“Alright. I’m looking forward to it. You know, he talks about you a lot. He’s very sorry about everything that happened.”
I bowed my head and broke eye contact. “I know he is.”
“And he loves you so much.”
“I know…”
“He’s lucky you’re so supportive of this. I have no idea how my daughter will feel about it. Anytime I’ve dated someone, she’s ignored it. She’s never wanted to meet anyone I’ve seen, and I’ve never pressured her to. But I know Vincent is different, so she’ll have to face it.”
“What’s her issue?”
“She’s very close to her father,” she said with a sigh. “In her eyes, I’m the one who broke up the marriage. But she doesn’t understand that her father was physically and emotionally abusive toward me. She was too young to understand, and he’s very talented at pretending to be something he’s not when he’s around her. He’s had other girlfriends, and I suspect he treats them the same way he treated me.”
I wondered if my father knew this. I suspected he didn’t.
“So when she meets Vincent, she’ll reject him. But she’ll have to get over it because I’m not going to stop seeing him no matter how upset she gets. She’s a lovely girl. I’m making her sound like a nightmare.” She chuckled. “She’s my whole world, and I love her with all my heart. But this is the one thing she’s weird about. She’s always wanted her father and me to get back together.”
“Why don’t you tell her the truth?”
She sighed and looked away. “I love that she has a relationship with her father. I never had one with mine. I don’t want to take that away from her… I don’t want her to hate him. He’s good to her, he loves her.”
If I knew my father ever raised a hand to my mother, he’d be dead right now. “My dad doesn’t know this, huh?” I suspected he would have mentioned it. And if he didn’t, he would have shown some anger when he mentioned Scarlet was divorced.
She shook her head. “No.”
“Why?”
“Your father is an old-fashioned gentleman. If he knew…I know he would do everything in his power to make my ex-husband suffer. He would march over there and strangle him with his tie. Then he would use his wealth to make his life absolutely unbearable. I know how much he cares about me, and he would do anything to protect me.”
She was dead-on about all of that.
“But I don’t need to be protected. I’ve been out of that relationship for over a decade now. If he ever tried to touch me again, I’d break every bone in his body until he died from the pain.”
“What makes you think I won’t do that myself?” If my father cared about this woman, then I cared about her. And if that asshole thought he would get away with this, he was wrong. Karma always came back for everyone.
She smiled. “Because you know I don’t want you to.”
“Then what makes you think I won’t tell my father everything?”
“If it hurt you, imagine how much it’ll hurt him,” she whispered. “I’ll tell him when I’m ready. But right now, he’s got other things to be concerned about. I’m not dropping my baggage on him right this second, especially when it’s not a current issue.”
I nodded in understanding. “Fair enough.”
“Well, it was nice to meet you.” She rose to her feet and shook my hand. “Congratulations on your wedding.”
“Thank you. I’m very excited.”
She smiled. “You have a whole lifetime of excitement to look forward to. This is only the beginning, and it only gets better from here. I don’t know from personal experience, obviously, but I know through others. And when you have your first child…that will be the greatest day of your life.”
Tatum and I were going to start trying to have a family right away. I knew I wanted kids, but I couldn’t imagine what it would be like to physically hold them in my hands. I’d be responsible for a whole new life. But the idea didn’t scare me because I’d always guarded Tatum like she was a piece of my heart living outside my body. My children would be no different. “Yeah…I have a lot to look forward to.”
I walked inside the penthouse and hung my jacket on the coatrack. “Baby, I’m home.”
She stepped out of the bedroom, still wearing the same outfit she wore to the office. Her heels were gone, and now she was barefoot. She walked up to me, her hips shaking as she walked. When she reached me, she gave me a hot kiss and squeezed my biceps with her fingertips.
I was hard instantly.
I knew her IUD was gone and now she could get pregnant at any moment. The idea made my cock twitch, its biological purpose taking over. I wanted to stuff her with my seed as many times as it took before she was big and pregnant. My hands shook just thinking about it. “Missed you.”
Her arms circled my neck. “I missed you…”
I sucked her bottom lip then backed her up to the couch. I wanted to fuck her at the deepest angle possible, to make sure I got every drop of come inside that tight cunt.
She broke the kiss and turned her mouth away. “I didn’t mean for that to get carried away.”
“We always get carried away.” I cupped her cheek and kissed her again.
She moved her mouth with mine for a few seconds before she pulled away again. “I think we should wait to have sex again until after the wedding.”
I stared at her blankly. “I have no idea what you just said right now.”
She pulled her hand from my face. “It’s only a few days away. It’ll make it more special that way.”
“Baby, you know I always make it special.”
“You know what I mean. It’ll make it more special, and we’ll be trying to get pregnant, so it’ll be even more special for that.”
I actually growled in her face. “I think it’s a stupid idea.”
“Diesel,” she said with a chuckle. “It’ll make you want to rip off my dress all that much more.”
“Trust me, I already will.”
“Well, that’s how it’s going to be.”
I gripped her hips hard, venomously angry. “Baby…you have no idea what you’re doing to me.”
“It’s only for a few days. And I also think you should sleep at your penthouse until then.”
