“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 tonightandpromised 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 cancausenuclear 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.”