Hotter Than Ever

by Elle Kennedy

  “Are you prepared for the presentation?” the older woman asked, oblivious to Claire’s growing agitation.

  She managed a smile. “Of course.”

  “Good. Let’s go inside.”

  They walked into the building and informed the lobby receptionist about their meeting with Bryant Sanders. Five minutes later, the two women were being ushered into the conference room where Claire had spent quite a lot of time over the past few weeks.

  She was still unsettled by Barb’s presence, but she forced herself to concentrate on her job instead of her nerves, setting up her laptop and loading the PowerPoint presentation she’d slaved over last night.

  “Claire, good to see you again.” Savvy Tech’s CEO strode into the room and greeted her with a warm smile. Sanders was a lanky man with a head of salt-and-pepper hair and a pair of wire-rimmed glasses resting on a thin nose, and he’d been incredibly accommodating throughout Claire’s assessment of his company.

  They shook hands, and then Sanders turned to Barb. “I’m glad you could join us, Barbara. And I must say, I’ve been very impressed with Claire’s diligent observations and insightful analysis.”

  “Claire is very good at what she does,” Barb agreed with a smile.

  The compliment eased some of her nerves, and a few minutes later, the presentation was underway and Claire didn’t have time to feel nervous. In a brisk voice, she presented her findings to Sanders, going into detail about every aspect of his company and every flaw she’d discovered during her evaluation. Several times, the CEO interrupted with questions that she answered readily and knowledgably, and when she outlined the solutions she’d come up with in order to make the company run more efficiently and increase its profits, Sanders looked more than pleased.

  The meeting lasted a little more than an hour, and after it wrapped up, Sanders took the thick report Claire had prepared and thanked her profusely for all her hard work.

  And through it all, Barb gazed at Claire in approval, squashing any notion that something was amiss.

  At least until the two women were alone again—because the second they were back in the parking lot, Barb’s dark eyes took on that odd light again. The look was impossible to decipher, and the longer Barb stayed quiet, the more uncomfortable Claire became.

  “Is everything all right?” she asked her boss.

  Barb donned a thoughtful look. “Let’s grab a coffee, darling.” And then she took off walking.

  Confused, Claire fell into step with the other woman. Five minutes later, they were seated at a corner table in the Starbucks across the street from Savvy Tech.

  “You did a fabulous job in there,” Barb told her.

  She tried to ignore the queasy churning of her stomach. “Thank you.”

  “I mean it, darling—that was a thorough, well-prepared assessment.”

  She murmured another thank you and brought her cup to her lips. The coffee was way too hot to drink yet, burning her tongue the second she took a sip. Wincing, Claire set down the cup and ran her tongue over the roof of her mouth in an attempt to ease the pain.

  Barb continued to watch her with that pensive gleam in her dark eyes. “All right, let’s not waste any time. Something has been brought to my attention, and since you know I’m a woman who doesn’t like to beat around the bush, I’d like for the two of us to clear this up right here and now.”

  A sick feeling crawled up her throat. “Okay. What is it?”

  “I’ve been informed that you’ve spent the last two months involved in a polyamorous relationship.”

  Claire flinched as if she’d been struck. “W-what?”

  Barb rephrased her previous sentence. “A relationship with two men.”

  But Claire didn’t need a fucking clarification. She knew exactly what her boss meant—and she knew exactly who her informant was.

  That bastard.

  The goddamn bastard.

  Pure blind rage whipped through her like a loose cable in a storm, and it took every ounce of willpower to keep it from showing on her face.

  Chris.

  Chris had gone to her boss.

  He’d told Barb that Claire was sleeping with two men.

  The sheer audacity of his actions left her speechless. Was he insane? How could he do something like that? This was her goddamn career he was messing with!

  God, and to think, she’d been biting her tongue for the past two weeks, urging Dylan to consider making things right with his brother. She’d assured him all this would blow over, that Chris would eventually calm down and realize as unorthodox as the situation was, the three of them were happy, and weren’t doing anything wrong. Aidan had concurred, speculating that Chris would come to accept it sooner or later.

