by Demi Donovan
Just a few weeks ago I was certain that even the thought of being with another woman after Selina would make me feel dirty. Well, I guess that was true… but this is the kind of filthy I fucking want to be.
“Thank you, though,” she says, prompting me to follow her again as she turns her back on me. “For your entirely undeserved confidence.”
We both laugh. A self-deprecating sense of humor. I’ll have to remember that and make sure she doesn’t fall back on it too much. She’s far too fascinating to have a low opinion of herself. Maybe I can coax her to see that the next time we meet…
The next time?
The thought hits me out of the blue, like a sledgehammer coming out of nowhere. A little harmless flirting is one thing, but expecting to take this chance meeting somewhere further is a whole other thing. The tan line around my finger feels like its burning up all of a sudden. For a moment, I feel like I’m the one out of my depth here.
I shake my head.
Get the fuck over it.
“Don’t sell yourself short, honey,” I say, the endearment slipping out before I have a chance to rein myself in.
She gives me a look over her shoulder, but she doesn’t say a thing. I think I catch a hint of a smile.
“You still haven’t told me your name,” I tell her.
“Well, you haven’t told me yours,” she quips right back.
She frowns at that slightly, marring her bright expression as she puts another book away, all the while closely tracked by the eyes of the librarian. It’s like the woman thinks we’re going to set her precious library on fire if she lets us out of her sight for as much as a second. I have the good mind to make faces at her, which would complete my regression back to the teenage boy I currently feel like.
If I can’t keep my thoughts or my words straight around a pretty girl, I can’t be much better than what I was at sixteen, right?
“It’s Austin,” I say, deciding to be the bigger man here.
“Lily,” she then says with a nod.
She’s now grabbed the last book out of my hands and I stick my hands in my pockets, feeling a little awkward. Yup, this is high school all over again. But back then, I was tall, gangly and had the social presence of an amoeba, and all the confidence of one. Now, I’m a self-made millionaire, one of Forbes’ 30 under 30 this year, and I’m through one long relationship and a slew of others.
So how come this woman can still make me feel flustered and like a confused puppy dog? Fucking hell…
“You know, I’m originally from Texas,” she tells me, referencing my name.
“Oh yeah? Was Austin your favorite city? I bet it was.”
She’s considering the shelves tentatively, weighing the book in her hands.
“I’m not gonna lie, it was,” she says.
Lily gets up on her tiptoes again and tries to reach for a shelf that’s way out of reach.
“I can put that away for you, you know,” I tell her, a hint of bemusement leaking into my words.
“No, I’ve got it,” she says stubbornly.
A woman who’s used to doing everything on her own. I’m not surprised one bit.
“As you wish,” I say with a mock sigh, standing back and giving her free rein of the stage, which of course is a narrow path between two overstacked shelves, which I fill pretty much completely with my frame.
She puts a foot on one of the shelves and then hoists herself upwards, trying to jab exactly at a gap between two books where the heavy book she’s holding could fit. Of course, it doesn’t, instead knocking a number of volumes out the other side and then disappearing right along with them as she loses her grip on it.
Lily yelps and her arms flail as she falls backwards. Without thinking, I’m there immediately, scooping her up in my arms. Automatically, she grabs a hold of my shirt, as if she thinks she’s going to keep falling.
“I’ve got you,” I whisper to her, finally so close to her that there’s not an inch of space between us.
Her hazel eyes are wide and her lips are parted in surprise. They’re pink and oh-so-inviting but before I can act on my desires, a loud screech kicks us both out of the moment.
“What are the two of you DOING?!” the librarian bellows, rushing towards us through the mostly empty library.
“Shit,” I mutter, and Lily squirms out of my hold. “Run!” I tell her, laughing as I grab her by the hand and make a mad dash for it.
We sprint through the library and we’re way faster than the librarian. She makes a beeline to inspect the damage and I make it to the far more familiar shelves housing international markets and stock exchange information, hiding the both of us between two of them that run perpendicular to where the librarian is.
I can hear the woman muttering and lamenting the folly of youth from where we’re standing, but I really don’t have the mental capacity to pay attention to it. Not when Lily’s looking up at me with those beautiful eyes of hers, her cheeks lit with a blush from the running, and her chest rising and falling heavily.
She’s mesmerizing, there’s no other way to put it.
“I can’t believe we just did that,” she half-whispers, half-giggles as we crowd together, trying to make ourselves as small as possible.
I’m 6’4’’, so the concept of ‘small’ is up for debate here, but I don’t mind the process of trying.
My arms are on either side of her encircling her as we’re both laughing and trying to not be too loud. It has to be some sort of a flashback to simpler, more innocent times as kids. It’s not like either of us could really think an annoyed librarian could do anything to us.
“What, don’t you get in trouble on a regular basis?” I ask her, feigning surprise.
She gives me a look that tells me she probably hasn’t been off the straight and narrow all her life. What I wouldn’t give to make her take a trip down the wild side for a little while…
Our eyes lock and her expression clears, the giggles evaporating. Now we’re just staring at one another, like we’re seeing each other for the first time. But I haven’t taken my eyes off of her since the moment I spotted her across the room, her nose in a book, worrying her bottom lip.
