Lovefool

"Tomorrow hopes we have learned something of yesterday." ~ John Wayne

THE CARDIGANS HAD JUST started singing the first lines of in the background when Farica heard the door swing open, and she quickly pulled her pen down and looked up. She was hoping for any kind of distraction that could give her an excuse to take a break from bookkeeping, but a moment later, she realized that she had once again fallen victim to the world's most sadistic proverb.

Be careful what you wish for...or you might just get it.

She watched in stunned dismay as Kady rushed up the stairs, and the girl was crying.

Slade saw the accusation in his friend's eyes the moment he entered the cafe and he glared right back. "Thanks for the vote of confidence," he said sarcastically, "but I'm not the one who made her cry."

Farica wasn't so easily convinced. "And you're absolutely sure of that?" This was Slade, after all, and he could be pretty heartless if he wanted to.

"For fuck's sake, Fari. Yes, I'm absolutely sure." Slade stalked to the counter and threw his weight down on the bar seat next to her. "It probably has something to do with Humbug," the billionaire muttered. "It's the only thing I can think of that can upset her this much—-" He raked a hand through his hair. "But she won't say a fucking thing." And he had no fucking idea why. Had his story of Penny triggered something in her, made her remember something about her and that bug, and that was why she couldn't stop crying?

Farica belatedly noticed the thin, red lines marring Slade's face. "What happened to you?" she exclaimed.

"Penny."

She couldn't help wincing, knowing that 'ugly' could be the only word to describe said encounter, if the billionaire's face was anything to go by. "I'm guessing she still hates your guts."

"It would've been a relief if she had."

Oh. "I'm sorry." Farica's voice was now subdued. "Did Kady..."

He shook his head. "Penny was gone by the time Kady came out." And thank fuck for that. He cast a brooding look at the stairs, wondering tensely if Kady was still crying. And if she were...

The billionaire swung in his seat to face her, the movement so sudden it almost had Farica jumping in her own seat. Shit. Kady's nervous ways were starting to become an epidemic, and if she weren't careful, she might end up acting all blushing and jittery the next time she ran into Steel .

Stop thinking about him, idiot!

Pushing the evil and thoroughly unnecessary thought away, she desperately turned her attention back to Slade. "Sorry, what was that again?"

"I want to know what you would've wanted Steel to do—-"

"Slade!" This was supposed to help her forget, not remember more, darn it.

"Just humor me, dammit. I'm at my wits' end. Nothing I said in the truck seemed to make a difference with her," Slade revealed tautly, "and I just want to know if there might be something I'm missing here, because I don't..."

"Love her?"

Slade glared at his friend, knowing a trap when he saw one. If he said he didn't love Kady, Farica would only accuse him of lying, but if he were to say yes, his question had something to do with love, the brat would purposely misread him and say he had just admitted to loving Kady.

Which he didn't.

But it didn't mean he wouldn't mind doing something that men in love would do, if that was really what it took. Anything to make Kady stop crying.

KADY WAS BACK IN HER bedroom, her tiny body curled up in a ball, when he entered and silently closed the door behind him. Her hair was still wet from the shower, and she had changed into a shirt - a shirt that was damn too large it could only belong to a fucking bug.

The billionaire's jaw clenched. He fucking knew it. This whole crying bout clearly had everything to do with fucking Humbug, and despite having Farica's advice ringing in his airs—-

Think knight to the rescue, not chest-beating caveman.

Cajole, don't command.

Sweet and soft, instead of rough and hard.

Yeah, well, to hell with all of that.

Kady only had her first inkling of no longer being alone when the bed dipped, and she found herself rolling to her back—-

And then she saw a bare-chested Slade looming over her, his shirt in one hand.

She immediately sat up, tears drying in her confusion. "S-Slade?"

"You're wearing his shirt," he bit out.

She stared at him dumbly. "What?"

"If you don't have enough clothes, then take mine, dammit." His arm shot out, thrusting his shirt at her.

She looked down, unable to understand why he was so adamant about her changing into his shirt. "I don't—-" Her gaze absently fell to what she was wearing, and she stopped speaking. OH. She thought about telling him that she hadn't realized it was actually her male cousin's shirt she was wearing and not Eric's, but instead she heard herself mumble, "Sorry. I didn't...realize."

"Bullshit."

She wanted to ask him if he were jealous, and if he said yes, then...didn't that mean something? Shouldn't it?

But the words remained locked in her throat.

She could never ask them, knowing that another girl had already asked the same thing, and how that same girl had fallen to pieces at Slade's answer.

"Shit." Slade immediately regretted his outburst when he saw that tears had once again started trekking down Kady's cheeks. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry again."

She shook her head, wanting to say that it wasn't him at all, but it was just so hard to speak.

"Please, baby." He cupped her face. "You're killing me here," he said raggedly. "I hate seeing you like this and not fucking knowing how to fix things."

Love me .

Slade's desperation grew as more sobs shook her body. "It's the shirt. Is that it? If you still want to wear his, then it's fine—-" He managed not to gag at the fucking concession. "You can wear another guy's shirt. It's not like I can stop you if you really have a thing for bugs—-" He heard her choke out a teary giggle. Finally. He swiftly scanned her face, and the tension inside him eased a little when he saw that the tears had stopped falling. For now at least.

But...

"So it really was the shirt?" he couldn't help asking one last time.

Her lips trembled. "Oh, Slade." How could this gorgeous man be so wonderfully, incredibly dense ?

"What?" Something about the way she was looking at him made the billionaire feel defensive.

