The Trouble With Love: New York Times Bestselling Author
Page 17
Bennett looks over at me. “They’re nice to everyone.”
“But this nice?” I ask. “How was it after you divorced?”
“Well, I should probably preface this by saying my mother never liked her. She always warned me that there was something off about her. I didn’t really pay attention or lose sleep over it until it was too late.” He shrugs. “I filed for divorce and she followed suit. It was as if she couldn’t get rid of me fast enough, but then something changed and she started to take it all back. She went to my parents’ house, crying, begging them to help me see reason. My mother said she would speak to me, and she did. She tried playing devil’s advocate for a little while, but then the lies grew and Paola’s new boyfriend got involved, and it was just too much for my parents and they stopped welcoming her.”
“Damn,” I whisper. “How long were you in that process?”
He chuckles, reaching for my hand. “Honestly? The day you walked into my father’s office was my official last day of dealing with her shit.”
“Good timing, I suppose.” I bite down on my lip and smile at him.
“Great timing.” He brings our entwined hands and kisses the back of mine. “The perfect timing.”
Chapter Thirty-Six
Bennett
“How long were you with your ex-girlfriend before you got married?”
“That’s a random question.” I glance over at Morgan, who’s sitting beside me on the couch.
Lately she’s been asking more and more questions about Paola, and while I’m okay with answering, I’m a little wary about where this may be going. I keep expecting her to get mad and start picking a fight over any little thing I say. She hasn’t though. She seems genuinely curious. We both have our laptops on our lap. I’m answering emails, and she’s coding some new app she’s trying to develop while fixing some others my dad gave her to look at. She pushes her laptop away slightly and meets my gaze.
“I was thinking about my friends and their relationships. Presley has a pretty solid relationship, but she and Nate have known each other forever, even though they got together fairly recently. I don’t even think they were together a full year before he proposed. Then there’s Jamie, who was on and off with Travis longer than Presley has been with Nate, and they can’t seem to get their shit together.”
“Are they together now?”
“No. He has a girlfriend.” She sets the laptop down on the coffee table and turns to me as if she’s about to spill some major gossip. “The girl looks exactly like Jamie. It’s the most insane thing. Like he definitely has a type. Obviously James is mad because the girl is a younger version of her.”
“Would you be mad if I left you for a younger version of you?”
She laughs. “No, because you’d go to jail if you went for someone younger than me.”
“True story.” I reach for her hand and bring it up to my mouth, kissing it lightly. “You’re pretty irreplaceable, Morgan Elizabeth.”
She takes her hand back and reaches for my computer and places it beside hers on the table before climbing over my lap and straddling me. Bringing both hands up, she runs her fingers through my hair, keeping her eyes on mine.
“Pretty sure I just fell for you, Bennett Cruz,” she whispers as she brings her lips down on mine.
I smile against her mouth as she begins to kiss me. I love this about her. She’s not afraid to be open about her feelings. Maybe it’s because she knows I already fell for her and she doesn’t feel the need to hide her own feelings toward me. I haven’t actually told how hard I’ve fallen, but it’s pretty obvious. We’ve been spending every waking moment together lately and I’m the one who keeps initiating it and complaining when she says she needs to go home. Our phones start to vibrate on the table at the same time and we break apart.
“That’s weird.” She frowns, getting off of my lap to reach for our phones. She hands mine to me. Workplace has matched you! See who you got.
“Well, this is awkward,” Morgan says as she clicks on her phone. “Another glitch for sure. I’ll have to figure this one out.”
“We didn’t match?” I frown, clicking on the app quickly, because if the glitch means she matched with Wesley, I would seriously consider throwing her phone away right now. Say hello to your match: Morgan Tucker. There’s a photo of her and one of me beside her. I chuckle at the ridiculousness of all of this, but also because I’m relieved that it’s our faces beside each other.
“It’s not supposed to alert us twice about this, especially after such a long time in between.” She frowns, smiling a little. “I still can’t believe you joined after all the crap you talked.”
“I can’t believe it either.” I toss my phone aside and smile at her. “I can’t believe it paired us up.”
“I honestly still have my doubts.” She puts her phone down on the table. “I keep trying to figure out how you could’ve gone into the database and matched with me purposely.”
I laugh. “You think I’m a professional hacker or something?”
“No.” She rolls her eyes. “Besides, Wes made sure that the firewall was solid, so I know it’s not a possibility, but still, what are the odds?”
I shrug. “I don’t know, but I’ll take those odds.”
“I wonder who Wesley matched with,” she muses.
It’s stupid, especially since we’re together, but the thought that she may have wanted to actually be paired up with someone else bothers the fuck out of me. Morgan seems to read the expression on my face for what it is, because she smiles at me, shaking her head.
“I kind of like that you’re the jealous type, Trouble.”
She climbs back on my lap. I grip her thighs, pulling her closer still and leaning into her with a kiss. I bite her lower lip and tug it, sucking it as I pull away from the kiss.
“I’d erase every motherfucker in that database if you’d have matched with someone else.”
