Corrupted Chaos: An Enemies to Lovers Forced Proximity Romance (Tarnished Empire)

A week in, I was still showing Izzy what a good boss looked like. Her words had stuck with me, made me realize I’d neglected a large part of my job. I’d treated the teams I’d worked with like employees rather than family.

My team was a part of my family, in a way. They protected the world I wanted to keep living in. One where I was in charge, where the president trusted me, where my brother and my family were safe. JUNIPER and this team helped with that. Sure, I could do it alone, but with people I trusted, it was much easier.

And over the past few days, Izzy had taught seamless sessions at the luxury private conference center down the road. I particularly enjoyed how it looked like a large log cabin on the outside but the inside was equipped with every high-end piece of technology we needed.

Izzy stood at the podium, answering questions about how each voting system could be handled in different states and explaining what to do in the event of a security breach. She didn’t falter when they questioned whether our setup was good enough to hold against other countries.

She spoke with confidence, with passion, and with a respect for all of them. She believed in her team, and I think that’s why they believed in her.

The lesson she was teaching me shined through in the way she portrayed herself. I found a higher respect for her and everyone there.

Well, everyone except Rodney.

Rodney would eye her up and try to help her onto her paddleboard or tell her a joke that she would laugh at. There were moments I thought I was going to drag her back to the cabin to have my way with her.

I didn’t but, damn, I’d considered it.

I couldn’t continue down the road of purity much longer even if I tried, and for some reason, she was holding out too. When I’d put on my swim trunks, I’d thought she was going to claw her way up my body, but she hadn’t.

We remained professional, except for the visit I’d scheduled earlier that morning when she’d been away from the cabin. I’d tasked Heather with buying another bracelet, this one worth millions, with diamonds lining the inside of the wrist because I knew Izzy wasn’t flashy. There were other stipulations to the jewelry, but it was quite an easy find when we had contacts around the nation for diamonds and jewelers. The Armanelli family’s wealth extended everything. When Heather brought it over, I saw the disdain on her face, but I sent her away immediately after explaining she could keep the bracelet, but it was not significant to me other than it being a thank you gift.

When Izzy got back to the cabin each night, she worked hard and didn’t take any time to rest. I saw how, without me antagonizing her, Izzy worked herself to the bone. Other than the candy canes she ate, the woman would constantly forget to eat. If I didn’t put food in front of her, she’d skip meal after meal.

So, on day seven, we meandered back to the cabin, and I cooked up some pasta as she sat typing away on her laptop. When I placed the plate down in front of her, she practically cried tears of joy when she tasted it. “Who taught you to cook like this? Is it homemade alfredo or something?”

I laughed at the joy in her face. “My mother, bless her soul, would have been livid if she saw how you didn’t eat throughout the day. Thankfully, she taught me and my brother to cook a little.”

“I literally can’t talk to you right now. Please let me enjoy this in silence.”

The silence was agonizing though because she moaned the whole damn time and made my dick twitch.

“You staying up to work?” I asked her after she shoved the last bite in her mouth.

She held up a finger as she finished chewing. “That was quite possibly the perfect meal. So, I guess I have to say thank you first.”

As she licked her lips, I tried but failed not to watch. “Want to thank me another way?”

“Cade …” She sighed, rubbing her eyes. “I have more work to get done.”

“Like?”

“Rodney needed me to send him a training, and Juda wanted me to send a few emails. I have a few more things to get accomplished.”

“You can give it a rest. You don’t have to do a million jobs at once. They all think you’re doing great out there, Izzy.” Didn’t she see that she worked herself to the bone? That everyone else’s requests of her didn’t need to come before sleep?

“They do. Sure. What about you, though?” She glanced over at me for a second before going back to her laptop.

“Does it matter what I think?” I wanted her to admit it did, that I meant something more to her than everyone else.

The woman glanced up, but then avoided my gaze and shrugged. It was the avoidance I pinpointed, the way she stopped for a nanosecond too long. I wanted her full attention now. I wanted the story she held back.

Even though she kept typing away, as if we weren’t having a conversation, as if I didn’t need her full attention, I shouldn’t have cared. I did the same to everyone else all the time. With her, though, that shit was infuriating.

She didn’t think I was worth her time? Was the damn job always more important, even after she’d worked a full twelve-hour day?

“Izzy, I’m talking to you,” I murmured, giving her an opportunity to adjust her approach.

She sighed in exasperation. “I’m aware. And I’m listening and working. Juda stayed back to help with everything in the office, and he—”

I walked over and slowly but firmly closed her laptop. “And he can do his damn job for once. Now, answer my question honestly this time. Why do you care what I think?”

“You’re the boss, Cade. Everyone cares what you think.”

I dragged a hand across her jawline and to her lips to trace them. “You never really did, though. You work hard under the guise of wanting a promotion, but that’s not it.”

“Then what is it?”

“I don’t know. That’s why I’m asking.”

She looked out the window before saying, “Maybe I’m proving to you, and to everyone, I’m not just the addict you said I was. I’m a hard worker too.”

“You’ve proved that for nine years to everyone—including me the first day you were on the job,” I reminded her.

“Maybe.” She chewed her cheek as I kept rubbing those soft lips. Her mouth dropped open, and I became mesmerized beyond our work relationship, beyond the new boss-employee line I’d drawn for myself.

I couldn’t stop myself from sliding the bracelet from my pocket, then grabbing her wrist. She stared at it, completely puzzled as I took a small key to twist on the inside of the bracelet. It snapped open, and she gasped when she saw its inner walls lined with large diamonds. Her eyes sparkled in question as I clamped it around her wrist and used the key on the other side to lock it. I pulled it once to make sure it would stay, the gold of it glinting against the lamp light in the dining room.

“What is this?” she whispered.

