Corrupted Chaos: An Enemies to Lovers Forced Proximity Romance (Tarnished Empire)

Cade put me in the lukewarm shower with him afterwards. He practically had to carry me because I honestly felt like my legs might give out. His hands were suddenly gentle, his touch light as a feather, as he washed me off and then told me to go lie on my side of the bed.

“My side, really?”

“If you don’t, I’ll fuck you again so hard you truly won’t be able to walk. I’m sparing you. Do as you’re told.”

I’d seen this coming. I enjoyed hearing him tell me what to do, I enjoyed pushing his buttons, and I enjoyed the consequences of my actions. I felt more alive than I had in a long time, like I could be myself with him the way I couldn’t with anyone else.

I slipped on a green bikini and short flowy skirt before he came out of the bathroom, buttoned up in his suit again.

He eyed my outfit but didn’t say a word about it. “Lie down on your stomach.”

I probably needed a nap, so I listened. He grabbed a tube of aloe vera and pointed to my butt. “It’ll soothe your skin.”

I shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”

“Sure you will,” he said softly, but he had already lifted my skirt and pushed my bikini aside to rub the cool substance over one cheek. Thankfully, I could tell that the bottoms would cover most of the red marks as I stared over my shoulder at his tenderness. When he pulled the waist of my skirt to the side to see where his fingerprints were already bruising certain areas, he tsked. “Should have been gentler.”

His demeanor was such a juxtaposition to what I was used to from him. We were supposed to be enemies. We were at each other’s throats usually. And then he rubbed aloe vera on me like I meant something to him, like he didn’t only want to fuck me into oblivion and leave it at that. It got me wondering if he was like this with everyone. If he fucked all the women he was with this way.

As he put my swimsuit back in place, I sat up and blurted out the question. “Do you always carry around all the tools needed for a good ass reddening?”

“That your way of asking if I’m sleeping around?” He lifted a brow.

I narrowed my eyes at him even as my heart clenched at the idea. “Of course not. I don’t care who you sleep with. We’re just getting each other out of our systems, right?” I threw his initial reason for hooking up with me in the bathroom back in his face.

I only did it to have him correct me, though, because when I imagined Penelope and Cassie eyeing him up, I saw red.

“That’s good. Because I packed this aloe vera for anyone who’d bend over for me. Not specifically for you.” I swear he said it to get a rise out of me, and when I wrinkled my nose at him in disgust to cover my hurt, he full-on laughed. “Go have fun out there. Supposedly, we have to know everyone’s names for the damn campfire tonight. Come back for lunch.”

“Or I’ll come back to sleep, and you can eat lunch with whoever will bend over for you.” I stomped to my purse, grabbed lip gloss and a towel, and left him. I swayed my hips a little more than usual, hoping he was watching me the whole way.

When I heard him growl out a curse and mutter, “That outfit is a damn joke. Barely covers your ass,” I smirked to myself and flipped him off before turning the corner to get the hell out of that cabin.

The sun on my skin and the sparkle of the lake brought me back to the real world. I texted my sister on the way to Lucas’s cabin to check in on Bug. She was driving in every now and then to check on my cat, while my apartment building staff fed him twice a day.

Me: Bug still alive?

Lilah: The cat still lives.

Dom: Why the hell are we group chatting about this?

Declan: They wanted to make us feel bad that we didn’t offer to take care of her pet even though we live across the country.

Lilah: Well maybe you should all live closer.

Declan: Yeah, my job would allow for that.

Me: Doesn’t the NFL only last a season.

Declan: I’m kicking your ass when I see you, Izzy.

Me: I’d love to see you try.

Lilah: Does that mean everyone’s coming home soon?

Dimitri: I’m never coming home. Mom’s putting something in the water back there. I don’t want to be the next one giving her grandkids.

Lilah: Come on. My baby does need cousins.

Me: Oh no. She got to Lilah too. We might need to kick her out of the group chat.

Dom: I’ve sworn off women for this very reason. Izzy, you’re the only one I’m talking to from now on.

Lilah: Oh please. Izzy’s about to go down the same rabbit hole as me anyway.

Declan: What’s that supposed to mean?

Dom: Is she dating someone?

Dimitri: She’d better not be fucking around with someone dangerous like you were, Lilah. Izzy, are you being careful?

Each of my siblings, but especially my brothers, were so damn overprotective I couldn’t fathom telling them that their baby sister was screwing around with her boss, a mobster.

