“Okay.” I whispered the word, not sure how to take his compliment. We threw darts at one another, not positive reinforcement. “Even if you can stand out, sometimes it feels nice to fit in, Cade. Don’t you go out and enjoy being with friends every now and then?”
His life was private, but it put the spotlight on his brother and made him out to be a hero, a reformed mobster. Cade was happy to let his brother have the attention while he kept himself buried in his phone. No one knew what he did, but they opted for keeping their distance. Everyone was aware of his brain power, his genius, and how he could snuff out a life—via technology—on a whim.
“I enjoy my family. And I enjoy work. The internet is full of entertainment.” He shrugged, turned on his heel, and went into the kitchen. I padded over to the island counter and ignored the buzzing of arriving texts coming from my phone. “You going to answer your phone?”
“Probably not.” I shrugged. “It’s either my family, Lucas, or my ex. Lilah would call if there was an emergency, and Lucas is probably just letting me know no bears got him.”
He hummed. “And Gerald?” He sneered his name, somehow knowing the man didn’t deserve our time.
I sighed. “Honestly, at this point, I don’t check.”
He pulled some milk from the fridge and got two bowls from the cabinet. “If he’s bothering you . . .”
“If he is, then what? My boss will give him a call?” I snickered at my comment. “Quite frankly, he’d probably think you stole my phone and hurt me, considering you’re an Armanelli.”
“As an Armanelli, I don’t call people that need to be dealt with,” He grumbled. “And hurt you? Why would I ever hurt you?”
“Well, you hate me—”
“I don’t hate you.” His head shot up and his brow furrowed.
“Yes, you do. We’ve told each other numerous times—”
“You’ve told me you hate me. I’ve never said that to you.” He opened the pantry door to the left of the stove and grabbed some oat cereal. “Anyway, if he’s your ex, tell him to stay that way and stop texting.”
He waited expectantly for me to check my phone and, because I didn’t want anyone thinking I couldn’t handle my own problems, I snatched it up and scrolled to Gerald’s messages.
My brow furrowed at what they said. In between all the begging and pleading for him to take me back were questions about his father’s company.
Gerald: Izzy, I really need to talk. Things aren’t going great with the company.
Gerald: I need your support. Investors have been turning down offers left and right, saying our software within the company isn’t up to par.
Gerald: Did you do something?
I scoffed at the notion that he would think I would do anything to him. I was moving on and would never sacrifice my integrity for him.
“Something wrong?” Cade asked as he poured a helping into each bowl.
“It’s nothing. Gerald just being ridiculous.” I mumbled as I texted him back that he needed to leave me alone. When Cade pushed the cereal my way, I shook my head. “I’m not hungry. I don’t eat past eight, anyway. My metabo–”
“Eat the food, Izzy.” He placed a spoon next to the bowl and carried his back to the table where his laptop was.
“If you think we’re going to live in this place for two weeks with you bossing me around, you’re sorely mistaken.”
He sighed as he sat down in that three-piece suit to continue working. “I’m sustaining your life because I know you didn’t eat outside.”
“How would you know that?”
“Aside from the fact I could look out the window? You never eat when you’re working or socializing. You didn’t eat all last week in the office. Except for candy canes.”
“Well, I like candy canes.”
“Why? It’s not Christmastime.”
I guess he wanted to keep talking while he worked. It was an interesting change, even if talking to him while his head was in a laptop sort of felt detached.
I sat down in front of him and took a bite of the cereal because I couldn’t ignore my stomach growling. “I started that habit with Lucas. It helps keep our minds from wandering to other habits we used to indulge in.”
He did that humming thing again and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose as he ate. His brow furrowed, and his earthy brown eyes scanned the screen. When he mumbled out a curse, I couldn’t help but ask, “Anything I can help with?”
“No,” he answered immediately, but I left my bowl of cereal to round the table, wanting a look at what he was working on.
Just a week ago, Cade would have shifted to block the view of his screen, but now he didn’t. He may have said there was nothing I could help with, but he didn’t mind me being there. It spoke volumes about the sort of business partnership we were building. I wouldn’t venture so far as to say we were friends, or even friendly, but I liked to think his trust in my work skills might have grown slightly.
“Let me see if I can break in. I’m here to test it, right?”
He was eyeing up the Chicago PD security infrastructure, comparing it with codes that had hacked systems in the past. I’d done the research, though, and knew JUNIPER was up to par. Still, I wanted a crack from the other side.
He sighed and didn’t move. “You won’t be able to do it if I can’t, Izzy.”
I let him have another scoop of cereal and studied his full head of hair. The back of his profile was almost as good as the front. Full, thick strands just long enough to grab and dig fingers into.
My mind started to wander to other things . . . like had other girls grabbed that hair since me? Did he want me to go to bed so he could call someone else? Did he think of me sometimes like I thought of him?
“Maybe I deserve at least a chance.”
“You think you can do this when I can’t?” He shoved away from the table, leaving enough space for me to walk between him and where the laptop was located. “Come over here, then.” He pointed to his lap. “Sit right here and do it.”
He wanted me to cower, to bend to his intimidation. I didn’t hesitate, though I knew having him this close would ruin my concentration. I started to think I wasn’t ever going to be able to back down from this man, and I also believed he enjoyed challenging me.
This was about to create chaos that I might not be able to overcome. Cade always wanted the upper hand, and instead of allowing me to work while he stared over my shoulder, the man pulled himself back toward the table, sandwiching me between.
My skirt bunched high on my thighs as I gasped. “Cade, what are you doing?”
His breath was at my neck as he murmured into my ear, “Watching how fast you’re able to work while distracted.”
He didn’t waste a second, pulling up a timer on the computer screen and setting it to five minutes.
I tried to protest by grumbling, “This is stupid—”
But I was cut off by him hitting start on the screen, and my drive for wanting to do it faster and better than him kicked in. I couldn’t bear to be worse than he was or to prove him right.
I read through the coding, trying to find patterns as his fingers went to the base of my neck. He swiped away my hair and then inhaled me.
“You’re corrupting me, dollface. I tried to avoid you for days, and then I switched accommodations because I saw you look at another man. And I don’t know if I can concentrate with the smell of you in every corner of this cabin.”
I felt the air being sucked in by him, felt his hand sliding around to the front of my throat, and then his fingers wrapped around my neck. I shifted on him as his cock grew against my ass.
“You wearing panties under that skirt?”
“Shut up,” I ground out as I tried to maintain my focus.
But he squeezed my windpipe as his dick twitched. My body didn’t belong to me when I was this close to him, and my legs parted a bit as I arched, wanting to feel him, rewarding his ridiculous efforts to distract me.
He hummed as if he approved of my body shifting on him and then whispered, “No, baby. I’m shutting you up.” He cut off all my oxygen as his other hand flowed over the curves of my body, taking time to trace the underside of my breasts and then skim over my stomach before kneading one thigh. “You keep pushing like you want me to break you. Don’t you know I make the world squirm for a living, that I enjoy it?”
His dark confession heated my skin, making me wetter. I rolled into him and dropped my head back onto his shoulder to give him better access to choke me out, to nip at my neck, to consume me.
He lightened his hold. “Breathe, Izzy.”
I gasped for the air he gave me and let him push my panties to the side. The codes all blurred together, but I wanted into the system about as much as I wanted that orgasm.
The seconds ticked by. His fingers picked up speed, and I was about to surrender when it all came together, when the numbers finally stood out, and I bypassed what we hoped no one could.
“Fuck,” we both said at the same time, though for different reasons.