TEASE
Cash was handsome with a dimpled smile, a smooth tongue, graceful with nonchalance. And that damn brow piercing that caught the light whenever he tilted his head.
He looked like a fallen angel
“Sit down,” I said, reaching for my robe.
“What?” His tone shifted, like my command had hit a nerve.
“I said, sit. Down.” I repeated, a touch firmer this time.
He blinked, then swallowed hard and obeyed. “Okay” he said softly, walking to the bar and settling on a stool.
I changed into my robe and then I joined him.
“I don’t have tea,” I said, grabbing two glasses. “Whiskey?”
“Neat.”
I handed him the drink and we let the silence stretch as we sipped the alcohol.
Carl had once said Cash only returned home for one of two reasons: a miracle or a mess.
And the boy in front of me didn’t look like he had performed a miracle.
“So,” I said lightly, “what crime did you commit this time? Drugs? Fraud? Murder?”
“Sex,” he said bluntly.
I paused mid-sip. “What?”
“I fucked a lovely lady,” he said with a shrug. “Fucked her senseless she screamed my name while screwing her husband. He didn’t take it well. Next thing I know, I’ve got a gun to my head and I’m bargaining for my life.”
How charming.
Unfazed, I poured us both another glass.
“Tell me, Miss Isabel.” He leaned in, eyes trained on mine. “Is that a crime?”
Might be the alcohol kicking in.
I met his stare evenly and slid the glass toward him. “Here’s your glass.”
We drank in silence for a beat, tension hanging in the air.
“It’s been ages since I came here,” he said finally, eyes scanning the room like it haunted him.
“And why is that?”
He hesitated. “Things have changed.” His grip on the glass tightened, knuckles turning white.
I sipped slowly as my eyes drifted down to his long fingers. “You still haven’t answered the question.”
He frowned. “What question?”
“Why do you avoid coming home?”
That hit him. His gaze flickered nervously, and his shoulders tensed.
“We don’t… I… my…” Cash stumbled over his words.
“You’re trembling,” I said gently, stepped closer, and rested my hand slightly on his back.
“What? No…” He snatched his hands away from the island like they’d been burned.
“There you go again, Cash. Hesitating.” My voice lowered, a soft tease. “Good boys don’t lie. Are you good?”
He blinked, posture going rigid like a scolded child caught doing something naughty.
He swallowed “Yes,” murmuring too quietly with a soft nod.
I moved in, lips nearly brushing his ear. “Does it make you feel small when I talk to you like this?”
“No.” His voice cracked.
“Liar.”
His hypnotic stillness cracked and he straightened. “Do you always talk like this?” he leaned in with a smirk, “Like some slutty hooker seducing men to take her home?”
My smile didn’t falter but I backed up an inch. “Nice to meet you, Cash. I see you’ve got a fuckboy tongue. That’s a disrespectful thing to say to your father’s fiancée”
He laughed, cocky again. “You look like you want to pin me to the wall and tear me apart for telling you the truth”
“I might just do that,” I said stiffly.
But I knew the game, he was rage-baiting.
Deflecting questions with insults, and trying to start a fight so he could dodge the truth and avoid feeling anything at all.
“Why are you mad? You won. You seduced him and got a ring out of it” he continued. “Enjoy it while it lasts. Just don’t ask questions that aren’t your business. Carl’s not putting you in the will, even if we both know that’s why you said yes.”
Cash Graves was a brat.
I tilted my head slowly with a soft smile.
“I know your type.” I set down my glass with a soft clink.
“Loud on the outside, but starving and desperate for praise underneath. You act like you need validation for being bad. But you don’t even know your place.”
I circled him calmly and topped his glass.
“I’m about to be your stepmother so you need to know that I’m a successful forensic scientist, I’m smarter, and just as rich as he is”
Cash’s smile faded. “Isabel, I didn’t mean..”
“Shhh.” I cut him off smoothly, “I didn’t ask what you meant, sweetheart.”
I leaned forward, right into his face until his warm breath met mine and his body stilled.
“And I don’t care how tough or reckless you think you are. You will treat me with respect. Unless you want to be owned.”
His froze, lips parting.
“Owned,” I repeated in a firm voice. “And when I say owned, I mean I will teach you a lesson you won’t forget. Ask around. I don’t play soft. Understood?”
He nodded, visibly flushed and his pupils dilated.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered.
“Oh, I know you are.” My gaze dipped, deliberately, tracing the bulge building below his belt. “It’d please me to see you humiliated and begging. Don’t tempt me.”
He snatched the glass from my hand and downed the whiskey in a single breath before slamming it on the table.
Cash’s chest rose and fell harder now. “Do you always sound so dominant?” he asked with a hoarse voice.
My tongue darted out to wet my lower lip. “Does it embarrass you… or turn you on?”
He didn’t answer right away, Cash clenched his jaw, like he wanted to say something nasty again, but his body betrayed him.
When he looked down the evidence was already pressing hard against his jeans.
“Fuck this,” he muttered under his breathe.
Watching him fluster under my gaze was more intoxicating than the whiskey in my glass.
I gave him a knowing smile “Your secret’s out, boy.”
He cleared his throat and turned away awkwardly, but the blush creeping up his neck betrayed him more than his words ever could.
“I can’t help it,” he said, not meeting my eyes. “I’m turned on by powerful women.”
“I know you are”
Bang!
The moment shattered with the loud slam of the front door and we both jerked toward the sound, heavy footsteps followed.
“Where is he?!”
Carl Graves was home.
… And he was mad as hell.