by Parker, Ali
“Then I should have worn cut-offs and boots. You’re the only bad boy in this place.” I chuckled and stopped by the front desk to ask them to hold the helmet and my riding jacket and gloves. The young woman working the desk took my things soundlessly and brought them into the back, where the club kept members’ personal items in lockers. I waited for her to return with my key.
“Where are your clubs?” Luke tugged at the strap of his golf bag on his shoulder.
“I broke my nine iron last time we came out here, remember? I’m using yours today.” I rolled my shoulders and tried to ignore the burning need to pepper Luke with questions about Olivia. I had to take it slow in my inquiry, or it would be obvious that I was far more interested in my brother’s girl than I should be.
“Let’s get a cart then. I’m not having everyone here wonder why I’m golfing with a guy that doesn’t have his own clubs.” He huffed and walked toward the cart rental desk.
I waited for my locker key, thanked the attendant, and went to join Luke to get the cart. He was visibly displeased with me and I found it a little amusing. It was an easy way for me to punish him for being with my girl, even though I was fairly certain he wasn’t doing it intentionally. I had to believe that if my brother knew Olivia was the girl from high school who’d fucked me up, he never would have gotten involved with her in the first place.
“So your woman is quite a looker. Beautiful girl.” I moved up beside him as we waited.
He smiled. “She’s hot as fuck. Best-looking woman in the world. You should see her naked. I swear the gods carved her themselves.”
I swallowed the lump that rose up in my throat. I had seen her naked as an eighteen-year-old girl. I’d had my hands all over her in a million make-out sessions, but that meant nothing now. I wanted to see what she’d become and explore every inch of her. Guilt racked my insides, but I ignored it. There was no way that I’d step over the line with Olivia. She’d not allow it, but if things changed, then I wouldn’t allow it. My brother might be a scoundrel and a half, but he was still family.
I couldn’t betray him. We’d been through too much together. We’d endured storms that threatened to break us, like the loss of his mother. I’d never seen Luke so broken before. I’d never held a grown man while he cried, either. But I’d done it for him and I’d do it a thousand times over.
“Do you love her?” I reached over and picked up a mint from the bowl on the counter.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever loved anyone.” Luke pulled out his wallet and paid for the cart. “I’ll ask her to marry me next year after we figure out if she fits in with the firm.”
“Why wait?” I unwrapped the mint and popped it into my mouth. A peaceful confidence exuded from my tone that I didn’t feel in the slightest.
“I like the idea of making sure she’s right in all areas of my life.” He put his wallet back in his pocket and accepted the cart keys from the attendant. “You’re looking for a love affair in your life. I’m a businessman. I’m looking for a partner in the office, the public, and the bedroom. I have her in two of those places willing and ready to jump when I say jump. I want to make sure she’s that girl in the office. Then I’ll marry her.”
“How the fuck do you marry someone you don’t love?”
“Easy, you just give her the ring, do the ceremony, and that’s it. The partnership is created.” He shrugged and took the keys from the cute attendant before winking at her.
“And if you get tired of her?” I snagged the keys from him.
“Then I’ll let her go.” He shrugged. “Why are you wanting to talk about this shit? You getting into one of your moods?”
“What moods?” I chuckled, trying to play off the fact that I wasn’t looking for a partnership but a grand love affair that could last forever.
Sadly enough, the only girl I could see playing the part belonged to my fucking brother, who had no clue what love was. Olivia deserved so much better, even if she’d ripped my life apart all those years ago. We were kids. There had to be a way to right those wrongs and move on.
“You know, where you want to talk about love and kids and stupid shit like that and I want to talk about passion. I don’t need all the touchy-feely stuff. I need a woman who can take my dick and suck it like her life depends on it.” Luke pushed the door open to the course and dropped his clubs in the back of the golf cart. “Don’t drive like shit either. These people already think you’re a hoodlum from your bike. I don’t need them lumping me in with you.”
“Aye, aye, captain.” I got in the driver’s seat and floored it just to piss him off. I laughed as he popped me in the chest.
“You know we still need to talk about who’s going to train Jeremy on the Parkmount account. I know you’re up to your eyeballs in responsibility, but I think it would be better received coming from you, seeing that it’s your account to manage.” Luke leaned back and turned his face from me as he closed his eyes.
“I’m keeping it. It’s a good reason for me to go home and see Dad.” I slowed down and parked. “When is the trip? A week or so from now?”
“About nine days, I believe. One of us needs to go down there and schmooze them. There are some new products that they should be buying from us, but you know how tight-fisted the old man is.” Luke got out and grabbed a club. “You want to go first or me?”
“You go for it. I like to see where the challenge lays.” I smiled at him and walked toward the fairway as a thought popped into my head. “Hey, how about I take Olivia with me? If we’re going to offer her a position at the firm, don’t you think it would be nice to see her in action? If she can get the Parkmounts to buy a few more products from us, then she’s as good as her resume says she is, right?”
“Have you seen her resume?” Luke glanced back at me as he got into position. “And I’ve already offered her the job.”
