Kade gave Gib a bemused smile, imagining some she-devil cartoon version of Tessa, digging talons into him and forcing him to have sex with her in her secret lair. “Come on, Gib. Dragging me into the pit? It’s not like I’m not getting something out of this deal. Last I checked, she’s submitting to me.”
“And you’re getting attached to her,” he countered.
Kade’s jaw tightened. “Weren’t you the one who wanted me to woo her?”
Gib leaned back in his chair with a groan. “Into a public relationship that could help you with the case. Not some clandestine affair that’s only going to get you burned when she goes AWOL again. Can’t you see this is just fun and fantasy for her? A way to soothe her tattered ego after getting cheated on by her ex. If this were something real for her, she wouldn’t care who knew.”
Kade frowned, Gibson only underlining the things Kade was already worried about. “I’m working on trying to get her to go public, but can’t rush her or it will blow up. I have to work her up to it. She was raked over the fire by the press back in Atlanta, so her concerns are valid. No one would want to be portrayed as a gold digger. And you know that angle would pop up. I’m sure Doug Barrett would be more than happy to provide some choice sound bites as well. Plus, with my past, rumors about is she/isn’t she into kink would surface. It’s a lot of scrutiny to invite for something she sees as a casual hookup.”
“But none of that’s going to kill her,” Gib said, frustration edging his words. “She’ll survive the gossip, and I can do spin control with my contacts, have them write stories focusing on her charity work and how you two knew each other from high school. You need to stop worrying about her feelings and focus on the custody case. Reid told you straight up that a stable relationship would improve your image with the court tenfold, especially one with a woman who has never been tied to the scene.”
“I’m aware of that,” Kade replied tersely. “But it’s not your place to decide how I handle it.”
“Yeah, well, I’m the one who lost my brother when she fucked you over last time. And I’m also the one who dealt with you after the divorce and when you lost custody originally. I’m not in the mood to watch your self-destruct mode again. The company can’t afford that and neither can I.”
Kade pushed back from his desk and rose to walk toward the window. He put his back to his brother as he stared out at the buildings and afternoon sky. When he’d first lost custody of Rosalie, he’d been more angry and depressed than he’d ever been in his adult life. He’d reverted back to Kaden Fowler mode, becoming a version of that beat-down teenager filled with angst and rage at the world. All that grief had piled in with old trauma, forming one big, black mess inside his head. He’d drunk too much, plowed through women, and had shirked his responsibilities at work. And he wouldn’t let anyone near him to help pull him out of it. He’d almost alienated the very family he’d been so happy to find only a few years earlier and damaged the company he’d worked so hard to start.
Only Gibson had been able to get past all the daggers Kade had been throwing at everyone. He and Colby had come to Kade’s house and had taken him by threat of force for a weeklong bro-cation on the coast. No alcohol or women allowed. They’d cleaned him up, gotten his head clear, and had basically vowed to kick his ass if he didn’t get his shit together. But the thing that had put it over the top was Gibson telling Kade that he was on the way to becoming a worthless alcoholic like his stepdad. That had put the fear of God in him. He’d known he hadn’t gotten to that point yet. He could still put down the bottle, but he’d sensed the black hole wasn’t far in the distance.
Since that trip, he’d done a one-eighty and had put his energy into the business and into getting another custody hearing. He had Gib to thank for it, so he didn’t want to jump on his brother’s case. But Kade didn’t relish the idea of putting Tessa in a position that would cause her drama. It wasn’t her problem to fix.
But he also couldn’t deny that the desire to do anything and everything to get Rosalie back kept him awake at night.
He sighed and leaned his head against the glass. “It’s going to take more than a little cajoling to get Tessa confident enough to step into the spotlight with me. Especially when there’s no real benefit to her doing so.”
“Tell her about Rosalie then. Maybe she’ll understand why it’s so important.”
“No way. I’m not guilting her into it with some sob story about my kid. Plus, that’s asking for months of commitment, which will freak her the fuck out. I still have to work to get her to agree to another night each time I see her. I need her to decide to be with me because she wants to try a relationship and doesn’t want to hide.”
“You need her to trust you.”
Kade frowned and turned to face his brother again. “I need more than that. Trust isn’t enough.”
Gib leaned back in his chair and ran a hand over his jaw. “Well, you’re a pro at getting girls to fall for you. They don’t call you the Time Share Bachelor for nothing. You’ve even got the psycho ex-girlfriends to prove it. I’m assuming you heard the latest on the fire?”
“Yes,” he said with a groan. The cops had informed him that Rebecca, the same ex-girlfriend who’d given a statement to his ex-wife’s lawyer about his kinky side, was now being investigated for the fire at Barcelona. Brilliant.
“So clearly you can stir up passion in a woman. Dial up your game with Tessa, bro. Jet her off to Rome for the weekend or something. Make her feel like a princess.”
He scowled. “You make it sound like I have some playbook of how to make a girl love me. This isn’t a game. I feel like this could become something real, Gib. But I don’t want to fuck it up by rushing things and scaring her off. She needs reassurance that this is just a fun fling, that I’m just happy to show her some fantasies.”
“And you’re lying about it being only that,” Gibson said quietly.
He turned and faced his brother, the truth like bags of gravel weighing down his shoulders. “Through my teeth. Fulfilling some dirty fantasies with Tessa is no hardship, believe me. But I want the real thing, have for a long time, and everything in me thinks she could be it. There’s always been something intense between us, even if we didn’t know how to label it.”
Gibson eyed him, unconvinced. “But is she really submissive or is she just experimenting with roles? What you want isn’t simply a little kink. It’s full surrender. The pool of people open to that kind of thing is small already.”
Kade tucked his hands in his pockets and leaned against the window. “My gut says she could be capable of it. But she’s working so hard to be one hundred percent independent, trying to prove to herself that she can do it all on her own, that I think she’d flip if she knew the depth of what I want in a relationship. She doesn’t even like me paying for dinner. I understand it, but it’s driving me crazy.”
“She realizes that she was bought by Doug. Can’t blame her for not wanting to fall into that again.”
He rubbed the back of his head. “I know. I get it. But I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be able to keep myself in check. The more we’re together, the more my instinct to take over completely gnaws at me.”
“So take over,” Gib said, as if it were the simplest decision in the world. “You’re a dom and a sadist. That’s not going to change. Colby said y’all got together the other night and that you were so gentle with Tessa, he didn’t even recognize you.”
“Colby should keep his mouth shut.”
“Come on, he didn’t give me details or anything. He’s just concerned like I am. He can tell things are getting heavy with this girl, and it’s going to lead nowhere good if you don’t show her who she’s really dealing with. If she’s truly submissive and open to your brand of dominance, she’ll respond if