Need You Tonight

TWELVE





Tessa stared at the cabin she hadn’t seen in over a decade, then dragged her attention back to the man next to her. The vulnerability in Kade’s eyes was such a direct contrast to the confidence that had bled from him the moment she’d met him in his restaurant. And in that glimmer of a moment, she could see the younger version of him in the lopsided set of his mouth, the stark honesty in his eyes. Everything was more refined now. Polished. The angles of his face had emerged from the roundness of youth and hardened into masculine edges. The stringy long hair had been cut into windswept stylishness. And any traces of his former stutter had disappeared. But when she really looked underneath all of that, she could still see the boy she used to know.

The boy she’d hurt.

And the man she’d slept with.

Her stomach did a somersault as all of that information crashed together in her head.

“You knew who I was and lied?” she asked, rewinding to the night in the restaurant. God, had this all been some revenge scheme to pay her back?

“Tess—”

Tess. He was the only one she’d ever let call her that. The car felt stifling all of a sudden, and she pushed her door open to climb out.

He followed suit, coming around the front of the car to stand in front of her. “I swear. I didn’t know, not at first. I didn’t realize it until the EMT needed your medical information and I saw your name.”

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“I would’ve if you hadn’t left the hospital before I got there.”

“Oh, don’t give me that. You knew the other day in your office,” she said, squaring off with him. “You could’ve let me know between offering me a job I don’t deserve and signing me up to be your f*ck buddy tonight.”

Displeasure clouded his features. “You’re not my f*ck buddy. Don’t ever refer to yourself as that again. And I didn’t say anything because I needed you to know me as I am now. I didn’t want that loser Kaden Fowler tainting the picture.”

Her spine stiffened. “Hey, how’s about I don’t call myself your f*ck buddy and you don’t call yourself a loser. Kaden Fowler was the best boy I knew back then.”

He scoffed. “Right. Which is why you walked away from him that night to be with the guy who beat up and humiliated that same boy. And why you went on to let people think the worst of me.”

Tears pricked her eyes, the horrible memories rushing in like a stampede of ugly buffalo. She wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “You told me to go.”

“And so you did.”

Yes, she had. Even knowing that Doug would probably hit Kade, she’d walked away and left them there. She wouldn’t defend herself on that. She’d been scared back then, lost and confused. But she’d never forgiven herself for what had happened. She and Kaden had been on a sinking ship and she’d saved herself. She hadn’t even thrown him a rope.

“I’m sorry,” she said in a choked whisper. If this was supposed to be some sort of punishment, she deserved every bit of it. He was probably here to tell her that the job was a fake, that her charity really wasn’t going to get help, and that he’d only pretended interest in her to get revenge. “Say whatever you want to say to me. I’ve earned it. I was stupid and a selfish coward.”

Kade’s hard expression melted away, and he moved into her space, cupping her shoulders. “Hey, look at me.”

She forced her teary gaze upward.

“Don’t cry, Tess.” He brushed thumbs across her cheeks. “I’m not here to make you atone for something that happened back then. You did what you had to do. If you had taken a stand on my behalf, they would’ve pounced on you like wolves, torn you to bits like they did with me. I see now that I had nothing to really offer you back then. It was stupid teenage bravado to think I could compete and fix it for you. You needed concrete security not a wing and a prayer, and Doug had the money to give you that.”

She shook her head. “Kade—”

“I buried Kaden Fowler and what happened that night long ago. Really. My life changed after that. For the better.”

Tears slipped by. “How? After that night, you were just . . . gone. I heard you were hurt, that they found you—”

“I had to get out of there,” Kade said, cutting her off like he couldn’t bear to hear the rest of the sentence. “I needed to get away from that school. Away from my a*shole stepdad. Away from Doug and his friends. And away from seeing you every day. I couldn’t handle it all. When my mom found out I was planning to leave, she dropped a bomb on me that she knew who my real father was and gave me an address in Dallas. I showed up on the doorstep of a man who hadn’t even known I’d existed and he took me in.”


She blinked at him. “Oh my God.”

“Walt Vandergriff changed my life and made me the man I am now. So, no, I didn’t bring you here to punish you. I brought you here because I needed to tell you the truth, and I wanted to remind you how much fun we had together when we didn’t have to worry about other people watching.”

She made some sort of laugh-sniffle sound, overwhelmed by all this information and the memories. “You mean like the time you kissed me, and I acted like a total snot?”

He smiled and glanced toward the darkened door of the cabin as if seeing the ghosts of their younger selves. “But you came back for your next tutoring session and apologized, groveled even. I enjoyed that a lot, by the way.”

