I went to the dresser drawer and tugged out some cotton pajama bottoms along with a tank top, quickly slipping them on. I glanced at the clock. It was around eleven p.m. My curiosity about where Cayden had gone kicked in, so I went to look for him. I made my way down the stairs and into the kitchen. No Cayden. When I entered into the dining room the distinct sounds of the TV echoed out from the family room. Quietly I walked in. Chandler and Cayden were together, not saying anything as they both sat, focused intently on the TV.
Cayden turned around. “Hey, baby, you look frightened. Are you okay?”
“I missed you and wondered where you were,” I admitted.
Cayden’s face flashed remorse for a brief moment. “I’m sorry I left but you were sleeping so soundly, I did not want to wake you. I wanted to find out about the man at the premiere.” He paused. “Come sit with me.” I went over and sat down beside him on the couch. He tugged me onto his lap, pulling my legs up so he could cradle me to his chest. “I have you,” he whispered in my ear.
Chandler had the channel on a news station. As I rested my cheek on Cayden’s chest, I listened to the beating of his heart. It was even, steady and strong. Without any doubt, the most crucial sound of my world. He was alive and here with me. I placed my hand on his chest by my cheek in order to feel what I heard. His hand cupped around my arm and slowly ran up and down in a soothing motion.
The commentator broke in from the ending of an Audi commercial. “During the red carpet arrival of Cayden Cain at his movie premiere for Memories of a Dream, a strange turn of events took place. Hollywood was shocked to see a man break through the roped off barrier where he began to yell at the author, Winter Wells. The man has been identified as forty-four-year-old Dane Ryan Segal.”
My head shot up. I looked at the TV.
“What’s wrong?” Cayden asked.
“I know him,” I said, astonished.
“What?” Cayden asked, pulling my chin to look at him.
“I know him,” I repeated then looked back at the TV.
“Cayden Cain played the real life hero running to put himself in front of Ms. Wells intercepting any farther advance of Mr. Segal until his bodyguards took over and swiftly put a stop to the would be assailant. Mr. Segal was arrested and removed from the scene….”
“Winter,” Cayden interrupted.
“Wait,” I said, holding up one finger, staring at the TV.
“The scene was a bit chaotic, but it would seem there is definitely more to the story between Mr. Cayden Cain and his brother’s fiancée, Ms. Winter Wells. You can see here by our firsthand account, Chandler Cain is holding onto his fiancée Ms. Wells yet it is his brother Cayden who is gazing into her eyes. Ms. Wells stood responding to Cayden quite tenderly, not even glancing at her fiancé, Chandler Cain.”
“Turn it off,” I said.
Chandler complied.
“Winter, how do you know that man?” Cayden asked of me, his voice stressed.
I shook my head. “I have not seen him in years,” I said, completely stunned. “I worked for him for a couple of years. I started working for him when I was eighteen. Dane was my manager at a restaurant I worked at when I was attending college in New York. He was a real piece of work. Dane always asked me out, but I wouldn’t go out with him so he became very angry and verbally abusive from time to time, other than that I never had much trouble with him.” And then I paused. It hit me. “The warehouse,” I said.
“What?” Cayden asked.
“I actually forgot about….”
Cayden put his hand under my chin. He moved my face so I was looking at him. “Winter, what is it?”
“Years ago Dane tried to….” I hesitated.
“He hurt you!” Cayden immediately tensed.
“He tried. He never got the chance to finish what he started.”
I knew Cayden was trying hard to maintain his composure. I felt the rigidity of his body.
“Tell me, Winter. I need to know what happened?”
“Dane had me work late, the closing shift of my last day of employment. He was particularly horrible that night. He asked me to go to the warehouse. That’s what he called the storage building attached to the restaurant. Anyway, he asked me to pick up a case of wine so I went to do it. He cornered me inside of the storage room and….” I did not want to tell Cayden the rest.
Cayden’s voice was hard. “What did he do?”
“He shoved me up against the wall, threw me down to the ground, kissed me roughly….”
