Enchantingly Entangled: A Secret insta-love with the Brother’s Billionaire Best Friend Romance (In love in a New York Minute Book 3)

by Ember Flint

  I can’t help, but feel a little of the old pain seep into my happiness as I think of all those years I spent denying my feelings or pining for him to notice me and love me back.

  He hugs me to his side, kissing my curls, his hand covering the nape of my neck in a gentle, yet possessive hold. “Don’t go there, Cora. It’s for the best I never knew and never saw.”

  Damn, this man can read my mind or something and I know he’s right, but it still hurts.

  Then another thought strikes me and I feel a surge of panic rush through me. “Is the age gap between us a problem for you now?” I ask in a small voice.

  I feel his chin shake on my head. “No, love. Now it’s different: you’re quite a bit younger than me, but we’re both adults. Hell, you’re probably more of an adult than I am, according to what Charles has been telling me about your future projects, your studying and always being responsible.”

  I let go of a little, humorless laugh. “Responsible? I don’t think so: neither of us could be called responsible right now, in fact most people would call us reckless for jumping in this so fast.”

  I feel his kiss trail down my temple, to my cheek and then finally reach my lips. “Er… most people are not here. We are. Also we could be called irresponsible if we’d had unprotected sex unmindful of the consequences, but we were very mindful about it, weren’t we?”

  I laugh. I can’t help myself. He’s right we certainly put our cards on the table almost from the very start. “You’re sounding like a lunatic again, Ster.”

  He looks at me, nodding firmly, confidence pouring off of him in waves. “Yes, yes I know, love,” he deadpans, eyes unblinking, his voice so deep and serious that for a moment everything stands still around us and then we laugh, kissing like nothing else matters.

  Chapter 11

  STERLING

  “And they are sisters?” I ask, shaking my head. Unbelievable.

  Charles chuckles. “I know, it’s freaking amazing. Friday Aston and I were together in that lingerie shop getting to know Lara as I picked a commissioned birthday gift for my stupid ex and Lara was telling me about her sister and then today I was sitting across from Jess completely unaware of their being siblings. Aston knew of course and that’s why he did not want to be present during her interview. He and Lara thought it’d be fun to see how we reacted to each other, they felt like we could hit it off and damn… I’ve never felt anything even coming close to what I feel for Jessica. It’s fate. It has to be. I mean, Aston and Lara, Jessica and me, too bad they don’t have another sister for you.”

  Oh but you definitely do, my man.

  I say nothing as I listen to my friend bubble over in enthusiasm for this girl of his and I feel a pang of envy at the ease with which he can discuss how he feels about her.

  Of course I’m happy for him and for Aston also, I know what it feels to —as Aston put it this morning— ‘have found the one’, it just sucks that I can’t gush about my Cora as Chuck’s doing about Jess.

  I move away from the picture window overlooking Manhattan and look over at the bed, where my beautiful lover is currently fast asleep, eyes fluttering in dream, bouncy curls all over the place, cheeks flushed and lips swollen and pink with my kisses.

  God, she’s so fucking beautiful, every time I look at her it feels like her soul is going for mine, gripping it and never letting go. I sigh.

  “Ster? You there?”

  “Yeah.”

  “So you coming?” he asks.

  And I realize I have no idea what he’s talking about, thoughts of Cora distracted me completely from his voice.

  “Coming where?”

  Charles huffs. “Damn, man, you still out because of the jet lag? It’s sure dragging this time. I was asking you to dinner. Aston and I are taking our women out and we thought it would be great to have you along so you could meet them.”

  Not a chance, I’ll be busy with my woman.

  “Ster?” he asks and I can hear clearly a note of concern in his voice and feel like a bastard for it.

  “Er, sorry Charlie, I really don’t feel like it. I do want to meet Jess and Lara, but I don’t think I would be good company tonight. Rain check?”

  “This is not about the jet lag, is it? If it’s about that girl you met, I can have the head of security pull the footage as soon as you get here. For all we know, I might even know her. You could get her name and address before the night is out.”

