I won’t allow them to stop me from living.
“I need you to look after my kids tonight.” When she says nothing, I add, “I have a date.”
“Come again.”
“You heard me.”
“Who’s the guy?”
I rub my lips, hoping for the right words to hit me.
“Don’t you dare keep me in the dark. Last time you did, we found out you were pregnant with twins. You took your time to tell us their dad was a magnate’s son.”
“He’s my boss.” Shutting my eyes, I hold my breath, waiting for her reaction.
“Which one?” Her question fills my insides with dread. What if she won’t approve?
“Mark Lawson.” I jump to my feet and walk to the window, hoping the view would ground my pulse ricocheting in my chest like it’s full of bullets. My insides twist with guilt.
“Oh, my holly tits! He’s hot. Look at that damn smile!”
“How do you know?”
“I’m stalking him right now.”
I groan. “No one can know, Aisha, not before I’m ready,” I stress to her.
Maybe this is just a carnal game we both started and nothing else. I don’t want anyone’s judgment and opinions to ruin this for me.
“But are you ready?”
I bite my lip and my fears return, bringing back my old demons.
“He makes me feel things. Dares me. I don’t know, I feel alive with him.” I stop as the sting behind my eyes becomes too much to handle. “But he’s my boss, and this most likely will end badly. I just don’t understand why I care so little about consequences, especially when so much is at stake.”
I should know better, right?
“You’re lonely.” The void echoes inside my chest with her softly spoken words. “Nothing wrong with a little bit of excitement in your life, you know? Screw the legacy. Don’t let the Cades dictate your life. For once, be brave, you deserve it.”
“I’ve got to go.” Swallowing the huge lump blocking my airway, I’m not really sure I agree about me deserving anything. “Aisha.” I pause, as she hums an answer. “Thank you.”
“That’s what sisters are for, right? Enjoy your date. I’ll take care of your twins.”
I disconnect the call, and my head swims with unease.
Slamming a lid on my emotions, I throw myself at work until my personal life and dramas don’t matter. I don’t even notice as the time runs out and it’s time to go home. After firing emails to the marketing department, I compile several documents for Robert.
“Cassandra.” Robert’s voice startles me since the noise of the running printer masks his entrance.
“Sorry, I didn’t hear you coming. What’s up?” I bite my lip, fully aware, thanks to Mark, I’m standing in my office without my panties.
He tasted my dripping pussy on this same desk Robert’s propped against, as if I was his personal dessert. My cheeks flare to life as guilt and shame coil my guts in a tight knot.
“I came here to talk to you about something.” He clears his throat when I turn off the printer and give him my full attention. “I need to warn you about the cameras we have around.” He passes me a few grainy photos of Mark and me leaving the elevator, when we got stuck. “People talk, gossips spread fast. I don’t want it to reflect badly on you. Some people won’t mind selling a new office romance story to the press for money. I managed to douse this one.” The next one is on us.
I slump into the chair, touching my glowing cheeks with the back of my hand. “I don’t know what to say, Robert.”
“I need to make sure you understand what’s at stake.” He locks his gaze full of dark intelligence on me.
I force a smile, feeling an awkward atmosphere between us.
“Listen—” I begin at the same time as he does. Robert closes the door and takes a seat as I push the folder with the marketing strategy toward him.
“I needed to bring this up.” He glances at me, his cheeks glowing. Depleted from emotions running three-sixty degrees, I stay silent. “I’ve known Mark since we were kids. I know how private he is. But your romantic involvement might cause some damage.”
I open my mouth to answer, but our heads snap toward a deep voice cutting through the atmosphere like a knife through butter.
“We aren’t going to ask your permission to date, Robert.” Mark’s voice resonates from the doorway as he strolls in with the air of authority clinging to him like an aura.
“I didn’t say you should—”
My chest fails to draw in air as if the oxygen in the room is far too dense to breathe.
“We’re two adults, and however we enjoy our free time is not up to the company to determine.” He turns his gaze to me, swirling like caramel with possessive fire. “Ready?” he softly inquires while I search his eyes for the confidence I don’t feel, but something in his gaze encourages me to take a leap.
Grabbing my phone and bag from the drawer where I keep my belongings, I step toward him regardless of how much is at stake. Perhaps because I’m feeling rebellious, or tired of people telling me what I can and cannot do. Tired of being afraid, looked down to. Tired of battling my demons alone. Tired of losing.
“Yes. I’m finished here.”
And he smiles, encasing my hand in his and kissing my knuckles as a statement. “Good night, Robert, see you tomorrow.” He grabs my coat from the rack, and we walk out.
“Good night,” I holler to Robert, and he dips his head in acknowledgment as Mark pulls me toward the elevator.
I’m confident Mark won’t allow anyone to mingle in our romantic quest. I’m just not sure if the aftermath will be worth the pain. But as he leads me out of the office and Fading Ink, the storm inside me calms, and contentment fills me up, soothing my battered heart.
10
Golden Cage
~Mark~
She’s far too silent for my liking like a storm just before wrecking everything in its path. I can feel a wall of ice between us, but I’m not going to let her push me away. Not when I found her, not when her presence beckons me to claim her. Her unique taste lingers in my mouth and her cries of abandon echo with my heartbeats as my mind replays our little adventure on her desk.