Especially not after Lilah married an Armanelli and they punched Dante square in the face.

Me: Lilah, look what you started. For NOTHING. I’m on a work retreat. Leave me alone, Hardy boys. Your baby sister is fine.

Declan called me as I trekked up Lucas’s porch stairs. His deep voice cut me off before I could even say hello. “You’re not doing something dumb, are you?”

“Well, hi, asshat. Nice of you to call and see how I’m doing.”

“I’m in the middle of my workout, and Lilah is dropping silent clues like I don’t pick up on that shit.”

Of course Dom called right then. I rolled my eyes. “Now Dom’s calling. Literally nothing is happening. She’s just taking the heat off herself. You guys are so overprotective. Please stop.”

He sighed like he didn’t want to worry about me, but he did.

All of them did. Because I’d made them worry too much before. “So you’re good?” he asked, and my heart squeezed. Declan was the closest to me in age other than Lilah. And he would have got on a plane immediately if he thought something was wrong.

“I’m fine, Dec. Go back to your workout. Tell the fam you talked to me, too, so they don’t all keep calling.”

He agreed that he would, and I heard some texts go through as I hung up.

Lucas was at his door, smiling like he hadn’t seen me in ages. “No bears ate you!” he exclaimed.

I punched him in the arm, and he pulled me under his shoulder. “I’m not working at all today. Cade told me he’d see me at the campfire, so I say we take today to have some fun.”

“Our itinerary literally says to do so and there’s food and drinks all day.”

I scoffed at how easygoing it seemed. “I’m surprised this isn’t more by the book.”

“I think Mrs. Stonewood is in charge of these events, and she believes people work best with a team they trust, positive reinforcement, and low stress levels. I’ve talked with her a few times because I host the mindfulness group.”

“She sounds like she has the right idea.” I shrugged as we meandered over to my original cabin and Rodney waved us in. We met with his bunkmates, Melanie and Lorenzo. We all sipped the coffee Rodney made, and he told us he was excited for the rest of the day.

We went swimming and paddleboarding, met more of the team, and enjoyed what felt like a vacation. There were sixteen of us, so we could hang with some in the cabin if we didn’t want to swim, grill with others if we didn’t want to sunbathe, or catch up with old friends if we didn’t want to engage with new ones.

Cade texted once to tell me to come eat, and I rolled my eyes because it was probably a reminder that I hadn’t gone to have lunch with him. Was he watching me out here with everyone? Was he at all interested in coming out to be part of the fun?

Lucas caught me staring at our cabin while we sat in the sand, munching on a few leftovers from the grill. He nudged me. “How’s living with the infamous Cade?”

What did I say to that? “He’s definitely different from what I thought he would be.”

“I want more than that and you know it.” Lucas nodded as a few people passed us and waved.

“I don’t know. He works a lot, obviously. He’s mostly on his computer. But he eats cereal, which . . . I didn’t exactly expect.”

“You know, when he’s with his brother and Dante, they seem different,” Lucas muttered, pulling up pictures on his phone. That was the life Cade lived. He’d be photographed with his family because they were the Armanellis, but when he was alone, people let him be.

I shrugged as I looked at a picture of him laughing with a little girl, security surrounding them. The headline read, “Rare Spotting: Billionaire Tech Mogul and Alleged Mobster Caden Armanelli Enjoys Day with His Niece, Ivy, Heiress to the Bratva.”

“So, he loves his infamous family,” I murmured, but the words and the picture stirred something in me. Something a lot like insecurity started as a tiny snowball and rolled down the hill, growing and growing in size. He had this big life, this family that he never talked about but obviously enjoyed, and I wanted to know more about it. More about him.

The feeling scared me. We were supposed to just be having fun.

“Right? He looks so damn human here other than the men in suits around him. Seeing him every day, the concepts of tech billionaire and mobster fit, but he’s not as happy as this picture shows. Unless he’s with his niece, maybe.”

To most of the world, though, he wasn’t human. He was like a mutant that could hack into all their data, and everyone feared him for that.

“I wonder if it’s hard for him to know everyone’s secrets and be normal?” I pondered out loud, thinking of the conversation I’d had with him in the cabin. We all had our crosses to bear.

“Maybe if we get him to participate in some of the trust exercises later this week, we can ask him.” Lucas chuckled, like the idea was ludicrous.

