Boxed Set: The His Submissive Series Complete Collection (Part One-Part Twelve) (38 page)

It was hard to believe that once upon a time the sight of him made sparks ripple across my skin. Back then I couldn’t get rid of my grin. I held it until I stepped out of the dark, so tempted to rush back to the ticket booth so I could experience it all over again. But something changed—and the very sight of Cade Wallace made me sick to my stomach.

He was in his best Regular Joe, wearing a charcoal V-neck shirt and jeans, his golden cropped hair beneath a ball cap. His green eyes glued me in place but as soon as his lips spread, I wrenched free, inching slowly backward.

“Cade? What are you-”
You don’t care
. I turned my back to him without another word.
Ignore him. Maybe he’ll just go away.

I moved to the drink pick-up station, willing them to go faster so I could get the hell out of there. It was obvious Cade was determined to butt his way into my life whether I wanted it or not.

Even with my attention on the barista’s every movement, I knew Cade was beside me. He just had that kind of presence; the ability to make the air buzz. And even though I was ridden with goose bumps, on high alert, I didn’t acknowledge him.

Just go away
, I begged silently.
We don’t have anything to say to each other.

“I know I’m probably the last person on Earth you want to see-”

I refused to speak to him out loud, but my thoughts fired off like bullets.
Damn right. Especially since I told you I was off of your case and have zero, zilch, nada reason to see you in person. Ever.

“-but I was in the neighborhood.”

In the neighborhood?
Everything else became a muted drone, a whisper compared to the realization that he was lying. While Cade was here promoting the movie, he was staying at the Empire—clear on the other side of town. I turned the volume back on, needing to hear that I was wrong because if I was right...

“-and this place makes my favorite cup of coffee in the city.”

There was no way I was going to let that fly by unaddressed. “I thought the hole in the wall we met at for coffee was your favorite cup of coffee in the city.” Since I’d just nixed the whole ignoring thing, I turned my chin in his direction and pulled it upward until I met him dead on. “I’m going to ask you a question that I already know the answer to, so if you lie, I’ll know.” He claimed I made him want to be better, and I was going to find out if it was all just an act.

I was going to find out if my favorite actor was stalking me.

“You weren’t in the neighborhood, were you?”

“You’re asking if I’m lying about being in the area?” He had one hell of a poker face. The sharp lines of his face never wavered. There wasn’t even a twitch. But his question was clearly just stalling.

I didn’t blink. “Not area. Neighborhood.”

“You’re asking if I’m lying about being in the neighborhood?”

“I’m asking you to be honest.” I glanced back at the barista. She was slowly pouring steamed milk into the cups. I’d give him until she slid them across the counter to quit with the games.

Why are you even playing at all, Lay? Cade Wallace has proved time and again that he can’t be trusted farther than you can throw him.
But this was a new life, a new Leila. And I could answer that question without guilt. The only reason I hadn’t said the hell with my drinks was because I wanted to be proven wrong. That I hadn’t spent time, money, and heart on a guy that was a complete asshole. I wasn’t holding auditions for my new BFF. I just wanted the bullshit to end.

“Tea latte and a breve latte for Leila?”

The barista plunked the cups on the counter in front of me and I swiped them, feeling disappointed. I was done waiting. “Time’s up.”

“No, I wasn’t in the neighborhood,” he blurted.

I paused, glancing over my shoulder. “Are you following me, Cade?”

And there was the crack. His mouth opened, his eyes softening. “Yes.”

I walked to the condiment station, popping the lid off my latte and grabbing a raw sugar packet. I thought hearing him admit it would be infuriating. Make me chunk the coffee at his head and make a run for it—because stake outs and ‘accidentally’ running into people wasn’t normal. Maybe I was in shock, calmly opening the pack, brown sugar crystals raining on top of the frothy foam.

“I know this looks bad.”

“Bad?” I repeated, putting my lid back on and running my finger along the seam until I was sure that it was secure. “You following me is horrible, Cade. And slightly frightening.”

“Then let me explain.” When I arched an eyebrow, he added. “Five minutes. I’m not trying to throw a wrench in your love life, I swear.”

