Love And Money (Love Series - Book 2)

by K. L. Prince

  She doesn’t care who is around or who hears her. She has been waiting for this moment and it has finally arrived. She is going to enjoy the moment however she sees fit and however it happens. She is not ashamed of the noise that she is making in response to kissing Caden. Other people’s opinions don’t matter in this moment. If a million people were watching and they all had negative opinions, it wouldn’t matter in the least to her. The only thing that matters is Caden and how sensational it feels to finally be able to kiss him.

  Their kiss is interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. Harper breaks away from their kiss and turns to find a woman standing behind her wearing a similar dress to hers. She groans inside. There is nothing worse than showing up somewhere wearing the same thing as another woman. If all the dresses in all the world, she thinks.

  “Madison,” Caden says to the woman, sounding shocked.

  “Are you going to introduce me to your friend?” the woman replies. Harper can’t be sure, but she detects a snarkiness in the woman’s tone.

  “Harper, this is Madison. Madison, this is Harper, my girlfriend,” Caden says, emphasizing the word girlfriend.

  “Nice to meet you,” Harper says and extends her hand to Madison.

  Madison ignores the gesture and snarls, “I’m Caden’s ex. We broke up very recently. I don’t know what’s going on here, but rebound comes to mind.”

  “Madison, stop it right now. It’s over between us and you know that. How many times do I have to tell you the same damn thing?” Caden says, sounding angry.

  So this is Madison. Harper remembers Olivia mentioning her during one of their conversations about Caden. She vaguely remembers Olivia saying that Madison and Caden had a long-term relationship. By the way that Madison is behaving, it’s obvious that Madison isn’t happy about their breakup in the least. It’s obvious that the breakup wasn’t a mutual decision.

  “I can’t believe that you brought this tramp to our thing,” Madison says to Caden, crossing her arms.

  “Madison, this was never our thing. You don’t remember me having to drag you here, kicking and screaming? If I remember correctly, you called it boring and a waste of time, which begs the question, why are you here anyway?”

  “I came because I knew you would be here. I was hoping that we could make up. Imagine my surprise when I saw you brought this bitch,” Madison says and looks Harper up and down with a look of disgust on her face.

  Harper bites her tongue. If she didn’t have the utmost respect for Caden and run the risk of completely embarrassing him, she would put Madison correctly in her place and she would do it without even batting an eyelash. She decides to take the high road and keep things classy. She decides that her best course of action is to keep her mouth shut and ignore the things that Madison has said about her and the names that she’s called her. As Madison stands before her with a sour look on her face, it’s clear that jealousy is a very ugly thing.

  “It’s funny because I look around and the only bitch I see around here is you. Get lost, Madison. Stop embarrassing yourself and go find someone else to bother,” Caden says angrily, his tone getting louder.

  It takes everything inside of Harper to stop herself from clapping at Caden’s response to Madison. She is thankful that Caden has stood up for her. He has said everything that she wanted to say. She loves a man that will stand up for his lady and protect her. There is nothing sexier in her eyes. It’s refreshing to know that Caden has her back against this terribly jealous and bitter woman.

  “I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but I’m going to find out. You better watch your back, Harriet. No one takes what’s mine and gets away with it,” Madison says and storms away.

  Harper rolls her eyes and watches Madison disappear inside. Harriet, really? She can’t believe that Caden was entangled with such a nasty woman. No matter how angry she was, if she ran into an ex with his new girlfriend, she would never behave the way that Madison did. She can see why it didn’t work out between Madison and Caden. Madison seems like someone who would be hard to deal with after awhile. She doesn’t seem like Caden’s type at all.

  “Sorry about that,” Caden says when she turns back towards him.

  “It was a little bit awkward, but don’t worry about it,” she says and smiles up at him.

  “Why don’t we call it a night,” Caden says, kissing her quickly.

  “Okay,” she replies, a little disappointed that the night has to end.

  When they reenter the venue from the terrace, she can’t help but notice Madison glaring at them. What Madison said about finding out who she is comes to mind and it makes her feel a little nervous. Madison may become a problem for her. There is nothing like a woman scorned and who is out for revenge.

  She squeezes Caden’s hand looking for reassurance as they make their way to the coat check. He squeezes her hand back and it makes her feel a little better. She doesn’t feel like she should be insecure about her place in Caden’s life. He made it pretty clear that Madison is not a threat, but she still feels a sense of uneasiness about what Madison might do. Madison said that she will be watching her and she makes a mental note to be on the lookout for Madison as well. Madison may not be a threat to her relationship with Caden, but she may be a threat to her physical safety. She will have to have a conversation with Caden about Madison in the future to gauge Madison’s personality and if she should be concerned.

  During the ride home, she and Caden cuddle and kiss each other. They can’t seem to keep their hands off of each other. Their run in with Madison quickly becomes a distant memory. She is sad when they pull up in front of Olivia’s father’s apartment and she has to say goodbye to Caden.

  “Let me walk you to your door,” Caden says when the driver opens the door for her.

  “Okay,” she says, happy to get a little more time with Caden, even it’s just mere minutes.

