“Sure,” I murmured. And just as I’d said that, I heard the garage door open. Mom and Dad were here. Luckily, Cane was all fixed up. He sat back down on the couch, and I followed his lead, focusing on the TV and pretending nothing had ever happened.
Before my parents walked in, though, Cane said something that I truly wasn’t expecting.
“If you’re still talking and hanging out with that boy, break it off with him.” It was a demand, not a request. His face and tone was serious. I didn’t say anything, just looked at him.
For one, it was too late to respond because the door was opening, and Mom was singing her “I’m home” song.
And two, because I knew that if I told him no, he wouldn’t give me what I wanted, and all I really wanted was Cane, no matter how bad he was for me.
So I smiled and accepted it instead.
17
CANE
The beach trip to Destin was happening in two days, and I was mentally prepared. Physically? Not so much. I’d tried thinking about other things, but it was impossible, and all because I wasn’t sure how my body would react with Kandy being around.
She was going to be in the same beach house with me for five whole days. Was I ready for that shit? Could I handle it? Seeing her in bathing suits, shorts that revealed too much leg, and crop tops? Skin, ass, and tits?
After what had happened in Derek and Mindy’s living room, I couldn’t get her out of my head to save my fucking life. Drinking at night during some of my free time, and even on flights around the country, didn’t help. I thought it would help me escape the godawful shit I did, but it only intensified the urges—made the cravings vicious and demanding.
I couldn’t get over the way she looked at me, like a good girl begging to be turned bad. She stared up with wide, brown eyes, and when her pouty lips sealed around my cock, I lost it.
I should have stopped her as soon as I saw her walking toward me, but having her on my lap felt good. Having her lips on mine was intoxicating…and extremely fucked up.
I was a complicated man, and she needed to know that. Even if I was several years younger and Kandy wasn’t my best friend’s daughter, I still wouldn’t be the man she needed.
She thought I was a good person, but she had no idea who I really was. She only saw what was on the surface—Mr. Cane, her dad’s friend. Anyone who was a friend of Derek’s was supposed to be good because he was a good man, but I was nothing like him.
I’d done things—been through so much shit—that Derek would have arrested me for himself if he’d been around. He never would have let me set foot around his daughter. Though she knew what she wanted, she was still innocent—too innocent for me.
I’d had time to think about what I said to her that day in the living room, and I don’t know what the hell came over me. Why did I tell her to only use her lips on me? I was being stupid, trapped in a thick, impenetrable moment—a moment that I was never going to forget.
“Mr. Cane,” my secretary’s voice cut through the speaker, interrupting my toxic thoughts.
I fixed my tie as if she were in the same room and could hear everything I was thinking. I cleared my throat before pressing the intercom button. “Yes, Cora?”
“Ms. Hugo is in the lobby with dinner. Would you like security to send her up?”
My throat worked hard at the mention of Kelly. Kelly Hugo. My…whatever she is to me. The woman I should have been thinking about, instead of an eighteen-year-old girl. Everyone considered Kelly my girlfriend, but I wasn’t so sure I could call her that. We met up a maximum of two times per week. She liked me, and I fancied her but had never called her my girlfriend. She was more of a friend with benefits, if you will, and I suspected that she wanted more. I never knew how to respond to the “more” option, so instead I did what kept her content.
I pressed the speaker button. “Sure. Send her up.” I pushed out of my chair, sliding my hands into my pockets as I walked toward the wide window.
It didn’t take long for me to hear Kelly’s voice. “How are you, Cora?” she greeted.
“I’m great, Ms. Hugo. I hope you are doing well. He’s inside.”
The door lightly creaked on its hinges when it opened, and I peered over my shoulder as Kelly came into the room. She was stunning. No, really. Absolutely fucking gorgeous.
Her skin was tan and flawless, her legs as smooth as silk. She had her hair tied up in a tight bun and was wearing a sky-blue dress that made her skin appear a little darker. She’d always bragged about how she didn’t need to tan much—that she had a natural glow, thanks to her mother falling in love with her Latino father.
She had a Bobby’s Steakhouse paper bag in her hands, the dinner tucked away inside it. I could smell it from where I stood. Her eyes lit up when she spotted me. As soon as she placed the bag on top of my desk, she rushed my way. I turned and she walked right into my arms before I could fully open them, kissing me softly on the lips.
“So nice to finally see you,” she sighed.
“I could say the same.” I smiled down at her. Though she didn’t have to while wearing heels, she pushed up on her toes anyway, and gave me another peck on the lips.
I didn’t give much effort—couldn’t, really. My mind was somewhere else, thinking about some fucked-up shit. As if she noticed, her brows drew together, and she gripped my shoulders, putting a little distance between us.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, squeezing my shoulders. “You feel tense, Quinton.”
“Just…work stress. The usual.”
I pulled back, capping her shoulder once before heading for the desk. “What’d you decide to get?”
She turned and smiled, as if she’d just remembered the food. She picked the bag up from the desk and took it to the two-top table in the corner of the room.
