by Chloe Cox
She approached cautiously.
“What do you want?” she shouted.
It was the voice that answered her.
“Cate,” Soren said. “Open the door.”
She stood there in shock. Didn’t move.
“Move, Cate,” he said.
She could hear the smile.
Cate practically ran to the door, fumbling with the locks, scrabbling at the doorknob. And then when she finally got it open, she could barely speak.
Soren Andersson, leaning in her doorway, thick, muscular arms crossed, eyes glowing.
He stood up straight and ran a hand through his long blond hair, his eyes never leaving hers.
“Whatever you’re thinking, Cate,” he said, “stop. Whatever you’re afraid of, you’re wrong. I know why you didn’t tell me. And I don’t care that you didn’t. I know you would have eventually, but I messed up, too. I should have told you that I love you, in all the broken ways that I know how.”
Cate leaned against the door, her legs feeling weak. Everything feeling weak.
“You…?”
“I love you,” he said again, simply. “I should have said it from the very beginning. I should have known it from the very beginning. But I’m going to try to make that up to you, starting right now.”
“Soren—”
Cate stopped, suddenly unsure of what to say or how to say it. She was speechless. Soren Andersson had robbed her of speech. And she needed to touch him.
“Soren—” she tried again, but this time it only ended in a sob.
He reached inside and wrapped his long arm around her waist, pulling her toward him into one of those rough, animal kisses that shut off all thought. Her brain quieted down and her body came alive, and when he pulled away from her she could look at only him.
“Quiet,” he said with a smile. “I’ve got more.”
“More?” she said in a daze. She didn’t need more. She had everything now.
“More,” he said. He pulled some folded-up papers out of his back pocket and handed them over to her. “I got you something.”
Cate recognized them even before she got done unfolding them.
“Soren, these are my divorce papers,” she said, her voice going a little unsteady. “This is more than my divorce papers. There’s an added non-disclosure agreement, and—and they’re all signed. Signed and notarized.” She looked up, not understanding. “Soren, they’re all signed.”
Soren’s smile was brilliant, his eyes soft.
Cate had never felt so loved in her entire life.
“You’re free, Cate,” he said. “You’re free, but I’m not. I’m yours. You don’t owe me anything, but I’m yours.”
He touched her face.
She was shaking. She could look down at the papers in her hand and see that she was shaking.
“How did you do this?” she asked.
“I made a deal.”
Cate looked up, confused and worried and tumbling further into love with this crazy person who’d magically gotten her a divorce. Except that obviously it couldn’t have been magic.
“What deal?” she asked.
Soren sucked in a breath and gave Cate the first of what she hoped would be many ‘you caught me, honey’ looks. “I traded with your ex,” he said.
Cate’s face fell. She didn’t care about Jason’s blackmail anymore. She would have gone ahead, steam-powered through the divorce. Soren didn’t need to do anything, and now he’d given something up for nothing.
“Traded what?” she said.
“I told him I’d go to Mark Cheedham and say Jason got me to agree to settle the case,” Soren said. “Jason gets a job, you get a divorce, the case is over. Everybody wins.”
Except, of course, for Soren, whose reputation would have been forever ruined by a settlement. That is, if there was still a case to settle.
Cate put one hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh. It was no use.
“This is funny?” Soren asked, smiling.
“Oh God, yes, it’s funny,” Cate said. “I’ve been calling you to tell you.”
“Dead phone. Died while I was ‘negotiating’ with that prick. Tell me what?”
“Soren, the case is done. I found evidence that Cheedham paid Daniella. There will be an announcement sometime later this week, an investigation, the whole thing. I fixed that today.”
“So Cheedham…?”
“Probably going to jail.”
“So Jason gets…?”
“Absolutely nothing.”
Soren’s smile was blinding. “Holy crap, that is funny.” Then he paused. “Wait, what happens to Daniella? She’s not a bad person, Cate.”
Cate put a hand on Soren’s chest and smiled. She just wanted to feel the heart that beat there.
“You really are very sweet,” she said softly. “And you’re right. She was doing it because her nephew is sick. I already took care of it, Soren; his medical bills are paid. And I told her you probably wouldn’t be suing her.”
“Hell no, I’m not suing her,” he said.
“I took care of her,” Cate said. “I got her a lawyer, she’ll get a book deal out of the whole thing. She’ll be ok.”
“That’s almost enough to get me to forgive you for calling me sweet,” he said. His big hand circled around her wrist, and Cate let the shivers ripple through her body.
“You haven’t let me tell you what I wanted to tell you,” Cate said.
Soren pushed her gently back into the house, closing the door behind him.
“You better make it quick,” he said.
Cate couldn’t stop herself from smiling when she looked into those eyes.
“I love you,” she said.
Soren grinned. “I know,” he said.
“What do you mean, you know?” Cate swatted him in the chest. “You let me suffer?”
“No, I was just stupid.” Soren took her other wrist in his hand and walked her backwards, his gaze roving over her body before resting on her eyes. “I told you I sucked at this. But you’re the only woman I can love, Cate. You have my heart. So I’m going to keep loving you until I’m really fucking good at it, ok?”