Quite frankly, it was. Seeing that picture of him had reminded me how out of my depth I was with him. I was fooling around with a mobster, a billionaire, and a man who could cause destruction to just about anyone he wanted.

Instead of going back to my cabin, I avoided him. I avoided the situation. I reminded myself that indulging in my stupid desires was what had gotten me into trouble in the first place years ago.

I wouldn’t do that again.

I was here to showcase my work on JUNIPER, to teach people how effective we could be as a team. This was what the retreat was supposed to be about—getting to know one another so we could trust each other when the time came to learn JUNIPER, to implement it, and to be the best team we could be, for the good of the country.

Rodney came to hang out with us just as the sun set. Right before the bonfire, I told Lucas I had to go back to my cabin to change.

“Change for what? We love you in your bikini top and skirt,” Rodney joked, his innocent flirting a welcome distraction in the latter part of the day. Not that he was the only one, I’d seen a few people doing the same today. We were all having a good time.

It was probably not the smartest professional move, but again, everyone had come from different states to learn about JUNIPER to prepare for the election. We weren’t going to see each other again, so there was really no HR protocol, and with most everyone being single, except for one or two people, hookups were bound to happen.

I was single, aside from my very hot boss whom I was sharing a cabin and a bed with, even though I’d never wanted to. The boss whose hands I thought about every chance I got. The boss who was a billionaire tech mogul that I needed to stay away from.

I was single, I repeated to myself as I smiled at Rodney. Very single. “I’ll get bit by mosquitos and be freezing if I wear this all night.”

Rodney chuckled, yanked his hoodie over his head, and pushed it over mine. The warmth of it wrapped around me fast as he pulled my arms through and stood back to look at me in his clothes. “There. You’re all set now.”

I rolled my eyes but smiled at his wink, while Lucas whistled. “Rodney knows a good-looking woman dressed nice when he sees one.”

We made our way to the campfire and found Adirondack chairs to lounge in. I silenced my phone, knowing this was going to be more of an intimate setting, and ignored the numerous texts I had from Gerald, my family, and even Cade.

I couldn’t avoid glancing over at his cabin, though. It glowed bright even as the horizon dimmed behind it. He hadn’t come out to socialize all day, and it was a good reminder that he wasn’t one of us. I probably wouldn’t see him all night until I went back to our cabin.

The bubbly blonde event coordinator, Ms. Heather, practically skipped over to the sixteen of us in our Adirondack chairs as the moon showed its face. “I’m so happy you’ve all made it. I believe Mr. Armanelli should be on his way soon. He’s informed me”—she waited a beat as if to make sure we had all noted that she was speaking directly with him—“that he’s made some tweaks to JUNIPER and has been working on other classified projects so far this week.”

I caught the grunt before it flew out my mouth. If my pussy were classified, he’d worked on it very well.

“He’s sorry for his absence but is so excited to meet everyone tonight. There will be a bartender, and food stations are set up for dinner, which we’ll have after we go over introductions. Because this is team building, we’d like everyone to introduce the person to the right of them, and from there, please tell us how you got into cybersecurity.”

Everyone went around the circle. We’d all already met and had a great day, so the introductions felt like cheesy formalities.

Rodney and I were the very last people to go. “Yep, so, Lucas is right,” I said. “I’m Izzy Hardy, and he calls me Izzy Bizzy. I got into data security while I was working undercover for the government . . . before I got transferred.” I shrugged.

Melanie didn’t let my short answer suffice, though. “What got you into undercover work?”

“Honestly, a family friend pulled me in.” I took a deep breath. This was about team building. So, I tried my best. “He thought I needed redirection after getting out of juvie.”

I waited for a gasp or two but none came.

“The first day on the job, someone on his team called me an addict. They said I wouldn’t be able to hack it. Most of you probably saw that tattoo on my ribs today—the one that reads addict. I got it because I am one. I’ll always be even if I’m not using, but I wanted to remember to be more than that too.”

A few of the people glanced at my drink. I didn’t explain that my addiction was to opioids and that I’d monitored my alcohol intake since day one of my recovery. I knew the risks of a drinking induced relapse. I also trusted myself enough after nine years, but the lack of confidence in me still stung.

“I’m also a recovering addict,” Lucas chimed in.

And then two others joined in, along with Rodney. “I’m seven years sober, so I won’t be drinking. Thanks for sharing, Izzy. Good to know we all have struggles, whether it’s addiction, mental health, or something else. No one gets through life unscathed, right?”

