Chapter Three
Leah moved downstairs, but she wasn’t impressed with her outfit. In fact, she was a little pissed. It felt too low-cut and in all honesty a little tight. This had to be the most revealing dress he’d made her wear. It was also bright red, like he wished to make a statement.
It was frustrating, but she refused to give him the satisfaction of refusing or complaining. So far, it didn’t matter what outfit he chose, she’d worn it without a single complaint. She wasn’t about to ruin her track record. Besides, what was wrong with showing a little flesh? She certainly didn’t mind.
Between the dancing and the outfit, she wasn’t looking forward to this dinner.
Stepping downstairs, she came to a halt as a man she’d been promised she would never have to look at came storming through the front door.
Danny looked a little worse for wear. Even from her position partway up the stairs, he appeared to possess red, bloodshot eyes and looked a little crazy as well. At first, he didn’t see her. One of the guards had followed him into the main house and was attempting to reason with him by grabbing his arm.
“Get the fuck off me. Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with?” Danny all but growled.
“Clearly someone who doesn’t know his manners,” she said, finally drawing his attention toward her.
His gaze moved toward her. His first reaction was to recoil, then she saw the sneer on his lips, and seconds later, his eyes moved down. Clearly, he was trying to make her feel uncomfortable.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” Leah said.
“Why? Because you’re fucking my father and have him eating out of the palm of your hand?” he asked.
She was pretty sure she detected a hint of jealousy, but she also couldn’t help the laugh that fell from her lips.
“No, and besides, the reason I am here and you’re not, is entirely your fault.” She tutted. “Someone should have taken his lessons of being told no seriously.”
She was pretty sure if looks could kill, he’d have struck her down. There was no way she was going to show fear to this asshole. He meant nothing to her, and she refused to be afraid of him. The lessons Ben taught her were ingrained into her very being.
“What are you doing here?” Cain asked, suddenly appearing out of his office, dressed rather handsomely.
She couldn’t help but admire how good he looked in a tuxedo. There was no way Cain could look even more tempting, and yet in a tux, he outshone so many men. Tonight was going to be hard.
They’d been to formal events before, and she’d merely been there as a distraction on his arm. A few months ago, she had no choice but to sit back and allow him to dance with whomever asked for a dance.
Now that she thought about it, Cain never asked any of the other women to dance, and yet he was high priority on everyone’s list.
“Seriously. I am your son and you’re going to treat me that way while allowing this slut to have her way?”
“May I remind you that if you had listened to my warning, you wouldn’t be in this position. Besides, I thought the problem you had with Miss Masters was the fact she is not a slut.”
She watched Danny go even more red-faced.
“I told you, you are not welcome here, and you seem insistent on disregarding my advice. Need I remind you what it would be like if I completely froze you out?”
Leah watched Danny.
There was something about him that gave her cause for concern. The man was a ticking time bomb, and she had a horrible feeling if they were not careful he was going to explode.
Would he even dare to risk taking on his father? She had no doubt Cain would win. The man was a menace. She’d seen him fight and deliver a killing blow more than once. It would take someone very fucking evil to take on Cain.
“I need more money,” Danny said.
The redness of his face showed his humiliation.
“Good, earn it, like everyone else. I told you, when you attempted to attack Leah, you were going to learn a few hard lessons. These are the hard lessons. Everyone has to earn their own way. There are jobs you are required to do. Do me a favor and do them, or you are going to risk being penniless.” He nodded toward the guard behind Danny. “Remove him from my property. Do it now, and the next time he enters this home without advance warning, I will consider you personally responsible.”
There was a brief pause of silence.
Leah wanted to argue with Cain, but she would never do it with one of his employees watching. At all times, she showed Cain respect in front of others. Behind closed doors, when it was just the two of them, he got a piece of her mind. Even though she’d witnessed him kill several people, she wasn’t afraid of him and never would be.
“I’m your son,” Danny said. “You’re going to take her side. She is a liar.”
Cain laughed. “Oh, son, that might have worked when you were five, but you see, you didn’t deactivate the camera. I got to see everything with my own two eyes. I warned you and now it is time you suffer the consequences. Remove him before I do finally cut him off without a dime.”