“We’re here.”
She twists to look at me, biting her lip shyly. “This place’s quite high-end. We don’t have to go here.”
I lean over, grasping her face in my hands until our eyes connect. “I’m not going to hide you like a dirty secret. I’m not that kind of man.”
“I thought you didn’t want anyone knowing about us.”
“You’re wrong. I don’t want anyone ruining us before we have a chance to figure out who we are.”
“Oh,” she simply utters, and her face transforms into a grin.
Stepping out, I round the car to open the door for her. Her hair shines under the streetlights like silk, and her features look almost fairy-like. When we settle in the most remote corner of the restaurant, we order wine and some snacks and wait for our main course to arrive.
Cassandra’s full lips enclose the rim of the glass, sipping red wine as I observe her, scanning the room. “Do you like it here?”
She nods, touching the glass to her lips as if to hide her happy grin. “It’s cozy and intimate.”
I brush away the hair from her face, enjoying her content expression.
“Tell me why a woman with so much wealth chose to work at my publishing house for a basic salary. Why not travel and taste everything the world has to offer? You lived through enough as it is.”
Her pale eyes glaze over with anguish like shrapnel’s clawing at her soul. “To be honest, I feel guilty using Logan’s inheritance or living without a financial limit.”
With that level of wealth comes restraints and I have a feeling the Cades tried to chain my bird.
“Why would you? You’re the mother of his children.”
She nods, but deep sadness vibrates off her stiff shoulders, and my fingers tighten around the glass.
; “His family doesn’t think I’m worthy of his name, and after he died, the pain turned into bitter animosity. I think they could have easily left me without anything.”
“But they didn’t,” I state, swirling my wine in the glass, already knowing who held them back from ripping her to pieces.
“Because of their other sons, Logan’s triplets. They stepped in,” she simply explains, watching the bottom of her empty glass she probably could fill with sorrow. “I tried to fix our relationship at first, but I don’t think Helen’s ready to forgive me or accept me. Don’t get me wrong, they love my kids. They shower them with attention and gifts, but I’m a different matter.” Cassandra’s gaze gets lost somewhere beyond my reach, so I bring her face toward me and brush my lips against hers.
She gasps and her eyelashes flutter closed.
“Perhaps you made the best decision ever to leave your golden cage and spread your wings, Lovebird.”
When her eyes snap open, her eyelashes flutter like butterfly wings against her cheeks.
“And how about you, Mark, what questions can I ask about your life without triggering a minefield?”
Panic streaks through me, zapping me like a lightning bolt.
But afraid to push her away, I force the words out. “Ask me anything.”
Her penetrating gaze studies me in silence with such intensity I can feel it with every atom. I uncork the bottle and fill up her glass, trying not to snap under the pressure of her scrutiny. It feels like she’s touching something profound inside of me, undoing my restraints and opening the doors I kept shut all my life.
“If we can’t talk about your past then share your happiest moment with me,” she demands, and I’m tempted to give her everything as long as I see that spark in her ocean blues.
“Happiest memory for me was the first taste of freedom.” I study her face for pity before continuing, but I find none. “I escaped my foster parents and ran off. I was twelve. Robert was fourteen. He also wanted to get away from his situation, so we teamed up.”
I swirl the wine in my glass, remembering the thrill followed by relief as days passed and no one came to bring us back. “We ended up in this area full of poverty and crime. We had nowhere to live or eat for a very long time. We didn’t care. We thought we were the kings.” I chuckle, feeling no humor, remembering the things we had to do to survive the streets.
“How did you survive?” she asks, her voice rasping with emotions.
“We would wait at the end of the day at restaurants or grocery stores for the trucks to collect wasted food,” I simply tell her. “We would sleep anywhere we could and sometimes steal. Once we found this forgotten, old building that was falling apart. It looked like a concrete skeleton overgrown with grass and shrubs. We knew exactly how to climb it to the top without killing ourselves. It was our home for two years until someone demolished our safe harbor and built a store.”
She slides closer to me and nestles under my arm, bringing warmth and comfort with her. Cassandra’s chestnut hair smells of peaches, and her delicious curves pressing to my side make me content. “I don’t get it how it’s a happy memory, Mark.”
“Because we slept under the stars above all the crime and poverty and dreamed about a life that didn’t exist.” Her head cranes to look at me, and my lips graze her temple as she waits for me to explain. “But at least we had a chance to dream,” I confess, leaving all the dark memories tucked away. But Cassandra’s face bleeds out all the color until I see some deep understanding take root and her gaze intensifies with empathy.
And when she sits straight, grasping my face in her warm palms, Cassandra attacks my lips, feeding me with comfort that words could never bring me. Like a starved man, I seize her waist and bring her flush against me, taking control of the kiss, turning her breaths into silent moans.
Someone clears their throat, and we stop, turning to the servers with plates of food in hands. They discretely place them on our table and leave us alone after filling our glasses with water and wine. As we eat, I sense Cassandra retreating into her mind.
“What are you thinking?”