Something about Rodney’s acceptance of the world made me envy him. “Well, without further ado, the last man of the evening—Rodney.” I waved a hand in front of him. My tone lightened the mood, and as the fire crackled in front of us, I described him. “Rodney’s an excellent paddleboarder, decent at the game of chicken, and can probably beat me in pull-ups. I also enjoyed how he made me and Lucas a mean cup of coffee with extra sugar just the way I like it this morning.”

“I’m hoping she’ll enjoy more than that soon.” He waggled his eyebrows at me, and my only response was a blush staining my cheeks. Harmless flirting. Without any sort of depth. That’s what I should have been pursuing. Rodney gave me butterflies but didn’t knock my socks off. Cade, though, he’d corrupted the butterflies, scared them away, and brought lightning in as a replacement.

Handbook be damned when it came to people hooking up on team-building work retreats. I had a feeling most were thinking about the same thing because we were all around the same age, intelligent, and very good-looking.

Rodney went on to tell the team why he was involved in data security, but I didn’t really hear him because my eyes were on the corner cabin. Would he want one of these women? Would he indulge if he got the opportunity? It made me hope he wouldn’t leave those walls, and I hated the way my jealousy flared when I realized Cade’s light was off.

And from the wooded shadows, I felt him before I saw him. Close.

Hovering.

Listening and analyzing everything we said.

Rodney finished up by looking at the event coordinator. “And since I’m the last to introduce himself—”

“Not quite the last.” Cade stepped out from where I’d felt him, and some of the girls gasped when they saw him.

Most of the guys were dressed in sweats and hoodies, so it shouldn’t have been a shock to see him dressed in that too. Even I was in Rodney’s baggy hoodie. But Cade in black jogger sweats and a hoodie to match hit different. His athletic build filled them out perfectly, and he looked almost approachable.

He rocked back on his heels and introduced himself. “Cade Armanelli. Head of data security for the United States government, the Pentagon, and Stonewood Enterprises.”

Heather cleared her throat. She didn’t want to prompt anything from him, I could tell. Instead, she shuffled her papers around. “Well, I’m so happy to have you all introduced. Like I said, please feel free to eat at any of the grilling stations or have a beverage. My number is located on your itineraries under Ms. Heather if any of you need anything at all.”

She walked up to Cade and gave him a hug, murmuring she was glad he made it. The freaking man smiled at her, and I swear it was more genuine than when he looked at anyone else.

Jealousy unfurled inside me. I figured Heather, as our event coordinator, would hurry away, but she took a seat right next to Cade, like she’d saved those last two chairs across from me for them. No one knew we were hooking up, but damn, in that moment, I could have sworn the whole thing had been orchestrated to push every button on my emotional panel, a ploy to get me to blow a gasket. The bartender brought them glasses filled with amber liquid. It was like Cade had them all trained already, like he was being catered to above all of us.

With a beautiful blonde as his right-hand woman.

Predictably so, I guess. He was a billionaire mogul and our boss, after all.

The very one I’d told myself I hated only a few days ago. He was an enemy, not a friend.

Still, if we had to answer the questions, then so should he. The fire snapped, and the bugs buzzed around me as I got up to grab another drink. “So, what made you get into data security, Mr. Armanelli?” I asked. “Heather made all of us answer the question. You should too.”

He smirked at me as if calling him by his last name was ridiculous. Then, as I grabbed my beer and marched back to my seat, Rodney swept me up and pulled me into his lap.

Cade’s smile died. It dropped off his face like a weight falling from a skyscraper. That lightning in my stomach, the one he commanded, struck as I saw his glare take over.

“Ms. Hardy, I’m so glad you asked,” he murmured as his eyes watched Rodney’s hand on my thigh. My legs were bare except for the small skirt I’d thrown on, but that was basically covered by Rodney’s sweatshirt. “Data controls us all. When I was younger, it was a way to escape. Now, I make sure nobody can escape it.”

Melanie combed a hand through her long hair and flicked it over her shoulder, smiling at him. “I love that. It’s so heroic, all the work you’ve done.”

She did know he was a mobster, right?

Heather laid a hand on his forearm, and I saw her move her wrist back and forth, wiggling it enough that we all saw how the diamonds on a bracelet she wore sparkled in the night. “Cade’s done so much good for the nation.” She giggled then. “And for us. Cade? Remember when you got me this bracelet?”

