2. 1
he answered aloud. “If you’re destined to be together, you find each other somehow.”
“My foster mother always told me I was too fanciful. My drawings, my reading, my mind always everywhere except on the practical things in life,”
Asha said with a sigh. “I guess in some ways, I didn’t completely conform to being the practical Indian woman they wanted.”
“You don’t need to conform. You come from an Indian heritage, and you can be proud of that. Many Indians are kind people. But you’re also American. And the majority of American women don’t put up with a whole lot of shit.”
He lay back on the bed and stretched out his legs, his right calf starting to ache. Catching her around the waist, he pulled her down against him, resting her head on his chest.
Her head popped back up and she looked at him excitedly. “Have you been to India?”
He nodded. “Several times. Harrison Corporation has business interests there.”
“What’s it like?”
she asked wistfully. “Isn’t it strange that I was raised in the Indian culture, but I’ve never been there?”
“I’ll take you there one day. At least you can probably speak the language,”
he answered jokingly.
“Only if we go to Andhra Pradesh or an area that speaks Telugu,”
she answered thoughtfully. “My foster parents and ex-husband were all from there and spoke Telugu. I never learned much Hindi.”
“It always amazes me that two Indians can’t necessarily speak to each other because there are so many languages in India,”
Kade answered.
Asha laid her head back down on Kade’s chest and started to fiddle with the buttons on his red shirt that was decorated with dancing banana characters. “I know women get beaten there too,”
she said hesitantly. “I’ve been reading a lot about India when I get the chance. The domestic violence there is pretty bad. It’s almost as if it’s acceptable. Are most women treated badly there?”
“Hitting a woman is never acceptable for any reason,”
Kade grumbled. “Men who beat women, American or Indian, are fucking cowards, too afraid to pick a fight with someone who might actually win and mess them up.”
He sighed as he continued, “I wish I could tell you that things are great, but the domestic violence rate in India is high. I was there on business, and I never was totally immersed in the culture, but it’s still a patriarchal society and there’s a large percentage of men there who don’t value their women the way they should. And equal opportunity is definitely not there, even though there are laws to protect women now. They’re just basically not enforced. The younger generation is trying to bring about change, but it’s an uphill battle.”
“And divorce is still taboo,”
she added wistfully.
Kade couldn’t lie. “For the most part…yeah. It’s not widely acceptable. But you aren’t in India, Asha.”
Trying to change the subject, he asked curiously, “You’ve never told me why you still use your father’s last name? If you were married, didn’t you take on his last name?”
“My married name was Kota, but I took my father’s name back when I divorced Ravi. I guess it was my way of taking control of my own identity again.”
Kade actually liked the fact that she had taken her father’s name back and no longer carried the name of an asshole. “Will the butterfly ever escape from the cocoon?”
he asked distractedly, his hand toying with the silky strands of her hair.
Her head came up and she gave him a shy grin. “It’s a process. Every time I feel like I’m progressing, I’ll make the wings emerge a little further.”
Kade felt his heart lighten at the sight of her smile. He decided that he wanted to see that happy expression on her face constantly, every hour, every minute of every day. She’d seen enough pain and conflict in her twenty-seven years of life. Asha was born to shine, and Kade wanted to make everything easier for her after the fucked-up deal she’d had. “When do you think that might happen?”
She grinned broader. “After that experience on the kitchen counter, I think I at least need to poke another tiny bit of the wing from the cocoon.”
Kade groaned inwardly, his swollen cock twitching with the desire to do some poking of its own. Her smile made his heart swell, and the fact that she was comfortable enough with him to mention that earth-shattering, intimate experience now without hesitation made him feel like they were caught up in their own little world.
She belongs with me.
Kade couldn’t stop the possessive, animalistic need to conquer her, to hold her so close she’d never go away. If she did, the light that she’d turned on inside him would die. Something was happening to him, something incredible. And he didn’t want the exhilarating feeling to end. Bit by bit, the darkness inside him was being chased away by Asha’s glowing presence.
With a mock growl, he flipped her over, pinning her body beneath his, and it felt fucking fantastic. Holding her arms captive over her head, he felt carnal satisfaction at having her exactly where he wanted her. “I’d be more than happy to go for making the butterfly emerge completely.”
In fact, he was fairly certain he was going to go insane if he didn’t get inside her very soon. He wanted the damned butterfly spreading its wings to hurry up and fly.
Kade felt her body tremble beneath him, her expression part longing and part trepidation. He knew he was pushing her too hard, too fast, but he couldn’t seem to control the urge to take her. Watching her, and feeling her climax beneath his fingers had been incredible, but he wanted to give her more, show her that a woman’s pleasure could be much more than tolerable. And selfishly, he just wanted her to want him.
Gritting his teeth with the pain of wanting to fuck her until she was screaming his name, he watched her face, waiting for a sign—any damn sign—that she wanted the same thing he did, felt the same way he was feeling.
