Aryn's Desire: A BOLD Security Novel (Finding Submission Book 1) (27 page)

THIRTY~NINE

*~* ARYN *~*
 

Tonight’s premiere is especially crowded, which seems odd for an off the beaten path premiere spot. I realized while I stood there in New York watching the movie, or at least listening to it, that it took place here in Nashville. Alyssa looks great. Casey is back on track now that Avery is gone. Though he seemed happy to be away from her, it didn’t stop him from looking at her every chance he got.
 

We’ve just arrived and Alyssa is doing her red carpet thing when the next limo pulls up, but we’re moving on to the next reporter and I don’t get to see who climbs out of the car. The security at the front of the carpet is more than sufficient that I turn toward the crowd, scanning for anything suspicious and all I really see are a bunch of screaming and overly excited girls waving and hoping for Travis to show up. I have to admit, I get the appeal with him. I get it with Tristan, Cami’s husband, too, but I’ve known him for a while now so that appeal is gone for me.
 

“Caden!”
 

“Caden!”
 

“Caden, over here.”
 

The name causes my body to shiver uncontrollably for a moment, but I don’t pay any attention to it because the odds of it being him are slim. I turn toward Alyssa.

“Caden, so good to see you.” Alyssa says as she walks toward a tall man dressed in a gorgeous tuxedo and the lights shift, giving me a clear view of the man she’s embracing and my heart stops in my chest when my eyes land on none other than Master Caden.
 

My heart picks back up in double time and when I gasp for air, I realize I was holding my breath.
 

Our eyes meet and that familiar zing is there. I feel as though I could be lost in his eyes forever. Alyssa is doing everything she can to get his attention.
 

“You know Beck?” she finally asks him and the name stops him short and he looks at her.
 

“We’ve met. I’m friends with Dex.” he says but there is a curious, knowing smile tugging at the corner of his lips. I find it in myself to take a deep breath and turn back toward the crowd, fighting the knowledge that he’s looking at me while he continues chatting with Alyssa before they part ways moments later. When I turn back around, Casey and Troy are looking at me like I’ve lost my damn mind or like they need to know what the hell and how the hell I know this man. I shake my head and they both frown at me.
 

No need to go into the gory details.

I start thinking about the New York premiere. If he’s here, at this premiere, is it possible that he was in New York? Nah, I would have seen him.
 

“Come on, man,” Casey’s voice says in my ear piece and I turn to my left, away from where Caden was, hoping I don’t run into him. When I turn, he’s standing a few feet away from me.
 

“Good to see you, Aryn,” he says as I approach to walk past him.
 

“What are you doing here?” I try to sound angry about it, but of course I fail miserably. It’s impossible to hide the fact that I am, surprisingly, happy to see him.
 

He smirks at me and pushes something into my pocket. “Check the program,” he says before turning to walk along side me behind Alyssa and the other two. “We need to talk.”
 

“Hardly. I don’t think there is anything we need to discuss.”
 

“On the contrary, I think we do.”
 

“And I don’t.”
 

He drops his voice to a whisper near my ear, “Oh, sweet boy, I believe we do. Where are you staying?”
 

His pet name sends a new wave of desire through me and I fight to keep it in control. I fight the submissive desire to tell him what he wants to know. “You’re a brilliant man, Caden, I imagine you already know the answer to that question and if you don’t, I’m sure a few phone calls can get you your answers.”
 

“Caden.” Someone calls from my left and I am thankful for the distraction.
 

“I have to work,” I grumble before increasing my pace back toward Alyssa and the guys.
 

“You alright?” I hear Casey in my ear.
 

I bring my hand to my mouth and reply into the mic, “Yeah, I’m fine.”
 

I pray that it’s enough. I shake my head and pull down on my suit jacket, straightening myself and putting my bodyguard mask back on while Alyssa finishes her press line.
 

