Page 29 of Hideaway

“I’m sorry I didn’t come get you earlier,” Cade continued, his apology surprising her almost as much as he surprised himself. Hehadmeant to allow her a reprieve from her room after a few hours, but then Ortega had shown him something that completely obliterated any thoughts he had other than retribution. Perhaps she would approve of his afternoon activities, but he didn’t really give a fuck if she didn’t. “I was detained by a matter of urgency.” Cade lifted Kara up until she was sitting in his lap and brushed away the stain of tears from her cheeks. “Will you forgive me?” Cade asked with sincerity, his eyes unusually kind as he gazed down at Kara.

Kara frowned, her brow creased in confusion. “So you’re apologizing for grounding me, butnotfor hitting me?”

“I’m not apologizing for either,” Cade replied with a scoff as his eyes took on their typical, arrogant glint. “Youdeservedto be sent to your room, and youdeserveda spanking. I’m merely apologizing that the amount of time spent in confinement was more than you’d earned. That was a mistake on my part, and I take full responsibility.”

Kara didn’t really know why he felt he had the right to punish her in any respect, but she decided to take the proffered olive branch, meager as it was. “So, does this mean I’m free to go? I’m fucking starving.”

“Well now, we can’t have you wasting away,” Cade answered as a smile softened his features. “Go get dressed for dinner,” he commanded with a light swat on her arse.

“Yes, sir,” Kara grumbled sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, trudging toward the closet to obey his fucking orders. Why did he have to be so damn bossy? Clearly, the man was accustomed to being around robots, notactualhuman beings.

Cade leisurely lay out on Kara bed as she changed, uncharacteristically deciding to let her cheeky attitude slide. For the moment, anyway. Casually, he rested with his arms above his head as he caught brief glimpses of Kara changing in the large closet. She hadn’t closed the door, so he, in turn, didn’t make any effort to avert his gaze from her naked body. The flashes of creamy, bare skin and the exposed curve of her ass, still pink from his hand, were enough to get his cock rock hard. It took a measure of self-restraint to keep from reaching down and stroking his firm length as he watched her. It had been too long since he’d plunged his cock into a warm, wet pussy. Briefly, he allowed himself to imagine using Kara’s. How she would feel swallowing his huge cock with her tight cunt. How she would scream in pleasure and agony when he split her open and filled her to the brim. How she would strangle his fucking cock while she orgasmed with him deep inside her. How his cum would cover her cunt and spill down her thighs, marking her as his.Only his.

“Are you ready?” Kara asked as she entered the bedroom, dressed in a deep emerald dress that accentuated her breasts and small waist and flowed loosely over her hips down to her ankles.

At the sound of her voice, Cade startled from his fantasies, the interruption leaving him desperate, ravenous, and with a dreadful case of blue balls. Swallowing back the heavy thickness of desire that lingered in his throat, Cade appraised Kara’s appearance. Though he’d purchased that particular dress, he’d never seen it on.She, he had discovered soon after, had rather a distaste for green in comparison to her complexion, so the gown had hung forgotten in the closet and never been worn. On Kara, the hue was stunning, contrasting the darkness of her eyes beautifully and making the pale exposure of her skin seem almost luminescent against the silky, jewel-toned material. “You look lovely,” Cade remarked finally, his voice raw and almost tender.

He masked the unintentional softness by grasping Kara’s arm firmly, possessively. His gaze lingered on her breasts, which he was realizing were too exposed. In fact, everything was too exposed, and he wanted to take every inch of bare flesh and cover it. If anyone was going to have the privilege of seeing Kara’s body, it was going to be him. And only him. “If anyone at that table looks at you asecondlonger than necessary, I’ll take their fucking eyes,” Cade threatened as he dragged her toward the door.

Their entrance to the dining hall brought with it the delicious scent of thyme and rosemary blended with the sweetness of honey and the savory warmth of roasted pork. If there was one thing Kara could appreciate about her captivity, it was Mrs. Hughes’s cooking. The woman was a damn culinary angel. The rumble of her stomach and the watering of her mouth at the sight of food momentarily distracted Kara from the most startling detail in the room. Jace sat at the end of the table, an expression of pure animosity marring his already brutalized face. Large black and purple bruises were splattered haphazardly across his jaw, cheekbones, and around his swollen eyes. A bandage was taped across what appeared to be a cut in his left eyebrow and his nose, which seemed twisted at an abnormal angle. His lip was split gruesomely, the blood still looking bright red and fresh. Clearly, someone had beaten the absolute shit out of him.

Kara looked at Cade in shock, assuming he had been the obvious assailant, and checked him for injuries. His face was in perfect order; she would have realized earlier if he’d borne any signs of an attack. Upon closer inspection though, Kara noticed that Cade’s knuckles were red and bruised, the skin cracking in a few spots. Apparently, from coming into contact with Jace’s face one too many times. “What the hell happened?” Kara asked after she’d finally recovered from the surprise of Cade’s brutal attack on his business partner.

Cade took in the sight of Jace’s destroyed face with overwhelming satisfaction as he pulled out a chair for Kara and then seated himself beside her at the head of the table. When he’d asked Ortega for the library security footage of the night before, he hadn’t expected to be so overcome with rage as he watched the events with Jace and Kara unfold. Even at that moment, the barely diminished fury boiled in his blood calling for more retribution.