“I still think it’s a good idea. You’re an idiot if you don’t.” I shrugged and crossed my arms over my chest as hope resurrected inside of me. It was the best and worst idea I’d had in a long time. It was a betrayal in and of itself.
“Fine, but you move out of the spotlight while you guys are down there. If we’re testing her ability, then give her the floor and don’t baby her. I know how you are with people. Your desire to want them to succeed is suffocating.” He hit the ball and moved back. “Besides, she won’t need any help.”
I snatched the club from him and laughed as he growled. “Where is she from anyway?”
“California or something. I told you that already.”
“No, you dip shit. What firm was she working for?” I got into position and let out a short breath before swinging with all my might. The ball sailed past Luke’s.
“Show off. I swear your genetics make you good at every sport.” He snatched the club from me. “She’s from Tangling. One of Sarah Mayberry’s groupies.”
“Oh nice. She is the big shit. I’d like to see her resume.”
“Why? She already has the job.” Luke chuckled and walked back to the cart.
“Maybe I want her number to steal her from your evil clutches.” I shrugged and sat down next to him.
“Good luck. I have this bitch wrapped around my little finger so tight that when I flex she comes.” He laughed hard as I gave him a look. “What?”
“She’s a lady. Treat her like one, you ass.” I pressed the gas and tried to ignore the need to ram his side of the cart into a tree. If nothing else, I needed to help Olivia get away from my brother. He wasn’t at all the man she thought he was—or maybe she knew exactly who she was dealing with. The latter thought disturbed me more than the former.
Luke cracked his knuckles and shielded his eyes from the sun as we rounded a bend. “She ain’t no lady, Caden. That’s for damn sure. She might look like one, but once you get her into bed? She’s a savage.”
I resisted the urge to run us straight into the approaching pond.
Chapter 16
Olivia
“A
re you feeling any better this morning?” Dana took a sip of her orange juice as we sat outside on the patio of my favorite breakfast bistro. It was a cute little place tucked down a quiet downtown street with colorful umbrellas and potted plants of various shapes and sizes in mismatching planters. Hand-woven outdoor carpets covered the patio and gave the place a real bohemian feel that made me feel like I was far away from New York and even further from my troubles.
“A little.” I watched people walking along the sidewalk. “I think it’s time to put on my big-girl panties for sure and go for what I want.”
“Which is?”
“It’s the position at their firm. I’ve been working like a whore at Tangling for the last year, which isn’t long, but when you look at the time invested, it’s like three years in most eight-to-five jobs.” I picked up my bagel and took a bite. “Taylor, Taylor, and Barden is the big leagues. It would be idiotic of me to let an opportunity like that slip by all because of Caden. I’d never forgive myself. Or him, for that matter.”
“Then you get the job and show both of them what you’re made of. Sounds like an easy feat if I know you at all.” She smiled and pulled her phone from her purse as it sang an upbeat tune. “It’s Mom. I need to get this.”
“Go for it.” I pulled out my phone as Dana got up and walked off. A quick message from Luke was all I had. He wanted me to come over later that afternoon for a roll in the sheets. I wouldn’t have hesitated before, but I almost felt a little guilty about it now. Why? I had no clue. I didn’t owe Caden Taylor shit.
“Whatcha looking at?” Dana took her seat across from me.
“Nothing. Just a text from Luke. I’m going to sneak away this afternoon to go see him if you’re good with that.”
“You bet. I’d love to lay out by the pool at your place and read a naughty book.” She wagged her eyebrows.
I laughed. “Sounds like fun for sure…” “You need to get laid so you can start thinking straight. Get your head out of the gutter?”
“You said it. Not me.” She lifted her glass and smiled. “To either or both of us getting fucked in a way that leaves us breathless and hungry for more.”
“Here. Here.” I hit her glass and let my mind go wild with possibilities. Unfortunately, it was the wrong brother in my daydreams.
* * *
“Finally.” Luke pulled at the front of my T-shirt as I stood outside his overdone mansion. The thin black fabric stretched and I swatted at him but he didn’t let me go. I’d made him wait too long to get his hands on me and I knew full well he would be insatiable. “Get in here. Shit. It’s been three days.”
I moved into the house and slid my hands up his chest as he gripped my ass and leaned down to consume my mouth. He might be a shark in the finance world and an asshole most days of the week to anyone we met, but he could fuck like nobody’s business.
“I don’t have long,” I murmured against his wet lips as he tugged fervently at my shirt.
“You have as long as it takes for both of us to be covered in each other’s come.” He pulled the shirt over my head and moved back as he pointed to my chest. “Take your bra off and come over here. Let me enjoy you, baby.”
I nodded and walked after him, working on my bra as my breathing quickened. How badly I wanted him to be Caden. The subtle likeness between the two of them stood out far more than I’d ever noticed before. Maybe that was one of the reasons why I was so damn attracted to him in the first place.
“So beautiful, Olivia. The sexiest little bitch I know.”
“Shut up. You talk too much.” I crawled into his lap and lifted up before grabbing the back of his head and pulling him toward me.
