He smiles at me. One of those famous Kyle smiles that makes all girls fall to their knees. My heart pounds in my chest.
“I’m just gonna enjoy the view,” he states.
My eyes narrow on him, and I place my hands on my hips.
He chuckles as he takes a step back. He stops when the back of his knees hit the couch, and he falls onto it. His knees fall apart, and his hands rest on the back of the couch fanned out to the sides. His head tilts to the side, and his eyes look me up and down. “Come here,” he orders.
I make my way over to stand in front of him, expecting him to reach out and pull me to straddle him. Instead, he says, “Sit on the coffee table.”
I lower my ass to the cold surface. “Spread your legs.”
I take a deep breath and do as he says. His gaze drops to my soaked pussy, and he licks his lips. “Aiden,” I whisper roughly. What is he doing? Why is he just watching me while he sits there still dressed? My legs start to shake, the urge to close them strong.
“Lie back.”
“Aiden, what are …?”
“Lie back,” he commands, interrupting me.
I let out a nervous breath as I lie on my back. My legs hang over the coffee table, and my feet rest on the floor. My eyes look up at my white ceiling while I breathe heavily.
I hear him shift on my couch, and then I feel his warm hands on my thighs. My shaking legs intensify as I whimper.
He chuckles. And I place my hands over my face to hide my embarrassment. How can he do this to me?
He grabs my ankles and lifts them so my thighs lay over his shoulders and he kneels before me. “God, your pussy is so fucking wet.” His breath hits me right between my thighs, and I moan, knowing his lips are so close to my core.
“Please,” I beg, my legs still shaking.
His lips touch my inner thigh with gentle kisses. “Please what?” he asks roughly.
I squirm on the hard surface, and his hands grip my hips, holding me down. “Stay still, Hadley,” he warns, then I feel his lips right where I want them.
AIDEN
We stand in her shower. Her back is to my chest as I run my hands over her tits, massaging them. I can’t not touch her. Doesn’t matter how many times I have her.
She spins around in my arms and places her hands on my chest. “I need to know.”
I refrain from sighing because I know she deserves it. “Eve and I were best friends throughout high school. Then graduation came, and we went our separate ways for college. Christmas break our junior year, we planned a huge skiing trip for our friends from high school who didn’t want to spend time with our parents. Our friend Trent went. And well, long story short, Trent and Eve hooked up that week, and then weeks later, she found out she was pregnant. She called me crying that she didn’t know what she was gonna do.”
“You said she got pregnant by a man her father didn’t like?” she asks, and I nod. “Why didn’t he like Trent?”
My hands trail down over her narrow hips, and my eyes follow.
“Aiden?” she says, shoving my hands away.
I frown but continue. “The hatred went back for generations. A business deal that went sour, and the families never could forgive each other.” I shrug, not really caring why they hated one another. “A week after she called me, I called her to see how she was doing, and she was once again upset. But she told me she had an idea. She proposed that we get married and tell everyone that it was my baby.”
“I don’t understand why you agreed to that,” she says, frowning.
“At the time, I didn’t think of it long term. I never had any desire or thought to get married one day. And to be honest, I thought there would be a long engagement. Or a divorce a few months down the road. I figured her dad would hate me just as much as he hated Trent for knocking up his daughter.”
“So how did it go when you told him the news? Her father?”
“He was ecstatic. I mean, we were friends, so I knew her dad and stepmother really well. But to knock up someone’s daughter … I guess I thought he’d kick my ass and that would be that.”
“So you’ve had this fake life for how long now?”
“Eight years.”
“Eight years?” She gasps, taking a step back from me.
I nod. “Olivia just turned seven.”
“Aiden, that’s …”
“Noble?” I try to lighten the mood, and the terror on her gorgeous face.
“Insane!” she finishes.
“We never expected it to go this far. And then things just got comfortable.” I shrug.
“How long into your marriage did she decide to be with the father of her baby?”
I think back to our wedding night at that question. It feels like it was yesterday.
“I can’t believe we just did that,” Eve says, laughing as we enter the hotel suite.
“I know,” I say, running my hand through my hair nervously. I just married a woman who I have never even slept with. Eve is one of those girls who hangs with the guys. She loves sports and can drink you under the table. She’s smart. Too smart for her own good. She’s not one of those girls who drop at your feet or follow you around campus, hoping that you tell them to get naked and spread their legs. And now she’s my wife. On paper.
She spins around with a smile on her face, arms out wide. “This place is amazing.” Then she stops spinning and looks at me, her smile dropping off her face. It’s like she just realized that I’m not the man of her dreams. And that I alone have crushed them. Her eyes drop to the floor. “Now what?”
“I have a surprise for you,” I say with a smile, trying to reassure her that what we just did was the right thing.
“What?” she asks skeptically.
I walk over to the large white French doors. I open them up, and she gasps when she sees the man standing there, smiling at her.
“Baby!” he says, holding out his arms wide, and she runs into them. Trent picks her feet up off the floor and spins her around before giving her a long kiss.
I turn around to leave them alone.
