The Rules (28 page)

When Cade rolled the vibrator lower and pushed it into my pussy, I bucked. “Holy shit, Cade. I can’t—”

“You can, baby.” He removed the phallus and tapped my nipples again, coating them with my arousal.

The second I had myself under some sort of control, Cade shifted his focus and set the vibrator directly on my clit and held it.

I came so fast, I couldn’t stop it. My clit pulsed so many times in rapid succession I wasn’t sure I would live through the intensity. And still Cade held the device to my clit until I squirmed to get away.

He released me from his torture, set the vibrator aside, and climbed up my body. His crotch pressed against my sensitive core. He planted his elbows on both sides of my head. “That was gorgeous, baby.” He kissed my lips and then nibbled toward my ear. “I love watching you come. Every time it’s like you’ve never experienced it before.”

I shivered with his lips pressed to my ear. “Cade, release my arms, honey.”

He lifted his face. “Sorry, baby. Wasn’t thinking.” He reached above me and ripped the Velcro to free my wrists.

I lifted them and wrapped them around his head, burying my fingers in his hair. “Put that thing away. I think I lost brain cells.” I giggled.

“No way. I’m gonna use it often.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you are.”

Cade chuckled as he climbed down and released my ankles. I pulled my legs together and rolled to my side. “My limbs forget how to work when you restrain me.”

Cade sat beside me and rubbed my arms, shaking them free of the tingles. “I’m gonna go turn off some lights. You need anything?”

“Mmm. Oh, hey, can you grab my phone? I should check my messages.”

“Sure. Be right back.” Cade padded from the room, his naked ass the best view as his muscles flexed with each step. I was a lucky woman. When he returned moments later, he held my purse. “I assume your phone’s in here somewhere. I was afraid to look. If the inside looks anything like your apartment floor, I thought I might get lost.”

“Ha ha.” I sat up and took my purse from his hands. When I reached inside to rummage for my phone, my hand landed on the envelope Lisa had handed me at the office. I pulled it out. “Forgot about this.”

Cade climbed up next to me and settled against the headboard. “What is it, baby?”

“No idea. Lisa said someone left it for me while I was out of the office.” I tore it open and pulled out a trifold piece of plain white paper with no company logo. Weird.

I started reading it as Cade set his hand on my thigh. And then I gasped. “Cade. Shit. What the hell?” I scooted back so he could read it with me.

“What?”

We leaned over the page.

Dear Ms. Kensington,

You don’t know me, but I feel the need to reach out to you in hopes you can help me. My name is Luke Milton. I had a brief relationship with a woman you might know, Olivia Grantham, four years ago. We were never married, but I believe she was married at the time to someone you know well, Cade Alexander. Please excuse my interference in your life, but I’m desperately trying to locate Olivia. I’ve been looking for her for four years. I heard from an acquaintance that she may have paid you a visit some time ago. Perhaps she had a child with her?

I’m confident that child is mine. She disappeared before the birth, and I’ve never met my daughter. Olivia is a slippery woman. I am not a man with enough means to pay for an ongoing team of private investigators.

If you have any information about her whereabouts, I would really appreciate the help. I have no idea if my source concerning her contact with you is accurate, but I’m running out of options. Hearsay is all I have to go on.

Please contact me any time. And allow me to apologize in advance if I’ve caused you any anguish.

Thanks in advance for your help,

Luke Milton

Just as I finished reading, Cade grabbed the paper out of my hand and jumped from the bed. “Holy shit.”

I was stunned. “Is this the man she was cheating on you with?”

“I assume. I never knew who it was. All I knew was she was fucking some other guy, and I wasn’t fucking her anymore. I had her followed and knew she was meeting someone.”

“Jesus, Cade. This woman is whacked.”

“Don’t remind me.” He grabbed his flannel pants from the floor and stepped into them. Then he sat back down on the bed and grabbed his phone from the nightstand.

I waited quietly at his side while he made several calls. I assumed he didn’t mind me listening in, or he would have left the room. The first call was a heated discussion with Riley. The second was another equally strained conversation with a man I hadn’t heard of, Parker. The third must have been to someone he already had looking for Olivia.

