Indulgence (205 page)

“You’re exhausted. Let’s get you to bed.”

She didn’t object and headed to the bedroom. I took the
opportunity to take a piss, removed my pants and socks and headed to bed in
just my boxer briefs. Cassidy was already burrowed under the covers so I slid
in behind her and adjusted the pillow under my head. As I did, she inched over
so that she was tucked into me.

“You sneaky minx.”

She was completely naked, having removed her sweats and
t-shirt while I was in the bathroom. She quietly moaned, suppressing another
yawn as I pulled her ass against my throbbing erection and buried my nose into
her hair. I felt her breathing slow and willed myself to sleep.

“Cassidy?” She didn’t respond and I kissed her hair, “I’m
falling for you. Hard.” Tightening my hold on her, I drifted to sleep.

Enigmas

~ JAMES ~

“Crap!” I woke to her bolting out of bed as sunlight filled
the room. “I overslept. I forgot to set the alarm.” She ran into the bathroom
and I heard the shower turn on.

I laid there, waiting for her to emerge from the bathroom,
not daring to join her since she was already late. She took what must’ve been
the quickest shower in history and bolted over to the closet.

“Thank God for casual Friday!” She was throwing on some
jeans over satin panties that matched her bra. “Don’t you have to work?” She
threw me a questioning glance.

Sitting up, I watched her scramble around the room getting
ready for work. Shrugging my shoulders at her I explained, “I don’t have any
meetings until this afternoon.”

She stuck her tongue out as she pulled the towel off her
head and yanked on a tight fitting sweater. She tugged on some socks and headed
back to the bathroom. I heard the sink running, decided to get up and found her
brushing her teeth with one hand and combing her hair with the other. I stood
in the doorway admiring her as she finished and she gave me a quick peck before
scurrying out of the room yelling, “Call me!”

Listening to her run down the stairs, I made my way to the
toilet. I was headed into the shower when I heard her scream my name. I leapt
down the stairs and found her clenching a paper with the front door open.

“Cassidy, what’s wrong?”

She was white as a ghost as I looked outside and didn’t see
any reporters. I pried the paper from her hands and my heart broke for her as
my anger bubbled to the surface. A picture of her mom and the former mayor was
covering the front page with some other smaller pictures of Cassidy, Calvin and
their father from years ago, presumably from the funeral.

“Fucking FUCK.”

I threw the paper down and raked my hands through my hair.
How
had that happened?
Annie and I had spent hours all week doing everything we
could to bury this story forever. She ran past me to the kitchen, started dry
heaving into the sink and splashed cool water on her face when the heaving
stopped. I made my way over to her as the sobs began unleashing.

Pulling her into my arms I whispered, “I’m so sorry,
Cassidy. I’ll find out who did this.”

“I thought this was over. I, I can’t, I… Oh God…the
wedding…Dad.” The sobs were racking her body so violently she could barely
speak.

“Shh. Everything will be fine. I promise. I’ll get to the
bottom of this.”

We spent the next thirty minutes arguing about her going to
work. She called Lena to let her know she would be late while I called Smith
and Annie. I found her upstairs putting on some makeup, trying to cover up the
pain and anguish written all over her face, and I hopped in the shower before
getting dressed.

Conceding to let me drive her to work, she was silent the
entire drive. I told her to call me when she was ready to leave for the day and
she agreed. I could only imagine how hard her life was after her mom died,
especially with the scandal that surrounded it. Being thirteen at the time
probably made it ten times worse and I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what she
was thinking about as I drove her to work.

When we pulled up to her office building, I grabbed her hand
before she exited the Rover. “Cassidy, it’s going to be alright. We’ll get
through this. Together.” She nodded; I kissed her cheek and watched her walk
into the building, slamming my hand on the steering wheel before driving away.

~ CASSIDY ~

Avoiding eye contact with everyone, I walked into work
making a beeline for my office and shut the door when I got there. I was
attempting to massage my temples when there was a light knock on the door.

I took a deep breath, “Come in.”