She sniffed—not from the crying this time.

“I’d decided to leave you be at that point. Keep it a tutoring thing only. But three sessions later, you brought in a B plus on your term paper. You were so excited and proud of yourself, and you hugged me. Really hugged me. Like I meant something to you.”

She glanced downward, remembering the day she’d been overwhelmed with joy over her grade. One second, she and Kade had been in a laughing embrace, the next he’d given her a look that had zipped right down to her toes. She’d backed away, scared that if she didn’t, she’d ruin everything with Doug right then and there.

“I saw how you looked at me that day. You wanted to kiss me. And even when you didn’t, I knew I hadn’t been wrong about that kiss we’d had.” Kade’s eyes glimmered with mischief in the moonlight. “That was a great day. Worst case of blue balls ever, but a great day.”

She smacked his chest and laughed. “Hey, I was trying to be a good girl.”

“Thank God you’ve moved on from that awful phase,” he teased, sliding his hands downward and molding his palms over her backside. “I much prefer wild and liberated Tessa who lets me lick olive oil off her naked body and agrees to let me have my deviant way with her.”

She pressed her forehead to his shoulder. “Oh my God, I can’t believe we’re here again.”

He kissed the top of her head. “Mmm, but this will be much more fun than deciphering British poetry. Promise.”

The image stirred all kinds of decadent possibilities in her head. She’d been fantasizing about Kade since the first night she’d been with him. But now it all had an added layer. A few sexy nights with some suave stranger had been risky enough. A few sexy nights with someone she used to care about was far more dangerous. Especially when she’d be working at his company for the next few months. She’d turned her back on Kaden all those years ago, but it hadn’t been because she didn’t have feelings for him.

She let out a breath, and he pulled back a bit. “What’s wrong, my little overthinker?”

She tilted her face to his. “This changes things and scares me. I need to know what you want from this. Is this really about one more night?”

The smile that lifted his lips was a wry one. “I told you. Kaden Fowler is gone. I’m not some lovesick kid. Everything I told you before this still stands. I want to have fun with you—whatever that turns out to look like. The only reason I’m rehashing our past is because you deserved to know who I was. I needed to get this out in the open and bury it for good so that we can move on.”

She rubbed her lips together, considering him. He’d given her a nonanswer about the one-night thing, but part of her was okay with that. If he really just wanted to have fun, maybe this could be a good solution for her. No pressure. A friend with benefits—someone who she already knew and trusted on some level. No one else would have to know. They’d always been better behind locked doors anyway. “I can’t believe I finally slept with Kaden Fowler.”

He dragged her body against him, the heat of him bleeding through the thin fabric of her dress. “No, you didn’t. You slept with Kade Vandergriff. And I think it’s time I remind you of the difference.”

Her pulse picked up speed, and she peeked at the cabin. “Your family still owns this place?”

“No. But I do.”

She didn’t have it in her to question why he’d keep the place. She didn’t want to know. “Is that right?”

The wickedness that glittered in his eyes sent her body into melt mode. “Yep. And I’m thinking the old place needs an exorcism. Wipe away old memories with new ones.”

The breeze swirled around them, snaking up her legs and making her all too aware that her panties were no longer there. “Good plan.”

With that, he released her and she instantly missed the warmth. His gaze tracked down the length of her. “But first, lose the dress and anything beneath. All I want you wearing are those shoes.”

Her bottom lip dropped, and she peered out at the darkened woods. “Are you kidding? We’re outside.”

“And alone,” he said, clearly unmoved by her protest. “You agreed to let me be in charge tonight. I would like to see you wearing nothing but moonlight.”

“And if I say no?” she asked, both unnerved and completely intrigued by the sensual command in his voice, the utter confidence in his stance. He looked like some fallen angel intent on dragging her over to the dark side. That part of him had always been there. Even when he hadn’t had the confidence, he’d always represented everything that threatened her carefully taped together existence.

Kade tipped his head toward her as if to concede the point. “Yes, let’s talk about that. Do you know what a safe word is?”

“Uh, not really.” There was lingo involved in this? She was so very out of her league.

“Like I told you, I enjoy games of control. And I will push you, but you have the right to stop things. If something is too much, you tell me. You always have permission to say so. But if you need something to stop immediately or you’re truly frightened or hurting, you use your safe word. It’s the emergency parachute cord. Not to be used lightly.”

