I shake my head, and he shakes his. “We should have talked about it.”
“That I agree with. I think the line between business and personal did blur,” I whisper, stealing a glance at Blair.
“I also should’ve told you my suspicions about Mr. Jacobson instead of letting my fear of losing you get in the way of my better judgment.” He inhales a deep breath. “I won’t let my selfishness get in the way of what’s best for you again. Take the job.” He steps closer.
He’s so warm, and all I want to do is step into him and tell him how much I missed him.
“It’s not just you, Enzo. It’s leaving New York. Beth, my dad…”
“I could go with you. I’m not Beth, your dad, or Cecilia, but you’d have me. I love you and I want to put this behind us.” He lays his hand on my cheek. “What we had? Not everyone gets that.”
My chest fills with joy and I feel as if I could float away like a balloon. I nod and smile. “I miss you.”
“My heart has ached every day we’ve been apart.”
“But you can’t come to Houston with me. Your business would never thrive there like it will here,” I say. “Plus, I’d be taking you away from your family.”
“You’re more than enough for me. Take the job, and if you’ll have me, let’s move to Houston.” He steps closer, his chest pressed to mine.
A tear slips down my cheek. “Really?”
“Yeah.”
My hand covers his on my cheek. I’ve missed his touch. “You’d move to Houston for me? Restart your company there?”
He nods. “One hundred percent.”
“All because you love me?” A lump lodges in my throat.
“I love you so much. I mean… I’d love for you to stay in New York and work for me here, but I can’t afford you.”
I’m shocked and touched that he trusts and values me enough—a newbie who can’t offer him any clients—to even offer that.
He continues. “I need a creative director but Coddle will give you everything you’ve ever wanted. You’d be established and secure and we could settle down in Houston.”
He remembers. He remembers the reason why I didn’t want a boyfriend until I could stand on my own two feet. And he’s right, Coddle’s salary would offer me the benefits and salary to be independent, but at the same time, I’d be limiting my creativity. Being able to only work with Coddle brands sounds a bit boring for the long term.
The sound of a throat clearing interrupts us. I’d forgotten we were in the middle of a restaurant.
We turn to Blair as she stands from the table. “I’m going to leave you two to hash this out.” She touches my shoulder and squeezes. “Call me when you have an answer.”
“Thanks, Blair.”
“I’m just glad no one will be with Jacobson and Earl.” She chuckles and leaves the restaurant.
“So…” I say, my eyes casting to the table, and we sit.
“We’re good? You forgive me?” he asks, sliding his chair closer.
If we weren’t in public, I’d jump in his lap. “Do you forgive me? I’m sorry for always keeping you at arm’s length, but I was afraid you’d wake up one morning and realize that you’d had enough of me.”
He crinkles his forehead. “Don’t you understand? You’re everything to me. These past two weeks without you, I’ve thrown myself into work, so I didn’t have to face the reality that I’d lost you. I was trying to get every client so the company would be big enough for you to come work with me and still have the independence you want.” His gaze falls to the floor. “One day it will, but for now, you’re going to Coddle, and I’ll build us an empire.”
I place my finger under his chin and bring it up so his eyes meet mine. “How about we build that empire together?”
I never wanted to move to Houston to work for Coddle. The money was hard to pass up, but I don’t want to leave my family and have a niece who barely knows me. I understand what I’m sacrificing, but I believe in myself and I believe in Enzo.
I believe in us.
“What? No. Annie. No.” He shakes his head.
“Yes.” I place my hands on his cheeks. “I want to work for you.”
He’s silent, and I can’t help but think he’s going to turn me down and force me to go to Coddle. Well, if he does, he’ll have a fight on his hands.
“We’ll be equals.” He grabs my hands and brings them down to his lap.
“We won’t be equals. You’re the owner. Just don’t surprise me again.”
“You said you love surprises,” he says with a laugh.
“Yeah, flowers and candies and parties.”
He leans toward me. “Done.”
“Come on.” I stand. “Take me home.”
“Gladly.” He takes my hand, and we walk out of the restaurant onto the busy Manhattan sidewalk. “I only have one condition with the new company. No rock, paper, scissors to see who does what.”
I laugh, and he’s quick to maneuver my back to the brick wall, his lips millimeters from mine.
“And here I thought I had the advantage,” I say.
“Oh, you have the advantage.”
I wind my arms around his neck. “I love you, Mr. Mancini.”
“Didn’t I warn you about using that outside of the bedroom?”
“You’re my boss now, I have to show respect.”
He rolls his eyes. “Please, we both know who’s the boss.”
I laugh, but his mouth falls to mine and my sounds quickly turn into a moan, as they always do.
Epilogue
Enzo
Nine Months Later
* * *
I’m sitting in my office. Sure, the view isn’t what it was at Jacobson and Earl. It’s better.
Annie walks into her office directly across from mine, taking off her rain jacket. She’s wearing a skirt. The skirt that shows off her ass to perfection.