“No.”
“I—”
“No,” I repeated. “You don’t want to have sex, then fine. But I’m sleeping beside you every night for the rest of my life. End of discussion.” I stepped around her, pissed off that she had the audacity to ask me that.
But then the elevator beeped because someone was about to step into the penthouse.
“Someone coming over?” I asked.
“I didn’t invite anyone. Maybe Thorn is just stopping by.”
Last thing I wanted to deal with was company.
The doors opened, and Thorn stepped inside. He was dressed casually in jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. But he wasn’t alone. Brett, Jax, Pine, and Mike stepped into the penthouse.
What the hell was going on? “What are you doing here?”
“Nice to see you too, asshole,” Thorn barked. “Hurry up and change. We’re going out.”
“Why?” I’d never seen this group of people together under one roof.
“Why?” Brett asked incredulously. “You’re getting married in a few days. You think we’d let you turn into a boring old man without a proper send-off?”
“A bachelor party?” I asked. “Guys, I’m way too old for that shit.”
Tatum grabbed me by the arm and gave me a gentle squeeze. “Get changed and go.”
“First, we’re going to that bar downtown with the topless ladies, and then we’re going to the strip club,” Pine said. “And then we’re—”
“No naked ladies,” I snapped. “I’m serious.”
Mike rolled his eyes. “It’s a bachelor party. Just accept it.”
“I said no naked ladies,” I repeated.
Tatum smiled at me. “Diesel, it’s fine. I understand—”
�
��That’s not why,” I snapped. “I don’t want to do that shit anymore. I’m over it. If you wanna go to a bar or a club, that’s fine. But I’m not going to some damn strip club to watch naked women dance around when there’s only one woman I want to see work a pole.” I stormed off into the hallway toward the living room.
Titan’s voice was still audible. “He’s in a bad mood today.”
“Why?” Thorn asked.
“I told him we couldn’t have sex again until after the wedding.”
Thorn cringed audibly. “No wonder he’s so pissed off.”
We had a private booth in the corner. We were on a rise so we could watch everyone on the dance floor. People were broken off into pairs, and groups of women shook their asses while all the men stared.
I downed glass after glass, my mind in two different places at once.
“What are you going to miss the most about being a bachelor?” Pine asked.
I turned my gaze to him, my fingers still wrapped around my cold glass. The ice cubes were starting to melt, and a frost permeated through the glass and directly into my palm. When I reflected on my single life, I couldn’t come up with too many fond memories. “I guess our adventures on the yacht.”
“Those were good times,” Mike said. “When you party out at sea, you never have to worry about pissing off a neighbor. And the girls were always topless.”
“What else?” Pine asked.
I’d been with models and actresses, some of them kinkier than others. I’d shared my bed with more than one woman at once, and sometimes more than two. I’d had women give me blow jobs before business meetings just to take the edge off. I’d had women do almost anything just to have the privilege to tell their friends they’d fucked Diesel Hunt. Did I miss that life of crowded loneliness? Not even slightly. “Nothing.”
“You won’t miss anything else?” Brett asked in surprise. “What about having your own place? What about going out and meeting a new woman for the first time?”
“What about waking up to someone whose name you don’t remember?” Jax asked.
“Or threesomes?” Pine asked. “Come on, those were your favorite.”
“No, I won’t miss any of that.” I looked at the people having a good time on the dance floor again. “It was fun at the time, but I’m much happier now than I’ve ever been. Tatum is a woman who requires my full focus. I couldn’t even handle another woman at the same time.”
“She might be into that,” Pine said. “You never know.”
“Let’s stop talking about what my fiancée might be into,” I said coldly. I didn’t share that information with anyone else. What we had was private.
“Geez, you’re upright,” Pine said. “I didn’t think you’d ever be so pussy-whipped.”
“I’m not pussy-whipped,” I said. “I just found the right one. You will too, someday. You’ll see what I mean.”
Mike nudged Pine in the side and nodded to a pair of girls together on the dance floor. Both in sparkly dresses that barely covered their asses, they looked like easy targets. Landing two handsome, rich men would probably bump up their night. “Dibs on the right.”
Pine nodded. “I prefer blondes anyway.” He downed his drink then slid out of the booth with Mike.
Brett and Jax started talking, the loud music overhead blocking out their conversation on the other side of the table. Brett usually had a woman under his arm by now, but it would definitely happen by the end of the night. With his good looks and fortune, women were always taking shots at him.
“No sex until the wedding?” Thorn stared into his glass and shook his head. “Bullshit. You should leave her.”
I chuckled because I knew he was kidding. “I’m not happy about it, but at least it’s only for a few days. She tried to kick me out of the penthouse too, but I put my foot down that time.”
“Good. So, how are things?”
“What do mean?”
“With both of you. Tatum seems really happy. What about you?”
I shifted my gaze to his. “You can’t tell that I’m happy?”
“No, I know you are. But you hide it pretty well. She told me that she’s submitted to you…pretty big accomplishment. I didn’t think it was possible.”
