Love in the Dark

by 12 Book Boxed Set (epub)

  He walked away before I could answer, but it wouldn't have mattered. I had no words when he said things like that. The man had the ability to make me wet just with a few really hot words. I could definitely get used to that.

  The next hour and a half flew by in a blur as I spent the time fantasizing about where Cash might be taking me. Needless to say, my reports didn't get done, but for one of the first times in my adult life, I didn't care that I hadn't taken care of business. It felt good to venture off the straight and narrow.

  Pushing my chair out from my desk, I looked down at my outfit and shook my head. My black pencil skirt and pink silk blouse weren't exactly the look I would have chosen for a night out with Cash, but I didn't have other clothes with me and something told me that the man who'd practically promised me he wouldn't want to wait until we got to wherever we were going to have sex wasn't going to want to stop so I could slip into something more comfortable.

  I straightened my look and closing the door to my office glanced over at Cash's and saw his door already closed. The club was still quiet, so I headed toward the front door and whatever he had planned for me. Just before I hit the exit, I heard someone call my name and turned to see Stefan standing there with a questioning look on his face.

  "Taking off early tonight? Don't you usually stay late on Fridays?"

  He'd obviously noticed my Friday night schedule for the past month. Struggling to keep my expression as emotionless as possible, I shook my head. "No, I have plans tonight. Have a good one, Stefan."

  "You too! Hey, by the way, is Cash still back in his office?"

  "I don't know. I didn't notice before I left. I guess I was preoccupied. Gotta go. Have a good night."

  Hurrying out of the door, I hoped I hadn't been as obvious as I felt in front of Stefan. He definitely seemed suspicious, but maybe it was all in my head. Whether it was or not, I'd deal with that on Monday.

  I looked up and down the street outside the club but saw no black car. Was I early? I stood there for a moment and then my phone rang. I didn't recognize the number but answered it anyway. "Hello?"

  A voice like silk moaned into the phone and said, "You look so fucking hot. Look down the block to your right."

  I turned my head and there was Cash leaning against a black sports car looking sexier than I thought a man could. Gone were the dress pants and shirt, replaced by jeans and a black T-shirt. From a distance, he sort of looked like Stefan, strangely enough.

  "I see a black car, but I don't know that man. The Cash I know is always in a suit. This guy looks pretty relaxed and casual."

  "Smart ass. I see a very hot redhead. Know her? She's supposed to come with me."

  I chuckled and pretended to look around. "I don't see her. Looks like you're stuck with me."

  "I'll be waiting."

  I started down the block to where he was parked. "You're making me walk to you?"

  "Mmmm…I like watching you walk. See you in a minute."

  He was still leaning against the side of his car when I finally reached him, and I saw by the smile he wore that he was enjoying himself. "Enjoy the show?"

  Sliding his arms around me, he cupped my ass through my skirt and pressed a kiss just below my ear. "Immensely. Let's go."

  "Where are we going?"

  Tapping me lightly on the ass, he winked. "It's a surprise. Now get in the car and we can get out of here."

  "What kind of car is this? It's gorgeous!" I asked as he opened the passenger door for me.

  "A Maserati GranTurismo. Wait until you see how it rides."

  We drove for about two hours in the most luxurious car I'd ever been in, and for the first time, we talked—really talked. Always guarded, Cash played his cards close to the vest, but I learned more about how Kane fit into the March brothers' business and became an equal partner in Club X. I sensed Cash liked his half-brother more than his own brother and stayed away from any questions about Stefan, sure from my time working at the club that there was some bad blood between them. To be honest, I really didn't want to ask because I didn't want to find out the man I was falling for had done something terrible to his own flesh and blood. For at least the time being, I wanted to believe Cash was the great guy I'd built him up to be.

  I also learned that Cash could be really funny when he let himself be. Not that I didn't really like the man he was at work, but to see him smile and laugh instead of trying to be professional all the time made me even crazier about him.