“You can’t do that.” She laughs, then gasps when I tuck my hands underneath her shirt and caress my way up her stomach to her breasts, cupping them softly as I brush my thumbs over her nipples.
“You think I’m going to let a piece of technology take my woman from me?”
“No.” She arches into me, her hands flying to my hair as I drop my face to her neck and start raining kisses along it. She lets go of my hair and reaches down to take her shirt off and toss it so that her chest is bared to me. I lick her clavicle and continue making my way down her chest, stopping as she lifts my shirt and tosses it to join hers. She presses the tips of her fingers down my chest, my arms. “I love your body.”
“I love yours,” I murmur against her nipple, swirling my tongue around it. Her grip tightens on my hair again. “I want to explore it until you get tired of my mouth, my fingers, my cock inside of you.”
“I’ll never get tired of you.” She begins to grind against me as I continue kissing and sucking.
She’s wearing these tiny shorts with her sorority letters on the back of them that I’m sure I can just slide to one side and fit into, so I lower my sweatpants and let her settle herself on me again, grinding the cotton over my cock and moaning as I hook a finger to set the fabric aside, brushing against her clit with the movement. I slide myself into her wet folds, gripping her ass when I feel her tight pussy close around me. I hold her there for a couple of beats, relishing the warm feel of her and the way her breathing seems to quicken so much that she’s gasping for air and we’re not even fully fucking yet.
“Bennett,” she pleads, trying to grind against me. I hold her steady, not letting her move. “Ben. Please.”
“Please what, baby?”
“Please, please let me move.” Her nails dig into my biceps. “Let me fuck you.”
I throw my head back at the words coming from her mouth and loosen my grip because, fuck, if your beautiful girlfriend asks you to let her fuck you, you’d be a fucking idiot not to let her.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Morgan
“What’s wrong?”
“You can’t go in there.” His chest rises and falls as he takes gulps of breaths.
I glance over his shoulder. “Why not?”
“You just . . . can’t.”
“Wes, you’re being really weird. I have a meeting at—”
“Yes, I know. Bennett told me to tell you that Charlie is waiting for you in his office.”
“But my meeting is at—”
“It got moved up.”
I stare at him for a couple of beats and let out a small laugh. “Okay. I guess I’ll see you in a bit, then.”
Walking in the opposite direction, I take my phone out and text Bennett.
Me: People are being weird. Wesley won’t let me go into my office.
I watch the screen as I await a response, but it doesn’t come quickly enough. Mr. Cruz’s secretary signals for me to go into his office, so I put my phone away and walk inside.
“Morgan.” He smiles, but he has the telephone receiver in his hand. He puts a finger into the air and quiets his voice as he speaks into it. “Yes, I know. I already told you how I think you should handle this. I expect you to get it done. See you later.” He hangs up. “I’m sorry. Family drama.”
“Ah, I know all about that.” I smile and sit across from him. “I wasn’t sure what to expect, so I didn’t really bring anything.”
“Oh. No need. I just want to go over some things with you.” He leafs through the papers on his desk. “Barbara keeps getting on me about going paperless and I’m really beginning to think she may be on to something.”
I laugh because it’s such an obvious thing to do. “Don’t you drive an energy efficient car?”
He stops fiddling with the papers on his desk and glances up at me. “I see your point.”
“I mean, to each his own.” I shrug. “I personally love doing everything on a computer, but I can’t seem to kick the habit of buying paperbacks.”
“Oh, but that’s the grandeur of it. Paperbacks are not a habit to kick. They’re an art to embrace.”
“I like that.” I smile. “I’ll have to remember to say that to Dev the next time he makes fun of me for spending hours at the bookstore.”
“I found it.” Mr. Cruz chuckles as he waves a sheet of paper. “The first thing I want to discuss is the workplace app.”
I press my hand over my stomach. I should’ve had breakfast this morning. I’m not sure I can take this kind of news on an empty stomach. As if sensing my trepidation, Mr. Cruz tilts his head with a kind smile.
“Hey, the numbers are great. Nobody dropped it. Only a few people stopped using it before time was up, and according to Ben, you and him were two of them, so I think we can overlook that number.” He raises an eyebrow. I blush. He continues to read from the paper, “The majority of the people were pleasantly surprised when they saw the person they’d been chatting with, and get this, ninety percent of them have gone on more than one date.”
My mouth drops. “Oh, my God.”
“I know.” He smiles. “Pretty impressive, huh?”
“I can’t even,” I whisper. “That’s really impressive.”
“You did good, Morgan. Now, we want to buy it from you.”
I blink. “What?”
“I mean, assuming you’d want to sell us the concept, of course, and we’d love your input on it going forward, but we feel that this is something that definitely has potential on a wider market, and we already have some companies that would be willing to give it a try.”
I uncover my mouth. “You really want to buy it?”
“We do.”
“Oh, my God.”
“You haven’t even heard how much we want to pay you for it.” He laughs, sliding a sheet of paper over with a dollar amount I’d only ever dreamed of ever having in my own bank account.