“Jace harmed you,” Cade explained evenly as he set about filling his plate with food. “In doing so, he broke my rules.” Picking up his fork and knife, Cade pointed the tip of the blade in Jace’s direction. “Thatis what happens when my rules are disobeyed.”

“Jesus, Cade, you didn’t need to half kill him,” Kara muttered softly, still stunned by Cade’s violence. And she didn’t miss the insinuation in Cade’s words. He hadn’t wrecked Jace for her in some misplaced need to defend her honor. No, he’d beaten Jace because he’d challenged Cade’s rules, and, therefore, his control. She wondered if he would inflict the same violence on her if she dared to disobey him.

“Insubordination will not be tolerated,” Cade answered sharply as he cut into his meat, the knife loudly scraping against the plate. And it was true, Cade didn’t allow for disobedience among his men. But that wasn’t why he’d gone into a blind rage and pummeled Jace’s face into oblivion. No, that was because Jace had dared to touch Kara. Not only did Jace try to take what was his, against her fucking will, he had hurt Kara. Every time Cade closed his eyes he saw that bastard raise his hand and slap his girl across the face. It made him want to beat Jace all over again.

“Men and their violent delights,” Kara huffed with an eye roll as she began devouring her food. After nearly an entire day spent in her bedroom, she really was starving.

“Yes, and speaking of, Jace has something he would like to tell you. Don’t you, Jace?” Cade asked, fixing the man at the end of the table with a withering glare.

“I’m sorry,” Jace replied sullenly, glaring right back at Cade.

“Why are you looking at me?I’mnot the one you hit and nearly raped,” Cade chastised angrily. Everyone in the room, especially Kara jolted at his blunt words. Until that moment, only Ortega and the parties involved knew the full extent of the previous night’s incident. Declan and Brax looked between Jace and Kara with surprise and horror written plainly on their features.

“Now, apologize properly, Jace,” Cade commanded coldly.

Jace looked at Kara with a small attempt at contrition. “I’m sorry, Kara.”

Not quite knowing how to respond the apology—because there was no way in hell she could forgive him for what he’d done—Kara merely nodded curtly before turning her attention to Cade who was gazing back at her with an expression that almost seemed protective, in a fierce, aggressive sort of way. She didn’t know what to think of the conundrum of a man whose chaotic mood changes were constantly ripping her in opposite directions. First he saved her from Jace, then he treated her like a whore, then he took her out alone on an almost romantic riding excursion, and then he fucking whipped her and sent her to her room. Cade beat the shit out of Jace—making it seem like it was only a matter of control regarding his rules—but then he forced Jace to apologizeto heras though he cared about her feelings. And at the moment, Cade was staring at her with such passion and fire in his mesmerizing hazel eyes, it felt as though hecaredabouther.

The constant tumult of their interactions was driving Kara mad. It made her feel like doing something drastic to sway the confusing relationship between them one way or the other. She could think of one sure way to test Cade’s true feelings for her, but the consequences could be disastrous. Steeling her resolve, Kara decided it was the only way.

She was going to fuck Caden Ashford.

Shyly, her skills at seduction sorely underdeveloped, Kara slipped her hand from the arm of her chair and lightly placed it across Cade’s thigh. The constantly composed, stoic man with perfect social graces actually jolted in his seat at her unexpected touch. Kara had to stifle a laugh at the knowledge that she could affect him so visibly as he sharply turned toward her, his eyes swarming with disapproval mixed with a hint of intrigue. Kara offered him a sly smile in response, running her thumb gently along the center of his thigh. She’d never been the one to initiate contact. Any of their brief moments of passion had been instigated by Cade’s sudden lack of control before he carefully pieced his composure together and left her aching and wanting. Now that she was the one making the move, Cade seemed thrown. It was only a minuscule, fractional crack in his cool facade, but it was there just the same. Kara trailed her fingers further up, greedily seeking the firm bulge between his thighs, but before she could reach his cock, Cade grabbed her hand and tightly intertwined his fingers with hers. He tugged their hands down and rested them safely upon his knee. Kara looked up at him, disappointment and confusion marring her features.

“Are you no longer hungry, Kara?” Cade asked, a mischievous smile pulling at his lips. He liked games, but only when he was the one orchestrating them. As much as he would enjoy Kara’s hand on his cock, that wouldn’t be happening unless under circumstanceshecontrolled. He could admire Kara’s bravery, but he didn’t want her seduction, he wanted her submission. He wanted to control her body, to demand his own pleasure and forcefully tear orgasms from her body with his mouth and fingers and cock while she screamed and writhed in ecstasy. If he chose to take her, it would behisway.

“I’m actually feeling a little tired,” Kara answered, feeling anything but tired. She felt as though she might burst from excitement and need. “Maybe we could go up to bed?”

“But we haven’t had dessert,” Cade responded quietly, his voice rough and deep as his eyes suggestively trailed the exposed skin of Kara’s breasts. He raised a single brow as though challenging her to offer herself instead of dessert. It wouldn’t get her what she wanted, but she would look adorable trying.

“O-okay,” Kara replied breathlessly, recognizing the salacious glint in his eyes, but not feeling courageous enough to act on it with so many witnesses. She tried to retrieve her hand from Cade’s grasp, but he kept her trapped, squeezing her fingers together in warning any time she tried to squirm away.

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