  We were so busy talking and having a good time that I didn't realize where we'd driven to. When he finally stopped the car in front of a beachside house, I stared out in confusion. A whitewashed cottage didn't seem like his style.

  "Is this yours?"

  A slow smile spread across his lips. "Yeah."

  "It doesn't seem like you. I guess I just associate you with the only other places I've seen you in. You know, your office and condo are clean, minimalist. This seems very…quaint."

  "It is. It was my father's and it transferred to me when he died."

  "Oh. I didn't mean to…" Leave it to me to make a comment on something that brought up a dead relative. Smooth.

  He gave me a gentle smile to let me know my comment hadn't ruined anything. "It's okay. Let's go in."

  The inside of the cottage looked nothing like I'd expected it to. I'd assumed the beachy exterior would lead to a place with lots of white wood, seashells, and wicker, but I couldn't have been more mistaken. While the house may have been that quaint cottage at one time, Cash's style had very much been imprinted on the design and instead of feeling like I stood mere feet away from the beach, it felt like I was back in his condo.

  "It's not much, but I like to use it to get away sometimes," he explained as he headed toward the kitchen.

  I heard his keys land on the granite countertop as I looked around at yet another place Cassian March owned. Sleek lines, expensive furnishings, and what I suspected were fine pieces of art filled out the cream and black rooms. Turning toward the kitchen, I saw him pouring us drinks. "Again with the understatement. I think this place is a lot more than not much."

  "Come. Have a drink. That was a long ride."

  Even now, dressed so casually and standing there in this beach cottage, Cash took up all the space in the room and made me feel slightly out of place in my work clothes that made me seem more like his secretary than his lover or girlfriend, whichever I was. I took the glass he offered and watched him lift his in a toast.

  "To always being surprised, Olivia."

  He downed a healthy gulp of whiskey while I inhaled the strong smell, afraid if I drank even a little without eating that I'd lose my head. "I'm not a big fan of surprises, to be honest."

  Lifting his glass again, he smiled in a way that made my core clench in need. "Then to me changing your mind."

  Something about him had changed. It may have been almost imperceptible, but he wasn't the person who'd smiled and laughed with me as we drove there. Had I done something? I didn't know. All I knew was Cash had reverted back to that man he'd usually been around me—cool and sexy, but closed off just enough to keep me at arm's length.

  15

  Cassian

  I slowly opened my eyes, vaguely aware that someone lay next to me. But that was impossible. I never spent the entire night with anyone. Not for a long time anyway. My eyes fully open, I looked over to my right and saw a flash of red hair against the white pillowcase next to mine.

  Olivia.

  What the fuck was I doing? Instead of keeping my distance like I'd planned, I'd ended up sleeping with her not once but twice. Then instead of keeping her at arm's length, I'd been foolish enough to bring her here on some kind of mini-vacation, like we were goddamned dating. This couldn't happen, so why was I being so stupid?

  It's not that I didn't want to be with her. I just couldn't. Period. Everything I was, everything I'd done in my life made it so. Why my cock and his brand new best friend my heart were having a hard time dealing with that
fact escaped me. So now those two had entirely disregarded what my brain had been saying since the day she walked into my life and we'd all ended up at the beach house on Gasparilla Island like she and I were some couple in love who wanted to get away from it all.

  Just one problem. There was no getting away from who I was or all the shittiness I brought into this thing between us, whatever it was.

  She was so close, though. I wanted to reach out and run my fingertips over her skin to remember how she'd felt in my arms just hours before. I wanted to be the man who'd thought it was such a grand idea to bring her here instead of the man I really was.

  Closing my eyes, I worked to push all that from my mind. I couldn't change the past or what that past had made me, no matter how much I wanted to. I didn't want to let her go, though. It was selfish and thoughtless, but I wanted the kind of sweetness she gave my life. That I didn't deserve an ounce of it didn't change the fact that I didn't want to let her go.

