As long as nothing made me vomit or scared me senseless, I could deal with the entrancing, otherworldly, multi-orgasmic sex, strange parties, and unexplained super strength.
What I couldn’t handle was Calind’s coldness. His ability to keep parts of him away from me prevented me from believing that what we had could possibly be genuine.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
AFTER BREAKING THE rules of my agreement with Executive Suites by meeting with my lawyer to discuss changes to my will, I found myself in serious need of java, and made a trip downtown to my favorite coffee shop.
As I settled into a seat by the window, I puffed out my cheeks and exhaled a long stream of air.
Ugh! Why did I walk away from Calind? I could’ve been fucking him right now instead of listening to the group of college kids who had taken over my favorite coffee spot overpowering the soft music with their boisterous discussion on politics.
From beneath highly reflective glasses, one of the college coeds had his eyes fixed on me. His looks rated as average and not worth a distraction from the ten-plus I had at home. Still, he could’ve been an interesting way to remind Calind not to work so hard and leave me alone for too long.
I twirled my index finger up in a circle to tell him to turn away. He snapped out of his daze with a shake of his head.
Finished with my Caffè Americano, I headed for the exit. The eye-stalker insisted on following me with his eyes, and eventually his body did, too. “Hey, I’m Jake.”
“And you have somewhere else to be, don’t you, Jake?” I asked, less than welcoming.
He backed away, sliding his hands into the pockets of his pants. “I get it.”
“Get what, Jake?”
“I’m not looking for anything. I’m used to the door being slammed in my face, but you’re Raymond Barcel’s daughter, right? He was my idol. The way he revolutionized global networking, and his most recent work with creating AI based on human genomes…” He slipped into a dreamlike state. “I heard he was working on digital immortality and AI-assisted genetic modification next. It’s too bad he never got to finish his work.”
Was he trying to flirt with me by kissing my father’s ass? Failure. “Goodbye, Jake.” I walked away.
“Wait!” He quickened his stride to catch up with me. “How about we start over—”
“Dinner’s at eight. 61784 Amber Way, in Encinitas. You can’t miss it. It’s on a private drive at the top of the hill.” I left Jake alone with his bewilderment and rushed away.
STROLLING AROUND AN overpriced organic specialty food mart, I fought the urge to gag at the pungent smell of animal meat wafting from the butcher counter.
I rubbed my stomach as it churned. I couldn’t remember the last time I ate a full meal. My taste buds were going wonky, making everything taste like battery acid—or what I imagined was the flavor of battery acid. Where once a good steak made my mouth water, it now looked similar to maggots swarming a carcass on a hot day.
The sight of Calind doing something as mundane as grocery shopping made me smile. He looked damned sexy doing it while dressed in a rarity: jeans and a t-shirt. He could make a casual outfit look as good as a bespoke three-piece suit.
I picked over the food in the small cart as we moved to another aisle. “Why so much food? Isn’t it supposed to be a dinner for two?” I negated Jake because I didn’t expect him to accept my invitation.
“The list has expanded,” Calind responded, examining the array of spices on the shelf.
“To include whom?”
“It’s a surprise.”
I sucked my teeth. “I hate surprises.”
“Your expression every time I surprise you? Let’s not pretend you don’t clamor for it.”
“They’re sexual-surprises, not surprise guest-surprises.”
He turned to face me with his brows furrowed. “I’m attempting to change the dynamic, Regan. Don’t shit on it.”
I wasn’t sure which dynamic he meant. “Why the sudden change?”
The look on his face said everything without him saying much.
“This isn’t pity you’re giving me, is it?”
He arched a thick brow at me. “Is it pity you want?”
“What I want is for you to keep up the old dynamic. It was good. It was really fucking good.”
“When I showed you a peek into the lifestyle you thought you wanted, you looked less than excited about it. Isn’t this what you desire?” He gestured around the aisle. “Normalcy?”
“Don’t chastise me like I’m a child.”
