by J. D. Fox
I scrambled to my feet. “Dad, don’t.”
Indignation spread across my father’s face as his eyes shot daggers at Lucius.“No? Why not? When has Lucius not made a clusterfuck of anything he touches?’
“I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, old man.”
“Whoa, Lucius. Tone it down,” I said.
“Stay out of this, Sam. This between Dad and me and his opinion about how I handle my business.”
“Why would I talk when you hardly spend two minutes listening to anything I have to say?”
Lucius crossed his arms and glared at Dad.
“Explain it then,” he snarled.
Dad scoffed louder this time.
“You bring us up here to see you marry a woman we’ve never met before. At the same time, your company is leaking money like water through a sieve. And you want me to give you a party?”
“I’m not asking for anything from you. I just thought I’d share my happiness with my family, for once.”
“With that girl? Sure, she’s attractive. And way too smart for you. But she comes from nowhere, from nothing. Talia has a ton of student loans she barely keeps up with and thousands of dollars in medical debt. Is it any wonder she latched onto the first rich man she found?”
Oh my fucking God. Dad had done it, didn’t he? He’d had Talia investigated as soon as he found out about the engagement. He’d crossed a line he shouldn’t have.
Lucious’ eyes blazed. “You’re wrong.”
I had to hand it to Lucius. He was standing his ground against my father’s unreasonable rampage. We knew literally nothing about why the money was missing and had just enough information to imagine thieves all around us. But all of this won’t get us anywhere.
“Am I? And is it a coincidence the missing money is from her department?”
"How do you know so much about Talia? Wait... you had her investigated, didn’t you? Great, just wonderful. I find the woman I want to be my wife, and you're treating her like a criminal just because she's not a Boston blueblood."
Dad glared at Lucius with arctic frost in his eyes.
“This has nothing to do with where she comes from. I’m looking at this from my years of business experience. There is always at least one person who tries to steal from you, and all of the ones that try are poor enough to figure that rich people won’t miss the money. I’m sorry you never learned that lesson.”
Lucius sneered. “Just because you’re a paranoid old man doesn't mean you’re right. Talia would do nothing to hurt the company, or me."
“Look at you,” exploded our father. “The first piece of ass that gets your attention leads you straight down the primrose path. How much have you overlooked for this girl?”
“I’ve overlooked nothing, except for how much of an ass my father is.”
“Dad, Lucius,” I said. “This is not helpful. We need to wait for the forensic accountant’s report before we can point fingers.”
“A forensic accountant!” Lucius threw up his hands. “I always knew you hated me, but I didn’t think this much. Don’t bother attending the wedding tomorrow. In fact, you can both leave.”
Lucius got up, turned on his heels and marched out of the dining room with his chin in the air.
I turned to my father.
“Smooth. You really got things out into the open.” My words came out bitter, but he deserved them. Things were a mess, but we needed to work out as a family, not like beasts eating their young.
Dad shook his head. “You always fucking defend him, which does not help. It makes things worse, because it encourages his irresponsibility.”
I could not believe Dad blamed me for Lucius’s character flaws. I definitely couldn’t talk to him now.
“There are days when you go too far. Today is one.”
I left the dining room with quick steps and glanced around the lobby. At the bellboy station, I looked for Henry and didn’t see him. After a quick tour of the first floor, I walked to the elevator. Had Lucius gone to our room?
As I walked onto my floor, I see Talia at her door struggling with bags and her key card.
“Hey,” I said. “Need help?”
She jammed the key against the lock pad.
“No, thanks.”
“Let me help you with the door.” I reached around her and pushed it open.
“Thanks,” she said. Talia dragged the bags into her room, and I followed her inside.
“Quite the haul,” I said.
Talia shot a glance filled with annoyance at me over her shoulder.
“What‘s that supposed to mean?” she huffed.
“You must have enjoyed your shopping trip.”
“Hardly,” she said. “Are we getting together at any time today?”
Why was she so annoyed? Was it stress from the upcoming nuptials?
“There’s dinner later.”
“What the hell is going on, Sam Palmer? You brought me up here—”
The house phone in Talia's suite rang, and she crossed into the living room to pick it up. “Yes?" she said. "I don't understand. Well, I’ll come down there, and you can tell me about it.” She hung up and slapped her hands on her thighs. “The event planner wants to see me. Has Lucius run off and left me to take care of things again?”
"Probably. He and my father had unpleasant words."
“You have a screwed up family, Sam Palmer. And this whole weekend is—” she shook her head. “I better get downstairs.”
I stepped inside the room, and the door clicked shut behind me. “Talia, I have to ask you something."
“What, Sam?” she said. Her annoyed tone warned me that I should tread carefully.
“Do you... I mean, does Lucius have you make the deposits?”
“What? The bank deposits? I don’t process receivables, I bring in sales.”
Those words made me feel better, and my shoulders released the tension. If Talia didn't handle the deposits, she couldn’t have anything to do with the missing money.
Unless she was lying.
I hadn’t considered that idea. But I don’t want to believe that Talia’s guilty. No, I can’t. My head’s screwed up because I'm standing too close to Talia, and my body finds her irresistible. Talia's sexy scent calls to me, and her body moved with ethereal grace as she tries to walk past me, but I did not move.
