Need You Tonight (20 page)

NINETEEN

“How’s she doing?” Kade asked, setting down the report he’d been looking at when his
brother had strolled in and parked in the chair across from his desk. He’d called
him in here earlier to get the report on how Tessa’s job training was going, but Gib
had been tied up with another meeting.

Gibson hooked his ankle over his knee and leaned back, looking like a Kennedy descendant
instead of a guy who’d grown up being called trailer trash. “Quick study. Motivated.
Still a little insecure soliciting the donations but getting better. When James Alario
went all cross-examination on her early on, asking her the financial stats of her
organization and business plans and shit, she knew a lot but not enough for Alario,
apparently. He didn’t donate. Busted her confidence and I thought she was going to
throw in the towel, but later that day I saw her with the P&Ls for the charity. I
asked if she wanted me to send Marcy in from accounting to help her decipher them,
but she said she wanted to try to figure it out herself first.”

Kade nodded. “She’s taking business classes two nights a week. And numbers always
came easier to her from what I remember, so I’m not surprised. How is the fundraiser
looking?”

“She secured Third Sky for the musical headliner, so that’s been a huge help because
they’re a hot ticket right now. Apparently, Billy, the guitarist, grew up in foster
care here, too, and Tessa knew him from back then. She called in a personal favor.”

“Impressive.”

“Yeah, like I said, she’s motivated. And she hasn’t lost that Ms. Popularity thing
she had in high school. She’s easy for people to like. So with that and the band’s
name to throw around, she’s landed a few good donations over the last few weeks and
has sold some booth spots. It’s a solid start. Though, I’m not sure it really matters.”

Kade lifted a brow. “What do you mean?”

“Come on. You may be fooling her, but you’re not fooling me. I know you’ll give her
whatever money she needs if she comes up short. You can fix her charity with one quick
check.”

“She doesn’t know I’m willing to do that, though. And doesn’t
need
to know. I want her to see that she’s capable of doing it on her own.”

“She’s working her ass off and pulling in any connections she can manage, so I can’t
fault her on effort.” Gib did that little shrug like it hurt him to give her credit.

Kade rested his forearms on the desk, not liking Gib’s tone. “You faulting her for
something else then, little brother?”

“Only for what’s going on between you two,” he said bluntly.

“That shouldn’t concern you.”

“Come on, you’re seeing her every night, man.”

“And that matters, why?”

He made a face like the answer should be obvious. “Because you’re sneaking around
like teenagers and letting her do the same damn thing she did to you back then. Taking
what she needs from a relationship with you without anyone else having to know. She’s
dragging you into the pit again.”

Kade gave Gib a bemused smile, imagining some she-devil cartoon version of Tessa,
digging talons into him and forcing him to have sex with her in her secret lair. “Come
on, Gib. Dragging me into the pit? It’s not like I’m not getting something out of
this deal. Last I checked,
she’s
submitting to
me
.”

“And
you’re
getting attached to
her
,” he countered.

Kade’s jaw tightened. “Weren’t you the one who wanted me to
woo
her?”

Gib leaned back in his chair with a groan. “Into a public relationship that could
help you with the case. Not some clandestine affair that’s only going to get you burned
when she goes AWOL again. Can’t you see this is just fun and fantasy for her? A way
to soothe her tattered ego after getting cheated on by her ex. If this were something
real for her, she wouldn’t care who knew.”

Kade frowned, Gibson only underlining the things Kade was already worried about. “I’m
working on trying to get her to go public, but can’t rush her or it will blow up.
I have to work her up to it. She was raked over the fire by the press back in Atlanta,
so her concerns are valid. No one would want to be portrayed as a gold digger. And
you know that angle would pop up. I’m sure Doug Barrett would be more than happy to
provide some choice sound bites as well. Plus, with my past, rumors about is she/isn’t
she into kink would surface. It’s a lot of scrutiny to invite for something she sees
as a casual hookup.”

