Road to Absolution (17 page)

“To get you to
go out with me? Hell, yeah I would. Did you know there was nothing wrong with
your tires?”

“What does that
have to do with anything?”

“Someone let the
air out of your tires, Cassidy. There were no holes, no nails, nothin’. They
were just flat. Tires don’t typically just go flat.”

“What are you
saying?”

“It’s very
possible Tom let the air out in an effort to get you to get in his car.”

“Ohmigod, you’re
being ridiculous! Why would he do that? He’s handsome and British, Carter, he
doesn’t need to let the air out of someone’s tires to get a date.”

“You fuckin’
think he’s handsome?” Carter bellowed.

“In a general
sense,” I admitted. “Honey, you need to calm down. That little vein on your
temple is twitching. I’d rather your head not explode.”

“Fuck me,
Cassidy. At some point, you need to take this seriously.”

“Take what
seriously? He hasn’t done anything!”

Carter dragged
his hands down his face. “What the hell is this fucker up to?”

“Nothing,” I
argued again. “He knows about you. He knows I’m not interested in him. I’ve
been very clear and you hit him for Pete’s sake! Pretty sure he got the
picture.”

“Guys like that
don’t listen, Cassidy.”

“Guys like you,”
I observed

“He and I are
nothing
alike.”

I rolled my
eyes. “I think you and he are more similar than you’d like to admit. You’re
both strong, successful men, who know what they want and go after it. I
certainly never had a chance with you, and can you honestly say that if I
decided you and I were over, you wouldn’t wage an all out war to get me back?”

“Is that what
you want? Us to be over?” His tone was one of anger and panic.

“No! Of course
not. I love you. I’m not going anywhere. I’m just simply trying to get you to
see it from another side.” I slid my hands up his chest and looped them behind
his neck. “I think I can handle a man who isn’t nearly as sexy and delicious as
you are. I think I kind of already have.”

“What do you
mean?”

“Okay, don’t get
mad.”

“Don’t fuckin’
tell me not to get mad, Cassidy.”

 I frowned.
“Well, then I’m not going to tell you.”

“Mom!” Maverick
called. “I’m wet.”

“Cassidy,”
Carter growled.

“We’ll talk
about it later,” I said, and headed to the bathroom. Maverick had managed to
soak the entire front of himself while washing his hands. “Oh my gosh, buddy,
what happened?”

He lowered his
eyes.

“Maverick Carter
Dennis, what did you do?”

“I’m sorry, Mom,
I just wanted to see how far the water would shoot.”

I groaned and
grabbed a towel from the towel rack. “Strip.”

He removed his
clothes and I wrapped the towel around him. “Now, go get in your pajamas, we
can skip a shower tonight.”

“Yes,” he
hissed, and jogged off to his room.

“You okay?”
Carter stood in the doorway and frowned.

“Yes,” I said
with a sigh. “Our kid just decided to have a water gun fight without an actual
water gun… or a target.”

Carter grinned
from ear-to-ear as he grabbed another towel and began to help me sop up the
water.

“What?” I asked
as I stood.

“You just said,
‘our kid.’”

I smiled. “Did
I?”

“Yeah, baby, you
did.”

“Well, he is,
right?”

“Damn right he
is,” Carter said, and kissed me. “I love you, you know that right?”

“Yes.” I sighed
and shook my head. “I love you too.”

We finished
cleaning up the mess and then sat down to eat.

“Maverick, next
time you make a mess like that, you’ll need to clean it up, got it?” Carter
said.

Maverick dropped
his eyes to his lap. “Okay.”

“And no using
language like that, even if you’re making a joke, yeah? At least, not around
your mom.”

“Not around
anybody,” I countered.

Maverick gave
Carter a little grin, but nodded when I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Okay,” Maverick
said.

“Apologize to
your mom, please,” Carter added.

“Sorry, Mom.”

I smiled. “I
forgive you, buddy.”

Carter rustled
his hair and we dug into the food. Again, Carter outdid himself with the chili
he’d started that morning in the crock pot. I admitted that if he was willing
to shop and cook for us, I’d do dishes and laundry, and he’d never hear me
complain. The deal was struck and the roses confession was forgotten.

W
EDNESDAYS WERE TYPICALLY my night to
cook or grab take-out since the club attended “church.” I’m relatively certain
that several local fast-food joints had a slight pick-up in business on my
nights to cook, but this week Carter made more of his crack-n-cheese as I’d
dubbed it. Seriously, I was going to gain a million pounds if I didn’t watch
it. Of course, I thought all of this while shoveling my third helping of said
crack into my mouth.

Maverick was in
the shower and I was opening a bottle of wine when my cell phone rang. Assuming
it was Carter, I answered it. It wasn’t him.

“Hi, Cassidy,
how are you?” Tom asked.

“Um, I’m good.
How are you?”

“Excellent. I’m
just waiting at the airport. Heading to London for the week, then Paris the
following week.”