  But she and Aidan had been wrong.

  Dead fucking wrong.

  “I can see from your expression that it’s true.”

  Barb’s voice, which had grown considerably cooler, penetrated Claire’s incensed thoughts.

  Taking a breath, she curled both hands over her coffee cup. Not just because they were shaking, but because she feared she might accidentally mistake Barb for Chris and strangle the life out of her.

  “I have been seeing two men, yes,” she answered in a careful tone. “However, I don’t see how my personal life has any bearing on my professional relationship with you, or my position at this firm.”

  Barb’s cheeks hollowed as she tightly pursed her lips. “But I’m afraid it does. In fact, your personal life directly affects your professional one.”

  “I disagree. And I have to be honest, Barb, but I don’t feel comfortable discussing this with you. Who I date is none of your concern and—”

  “Actually, it is my concern,” her boss interjected. “I hate to do this, but I must refer you to the contract you signed when I hired you five years ago.”

  Barb bent over and snapped her briefcase open, then extracted several sheets of paper stapled together. She set the stack on the table and slid it over to Claire, who immediately recognized the standard contract every consultant at Smart Solutions was asked to sign.

  “Turn to page five.”

  Clenching her teeth, she flipped through the contract and found page five.

  “Paragraph three,” Barb prompted, tapping a red-manicured fingernail on the tabletop.

  Claire felt all the blood drain from her face as she read over the morality clause imbedded into the contract. She remembered reading it five years ago, and every subsequent year when her contract had been renewed, but she’d never in a million years dreamed she’d be accused of breaching that clause.

  “As you can see, you agreed to conduct yourself in a certain manner, and that any behavior reflecting negatively on the company would be grounds for termination.” Barb paused. “I’m afraid that openly living and engaging in a sexual relationship with two men reflects negatively on the company. We have an image to maintain, Claire. The clients who hire us expect qualified, upstanding professionals to assess their business needs.”

  She felt numb. And nauseous. And her fucking tongue still throbbed from that burning-hot coffee.

  Swallowing hard, she met her boss’s eyes and spoke in a dull tone. “What exactly are you saying, Barb?”

  “What I’m saying, darling, is that I’m going to have to let you go.”

  When Aidan got home from the base that evening and saw Claire’s face, he immediately knew something bad had gone down. Even from across the room, Aidan could see the tears clinging to her thick eyelashes.

  “What’s wrong?” he demanded.

  Since Dylan was behind him and had yet to glimpse Claire’s expression, the SEAL thought Aidan was talking to him and replied in a bewildered tone. “What are you talking about, man? Everything’s fi—” He halted when he spotted Claire, then said, “What’s wrong?”

  “I just got fired,” she said flatly.

  They were at her side in an instant, sandwiching her on the couch, bodies angled so they could both see her face.
<
br />   “What the hell are you talking about?” Dylan asked.

  She opened her mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again and a whole lotta words poured out. Aidan listened in stupefied silence as she told them everything her boss had said. He wasn’t prone to violent thoughts, but at that moment, he wanted to rip Chris Wade’s head right off his shoulders and punt it into a tar pit.

  Too far. Dylan’s brother had gone too fucking far by speaking to Claire’s boss, and Aidan’s vision turned into a red mist of fury as he listened to her soft sobs.

  “My brother told your boss you were engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship?” Dylan’s voice was harder than steel, green eyes glittering with the same rage boiling in Aidan’s gut.

  She nodded wordlessly.

  Raking both hands through his hair, Dylan released a string of curses that finally ended with, “I don’t even know who he is anymore. I never dreamed he would stoop this low.”

  “God, what am I going to do? I can’t believe I lost my job,” Claire moaned.

  As she buried her face in her hands, Aidan’s heart cracked in two. He wasted no time drawing her close, while Dylan stroked Claire’s back in reassurance.

  “It’ll be okay,” Dylan murmured. “Everything will be okay.”