Getting the table was her idea. She’d claimed that she didn’t get to see me enough, and since we only really met up for rare lunches and dinners outside of work, she got the table so I couldn’t make excuses about eating on my $5,000 desk. Since I couldn’t always come to her, she decided to come to me.
“I got the T-bone steak you love,” she announced, “along with the sweet potato casserole, steamed broccoli, and asparagus for sides.” She wasted no time taking the food out of the bags. Normally, seeing Kelly dressed like this—in short dresses and high heels that showed off her legs—made me want to stop her from doing whatever she was doing, bend her over the table, and fuck her.
But not tonight.
Tonight I wasn’t in my element. To be honest, I hadn’t really thought much about touching Kelly since the shit that happened with Kandy in the living room.
I couldn’t bear touching her because I knew as soon as I was inside her, I would imagine Kandy. I would probably say her name by accident. With that girl on my mind and around me, my self-control always seemed to vanish, and trust me, that was really fucking rare.
Kandy. Kandy. Kandy. Fucking Kandy.
She was driving me crazy and wasn’t even around me. I was always calm and collected—it was the reason I was in that expensive building I owned, with over five hundred employees. Being in control was what I knew best. Perhaps that was the reason Kandy intrigued me so much.
I’d been reckless before. I’d done a lot of crazy shit without thinking twice about it. I thought I had grown out of that habit, but apparently I still wanted a taste of the risk. Living on edge. Stepping out of line and breaking the rules had always given me an undeniable rush.
Kandy tested my control and broke the rules with me constantly. She knew how to push my buttons and get under my skin. She was probably the only person that could see right through my calm and collected bullshit and see me for who I really was.
“Quinton?” Kelly called. I looked up, and she was frowning. She walked my way. “What is going on inside that head of yours?” She tried to sound playful, sweet, but I could hear the concern deep in her voice.
I forced a smile and shook my head. “It’s nothing
. I’m fine.” Even with Kelly, I pretended to be a good man. To everyone, I was a good man, but if they knew about the turmoil inside me—the chaos and darkness that was a constant threat—they would have thought otherwise.
“Come on,” Kelly said, grabbing my hand and leading me to the table. “You just need some good food and great wine to pull you out of that funk.” She pulled out a bottle of Tempt’s finest wine, and I smiled as she did.
Kelly was a good woman.
A great woman, actually.
She deserved better than me too. Truthfully, I had no idea how we were still seeing each other. I didn’t give her my all. There were days when I would get so caught up with work that I’d forget to text or call her, but she never complained.
Perhaps she understood. She grew up with wealthy parents. She never had to worry about a thing as a child, but she did tell me often how she wished her parents had spent more time with her.
Our childhoods were completely different. I didn’t talk about mine much with her, or anyone for that matter. The only person who knew much about my family was Derek, and that’s only because he was there the night he saved my mother and had caught a glimpse of the hell I’d been through. After seeing that, I really didn’t have much of a choice but to tell him a few things about myself.
I was too dark for a person like Kelly—a person who always seemed to exude a bright, warm aura. Kandy may have been right when she said Kelly and I didn’t make a good match, but Kelly was a ray of light in my darkness, and maybe it was that light that made me want to hold onto her.
Any light I could find, I held onto it. Derek and his family were a light. My sister was a light, but lately I hadn’t had much of her glow. I needed light so I wouldn’t lose my mind. I was trapped in darkness for a long time—surrounded by it. Suffocated by it.
I knew by this time that I was stringing Kelly along. Sometimes I felt like she knew it too and was just waiting for me to break it off or talk about it. Sometimes my stress would be so high that I wouldn’t want to be bothered. She’d show up at the wrong time, and I’d tell her to leave—and not gently—yet she still stuck around, waiting for me. Wanting me.
I admit I was an asshole.
I wasn’t fair, but Kelly didn’t care that I was an asshole.
Kandy didn’t care.
And my best friend? Derek? He definitely didn’t care either. He kept me in his life anyway, loved me anyway, and I had betrayed him.
“So, you’re gonna spend five days away from me, huh?” I picked my head up as Kelly bit into a piece of asparagus. I didn’t even realize she’d topped our plates with food.
“Just a small vacation with Derek. We haven’t hung out in a while. Visiting his place doesn’t really count, so I figured it’d be fun to get away.”
“You know, I could always come and spend a little more time with Mindy. She’s a great person and spending five days with her could really help me get to know her.”
Here we go. She was doing this again—tossing hints at me, trying to get me to invite her to go on vacation with me.
At first I thought it would be a good idea. Kelly would be my distraction and one hell of a reason to stay away from Kandy, since Kelly loved to be all over me. But then I thought about Kandy and how pissed she would be if Kelly tagged along. I’d told her she wouldn’t be there, and Kandy always held me to my word.
Mindy had asked about me bringing Kelly, but I wasn’t up for it. Kelly and I were just a thing. It started as a fling and grew into…something else. I couldn’t quite explain it. We connected about something deep and it took off from there. We were on the border of a relationship, but not quite there yet, even after several months.
