“What would I be sorry for?” he inquired, and I considered whether I could choke him out and win the fight with the rage that pumped through my veins.
“Do you really want to be here when he comes? He was hurt by your text. Not that it really matters. He can be hurt all he wants, but he’s also mad. For all I know, honestly, he might punch you. Quite frankly, I hope he does,” I threw out, trying to get him to leave. God, I was childish.
“I hope he does too.” Cade smiled at me, like he wanted to unleash something. And my body instantly buzzed to life.
I spun around, furious that I still reacted to him at all. I knew this wasn’t right. I hated how much I loved him. How much I always would. “I’m trying here, Cade. I’m moving on like you told me to.”
“I didn’t tell you that. I said to give it some time,” he murmured.
“Yes. And we can all assume—”
“Do you always assume things, Izzy? Because I never told you I hated you when we first met either, but you imagined that too.”
“Cade,” I took a deep breath in warning and paced away from him toward the kitchen. He got up to follow and leaned his hip on the counter as I pointed a finger at him. “You told me to move on.”
“But neither of us can.”
Those five words, said with such conviction, had me turning around like the girl from The Exorcist. If my head could have spun a full 360 degrees, it would have. Instead, on one heel, I made that turn, so slow and full of fury that I knew he’d better listen. “Take it back right now, Cade Armanelli. I am moving on.”
“Shit, baby.” He cracked his knuckles as he looked me up and down. “You look more pissed than I’ve ever seen, and I’ve seen you pretty mad. I’m trying not to be turned on, but don’t come near me or I’ll fold.”
The fact that he hadn’t answered my calls and had ignored my voicemails, then waltzed in here like nothing was wrong, had me seeing a red so bright I might have been blinded by it.
“You’ll— Are you kidding me right now?” I stopped, not willing to walk any closer. I couldn’t risk my heart wanting him when my mind knew better.
But both of us halted when there was a knock at the door. I was about to brush past Cade to answer it, but he grabbed my arm to say in a low voice, “I’ll be nice if I have to, Izzy, but I can only take so much.”
I ripped my arm from his grasp and glared at him. “You’ll take whatever I want—even if it means Gerald and I getting back together—considering we’re not even dating.”
That Armanelli man had the audacity to grumble like a little boy as he stomped over to the kitchen island stool and took a seat. “We could go back to being enemies, and I still wouldn’t allow that shit. He’d be a dead man walking.”
31
Izzy
I rolled my eyes, furious but also more alive than I’d been in weeks. Cade was back, we were sparring, and I was feeling so much more like myself that my heart ached at finding what I felt had been lost to me: myself and the love of my life.
I tried not to focus on that, though, and swung open the door. There stood my ex, his hair slicked back, a suit and freaking tie pressed perfectly for whatever show he was about to put on, and a small smile of hope on his face. He pulled me in for a hug, and we both turned as Cade growled from the countertop.
“Izzy, I didn’t know you had company,” Gerald ground out.
“Yes, well, he came unannounced.”
I saw how Gerald’s lips pulled back, how the distaste showed in his face. “I really wanted to speak to you privately.”
I took a deep breath. “Gerald, if it’s important, you can say it here and now, because I’m not quite sure I have any patience left at this point. I was clear when I left you—”
He nodded vigorously and held up his hands. “You’re right. You’re right. I’m sorry for even insinuating I deserve more of your time. I just”—he glanced at Cade and cleared his throat—“I really meant what I said when I called you to tell you I missed you. I’ve done a lot of soul-searching without you. And with my father’s business about to go bankrupt, I’ve really found it hard to cope without you because—”
Cade snorted and strolled over to my fridge like he owned the freaking place. He opened it up and grabbed a water bottle, then lifted a brow at both of us watching him. “Go on. We’re listening, Gerald.”
The way he sneered the man’s name had me wide-eyeing him, but he shrugged like he didn’t care. Quite frankly, I shouldn’t have cared either. Gerald had cheated and then handled it terribly by texting me constantly for a month after. Yet, he’d been silent since Cade threatening him until today’s text. It was a thoughtful one asking for forgiveness and for me to hear his side.
“Look, the only reason I’m here is for you. I know I fucked up, and I’m so thankful you’re letting me come over to tell you that. It shows that we still care about each other, right, baby?” He flicked his gaze to Cade like he wanted Cade to understand that too.
I sighed and combed a hand through my hair. “Honestly, Gerald, no. I’ve recently been left to wonder why a certain relationship of mine ended as well. I didn’t get it. I felt like you, texting that person, bothering them, leaving them voicemails. So I figured I owed you the same courtesy I would have liked.”
Gerald’s cheeks reddened and he started to sweat. I wasn’t sure if it was the suit, Cade staring at him, or if he was just overwhelmed, but it wasn’t even hot in here. Did he love me that much that he’d sweat over this?
“Okay, okay. That’s fair.” Then he did the most ridiculous thing ever. He kneeled down in front of me and pulled a ring out of his pocket. He gripped my hand, and I let him because I was in such shock. “I need you to forgive me. I need a second chance. I’ll be yours forever. No cheating, no straying. You’re it.”
My freaking jaw dropped. And he was so dense, he took it as a sign to shove the diamond ring on my finger.
“Gerald.” I shook my head. I grabbed him by the biceps and yanked him up. “No. What are you even thinking?”
“I love you, and we’re meant to be together. I’ll even tell him. I saw him with you, and I realized I needed to clean up my act. I needed to show you how much I cared.”
“Gerald,” Cade said his name quietly but with a firmness that made us both stop and listen to him as he walked over slowly. That small smile on his face held no happiness as he looked my ex-boyfriend up and down. “I did warn you about coming near Izzy and talking with her again, didn’t I?”
“We-well . . .” he stuttered as Cade took another step toward him. Both men stared at each other. “I-I think it’s best we let Izzy choose what she wants. Even if you’re all businessmen now, we know that you’re really . . .”
Gerald didn’t have the balls to finish that sentence, but Cade waited as he slid his knuckles down the bicep of my outstretched arm which Gerald still held. I couldn’t control how the trail of his skin touching mine left a wake of goose bumps or that I shivered when his hand encircled my wrist to slowly pull my fingers from Gerald’s grip.
Gerald let me go and watched as Cade brought my hand to his mouth. He rubbed my fingertips over his lips as he murmured to us both, “Go on, Gerald. Finish your sentence.”
“I just think she should choose who she wants.”
The man I’d so desperately tried to get over for the last month smiled at me, and my whole body vibrated with need. He didn’t stop there, though. He took his time dipping my ring finger in his mouth and swirled his tongue over every part of my skin before his teeth clenched around the engagement ring. Dragging it centimeter by centimeter off my finger, he held my gaze. I saw every part of Cade in his amber eyes at that moment. The anger at Gerald even considering that we would be apart, the pain that he’d given me the notion we could be, the humor in how I was mad at him right now but the knowledge that I wouldn’t be forever.
“Cade,” I whispered, but it came out a whimper, “what are you doing?”
He held the ring between his teeth, and it was so damn seductive that I had to clench my thighs together. I’d lost all awareness of Gerald at this point. It was me and the love of my life in that room. I wished to God that the damn ring he held between his teeth was from him to me.
“Take it,” Cade commanded, and when I did, he said, “Hand him back the ring before I put it down the garbage disposal.”
I extended my hand with the ring in it and Gerald’s face fell as I shoved it into his hand. Then, Cade snatched my hand fast and threaded his fingers through it, turning to face Gerald like we were a united front against him.
“Gerald, Cade’s right. I don’t want this from you. You need to move on.”