Infamous (NeXt Book 2) Read online

  How could I say no? It sounded perfect, and with him there with me, I knew it would be just what I need. So I whipped up a few batches of cherry turnovers, enough to last the time that I’ll be gone, and told my parents I’d see them in a few days.

  Now, however, I’m struggling not to throw up all over the inside of Cade’s car because of this blindfold he insists I wear to keep where we’re going a complete surprise.

  “Okay, you can take it off. We’re here!” he says with so much excitement in his voice that I practically rip the thing off my head.

  I focus my eyes to see a sea green and white house with three floors looming in front of me. When we get out of the car, I see the house is even bigger up close.

  Turning my head to the sound of a boat behind us, I see water as I look through the side yard. “Where are we? I thought you said we were going to a hotel for a few days.”

  Cade cups my elbow with his hand and guides me toward the house in front of me. “I was going to do that, but then I heard of somewhere even better. Welcome to the newest house owned by Alexandria March. I think she’s thinking of calling it something like Cupid’s Cove. When you meet her, you’ll understand why that makes sense.”

  We walk through the front door and begin to climb the white painted steps toward the second floor. “Alexandria March? Is Alex named after her?”

  Behind me, Cade laughs. “Yep. My mother and his mother, my aunt Olivia, were pregnant at the same time. Both of them were thinking of naming us Alexander after her, but they finally decided he would get that name, even though he was born three months after me. I got the consolation prize of having Alexander as my middle name, though.”

  I look back at him as we near the top of the steps and ask, “Is his middle name Cade then?”

  He stops when we reach the second floor and thinks for a moment. “I don’t think so, but I just realized now I don’t think I know what Alex’s middle name is. If his brother wasn’t named after their father, I’d guess Cassian, but he is, so I don’t know.”

  “Maybe Oliver after his mother?” I ask, half-joking.

  Cade shrugs. “Maybe. So what do you think of the place?”

  For the first time, I look at the home he’s brought me to and nearly have trouble catching my breath. The pale blue painted room seems to go on forever, and there are windows everywhere so you can see out onto the water. It might be the prettiest room I’ve ever stood in.

  “It’s beautiful, Cade. This is your grandmother’s home?”

  He sets down our bags on a nearby table and shakes his head. “No. Just one she bought. She’s all about real estate. She’s pretty much the reason I bought my condo. When I first started getting my trust fund, she sat me down and told me all the reasons she thinks a home is the most important thing a person can own. I had no intentions of buying a condo before that, but she convinced me. I think this is her third home on the island here.”

  “Where are we? I don’t think I’ve ever been to this island in my life.”

  Waving me over to him, he takes my hand and begins to walk toward the windows. “Anna Maria Island. She says it’s her favorite place on earth.”

  “And she doesn’t have a problem with the two of us spending the next few days here?” I ask as the image of an old woman coming at me with a rolling pin in her hand for sleeping in the same bed as her grandson flashes through my mind.

  My question makes him throw his head back and laugh. “No way. My grandmother had to deal with three sons who were nothing but trouble when they were my age. She’s the one who suggested we use this place until she figures out what she wants to do with it. She basically collects houses. She also likes to spoil all of her grandchildren rotten. So you don’t have to worry.”

  As I look out onto the blue water below, I can’t believe how beautiful this view is or that I’m standing here with Cade getting to enjoy it. “This is incredible. Thank you so much for bringing me here. I just wanted to relax for a couple days before I have to go do Brooke Dunning’s podcast. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but it made me get a little crazy there for a minute or two, and that’s why I asked you to help me get away. I never expected anything like this, Cade. I would have been happy with a couple nights at your condo or even a motel on the side of the highway.”

  Nuzzling my neck, he moves behind me and wraps his arms around my shoulders. I love when he holds me like this every time we look out at the water off his balcony. Here it feels even better because he made this happen just for me.

  “I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Gulf look so good, you know that?” he says in a soft voice near my ear.

  “I didn’t even know that was the water I was looking at. I thought maybe it was some bay. You’re so lucky to have this in your life. You really are. Your family must be really incredible to let you enjoy this.”

  He chuckles low in my ear before kissing my neck. “Some of them are, but what I’m lucky to have in my life is you.”

  The way he says that makes me feel so safe and loved. I missed this feeling all those months when I hid away and swore I’d never take a chance on another relationship and another guy again.

  Covering his hands with mine, he tells me about how when he was a little boy, he and his cousins would come to this island and play on the beach building sandcastles and burying one another in the sand. The way he talks about growing up like that makes me hopeful I’ll get to meet more of his family other than Alex. So far, if he’s any indication of what the rest of the March clan is like, I can’t see why I won’t adore all of them.

  “You sound like you had a great childhood,” I say, looking back at him.

  He thinks about that for a second and nods. “Some of it was really great. I didn’t have any brothers, but I had Alex who was like a twin brother since we were born three months apart and my cousins were like brothers. I think if you said that to my sister she might have a different opinion since there are no other girls, though. Well, except for my uncle Kane and aunt Abbi’s daughter, but she’s older than the rest of us so by the time we were old enough to play together, she was in high school and couldn’t be bothered with us.”

