by Nikki Chase
“You’re not having supper tonight?” I ask .
“I’ve eaten.” He studies me with his deep, dark blue eyes. That penetrating gaze always makes me feel so naked around him, like he’s constantly analyzing me .
“Oh. Um, okay. That’s all I came here to ask,” I say .
“Wait,” he says before I have a chance to close the door all the way. “Come in. Close the door behind you .”
I do as he says .
“Did you want to have supper with me?” He looks at me intently, like I’m the most interesting thing in the world to him right now .
“Maybe.”
“Did you miss me?” His smirk grows wider, his eyes are twinkling. He’s teasing me .
“Not really,” I say stubbornly. “I’m just bored .”
“Bored, huh? Why don’t we play a game?” Once again, I see the predator in him, about to pounce on me .
And the worst thing is, a part of me wants him to do it. I want him to choke me with his desire, make me forget about living, until all I know is the dangerous creature in front of me—the lure of his bait, the piercing cut of his claws into my flesh .
“What game?” I ask, intrigued. I shudder at the promise in Caine’s eyes. I don’t know what to expect, but that only makes this more exciting .
Caine flashes his rows of perfect teeth. He almost looks friendly, if not for that darkness in his eyes. He puts his glass down on a side table. He pats at his thigh. “Sit here .”
I pause, hesitating for a moment .
“You’re here to work, remember? This is part of the agreement.” He watches me intently as I weigh my options. As if he knows what’s on my mind, he says, “You can say no and go home if you want, but you won’t be getting the remaining payment. That’s only fair, wouldn’t you say? I’m not asking for much here .”
I nod gingerly and step toward him. The closer I get, the faster my heart beats, as if my entire body is trying to warn me to stay away from him .
Still, I persevere. I plop my ass down on Caine’s left thigh. With one arm around my shoulder, he pulls me close until I’m leaning against his chest, listening to his unhurried heartbeat .
“What’s the game?” I ask, trying to break this tense silence .
He gently shushes me and rubs my arm soothingly. “Relax,” he says .
I didn’t even realize how tense my whole body is. Being around this man activates my fight-or-flight response. He brings out my basic instincts. I try to loosen myself, let myself melt into Caine’s warm body .
I feel so small and protected when he’s surrounding me like this. But how can that be, when he’s just another person taking advantage of me ?
“That’s better,” Caine says. “The game is getting to know each other. You can start by asking me a question. I’ll answer, then I’ll ask you a question .”
“Okay.” I can do that. I ask, “Why don’t you have anything in this apartment? You don’t have food. Or pens. Or books. Or even just pieces of paper .”
“Do you need more food? Or books?” Caine frowns, deep lines forming on his forehead .
“No. I mean… I mean, it’s like your apartment has everything and nothing at the same time. You don’t even have clutter .”
“I have a cleaning lady,” Caine says with a shrug of his broad shoulders. “And I only come home to sleep. And eat, sometimes .”
Fair enough. I guess rich people can outsource everything, including the collecting and maintaining of stuff. No wonder this place has no soul .
This apartment is not a home. It has everything you need in the short term, like a hotel, but nothing indicates that it’s suitable for anything long term .
It’s like Caine in that way. Hypnotizingly beautiful exterior with no soul .
“My turn. What have you been doing all day ?”
Somehow, the question makes me laugh. He’s asking me about my day? The mundane question, against the dramatic backdrop of his temporary ownership of me, seems absurd .
“Anything funny?” Caine turns toward me and plants a gentle kiss on my temple, as if I just did the most fascinating thing .
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I’ve been watching TV, mostly .”
I guess I’m lying by leaving out the bit about checking out the drawers, but if he doesn’t have anything in them anyway, it shouldn’t matter to him .
“My turn.” I take a deep breath and build the courage to ask him the question that’s been burning a hole in my brain. “Do you always have girls living here, like I am ?”
“No,” he says .
