by Chloe Morgan
And that possible reality made her feel lonelier than ever.
7
Daniel
After some after-hours digging and the hiring of a private investigator, I finally figured out who Drew owed his debt to. And it was an organization in the city known for its predatory lending practices. They operated out of a shoddy abandoned building that wasn’t fit for the rats that inhabited it. Daniel felt disgusting just slipping into the damn place. But the private investigator he’d hired had been able to reach out and set up a meeting with the man who ran the damn thing. The man who apparently knew about all the people in the city who owed him money.
So, he sat face-to-face with the big dog himself.
Mr. Marko Rivas.
“Your brother owes me a pretty penny,” the man said.
“That’s why I’m here. To negotiate on his behalf,” I said.
“Brother bailing out brother. It’s very sweet, you know. I’ve done that with my brother a time or two in his life.”
“So, you understand why I’m here instead of Drew.”
“I don’t care who in the family pays so long as I get my money.”
“Your 1.3 million,” I said.
“I admit, not all of it is interest. At the heart of it, your brother owes about eight hundred thousand.”
“Then, why the extra five hundred thousand?”
“Consider it a fee for saving his life,” Mr. Rivas said.
I furrowed my brow. “I’m not following.”
“Your brother is a very interesting character. I am the man that runs the lending portion of our… business.”
“Business. Sure,” I said flatly.
“But, I am not the boss-man of the entire operation. He is way too busy to deal with small situations like this one.”
“One point three million and my brother’s head doesn’t sound small to me.”
“With some of the fish we fry, I can guarantee you it is.”
I didn’t like the way this man was talking. It didn’t sound pretty, and it didn’t sound legitimate at all.
Then again, what type of gambling was?
“Your brother not only owes money, but the night he made the bets, he treated the boss man's daughter to a very nice night,” Mr. Rivas said.
“Oh, no,” I said.
“Oh, yes. Catered to her. Romanced her. Straight into his bed, in fact. And after asking for her number and promising to call her, he never did. Broke the poor girl’s heart. And you know what a crying daughter will do to a father.”
“Can’t say I do.”
The man shrugged. “Well, I do. And I can tell you right now, it isn’t pretty.”
There was hell to pay for Drew. I wasn’t an idiot. This “organization” was extorting him for money he owed as well as a heart he broke. Typical fucking Drew. I kept a cool outer demeanor as I locked eyes with Mr. Rivas. The man looked mean, gruff, with stubble around his jaw to conceal the scars he had tearing across his face. His stare was almost black. His hair, slicked back with so much grease I could have rubbed down my damn car engine with his head.
“How is your newly acquired business going?” Mr. Rivas asked.
I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
“If you know about it, then you know it’s going swimmingly,” I said.
“Good. Then I should remind you again: we don’t care who pays, only that the family antes up to their indiscretions.”
“Totaling 1.3 million.”
“Yes. And if your brother doesn’t pay and the family doesn’t want to pay, then we always strike at the biggest head to make sure we get what is ours,” he said.
“You’ll come looking for me, I take it,” I said.
“Those words make it sound so… dirty.”
“And how you phrased it didn’t?”
The man hardened his stare onto me, and I closed my mouth. I could have beaten Drew with my own two fucking hands. I was shaken by the man sitting in front of me and the information being fed to me. Two months sober, but not quick enough to stop fucking up his life. This man was threatening me straight to my face without a second thought. I stood and smoothed my hands down my coat, then turned and walked out of the room.
“It’s rude to not say goodbye to your guests,” Mr. Rivas said.
“I’m on your turf. If anything, I’m your guest,” I said as I walked out.
I slipped into my car and told my driver to get us the fuck out of there. And I headed straight to my penthouse. I marched to the elevator and slammed my hand into the button, then rode up with fury mounting in the marrow of my bones.
“Hey there. How did the meeting—”
“You fucked the man’s daughter?” I asked.
Drew’s face fell. “Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh, is right! You fucked the man’s daughter, and you knew who she was?”
“I didn’t—I mean, how did you—?”
“Don’t you dare turn this around on me, and don’t you dare keep covering shit up! Why the hell did you fuck some boss’s daughter of some shady organization and then dump her after asking for her number?”
“I wasn’t thinking, okay?”
I panted, watching as my brother took a step back from me.
“I was drunk that night. Piss drunk. Whiskey dick and all. I only remember it in bits and pieces. But when I came to with my clothes disheveled and my ass slumped down in an alleyway, all I had was a piece of paper with her name on it. It wasn’t that she wasn’t my type, okay? It was the fact that she was the one girl I shouldn’t have been screwing around with.”
“I don’t even know how to begin to unpack all that bullshit. The world you’ve gotten yourself into. The names you know. For all we know, these people are connected to the mob. Or the mafia! And you threw the head honcho’s daughter out into the street after screwing her, Drew!”
“I wasn’t thinking, okay? I’m sorry!”
“Sorry doesn’t cut it anymore, Drew!” I roared.
My voice echoed off the corners of my penthouse as I panted for air I was so angry.
