The Rules

by Becca Jameson

  Brad’s attention was focused on Cade. He was a smart guy. He even stood. If there had been anything remotely funny about this situation, I would have laughed hysterically at Brad’s stance, as if the man could take Cade in a fight. Cade was taller, broader, and spent at least an hour a day working out.

  I jerked my attention to Cade. “Could we not do this here, please?” I stared at him, hard. Begging him to listen to me.

  “What? I’ve come up with no other explanation. Do you have one?” Cade remained in his chair, appearing calm and relaxed to everyone else in the room. I was the only person who knew what lurked beneath the surface. I flinched, imagining his palm on my bare ass, spanking me for hours in atonement for a five-month disappearance. Or worse. How long would a person have to stand naked in a corner to make up for what he perceived as my misdemeanors?

  Now I shivered. “Mr. Alexander…” I glared at him, hating him for the way he made my thighs tingle and my nipples tighten. I could taste him on my tongue from across the room. My panties were wet beneath my skirt. Yes, my panties. I wore them every day. And not sexy ones, either. Nope. I’d purchased normal everyday cotton bikini briefs. And my pubic hair was back to its original state.

  Even standing in the same room as Cade, I felt defiant for the things he couldn’t see.

  Brad spoke next. He still stood, his chair pushed back against the wall. He glanced from me to Cade and back. And then he reached down to grab his briefcase from the floor. He gathered his notepad and several papers off the table and stuffed them into his leather bag.

  His voice was calm when he spoke. “I think Ms. Kingston is right. We should reschedule.” He didn’t meet my gaze. Except for the way he stuffed the papers sideways into his bag, wrinkling them without a care, and then finally jamming them in far enough to yank the zipper closed, no one would have known from his voice how perturbed he was.

  Brad left the room abruptly without looking over his shoulder.

  His coworker and Mr. Cross stood next.

  I glanced at Mr. Cross, whose eyes were wide, his mouth pursed in confusion. I was sure the man had completely misinterpreted nearly every unspoken vibe in the room. He would have assumed Brad was aggravated with The Rockwood Group as a whole for wasting his time, as opposed to me personally. After all, Mr. Cross had no way of knowing I’d arranged a date for that very evening with the man who’d just stomped from the room knowing full well his territory had just been trampled on.

  Brad’s coworker lifted his eyebrows and scurried after Brad.

  Mr. Cross hesitated and then made his disappointment in me transparent in his sharp tone. “Ms. Kingston, please let me know when it would be convenient for you to meet with my people. I’d hate to disrupt anything.” He gasped and then turned toward Cade. “Sorry, Mr. Alexander. I—”

  Cade held up a hand. He’d yet to move from his relaxed stance in his chair. “No worries, sir. So nice to see you again. I’m sorry for the disruption.”

  Mr. Cross nodded and then fled the room, probably to stew over the fact that he’d dressed me down in front of a man he knew was a high roller in this industry.

  I left my belongings where they were and marched from the room also, knowing Cade would follow me. There was no way in hell I was going to endure his abuse in the conference room in front of a wall of windows. As it was, two coworkers were already gathered in the hall, pretending to have a conversation when I walked past them.

  I headed straight for my office, Cade on my heels. He was silent, but I felt him just the same. When I entered, I held the door as he passed by me, and then I leaned out to speak to my astonished secretary, whose eyes were huge, her mouth hanging open. “Hold my calls, Lisa.” And I shut the door, almost too hard.

  I spun around to find Cade wandering around my office as though he owned the place. Hell, he’d acted like he owned the entire building from the moment he’d entered the conference room. I wanted to strike him again. Just because he was some big business owner in Atlanta didn’t give him the right to storm The Rockwood Group and act like he owned it also. What an asshole.

  I was so infuriated, I didn’t even like him at that moment, and that was a first.

  No. That was a second.

  I’d hated him pretty hard after meeting his wife.

  Cade picked up several papers from my desk and skimmed them while I stared him down from across the room, arms crossed over my chest, foot tapping in nervous tension on the ground. “What the hell are you doing here, Cade?”

