I wake with Kaden’s muscular warm body pressed against my back.
His hand slides over my hip, up my waist, my belly, my ribs, until finally he’s cupping my breast and I purr when my nipple puckers against his palm.
“Good morning,” he mumbles into my ear, his voice deep and husky with sleep. “I have the sneaking suspicion that I may have gotten lucky last night.”
His hands slide over my quickly heating flesh and his mouth kisses a hot, wet trail across my shoulders. His hands settle on my hips and pull me back against the hard length growing, settling between my thighs.
“It feels like you’re hoping to get lucky again.” I giggle when he bites down gently on my shoulder and moan when he shifts and slides easily inside my waiting warmth.
I don’t know how it’s even possible for either of us to still want sex. This was the first weekend we’ve had together in weeks and we spent pretty much the whole time in bed.
I think I managed three hours total of sleep last night and my muscles ache in the best way.
We make love slowly, languidly, the urgency of last night sated and we spend a long time kissing and speaking softly after.
But too soon, it’s time for my flight and I roll out of bed and run to the shower, locking the door to block another exciting distraction.
As the hot spray sooths my aches and pains, I let my mind drift over the last few wonderful years with Kaden.
It still feels like a dream sometimes and part of me is a little afraid that one day I will wake up back where I was before I met him.
Penniless, painfully self-conscious, and lonely.
Kaden swept into my life like a whirlwind of passion and extravagance.
In a heartbeat, I went from struggling to pay the rent to living in a mansion bigger than the whole apartment building and earning more in a week then I would have ever hoped to earn in a year. They weren’t all easy years and we had our barriers and struggles but we made it work.
Now I work in L.A. as a film producer.
I still can’t quite get my head around that.
It’s a dream I never knew I had until it was thrown in my lap by the single best Fairy Godmother in the world!
It all started when I scored a job with a small indie game company specializing on story-based fantasy. No more than three months after the glowing success of our first game, I was headhunted by a small TV production company in England.
They wanted me to co-write and produce a six part series for the BBC and I must have done an impressive job because not long after, I was headhunted again by an international film production company based in L.A.
I was sad to leave the small TV company in England.
They were fun people and the show we produced is still being aired around the world.
But the months living away from Kaden were difficult, so when I got a chance to return to America, I took it. We still don’t get to see each other as much as we’d both like, but a couple of times a month is better than once every three months.
When I step out of the shower, I can smell the mouthwatering aroma of Kaden’s famous pancakes.
He uses vanilla, nutmeg, and cinnamon and I actually moan at the smell. Yummy.
After I emerge in a cloud of steam, a towel wrapped around my still damp body, he gives me a wide, knowing grin.
“I can’t let you leave without a good breakfast,” he says, placing two plates on the table and another, loaded with pancakes in the middle. “Maple syrup or honey?”
We talk and laugh easily, Kaden watching in amusement as I devour four pancakes, alternating between honey and maple syrup. We avoid the topic that’s most on our minds - my leaving.
We wash the dishes together in silence but all too soon, I get the call from the driver letting me know that I have ten minutes.
Kaden pulls me into his arms and I giggle as I hook my hands behind his neck, combing the sandy colored hair at his nape.
“I’ll call you when I get to the apartment,” I say.
“I’ll come up to L.A. and see you when I can. These next few weeks are going to be busy. I’ll miss you every day.”
He kisses my mouth and I open to him willingly, sucking that plump lower lip between my teeth and biting just enough to make him groan.
“I love you, Claire,” he says against my lips and I say it right back.
The driver beeps his horn and I grab my bag, give my billionaire boyfriend one last kiss and leave my heart with him as I climb into the taxi and let it take me away.
As I look back over my shoulder at the man I love, I feel a sudden rush of foreboding. I can’t explain it, the feeling is just there.
An unfounded fear that this weekend might be the last.
I shake my head and try to rein in my silly thoughts by focusing on the weeks ahead.
There is a lot of work to be done if we wanted to get this film completed on schedule.
Luke Hart was finally showing up to shoot his scenes.
That had been a major stress both on set and behind the scenes. Luke Hart was known for being difficult and tended to show up in his own time.
But he was a major audience draw card.
It didn’t matter what the movie was, women lined up around the block to watch him.
And with the highly erotic and dangerous role of Grey Bentley, you didn’t need to be a psychic to know that this movie was going to break records.
I pull out my phone and text Kaden:
I miss you already.
Less than a minute later, my phone vibrates:
If you come back here, I’m going to tie you to the bed.
I swallow hard and have to bite my lip to stop myself from ordering the driver to turn us around and take me back.
He has tied me up before and… yum.
That was an experience I won’t forget.
But I can’t go back.
I have a job and a life that I now know I need as much as I need Kaden.
But still, that feeling of foreboding creeps back into my chest and chills me to the bone.