Their Forever - Chloe Kent Page 0,21

from the other two bodyguards Liam posted when she went to work at the women's shelter.

Standing in a towel with her hair dripping wet, she reached for her phone and checked her calendar. Great! A whole day of driving was in store for her. Well, she would just start calling cabs, end of story.

Making up her mind, she laid out her morning plans. Liam had back-to-back meetings in his study here at home, but his morning was free. She would demand he issue his spanking, and thereafter she would demand he replace Kade with anyone else: she didn't care.

Feeling empowered, she slipped into a pale-red shift dress that reached just above her knee and coupled it with black high-heeled pumps. She gathered her hair into a high ponytail and a applied a skim of makeup.

She put a smile on her face at the thought of going back to business as usual. She didn't even care if Liam gave Kade another position, just as long as it meant she didn't have to deal with him for anything.

She was at least half an hour early for breakfast, and that meant she could catch Liam in his study where she could lay out her ultimatum, not that it was an ultimatum; no one gave Liam an ultimatum, more like a humble proposal… but should he refuse, well then, he could sleep in one of the guest rooms.

Determined, she marched purposefully down the stairs and straight into his study.

“I can't do this any longer. I need you to give me an exact date and time for my punishment, preferably right now, for being rude to your chauffeur. I will even apologize to him quite sincerely, but thereafter I don't want to see him or have anything to do with him again. Either I drive myself wherever I need to go, use a cab, or I'll ask John. I don't think he would mind the odd trip here and there.”

“I see,” Liam said slowly, rising to his formidable height from behind his desk. Even that early in the morning, he looked immaculate. Tall, dark, foreboding. Her breath faltered, and she realized that for as long as she lived, he would never fail to have that effect on her, reduce her to nothing more than a slave for his smile, his words, his touch. His dark eyes, hooded with thick, long lashes, his jawline, even his neatly trimmed beard, dusted with strands of gray, engulfed her as he neared her.

Immediately her body became feverish, her freshly donned panties beginning to dampen between her thighs. No one gave Liam an ultimatum, and even if she dispatched him to a guest bedroom, her body belonged to him, and she couldn't fight him any more than she could stop loving him.

“Liam, please.” She swallowed. “I just want to get this over and done with.”

“What is it about Kade that… bothers you so much?”

“He's… he's… I just don't like him. I don't trust him. How well do you know him? Do you know anything about him at all besides what the agency said?”

All Liam's staff were vetted nine ways to Sunday by an agency elected for the very needs of men in power, otherwise also known as mafia lords. Liam was one of the few who could walk among the rest—politicians, celebrities, military—and remain untouchable. His cunning was unmeasured, his skill as being elusive and yet clearly visible something impossible to imitate.

“I trust Kade with my life, which means I entrust him with yours.”

She couldn't avoid the finality in his voice on the subject of Kade's trustworthiness.

“Fine. But I don't want to have to be subjected to his presence. There's no reason for that. So yes, I agree I was rude, and I deserve to be punished. So please can we just get it done? It's ruining my day.” She pouted.

“All right,” Liam closed the distance between them and cupped her cheek. “I'll see to your punishment now. Kade?”

Startled, Olivia whirled around to find Kade Tremayne, leaning into the doorframe of Liam's study as if he owned it.

“He was eavesdropping on us?” she cried incredulously. “Liam?” She expected her husband to call him on it. How could he have let that happen? How long had Kade been standing there? How long did Liam allow him to stand there?

“Since you're in such a hurry to receive your punishment, and since you continue to be disrespectful to a man you barely know, I think it's only fitting that Kade delivers your punishment