  When they reach the door of the apartment, she asks, “Do you want to come in for a night cap?”

  “Harper, you know I want to, but I have an early start tomorrow. Can I take a rain check?” he asks, grinning at her with that sexy grin that she’s come to love so much.

  “Of course you can,” she says, pulling him close and kissing him. He backs her into the door of the apartment and kisses her hard.

  “You drive me crazy, you know that?” he says in between kisses. “If the meeting I have in the morning wasn’t so important, I would keep you up all night.”

  “I bet you would,” she says, running her hands through his hair and kissing him in between each word.

  “Okay, I better go before I never leave,” he says and pulls away from her.

  “Thank you for an amazing night,” she says, digging her keys out of her purse.

  “You’re more than welcome. I’ll call you, okay?”

  “Okay. Bye,” she says and watches him walk to the elevator.

  She doesn’t open the apartment door until he has disappeared into the elevator. When she is inside, she leans against the door and smiles. The night was a complete success and a dream come true. She and Caden have taken things to a whole new level and she is ecstatic. If they hadn’t been thrown slightly of course by Madison’s ambush, it would’ve been a perfect night. She makes her way upstairs to change out of her dress. Thoughts of only Caden fill her mind. She hasn’t been so happy in a very long time.

  Chapter 5

  Harper wakes up in the master bedroom of Olivia’s father’s apartment and immediately thoughts of Caden fill her mind. The smile she went to bed with returns when she thinks about the fantastic kiss that she and Caden shared on the terrace at the charity event, but then she remembers Madison and she groans out loud.

  Madison’s appearance at the charity event has really thrown her for a loop. She is not surprised that Caden has an angry ex. They are adults and adults have pasts. She would probably think it was strange if there wasn’t an ex. Caden having an angry ex is not the problem. What disturbs her
about Madison is the threats that she made about finding out who she really is. Madison was a stark reminder that she has not been truthful with Caden and that the truth is just beneath the surface waiting to jump out of the water and show itself.

  The truth coming out isn’t a matter of if, but of when. The only control she thought she had was over when the truth would be revealed to Caden, but Madison’s threats about finding out about her have put that in jeopardy. Telling the truth to Caden has become even more pressing now that she has Madison on her tail, if she can take Madison at her word.

  The last thing that she needs is Madison beating her to telling Caden the truth. She can just imagine the delight that Madison would take in telling Caden that his new girlfriend is a total and complete fraud. From the way that Madison behaved at the charity event, she is sure that Madison would happily dance on the grave of her and Caden’s relationship if she caused it to end.

  She starts to think about what Madison would have to gain from outing her. Caden made it perfectly clear that he and Madison are over, but Madison still seemed determined to win him back. Not knowing her at all, she assumes that Madison is an intelligent woman, so she must know that she is fighting a losing battle. The only logical reason that she can find for Madison threatening her, even after Caden made it clear that he wants nothing to do with her, is that she is working on the notion that if she can’t have him, then no one can. To think that someone could be so selfish makes her stomach turn and her skin crawl.

  She rolls out of bed and makes her way downstairs to make breakfast. With each step that she takes down the spiral staircase, the elephant in the room gets bigger and bigger. How much longer can she ignore the fact that she has lied about who she is to Caden? She takes Madison’s threats at the charity event as a sign. Madison was a big, glaring sign that her lies are going to eventually blow up in her face and make a very big mess.

  She knows that the sooner she tells Caden the truth, the less damage that will be done. She’s really not sure why she’s waited so long to tell him the truth anyway. She is truly surprised by herself and her behavior. This is the first time that she’s ever lied about her identity. Her integrity has always been something that she’s been proud of. She’s always been proud that she always tells people the truth, despite the consequences. She is ashamed that she has let Caden’s father get in her head and cause her to stray away from a moral decision that she’s always stood by. If Caden’s father hadn’t said what he said at the table, she wouldn’t be in the mess that she finds herself.

  “Keep telling yourself that,” she says out loud to herself, as she pours herself a bowl of cereal.

  She can blame Caden’s father all she wants, but he didn’t make her lie. He didn’t put a gun to her head and tell her to lie to his son. She is the one that made the choice to fudge the truth. She is the only one to blame for letting her and Caden start their relationship off on the wrong foot and she will be the only one to blame if Caden dumps her for deceiving him.

  The smile that she woke up with from thinking about Caden is long gone. The kiss that she shared with Caden that was once so magical has suddenly lost its sparkle. It’s now been covered over with a storm cloud because of her poor decision-making and it’s getting ready to pour down acid rain.

  She pushes the half-eaten bowl of cereal away from her. The cereal has lost its flavor and she’s lost her appetite. She can’t eat knowing that she is probably going to hurt a wonderful man like Caden and that she could possibly lose him.

  She’s put herself in Caden’s shoes many times since she lied to him. She’s asked herself how she would feel and react if someone whom she liked lied to her about who they were. She’s decided that she would be angry, but depending on how much she liked the person, she would probably forgive them. That’s what she keeps telling herself because the alternative isn’t something that she wants to deal with. What she really wants is for Caden to forgive her for what she’s done and not take her lying too seriously.