I thought I saw Cade’s jaw tick and his amber eyes seemed to avoid mine in that moment. “I recall.”

“Cade, are you shy?” She smirked and I swear she met every single one of the women’s eyes as if to stake her claim on him. “This is what I mean. He won’t say that he gifted me a bracelet after we hung out a few times and he knew I would be able to set up events well for him.” She poked him. “You never give yourself enough credit.”

“How generous of him,” I blurted out and almost slapped a hand over my mouth. But Cade’s eyes caught mine and held me hostage, as though he was ready for me to lash out.

Cade hummed, not responding to my barb as he laser-focused on Rodney’s hold around my waist. “Izzy, I heard your story as I was walking over from my cabin. You ever prove to that specific someone that you weren’t what you had tattooed on yourself?”

He had to know that story was about him. The first time he’d seen me, he hadn’t realized how broken I still was.

No one knew the reason behind it. I’d hidden it away and pretended my actions were just the terrible choices of a dumb child.

That was part of the story. Just not the whole thing.

Yet that day, he’d called me an addict and I’d been gutted in a way I wasn’t used to. My friends were addicts, the person I’d loved had been an addict, but not me. My parents babied me, my siblings tiptoed around me, and my friends enabled me. No one outright called me on my shit by digging a verbal knife in and then twisting it when I wasn’t ready.

No one but Cade.

“I’m not sure there’s anything to prove. I am what I am. It’s why I got it tattooed on me. You have tattoos also.” I pointed to his hand, the lettering and black ink snaking up toward his forearm. “I’m sure they mean something to you too.”

He dragged his thumb over the letters and nodded. “I either enact the chaos on my hand or I leash it. We control the data, right? So, we make the rules.”

Rodney chuckled. Heather leaned in and whispered something to Cade.

Did she think he was available? That he’d be interested in a woman like her? Was he? To me, that woman had no demons, had no rebellion locked inside for him to push out. But maybe I was just a plaything, and she was more his style.

For some reason, the thought wreaked havoc on my heart.

After more chitchat, and Rodney rubbing my arms up and down as the fire got dimmer and dimmer, people started to retire to their cabins. I heard Heather whisper to Cade, “I’ll see you later, then.” She kissed his cheek, and he let her.

He even nodded like he intended to go meet her somewhere in the woods for a rendezvous. If he brought her back to the cabin, I would truly lose it. The jealousy that slithered through me was fierce as it wrapped around my lungs and stole my breath.

“Want to go to bed?” Rodney whispered, and I glanced at Lucas as he yawned.

“You two keep it PG tonight.” Lucas hugged me and whispered, “Text me if you need anything.” Then he headed off, and the dominos kept falling. The last few people stood and stretched, not willing to go too far with drinking or staying up late since Cade was in our presence.

Cassie and Penelope said good night, but I saw Penelope slip Cade a note before she walked down the darkened dirt path that led to our cabins.

“Yes,” I jumped up. “I definitely think it’s time to go to bed, Rodney. Walk me?”

With only Cade still sitting and Rodney getting up from behind me, I took in the man I’d avoided the whole day.

The fire illuminated his skin, licked at the Italian tones of it, and highlighted the jagged edges of his cheekbones. “Ms. Hardy, I’ll walk you back to our cabin. I need a word before you turn in for the night.”

Rodney stopped and turned, his eyes studying Cade and then me. Cade didn’t hide the way he stared at me, how his gaze tracked up and down my body slowly, like he wanted Rodney to know he was staking a claim.

“I got her, Cade.” Rodney’s arm was around my neck, insinuating he was going to hold me through the night, implying we were a couple used to this stance.

Cade nodded once, then twice, before he got up.

He walked slowly over to us, then his hand went to my waist. Both Rodney and I watched how he slid it around me. Then he jerked me forward so hard I stumbled into his chest. I would have stopped him, but the look in his eye told me now wasn’t the time to fuck with him.

I could practically feel the stare down happening over my head. “I’ve got her.” Cade made it clear.

“I’m down to stay if you two are into that,” Rodney offered, but his arm had fallen from me, willing to give me up. Most people would with Cade’s dark glare on them.

“I’m not into sharing her. Ever,” Cade growled.

“Okay. Izzy, you got my number, right?” he murmured, and that was the moment I could have taken the out and gone with him, not stayed with a man nobody really understood, who a lot of people either feared or revered.

