The Bound Bride (11 page)

Chapter Sixteen

In this house, she only had to ask, and wishes were granted. Cassandra was still sleepy as she moved down the staircase. She saw Oliver conferring with Faye at the foot of the steps. Cassandra thought of slipping back to the bedroom before she was seen or heard, but those thoughts evaporated as they turned their heads to her in a singular motion.

“And here she is!”

Oliver rushed up the steps and embraced her before she could speak. He pulled back, his hands still on her shoulders and seemed to drink in every part of her with his sparkling eyes.

“
Angel of the Morning
,” he said. “You know the song, Faye?”

Faye sniffed and nodded as she pressed the pages they’d been scanning under arm. Oliver kissed Cassandra’s cheek.

“Do you
know the song?”

Cassandra did. And just the idea of Oliver simply touching her cheek and leaving forever was not her idea of happiness.

“I do. Try something else.”

Another night with him had revived her confidence.

She heard Faye laugh as Oliver shot her a cold glare. Faye backed away from the foyer and chuckled again as she slipped from view.

“Oliver?”

Cassandra turned his face to hers. She wanted and
had
his mouth again as he caught her in a firm embrace. The kiss ended on his smile.

“Angel of the manor then,” he asked.

He was obviously hung up on the notion of angel. She would take this variation on the song.

“Better.”

“Best.”

He kissed her again and gently took hold of her arm to lead her down the steps to her waiting manor. Cassandra decided that it was prettiest in the light just beyond dawn, and she spun away from Oliver to soak it all in. When she turned to him again, his smile was that of a little boy discovering treasures in the dirt.

Cassandra felt like that treasure.

“What?” she teased.

“Nothing. I just like you at first light.”

He moved to her and ran his hands through her hair.

“The light just there. In your eyes. Perfect.”

She reached for his tie and tenderly straightened it just below his neck.

“Like an angel?” she asked.

“God yes.”

It seemed impossible, but each kiss held something she’d
yet
to realize about him. This kiss found him happy in the face of the smallest things he had
yet
to show her.

“Ready for another surprise?” he asked.

God yes
.

He led her to the kitchen. Faye was waiting at the breakfast bar with pages upon pages on display for someone’s review. A nudge from Oliver told Cassandra that the words were meant for
her
eyes.

Her head spun at the sight.

“What’s… what’s all this?”

He pulled her close and looked to the littered bar.

“You said you needed help.”

So she did.

“Oliver—”

“So hire a staff! Hire ten if you like!”

He pressed his hands to her face.

“Make our home a place where we’ll
never want for anything. Got it, Cassie?”

Had he hired her for this? Was this manor just waiting to emerge as a showpiece for his professional conquests, and did it just need a woman’s touch?

Cassandra tensed. Once again she felt that she wasn’t that girl.

“Oliver, I—”

“Faye will help you. I’ve cleared out her calendar. She’s at your command. Right?”

Faye cleared her throat and raised her eyebrows at her boss.

“I’m on it, Ollie.”

Cassandra tensed at what had to be a private pet name. When Oliver reached across the bar, Cassandra had a slight fear that he would smack Faye down for showing her cards too soon. But he simply squeezed then patted her cheek.

“That’s why she gets the big bucks.”

He returned to Cassandra’s anxious eyes.

“Have fun, Cassie. I’ll see you tonight”

He kissed her once more on her mouth then lifted his lips to her temple before flying from the room. Cassandra forgot Faye and the pages and followed after him.

“Oliver?”

He was already in his coat and reaching for his briefcase as he was but a breath away.

“Oliver.”

He stopped where he stood and waited for whatever she would say next.

Cassandra needed help. Help to make sense of everything that she was feeling and wanting in a palace when she’d lived in a hole in the days before he made his offer. She needed help, but that didn’t translate into those who scrubbed floors and baked bread while she lingered over her nails.

“What is it, Cassie?
Angel
.”