“Oh, that’s
nice.” I frowned and shook my head, totally unclear as to why I needed to know
this. “Sorry, Tom, this isn’t really a good time for me.”

“Oh, right.
Sorry, love. You’re probably getting your son ready for bed.”

“Well, have a
nice trip.”

“’Bye,
sweetheart.”

I hung up and
groaned. Crap! This was getting out of hand. Monday, I’d found more flowers on
my desk, which I promptly returned. I was glad he wasn’t in his office at the
time. Yesterday he’d stopped by my desk to say hello and see how I was, again
trying to convince me to keep the flowers.

Today I hadn’t
seen him, so I had hoped he’d gotten the message, but apparently not. I was not
looking forward to the conversation I was going to have with Carter. I knew I
needed to tell him everything, but I also knew he was going to overreact.

Once Maverick
was in bed, I sat down in front of the television with a glass of wine (and,
yes, more crack-n-cheese, don’t judge me). I heard the key in the lock an hour
later and my man walked in looking hotter than normal in his tight black
T-shirt, cut, and jeans.

“Hey, baby,” he
said, and leaned down to kiss me.

I smiled. “Hi.
How was church?”

“Busy,” he said,
and flopped down next to me. “A lot of shit to cover.”

“Good stuff?” He
shook his head and I sighed. “Right. Club business.”

He smiled.
“Yeah.”

“Want me to heat
up some crack and get you a beer?”

He chuckled.
“That’d be great, babe, thanks.”

I headed to the
kitchen and grabbed everything.

“How was your
day?” Carter asked. I didn’t answer right away, not entirely sure where to
start. “Babe?”

“I have to talk
to you about something,” I said, as I walked back into the living room and set
his dinner in front of him.

He frowned up at
me. “Okay.”

“I think I’ve
made an already weird situation worse.”

“Honey, sit down
and talk to me. Can’t fix it if you don’t tell me.”

“I don’t
want
you to fix it, Carter. I just think you should have full disclosure.” I sat
beside him, crossing my legs in front of me.

“Tell me.”

I sighed. “Tom’s
not really taking ‘no’ for an answer.”

“How so?” he
said carefully, and set his beer back on the coffee table.

Uh-oh.

I swallowed.
“Well…”

I filled him in
on the flowers, the phone calls, the office visits, everything, and found
myself scooting back at the rage pouring off of him. Without comment, he knifed
off the sofa and grabbed his phone, leaving the apartment, his food sitting
untouched on the table.

* * *

“Yo, Ace,” Booker answered.

Carter sat in
his truck, the only place he could get complete privacy. “The fucker’s messin’
with her. He called her again today… I thought you blocked her number.”

“I did. We’ve
been watching his phone. Hold on, let me see if there’s anything new.”

Booker did
whatever the fuck Booker did and Carter forced down his desire to break
something. Booker could find anyone anywhere and no one questioned if his
information came legally or not. He was the club’s computer guy and had a knack
for hacking pretty much any system, so Carter had to trust that he’d be able to
figure out (at least on the cyber side) what the bastard was up to.

“Burner and he’s
pinging it off different satellites. Don’t know if he’s doin’ it or someone’s
doin’ it for him, but I’d get Cassidy a new phone, brother. Keep the phone she
has, but have one that the guy doesn’t know about.”

“Fuck!” he
breathed out. “That’s what I was afraid of. Cassidy said he’s off to Paris and
I have a feeling he’s up to something.”

“How much does
he know about her?”

“Knowing Cass,
not much. She’s always been pretty tight-lipped when it came to her private
life. He knows about me though, and I’d imagine he knows who Maverick is, but
outside of that, I have no fuckin’ clue.”

“So, he doesn’t
know that Maverick’s father’s in Paris?”

“Who the fuck
knows? Cass left the father box on the birth certificate blank. Mack’s workin’
on the adoption paperwork, but it all fuckin’ takes time.”

“Okay, brother,
we’ll figure it out,” Booker promised. “If the asshole’s out of the country for
a little while, it’ll give us some time. My guy’s callin’ me tomorrow with an
update.”

Carter sighed.
“I fuckin’ hate this, Book.”

“Yeah, I get
it.”

“Call me if you
find anything, even if it’s the middle of the night.”

“I will,
brother.”

Carter hung up
and climbed out of the truck. He’d kill anyone who got in his way and he knew
that scared Cassidy so he had to stow it.

* * *

Carter returned close to thirty minutes
later and I watched him as he locked the door and took off his boots. The dog
met him at the door just as excited as the first time he came in, so he gave
her some love. I could tell he was trying to calm himself down. “I’m reheating
your dinner, honey.”

“Thanks,” he
said, and headed my way. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close,
kissing my hair. “I’m gonna fuckin’ kill him.”

I squeezed him
tight. “Don’t, honey. I’m going to HR tomorrow to make a formal complaint.
Either he’ll be dealt with or I’ll be fired, but either way, it’ll be sorted.”