“You have until I put sugar and milk in Jacob’s tea.” I made sure I watched him when I said my boyfriend’s name. If he frowned, or even looked at me sideways, he wouldn’t even get that. I wouldn’t waste any more time if he couldn’t accept that me and him just weren’t going to happen. Even if he was my shadow until I drew my last breath.

But he didn’t even flinch, which was a start. I popped Jacob’s lid and listened to what Cade had to say.

“I want to apologize to you.”

“Again?” I said with an eye roll. “And then you’ll show me how you really mean it by doing something that completely contradicts your apology?” I thought back to his attempt at one when he’d come to pick up the gift baskets and atone for the mess he made after going ape shit on a dressing room. I thought back to when I made it clear that we were done, that I wanted him to leave and he followed it up by making me uncomfortable. “Like invading my personal space?” I dumped in a dollop of milk. “Or following me around?”

“Yes, I want to apologize again,” he reiterated, clenching his jaw. “And I know that I’m going to have to convince you that I mean it this time.”

“Step one,” I said curtly. “Don’t stalk me.”

“How else would I get you alone?” His eyes widened when he realized how bad that sounded. “Not for that. I meant, how would I get you alone so I could explain everything and not get in a brawl with Jacob or have you slap me and some photographer eat it up from behind his lens?” He paused. “Tomorrow’s the premiere and I’m keeping my nose clean. I swear it. I’ve done enough, risked enough. I won’t let my shit affect the movie release any more than it already has.”

I didn’t disagree with that, cringing inwardly as I remembered the number he did on the dressing room. Cade drunk as a skunk and opening up to me. Being vulnerable. Being human. I was letting him explain himself for that guy. The guy that clearly needed a friend.

“So you what?” I said after a moment. “Camped out in front of Jacob’s apartment building?”

I almost snapped the coffee stirrer in my hand in half, remembering what I’d been doing in plain sight on the balcony of Jacob’s place. I told myself that his surveillance operation couldn’t have included staking out and observing the coming and goings and activities that went on behind closed doors. He wouldn’t have been able to look at me without ‘I saw you naked’ being written all over his face.

“I was parked out front, yeah.”

I let out a sigh and went back to stirring.

“I almost went upstairs. To talk to both of you.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” I said honestly. Even though Jacob made it clear that he could control himself in the name of professionalism, Cade showing up at his place would have been pushing his luck.

“Well, I’m going to need to talk to him at some pint. Every time Lisa tries to set something up, he’s busy or out of the office,” Cade said, leaning against an armchair a few feet away.

He’d been blacklisted, an honor Jacob bestowed on nagging members of the board and clients that got a little trigger happy with his contact information. The last client who’d been banished to the list was Rachel Laraby. Apparently, Cade was the latest addition.

But it didn’t do anyone any good to confirm the obvious fact that Jacob was dodging him, so I just shrugged. “He’s been busy since we got back from Italy.”

“Right.” The word was a tight, uncomfortable response that he cleared with a rumble of his throat. Cade wasn’t buying my excuse and probably wasn’t very appreciative of the fact that he had to blow up Whitmore and Creighton’s phone at all. Even though the nature of our business was handling clients and publicity situations, the word ‘handled’ left a bitter taste in the mouth. For a person used to being worshipped and having all the power, surrendering it and being powerless wasn’t easy to accept.

“I want to call a truce.”

I clicked the lid back on Jacob’s coffee. “I wasn’t aware we were fighting. I’m handicapped from the get go since you decide when you want to be a jerk and I’m supposed to just take it.”

“I’m trying here, Leila.”

I bit my lip, knowing he was right. I either needed to leave or let him explain. I decided on the first. “Fine.”

“I don’t have many friends,” he began. “I mean, I have guys I can call up for a beer every now and then. And girls that I can...” He trailed off, averting his eyes.

If he’d played that card a few months ago, I’d be all over it. But I was wary of him, wondering if he had an angle, waiting for me to put my guard down so he could set fire to my best intentions.

“I know them all through the business,” he continued. “And I know they’d all lose, block, or erase my number when the lights die down. Hell, half of the people in my contact book distanced themselves after I became box office poison.” It was clearly a sore subject because his eyes were flashing, a stormy sea of green and gray. “Fake as hell. Fair weather friends.” He exhaled. “But not you. You’re real.”