I wouldn’t freely talk about my sex life with Tatum with anyone, but since she’d mentioned it to him first, I thought it was okay. “She likes it. At least with me, she does. It used to be about control with her because she didn’t trust anyone. But she trusts me more than anyone else on the planet. We both know I rightfully earned it.”
“Absolutely.” He shook his glass before he took another drink. “Must be nice.”
“It is nice.” It was the greatest feeling in the world, to see a woman like Tatum drop her weapons and armor and yield to me—her king. I didn’t realize how much I liked being in control until I fell for her. Now I wanted to possess her harder and deeper. Just thinking about it made me want to run home and fuck her. “Is that how you and Autumn operate?”
“Not really,” he said. “With her, it’s pretty…vanilla.”
“Are you okay with that?”
He took another drink before he answered. “Surprisingly, yes. I haven’t really felt the need to be dominant with her. I mean, I am the dominant one. But I’ve never tied her up or anything like that. She makes missionary feel like the best sex I’ve ever had.”
“I’m glad you took the next step.”
“Yeah, me too,” he said with a smile. “We’ll see where it goes. I’m already pretty obsessed with her, so I imagine it can only progress in one direction. But we’ll see what happens.”
“I knew I didn’t want to be with anyone else the second I had Tatum.”
“Yeah, I picked up on that,” he said with a chuckle.
“You just know. And you can lie to yourself all you want, but the truth will get to you eventually. You’re like a sponge, and the truth is water…it seeps in.”
He finished his drink and set the empty glass on the table. “So you were serious when you said no strippers?”
“Absolutely.”
“I guess I respect that. I’d rather see Autumn on a pole than some random woman anyway.”
I hid my smile, knowing Thorn was far deeper in the relationship than he realized. “The whole reason why I’m getting married is because I don’t want anyone else. And if I don’t want anyone else, why would I want to see some chicks get naked? The tradition doesn’t make much sense to me. I’ve committed my whole life to this woman. That devotion started the moment I asked her to marry me. It doesn’t start when I say I do. It started the second she put on that ring.”
He nodded in agreement. “You’re a good guy, Diesel. I’m glad she’s marrying you. She’s an amazing woman, so she deserves to be with an amazing man. I know you guys will make it.”
“Thanks, man.”
“And I’m glad I didn’t marry Tatum, because if I did, I wouldn’t have Autumn right now…and that would suck.”
I’d predicted this a long time ago. I knew it would happen, but I didn’t say I told you so. I’d save it for later. “She’s an incredible woman too.”
“I know.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “She’s out of my league. Thankfully, she doesn’t notice.”
“You could easily be in her league. Seems like you’re getting there.”
“You’re right. I’m getting more pussy-whipped by the day.”
“It’s not so bad,” I said. “Just remember, she’s getting dick-whipped too.”
He chuckled. “Dick-whipped…good one.”
It was three in the morning when I walked into the penthouse I shared with Tatum.
I was dead tired.
We went from bar to bar, drinking and partying. Thorn and I ended up spending the most time together because we both had women waiting at home for us. The rest of the guys had a lot more fun than we did.
At least they didn’t drag me into a strip club. I didn’t want the cheap perfume on my clothes,
mixed with the smoke from cigars. I didn’t want to be caught dead in a place like that, not when I was getting married on Saturday.
That’d make me look like an asshole—whether it was my bachelor party or not.
I walked into the bedroom and spotted Tatum sitting up in bed. She was on her tablet, the dull light illuminating her face. Her hair was pulled up into a bun, and her face was free of makeup. She would normally be asleep by now, but she was wide awake. “Everything alright, baby?” I dropped my jacket on the armchair and yanked my shirt over my head. I was so tired I didn’t care about brushing my teeth or washing my face.
“Couldn’t sleep.” She pulled her gaze away from the screen. “Have fun?”
“Yeah.”
“See any strippers?” she teased.
I kicked off my shoes and dropped my jeans. “Nope. But I thought about you stripping for most of the night.”
“I can arrange that in real life, you know.”
“Yeah?” I changed my boxers then walked to the bed. “Tatum Titan strips?”
“No. But Tatum Hunt does.”
Hearing her use my last name sent shivers down my spine. “She does, huh?”
“Yeah. Maybe she’ll show you on the honeymoon.”
I sat at the edge of the bed, controlling my thoughts so my dick wouldn’t get too hard. Once it turned into a rod, I’d have a difficult time controlling it. Then I’d be all over Tatum no matter how many times she told me no. “I hope she does.”
She scooted to the edge where I sat and began to massage my back. She started at my shoulders then slowly migrated down.
I’d ordinarily push her hands away, but her touch felt so good. She knew how to apply the right pressure against my muscles, digging hard to flatten the knots in my back. She moved down and rubbed my lower back, making the tightness slacken.
“How does that feel?” she whispered.
“Really good.”
She kissed my neck as she touched me, her tongue moving along my warm skin.
I closed my eyes and enjoyed her ministrations, my dick thickening on its own. Her hands were the sexiest part, the way she dug into me so aggressively. She touched a man exactly the way a man wanted to be touched. “Baby, I suggest you stop. Otherwise, you’re gonna get fucked tonight.”
Boss Empire Page 10