“On your hands and knees.”
A flare of arousal went through me. I'd been honest when I'd told Cade that Ronald and I hadn't just had sex in the missionary position, but I hadn't given him details. The truth was, there really hadn't been much variety. Him on top, me on top. That was pretty much it. Secretly, I'd always wanted to try other ways, the kinds of positions with names like reverse cowgirl and doggy-style. I just hadn't known how to bring any of it up without sounding like some kind of slut.
“Don't close your eyes,” Cade instructed. “I want you to watch yourself the entire time I'm fucking you. I want you to see how amazing your body is, the way your face changes with ecstasy when you come. You need to see all of it.”
I nodded.
Cade ran his hand down my spine and I arched up into his touch. A finger slid down my crack toward my pussy and I shuddered. I needed him inside me so badly it almost hurt.
“I don't know if it was the idiots who bypassed you for Adelle when you were younger, or someone else who made you feel like you were less than what you are, but tonight, you are going to see yourself the way I see you.”
I moaned as the head of his cock nudged at my entrance. I started to close my eyes, then remembered my instructions.
His hands slid up over my hips and over my ribs, moving down beneath me to cup my breasts. He looked into the mirror, our eyes meeting. “See what I see, Aubree.”
I watched his body curl more tightly around mine and his hips moved, pushing the first inch or so of his cock inside me. I shivered with pleasure. I wondered if I'd ever feel the same way when it was another man's body on mine...
Cade straightened and put his hands on my waist. His hips snapped forward and I keened. He'd stretched me enough that there was no pain, only the intense sensation of being filled so completely that it was as if we'd been made to fit together.
“Look at yourself,” Cade ordered as he slowly drew back. “What do you see?”
I watched this time as he thrust back into me. The way my breasts swayed. How my lips parted. The blush across my skin that was more arousal than embarrassment.
“Do you see?” he asked.
My gaze slid up to him, watching the way his muscles flexed as he began to set a steady rhythm, each stroke reaching the very end of me. His strong jaw, those amazing lips, his eyes. How his dark curls fell across his forehead. I saw beauty, but it was all him.
He reached down and grabbed me by the shoulders, pulling me onto my knees. One of his arms wrapped across my shoulders, above my breasts, holding me so that my back was flush against his chest. His free hand splayed across my stomach.
“Your body is amazing, Aubree.” Cade's lips were against my ear. His knees pushed at mine, somehow managing to spread my legs while still keeping his balance. “Look at our bodies together.”
My eyes fell to where I could see his thick shaft buried inside me. I whimpered as he thrust up into me. The hand on my stomach slid down until it found my clit. My body jerked as his fingers brushed against the throbbing bundle of nerves and I moaned as the motion pushed Cade deeper.
“I love the way your body responds to me.”
My stomach clenched and my heart thudded in my chest.
“How can you not see it?” His fingers were moving in time with his thrusts now, driving me closer and closer to the edge. “Every inch of you is any man's dream. Soft skin.” He pressed his lips against the side of my throat. “Firm breasts. A tight, hot pussy. A body that quivers with the slightest touch.”
His touch, I wanted to say. I didn't want to be any man's dream, only his. I didn't want any other man touching me.
“See yourself how I see you, Aubree Gamble.” He was starting to breathe harder, every stroke coming faster. “See the exquisite sexual creature you are and… come.”
He bit down on my earlobe and I cried out, my body tightening around his. Wave after wave of pleasure washed over me, spurred on by Cade's hand between my legs and his voice in my ear, telling me how gorgeous I was when I came, how much he loved watching me come.
At the height of my orgasm, there, for just a split second, I caught a glimpse of what he was talking about. Tears burned in my eyes and I reached behind me, putting my hands on his thighs. My nails dug in, the only release for the enormity of what I was feeling. I felt his muscles tense, then he groaned my name. His arms tightened around me and his cock pulsed inside me, sending new ripples of pleasure through me.
He sat back on the bed and pulled me onto his lap, holding me as we caught our breath. “Don't let anyone tell you that you don't deserve everything you want.”
