Why Do Fools Fall In Love

"This above all; to thine self be true." ~ William Shakespeare

SLADE COULDN'T REMEMBER having ever lost sleep over a woman. If memory served him right, it had never happened in the past. Not a single fucking time.

Until now.

Swiveling his chair away from his desk, he turned towards the window, but the edges of his mood only turned sharper and increasingly jagged when he saw that the skies, which had been midnight-black when he entered his study, now spread out in a multitude of colors.

What the fuck was he going to do with Kady?

He should never have crossed the line, dammit. He should've contented himself with teasing and torturing her with words and playful touches. That would've been the smartest and safest thing to do, and as long as it didn't involve the welfare of his parents or baby sister, Slade had never taken any uncalculated risk.

Until now.

It had been all impulse, a foolish, devil-may-care whim that had made the billionaire ignore his personal rule against mixing business with pleasure. Pissed beyond belief at seeing Kady relaxed and comfortable with other guys while still jumping away from him in fright, he had given his common sense the finger and taken a taste of her.

And that had been the beginning of the end.

There was just something about her he couldn't get enough of, and if not for the timely interruption of Humbug's call, he was grimly certain her breasts wouldn't have been the only part of her body that his mouth would be acquainted with.

Cursing under his breath, Slade swung his seat back and tried for the nth time to get some work done. His teeth gnashed as he stared at the words and numbers listed on the screen, but they had suddenly become as incomprehensible as Baybayin and the moment he closed his eyes, all he could see was how they had been in the ride back to the cafe, a nervous Kady trembling next to him and avoiding his gaze as she said tremulously, 'If you want things to go back to normal, it's fine with me.'

The words had stunned the hell out of him, and instead of making him feel relieved, the billionaire had actually found himself making up excuses for things not to go back to normal.

If your ex finds out I was never your boyfriend to start with, do you think he's the type to blab it all over your hometown?

What about your best friend? Do you think she'd be the type to fuss over you for this and end up turning you into an object of pity?

And your parents? If our little deception reaches them, do you think they'd make a big deal out of it?

By the time he had finished outlining Kady's worst nightmare in vivid detail, her face had been ghostly pale, and she had been staring at him like he had just killed her (nonexistent) firstborn. And when her lips had started to tremble and her eyes had begun to fill with tears of distress, the sight had been enough to rouse his often-dormant conscience into an acute state of guilt. It had almost made him want to take the words back.

Almost.

Until, that was, a ghastly alternative scenario popped in his mind: of things going back to normal, just as Kady had suggested, and with every day that passed, she would drift further and further away from him while drawing closer and closer to another man's arms. Another man, who would then have the right to stake a claim on the body he had only the most fleeting taste of.

And that had been it.

So when he had the truck parked in front of the cafe, and Kady, instead of stepping out, had turned to face him and pleaded for advice...

'What do you suggest I do?"

Words had rolled smoothly off his tongue like the finest, deadliest trap—-

'Let me help you get back at Humbug, and I'll even toss in your former best friend's just desserts as a bonus.'

And when she had asked him why he was going to such lengths to help her...

'Don't you really know?'

He had taken her hand while speaking, guiding her fingers to his mouth, and as his lips parted, he saw her eyes widen, saw her swallow and tremble even harder...just before heeding his silent command. Her finger slipping into his mouth. Her gasp as he began to suck. Her moan as he sucked harder. And after one last nip that had her whispering his name -

'Is that answer enough for you?'

KADY WAS ALREADY FRESHLY showered and dressed by the time the first song of Farica's morning playlist kicked in, and by Frankie Lymons & The Teenagers started playing. Was it just her, or was the older woman truly prescient when it came to her choice of music?

She had barely slept at all, but instead of feeling exhausted and sluggish, she felt insanely lightheaded, almost like she was about to fly and dance in the air any second. Sitting herself in front of the vanity, she shakily ran her brush through her hair, but instead of her reflection staring back at her, Kady's gaze was lost in memories of last night.

His mouth on her nipple...his mouth on her neck...her finger in his...

All those things, and possibly more , she thought dizzily, could continue to happen...

She just had to say yes.

And she wanted to. Oh God, how much she wanted to. It would be tantamount to having a fling or an affair even - something she would have never imagined herself doing. And maybe, if it had been anyone else, she still wouldn't have considered saying yes. It wasn't that far-fetched, considering how she hadn't been able to get rid of her inhibitions with Eric, never mind if they had been going out for years.

But because this was Slade...

Her thoughts continued to swing between yes and no even as she ran down the steps. Do I or do I not—-

A movement in the periphery of her eye caught her attention, and she stopped at the foot of the steps. She turned towards it, and her breath caught.

Slade.

Gorgeous and rugged, he stood by the doorway of his study, still every inch the Hartland Superman that had once terrified her to death. But now...

He crooked a finger towards her.

No, she automatically thought. Don't go. Pretend you didn't see that. Turn and walk away. Now!

But her feet refused to listen to the frantic pleas of her brain, and she found herself moving towards him. One trembling step at a time, until she was standing right in front of him, so painfully close that the scent of his cologne made her stomach clench with the most wanton of urges.

Oh God.

