All In (21 page)

“That’s it?” Maddox asked. “I can’t believe that’s it.”

“That’s it for now. I don’t know that I believe she’ll truly try to stay out of it, but I think we understand each other,” Cass tried to explain.

“So we’re okay?”

“What’s with everyone thinking I was walking out of this meeting today with a black cloud of doom over me? Of course we’re okay!” Cass bit out. What the hell? Did everyone think she was that weak? She was too busy getting tied up in her own head to let anyone else in to mess it up.

But it was Maddox’s next sigh that melted her anger. “I’m sorry, Cass. I didn’t think…I’m just so-“

“Mad, I love you. You know how hard that is for me to say, let alone to allow myself to feel? Do you think I’m going to let her ruin this for us? The meeting went well. I’ve analyzed every nook and cranny of our discussion. I’m examining all the angles of her being so nice. I just want to end the night with you and me. Not you and me and your ex-wife, okay?”

His soft laugh wound its way around her heart. “I love you, too.”

“So, where are you now? I thought you had a cocktail reception?”

Maddox groaned. “I’m at the cocktail reception. I stepped away to check on my baby girl.”

“Who’re you talking to, love?” A faint woman’s purr came from the background. “You’re being neglectful, and you owe me some fun.”

“Cass-“ Maddox stuttered. “Hold on.”

“Cecily, I’m on the phone. I’ll see you back inside.” Cass could hear Maddox dismiss the woman, but it didn’t stop her heart from sinking. She was already wound up from dealing with Marissa, and now she was dealing with some bitch hitting on her man.

The sultry-voiced woman continued, “Babe, you have some serious groveling to do. I mean, I practically jerk you off, and you blow me off? I expect more from someone so sexy. Just hang up and let’s get out of here.”

Disconnected.

What?

She was going to kill him. Absolutely kill him. Tears, fat and hot pooled in her eyes. Panicked breaths came fast and quick. She was hyperventilating. This couldn’t be happening. He’d just told her he loved her. He’d said he was all in. And she knew who Cecily was. Maddox was in New York to meet with her company. She knew he’d have to schmooze with the executives, including the gorgeous Cecily Porter. She’d never thought he’d…

Oh, God.

The phone lit up.

Maddox.

No. She didn’t want to know. She sent it to voicemail. She knew it was so immature, but she just couldn’t.

The text flashed on the screen.
Please. Answer. It’s not what you think. Please.

The next time the call came through, she answered.

“Cass, please, baby girl. I’m here. I’m with you. I swear.”

Cass hiccuped.

“She was talking about weeks ago. The cocktail reception. She…well, you know what almost happened. She was pissed, because I never called her to go to dinner. I swear. Nothing happened today. Nothing will happen today. I love you. I want to be with you. Only you.” Maddox’s voice rose with desperation, and she knew she should stop him. She should be calm and mature and accept what he was saying, but that stupid insecurity had it’s grip tight around her.

“I just can’t right now, Maddox,” she choked out.

“Baby girl, please,” he pleaded.

“Call me tomorrow when you get home.”

“Cass…”

“Please, don’t. Give me until tomorrow,” she pleaded.

“Okay. Until tomorrow. But call me if you need me. Please, Cass. Just don’t…don’t overthink this. She’s old news. You’re all I want. Okay?”

“Goodnight, Maddox,” she whispered as tears continued to stream down her face.

“I love you,” he said just as she hung up.

She knew she should be mature and let it go. She would let it go. She would will herself to let the whole thing go and not let the doubt seep in and poison what she felt for Maddox. But she couldn’t make him feel better and fight this creeping weed of self-hatred that was strangling her at the same time.

