Cade, page 9
Cade followed, roaring out his own climax before dropping back down to his elbows, holding his weight off of her. They were both breathing hard and heavy, a slick layer of sweat covering them both.
She thought he would roll away from her now, sated and sleepy, but in yet another unexpected moment from this man, he only lowered himself beside her. With one arm, he pulled her back up against him, tucking her next to him and pulling the covers over them.
April drifted off to sleep without reminding herself this wasn’t real. She didn’t think about the fact that she should shower or pull away from this fantasy. Instead, she slept on, feeling safe and protected in his arms.
Chapter Sixteen
Cade
Cade stood in his boxers, drinking coffee in their small kitchen of the hotel room, trying to figure out what happened. All he knew was he woke up naked next to April and scrambled from the bed. They’d had sex. He knew it to his core, but he couldn’t remember shit.
Figured that the first time they slept together, he wouldn’t even know if either one of them enjoyed it. Did she hate him? She was still in bed, so maybe it wasn’t too bad. He just hoped that he had taken care of her before himself in his drunken state.
She’d locked herself in the bathroom for so long last night that he’d opened the bottle of bourbon that Ryker had given him as a wedding present and proceeded to get drunk. Only he wasn’t that drunk at first. Then he’d passed out. His last memory was him fighting to keep his eyes open and slowly losing the battle.
He didn’t want to wake her, so he’d partially closed the door when he left the room, leaving it open enough to look in and see she was still in bed. She could sleep all day if she wanted. They were on no timeframe right now.
There was the matter of the generous gift of a honeymoon from his friends to settle, though. They probably would not go. First, he didn’t know if she even had a passport, and second, he had something planned already.
His phone rang loudly, and he dropped it in his haste to answer. Snatching it off the floor, he pressed answer without noting who the caller was, only seeking to stop the ringing before it work April.
“This is Cade,” he said into the phone.
“How many times must I tell you to stop answering the phone like that?” his father’s voice came through.
“Shit,” Cade didn’t even bother to whisper it. This was a call he hadn’t wanted to take today.
“I heard that you have been up to something. I was clear about what needed to happen, Cade.” The menace is his tone was almost palpable.
“I did what you asked. I got married and am working on the baby part,” Cade tried to sound flippant.
“That was not who you were supposed to marry. There is no advantage to that match and you damn well know it,” he raged.
“You never said there had to be. You told me to get married and have an heir,” Cade reminded him.
“It was implied. You’re playing games, son, and I am not to be played with.”
“Don’t call me son. I stopped being a son to you a long time ago. I did what you asked. Now, slink off into oblivion and leave us all alone.”
“Get your ass down to the courthouse and annul that marriage right now, before anyone finds out.”
Cade smiled to himself. “Can’t. Plus, I had photos sent to the paper to make sure everyone knew this morning.”
“No one cares if you fucked her. Just say you didn’t. It’s Vegas, no one cares. Get this fixed now.” He skipped the announcement a bit, clearly choosing not to hear it.
“Why don’t you tell me where you are and we can talk man to man? Frankly, at this point I am sick of being threatened by a voice with no body to it. Until then, you can kiss my ass.”
Cade ended the call and dropped his phone on the counter. He needed to do that a long time ago instead of putting up with this shit for this long. He felt like he could finally breathe again and knew part of it was the woman in the other room.
Glancing over, he didn’t see her anymore. She’d gotten up and some point during the call, hopefully before she listened to too much of it.
“April?” Cade asked, going in search of the room for her.
“Just a minute,” she called from the bathroom.
He was damn tired of her hiding in that bathroom from him. Half the time they’d spent in this room, she’d hidden in there.
“Sorry,” she stepped out, a little breathless, but dressed with her face washed and teeth brushed.
Cade smiled at her. He might not remember shit from last night, but she wasn’t acting like a woman whose man put his needs before her own. Pushing his luck, he took a step forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
“Did you sleep okay?” He asked, pulling her in against his bare chest.
She nodded against him. “I think so.”
“We aren’t in a rush. Do you want to hang out here today?” Cade offered. It was what he wanted. No need to interrupt what was going so well.
Before she could answer, his phone rang again. He stepped away from April and stormed into the other room, grabbing it off the counter. To his surprise, it wasn’t his father again. This time, it was Evan.
He answered with a smile. “Anyone ever tell you not to bother people on their honeymoon?”
“I wish I was just bothering you,” Evan sounded serious.
Cade walked back into the room, sitting on the edge of the bed and patting the space next to him, hoping April would join him. “What’s wrong?”
“Someone started a fire in the alley last night next to the restaurant. Nothing is damaged, but it definitely was a threat that they could do more if they wanted. It was deliberate, the police said.”
“What the fuck?” Cade demanded. “Let me call you back.” He hung up on his friend and turned to April.