Even through his long coat, she could feel his heart beating as wildly as hers
.

“I can’t
staff a house.”

She regretted all aspects of the LeaseALady contract that she hadn’t read more carefully.

“But you said you needed help. I’m offering! Take advantage, Cassie”

Oliver opened the door and started into the first air of morning. Cassandra followed until his face darkened and he barred her way.

“No. Just stay here. You have some work to do.”

She was shocked by the sudden change as he crossed the threshold. Within the walls of the house he had seemed kind and playful. But as they stood outside, he took on the mask of a man who would destroy to keep his possessions safe.

And for the first time, Cassandra counted herself, for better or worse, among his those possessions.

She nodded as he shot her a stiff smile. Jeff appeared and held the car door open before moving to the driver’s seat. They were gone before she could blink. She considered running after him for the answers she needed when Faye was pulling her back into the house. Her eyes
were full of a task at hand that Cassandra was expected to accomplish before he returned.

“Shall we?” Faye asked, seemingly sure of the answer.

They returned to the kitchen. Cassandra looked down at the names and the resumes that promised gourmet cuisine and a manicured lawn to delight all of Oliver’s other instincts
.

Cassandra had asked for help. But she wanted it from him.

And Oliver was gone.

Cassandra pushed the pages to the floor.

“I’m taking a bath,” she said as Faye tried to collect all that she had dropped.

Chapter Seventeen

She spent the day in water. She soaked in the tub until her skin was pruned to the point that she thought it would stay that way, and she rose from the wet in search of a towel to dry her flesh. It had been hours since she’d last seen Faye. Cassandra wore the towel and nothing else as they met in the space of the hallway, and Cassandra started at the sight of her.

“Oh! Hey.”

Faye stamped her foot and tossed the collected file to Cassandra’s feet. Her eyes were icy as she started to speak.

“You’re
supposed to be looking these over.”

“Why?”

Faye smirked.

“Because it’s what Oliver wants.”

But what about her?

“I’m not—”

“So you don’t want this?”

Faye accentuated her point with a thrust of the file.

“I wanted his
help!” Cassandra said.

She wanted, needed, to know why he had selected her as his
Angel of the Manor
. And why had he turned from the sweetest lover to someone she almost feared in the dawn?

Cassandra turned and clutched the towel closer as she raced away.

But she still wanted Oliver to come back.

Cassandra stood at the edge of the pool and let her towel fall. The sight of her naked body in the ripples caused her to shudder from within, and she held herself close. But he preferred her exposed. Cassandra let her arms slip to her sides and fell into the pool.

It was easier under the water. And she returned there again and again with desperate breaths. Without him, the surface was foreign and lonely. And devoid of his smile. Cassandra repeatedly opted to return to the deep and tried to lose herself in the tiles until she could no longer stand the lack of air.

The hours of effort were taxing, and Cassandra finally resolved to simply rest her fatigued arms against the edge of the pool. She could see Oliver as he had looked when he last left her. How would he look when and if he returned?

“Cassie.”

He appeared, and his face softened. She couldn’t help but smile. He removed his clothing. Cassandra heard and felt the splash, and he was at her side. She went limp as he held her close and rubbed his hands against her damp neck.

“I’m back,” he said. “I didn’t want to go.”

She looked into his eyes and believed him. He looked too happy to be back at her side to mean anything else.

Cassandra almost asked him
why
he had gone if he was happiest here. But she couldn’t bring herself to challenge him now. She wrapped her body around his and kissed his lips. They sank into the water as their kisses continued without sound. He gently pushed her to the deep end of the pool. She could no longer feel the water, but Oliver’s hands were at her sides as they her held fast. She ignored the need for precious air until she could stand it no longer. Cassandra opened her eyes. She longed for breath and also longed for the moment to continue
forever. Oliver seemed to see something in her stare that made him rush her back to the wall of the pool. He held her there as she gasped, her head spinning against the air and the light. Oliver’s arms stayed strong as Cassandra returned to reality.