I brush a hand through my hair, trying to give myself a moment to think. Every fiber in my being is telling me to kiss her, but I don’t want to scare her off. Her hazel eyes follow my left hand immediately and her expression freezes. I frown and look at what she’s looking at – my hand.
My ring finger.
My tan line.
Shit.
And the moment’s gone. Not just for me, but her as well. She doesn’t have to say a word. What started off as fun and exciting has suddenly turned uncomfortable.
I don’t like having put her in that situation, and I sure as hell don’t like the reminder of my all too recent past. It’s not Lily’s fault, though.
She dips out under my arm and straightens herself. There’s more distance between us than I’d like.
“I’m going to go help her with the books,” I say, before she can utter something similar.
“Oh, no, that’s okay. I can-“
“No, I’ve kept you long enough.”
I hold up my hand and smile. She nods, her lips pressed together. Those lips that I still want to kiss…
“You better get back to your work. That case won’t handle itself.”
That gets an inkling of a smile out of it and dammit, that feels pretty okay.
“Okay. It was nice meeting you, Austin.”
“It was nice meeting you too, Lily.”
I don’t add the things I might have said if she hadn’t noticed my ‘scarlet letter’, the memory of the wicked witch in my past. It’s like a kick in the gut, just that simple reminder.
She makes herself scarce, disappearing into the library, and my eyes track her as long as I can. Then, I make my way over to the librarian, apologize, and try to get Lily’s name.
I might be a hard sell at first, but I’ve never met an older woma
n who I couldn’t charm one way or another. Especially when I’m on a mission.
Eight
Lily
It’s one of those mornings when nothing seems to be going the way I want it to. Not only have I been stuck in endless conference calls with other clients, taking notes for the leads on those cases, but I haven’t even had time to crack open Milan’s case. And now I’m running late for the meeting.
I’m clutching the folder to my chest as I rush down the half-deserted corridors of Meeke & Associates, praying that I can shove my foot in the door before the meeting officially starts.
I’ve been in a flustered state all weekend, distracted and not myself. I almost stepped in front of a cab this morning, for god’s sake! Clearly I’m not entirely myself.
And I know exactly who’s to blame. Or well, the three who’s that are to blame.
Austin.
Troy.
Callum.
Saturday and Sunday, it was like I was possessed by those three. I couldn’t get them out of my mind! When I could stop obsessing about one, I’d think of another. Or two others… Or all three of them at the same time.
There’s this little strangled groan in my throat as I shoulder open the door to the conference room, my eyes downcast for a moment as I will myself to stop thinking about those stupid hot men that have been monopolizing my attention and focus on my job for a change.
And then my world comes crashing down.
“Lily, how nice of you to join us,” Mallory says, her voice taking on that slight droning quality that it gets when she’s annoyed or about to go praying mantis on someone’s unsuspecting ass.
But I don’t really have the capacity to process that. No, I’m preoccupied with something a lot more attention-grabbing.
Like the fact that Austin’s in the meeting room, sitting behind the long table, leaned back casually and wearing a blue suit that fits him perfectly. And the fact that Callum’s sitting next to him, a stark contrast in a white tee and what seem to be worn jeans, a leather jacket thrown over the back rest.
And to add another blow, Troy’s next to him, in business casual, eyeing me like he’s about to pounce over the table and tackle me where I stand.
I don’t even know if I’d mind.
The room’s fallen silent for a second, with everyone looking at me. Aside from the three men who’ve haunted my existence, I can now notice Milan there. And a beautiful girl who can’t be more than twelve, and then Mallory, of course. I swallow and the lump in the back of my throat is so big I think I’m going to choke on it.
“Lily, take a seat,” Mallory presses through her teeth, and I spring to action as if jolted by a cattle prod.
I sit down next to Mallory, right across from Milan. Austin, Troy and Callum are down the line from the little girl next to Milan, and there’s a clerk on my side of the table to take notes. All of the three men are wearing expressions of varying levels of surprise, but Callum’s the only one who is openly smiling.
Scratch that.
He’s grinning. Like he knows something the rest of us don’t.
Honestly, I’m not particularly sure if I know anything at this point. I’m busy questioning if this is some feverish mirage when Mallory launches into an explanation of what we’re supposed to achieve here. It goes in one ear and comes out the other, as I gawk at the three men who have been dominating my thoughts.
Callum and Troy… they look good cleaned up. Austin? He looks divine. Aside from the thick, strong builds and the heights, there are not a lot of similarities going on. It’s like they’re from different worlds, yet here they all are.
Why?
That thought makes me snap back into reality, into rationalism. There has to be a reason why they’re here, right?
“Lily, have you been listening?” Mallory asks, her tone sharp.