  You have no bloody fucking idea, mate.

  I pass a hand over my face, sighing. “Can we talk about this another time, Charles?”

  “What? But I thought—”

  “Let’s not get into it now, okay? There’s just no need for that anymore.”

  “What do you mean there’s no need? You found her?”

  Oh, I found her all right.

  “It’s just... it’s not a priority anymore. That’s all.”

  “Sterling what the fuck is going on?”

  Of course he sounds worried and incredulous now.

  He probably thinks I’m going crazy here. Saturday I was chomping at the bit to find my sexy bombshell and I probably looked like I was fucking ready to dance a bloody jig when he told me he could get security to go over the tapes and help me ID her and now I’m speaking as if I don’t give a fuck about the whole thing.

  “I really should get going, Chuck. I have another meeting.”

  Fuck I am a piece of lying shit and a cad to boot.

  “Uh, okay, I guess. I really have to go back to Jess anyway. Talk to you tomorrow?”

  I look at the ceiling, huffing a breath. “Sure, mate. Enjoy your dinner and make my apologies to Jess and Lara.”

  “I will. Get some rest, pal.”

  I throw my mobile on the couch and walk to the bed again.

  Just before Charles called, I got a bunch of texts from Aston— also trying to get me to go to dinner with them— and I could read the happiness in his words as he went on and on about Lara and at lunch he was all weird and chirpy. I’ve never heard him speak about a woman in such glowing terms. It’s apparent to me that he’s smitten and Charles sounds just as much in love with Jessica and I can’t help but be happy for them.

  I can only hope things could be so easy for me and Cora, but of course they won’t be. Our situation is just too messy for things to go smoothly no matter how we feel about each other.

  I sit on the edge of the bed, my fingers caressing Cora’s downy, soft cheek, my heart squeezing and overflowing with tenderness, protectiveness and love for her.

  I know how much she cares for her brother and I don’t want to fuck things up between them as much as I don’t want to lose one of my best friends.

  I’ll do my best to bear the brunt of this and when we tell him —and it will be soon, I just have to figure out the right way to do it—, if he gets pissed, I’ll make sure he has it out with me and only me.

  My mobile goes off again and I trudge back to get it, happy I had the presence of mind to turn the ringtone off. My little bombshell certainly needs the rest right now after the explosive afternoon we spent in bed wrapped in each other.

  I see the caller ID and I roll my eyes.

  It’s The Terrible Duo again, the last bloody thing in the world I could ever need right now.

  “Yes?” I mutter, walking farther away from the bed and toward the open kitchenette on the other side of the large suite.

  I already know why they’re calling. They want me to fix Nigel’s latest mess and make the consequences of his escapade disappear.

  Not this fucking time. I want his arse behind bars for a while this once, maybe it’ll knock some sense into that blasted empty head of his.

  “Oh my dear boy, thank God we reached you!” screeches my aunt Penelope, her voice is like an ice pick through the ear.

  “Thank God indeed! We’re calling under the direst of circumstances, nephew!” chimes in my aunt Lenora.

  I cringe a little at their usual brand of melodrama. “Yes, yes, I kno
w: he got in trouble again,” I grumble.

  “In trouble?! He’s in jail!”

  “A Fitzroy in jail like a common criminal!”

  I roll my eyes. “Well, yes: that’s what happens when you act like one, names don’t really make much of a difference in that case.”

  Aunt Lenora gasps, indignantly. “That wayward lad will bury our family!”

  “Bury our company!”

  “Bury our name!”

  Oh come one!

  Fuck, I don’t have time for this.

  When I hear both of my aunts starting to harp on about the family’s stand in society, the crumbling of Fitzroy Inc. to the ground, The Pest causing the bloody Four Horsemen to show up on our doorstep in Belgravia, I speak up, knowing I have to stop the drama and the insanity before they escalate any further.

  “Aunts! That’s quite enough. I get the picture: we’re in deep shit. I’ll deal with the bloody wanker as soon as I’m back.”