  He lifted his gaze slowly. “I could ask you the same thing, Lillie.”

  “I work here.”

  “So do I.”

  That shocked me. I gasped. “You what?”

  “Amelia, I own this company, same as Alexander Technologies.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since I bought it.”

  “Which was when?”

  Cade didn’t respond to that question.

  My cheeks went completely hot. How the hell could I not have known this? It wasn’t possible.

  He grinned. “Relax. You aren’t negligent. I’m a purely silent partner. My best friend runs the place.”

  His best friend. I stumbled forward. “Riley?”

  “Yep.”

  Now that I should have known. “Wait. The owner is David Moreno.”

  “Yes. David Riley Moreno. He’s gone by Riley since we were kids. There were too many Davids in our class.” He grinned again. It really made him happy to one-up me.

  My skin crawled as I realized who had passed by my meeting that morning. I hadn’t met with the owner of The Rockwood Group. He’d been out of town on business since I’d assumed my new position, and there’d been no call for me to have met him as a temp.

  “He called you.”

  “He did.” Cade crossed the room and stood in front of me, his hands stuffed in the pockets of his tailored suit.

  “You should leave.”

  He chuckled. It wasn’t in humor.

  “I’ll tender my resignation immediately.” I stepped around him and headed for my desk, my dreams going up in smoke. How could I be so stupid?

  Cade turned around and planted himself in the guest chair at my desk while I busied myself gathering up the mess of papers on my desk in an attempt to stack them. I would never know where anything was now, but it didn’t matter since I was about to quit the best job I’d ever had.

  “You’re still just as messy, I see.”

  “That’s none of your business. Why are you still here?”

  Several seconds of silence passed before Cade spoke again. “You owe me.”

  I straightened to my full height and inhaled sharply. “I owe you?”

  “Yes.” He leaned his elbows on my desk. “Sit down, Amelia.”

  Fury burned my skin. “I’d rather not, Mr. Alexander.”

  “Amelia. Sit. Down.” He separated his words and spoke louder that time.

  My ass hit the chair behind me, but my heart pounded and my brain protested.

  “Now. Let’s see if we can sort this out.”

  “There’s nothing to sort.” I kept my back rigid, my thighs pressed together. It took tremendous self-control to avoid shaking a knee up and down.

  Cade narrowed his gaze. “I’m trying to figure out why you’re so pissed, seeing as you’re the one who walked out on me.”

  I opened my mouth to speak and then decided he didn’t deserve an explanation. “I see.”

  He raised one eyebrow. “Isn’t that what happened?”

  I tapped my foot, unable to maintain my composure. “Sure.”

  Cade pursed his lips and inhaled deeply, clearly containing a high level of fury under the surface.

  I didn’t give one fuck. Let him be mad. I wasn’t the lying, cheating bastard in this arrangement. He was.

  He sat back finally, staring at me with those damn green eyes that seemed like eternal pools of the most gorgeous hot springs in the world. I’d never seen a natural body of water that color, b
ut I imagined it would look like that.

  “You’ve confounded me, Ms. Kensington.”

  “Really? So sorry,” I sassed. “Are we done yet?”

  “No we’re not done.” He straightened again. “Until you satisfactorily explain to me why you disappeared from the face of the Earth not one hour after tearfully accepting my collar, we’re not done.”

  “It’s going to be a long night for you then.” I busied myself pretending to work by shaking my mouse and turning my gaze to my computer monitor.

  He stood and leaned over the desk to get my attention. His hand reached out and grabbed my chin, forcing me to meet his gaze with enough pressure that I did so and not so much strength I would bruise. “You will look me in the eye and explain yourself, Amelia.”

  “I will not, Cade. I owe you nothing.”

  A frustrated growl escaped his lips as he released me and stood to his full height. “Do you know how worried I was?”

  I doubted it lasted very long. After all, he had another fucking family to deal with. Even if his wife was a bitch, he still would have had to handle her, and his daughter.