  Aidan’s heart splintered a little bit more each time Claire let out another quiet sob. He tightened his grip and held her against his chest, and in the back of his mind he wondered why it was so damn easy to show her physical affection when he kept everyone else at arm’s length. Including Dylan. Especially Dylan.

  Inhaling an unsteady breath, he met the other man’s gaze over Claire’s head and saw his own concern reflected back at him. But he also discerned a flicker of longing, which only deepened when Dylan’s eyes rested on the hand Aidan was using to stroke Claire’s hair.

  Damn it, he hated seeing that look of yearning on Dylan’s face. He knew the other man was unhappy with Aidan’s inability to vocalize his feelings, to be tender and affectionate outside the bedroom, but every time he opened his mouth to try to tell Dylan how he felt, his throat closed up and he couldn’t get the words out.

  But now was not the time to dwell on his own inadequacies. Claire needed him. Claire needed them.

  It was a while before she finally calmed down, and when she lifted her head, Aidan was floored by the intensity blazing in her big brown eyes.

  “I’m fine. I’m going to be fine,” she said firmly, but he knew she was trying to convince herself more than she was trying to convince them. “I’m smart and ambitious and qualified, and I’ll be able to find another job, no problem.”

  “Or—” Dylan spoke tentatively, “—you could open your own consulting firm.”

  Claire faltered. “I…don’t know if I’m ready for that.”

  “Why not?” Aidan said quietly. “You’ve always wanted to go solo, and now you’ve got the chance. You have the experience, you have the contacts. Why not give it a shot?”

  She bit her lip. “Well, I guess I…I mean, I do have enough money saved up, not just in terms of capital but also to support myself for a couple of years if I’m unemployed…”

  Her voice trailed off, and Aidan could see that sharp brain of hers kicking into gear, working over the idea. A spark of pride ignited in his chest. Goddamn, this woman was incredible. It was impossible to knock her down.

  Or at least that’s what he thought before Claire’s phone rang.

  She leaned forward and grabbed the iPhone from the coffee table, then frowned. “It’s my dad.” In the blink of an eye, her face went a shade paler. “You don’t think…he wouldn’t have…?”

  Without finishing, she answered the phone with a quick, “Hey, Dad. What’s up?”

  When she gasped, the answer to the questions she hadn’t been able to voice became clearer than a Times Square billboard.

  Would Chris go to Claire’s parents?

  Yes, he would. And yes, he had.

  Aidan suddenly felt sick. He couldn’t hear a word Claire’s father was saying, which reminded him of what she’d said about Ron McKinley’s tendency to talk in a scarily quiet voice when he was angry.

  “Dad—”

  Whatever her father cut her off with brought a flash of panic to Claire’s eyes.

  Her voice trembled as she tried again. “Dad—” She paused, then made a strangled sound. “Fine! Yes, it’s true. Is that what you want to hear?”

  Aidan’s heart dropped to the pit of his stomach. When he glanced over at Dylan, he saw deep distress digging a groove into the other man’s forehead.

  “Can I please talk to her? Please, just put Mom on the phone.” Claire listened for a moment before her entire face collapsed. “Can I at least come home so we can talk about it?” Ashen, she awaited a reply. Her eyes welled up with tears. “I can’t do that, Daddy…No, don’t say that…I—”

  She halted, then turned to Aidan in shock. “He hung up on me.”

  Aidan tried to pull her close again, but this time she rejected his comfort. She jerked up to her feet, two trails of moisture sliding down her porcelain cheeks.

  “Chris showed up at their house and told them about us.” A splash of bitterness crept into her tone. “I don’t know why he decided to wait two weeks to drop the bomb, but apparently this has been a busy day for him.”

  Dylan stood up slowly. “What did your father say?”

  “He said he’s disappointed and horrified by my behavior, and that he’ll never approve of what I’m doing.” She brushed away her tears with her knuckles. “He ordered me to end it. I said I couldn’t do that, and that’s when he told me that as long as I’m involved with the two of you, I’m not welcome in his house.”

