by Ali Parker
"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 beside me 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." Luke pushed the door open to the green 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."
"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 my mom." 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 him 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.
"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.
"By that shitty shot I'm thinking you need some success suffocating." I snatched the club from him and laughed as he growled. "Where is she from, anyway?"
"No clue. 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, dip shit." 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 me 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.
Chapter 11
Olivia
"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.
"I'm not sure." I shrugged and turned to watch 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.
"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. "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. Where I wouldn't have hesitated before, 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 back 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. "It helps me come up with a better game plan for how I'm going to seduce Kendal."
I laughed. "You really think you're going to whittle this guy down? Aren't there regulations or something with you guys sleeping together?"
"I'm sure there are, but how fucking stupid is that? I'm a grown-ass adult. He is too."
"Right, but it's not about the sex, but the fact that he could change your grade because of those relations." I shook my head. "You need to get laid so you can start thinking straight."
"I'm going to agree with that." 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 blouse as I stood outside his overdone mansion. "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 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 got off centered. 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 my 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 beast 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 as he pulled his shirt over his head and worked his shorts off his legs.
I watched him closely, coveting how good he looked naked and 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 and losing 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 as 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 over-priced 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 thrusted again, lifting me off the ground.
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 12
Five Days Later
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. Over the last five days, I'd analyzed my relationship with Olivia a million times. She was the core cause of all the other failed relationships in my life. I could almost pinpoint the moment in each where I realized the girl wasn't anything like my first love... and I would kick her out. It was almost pathetic how often it had happened over the years.
"You're a really good guy." Annie sat down in the chair in front of my desk and brushed her hair back as if trying to get the stray hair to rejoin the others in her bun. "What's going on? You've been a little off your game all week."
"Have I?" I had no emotion to offer to the conversation, but I needed perspective. Though Annie might not be the best person to help me get it, she was the only one that got into the office before eight. Lucky her.
"Yeah. Did something happen over the weekend that you're not sharing?" She lifted her eyebrow and studied me.
"No. Yes. Maybe." I ran my fingers through my hair and got up, walking over to my filing cabinet and fingering through a few files. "I just heard from a good friend that my high school sweetheart was doing really well. She's got a great career and a guy that isn't the best, but he's an okay dude. He'll take care of her for sure. I don't know. I just-"
"Feel cheated?" Annie asked.
"Yeah. Big time." I glanced over my shoulder. "She was supposed to be mine. Forever."
"You're such a softie. Where is that guy in the middle of the staff meetings when Luke is reigning terror on everyone?"
I laughed and pulled out the Parkmount account file. "You guys deserve that shit most of the time, and you know it."
"True." She stood up. "I'm here if you want to talk or if you need anything."
"I do need you to book me a flight and hotel stay for a night in Houston. I'm leaving next week."
"A day would be helpful." She smirked.
"True. Let me talk to Luke when he gets in. His new advisor might be going with me."
"You mean his woman?" She shook her head and walked to the door. "Someone needs to tell that poor girl that he's not exactly on the up and up with his sexual dealings."
"What?" I half-choked on a laugh. "And how would you... Wait. I don't want to know."
"No, you don't. Better to leave the past in the past." She wagged her eyebrows and walked out, closing my door behind her.
Annie? Really? Who else was my brother sleeping with? And was he really sleeping with someone while dating Olivia or were his exploits in the past? I had to know. She had to know. Where I couldn't honestly fathom anything happening between the two of us, I wanted it so fucking bad I could almost taste it. And either way... she needed to know if Luke was sleeping around on her. Nothing could be worse to find out on her own.
"Except having someone you love tell the whole fucking high school that y
ou have a shrimp dick and were the worst lay in the universe." Anger burned through me at the memory of the day after we'd lost our virginity together. I was on cloud nine, and more than sure that we would get married right after college. I'd planned on proposing at our graduation party, though she would give me hell for getting the ring, but no... I wasn't enough. Not nearly enough. Or she was a great liar.
"Bitch," I muttered under my breath and dropped down into my chair. I was more angry with myself for diving back into the memory than at her for ripping me to shreds with her rumors. She'd never been the kind of girl to do something like that, or maybe I just didn't know her at all.
I grabbed my phone from the desk and flipped through the numbers, looking for Jake. I could talk with Jeremy, but honestly, the last thing I needed was him slipping in front of my brother and spilling the truth. That would be a conversation that I'd rather not have.
"Hey man!" Jake's voice caused my lips to lift in a smile.
"Hey, Jake. How are you, old friend?" I leaned back in my chair and let my angst drain away.
"Better now." He laughed. "What are you doing besides ruling Wall Street?"
"I'm actually going home for an extended weekend next week. I'm flying in Wednesday."
"Oh shit, really? I'm actually home all week next week too. Paw Paw is turning a hundred. Scary, man."
"Wow. That's great. Let's see if we can't get together. I'll give you a buzz next week and we'll set something up."
"Sounds great. So... what's bothering you?"
I chuckled and brushed my hand down my face as the sound fell flat. "Nothing. Everything."
"Something for sure. Spill brother. It's me."
He was the only one in the world I would spill to. Having him only a stone's throw away in Maine should have had me visiting him far more often, and yet I couldn't seem to get away from the office long enough to catch my breath. We'd built an empire, but almost lost ourselves in the process. At least I had. Luke seemed to have a great grasp on everything in his life, work included.