  She rolled over and looked at me with a cute, sleepy look. "What time is it?"

  "I don't know. Sun's up, but I don't think it's too late."

  Pushing the hair out of her eyes, she smiled shyly. "I'd have thought you'd be an eye on your watch kind of guy."

  Smiling, I wondered why I wasn't at that moment. My watch sat on the nightstand, but I didn't want to know what time it was. I didn't want to think about anything but lying there with her, no matter how wrong that was.

  "I usually am. I guess this place just has that kind of effect on me," I lied.

  Propping her head up on one hand, she asked, "Do you come here a lot?"

  I shook my head, trying to remember when I'd last slept in this bed with a woman. Suddenly, the memory of that last time flooded my mind. Exactly one week before Rachel and I separated. "No, not really," I lied again.

  Olivia sensed something was wrong and sat up quickly, her feet hitting the floor before I could say another word. Looking around for her clothes, she muttered, "I think we should probably get back. I have things to do today."

  While she picked her things up from the where they'd been thrown hours before in the heat of passion, I reached out to run my hand down her back, loving the feel of her silky skin under my hand. "Grab a shower while I run out to get some breakfast. We have some time."

  She stopped moving and turned to look at me with an expression filled with confusion. I couldn't blame her. One minute I was Prince Charming and the next I was as cold as a fucking iceberg.

  "Try the shower. It's got like ten showerheads. I don't think you'll find a better shower anywhere."

  Raising her eyebrows, she smirked. "That's one hell of a shower. I guess I can't possibly leave without trying it."

  I sat up and slipped my pants on. "Good. I'll get some breakfast and be back in a few."

  As Olivia walked toward the bathroom, I grabbed my phone to call the local store that thankfully delivered whenever I visited this place. Or at least it did the last time I was here. Five minutes and two teenage boys with squeaky voices later, I came to find out that the store's owner had retired and no, they didn't deliver anymore.

  What the fuck was I doing? I had a gorgeous woman naked in my shower, and there I was spending time talking to pimply-faced kids about fucking bagels. I slid out of my pants and headed into the bathroom as my conscience scolded me for once again making the wrong choice with Olivia.

  It only took a few seconds of looking at her wet, naked body before my cock was ready to go. Between the guilt and the knowledge that what I was doing was wrong, I thought it might have let me down, but like my heart, it stood ready to go.

  She turned around, surprised at first, but then she smiled. "I thought you were handling breakfast."

  Closing the shower door behind me, I stepped close to her as the water poured down over me. "Didn't work out. This is a far better way to wake up anyway."

  I slid my arm around her waist and pulled her close to me, but she pressed her hands to my chest to push me away. "What the fuck is with you, Cash? We have a great time all the way here, and then you run ice cold on me as soon as we arrive. Then we have sex and you're all about me, but we wake up and you're the ice man again. Now you're all about me again?"

  I'd brought this upon myself. No intelligent woman would let me get away with what amounted to running hot and cold in some crazy ass bipolar fashion for long, and Olivia had every right to demand an answer. I couldn't give her one, but she had every right to demand one.

  She stood staring at me waiting for me to say something, but I just leaned back against the wall, unable to explain that as much as I wanted us to be that couple we were when I was all into her, we couldn't be more than what we were when I was cold. If she wanted to be with me, she'd have to accept this was how I was.

  That wasn't who she was, though. Stepping toward me, she pressed her body against mine and slowly pushed her hips forward to run her wet pussy over my cock. "No answer? You're just planning on standing there with a raging hard-on and giving me the silent treatment?"

  "Olivia…" I stopped myself and shook my head.

  Frustrated, she knitted her brows and frowned. "Fuck, Cash! What do you want from me? What? Just say it!"

  I lunged at her, slamming her against the tile wall and covered her mouth with mine in a kiss that contained all the pent up shit my fucked up mind was dealing with. I wanted her. That's it. I wanted to not be the man I was so I could be the one Olivia deserved. I wanted to forget the mess of my past and believe something good could happen with her.