“Yes,” I quip immediately, opening the folder before me. “You were discussing how our main goal is to make this split amicable for all parties involved…”
It’s at that point that I look at Austin sharply, the tan line around his finger. This couldn’t… He isn’t… I look at Milan. She’s certainly an attractive woman, but she’s far older than Austin is. And that bright-eyed little girl next to her… Could it be Austin’s daughter?
I think Austin catches onto what I’m thinking, because he tries to shade a grin from Milan and Mallory.
“Right,” Mallory confirms. “And we’re also aiming to make this as easy as possible on Candice Marie. As you can see, she has a very… active base of support in the family and I believe it is to everyone’s benefit that her rights are protected in all of this as well.”
I don’t say a word, just nod and quickly flip through the file as Mallory launches into another bout of rhetoric. I’m scanning for Candice Marie’s name, while at the same time feeling like I’m being scanned by lasers, because I have no doubt that the three men in the room all have their sights trained on me.
And I’m completely defenseless before them.
I didn’t realize it before, but just being in the same air with them – especially all three of them – has my insides twisting, butterflies fluttering, and my pussy getting wet. I cross my legs and pray that I get through this with some amount of dignity left, even if it feels like a losing battle right now.
I finally find something about Candice and I can take a breath of relief. She’s half-sister to Austin through their father, who Milan is married to. Thank god.
Though why I’m relieved that it’s not his divorce that I’m here to help handle, I’m not entirely certain.
Still, I can take a calming breath now and actually focus on the situation at hand.
“He’s going to have the wedding next week,” Milan says, basically pressing it through her teeth as she glares at Austin, Troy and Callum like they have anything to do with it.
Troy’s the first to protest.
“Hey, don’t look at me. I haven’t even met the newest mommy dearest.”
“Nor do I want to,” Austin adds.
I’m sure there’d be a lot stronger wording if it weren’t for Candice, who is mostly keeping herself busy with her cellphone and generally being disinterested in the talking heads around her. Smart kid.
“He can’t marry her if he hasn’t settled the divorce with me yet,” Milan says, and I can see her hands balling into fists.
“We’ve sent Robert Stephenson the paperwork,” Mallory says, easily regaining control of the situation.
She can control a room like no one else.
“Repeatedly. And we know he has received it. Legally, he cannot go through with the ceremony unless he has terminated his marriage to you,” Mallory continues, her tone soothing as she turns to Milan. “However, he has been bombarding us with change requests as you know, mostly petty stuff that seems to be for no reason other than spite.”
“So what are you going to do about it?” Callum asks, quirking a brow.
“Callum, I swear, this has nothing to do with you. Would you keep your mouth shut?” Milan snaps.
I don’t need to look at Callum to know that he’s having none of it.
“I-” Callum starts, but Austin interjects before he can rattle off what he was about to say.
“We’re all here for Candice. That’s why we’re behind this table, to show that we care about the outcome of this. That Candice knows that she’ll always be our little sister.”
He pats Candice’s arm and she looks up, grinning. She has the same blue eyes as Austin, clear as a pond of crystalline water.
“So it is settled then,” Mallory says curtly, cutting through before anyone else can ramble on.
There’s a round of nods around the table and I feel like I’ve been left behind.
What exactly is settled?
I think it’s my slightly confused expression that prompts Mallory to roll her eyes gently and to lay it out for me.
“As we know by the information gathered, and confirmed by the extended family, Rob
ert Stephenson has every intention of going through with his wedding plans next week. Leading up to it, he will be holding week-long festivities in Hawaii.
“Now, we’ve all agreed that it’s best that Milan does not attend these, however a legal representative of hers has to be there to protect her interests and to make sure that Robert Stephenson officially signs his divorce papers before moving on with any other proceedings.”
Oh no.
I look wide-eyed at the three men across from me. They’re wearing this collective knowing smile that I have no issue with placing and understanding.
I’m going to be stuck on an island paradise. With my three biggest daydreams… and three biggest nightmares.
It’s Austin who notices Callum and Troy looking at me much the same as he did. A frown crosses over his features and we share a look. I can tell he wants to ask me what’s going on here, why his brothers are looking at me like that, but the web of coincidences is too much to comprehend at a glance.
I feel myself reeling.
And really wishing I’d gone for tequila that night with Christine. Maybe I would have been too hung over to end up at the baseball game then… and at the library.
Its wishful thinking, but it’s all I have.
“So I will be attending the events and making sure that Milan, and Candice’s best interests are protected,” I say, putting on my most professional, no-nonsense tone of voice.
Mallory nods, satisfied that I’m finally catching on. I swear, I’m never this slow on the uptake, but with Callum, Troy and Austin all in my sights, focusing is something that doesn’t exactly come easily.
The rest of the meeting is fairly uneventful, save for the shouting matches that Milan gets into with either Troy or Callum, occasionally both. Austin takes on the role of the peacemaker, though by the twitch of the corner of his mouth and the occasional throb of a forehead vein, I get the feeling that he’d like to say a whole lot more than he currently is.
When the meeting ends, I’m the first to stand, shake Milan’s hand across the table, and promise her that I’ll do right by her. Then, I’m out of the conference room like there’s a fire chasing after me.