Cate licked her lips. “Ok.”
He smiled. “I wasn’t really asking.”
“I know.”
“And that cute smile you’re doing right now is not going to stop me from putting you over my knee whenever I feel like it.”
“I should hope not.”
They were standing together in the middle of the living room now, staring at each other, not wanting any of it to end. Eventually Cate broke; she didn’t have the discipline of a Dom. She tore at his jeans, not wanting to look away from his eyes, but needing, needing for them to be together, as soon as possible, right freaking now—
She got him free and her clothes were off so quickly she didn’t quite know how he’d done it. And then his huge hands under her buttocks, lifting her up, guiding her, slowly lowering her onto him until he’d impaled her to the hilt, his eyes boring into hers while he did it.
He filled her. He loved her. He made her know she was loved; he made her know it was possible.
“Soren,” she said, moving her hips against him as much as she could while he held her up.
“Look at me,” he said.
She did, brushing his wild hair out of his face. She loved him more than she thought possible.
“I love you, Cate. Do you understand that?” he said softly. “Do you understand that I’m never going to get over that? That I’m never going to stop being grateful to you for the opportunity to feel like this? You astonish me.”
She kissed him on the forehead. “Soren, I need you. Right now.”
“Cate,” he said, and hefted her up once, sharply, swiftly, before bring her back down, making her scream out as the head of his cock dragged against her favorite spot. “I’m gonna marry you just as soon as you let me.”
“I only just got divorced!”
“I’m not above using
all kinds of persuasive techniques to get what I want,” he said, driving up into her.
She groaned.
“I might—” she gasped, “—actually be ok with that.”
He laughed, that sound filling her with so much joy, even as he tumbled them both onto the sofa and pinned her arms above her head.
“How do Lucy and Ethel feel about it?” he said.
Epilogue
Declan and Molly’s engagement party, much delayed, was basically a present to Adra.
Adra loved Christmas stuff. Like, truly, truly loved it, as only a woman born and bred in southern California can love the suggestion of snow and everything that goes with it. Molly had decided to save her energy for the wedding—apparently planning a wedding to a rock star was like planning the invasion of a small country—and when she heard that Adra was still upset about whatever was happening with her and Ford, she decided to give Adra the gift of planning a Christmas engagement party.
Adra had literally squealed. Cate had heard it herself. There had been gleeful squealing, and then Adra had covered her mouth and looked around to see who had heard.
“I’m a grown woman,” she’d said shaking her head.
“Relax,” Cate had laughed. “Get into the spirit.”
Adra had done more than that. Adra had become the spirit. Or she’d somehow kidnapped the spirit and then forced it to do the decorating at Club Volare.
Because the place had been turned into a wonderland. Outside it was sunny and eighty degrees. Inside: winter wonderland. Cate was in awe. So was Molly.
“Holy—”
“—Night,” Cate finished, giving her friend a smile. “That was my contribution.”
Molly giggled. “Well, it’s going to be some kind of night.”
That was another thing Cate had to be grateful for: she had been fully accepted into Soren’s found family pretty much immediately, and Molly and Adra had been at the forefront of that effort. Cate’s wariness around people had returned, to some extent, when she found herself trying to build her own friendships with these people, and Molly and Adra would have none of it. They’d worn her down in the best possible way.
And now…she was here.
Cate looked around again as Molly went off to do the rounds, greeting all the people who’d shown up to congratulate her and Declan. There was not one person here who Cate felt she had to hide from. They all knew her. Really, really knew her, the real her, all sides of her. They were all people who she would invite into her home, if she hadn’t already. She hadn’t felt that panic or white knuckled fear in months.
It was all, frankly, amazing.
And she had Soren to thank for it.
Cate smiled, eyes searching for him amongst the crowd. A giant blond Norse god shouldn’t be hard to find, and anyway, she knew he’d come track her down in a few minutes just to put his arms around her. He always did, even at home.
It had been way too easy to trick him into moving in with her. Well, Cate maintained that she’d tricked him into moving in by accident; Soren claimed that he’d tricked her into letting him move in on purpose. Either way, Desi was happy with all the room to run around, and Cate and Soren were happy with the privacy.
However it had happened—and it did feel like it just kind of happened, naturally—the end result was that Soren had made some very permanent, very functional alterations to the bedroom. The place was now definitely “theirs.” He’d only shown her the newest addition—rings and pulleys in the ceiling—right before they’d left for the party. It meant Cate’s mind wasn’t fully on the festivities. It was on Soren.
When she found him, standing on the other side of a huge ice sculpture, he was watching her.
That look.
Cate shivered. She’d been working a lot lately, and so they hadn’t had as much time together. She’d meant to take some time off to fade out of the spotlight, but then a near perfect case had fallen right in her lap—a medical provider accused of adulterating prescription medications—and she’d pounced on it with delight. The fact that she couldn’t stay away had made her realize that what Soren said when they first met was true: this was who she was. She was a sexual submissive and a badass lawyer, all at the same time.