“Stop fucking behaving like one so often and I won’t feel the need.” His enunciation dipped into that unfamiliar, yet familiar, accent.
I fished a cigarette out of my clutch and a lighter from his pocket. Ordinarily, I’d have brushed my hand against his cock, but I wasn’t in the mood at the moment. Instead, I walked away.
“You’re not helping your case by storming away like a toddler,” Calind’s booming shout chased after my back.
I didn’t satisfy his need to draw out my anger, only to punish me later.
In the parking lot, I plopped my ass on the hood of Calind’s car and lit up. Bringing the cigarette to my mouth, I inhaled the bitter mint taste to help calm my nerves.
A woman, ridiculously dressed in a fur gilet during mild weather, glanced at me. “I doubt that’s your car. Should you be sitting on it?”
“No, it’s not. My car’s worth about ten grand more. How about you fuck off now, ’mm-kay?” I glared back at her, igniting a startled reaction.
She swiftly shuffled away.
Thirty minutes later, Calind arrived.
“Took your time and flirted for a discount, did you?” I shifted off the hood a second before Calind pressed the trunk release button on the key fob.
“I do not need to use flirtation to gain what I desire.” Calind placed the cloth bags in the trunk of the car.
I grunted and threw my cigarette to the ground, snuffing it out with my teal hidden platform stilettos
“You behave like this when you’re in need of sex.”
“Don’t trivialize this by making it about your cock. Could I live with it inside me twenty-four-seven? Yes, but that’s not the point.”
His sexy, slow to appear smile softened me. “Sex between us isn’t trivial.”
I closed my eyes and swooned. “You know what I mean.”
“I’m aware of your unhappiness, Regan,” he offered with a startling sullenness.
There were many things wrong: I’d never been in a relationship, and being in one with Calind was both intense and frustrating. Another: I was going through the stages of accepting death and currently stuck on rage. I thought I was out of that stage, but I was wrong.
Instead of hashing out my feelings with him, I grabbed the cart, planting both feet on the rail, and skated across the parking lot.
I took my sweet time returning to the car.
Calind stood by the back end, staring pensively at the ground with a belt folded in his hand. Without moving a muscle, his eyes drifted up my body from beneath his voluminous eyelashes. His hand twitched, allowing one end of the leather strap to unfurl.
My jaw unhinged and a burning heat rushed up the back of my neck. “Here? Now? Today?” I quizzed in a quiet croak. The increased pace of my heartbeat pained my chest and the air temperature turned frigid around my body.
“You believe you can continue to behave this way and not have this occur? I warned you once. Your persistent disobedience needs a response.”
“Ca—”
“You’ve said enough,” he snarled, beckoning to me with his eyes growing darker.
My throat tightened, making speech impossible. The erratic thump of my pulse flooded my ears.
I couldn’t believe he intended to reprimand me in the parking lot of a gourmet food market, of all places. Let alone allow this to be the first time I received a real punishment. I called his bluff, stopping just shy of his position and crossing my a
rms in defiance.
Calind wasn’t entertained. He clutched the crown of my hair and bent me over the hood of the car. My palms met the shiny black paint job with a thud as I tried to keep myself from falling. He yanked my skinny jeans down my thighs, taking my panties with them.
The breeze picked up, hitting my bare ass and toyed with my warm slit as it lay exposed to anyone who passed by. A few people pretended they saw nothing; others looked appalled.
With a resounding pop, the belt met my ass. The burning sting made me yelp.
Calind firmed his hold on my hair, strengthening the tension on my scalp. “Tell me what I need to hear, Regan,” he demanded, and continued his assault on my ass with a touch more ruthlessness.
I jerked, only to exacerbate his firm grasp. He hit me again with the belt, nearing my swelling slit.
“I’m sorry!” I proclaimed through trembling lips. “I won’t embarrass you in public again.”
Whack!
I wriggled, biting my lip at the increasing burning sensation penetrating my flesh.
“Louder!”
I screamed the words at the top of my lungs, attracting attention from everyone around us.