A pain went through me. Would he still say that, I wondered, if he knew he was what I wanted?
He shifted me off of his lap, hissing as he slid out of me. He tossed the condom into the trash and then rolled back to face me. “Why don't you go ahead and grab a shower?”
I nodded and climbed off the bed. Getting away from him seemed like a good idea. My mind was buzzing with too many thoughts and my entire body was sticky with sweat and other things. I'd think more clearly once I was clean.
I sighed as the hot water beat down on me, washing everything away. I took my time, shampooing my hair and scrubbing myself clean. I tried not to think about anything. I didn't want to read too much into what Cade had said tonight, but as the events kept popping up for replays, I couldn't quite quash the hope that maybe Cade meant some of those things in ways that went beyond the physical. Maybe this weekend was his way of telling me I was different from his other clients. I was special.
I pulled on the thick, fluffy hotel robe without bothering to put anything on underneath. I stepped out into the bedroom, wondering if Cade and I were finally going to talk about how things were changing between us.
The bed was empty. I frowned. Had he decided to use the other bathroom because I'd taken too long in the shower? I walked over to the bedroom door and looked across the hall into the other room.
I couldn't see details, but I could see the lump in the middle of the bed where Cade was sleeping.
In the other bedroom.
Alone.
Fighting back new tears, I walked back to the bed. I turned off the light and crawled under the covers. I pulled them tight around me and told myself it was all for the best. I really didn't want to get involved with someone like Cade anyway. I wanted all the things he didn't believe in, including love. At least, this way, I didn't make a fool of myself and end our contract before we were through.
The thoughts were little comfort as I fell into a restless sleep.
Chapter 8
When I opened my eyes, the clock said it was almost nine o'clock but I felt like I'd barely slept at all. I pushed myself into a sitting position, slightly disoriented. The hotel curtains were thick, preventing most light from coming into the room. I sniffed. Now there was something that could wake me up. Coffee. That was what I needed to chase away the bad sleep.
I stood and stretched. The bed had been comfortable, but my head was too busy for me to be able to get any real rest. I trudged into the bathroom for some basic morning business, but didn't bother to get dressed before heading out into the kitchenette area.
Cade was sitting at the table already, newspaper in hand. I couldn't help but feel a pulse of lust as I looked at him. He wore jeans and a plain long-sleeved shirt that emphasized his broad shoulders. His hair was tousled and seemed longer than usual, though I quickly realized it was because he hadn't put any product in it. His feet were bare and he looked so at ease that I wondered if this was how he always looked in the morning.
“Morning.” He gave me a dazzling smile. “I wasn't sure when you usually woke up on the weekends, so I took the liberty of ordering a bit of everything so you could eat whenever.” He gestured toward the table.
“Thanks.” I smiled back but bypassed the table in favor of some coffee. I inhaled deeply as I poured it into a mug. Oh, this wasn't just coffee. This was the good stuff. Hazelnut. And the choice of creamers was like something out of a dream.
I drank a third of it before I made my way back to the table and took a look at what all Cade had ordered from room service. There was an assortment of fruit, bagels and muffins. Pancakes and waffles with three different kinds of syrup. Far too much for two people to eat.
“Whenever you're done, I'll call room service to come pack all this up,” Cade said as he turned the page.
“Pack it up?” I asked as I put a blueberry muffin and some grapes on a small plate.
“There's a church a few blocks away that will give the leftover food away to people who need it.”
The muffin was half-way to my mouth when it stopped. I stared at Cade, or the bit of him I could see over the top of the paper. “A church?”
He bent the paper down, the expression on his face annoyingly blank. “Surprised that I would contact a church? Or that someone like me didn't burst into flame even thinking about it?”
“No, I... that's not...”
He cracked a smile. “Relax, Aubree.” He set his newspaper aside. “When you grow up with nothing, you tend to know where to go to get help.” He gestured to the tray. “Or in this case, where to give it.”