“What’s wrong?” Her eyes were wide as her hand came up to rest on his arm.
“Unfortunately, we need to go. Seems people are up to their old tricks again. I’m going to have to cut the whole trip short. Sorry.”
He left her sitting there and went to his suitcase, tossing it on the bed. April moved around the room, getting her things together. In less than half an hour, the plane was ready, and they were closing their bags.
April hadn’t said a word as he fumed. He couldn’t even find the words to try to fix things with her. He had tried to call his father’s bluff and that his father had proven he wasn’t bluffing. It was a dangerous game, one Cade was currently losing at.
He was working on his phone in the car on the way to the airport. Despite knowing that he needed to acknowledge April, he couldn’t bring himself out of this situation and talk to her. Working quickly was important here, as he had Ryker’s man looking for his father.
Cade didn’t care where his mother was. If she was involved in this, then it was at his father’s insistence. He just needed to find his father and put an end to all this once and for all. The man had money in so many places, probably under aliases, and it was making things hard.
Not once had they caught up to them. They could have been in the same place for the last six months and Cade wouldn’t know it. Shit, they could be down the street. Which begs the question of who he had reporting back to him what was going on.
His marriage wasn’t a secret, people knew, but it hadn’t gone public yet. Something that his father would be pissed about when it did. Cade wasn’t taking it back, though. He’d done as he’d been told. His father was just pissed that he’d been outsmarted. The man would just have to get over it.
Cade helped April onto the plane, but outside of a few words here and there, they hadn’t spoken still. As they buckled in, Cade leaned forward and rested one hand on her knee.
“We will be home shortly,” he told her.
April just nodded and turned her head to look out the window. He let her be and went back to his phone, working just as diligently to find his father as he could. She didn’t realize it, but by marrying him she was at more risk that all of his friends, which meant he’d really fucked up.
Now his only goal was to find a way not to need to admit that to her and solve this situation before it blew up on him. April hadn’t asked him what was going on, probably knowing he wouldn’t answer, so for now, it was on only him to solve it.
She sniffed a few times, and Cade wondered if she was crying. He shrugged it off. Surely there was no way that she was in tears right there beside him. It wasn’t until they landed and he went to help her stand that he realized she had been in tears.
“April,” he started. He didn’t get any further before his phone rang again. “Shit. One second.”
Stepping away from her, he put the phone to his ear.
“Fix it,” his father demanded. “I know you’re looking for me and it won’t change a damn thing. Fix this mess you made now and marry the right woman.”
“I did exactly what you asked, and that’s just going to have to be enough. I will figure out where you are, I guarantee it.”
His father’s dark laugh came through the phone. “No. You won’t. Not until I want you to know where I am.”
The call ended and Cade punched at the air, pissed. “Let’s go,” he said to April, way more harshly than he needed to. She flinched at his tone, and Cade cursed again. When would anything go right in his life again?
Chapter Seventeen
April
No honeymoon was in their future, with no explanation forthcoming. She had spent the rest of the weekend directing people where to put her things as she settled into Cade’s home.
What had started out as a great wedding day had dissolved into the coldness she had expected in less than 24 hours. Cade was distant, engrossed in his phone, and hadn’t spoken much.
She had also been moved into a spare room next to his. They were not going to live as man and wife behind closed doors, and April had to shove the disappointment down as far as she could.
Nothing had changed about their arrangement because they’d had sex. Even if it was the best sex of her life. The only person to blame for the feelings she’d let back out after so long dormant was herself. She knew what she was signing up for and despite her better judgement, she’d agreed to it.
This morning, she had decided to go back to work. Sitting around idle wasn’t in her nature, and she really wasn’t going to do it in Cade’s house. She hadn’t seen him before she left, so she’d sent a text letting him know where she’d be.
Settling back into the monotony of her job after a few days away was just a reminder that she needed to find something else to do. Maybe after this contract marriage was over, she could job hunt more seriously, especially with a child.
Her mind wandered to what that child would look like and how much her life would change when she had a baby. Working at this pace was definitely not doable and she wouldn’t want someone else to raise her child for her like so many people in her office did.
“I’m surprised to see you back so soon,” Mark appeared at her desk.
April pasted on her best work smile and looked away from the contract she’d been typing. “You know how it is. Work wasn’t going to wait, so we will have to honeymoon another time.”
“Yes. It’s important that you both understand that. It will help you go far. I did hear that your husband is in the building, though. I suppose non-working lunches and early days will be a new thing to expect from you…” he trailed off.
Cade was here? That was news to her. “Unlikely to be a regular thing, I assure you. It’s just all so new right now,” she told him.
“Yes, well. I did plan on not having you here, so I suppose shorter days for the next week will make sense.” He practically choked on his own words.
“April?” Cade’s voice interrupted anything she was going to say.
“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Hawkins,” Mark stuck out his hand for Cade to shake.