  She matched my need with her own, clutching at my neck as her mouth pressed hard against mine. The heat between us threatened to burn me up, but I wanted more. Olivia's moans echoed off the walls, ratcheting up my desire for her. Sliding my hand between her legs, I pushed two fingers into her hot cunt, thrusting in and out fast and hard to feel her come from my touch.

  "I want to see you come so fucking hard you can't stand."

  She climbed up my body desperate for the release only my fingers could give her. I slammed them into her as her teeth sunk into my shoulder. Everything between us now was raw and primal with no reason or thought to hold us back. Her nails scratched over my shoulders, and she cried out against my skin at the first sign of her orgasm ripping through her.

  I pressed my forehead against the tile and heard Olivia groan, "Yes, Cash! God…yes!"

  "Come for me, baby. Let me feel you come apart."

  As the water rained down over us, she came until her legs shook and she couldn't stand anymore. Before her body stopped trembling, I lifted her and she wrapped herself around me, giving me the perfect angle to enter her.

  "God, Olivia, you're killing me."

  She pressed her heels hard against the base of my spine as she bucked against me. I drove hard into her, and with each thrust the wall I'd built around me began to crumble. If we could be this real together physically, maybe I could let go of the past and this could be something. And maybe who I was could be with someone like Olivia.

  Her voice weak, she whimpered, "Cash, what are you doing to me? You're driving me crazy."

  I stared into her dark eyes and let myself feel all those things I'd pushed away for so long. In those eyes I saw a chance for more than just fucking and leaving all the time. All the things that stood in our way could be overcome. I just had to give her a chance.

  Her cunt contracted around my cock, and she came a second time, her body mine if I wanted to claim it. The feeling of her giving in to me sent my body into overdrive, and I came until there was nothing left inside me. Pushing wet strands of hair off her face, I kissed her long and deep and answered her question. "I want you. That's what I want."

  She looked at me like she was searching for some answer in my eyes. "You can have me, but I can't do this with you if all I am is someone you sleep with. I know that sounds old-fashioned, but as much as I love doing this with you, it's just not enough."

  How the hell she could be so brave to put herself all out like that
baffled me. I'd never showed her I could be trusted with a sentiment like that, yet she'd laid it all on the line knowing there was every chance I'd run ice cold and walk away without looking back.

  She gave me my out. I should have taken it. I knew that. I also knew I hadn't met a woman like her before, and I liked how she made me feel when I let her in.

  "I can't promise forever, Olivia. I will promise to only be with you as long as we're together."

  Pursing her lips, she considered what I'd said and finally nodded her head. "I guess for someone like you that's pretty big. It's a deal."

  I lowered her to the floor and cradled her face in my hands. "Not really. I haven't been with anyone else for a while. There's something about you I can't seem to shake, Olivia. Makes being with other women hard."

  She flashed me one of her stunning smiles and traced her finger across the tattoo on my chest. "Then I guess it's my job to make that impossible."

  I stood in Olivia's office doorway waiting for her as the club behind me began to fill up. A typical Friday night at Club X, it was anything but a typical night for me. Tonight would be the first time Olivia and I appeared in public as a couple after our breakthrough just six days before. As I ran through every reason why this was another in a long line of my bad ideas concerning her, she emerged from the conference room dressed in a short black dress that hugged every beautiful curve and four inch heels that made her legs look like they went on for miles.

  "Wow…you look stunning."

  She walked toward me on shaky legs and looked down at her feet as she stopped in front of me. "They're a little higher than I usually go for. I don't think I'll be dancing tonight."

  Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pulled her toward me and kissed her on the lips. "I hadn't planned on us dancing anyway. I had something else in mind."

  "Something else? Like what?"

  "Another visit to the top floor."

  Her expression turned skeptical. "Really? I thought I was too good for that."