“But none of that’s going to kill her,” Gib said, frustration edging his words. “She’ll
survive the gossip, and I can do spin control with my contacts, have them write stories
focusing on her charity work and how you two knew each other from high school. You
need to stop worrying about her feelings and focus on the custody case. Reid told
you straight up that a stable relationship would improve your image with the court
tenfold, especially one with a woman who has never been tied to the scene.”

“I’m aware of that,” Kade replied tersely. “But it’s not your place to decide how
I handle it.”

“Yeah, well, I’m the one who lost my brother when she fucked you over last time. And
I’m also the one who dealt with you after the divorce and when you lost custody originally.
I’m not in the mood to watch your self-destruct mode again. The company can’t afford
that and neither can I.”

Kade pushed back from his desk and rose to walk toward the window. He put his back
to his brother as he stared out at the buildings and afternoon sky. When he’d first
lost custody of Rosalie, he’d been more angry and depressed than he’d ever been in
his adult life. He’d reverted back to Kaden Fowler mode, becoming a version of that
beat-down teenager filled with angst and rage at the world. All that grief had piled
in with old trauma, forming one big, black mess inside his head. He’d drunk too much,
plowed through women, and had shirked his responsibilities at work. And he wouldn’t
let anyone near him to help pull him out of it. He’d almost alienated the very family
he’d been so happy to find only a few years earlier and damaged the company he’d worked
so hard to start.

Only Gibson had been able to get past all the daggers Kade had been throwing at everyone.
He and Colby had come to Kade’s house and had taken him by threat of force for a weeklong
bro-cation on the coast. No alcohol or women allowed. They’d cleaned him up, gotten
his head clear, and had basically vowed to kick his ass if he didn’t get his shit
together. But the thing that had put it over the top was Gibson telling Kade that
he was on the way to becoming a worthless alcoholic like his stepdad. That had put
the fear of God in him. He’d known he hadn’t gotten to that point yet. He could still
put down the bottle, but he’d sensed the black hole wasn’t far in the distance.

Since that trip, he’d done a one-eighty and had put his energy into the business and
into getting another custody hearing. He had Gib to thank for it, so he didn’t want
to jump on his brother’s case. But Kade didn’t relish the idea of putting Tessa in
a position that would cause her drama. It wasn’t her problem to fix.

But he also couldn’t deny that the desire to do anything and everything to get Rosalie
back kept him awake at night.

He sighed and leaned his head against the glass. “It’s going to take more than a little
cajoling to get Tessa confident enough to step into the spotlight with me. Especially
when there’s no real benefit to her doing so.”

“Tell her about Rosalie then. Maybe she’ll understand why it’s so important.”

“No way. I’m not guilting her into it with some sob story about my kid. Plus, that’s
asking for months of commitment, which will freak her the fuck out. I still have to
work to get her to agree to another night each time I see her. I need her to decide
to be with me because she wants to try a relationship and doesn’t want to hide.”

“You need her to trust you.”

Kade frowned and turned to face his brother again. “I need more than that. Trust isn’t
enough.”

Gib leaned back in his chair and ran a hand over his jaw. “Well, you’re a pro at getting
girls to fall for you. They don’t call you the Time Share Bachelor for nothing. You’ve
even got the psycho ex-girlfriends to prove it. I’m assuming you heard the latest
on the fire?”

“Yes,” he said with a groan. The cops had informed him that Rebecca, the same ex-girlfriend
who’d given a statement to his ex-wife’s lawyer about his kinky side, was now being
investigated for the fire at Barcelona. Brilliant.

“So clearly you can stir up passion in a woman. Dial up your game with Tessa, bro.
Jet her off to Rome for the weekend or something. Make her feel like a princess.”

He scowled. “You make it sound like I have some playbook of how to make a girl love
me. This isn’t a game. I feel like this could become something real, Gib. But I don’t
want to fuck it up by rushing things and scaring her off. She needs reassurance that
this is just a fun fling, that I’m just happy to show her some fantasies.”

“And you’re lying about it being only that,” Gibson said quietly.

