CHAPTER TWENTY

When I returned, she was in the bathroom. I stripped and pulled on a pair of sweatpants. Neither of us were going anywhere. I had the folder with the info for our next mission in my inbox. There was no reason we couldn’t look it over together. It would save us a meeting later.

Really, she should thank me. I was just being efficient.

The bathroom door creaked open, and I glanced up, my eyes falling on her naked body. My stomach swooped.

She was so stunning.

I beckoned her and, to my surprise, she came, pausing at the edge of the bed. I laid my palm on her thigh and ran it up, over her stomach, to her soft breast. A flush crept over her cheeks.

She was different when she was naked, especially this time. There was an unexpected vulnerability in her dark eyes that I hadn’t expected.

I ran my middle finger along the faint line of her abdominal muscles down to the seam of her pussy. Her thighs tightened, but she stayed perfectly still, watching me.

“We have to stop doing this,” she whispered.

My fingers lingered over her pussy. It was so warm and soft, and she’d tasted so good when I ate her out. My chest tightened.

No, I didn’t want to stop doing this.

I shrugged. “Why?”

“Because even though we’re working together, we’re technically business rivals,” she said. “We don’t even like each other anyway. It’s starting to feel a little…Romeo and Juliet, but without the…feelings.”

“Says who?” I slipped the tip of my finger into her pussy, and her lashes fluttered. I could feel the warmth of my cum inside. “Says you?”

She rolled her eyes. “Whatever. I’m trying to be responsible.”

My finger slid in further until I could feel her clench.

“Are you sure it’s not because your father doesn’t want his princess sleeping with someone like me?” I murmured. “Or is it because you’re ashamed of it?”

She bit her lower lip. “Why would anyone be ashamed of sleeping with you?”

“I’m not exactly one of your Harvard grads,” I said. “Not like that man I saw you out with before.”

She rolled her eyes again, shaking back her hair. “You’re gorgeous and you know it,” she said, a little bite to her voice.

“Oh, am I?” My finger curled, hitting a spot that made her gasp. “Is that enough? I can’t play polo, I don’t wear seersucker. I somehow think my face isn’t a get out of jail free card.”

“Can you please take your fingers out of me?” she whispered. “It’s so distracting.”

I stroked that spot, gently, in slow circles. Then, I pulled them free and lifted them to her mouth. She balked, her cheeks flushed pink.

“Taste us,” I urged. “Maybe you’ll change your mind.”

Her soft lips parted. I slipped my wet fingers through, and she moaned, her lids fluttering. Her tongue moved, cleaning me off.

“That’s a good girl,” I breathed.

My fingers slipped from her mouth with a little pop. The air between us crackled, and my other hand gripped her hips, yanking her closer. The soft skin of her lower belly was sweet when I kissed it, licking between her hipbones, circling her navel with my tongue.

She was so soft, so sweet. So everything I wasn’t.

The doorbell rang. We both went still.

“I’m naked, so you’ll have to get that,” she whispered.

I ran my tongue up her body as I stood and finished by kissing her mouth. She still tasted like us together, all salty and sweet. I licked us off her mouth and left her standing there panting, her fists clenched.

When I returned with the food, she was sitting up in bed, propped up on the pillows against the window.

“I hope you can’t see up into your apartment,” she said. “I assumed they were reflective on the outside.”

I sank into bed beside her. “They are. I wouldn’t let just anyone see you naked, butterfly.”

She didn’t like that word, but I wasn’t sure why. And that made me want to call her butterfly more, to push her until she admitted why it made her purse her lips.

We were both quiet as I unpacked sandwiches, a salad so she could feel like she was being healthy, and chips. She cracked the top of her water bottle and took a sip, letting out a sigh.

“Getting fucked made me thirsty,” she said.

“I imagine you’re starving,” I said, passing her a chunk of sandwich. She was already reaching for the salad, but I moved it away. “Eat this, and then you can have that.”

“You’re bossy.” Her brows raised.

“I thought I was your daddy,” I said, bending to kiss the side of her neck quickly.

“Caden, that was for sex only.”