Once we dip inside the fan area, Alyssa goes toward the crowd to sign autographs and take pictures. I relax a little bit because these fans are all screened before they’re allowed inside. My only concern now is an overzealous fan who gets out of hand and this lot is a little more controlled than the one in New York.
 

“You’re right, I can find you, but I’d much rather you told me yourself.” Caden’s voice is soft, coming from behind me but I don’t turn to him when he steps up next to me.
 

“Are you stalking me now?”
 

“No, I’m just a man who doesn’t take no for an answer and I need an explanation.”
 

“For what?” I snap.
 

“Watch your tone,” he snaps back at me and I immediately regret it. “For running out, for disappearing and more importantly, for why you simply left me a voicemail and didn’t bother to allow me to ask you about your well being after that night.”
 

“I didn’t feel I owed you any explanation, you’re not my Master. I don’t answer to you, Caden,” I whisper harshly in his ear.
 

“No, you don’t. But it is about respect, Aryn, and while I truly respect your privacy, I’d like an explanation and here is hardly the place to talk about it. Now, tell me where you’re staying and I will come by later tonight.”
 

Unable to resist his demand, I tell him, “Loews Vanderbilt, eleven-fifteen.”
 

I walk away, following Alyssa, Casey and Troy into the theater.
 

While Alyssa finishes up her final interview, I start to grow antsy and in desperate need of an escape from here. I’ve seen Caden moving around the different rooms after Alyssa. I finally manage to pull the program out of my pocket but it’s not a program, it is just a computer printout from a popular entertainment site that lists the entire cast and most of the crew. The crew part is all I need.
 

Caden Matthew - Associate Executive Producer/Stunt Coordinator
 

“Well, fuck me,” I breathe. So he was in New York.
 

Alyssa elected to go to the after party, which I had mixed feelings about going. I really wanted to get out of here, but I didn’t want to go back to the hotel. Thankfully I didn’t see Caden anywhere. Perhaps he went to the club or maybe he changed his mind about getting his answers.
 

I shiver. Concern, fear, excitement and anticipation are a nasty cocktail for someone already on edge, especially when I’m working. Somehow I manage and finally, around one in the morning, we return to the hotel.
 

I shower and down two bottles from the mini-bar before I am ready for bed. I’m about to strip down to my boxers when there is a knock at the door. My heart skips a beat in my chest and I look at the clock, it’s nearly two. It has to be Casey.
 

I go to the door and turn the handle. “What’s up, Cas-” I stop when I see Caden standing beyond the door. He’s changed out of his tuxedo from the premiere into jeans and a dark blue button down shirt.

“Bad time?” he says with a smirk.

I shake my head slightly before opening the door wider, allowing him room to step inside. My gaze follows him as he walks into my suite. “Am I interrupting something?” he asks as he takes in the state of my turned down bed.

“Not particularly. Can I get you a drink?” I ask and I close the door.
 

“No thank you.” A smile is playing at his lips and I get the impression that he’s taking great joy in my offer. I was simply being hospitable.
 

I walk past him and to the mini-bar, pulling another mini bottle of whiskey from inside. As I open it, Caden’s hands stop mine and my eyes meet his.
 

“Please don’t. I’d like to have this conversation sober.”
 

“I’m two in already,” I tell him, hoping to push him out the door so we don’t have to have this conversation.
 

“I know, it’s alright, but I’d like to do this without anymore.”
 

I pull my hands out of his. “One more will hardly do anything to me, except make me a little more loosely lipped.” I finish twisting the cap and down the bottle. The look of disapproval in Caden’s eyes makes me feel smaller than I did when he walked in the door. “Why is this so important to you?” I ask him as I breathe through the burn.
 

“Because, I get the impression you think I’ve done something to hurt you.”
 

I snort. “Hardly.”
 

He gives me a knowing look. “Then why not talk to me? Most people will only run away when they’ve been hurt.”
 

“You rejected me? No big deal,” I tell him and his eyebrows knit together.
 