“It’s in my phone, Rodney,” I replied.

As Rodney walked off, we let the silence stretch between us. Finally, I stepped back and put my hands on my hips. He didn’t address what had just happened. Instead, the man dug through his sweatpants pocket and pulled out a pocketknife. He grabbed a marshmallow from a food station and stuck it on the tip of the blade.

I widened my eyes at his lack of attention. “Um, hello? Do you feel good about that?”

He held the marshmallow near the flames, and we watched the sugar sizzle, the white of it burn. A moment before it would have caught fire, he pulled it back sharply. Him standing over the fire with that knife reminded me how he could dominate a space, how tall he was, how he owned all of us in one capacity or another.

“What did you eat today, Izzy?” His tone was measured.

“Food,” I shot back, annoyed that he wasn’t giving my question an answer.

He hummed. “Want a taste of the marshmallow?” He held it out to me.

“No.” I stepped back. “It’s after eight.”

“What’s one marshmallow after eight when you eat at least five candy canes a day?” he asked in mock shock.

I scratched my forehead, giving myself a second to cool off, trying to make sure he didn’t get a rise out of me. “Were you watching me out your window today?”

“Anyone could guess you and Lucas were still eating those things all day, woman.”

I waved off his explanation. “Answer me. Do you feel good about staking a stupid claim on me with Rodney when you’re supposed to be my boss? I don’t want that getting around.”

“Why? You that into Mr. Rodney?” he asked because he, like all men, was completely dense in that category.

“This isn’t about Rodney!” I stomped right up to him and his stupid marshmallow knife. “You’re jeopardizing my reputation with this team by walking around claiming me as your fuck toy. Which I’m not. I’m not hooking up with you anymore.”

“Really?” he said, spinning the knife with the marshmallow still attached. “So instead, Rodney’s going to be the man you let choke you out?”

My eyes narrowed, and then I remembered he’d told me back in the office not to let other men touch my neck. But Rodney had. “You’re being insanely territorial for a guy who took a girl’s number tonight and promised to meet Heather later. Sounds like you and your event assistant have a lot to catch up on too considering you bought her a bracelet.”

“You watching me like I watch you, huh, dollface?” He chuckled and took the piece of paper with the number on it from his pocket.

“I’m just saying, you’re being irrational for a man who seems available enough that women hand out their numbers.”

He nodded and then I stepped back as he stepped forward to turn toward the fire. He threw the number into it.

We both watched as it burned. “Better?” he said softly.

I took a breath. “You still bought Heather a bracelet. Seems you know each other.”

“I fucked her once, didn’t happen again. I wouldn’t have chosen for her to be here either, but she’s obviously good at her job.”

I took a breath at his admission, and jealousy cut so deep into me I felt it in my bones. Cade was becoming mine even though I tried to avoid it.

“Dollface, are you jealous of a little bracelet?” He tilted his head like he was confused.

“It’s a very expensive, beautiful bracelet!” I blurted out. I bit my lip. “I think this is where we end. I’m . . .” I glanced away from him. “There’s something wrong with me when I’m around you. I feel a little bit of everything too much.”

“And how do you feel with Rodney?” Cade wasn’t letting go of the fact that he’d seen another man touch me. I saw it in his eyes.

“Okay, that’s none of your business,” I told him. “It’s beyond what this relationship is capable of.”

He hummed and then took the marshmallow from the knife and set it on a piece of chocolate. “You know . . . I think people sometimes forget who I am.”

“If you say so.” I shrugged, confused by him pondering such a thing right now.

“Does it feel like sometimes people forget who you are? That they forget you’re not just an addict or an IT specialist or a hot piece of ass?”

He studied the marshmallow on his blade. Then he set it on a stone on the ground and cut it in half before he attached one half back to the tip. The blade was long, one that could do real damage. I wondered if he always carried it on him, just in case.

“With me, I think you forget that I’m not just your boss, Izzy. And they forget that I’m not just this tech genius.” He met my eyes and walked up, his blade held in front of him, pointing at me with the marshmallow on the end. “I’m not just the guy who stops nuclear warfare from touching this nation.”

He took my chin in his other hand and held my jaw. I stood taller, staring up at him. Even if the man held a knife to me now, I wouldn’t cower.

“I’m also Cade Armanelli, a man who can cause nuclear warfare, a member of the most powerful mafia family in the world. A man who’s more than happy to shed blood when someone tampers with what’s his. Do you get that?”

