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I placed my other hand on his big forearm, adjusting myself as the silence began to eat away at us. “Eric, you never meant for that to happen. That’s a long time to hate yourself for something anyone could’ve done in a young relationship.”
He shook his head to disagree. “It’s because I was stupid.”
“You’re not stupid,” I argued. It surprised me to even hear him say that. “How did she do it?” It might’ve been the wrong thing to ask but I was curious. Eric now ran a reputable company in Chicago from what his siblings had bragged about tonight. How could someone so smart be tricked?
He looked back through the rearview mirror again, staring at Shadow as if for some kind of support.
“I’m dyslexic, Cassidy.” My eyebrows crinkled in confusion. Is this why he’d thought he was stupid? “I let her handle all my paperwork. And I’ve never let anyone look over my paperwork and documentation ever since. Sure, it takes me a hell of lot longer but I’ll never fall for that again.”
Silence filled the truck. I wasn’t sure entirely what to say. How could I prove to him that he was incredible? I didn’t know what it was like to be dyslexic because I’d never experienced it but I certainly didn’t want him thinking he was less than because of it. “Can you explain it to me?” He briefly glanced my way, skeptical and vulnerable. “Help me better understand,” I elaborated quietly.
After another moment of silence, he quietly forfeited and said, “Sometimes the words just jumble together and it takes me a while to make sense of it. It’s taken me a long time but I used to use it as an excuse until all of that happened. Such a stupid weakness to have. So now it just takes me longer. If I’m tired, its worse.”
“I don’t think it’s stupid, Eric, and I don’t want you to keep saying that.” I patted his hand. I hated how he beat himself up. Hated that I couldn’t do anything to support him and although I wanted to offer to read things for him, I realized that had been what got him in such a predicament those many years ago. “I imagined it wasn’t just because of your dyslexia, Eric. Con people are good at what they do. Even if you weren’t dependant on her reading your documents for you, she would’ve found a way. My dad’s basically that type of businessman. I watched him manipulate a handful of business partners over the years. A con person is a con person, it has nothing to do with your intelligence and all to do with them. You’re an intelligent man. Although perhaps a little broody.”
I chuckled at the small pulse in his temple. “But I doubt your parents hold this against you. Especially your mother. I think if anything she’d want to see more of you. But you can’t keep hating yourself for something you couldn’t have navigated around differently. You’re a successful businessman now, leave the past in the past and move on as best as you can.”
He seemed to consider that for a moment, his thumb began to brush over mine again absentmindedly. “I think for someone who’s great at listening you still have a lot to say.”
“Hey!” I shouted, a dimpled smile forming.
“Thank you,” he said sincerely. “It sounds different when coming from you. Everyone’s said similar things to me but… I don’t know, thank you.” A slight flush spread across his cheeks. “Is your father really like that? He sounds like a right dick.”
I chuckled. “People have called him worse.” I realized as the silence filled again that it wasn’t entirely fair that Eric shared something so personal and that I didn’t offer anything in return. But I hadn’t spoken about my parents to anyone in years. All those swirling mixed emotions had been neatly tucked away in a box not to be seen until I had to face them head on. And yet part of me knew that time was already upon me. I was simply avoiding it.
“No, he’s not a good man but he’s still my father. I watched him for years taking advantage of people. He even used my mother’s parents in the same way. They were forced into an arranged marriage and I’m their only child from a loveless agreement.” I might’ve been his heiress but I was nothing but a bargaining chip as well. “I left home three years ago and have lived in Manhattan and haven’t spoken to them since. He used and took advantage of a lot of people, it’s just how he does business, and yet for the most part I’ve lived off that money my entire life. I was raised on a lifestyle, judged the means to get it but still used the money because I was accustomed to it.” I half-heartedly laughed at myself. Even when I’d applied to work myself, I could never survive off the wage it offered me, so I didn’t give up anything at all, I simply ran away. “Isn’t that a cop-out? It makes me as bad as him I suppose.”
“No,” Eric said firmly. “You’re nothing like him.”
“You don’t even know him.”
“I don’t need to, to know that the man you’re describing is nothing like you. And who cares if you use the family money, we all come from different advantages in life. You shouldn’t beat yourself up because of the hand you were dealt.”
“I could say the exact same thing to you.”
He looked over at me, those forest-green eyes all consuming. I felt so small beside him, even in the truck. He just filled every space, in every room, drawing everyone to him and the only one that was pushing them all away was him. And I knew in time he would do the same to me. I don’t even recall when I started looking for him in every room.
I stared down at our entwined hands. I wanted Eric, there was no denying it, but I didn’t trust my heart amongst all of this. My body responded to his, fantasizing every hour what it might be like to have him in bed. To climb him like a tree. But I knew if I did, I’d only put my heart on the line. But hadn’t I already?
“I like you, Eric,” I admitted out loud. I’d never been good at hiding my feelings, so why try now? Men never gave me what I wanted in return, but I couldn’t change who I was overnight. I watched my parents’ loveless marriage with no communication and I’d vowed to be the opposite of that. And up until now, it’d always been my undoing. I’d learnt honesty and expressing feelings wasn’t always reciprocated.
“I like you too, Cassidy,” Eric replied. My heart fluttered and my stomach swirled with warmth. It was childish but pure. Intense but easy. And completely temporary. We only had two more weeks left to spend together and I was determined to at least make him mine for one night. To create a memory with this man who’d taken me in expecting nothing. Because in the end, I knew he had somewhere else to be and I had a past to confront.
Chapter 26
Eric
Ithrew back the clutch, jumped out, and rounded the truck in a few short steps, yanking the door open. Cassidy jumped into my arms, our mouths colliding in a heated clash. Her little desperate moans filled me as her legs wrapped around my waist, her little hips grinding feverishly.
Holding her with one arm, I blindly opened the back door to let Shadow out. Her nails raked down my neck and we hadn’t even made it to the front door when she began busting open the buttons of my flannel shirt. For someone so tiny, she certainly had strength when she needed it. I fumbled around for the light switch beside the front door, slamming her against the wall as I searched for and switched it on.
“This stupid fucking skirt,” I growled, pissed that it wasn’t as easy to slip my hands underneath the belt. I slammed the front door shut as soon as Shadow was inside. Taking the two steps up to the bed, I threw her onto it. She bounced slightly and I clicked at Shadow, who was preparing to jump on the bed beside her.
“Not tonight, buddy, sorry,” I said and pointed at his bed. I wasn’t going to be cockblocked tonight. Not again. Cassidy chuckled. Her hair was splayed around her, those rosy cheeks and labored breath making my cock twitch. I wanted her. I knew that from the moment I’d first seen her. But I’d never imagined she’d be laying in my bed. Not like this—panting, hot and heavy for me.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” she asked seductively.
“Because I’m thinking about what it will be like to taste you.”
