Bared by Him (8 page)

Cade wasn’t about to tell one damned whit to Luke, but then he heard Genghis pad down
the hall, and by the little shuffles behind him, Cade bet his ass Ivy was following.

She appeared in his line of vision, draped in one of his white dress shirts. It looked
huge on her, reaching way past her knees, and something happened when he saw her.

Holy shit, it was like she belonged to him. He wanted to protect her and coddle her
and kiss her and screw the breath out of her, all in the same heartbeat.

Realizing Luke Preston stared at her with widening blue eyes made Cade itch to smack
his fists into his friend’s face. Luke’s expression wasn’t lecherous, by any means,
but Cade could just not bare to see how any living, breathing man could look at honey-haired,
honey-colored Ivy and not want to bang her brains off.

“Good morning,” she said, smiling at them both, especially at Cade. His heart swelled
like an overinflated helium balloon.

“Well, well, well, Cade’s got himself a kitten,” Luke drawled, patting the dog’s head
when he went over to sniff him. “Hey, Genghis Khan, are these two holding sex marathons
every hour or what?”

Cade set a bowl with food down for Genghis, and was about to snap at his friend to
mind his own billion-dollar business, but Luke had already straightened to stretch
a hand out to Ivy. “I’m Luke, a very good friend of this asshole.” He grinned. And
she grinned back.

“I’m Ivy. It’s nice to meet you, Luke.”

“Let me guess? You’re Cade’s girlfriend? Don’t ask me how I know, I just know things,”
the infantile, stuck-in-sixth-grade Luke said.

Cade wanted to point out perhaps he suspected she was his “girlfriend” because this
was the first woman he’d brought to his apartment in ten years, but he actually found
himself waiting, while his lungs held back his air, to hear Ivy’s reply.

Well?
Was
she?

“Oh, no.” She laughed, the sound a little raspy in the morning, which made Cade remember
his bedroom and everything they’d done there last night. “I’m just a…” Her eyes flicked
to Cade’s, then back to Luke. “Just a friend.”

Clearly Luke wasn’t buying it. He was a connoisseur, after all. Especially of women.
“Friend? With benefits?” Luke prodded.

Cade glowered. He was not so modern as to have a friend with benefits. Ivy was his
lover. Hell, she was just
his
. Period.

But she seemed to have other ideas.

“Not even that,” Ivy said, shrugging nonchalantly. “I’m his plaything. Isn’t that
fun?”

“Loads of fun, baby. I have a plaything of my own. Her name is Peyton. Do you want
to meet her?” Luke pulled up a picture from his iPhone.

Cade was instantly at Ivy’s side, not sure whether Luke’s iPhone pictures of his lady
were way too pornographic or not, but then he peered down and saw Luke’s lady and
remembered he’d already seen this picture. She was dark and pretty and, frankly, she
was an angel to put up with this dude.

“She’s beautiful,” Ivy murmured. When Cade set his hands on her hips, she leaned back
against him and turned her head into his neck, her voice dropping for him. “Would
you like me to make some breakfast for you two? I was about to make my shake anyway.”

Cade’s groin heated when he saw her lips were so close, and suddenly he didn’t give
a shit. He brushed them with his own, then found himself licking her while he gave
her ass a little squeeze.

“Ahhh! She cooks!” Luke said, jerking them back to look at him. “A homey little kitten.
What an interesting woman you are, Ivy.”

“She’s not cooking for you,” Cade growled. “Man, don’t you have anything else to do
than ogle other people’s playthings?”

“No worries, dude. I’m too in love with mine.” He lifted his phone and took a picture
of Cade standing just beside Ivy. “The guys will love this. Sorry, but I needed
proof—
otherwise no one would even believe there’s a woman on this earth willing to spend
time with merry little you, Cade. Now I’m one hundred K richer and it’s only nine
fifteen. Not bad for a slow day.”

“Don’t come back, Luke.”

His friend laughed. “Invite me to the wedding!” he called before the door slammed
shut.

Cade fell quiet as Ivy busily prepared her vegetable drink, her legs lean and slender
under his buttoned shirt. He watched as she added all kinds of vegetables to his blender,
the finished product looking green and disgusting. While it stirred, she’d put some
bacon and eggs on for Cade, which smelled far, far more appetizing.