No. She was his submissive.
Cate smiled.
He’d ordered her not to wear underwear tonight, and told her to be prepared. She liked knowing she was available to him. She liked knowing she was his.
And he was hers, too—her knight in tarnished armor. Cate couldn’t take credit for that line; she’d seen it in a headline and immediately had it framed. After Daniella Collins had gone on live television and told the whole truth, and after it had come out that Soren had insisted on helping to pay her family’s legal and medical bills and that he refused to file suit against her, the press had gone almost as crazy for Soren as she was.
If only they all knew how true it was. Soren was her knight in tarnished armor. Had been since the start. And she hoped he always would be.
And that is where things got nerve-wracking, all over again.
Cate couldn’t look away from Soren, even across the party. Those eyes held her, every time. Every time. Did he know already? Did he know what she was going to say?
Soren hadn’t let her forget that he meant marriage. From another guy it might have been too much, but he was Soren, and he watched her. He was careful. And he was so damn excited to be in love that it was infectious. The man had put a fruitloop ring on her finger while she was doing the crossword at breakfast this morning; how was she supposed to do anything but love him and laugh?
But she’d been thinking about it.
A lot.
She’d wanted to wait. She’d wanted to be sure. Maybe there was still some part of her that was only half out of its hiding place, that was waiting for something to go wrong, for the vulnerability she experienced every day with Soren to end in pain rather than pleasure.
Maybe it had even made sense to still be a little bit afraid.
But now? Now it just felt like so much wasted time.
Cate felt the tears start and bit her lip, craning her neck to catch another glimpse of him as people passed between them. She could look at him all night and never get up the courage. She was going to have to find a way to toughen up.
Actually, she was going to have to find him. Cate spun around, muttering. Where had he gone? She really had managed to lose a blond giant?
“Listen up!”
It was Chance Dalton’s bellowing voice. The party chatter, the laughter—all of it came to a halt, and everything seemed to settle on Chance’s broad grin. Cate didn’t know the owner of the L.A. Volare location very well yet, but he was the kind of guy that Soren said you got along with immediately, as long as you were cool with occasional pranks. The combination of those looks, that military buzz, and playfulness in a Dom probably broke a lot of hearts before he’d met his Lena.
And the grin on Chance’s face told Cate that he was about either pull another prank or break another heart, or possibly both.
Chance looked to his left. To his right. And Cate figured out where he was looking at about the same time as everyone else: Ford on the one side, Adra on the other.
Oh boy.
“Some of you know that I’m a restless man,” Chance said, his grin getting wider. “And now I’ve got a woman who gives me a run for my money.”
He punctuated his speech by pulling Lena in for a startling, breath-taking kind of kiss, winning a few smiles from the crowd.
“And this place seems to run pretty well,” Chance went on, his arm still around a surprised Lena.
“Honey, stop torturing them,” Lena said, and reached up to rub her hand on his buzzed head. “Just tell them.”
“Lena and I are leaving,” Chance said.
There was a shocked silence.
“Relax,” he said, smiling again. “Just for a little while. We’re scouting out locations for the newest Club Volare. And while we’re gone…”
And here, if Cate didn’t know any better, she’d swear Chance’s grin turned a little bit evil.
“…We’re leaving Ford and Adra in charge.”
There it was.
They would have to work together. No more avoiding each other for the sake of the club, no more pretending everything was fine. No more pretending they didn’t care.
Cate looked at Ford, then Adra. Then she smiled. Ford was a stoic rock, professional and unshakeable, unless maybe you knew him—then there was the telltale pulse in his neck, the creases at the corners of his eyes. Nothing got to him quite like Adra.
And Adra? Adra looked like she couldn’t decide if she was happy, terrified, or just in a kind of shock.
Cate would have gone over there to check up on one or both them if she hadn’t felt those familiar large hands come snaking around her waist.
“Where do you think you’re going?” Soren whispered in her ear.
Cate sighed, and sank back into him.
“I was going to check on our friends,” she said, smiling at that. ‘Our friends.’ Little things like that felt good to say.
“They’re fine,” Soren said. “Or they will be. You are coming with me.”
He turned her around, marching her towards the edge of the room, where there was one of the many little hidden alcoves that made Club Volare such a fun place to navigate at night.
Cate turned around and put her hand on Soren’s chest. “Did you have a part in that? Setting Ford and Adra up?”
“Not just me,” Soren said. “Molly’s idea. I knew Chance was planning a trip. Figured this was the way to get them to fix it or forget about it.”
“You don’t think they’d really forget?”
Soren laughed. “Not a chance.”
“That’s diabolical,” Cate said as Soren pushed her into a corner.
She came up against the wall and sighed.
“You don’t know from diabolical, baby,” Soren said, slipping his hands under the hem of her dress. “You haven’t seen what I’m gonna do to you next.”
Cate’s eyes fluttered as he gripped her bare ass, his body pinning her to the wall, his leg pushing between hers. She summoned all her strength, gripped the lapels of his jacket, and said, “Wait.”