Maddox was right. She was prone to overthinking things. Of course Cecily was hot and sexy, but so were half the women around them. If Maddox wanted to tap some hot ass, he could get that just as easily at home. There were tons of women who wanted to be on Maddox Paul’s arm, and they’d do anything to be there. It wasn’t like she’d been blind to what happened between Maddox and Cecily at the cocktail reception. Hell, half the room knew. Cecily wasn’t exactly discreet as she made her way from man to man, and of course Cass had always had her eyes on Maddox. Plus, it wasn’t like Cass and Maddox were public. They couldn’t be. So it’s not like Cecily would know…and she trusted Maddox.

She really did. He’d never given her any reason to not trust him, and she was letting her insecurities have too much control. If he said nothing happened, nothing happened.

Cass grabbed her phone.

C: I love you, too.

M: I left the cocktail reception.

C: I didn’t ask you to do that. You had business there.

M: I know. Business was done, and I just needed to be alone.

C: I trust you
.

There was a long pause. Should she have trusted him? Her heart sunk again.

M: I don’t know what to say to that.

C: Just tell me you love me, too, and that you’ll be home tomorrow.

M: I love you, too. And I’ll be home tomorrow, baby girl. And I’m hoping you’ll be there waiting.

C: Always.

I
will not buy
her flowers.

I will not buy her that necklace.

I will not buy her that book.

Maddox had made his way through the airport and the cab ride convincing himself that he shouldn’t buy her any presents. It made him appear guilty when he wasn’t. He knew Cass had her issues, and she had every right to be concerned. Maddox Paul came with a huge reputation for being a ladies’ man.

But the thing was, it was just a reputation. He didn’t cheat on women. He wasn’t always screwing around with one woman at a time, but he’d never lied or made them promises. He was honest when he’d had multiple partners. He’d been cheated on once, and even though he wasn’t in love with Marissa, the feeling of betrayal still pierced his heart.

So, it took him a second to understand Cass’ freakout. He made sure he didn’t hang up so she could hear him tell Cecily to back off and go back to the party. He wanted her to hear him tell her that nothing was going to happen. So he didn’t realize she hadn’t heard a thing because Cecily had hung up his phone when she reached for it.

He’d wanted to be mad when she wouldn’t let him explain, and he had been at first. Then fear took root. Lately Cass’ voices were finally calming down. She seemed more relaxed, at ease with their relationship. She’d told him she loved him, and that was opening herself up wide. Cass didn’t tell men she loved them. Hell, she wasn’t sure she’d ever really been in love. She’d said so herself. It would have been so easy for doubt to take over and make her question her openness.

So he stood in front of her door and sighed. No gift in hand. Nothing but him and his suitcase and a million apologies. He didn’t know why he felt this immense need to apologize, but he did. It wasn’t like he had done anything wrong. He hadn’t heard Cecily approach until she was grabbing the phone from his good ear, and…

Maddox ran his hand through his hair before knocking on the door. His heart raced at the sound of locks unlatching and sank when he stared at the woman in the doorway.

Cass’ eyes were red and puffy, her pink cheeks blotchy. She’d been crying for God knows how long.

“Cass-“ The words were knocked away as she lunged at him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He paused a second before he wrapped his arms around her and backed her up into her apartment.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered into his chest, and his heart constricted. “I trust you. I do. I want you to know that.”

“I know. It’s okay,” he repeated over and over. He did know. She loved him, and that was scary—for both of them. “I didn’t know she was there, and then-“

He pushed her to arms length and looked her in the eye. “I know my past is hard. It is what it is, Cass, and I wish I could change that for you. I wish I could’ve been that good guy you deserve. I wasn’t. But I can be now. And know that I will never, ever cheat on you.”

Her red-rimmed eyes, wide and dry, looked up at him, and softened. She reached up a hand that he thought was going to stroke his cheek, and instead pulled him in for a scorching kiss that had him panting in seconds. His discomfort as his dick strained against his pants was rapidly relieved by Cass’ quick work on his zipper. “All…of…it…off.” She demanded between kisses, and he obliged.