She shook her head. "It's..." Not the shirt. " But..." I can't ever tell you the truth.

Slade stared at her, bemused as fuck. "Dammit, Kady. It’s butt? " Where the fuck was all this anal talk coming from, and whose ass were they even talking about this time?

Oh my God. She couldn't believe she had made him so horribly misunderstand her again, and helpless laughter slipped past her lips. She couldn't really blame him, and the fact that he was still here, visibly and unbelievably on edge for her—-

Caring for her, even if he didn't love her—-

Couldn't she be satisfied with that?

Just so she could stay with him?

Slade stiffened when Kady suddenly took his hand.

"Instead of making me change into your shirt—-"

He inhaled sharply as she guided his hand down to the hem of the shirt she was wearing.

"Maybe you can help take this off instead?"

Fuck .

The rigidness of his form turned into something else in an instant, and he was hard all over for an altogether different reason. Her eyes sought and pleaded with his, her parted lips tempting and seducing him, and goddammit, he could feel his control slipping by the second, lust fraying his self-restrained to its last, tenuous hinges.

"Kady." The billionaire's voice was strained. Almost begging.

" Slade ." And so was hers. There was just no mistaking the trembling appeal in her voice this time, no way to pretend she didn't know what she was begging him for.

And it was for him.

To fuck.

Her.

"Please." The small hand resting over his tightened. "No more savoring."

FUCK. FUCK. FUCK.

"I want to belong to you."

And just like that...almost as if God had snapped his fingers, and just like that, everything that held him together - his control, his common fucking sense, everything that was telling him not to do this - it was all fucking gone.

Just as their first kiss incinerated everything that had once stood in their way, those six words similarly took over, rationality yielding to passion, carnal desires of the flesh burning the memories of Penny's pain and Kady's tears into the darkness of oblivion.

His mouth locked with hers. She fell against the bed. His weight pressed down over hers.

Their pants filled the room as their hands rushed over each other's bodies, her fingers fumbling with the zipper of his jeans and his hand ripping away the offensive shirt away from her body.

Cool air whipped her naked breasts, and she could only whimper as Slade's muscular chest rubbed against her distended nipples.

"Slade." His name was all she could remember to cry out in the blinding agony of her need, her body writhing helplessly under his as she felt him do away with the scrap of lace covering her mound. It was the last scrap of clothing that kept her from being fully naked, and when it was finally gone, she couldn't even make herself feel embarrassed and self-conscious.

She just wanted him so much, needed him so much, that she immediately wrapped her naked legs around his waist and began rocking against him.

"Fuck. Kady. Fuck." He yanked his cock out of his jeans. "Kady." It was his final warning, one last hoarse attempt to bring her back to her senses and put an end to their madness.

She answered his plea by grinding her wet and quivering pussy harder against his.

His mind shut down, and he drove hard and deep inside of her, Kady gasping as his big, hard cock ripped her hymen apart in one swift, forceful thrust.

It was done , she thought dazedly. She belonged to him, and no matter what happened after this, no one would ever be able to take that away—-

"Kady." Slade's low, guttural voice immediately drew her attention back to him, and blue eyes blazed down at her. "Does it still hurt?" he asked seriously. "I've never been anyone's first." He saw her eyes shine at his admission, and Slade bit back a groan as the sight made his cock throb harder and twitch impatiently inside of her.

Kady made a tiny, cautious attempt to move under him, and it automatically had her inner muscles contracting. Pleasure bloomed and swelled, making her gasp just as Slade's jaw hardened over her.

"Slade." Her voice was fragile and breathless, and the light in her eyes softer and more vivid at the same time.

"Slade." Her hands moved on its own to clutch his shoulders.

"Slade." This last one said it all—-

Thank fuck.

And without another word, Slade began to move. Blue eyes locked with hers, lust and possessiveness blazing from his gaze as he pulled almost all the way out, and just as she started to mewl in protest, he drove back in, so hard and deep, so fast and fierce, that it had her screaming his name.

Over and over, his cock plunged into her, his hips pumping in a furiously relentless pace that had tears burning her eyes and her nails digging hard into his back. "Slade, oh God." Her mind was a mess, her buckling body a puppet under his command, and she could only moan when he suddenly reached for her legs and placed them over his shoulders.

"S-Slade..."

He thrust back inside of her, and this new position had his cock reaching all the way down to her womb, and she screamed. And kept screaming. Because that was just the start, and apparently there were still so many things he could do that would keep her screaming.

His teeth nipping her ear, his mouth latching on to her breast, sucking on her nipple, his cock hitting her clit at just the right angle.

Too many things happening almost all at once, and oh God, she just...couldn't...take...any...more.

"Slade!"

He saw her eyes roll back as her body arched, and more than anything else, it was this sight of Kady peaking just as she fell into a raging sea of orgasm that drove him over his own cliff. His own body curved, her name coming out in a hoarse groan, and then he was spiraling after her, the first load of cum shooting straight down the tight, moist tunnel of her pussy.

Shudders overtook her body at the feel of Slade's cum filling her insides. It was so hot and thick, and her pussy, already straining and aching at the immense girth of his cock, felt even fuller now, with his load continuously shooting into her. One after another, streaming endlessly, and when she felt his cum start to flood out, she could only sob—-

Oh God.

Just as something else inside of her threatened to burst past its own barriers—-

Her hands rushed to cover her mouth, tears rushing down her cheeks as she fought against the tide of words that threatened to rush out of her throat.

I love you. I love you. I love you.

But to say them was to lose him, and she couldn't ever risk that.