The groan that left him opened me up and called me from thoughts of what could have been with his little brother to what would soon be with him.
His hands slid over my sides and down into the top of my jeans and he licked and sucked at my nipples, toying with each of them as I rocked my hips and ground against him.
“I’ve missed you.” I slid my hands into his hair and groaned loudly as he rolled his tongue around my breast and nipped at me playfully. The hint of pain was incredible.
“I need you to start at the office on Wednesday by the latest.” He moved back and pushed at my hips. “Get up and take your pants off. I’m done playing around.”
“Get up and strip.” I pulled at the front of his shirt as I got up. “Stop talking about work. I’ll be there when you want me there. All right?”
He stood and growled softly. “So fucking cocky.” He reached out and pinched my nipple. Then he pulled his shirt over his head and worked his shorts off his legs.
I watched him closely, coveting how good he looked naked. I was ready for a long afternoon of taking our aggression out on each other. Every worry faded in light of what was headed my way. Luke was excellent at paying close attention to my body and forcing me to let him have every ounce of control, though I’d tease the hell out of him until we got there.
He stroked his thick shaft and dropped back down on the couch. “Face away from me and I’ll hold you up.”
“Hot,” I murmured and turned my back to him before shifting to stand before him.
“Such a fine ass. I love it so much, baby.” His teeth pressed into the thickness of my ass and I yelped before swatting at him.
“That hurt.” I bent over and gripped his legs and he pulled at my hips, forcing me down on the thickness of his cock. A moan ripped from me, and I slid down the full length of him and spread my legs wide, draping them over his as he shifted up.
“I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean to hurt you.” He kissed my hand and reached around to press his fingers against my clit. “Rock back and forth and get off a few times. Then I’ll go grab a condom and bend you over the kitchen table.”
“You’re so dirty.” I arched my back, pressing against his fingers. I lost myself in the delicious tension he created between the jerking motions of his hand to the lifting of his hips. It didn’t take more than a minute, and my eyes were closed, and he was Caden.
I cried out as everything exploded, shooting pleasure through the center of my stomach and drenching me in the desire to have Caden beneath me.
“Again. Do it again, Olivia.” Luke gripped my ass hard with his free hand and leaned back on the couch. “Lean forward and ride me. I want to see your little wet slit.”
I gripped just above his knees and leaned forward, working myself against him as we panted in tandem. I’d been working hard for the last six years to make sure that no one ever had the right to tell me that I was a shitty bed partner again. Never.
“Stop, baby.” He gripped my ass and sat up quickly. “That’s almost too good. Let me get a condom real quick. No reason to start the family early.”
I repositioned myself and stood up.
He popped my ass and jogged toward the bedroom. “You want the bed or the kitchen table?”
“The table.” I walked toward it, letting my eyes move across his empty walls. Only the occasional overpriced painting hung awkwardly alone in the sea of white. It was sterile and echoed the truth about him as a person. He wasn’t interested in a family or a future. Just in power, money, and sex.
I’d changed a lot over the years. Almost too much. The scariest part was that the white walls almost gave me comfort. To hide behind indifference and greed left me unable to get hurt again.
“I know we said no more business.” He walked back in with a blue rubber hugging his cock. “Bend over, baby.”
“No more business.” I slid my hands across the table, pushing the decorations his maid had laid on the table that morning as I lifted one leg and rested my knee against the edge.
“I need you to go to Texas in a week or so. We have an account we’ve been working to expand for a while now. We’re almost there.”
Excitement drove through the center of my chest. “Yeah? I can do that. Is it okay if I stay a few extra days? I have some friends down there.”
�
��Of course, Olivia.” He moved up behind me. “Nothing else but the sound of your cries please.”
I pressed back as he slammed into me, rocking the table as the glasses shook. We paused for a minute to enjoy how well we fit together. Him having looked for a woman that could take his cock without issue and me having wanted one much bigger than all I’d encountered in the past. Only one man could surpass Luke.
Stop it.
“Bounce your ass against me.” He slid his hand up my back and gripped my long blonde hair tightly. “Make me think I’m paying for this afternoon.”
I chuckled and rolled my hips, massaging the full length of him. “You aren’t?”
“You can have anything you want, baby. You know that.” He thrust again, lifting me off the floor.
I cried out and pulled my other knee up to the table. “Harder. Faster.”
“Absolutely.” He tugged my hips down a little to position me better and drove into me like his life depended on it. We took turns choosing the next position or location until both of us were sated, exhausted, and drenched in sweat.
“You’re my girl, you know that?” He reached over as we lay on his bed and brushed the hair from my face. It was the closest thing I’d ever get to an I love you, which was a good thing. It saved me from having to say it back and lie to his face.
“Yep.” I got up and walked toward the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Later.”
Chapter 17
Caden
“Do you want these here or in your filing cabinet?” Annie moved into my office as I stared at the screen in front of me but saw nothing.
“Do you think I’m a good guy? That I’m the kind of guy that would never hurt someone intentionally?” I glanced up, not meaning to let my thoughts slip from my lips. I couldn’t help it.