EmberDeciding to drag out his pleasure the way he so often did with me, I sank down between his knees and teased my tongue all around him. My hands kneaded his thighs, and I let my hair tickle his lower stomach. The muscles there clenched, the ones in his thighs quivering as I ran my fingertips over them.“You’re really in the mood to torture me?” He finally moaned, his neck arching over the side of the mattress and his cock twitching right in front of me.“Not really.” I grinned up at him before taking his tip into my mouth, my hands digging into his hips.Kaden’s hips came off the bed, his moans sending frissons of pleasure right to my very core. “Ember. Yes. God. Yes.”I wrapped my hand around his shaft, bringing the other to his balls. Massaging him with my tongue and hand, he started writhing beneath me.He hauled me up by my shoulders far more gently than I probably would’ve managed to be under the circumstances, and that was when I finally stopped. Kaden was breathing heavily
KADEN “Is it beach time yet?” I asked Ember after breakfast. She was back in the white robe that had driven me out of my damn mind not twelve hours ago, and I was wearing the matching one from the hook behind the bathroom door.To room service, we probably looked like a not-so-old married couple, and to my surprise, I loved it. The level of domesticity Ember and I had reached would’ve been laughable to me a year ago, but now it was nothing short of natural.We asked the waiter who brought our food to the suite to bring up some newspapers and sat swapping out the financial and business sections once we were done reading them. All the while, we munched on fluffy pancakes and crispy bacon.It was hot as hell outside, but we turned off the air conditioning, threw open the balcony doors, and just enjoyed the heat. Even the humidity that smacked me in the face when we first got here was welcome now, a reminder to enjoy everything about Florida while it lasted.Ember’s smile drew me out of
Kaden“That wasn’t what I was thinking,” I protested weakly. At the waggle of her brows, I shrugged. “Okay, maybe that was what I started out thinking.”She rolled her eyes, pushing her sunglasses up so I would be able to see the movement. “You’re insatiable.”“Only for you.” I winked, lifting my own glasses to return her favor. “Now lie down and let me get your back before you burn.”“About time,” she said, flopping down onto her lounger. “Make sure you get the area beneath the straps too. It’s always a bitch when you think you’re covered, and then the strap moves, and you end up looking like a striped lobster.”“No striped lobsters here.”A woman walking past us at that exact moment proved I was wrong, prompting me to laugh and Ember to look up to see why. She buried her face in her elbow crooked on the lounger to stifle her own giggles.“Okay,” I said. “So maybe there are a couple of striped lobsters here, but you won’t become one of them.”I lathered her properly with the sunscree
EMBERJeez. This guy. The feel of his lips against my skin while we were actually taking an honest to God walk along the beach while the sun was starting to set? It was like living my own personal version of the romantic comedies I liked to make fun of and secretly swooned over.His words played on a loop in my mind as the warm sand cascaded over my feet on our way to the ice cream parlor. Whatever you want, kitten, it’s all yours.My heart did a skippy, palpitating thing that would’ve had me worried had I been with anyone else. With Kaden though, I was getting used to it. My heart didn’t function the way a normal human’s did when around him. And I was perfectly okay with that.“You want to get a booth or eat and walk?” he asked as we stomped some of the sand off our feet on the welcome mat.“Eat and walk?” I suggested, letting go of his hand on our approach to the counter.The parlor was small and decorated in soft pink and baby blue. There were only a few booths, decorated in the sa
EmberIt was the same position I found myself torn between so often since he passed. Wanting to offload my secret to assuage my own guilt and wanting to be there for Kaden. I knew the guilt would be weighing heavily on me until I came clean, but I couldn’t do it. Not yet.There would be a time where it would be unavoidable to tell him, and I would take the consequences when that time came. It just couldn’t be now.With the moon and the sun saying their hello to one another, both shining down on us in their own ways with the one greeting while the other said goodbye, I couldn’t bring myself to tell him.Instead, I finished my cone and took his hand, offering him a silent show of support.“After everything we went through, I just can’t believe it all came down to a video. It’s a wonder he went through all that for me.” Kaden didn’t sound bitter about it, only resigned. “That he went through all that to put everything in place for me and to make sure I knew what he wanted to say even aft
KADEN Standing in my dad’s office—my office—I looked out over the city below. Most of the buildings were obscured by low-hanging clouds, and the weather was gray and miserable, but it seemed fitting somehow.Today was my first day as CEO of Marx Inc. The papers were signed, the ink was dry, and since there were no disputes or objections filed to my stepping into Dad’s position, it was now official.While Ember and I had been in Florida, Scotty, who was now my assistant, had rearranged Dad’s office and gotten it ready for me. The mammoth desk was still in there, but so were all my screens, a new computer, two new monitors, and a color printer I didn’t have any use for.Scotty left Dad’s bar, sitting area, and conference table untouched, but he told me he could have any of it removed at any time. I told him not to worry about it. In a way, this would always be Dad’s office. I was only running it for him now.Besides, there was a good reason why Dad had each of those features in his off
Kaden “That’s good to know,” she replied, seemingly making a decision before opening the file and taking out a smallish, square wooden block. “I have a present for you.”She handed the wooden block over upside down. The clamps on the back of it hinted that it was a photo frame, but I wasn’t prepared for the photo it held. It was one of Dad and I fishing when I was a kid.A photo I both treasured and often resented for giving me hope that we might be like the dad and the kid in the photo again someday. A photo I knew was supposed to be tucked away deep in one of the drawers at my place. “Where did you find it?”“While I was packing your stuff the other day, I saw it in your drawer,” she admitted, a hopeful smile tugging at her lips. “I had it framed so it can go on your desk. I thought you might like to have the memory with you while you’re settling in this office.”“So you went through my stuff?” I arched a brow, trying but failing to sound incredulous and disappointed.Propping a ha
EMBERSo, this was what it felt like when everything went to hell in a handbasket. My heart sank so low during those moments in Kaden’s office after he told me to leave that it felt like it might be at the soles of my feet by the time I left.Tears stung my eyes, threatening to fall with every step I took. I kept my head down when I emerged from Kaden’s office, allowing my hair to form a protective curtain as I hurried to the staircase. I couldn’t face the elevator right now.There was always someone in there who wanted to talk to me about something, and if I opened my mouth, the lump in my throat was bound to disintegrate from the vibrations in my voice box, and I was sure to become a rambling, blubbering mess.Slamming my fists into the door leading to the staircase, I burst onto the concrete landing and sagged against the cool wall. Shit. An hour ago, Kaden and I had gotten to the office together, happy and in love and sated from a morning of me wishing him luck for his first day