When Cade motioned for me to lead the way, I tried to hide my eye roll. He appeared to be a gentleman with that suit, its tapered fit, and his gold cuff links that matched the large gold ring he wore. I wondered if it was a family one, not that I’d ever ask. We’d never been the type to exchange life stories and we weren’t going to start now.
The Data Security floor of Stonewood Enterprises was sleek. Each large oak office door touted beautiful trim. I knew that trim was hard because of the indentations in my back from when Cade had me pressed up against it. The bruising had faded to the point I thought I could forget how he and I had just fucked in here.
Except as he shut the door behind us, he stepped so close that I had to back up against the door to avoid touching him. One side of his mouth kicked up, like he enjoyed seeing me stumble over myself.
“Scared of something, Izzy?” he whispered against my ear. Instantly, my body reacted, and I shivered before leaning away.
I lifted my chin. “Only that I might have to spend more time with you.”
He chuckled, and the sound held menace—like he was determined to bring me to my knees, but this time my mouth wouldn’t be wrapped around his cock.
I cleared my throat as he turned to walk over to his desk. “Can you explain why my tasks have been moved back to Juda’s list?”
“I can, but I don’t need to.” He shrugged and then pressed a privacy button that fogged his office windows. I watched as the outside world disappeared around us and he sank down into his leather chair, moving a mouse around to wake up the four monitors in front of him as if he was so comfortable at the office he never visited.
Sitting at those monitors was a direct disregard of my presence. I lost sight of him behind the four screens and then he simply kept quiet. Had he forgotten I was in his office? Could I stand here all day and not be a bother to him?
Almost a whole minute passed as I watched him. I literally counted. Shocked at his lack of elaboration—like, no further explanation whatsoever—the awkward silence grew.
Finally, I threw up my hands. “Cade, I didn’t come in here to watch you work.”
“Oh, great. Then you should probably leave.” He cracked his neck to the side and reached for something on his right.
When I saw they were glasses and he slipped them on effortlessly, I couldn’t help but blurt out, “You wear glasses?”
He sighed, closing his eyes for a second before opening them to glare at me. “Izzy, what do you want?”
“You told me to come in here to discuss why you’re changing everything around.” I walked toward his desk in irritation. “You’re never here, but you’re acting like this place doesn’t operate perfectly fine without you.”
“No.” He shook his head, then tapped his temple like I needed to pay attention. “Remember, I said you could come to my office if you wanted to discuss the team further.’’
“I’m not getting into logistics with you. We both know you’re changing everything around when it doesn’t need to be changed.”
“Based on what? Your expertise?”
“Is that a jab at my education?” I think my mouth nearly hit the floor while my blood pressure skyrocketed. This guy had the audacity to go down that road?
“Izzy, I don’t even have the credentials you do. Why you went back to school for a degree in computer analytics is beyond me when you already knew how to hack into government shit in the first place,” he grumbled, rubbing his forehead. “Now, doing your assigned IT troubleshooting job, I’m not so sure about—”
“Are you kidding? I handle my job and other tasks. And I’m good at what I do. Stonewood Enterprises literally threw our team a party because we’re that good.”
“They’re always throwing damn parties. Jett’s been party happy ever since he got married.”
Wow, he had some nerve talking about the guy who owned the company that way. “Look Juda and I have worked in sync—”
“Juda can’t handle the job, and you and I both know it.” Cade cut me off.
“Well, if you believe that you should let me help him so his projects don’t go completely off the rails.”
“Do you do everyone’s job around here, Izzy? Your task list also included a large project from Cassie and—”
“I like to work,” I ground out. “Juda has not once complained about—”
As if on cue, Cade’s AI announced that Juda was calling. Cade didn’t think I was worth passing up his call, obviously, because he said, “I’ll answer.” He waited a moment for a beep and then said, “Juda, I’m still talking with Ms. Hardy.”
Don’t think I didn’t roll my eyes as big as I could before I grumbled, “Now it’s Ms. Hardy.”
“Yes, sir, I’m very aware you’re talking things over with Ms. Hardy. I just wanted to make it clear that I’ve got all this handled. Ms. Hardy has done some great assisting.”
Boy, he must have been sweating in his boots out there, because he damn well knew he’d done none of the work.
“I know. I know. She’s telling me how great you are, Juda, and I’m happy to have you as the team lead.” His tone didn’t make him very believable. “Please remind me what projects Ms. Hardy was assisting you on so I can be sure her workload isn’t too light in IT.”
“Oh.” Juda cleared his throat.
I tapped one stiletto and noted Cade’s eyes were glued to it, like he was absorbing the energy from each tap. He even smiled as Juda tried to brush all my work under the rug.