  “It took me two days before I finally went door to door and found a neighbor who saw you get in a cab that afternoon. That was the first and only time I knew you were even alive.”

  I flinched.

  He dragged his fingers through his hair. “I assumed you’d been abducted from my house, Amelia. Kidnapped,” he yelled.

  I swallowed. Admittedly that had not occurred to me. On the other hand, I gave not one fuck. I was glad he’d been worried. Angry even. I hoped he’d suffered countless hours of ire. None of which would have come close to matching how I’d felt.

  “I even went to the police. In another two hours I would have filed a missing person’s report.” He stared at me again. “Finally my neighbor across the street said she’d just gotten out of her car from returning home when she saw you jog to the taxi in tears. Why, Amelia? What the fuck?”

  I cringed, but gave no response.

  His chest heaved as he glared at me.

  “You should go,” I repeated. “I promise to disappear more completely this time. You won’t see me again.”

  He opened his mouth. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

  “No.”

  His tipped his head back to look at the ceiling. “Oh. My. God.” He spun around as though disoriented and then came back to face me. “You’re the most infuriating woman I’ve ever met. If my cock weren’t rock hard, I’d follow your advice and walk out that door.”

  I gasped at that remark, and my damn pussy clenched.

  Cade leaned his hands on my desk. “But, baby, I’m so fucking hot for you, I can’t stop myself. Even though you’ve clearly lost your fucking mind, I won’t leave this room without an explanation.”

  I whimpered. I couldn’t help it. He did that to me. He controlled my physical response to him with his gaze.

  “Now we’re getting somewhere.” He lifted his hands in the air. “The woman shows emotion. She isn’t made of stone.”

  Damn my body. I clenched my knees together tighter, my foot now tapping so hard on the floor I would surely leave a worn spot on the carpet.

  “Would you stop yelling,” I gritted out. “The entire building can hear you.”

  “I don’t give a fuck if the entire city hears me, Amelia. If you want me to shut up, show me some respect and start talking.”

  Show him some respect? That did it. I’d never been so enraged. “You want respect?” I yelled.

  “Yes, please.”

  “Like you respected me for ten days?” I stood now. My legs shook, but I held it together and stomped around my desk to face Cade with my hands on my hips. “Was it respect you demonstrated when you lied to me? Was it respect I was supposed to glean from the way you made promises to me you couldn’t possibly keep? Was it respect you meant to project when you left me standing at a bar in a room full of people you knew would readily eat me alive and spit out my bones?” Spit flew from my mouth with every few words as I leaned into him.

  He looked genuinely shocked.

  “What’s the matter? Are you out of insults to sling at me?” I pointed at the door. “Go. I need to get out of here. I have a date tonight, and it’s going to take a lot of groveling and explanation to even keep that date. He’s probably already changed his phone number because of you.” Why I chose to add all that, I had no idea, but it was worth it from the look on his face.

  He thought for a second and then it dawned. “That guy from Stephen’s Engineering?”

  “Yep. Not that it’s any of your business.”

  Cade pursed his lips together. If he laughed, I would be furious. Instead he schooled his expression and sighed. “That man is totally wrong for you.”

  “Not for you to decide.”

  Cade shook his head, dismayed. “You’re lying to yourself if you think that man is capable of making you happy. What was his name? Brad?”

  I walked away from him. That he was right was inconsequential. I knew as well as Cade did that I would never have anything significant with Brad. But that was beside the point.

  I was done arguing. I grabbed my purse and my phone and walked right past him. When I stepped into the corridor, I was relieved to find the office almost empty. It was late. Lisa was gone. Most of the staff would be too.

  Cade didn’t follow me. I wasn’t sure if I was relieved or disappointed. And that made me angrier.

  I made it to my car on sheer will. I made it to my apartment in a state of shock. I didn’t shed a single tear until I was in my bedroom and had collapsed on my mattress, the one that lay on the floor without a frame.

  I curled into a ball and let the waterfall begin. I sobbed hard for half an hour, knowing if I didn’t, it would just drag out the inevitable.