“I’m here to do a job,”
she said brokenly. “I can’t do this.”
“Fuck the job. This is about you and me. It’s never been about the job. You’re incredibly talented, and I wish you’d do your magic on every damn wall in this house, but it isn’t why I wanted you here,”
he admitted, frustrated.
“You brought me here because of your sister and Max?”
she asked, her voice resigned.
“I brought you here because I couldn’t let you go. It’s pretty simple. I just want you,”
he said hoarsely, knowing he was giving her enough rope to hang him, but he didn’t give a shit. For once, control and keeping his emotions in check didn’t mean a goddamn thing to him. “I want to breathe in your scent, and I swear, from this day forward, the smell of jasmine will always make my cock hard enough to pound nails. I want to taste your orgasm on my tongue, make you come until you can’t think about anything but me. And I need to be inside you, fucking you until you don’t even know your own name.”
Kade swallowed hard, and added, “Then I want you to sleep with me, and I want to keep you so close that you’ll never know another moment of wondering if anybody wants you—because I do, Asha. I want you enough to make up for every person in your life who didn’t.”
She looked at him, her open-mouthed expression completely stunned. “I’m nobody special. I don’t understand.”
Kade dropped his head to her shoulder with a groan, knowing he’d made a complete ass out of himself. “You are special. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.”
She yanked at her wrists, and Kade released her reluctantly. His mind and body were screaming at him to keep her, but she obviously didn’t understand how he felt. Hell, he didn’t even understand it himself. His feelings for her were out-of-control crazy, but he couldn’t help being a lunatic. His emotions were stronger than his common sense.
Expecting her to push him off her, Kade shuddered as he felt her hands hesitantly push underneath his shirt and up his back, exploring and wandering across his bare skin. Her lips against his ear, she whispered, “I’m homeless and barely surviving. My boobs are too small, and I’m no seductress. I’ve only been with one man in my entire life, and sex was never something I really wanted or thought I needed. But I’m starting to crave you, and it scares me. I don’t know why you want me, but I can guarantee I want you more. I know I shouldn’t be telling you how I feel, but I can’t let you think I don’t want you back. Because I do. I want you so much it hurts.”
Kade lifted his head, his expression incredulous as he started to drown in her swirling chocolate eyes. Her words made him come completely unraveled, but he needed her to understand that he wanted more than a fuck. “I don’t care where you come from, or how much money you do or don’t have. I just want to be with you because of who you are. You’re brave, talented, smart, sexy and completely insane to want a lame, washed-up jock like me, but I’m glad you do,”
he answered in a shaky, low voice, his emotions out of control. Asha had tapped into his hidden emotional well, and he was tangled in a web of need so tightly that he couldn’t extricate himself, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to escape.
“Stop it.”
Asha speared her hands into his hair and pulled his face close to hers. “You’re the kindest man I’ve ever met, you’re incredibly handsome and sexy, and I couldn’t care less if you can’t play football anymore. And I think your ex-girlfriend was either crazy or incredibly superficial if she couldn’t see what she had. I want you because of who you are, too. I don’t even understand football. It’s just a silly game.”
“Whoa! Hold on. Don’t call football silly,”
he scolded her in a teasing voice, resting his forehead against hers. “It was my entire life for years.”
“Maybe it’s time to make a new life,”
Asha suggested hesitantly. “You have so much more to offer the world than just playing a game. I know how much it meant to you. It would be like taking away my ability to do my art. But you’re more than just one thing, Kade.”
He swallowed hard, moved by her faith in him. Yeah. Maybe it was time to start a new chapter in his life, just like Asha was trying to do for herself. And he could think of nothing better than beginning it with the woman beneath him. He could happily drown in her seductive scent, bury himself inside her until he didn’t give a shit about anything else but her. And he’d quite gladly take on the task of making her happy and keeping her that way. “Maybe it is time to do something else,”
he agreed in a graveled voice, moving the few inches needed to cover her tempting, lush lips with his own.
Her instant response just fueled the flames that were already consuming him. She met his tongue stroke for stroke, squirming beneath him to unbutton his shirt. Finally, he felt the buttons pop, and his shirt parted, their bare skin finally meeting. And Kade completely lost it. The feel of her naked breasts—that he personally found to be the perfect size—sliding against his chest felt so incredibly erotic that he was desperate to get her naked, to feel their entire bodies skin-to-skin.
“Touch me,”
he demanded as he pulled his mouth from hers. He needed her hands on his heated skin before he went completely insane. Her fingers had just started their shy exploration, were almost to the waistband of his jeans, when Kade heard a noise from downstairs.
“Kade? Are you here?”
The voice was coming from the kitchen and it was definitely female.
“Fuck!”