I didn’t correct him. It wasn’t my job. I really didn’t care if he took credit. I let him finish his ridiculous downplay of my work as I racked my brain for how to navigate this situation. When he mentioned the JUNIPER project, my whole body went rigid.
“She’s done well there. We got that algorithm ironed out very quickly. And the infrastructure we set up for the Chicago PD and the voting system for midterms is ideal for combating their ever-evolving cyber threats.”
“Juda, I’m happy you brought that up,” I said. “I’d love a chance to take that off your plate, if Mr. Armanelli is comfortable with me doing so.”
Cade’s finger now tapped the desk in about the same rhythm as my foot. “Why do you need to take over?” Cade inquired.
“Because I’d like to continue managing those threats. You know my history in undercover work—”
“Is over,” Cade snapped. “You don’t need to do that here.”
“But I want to,” I ground out as I searched his room for the speaker of the phone. “Juda, are you comfortable with that? It will free up some of your time.”
“Juda, you realize this is a big opportunity. We intend to mirror some of the setup for the election cybersecurity. We’ll fly you out to DC to meet the team and—”
“Oh, I think it’s ideal that Izzy takes it, then.”
I smirked when Cade’s brow furrowed. He didn’t get that Juda really had no idea about the project that I’d essentially built from the ground up. JUNIPER was my baby, and I was proud to say it was working out nicely.
Cade’s eyes narrowed. “You’re not interested in the opportunity for a promotion?”
“I think Izzy’s got this one handled,” he grumbled.
Cade’s tapping stopped. He stood from his chair and made his way over to me as he said, “Great, Juda. I’ll iron out the rest of the details with Izzy, then. End call.”
The beep overhead signaled Juda was gone. Cade wasn’t done yet. He walked around me like a snake, ready to coil me up.
“You think you’re winning right now, don’t you?” he snarled. I couldn’t help but smile. “You think you can handle a managerial position? If that’s the case, why have you been taking all of Juda’s work and not standing up for yourself?”
“It’s practice, quite frankly. I needed to know I could do his job. Now I know I can handle his duties as well as my own.”
“There’re calls with management, HR issues, complaints, strategy, not to mention all the other Stonewood bullshit we have to work on.”
“I can handle it.”
“You saying it doesn’t prove it to me.” Yet Cade rubbed his chin like he was thinking about it, like he might give me a shot. Then he pulled his cell from his pocket and sent off a text. “Plus, you’re going to have to prove it to Jett.”
“Jett?” I squeaked. “What does Mr. Stonewood have to do with any of this?”
“He’s not going to let an employee run the security of an election.”
“But it’s your team, and I—”
Of course, it was at that moment that Alice—their version of AI assistant—announced Jett Stonewood calling.
“Either we answer it or we don’t, Izzy.”
I’d barely graduated high school because of juvie, I’d faced one or two pretty bad drug deals, and I’d been held at gunpoint undercover. My life had been full of extreme choices, but for some reason, this one felt heavy, full of weight, and definitely life changing.
I quirked a brow at him. If I was going to get my feet wet, I might as well jump off the boat into the ocean. “Answer it.”
I stood tall as he circled me, and I didn’t falter or shrink.
Cade shrugged when I looked over my shoulder at him, and then he pointed to the knot at my neck where my blouse was tied. “This holding your top up?”
“What’s it matter?” I sneered.
Then I heard, “Cade, what’s going on?” from the man himself. Jett Stonewood had taken over a multibillion-dollar business from his father, invested vastly throughout the world, and partnered with the mob to pretty much rule the United States. I knew that between him and Cade Armanelli, I was about to have probably the most important conversation of my life. He was one of the only trillionaires in the world, and I think he shared half that wealth with the Armanellis.
“I have an employee who’s taking over the Chicago PD infrastructure and the election voting cybersecurity.”
“Does she know there are holes in it?” Jett shot back.
“I’m sure, since it’s her work.” Cade lifted a brow at me like he thought I might fold under the embarrassment and pressure.
I chewed my cheek. It hurt to hear the flaws in my work pointed out. But I could fix them. I was going to take care of them. “I’m aware. I’m working diligently to confirm no breaches will happen this year.”
“You have the knowledge needed?” Jett asked.
It was a question for me, but I waited a beat for Cade to step in and confirm my credentials.
“She’s pretty underqualified,” he said instead.
This jerk.
When my jaw dropped, he took that moment to drag a finger across my neckline towards the bow of my blouse, like he was considering untying it. Instead, he leaned close to whisper into my neck, “Sell yourself because I won’t. I’m not doing you any favors.”
