by Natalie Ann
“Keep your shoes on,” he breathed out fast.
“I planned on it,” she said. He entered her swiftly the minute she kicked her thong away. He’d only unbuttoned and unzipped his pants, with them falling to the ground. He barely had time to gasp before she moaned.
“I’ve never had sex standing up before. Never had it up against a wall like this. Never is something that won’t be part of my vocabulary again,” she almost screeched out.
“Damn, you’re tight,” he said. He wasn’t sure if he was in pain, or in a pleasure so deep it was touching nerves in his body he didn’t even know existed. Whatever it was, he didn’t want it to stop.
“Maybe you’re just big.”
He held back his laugh and started to move in and out of her now. Her muscles were still snug around him but not so tight he thought he might be hurting her.
“Thanks, I think.”
His hand went down around her right thigh, lifting her leg and putting it up around his hip. Then he pushed in deep and did the same with her left leg, leaving her wrapped around him while he had her pressed against the wall.
“Hold on,” he said, his hands going under her hips, holding her up, still like that, and moving his hips in and out of her at a speed that he was shocked he possessed.
He felt her try to open her legs wider, giving him more access. Letting him know she was loving everything he was doing right now.
“Oh my, God, Cade.” She threw her head back against the wall and he hoped to hell she didn’t knock herself silly with the loud thunk she’d made because he didn’t think he could stop to find out if she was okay.
“Alex,” he said.
“Yeah.”
“Tell me you’re almost there.”
“I am. Right now!”
Her legs tightened around him more, the spikes on her shoes digging into his waist, his fingers most likely leaving marks of their own as he emptied everything he had into her.
There wasn’t a sound to be heard in his condo right now other than their heavy breathing and the pounding of his heart. If sex ever felt like falling in love, this was it, and it was scaring the hell out of him knowing she wanted no part of that.
On a Mission
Alex was lying in Cade’s bed, in the dark, staring at the ceiling while he was passed out cold beside her on his stomach, one hand under the pillow, the other one hanging off his bed.
Once they’d finished their first workout against his front door, he’d picked her up and carried her to his room, tossed her on the bed, walked into his bathroom quick, then came back out completely naked.
Her clothes were still in the living room along with his pants and shoes. Her heels were on the floor next to the bed after he’d finally taken them off with his teeth.
What a wonderful mouth he had. She knew first hand now since he ran his mouth, his tongue, and his teeth all over her body.
All those comments about Cade not taking anything serious in life didn’t apply to sex. He was seriously on a mission to drive her insane and give her the maximum number of orgasms a body could take before it had no energy to move.
Hence the reason she was lying here wide awake while Cade didn’t have a care in the world.
She had every intention of getting up and leaving. Their arrangement didn’t lend toward full nights spent together. At least in her mind.
Obviously not in his, though, since he’d pulled her in tight and held on, knocking away any ideas of escape.
So since she was awake and Cade was her ride home—another thing she’d completely forgotten about—and sleep was the furthest thing from her mind, she was trying to figure out what the next step was going to be.
She’d never done anything like she did tonight with another man. Not just the sex in the living room, but the amount of it, period.
She never had someone that even wanted to continue on with the night, trying to wear her out.
Then again, she really hadn’t been with all that many men, despite the rumors when she was in high school.
One boy. Her first. Ronnie Larman. She’d been head over heels for him and he felt the same way. Or so she thought. But nasty jealous girls ruined that for her, starting rumors that she was cheating on Ronnie when she wasn’t. When she was just being friendly to another boy that had no friends. Sometimes doing the right thing, the polite thing, backfired in the worst possible ways.
There were two boys in college. One that was short-lived; it just didn’t work out. Then Keith.
Keith who had long-term plans and she fit the mold in his mind, but he’d never clued her in on them. Not until it was too late.
She rolled over and looked at Cade again. This couldn’t go anywhere. They were two different people with nothing in common.
He was a treat for the eyes, sure. The same had been said about her a lot in her life, but superficial never lasted long.
Her hand reached out, her fingers lightly trailing along his shoulder and arm. “What am I going to do about you?” she whispered.
***
The next morning Cade rolled over to an empty bed, sat up straight and looked around in a panic. Where could Alex have gone?
He jumped up quickly and tripped over her heels on the floor, then breathed a sigh of relief knowing she had to be in the house somewhere.
He made his way into the bathroom, brushed his teeth, then jumped in the shower fast and walked into the kitchen. She was sitting at his island in one of his T-shirts drinking coffee. He hadn’t even heard her opening and closing drawers to find that.
“Morning,” she said, her eyes roaming over him.
“Morning,” he said back, walking forward and giving her a quick kiss. Her eyes told stories of wanting just that from him. “You found everything okay, I see?”
“I tried not to pry too much, but I needed a hit of caffeine and you were snoring away. No reason to wake you.”
He snorted. “I don’t snore.”
“Since you’re sleeping, you’d have no clue.”