  Damn Cade Alexander.

  My perfect life had hit a brick wall, shattering as a physical representation of the fragile existence I’d been living for five months.

  I cried harder when I thought about how hard I’d worked to get where I was today. The sacrifices I’d made. The way I’d managed to bury my emotions so deep they were almost unrecognizable. I’d convinced myself I didn’t need any of what Cade had offered me. Even though I’d known beyond a shadow of a doubt he’d awakened something I couldn’t deny, I wasn’t about to risk my heart by letting another man dominate me.

  I’d thought for about a half a second about joining a BDSM club or attending a munch, but I’d tamped down the urge and let it go.

  There wasn’t a Dom alive who would ever make me feel the way Cade had. Still did. Damn it. Even his presence behind me from the moment he’d stepped into my space had made me want to submit to his will.

  I’d put on a fantastic front. I meant every word I’d spoken, but deep inside, he’d proven I was ruined for other men. He owned me. No one else would ever measure up.

  Even angry, he owned me. Even though I knew he was married and he was the worst father of all time, he owned me. I hated him for destroying that part of me. Making it so I would never have a normal relationship with another man.

  Brad Phelps didn’t deserve this. He was too kind. He deserved a woman who would love him back. Not a shadow of a girl who would never be true to herself or him.

  I needed to call him and break our date. Hell, if he took the call, it would be a miracle.

  I pulled myself to sitting and reached for the box of unending tissues on my nightstand. I’d already replaced it a dozen times since I’d moved to Nashville. How many more boxes would I need in the dead of night before I died?

  I padded to my bathroom and washed my face. Pulling off my clothes, I dropped them along the path back to my closet. I even took off my bra, glad for the release of pressure against my chest. My breasts had felt confined and swollen since Cade stepped in the room. I couldn’t tolerate another minute of them rubbing against my bra. I grabbed my favorite yoga pants from the floor and tugged them over my legs. Then I reached for
my most comfy sweatshirt and pulled it over my head.

  Lastly, I tugged my hair up high on my head and fastened it with a discarded hair band from my nightstand.

  With a deep breath, I headed for the kitchen to make a few calls. First Brad. Then Cheyenne. Then Meagan. My girls would freak. This was inconceivable. But they needed to know. And I needed to face reality.

  Chapter Eighteen

  First things first. I needed fortification. I opened my refrigerator and pulled out a bottle of my favorite wine, a Marcassin Chardonnay. I tamped down the part of me that cringed over this indulgence.

  It was true, everything I knew about wine I’d learned from Cade. And I’d become a wine snob. My main extravagance, even when things were at their worst, was expensive Chardonnay. I was unapologetic.

  I grabbed my second luxury from the drawer in my kitchen, a fantastic corkscrew, and extricated the cork from the bottle with ease.

  A few sips of my favorite beverage and I closed my eyes and felt almost human.

  And then there was a knock at my door. I stared at it for a moment, which didn’t suddenly give me x-ray vision. If Cade had followed me home or gotten my address from human resources, I would personally kill him.

  I set my glass on the sorry looking kitchen table and padded to the door with heavy feet. A peek in the peephole told me what I should have realized in the first place.

  Shit.

  Brad.

  I hadn’t called him yet. I also hadn’t expected him to show up after the scene at the office. I opened the door quick. “Hey.” I opened it wider. “Come in.”

  He walked in, his brow furrowed in confusion. “I thought we were going out?”

  He seriously still wanted to go out?

  “Am I early?” He glanced at his watch.

  “No. I, uh, I just assumed…”

  “Ah.” He rocked on his feet, his hands tucked in his pockets. And then he shrugged. “Sorry about earlier. I wasn’t mad at you.”

  “Of course you were. And you had every right to be. I’m the one who should be sorry.”

  He looked at me in confusion. “Why? Because some rich guy wants in your pants? I don’t give a shit about that. I was just pissed he needed to make that apparent to everyone in the room. You must have wanted to kill that bastard. I don’t care if he is the owner.”