KADENThe penthouse was dark when I got home after the trip. I dropped my bag in my room and flipped on lights as I went. It struck me how quiet it was in here. I’d gotten so used to having Ember around the last few days that being without her, especially now that I was at peace with how I felt about her, felt downright wrong.It didn’t help that I was tired as balls and there wasn’t much left in my fridge or bar. My mood worsened when my phone rang and I pulled it out to see my dad’s face glowering at me from the screen. Yeah, no.I had nothing to say to him. Hitting the button to mute the call, I ignored it and tossed my phone onto the couch. Taking a seat beside it, I grabbed the TV remote and switched it on, surfing to channel after useless channel and not finding anything that caught my interest.My phone started ringing again, and I cursed softly, thinking it was my dad calling again. I reached for it so I could mute the call once more when I saw it wasn’t dad, but Ryan calling.
KadenLocking her eyes onto mine, she shimmied out of her jeans and stepped out of the denim. She planted her hands on her hips, standing in front of me in a matching set of pale pink lace underwear. My eyes begged to run down the length of her body, but they were still being held captive by hers. The intensity in her gaze lit up the air between us. Electricity generated by lust and desire coursed through the air currents, but the usual pressing urgency was missing.The tension between us was different. The desire was there, but something else was going on too. Maybe it was because I had just realized I loved her, but it felt like the same emotion was coming off her too. It felt like the urgency was gone because, for tonight anyway, we didn’t feel like we had to rush. Our time together didn’t feel like it was limited or linked to some unseen clock counting down before one of us called it off. It felt like we had all the time in the world, like we had both come to the conclusion that
EMBERKaden brought his lips to mine in a kiss so soft, so gentle, it was unlike any of the thousand we had shared so far. Our mouths moved together in an unhurried rhythm that left me breathless and my heart a puddle of goo.I kissed him with every ounce of intensity and emotion he was showing me, pouring my unspoken realization of love into him and hoping against all hope he would feel it, tell me he loved me too, and wouldn’t run screaming for the hills.In the time I had known him, Kaden Marx had been many things. Jerk, friend, protector, mentor, heartbreaker, player, idiot. But he had never been a boyfriend. The guy was so allergic to commitment it was like he was afraid he was going to go into anaphylactic shock if he so much as thought about committing.At least, he used to be. After hanging up with Gracie, I spent some time thinking about what it meant that I was in love with him. As terrified as I was about losing him if he ever found out how I felt, I also found myself wonde
Ember“What are you doing?” I managed to ask, my breathing already becoming labored. “Why shouldn’t I move?”“To answer both of your questions in one, I want to show this pretty pussy some love, and if you scoot back, you’re going to ruin it for both of us.”I vaguely registered him using the L-word, but I hardly thought it meant anything in the context he used it. My heart missed that memo and went ahead to skip a beat just because he said the word out loud anyway.“I won’t move,” I agreed huskily. Expecting him to drop right to his knees and dig in like he had done before, I was surprised when I felt the dip of the mattress on my left when his knee hit it, the warmth of his body hovering above mine, and the soft press of his lips on my mouth.He kissed me lavishly, passionately. My hands slid up the toned muscles on his back and into his soft hair. My moans disappeared into his mouth.When he finally stopped kissing my lips to pay attention to my neck, my shoulders, my ear, and my c
KADENI loved sex. I adored fucking. It was one of my favorite pastimes, and I didn’t care if that made me a manwhore. It wasn’t like I did it more often than most single, reasonably attractive guys in this city.The reason why we got so much of it was because New York was equal opportunity. The women loved sex as much, arguably in some cases more, than the men. If you knew where to look and how to play your cards, the place was a veritable den of fucking iniquity.As a result, there had been no shortage of sex in my life. Sure, as I got older, I grew tired of the game and played it less often, but that was by choice. I was simply over the typical hookup.When I was young, the game was borderline addictive. Getting drinks after work, scoping out potential hookups, the pick-up? It was a finely honed skill developed over time that was almost a rite of passage for the thousands of young professionals who flooded the city after graduation.But after the first couple of years, it lost its
KadenThe pancakes went a lot faster than I had initially anticipated and, surprisingly, weren’t a complete disaster. That was where I made up time. I had thought I might need to factor in time to scrap one batch and start another.I plated up my creation, got maple syrup and whipped cream I found in the back of my fridge out after checking it wasn’t expired, and took my girl breakfast in bed. Ember was just starting to stir when I walked in. She did one of those stretches that had earned her nickname and lazily blinked open her eyes. Just like a kitten.“Are my eyes deceiving me, or is Kaden Marx bringing me breakfast in bed?” She smiled, sitting up with surprise in her eyes.“Your eyesight is just fine.” I handed over her breakfast, cutlery, and a glass of water. Then I settled in beside her with my own. “If I’d planned this better, there would have been juice. But someone showed up and surprised me last night.”“Water is perfect,” she told me, leaning over to give me a quick peck
