The Billionaire's Game(48)

Asha giggled, delighted by the sudden, playful change in his demeanor. “I’d wish for you to teach me the finer points of getting down and dirty.”

Kade’s eyes were shooting flames as he looked down at her. “Santa Kade rewards naughtiness,” he said in a husky voice. “Feel free to misbehave.”

Asha eyed him dubiously. “That’s not the way it works. I may not have celebrated before, but I do live in America.” Kade was adorable when he was mussed and playful, and Asha couldn’t resist the lure of playing with him. She only had a short time left with him, and she wanted to have this day to remember. She could give herself at least that much. She knew she had to leave, for Kade’s sake as well as her own. They both needed time and distance to figure out their feelings. And she needed to become a whole person.

“My rules. My Christmas.” He grinned sinfully down at her.

“Okay, Santa. Let’s start racking up those reward points,” she answered in a sultry whisper.

Kade groaned as he fell backward and rolled her onto her back, looming large above her. “It’s not nice to tease,” he cautioned her in a graveled voice.

Asha’s body heated as Kade held her helpless on the bed, looking like he wanted to devour her whole. “No teasing. Teach me,” she beseeched, her body aching for him.

I want to experience it all today…with you.

“It could take awhile,” he warned, lowering his mouth to hers. “You’re still pretty innocent.”

Kade’s kiss took her breath away, but Asha didn’t complain. Finding out just how naughty Kade could be was worth every breathless pant that came from her mouth as Kade took her to paradise.





Asha left the next day. While Kade was gone to work, she put the rest of her things together and walked out the door. It was one of the hardest things she’d ever done, but she pushed herself out the door with her small suitcase, skirting Kade’s security, and entered the waiting cab. Tears streamed down her face as the cab pulled away from the curb, but she knew she was doing the right thing. Her emotions were raw, and her confusion was rampant.

She and Kade had incredible sex, and she was grateful to him, but she didn’t know if what they felt was love or lust. Both of them were in vulnerable positions and mutual need just wasn’t going to be enough for either of them.

She’d already rented a tiny apartment across town. Although she had funds, she wanted to be careful. Still needing to purchase a car and more furnishings for the apartment, she had to be cautious with her money. Eventually, she’d contact Maddie and Max. But not yet, not when her emotions were still so fragile and not before she’d learned to truly survive alone.

This is going to hurt Kade.

The tears flowed faster and she swiped them away with impatient fingers. A short, temporary hurt was better than wounding him more in the future.

I’m still damaged.

I’m confused.

I’m not ready or worthy of a man like Kade.

Oh, but she wanted to be, and she wanted it desperately right now. The last thing she wanted was to leave him, but she cared too much about him to let him be stuck with half a woman, a woman who really didn’t know who she was or what she wanted.

I start that journey of discovery today!

And there was one thing that Asha wanted, something she’d never had.

After asking the taxi driver to make a quick stop for her, she hopped out of the cab and ducked into a jewelry store. The price of gold wasn’t cheap, but she bought the matching set of bangle bracelets anyway, putting a small dent in her savings.

Back in the cab, she fingered the bracelets, loving the sound of the thin hoops tinkling together. Indian women loved their bangles, and she was no different. When she was younger, she had yearned for even a cheap pair of bangles, but she’d never gotten them. Her foster parents barely fed her, and her husband never felt she deserved to have them because she couldn’t get pregnant and wasn’t really a woman.

Dr. Miller and Devi had recommended that she take the things she liked and wanted from her Indian heritage and dump the bad things because she was, after all, an American. And one thing she’d always coveted was bangles. Maybe it was imbedded in her DNA, but she’d always wanted them. She’d been deprived of the right to wear them even though she had been raised as an Indian woman. Now, she could decide what she wanted for herself. That thought both soothed and terrified her. She’d gone from a demanding, controlling foster family to an abusive husband. Even the last two years had been decisions made only for survival.

Who am I?

What do I want?

Her errant thoughts were interrupted as she arrived at her apartment building. After hastily paying and tipping the driver, she exited the cab and strode toward her apartment, nervous and apprehensive, but feeling stronger than she’d ever felt in her entire life.