He looked at her grin and decided not to answer. “Did you sleep okay?”
“No.”
His heart was racing for a reason he couldn’t explain. “Why?”
“Just a lot on my mind. No particular reason.”
He walked to a cabinet and pulled a pan out, opened the fridge and grabbed some eggs. “Did you eat yet?”
“No. Are you going to cook for me?”
“I am. Aiden isn’t the only one that can cook in the family.”
“Are you as good as him?” she asked, laughing over the rim of her mug.
He loved that she had no qualms about teasing him when other women in the past never felt they could. He wasn’t sure why either. “No one is as good as Aiden.”
“You’re telling me. I know it was just a barbeque at your parents’ party but it was the best I’d ever had.”
“He has a special talent. All my siblings do,” he said.
“You do too,” she said.
He squinted one eye at her. “What would that be?”
She stood up and walked over to stand next to him. “You’re nice. You’re charming. You make people laugh. That takes a talent whether you want to admit it or not.”
“Not everyone laughs though.”
“Cade. Stop it. Not everyone has something they can excel at in life. There are too many people in the world and not enough things for that to happen.”
He’d never thought of it that way. “I guess it’s being part of the Fierce Five. We’re all looked at as one. All compared to each other. Everyone searched for an identity.”
“Yourself included?”
“Yes. It seemed I didn’t have anything that made me stand out.”
“So you decided to be the joker of the group?”
“Well, it did seem to come naturally to me.”
She wrapped her arm around his waist. “We all need someone to make us laugh in life. I’d be the first person to say I might not have laughed as much as I
wanted.”
“Why is that?” he asked, kissing her forehead. Sometimes she was so serious and he wasn’t sure why. There was so much about her he couldn’t get a handle on.
“Just a lot of pressure.”
“For what?”
“Helping with the family business. Trying not to ask for too much because I knew my parents were busy and money was often tight. I was labeled when I was younger so it was pressure and stress to stay out of the spotlight.”
“You’ve made comments before about not wanting attention. Because you’re beautiful? Jealous women say and do things when they’re cornered. You just need to ignore them.” He knew first hand.
“It’s not just that. Or not fully. That’s only part of it. When you mature physically faster than most, guys look at you differently. Girls spread rumors and lies because the guys are looking at you. It’s endless. Maybe if I’d had some siblings like you, I would have had some backup. But I didn’t and didn’t have a lot of friends either.”
“Why is that?” he asked, stepping back and cracking some eggs into the pan to scramble. He wanted her to relax and talk and he was thinking if he continued to hold her, she’d clam up.
“I had friends, don’t get me wrong. Just no one that I could consider a best friend. I danced when I was younger. Ballet, tap, jazz. My mother got me started and I loved it. But by the time I turned eleven my body was developing so fast and I was self-conscious. I stopped dancing and started to play sports. I didn’t miss the actual dance as much as the way it made me feel. But sports took over and I enjoyed that instead while it lasted.”
“Okay. I’m still not understanding why you didn’t have a lot of friends back then.”
“I’m pretty athletic and competitive.”
“Ah, now it’s making more sense.” He knew first hand how girls could get catty and mean when they didn’t get their way or the attention wasn’t on them.
“Anyway. Enough of my sad childhood. Actually, it wasn’t all that sad. I don’t want you to think that. We got off topic. We were talking about you.”
He laughed. “Nah. I’m done talking about me. I’m guessing you’re done talking about you too. How about we forget about our pasts and think about the future instead?”
She looked a little apprehensive. “Meaning what?”
The hurt he’d been trying to fight back since yesterday was rearing its ugly little head at him again. He tried to exhaust them both enough so that she didn’t ask for a ride home last night. He hadn’t been ready to end their time together.
“Meaning the past is just that. In the past. Can’t change it. Can’t do anything about it now.”
“The same could be said about the future. Not much we can do about it.”
“Then we can focus on the present,” he said, pulling the pan off the stove. “And eat breakfast, then I can bring you back home for a change of clothes and maybe we can go do something fun today.”
She walked away from him and grabbed two plates and set them on the table. “What kind of fun?”
“Whatever you want,” he said, not wanting this day to end with her. He had it bad.
“I’ll think about it. I had planned on doing some work.”
“It’s Sunday. Why not take the day off? When was the last time you had a day off?”
“I couldn’t even tell you,” she said, digging into her eggs. “These are pretty good.”
He winked at her. “Aiden would tell me they’re too plain, but I don’t need everything in life to be locked, loaded, and overstuffed.”
She burst out laughing. “I’ve never thought of eggs that way before, but whatever works.”
He was going to tell her it wasn’t about eggs. It was about them. The two of them sitting there casually eating breakfast, but he could tell it wasn’t what she’d want to hear.
Simple and Uncomplicated
“I guess you are competitive,” Cade said when she sunk the lime green ball in one stroke through the windmill.
“Mini golf is my game,” she said, laughing.