With that, he bit my neck, and I tried my best not to gasp. His hands trailed down my back to my hips, and he pulled me close enough to feel his length—rigid, long, pulsing against me like it had a few nights ago.
He wanted me to fold, to make a fool of myself, to tell his virtual assistant to hang up.
There was no way I was letting him get the best of me.
“Mr. Stonewood, I’ve worked on the infrastructure from the very first day we changed systems. I think the JUNIPER system is great, but I did tweak it because of the information stored there. With more coding, it will be nearly impenetrable, and I believe it will enable us to mirror that level of security on a larger scale in the future.”
“Exactly. This system is linked to the court system of Illinois and the voting—”
“I’m aware they’re all interconnected,” I blurted out. I hated that I wanted to cut the conversation short, but Cade’s tongue was lapping at my neck, and my body quaked with need rather than my mind reacting to the CEO who was addressing something I would have previously given an arm and leg to discuss with him.
Cade grabbed my ponytail and whispered in my ear, “That’s my baby doll. Tell him. And untie the neck of your blouse too.”
Something was wrong with me. I shouldn’t have done it. I shouldn’t have even considered it. Yet my hand went right there as I glared at him. I pulled the string. This was a battle of wills, a way to fight him, control my narrative, and win.
My enemy would not have me surrender here. Even if I was wet for him—and damn it, I was so wet—the breath I took quivered through me. Cade must have noticed because he dipped his finger into my cleavage and dragged it to my nipple under my black lace bra.
“Do elaborate, Ms. Hardy,” Jett commanded in a tone that indicated he didn’t appreciate my bullshit. Like if I had the balls to cut him off, I’d better have the ammunition to back it up.
I did. I was just struggling to breathe and not moan; to pay attention and not spiral into an orgasm. “I set most of them up because Juda had too much on his plate, so I know they are all interconnected.” It was a lie, and I caught Cade rolling his eyes, but I wouldn’t throw my team under the bus. I couldn’t expound further because my pussy was crying out for Cade, so I left it at that.
Cade chuckled, and his hands slid from my breasts to my stomach, then pushed my blouse over my hips to the ground. Next, he was on his knees in front of me. “Ms. Hardy did do most of the setup, Jett. I looked into it,” Cade finally confirmed, smiling up at me.
“And you’re comfortable working with Cade?” Jett asked. He knew Cade was no walk in the park.
I stared down at my archnemesis, a man ready to fuck me in his office but who didn’t believe in me outside of it. This was what I probably couldn’t do. The challenge in his eyes was there, telling me to back down now.
“I do work under Cade, but I don’t know that I’ll need his help on this. Like I said, I just have a few more tweaks for the Illinois—”
“Sure, but we’ll use this for the election,” Jett stated with authority. “We can mirror this code. Cade, you think it’s good enough, right? This is it. If you’re working on the Chicago PD infrastructure, I want you on the election team and flying out to meet them in a week.”
Cade’s hand gripped my nyloned calf tightly all of a sudden. “Not necessary, Jett. I can handle that on my own. Don’t even need a team there for it.”
Jett sniggered. “My point exactly. You want to do it on your own. It seems Ms. Hardy will be able to at least be a team player if you won’t. You two can fly out, meet them, work together to make sure this election doesn’t get hacked. That is, if you’re on board, Ms. Hardy?”
Cade shook his head no at me, but I didn’t have to be told twice to take the opportunity of a lifetime. I glared at Cade and said loudly, “I’d be honored to do that, Mr. Stonewood.”
It was like I shifted one block out of place in his perfect setup; I’d put a chink in his armor, a glitch in his perfect system. He ticked his head to the side and flexed his jaw before his hand started to inch up my thigh at an excruciatingly languid pace, with a glare that would bring most people to their knees.
“Cade, make sure she flies to the capital with you to confirm security and operational voting booths too.”
“Fine,” Cade blurted out. “I’ll update you soon. End call.”
“You’re an asshole.” I shoved his shoulders, but he didn’t budge an inch as he kneeled there, his eyes glued to his hands crawling up my skirt. “I’ll take a separate flight just to be rid of you.”
His fingers reached my panty line, and he rubbed back and forth. My nails dug into that tailored suit, and I hoped they ripped into those pressed shoulders as I hissed. “You scared to spend a little time with me, baby doll?”
“I don’t really know why we’re flying to meet anyone anyway. It can be done remotely.” I whimpered, moving my hips because he was lightly brushing over my pussy, like he wanted to play when I wanted to fuck.
“Jett’s old school. Most people don’t get the computer world like we do. I wouldn’t worry about it. We won’t need you there anyway.”