  “Language Sterling!” scolds my aunt Lenora automatically, her sister sniffing my name in displeasure.

  I sigh, pinching the bridge of my nose. “If there’s nothing else you want to pointlessly yell about, I’ll get going…”

  “Oh dear, Sterling! How can you be so calm about this?”

  “How can you be so tiresome? Your father won’t do anything about this, but you must!”

  “You must indeed!”

  I grunt, clenching my teeth as I start to feel the prodromes of a migraine weighting on my brain. The delicious buzzing that my long, satisfying marathon-shag with Cora left running through me suddenly leaving my body.

  “Do you know what he did?” asks my aunt Penelope.

  “Yes, he called me himself. Drugs, sex in public places with some doxy, the usual… only this time he got his arse arrested.”

  A part of me wants to add ‘and it’s about time’, but I keep it to myself, least they start to go on about the family’s good name been dragged into the mud again.

  “Not just that! He threw some party for the most horrid, disreputable crowd and got well and truly soused,” explains aunt Lenora.

  I shrug. Nothing new there, sadly.

  “He and those maniacs he calls friends destroyed the entire hotel room and trashed the hallway and the pool, making damages all over the place for up to one hundred thousand pounds,” adds my aunt Penelope.

  All right, could be worst. Once he stole a Scotland Yard car and drove it straight into the lobby of the Savoy. Not a pretty sight.

  “There were minors at the party and they were just as drunk as he was!” she goes on.

  I grimace. At least the slut he had sex with was over eighteen.

  “Are you listening, Sterling? He stole a pet, rare, albino Capuchin monkey from the daughter of a Middle Eastern diplomat and then brought it along to the party and left it in a closet. The poor thing attacked one of the maids as soon as it was free while she was cleaning and nearly scratched her eyes off!”

  Wait, what?

  I feel my eyes widen.

  How many different broken laws are those?

  So now basic carousing and whoring around is too drab for him?

  He had to add animal cruelty and theft to the freaking list?

  Blast it, this shit won’t be easy to shake off.

  Now I’m more than happy with my choice to leave his arse sitting in jail for a bit. I’m actually tempted to call our lawyers and ask them to stall to keep him there even longer.

  Not that I really have hopes he would learn something from it.

  I rub one hand over my face, screwing my eyes shut for a moment.

  “He’s turning us into London’s laughingstocks, Sterling. You must fix this, it’s imperative.”

  “And how would you have me fix this, aunt Penelope? It’s not like I have a bloody magic wand. No amount of money could make this go away. I’ll have the company’s Press agent amend the statement to address the monkey thing and get in touch with the hotel to pay for the damages and see if the maid who was attacked needs our assistance; other than that and short of neutering Nigel or have him killed or something there’s not much more I can do.”

  They keep silent for a bit, probably actually considering the idea of offing my little brother.

  “When are you getting back?” asks aunt Lenora after a while.

  I look toward Cora and realize she’s awake, sitting with her head on her knees and looking at me intently.

  I was supposed to go to England in a couple of weeks after dealing with business here and then in LA and considering the havoc The Pest is wreaking on our family, I should probably make the trip sooner rather than later, but I don’t want to.

  Fuck The Pest, fuck my responsibilities, fuck everything that’s not Cora. I’m not leaving her until we get everything squared. Scratch that: I’m not leaving her, stat.

  “I’ll see what I can do. Maybe I can postpone some stuff and head back earlier,” I say.

  I’m not exactly telling them the truth, but it’s not an outright lie either, it will have to do.

  “Very well, nephew, but do not dither longer than necessary!”

  “You must—”

  I cut the call and my aunt Penelope’s last sentence short and turn toward my little bombshell.

  As I get closer I see her large eyes are unsure and she’s looking a little upset.

  I sit down and bring her into my body, my nose nuzzling the skin of her supple neck and taking in the sweet mixture of lavender, skin and sex, a balm to my senses.

  “What’s the matter, love?”