“Sorry doesn’t cut it anymore,” I breathed.
8
Layla
“Daniel, I was wondering if—”
“Layla! I saw your audits. Great job this year.”
I whipped my head up at the sound of Jim’s voice. I saw him all smiles, gracing me with that look I’d come to love over the years. In some respects, Jim felt like my own father. Like my father away from my father. But the look on Daniel’s face boasted of something more sinister. His smile didn’t reach his eyes. His hands were clasped behind his back. While Jim smiled at me with pursed lips and crinkled eyes, Daniel wasn’t smiling at all. Merely tolerating.
The tension in the air was so thick I could hardly breathe.
“I’m glad you approve, Jim,” I said.
“Are you doing your third round of audits today?” he asked.
“Dad, we should let her get back to work,” Daniel said.
“What? I can’t be curious anymore, either?” Jim asked.
“No, Father. You can’t,” Daniel bit.
I smiled weakly and cleared my throat. “I can just come back, if—”
“Don’t worry about it, Layla. I’ll take those audits from you. My father was just leaving,” Daniel said.
I looked over at Jim and watched as the smile on his face faltered ever so slightly. Jim turned to his son and nodded his head, then came over to me and took my hand. He squeezed it, like an old friend returning from a vacation, or a sabbatical, or some far-off place where we hadn’t had contact for years. I smiled kindly at him before he walked by me, and then Daniel’s office door shut a little harder behind me than usual.
I jumped, and I heard Daniel let go of the breath he was holding.
“What was that about?” I asked.
“Good old Dad just… checking in,” Daniel sighed.
“He’s been doing that a lot.”
“Trust me, I know.�
�
“Is there a particular reason for it?” I asked.
“You mean other than the fact that he doesn’t think I’m doing a good enough job and he can’t let his own company go?”
“Yeah. Other than that,” I said, grinning.
It was the same old shit, but with a different day. However, I was thankful to get at least a small grin from the man standing in front of me at my statement.
“I’m sorry your father doesn’t trust you to be CEO,” I said.
“I just wish I understood why. I don’t get it, Layla. I’m responsible. Intelligent. I studied for this. Drank from the well of my father. Shadowed him at work. Interned here through college. My finance classes. My business courses. My master’s degree.”
“You have a master’s?”
Daniel nodded. “In business. With a concentration in finance.”
I didn’t know that about him.
I enjoyed learning about him.
He looked so stressed. The furrowed lines of his brow seemed to deepen the more I stared at him. The stress in his eyes mounted, and the tension in his shoulders grew. He turned his back to me and gazed out the windows that backdropped his desk, and the heaviest sigh fell from his lips.
A sigh that curled my stomach.
“What can I do, Danny?” I asked.
I let the file folders fall to my side as I switched into companion mode.
“You can meet me at a hotel I have booked for us tomorrow,” he said.
“Why not dinner at your place, then? Save you the money?” I asked.
He tilted his head, peering over his shoulder at me. “My brother’s with me for a little while, and I want some privacy with you. And while I greatly enjoyed your apartment, I have a feeling we disturbed your neighbors.”
I blushed at his words. “Wouldn’t we disturb neighbors in a hotel room?”
“Not with the type of place I have booked for us.”
His words left me curious.
“Okay, then. You let me know when and where, and I’ll be there,” I said.
“Be ready to go by four. I’ll excuse whatever work you have to leave behind for it. I’m anxious to get you alone, Layla. I need some time with you.”
His words fluttered my stomach. A girlish smile crossed my cheeks. He turned around and gazed at me with those eyes that shot electricity through my gut. He wanted alone time with me. He was craving it. Starving for it. I saw it in the way he licked his lips. The way he stared at me like a wolf in heat. I nodded as a flush took over my body. My thighs pulsed, and my groin churned for him. Excitement swirled in my mind.
It’s just a hookup, Layla. Calm down.
“Just text me the address, and I’ll meet you there around… four thirty?” I asked.
“Perfect,” Daniel grinned.
I walked the folders over to his desk and set them down. I felt him staring at me. Hungrily. Like a predator eyeing his prey. I slipped out of his office and looked over my shoulder, then took a chance. I tossed him a wink before I slipped out, closing the door gently behind me.
Just a fling, Layla. Nothing more.
But even as I reminded myself of that fact—even as I kept telling myself it didn’t mean anything—it didn’t dampen my excitement. It didn’t dampen the fact that I went home and tried on every outfit I had, making sure I wore something perfect. It didn’t stop me from going out and buying a new set of lingerie, just to surprise him. It didn’t dampen the fact that I almost couldn’t sleep that night. And it sure as hell didn’t dampen the fact that I took a painstaking amount of time the next morning getting ready: curling my hair, getting my makeup just right, and carefully shaving myself down in all the ways I knew he enjoyed.
I shouldn’t have been so excited over something that was nothing but a simple fling.
It was only a fling.
Right?
9
Daniel
I was glad to be away from my brother for the night. Especially since I’d be with Layla. Looking at him made me furious. It made me want to take back everything I’d done to help him up until this point. Getting away and having a distraction was exactly what I needed, and Layla was the best kind of distraction.