She watched him closely to see if he would let on any sense of disapproval of the man. For some stupid reason, she wanted him not to like Mark either. Cade didn’t flinch, unfortunately, as he greeted him and took his hand. She was rewarded slightly when he discreetly wiped his hands on his pants after letting go.
“April, I know we didn’t discuss it, but I was hoping we could cut out early today for dinner since our honeymoon was cut short?” he asked, but she knew it wasn’t really a question, if Cade was here he wanted something.
Dinner? What time was it? She looked over at the clock and noticed it was already past five. “I think that’s a wonderful idea.”
She placed her computer in her bag and grabbed the few things she had as Mark and Cade chatted, completely ignoring her.
“Ready?” Cade asked, taking her laptop bag from her.
He must have been paying some attention to her because she’d only just turned around with it and began to stand. “Yep,” she said with a forced happiness.
“I will see you tomorrow?” Mark asked.
“That’s the plan,” she answered.
Cade was by her side the moment she’d stepped from behind her desk. His hand was on the small of her back as he led her out of the office and to the elevator.
“I don’t like him much,” Cade mumbled. “I didn’t care for him on the phone, but in person, even less.”
“You hid it well,” she told him.
“Yes, I’m good at that.”
When he said nothing else, she let the conversation drop. The ride to the ground floor was silent. No one joined them and she wondered if they somehow knew who was on the elevator and gave him special treatment. Not that it was possible, but it still felt like it.
“We can take my car. Cade led her out the front door of the building. We will have someone else come back for yours later.”
April didn’t reply. What was there to say that would matter? She didn’t care about the car, so she slid into the backseat of the waiting car that Cade had led her to. He took the seat next to her and closed the door. In less than a minute, the car was moving.
“While it’s just us, I wanted to bring you this to review.” He handed her a folder.
April opened it and skimmed the contents. It was the contract for their marriage with more lucrative terms than they’d discussed.
“Cade, this is too much,” she started to hand it back.
He held up a hand, stopping her. “Put it in your bag and read through it later. As long as nothing is less than we agreed to, just sign it and I’ll have copies made for you.”
She nodded and did as he asked. She’d tried to tell him it was too much, but if he didn’t care, then maybe she shouldn’t argue. Money wasn’t going to heal her broken heart at the end of all this, but it would help her and the baby while she looked for a new job.
“What’s for dinner?” April asked, changing the subject.
Cade explained about a restaurant that she’d never been to. When he realized that, she got a long spiel on the menu and what was good to eat there. She had no real preferences, so told him to order for her.
It was easier to defer to him, but she also had a feeling she didn’t want to look at the menu. While she’d never been there, she knew what it was, and she didn’t want to see the prices. It was crazy expensive, and she didn’t want to know how much the meal cost that she was about to eat. It went against everything in her to spend a few hundred dollars on one meal.
They had greeted several people on the way to their table that Cade knew. A few she recognized from the news or magazine covers, but no one she personally would have spoken to if it weren’t for Cade.
Dinner itself was very good. They made small talk over the meal and the food was delicious. They had a few people stop at their table to meet Cade’s new wife, but overall, an easy affair. The walk out was similar to the one end, meeting new people until they made it back to the car.
“I thought it would be good to get out and announce our marriage in person,” Cade explained in the car.
“I hope I did okay, then,” she told him.
“Of course you did.” Cade looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “It was a test, April. It was just letting people know that we are married and we needed to eat, too. I’m sorry that we didn’t get to honeymoon, but you didn’t have to go back to work.”
He changed subjects so quickly. “I don’t want to sit around and do nothing.”
“Fair enough. Tomorrow, take the car service. I know it may not be what you’re used to, but it is safer and if anything ever changes in your day, you can call them at any moment.” Cade looked out the window instead of at her when he spoke.
“Okay.” This wasn’t a hill she was going to die on. Not driving around the city made her life easier, no arguments from her.
They pulled up in front of Cade’s house and he stepped out first before reaching back to give her a hand. Her bags were already being grabbed by the driver, so she followed Cade into the house.
“Let me know if you have any issues with the contract. I would like to get that settled as soon as possible.” Cade dropped her hand as they made it in the house.
“Sure,” April answered. She waited for the driver to set her bags down and then picked them up and headed for the stairs.
“I didn’t think to create an office space for you. I can clear some space in my office if you’d like to share. We can also use one of the spare rooms upstairs. Just let me know what you want to do, and I’ll make sure it gets done.”
She nearly laughed at him. He’d been in her apartment, she didn’t have one there, wasn’t worried about it now. “I’m good. I may post up in your living room sometimes, though.”
“Whatever you need,” he told her. He looked like he wanted to say something, but shook his head instead. “I’ll see you in the morning unless you need anything?”
April shook her head. “I’m pretty tired, actually. I’ll look over your contract and then probably go to sleep.”