Luckily, Blair didn’t hold it against us that Annie didn’t take the job. Coddle got out of the Jacobson and Earl contract and hopped on board with us.
Annie glances at her desk, then her smile lights up the room.
Our office is small, and we don’t have a ton of employees, but it’s ours. We dictate how things go. Annie thinks that I’m the boss, but she has equal say in everything because one day this will be hers too. There’s no way I’m ever letting her go.
“Funny thing, babe, you must’ve dropped your dry cleaning ticket on my desk.” She leans against my doorframe and holds the slip to her lips. Her pink lips that I’d love to have wrapped around my dick right now.
“I have no idea how that happened.”
She walks in and grabs the remote off my desk, shutting the blinds to my office.
“I thought there was no shutting the blinds?” I lean back in my seat, sliding my chair out from my desk so she can do with me what she wants.
“You know what I think happened?” She saunters over to me. “I think you wanted to get a rise out of me. You wanted some angry make-up sex.”
“Who, me? Nah,” I mock offense.
She knows me well. Angry sex is right up there with lazy Sunday morning sex.
She stands between my desk and me then turns around and bends at the waist. “So what’s on your agenda today?” She looks down at my calendar.
My hand cups her ass. “You for the next hour.”
She sits on my lap sideways, putting her arms around my neck. “Miss me this morning?”
“Desperately. I think it should be mandatory that out-of-town meetings are done together. Our bed was cold and lonely without you last night.”
Yeah, we live together now too. She moved in with me and rented her condo out. Life doesn’t get much better than this.
“I’m on board with that.”
“Good, now seal it with a kiss.” My hand snakes behind her neck to bring her lips to mine.
While our tongues languidly tangle, she slides her hand between my legs and rubs my growing length. “I bet he missed me the
most last night.”
My cock twitches in her hand.
“On second thought, let’s just take today off.” I stand us up.
She laughs. I love that sound. “If we took off every day we were horny, we’d never make this company a success.”
I lift her by the waist and plop her onto my desk. My hands glide up her inner thighs, parting them to make room for me. Her skirt slides up her legs to her waist, and my hands cup her breasts, finding her taut nipples beneath the silky fabric of her blouse.
Yeah, I might have to be real cliché and screw her right here on my desk.
“Motherfucker!” Carm barges in my office and freezes. “Fuck, you two, come on. You live together. You work together. How on Earth have you not gotten enough of each other yet?” he whines like a two-year-old.
Did I mention that our new office is in the same building as Carm’s brokerage? Yeah, it sucks ass, but whatever, he negotiated a killer deal on the rent.
Annie slides off the desk, straightening her skirt, while Carm sits in the chair across from me. I missed her so badly last night I almost say screw it and kick him out, but I can tell that something has him really worked up.
“Thanks for ruining my fun afternoon,” Annie says pointedly.
“Yeah, yeah, I have bigger problems than feeling guilty that you didn’t get your ten orgasms today.”
“Jealous?’ she asks, her eyebrows lifted.
Yeah, she’s fucking fantastic, right?
“The red-haired she-devil is pissing me off. She just stole a client from me in the elevator on the way up to my office.”
Annie purses her lips. “Sounds like some brotherly advice is needed. I have to go change my appointment with my therapist anyway. Good luck, Carm.” She touches my back, kisses my cheek, then saunters out of the room, opening the blinds again before she goes.
Annie’s in therapy to work through some of the issues her mom stepping out of her life caused. It’s done her a lot of good, and every week, she seems to make progress. I’m not holding my breath for the two of them to have a relationship, but if my girl’s happy, so am I.
I watch her go with longing, my dick unhappy with my decision to hear my brother out instead of being balls-deep in the woman I love.
“Don’t ever barge into my office again,” I say, sitting down.
“You two are worse than bunnies. Seriously, it’s gross.”
I ignore his juvenile attitude. “Why is the she-devil in the building?”
“Get this… she moved into the office across the hall from mine.”
I laugh.
Carm looks at me like ‘what the fuck?’
I laugh harder. “Sorry, but man, this is gonna be fun to watch. Why would she do that?”
He throws his hands in the air. “Have all the orgasms made you brain-dead? She’s obviously trying to steal all my clients.”
“I don’t think so.”
“You know what? I’m going down there to give her a piece of my mind.” He stands and stomps out of my office.
I ignore my brother’s tantrum over the first woman who will challenge him. Picking up the phone, I hit Annie’s extension, and her eyes find mine from across the hall when she picks up.
“Come back over and let’s finish what we started.”
“You come here,” she says and wiggles her finger at me. “Please, Enzo?”
I hang up the phone and walk out of my office right into hers. I shut the blinds and properly show her how much I missed her.
You can’t turn a lady down when she says please.
More on Piper Rayne
Can’t get enough of the White Collar Brothers? Grab Carm Mancini’s book, Dirty Flirty Enemy (White Collar Brothers #2) now!