Finally, Cade picked up the letter, took a deep breath, and dialed the number at the bottom of the page. I wished I could hear the other end of the line, but I got the gist without, so in the end it didn’t matter.

“Hello. Is this Luke Milton?… This is Cade Alexander. I believe you sent a message to my girlfriend earlier today… Yes, she’s with me. We just read your letter together… Uh-huh. Right. Oh, trust me, I’m pissed. I’m trying to hold it together, but only by a thread… I understand, Luke, but that doesn’t make it okay for you to contact my woman behind my back… Fuck no, I wouldn’t have taken a call from you…”

I watched Cade’s face closely, holding on to his free arm, hoping my presence would calm him a little. My mind was stuck on him calling me his girlfriend. Cade Alexander, by his own admission, didn’t “do girlfriends.” My heart beat faster. I wanted to grin, but held it back. Now wasn’t the time.

He met my eyes and relaxed his shoulders marginally. “Oh, I get it. I just don’t like it… Yes, that’s true, that bitch did pay Amelia a visit. Fucked up my life for the last five months too. That crazy slut needs to be locked up… No, I haven’t heard from her personally, and Amelia hasn’t heard from her since that day either… You’re sure the kid is yours...? Fuck no, she isn’t mine. My dick was nowhere near that cunt for months before we split… Why? Because I knew she was fucking someone else, that’s why. And that someone else was you, asshole… Right… Okay…” Cade rolled his eyes, but his shoulders slumped farther.

I took this as a good sign.

“You’re right… Don’t I know it… I understand… Of course, if the kid was mine, I’d feel the same way you do… Yes… I already have an investigator looking for her… Yes… Definitely… If I find out anything, I’ll let you know…” Cade looked at me. “Yes, I’ll tell her… No, you may not… Good luck with that… Right.”

Cade hit the off button and set the phone aside. He ran his fingers through his hair and slumped back against the pillow he’d propped against the headboard. “Jesus that bitch is fucked up.” He turned toward me. “Luke sent his apologies for contacting you.”

I nodded. Cade could make a rock apologize for being in his path.

Cade scooted down until he was flat.

I settled next to him, setting my cheek on his chest. “You okay?” I whispered.

“Yeah.”

A long silence passed. I left Cade alone, knowing he was working things out in his mind. “I just don’t get it,” he finally said.

“Get what?”

“Why? Why did Olivia show up at my house and con you that day? There has to be a reason. It can’t be a coincidence. If she wanted me, why didn’t she ever show up after she ran you off? If she wanted money, why didn’t she come for it? If she wanted to pawn her kid off on me, again where the fuck did she go?”

I had no answers. I was thinking the same questions.

Suddenly Cade shot upright, causing me to fall off him. He jumped from the bed and began to stomp around the room. “Fuck me. Why didn’t I think of this sooner?”

“What, honey?”

“Christine.”

“Riley’s fiancée?”

“The one and only. It can’t be a coincidence that you met Christine the night before
and
managed to ruin her life.”

I cringed. I didn’t like to think I’d ruined someone’s life, but on the other hand, I had saved Riley’s, and Christine deserved everything she got. She really was a bitch. “I don’t get the connection.”

“Christine and Olivia were in the same sorority in college, the same college Riley, Parker, and I attended. That’s how we met the girls. Those two girls were thick. I’ll bet my last dime they’re still in contact.”

“And Riley wouldn’t know that?”

“Maybe not. I don’t pay attention to who you talk to, baby. If you spent two hours talking to your girlfriends, I wouldn’t be the wiser.”

“True. Do you even know their names?” I grinned, not expecting him to remember.

“Cheyenne and Meagan. Cheyenne’s the cute pixie with the blonde hair and deep blue eyes. Meagan is the one with brown curls.” He gave me a brief eyebrow lift.

My eyes went wide. “Wow. Impressive.”

Cade shrugged. “I pay attention to women. Especially cute ones.”

“Hey now…”

“Baby, you’re so totally stuck with me. Don’t even go there.”

I grinned smugly. I knew that. He was equally stuck with me. “Speaking of which, who’s Parker?”

“Ah. Parker Darwin. He’s another friend of mine and Riley’s. We’ve been friends since we were kids. He works at another technology company in Charlotte, North Carolina, Edgewater Inc.”

