I clawed at his wrist, but I didn’t tap. I wouldn’t. If this was the game, I was going to win.
He tsked at my futile effort. “This is my breath now, baby doll.” He thrust inside me, bottoming out balls deep on the first one. The large oak desk may have moved. I couldn’t even gasp, but he saw how I arched, how I bit my lip in bliss, and he squeezed my neck even harder. “And I get to control when you breathe, when you feel, when you see stars, or when you see darkness.”
His other hand worked my clit, rolling it hard and fast as he thrust in and out while ravaging my neck. And I got closer and closer to those stars while nearing the black hole of passing out from lack of air.
Cade wasn’t a gentle lover. He wasn’t even a lover, really. He was just the guy fucking me into a different sort of universe than I’d ever experienced. His cock alone—so rigid, thick, and long—would have done that on its own. Yet he’d brought in breath play, he’d whipped my clit before working it, and he expected me to take each hard thrust with vigor.
I hated that I did, that I wanted him more than any other man before. My body worked to stay conscious, to meet him thrust for thrust, more concerned with an orgasm than taking another breath.
“Fuck.” He swore low as he ripped his hand from my neck and planted both of them on the desk right behind me to give himself more leverage so he could fuck me harder.
Gasping for air, I gripped the front of his shirt and tightened my pussy around him as I came. The rush of oxygen back into my lungs pushed me over the edge. He muffled my scream and let out a string of Italian as he emptied himself into me.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he muttered as he hung his dark head of hair onto my shoulder. “You’re flirting with passing out, love. You’re not careful enough.”
I didn’t respond, just gulped in more air. We both stayed where we were for what felt like forever. He didn’t even pull his cock from me. It was like he wanted it to stay buried there. When he finally lifted his head, those eyes of his weren’t burning whiskey this time. They were warm like a light coffee that could wake you up and make you want to plow through the day together.
He searched my face and then traced one finger over my mouth. “You have lips made for sinning, Izzy.”
I rolled them between my teeth and gently pushed him away. He didn’t fight me but exited my center slowly, pulling my skirt down with him. I shouldn’t have let him do even that, but I watched how his hands smoothed the fabric, how he brought his hand underneath to slide my panties back into place, and his touch was as light as a feather.
He took a step back to look me over as he tucked himself into his trousers. “I’m not kidding about the breath play.”
I shrugged. “I’m fine.” I was better than fine. I was satiated like I’d never been before.
“Next time—”
“There won’t be a next time, remember?” I hopped off the desk. We were colleagues, not fuck buddies.
We both needed to draw a line, and this was it. Especially with upcoming trips together, with a team relying on us, with one of the biggest corporations depending on me.
I moved to rush past him, but he caught my elbow, his tattooed hand gripping me tightly. “You intend to have another man with his hand around your neck?” he asked softly.
I stared up at him and saw the fire, the malice, and the dominance. Caden Armanelli stood before me as a man of the Mafia now, not a businessman. I felt it in the way he gripped me, in the way his breath was measured as he waited for my answer.
“So what if I do? You’re not my keeper, Cade.”
He dragged his other hand over his face as he swore. “Don’t go try what we’ve done with just anyone.”
I studied him and saw now that the look of a man flirting with unhinging his monster was gone. Instead, I noted a look of concern, like he thought I couldn’t handle myself.
“I’m capable of taking care of myself, Cade,” I informed him.
“And I’m capable of breaking every bone in a man’s body, but I’d like to refrain from doing that. So don’t do it. No one is allowed to hold your life in their hands except me. You understand?”
I ripped my arm from his grip. “Please tell me after year-end reviews you’ll go back to being remote, because you uttering that statement is absolutely ridiculous. Do you hear yourself?”
His possessiveness fizzled, and he chuckled while scratching his chin. “After the election, I’ll be gone, Ms. Hardy. Don’t worry.” And then he disappeared into what I imagined was his en suite bathroom.
There was no reason for me to stay. Honestly, I couldn’t take him being a gentleman now. It would muddy the waters of our work relationship even more than the murky-ass swamp we found ourselves in now.
Plus, we’d both gotten the sexual tension out of our systems. I was getting a chance to prove myself in a higher position, and I wasn’t about to ruin it because Cade and I slept together once or twice.
I grabbed my blouse and pulled it back on, tying the knot extra tight, then got the hell out of there.
8
Cade
“The answer is no, Jett,” I reiterated to the owner of Stonewood Enterprises just a few days later. My blood pressure had definitely risen this week and I couldn’t deal with sugarcoating my answer anymore.
Izzy had done this to me. She’d left my office with the smell of her arousal still in the air, her words about seeing other men still echoing in my ears, and the taste of her still in my mouth.
The next day, we didn’t even make eye contact, but I still heard her husky voice as I walked past everyone to get to my office. I physically had to restrain myself from checking what she was wearing the past two days.
So, I admittedly didn’t have the patience for Jett at the moment. He’d done his best to convince me to do three weeks of teamwork right before the election with a cybersecurity team I hadn’t met.
“Fine. Two weeks.” He negotiated. “My event coordinators will handle everything, and you can have Izzy do the bulk of the teaching. She built most of JUNIPER anyway, right? She’ll be able to handle it—but you have to be there. If for no other reason than to confirm we aren’t having breaches from a remote location.”
“I can confirm that from a remote location, Jett. This is bullshit.”
“I know that. I’m not an idiot,” Jett mumbled. “But it’s the team building I need you to do. You’re their boss. You’re the fucking celebrity of the data world or whatever you want to call it. They want to see you. They want to be a part of it.”
His wife yelled in the background, “It’s for morale. It’ll be fun.”
That girl was the sun shining into a black hole, I swear. “Tell Vick she’s lost her mind since becoming a mother if she thinks this will be fun.”
“I’ve actually found my mind, Cade.” She chirped into the phone. “You’re an uncle now, aren’t you? You gain insight from children even while they drive you crazy. You’d lay down your life for them, right?”
She knew my brother had a kid with his wife. I’d practically staged the two of them getting together.
I pursed my lips and sighed because I couldn’t deny I loved that baby. Family was family. “There’s something wrong with our makeup.” My niece was a monster, but we adored the little tyrant. “I don’t know how we can love them when they try to kill us and themselves every chance they get, but, damn, I do.”
“It’s the best experience in the world.” I heard Vick’s laugh fading away, but Jett didn’t say anything.
“You there, or have you melted into a lovesick puppy from staring at your wife?”
“Fuck you. My wife is perfect,” Jett grumbled.
I chuckled because he’d been totally whipped by a pussy, and he admitted it with pride. “You, my cousins, and my brother are all crazy.”
“Even so, you’re gonna be going crazy in a remote location, swinging around on some obstacle course during team building in a week. So I’ll take my life over yours.” He laughed at his joke while I groaned.
“You owe me, man,” I conceded, knowing I had to do it.
“This is being a boss sometimes, Cade. You can’t handle it all on your own. You got to trust someone to manage, and you trust Izzy enough, right? She’ll be fine. Let’s trickle down some of the control to the team.”
“I’m going for two weeks. That’s it. And I’m taking my jet.”
“Great. Have your team on it. It’ll be perfect for bonding and morale.” Jett was trying to torture me.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
“I’m not.”