I didn't say anything as I broke a piece of muffin off and popped it into my mouth. Just when I thought I had Cade Shepard figured out, he went and did something like this. I wanted to probe, ask about how he'd grown up. There was so much about him that was a mystery and so much I wanted to solve. I mused over it as I ate my food and drank my delicious coffee. Was there a way I could get to know him better without revealing that I was starting to get attached? Was that even a good idea? Would learning more about him make me want him less or more? What if I found out bad things and that made me not want to be with him? Wouldn't that actually be better? And what if it went the other way? What if who he was, his past, touched me more than he already did? He could have been a Boy Scout turned orphan for all I knew. Could I really afford to get more involved than I already was?
“You're going out tonight,” Cade announced suddenly.
I blinked. Had he said 'you' and not 'we'?
“I've been working with you for almost a month now and it's time to see you put into practice what I've taught you,” he continued. “You'll have all of today to prepare. Your date will meet you at La Vecchía Ristorante at six.”
“My date.” I found my voice.
Cade folded his hands in front of him and gave me all of his attention. “The entire point of this has been to teach you to be the woman you want to be. You're beautiful, sexy and, I hope, beginning to see yourself that way.”
A few minutes ago, hearing him call me beautiful and sexy would've been the best thing he could've said. Now, his words felt cold and empty. My stomach twisted.
“What better way to determine how far you've come than to set you up on a date that you have to seduce and fuck.”
I leaned back in my chair, numb with shock. When he'd said we were going away for the weekend, at the very least, I'd expected a couple days of toe-curling sex, complete with lessons about what I needed to do to please him. I'd never considered that Cade would want me to have sex with another man.
“He's not a pro,” Cade continued. “I found him on a dating site and told him that I wanted to set him up with a friend of mine.”
Friend. The word was bitter in my mouth. We weren't friends, and I didn't want to be friends. I wanted everything or nothing from him.
“Are you trying to make the transition from escort to pimp?” I asked. “Because you're doing a bang-up job.”
“I didn't pay him, Aubree,” Cade said mildly. “I told him about you and said that you'd lost a bet. The stakes were, you had to go out with a guy I chose.”
I crossed my arms. “What if I've had enough of blind dates? They don't always go very well for me.”
“I'll remind you that you agreed to do as I said.” Cade paused, and then added, “Unless you've decided you no longer wish to continue with our agreement.”
I frowned. “So basically, you're telling me I have to fuck a complete stranger, whether I want to or not?”
“I'm telling you that you're going to go on a date with a man who could possibly be everything you're looking for, or just a good lay. I'm telling you to seduce him and fuck him, yes, but it's not about you doing something you don't want to do.” Cade pushed his chair from the table and rested his ankle on his knee. “It's about you having the confidence to know what you want and going for it. Proving that you've learned from what I've been trying to teach you.”
An idea came to me and it was both perfect and dangerous. I didn't take the time to analyze or assess the risks. No overthinking, just action.
I stood and reached for the belt on my robe. “You want to know if you're a good teacher? How about I show you?”
Cade shifted in his chair. The movement was slight, but I knew that even the smallest break in his facade meant I'd caught him off guard. That was good.
I untied my robe slowly, giving him the time to wonder what I was wearing underneath. As the belt came undone, I let the robe fall naturally, giving Cade a glimpse of pale flesh. I walked toward him and was gratified to see his eyes locked on my body, darkening as each step hinted at what was beneath the soft cotton.
When I was standing directly in front of him, I reached down and removed his ankle from where he'd had it resting on his knee. With his feet on the floor, legs parted, I could see the considerable bulge straining against his jeans. I smiled and let the robe slide off my shoulders, revealing my body inch by inch. As it fell to the floor, I went to my knees.
“Shit,” Cade breathed.
I ignored him and went right for what I wanted. Button undone, zipper down and then I tugged his jeans and underwear down his hips until his cock was free. I lowered my head to take all of him while he was still only half-hard. Remembering what he'd taught me, I cupped his balls and then began to massage them. Cade moaned and a thrill of pride went through me. I licked my way down his thickening shaft and took his balls into my mouth, giving them the attention they deserved before moving back up to his cock.