“Don’t you go either,” he said. “You asked me for help. I didn’t get it.”

He had obviously been talking to Faye.

“I don’t know anything about any of this.”

He slipped below the surface and kissed her naval. Cassandra felt him linger until he returned to the surface and kissed his way up his torso to her neck. He pressed her damp hair behind her and patted her cheek.

“What’s to know? The house is beautiful. So are you. Just keep both that way.”

She blushed and started to slip away from him under the water. He let her swim away until she was clutching the other wall of the pool. She felt beautiful
when he said it. Beyond that she was still a screw up for hire with vices she was just starting to crave again.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Oliver’s strokes take him to the steps of the pool. She watched his lean frame ascend to the edge, and he moved to a small fridge before a well-stocked bar. He returned with two frosty bottles of beer and an opener. Cassandra was already salivating at the thought of it and him flooding her veins.

He cracked the bottles open and offered her a taste.

“To take the edge off.”

Cassandra quickly accepted the bottle and hungrily drank. The familiar buzz let her meet his eyes as he dipped his toes into the water.

“Thanks.”

He took a swig and sank back into the pool. He turned his arm around her waist and looked deeply into his eyes.

“Thank you,” he said.

Cassandra tried to process the compliment.

“For what?”

“For being here. I like knowing where you are. It’s good for both of us.”

She set her bottle down and met his mouth. He tasted of beer and chlorine, but he was as sweet as ever.

“Oliver?”

He pressed her against the pool’s walls and slid inside her. She gave a slight cry as he entered, and his hands surrounded her rear. He pulled her away from the only support available. She grasped him around his chest. Her legs curled around his. She could still fall if it weren’t for his most powerful part suspending her in the water.

“Look into my eyes, Cassie.”

She could do nothing but obey. Below the surface, his cock slowly turned within her, and she fought the urge to toss her head back.

“My eyes, Cassie.”

She was trapped in every pool of blue. His stare was sure as he trailed his hands down her legs until his fingers curled around her ankles. His focus stayed steady as he drew her back to the wall. She reached for it at the first chance. But then he had her on her back, skimming the surface. Cassandra felt like she was in flight, but there was no fear of falling. Oliver’s hands stayed just above her feet and his cock grew in power until she found the courage to press only the tips of her fingers to the wall.

She would drown. But only within him.

Oliver pressed himself in deeper, and Cassandra cried at the point of climax. She stayed in his eyes until she had to reach for something, anything else. She slipped forward in the water and to him as their lips met again, and he took her below the water. She kissed him and held him tighter under the surface. His embrace mirrored hers, and he lifted her back into the air. Cassandra found her breath, and he pushed her back into the wall. He reached for one of the bottles and fed her the bubbly liquid. She took it eagerly.

“You like?” he asked.

She wiped the back of her mouth and smiled.

“I like all of it.”

He held her in the water, and she could hear his heart pounding in his chest. It was nothing compared to the beating of her own heart. She was reaching the point where she could sweep all doubts aside. Her thoughts were already drifting to the next day, and she summoned the strength to ask him for one more thing.

“Oliver?”

He murmured against her shoulder.

“Oliver?” Let’s go back to the city tomorrow.”

He started away from her, and she saw the slight shift in his eyes.

“Why?”

She struggled to find her words. Because it was where they had first met? Because she might feel like herself again in familiar surroundings?

“I… because we could explore. Together.”

His hand moved up her neck.

“Why should we leave?”

Cassandra shuddered against more than the water as his voice and his eyes pierced
her soul.

“I… we…”

“Isn’t this enough?”

He moved away from her and held his arms out in an effort to define the space.

“I… it’s wonderful. It’s—”

He folded his arms around her again.

“It’s all we need. My sweet angel.”

His head fell to her shoulder, and she stroked his slick back. Her head turned to the window, and for the first time she felt the sensation of being trapped.