“Baby, what did he do to you? I want to hear all of it.”
“He hit me, busted my lip, bit me, tore open my shirt, bruised up my arms and back. Dane tried to force me. He was going to rape me. I knew he was, so I tried to fight him but he was too strong, and he had impaired me.” As I admitted this, Cayden’s face flew fierce in his expression. His jaw tensed. He murmured some interesting expletives under his breath about body parts and orifices wishing Dane would drop the soap while in jail.
“Cock-sucking bastard!” Chandler interjected.
Well, Chandler was never one to mince any words.
“How did you get away from him?” Cayden asked, fuming.
“Dane never got the chance to finish what he started. Austin came in and pulled Dane off me then busted up his face, broke Dane’s nose. If I had not stopped Austin, I think he would have killed Dane that night.”
“He should have,” Cayden mumbled.
“That was the last time I saw Dane.” I paused and twirled a piece of my loose hair for a moment. “I had no idea that was even him tonight. I didn’t recognize him at all outside the café or at the premiere.”
“Cayden, you need to tell her,” Chandler said.
“Tell me what?” I asked. Cayden looked pained as if undecided about telling me. “What, babe?”
“After the press released the pictures of you and my brother coming out of the flower shop.” Cayden hesitated. He was upset, extremely upset. He pulled me tighter into his hold as if he were afraid I would disappear.
“What?” I pressed.
“We received a letter. It was vaguely treating to all of us.”
“Cayden, how did you receive a letter? You never even get mail. You have people who handle your fan mail and—”
Cayden interrupted me by saying, “The studio received it. They gave it to Zander. He showed it to me.”
“What did it say?”
“It said the same thing Dane told you tonight. It said he loved you, and you were a whore for being with us.” Cayden had a hard time, struggling to tell me this.
I asked, “Us?”
“It mentioned Chandler…and me.”
I thought about it. This is why Cayden has been so fierce about me, about my safety, about Brad and Logan.
“Cayden, if Dane wrote that letter he would have associated you with me. You look like Austin. He would automatically guess I was with you. That’s why he said you are a demon. He thinks you are Austin or some twisted evil version of him.” What if Dane would try to harm Cayden? “Cayden, if Dane has gone over the edge he may try to hurt you.” I started to panic then cry.
“Winter, please….” Cayden brushed his fingers over my cheek.
I sobbed into Cayden’s chest. “Cayden, I cannot put you in danger.”
“You are not putting me in danger, Winter. We will handle this. He has been arrested. You are safe, and no one is going to hurt me,” Cayden assured before he kissed the top of my head. “Please, do not cry. It kills me when you cry.”
“Winter, is Dane related to Jennifer Segal?” Chandler asked.
I looked at Chandler. “Yes.”
Cayden looked confused. “What?” he asked. “Who is Jennifer Segal?”
“She went to the same high school I went to. She moved to California when I was a sophomore. She would have been a junior.” Chandler explained to Cayden, but he never mentioned Austin to Cayden.
“So you think he may have been staying here with his sister?
” Cayden asked.
“Possibly, but if Jayden is correct I think he knew Winter would be here. Visiting his sister may have been his cover.” Chandler’s face looked fierce.
“What are you not saying?” Cayden asked.
“I think he is hell bent on taking Winter, Cayden.” Cayden tensed. Chandler got up and went to the phone. “Zander,” he said. “Winter knows the man from the premiere. You need to meet with us in the morning….”
I woke early the next morning and found a handwritten note on Cayden’s pillow….
Baby, I love you. I’m down stairs working out.
Cayden
I figured this would be his new way of communicating with me when he left. I was sure Cayden thought some of my strange behavior last night was due to waking after making love and he not being there with me. And while I would rather wake to find him in bed, I didn’t mind finding the note. It was sweet, thoughtful, not to mention a whole lot of sexy.
