by Nadia Aidan
Cade had left her with no other choice but to terminate their contract. She could already see where this was headed. He’d already tied her up on the first night. Lord only knew what else he would do to her if she let him. A chill raced down her spine at that thought. Her needy body wanted to find out exactly what he would do, but her mind ignored the demands of her flesh. It was better this way. Better to get out now before he completely consumed her with his brand of lovemaking.
Montgomery moved towards her bed, all set to retire for the night, but stopped in midstride as the hushed sound of angry voices echoed on the other side of her parlour door. Turning towards the door, she marched across the room and stuck out her hand to grasp the knob, but before she could grab it, the door crashed inward, banging against the wall.
A furious Cade stood there, his eyes flashing with anger, while Cherie stood behind him wearing a similar expression.
Montgomery was so stunned she couldn’t even get a word out as Cade pushed his way inside with Cherie at his heels.
“I told the Sheriff you didn’t want to see him.”
“It’s fine, Cherie. I’ll handle him.”
Cherie arched a single eyebrow as she shot Cade a wary look. “Are you sure? I’ll shoot him if he hurts you.”
“He’s the Sheriff. That wouldn’t be such a good idea,” she said with a small grin.
“Don’t matter. I hear one scream that don’t sound like pleasure and he’ll wind up with a bullet in his back.” Cherie levelled Cade with a long hard stare, letting him know that she meant business, before she gathered her skirts in her hands and stomped out of the parlour, slamming the door behind her.
“Charming woman.”
“She’s only trying to protect me,” she said, ignoring the sarcasm in his voice. “What are you doing here? Did you not get my no—”
“Your note?” He held up his right hand and flung the crumpled sheet of paper to the floor. “I got your note, but you ain’t gonna get out of this that easily.”
“Look cowboy, I made this bargain, so it’s mine to break. Besides, I’ll move like I promised you I would—”
Her next words died in her throat when he shot his hand out to drag her up against his firm, hard body. She let out a sharp gasp as her wanton body began to respond the warmth of his hard flesh.
“What happened to you being a woman of your word, huh?” He whispered huskily, his warm breath wafting out to caress her face.
“I am a woman of my word,” she croaked out, feeling light-headed by the intimate contact. “I’m moving my brothel—”
“Right now, I don’t care about where you move your damned brothel. I want my three nights with you like you promised—”
“Cade—”
“You promised,” he said softly, his hushed words striking a chord somewhere deep inside her. She heard the longing in his voice, making her wonder if he now wanted this just as much as she seemed to.
“I don’t like a man who needs to control me beneath the sheets, and that’s what you want,” she said finally, in answer to the question in his eyes.
Instead of being angry, as she’d expected, his green gaze twinkled like rare emeralds, before he lowered his head to the curve of her neck. She moaned low in her throat when he nipped at her neck before sweeping his tongue across the sensitive skin.
“I figured that’s why you wanted to call this off, but it’s too late to back out now.” She didn’t realise he’d backed them into her bedroom until she found herself sprawled across her bed. Why were her senses always so clouded around him? She knew he was half Indian. She wondered for the first time if maybe he’d put a spell on her.
“Cade, I’m not into being dominated,” she said when he began to remove his clothes.
He didn’t speak until he was completely naked, although she barely heard him over the pounding in her ears as she devoured him with her hungry gaze.
“What did I tell you last night?” he asked as he crawled onto the bed to cover her with his body. “I told you that a real man never abuses the power that a woman gives him in bed.”
He lowered himself onto her, and then went to tugging down the straps of her night gown.
“Whether you realise it or not, you gave your power over to me the moment you begged me to make you come.”
She could scarcely make out what he was saying as he pushed the gown from her body and tossed it aside.
“Now you just have to trust that I will use my power over you to give you pleasure.”
“Cade.” She called his name again, making one last ditch effort to stop him, although she knew she was far from convincing as she laid there naked and panting.
“Shhhh, darlin’. I won’t hurt you and you know it.”
There was something about the way he looked at her as he said those words that made her believe him. Although her mind still resisted, her body ached to completely submit to his dominance, and in the end it was her body that won.
Like a flame igniting, Cade seemed to know the moment she relented because he waged a full on assault on her senses as he loved her body like it was what he did for a living.
He rained kisses all over her flesh, kissing her everywhere, except on her lips. He purposely kissed the corners of her mouth, taunting her with the temptation of those perfect lips. She almost begged him to kiss her fully, but at the last moment she came to her senses. Kissing him would mean the ultimate surrender and he already had far too much control over her. She refused to give him that last inch.
Kissing a languorous trail down her body, he settled between her thighs and stoked her clit with his tongue. She instantly melted as she arched her hips off the bed, straining towards the release only he could give her. Unlike the night before, he did not bring her to orgasm this time. He brought her just to the brink of climax, before he slithered back up her body to cover her with his heavily muscled frame.
Resting the weight of his body on one side, he let his fingers finish what his mouth had started.