“Have you ever done this before, though ?”
“I’ve already answered one question, kitten. I’ll answer you, but I’ll ask you two questions as well.” Caine places one hand on my knees and strokes up and down my inner thighs. His touch sends tingles up my legs and goosebumps all over my body .
I nod .
“I have,” he says .
I curse myself for asking him yes-or-no questions. Okay, I’ll be more prepared next round. I look at Caine, challenging him. “Your turn .”
“Okay. What’s a good girl like you doing here, with someone like me?” His eyes have darkened. With a confident smirk on his face, he parts my legs so I’m straddling his thigh. He pulls me closer until my head leans back against his chest. We’re not playing anymore .
My heart pounds against my rib cage. I wonder if he can feel it. I swallow and steady myself. Just like he has done, I’ll answer this with a short sentence so there’s no chance for my voice to falter .
“I need the money,” I say .
Caine rubs the juncture of my thighs over my pants. God, how does it feel so good? I’ve never felt that good down there .
Now, before you can say, “Duh, Daisy, you’re a virgin,” let me just say that I’ve played with myself pretty extensively. Just because I haven’t done it with a guy doesn’t mean I’m not horny .
This feels nothing like that .
When Caine touches me, my nerve endings come alive and send crackles of sinful pleasure straight to my core. Everything fades away until all that matters is the ache in my pussy that’s yearning for release .
Above all, there’s a vulnerability, a dangerous element to this, that makes me crave even more .
“What do you need the money for?” Caine asks, his voice probing, poking me in a sensitive spot. I don’t really want Caine to know this. I don’t want him to pity me. That would only complicate things. This is a business transaction, nothing more and nothing less .
“I have debts,” I say between my gasps. My breathing is getting heavy. It’s getting hard to speak .
“Sure you do,” Caine says. “Why do you have debts? You like expensive things, my little flower ?”
“Yeah.”
I’m glad he’s giving me an easy out. Now I don’t have to come up with some other answer. I can barely think, the way most of my brainpower is focused on the fingers dancing over my pussy .
Caine shifts underneath me and slides me down right onto the armchair. The soft fabric feels warm from the heat of his body. He’s the one who has been drinking, but I’m the one intoxicated right now, lost in Caine’s heady touch .
Caine kneels between my legs. It gives me a strange feeling of power, having such a big, wealthy, successful man like him on his knees in front of me. But I know that’s just an illusion. In reality, I’m the one who has surrendered .
“Have you been touching yourself, kitten?” Caine trails kisses up my inner thighs, making me squirm in the armchair .
“You already asked two questions,” I protest .
“We’re done playing, in case you haven’t noticed,” he says, reminding me that he’s the one who sets all the rules around here. “Now, tell me, kitten, have you been touching yourself ?”
I bite my bottom lip to stop myself from moaning. When Caine speaks, I feel the hot breath from his mouth on my pussy through my sweat pants, and it makes me yearn for his lips there. I don
’t even know how being eaten out would feel, but I know I want it, now that his lips are literally one inch away .
I nod .
“Good girl.” Caine lands a kiss on my pussy over my sweat pants, and I instinctively raise my hips for more. He chuckles as my face reddens again. “Have you been thinking about me, maybe about what we did in the kitchen ?”
I nod again. I can’t speak, but I’m making these weird noises, these lustful sighs and moans that fill the air despite my attempts at stifling them. Caine pulls my sweatpants and panties off my legs, and I let him .
“I can make you feel even better,” he says. His tongue makes contact with my wet folds, and he grunts as he envelops me with the warmth of his mouth, turning my body into a limp rag doll on the armchair. “I’ll teach you all the filthy, delicious things your body can do right now. All you have to do is beg me .”
My eyes snap open to see Caine’s face between my legs, his tongue darting in and out to circle my opening and tease my clit .
He wants me to what ? Isn’t it enough that I’m here, letting him do what he wants to my body, in exchange for money? Doesn’t he already have what he wants ?