Universal link - books2read.com/dirtyflirty
* * *
He’s the arrogant Manhattan realtor with billboards advertising his six-pack more than his expertise in negotiations.
* * *
I’m the competing broker who stupidly moved across the hall from his office.
* * *
From day one, I’ve been his sworn enemy. Okay, so I might have accidentally stolen one of his clients. Well, is it stealing if the client comes to me?
* * *
Even our vicious banter and loathing gazes can’t hide the chemistry between us. Who can blame me? He has enough charisma to make every hot-blooded woman in the city melt with a single word.
* * *
Just when I think a mutual respect could be born between us, the biggest developer in the city offers us an opportunity that pits us against each other.
* * *
Time to forget Carmelo Mancini’s dreamy eyes and tight abs.
* * *
Game on.
* * *
"I couldn't put it down, the sexual chemistry was scorching hot, the banter even hotter...Get ready to meet your next bookhusband, that's right, husband. Carm is one you'll want to keep forever!!!" " ~ CeeCee Houston from Ghost Pepper Babes
* * *
"I love when a book delves a bit deeper and touches on some issues that might be painful but are happening in the real world. Thanks Piper Rayne for being brave enough to tackle one of these topics and doing it well." ~ Goodreads Reviewer
* * *
"I absolutely loved this book and devoured it so quickly that I was upset about the fact that it was over. I could read this authors words all day long and never get sick of them. " ~I Love HEA Romance Book Blog
* * *
"As Piper Rayne always does, they inject humor along with the serious. There were times in this book I laughed, I gasped and I felt for all of the characters. " ~ Heather from Goodreads
* * *
"You get the humor and the heat that we love from their previous stories, but with this series you get more edginess. You get more gasp, more "Holy Cow" moments!" ~ Bibliophile Chloe
* * *
"Ummm.....yeah.....no words, SPEECHLESS! This book definitely knocked me on my a@@! " ~ Melissa B from Goodreads
Tonic by Staci Hart
STACI HART
* * *
Follow on Bookbub and never miss a thing!
Chapter 1
Cup of Tea
* * *
Joel
* * *
“THIS IS THE WORST IDEA you’ve ever had.”
Shep glanced over at me, his sidelong smile mocking from behind his dark beard. “I thought you were through being salty?”
I glared at him. My shirt was too tight — the tie around my collar may as well have been a noose as we stood in our tattoo parlor that night, waiting for some hotshot producers to meet with us. The steaming heat building inside my stiff clothes ratcheted up my irritation degree by degree.
“I’ll be through being salty when this show is over.”
“Well, our agent said we could get signed on for years, if we’re lucky.”
A laugh shot out of me. “Right. Lucky. How are we supposed to work with cameras in our faces and people telling us where to stand and what to say?”
“It’s reality TV. Telling us what to say would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?”
I gave him a look. “You really think they’re not going to give us some kind of objective or script or something?”
He shrugged, not seeming to mind. But that was my brother. A younger version of me without a care in the world. Not that I minded bearing the brunt of the responsibility. In exchange, he could remain carefree, though in times like these, I wished he’d had an iota of self-preservation.
“Listen,” he said, his voice a little softer, his smile a little less mocking. “I know you’re not happy about all this, but it’s going to be good for business, not bad. They’re not going to follow you around at all hours, you know? There are rules, man.”
The look I’d been giving him hadn’t quit. He sighed and rolled his eyes.
“It’s better than the show going to Hal, isn’t it?”
The muscles in my face tens
ed at the sound of his name. Hal, owner of the second biggest parlor on the West Side — the first being mine. Hal, the current husband of my ex-wife. Hal, the burr in my ass that I could never get rid of.
I shifted, rolling my shoulders to square them as I shifted my gaze to the door. “Fuck Hal.”
“Exactly,” he said, his tone pleased. He had me. It was how he’d roped me into the situation in the first place.
When we’d been approached to do a show about our shop, Tonic, by a big network that mostly ran reality TV, I’d immediately said no. There was no question — not a single molecule in my body was on board with putting any part of my business or self out there for the masses to binge on Netflix. But Shep was so on board, he could have driven the train.
In fact, he did end up driving the train. He spearheaded an effort to convince me, starting with his girlfriend Regina, our piercer. She’d then gotten her two roommates, Veronica and Penny, on board, and they’d spread the excitement through the shop. They didn’t see it as selling out — they all thought it would make them famous, set their careers up for life. I supposed it would, but at what cost? That was my question.
To my credit, I’d held my ground with only one person on my side — Patrick. He was as interested in exposing his personal life as he was exposing himself to chlamydia. And as outnumbered as I was, I wasn’t going to budge. Shep needed my permission to do it, and I wasn’t going to give it. End of story.
Until we caught wind that Hal’s shop had been approached too. The last thing I wanted in the entire world, other than being on a reality show, was for Hal to be on one.
Forbidden Desires Page 39