Chapter Four
One week later
Patience climbed into the bed, and couldn’t believe that it had already been a week since she’d been married. That day she had run from him had been instinctual. She’d felt trapped, even though there wouldn’t be an out for her now. She couldn’t leave Cade. He intrigued her. She hadn’t worked a single day, and Cade spent so much time with her. The first day, he’d not left the apartment. The second day he had. Alfero, the man who gave the ultimatum arrived and then they closed themselves away in his office, talking for over three hours.
She’d not interrupted them.
Cade had handed her a large bag of books, and when she looked inside, she saw they were her library books from the apartment, which she found so sweet. Her life had taken a crazy turn when she believed a library book to be sweet.
He remembered little things about her, which no one ever had before. Friday night, she lay in bed reading one of her books, waiting for Cade to return. One of his demands had been that they sleep in the same bed. She would never forget that first night.
Since the kiss he’d given her, she couldn’t help but be nervous around Cade. He was just all man, and that was impossible to deny. She struggled with her thoughts.
Should she hate him for being a killer?
Should she push him away?
Or should she actually give in and have something she wanted?
Shaking her head, it didn’t matter what she thought. There was no way anything like what she fantasized would happen between them.
Sex.
Her thoughts were dominated by it.
Patience had never had it.
Cade oozed it out of every single pore, and it was next to impossible to deny his sex appeal.
He made the heroes in her books seem pitiful and boring.
Cade was all man.
Real. Dangerous. Sexy. Sinful.
He made her want to give in to temptation and be with him.
Cade’s work required him to kill people.
That first day they had been together, he’d told her everything. After she tried to run from him and he held her against the wall, something had changed inside her. The kiss had awakened a need within her body that made it even harder to deny what she wanted.
She’d sat down at the table and tried to make him appear the bad guy.
Every single question she asked, he’d answered.
Finally, when she asked what he wanted from her, his response had shocked her.
“I want everything.”
“Everything?”
“I want you, Patience. I want us to have a family, and I will protect you in this life. Other guys can have a family. It’s not all bad. It only goes wrong for traitors.”
He’d touched her hand, and the fire from his touch had gone straight to her pussy.
She was a virgin, but not oblivious to what went on in the world, or what she wanted.
Her attraction to Cade was … unexpected, but all he had ever been was sweet to her, and she couldn’t ignore that.
The sound of the main door opening forced her to look at her book. She found herself constantly watching him when he came home.
He entered the bedroom and Patience looked up only to freeze in place. His hands were clenched into fists, and blood covered his shirt. She saw a cut on his cheek.
Dropping the book, she scrambled out of the bed and rushed to his side. “What happened?”
“It’s not my blood.”
She reached up, touching his cheek, but made sure not directly on his cut.
“It is your blood.”
Her heart raced, and she hated that he was in pain. Taking his hand, she pulled him toward the bathroom.
He didn’t fight her.
“You don’t have to do this, Patience. I was shocked to see you awake this late.”
It was two in the morning.
She didn’t like to sleep until he was settled in behind her. Of course, she pretended to be asleep.
Today she couldn’t pretend.
Staring at the shower and then the bathtub, she didn’t know what to do.
“Run me a bath, will you?” he asked.
She’d already started running him a bath, adding some scented bubbles, which seemed pointless.
When she turned to look at him, he was getting undressed. She gasped and quickly turned away.
“I’m your husband, Patience. You can look. I won’t hold it against you.”
Her heart raced once again.
Why couldn’t she just act normal around him?
She always felt out of sorts around him, and it wasn’t just because of what he did for a living. It was the man himself that she had a hard time ignoring.
Turning back to him, Patience forced herself to look at his face rather than at his naked body.
He held his hands out. “I’m yours to look at. Take a good long look.” He stood in front of her.
Unable to deny him, she slowly looked down his body. There was ink all over his arms and chest, which were muscular. He was strong.
Down she went until she rested on his cock.
He wasn’t hard but he was in fact long.
Quickly glancing up, she saw him smiling.
“Like what you see?” he asked.
She didn’t say anything. Instead, she finished preparing his bath, and then grabbed the medical kit that she saw stored there.
“Yes, I do.” She could answer him while she wasn’t looking in his eyes.
“I like looking at you as well.” He sat in the bath when she looked back at him. “I really do enjoy watching you.”
She placed the medical kit on the floor and reached for the sponge.
“I’m sorry that our time together has been cut short. Work will always come first, but know that in my heart I will always fight to come back to you.”
