Page 14 of Ruthless In A Suit

Again, I feel sick.

To distract myself, I pick up the box marked Art Supplies and start up the steps. “I figure we can get a little studio set up for you in the attic room. It’s got a nice window and a skylight. It’ll be perfect.”

She smiles. “My own studio,” she muses. “I never would have imagined.”

“Anything for you.” And I mean it. I’d do anything for her. The feeling of telling her stepmother off was better than winning a million big cases.

The way she’s looked at me ever since has made me feel like Superman.

I want to be that for her always, and it kills me that I’m carrying a secret that could destroy all of her goodwill and more.

She follows me up the flights of stairs, and when we’re nearly at the top, she says something that almost sends me stumbling back down to the bottom.

“I’d like to go visit your dad,” she says.

“What? Why?”

“Well, he’s your only family, and I feel like I should at least meet him.”

I sigh, trying to keep my voice even. I do not want to have this conversation right now. “Cadence, he’s in a coma. He can’t even hear you. He’s practically dead already.”

She flinches, and I realize she doesn’t know enough of my history to understand why I might be so callous towards my father. She doesn’t know of the constant berating, the never-ending put downs, the fact that no matter what I did, I would never be good enough for him.

She doesn’t know any of that. She just knows that he’s my father, he’s my only family, and he’s dying.

“Still, it’s the principal of it. I should meet him.”

She should. She should also know the truth. And I have to tell her.

I have to. Damn the fucking plan already.

And so as I open the door to the attic, I take a deep breath and prepare to let the words flow out.

“Cadence, there’s—“ I start, but she brushes past me.

“Wow,” she sighs, spinning in a slow circle as she takes in the room. It’s never been used for much of anything. My mother used to keep her luggage up here and her winter wardrobe, but after she died my father was quick to donate all of that. In its absence is just a bare wood floor, two dormer windows and a pair of skylights overhead.

The ceiling is vaulted and full of beams and eaves, making it the kind of room you’d stash and orphan girl or a maid you didn’t particularly like. And yet there’s something charming about it, something I knew she’d see, because that’s the kind of woman Cadence is. She always manages to find the beauty, the bright side.

It’s what I love most about her.

And I do love her. It’s true. I care for her so much that it’s almost physically painful.

There’s an old Oriental rug in the middle of the floor, the sunlight cascading across it. Cadence runs over and stands in the middle. “I can put an easel right here, and a stand for my paints. This is perfect. The light is fantastic in here! Oh my God, Levi, this is absolutely perfect!”

She’s glowing from the inside out, which kills me, because I know I’m about to extinguish that light, potentially forever. So I pause to take it in for what might be the last time.

“Cadence—“ I try again, but she rushes across the floor and leaps into my arms, covering my mouth with hers and wrapping her legs around my waist. My body responds immediately, my cock growing hard.

“Levi, I want you,” she says between kisses. “Now.”

I pause, pulling back slightly. “Are you saying—“

“Please. Make love to me. I don’t want to wait anymore. I can’t.”

“Are you sure?”

She kisses me again, deeper, with her hands tangled in my hair, her hips grinding into mine. I groan against her lips. I want her so fucking bad.