“I will call you back.” A familiar voice, cooler than I remembered, uttered behind us. Chills shot straight through me at the terse tone of his voice.
“Cane, it’s nice to see you.” I hoped that the cheeriness in my voice masked my nerves. I turned to face him, not sure why I felt on edge without even looking at him.
“What’s going on?” He looked at me and then at Simon. His jaw pulsed, his forehead creased as he stood with his fists balled at his sides.
“I brought Mr. Powers to see the property. Alice said that she called your office.”
Cane stared at Simon’s hand on my arm until he released it. “Have you finished?”
“We have, I do believe.” I looked up at Simon, hoping he wasn’t put off by Cane’s attitude. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but this wasn’t the way to treat a potential buyer. Surely Cane knew this.
Simon appeared amused as Cane stared holes through him. He glanced at me, then back to Cane, before a small smirk appeared on his face.
“I saw this listing and thought it may work for my new venture. Your agent did an excellent job showing me around.”
“I’m sure she did.”
Simon seemed unfazed—totally cool and collected. He turned toward me and winked. “Thank you for everything, Ms. Stanley. I will get with you tomorrow. Maybe we can meet for lunch?”
“I’ll check my schedule, but that sounds great.” I followed Simon to the door, Cane’s eyes never leaving us.
Simon exited first, the door closing snugly behind him. My hand was on the handle when Cane’s voice caught my attention.
“Well, if that isn’t a motherfucker.” His voice was low as he scratched his head, a faraway look on his face.
“Excuse me?”
Cane shook his head, apparently to rid himself of whatever he was thinking. His eyebrows raised, he turned towards me. “So you will have lunch with him and not me? What am I missing here?”
“It’s business. Pretty simple, I think.” I peered out the door, watching Simon’s black Avalanche pull out of the parking lot.
“I can pretend it’s about business, if that’s what you want.”
“Cane,” I warned, turning my head to look at him.
“Lunch with him will not be about business. When I walked in here, that was not about business.”
“Whether it was or it wasn’t is no business of yours.”
Cane blew out a breath, his forehead marred in frustration. “Do you know Simon Powers? Have you dealt with him before?”
“No, I just met him today. Why?”
He looked relieved. “It doesn’t matter. Look, if he needs to see this property again, I want you to call me first, okay?”
“All right. I won’t bring him here without calling you first.”
“I’m going to give you my phone number. If he wants to see this property or becomes a pain in your ass, I want you to call me. Don’t put up with any shit from him and don’t bring him here unless you actually speak to me. Do you understand?”
“You’re making me nervous. What’s going on?”
“There’s nothing to be nervous about,” he said calmly, trying to dissipate the mood he just created. “I just don’t like that guy. I don’t trust him.”
“Whatever you say.”
“I like it when you just do what I say.” His eyes darkened.
“Noted. I have to go, Cane.”
“What’s your phone number?” He placed his hand on the small of my back. I stilled at his touch. A jolt of energy darted through my body, landing at the apex of my thighs. I closed my eyes and just felt for a minute.
“You can get my number from Max,” I said breathily, throwing his words from the night at the restaurant back at him.
Cane spun me around quickly, my back pressed against the wall. He leaned in, his face almost touching mine. I willed myself not to moan, to not give him any inclination that my willpower was melting away.
“Oh, Jada,” he whispered, the warmth of his breath only adding to the riot inside me. “Why do you fight this so hard?”
“Cane …” I tried to formulate a response but words were not accessible.
He smirked, knowing what he was doing to me. “Yes?”
“I … I need to go.”
“You need to. But do you want to?” He searched my eyes with his own. “I know what you want and what you need, baby. Why won’t you trust me?”
My eyes widened, my pulse pounding. He was so close and I wanted more than anything to reach out and pull him up against me.
But I can’t.
He smiled before leaning in, his lips grazing my ear as he whispered, “Why do you fight this? Just give me one night to get you out of my system.”
I turned my head to respond, to explain that was exactly what he wasn’t getting, and our eyes locked. The air between us, so hot and rife with energy, boiled over.
He captured my lips with his own, tentatively at first. I resisted for a split second before succumbing to his charge. His lips moved over mine, a soft juxtaposition to his hard exterior. The heat of the exchange, of him finally touching me, melted me from the inside out.