Her engorged clit grew harder as he flicked his finger back and forth, playing with the tiny nub until she thought she would explode. Gripping the sheets beneath her, she arched against his hand as her head fell back and she shut her eyes.
“Cade,” she groaned out as heat radiated from her core to engulf her entire body.
“Look at me,” he rasped out, his thumb stroking her clit harder and faster.
She lifted her head and met his intense gaze at the same time he shoved two fingers inside her dripping wet cunt. She screamed out his name as she fought to keep her eyes trained on him. With the practised motion of a skilled lover, he rotated her hardened bud between his thumb and forefinger at the same time he pumped two of his other fingers back and forth within her.
“Look at me,” he growled out.
She was so far gone that she could barely think as she pried her eyelids back open. As her body began to slip deeper and deeper into a well of pleasure, she found herself straining to hold his gaze.
“C—Cade.” Her breath came out as ragged pants. “I—I—”
She screamed out her climax at the same time she gave up trying to keep eye contact. Her head fell back again as she clenched her lids tight.
Lost so deeply in the throes of her orgasm, she didn’t realise Cade had flipped her over onto her stomach and raised her up onto her knees until she felt the end of her stocking wrap around her hands. She’d planned to take it down before she went to bed, but Cade had barged in before she got the chance.
Still shuddering from the intensity of her orgasm, she twisted her head around to stare up at him, but then stars exploded right before her eyes when he entered her on one smooth stroke and she came again.
“Ohhhhh,” she cried out and like a rag doll, her head fell limply to the bed as her climax roared through her.
Guttural moans tumbled from Cade as he slammed his cock into her with brutal thrusts, ploughing through the spasming walls of her cunt.
She felt her h
ead being gently tugged off the bed as Cade wrapped her long braid around his hand. Leaning over her, he trapped her between his large body and the bed, as he continued to fuck her deep and hard.
Everything about him was rough and primal and she found her body responding once again to his wild lovemaking.
“Cade,” she gasped out when he rotated his hips, causing the tip of his hard length to graze against that rough sensitive patch inside her, nestled at the entrance of her pussy.
“You like that, don’t you?” He whispered hotly against her ear as his thrusts became faster, more frenzied.
“Oh, shit, yes!” She screamed out before she could stop herself. At this point she didn’t care if he became cocky or not. All she cared about was the orgasm building up inside her once again.
Jerking her hips off the bed, she met his hard thrusts, sending his cock burrowing deeper inside her.
With his hand still wrapped in her hair, he slid the other one to her waist, taking over the rhythm as he yanked her backwards, at the same time he propelled his hips forward.
“Oh, Cade,” she screamed out in orgasm as tiny shocks of energy thundered through her and hot, wet liquid gushed from her sheath. He pummelled her pussy with his hard length, riding her body through yet another climax until he succumbed to his own sweet release.
He roared out her name at the same time she felt him harden and swell inside her. Seconds later he stilled completely as warmth flooded her insides. A grunt of completion rumbled from deep inside his chest before he collapsed on top of her, pressing her deeper into the bed.
As if mindful of his heavy weight, he rolled off of her. Reaching up with one hand, he undid the stocking so that her hands hung free.
Warmth flowed through her entire body, and with a lazy smile she turned her head to the side to look at him. But as soon as she met his gaze, the look on his face caused her to stiffen and her smile quickly turned into a frown.
It was that dreaded expression on his face that had always kept her from taking a lover. She hated the probing questions that invariably came after a night of lovemaking.
“Oh, no cowboy. I can already see where this is headed,” she said as she sat up in the bed, but before she could roll off he trapped her at his side with his heavy arm.
“You don’t have to tell me what happened,” he whispered as he stroked his palm down her cheek. “I already know some man must have hurt you real bad to make you fear being vulnerable in bed.”
She tried to avert her gaze, but he seized her chin with his fingers and tilted her head so that she was forced to stare into his eyes. “I have never hit a woman, at least not out of anger—”
A derisive snort came out before she could stop it. “What other type of hitting is there?”
“There are many other types. Sometimes pain can bring pleasure, if the one causing the pain only means to bring pleasure and if he knows what he is doing.”
“I take it you have experience in that area.” She already knew he did, but she was curious as to how he’d gone from being that person to the one that was now lying in her bed, because both men seemed to be complete opposites.
As if reading her mind, she watched a haunted look cross his face. Then a long sigh fell from his lips as he sat up with his back to her. Clutching the bed sheet against her breasts, she sat up too, but she didn’t touch him. Instead she sat there quietly, staring at his back as she waited for him to open up to her. Several minutes ticked by and she thought he would just sit there in silence, but then he finally spoke.
“Before I came to Redemption, I was a deputy in Dallas. I never broke the law or nothin’ but I did some things that I wasn’t proud of—
“Sexual things. You like to control women in bed, I know that—”
He glanced at her from over his shoulder. “It was more than that. I gave women what they craved, what their husbands couldn’t give them. Many came to me wanting to be controlled, to be dominated and I gave that to them…” He turned around then to stare at her bedroom wall.
