She considered that for a moment as we stared at the fire that was slowly dying in the cool air. “I bet your mother would have been proud of you then.”
“My mom would have been proud of a serial killer.” I laughed thinking back to her making cannoli for my father even after he came home from getting rid of a few guys. “Quite frankly, she married one. My father was a mean son of a bitch who trafficked women and drugs and laundered money.”
“Then you did the good the world claims by getting rid of him,” she murmured, and for some reason, her acceptance lifted a weight from my shoulders that I didn’t know I’d been carrying.
“Maybe. Or maybe I did it to piss some people off,” I countered. “It’s what I enjoy most, right?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never felt riled by you at all,” she said with mock certainty. Then she leaned in and bumped my shoulder, a sparkle in her eyes as she smiled at me.
I hummed low, just imagining the way her body vibrated when she wanted to lash out at me. “You, I might enjoy riling most, Ms. Hardy.” I saw goose bumps rise on her skin and pulled my sweatshirt over my head. “Why the hell you’d go to a damn campfire in a bikini is beyond me.”
“I didn’t,” she huffed, but she snuggled into my sweatshirt like she was trying to absorb my warmth. “I said I would go back to the cabin to get into some warmer clothes, and Rodney offered his hoodie instead.”
“Next time another man tries to put their clothing on you, consider that I’m going to cut it off and burn it. Got it, dollface?”
“I’m not really sure I do get it.” She tapped her chin.
Fuck, that woman had a knack for aggravating me too. “What’s not to get?”
“I can’t be in any sort of relationship with my boss, Cade. And quite frankly, we don’t like each other enough to be in one.” She always said that like it was some mutual thing.
“I like you just fine. I especially enjoy your pussy—”
“No.” She cut me off with a hand in the air and then stood up from the ground. “Aside from sleeping together, this isn’t a match made in heaven. And we don’t need the drama right now.”
I stood up too and dusted off my pants before pulling her close and starting the walk back to our cabin. “I’d argue that it’s less drama to fuck you silent when you’re bickering with me about something ridiculous.”
“I really don’t bicker. You haven’t been around me long enough to say that I do.”
I chuckled at the fact that she couldn’t see she was doing exactly that. “So, what? You want us to stay on our sides and work real nice without me bending you over the counter to fuck you while you’re walking around in your baggy Tshirts?”
“I can get a pencil skirt out if that helps,” she offered.
“I’ll take fucking you in either.”
She slid a hand over her face as she tried to act unaffected. Yet I felt her body heat against mine and noted how her breathing had picked up. Izzy Hardy was just as obsessed with screwing me as I was with screwing her. “If we sleep together again—and that’s a big if—we don’t tell anyone and it ends after the freaking retreat. And we need to get JUNIPER squared away first, which means you need to team build with us.”
“I don’t need to team build—”
“Team build or no cabin fucking, Cade,” she ground out.
I mumbled, “Like you make all the rules . . .”
I was starting to think she did.
15
Izzy
The next day flew by because Cade and I actually worked together in unison. He wanted JUNIPER to be a freaking breeze, same as I did, and he seemed to want it done ASAP. I wasn’t sure if it was because I said no screwing around until then or if it was because we were getting closer to this retreat being over.
Still, I texted Lucas that I had to work, then sat down across from Cade. Of course Lucas asked for a pic of our boss in the morning, and I smirked as I silently tried to sneak one. Even if my whole work team was spending the day out in a wilderness paradise, frolicking around while I worked, I really had nothing to complain about. My view was just as good.
Or bad if I was trying to keep my hands to myself. Which I was.
I chanted in my head that I really was. But Cade wore those damn glasses as he worked, and every now and then, he’d push them up the bridge of his nose like a drop-dead gorgeous geek I wanted to lick for the rest of the day.
Not only that, he’d had breakfast delivered before I woke up, and because he wasn’t sure of what I wanted, he had them bring waffles and pancakes and doughnuts and eggs and freaking fruit.
When I sent off my picture to Lucas, Cade immediately said, “If you get to take pictures of me, don’t be mad when I take some of you.”
My face heated. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You hold your phone at a very different angle when you’re taking pictures, dollface.”
“Whatever,” I grumbled and eyed the feast between us on the table. “I don’t need to eat any of this.” I normally drank coffee and counted calories for breakfast.
“Eat some of it, or I’ll force-feed it to you,” he replied without looking up from his laptop.
I chose some fruit and a waffle, so as not to appear ungrateful. Then, as I started to cut a doughnut in half, he grabbed the whole thing, put it on my plate, and firmly placed it right by my laptop.
“Eat your food,” he repeated.
I rolled my eyes, but complied, because it wasn’t worth the argument. Plus, I wanted the food anyway. The chefs at this retreat were outstanding, but I had no idea where they were even making the food. “Where do you think they get this food? Is someone cooking in a cabin around the corner?”
“Probably.” Cade shrugged, completely bored with the topic of conversation. “Coffee is on the counter for you.”
“Oh! Thank you.” I hopped up to grab it and search for the sugar.
“Already added the sugar, Izzy. I bet it’ll taste as good as Rodney’s.”
So, he’d been listening to everything I said the night before. I took a sip and let him have this one. “Tastes even better.”
He couldn’t hide the way the corners of his mouth lifted a bit as I sat back down. Then, he sent me a file to work on, and we typed away for the next hour in silence. At some point, my back started to hurt from sitting on the wooden bench, so I grabbed my laptop to go work in bed.
First, I changed into some jean shorts and a blouse for team building later. I wasn’t sure if they’d have me talk about JUNIPER, and I wanted to appear semi-professional.
After a minute or two of diving into more emails, I got a message on my computer screen.
Cade: Why did you leave the table?
Me: I had to change, and it’s more comfortable in bed.
Cade: You’re going to fall asleep instead of work.
Me: I’m not. I work in bed sometimes. I feel like it gives me a different perspective.
Cade: Seems like a dangerous place to be.
Me: Why?
Cade: Because it only takes a second for your cabin partner to slide between your legs or for your hand to wander where it shouldn’t.