“Aiden?” She calls out to me.
I stop and turn back to face her to see her now coming toward me. She wraps her arms around my shoulders. “Thank you so much,” she whispers. “I owe you.”
Hadley stares at me wide-eyed. “But what about you?”
What a strange question. “What about me?”
“Eight years and you never had the desire to be with someone more than a night?”
I shake my head. “No. And I honestly can’t tell you how much longer it would have stayed that way if not for Trent wanting to marry her.”
“I feel sorry for him,” she says softly.
“Me too.” I sigh.
“So what about now? It’s been eight years, but from what you explained, it doesn’t sound like her father is going to welcome him into their family now.”
“You’re right.” I nod. “He won’t. There were only two reasons Eve couldn’t marry him back then. One, she wouldn’t have received her trust fund at twenty-five, and two, her father would have forced her to have an abortion.”
Tears start to fill her pretty blue eyes. “Hey,” I say, pulling her into me.
“He couldn’t have forced her to do that. She was still an adult,” she growls frustrated.
I sigh. “Just because you’re an adult doesn’t mean you get to make your own decisions.” Kids like me grew up in a different world. My father was always there for Asher and me. Our mother died when we were young, and he made sure to take care of us. But other kids we grew up with whose parents were wealthy didn’t get the same options we had. They did what they were told. Child or adult.
She wipes the tears from her face angrily. “That is bullshit.”
“Everyone got what they wanted. Our divorce will be a secret, and they will elope. I’m not sure how long they can hide their marriage from her father, but he lives in New York, and they live here. So it could work for them for a while.”
“Who all knew that it wasn’t real?” she asks, wrapping her arms around my waist.
“My brother was the first one to call bullshit. He was on the ski trip with us, and I had another woman with me.”
She chuckles “So she thinks you cheated on her.”
“Yes. But I didn’t care what she thought. And of course, my father knew. I couldn’t get married and let him think I was truly in love.” I shake my head. “As much of a bastard as you think I am, I’m not a liar.”
She pulls her head from my chest and looks up at me. “Thank you for telling me.”
I don’t know what to say to that ’cause I’m not sure when or if I would have ever told her, so instead, I lean down and place my lips on hers.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
HADLEY
WE LIE IN MY BED, MY HEAD RESTING on his chest. My arm wrapped around him. He’s passed out. The sun has to be rising soon, but I couldn’t go to sleep. The alcohol and the adrenaline from tonight kept me awake.
I never saw that coming. His fake marriage and daughter. How hard it must have been for both of them to live such a big lie. Especially Eve, not being able to love who she wants. I couldn’t imagine having to pretend to be with one guy while loving another. And her child. How does someone keep that big of a secret and not explode?
I let out a long breath when I hear a phone beep. I slowly sit up to look around my room for my purse when I remember I turned my cell off when I left the benefit. I didn’t want Aiden calling me. Never thought he would show up here.
Looking over at my nightstand, I see his phone light up as it beeps again. Looking down at him, I see his head to the side, eyes closed and lips slightly parted. He looks adorable like this. Younger.
I make my way to the other side of the bed and pick up his phone to see he has two messages from Eve. Without thought, I open them up.
The first is a picture of her left hand and there’s a different ring on her finger than what she held up to show me earlier today.
The second is a text.
Eve: Trent proposed to me tonight after I got home from the benefit. I finally get to spend the rest of my life with the man I love. And I have you to thank for that. So thank you. I owe you so much, Aiden. That’s why I tried to speak to Hadley for you tonight. Because you deserve what I have. I know you always say that love isn’t for you, but it’s for everyone. So do what you do best and go get what you want.
I smile as I exit out of the message and lie back down. But my heart starts to pound when I look into a set of blue eyes.
He caught me!
“Eve messaged you,” I say softly.
“And?”
I let out a shaky breath. “She sent you a picture of her new engagement ring. And thanked you for giving her what she has always wanted.”
He wraps his right arm around me and pulls me to his chest. He lifts his right hand and pushes back a few strands from my face.
“Are you mad at me?” I whisper. I shouldn’t have gone through his phone. I wouldn’t mind him going through mine, but I don’t screw random men. There’s nothing in my phone that could possibly make him mad.
“No.”
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“How am I looking at you?”
“Like you’re mad at me.”
His hands slide up my back, and he lets out a long sigh. “I couldn’t be mad at you, Hadley.”
I snort. “You’ve been mad at me every day at work for three months now.”
He gives me a soft smile. “That’s because I was being a dick. And I wanted you so bad.”
“And now that we’re fucking, you’re cured of that?”
“Yes,” he says simply, and I laugh.
“So next time I’m late, and you snap at me for it, I’m gonna get undressed and drop to my knees. That will make you be nice to me.”
He growls so deep in his chest that it rumbles against mine. His hand slides up to my hair, and he grips it tightly while he pushes me to my back and straddles me. “Not hardly. I’d fuck that pretty mouth of yours for punishment. Then afterward, I’d be nice to you.”
My hands grip his biceps. “Sounds fair,” I whisper, my hips arching, wanting him again.