“Not to me. Eat.”

This time, she sat back and pulled the sandwich into her lap. It was a grilled panini with mozzarella, basil, tomato, and balsamic dripping out the sides. I’d tried to order something with vegetables so she wasn’t totally out of her element.

“Can I wear your shirt?”

“Why?

“I don’t want to spill on my bare skin.”

“I’ll lick it off you.”

She rolled her eyes, but I saw a tiny smile before she bit into the sandwich. That little moan returned, and her lids fluttered.

“It’s good,” she managed.

We ate in silence, me unable to take my eyes off her. There was something about getting her out of a professional setting and stripping her bare that fascinated me. It felt like discovering a new world. I wouldn’t have been surprised if I was the first man to see her naked and eating in bed.

She set aside her empty plate and sank into the pillows. “I’m so full, I might be sick,” she whispered.

I laughed. “Just sit still. You can sleep here if you want.”

She shook her head. “I can’t.”

“Why?”

“Because I have my contacts in,” she said.

“Your what?”

She blinked hard. “My contact lenses. I can’t sleep in them.”

My dick jerked. “You wear glasses?”

She nodded. “Just at night. Or my days off, but I haven’t had one of those in a while.”

“How come I’ve never seen them?”

“Because I’ve always worn my contacts around you. I don’t like wearing my glasses in front of people, so I take them out literally the minute I go to sleep.”

I frowned, sinking down beside her. “Why?”

She shrugged. “It feels more professional to wear contacts. I don’t know why.”

I brushed back her hair from her breasts. My fingertips skimmed her nipple and it tightened. “Okay, go home and get your shit and your glasses. You’re sleeping here tonight though.”

She chewed her lip. “I can’t. Someone will see us.”

“No, they won’t,” I said. “You park around the back. No one can see that unless they’re in the parking lot, and I don’t know anyone in this building.”

She hesitated, so I bent in and took her nipple in my mouth. It was soft and hard all at once as I rolled it against my tongue. Her fingers came up and buried in my hair, holding me to her chest.

“Fuck, you’re so good with your tongue,” she sighed.

I pulled back. “Sleep with me tonight, and I’ll show you I can be so much better.”

She groaned, rolling over and grabbing her phone. Her brows drew together as she swiped the screen.

“That’s weird,” she said. “My father’s not coming home tonight.”

“So that makes it easy,” I urged. “Go get your stuff. Get your ass back to my bed.”

“He’s been staying out a lot lately,” she said, texting rapidly. “I think he’s got a girlfriend or something.”

“Yeah?” I yawned, rolling onto my back.

She shrugged, laying her phone back. “He dates a lot of women at the country club. Probably one of them. Anyway, just this once, I’ll give you what you want, but only if I can work here this afternoon.”

Triumph rose in my chest, and I sat up. “Perfect. I’ll take you home.”

She shook her head. “No, you run to the boutique a few blocks down and grab me a new dress. You owe me that much. I’ll be back in an hour.”

I gripped her by the throat and kissed her, dragging my mouth down her throat, nipping at her collarbones as her nails pierced my ribs. Then she pulled back and pointed at the door, her brows arced so there was no room for argument.

An hour later, she was gone, driving down the street in her topless car wearing a plain sundress with no panties underneath.

I sat my laptop on the table and went to get my phone. It had fallen on the floor, and when I swiped the screen, I realized I had two missed calls and a text. One call was spam, the other from Yale, and it had a voicemail of him asking if I was still going to be at training tomorrow. The text was from Merrick.

I hope you’re being careful with this mission. I have a lot riding on it.

Frowning, I answered:

Of course. Why?

His reply appeared immediately.

Lukas Johansen is going to be livid if he finds out my son is fucking his daughter. Get your head on straight.

My heart sank. I set my phone aside, unwilling to answer it. It wasn’t like Merrick to be so brusque, so I knew I’d hit a nerve. Probably because I’d promised not to fuck this up at the beginning.

How had he found out?

