The numbers ticked by so damn slowly. I chewed on my fingernail as I anxiously waited.
Finally it stopped. The doors pulled apart, and this floor looked completely different from the first one. This one had floors made of dark gray marble, and at the end of the walkway was a desk. It was vacant. I stepped off, and the elevator doors closed behind me. It was quiet.
Too quiet, almost.
I took several steps forward, hearing something behind the door ahead.
A voice. His voice. He’s here.
I sped up my pace and went to the door at the end of the hall. It was halfway open, and through the crack, I saw Cane pass by with a white button-down on, the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. “I need that delivered by tonight, Cora. No—it can’t wait until morning. They guaranteed it would be ready tonight, and I want it there. We will be too busy tomorrow to even deal with that. Good. Thank you for handling it.”
He ended the call with a hard sigh. I blinked slowly, watching him sit on the edge of his desk and scroll through his phone. Now was my chance to talk to him. He was alone. Cornered.
I pushed on the door with the tips of my fingers and it let off a slight creak. Cane picked his head up with a frown but when he caught sight of me, his eyes widened and his lips parted. He placed his phone down and pushed off the desk.
“Kandy—what the hell? What are you doing here?” he demanded.
But I ignored him, pushing the door closed behind me and running into his arms. He caught me before our bodies could clash too hard, and I was glad. So glad. He held me tight in his arms instead of pulling away, and my tears were instantaneous. I buried my face into his chest. “Why?” I asked, voice muffled. “Why? I don’t get it.”
He made a noise that got trapped in his throat. “Kandy,” he murmured, and I could hear the agony in his voice.
I picked my head up, meeting his eyes. “What does she have on you? I don’t get it. What did you do?”
He pressed his lips. “You don’t want to know,” he answered, and his eyes immediately turned dark and filled with guilt.
I wanted to know. I really did, but it hit me that we were alone. All alone, just like we were at the lake house, and in the den the very first time we attempted something. We were best when we were alone. Just us. Uninterrupted.
“I wanted to see you before I left,” I whispered.
He stroked my hair. “I’m glad you did.”
“I’m never going to forget about you, Cane, and I know you aren’t going to forget about me either. I don’t care what she says.”
He unleashed a hard and heavy breath. “I’ll figure this out,” he said with his lips in my hair. “I swear.”
“By the time you do, you don’t think it’ll be too late?” I looked up again.
“I hope not, Kandy Cane.”
I smiled a little. I put my focus on his lips, how full and supple they were. I missed those lips. I missed everything about him. His scent. His touch. His beautiful, sculpted face. The ink that stained his arms and peeked out from beneath the collar of his shirt.
“Can we?” I begged. “One more time?”
He blinked down at me with a pained expression. “Kandy…”
“Please,” I begged again.
He shut his eyes for a moment, inhaling through his nostrils and then exhaling. When he opened them, they were softer. Understanding.
He lowered his head and brought his hands up to cup my face in them, and when his mouth met mine, my cold blood ran warm again. Anxious, I tangled my fingers in his hair and pulled at the buttons of his shirt. I was sure I’d ripped it. Buttons clanked on the floor, but I didn’t care and neither did he. He reached down to pull my shirt over my head, our kiss breaking for a just a moment before we were smashed together again.
Picking me up, he turned for the love seat that was against the window and laid my back down on it, climbing between my legs and unbuttoning my jeans with haste. My panties were next, and while he slid those down, I fumbled with his belt, button, and zipper.
We were both free from the waist down. His shirt had been torn open, hanging loosely over his arms. He stared down at me, eyes sparking from the sunlight pouring in through the wide window. I stared up at him, the most beautiful man I’d ever laid eyes on, and my eyes burned again, but I didn’t want to cry. Not yet.
I grabbed his arm and yanked him down, draping my arms around the back of his neck. One of his went under my back and slid up to grip back of my neck, the other holding my waist.