  Aidan’s heart throbbed with agony. Shit.

  He took a step toward her, as did Dylan, but she held up one trembling hand to stop them.

  “No. I can’t do this right now. I know you guys want to help, but…I…” She took a breath. “But I just need to be alone.”

  And then she hurried out of the room, leaving him and Dylan standing there helplessly.

  Hands-down, this was the day from hell. A never-ending nightmare. She’d gotten fired, her dad had pretty much disowned her—what was going to happen next? Was a meteor going to crash into her rental car? Would the ceiling cave in on her head? Would the dog she didn’t own get hit by a car?

  Oh, hush. Self-pity doesn’t become you.

  Claire inhaled a long, deep breath and sat on Dylan’s bed. She’d gone into his room rather than Aidan’s because she hadn’t wanted to see the tangled sheets on the king-sized bed she’d been sharing with her men.

  Yep, her men, as her father had referred to them.

  If you don’t end it with those men of yours, you’re not welcome in my house, Claire.

  Blinking through a new onslaught of tears, she keyed in the password to unlock her phone and quickly brought up her mother’s number. Her dad had refused to put Nora on the phone, but Claire prayed her mom would at least answer her cell.

  To her overwhelming relief, Nora’s voice came on the line. “Claire! What on earth is going on over there? Chris came by and told us the most disturbing things.”

  “Where’s Dad?” Claire asked. “Why didn’t he let you talk to me before?”

  “He’s upset, sweetie. I didn’t want to force the issue when he refused to give me the phone. But he went to take a walk to clear his head, so we have some time.” Nora paused. “Your father said you confirmed everything Chris said. Is that true?”

  She swallowed. “Yes.”

  “You’re involved with Chris’s brother, then? And…and his roommate?”

  “Yes.”

  There was another pause, followed by a heavy sigh. “Oh, sweetie, what are you doing?”

  “I…” Her voice cracked. “It’s complicated.”

  “It’s wrong, that’s what it is. You need to stop this. Put an end to it now.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Yes, you can. Just come
home, Claire. I know the breakup with Chris was difficult, and obviously it had more of an effect on you than we thought. You’re confused and you’re not thinking clearly.”

  “I’m not confused,” she said softly.

  “You need to pack your bags and leave. Your father is very upset about this, but he’ll forgive you, as long as you break it off with those men and come home.”

  “I can’t do that. Mom…I think I love them.”

  Silence. Lasting so long Claire thought her mother had hung up.

  “Mom, are you there?”

  Nora sounded anguished. “Claire, this is crazy. Do you realize how crazy that sounds?”

  “I know it’s crazy,” she burst out. “But it’s real, damn it! I have feelings for them, for both of them. Real, strong feelings, and I can’t walk away from that.”

  “Your father will never accept this.” Nora hesitated. “I don’t know if I can accept it.”

  Pain jolted through her, but Claire wasn’t about to back down. “Mom, I love you and Daddy, but this is my life, and I live it for me. You don’t have to agree with all my choices, and if you and Dad are willing to cut me out of your lives because of this, then that’s on you. I’m sorry you don’t approve, but like I said, I’m not walking away from them.”

  “Even if it means your father will never let you come home again?”

  Her throat burned with regret. “Even then.” She let out a wobbly breath. “I’ll give you some time to digest this and call you in a few days, okay? Just…please try to keep an open mind. At least meet Dylan and Aidan before you write me off forever.”

  A distressed sob met her ears. “Claire, just come home.”

  “I can’t.”

  “Claire—”

  “Bye, Mom.”

  She hung up, feeling bruised and beaten and so very tired. Her eyes hurt from all the tears she’d shed, and her face was still damp, prompting her to leave the room and duck into the hall bathroom, where she gasped at her reflection in the mirror.

  Her mascara had run like crazy, glaring evidence that the word waterproof on the applicator was pure and total bullshit. She looked like a madwoman—streaky black lines on her cheeks, red-rimmed eyes, splotchy skin.