EMBERAn eternity passed between the time I was in Kaden’s kitchen and my arrival at work. By the time I arrived in front of our mammoth building, I was dazed, confused, and half convinced there was something very wrong with my hearing. Or my head.Because there was absolutely no way I could have heard him right. No way could Kaden have told me he loved me. And the way he said it? God, it was like they were the easiest, most natural words he had ever spoken.I knew what had happened between us last night was intense and all, but for it to have caused him to say that, to bring me breakfast in bed, and draw me a bath that smelled like an expensive shop? I didn’t even know where to begin with figuring all that out.It was like I woke up next to an entirely different man than the one I’d fallen asleep next to. A man who believed in chocolates and wine, although to be honest I preferred tacos and tequila. Be that as it may, Kaden wasn’t like that.And the pancakes were made from scratch to
EmberHearing them from him was exactly what I’d been wishing for, a sign he wouldn’t run and write me off if I said them first. Hearing those words for the first time in earnest from any man who wasn’t related to me surely should have elicited a more appropriate response.There was only one conclusion to be drawn for all this. Something was wrong with me. Any other girl would have turned around, run to him, thrown her arms around the gorgeous, incredible man who said he loved her for the first time, and told him she loved him too.Only, I hadn’t done that. I had, in fact, reacted in the exact same way I was afraid he might have had I said it first. I turned and ran.I blamed my reaction on my overactive imagination. I was halfway to the street when I realized I hadn’t actually imagined what he said. By then, it was too late.Forgetting I meant to stop by my own office first, I marched straight to Mr. Marx’s office. I was so out of it, I didn't even realize I was still ten minutes ear
KadenAs an adult, I’d always been too busy to spend too much time on hypotheticals like if I wanted to settle down and have a family someday. I used protection religiously to avoid conceiving a child with a woman I didn’t really know in my younger days, and after that, I kind of gave up on ever finding a woman I could imagine myself spending the rest of my life and having kids with.Until Ember.Everything I used to want, worry about, think, or believe changed the day she walked back into my life. She still teased me some about my previous life of being a jerk as a kid or a player, but I could hardly remember what that was like either. Just like with my apartment, those were vague memories I didn’t care to recall.All my life, I’d heard people say you couldn’t change. I was living proof those people were wrong. To be fair, I’d started making changes before I even met Ember, but the guy I used to be wouldn’t have taken the whole day off work to go to the doctor and then to stock up on
KADEN“Everything is looking good so far,” Doctor Kruger told us, holding the ultrasound wand still on Ember’s growing stomach. She was really starting to show now and thought she looked more and more like a whale every day. I couldn’t disagree with her more. “The baby is growing well, and everything looks the way it should at around twenty-four weeks.”Doctor Kruger was the gynecologist Ember chose. She came highly recommended by the girls at the office. She looked a little bit like Gollum from Lord of the Rings, with hair so thin you could see most of her scalp, but there was a whole wall of awards in her office speaking to her ability.Ember smiled up at her, squeezing my hand tightly. Her eyes were glued to the screen beside her though, as were mine. It was hard to believe the black and white smudges we saw was an actual baby growing in Ember, but now and then, we could make out a hand or a foot or something that drove the point home.The doctor moved the wand higher, squeezing ou
Ember“Have you felt it move yet?” Kaden asked, dragging his chair around to my side of the table so he would be next to me instead of across from me. “And should we be eating Mexican? Isn’t it too spicy?”“I ordered it mild,” I reminded him. “But I don’t think eating Mexican is a problem. Sushi is probably a no-no for me until the baby comes, though.”He nodded, and I could practically see him adding the information to some kind of mental checklist. “So, you didn’t tell me if you’d felt it move yet.”“Not yet,” I said honestly. “I would have told you immediately if I had.”That much was true. Despite my misgivings about his reaction, I wouldn’t have kept him from anything involving his child. Something as major as feeling it move for the first time especially.“When do you think you’ll feel it?” he asked, cocking his head and shifting back on his chair to make space for him to get his phone out of his pocket.I lifted my shoulders, shaking my head. “No idea, but it will probably be s