  Cora pulls away to look up at me. “You’re leaving soon then?” she asks in a small voice.

  I clutch her to me. “What? No! I only said I would to get them off my back, those two are relentless.”

  She sighs, caressing my bare chest. “I wouldn’t like being away from you, Sterling, but I would understand. I mean, your brother is crazy and if you have to go fix this…”

  I shake my head and then I kiss her lips softly. “There’s nothing I have to do, apart from being with you, sweetheart. The Pest usual — and not so usual — shit will take care of itself. There’s not much that can be done when it comes to him, I’m afraid. Or at least not for a little while. He’s acting out like a spoiled child, but he’s no longer one, so I can’t send him up to his room or to be straighten out at a military academy or whatever. He has a weakness though: The Pest likes his money and is not very discerning in his expenses as you can well imagine. For now, he has his trust fund and not a care in the world so I can’t hold money over his head yet, but I’m biding my time. He will soon run out of cash and there’s no way he’ll get any out of me, out of my company or, with Lydia being the bitch that she is, out of my father. That’s how I will bring him to heel. I doubt I will ever cure him of his recklessness and general stupidity, but I’ll see to it that he keeps away from heavy drugs and learns discretion at least.”

  She nods. “Sounds like a good plan.”

  I shrug. “More like the only possible plan when it comes to my little brother, I’m afraid.”

  Cora sighs. “You still have to go though…”

  She sounds pretty cut up about it and I can’t help but feel pleased, since I would be miserable if things were reversed.

  “I do, you’re right: but I’m not going anywhere without you firmly attached to me. In fact, while you were sleeping, I actually postponed my visit to the LA’s headquarters of Fitzroy Inc. We have too much to deal with here for me to go.”

  She grins, throwing her arms around my neck. “So I’m going to have you all to myself for the next few days?”

  I nod against her shoulder and pull back to kiss her lightly.

  “Perfect!” she says and kisses me back.

  I wish I could see only the good in this and be all happy and fuzzy like she seems right now, but then I think about Charles and I feel the guilt chip away at my joy.

  As I hold her to me, I feel my cock starting to perk up. I move my lower bod
y slightly away from her and glare down at my dick trying to stare it into submission.

  No monkey business, my friend. The Pest has enough of that going on for the both of us.

  Be good and I’ll feed you some of her sweetness tonight.

  I lost count of how many times I have shagged her and she’s too tender to take me in her little, sweet cunt yet again.

  I feel her pepper tiny kisses all over my face and neck and I sigh.

  I only want to give her time to recover —I’m by no means a small man wherever you look at— and of course my little bombshell would not make this easy for me for the world.

  She stops kissing me, when I fail to open up for her little teasing tongue and she pulls away with a pout. “What is wrong, Sterling? Why are you brooding in such an Aston-like fashion all of a sudden? Aren’t you happy we—?”

  “Of course I am! How could I not be?”

  I scowl at her. I can’t stand her thinking I don’t want this —her— not even for a second.

  She tilts her head to the side, studying me, her lovely curls bouncing around her. “Then what’s the matter?”

  I gather her in my arms again, her tiny body pressing all over my big one. I kiss the side of her face. “I’m very happy, love. I’ve never felt this way, but I feel like the worst kind of scoundrel for lying to your brother.”

  She frowns. “When did you lie to him?”

  I sigh. “While you were sleeping, before my aunts called, I was on the phone with him. He and Aston wanted me to go dine out with them so that I could meet Lara and Jess… I had to tell him I couldn’t, because of a meeting and all the while I was staring at you in my bed. It just doesn’t sit well with me, keeping this from him I mean…”

  I see the clear blue of her eyes going brighter with tears and I pull her to me. “Don’t worry, we’ll deal with it. Everything is going to be okay. I’m going to tell Aston tomorrow, see if we can put our heads together and figure out a way to tell your brother.”

  I wish I could really believe it could be that simple, but in reality there’s a good chance Aston will want to kick my arse just as much for touching Cora, but she doesn’t need to know that.