Page 96 of Unapologetic Obsession
Therefore, I could rationalize Caden’s decision to withhold the truth. It didn’t work out between us the first time around. When I stumbled onto his boat, it must have been tempting to rewrite the narrative without Rose A’s insecurities standing in the way.
“Why didn’t you wear the jewelry I bought for you?” Caden asked out of the blue.
Everyone in the room turned to look at me.
My hands instinctively flew to my earlobes. The blue diamonds were still in place. “I did.”
“The earrings are part of a set.”
“Oh.”
My eyes skimmed the velvet pouch Maria had placed on the large vanity table. I never got around to opening it. Peeking inside, I realized there was a matching pendant, bracelet, and cocktail ring. I gawked at the set, mouth wide open. The gorgeous teardrop blue diamond hung off a platinum chain. Keeping with the theme, the ring was an oval-shaped blue diamond with a halo of white diamonds, and the tennis bracelet had a mound of blue diamonds studded into the platinum.
“They’re all so beautiful,” I breathed, convinced I had never laid eyes on anything so precious.
“Put them on,” he ordered, voice husky and raw.
All eyes remained on me as I shakily unclasped the bracelet. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t look away from Caden’s reflection in the mirror.
We finally arrived in the Bahamas, and it seemed he had visited a jewelry store on the mainland. The people from tonight must be royalty if the heavy diamonds dragging my earlobes down weren’t good enough, and I needed to be covered in gems to impress them.
The gesture was magnanimous; he went out of his way to match every piece of jewelry to the earrings. It didn’t slip my mind that I had been reaping the benefits of being Rose A, without suffering the trauma that had so thoroughly cauterized her heart. The last few days had been magical as Caden showed me how it was always meant to be between us. Room service for breakfast. Lunch on his terrace overlooking the water. Dinner on his private deck with a sunset view. We spent the rest of the time lounging and swimming in his private pool, adjacent to the presidential suite. Conversations flew naturally between us, followed by comfortable silence. Caden was irresistible, brilliant and witty, and equal parts protective and possessive, though something always seemed to keep him tethered to the edge.
We only left our bubble once we docked in the Bahamas. The marina was slick with humidity, the air heavy with the scents of diesel and frying conch. Before I could reacclimate to solid ground, Caden hauled me from the slip to an international clinic on the edge of the tourist district for a full-body MRI and numerous other tests. He was a man on a mission.
After the imaging, I overheard him asking the doctor whether I was cleared for sex. They said the X-rays didn’t show any fractures, but it was best to wait for the MRI results.
His careful maneuvering to keep his weight off my pelvis whenever he went down on me finally made sense. I also realized why he had been so tightly wound. All week, Caden had exercised restraint against this elusive sex, and it was affecting him. The restless, predatory energy lingered in everyday activities, like whenever he held me against his chest and inhaled my hair with a shuddering breath, or when I caught him staring at me like he was at the end of his rope. I felt myself drawn in by the same gravity, my own hunger building around the unknown.
The embargo might finally be lifted, and the last stretch was the hardest. Throughout the day, I had felt the atmospheric pressure inside Caden mount slowly, and now, the tension between us was about to burst. The anticipation was a living, breathing thing, monstrous in its appetite. The restraint made him almost feral. When Amelie asked him to sign a document, he nearly ripped the clipboard out of her hands and scribbled on the paper before thrusting it back at her. His eyes never left my face as I finally snapped the clasp in place.
Decorating your body with precious jewels made a girl hungry, and I picked up a piece of fruit. Caden’s eyes flicked between my hand and my mouth.
Hungry eyes watched my every move as I bit into the grape. The dam broke the moment juice dribbled onto my bottom lip and chin.
“Everyone out!” he suddenly shouted, his voice shaking.
The staff, who had been hounding him with requests, froze. Sensing his radioactive energy, they thought it wise to obey. Marie dropped the comb in her hand, hung her head, and cleared out. Amelie hesitated for a fraction of a second and gave me a cursory glance before slipping out with the rest of the team.
The door shut softly, leaving us alone in the spa. Wiping the excess juice off my chin, I turned to face him.
“I want to see you in the jewelry. Now.”
With lightning speed, I fumbled with the tiny clasp of the pendant until the hook slid into place. I slipped on the ring next, absentmindedly trying it on different fingers until I found one that fit.
Grinning, I rose to my feet and slowly turned for him.
“You misunderstood.” The way he spoke—slow, unhurried, as if the entire world had frozen except for the two of us—sent a chill through me. “I want to see you inonlythe jewelry.”
My mind scrambled to process his words, but a single glance at his face told me he was serious. His eyes were glazed over with lust so acute that it frightened and thrilled me all at once. He leaned back against the reception desk, arms folded with deliberate patience, waiting for my next move.
With trembling hands, I pulled at the belt of my spa robe and slid the plush cotton off my shoulders. I pushed my underwear down my hips, letting them drop to the floor. A few days with Caden, and I had forgotten all about my scars. It was impossible to be insecure when he kissed, licked, and worshipped each one every night.
His gaze traced a path over my skin, lingering on the pendant at my throat and the hollow of my neck, the earrings glittering in my ears, the ring on my finger, and the bracelet on my wrist. The air between us thickened, even my own breath felt too loud in the silence he had created.
“I can never seem to keep myself in check when I’m around you. I don’t know if I can wait for the MRI clearance.”
I shivered at his words. I loved having this effect on him, where he sounded on the brink of losing it. “How long before the results are in?” I asked breathlessly.