EMBERFor four weeks, I had been waiting to find the right time to talk to Kaden about this. There just never seemed to be enough time. Though we were practically living together and had adjoining offices now, we were also busy and running around for work.My heart hammered against my ribcage so hard it was almost painful as I leaned forward, forcing myself to look into Kaden’s eyes. I had no idea how he was going to take this news. We had so much on our plates as it was, and we’d never even come close to talking about anything like this.Every word I knew suddenly disappeared from my brain as I looked into his gorgeous eyes, questions darkening them while he waited for me to tell him what I’d been waiting for the right time to talk to him about.Grasping for words, any words at this point, I ended up just blurting it out. “I’m four months pregnant.”Kaden paled, his eyes going huge. His jaw loosened, and his throat worked. Oh crap.This was exactly the reaction I’d been afraid of. Me
KadenA faint line appeared between Carol’s eyebrows before she schooled her expression, shaking my free hand again. “We’ll be in touch soon, I assume? If you could email the paperwork to my assistant, the same one who set up this meeting, I’ll have the lawyers look it over and send it right back.”“It will be in your inbox before the end of the day tomorrow,” Ember promised. If I knew her, she was already planning on firing off a text to Scotty as soon as we were out of Carol’s sight.Ember and I were sharing Scotty as our main assistant now. We each had a second assistant working under Scotty, but he was our go-to guy and the one who organized our respective second assistants. It was a system that was working really well for us.Once we were settled in my car, I glanced at her before putting my hand on her headrest and backing out of the parking space. “Did you ask Scotty to send her the documents yet?”She smiled, holding up her phone to show me the text she was typing. “Just about
KADEN“If you consider we only started putting this together for you last week, I think you’ll appreciate the growth you would already have seen if we’d started making these moves only a few days ago.” I was speaking to our new potential client, an older woman with her dyed black hair pulled back in a severe bun.She was the CEO of a hotel group that was starting to pop up everywhere. The company was only a few years old, but they were expanding at an impressive rate, and Ember and I both really wanted to sign her.“We can do great things together, Carol,” Ember added, clicking a button on the remote in her hand to move onto the next slide we had prepared for her. “Both our companies have shown exponential growth over the last six months, and together, I think we can keep that trajectory going.”I could feel Ember’s excitement coming off her in waves from where she was sitting next to me at a mahogany conference table at one of Carol’s group’s hotels. The group had two new boutique ho
EMBERWhen Kaden’s lips crashed into mine, it was with such passion and fervor that a fresh wave of tears welled up behind my eyes. Different tears this time, happy tears. I couldn’t believe he was here, that he was in my arms and kissing me the way he was.An hour ago, I was convinced our relationship was toast. When I didn’t hear from Ryan, I thought the worst. I thought Kaden was so mad at me, he’d convinced Ryan he was right, and I was wrong. I thought Ryan wasn’t going to speak to me ever again either.I thought so many things, all of which were apparently wrong. It was hard to have faith in people when you felt as guilty and as badly as I did, though. In my defense, those weren’t feelings I had much experience with, and now that I’d felt them in their fullest glory, I had no intention of ever finding myself in a position like that ever again.From now on, I was going back to honesty. I still regretted the way I handled things with Mr. Marx, but I’d also learned from it. With Kad
KadenShit. I even made her promise to stop avoiding me. I shoved her even deeper into the impossible corner she was already in. I made her look me in the eyes and sleep in my bed, even when she couldn’t do it, and now I was pissed at her for doing exactly that?I groaned out loud, bringing my forehead to my desk.As if Ryan could tell what I was thinking, he said, “She loves you, Kaden. She loves you more than anything in the world. You’re everything to her. Trust me when I tell you she never meant to hurt you. She was stuck in purgatory about this for weeks.”Lifting my head only enough to catch a glimpse of his eyes, I frowned. “Is this a big brother talk? Because I don’t think I can stomach one of those right now.”I really couldn’t bear to hear him tell me how much she loved me after the way I acted. Sure, I was shocked, and she shouldn’t have done what she did, but I honestly didn’t know what else I could have expected her to do under the circumstances.Even if she did, would sh
KADENMy head was spinning. I felt nauseous, my stomach twisting and turning as I tried to focus on the screen in front of me. I was trying to get everything with Ember out of my head and get some work done, but it was proving to be harder than I thought it would be.Despite everything, I still didn’t want to let my dad down. Sure, he told my girl he was dying and not me, but—“Fuck,” I muttered, dragging my hands through my hair. Again. I shuddered to think what I looked like by now. At least no one was bothering me.Scotty was keeping his distance, and most people would probably be leaving soon. They were giving me the day to get settled in, which was a fucking blessing since I had no idea how I would be able to handle meetings or making any big decisions today.I’d been so damn optimistic just this morning, determined to make this work no matter what. I was so damn sure I had this under control, that I was going to walk in as CEO and things would just fall in place.I was prepared