by JM Stewart
Cade tsked, low and amused. “You’re always all business. Do you ever relax?”
“That’s what you are. You’re my vacation from life. Except I can’t see you, so you’re going to have to fill in the blanks for me.”
“That can be arranged, you know. Us meeting, I mean. Tell me you haven’t thought about it.”
Her heart stalled. She touched the scar running down the side of her face. She had thought about it, a lot, but just the mention of meeting him in person had panic clawing its way through her chest and closing its icy hands around her throat. Envisioning his reaction, the disgust in his eyes when he looked at her…
She squeezed her eyes shut, her breathing coming harsh and shallow. He was ruining the moment, ruining her high by bringing reality into their exchange. He’d changed the rules, damn it.
She opened her eyes, desperate to drag this back to where it ought to be. “Are you hard, Cade? Is your cock in your hand yet? I bought lingerie for you today. A little see-through number. You can see my nipples. They’re hard. Just for you.”
He growled again, a muted sound that was half needy groan. The sound a man made when he was aroused and desperate for relief. “All right, I give. I’m hard as steel and you’re the reason. And since you asked so nicely, I’m thinking about you. I want to know what you look like, every curve of your body. I want to be able to look into your eyes, know your smile. I yearn to know the feel of your skin. God, I bet it’s so soft.”
His words and the hunger within them shivered all the way down her spine, settling in a desperate place. Getting to hear him made breaking protocol worth every nervous heartbeat. She wanted to add to her fantasy, to ramp it up, so when she lay in the darkness of night, easing the ache by herself for the hundredth time, she wouldn’t feel so alone. She had another aspect to make her fantasy a little more tangible. She’d never admit it to him, but she yearned for the same thing. For him to be standing in front of her. To know the warmth of his skin, the softness of his mouth, and the strength of his embrace as he closed his arms around her.
She couldn’t risk it, though. They had something good here. She craved more, the physical touch of his hands on her body, but hearing his voice would have to do because she wouldn’t take the chance he’d end up like all the rest. She’d broken the rules with Dane and look where it got her. “Please don’t make this difficult. This isn’t what we agreed on.”
He sighed heavily. “I’m sorry. I know it’s not, but I’m addicted to you. God, I can’t even tell you. I haven’t had dinner yet, haven’t even taken off my tie, but I had to talk to you. You’re the first thing I want as soon as I get home. I’m hard all day because I look forward to talking to you at night. And up until tonight, I didn’t even know your name. I don’t know what you look like either, just what you’ve told me, and I crave it.”
She closed her eyes and drew a shuddering breath. Knowing he looked forward to their chats as much as she did relaxed a knot in her stomach. Somehow, right then, it made him more than just a figment of her vivid imagination. She wanted to ask him, again, why he didn’t find a flesh-and-blood woman, a one-night stand, but he continued before the words could leave her tongue.
“I’m going to be in Seattle next week. In fact, most of my clients are in Seattle. It’s where my family’s from. I grew up there. I go there a lot for business. The thought of being there and not getting to see you is driving me crazy. I’ve been back twice since we met, and every time I come, I have the same desire. To see you.” He paused. “Have coffee with me. Only coffee. We can play it by ear from there. I have to see you, baby.”
God, he had no idea how tempted she was. She couldn’t deny she wanted the same thing. She’d thought of little else for weeks. What he looked like. The curve of his lips when he smiled and the broadness of his chest. How his hands would feel sliding over her skin.
It was long past time to distract him. “Take your cock out, Cade. Stroke it for me, long and slow.”
Another moment of silence rose between them. Had she pushed too hard? Had she ruined the moment for him?
Finally he sighed, a sound of acquiescence.
“All right, baby. We’ll play it your way. I’m too desperate to argue with you.” The sound of a zipper being pulled down came over the line, whisper soft, and Cade released a ragged breath. “My cock’s out. The sound of your voice has me so turned on. I’m stroking for you, long and slow, the way you like it. Tell me what you want me to do. I’m all yours.”