He scowled when she poured her green shit drink into a tall glass. “That shake is
the most disgusting thing I’ve seen.”

Her lips curved. “Good thing you’re not drinking it, then.” She lifted it to her lips,
took a sip, then her slim eyebrows drew together in thought as she handed it over.
“Try it.”

“Like hell.”

“Truly, it’s really good. Tastes like mango. A sweet fruit eliminates all the spinach
and broccoli flavors.”

“I’ll taste it from you,” he said, as he slid a hand to the small of her back and
ducked to kiss her, relaxing when her mouth opened on his. He edged back to look into
her eyes, which had darkened with want. “You’re right, it is good,” he murmured, lifting
her up on the counter with one arm.

She set aside her glass and turned off the stove knobs as the bacon sizzled nearby.
“You taste better,” she murmured, sliding her hands up to his nape and letting him
sip up all that mango taste from her mouth.

And that was just his appetizer.

*   *   *

The days went by in a state of constant, heart-pounding, pulse-jacking arousal. They
played strip poker again, except this time in their opening bets, they fed each other
wine, grapes, and chocolate. When they lost … they had to remove an article of clothing.

“These stay on,” Ivy once against insisted of her bra and panties.

Cade smirked. “Sooner or later, they’re going to come off.”

Well she’d rather leave it at later, much later, otherwise she’d be too self-conscious.

But, oh, Lord, every time Cade came over to feed her mouth, he’d duck his head and
take a sip of what he fed her, and she melted just like the chocolate melted in her
mouth. Her pussy got juicier than the grapes. And his taste got her more drunk than
the wine.

She had never had such torturous foreplay. They kissed until they ended up gasping
for more, then they played another hand, surveying each other’s bodies, savoring telling
each other what they would do when they were finished. Whoever won got to choose the
punishment for the loser. But seriously? Punishment? Licking Cade up? Eating him up?
Goodness, she was really hoping to lose this time around, he had her so primed.

Every time Cade dealt new cards, he watched her, his eyelids half-mast, his voice
rough. “I’m going to lick my way up your pretty little legs with my tongue…” He did
the procedure with his eyes, and her pussy creamed at the prospect. “And when I get
up to those panties, I’m going to pull them aside and get drunk on you.”

Ivy squirmed, panting and anxious. When the game was finally over, she crawled over
to him across the carpet like she had the first night, coiling her limbs around him
as she settled down on his lap, facing him. “What’s my punishment?” she said, her
chest heaving.

“Me,” he answered huskily, his big hands engulfing and massaging her ass as he took
her mouth with his and kissed her. They had awesome groan-out-loud, excruciatingly
pleasurable sex in that seated position, where he got his cock incredibly deep inside
her, hitting her G-spot, making Ivy explode several times in a row.

On Friday, they left his apartment to grab some Chinese food, and it felt strange
and wonderful when he parked his car, came over to open her door, and grabbed her
hand to walk her into the restaurant. He did the same when he parked in his own spot,
then led her into his building. The gesture affected her so much, Ivy felt her blush
spread all over her body, and she had to drop her face and cover her cheeks with her
hair.

She was sure nothing and nobody could pull her away from Cade as long as he would
have her, and since he’d decided to enjoy a vacation from work until Monday, she felt
like they were honeymooners—except there had never been a wedding.

All they did was lounge around, eat, eat each other, fuck each other breathless, and
talk in the dark.

She had
never
been happier and dreaded the time when reality would intrude on them both.

Today it was Saturday, and Ivy lounged around in her panties and top, watching Cade
step out of the shower and wrap himself in a towel. A pang of yearning struck her
in the chest, and she wished she had the confidence to get naked and in the shower
with him. She’d almost started to feel sorry for herself when she noticed the text
message from one of her friends.

The news wasn’t good. Ivy immediately started dressing.

“Cade, I should go. One of my friends … it’s really bad. She was diagnosed at stage
four and now she’s … in her last. I just want to say good-bye.”