  “So your cousins are all close in age with you?”

  Cade rests his chin on my shoulder as he explains, “Four boys born within three years’ time. My family pretty much exploded in thirty-six months. Then my uncle Kane decided he wanted to adopt Wilder after all he’d been through, so by the time we all were teenagers, there were five of us. Trust me, we were the terrors of our high school. Be glad you didn’t meet me or Alex back then. You’d never speak to either of us again.”

  The way he says that doesn’t scare me off but intrigues me, so I turn my back on the beautiful scene of the Gulf late in the afternoon and look up at him. “I bet you guys were heartbreakers. Way too cute for your own good and way too cocky for everyone else’s good.”

  Cade gives me a sexy smile that never fails to make me think he’s even more gorgeous than he was the last time I looked at him. “Times the cockiness by ten. I’m not sure you’d call us heartbreakers, though. More like bumbling fools who thought they were way too slick for high school. Trust me, you shouldn’t be surprised if we’re out in public one day and some woman walks right up to me and slaps me across the face. I may not even remember her, but with the way we were, I probably have it coming in spades.”

  “Why would anyone do that?” I wonder aloud, sure this incredible guy who did all of this for me just because I asked couldn’t deserve that kind of treatment.

  For a moment, he bites his bottom lip like he isn’t sure he wants to tell me just how bad he and his cousins were back then. “Well, let’s just say the five of us had reputations for being less than wonderful guys at times and leave it at that.”

  The image of Cade being a bad boy doesn’t really force me to stretch my mind much, but that doesn’t bother me. Who he was before he met me, even if he was that person just days before, doesn’t matter. It’s who he is now I ca
re about, and today, he’s the man who brought me to this beautiful home overlooking the Gulf of Mexico to relax with him for the next few days.

  I press my palms against his chest and stand on my tiptoes to kiss him. “Thankfully, no one holds who we were in high school against us.”

  With a wink, he says with a grin, “Except that woman who slaps me across the face one day. She’s going to be holding a lot against me.”

  More relaxed than I’ve been in so long I can’t remember, I rest my head on his chest and let out a heavy sigh. These past two weeks have been incredible and devastating and then incredible again. Everything seems to be going my way these days.

  So, of course, I’m worried that right around the corner some horrible nightmare is going to come into my life and ruin everything.

  Cade’s fingers slowly slide through my hair while I listen to his heartbeat lull me into a state I’d only dreamed of before meeting him. Never in my life have I felt so safe, so protected, and secure. Other women may want the bad boy he probably was before, but not me. I love the feeling of his arms around me as we stand together silently, only the sound of our breathing interrupting the quiet.

  “You aren’t falling asleep on me, are you?” he whispers against the top of my head.

  I smile against his chest and answer, “No. I don’t think I can fall asleep standing up. I’m just loving how relaxed and calm I feel at this moment. Like the world outside can’t touch us, and we’re safe and sound right here.”

  His hand cups the back of my head and tilts it back so I’m looking up at him as he stares down at me with dark eyes full of concern. “You’re always safe with me, Hailey. I promise that. I won’t let anyone hurt you, not even me. I swear.”

  “I believe you. And I didn’t feel safe because we’re alone. It’s just that this place is so peaceful. Everyday life has no solitude, and when you wrapped your arms around me and I put my head on your chest, I felt more at peace than I can ever remember. You have no idea how much I appreciate that.”

  He presses a soft kiss to my forehead and lets his lips linger against my skin for a moment before whispering, “I like that I bring you peace. That makes me feel good.”

  When I close my eyes, I try to think of another human being who has ever made me feel the way Cade does. First he terrified me. Then he intrigued me. When we finally got together, he thrilled me.

  And then that night at the club, what I saw shattered me.

  But then he did what no one has ever done before with me. He made me want to believe in him again. Believe in us again.

  I’m glad I didn’t listen to my head when I saw him standing there in the restaurant the other day. All my brain could say was he couldn’t be trusted, that he’s like all other men.

  My heart had a different story to tell. That one said to give him another chance.

  This time, my heart was right.

  Chapter Eight

  Cade

  Hailey sits back on the chaise lounge near the pool, and I watch her for a moment as the last yellows and pinks and purples of the sunset fade away. When she told me how relaxed this place made her feel, all I could think about was how I could make her life like that all the time.

  I’ve never felt this way about another soul in the world before her. It’s why I can’t help but just watch her in the hope that I’ll somehow figure out how in such a short time I went from who I was without her to who I am with her.

  No wonder my family was betting I’d never find anyone. I barely recognize that Cade from a couple weeks ago. That guy would never have thought to bring a woman here just to spend time together.

  Why bother doing that when I have a perfectly good condo with a perfectly good bed?

  Yet the moment Hailey asked if we could hang out for a few days so she could stay calm and not freak out about this meeting with that big food blogger, the first thing that popped into my head was taking her away to somewhere quiet and out of town so the two of us could be alone. It was like that was the most natural reaction in the world.

  She felt like she was starting to spiral out of control, so I wanted to do whatever I could to stop it. I didn’t even think twice.

  “Are you watching this gorgeous sunset?” she asks before turning her head to look over at me. “I swear everything in this place is perfect.”