Blue eyes blazing blatantly with hunger raked her from head to toe, slowly and thoroughly, lingering on her breasts until they grew swollen and shamefully prominent against her apron.

"You seem to get sexier and more beautiful every time I see you," Slade said thickly.

"I'm not—-" A finger pressed against her lips, and she fell into startled, wide-eyed silence.

"Rule #1 to enslave guys like Humbug—-"

Her shoulders shook, Kady recalling the too-many times her boss had successfully baited Eric every time he deliberately misremembered the latter's name.

"Take every compliment like a queen," Slade murmured. "Just smile and don't say a single word."

The moment his finger lifted, she couldn't help blurting out, "But wouldn't that make me rude?"

The billionaire smirked. "Exactly. Boys like him only pretend they want to be in control. But what's really going to make him wag his tail is to have someone treat him like dirt."

"So you're saying he’s a masochist?"

"I'm saying idiots like him think women being bitchy to him make them seem more unattainable, and that's where the attraction lies."

Kady's mind was reeling once more, but for once, it had nothing (or at least not completely) to do with her boss' recent tendency to exhibit his skills in foreplay. Instead, her thoughts were busy rewinding back to the past, and things that she had once found odd were now making painful sense.

Even now, she couldn't make herself believe that Eric hadn't loved her at all. He had loved her once, had loved her at first, and it was probably because at that time, he hadn't yet realized that he was the kind of guy that Slade had described.

And guys like Eric, apparently, were prone to fall for women like Margaux.

The billionaire noticed the way Kady suddenly started gnawing on her lip as her gaze warily darted to his, and he said softly, "You can ask me anything, little chick."

Color stole into her cheeks at Slade's intuition, and Kady wondered glumly if she would ever be able to keep a secret from someone so consummately experienced.

"Kady..."

Unable to help fidgeting even as she avoided his gaze, she said haltingly, "You told me if men like Eric say I'm beautiful or something, I should just take it as my due."

"That's right."

"But what if men like you say it?"

Slade couldn't keep his lips from twitching.

So that was what had been bothering her.

"First of all..."

Kady's gaze flew up to his, and seeing her look at him hopefully, like he was about to give her the secrets to the universe, almost had him losing it.

Clearing his throat, he said solemnly, "There aren't any men like me."

What in the—-

But then she saw the laughter in his eyes, and she realized he had simply been pulling her leg. "Oh my God, you're impossible—-"

"Irresistible," he corrected her mildly. "You keep forgetting 'irresistible' is what you genuinely intend to say."

Kady tried her very best not to laugh, but this, too, proved irresistible - no, wait, impossible!

"Secondly—-"

"If this is another joke," she muttered warningly.

"When I tell you I find you beautiful and sexy..."

Her gaze narrowed suspiciously.

"It simply means I want to fuck you."

Her jaw dropped.

"I want to fuck you so damn bad—-" Slade's voice turned guttural. "You wouldn't believe just how many times I was tempted last night to sneak into your room and seduce you."

Oh. My. Gaaaaaah.

"I've given you as much time as I can bear," the billionaire rasped. "What's it going to be, Kady?"

"I...um...er..."

But she was still torn, and when she found herself taking a step back, she saw frustration flare in Slade's blue eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said helplessly. "It's just...I..."

"There you guys are!"

Farica, walking from the direction of the kitchen, came up to them, a look of puzzlement on her face. "Don't you guys want breakfast?"

At Farica's words, the billionaire saw Kady's face light up with relief, and he knew right away what the stubborn little chick was thinking.

"Kady," he said warningly.

But it was too late. She was already backing away, saying in a rush, "Now that you mentioned it, I think I'm rather famished, so—-" She fluttered her fingers weakly in a wave. "Um. I think I'll, um, go ahead?" She turned away and practically ran for the kitchen, thinking that if looks could kill, Slade would've had her buried six times six feet under by now.

Farica blinked, feeling like she had been missing something. "What was that about?"

Figuring that it was best to let the cat out of the bag instead of having to waste time skulking in the dark to hide his interest in Kady, Slade said curtly, "I told her I wanted her in my bed."

"YOU DID WHAT?"

Seeing her appalled expression, he said forcefully, "Being up front about things will ensure she won't be hurt once things run its course."

"God." Farica's voice was rich with disgust. "You do know we're talking about real people with real feelings here, right? Or are you so used to dating women with dollar signs in their eyes you don't realize that Kady isn't like any of your past mistresses?"

"I'm not an idiot," he snapped. "Of course I know that, and it's not like she isn't getting anything out of this either—-" He saw Farica's expression turn into one of shock, and he realized she had misread his words. "It's not that. She still doesn't know about who we really are—-"

His business partner regarded him dubiously. "Are you saying she just wants to have sex with you?"

"In my fucking dreams," the billionaire muttered under his breath.

Farica couldn't believe what she was hearing. It was almost as if her friend wasn't at all certain he would succeed with Kady.

Kady.

A young girl who wasn't supposed to be his type, a girl who hadn't even a fraction of his experience or sophistication - that Kady, Farica thought disbelievingly. That someone of Slade's caliber would actually find himself questioning his ability to attract an innocent like Kady... didn't he realize what that meant?