My heart pounded, and I knew he felt it—his finger was right on my pulse point. “If I say I don’t?”

His stare pierced my soul, and the fire cackled in time with his jaw popping. “Open your mouth, Izzy.”

“I don’t want it. It’s a lot of sugar for someone who’s—”

“Open. Your. Mouth.”

That adrenaline flowed through me again, my body responding like it knew the man I got wet for was near me, demanding that I listen to him. Defying him was a craving I couldn’t deny myself as I ignored his command for a second time.

He grabbed my neck and yanked me to him. “The fact that I enjoy dealing with your shit is going to cause me a lot of problems in the future. I already know it. Don’t make me pry it open, woman. Because I will.”

This time I did. The knife was on my lips already, and his eyes looked so wild that I wouldn’t have been surprised if he shoved the sharp blade into my mouth if I didn’t comply. He took his time dragging the blade full of marshmallow across my tongue. “Suck it clean.”

Daring. Dangerous. Him. It was all I wanted now. It was what my body was ready to beg for.

I licked it carefully, then closed my lips around it, avoiding the sharp edge while holding eye contact with him. I wanted him to know that even here, he didn’t scare me, that he never would.

When I pulled back, he let me go and I murmured, “You could be all those things, Cade, but it doesn’t really matter because you are who you are to me.”

“Is who I am better than Rodney?”

“Are you concerned about him?”

“You sat on his lap for damn near an hour.”

“And? It’s not like I was screwing him in the chair or anything.”

His jaw flexed up and down, up and down. Then he spun away from me and went to sit back in that Adirondack chair. He let the fire fill the silence, and I didn’t move an inch.

Cade in sweats and a hoodie at the fire was enough to hold me captive for the night, even if it was in silence. He was probably the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. I knew how his hands felt on me, how his lips commanded a kiss, how his cock got me to submit even if I didn’t want to.

“Well, I can guarantee you that’s all he was thinking about with your ass on his dick.”

“Probably. Considering I thought about it too.”

He growled low and his eyes changed. I saw how his neck tensed, how he seemed to grow in size. “You want to fuck Rodney, Ms. Hardy?”

“Maybe.” I shrugged because that was the honest truth. “He’s fun, no strings, single, and so am I. He’s open to a lot and doesn’t come with much baggage.”

“Compared to who?”

“Well, compared to most people.”

“Including me?” He didn’t glance away. He just tapped his knee with that blade still out, glinting in the night.

“Yeah, I think our baggage is about full.”

He hummed. “Why don’t you come sit on my lap like you did his and see how much baggage I have. Then you can get a good comparison.”

I couldn’t stop my immediate reaction of biting my lip and glancing down at his lap. But then I eyed the caterers still taking care of the food and drinks.

“Thank you for the services tonight,” Cade called out over his shoulder to them. “You’re dismissed. Leave. Now.”

I’d never seen grown men scurry away so fast.

“Better?” He quirked a brow. “Come sit now.” I saw the indent of his hard cock and how it flexed under my attention as my eyes traveled down. “Come on, Izzy. If it’s about fun, no strings, and being single, we might as well take advantage of it.”

“You can bother Heather for that.” I chewed on my lip, trying to put up a fight even though I wanted to give in.

Instead of him giving me a chance to make the decision, his hand shot out and grabbed my elbow to yank me down onto his lap.

“Jesus, Cade,” I chastised him, but he was busy rearranging me so my ass fit right against his cock, so my back was against his chest, so that my hair was being pulled away by his hand to expose my neck.

“This hoodie his?”

It was a simple question, but then I felt the metal of that blade. It’d cooled in the fall air and sent goose bumps along my neck where it lay, right at the V of the material. When I didn’t answer fast enough, Cade swiftly pulled one side of the fabric up and brought his blade down the middle of it. It cut fast, almost effortlessly.

He’d sliced it all the way down so it hung on me like a cardigan. “Cade! What the hell?” I grabbed both sides of it and wrapped it around myself.

“Do you enjoy messing with my head?”

“I’m not messing with your head,” I practically stuttered, confused.

“I’m not going to stare at a woman I fuck on another man’s lap.”

“You fucked me. Past tense.”

“Wanna bet, dollface?” he growled in my ear. “Lose the skirt.”

“I only have a bikini on under this.”

“You’ll be losing that too.”