  She wants to hope for the best, but she knows that you can never predict how someone is going to react to a given situation, so she is prepared for the worst. For all she knows, Caden may be a person that absolutely detests lies and liars. He may instantly hate her for what she’s done and vanish from her life forever. It’s an outcome that hurts her to think about, but it’s an outcome that she has to face.

  Her thoughts are interrupted by the phone ringing at the front door. Someone is downstairs.

  “Hello,” she says when she answers the phone. She is not expecting anyone.

  “Ms. Bailey, I’m sending a delivery man up with a delivery. Is that okay with you?” the security guard from downstairs asks.

  “Of course. That’s fine,” she says and hangs up the phone.

  She has no idea who could be sending her a delivery. She decides that it must be something from Olivia – possibly a gift for her from Italy. She opens the door to the apartment and waits for the delivery person, expecting a dress which is Olivia’s signature gift.

  When the delivery man gets off the elevator, he’s carrying a huge bouquet of roses. Seeing the flowers brings back a smile to her face. Innately she knows, before the delivery man gets to the door, that the flowers are from Caden.

  She thanks the delivery man for the flowers and locks the door to the apartment. She smells the flowers as she carries them and places them in center of the living room table. She opens the card and reads it out loud.

  “Beautiful flowers for a very beautiful woman. Thank you for a wonderful night. Can’t wait to see you again. Caden. XOXO.”

  The words in the card give her tingles. She can’t believe that even the man’s words in a card can make her feel amazing. The affect that Caden has over her blows her mind. He makes her feel things and ways that she has no way of even explaining with words. He definitely has her under his spell.

  The way that he makes her feel and how she feels towards him is something that she is just not ready to give up yet. As she places the card next to the flowers and admires them, she decides that she is going to keep her secret for a little while longer. She just wants to spend a little more time with him and then she will come clean.

  * * * * *

  “Dude, I’ve been trying to call you,” Lucas says when Caden opens the door to his condominium.

  “Yeah, I know. I’ve been swamped with work. Come in,” Caden says and motions for Lucas to come inside.

  “What’s been going on with you? How was the charity event?” Lucas asks and plops down on Caden’s sofa.

  “It was awesome. You want a beer?” Caden asks and makes his way into his kitchen.

  “Yeah, that would be great,” Lucas calls after him. “Listen, I ran into Madison the other day and she’s pissed.”

  “If I never hear that name again, I wouldn’t mind,” Caden says from the kitchen, as he pops off the caps of the beer. He returns to living room, hands Lucas a beer, and turns on the hockey game. He takes a spot next to Lucas on the sofa and asks, “What did she say?”

  “She was ranting and raving about how you were at the charity thing with some chick. She was going off about how you were kissing said chick and you completely dissed her or something,” Lucas says and takes a large swig of his beer.

  “Yeah, that sounds about right. Madison interrupted the best kiss of my freakin’ life, talking about how dare I bring someone else to our event. She’s completely delusional. She called my date a tramp and a bitch. She was way out of line and I wasn’t into it, so I checked her and not in a nice way.”

  “Is there ever a nice way to check someone? I don’t think so. You’re lucky that there wasn’t a chick fight at your fancy shindig. You know how crazy Madison can get,” Lucas says and chuckles.

  “I was thinking the exact same thing. The whole time, I had my fingers crossed that Madison wouldn’t start anything. I was glad when she stormed off in a huff and there were no blows thrown. I’m pretty sure my girl could handle her own though,” C
aden says and grins.

  “I thought you and Madison were a sure thing, but I guess you’ve moved on, then?”

  “Madison and I were dead in the water the minute she decided to jump into bed with someone else. I just can’t forgive cheating. I tried to forgive her at first and then I just couldn’t do it. I had to call our relationship off. Now, she absolutely refuses to accept that we are done and she’s starting to get on my very last nerve with her harassment and her attempts to win me back. She keeps calling me, showing up at work and at places where she knows that I’m going to be. She just can’t get it through her thick skull that I’m done with her and her shitty behavior. This may seem harsh, but seeing the look on her face when she found me kissing Harper was absolute gold. You know I’m not a guy that is into revenge, but it really was the best revenge. What Madison did hurt me really badly and it felt kind of nice to be able stick the knife in a little bit.”

  “Buddy, I don’t blame you. Madison has done her fair share of dirt in the past, which I’ve always found to be mostly forgivable, but cheating on you was way out of bounds. I never thought that she would do something like that to you. I was thoroughly convinced that she was in love with you, but I guess I was wrong. Honestly, what she did to you kind of changed my view of her a bit. She’ll always be a friend of mine, but what she did to you was pretty low, even for her,” Lucas says and pats his friend on the back.

  “Luc, I’m so over it. I wish that Madison would get over me and move on with her life, because I have. There is no going back for me. I pray for the day when Madison moves on and leaves me alone. I would be happy never to see her ever again to be honest.”

  “The way that Madison was going on, I don’t think that’s she’s going to be giving up on you anytime soon. She’s bound and determined to win you back. I think that you’re going to be dealing with her for awhile, but enough about her. What’s this Harper chick like. Is she a babe?”