Page 23 of Hideaway

Drowning in humiliation at that point, Kara averted her eyes so he could have privacy to dress.“So I was given the servant’s quarters I see,” she commented sardonically as she took advantage of his momentary departure to his closet to take stock of Cade’s private living quarters. It would be a misidentification to call the space abedroomas it was nearly the size of her entire apartment, complete with a sitting room, lounge area, office space, two monstrous chandeliers, and a bed so imposing it defied description.

His clothing fully restored, Cade walked back over to where Kara stood in abashed silence. “There, at least one of us can concentrate now,” he said in a voice full of emotion. He caught her chin tenderly and drew her face up to meet his. “You’re bleeding,” Cade said in a tone as black as death as he ran his thumb over the smudge of blood at the corner of her mouth.

“It’s not mine,” Kara explained hurriedly before Cade rushed out of the room and killed someone, which he was very much on the verge of doing from the murderous look in his eyes. “I bit him when he tried to force his tongue down my throat.”

“That’s my vicious girl,” Cade praised warmly as his features softened into an expression of admiration as he continued to look over her body for signs of injury.

“Really, I’m fine,”she said, trying to brush aside his concern.

Cade gave her a stern look of warning before she resigned herself to his intense inspection. He traced the faint purpled streaks that marked her jaw where Jace’s grip had been too tight. He pulled away his shirt from her chest, revealing the torn remains of her dress, as he continued his search for injuries, and she shivered in response. Cade resisted the urge to try to kiss away the imprints of violence left behind on her body.

“You arrived just in time.”

Kara’s comment startled Cade from his private anguish.“I cannot begin to describe how sorry I am that you were treated in such a manner in my home, where I promised you safety.”

“It’s not your fault,”she replied in a voice devoid of emotion. Kara didn’t want to think about how close she had come to being raped. She felt a baseless sense of shame at having allowed herself to be put in such a vulnerable situation. She knew one thing for sure, if Cade hadn’t burst through the door when he did, she would have far more regrets to agonize over.

“Well, let’s get some clothes on you before I turn from rescuing to ravaging,”Cade announced with the hope of distracting Kara from whatever thoughts were clouding her expression. He appreciated the lovely flush of her cheeks when she realized she was in his bedroom practically naked.“Any preferences?”he asked in regard to clothes.

“Um, just something comfortable, I guess?”Kara responded, not really in the mood to contemplate fashion options.

“Well in that case, here,”he said, tossing her a matching pair of sweats that he pulled from his closet.

Karaeyed the clothes warily; there was something inherently intimate in wearing a man’s clothes, and Kara wasn’t sure she wanted to venture into that territory, even if the act was technically meaningless.“Couldn’t I just wear something from my room?”she asked, almost certain of his refusal.

“Tonight I am not leaving your side, and you aren’t leaving this room. So you are left with what my wardrobe can offer, I’m afraid,”Cade responded, watching as aspects of his answer incited her shock. He could take a education guess at which part.

“Cade, I’m not going to sleep with you in this room,”she replied, wary of misconstruing his intent again.

“Well you won’t be sleeping with me. You may have the bed, of course. I’ll take the floor.”

Kara cringed at the thought of Cade resigning himself to a night of little sleep on the hard floor on her account.“Please, I can’t let you sleep on the floor. I’m sure I will be fine in my own room,”she pleaded guiltily.

“We can always share the bed if you insist,”he retorted to see the color rise in her cheeks.“And do you really want to risk Jace making a late night renewal of his advances?”

“Okay, so it might not be a bad idea to have some company tonight to be safe. But we can’t just stay holed up in your room for the rest of the night. What if I…get hungry?”Kara asked stupidly, desperate for literally any excuse that would allow her to escape an entire night in confined quarters with the man who had saved her by essentially declaring she was his property. It was an archaic notion, the thought of owning another person, and it should have had her thoroughly repulsed. Unfortunately, her rebellious pussy had a different response to hearing Cade saymine.And it was the needy desires of her irrational sex that had her anxious to leave Cade’s bedroom before things got unnecessarily complicated.

“Areyou hungry?”

“Not at the moment,”Kara responded evasively.

“Well, if we manage to work up an appetite, I will happily have anything you desire delivered right to the door,”Cade responded, his tone intentionally suggestive.

“But—”Kara began before being cut off.

“Kara, continue to argue with me any longer, and I’m going to assume you enjoy spending time with me in nothing but your knickers.”

Kara’s face filled with embarrassment for the umpteenth time, and she snatched the proffered apparel out of Cade’s hands.“So are you sticking around for the show, or what?”she asked pointedly in irritation.

“Don’t tempt me, love. The door on the left is the bathroom. The door on the right is my sex dungeon. Take your pick,”he offered good-humoredly. Kara paled in horror.“I’m kidding. The dungeon is downstairs,”he added with a sly smile.

Kara raced to the door on the left, hoping beyond reason that the manor housed no dungeon, though with a man of Cade’s tastes she couldn’t be sure. She opened the door somewhat hesitantly and was met with the welcoming site of a large, luxurious bathroom. A gorgeous clawfoot bathtub stood amid the white marbled floors and walls like a glittering jewel, quite literally sparkling from the downcast gleams of the crystal chandelier above.How many damn gaudy chandeliers did the man own?If suspended crystal was a fetish, Cade most certainly had it. Kara looked at the tub longingly, feeling quite sure a hot soak would wash away all of the grime of a terrible day. Well, most of it anyway.

After locking the bathroom door, Kara turned on the water and let the steam begin to fill the room. She desperately avoided the mirror as she waited for the tub to fill before slipping into the blissful warmth. With fervent need, she endeavored to wash the invisible remnants of Jace’s touch from her body, rubbing a cloth against her skin with an aggression that bordered on violence. Silent tears of grief and frustration fell and melded with the warm water below. Kara wiped away the tears angrily and sank into the welcoming abyss of the watery depths.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

She counted as she held her breath, feeling a sense of calm wash over her resulting from the oxygen deprivation induced euphoria.

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