I clocked out of work early and made my way to the hotel. I picked up the key promptly at four o’clock, then rode up to the room. The penthouse of the Four Seasons was decadent, the best Manhattan had to offer. The elevator dropped me off at the top, and I surveyed our accommodations for the night. The open-concept floor plan was laced with decadent microfiber furniture, plush and massive, with deep-set couches and thick walls surrounding us. No one could see in, and no one would be able to hear us. They were perfect for pinning her against, pressing her against as I took her, time after time. The hotel room boasted of a private balcony with both a pool and a hot tub, but I didn’t plan on using them. I wanted her all to myself.
I didn’t want anyone else laying eyes on her.
I hung up my suit coat and undid my tie. I slipped it from around my neck and walked into the bedroom. I grinned at the four-poster bed. It would be perfect for what I had planned for us. I saw the champagne chilling in a silver ice bucket on a tray with decadent chocolates wrapped up for us to eat. I put my tie down onto the bedside table. My side, anyway. I slipped my belt from my loops and curled it up, setting it down as well. I ran my hands over the silken sheets, shivering at the prospect of muddying them up with Layla’s body.
With her sweat.
With her juices.
I peeked into the bathroom and knew where to start our journey. I looked at my watch and saw it was almost four thirty. I was expecting her any second now. I turned on the water, tempering it to the warm side before tossing some bubbles into the tub. The hotel always thought of everything and put it in all the right places, something I admired when it came to nights like this. The bubbles fizzed as I turned on the jets, and I walked back into the bedroom, unbuttoning my shirt.
I waited anxiously for her as I watched the clock.
Part of me wondered why I was so anxious. Why I was so ready to get her back against me. Yes, she was beautiful. Sexy. A minx in bed. But she was also a wonderful woman. An intelligent woman. There were times when I wondered if we could be more. I enjoyed the dynamic we had. I always felt comfortable talking with her, ranting to her about things, especially regarding what my father was pulling. It was easy to lean on her, easy to talk to her. And in return, she gave me the same courtesy.
Like we were friends.
Maybe we could be more than friends.
I shook the thought from my head. I wasn’t sure about any of that. I had a company I had just taken on, a father still breathing down my neck, a brother in a great deal of trouble, and a pissed-off mother because her husband wasn’t spending any of his retirement time traveling with her like he promised. I had enough on my plate, and the last thing I needed was to pull another person into my hemisphere. Into my world. Into my life.
And yet, I wanted her there. Part of me wanted her there.
It was something I’d never experienced before.
I pulled my shirt off and shook it out. I hung it up on a hanger in the closet, then pulled my undershirt over my head. I folded it up and put it on top of the dresser, away from the place where I’d put her ass later. Or possibly bend her over it. I heard the elevator strike up, and I grinned. She was here. Layla had arrived. I walked over to the doorway of the bedroom and leaned against it. I kicked off my shoes and pulled off my socks, then slid them out of sight and out of mind. I put my hands in my pockets and eyed the elevator. Waited for her as my heart slammed against my chest.
And when the elevator came to a stop, I held my breath.
When the doors eased open, there she stood, in black heels that flexed her calves perfectly and cascaded strength down her legs. Her curves disappeared underneath a gorgeous black cocktail dress that hugged her waist and fluttered around her thighs. My eyes raked up her body. I swallowed as her beautiful breasts spilled o
ver the top of it. She stepped off the elevator with her brown hair flowing down her back and bloodred lipstick painted over those pouty lips of hers.
I found her raking her eyes over my body, the way I was with her.
Holy shit, I almost wanted to bypass the bath altogether.
“Care for a soak?” I asked.
She furrowed her brow before a grin spread across her cheeks.
“Is that a bath I hear?” Layla asked.
“With jets,” I said, grinning.
I watched her reach up, her arms behind her. I heard the unzipping of a zipper before she tugged at the hem of her dress. The fabric bunched up at the floor, revealing to me a black set of lace panties and a push-up bra that dropped my jaw open. Layla’s giggles filled the space between us. I pushed off the door, moving for her without thinking. Her curves dripped with beauty. That black looked so sensuous against her skin.
I drew her into my body with my arm around her, listening as she gasped.
“Follow me,” I said.
Then, with one arm, I picked her up off her feet and carried her into the bathroom.
10
Layla
He ran his hands all over my naked body. It took him no time to strip me of my bra, panties, and heels. I slipped him out of his clothes, and he kissed me as we made our way into the tub. The bubbles felt soothing against my skin. Not even the water heated me as much as Daniel’s kisses did. He settled us into the tub. He put me between his legs before locking his ankles around mine. He spread me, my soft lips bared for the hot tub.
And as he nibbled on my ear, his fingertips found my clit.
“Danny. Oh.”
He groaned. “I’ve waited for this all day.”
“It won’t take you long. It won’t—shit—Danny!”
“That’s it. You don’t have to hold back here.”
“Danny. Danny. Danny! Please! Yes!”