Grateful for the change in subject, she closed her eyes and immersed herself in the sound of his voice, in the fantasy he represented. She slipped her hand into her panties and dipped her fingers inside herself. The sound of his voice turned her on as well. She was already wet, and her clit pulsed, sending a gratifying rush of delight when she caressed it with the tip of her thumb. “Tell me what you’re thinking about while you stroke.”
He let out a quiet, shuddering breath. “You. I’m wishing like hell this was your mouth wrapped around me. I’m imagining what you’d look like on your knees at my feet, looking up at me.”
And just that easy, the desire flared like a glowing bonfire between them. It was the way it always was with him. So easy. They’d started out arguing opposite sides of the book they were reading. The attraction between them had grown as organically as the trees outside her apartment building. The sound of his voice had added a touch of reality and her body responded to the urgency in his.
She gasped as her mind took his hot image and ran with it. Her clit pulsed again in response to the images bombarding her thoughts. “God, I want that, too.”
He grunted this time, a desperate, frustrated sound. “You’re killing me, you know that? You have no idea how much I wish you were here. Slip your fingers into your pussy, baby. Be my hands. Tell me what you feel like.”
She did as he asked, imagining him beside her, that her fingers were his. The sweet invasion had every sensitive nerve ending coming alive, and she gasped. “I’m so wet. You have me so turned on.”
“You like hearing my voice.” His held a hint of amusement.
She bit her lower lip. Her fingers stilled as her nerves rose again. Did she dare tell him the truth? Some part of her said she shouldn’t, but the word left her mouth anyway. She never could resist telling him things she shouldn’t. Like how much she wanted him. “Yes.”
“Me too. You have the sexiest voice. Soft and sweet. I’m on the edge already. Have been all damn day, but your voice…God, your voice turns me on. Tell me what you’d do to me if I were there.”
She swept her index finger over her clit. Her breathing ramped up a notch, coming in short rasps. Her mind filled with the images. Of him, seated on a couch, like her, his shirt open, tie crooked, pants unbuttoned. Oh yeah. She knew exactly what she’d do if she were there. “I want exactly that. I’d drop to my knees at your feet and suck your cock.”
“You like that, baby?”
This time, his words came low and quiet. His voice had taken on an edge, and his breathing became a soft, erratic huff in her ear. It had her envisioning him closing his eyes, dropping his head back, losing himself in her voice as his hand stroked the length of his cock. The desperate edge in his voice made her wonder…was he as close to coming as she was? The thought only made her hotter.
She slid her fingers over her clit, circled, then down her slit and inside, working them in and out, imagining they were his instead. Every pump of her fingers tossed her closer and closer to the edge. Hearing his desire had ramped up her body’s reaction. The fantasy filled her mind, of them watching each other, and had her orgasm hovering just beyond reach.
God, how was it possible to be this hot already, just from hearing his voice? “I’d love to suck you. I always imagined you were long and thick. Are you leaking? I’d lap it up with my tongue.”
He drew a shuddering breath and let out a quiet curse. “God, I want you. I’m so damn close. The sound of your voice is making me crazy. I ache to be i
nside you. I want to fuck you until neither one of us can walk. Until you scream my name and come around me. You have me tied in knots, baby.”
His words sent her over the edge. Her climax struck like a starburst, erupting through her. Colors exploded behind her eyelids. Muscles tightened and loosened, her heaving body clamping around her fingers as a rush of white-hot pleasure washed through her. She cried out, pumping her fingers harder in an attempt to make her orgasm last as long as possible.
Cade’s groan echoed over the line, low and etched with the same desperation and intense satisfaction rushing through her. In a flash, the image filled her mind. His eyes squeezed shut, his fist pumping as jets of his come covered his chest and belly…
The image had another wave rushing over her, this one stronger than the last. Her body bowed off the couch. Her pussy clenched around her fingers, the intensity seeming to rip her apart at the seams.