  “It’s like someone painted it for us,” I say as I make my way around the pool deck to where she sits.

  “Do you want to go swimming?” She giggles and then says, “We could go skinny dipping.”

  I love how open she is when she says things like that. Looking down at her lying there in her blue tank top and jean shorts, I wonder if any of the neighbors are home.

  “Hailey is a skinny dipping girl. Well, now I’ve heard everything.”

  She rolls her eyes at my teasing and sits up to kiss me. “I don’t look like someone who’d skinny dip?”

  I let my gaze roll over her and shake my head. “No, not really. You bake cookies and look too sweet for that.”

  Hailey’s mouth drops open in shock. “And after all the great sex we’ve had, you pull that cookie baking good girl thing on me?”

  “That’s true. Okay, I take it back. You do look like a skinny dipping chick.”

  She stands up from the chaise lounge and unzips her shorts in front of me. As they fall to the ground, she says, “Well, I’m not because I’ve never skinny dipped before, but tonight I am. You joining me?”

  Before I can get my answer out, she rips her shirt over her head and tosses it on top of her shorts. As I watch in complete surprise, she sheds her bra and panties and then she’s standing in front of me and the entire Gulf naked.

  “You’re way behind, Cade. Catch up. Skinny dipping isn’t a solitary sport, you know,” Hailey says with a giggle before jumping into the pool.

  I don’t need to be told twice to get naked for a beautiful woman, so I quickly strip out of my clothes and jump into the water. It’s cooler than I expected, but it doesn’t take long to get accustomed to it.

  “So now we’re both skinny dipping people. I think that’s one step away from swingers, you know,” she says with a playful grin as I make my way over to her.

  I kiss her wet lips and smile against them. “I’m not sure I’m ready to be a swinger. That’s a whole lifestyle. I think it requires special furniture.”

  “And special clothes. Easy on and easy off so you don’t get caught unprepared when someone wants to get busy,” she says so adorably.

  Her body presses up against mine, the water lapping around us as we tread water. “You seem to have put some thought into this whole swinger thing. I’m not sure how I feel about sharing you with other guys.”

  Hailey wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me long and deep. “Mmmm…actually, there’s a guy at the restaurant who says he’s a swinger, but his hair is all greasy and he combs it over to hide his bald spot, so he might just be saying that.”

  I can’t stop myself from making a face full of disgust just thinking about that greasy guy banging bunches of women. Gross. He’s probably in his sixties and hoping to just get some by bragging to someone like Hailey.

  Pressing her breasts against me, she nudges her pussy against my cock. “And as for sharing me with other guys,” she says and then runs her tongue along the seam of my mouth, “my vote is no on that and that goes twice as much the other way with you and other women. I don’t share well with others.”

  I slide my hands down her back to cup her ass and pull her into me even more. My cock is as hard as steel and getting harder with every time she rolls her hips.

  “Good, because I wasn’t happy with the idea of you and anyone but me. Glad we got that settled.”

  She reaches down between us to grip my cock and strokes from base to head once and then twice before kissing me again. “No way I’m sharing this with another woman. No way, no how.”

  I’ve had enough foreplay, so I lift her out of the water and position her at the perfe
ct height so I can slide my cock inside that perfect cunt of hers. She looks down at me like some goddess straight from the sea, and when I lower her down onto me, she narrows her eyes to give me that sexy look I love to see when I’m inside her.

  “Is your grandmother going to be mad that we’re having sex in her pool?” she asks with such innocence to her voice that it feels wrong to be fucking her.

  Moving toward the side of the pool, I shake my head. “I don’t plan on telling her, to be honest.”

  I feel the cool tile wall against the base of my spine, so I lean back to brace myself. Hailey rolls her hips again, taking every inch of me, and wraps her legs around my waist.

  “Why do I have the feeling you’ve done this whole pool sex thing before?” I ask and then thrust my hips forward to fill her.

  She shakes her head and smiles. “Mmmm…no. Remember? This is my first time skinny dipping. I did read about it, though. You?”

  At the moment, I can’t think about anything but how good she feels riding my cock with all this water sloshing around between us, so I give her a noncommittal shrug and focus on fucking her. I don’t want to remember whoever I had sex with in some guy’s pool in high school. None of that means anything to me now.

  I pull her mouth to mine and kiss her as every cell in my body screams how fucking good this feels. Her breasts bounce up and down in the water and rub against my skin to send a wave of sensation through me.

  Stuffing my hands in her wet hair, I tug hard and she makes a moaning sound into my mouth that I swear goes straight to my cock. “Mmmm…baby, you are the perfect skinny dipper.”

  Suddenly, Hailey stops moving, and I open my eyes to see her staring up at the deck, her eyes wide and full of something that looks like she’s seen a ghost. “Cade—”

  She doesn’t get another word out before a voice behind me says, “I guess we stopped in at a bad time.”

  A second later, I spin my head around to see Wilder and two of his friends standing there staring down at us like some kind of asshole Peeping Toms. Hailey practically crawls beneath me to hide, so I push her against the wall of the pool and cover her with my body as I stand up to my full height.