He can have my body, but I’m not going to beg him like a pet dog .
“Well?” Caine flattens his tongue and runs it along my slit, from the bottom to the top. He hovers right over my pussy, his breath hot on my clit. “You know you want it. Beg me and I’ll give it to you .”
I’m throbbing. I need his mouth back on my pussy, but I’m not doing this. “No .”
“No?” Caine plays with my clit with the tip of his tongue, going around and around it. He sucks my lower lips into his mouth every once in a while .
My body starts to shiver. My hands grab at the green fabric of the armchair, holding on so tight my knuckles are turning white. I know I’m close. I just need a little bit more .
Caine knows it too. He knows the signs, and he deliberately extends my suffering. As soon as it feels like I’m about to finally get there, he slows down, cruelly giving me the slightest stimulation to keep me on the edge—his breath, or a graze of his lip .
“Beg me, kitten,” he demands in a voice hoarse with desire .
“No,” I say more insistently through the fog of my own arousal. I want him to know he doesn’t own me. Not really .
“Okay.” Caine sits down on the cow hide rug under the armchair and looks at me sternly. With a firm voice, he says, “Then we’re done here. It’s been fun playing this game with you. Go back to your room .”
Caine
“P op, what is it?” I open the door to his home office and march inside. I place my palms on his desk .
“Calm down. Take a seat.” As usual, he’s leaning back in his chair with his elbows on the armrests and his fingers interlocked in front of him .
I frown. Why is he so calm? When I got that text message, I thought some kind of catastrophe had happened .
“Why did you call me?” I sit in the chair across from him .
He doesn’t usually call me to his home office in the middle of the work day. He knows I’m usually busy juggling all kinds of things that are critical to keeping the business running smoothly .
Besides the timing, there’s also the message itself .
Home office. As soon as possible. Don’t let Nathan know .
That must be a bad sign, right? Pop works really closely with Uncle Nathan. As far as I can tell, anything one knows, the other one knows as well .
“I need you to do something for me,” he says .
“That much is obvious .”
“Remember when I asked you to find an old friend of mine, Bertha Jones? How’s that going ?”
“My guy found her address, and we took care of the loose ends around her dead daughter’s case. Then you got sick and I got buried in work .”
“Go pay her a visit. Tell her I want to see her .”
“Is she an old girlfriend, Pop?” I squint at him. I know what “friend” means, coming from him. He’s always been a bit of a ladies’ man, but I can’t believe he’s taking me out of my work day to hunt down some woman. “Did she dump you? Maybe you should find a new one .”
“It’s not like that.” He scowls. “Look, I just want to meet her again. When you’ve almost died, you realize how important old friends are .”
I sigh. I swear, for such a tough guy, Pop can be a little dramatic sometimes .
“Okay, but let me get this straight. You want me to take time off work to track down this woman, when you’re out of commission and there’s a ton of work at the office ?”
“Well, yes. You don’t want me to strain my elderly body looking for her myself, do you ?”
Interesting. It seems he’s developed a taste for relaxing at home. This was an unusual request when he first asked me last week, but now it’s even weirder .
I ignore his question and counter with another one of my own. “You just want to know if she’s doing well ?”
“Yes.”
“And you want to keep this a secret from Uncle Nathan ?”
“Yes. Keep him busy and just tell him you need to take care of something somewhere else. A business trip .”
“Why can’t he know about this ?”
“Oh, you know how he is.” Pop waves his hand dismissively, as if the answer is obvious. “He’s not going to let you go just to take care of personal matters .”
“What do you mean ‘oh, you know how he is’? The you that I know wouldn’t have sent me on this weird mission .”
“Well, I’ve been reformed.” Pop smiles. “Again, her name’s Bertha Jones. Let me know when you find her .”