“I suppose you own that building too,” I kidded.

“Yep.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course you do.” How the hell had Cade made so much money in ten years?

Cade grabbed his phone again. I knew he was dialing Riley. Who else would he call? “Riley, dude, have you spoken to Christine lately?” Cade held the phone away from his ear.

I could hear Riley shouting at him from my spot on the bed.

When Riley finished his rant, Cade pulled the phone back in close. “Calm the fuck down, man. It was just a question.”

I pulled the covers over my chest and piled two pillows on top of each other behind my head to watch the show while Cade explained his theory to Riley that Christine had sent Olivia to make my life miserable.

When they were finished talking, it was clear to me they would be paying a personal visit to Christine early in the morning.

By the time Cade was done shouting back and forth with Riley—most of it in agreement—it was very late. He flipped out the light, climbed into bed, and hauled me against his chest. “Longest day of my life, baby.”

“I know. But worth it.”

“Totally.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

When I woke up the next morning, I was alone again. I could hear the shower running and glanced at the clock. It was early. Way earlier than I would have liked to face the day. I lay back down and waited for Cade to return from the bathroom. No way I would fall back asleep, but I could at least stay warm and covered. The thought of stepping under running water made me burrow deeper.

Ten minutes later, Cade tiptoed quietly into the room.

“I’m awake, honey.”

He came to me and sat on the side of the bed. He wore dress pants and was buttoning up a starched white shirt. “I’m sorry if I woke you, baby.” He leaned over to kiss me. “Go back to sleep.”

“Not gonna happen. Too late.” He set my hand on this thigh and squeezed. “Where are you going?”

“Meeting Riley at six to go pay Christine a visit before she can possibly leave her house this morning.”

“’K. Be careful.”

“I will, baby. I don’t think she’s dangerous. Just a bitch.”

“There’s a lot of that going around.”

“True enough.” He kissed my forehead this time and lifted off the bed. “Arthur will take you to work. I put his number in your phone. Just send him a text when you’re ready to go.”

“Okay. Call me when you have a chance.”

“Will do.” Cade left the room, shutting the door behind him with a soft snick.

I closed my eyes for several minutes and then dragged myself out of bed. As long as I was awake, I might as well get the show on the road. I had a ton of work on my desk.

By seven o’clock I called Arthur, apologized for it being so early, and met him downstairs. He smiled warmly when I apologized again. “No worries, Amy slash Lillie,” he teased with a wink. “I’m used to weird hours. Seven in the morning is nothing, doll.”

I was the first one to arrive on my floor by a longshot and was on my second cup of coffee with a better handle of everything on my desk before Cade showed up. He leaned his handsome self against the doorjamb and grinned from ear to ear.

I smiled. “Talk to me.”

He came in and took a seat across from me. “Well, here’s what we know. That crazy bitch Christine did in fact call Olivia and send her to fuck with you after Riley broke off their engagement. Even without telling her why he was dumping her ass, she figured you had a hand in it.”

“Why did Olivia take the bait?”

“Money.” He grinned broader. “Apparently that crazier bitch, crazier than Christine anyway, ran through every dime she’d squeezed out of me and her entire inheritance in less than four years. She readily took money from Christine in exchange for paying you a visit.”

“That’s fucked up.”

“Oh, it gets worse. Christine bragged about her accomplishment to everyone she knew. And that included a college acquaintance who also knew Luke. Her name is Kim. That woman was slightly less insane and called Luke to tell him what had happened to you. He didn’t even know if you were still with me, but he got another call from Kim yesterday, informing him that you were working in this building under an alias.”

“Jesus.” Talk about being followed.

“Yeah, makes you kinda cringe, right?”

“How did Christine know I was here? Riley didn’t even know.”

“Christine has been stalking Riley. She follows him everywhere. She saw you coming and going. She was in the process of plotting more shit against you. And she bragged about that to the wrong person again. Kim called Luke. Luke sent you that letter. And we nailed Christine’s ass to the ground.”

“How did you get her to talk?”

“That was easy. She needed money too. Without Riley, she’s also hard up for cash, at least the amount of cash she thinks she must have to live.” He rolled his eyes.

“You
paid
her?” I almost screamed that last word.