“I’ve done a lot of thinking this past week.” She began to rub his back, and the water turned a shade of pink from the blood. His knuckles were cracked from hitting someone. “I don’t want to spend the rest of my life being miserable. I want a good marriage. A complete marriage. A happy one with you.”
****
Cade had another man’s blood on his hands, and Patience helped to clean it off. He’d expected her to be sleeping. His nights were the best times when he got to pull her into his arms and hold her.
He knew she was never asleep when he first came to bed, but he’d wait for her to finally fall before taking her into his arms.
Hearing that she wanted a good marriage gave him hope. He took hold of her hand. There was no longer blood on his hands as he’d cleaned it off. Locking their fingers together, he kissed her knuckles.
“Is that in all things?” he asked.
“Yes.”
Cade rubbed at his eyes. “Do you want me to fuck you?” He kept trying to help her acclimate, but he couldn’t change every single part of himself. Being blunt was part of him, and nothing or no one was going to change him, not even his love of this woman, and he did love her.
He’d fallen in love with her from the first moment he’d seen her.
She didn’t tense up, nor did she say anything for several seconds.
“Yes.”
Her voice was a whisper.
“I’ll be gentle with you. I promise.”
“You don’t need to keep promising me anything.” She gave his hand a squeeze. “I know you’re going to try and do the best that you can do. You shouldn’t have to keep apologizing for everything.” Silence fell between them, and he didn’t want her to be uncomfortable. Holding her arm, he pressed another kiss to her inner wrist. “Thank you for everything that you’ve given me so far. You didn’t have to make my time here great, but you have.”
She then did something he wasn’t expecting.
Patience kissed his cheek.
Her face was so close, and he turned to look into her eyes. She didn’t pull away. Releasing her hand, he tucked some hair behind her ear. Patience stayed close to him.
Running his thumb across her mouth, he leaned in and took possession of her lips. Sinking his fingers into her hair, holding onto her head, he kissed her hard.
She let out a little moan, and he swallowed it down, relishing the sounds she made, knowing he wanted to hear a cry from her lips as she screamed his name.
His cock began to thicken, and the bath no longer held his interest.
Patience cupped his cheek, smiling. “I’ve got to fix that cut.”
She pressed another kiss to his lips and stood, handing him a towel. He’d already pulled the plug from the bathtub.
He took the towel from her, climbing out and sitting on the side of the tub.
“I can’t guarantee that I’m going to be perfect to start out. I’m not good at a lot of things, but I will try, Cade.”
“This is a change of attitude,” he said.
The negligee she wore enhanced her curves, and it made him ache to take her there and then.
She opened the medical kit and began to work on his wound.
“I do a lot of thinking being alone all the time. My parents are still alive, and I could probably be miserable if I wanted to be. We all live one life, and I don’t want to live mine hating it. I’m part of a world that I always knew existed, but I never realized how close it was. Then I realized that in marrying me, you saved me. The least I can do is be a good woman for you.”
“I meant what I said, Patience. I won’t cheat on you. I’m a one-woman man. Always will be.”
She smiled. “That would be nice.”
He watched as she bit her lip, the nerves clear to see on her face.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I’m just wondering. I’m not like other women. I’m … bigger … fatter. Are you sure you’re going to be able to enjoy that?” she asked.
Her cheeks were a fiery red.
Cade reached out, holding onto her hips, and this time, he smiled. He could finally hold her, and she felt so fucking good in his hands.
“You’re not fat to me, baby. You’re curvy and sexy, and I’ve got no problem at all with how much I want you. You’re everything that I want, and that’s never going to change.” He leaned forward and kissed her stomach.
He felt her gasp, and he looked up at her.
“I’m not used to this.”
“Don’t worry. We’ve got the rest of our lives together to help you get used to it.” He stroked her hips as she continued to fix up his cut.
Her hands were shaking a little. She wasn’t afraid of him. Her nipples were rock-hard points, and her eyes dilated.
Patience was aroused, and he wondered if he teased between her thighs if she would be as soaking wet as he imagined.
Dropping one of his hands down, he drew the tips of his fingers up the inside of her thigh.
Staring into her eyes, he watched as she swallowed. Her eyes went wide as he advanced closer to her pussy.
When he grazed the fabric of her panties, she gripped his shoulders.
She was wet.
Sliding a finger beneath the fabric, he teased between her slit, and her eyes closed. He drew his finger to her clit, circling the swollen bud. Her cheeks were a really deep red, and so sexy.
He wanted to show her everything that she’d been missing out on.