Chapter Eleven

HADLEY

This is a mistake that I am not going to make.

I tell myself that and start to walk away, but before I get five steps from Cayden’s apartment building, I hear him call my name.

“Hadley?”

Shit.

I turn and attempt my nonchalant smile. “Hey, Cayden. Funny seeing you here.”

He looks at his building and then to me. “Other than the fact I live here.”

“You do?” I play dumb, and from the look on his face, not very well.

“You’ve been here.”

“Oh! I forgot about that.”

He laughs. “Sure you did.”

Maybe one of those manholes will blow and then I can fall in it and never come out. That would work for me right about now.

I watch as he moves towards me, like a predator stalking his prey, and that’s pretty much what I am right now. I’m the dumb deer who wants some bark and he’s the hunter that has me in his sights.

“I should go,” I try to evade.

“Why are you here?”

Because I’m a dumb girl and wanted to see you.

“It’s about the case.”

“So, you are here to see me.”

Yeah, that manhole is looking pretty nice.

I can keep lying, which I should be good at considering my career choice, or I can come clean .

I’ll go with lying.

“No, I didn’t say that. I was saying that we should discuss the case.”

“Sure, we’ll…talk about the case. Why don’t you come upstairs with me so I can get my files?”

We both know that’s not what we’re going to end up doing upstairs, but that’s why I came here. Because I have thought of nothing other than his mouth, his body, and the way I feel when he’s inside of me.

“All right.”

I never stood a chance. He took the shot, and I’m down for the count.

His apartment is nothing like I imagined. It’s a little retro, a little modern, and filled with records. I walk over to the desk area that has hundreds of them. “I didn’t know you were so big on music.”

“My father was in love with jazz. Logan and I would sit at his feet while he would play his records for hours. I’m partial to the sound of vinyl. There’s something pure and comforting about it.”

“May I?” I ask, pointing to the crate.

“Of course.”

I thumb through, admiring the collection that varies so much. There is jazz, which I expected, but also country, hip hop, and rock. Then, towards the back there is one that makes me laugh. “Spice Girls?”

Cayden chuckles. “My brother is an ass.”

“He’s a fan?”

“Probably and this is his way to irritate me. Logan’s thing is finding a record store when he’s on the road. He’ll pick up something he thinks I would like.”

I like that they have that. I keep looking and then I feel him behind me. His breath on my neck, but that’s it. I try to focus on the sleeves, looking at the various artists, but I can’t concentrate.

Not when all I want is to feel his hands on my body.

This is stupid. I know it. I shouldn’t have come here and I definitely shouldn’t have accepted his invitation, but I wanted him too much to walk away.

“Pull that one out,” his voice is rough and low against my ear.

I shiver as I feel just the slightest brush of his lips down my neck. “This one?” I ask because I honestly have no idea what one I was even looking at .

His hands reach from behind me, taking the record he wanted, his heat cocooning me as his chest is against my back.

This is just like my office all over again. The energy is changing and I can feel his erection as he moves even closer.

“This record is one of my favorites.” My eyes close when his other hand wraps around my stomach, holding me in place. “I love the beat of the song, the way the bass hits in varying speeds. I’ve always wanted to listen to it with you.”

“Why?” I manage to get the single word out.

“Because I want to watch your face as I fuck you to it.”

There’s a protest inside of me, somewhere, that wants to tell him this is the last time. That we don’t even like each other. That having sex with my nemesis is the stupidest thing I can do and I don’t want it.

But when his teeth nip my ear, I really don’t give a shit about any of those reasons.

He takes my arm, placing it up around his neck. “Since the other day, I have thought of you nonstop. I swear, when I saw you downstairs, I thought I was imagining it. But here you are, and now I’m trying to decide what to do with you.”

His hand cups my breast, and I rest my head on his chest. How does this man make me feel so good?

I groan when his touch falls away and he steps back. “What happened?” I ask, turning to him.

“Why did you come to my apartment?”

My stomach drops. “For the case,” I repeat.

“I don’t think so. Tell me why you’re here.”

The pounding of my heart is loud in my ears and I take a step toward him. Cayden and I do this dance, where one has to surrender. I came here for him. I walked the fifteen minutes here because I was desperate for him—for this.

We’re now inches apart and I have to crane my neck to look in his eyes. “Why do you care?”

“Tell me.”

Damn him for making me say it.

“Because I want you.”

He grins, like the cat that ate the canary and grips my hips. “Do you know where I was going when I was leaving?”

I have a very strong feeling I know, but I want to hear it too. I want for him to lay his cards out on the table so I am not the only one risking it all. “No. ”

“I think you do.”

“If I did, I wouldn’t have said no.”

He raises one brow. “Considering you lied about why you were here this whole time, I don’t believe you.”

“Where were you going?” I push back.

“I was coming to find you. To apologize for your office and then beg you to let me make it up to you.”

“And how did you plan to do that?”

His hand moves up my back, plastering me to his chest. “It involved my mouth.” He kisses me. “My hands.” Another kiss. “My tongue.” This kiss lasts a little longer as he thrusts it in my mouth. I wrap my arms around his neck, not wanting him to pull away again. I get the point, now I want what was promised.

Cayden leans down, gripping my thighs and lifting me. The music plays and I hear the steady thrum of the bass. It pulses around us, as he moves into his room.