I wavered, but I didn’t let on. “Thank you.”

“And after everything I’ve put you through, I have no right to ask for your friendship, but...” He stuffed his hands in his pocket. “I’m asking.”

“When we met up for coffee, it was supposed to be ‘as friends’ and we both know how that turned out,” I said softly.

“I’m not perfect, Leila. Nowhere near it. And I’ll admit that at first, my intentions were anything but honorable.”

He was struggling, wanting to come closer but knowing that wouldn’t make it better. The Cade I’d been getting to know lately would have done it anyway. This Cade was respecting my boundaries. Or at least trying really hard to anyway.

“I think that when you meet people,” he went on. “Special people, it’s a good idea to hold onto them. And I could be a good friend to you, if you gave me the chance.”

I wanted to believe him. I wanted to trust that he was different and wasn’t trying to get close out of some deep desire to sabotage me and Jacob. That part wanted to say yes. To be his friend. But I wasn’t ready to make that leap. Not yet.

“I should get this coffee to him before it’s ice cold.” I scanned his face slowly and said something I hoped I wouldn’t regret. “I’d like to be your friend, Cade. But I need time to think about it.”

His lips broke into a grin and he was practically giddy with excitement until he reined it in with a curt nod, hiding it away. “Cool. That’s all I ask.”

I sunk my teeth into my lips to keep from smiling myself as I stepped out of the coffee shop. Hopeful.

****

M
egan’s eyes nearly popped out of her skull. “I can’t believe it.”

I did a slow turn, the metallic, slinky material glittering and sweeping around my body. When I’d woken up it had been hanging in the powder room, every inch of it shining like a diamond. It was an Aubri Rose dress, made by a local designer who made waves turning down A-listers that clamored to wear her designs. She chose her clients and Jacob had to make a personal appeal, describing what made me special for her to create my one of a kind gown.

“I know,” I sighed, almost clutching my warm cheeks before remembering the team that spent nearly an hour preening every bit of me, turning me into a Glamazon I hardly recognized when I looked in the mirror. They’d wanted to straighten my naturally wiry curls, but Jacob vetoed that. They’d swept them to one side instead, giving me a silver screen noir look that matched my Old Hollywood style dress and applied a deep, rouge lipstick that made my lips full and luscious. “It’s amazing, right? Like, Holy makeover magic, Batman!”

“You look great,” she nodded, stepping to the side to let me in. “But I’m more surprised that Jacob is letting you go to the
Soldier’s Creed
premiere at all. I kept expecting you to text me and say the whole thing was off.”

I bit the inside of my jaw to hold back the retort on my tongue.
Let me? Jacob doesn’t have the power to let me do anything
...but I knew that wasn’t true. I’d been just as surprised that he not only signed off on my attendance but insisted upon it.

After I commenced my freak out over my gorgeous dress, he took my face in his hands and said that he trusted me and it was wrong of him to take me off the Wallace case. He remembered the dressing room fiasco and how I made sure Cade avoided scandal and said I belonged on the red carpet just as much as anyone. While Jacob wasn’t one hundred percent sold when I told him about Cade’s olive branch, he told me he was going to start respecting my professional autonomy.

I shrugged a shoulder, pushing away her statement. “So what can I do to help?” Tonight was about us and I didn’t want to get into it. Not when she wasn’t even finished getting ready and the car was downstairs.

She ducked into the bathroom, applying blush as two rollers swayed and bobbed with her brisk movements. I unclipped them and red curls cascaded to join the others. I could tell she was nervous, her breathing rough around the edges.

“Everything alright?”

“It’s great,” she squeaked, then snapped her compact closed and slumped. “This blush is too much, isn’t it? And my ass looks huge and-”

“You look fantastic,” I assured her. And I wasn’t just saying it so we could get out the door. Her emerald sequined dress stopped just past her knees, clinging in all the right places. Her crimson hair hung in soft waves around her face. And while she was wearing twice as much makeup as usual, it was the right mix of color and drama for the occasion.

“No,
you
look great,” she groaned. “I look like I’m lost.”