I blink. “For one app?”
“Yes.” He smiles. “We would love to talk to you about future concepts though.”
“Definitely.” I nod slowly, still staring at the paper in front of me.
“I’m glad you’re open to the idea.” He laughs. “We’ll have to have another meeting to go over specifics and bring in our attorney and finance guy. You’re more than welcome to get your own lawyer to come in and look over the contract, but we’d really love to get this done sooner rather than later. We’d like to set up a strategy to aim for a launch before the next holiday season.”
“Sure. Of course. Oh, my God.” I glance up at him. I’ve sold apps before, but never for this much, and never anything I did ninety-percent on my own. “This is real life?”
“This is real life.” He chuckles. His office phone rings, breaking his amusement as he lifts it to his ear. “Okay. Good. Yes.” He hangs up. “Sorry about that. Now that this is out of the way, I would love your attention on Elias’s concepts. He’s handed over his account and wants us to develop it further. That means, of course, you’d have to meet with him.”
“That’s fine.”
“I’ll send you his contact information so you can set something up,” he says, going over his notes. “Ah, this is one I’m not sure you’re going to like, but we have this dating app that needs to be revamped. They had a huge security breach last year and even though it’s been handled, the number of subscribers dropped drastically. The owners of the app want to give it a new name and interface in hopes of salvaging it.”
“That sounds like fun. Why wouldn’t I like it?”
“It’s the cheating app. Some people are okay with it, others aren’t. The way I see it, just because you’re working on the app doesn’t mean you condone what they’re using it for.”
“Oh.” I slump back in my chair. “I’ve never been one to judge, but this is definitely a sore subject for me.”
“For a lot of us,” he agrees.
“Can I think about it?”
“Sure. Let me know by the end of the week.”
“Okay.”
“How do you feel about game apps?”
“I know they’re really popular, but my knowledge on them is pretty limited.”
“I’m sure you’re aware that we run one of the most successful game apps already, and we’d really like to venture deeper into that world. We have a few people on those accounts, including Wesley. I met with him last week and he mentioned that he’d like to have you as part of their team if you’re open to it.”
“Oh. Wow.” My eyebrows raise. I have so much respect for Wesley’s team and all the stuff they develop, but I’ve never really considered what it would be like to work with them on anything. “I mean, I would love to, but like I said, I don’t have much knowledge on the matter. I’m afraid they’d kick me out.”
Mr. Cruz laughs. “I’m sure they won’t. If you’re interested in learning, I would love to send you to a boot camp on game development. The next one is starting next week and will run for two weeks. You can report there instead of here for the next two weeks and we can have another meeting about this once you’re done. All expenses paid, of course,” he adds.
“Seriously?” I whisper. My mouth falls open. I knew working for SEVEN would change my life, but I didn’t realize just how much. Unable to form words, I start to nod like an idiot. “Yes. I would love that.”
“Perfect. I’ll send you all of the information so you can register.”
We move on to another account he wants me to take over, and then another. By the time we’re done with
the meeting, I have three accounts to handle, including SEVEN’s, and an app sold.
“Please remember, I want you to use this company to grow your own concepts,” he says. “I don’t want you only catering to our current clients, but if you ever find yourself doing a little too much for them, remember you’re also a current client.” He winks from his desk, and it reminds me so much of when Bennett does it that I just stand there staring for a beat before getting myself together and walking out.
I feel like I’ve been holding in a scream for an hour, so when I see Bennett leaning against the wall across from his father’s office, holding a bouquet of flowers, it’s the first thing I do. He laughs as he straightens, opening his arms for me to jump into.
“Oh, my God. You knew? You knew!” I laugh as he squeezes me tighter.
“We had a meeting about it a couple of weeks ago, and again last week,” he says. “Are you happy?”
“Happy? I’m . . . I don’t know what I am, but happy doesn’t seem to cover it.” I smile wide, taking the flowers from his hands and reaching up to kiss him quickly. I look around to make sure nobody saw that.
“Paola was here earlier,” he says, his expression suddenly serious. “She kind of told everyone we’re together.”
I drop my arms, letting the flowers hit my leg. “What do you mean? What did she say? Is that why Wes didn’t let me go to the office?”
“Yeah.” Bennett sighs heavily. “She just came in here screaming. Security had to escort her out. I’m sorry.”
“What did she say?” I frown, examining his face and suit for scratches or a spill. I’m not sure what to expect from this lady. “Did she do anything to you?”
“No, we got her out before things escalated, but she started screaming that she was looking for Morgan Tucker, Bennett’s new girlfriend.” He reaches for my hand and squeezes it. “I guess she saw our pictures together.”
“Why would she do that? What does she want?”
“Attention.” He exhales heavily. “Things didn’t work out with the guy she cheated with, she miscarried the baby. Even though I didn’t have to force the divorce because at the time she was still with him, shortly after she started trying to get me back and when she couldn’t she started doing stupid things to sabotage any potential relationship I may have had, which I didn’t.” He shoots me a pointed look. “Not until you.”