Cecily came in and shut the door behind her. She placed a
coffee on my desk. “Do you have a moment?”

Her appearance in my office couldn’t be good. “Of course.
Everything okay?”

She eyed me suspiciously for a moment before she sat down
across from me. “I won’t beat around the bush, Cassidy. I saw the paper this
morning and I can only imagine what you’re going through.”

Feeling myself pale, I grabbed the coffee she set down for
me and took a sip, willing myself to keep it together. I thought this was all
dead and buried and that I would never have to deal with the questions and
judgmental looks again. I barely survived my teens because of this drama with
my mother; I wasn’t sure what to say to her.

“I…thank you.”

“Cassidy, are you alright?”

Her words were kind and sincere and the tears began to well
up in my eyes.
Don’t cry, she’s your boss!

“I’m sorry. I’ll be fine. I just wasn’t prepared to deal
with all of this again.” I quickly swiped at a rogue tear.

“James has brought a whole new element to your life. You’ll
have to decide if this added spotlight on your life is worth the drama.”

I tried not to flinch, knowing she was right. James was
practically a celebrity around this town and that wasn’t going to change any
time soon. We had only been dating a couple weeks and already the skeletons in
my closet were being hung out for all to see.

“I have big plans for you here at B & C. I’d hate for
this romance to get in the way of that. I don’t care who you date, I just don’t
want you to lose focus.”

“Of course not. My job here is my number one priority, I
assure you. My personal life won’t get in the way.”

“Alright then. Are you on track with everything; the wedding
and the upcoming holiday parties?” I nodded and she stood. “Hang in there. I’ll
be heading out after lunch. Have a good weekend.”

“You, too.” She closed my door. Resting my forehead on the
desk, I tapped it a few times against the hard surface before picking it back
up. “Get it together, Cassidy.”

I worked through lunch. And to my surprise, no one disturbed
me. The only interaction I had with Lena was asking her to handle all my calls
unless it was an utter emergency.
Crash into Me
started singing from my
cell and I pulled it out of my purse and answered.

“Hey, I’m almost done here. I can get a cab home if it’s a
problem.”

I heard him say, “It’s almost seven p.m., Cassidy. I’m
downstairs in the parking garage. I can wait.”

I was shocked that it was so late, “Okay, I’m shutting down.
I’ll be down in a few minutes.” Disconnecting the call, I smiled for the first
time all day.

I left my office, noticing I was the last person there. The
main office doors were locked and I dug in my purse for my keys so I could
exit. After locking back up, I hopped into the elevator to the underground
parking garage. I spotted him leaning against the back of the Rover. He looked
up and his expression was composed but he was flashing half a smile. Seeing him
was an instant stress reliever. I picked up my pace, practically running, and
threw my arms around his neck, burying my face in his collar.

He squeezed me tightly, “You okay?”

“Better now,” I mumbled into his collar.

“Your brother called.” Pulling back to examine his face he
said, “He’s worried about you. He said you’ve been ignoring his calls all day.”

Dropping my head back to his chest I sighed, “Should I be
concerned that you two are getting all chummy?” He pushed me to arm’s length
and rubbed his hands up and down my upper arms. “I’ll call him when I get
home.”

“I already called him. He’s picking up dinner and headed to
your place. He’s really worried about you. Is there something else going on I
don’t know about?”

Cal was over reacting, as usual, “No, there’s nothing else
going on. He’s overprotective that’s all. I’m starving.” I pulled away and
walked to the passenger door, refusing to discuss it further.

He stopped me from opening the door and pressed me against
the SUV. “You can trust me, Cassidy.” He didn’t give me a chance to respond and
just pressed his lips to mine. The kiss soon got heated—like it always did with
us—hands tugging and pulling on each other. He abruptly pulled away and opened
the door. “Get in, we’ll resume this later.”

*****

We were getting out of the Rover when Cal pulled up. He was
carrying a large carryout bag and I could see that Jane was with him. James and
Cal shook hands and James took the bag of food from him. I opened the front
door and ushered James and Jane inside. I was about to follow them in when Cal
asked me to hang back.