We’d spend the night at each other’s houses every so often, catch some food when I had free space in my schedule, but vacationing was different. I hadn’t been on a vacation with a woman outside of family before, and I wasn’t planning on starting now. I kind of wished I hadn’t brought her to meet D and the family. Things were moving too quickly with her and I blame myself for it. She begged to know what I did outside of work and whom I hung out with, so I brought her with me to meet them. I should have waited a bit longer.
“I take that as a no,” she murmured through a tight smile. She sipped her wine to ease the pain.
“No, Kelly, it’s not that. It’s just…I can’t explain it. Derek and his family hold a special place in my heart. You know that I’m very private with them. They asked me to go, and I’d hate to step on their toes by bringing someone along. They had plans—bought a certain amount of tickets for events happening there. Kind of like a family thing, you know?”
“I see.” She was not pleased with my answer.
I bit off a piece of asparagus. “I’ll take you to dinner when I get back,” I promised.
“We always have dinner, Quinton. Always. It’s starting to become tiresome. I feel like we should be moving forward. I’m sure Derek and Mindy will understand, and I don’t mind skipping out on the events you guys attend and staying at the beach house until you get back.”
“Kelly,” I warned.
“No. Don’t Kelly me, Quinton. I’m serious.” Her face revealed that. She reached across the table to place her hand on top of mine and softened her features. “I know you have a hard time opening up. I get that, I really do. You like to spend most of your time alone because being alone and doing things by yourself is all you’ve ever known, but I’m here for you, Quinton. I want to do things with you. I want to get to know you better. Work always gets in the way, but this vacation would be the perfect opportunity for us to be together for as long as we want without being interrupted by phone calls and emails and everything else. We could really get to know each other there—see if we should take this up a level or if we should keep it where it is.”
I swallowed hard.
Fuck. She had me by the balls.
All I could think about in that moment was how pissed Kandy would be once she saw Kelly tagging along with me. I wished it hadn’t come to this—to the point where I’d offend Kandy by bringing Kelly around at all. At first it was harmless—just a simple crush, and I knew that—but then it became bigger. That crush led to ogling and deep stares. Then deep stares to heavy breathing. Then heavy breathing to kissing, sucking, and heavy finger-fucking. It was too much for even myself to handle, and I’d dealt with a lot of shit.
But this was different.
I wasn’t supposed to want Kandy. I wasn’t supposed to touch her or tell her to only use her lips on me, no matter how tempting they were and no matter how angry it made me that she’d used them on someone else. I wanted to rip a motherfucker in half when I found out she’d been touched and used, but how could I? She wasn’t mine—could never be mine—and I knew that.
The woman I was supposed to be with was sitting right across from me, begging me to give her this one thing. After treating her like shit, forgetting dates and always cancelling on her at the last minute, this was the least I could do. Seriously, it was. I owed Kelly more than she received. A part of me wanted to please her, even if I didn’t take whatever this was too seriously. She was good to me.
Mindy was dying to have Kelly go.
My friends mattered to me.
Kandy mattered to me too, but her crush, I hoped, would pass one day soon. I hoped she would forget about what had happened in my den and in her parents’ living room.
I was going to have to make it clear that I was a fucking fool, and that I was never going to let it happen again. She was a young girl. She had plenty of time to find someone else and get over me.
I needed a companion, someone who understood me, no matter how much I knew I didn’t deserve her. I knew who that companion was, so I grabbed Kelly’s hand and said, “I’ll consider it.”
18
KANDY
When Dad told me we were taking a private jet to Florida, I thought I was going to die of excitement. He’d said the jet was Cane’s, and that Cane was more than happy to give us
a ride down there with him instead of letting us drive for five and a half long hours.
Dad put up a small fuss, saying he didn’t want us to get in the way of his flight, but both Mom and I told him to shut it and be grateful. His best friend was rich enough to give us a ride on a private, fully accommodated jet. Who in their right mind would turn that down? Dad would, because he hated feeling like he was in the way or being a bother.
Since Clay had summer camp for his college, and Frankie wouldn’t be going to UNC for another two months, she’d decided to tag along with me for the trip.
Mom and Dad were fine with her joining us. They didn’t want me to be bored, being the only teenager in the house and all. They kept saying I’d be surrounded by adults and “adult talk,” like I was still a child or something.
In my opinion, eighteen was old enough to be taken seriously enough for most people, but apparently not my parents. They were afraid to even argue around me, and don’t get me started on the swearing.
Dad treated me like a delicate little flower that always needed to be showered with love and affection, and Mom was close to being the same way, though she knew when to give me space.
I had been waiting for this trip to Destin for quite some time now. I knew my parents would spend a lot of time together and even go out, and Cane would be at the beach house by himself. It was the perfect opportunity to get to know him a little better.
We pulled up to the private runway in Dad’s truck, Frankie bouncing beside me and trying to hold back a squeal.
“I can’t believe this!” She slid closer to the window, staring ahead as we got closer to the jet. It was white, and on the side of it, printed in red, was the word Tempt. Yep, that was definitely Cane’s.
I looked around for him but didn’t see any cars. Just a man with a pilot’s hat and suit on, and another wearing an orange vest with a gas pump in his hand.
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