When the wracking spasms subsided, she collapsed back into the couch, panting and spent. They sat in silence, only the sound of their combined breathing, harsh and erratic, between them. She wanted to thank him. She hadn’t come that hard in…probably ever. It had been years at least since she’d last felt the sweet, sleepy lull of sexual satisfaction. The words, however, wouldn’t leave her mouth. Exhaustion seeped over her limbs. Her eyelids drooped, her boneless body melting into the soft cushions.
“I have to see you, Hannah. That was incredible. Jesus, I think I saw stars. Think about what it would be like for real. My cock. My fingers. My mouth. On you. All over you. God, I’m hard again just thinking about it. We can make it happen. I’m going to be in Seattle for two weeks. Tell me you don’t crave the real thing the way I do.”
The desperation in his voice grabbed her, jerking her from the luscious lull of satiation. She couldn’t deny she wanted the same thing. Lying there with her fingers still buried inside of herself, alone on her living room couch, the emptiness of her life settled over her. The way it always did when their exchanges ended.
She opened her eyes as the inherent intimacy of what they’d shared hit her full force, gripping her chest. Truth was, she wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of girl. Deep down, she wanted a full relationship, and that part of her said he ought to be there beside her. Up until this point, their online affair had kept her going and eased the ache with little risk. Over the course of the last few minutes, however, it had lost its appeal. All because he’d broken protocol and had her call him. She’d heard his voice, had come so hard she lost her breath, and she craved more. Masturbating would never be the same. It would never again be enough.
She slipped her fingers from herself and sighed. “You’re right. I need the real thing. I need you.”
“Then meet me.” Another plea filled with all the same hunger that had her shaking.
“But how do I know you aren’t some weirdo who’s going to kidnap me or kill me?” She shouldn’t have asked him that. She should have turned him down flat and removed the unbearable temptation right then and there. Talking to him had always been easy. It was what pulled her to him and made him so damn terrifying at the same time.
He laughed. “You’re right. It’s a risk, I know. How about we meet in public? At the base of the Space Needle. I’ll wear a red tie so you’ll know it’s me. That way, you can see me, but I can’t see you. Then you can decide if you want me, too.”
She was touched he’d go through so much trouble for her but reached up to touch the scar running from her temple to the corner of her chin. The night she’d gotten it came to mind. The darkened car, the twisted metal. Her parents died that night and her life changed. She’d gotten teased so much growing up that she’d come to expect it. Kids could be shallow and cruel, even in college. It didn’t help that she’d gotten good grades and preferred her own company. She was a geek, a loner. She enjoyed reading. Her love for it had been what made her decide to use the meager inheritance her parents had left to open her bookstore.
Over the years, she’d been laughed at and discussed like she didn’t exist, didn’t have feelings. She’d overheard one too many dates in college, before she’d met Dane, talking to friends about the hideousness of her scar. Some had even laughed at her. Granted, they were drunken college boys too full of themselves, but the hurt had stuck. Since her breakup with Dane, she’d given up dating altogether. No, trying to find someone real, who’d accept her, scars and short, “voluptuous” stature and all, wasn’t worth the headache.
She still had needs, though, and desires. She was twenty-five, single, and sexually frustrated. She had yet to have a wild fling for the hell of it. She lived like an old spinster, because she was afraid to live. She wanted and craved hot, heavy sex, the kind where you couldn’t keep your hands off each other. Where you made out in elevators, like in the novel that brought her and Cade together in the first place. With a man, not the boys she managed to find. One who wouldn’t be horrible behind her back or even to her face, who’d make her feel sexy while he fucked her into next week.
She wasn’t, however, naïve. She knew better than to meet a complete stranger without knowing anything about him. “What’s your last name?”
“So you can look me up? Smart girl. McKenzie. My full name is Caden Declan McKenzie, but most people call me Cade. I work for my father. Do a search on my name. I guarantee you’ll find me. Now, you have to promise you aren’t going to stalk me.”