His sister had shitty timing. And he should have known he wouldn’t have to let her know he was home. No doubt Mia passed by his house on a daily basis, waiting. Kade wanted to lock the bedroom door and ignore it, but he knew he couldn’t, even though he was pretty sure his balls were as blue as a Smurf.
Asha froze beneath him, her expression startled. “Who is it?”
Kade clenched his jaw tightly and forced himself to move from the sweet haven between Asha’s jean-clad thighs. “It’s Mia—your new pain-in-the-ass sister-in-law.”
Kade loved his sister, but considering what she’d interrupted, he wanted nothing more than for her to go away for at least a week. Or maybe two. “No doubt Maddie is with her, and probably Max.”
Kade stood and Asha scrambled to her feet, holding her buttonless shirt in front of her. “Oh, God. I’m not ready for this,”
she groaned.
He grinned at her wickedly. “I guess you better find a shirt.”
Watching her scurry around the room, pulling open drawers frantically, made him smile even wider. She looked so adorable when she was frazzled. Rifling through her bag, she pulled out a bra, jerked it on and snapped it in the front. Kade scowled, thinking that was a real pity.
“Can you grab me a shirt?”
she asked nervously, looking in the mirror and frowning at her reflection. “I look like I just tumbled out of bed,”
she said, her voice tremulous.
“You did,”
he answered, sounding pleased with himself. Knowing it was his fault that she was somewhat tousled made him want to take her back to bed and finish the job.
“I don’t want them to know that,”
she hissed, pulling a brush from her purse and yanking it mercilessly through her long hair.
“Kade?”
Mia’s voice sounded again, closer this time.
He strode to the bedroom door and yelled, “We’ll be down in a minute.”
The last thing he wanted was to be confronted by Mia, Max, and Maddie in Asha’s bedroom. Their appearance would lead to questions he couldn’t or didn’t want to answer. He supposed he should get another shirt for himself, but he strolled to the closet and browsed the selection Mia had picked for Asha. Pulling out a bright red silk with a swirling black design, he pulled it from the hanger and walked over to Asha. He held the shirt open while she slipped her arms into the sleeves and hastily buttoned the front. He took the brush from her hand and set it on the dresser. “Stop torturing your hair. You look beautiful,”
he told her gruffly, taking her hand and leading her across the hall.
He grabbed another shirt from his bedroom closet and shrugged it on before reaching for her hand again. “Ready?”
“No. I’m a coward. I don’t want to go down there,”
she told him honestly, her voice panicked.
“Then don’t,”
he told her simply. “I’ll go down and make something up. If you’re not ready to meet them, they can wait.”
Asha sighed. “I can’t do that to them. They’ve been nice enough to come meet me. I can’t be rude. I don’t want to hurt their feelings.”
Kade shrugged. “Sure you can. If you’re not ready, then they can wait.”
Really, his main concern was whether or not Asha was comfortable. Maddie, Mia, and Max were here because they couldn’t contain their curiosity; Asha was scared shitless.
“I’m fine,”
she murmured, tightening her hold on his hand.
Asha was clinging to him, but he had no complaints. She could lean on him all she wanted. He’d be there for her anytime she needed him. That was another thing he couldn’t explain—he actually wanted her to need him, to be able to count on him to have her back in any bad situation.
Shaking his head at his thoughts, he let go of her hand and wrapped an arm around her waist, bringing her body tightly against his in a protective gesture.
They left the room silently, but Kade never let her go, even after they arrived downstairs.
Asha tried really hard not to feel inferior to the women waiting in Kade’s living room, but failed miserably. Amid the introductions, she tried to wrap her mind around the fact that she could actually be related to these sophisticated, wealthy people. Not possible. They were nothing alike. She couldn’t quite believe that the handsome, dark-haired Max who had his arm wrapped around Mia could be her brother. Or that the lovely red-headed physician who introduced herself as Maddie could be her sister. These people were completely out of her league, and she inwardly cringed at what they might be thinking about her.
Her hair needed a more thorough brushing, her jeans were tattered, and her feet were bare, the henna tattoo on her foot peeking out from under the denim of her jeans. The only nice thing she was wearing was the beautiful red blouse, and that had been provided by the two women in front of her. God…she was a mess. Even if she was related to them, they certainly wouldn’t want to claim her.
“You can come and stay with us,”
Mia said cheerfully, after everyone was introduced.
“No. I want her to stay with Sam and me,”
Maddie said emphatically.
Asha heard a low growling noise coming from Kade. “She’s staying here,”
he rumbled, glaring at all of his guests. “She’s doing some designs for me.”
“What kind of designs?”
Mia asked curiously.
“I do wall designs,”
Asha answered quietly, suddenly wishing she had a more stable career, more education, or anything that would make her feel less like a loser next to these people.
“She’s an incredible artist,”
Kade boasted proudly, his arm tightening around Asha’s waist.