Danny went willingly, but he didn’t leave before giving her a final glare. It was a warning. One Leah knew she needed to be ready for. Danny blamed her. The man was such a child he couldn’t accept responsibility for his own fuckups.
“You’re going to make an enemy of him,” Leah said, turning toward Cain.
“My son is already my enemy. The problem is, he is too sloppy. He doesn’t like working hard and refuses to put in the necessary work to get the job done. Are you ready?” Cain asked.
She looked at him and then glanced down at her dress. “Are you for real with this dress?” she asked.
“There is nothing wrong with your dress.”
Leah couldn’t help but laugh. “What happened to it? Did it shrink in the wash or, I don’t know, just like failed to be complete?”
“You look stunning,” Cain said.
She tried not to let his words get to her. He was the first man to ever call her beautiful. She rolled her eyes, and in response he gave her a wink. She would not let it affect her.
“Are you ready, or would you like to complain about my other choices?” he asked.
“This was not a complaint, but an observation. I was not complaining.”
He frowned as he stared at her.
“What?” she asked. “What is it?” She repeated her question as he continued to stare at her without an answer.
“There is something missing.” He reached into his jacket pocket and then held up a diamond necklace. It was stunning and seemed to glimmer within the lights.
“I can’t wear that.”
“You are, as it is going to complete the look. Trust me. You’re going to love it.”
There her heart went again, pulsing within her chest as he urged her to come forward. She took the last few steps down and then turned, lifting her hair to give him access to her neck.
This is fine. He’s just putting a necklace on your neck. It is not a big deal. Just a necklace.
She knew she shouldn’t care about how good it felt when the backs of his fingers brushed against her neck. Maybe she was so devoid of human touching that she was gravitating toward Cain. It wasn’t like her history was filled with lots of hugs and cuddles. It was filled with anything but.
The necklace lay against her neck, and she dropped her hair and turned toward him.
“Stunning,” he said. “Now you look like you’re ready to go to the ball.”
She wasn’t ready, but she didn’t put up any argument. Cain presented his arm to her, and they left his home together. There was already a limousine waiting.
Leah had to keep reminding herself she’d been to plenty of these events in the past few months. This one was no different, and yet, it felt like it was.
****
Cain looked around at the charity event. Leah hadn’t said a word since she read what the charity was for, but he saw it was pissing her off.
Men and women were in groups, some discussing other business affairs. Others were talking about how hard it was for children within the foster care system. He tried to keep Leah away from those groups as he knew she could only take so much before she gave up.
“Do you enjoy coming to these events?” Leah asked as he took some champagne from a passing waiter.
“No.”
“Why do you do it?” she asked.
She didn’t take a sip of her drink. He’d noticed she never drank. In fact, if she wasn’t aware of what the drink was, and it was alcoholic, she left it. There was no water, and he knew from experience she hated sparkling water.
“Business,” Cain said.
“There must be another reason. I’ve watched you conduct business multiple times and not once have I seen you do something you very clearly hate as much as this.” She glanced around the dining room.
He’d already noticed a lot of men were admiring her. The moment their gazes caught his and they realized who she belonged to, they averted their eyes. He knew what they were all thinking. They were imagining her naked, wrapped around them, wondering if her cunt would feel just as good on their cocks as her mouth probably would.
He would kill anyone who dared attempt to get close to her. Fucking destroy them. No man was having her.
He’d seen the way his son looked at her tonight, and knew he’d have no choice but to be on guard. Danny blamed Leah for all his troubles because it was easier for him to do so. The little shit didn’t even realize he was the main cause of all his problems.
He took a sip of the champagne and wasn’t interested with the taste.
Several couples had already made their way onto the dance floor and were moving together.
“This is why you had to teach me how to dance?” Leah asked.
“Yes. I want you to be available at any moment.” He saw Constance, one of the women more interested in his wealth and power than in him. The woman had been attempting to seduce him for months. Her last husband died of mysterious causes, and since then she’d been looking for a replacement. He refused to do business with her.
Constance was old money, but it was the kind of money that didn’t invest in the new, and with that came a problem. If you were not willing to move forward, it was only a matter of time before that refusal to move forward caught up with you. He heard she was losing money by the hour, and unfortunately, her family didn’t teach her the value of good business. Also, there were a few husbands that had taken a chunk of that money with them.