Maddox wasn’t to be outdone by her need for him, as his own lust was pulsing through him. He yanked her sweatshirt over her head before pulling down her yoga pants and underwear in one move. Before she could take another breath, his fingers were between her legs stroking her clit, and the glorious mewling sounds coming from Cass drove him crazy.

“I need you, Cass. I need to be inside you. Now,” Maddox groaned into her neck as her hand gripped his length.

“I need you inside me. Now,” she breathed, and in one swift motion he hoisted her up and thrust into her wet entry. His pace frantic as he couldn’t seem to take enough of her in.

“Oh, God,” she cried, her walls clenched around him. Yeah, he felt it, too. “Fuck, Mad, I’m going to-“

“Not yet. Not yet,” he moaned, and slowed his tempo. “I want all of you,” he whispered into her neck, pulling out and grabbing her hand, leading her to the bedroom. When he reached the edge of the bed, he swung her around and crashed into her lips.

“I love you, Cassidy Moore,” he sighed as he entered her once more. Long, languid strokes this time. He wanted to savor her. The throaty sound she made when he took her nipple in his mouth and slowly increased his suction warmed him. He reached down to where they were connected and his finger played with that swollen bud of nerves, prompting a multitude of moans that sung to his libido.

“Maddox!” She screamed as she tumbled over the edge, and it took only a few more pumps for him to follow.

“I love you, too, Maddox Paul,” she whispered into his chest as he pulled her trembling body close.

“You okay?” he asked, rubbing her arm. Her skin was so soft, like silk against his rough hands. He knew was asking her a loaded question, but she was shaking so much, and he’d obviously walked in after she’d had a long night of crying.

“I will be. I mean, you can’t expect me to bounce back after that. You have a way of exhausting a girl,” she laughed, and the lovely sound bouyed his heart and made him pull her tighter. If she was laughing, things were already getting better.

“You know I need to shower,” he kissed her head. “Then dinner, maybe?”

“Dinner sounds good. I’m starving. I haven’t eaten-“ she stopped, and Maddox knew what she was going to say. She hadn’t eaten today. She hadn’t eaten, because she was worried. He kissed her head.

“Well, then I’d better hop to it. I have plans for us tonight, and you’ll need your energy,” he pulled out and relished her gasp as he rand a finger through her slit. “This was only the start.”

* * *

A
nd what a start it was
. Maddox didn’t let Cass go until she came twice more. After which they gorged on a large pizza and guzzled several glasses of wine. He couldn’t keep his hands from roaming over her, desperate for physical contact.

“Sweetcakes, if you keep squeezing me like that, we’re going to have a pizza repeat,” Cass laughed, pushing him off and falling backward onto the couch. “I’m going to burst.”

He chuckled as he leaned forward and kissed her exposed belly button.

“Stop!” she giggled, smacking his face before wriggling over and snuggling up against him, sighing as he wrapped his arms around her.

He closed his eyes, relishing the contentment from his full stomach combined with the comfortable warmth of her fingers circling his chest. For the first time in his life, he found himself completely at ease, realizing that this was what life was about. This was what his parents had. His heart felt full, and here he was holding the woman filling it. No way was he going to let her go.

“
T
hat’s quite
the shit-eating grin,” Lo teased, sliding into her seat across the booth from Cass. “What’s the dealie?”

“It’s done.”

“Done?”

“Yep,” Cass nodded as she took a bite out of the mozzarella stick she had ordered while waiting for Lo.

“Done, huh?” Lo grabbed her own stick and smothered it in sauce. “When’s the presentation?”

“Tuesday.”

“He going to be there?”

“Yep.”

“And she’s going to be there?”

“Yep?”

“And yet you’re smiling?”

“Yep.”

“Because…”

Cass’ eyes sparkled. “Because it’s finally going to be done. We’re getting through this, into the home stretch, and she’ll finally be out of our lives. She won’t be something between us. Instead she’ll just be a blip on the radar of our journey. We’ll prove to Phil that he can’t play games, because the design is fucking gorgeous, and it’s going to send the company’s reputation into the stratosphere.”

