Corrupted Chaos (Tarnished Empire)(51)

“This hoodie his?”

It was a simple question, but then I felt the metal of that blade. It’d cooled in the fall air and sent goose bumps along my neck where it lay, right at the V of the material. When I didn’t answer fast enough, Cade swiftly pulled one side of the fabric up and brought his blade down the middle of it. It cut fast, almost effortlessly.

He’d sliced it all the way down so it hung on me like a cardigan. “Cade! What the hell?” I grabbed both sides of it and wrapped it around myself.

“Do you enjoy messing with my head?”

“I’m not messing with your head,” I practically stuttered, confused.

“I’m not going to stare at a woman I fuck on another man’s lap.”

“You fucked me. Past tense.”

“Wanna bet, dollface?” he growled in my ear. “Lose the skirt.”

“I only have a bikini on under this.”

“You’ll be losing that too.”





14





Cade





I’d started to believe there would never be a last time with Izzy.

I’d watched her all day instead of working. I’d tried to call my brother so he could talk me off the ledge and get me back to work. Instead, he’d told me to go mingle with the damn employees. No one understood I was trying to remain the last single Armanelli. I was trying to do us a favor.

Because I wasn’t a good man unleashed.

Rodney had looked her way more than once that afternoon. I’d peeked out of the window to see her sucking on candy canes with her best friend, whom I also envied, even though I could tell their relationship was only friendly. I didn’t want any man around her now.

Especially not one who’d put his sweatshirt on her. Fuck me.

She’d sat there in another man’s dark hoodie, and I knew right then and there I’d destroy it. I ripped it from her body and threw it into the dirt.

“I want to see that green on you while I fuck you next to this fire,” I murmured, trying to cover up that I hated his clothes on her. It was more than obvious, though. She knew that. It was fucking personal and sexual and territorial when you slipped your clothing on someone else. I was also aware that another woman wearing jewelry around her that I’d bought was unacceptable if she felt for me how I felt for her. It’d be something I’d have to remedy later.

“Cade, if someone comes out here—”

“They’ll know you belong to me on this retreat. They need to know that anyway.” I wiggled her ass so that my cock was between her cheeks and took my time dragging my knife over her bikini. “As a matter of fact, maybe we lose the bikini, huh?”

Her skin was damp, and so close to the fire, she glowed with a sheen of sweat. I watched goose bumps form on her skin as I trailed my knife to the edge of her green bottoms.

“You lose my bikini, I walk back to the cabin nude,” she pointed out.

“Good point,” I murmured before I slid the tip of the knife along her bikini line before pushing the fabric to the side, letting the metal come to rest right next to her clit. My blade was sharp, the point dangerous. I made sure to sharpen it every year, not because I ever thought I would need it, but because I liked it.

It was even more rewarding seeing the use I had for it here and now. The metal glinted in the moonlight as I moved it inch by inch back up her stomach to her bikini top and then I moved those little triangles to the sides too, letting her nipples pop out, erect, ready to be pinched and sucked by only me.

“Perfect,” I murmured before dragging the knife to her neck. Her hazel eyes held fire as she glanced up at me. “Now, you’re at my complete mercy.”

She smiled, and it reached all the way to her eyes, like this was where she belonged, and she’d never say otherwise. “Do you like what you see, Cade? Feel free to enjoy the view. If someone comes out here, though, everyone’s going to enjoy the view of my pussy too.”

She thought I cared about my job, about our reputations, as I growled and stuck my knife in the dirt next to us. I only cared that people would get to see her vulnerable, see what I was starting to think was mine.

I ran my hands up to her breasts. Then I pulled her back into my chest so she could rest her body over me while I took in the woman who was on the cusp of bringing me to my knees. “Why did you share that story with everyone tonight?”

“My tattoo story?” She shrugged like she didn’t want to talk about it, a nonverbal indicator that she wanted to indulge in an easy fuck with me again. Then her hands were over mine, kneading her tits through them. “I don’t know, Cade. Who cares?”

This one wouldn’t be as easy.

I’d listened to her honest answer as I walked toward the fire, and it stopped me cold in my tracks. God himself couldn’t have made me move as I listened, as I heard she’d tattooed my callous words on her ribs. Didn’t she know I’d said them to protect her? And now, she must have realized I respected her work ethic and who she was more than I did most. Right?

Getting lost in the trance of my words on her skin, I sought out the writing. My hand dragged to her side to find the ink, and I rubbed back and forth over the lettering. “I didn’t say it to hurt you, Izzy.”

She sighed. “Yes you did. You wanted me off the team. And it’s fine—”