Kai was treating her like spun glass, which was in direct contrast to how he had treated her during their one passionate night together and the morning after when they had nearly broken her glass shower wall.
It had only been a week since then, but it felt like a billion years had passed. Ember wanted Kai. Completely. Desperately. Every time she reached back to cup his cock, his hands expertly pushed her away in a gentle rebuke.
“Not until you’re better, love,” he would whisper with that sexy voice of his.
No matter how many times she assured him she was better, Kai shook his head no. He would only make love to her again when she could eat a decent meal and keep it down. That was the barometer he was using to assess her well-being.
If she wasn’t so sexually frustrated, Ember would have found his concern sweet.
It was sweet, but just how in the hell was she supposed to keep resisting Kai? Didn’t he realize the impact he had on her hormones? The man had to know her vag was all but crying for his attention.
“You’re giving me that look again,” Kai said from his seat across the living room. He was typing away on his laptop, working on something for Mason Security. Probably investigating someone else from Bakers Gotta Bake.
“What look?”
“The one that makes me want to be naughty.”
Ember let the strap of her tank top slide down her shoulder. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she shrugged innocently.
Kai’s eyes were full of lust as he devoured her with a hungry gaze. “You know the deal, love. No strenuous activity until you’re one-hundred percent better.”
“I am better,” she insisted.
Kai dumped his laptop on the armchair and closed the distance between them. His lips dropped to her shoulder in a series of hot open-mouth kisses. Ember didn’t even notice he had flicked her strap back up until he was walking away, retreating to the kitchen.
“That was evil,” she pouted.
“Not as evil as tempting me like that, love.” Kai made a big show of rearranging his erection in his jeans before getting lunch ready.
Ember gave him a sly smile. “You’re doing it to yourself, you know.”
“Your wellbeing before our mutual sexual pleasures, love. That’s just how it’s gotta be.”
Her reply was cut short by her ringing cell phone. She picked up and had a quick and disheartening conversation.
“Well, you got your wish.” Ember tossed her phone down onto the sofa, all thoughts of seduction gone from her mind.
Kai hooked a brow at her as he placed a bowl of soup on the coffee table. “What do you mean?”
“That was the network. Bakers Gotta Bake has been put on hold for the foreseeable future. At least until the person responsible for the poisoning and letters is caught.”
Kai sat down beside her and placed a large, warm palm on her thigh. “Love, you know that is not fair. That is not my wish at all. I want you to have your own bakery, but I won’t lose you over it. That was too close. If you had taken another spoonful? You could have died, and there wouldn’t have been anything I could do about it.”
She gulped. Kai’s feelings for her were so intense, even though they had only met two weeks before. She felt the same, of course. How could she not? Not only was Kai Mason a walking sexy dream, but he was also really tender and sweet. It was hard to not melt for him like chocolate in a saucepan.
She could really see herself losing her head over him. She nodded. “I’m sorry if I’m being so unreasonable about this.”
“Oh?” he tried to suppress a smile.
“Sparx and Cinder are successful all on their own. I’m the eldest, and I’m still running someone else’s show. Ciro gets all of the glory for what I do. I would like to wake up in the morning and have something that is mine. Something I can be proud of. I don’t like comparing myself to my sisters, but there you have it. They’ve both got their shit together and figured out.”
“Ember, I’m going to ask you something, and I don’t want you to get offended, all right?”
She narrowed her eyes at him in apprehension. “Okay.”
“Why is it such a big deal that you do this all by yourself? Sparx would have been what, thirteen or fourteen when she was auditioning for shows? Who drove her to those auditions?” He arched a brow at her when she didn’t answer.
“My parents did.”
“Right. And Cinder started filming her whole makeup obsession as a kid, didn’t she?”
“She was maybe ten? She used to steal my mom’s makeup. Then—” Ember crossed her arms. “Then, my parents bought her the stuff she needed.” They had even gotten her some classes with a makeup artist for her birthday one year.
“I get what you’re doing,” she said.
“I’m just trying to make you see that no one ever does those big kinds of swings alone. The work, sure. But it’s always easier to do things with a support system. Your mom is a chef turned food critic. She has the connections that would be beneficial to you. All four of your family members want to see you happy and would gladly invest in you. Because they believe in you. Not because they pity you. And while we’re talking about this, you’re my mate, Ember. One day, we will live together, share a home and a bank account. We will be a family and have kids together. As far as I’m concerned, what’s mine is already yours. If I wanted to invest in a bakery for you — with you, it wouldn’t be out of pity. And it wouldn’t make it any less yours. You would be the one to make it work, to bake all of the wonderful things that bring people in. You’ve got to change how you see things. For your own sake.”
Ember nodded as she processed what Kai had said. She took her hand in his. “So, we will be having kids, will we?”
Kai sighed, throwing his hands up in the air. “All that, and that is what you focus on?”
Ember giggled. “Well, if you want kids one day, you do know that we’ll need to have sex again, right?”
“Smartass,” he cooed before kissing her.
She found herself pressed down onto the couch with Kai above her.
“I’m sorry for being so stubborn and putting myself in danger. I see now that it was the wrong call to make.”
“It’s okay,” he whispered against her neck. “Just be careful from now on, love. You have got a lot of people who would lay down their lives for you.”
Ember nodded, arching up into him. “I promise to be more careful. No more silly choices. I’ll let others help me.”
“Good,” he said, nipping at her shoulder. “I think that means you’re feeling better.”
“What?” she squeaked when he unbuttoned her pants. He chuckled by way of answer. “Are you telling me you were purposefully withholding sex until I changed how I think?”
“Of course not,” he groaned as she cupped his hard cock. “I could never have that much control. It’s just getting pretty damn impossible to keep my hands off you.”
“Then don’t,” she cooed. “Put your hands all over me, Kai.”
And for once, the stubborn man listened.
Chapter Sixteen