“I’m calling the cops,” said a disturbed man from behind me.
Calind strengthened his hold on my hair, ensuring I couldn’t turn. Whatever Calind said or did forced the bystander to apologize and run in the opposite direction.
Calind pushed his groin against my sore ass, revealing the hardness of his cock.
I sucked my teeth as they chattered. “I’m sorry. I won’t ever disrespect you again.”
“You will because it’s what you do. And I promise, Regan, if you do it again, you will miss this pain.” He released me and slipped away.
Taking care, I pulled up my jeans and panties, covering my throbbing ass.
Public humiliation was one of many things on my checklist, and I could now strike it off my to-do list. It was my first punishment, and it rattled me. Yet, my pussy was so wet, it dampened my panties and I couldn’t stop giving Calind what I knew were the fuck me, please eyes.
Grabbing the back of my neck, Calind pulled me to him. His lips grazed my nose and moved across my mouth. He tickled my top lip with his tongue and kissed me, holding me in his arms for a while.
With him pressed against me, the sensation of his cock lengthening and hardening turned my need up to an unbearable level. I sucked his bottom lip, hoping he’d pick up the hint and take me in the backseat of the car to relieve me of my sex-starved anguish.
When he unraveled his arms from around me, he sent me crashing out of my fantasies. With ramrod straight posture, he placed his belt back inside the loops of his slim fit jeans and circled the car.
He opened the passenger side door for me, and his expression pushed me to obey.
I slid into my seat. When the leather surrounded my backside, I winced at the throbbing pain emanating from my ass.
As he settled into the driver’s seat and started the engine, he ran his hand over the misbehaving hairs on his head. He delayed before lifting his brown hues to me.
“What?” I asked, my question quiet.
“Talk to me, Regan. Are you having regrets?”
“No!” I shook my head with vehemence. “Of course not.” It was evident he knew I was lying; it was written on his face.
My regrets weren’t regrets, per se. They were a lot of what-if scenarios that removed my pending death out of the equation.
“You won’t stop fidgeting.” He moved his hand across my lap and closed his fist around the erratic movement of my fingers. “And you’ve been smoking excessively.”
“Do you want me to lie and tell you nothing is wrong, or the truth that everything is wrong?”
“Everything?” His tone lowered an octave.
I averted my eyes. “Most of it. Can we avoid the therapy session right now?”
It was all supposed to be a fun ride with no emotional attachments. That was shot to hell. I didn’t want to fucking die. I wanted to be with Calind, crack open his mental safe, and see our potential as a real couple.
Calind turned his gaze to the view from the windshield. “Why are you incapable of disclosing what’s on your mind?”
“Funny, coming from you. Besides, you can read my diary, right? What’s the point?”
“I’d prefer to know you trusted me enough to tell me.”
“You can’t fix everything.” To avoid his probing eyes, I stared out of the passenger side window. The patrons went on with their day, having no clue or memory of the earlier show, featuring my ass as the entertainer.
Calind fit my chin between his fingers, forcing eye contact. “You don’t have the slightest idea of the extent of my power.” He threw the gear shift into reverse and sped out of the parking lot.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
THE FIRST DINNER invitee announced their arrival by ringing the doorbell after Calind had finished setting the table. Wearing a devil may care grin, he slipped his hand into mine and tugged me toward the front door.
A tall and lanky man with rich dark skin rivaling my own and a gleaming smile greeted me and gave me a brief hug. “It’s nice to meet you. I’m Van, Calind’s brother.”
As I glanced between Calind and Van, I couldn’t help showing my excitement. “It’s nice to meet you, too.” There was enough jubilation in my voice to make me sound like an eternal optimist who moonlighted as a cheerleader for life.
“You’re welcome,” Calind whispered in my ear.
While examining the two men, I couldn’t spot a resemblance. Different fathers couldn’t explain the drastic dissimilarities in appearances and race. Calind must’ve been adopted.