“Well, Jett just said you did.” I stared down at him.
“Are you always ready to go above and beyond at work?” he asked, perplexed by my work ethic.
I couldn’t tell him I had a mind that wandered if it was idle. I couldn’t let him judge me. “What’s so confusing about a stellar work ethic?”
“Well, for one, I’ve had to stop your poking around for about a year.” He shoved my panties to the side and slid two fingers inside me.
“The fact that you’ve been tracking what I’ve been doing for a year means you go above and beyond for work too.” I bit my lip to keep from moaning as he brought me closer to climax. Our hatred for one another didn’t hold up against my need to get off with him again. I started to think this would be a recurring scenario—something I’d keep going back to if we didn’t put a hard stop to it.
“You didn’t think you could keep that up and get away with it, did you? I think maybe you wanted me to come for you,” he growled.
“Is that why you came back to the office? Because I assure you that didn’t need to happen. I’m not even searching for things anymore. I—” He curled his fingers inside me, and I practically fell onto him as I pulled him closer and swore under my breath.
He shook his head at me like he couldn’t believe he was here either. “I came back to the office for the end-of-year cleanup. Stonewood Enterprises has an early fall party, then we do annual reviews.”
The man had an answer for everything, and this was one that made me feel insignificant and small. Of course we were closing in on the year-end and would need annual reviews. Why hadn’t I thought of that? “Right,” I grumbled.
“Don’t get your panties in a bunch, dollface. You’re not that important. Although, I do enjoy your company this way.” He chuckled.
“Please shut up,” I moaned and pulled my skirt up.
He instantly grabbed my thigh and draped it over his shoulder. “Why? Just want me to fuck you quiet so you can enjoy some good sex finally? It’s what you’ve wanted for a while now, isn’t it?”
God, I hated him. “I wanted nothing to do with you. I was with Gerald and—”
“And completely unhappy and fucking bored. So bored you kept searching for Albanian trafficking and drug raids when you shouldn’t have been.”
“I could help if I had more information regarding—”
“Do your job, Izzy. Not someone else’s,” he murmured before burying his face in my pussy.
“Fine.” I dragged out the word. “You know, sometimes it doesn’t hurt to exceed expectations.” The world kept spinning because people pushed their limits, not because they did the bare minimum.
“Don’t try. Just do,” he growled as he nipped my thigh, then went back to licking me where I was so wet, I could hear him tasting me.
There was no arguing with a man who took such good care of you, you were about to scream in an office. “Cade, this is really not a place where we should be doing this. Is the door locked?”
Instead of answering, he spun me so my ass hit his desk, then lifted me onto it, never removing his tongue. He lapped at me like he’d been starved and bit my clit when I started to protest again.
It was a futile attempt at best. I wanted that orgasm, was chasing it now. With him, I raced toward a different sort of high. I’d known addiction, known chemical alterations of the mind. This type of adrenaline—the fear of getting caught mixed with primal need—was the human body creating a drug on its own, one of the most highly addictive out there.
I clawed at his scalp, tried to push him further into my center, wanting to feel all of him between my legs. His masterful tongue rolled and flicked over my bundle of nerves. He was the enemy who delivered passion, the one I’d hated for a year now, but who was finally giving me something other than irritation and pain.
“Cade, please. Fuck me. Please, please, please.” I’d never begged Gerald like this, never wanted a man more than Cade. The line between loathing and lust had become paper-thin.
He hummed against my folds, and the sound vibrated up my spine, spreading an awareness through me that this man could ruin me if I was this turned on by just this. “I shouldn’t give you the satisfaction of fucking you on my desk when you can’t follow simple rules.”
I’d forgotten what we were talking about and murmured, “What?”
“You won’t try to do anything while working directly with me, you understand?” Cade said as he unbuckled his belt and pulled it slowly from his trousers, one loop after another. The leather slid out seamlessly as I watched it, intrigued suddenly by how he wound it up into a ball. “You’ll listen, right, dollface?”
I worked my lip between my teeth as we both stared at that ball of leather. He brought it up to my clit and pressed it against me.
I shuddered at the friction as he began to move it there. We both watched as he dipped it low enough to collect my arousal and then brushed it back against my clit, making me moan.
“Izzy, answer the question.” The command fell from his lips pointedly. “You’ll listen?”
I was past playing games and wanted to get off so bad that I nodded.
“Say ‘Yes, Mr. Armanelli.’ We need to establish the boss-employee relationship early. If you travel with me, people are going to have to know you’re not my fuck toy and that I’d never be with you. They need to know we’re only working together.”