“I didn’t know it could be someone’s game, but hey, there are seventeen more holes for me to beat you,” he said.
But he didn’t and as much as Alex wanted to rub it in, she didn’t. She was having too much fun, him delivering exactly what he promised to do.
There was so much she could be doing today, but she ended up caving and spending the day with Cade when she’d told herself that she shouldn’t. That if they were going to keep this simple and uncomplicated, then doing things like this wasn’t the way to go.
Only he’d pulled out all the stops this morning, pleading and making her laugh with the stories of the pranks he’d done on his siblings. She was laughing so hard that she just wanted to continue.
“Now what?” she asked when they returned their putters to the front desk. She should be ending the day, but couldn’t bring herself to.
“How about video games? I’m a pro at Skee-Ball.”
“They still have that? And it’s not a video game,” she said.
He tweaked her nose. “It’s a classic. Arcades will always have Skee-Ball.”
He looked so adorable, she followed along like a stray kitten waiting for a bowl of warm milk. He was definitely scary to her peace of mind. No one had ever made her follow along in her life.
“Cade!” She heard the annoying squeal and turned her head to see two women making their way over. One waving excitedly like she was trying to flag down a taxi in New York City during rush hour.
“Monica,” he said, his smile in place but forced at best. “What are you doing here?”
She made her way in front of him, bouncing slightly on her toes, her chest doing a great job of jiggling in the half shirt she had on, her belly ring flashing for all to see. “I’m picking up my younger brother and some of his friends. You remember Candace, right? She met us out that one night at the club.”
“Nice to see you again,” he said.
Monica turned her eyes to Alex and said, “So who are you?”
“This is Alex Marshall,” Cade said.
“Hi,” Alex said, reaching her hand out.
She could be polite. What she was really trying to do was fight back a sarcastic comment at the two young women in front of her.
This was the type of person Cade normally dated? They looked like they were barely out of high school!
“You’ve still got my number, right?” Monica asked, her eyes traveling the length of Cade.
The only saving grace was Cade starting to fidget in front of her like he wanted to leave but was trying to be nice.
“It was good seeing you again,” he said, not answering her. Alex wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. “Alex and I have somewhere to be.”
“Oh,” Monica said, snapping her gum, then reaching in and hugging Cade. Alex heard the whispered, “Call me.”
Cade took Alex’s hand, threading their fingers together and pulling her out of there fast. “Sorry about that,” he said.
“What are you sorry about?”
“First off. It’s not what you think.”
“How do you know what I think?” she asked, opening the door to his car. He was almost sprinting to get away from the arcade.
“You’re thinking I dated her. That she’s probably not even of legal drinking age.”
He did know what she was thinking. “Well, did you?”
“No. She was an intern of mine a few years ago. I always get one from the local colleges. She knew what my schedule was like and she always found a way to end up at whatever venue I was at. She wanted more from me than credits for college and I didn’t comply.”
“Really?” Alex asked, not sure she believed it.
“Honestly. I’ve never mixed work and pleasure. She was twenty-one and it was a few years ago. She hasn’t grown up much by the looks of it. She was a silly little girl that turned into a silly woman.”
“How did she end up as your intern then?” she asked. “Didn’t
you pick her?”
“Actually, I didn’t. She was one of the first I had and the school sent over a few resumes. I was out of town and the person had to start. Brody picked her. It was a joke.”
Alex laughed. “Seriously?”
“Yes. He called it payback. He knew I wouldn’t end her internship before the end of the semester and that I’d be stuck with her. She drove me insane. I never counted days as much as I had those few months. I couldn’t get away from her.”
She wouldn’t have believed it if she didn’t know how much he played jokes on his brothers, but it did seem plausible.
“All right. I guess you’ve got a pass.”
***
Cade had been sweating bullets when he saw who called his name. Monica didn’t look much different than she had years ago. Damn Brody for bringing her in as his intern back then. Brody knew he’d never tell her it wasn’t working out, but would just try to avoid her at all costs.
Sometimes his siblings’ ways of getting even with him were worse than what he’d done to them as kids. He was stuck with Monica for months.
“Thanks,” he said. “Are you hungry? Want a late lunch or an early dinner?”
“I could eat,” she said. “Then I’ve got a bunch of things I need to do at home.”
“Oh,” he said. “Am I keeping you from something important?”
“Only housework and laundry.”
“Definitely not important,” he said.
“Nope. Just a necessity of life.”
He was going to bring her to Fierce to get lunch but then realized that might not be the thing to do. She was still acting like this wasn’t anything more than a little bit of fun and if any of his family got wind or saw them together, it’d be tricky to answer questions when he and Alex seemed to be heading in different directions.
So instead he brought her to another little cafe for sandwiches. He was at a loss on how to extend this day any longer.
“Hey, Cade.”
He turned and groaned. Not again. This time it was someone he’d spent some time with. How the hell would he have known she was working here? “Andrea. How are you doing?”