“Regan, this is Cyan, my wife,” Van introduced the woman trailing him and it soured my mood.
“We’ve already met,” I said, my disdain for the woman seeping into every word.
Cyan appeared ready for a night of clubbing and finding someone to take home instead of a semi-casual dinner party. She rarely rested her eyes on Van for more than two seconds. She didn’t pay much attention to me, either. No, Cyan couldn’t help gawking openly at my husband.
I was prepared to indulge in a moment of pettiness with Cyan until I discovered who else had expanded the list: Deidre and Tana. It annoyed me that Calind thought inviting my stepsister and stepmother to tag along during my first time meeting a member of his family equated to a good time.
I grabbed the cheap bottle of wine Deidre offered and disappeared into the kitchen to dump it out into the sink.
“What a nice thank you for such an expensive bottle of wine.” Deidre, my father’s widow, stood in the doorway of the kitchen with a glower to match her sardonic tone.
She’d upgraded her style after she married my father. Frumpy floral dresses with blazers used to be her mainstays. Now, it’s tailored suits and a sleek, asymmetrical bob. I didn’t find a reason how she could have snagged my father. He was a handsome man, who dated better women than the average-looking and bitchy Deidre.
I tossed the empty wine bottle in the recycling bin and grabbed the wine from Calind’s family vineyard off the counter. “I’m not drinking anything that comes from you. It could be poison.” I pulled the cork from the wine with a corkscrew. “What do you want, Deidre? I know you didn’t come here to play family.”
“You were absent at the funeral and the will-reading. You have things to hand over to me and your sister.”
“Tana is not my sister.” I poured more wine and swirled it around inside the stemless glass. Pausing for a minute, I tipped it to my lips and gulped the sweet liquid until the last drop and refilled my glass.
“Raymond changed his will. He left you with nothing,” she informed me. “You have no one to blame but yourself for this.”
“Being that I have nothing of his anymore, I have nothing to hand over to you. Do you want my house? My car? You’re asking for things that don’t belong to you, and can’t be willed to you. They are going to my husband wh
en I die.”
“They are all things you received from working for your father.” The corners of her mouth curled upward. “I could get a lawyer to say otherwise. Your marriage happened under very suspicious circumstances. You have cancer, right? Who knows if you were in your right mind when you took your vows or changed your will.
“If you were nice, I could find a temporary position for you in the company. Tana has way too much on her plate, and she can’t run the company alone.”
I shook my head, turning my back on her. Why anyone thought Tana could thrive in any position with responsibility was beyond me.
“We won’t be at this dinner for long.” Deidre continued to make my skin itch with the sound of her voice. “You’re more than welcome to schedule an appointment so we can discuss your options.”
I twirled around and stared at the woman, my dislike for her cutting into my unblinking glower. I shouldered her hard on my way out of the kitchen.
In the dining room, Jake, a nervous and recent arrival, flitted around the dining table unwilling to sit in his designated chair.
Tana, seated across from Calind, was in the middle of a grilling session with him. She batted her eyelashes and threw her head back to release a ear-splitting laugh.
Cyan appeared to be annoyed with Tana’s behavior.
“How did you meet Regan?” Tana spoke over Van and Calind’s new conversation with her eyes dead set on my husband. “I never thought of Regan as one to settle down, so I’m shocked you married her. I don’t think I received an invitation to the wedding. Must’ve gotten lost in the mail.”
“We ran into one another.” Calind interrupted his conversation with his brother to answer Tana. “A more formal meeting commenced at her father’s home.”
“You would call that formal?” I asked, frozen in the memory of Calind’s perfect wet body.
Calind’s smiling eyes trailed to mine. “Regan made me chase her. Hard.”
I swallowed a few drops wine and made my way over to Jake. “Hell, is there anything you don’t go after until you own it?”
“You’re the only one I ever cared to chase.” Calind’s crooked grin deepened one of his dimples. He pulled out the chair next to him and his eyes darted to it, silently ordering me to sit.
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