Annoyed, I went to the kitchen and sat down at my laptop. I had paperwork from my time at the lodge to catch up on. My hands moved of their own accord, filling out the endless pages that documented everything we did. Merrick was a stickler for bureaucracy, especially after some of the things Yale and I had done over the years. At one point, we’d both been wild cards.

A lot of things had changed since then.

An hour passed as I mulled it over, then another. It was settling in that she’d lied and run off when there was a soft knock on the door. In a second, I had it open.

She stood there in jean shorts, cropped to show her long legs, sandals, and a plain white t-shirt. She’d showered and redone her makeup, and she had a pink overnight bag in her hand. I took it and pulled her inside.

“I thought you’d changed your mind,” I said.

“I almost did,” she whispered.

Fuck the paperwork. Fuck everything but the indescribable feeling of being in bed with this woman. My hands moved over her body as her clothes littered my floor. I lifted her and carried her into the dining area, laying her on the table there.

Her fingers buried in my hair, playing with it as I bent over her. My tongue grazed down her stomach and found her clit, sucking gently on that silver ring. Her thighs clenched, keeping my head right where I wanted it.

The only thing better than afternoon sex was morning sex, and I was planning on having that tomorrow.

She stroked my shoulders and played with my hair.

I ate her out until she came once, twice, three more times. Until she left a wet spot on my table. We made it back to the bed, and I pushed her down on her back and slid inside her pussy. Her eyes widened as she took me, like it hurt a little, but she didn’t push me off. She just lay in a satisfied haze and let me have my way with her.

“Good girl,” I whispered, my mouth on her neck.

She moaned, that breathy sound that drove me crazy. I fucked her thoroughly, keeping the head of my cock moving against her G-spot. She looked up at me from between her legs on my shoulders and whimpered.

We didn’t get any work done. I just wanted to fuck this woman until she fell asleep in my bed.

Around five, I ordered burgers from the bar where we’d met—grilled to perfection, only the bottom bun, onions piled on top, cheese sauce drenched over everything. She ate hers with her fingers, a towel spread over her lap. We showered after that, and she let me wash her hair, gently so I wouldn’t tangle the waves.

Then, I went to the bistro down the street and got a tub of ice cream. She insisted I get dairy free because it was healthier, and I didn’t care, as long as she was happy. We ate it naked, and I flipped her on her back and licked it off her nipples. It melted in the dip of her navel, and I lapped it up. My head was dizzy, maybe because the blood never left my dick.

It was late when we finally got to the email.

I turned her on her stomach and pushed a pillow under her hips. She flipped my laptop open and clicked on the email, downloading the file. I spat on my hand and touched her clit, playing with her pussy as she attempted to bring the document up.

“Caden,” she whispered, turning to look over her shoulder. “I’m sore.”

I kissed the back of her neck, tasting the sweetness of her skin.

“I’ll be gentle,” I whispered, lifting her knee to spread her pussy. She made a noise in her throat as I pushed inside her, and her inner muscles clenched. She was soft, so fucking tight, so perfect. Like she was made for my dick.

My chest felt strange. Deep inside, it ached.

I pushed my face into the nape of her neck, breathing in the sweet scent of her hair. My hips worked. Distantly, I heard her trying to read the file aloud, but my brain could only focus on one thing.

I had feelings for this woman. Real feelings.

And if I didn’t fight them back, we were going to have a problem. We weren’t friendly with the Johansens. As soon as this deal was done, we’d go back to being rivals. The son of the Welsh Brenin and the daughter of the Johansen Empire were like oil and water.

There was no world where we worked.

At least, not on paper.

In another world…one that felt like a distant memory, maybe we were lovers. Maybe she held my hand in the cool of the morning. Maybe she kissed my mouth beneath the stars. Maybe we were free to be nothing more than two people who wanted each other.

Instead, we were caught up in all this bullshit. In emails and feuds and money. In tax brackets and missed opportunities and regrets.

Instead, I had to pretend I didn’t really want her that badly.

That this was just fun.

Every time I slept with her, I knew that wasn’t true. Every time I kissed her body, I knew I was fucking myself. I knew it was going to hurt so much when this was all over.

But I did it anyway, because just a taste of her was worth weeks of agony.