“This bed is going to be ruined for me,” he says, before kissing me deeper.

All of the questions I have are gone, all that lives in this space is him. I really wish he wasn’t so all consuming, it would make this so much easier to walk away.

Although, I don’t even know what I’d be walking away from. All we’re doing is sex. All we can be is sex.

It’s easy to screw someone you hate, right?

I have to hate him. I have to hold onto that anger because it fuels me to be a better lawyer.

He breaks away from my mouth just long enough to pull my top off, free my breasts and then kiss his way down. Gone is the smooth, in-control man I know well. He’s like an animal freed. He sucks my nipple into his mouth and moves his hand to my shorts.

“I want them off. I want you naked,” his voice is ragged.

I move to do just that, wanting the same from him, and as I pull mine off, Cayden strips down. When we’re both completely naked, he climbs over me, but I want something first.

I need it.

“Lie on your back.” I take charge, deciding, again, this is the last time. I better make it count.

He does, putting his hands behind his head. “What now?”

I slide my finger down his chest slowly, watching his abs flex as I reach the beginning of his stomach. “Now you have to suffer for a little.”

“Suffer?”

I nod. “Well, it won’t really be painful, but you have to stay just like that. It’s my turn to explore.”

“Explore away.”

I move lower, just touching the tip of his cock, which already has precum leaking from it. I do this to him. I make him just as crazy as he does to me. I pull my hair to the side, so he can see my face as I move to where my hand is.

“Hadley,” he groans my name.

“Keep your hands there,” I remind him. “Don’t move.”

I see his arms tense and I am going to enjoy every second of his agony. Each time we’ve done this, he’s been in control, it’s going to be nice to have the tables turned.

My lips brush his cock and he moans. Then, without wanting to drag this out, I take him deep in my mouth, sucking hard. The beat of the music spurs me on and I keep time, just as he wished to do. At some point I lose focus on staying in time and let his noises be the new music.

“Hadley, baby, you have to stop!” He calls out.

I don’t pay attention, I want him to lose control. I want him to know how it feels to be at someone’s mercy the way he’s done to me.

Taking him deeper, I work to relax my throat even more and then, before I can even gasp, I’m on my back and Cayden is on top.

He doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t have to as his eyes are wild. There is no mistaking who is in charge again. I may have gotten that sliver of time, but it’s over now.

Cayden lifts my legs to rest on his shoulders and then surges forward, filling me so quickly it robs my breath.

The two of us are frantic, both reaching for each other as he thrusts deeper. I want to say something to him, but there are no coherent words inside of me.

All that exists is us.

The pace he sets has me at the edge of my orgasm in seconds. I scream his name as I fall over moments later. Then he calls out my name and we be both melt into the bed.

* * * *

“What time to do you have to be at work?” Cayden asks as his finger makes patterns on my back.

I smile, tucking the pillow under my head so I can look at him. “Soon. I have to go home, shower, and change. I’m not going back to work in what I wore yesterday.”

“The ultimate walk of shame?”

“No shame.”

We had sex two more times last night and then once this morning. I didn’t know it was humanly possible to have that many orgasms in twelve hours, but here we are.

“No, no shame in what we’re doing.”

“But we can’t keep doing this, Cayden.”

His hand stops for just a moment and then begins again. “So, this is the last time?”

“I think we both know it should be.”

“But it doesn’t have to be.”

I sigh, and roll away from him, tucking the sheet under my arms. “It has to be.”

“Why?”

“Because we can’t just keep having sex when we’re opposing counsel on a case. It’s so unprofessional it’s not even funny”

He shakes his head. “No one has to know what we do when we’re not at work. There was nothing about the case or anything other than the two of us.”

Maybe that’s true, but it’s still wrong. “And when someone finds out?”

“We’re adults and what we do is our business.”

I sit up, knowing this argument is going to be like every other. Neither of us ever gives in. I can’t just keep screwing him and pretending as though I don’t have feelings for him. My heart will get mangled by the end of this.

“Hadley, get back in bed,” Cayden urges.

If I do, I’ll end up being talked into some agreement that I know is a mistake. I’ve already made enough of those where he’s concerned.

“I have to go to work.”

“You mean you have to run away.”

I pull my shirt on, then my pants before addressing him. I need whatever armor I can gather. “You can call it what you want. You can put forth your argument just the same as I have. The bottom line is, in the end, someone will get hurt, and let’s be honest, it’ll be me. I have a career I’m building and I refuse to let you derail it. ”

“Who said I want to derail it?”

“No one, but that’s how it goes, and I would rather walk away now without any complications.”

Which isn’t true, I’m already emotionally involved.

“If that’s what you want,” Cayden says, throwing his legs over the side of the bed, clearly pissed.

It’s not what I want, but look how easily and quickly he gave in. Not even an attempt to fight harder. And if there’s one thing Cayden is really good at, it’s arguing his point. That’s not happening here.

So, I straighten my spine as he sits with his back to me and fortify the walls around my heart so I can walk out of here.

“Goodbye, Cayden.”

“Bye.”

All right then.

I walk out of the room, head held high, and make my way down the elevator, to the street, and away from him, with tears streaming down my face each step of the way.

I’m such a fool.