_____________
I run into the office Tuesday morning after deciding to take a cab and leave my car at home. When I’m running late, I don’t have the extra minutes to spare by driving and parking. And plus, the extra time I spent in bed with Aiden this morning left me having to do some of my makeup in the cab.
“Morning, Hadley,” the security guard yells as he lifts his hand to wave at me as I run through the lobby.
“Good morning,” I say, passing by him in a mad dash for the elevator banks.
I step inside just as one starts to close. I reach up and fan my blouse because my breasts are already sweating. Fuck, I’m so ready for winter.
“Hadley?”
I turn to see Trevor behind me and let out a long breath. “Hey, Trevor,” I say with a head nod.
His eyes look me up and down in a way that makes me feel uncomfortable. I need to remember to ask Aiden why he warned me to stay away from him. Ever since he said it, Trevor has given me the creeps.
“I would ask how you are today, but I can guess that it is going as usual.” He chuckles, and it rubs me the wrong way.
I turn to face the doors, ignoring him. My eyes slide to the right when I hear him move to stand next to me. “I was wondering …” He pauses, and I bite my inner lip. Please don’t ask me out. “If you would like to get some coffee sometime? I’m free tonight.” He laughs nervously. “Well, I guess tonight would be dinner. Are you free for dinner?”
The man who stands back in the corner talking on his cell snorts at Trevor’s pathetic attempt to ask me out, and I refrain from rolling my eyes at the bastard. Instead, I turn to face Trevor. “I can’t.”
His face falls. “Okay. I understand. We can do coffee tomorrow morning—”
“I didn’t mean I can’t do dinner. I mean I can’t go on a date with you,” I interrupt him before this goes any further. “I’m seeing someone.” Not a total lie.
“Oh,” he says, surprised.
“Thank you, though,” I say as the elevator comes to a stop and the doors slide open.
“Have a nice day, Hadley,” he says, not even bothering to look back at me.
“Good morning, Hadley,” Millie says with tired eyes when I walk into the office. She then grabs her cup of coffee and takes a big sip.
“Rough night?” I ask, trying not to laugh. I feel sorry for her. She is fifty-five and raising her three-year-old granddaughter. From what she’s told me, her daughter fell in love with a drummer and left her granddaughter behind to follow his band.
She holds up one finger while she downs another drink. “Mr. Kyle and Mr. Kyle are in the conference room waiting for you.” I frown, and she leans over her desk, lowering her voice. “And the police are with them.”
My eyes widen, and my heart starts to pound. “What?” I breathe.
She gives me an apologetic smile. “Mr. Kyle said to send you in as soon as you arrive.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “I …” Are they going to arrest me again? Has Asher talked Aiden into turning me in? That was his plan. Turn myself in and then get bail. What was his reason …?
“Hadley?”
I spin around to see Bianca come up to Millie’s desk. She has a big smile on her face and a stack of paperwork in her hands. “What?” I ask, and my voice shakes on the one word.
She frowns at me. Her brown brows pulling together as her brown eyes search mine. “Are you okay?” she asks.
I nod but that knot returns to my throat.
“You left the benefit last night in a rush,” she reminds me. “Were you sick?” Her eyes look me up and down. “Are you still sick?”
She knows why I left, but I don’t have time to talk to her about it. I just stare at her, trying to think of a plan. An
exit strategy. How I can keep myself from being arrested. If they hand me over, will the police allow me to leave by way of stairs? I’d rather not let my co-workers see me leave in cuffs.
“Hadley.” I hear Millie call out to me. “Mr. Kyle is waiting for you,” she says sternly.
“Yes.” I swallow the knot and nod my head quickly. “Going. Now.” I can’t form a sentence. Without wasting another second, my feet somehow carry me toward the conference room. Thoughts of the officer cuffing my hands behind my back run through my mind as I come to a stop at the door. For some reason, I knock on it. It swings open a second later, and Aiden stands before me.
“Miss Burns,” he greets me. I search his eyes, looking for any sign of what’s to come, but they are void of any emotion. “Please join us.” He steps aside, and I take a timid step into the room.
He shuts the door behind me, and my chest tightens when I spot both officers standing at the end of the conference table. Asher stands beside them.
The officer who had cuffed me opens his mouth to speak. “I didn’t do it.” The words rush out of my mouth so fast it almost sounded like one word.
“We know, Miss Burns,” the officer says with a simple nod.
I let out a long breath, just now realizing I was holding it in. “You do?” I ask looking at Asher, then Aiden. Neither one of them answer me.
The officer crosses his arms over his chest. “Yes, ma’am. Yesterday we had a visitor at the station. Mr. Whales …” Nate. “Came in to speak with us. He explained his relation to you and admitted that he had been using a dating app. That was how he found you.” I nod. “He gave us the name and number to the woman who he said had offered him sex in exchange for money.”
“He didn’t do it,” I defend him.
“That is up to us to figure out.”
“He’s not like that,” I argue. “Ask the woman.” Silence follows my statement. “Did you already speak to her?” Still nothing. “What did she say?”
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