She chews slowly, casting her piercing gaze to me. “Fading Ink is somehow connected to this story, isn’t it?”
“It is.” I smile, impressed she connected the dots. “We used to hang out a lot in the library, and I’d bring home some of the books. We used to read a lot during the day so no one would notice two kids wandering around. Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was my favorite back when. It was so faded, and I had to scrunch my eyes to connect the words since the pages were so flailed. I remember, sometimes, the librarian would leave books on the desk, as if taunting me with new adventures. I admit I’ve stolen books from the library.”
“I don’t get it. How did you get from there to here if you lived on the streets, fighting for your survival without education and money to build this dream?” She dabs the corners of her mouth with a cloth, waiting for me to explain.
“I was found by the private investigators who were hired to look for me by blood relatives soon after we lost our shabby dwelling. They took me in, and the rest is history.”
“And Robert?”
“I refused to leave him on the streets, so they took him in and he found a new home, too. He’s like a brother to me. It was a no-brainer to build our business together, since we shared the same vision. That’s why we both treat Fading Ink as our home.”
“Is this where I should stop asking questions?” Her gaze turns contemplative as she reaches for the glass of wine, crossing her arms over her chest as if she’s shielding from me.
I pull her chin toward me and brush my lips against hers. “Let’s leave the rest of the story for the next time.” I smile as she gently nibbles my mouth with her teeth, daring me. Jesus, I want her like a thirsty man wants a drink from the cold stream on a hot day.
Instead, I settle for a little taste of her lips, enjoying this enticing energy coursing between us. After the meal, we decide to go for a walk down the street. Her eyes sparkle with happiness that I want to see burning in passion.
“Tell me about your children,” I ask, needing her to know I don’t shy away from her being a mother.
“Where do I start?” Her face softens as she looks up at the darkening sky. “Well, those two are a team of cute masterminds.” She chuckles, her face lit up with pride and love. “They operate together like they know what they’re going for. They can finish each other’s thoughts and are very protective, smart, and if they have to be, cunning. I think their teen years will be painful to handle. Right now they’re two sweethearts who need a lot of love and attention and less material things.”
I don’t miss the last remark, but I’m curious about Logan.
“Do they ask about their dad?”
Her shoulders stiffen at my question and she sadly smiles at me.
“They don’t understand loss the same way we do.” She stares at the family passing by with their child in a stroller. “Until recently, we let them believe Leif is their father. We didn’t have the guts to crush them, not until rumors began to spread.”
“What happened when you did?”
Her eyes fill up with tears as she takes a seat on the bench, wrapping her raincoat tightly around herself. “They didn’t get it why their uncle can’t be their dad. But when my sister brought a little girl into the world, people started talking.” She closes her eyes, and then she opens them. “My twins felt rejected, and I think they still do.”
We head to the car I parked farther away down the street.
“Would you like to see my apartment? Have some drinks with me, watch a movie?”
I wait for her response, hoping she feels the same as I do. Like we haven’t yet finished our date, and something’s missing. “Afraid?”
Her pale eyes snap to mine. Something fierce flashes through them and she shakes her head, determined.
“Not at all. I would love to,” she finally says, and we leave in my car.
When I let her into my apartment, her heels click on the hardwood floor, and I admire her hips, swinging in the tight dress she wore for work. I close the door behind us, remembering how she tasted in my mouth, and her cries of pleasure filling my ears.
Slipping her coat off the shoulders and her bag, I grasp her delicate hand in mine and pull her with me to the love seat. We snuggle together in the dark living room illuminated by the night and city lights coming through the massive windows. Her petite form fits perfectly with mine like she was made for me, and having her in my sanctuary feels right.
“I wanted to bring you here to dream with me tonight, Cassandra. We might not be reading books and sleeping under the stars like I once did, but we might be starting our own adventure,” I whisper intimately next to her earlobe, and she sucks in a breath, fighting the sensation surging like a tsunami wave about to crash into us.
Our breaths mingle until my body pulses with the need to feel her flesh against mine and hear her moans leaving her mouth. She turns around, breathless and hungry, her hair spilling around her shoulders. Her arousal, thick in the air, makes me groan with need. I attack her mouth like a starved man, fighting for a taste.
The phone ringtone slices like a knife through the space, dissipating our haze of lust. Cassandra rises from the love seat and stumbles to answer it.
“Hello.” Her raspy voice thick with lust makes me groan and want to murder whoever is on the other side of that call.
~Cassandra~
“I was sent to pick you up, Mrs. Cade, and bring you back to your residence.”
“By whom?” My eyebrows furrow and my temples start to throb as I wait for an answer.
“By Darren Cade, ma’am.”
My face loses all the blood as I swallow a jolt of shock. How the hell does he know?
“Did you report my whereabouts to him?” Silence greets my ear, sending icy shivers up my spine. “You work for me,” I remind him, incredulous he would do that.
“I was hired by Mr. Cade, ma’am. And I report directly to him,” he replies, and it hits me. That’s why Darren hired him. To keep tabs on me. I press my back to the entrance wall next to the console table, staggered by his audacity to control me.
Tangled IN LIES (Book#3, IN YOU) Page 12