Lo laughed. “Well, that’s not much to be happy about at all.”

“Lo, it’s been months of her lurking in the background. Of me always being on my toes when I’m there with her, wondering if I’m being manipulated or deciding if there are hidden meanings in what she’s saying to me. It’s been months of constantly assuring Maddox I can handle it, and him walking on eggshells when he asks what I’m working on. We’re happy and all, but getting beyond this project…”

“Allows you to work on your future?”

“Yeah.”

And it did. Cass was blissfully happy with Maddox. It had been almost six months of them learning how to balance work and their relationship. They still couldn’t keep their hands off of one another, and Cass was at his place more often than she was at her own. She was starting to forget that there could be a life without Maddox, and while the thought once would have sent her running away, she was learning to embrace it. She no longer worried that Maddox didn’t love her like she loved him. She didn’t think he’d leave her because she wasn’t pretty enough or skinny enough. Instead she was desperate to rid herself of the persistent black cloud over everything, the one that was filled with his ex-wife and their need to keep their relationship secret from the corporate office.

Cass had been struggling lately with what to do with her future. She didn’t want them to hide what they were to one another, but she knew that her professional reputation hinged on this website. It was huge, and it would set her apart from the other design managers. If she had to leave the company due to their archaic “no dating” policy, she needed this design in her portfolio, and she had to leave on her own terms.

“Have you told him yet?” Lo asked, a wrinkle forming between her brows as her face became more serious.

Cass’ own face fell. “No, not yet. I wanted to get through the presentation. There’s too much pressure already. I don’t want him to feel like it’s his fault.”

“Well, it is, you know,” Lo pouted.

“No, it’s not. It’s not like he made the rule. No fraternizing. It’s there. We’re breaking it. And if it was just a fling, then I wouldn’t worry about it, but…”

“Oh, honey. It was never going to be a fling.”

“I love him. I want a future with him, and I think he wants a future with me,” Cass sighed. “I mean, I hope-“

“Has he not said it?” Lo’s eyes widened, and she tensed.

“Of course he’s said he loves me. That’s not it. We just don’t talk much about the future. I think it scares him a little.”

“Because of her?”

Cass laughed. “Hell no. I mean, not really. Because of me.”

“What?!” Lo shouted, and Cass shushed her, worried about the prying eyes.

Cass explained that she worried about how fragile Maddox thought she was. He knew her history of running, and sometimes he treated her like she’d take off if he got too serious, too possessive. He was moving slowly, carefully, and while Cass appreciated it, she also wanted to feel possessed. She wanted to know there was a future, at least know for sure.

“So, he thinks you’ll freak out and run?”

“I’m sure he does.”

“Boys.”

Cass chuckled. “Yeah, boys. I just want us to feel free to take the next step. I don’t want to feel like we practically live together, I want to live together. I want a future with this man, and we can’t have it if we’re both still working here.”

“And he’s the COO.”

“It’s his dream.”

“But not yours?”

Cass pursed her lips. “No. It’s not. I dream about design. I love the creative process. I can do that at a lot of different places-”

“Or for yourself,” Lo interrupted, and Cass couldn’t help her lips curling up.

Lo knew her too well. Cass dreamed of having full creative license with her work. She dreamed of pushing boundaries in her design, and the corporate environment she was in now barely let her scratch the surface. That’s why Marissa’s project was perfect. Marissa’s practice was completely open to doing something cutting edge, and it was the first time in a long time Cass felt she was being pushed to do something new and innovative. This would be her springboard.

“I’m not sure of that yet, but I am sure that I’m ready for something new.”

“You’re scared?”