I unbraided the tangled mess that was my hair. It took me a while to remove all the emerald clips. Once they were out, I placed them into the box from where they originally came. I pulled off the emerald earrings and bracelet, placing them back into their box as well. I reminded myself to call Melissa and tell her to come get the borrowed jewelry. I jumped into the shower. With a contented sigh, I rolled my neck across my shoulders, luxuriating in the heat of the water as it beat down upon my body. I noticed my breasts felt a little tender but was immediately reminded why when my hands crossed over my soon to be belly. I had no idea what I was going to do. After everything that was happening, it wasn’t the best time to say, “Surprise, I’m pregnant!” I worried about how to best deal with this news, coming up with no real plan of attack regarding the baby, however I had to tell Cayden someway, and soon.
Tonight. I’ll tell Cayden about the baby tonight.
After my shower, I stood in the room-sized closet, staring off into space before realizing I needed to get dressed. I thought about not wearing a bra, so I chose to wear one of Cayden’s loose Tshirts with an old pair of cotton shorts, which I usually wore to bed. This would hopefully address two issues. First, the need to be pain free and unrestricted by my bra and second, maybe if I dressed casual Cayden wouldn’t notice how anxiety ridden I was.
I had all my original worries about Cayden, our relationship, his career, and new worries such as Dane, Cayden’s safety, and the pregnancy. I would try hard not to think about things. If I could get through the day without any further anxiety was about all I could ask for, for the moment.
I went downstairs and made a detour so I could peek inside the exercise room. Cayden was on a rowing machine. He was wearing some baggy cargo looking shorts and no shirt. I watched the muscles on his back, arms, and stomach. They seemed to relax then flex with the forward and backward movement of the rowing. Immediately I felt flush, thinking I wanted to feel his body, his muscles, flex over the surface of my skin. I needed his strong hands on my body. I longed for the sensation of him on my lips, in my mouth….
What’s wrong with me? Am I depraved? I would think Cayden could do such simple things such as talk on the phone or workout without me wanting to sexually attack him. Cayden stopped what he was doing. He turned to look at me.
“Hey…beautiful.” His silky voice smooth.
“Hi,” I said, looking at him with evident lust I was sure.
“What are you doing?”
I bit at my bottom lip. “Nothing, just looking.”
His face changed. I watched the corners of his mouth turn up into his crooked guilty smile. “You have that look. I have seen it a couple of times before.”
I was really beginning to worry myself. I had visions of doing very naughty things to him.
“You have? When have you seen this look you are talking about?”
Cayden laughed his low even laugh. “Well, once when you ripped the buttons off my shirt and I believe I was on the phone when my pants ended up around my ankles the other time.”
I smiled. “Oh,” I said. I thought about that for a minute. It was a good thought or a bad thought however you wanted to look at it.
“Baby, do you want to work out with me?”
“Um…I-I,” I stuttered, unsure if he was asking me if I wanted to work out or “Workout.”
“Baby?” he asked. He must have thought I was taking too long to answer him.
“Actually, I was on my way to the kitchen. I thought I would make us some breakfast. I got a little sidetracked seeing you in here,” I admitted.
Cayden smiled quite pleased with himself in this moment. “Are you sure you are okay? You look a little flush, and you’re stuttering.”
“I’m fine.” I paused then twisted my hair up in a knot on the back of my neck. “Can I tell you something?”
“Sure, baby, you can tell me anything you want.”
“Can I say I am a lucky woman?”
He laughed. “I guess you can say it, you just did.”
“I mean, you are so very…hot!” I couldn’t believe I said that. I was trying hard to be good.
“Thanks.” Cayden chuckled. “You are pretty scorching yourself.”
“Can I do one thing? Then I will go, start breakfast, and let you finish your workout. I didn’t mean to bother you.”
“You can do anything you want, and you are not bothering me.”
I put one foot over the threshold and walked forward to where Cayden was sitting. I reached out toward him. In a move that I think surprised him, I slicked my hand over the surface of his forearm, his bicep, his shoulder then ran both hands over the muscular canvas of his back. Oh, my God. I closed my eyes for a moment, taking in the glorious oxygen and the sweet fragrance of his sweat glistening skin into my lungs. Satisfaction tingled on my own skin from touching him. I saved Cayden’s spectacular washboard stomach for last.