He’s so sly. I never know if he’s telling the truth. I wonder if this Bertha Jones is one of the many lovers he’s had since Mom died. Maybe Uncle Nathan is into the same woman ?
Or maybe… Could it be someone from his past, from when Mom was still alive? Their relationship was always strained, now that I think about it. If that’s true, it would make sense for Pop to keep this from Uncle Nathan, seeing as he was such good friends with Mom .
“Who is she?” I ask Pop point blank .
“I’ll tell you everything at the right time. Just do what I tell you to do.” From the tone of his voice, I know Pop means that. He’s not going to tell me, no matter how many times I ask him to. He’s going to stubbornly refuse to talk about it .
He knows I’m going to do it anyway. I always do. Pop’s an asshole, but I have a soft spot for him .
Unlike Cole, I listen to him. Cole’s wrong—I’m not Pop’s favorite; he just finds me more useful .
I don’t mind that. I like being useful for him, for the family. That’s what the old man’s life has been about, also: the family. He always tells me that’s all that matters, that’s all that always stays with you, no matter what .
That’s why, unlike Cole, I’m sticking around, no matter how difficult things get. I’m sure as Pop gets older, it’ll get harder to deal with him. He’ll get even more unpleasant, maybe even obnoxious, but he’s family .
That’s why I’ll do it. I’ll track down this Bertha Jones for him, no questions asked. That’s what family is for .
“Okay, Pop. I’ll get it done.” I take a deep breath and sigh .
“Good. I knew you would,” he says .
“How’s the nurse doing ?”
“It’s nice having her around. I forgot how good it is to have some feminine presence in the house,” he says .
“Don’t sleep with her, Pop. It’s hard to find a good nurse .”
“I don’t intend to,” he says defensively .
I ask him a few questions about his health, how he’s progressing after being released from the hospital. He seems to be doing better than I expected .
When I finally walk out the front door, I see two big bodyguards in black suits talking to one guy, blocking him from the entrance .
Jesus, not this guy again .
“What seems to be the problem, gentlemen?
” I ask as I walk down the stairs .
“Caine,” the guy says with a smile, as if we were old friends and I was going to get him inside .
“Paul.” I nod at him, but don’t return the smile. “What do you want ?”
“You know what I want. I just want to see your dad,” he says .
“The last time you came, he got so stressed out he had to go get checked up at the hospital,” I remind him, maintaining my outer calm while anger is boiling inside me .
“Maybe he had reason to feel guilty,” he says .
“Fuck off, Paul. We don’t do anything illegal .”
“Are you sure?” Paul sneers. “Do you know everything that happens in the business? I know you’re your father’s favorite, you’re the crown prince of the family, but how much do you really know ?”
“There’s no reason for the police to be here, Paul. Believe me.” I manage to speak with certainty, although I’ve sometimes wondered the same thing .
“Oh, I believe you, crown prince. I believe you believe what you’re saying. But I don’t believe you know everything you need to know .”
“What does that mean?” I frown .
“That means your dad has secrets. You may want to think about anything strange that has happened lately. I bet you can think of a few things, huh ?”
“I don’t know what you’re implying, Paul, but you’re barking up the wrong tree. Now, do you have a warrant or not? If you don’t, this is a private property and I can refuse to let you in .”
“Come on, Caine. Don’t be like that .”
“No warrant, huh?” I smirk. I turn to the bodyguards and give them an order. “Please escort Mr. Brent here to his patrol car. He has no right to be here .”
The men grab Paul’s arm, flanking him as they take him down the driveway to the police car parked by the rose bushes .
Pop has always insisted on a manicured landscape, even though he doesn’t do any gardening himself. The long driveway to the mansion is lined with tall trees on both sides .
As I drive away from the home where I grew up, I wonder if the cop is right. Is there something Pop is hiding from me? Something illegal and dangerous ?
I don’t think he’d knowingly endanger the family, but what if he misjudges the risks of an illegal enterprise? Things are not like they used to be back in his day .