“Until?” She asked when his voice simply trailed off.
He let out a ragged breath as he shoved his curtain of hair off his face. “Until one of the husbands found out. He didn’t appreciate that some other man had spanked his wife. She was so afraid of her husband and what he would do to her if he discovered the truth that she accused me of rape. I was almost hanged before she found the courage to come forward with the truth, but by then my reputation was in shreds. I was labelled a pervert and ended up just leaving before the townsfolk found a reason to run me off.”
It took a few seconds for his words to take root, but when they did, she finally understood.
“That’s why you want me to move Every Desire. You fear the temptation.”
The bed dipped slightly as he shifted around, to stare at her. “Not personally. That person is long gone.” He shook his head then. “No, I wanted to move Every Desire because I’ve seen what temptations of the flesh can do to people, to marriages, to families. I watched several women become addicted to the power I wielded over them to the point where they neglected everyone and everything. It was sad, and I have no desire to see that again, if I can help it.”
She promised herself, she wouldn’t touch him, but the look in his eyes pulled her so strongly. This was just supposed to be just about fuckin’, but she couldn’t help but try to quiet the storm that raged in his gaze.
Lifting her hand, she slid her palm down his cheek, across the rough stubble of his jaw.
“You can’t blame yourself. I certainly don’t blame myself. The people that lose their souls here were already lost long time ago. The same can be said for the women you knew. If not you then it would have been somebody, or something else.”
“Don’t you feel somewhat responsible for what happens to your customers when they return home to their wives, their families, having spent their weekly wages on one of your girls?”
She knew what he wanted her to say, but as she levelled him with a hard look, she could only tell him the truth.
“No, because like I said, if it wasn’t a whorehouse, they would gamble their nickels away or spend it on moonshine. Should we ban gambling and moonshine too? If a person wants to lose their soul, they will find a way to do it, Sheriff, with or without me and my brothel.”
He reared back, his eyes wide as if he was seeing her for the first time. He probably was. She let her hand fall back to the bed and a weary sigh escaped her when he stood up and began dragging on his clothes.
“Are you upset with me because I refuse to be responsible for all the poor souls that cross my doorstep?” She finally asked, when he moved to walk out without a word.
“I’m not upset, Madam. Can’t even say that I’m surprised. You’re a greedy woman who cares only about herself.”
She shrugged. “Greed has nothing to do with it but I won’t pretend that I care about people who couldn’t give a damn about me.”
He stared at her for a long time, before he shook his head, his eyes full of pity. “That’s your problem. Maybe you should care, because then someone might actually care about you.” He would never know how deeply his words cut her. She wanted to tell him that Cherie cared, that her girls cared, but somehow she knew that wasn’t what he was talking about.
When he turned away again, she didn’t say a word. She just let him go. There was no point in arguing with him when she knew they would never see eye to eye on this. Besides, what could she expect? He was the sheriff after all, whose goal was to move her out of town. That’s what she got for tangling with a lawman who had too many morals and far too much honour for his own damned good.
Chapter Four
Two days had passed since Cade had stormed out of Montgomery’s home in a fit, like an old widow with her drawers twisted up in a knot. It had been two days, but all he cared about was that one night—about to be two nights if he didn’t get his ass in the saddle and just head back over there and apologise.
He chasti
sed himself for going off on her the way he did. Just because he carried around his own scars, didn’t mean they had to be hers to bear. She had her own wounds, and he couldn’t fault her for carving out a life that would keep her from being hurt again. If he’d been a man about things, he would have asked her about her own past, but instead he’d acted like a jackass, and he’d done something he’d promised her he’d never do. He’d hurt her.
That thought tore at him like a knife. He would never believe it if it hadn’t happened to him, but he now knew it was possible to fall for someone at first sight. That’s what it had been. He’d been taken with Montgomery from the moment he laid eyes on her, and it hadn’t become clear to him until he glimpsed the look of raw pain in her eyes when he accused her of being a lonely woman with no one who cared for her. The anguish on her face had nearly dropped him to his knees. He cursed himself for not taking it back as soon as he said it, especially since it wasn’t true. He cared about her.
A sharp knock at the door rose over the sound of the quarrelling in his head, dragging him back to the present. Ambling to his feet, he crossed the small living room in his home to open the front door.
It took him just a moment to realise that this time he wasn’t dreaming and that Montgomery was in fact standing on his doorstep. He did his best to hide it, but the sight of her standing there caused the fist around his heart to squeeze even tighter. If he didn’t think so before, he knew now. He had it bad.
“Well, are you just gonna stand there gawking or are you gonna let me in?”
He bit his cheek to keep from grinning as he stepped aside. Same ol’ Montgomery.
Closing the door, he spun around to see her sweep her gaze around his sparse living room.
“Haven’t quite gotten around to decorating.”
“I see,” she said with the quirk of her brow. “Well, do you at least have a bed?”