The playful tease in his tone had her imagining his smile, and the knot in her chest unraveled. She couldn’t help a soft laugh. “I can guarantee I won’t. It’s not my style, but I guess you’re going to have to trust me. Providing you are who you say you are, when would you like to meet?”
He was silent a moment. “You have a fantastic laugh, you know that? My flight lands Sunday night. Monday and Tuesday I’m booked solid. By the time I get back to my hotel at night, I won’t be worth anything. Wednesday afternoon is free, though.”
“I can do Wednesday. About three-ish?” She could pull J.J. in a couple hours early.
She and Maddie had hired J.J. a few months ago, needing someone to close the shop at night. Her little bookshop wasn’t very big, little more than a small bedroom. When she’d opened it, though, she and Maddie had a dream, to do what they loved doing. Maddie was good with people. The shop had done better than either of them expected. It had grown steadily over the last three years.
Just recently, they’d lengthened their days at the request of more than a few customers, who couldn’t make it in before the store closed at six. So, they kept it open until ten now. Last week, Hannah had covered her shift so J.J. could celebrate her first anniversary. Technically, that meant J.J. owed her one, though she knew the middle-aged woman wouldn’t have a problem with returning the favor. It was why they’d hired her. She shared the same passion for books, and she had a sweet, need-to-please disposition. The customers loved her. This way, Hannah would have time to go home and decide what to wear before meeting Cade at the Space Needle.
“Three it is. See you Wednesday, Hannah.”
The anticipation in his voice sent a shiver of the same trickling down her spine. “I look forward to it, Cade.”
And did she. More than she probably ought to.
Chapter Two
It had to be her.
Cade McKenzie leaned against the pillar, hands shoved deep into the pockets of his slacks. He’d been there for twenty minutes now, waiting, his stomach tied in nervous knots. He tried for an air of causal aloofness, as if he’d come for the scenery and could stand there all day. Any other time, he might have enjoyed exactly that. Used to his constant supply of sun in San Diego, he hadn’t looked forward to the weather so famous around these parts this time of year.
He’d grown up in Seattle, born and raised. His parents still lived in the same old house in Redmond. He’d been living in San Diego, though, since he passed the bar exam and went to work at one of the branch offices for his father’s law firm. He had to admit he didn’t miss the constant gray so pre
valent in the Pacific Northwest. For mid-March, though, the day had turned out beautiful. Bits of blue sky peeked through the usual thick cover of gray clouds, warming what might have otherwise been another dreary Seattle day.
Standing there, waiting, his nerves had long since frayed. Hannah was late. Across the grassy expanse surrounding the base of the Space Needle, though, a small brunette stood with her arms folded. She’d been there for a good ten minutes now. It was a fluke he’d even noticed her, except she was watching him. He’d caught her stare twice now, and both times, she’d blushed to the roots of her hair. Any other time, her stare might not have bothered him, except he couldn’t help wondering…was that Hannah?
He hadn’t slept at all the night before. He’d done what he shouldn’t have and called her again. They’d spoken every night since the first time a week ago. The sweet sound of her voice wrapped around him like soft velvet. He’d become seriously addicted to her. She had a sweet nature. She was sassy and sensual. Talking to her, getting to hear the velvet of her voice, had only ramped up his need for her. One hello lit a full-on blaze inside of him. Her, too, from the sounds she made. Her moans had gotten more emphatic with each conversation. Calling her had made their already-hot exchanges damn near combustible. Each round over the last few days had grown more and more intense.
And so it had been the night before. He’d fallen asleep to the sound of her high-pitched cry still ringing in his mind. He’d tossed and turned all night to the most torturous of dreams, waking with the hard-on to end all hard-ons. The damn thing hadn’t abated all day, making the meetings he’d flown out here to attend damned inconvenient. He was supposed to be concentrating on this merger, but Hannah had taken a firm place in his mind. The thought of finally getting to see her had him riding a razor-sharp edge. He’d been walking around with his hands in his pockets all damn day, trying to hide an erection. He couldn’t stop wondering what she looked like, what would cross her features when she saw him. Would it even be the same in person?
