I moved to rush past him, but he caught my elbow, his tattooed hand gripping me tightly. “You intend to have another man with his hand around your neck?” he asked softly.
I stared up at him and saw the fire, the malice, and the dominance. Caden Armanelli stood before me as a man of the Mafia now, not a businessman. I felt it in the way he gripped me, in the way his breath was measured as he waited for my answer.
“So what if I do? You’re not my keeper, Cade.”
He dragged his other hand over his face as he swore. “Don’t go try what we’ve done with just anyone.”
I studied him and saw now that the look of a man flirting with unhinging his monster was gone. Instead, I noted a look of concern, like he thought I couldn’t handle myself.
“I’m capable of taking care of myself, Cade,” I informed him.
“And I’m capable of breaking every bone in a man’s body, but I’d like to refrain from doing that. So don’t do it. No one is allowed to hold your life in their hands except me. You understand?”
I ripped my arm from his grip. “Please tell me after year-end reviews you’ll go back to being remote, because you uttering that statement is absolutely ridiculous. Do you hear yourself?”
His possessiveness fizzled, and he chuckled while scratching his chin. “After the election, I’ll be gone, Ms. Hardy. Don’t worry.” And then he disappeared into what I imagined was his en suite bathroom.
There was no reason for me to stay. Honestly, I couldn’t take him being a gentleman now. It would muddy the waters of our work relationship even more than the murky-ass swamp we found ourselves in now.
Plus, we’d both gotten the sexual tension out of our systems. I was getting a chance to prove myself in a higher position, and I wasn’t about to ruin it because Cade and I slept together once or twice.
I grabbed my blouse and pulled it back on, tying the knot extra tight, then got the hell out of there.
8
Cade
“The answer is no, Jett,” I reiterated to the owner of Stonewood Enterprises just a few days later. My blood pressure had definitely risen this week and I couldn’t deal with sugarcoating my answer anymore.
Izzy had done this to me. She’d left my office with the smell of her arousal still in the air, her words about seeing other men still echoing in my ears, and the taste of her still in my mouth.
The next day, we didn’t even make eye contact, but I still heard her husky voice as I walked past everyone to get to my office. I physically had to restrain myself from checking what she was wearing the past two days.
So, I admittedly didn’t have the patience for Jett at the moment. He’d done his best to convince me to do three weeks of teamwork right before the election with a cybersecurity team I hadn’t met.
“Fine. Two weeks.” He negotiated. “My event coordinators will handle everything, and you can have Izzy do the bulk of the teaching. She built most of JUNIPER anyway, right? She’ll be able to handle it—but youhaveto be there. If for no other reason than to confirm we aren’t having breaches from a remote location.”
“I can confirm thatfroma remote location, Jett. This is bullshit.”
“I know that. I’m not an idiot,” Jett mumbled. “But it’s the team building I need you to do. You’re theirboss. You’re the fucking celebrity of the data world or whatever you want to call it. They want to see you. They want to be a part of it.”
His wife yelled in the background, “It’s for morale. It’ll be fun.”
That girl was the sun shining into a black hole, I swear. “Tell Vick she’s lost her mind since becoming a mother if she thinks this will be fun.”
“I’ve actually found my mind, Cade.” She chirped into the phone. “You’re an uncle now, aren’t you? You gain insight from children even while they drive you crazy. You’d lay down your life for them, right?”
She knew my brother had a kid with his wife. I’d practically staged the two of them getting together.
I pursed my lips and sighed because I couldn’t deny I loved that baby. Family was family. “There’s something wrong with our makeup.” My niece was a monster, but we adored the little tyrant. “I don’t know how we can love them when they try to kill us and themselves every chance they get, but, damn, I do.”
“It’s the best experience in the world.” I heard Vick’s laugh fading away, but Jett didn’t say anything.
“You there, or have you melted into a lovesick puppy from staring at your wife?”
“Fuck you. My wife is perfect,” Jett grumbled.
I chuckled because he’d been totally whipped by a pussy, and he admitted it with pride. “You, my cousins, and my brother are all crazy.”