I didn’t ever want to be with him, but why did him not wanting to be seen as my boyfriend hurt? “I highly doubt anyone would think that the recluse genius hacker who’s part of a mob family is dating someone like me.”
His hand inched up as I talked, like he wasn’t listening. His pupils dilated, his gaze changed, his grip on my thigh tightened. “If they did, we’d change the narrative online anyway. The internet writes the news.”
“So no worries, then.” I rolled my eyes.
“You still haven’t said, ‘Yes, Mr. Armanelli.’”
“I’m not going to either.” I crossed my arms, ready to defy him.
“Good.” He smiled, unraveling the belt quickly. With a flick of his wrist, the end of it hit my center, causing a zing to fly through every part of my body.
Pain was subjective, and here it felt more like pleasure. I gasped, “What the fuck, Cade?”
“You listen and you get rewarded. You don’t, you get punished. You can ride my belt all you want, but when you don’t obey me, I’ll discipline you.” He leaned forward, mouth so close to mine that I could have taken his lips if I wanted. “Remember that, Izzy.”
“I don’t think I’ll be working for you for long, then,” I murmured, getting lost in the way he held my gaze captive. My body ached for him, and I knew that wasn’t a good sign. I blamed it on Gerald, on the fact that I’d gone without sex and excitement for months while he traveled and screwed someone else. “And this will be the last time between us. I can scratch an itch like this with someone else.”
“Sure you can,” he murmured as he finally stood back up, pulled out his cock, and positioned himself between my legs. I felt the head of his cock and that cool metal piercing spreading my folds, reminding me of how big he was and how my body longed to fit around him, to mold to him. “They won’t scratch it like I do, though, and you’ll come crawling back, begging for me to take your breath away again. But, sure, this will only happen one last time.”
“Should I thank you?” I asked him, voice full of condescension.
“You probably are going to want to.” He chuckled, then his tone sobered. “Tap my wrist twice if it’s too much, got it?”
Before I could even tell him to elaborate, his hand shot out to grip my neck. He cut off my oxygen and made me wheeze for air.
I clawed at his wrist, but I didn’t tap. I wouldn’t. If this was the game, I was going to win.
He tsked at my futile effort. “This is my breath now, baby doll.” He thrust inside me, bottoming out balls deep on the first one. The large oak desk may have moved. I couldn’t even gasp, but he saw how I arched, how I bit my lip in bliss, and he squeezed my neck even harder. “And I get to control when you breathe, when you feel, when you see stars, or when you see darkness.”
His other hand worked my clit, rolling it hard and fast as he thrust in and out while ravaging my neck. And I got closer and closer to those stars while nearing the black hole of passing out from lack of air.
Cade wasn’t a gentle lover. He wasn’t even a lover, really. He was just the guy fucking me into a different sort of universe than I’d ever experienced. His cock alone—so rigid, thick, and long—would have done that on its own. Yet he’d brought in breath play, he’d whipped my clit before working it, and he expected me to take each hard thrust with vigor.
I hated that I did, that I wanted him more than any other man before. My body worked to stay conscious, to meet him thrust for thrust, more concerned with an orgasm than taking another breath.
“Fuck.” He swore low as he ripped his hand from my neck and planted both of them on the desk right behind me to give himself more leverage so he could fuck me harder.
Gasping for air, I gripped the front of his shirt and tightened my pussy around him as I came. The rush of oxygen back into my lungs pushed me over the edge. He muffled my scream and let out a string of Italian as he emptied himself into me.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” he muttered as he hung his dark head of hair onto my shoulder. “You’re flirting with passing out, love. You’re not careful enough.”
I didn’t respond, just gulped in more air. We both stayed where we were for what felt like forever. He didn’t even pull his cock from me. It was like he wanted it to stay buried there. When he finally lifted his head, those eyes of his weren’t burning whiskey this time. They were warm like a light coffee that could wake you up and make you want to plow through the day together.
He searched my face and then traced one finger over my mouth. “You have lips made for sinning, Izzy.”
I rolled them between my teeth and gently pushed him away. He didn’t fight me but exited my center slowly, pulling my skirt down with him. I shouldn’t have let him do even that, but I watched how his hands smoothed the fabric, how he brought his hand underneath to slide my panties back into place, and his touch was as light as a feather.
He took a step back to look me over as he tucked himself into his trousers. “I’m not kidding about the breath play.”
I shrugged. “I’m fine.” I was better than fine. I was satiated like I’d never been before.
“Next time—”
“There won’t be a next time, remember?” I hopped off the desk. We were colleagues, not fuck buddies.
We both needed to draw a line, and this was it. Especially with upcoming trips together, with a team relying on us, with one of the biggest corporations depending on me.
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.