“Yes.” Cass wasn’t going to lie to her friend. Of course she was scared. She would be starting her own business. She would be branching out on her own, and she was scared that she’d fail. “Look, I’ve got time to decide. I’m doing my research, seeing what’s out there…”

“Well, I’m behind you 100% no matter what you decide. Anything that gets you out from under Phil’s thumb.”

“Oh, yeah. That is a perk and a half.”

“But you have to tell him, Cass. He needs to know what you’re going to do,” Lo warned.

“I know. I do. I really do.”

* * *

“
A
bsolutely not
. We’ll figure out a way to make this work. Cass, you can’t!” Maddox stormed into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water and returning to the living room. Instead of taking his place on the couch next to her, like he had been before she’d made her proclamation, he sat in the chair taking a big swig of water.

Cass’ eyes followed his Adam’s apple as it bobbed with his swallow, and she lost track of their conversation for a moment, because all she could think about was running her tongue around it, along his stubbled chin, her burned lips finding relief as they met his soft mouth.

“Cassidy Moore, stop that!”

“Huh, what?” she shook her head, clearing out the cloud of lust to meet his fiery gaze.

“We are having a serious conversation, and you’re looking at me like…like…”

“Like what, Maddox?” Cass teased, her voice soft and lusty. She was throwing him off. She knew he was mad. She knew he wouldn’t take well to the idea of her leaving the company. He’d feel like it was a form of abandonment.

Well, she’d show him that this wasn’t about abandonment. This was about her claiming what was hers. Her talent. Her power. Her man.

She stood, walked over to his chair and straddled him. “Like what?” she whispered as she took his earlobe between her teeth. His moan filled the room, and his hips ground into hers.

“We’re talking about your future. We’re, unh-“ he lost his words as her tongue traced his chin and her hand cupped his growing erection.

“I’m showing you our future,” she whispered again before claiming his mouth. His hands traveled from her hips up her shirt, his one had splayed on her bare back, the other kneading her breast.

“You’re seducing me into compliance,” he sighed as his lips grazed her neck.

“Mmmm, maybe. But maybe I want to remind you that, oh!” she lost her words as he pulled her shirt up and took her nipple between his teeth, pulling hard and then laving away the sting with his tongue. She allowed herself to enjoy the sensation radiating from her core before continuing. “We love each other.”

“Yeah, we do, which is why we can make it work,” he explained as he pulled down her yoga pants, baring her to his roaming hands, one of which was trailing up her inner thigh. She reached down and unbuttoned his jeans.

“No matter where I’m employed, we’ll make this work,” she reminded him. “I want you. This. I want to seduce you and make you come. I want to feel this,” she reached into his open fly and relished his sharp intake of breath as she ran her hand up and down his length. “I want you every day when you come home from work, and I always will. Some days I want to feel you pumping in and out of me. Some days I’ll take you with my mouth. Some days-”

“Cass. Shut up. Shut up now,” he demanded before his lips crashed down on hers, before they tumbled off the chair, onto the floor. His fingers found her wet and willing, and she whimpered as he worked her center with his thumb while his fingers sought entry.

“Oh, God…”

“What do you want, Cass?”

“You. You, Maddox. Oh, God. You!” she shouted. “Please, Maddox. Please…”

“Tell me,” he prompted. His fingers slowing their pace.

“Fuck me. Just fuck me now.”

“As you wish…” he grinned, and within seconds, his cock found her entrance.

She loved this man. All of him. Her hips were moving in time with his, meeting his thrusts with her own. His hand was working her clit, making sure she came while he was inside her. She looked up into his eyes, her gaze catching a bead of sweat trailing down his face, his adoration and desire hot on his lips. He was so willing to ensure her pleasure, holding himself back as he brought on her shattering orgasm.

“Oh, fuck!” he pumped in a few more times before collapsing in his own mess of post-orgasm, and they both laid there, silent, as they tried to catch their breaths.

“You’re mine. Every day,” she whispered as she relished his post-coital caresses.

“Every day,” he echoed.