawer, then staring at his beautiful naked chest, because he asked, “It’s okay if I stay?”
I stared at him, mouth open, because for some reason the thought of him staying, and sleeping with me in my bed, hadn’t crossed my mind. I’d assumed he’d want to go home.
“What about Rufus?”
“I stopped home and let him out before I came here. He’ll be fine until morning.”
“Oh,” I replied, unsure of what else to say. Then I realized he was still waiting for me to answer, so I added, “Um … sure, you can stay.”
Then I looked at my sad little queen-sized bed and wondered how we’d both fit.
“I never have unprotected sex … never, but I’ve been tested by the doc and I’m clean.”
It took a minute for my mind to catch up and realize he was answering my initial question.
“Oh, well, um, I was tested after I found out about my ex, and I haven’t been with anyone since him so … I’m clean too.”
Cade grinned and asked, “You on the pill?”
I was, due to irregular periods and horrible cramping, but rather than explaining why, I just answered, “Yes.”
“Good,” he said, then rose and walked to me, his hands coming to the belt at my waist. “Because now that I’ve had you bare, I don’t want you any other way.” My belly tingled, then caught fire when he added, “Sleep naked,” as he tugged at my belt and pushed the robe off my shoulders.
Once we were both naked, I turned off the lights and got into bed, then laid there stiff, unsure what to do next. I relaxed when Cade’s arm came around me and pulled me to him, so that we were wrapped up in each other.
I’d never slept naked before, but skin to skin with Cade’s heated body, it felt decadent, sinful.
He rubbed slow circles on my back and I quickly felt myself dozing off.
I had no idea how long I slept, but it was still pitch black when I woke with a moan as Cade slid inside me. He took me slowly, gently, in the dark. And I felt something shift in my heart as I came sweetly beneath him.
When I woke up the next morning, I worried that things might be awkward; instead it was as if we spent the night together all the time.
Cade got up first and started the coffee, and while he was in the shower, I made bacon and eggs. Then we sat down and ate together. It was all very normal and civilized, before I looked at the table and got flashes of what we’d done in this spot the night before.
I cleared my throat and looked up to see Cade grinning knowingly at me.
Busted.
Needing to talk about something else I said, “I’m supposed to give Moose the pictures from yesterday. He’s been really tense lately and is adamant that the client needs them right away.”
“Give them to him.”
“But, you’re in them. So’s your compound.”
“I want his client to know we’re looking into the situation as well, we’re not too fond of Hector polluting the area with his shit, and we have no intention of letting him sell here. So, give the client the pictures and let him know I’ll be in touch.”
“Okay.”
“And be careful. If you run into Hector or the Coke Club again, I want to know about it. Watch your back and don’t put yourself into a situation you can’t get out of.”
“Okay,” I repeated, my heart warming at the fact that he was worried about me.
Shit, even with everything that had happened yesterday, it seemed I still trusted this guy, and worse, I was really falling for him.
I needed to have a girl’s night. Talk with my friends and sort my head out. See if they thought I was moving too fast.
“You good?” Cade asked, proving once again that he could read me like a book.
“Do you think, maybe, we’re going a little too fast?” I asked, lifting my mug of coffee to my lips, just to have something to do with my hands.
“Darlin’,” he began, and I flinched. “I’m thirty-eight years old. I’ve never been in a relationship with a woman. Shit, I’ve never cared enough about a woman to even take her out on a date, until you. Now, I figure, I’ve waited a long time and I know what I want. What I want is you … so, no, I don’t think it’s going too fast. I think it’s taking too damn long. I know where I’m at, I’m just waiting for you to catch up.”
I was still trying to let that penetrate when he continued.
“And, Lila, there’s times when a word’s just a word, and other times when it comes from the heart. Sometimes I call people darlin’ to charm them, or to get what I want, but when I say it to you, it’s from the heart. You asked me to stop, but I can’t promise that I will, because that’s who you are… My darlin’.”
My eyes widened and I gulped audibly, putting the cup down with shaky hands as I tried to wrap my head around everything he’d just laid out for me.
Holy shit, things were moving even faster than I thought.
“Look, I gotta go let Rufus out, then get some shit done, so I’ll give you some time to think things through. You know how to get ahold of me when you’re ready.”
“Okay,” I said again, thinking I really needed to learn to expand my vocabulary when I was around this guy.
Cade stood and dropped a kiss on my forehead before taking his dishes to the sink, grabbing his things, and leaving my apartment. Through it all, I sat at my table, my hands still wrapped around my mug as I tried to process everything that had happened since Cade rode into my life.
The rest of the weekend went by quickly.
I spent some much-needed snuggle time with my kiddos, laying around watching superhero flicks and eating lots of junk food. And, happily, the awkwardness between Elin and me was gone. We’d moved on from the incident and were back in our comfortable mommy/son place
.
I’d sent the photos to Moose, and gave him the message from Cade, and had blissfully heard nothing from him for three days. After the way he’d been acting lately, I was beginning to wonder whether working for him was such a good idea. I didn’t need anyone yelling at me, certainly not some crabby-ass shut-in, who used me to do all of his dirty work.
Then, Thursday morning, I’d received another text telling me that Hector and the cokehead were unloading merchandise and storing it at the storage place downtown, and that the last thing he needed from me were pictures of the drugs. Then the client would have all the evidence he needed to shut Hector’s operation down.
Eager to be done with Hector, the Coke Club, the client, and Moose, I shot him a text back saying I’d get the photos, and that we needed to talk.
That’s why I was currently skulking around dusty old storage units, rather than helping Amy May at the bakery.
“I’m so done with this shit,” I muttered as I stepped in a puddle. Of course, it had to be raining on the day I’d busted out my cute new ankle boots, which were now covered in mud.
I looked around the corner to the row where Moose told me they’d be, and saw Hector’s Camaro with the trunk open and no one around. Figuring they were inside the unit, and hoping there were still drugs in the trunk so I could get the picture and get the hell out of there, I ran from my hiding spot to the car, camera at the ready.
When I rounded the car and looked down, I was relieved to see there were piles of drugs still in the car. Large plastic bags full of pills, white substances and an off-white powder.
I quickly took a bunch of pictures, and was getting ready to rush back the way I’d come, when a voice behind me said, “You just keep showing up.”
I turned to see Hector standing precariously close, and was about to run when he grabbed my arm. Squeezing tightly, he shook me and asked, “Who the fuck are you? Who are you working for?”
My mind raced as I kept my arm with my camera behind my back and tried to wrestle my arm from his grip. It was no use; I could feel his fingers bruising my arm, his grip was so tight.
Instinctually, I took a step toward him, closing the distance as I brought my knee up hard and connected it with his junk.