“Go home,” Quinn insisted. “Get some rest. Let me do my job.”
“You can call me if—”
Quinn shut the car door and banged the top. Gareth pulled away.
One issue dealt with, now he had to deal with the other one.
Cade wasn’t where Quinn had left him. He was nowhere to be seen. Quinn growled under his breath. Bratty boys deserved to have their asses reddened if they misbehaved.
He found Cade in the kitchen. Or, more to the point, he found Cade headfirst hunting through one of the kitchen cabinets. The sight of his butt poking out was almost more than Quinn could bear.
“Lord, I can only deal with so much temptation.”
Cade backed out from the cabinet, his face red and hair muzzed as he emerged holding a small bowl.
“You could bring Mogs here,” he said, holding up the bowl with a triumphant smile. “She’s welcome and I have cat bowls and a litter tray. I still have scratching posts in nearly every room. My cat was a menace and scratched everywhere.” Quinn didn’t move and Cade’s expression dropped. He seemed to close in on himself. “Or not. Whatever.” He dropped the bowl with a clatter on the countertop and went to walk past Quinn.
Dammit, he’d upset Cade. Quinn got in Cade’s path and smiled at him. “It’s kind of you to offer, Cade. I’m not sure you’d want her here though. She’s scarred from too many fights, and very grumpy. She’s not this sweet and adorable cat who likes being hugged.”
Cade laughed and the tense lines of his shoulders eased a fraction. “You should have met Charlie. He was all teeth and claws. The only person he liked was me. I think that was one of the reasons Eric killed him. Charlie really hated Eric.”
Quinn warmed to Cade’s deceased cat. Obviously, he’d had better sense than the humans in Cade’s life. “If you’re sure. I’ll get Mogs and bring her here later today.”
“Can’t I go with you? I’d like to see where you live.”
“We’ll see,” Quinn said without making a firm commitment. As far as he was concerned, Cade was on house arrest unless he was working.
Cade shot him a suspicious look, but he nodded. “Do you want to look around the house?”
“Yeah, why don’t you show me?”
“You know I’m the client, right? I tell you what to do.”
Quinn leaned into Cade’s space, until Cade was almost bending backward. He took it slowly, careful not to scare the boy. Then he heard the hitch in Cade’s breath, saw the almost comically wide eyes. Quinn glanced down. No, Cade wasn’t scared. He was turned on. Quinn’s dick hardened at the sight and scent of this boy. He had to put a stop to that idea right away. He was protecting Cade from danger, that was all.
“No,” Quinn said firmly.
Cade’s brows furrowed together. “No?”
“No. You are the client, but it’s my job to keep you alive. Which means when I tell you to stay somewhere, you stay there.”
“You’re just the bait,” Cade taunted him.
“I’m the bait, the hook, the line, and the man who’s gonna sink Strada,” Quinn said.
“You’re very full of yourself,” Cade said, although Quinn was very sure he wasn’t aware how breathy his voice was.
“That’s my job. Forget the idea of me fading into the background, boy, I’m front and center.”
Cade’s expression changed, and he was the one to take a step back. “I’m not your boy. You’re my bodyguard, not my Daddy.”
“As far as Strada is concerned, I’m your new Daddy and you are going to have to act like it.” Quinn fixed his gaze on Cade who seemed to want to look anywhere except at him. “I need your cooperation, Cade, or this won’t work, and I may as well walk out the door now.”
“I don’t know,” Cade said, his voice shaky, and he wrapped his arms around himself.
Quinn wasn’t bothered by Cade’s lack of confidence. This was a new job and they had to get to know each other. The only person Cade knew was Liam, and he wasn’t here. It was up to Quinn to instill confidence in his boy—his fake boy.
“You leave me to do my job. You obey my orders when I give them, and in return I let you do your job. It’s two weeks until you leave for London. Do you think you can work with me until then?”
“Work with you. The operative word is with,” Cade said sourly.
Quinn chuckled. “It’s a give-and-take, Cade. We play happy Daddy and boy in public and you get to ride on your sweet bike and get freedom to do your job.”
Cade looked up at him, his face pinched. “I don’t want another Daddy. I don’t need another Daddy.”
Oh poor boy. He desperately needed a Daddy. A real one. It was just a shame it wasn’t going to be Quinn.
Cade
Cade couldn’t hide the hurt in his voice. He wanted to huff and shout and rail against Quinn’s rules. When he went to DEFCON Brat it was easier to forget his longing for another Daddy. He especially hated the way his body relaxed at Quinn’s calm voice for the first time since his management team had given him the ultimatum. He would not roll over and obey just because a Daddy gave him orders.
Adult. His world. His rules.
“What are your plans for today?” Quinn asked.
“I cleared my schedule because Standish asked me to. Tomorrow I’ve got a seven am session in my studio. My band will be coming here.”
“What are their names?” Quinn asked.
Cade listed the names.
“I’ll send them to the team on the gate,” Quinn said. “That way they don’t get refused entry tomorrow morning.”
“You know they’re not Eric, yeah?” Cade commented dryly. “We know who the bad guy is.”
“No one gets close to you unless I say so,” Quinn said implacably.
Cade noticed he didn’t agree or disagree with him about the band being good guys. “I need them, to do my job.”
“We’ll run background checks on them this afternoon.”
“Do you always have to have the last word?”
“Yes,” Quinn said with a deadpan expression, then he winked, and the frustration in Cade’s mind eased a fraction.
“Why don’t you take me around your home and then we’ll sit and make a plan.” Quinn made it sound like a suggestion, not an order, and Cade had nothing better to do.
As they wandered upstairs, Quinn asked, “Did you have a designer to decorate your home?”
Cade shook his head. “I did it myself.”
“You did?”
Cade bristled at the skeptical note in Quinn’s voice.
“This is the first place I’ve ever had to call my own. I grew up in the foster care system. I never stayed in a home for long.”
“You were never adopted?” Quinn asked.
Cade didn’t need Quinn’s misplaced pity. “It didn’t matter. I wasn’t hurt or abused or anything like that. I just never stayed anywhere for very long. They found me hard work.” He pulled a face. “I was hard work. It’s only recently I was diagnosed with ADHD. That’s why I bounce off the walls. But on the plus side, it helps with my creativity.” He pointed to a painting on the wall. “That’s one of mine. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to be. So I do everything. It’s just the music is making me money at the moment.”