“Mr. Knox, it is so lovely for you to make it to this event. It is always so good to give to those who … need it,” Constance said.
Cain offered a smile. So far, he hadn’t made any such donation, as he knew the foster homes rarely got it. There was always some form of red tape that kept a small fortune held back.
“Lovely event,” Cain said.
“And the dancing is exquisite. Please share a dance with me.” She held out her hand, and he turned toward Leah, who simply took his glass from him.
“Who I am to come between a dancing couple?” Leah said.
“Two minutes,” he said.
At first, she raised her brows as if she didn’t have a clue what he was talking about, but then she gave him that eye wink which told him she did know what he wanted. One day, he was going to put her over his knee and spank that ass. She was due one with her sassy tone.
He took Constance’s hand and led her onto the dance floor. He made sure to turn her so that he saw Leah. His own date had already put down their champagne glasses on a passing waiter’s tray.
She stood, arms at her sides, watching him. Cain noticed a few men had already seen she was alone. He waited to see if anyone would dare move in.
There was a single man, who also happened to be part of old money as well. Only, Drake Sherwood knew what he was doing with his inheritance and had learned to invest it. There were rumors circulating about some of his business allies. Rumors of being close to the Italian mafia, but again, there was no evidence to back any of it up. Just rumors.
Leah turned toward Drake, and he saw her stay tense. She nodded, offered that fake smile he knew she was capable of. There was even a chuckle, but he saw it didn’t reach her stomach. Everything was fake. She played her part to perfection.
Drake offered her a chance to dance. She declined and came toward him. She was perfect with her timing as Constance had started to talk about them spending more time together.
“I think I would like to cut in,” Leah said, coming in close. She put a hand on Constance’s shoulder. “I think it is only fair that I get a chance to dance with my date.”
Cain nodded at Constance.
“Date?”
“Ah, yes, Constance, this is Leah Masters, my date. She was rather interested in this charity event as I’m not sure you’re aware. Leah, herself, is a foster child.”
“It’s always nice to know there are people willing to give to those, but it is so strange, as all my years in the system, we never heard of a charitable donation.”
Constance turned pale but then chuckled and waved in a direction. “Please forgive me. I’d love to stay and chat, but I must go and speak with someone.”
Leah turned into his arms. “Are you done now?”
“I’m curious what Drake wanted,” he said.
She rolled her eyes. “He wanted to know what a beautiful woman was doing alone at such a drab party. He also offered to take me for a dance. Do these pickup lines work?”
“You were not impressed?”
“What was there to be impressed about?” She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t know why you come to these things. I’m pretty sure everyone is stabbing each other in the back and it sounds like it is a huge competition to find the biggest dick.”
Cain smiled and then leaned in close. “I’ll give you a hint, it’s mine.”
He felt her body shudder and now he really did have a reason to smile. He had gotten the sense over the past few weeks that she did like him. Where his hard cock couldn’t hide his attraction to her. Only men who knew the female body would be able to detect her feelings for him. The flush to the chest. The way her cheeks went a pretty shade of pink. There were also times she nibbled at her bottom lip. All indications of what she felt for him. The hardness of her nipples, certainly when they were in a heated room.
Staring into her green eyes, he ran a hand up her back and then took a leap. He knew she was young enough to be his daughter but he didn’t give a shit. Leah was nothing like any of the other women he’d come to know. The women in his circle were all vipers. They were intent on hunting, on manipulating. Leah was none of those things.
She was a woman who could fight for herself. Strong and independent. Other than this Ben, who was a fighter, she had no one. He’d done some research on Ben. The man had been a good guy, a true fighter, but he refused to kill. He’d beat his enemies to within an inch of their lives, but he wouldn’t make the final strike. What had killed him had simply been being in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was all.
Taking possession of her lips, he kissed her, soft at first. That initial touch set his blood aflame, and he felt a hunger for her. His cock hardened.
Leah ran her hands up his chest, wrapping them around his neck. At first, she didn’t respond, only to then give back more than he could have hoped for.
Breaking from the kiss, he looked into her eyes for several seconds and waited.
“Do you need to stay?” Leah asked.
“No, I’m quite ready to go home.”
“Me too.”