“What’s up?” I closed the door and waited for him to
question me, knowing what was coming.

“Don’t give me that. I saw the papers. Are you good?”

Cal stood at the bottom of the porch steps looking up at me
as I shoved my hands in my back pockets. I shrugged my shoulders while rocking
back and forth on my heels.

“Cassidy I know what all this did to you when we were teens.
You’re not alright.”

I had avoided his eyes until that moment, “Cal, can we NOT
do this? What do you want me to say? I’m angry, no infuriated and sad. I want
to crawl in a hole and never come out.”

“Does he know?” He motioned his head inside, to James. “Does
he know how badly you took it all before?”

“NO! And I’d like to keep it that way. I was a stupid kid
crying out for help. I got the help. Leave. It. Alone.”

“Cass…”

“Everything okay out here?” Jane poked her head out the
front door.

“Yup, we’re good.” I seized the opportunity to walk inside,
leaving her on the porch with Cal.

I heard her ask, “Cal, what’s going on?”

*****

A couple hours later, Cal and Jane were heading out the door
and Cal gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, “You should tell him.” I glared
at him when he pulled away and he took Jane’s hand heading down the stairs.

“Night.” I waved to both of them before shutting the door.

James was lounging on the couch with his arms outstretched
to me when I walked back into the living room. I smiled and sat down between
his legs, resting my back against his chest. He wrapped his arms around me as
he kissed my temple. It was only ten p.m. on a Friday and I just wanted to go
to bed. I couldn’t suppress the yawn that followed.

“You alright?”

“I’ll be fine when everyone stops asking me that.” Remaining
quiet, I immediately felt guilty for snapping at him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean
to snap at you. I just don’t understand why this is being dragged through the
papers again. What did I do?”

Sighing he said, “You did me, so to speak. This is my fault.
If we weren’t together this wouldn’t have happened.”

I repositioned myself so that I could see his face. “I don’t
understand. What’s the fascination with my dead mother? Why can’t this stay
dead and buried?”

“I have a feeling whoever’s behind this is out to deliberately
hurt you or me.”

That got my attention. “What? Why?”

“I have Annie and Smith working on it.”

“Who’s Annie?”

“She’s my attorney.” He looked at me like there was more,
“The same attorney who helped me out when I was in college.”

“Ok, wait, you mean the Domme?” I groaned, “This just gets
better and better.” I stood up and began pacing the floor.

“Cassidy, I don’t want to fight with you. I just want to
take you to bed and hold you. We need to talk about all this. The more details
you can give me the more Annie, Smith and I can help. Okay?”

Taking a moment to process everything he said and asked of
me, my head began to spin. He was right; we should just go to bed. “I don’t
want to fight, either. We can talk about it later. Let’s go to bed.”

Once we were upstairs, I went to the bathroom to get ready
for bed. When I reemerged, he was standing in front of me wearing a skin tight
tank and boxer briefs.
Fucking hell.
He smirked at me and walked into
the bathroom.
Had I just said that out loud?
I climbed into bed, naked,
and flopped onto my stomach while hugging my pillow under my head.

He wasn’t in the bathroom long before climbing in next to
me. Propping his head up on his hand looking down at me he said, “You’re
exhausted.” He started running his fingers through my hair as I closed my eyes
and savored his touch. His hand started lazily caressing my back and then he
started gently scratching my back.

“Mm,” he stopped and I opened my eyes, “Don’t stop, that
feels wonderful.”

He smiled, picking up where he left off. Soon he was lying
down next to me and I turned my head away from him as he pulled me into my
James cocoon that was fast becoming my happy place.

“Closer.”

I heard him groan in response as he tucked me under him; the
right side of his body covering my left. The weight of him on me was glorious.
I was aware of his arousal as he wedged his leg between my two, drifting off as
the warmth of his body became a fog around me.

I whispered, “This, this is my heaven.”

*****