Oh yeah, she was totally in over her head. And maybe if this had only been the stranger Kade Vandergriff telling her this, she might have chickened out. Heck, she was alone in the woods with this powerful man with no one around to save her if she needed help. If she’d been watching this in a movie, she’d be screaming at the imbecilic woman to steal his keys and book it out of there. But knowing it was Kaden had her battered trust wanting to rise up and rally. He wouldn’t hurt her. He’d had the chance and good reason to do that back when everything went down in high school, and he’d kept her secrets anyway. “What word should I use?”

“The most common one is red. Like a stoplight.”

She nodded. “Okay. Red.”

“Take off your dress,” he said again, but this time the words had soft edges. “You’re safe with me.”

The promise smoothed the last ripples of worry moving through her. Safe. After pulling in a deep breath, she tugged off her cardigan and then reached behind her to unzip the dress and unhook her bra. The clothes fell to the leaves at her feet, and she stepped out of the puddle of fabric. The trees rustled around them and the soft song of night things filled the air, but all she could focus on was the sound of her own quickening breaths. She was naked. In the middle of the woods. The number of times she’d had sex with the lights on could be counted on two hands, and now she was standing bare in the moonlight.

Kade’s gaze moved over her like a physical touch. Anywhere his focus landed, her body tightened in response. But self-consciousness ate at her. Yes, he’d seen her naked already but it hadn’t been like this. And now she knew that he was very aware of what she used to look like. Her teenage body had been thin and athletic, firm. Standing here left her acutely aware of how much had softened and rounded. Doug had reminded her regularly of how her body had changed. Her arms instinctively moved to cover her chest.

“Don’t you dare,” Kade said, the words like bullets in the quiet. “Let me look at you.”

She lowered her hands to her side with marked effort, but her cheeks heated with embarrassment.

He took a step closer. “You are so goddamned beautiful, Tess. “

She deflected the comment with a shake of her head. “You’re good at flattery.”

His eyes narrowed with censure. “Is that what you think? You think I’m someone to feed you stories. Unzip my pants.”

“What?”

“I think you heard me.”

The shift in his demeanor had her springing into action. With fumbling fingers, she reached for the fly of his pants and unfastened them. Before she could pull away, he grabbed her wrist and tucked her hand inside. His erection pushed hot against her palm, making her fingers instinctively curl around it and her sex clench in response.

“Do you feel that?” he asked, wrapping his hand over hers. “You think I’m not enjoying the view, that I’m giving you empty words to make you feel better?”

The weight of him in her hand had her thoughts fragmenting. She closed her eyes. “We both know I’m not a sixteen-year-old, bounce-quarters-off-her-belly cheerleader anymore.”


“No, you’re not. And I thought you were pretty in high school, Tess, but the woman in front of me makes that girl pale in comparison.”

She huffed a sound of disbelief, unable to stop herself.

His hand tightened around hers. “From the moment you walked into my restaurant, I couldn’t stop watching you and imagining what you’d feel like against me. I’m not easy on a woman. Some size four twig would break under what I enjoy. Your body is built for the things I crave.”

He moved her hand away from him and guided her fingers to the curls between her thighs. His fingers intertwined with hers and stroked over her * with slow, deliberate motion, his thick warm fingertips alternating with her cold ones. The sensation had her biting her lip and tilting her head back. “Kade . . .”

“So if you insult your body again or try to hide it from me, I’ll turn you over my knee and redden that pretty round ass of yours. Understand?” He pressed his fingers inside her and she gasped both at the feel of it and the threat.

“You’d sp-spank me?” she asked, having trouble grabbing onto words as he pumped his fingers inside her with slow precision.

He chuckled softly against her ear. “Now who’s the stutterer?”

“Cocky bastard,” she whispered, no ire behind it.

“Yes, and a kinky one—spanking included.”

She lowered her forehead to rest on his shoulder, needing him for balance. His admission had her blood moving faster, fear of the unknown warring with ravenous curiosity. “How kinky?”

He cupped the back of her head with his free hand and touched his lips to her ear. “So kinky that there’s probably not a fantasy you can tell me that I’m not willing to make happen for you. And a thousand filthier ones that you haven’t even considered yet that I can introduce you to.”

Guh. Her belly dropped to her toes and a hefty dose of oh-God-YES dumped into her bloodstream. Fantasies. Lord, she’d harbored many over the years, illicit images weaved late at night while reading naughty romance novels and lying awake next to her uninterested husband. Secret desires filed away in the darkest recesses of her psyche and never spoken aloud. Things Doug would’ve called her a slut for even considering.

Kade must’ve noticed her reaction because she could hear the smile in his voice at his next words. “The question is . . . where do we start?”