While I do not smoke, I would imagine the sensation I experienced to be something close to that of a smoker. Just as the smoker craves their next hit of nicotine, I required a hit of Cayden. I anticipated the feeling of satisfaction the smoker must feel as they raise their desire to their lips, inhale their wish into their lungs, and hold on to that wish before they experience exquisite release. I envisioned their satisfaction of blowing the glorious burn from their lungs as the relaxation begins and their craving is completed, extinguishing their need as they extinguish their cigarette. The completion of my hit left a tingle, burning, a lightheaded feeling then the relaxing sensation of release with complete satisfaction after touching him.
“Thanks,” I said and bit my bottom lip.
“Um…. No, thank you,” he replied quite appreciative yet stunned, blinking. “But….” I placed my fingertip to his lips, stopping him.
I amended my earlier statement. “Okay, maybe two things before I go.” I kissed him long and hard.
It was difficult, nonetheless I made my way into Cayden’s oversized kitchen, flushed but set on the idea of working diligently. I needed to be good. While it is true, I have found Cayden sexually attractive from the very minute I laid eyes upon him, it did seem like lately all I thought about was making love with Cayden. Yes, this was a pleasurable idea, though it was unrealistic. It would be impossible to be with Cayden sexually twenty-four/seven. My idea of cooking breakfast was a good one. It would keep my mind, my hands and my mouth busy for the moment. I sliced off a piece of cheddar cheese and ate it. I also suspected Zander would be over this morning to discuss yesterday’s events, so more than likely my love would be doing other things today. The notion of Cayden having a whole day to spend with me was nice however probably silly.
I was finishing up with the omelets when Cayden walked up behind me, brushed my hair over my shoulder, and placed his warm lips to the side of my neck and nibbled. “Hi,” I said as I slid the last omelet out of the pan and onto a plate. Cayden’s hands slipped underneath my shirt and gently clasp his two palms over each of my breasts.
“Nice…” he whispered in my ear. His voic
e sounding satisfied with his conquest. I flinched slightly at his touch. “What’s wrong?”
“A little tender,” I admitted.
Cayden moved his hands. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to hurt you.”
He wasn’t hurting me. It was actually kind of nice, both pain and pleasure.
“Cayden, you didn’t hurt me,” I assured.
“Why are you sore?”
I shrugged, placing the spatula in the sink. “It’s a woman thing. Something we have to deal with from time to time, don’t worry.”
Cayden turned me around so I was facing him. The look on his face was serious. “Baby, are you sure you are okay?”
I smiled and traced my fingertip over his perfect lips.
“I am fine, Cayden. I promise.”
“So when you say it is a ‘woman thing,’ being sore,” he clarified, “is it because it’s that time of the month?”
I giggled. “Cayden, do you really want to discuss my periods?”
Cayden smiled his crooked smile. “Baby, I have seen, tasted, and touched every square inch of this beautiful body.” He ran his warm hands down my arms. “Talking about your periods does not bother me.”
I turned to move the pan from the burner on the stove. Desperately trying to avoid this subject because I wasn’t having periods. I figured Cayden was scrutinizing me. He brushed the hair from the side of my face, placed his hands upon my shoulders, and flipped me around to face him again.
“Winter, what did the doctor tell you?” Cayden asked.
Tell him, Winter.
Chandler’s husky voice broke in. “You have got to be kidding me! What is it about the kitchen?” He chuckled
“Winter?” Cayden asked.
“He said I am fine.” I brushed my fingers over the scowl on Cayden’s forehead and continued to assure him. “Don’t worry, Cayden. I really am okay.” I glared around Cayden’s arm. “Good morning, Chandler.”
“It smells good in here,” Chandler commented, reminding me of the smell of cooking eggs.
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