My heart raced, and blood rushed to my cock, and if I did not touch her I would surely burst into flame. But I couldn’t. I wasn’t supposed to, and all I could do was stare at her with a grin on my face because, despite the shitty situation, just being with her made me happy.
I put my arm on the door.
She stared at my arm before looking me in the eyes. “Sam,” she said in a throaty voice. Her wide eyes met mine, and she stood barely an inch from my body. I drew in a shuddering breath.
“We can’t do this,” she said.
“I know,” I replied. My words almost stuck in my throat. “You’re engaged to Lucius.”
She made a small, desperate noise in her throat. “You should go.”
I nodded my head. This wasn't fair to either of us. I turned to take a step, but her hand grabbed hold of my arm, and I turned to her.
“What if I weren’t engaged to Lucius?”
I didn’t think I could breathe. What was Talia saying? That she’d leave Lucius for me? The idea thrilled me and filled me with dread at the same time. Both Lucius and Dad would kill me, but for different reasons.
“I’m not sure I understand what you mean.”
“Would you want me, Sam? And not just for a night?”
Tossing reason aside, I pulled her into my arms and crushed my mouth into hers. God, I want her. For now, for always. Rational thought left my head as I pushed her against the wall, sucking on her neck and ravaging the swell of her breasts peeking out from her dress. I reached between her legs to find her wet and hot for me. As I slide my fingers between her legs, I'm murmuring words like “gorgeous,” “sexy,”
and “hot.” She was on fire and she was setting me ablaze.
“Sam,” she said. Her voice was a plea, but I didn’t know what she was asking and I did not want to. My fingers massaged between her legs, and she breathed in pants as she jutted her hips against my hand, riding it as she moaned.
“Baby,” I said. “I want you now. I want you every tomorrow. I want you forever.”
“Sam,” she whispered. I slipped my fingers under the crotch of her panties and find her slick opening. I thrust them inside her soft, hot channel and she cried out, clutching at me, begging for more.
I was a madman, wanting all of her in every way. Right now, my mission was to make her cream my hand with her juices. I worked my fingers in and out of her tender flesh while my thumb massaged her nub, grown hard under my touch.
She threw her head back against the door, and her perfect mouth formed an “o” as she cooed her pleasure at my ministrations. My cock throbbed, my balls drew up tight, and I could almost come just from watching the reactions on her face.
Her hands reached for my slacks, and she pulled the belt from the loops, unbuttons them and unzipped too fluidly to track. She reached for my cock and stroked it through my underwear. She licked her lips, making them glisten, and I couldn’t help thinking about how her lips would look like wrapped around my cock. Somehow I would make this happen, but I wasn’t sure how or when. She reached inside my boxes and palmed my weeping cock. Talia was driving me insane and I was about to come in my pants like a teenager.
"Come on, baby. Come for me," I whispered into her ear. I fucked her with my fingers and my hand got drenched with her fluids.
“Sam!”
Her face is utterly beautiful as she shatters in my arms.
With a gasp, she collapsed against me, and I pulled my hand away. I pulled her away from the wall, ready to maneuver her to the bed, when a sharp crack sounded on the door.
“Who is it?” called Talia.
“Ezekiel Palmer. I’m looking for my son.”
Chapter Seventeen
Talia
Sam held me and my gaze as his father pounded on my door.
“Don’t panic,” he breathed.
Panic? Why would I do that? Just because I’m holding the wrong Palmer son in my arms while he strokes me to orgasm? Bad enough that I wasn’t really engaged to Lucius, but if their father and my boss’s boss’s boss found me canoodling with the wrong brother, I would definitely lose my job. Or suffer irreparable harm to my reputation at the company, which would also mean looking for a new job. Sure, Sam had just given me the best orgasm of my life, but that is not a sufficient price for blowing up my life. The whole situation frightened the hell out of me.
“He can’t find you here,” I gasped.
“You don’t want to tell him, about us?” His face collapsed into disappointment.
“That would be a disaster.”
Sadness flickered in Sam’s eyes. “You’re right,” he said.
“Stay in the bedroom,” I said. After closing the door I marched to the door and before I opening it, smoothed my dress. Oh god, I didn’t smell like I’d just had sex, did I? Blood rushed to my face in my embarrassment.
More fierce knocking proved that the senior Mr. Palmer had every intention of talking with me.
With a deep breath, I opened the door.
“Is there something I can help you with?”
The elder Palmer glared at me with a mixture of anger and exasperation. Oh, Hell. What had I done to deserve that?
You’ve pretended to be his son’s fiancé.
He doesn’t know that.
He will.
I schooled my face into a neutral expression while I swallowed my incipient panic.
“I’m looking for Lucius.”
“Sorry. He’s not here.”
“I’ve looked everywhere for him. This is the last place I’ve checked. Don’t hide him, Miss Winton; it won’t do him a bit of good.” Agitation rolled off him and his mouth formed a tight line.
“I’m sorry. I’ve been out for most of the morning. I haven’t seen him since breakfast.”
