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So many mistakes. And plenty of blame to go around.
But I’m seeing now that despite blaming him for years, Caden is the innocent one in all of this. I’d thought I was righteous. I’d thought I was justified.
And the day he’d married Layla, I’d been vindicated.
But I was so, so wrong. And there’s only one way to set things right.
I’ll tell him. I’ll lay everything out on the table. Tonight.
“Summer!”
My spine stiffens when I hear Caden’s voice at my back, and I pick up my pace, not yet ready for the conversation that needs to take place.
I need to pretend for a while longer. Just long enough that I can hold tight to these last few days in the lonely years to come.
He calls out once more, and I duck into the tree line, heading further into the underbrush of the surrounding countryside. I can hear his feet pound the earth behind me, and I break into a run as I shout over my shoulder.
“Leave me alone, Caden.”
I break out into a field of daisies that runs parallel to the river, just opposite the old Mill, and I stop dead in my tracks, remembering the last time I’d run towards that same body of water.
My hesitation gives Caden enough time to catch up to me. He grabs my bicep, pulling me around to look at him. We’re about a foot apart, both of us panting from exertion. His eyes find mine, locking me in his deep blue gaze, and for the longest time, we stand unmoving.
His thoughts are clearly visible on his face, and the knowledge that I am about to break his heart all over again makes the air around us feel unbearably heavy.
I open my mouth to speak, needing to shatter this illusion before I allow us to fall any deeper—though I know in my heart that it’s already too late—but he reaches forward to slap his palm over my mouth. He holds me firmly against his hard body with his free hand wrapping slowly around my throat, and my body surges to life, even while my brain tells me this madness needs to stop.
My hands wrap around his wrists, trying and failing to remove them from my body, all while our eyes are locked firmly on one another.
After allowing me to struggle against his hold for a couple of minutes, Cade increases the pressure of his hold on my neck and leans forward until his lips are brushing the shell of my ear. He chuckles when I shiver visibly in his hold before whispering words that make my heart begin to pound.
“Stop.”
He nips my ear, and I make a noise somewhere between a shriek and a moan stifled by his hand over my mouth.
“Running.”
Then he soothes my lobe with the flat of his tongue before swirling it around the sensitive skin where my jaw meets my neck. I inhale sharply as my lower stomach clenches in desire. A wave of heat washes between my thighs when he presses his clearly aroused hardness against the flat of my stomach, making me squirm deliciously.
“Fromme.”
He sucks my neck and removes his palm from my mouth, allowing me to suck in a gasp before he takes my lips with his.
His tongue slowly dances with mine, sending tiny, potent sparks of heat to every corner of my body. I hum to life beneath his touch, my heart quickening in my chest despite my mind telling me to stop this recklessness. To tell him the whole sorry story. To fall at his feet and beg forgiveness.
But I don’t. I can’t—or perhaps it’s because I’m selfish enough that Iwon’t.
Instead, I stop fighting and move my hands from his wrists, allowing them to rest on his muscular chest.
His agonising kisses give me as much pain as they do pleasure, and it’s not long before I can’t take it any longer. My fevered fingers fly to his belt buckle, undoing it with ease.
His sharp inhalation as he continues to make slow love to my mouth is followed by a growl as his palm tightens almost painfully around my throat. I rip my mouth from his, moving as far back as his grip will allow before grabbing the hem of his t-shirt.
“Take it off. Take it offnow, Cade.”
His nostrils flare as he lets me go to do as I’ve demanded, going a step further to peel his jeans and underwear down his legs until he’s naked before me. His cock juts out, standing tall, and I almost grin when I see the pride for his self-achieved hard-on play across his face.
“Please. Oh please, fuck me now. I need to stopfeeling. I need itallto just stop.” I’m unable to disguise my anguish, and it frustrates me even further as I lift the hem of my paisley maxi dress. “Make it all stop, Caden. Make it go away.”