“A gift for the woman who’s proven herself to me always.”

“I can’t accept this. It’s too much.” She shook her head and tried to pull it from her wrist.

“I thought you might say that. But it’s locked on you now. So deal with it.”

“Are you kidding me, Cade?” Her eyes widened. “I can’t wear this around. It probably costs more than my life savings and—”

“You’re wearing it until I take it off of you,” I snapped, glaring at her glaring at me. Didn’t she get that I wouldn’t have it any other way? She deserved this more than any other woman. I wanted her to see that she meant more than just a woman I’d slept with once. She was something to me although I couldn’t quite pinpoint what yet.

We both jumped when her phone buzzed between us. “Are you going to answer it?”

She shrugged and didn’t reach for it immediately. “Probably just my family or Gerald.”

“Why the fuck is he still messaging you?”

“Yesterday, he whined about something happening with his company. I think he wants my sympathy and then he wanted me to know he’d sent lilies—not that I even like them.”

I knew exactly what had occurred with the company. I wasn’t going to admit a damn thing about it though. “Why don’t you like lilies?”

“They remind me of my time in juvie. Someone brought them to me after I got out.” She shook her head. “Anyway, aren’t you supposed to send roses for love?”

“Is he saying he still loves you?” I asked, shocked.

“Sure.” She glanced away. “Anyway, roses are a girl’s favorite. You can’t beat that deep red.”

I hummed as I snatched her phone to see if it was Gerald this time. It was Rodney asking for a nightcap. I considered throwing her phone into the sink and turning on the garbage disposal. Instead, I showed her his message.

She didn’t try to hide any sort of embarrassment or guilt as she straightened the silly Titanic T-shirt she’d been wearing all day and pulled away from my touch. “We should get to bed.”

“You going to text your friend back?”

She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t think it’s any of your business who I text.”

“Even if it isn’t, I still expect you to answer the question, dollface.”

“So what if I do text him back, Cade?” She got up from her seat and put her hands on her hips in an effort to show she was perturbed. All I saw, though, was that the T-shirt inched up her milky thighs.

“What type of nightcap could he possibly give you that I can’t provide?” I didn’t attempt to stop myself from asking the question, from goading her into answering me, even though we’d been keeping things PG for the past few nights.

“I could ask you about the women handing out their numbers to you or texting your phone.”

“They don’t have my number.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because I don’t give out my number to random women like you obviously do to random men.”

“I’ve been hanging out with Rodney for days, and he’s a coworker. That’s hardly random.”

“Define hanging out, because if you’re doing more than I think you are with him, Izzy, I swear to God . . .”

“Are you serious? You haven’t looked at me twice for days. You’re being all five-star boss professional now.” She sneered the whole damn thing, like she couldn’t stand me like this.

I held back a laugh and looked at this beautiful woman who’d unexpectedly secured a death grip on my soul. I think we were so sexually frustrated that we could fight about anything. “Are you complaining? Because you specifically told me to be that.”

“That’s right. I did.” She nodded hard, as if trying to convince herself. “I also told you I wanted no-strings-attached fun and that I’m single. Rodney checks the boxes, Cade.”

“If he’s what you want”—I leaned in, and my next words held menace—“tell him to come over.”

Her hazel eyes, with their warm mix of green and gold, widened in shock. “For . . . for what?”

“For your nightcap. You want some fun. I’m sure Rodney can give it to you. Matter of fact, tell him to find a fucking toy and bring that too. I’m happy to watch, Izzy. I’ll enjoy seeing that he can’t bring you to the high I can.”

She lifted her chin and snatched up her phone. I saw the way her body shook, how her breathing got fast like it had all the times before. Izzy was turned on beyond her wildest dreams thinking of the new fantasy I’d planted in her head.

The problem was, I didn’t know if I could handle having some fun with her.

That firecracker of a woman was quickly becoming mine, even though we had a spray-painted line down the middle of our bed. Even though I’d avoided the idea for a few days. It didn’t matter.

Izzy Hardy, standing there in her mess of a Titanic shirt, now with my gold bracelet on her wrist, was going to be my downfall.

She tapped her screen and brought the phone to her ear. “Yeah, want to come to my and Cade’s cabin?” She paused as she stared at me. “I think he’d enjoy us doing that here.” Then she held the phone out to me. “He wants to make sure.”

I didn’t even want to hear the man’s voice. Still, I clutched the phone to my ear as he asked if he could bring one or two toys. “If they’ll make her feel good. That’s what this is about.”

He explained and I agreed. Without so much as a goodbye, I ended the call before throwing her phone on the couch and pulling her to me to devour her mouth.

When I drew back to glare at her, I said, “Remember the taste of me when your fuckboy comes over to make you feel nice. And know that I’m in charge. If he veers even one iota off the scheduled programming, I’m throwing him off our porch.”

A small smile spread across her face. “I’m not even sure I want this, Cade.”

I nipped at her collarbone and murmured, “Let’s check,” before I slid my hand into her panties. “Fucking soaked.”

She purred like she might not be able to wait to get off, like my fingers would do the job just fine. I wanted to give in for a split second. It’d be a way for me to keep her all to myself. But I saw the hunger in her eyes, saw how she wanted to explore something new, and I had confidence enough that she’d end up where she truly belonged in the end—on my cock and not his.

I pulled my hand from her panties and licked my fingers. “I’m only going to allow him in our place for so long with you tasting this good. But let’s enjoy it, huh? See how loud another man can make you scream.”

It was the approval she must have needed from me because her shoulders relaxed a little, and she smirked. “Fun with the single men on the retreat . . . I guess I deserve that after Gerald.”

Fuck that asshole and the way he’d hurt her. “Well, you did say the sex with him wasn’t good. With me, it’s always going to be, Izzy.”