He turned and faced his brother, the truth like bags of gravel weighing down his shoulders.
“Through my teeth. Fulfilling some dirty fantasies with Tessa is no hardship, believe
me. But I want the real thing, have for a long time, and everything in me thinks she
could be it. There’s always been something intense between us, even if we didn’t know
how to label it.”

Gibson eyed him, unconvinced. “But is she really submissive or is she just experimenting
with roles? What you want isn’t simply a little kink. It’s full surrender. The pool
of people open to that kind of thing is small already.”

Kade tucked his hands in his pockets and leaned against the window. “My gut says she
could be capable of it. But she’s working so hard to be one hundred percent independent,
trying to prove to herself that she can do it all on her own, that I think she’d flip
if she knew the depth of what I want in a relationship. She doesn’t even like me paying
for dinner. I understand it, but it’s driving me crazy.”

“She realizes that she was bought by Doug. Can’t blame her for not wanting to fall
into that again.”

He rubbed the back of his head. “I know. I get it. But I don’t know how much longer
I’m going to be able to keep myself in check. The more we’re together, the more my
instinct to take over completely gnaws at me.”

“So take over,” Gib said, as if it were the simplest decision in the world. “You’re
a dom and a sadist. That’s not going to change. Colby said y’all got together the
other night and that you were so gentle with Tessa, he didn’t even recognize you.”

“Colby should keep his mouth shut.”

“Come on, he didn’t give me details or anything. He’s just concerned like I am. He
can tell things are getting heavy with this girl, and it’s going to lead nowhere good
if you don’t show her who she’s really dealing with. If she’s truly submissive and
open to your brand of dominance, she’ll respond if you dial things up. If she’s not,
then at least you know before you get in too deep and get your guts handed to you.”

In too deep. As if he weren’t in it up to his eyeballs already.

“It’s not that easy.” The fact that he’d been playing the dominance aspect low key
with Tessa had been a source of frustration for a while now. She’d been distant the
next morning after the threesome, as if she couldn’t quite process what had happened,
and had needed a few days before she was ready to see him again. So since then, every
time he considered amping up the intensity, he’d backed off at the last minute, fearing
that he’d scare her off. But he’d promised himself after his divorce that he would
always be up front about the extent of his kinks with anyone he considered getting
serious with—take it or leave it. And here he was breaking his number one rule by
constantly diluting it for Tessa.

“Look, man, I get that she’s special to you, and you don’t want to mess it up again.
But holding back and playing some half-assed version of yourself
will
screw it up, guaranteed. In high school you held back with her, played the game how
she wanted you to play it. Don’t be that kid again. That kid got his ass kicked and
lost the girl anyway.”

Kade looked over at his brother, the truth in the words slicing right through him.
Gib was right. The moment Tess had stepped back into his life, his normal confidence
had been shaken. Something about her always channeled that stuttering kid who wanted
to jump through every hoop to be near her. And here he was doing it again. Plus, he
was
getting attached and developing that wicked bastard of an emotion called hope. The
deeper he got, the more it’d suck when it blew up in his face.

“You’re right.”

“Of course I am.”

Kade raked his hand through his hair. “Maybe it’s time for a trip to The Ranch.”

Gibson nodded. “That will at least give your girl a real glimpse of what it could
be like with you. And if you see she’s not into it, you can save yourself the trouble
and end it now. Then I’ll set you up with a nice faux girlfriend for the press. I
already have someone in mind.”

Kade’s lip curled. “Does she charge by the hour or day?”

Gibson gave him an offended look. “Hey, I wouldn’t do that to you. The high-end ones
have weekly rates.”

Kade resisted rolling his eyes and sat in his chair again, his mind already drifting
to The Ranch. Imagining Tessa in that environment, under his command, wearing his
collar in front of his friends, being his—all of it had his blood heating. It’d be
a risk to put her in that kind of environment this soon. But she’d enjoyed the boundaries
he’d pushed so far, and even if it had shaken her foundation, she had still come back
to him. And he was beginning to wonder if there really was any true way to ease someone
into the kind of relationship dynamic he needed.

“I guess it’s time to lay it all out there,” he said, looking up at his brother.