He stared at her for way longer than she expected, then he burst out laughing—not
a happy laugh. He jammed his hands into his hair, looking very frustrated all of a
sudden. “My God! I’m going to hear about cancer every day with you, aren’t I? Why
the fuck do you have to befriend everyone who has it, Ivy?”

She shot him a furious scowl. She’d seen beneath the layers, and Cade was so much
better than this, she wanted to slap him. But she also knew his anger was a survival
mechanism, as was distance, a pretense of not caring. She tried to calm her voice.
“I want to be there because she shouldn’t be alone. I wasn’t there for my mother,
Cade, and now it’s eating at me. She died all
alone.
Because I was in college and obsessed with being a graphic design artist, and obsessed
with graduating with honors. She died that morning
alone
in the hospital because I just couldn’t miss my classes. I couldn’t even say good-bye
to her one last time. What kind of loser daughter do you think I feel like now?”

He turned away and angrily combed his wet hair, then whirled around. “I said good-bye
a thousand times to Laura. You think it gets better if you do?”

Ivy’s heart cracked a little when he mentioned her. Did it mean that he trusted her
now? Her insides moved at the thought, and her face softened at the tormented look
in his eyes.

She took his comb from the sink, hopped onto the small ottoman, and slid it through
his dark locks, watching the thick, glossy wet strands sift beneath the comb teeth.
“Let go,” she whispered, in his ear. “It wasn’t your fault, none of this is anyone’s
fault.”

He reached up to take the comb away, then set it down on the sink and glared down
at the closed faucet. “She didn’t deserve to die that way.
I
was the bad one, the asshole; she was good. She died a … virgin. She’d always saved
herself for marriage and I … went with it. In the end, we had to marry in a rush when
she found out she was sick, stage four … I couldn’t even
touch her
like she wanted me to. I couldn’t even … do that for her.”

Ivy slid off the ottoman, and a barrage of raw emotions opened in her chest as she
realized why he was so angry. And at
whom.

“She wanted me to have sex with her,” he said through gritted teeth, glaring down
into the sink, his arms bulging and straining as he braced himself on the marble.
“She wanted to know what it felt like. And after all those years I’d been waiting
like an idiot, settling for a hand job, I could not even … get … my … cock … to
work
!”

Ivy slid her fingers up the back of his arm, the pull to touch him, comfort him, too
strong to resist. Cade was such a sexual man, she couldn’t imagine his frustration
at the time. But sickness took so many things from you, even when you weren’t the
sick one. It took
so
many things, things you never even appreciate when you’re all right.

“Cade, people cope differently. Survival mechanisms kick in and things don’t run so
smoothly. Sometimes we close up and our bodies don’t do what we’d like them to. I
saw you there
every day
. Every day.” She lifted her head and held his gaze in the mirror, which had risen
up in search of hers. “Everybody talked about how … sweet you were. How devoted. I
wished if I ever had a husband, I would have one like you.”

His face twisted. “I couldn’t even make love to my own wife, Ivy.”

She melted for him, stroking her hands soothingly up his taut, muscled back. “But
she knew you loved her, Cade. She had to have known that.” She slid a hand upward
and turned his head sideways until he looked at her. “And I know from experience that
you
do
make love.”

He turned away, his gaze downcast. “I fuck, Ivy. We—just—
fuck
.”

Her heart stuttered for a tiny second, but she wouldn’t let it hurt. She wouldn’t.

This was exactly what she’d signed up for. The only thing she’d allow herself to get.

“If you’re trying to hurt me, it won’t work, Cade. I happen to like the way you fuck
me very much. We’re just playing with each other, right?”

He groaned as he whipped around and snatched her against him, cupping the back of
her head and pressing her jaw to his chest. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize.”

“I’ll go with you.”

“No! You’re too grumpy with my friends.”

“I’ll behave.”

She laughed. “Cade, I’ll be back to say good-bye before I leave Monday. She lives
near my apartment, so I’ll pack my bags and leave straight from here early Monday
morning.”

“No, damn it, I’ll
go
with you. I can see some of my friends when you see yours, and I can sleep at your
place.”

The excitement she felt was so powerful, alarm bells began clinging all around her.
“Cade. You know, we’ve been together too many days and I don’t want to get attached
to you.”