“I rejected you, how?”
 

“You had me on my knees, ready and more than willing to suck you off and the minute I told you I’d never done anything like that before, you rejected me.” I walk away from him, toward the bed, setting the bottle on the nightstand. The distance gives me confidence and I turn back toward him. “Not something that’s ever happened before and I never talk to anyone after I’ve slept with them.”
 

He takes a step closer to me, then another one, and while I know it’s at a normal pace, it feels like slow motion. When he gets close to me, he leans in a little. His closeness sends my heart pumping and blood racing through my ears. I immediately regret the flannel bottoms I’m wearing when my cock grows hard at his closeness. “Bullshit,” Caden states plainly.
 

That pisses me off. “Excuse me?”
 

“If that were the case, Aryn, you wouldn’t be having dinner with Ashley tomorrow night.”
 

His statement takes me by surprise. I back away, only to run into the bed and fall onto it. “So what, you’re spying on me? Using Ashley to get information about me? If that’s the case, Caden, why not get my fucking number from her? Why the stalking?”
 

Before I can finish my rant, Caden pushes on my shoulders, we fall back on the bed. His mouth is ridiculously close to mine. I want to push him off, but the fight is gone.
 

“No, I am not spying on you and I did not use Ash to get information. I’m stalking you, in a sense, because I needed to know why you ran away from me and as far as following you around, I saw you on TV during the Los Angeles premiere with Alyssa and I knew that you’d be here tonight. You being here was confirmed by Ashley when she called to tell me you’d asked her to dinner last night.”
 

“Did you tell her to turn me down?”
 

“I’d never do that,” he breathes, and his closeness causes my head to spin in a way I’ve never felt before. “She couldn’t because she had club duty last night and your conversation with her was strictly her doing. She respects me enough as a Master at the club and someone she plays with on occasion to tell me what was going on with her. Just like she told Teddy. That’s what she does. If you’d come to the club last night, we could have and would have talked there, but you didn’t go.”
 

“No, I went.” He cocks his head at me. “I made it to the parking lot. I couldn’t bring myself to go inside.”
 

“Why not?”
 

I turn away from him, unable and unwilling to answer his question.
 

“Aryn.” His voice has that command in it again and I turn back to look at him, his voice softens, “Why didn’t you come inside?”
 

“I felt awkward without Derek or Dex there and, and I was afraid we’d end up like this.”
 

“Like what?” he breathes.
 

I take his head in my hands and whisper, “This,” and I press my lips to his.
 

He freezes momentarily before melting into my touch and my lips. My heart is racing in my chest, but I can no longer stop myself.
 

I pull back from his mouth. “I can’t stop thinking about you and I’m tired of trying to tell myself that this isn’t what I want or what I need,” I breathe before pressing my lips to his again once more.

FORTY

*~* ARYN *~*
 

He takes my hands in his and pins them down above my head before settling on top of me. My breathing is erratic and combined with his lips on mine, I’m sort of dizzy. Sensing my distress he pulls back.
 

“I never rejected you,” he breathes and my heart skips a beat. “I just didn’t want that to be your first time. I would never, could never, order you to do something like that without knowing you really wanted it.”
 

“I did,” I breathe, looking deep into his eyes. I see his sincerity.
 

He nods. “Then I’m deeply sorry you thought I was rejecting you, because I wanted you just as much as I do right now.” His voice is soft, reassuring. There is no command, there is no order or dominance, simply just him and I lying on this bed.
 

“Then kiss me,” I tell him and he doesn’t hesitate pressing his lips back against mine and his tongue plays with my bottom lip before he nips it gently with his teeth, sending shivers down my spine and goosebumps across my flesh.
 

He slides his tongue along mine and there is an unfamiliar tingle that radiates all the way down to my toes. Kissing Caden is unlike kissing anyone else. It’s heady, it’s breathtaking and I never want him to stop.