He squinted as his eyes lit on the bags in my living room, most of which belonged to Angela. She’d mysteriously had another place to go after the last high-end shoe store we visited, so she drafted me to cart her bags back.
“Shopping, I see. On the company credit card?”
“I bought a pair of shoes, yes, but Lucius insisted that I do.”
“That looks like more than a pair of shoes.”
I crossed my arms and glared at him. I don’t like his manner and I don’t need to explain anything to him.
“Take it up with Lucius.”
Mr. Palmer slapped the wall with his hand. “I would if I could find him.”
“Getting upset will not help the situation,” I said. I glared at him steadily. This only caused him to turn his squinty gaze at me.
“Call him on your phone,” he said.
Oh, hell no. Whatever had the elder Mr. Palmer riled would only result in some spectacular blow up that can only hurt the people caught in the fallout. While I did not intend to get in the middle, I would not facilitate an argument between Lucius and his father.
I shook my head. “I’m not getting in the middle of whatever is going on between you and Lucius.”
Ezekiel Palmer’s head craned around my neck. “I think you are. In fact, I think he’s in your room right now. I notice the bedroom door is closed.”
“The air conditioning works better if the door is closed.”
“You’re good,” he sneered. “Fast on your feet. I can see why Lucius appreciates you.”
My eyes widened at his back-handed compliment. I understand Lucius better now, seeing the man who raised him. Whatever happened between him and Lucius recently had caused Ezekiel’s thin veneer of sociability to wear off.
“I don’t know what is going on you between you two, and I as I’ve said, I don’t want to get involved. Now, unless there is another meeting one of you Palmer men want me to go to, I’m going to take a long bath. I had no idea that Aspen could be this hot and sticky.”
But instead of taking “no” for an answer, he pushed past me and strode to the bedroom door.
My heart went from zero to sixty watching him cross the room. If he found Sam, there would be more terrible questions than good answers.
I rushed after him. “Mr. Palmer!”
He turned as his hand hit the doorknob.
“What?”
“I don’t care if I am employed by your company. You don’t have the right to burst into my room and search it.”
His eyebrows furrowed. “You are a feisty one, aren’t you? And forward, considering I own this hotel and am entitled to do what I want in it.”
Crossed my arms I stood my ground. I had nothing left to lose, and would probably have to look for another job now anyway. The least I could do was save Sam the embarrassment of his father finding him in my room.
“I don’t care what you own. I didn’t ask to come here this weekend— this was all your son’s idea. Get out, now. Or I will call the police, and we’ll let them decide what you can and cannot do in my room.”
He scoffed, pushed past me and opened my bedroom door. He poked his head in and his eyes widened. Oh my God. Had he seen Sam? I didn’t know, because I couldn’t see past Ezekiel Palmer standing in the doorway.
My heart raced while I stood there, waiting for the explosion. This is it. The end of my life as I knew it. I’d have to pull my poor mother from her new care facility and go back to a place that will accept Medicare only assignments. The recovery from her stroke would stall and I’d never be able to bring her home. I’d have to find another job if that is possible because my reputation would be ruined, all because I was impulsive and could not keep my hands off the boss’s son.
But instead of yelling, Ezekiel Palmer huffed and faced me.
“Well, I can see my son is up to his old tricks.”
&
nbsp; “Mr. Palmer, I don’t know what you mean, but I insist that you leave my room this minute.”
He nodded and shut the door to the bedroom.
“Tell Lucius I want to talk with him,” he said ominously. Ezekiel gave me a final appraising stare before he walked to my front door.
“He can run, but I’ll find him eventually,” he said. “I always do.” And with the same swiftness as when he’d entered my suite, he exited.
I took a deep breath and released it when I heard my front door click shut and swallowed hard. With two steps I was at my bedroom door and turned the handle.
“That was close,” I said as I entered. But I didn’t see Sam. Instead, the balcony sliding door parted slightly, and I hadn’t left it open. With my curiosity peaked, I pulled the door open to find the balcony empty. Where the hell was Sam? Had he ninja’d his way to the next balcony or even climbed to the first floor? Was this what Ezekiel Palmer had meant by his son’s old tricks?
I turned and started to find Sam grinning at me.
“What the hell, Sam Palmer?”
“We used to do that when we hid from the nanny. We’d open the door and let her think we’d climbed to the first floor.”
“And here I thought you were the ‘good’ brother.”
“I may have indulged in devilment at a younger age. Lucius took the blame because he was usually the instigator.”
I arched an eyebrow. “I see,” I said. “Where were you?”
He grimaced. “I’m ashamed to say I hid in the closet. I wouldn’t have done it, but Dad was dead-set on looking inside this bedroom.” His tone turned very serious. “But Talia, I won’t do it again.”
“I don’t expect you to.” I breathed deeply. “Sam, this thing between us is impossible.”
“Is it, Talia? I’m beginning to think you don’t have the affection for my brother a bride should have.”
“Well, I’m hardly a bride.”
Bewilderment crossed his face, as if he were processing a foreign language he did not know.
“But you—”
Another round of knocks struck my door, interrupting Sam.
“What now? ” I said with exasperation, “Why is this room the nexus of disaster?”