“Why the fuck
would they fire you?” he demanded.

I smiled up at
him. “Because he’s an executive and I’m a worker bee. Everyone knows HR’s only
there to cover the company’s ass.”

“Then just
fuckin’ quit!”

“No.” I pulled
away so I could grab his dinner from the microwave… again.

“Why the fuck
not?”

“One, if I quit
and he does this to someone else, I’ll feel guilty, and two, if I quit, I won’t
get severance or unemployment. I don’t have enough saved to just up and quit my
job, Carter.”

“I
do
,
Cass. Walk out tomorrow and I’ll take care of everything.”

I frowned. “I
like my job, honey. I like the people I work with… for the most part, it has
great benefits and it’s also in Vancouver, which means I don’t have to pay
income tax. Those jobs aren’t easy to find right now.”

He dragged his
hands through his hair. “Cassidy, if you never wanted to work again, you
wouldn’t have to.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously,” he
said.

I bit my lip.
“Well, that’s good to know for the future, but right now, I’m young, I’m
healthy, and I don’t have a reason
not
to work, so I’d feel weird.”

Carter stared at
me but not for long. “If tomorrow doesn’t go well, you quit.”

“How about,” I
countered, looping my arms around his neck, “if Tom doesn’t stop his
unprofessional behavior,
then
I quit? He might not fully understand how
uncomfortable he’s making me, and one word from HR will shut it down.”

“I don’t like
it, Cass.”

“I know, baby,
but it’ll be okay,” I promised “Why don’t you eat and then we can do something
fun?”

“Mav asleep?” he
asked.

“Yep.”

“Let’s skip
food,” he said, leaning down to kiss me and lifting me so I could wrap my legs
around his waist.

I smiled against
his lips and slipped my hands in his hair as he carried me into the bedroom and
closed the door. He lowered me to the mattress and tugged my shorts—panties and
all—down my legs. God, I loved how he always started right here. Even if we
weren’t completely naked, he’d start with his face between my legs, and I’d
forget about everything.

This time,
however, he didn’t spend as much time as he usually did. Don’t get me wrong, I
came and I came hard, but this was the first time I’d only come once before he
was removing the rest of our clothes and sliding into me… and I loved it.

Ohmigod, this
was definitely going on the approved list of sexual standard procedures.

“So fuckin’ wet,
baby.”

“Yes!” I drew my
knees up higher, wrapping my calves around his back. My ballet training gave me
the ability to contort my body for optimum pleasure, and holy crap, tonight was
most certainly optimum pleasure.

His mouth
covered mine and his tongue slid into my mouth as he wrapped his big hand
around my breast and squeezed. He rolled the nipple between his fingers as his
hips surged into me, his tongue matching the motion with each thrust.

I lost his mouth
on mine, but he moved his lips to my throat and I arched my neck to get more.
“Drop a leg, baby.”

I dropped a leg
onto the mattress and mewed as he slid his hand between us and fingered my
clit. “Love my baby’s cunt. Fuck, so tight and wet.”

I tilted my hips
and groaned. “Carter. Oh, God, I love you!”

“Come baby,” he
said, his breath coming in pants as he slammed into me again and again.

“More, honey.”

He did as he was
told and pressed in deeper and I exploded around him. He wasn’t far behind and
he collapsed on top of me, rolling us to our sides to keep our connection. I
felt him pulse inside of me for several seconds and I wrapped my leg back
around him. “Wow,” I whispered.

He chuckled and
kissed me. “Yeah, wow’s good, babe.”

I stroked his
cheek and ran my thumb across his lower lip. “I had no idea.”

“About?”

“How good this
would be. Is it always like this?”

He nibbled
gently on my thumb and shook his head. “It’s never been like this for me.”

“Liar.” I
narrowed my eyes.

“Never lied to
you, Cassidy,” he said, sounding a little irked.

I rolled my
eyes. “You’re telling me, that with the multitudes of women you’ve been with,
you have never had sex this good?”

“That’s exactly
what I’m telling you.”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”
Carter smiled. “There’s a difference in making love and getting’ off, and until
you, it’s been the latter.”

I closed my eyes
and smiled, wrapping my arms around his neck. “I love you so much it hurts
sometimes.”

Carter pulled me
close and held me for a while before sliding out of me and making his way to
the bathroom. He returned with a warm washcloth and cleaned me up, we dressed
just enough in case Maverick came in during the night, and then I fell asleep
in his arms, dinner and troubles forgotten.

* * *

The next morning, the alarm went off and
I slammed my hand on the snooze button, rolling over with a smile and opening
my eyes. What met my gaze had me squeaking and scrambling from the bed. Carter
dropped his head back and laughed, patting the mattress. “Sorry, babe. I didn’t
mean to freak you out.” He waved the tiny troll doll gently, complete with
bright pink hair, and a diamond ring hanging from his arm. “Torbig and I have a
question.”

I shook my head
as I climbed back into the bed. “You are ridiculous.”