Never to Love

by Aimie Grey

  “What the hell happened?” I asked Alissa when I saw how upset she was. If Katrina had done that to her…

  “Carter’s behaving like an ass at the moment, so I wanted to get a second room for tonight. Katrina told me there aren’t any more available and that I should try the Motel 6. I do have money, you know.”

  Yep, Katrina was fucking jealous as hell. I wondered what would happen if it had been Juli asking for a room. Katrina’s head might have exploded before she could spew the insult. If her brain somehow remained intact, Juli would have beaten her scrawny ass instead of insisting she call me.

  “Katrina, please give Ms. Ross a key to Room 669.” Everyone knew Finn and I kept the two-bedroom suite reserved for our own personal use. Came in handy on days we ended up working late or when Finn wanted to get away from Kristy, which was most of the time.

  “But…”

  “It wasn’t a request,” I said in a tone that let the girl behind the desk know who was in charge. Pointing to the main entrance, I added, “Even if you weren’t aware of Ms. Ross’s VIP status, you should never speak that way to or about anyone who steps through those doors.”

  A minute later, Alissa had the keycard in hand. “Finn and I share the suite, but it’s not like we live there. My room is on the left. I’ll make sure you have the place to yourself tonight.” Remembering our after-work plans, I added, “I’ll need to get ready before we go out, but it won’t take long to pretty myself up for you,” I said with a wink.

  “Oh, that reminds me,” Alissa said, chewing on her lip and looking slightly embarrassed. “I left my bag in the room. My phone’s in there, too.”

  “I’ll send someone up to get them for you.”

  “Thank you, Thomas. For everything. You may not realize it, but knowing you has made my life better in so many ways.”

  “Yeah, I know, my cock has magical powers. Just don’t let Carter hear you say that.”

  Alissa smacked me on the shoulder. “Someday you’re going to figure out how much you’re worth.”

  I knew what she was getting at, but I wasn’t one for serious, personal conversations, and I didn’t need to risk having another dissociative identity disorder episode. Aside from family, she was the best person I knew, but she needed someone who could give her what she needed emotionally. Carter’s inner caveman may have frustrated the shit out of her, but I saw it for what it was. He was completely devoted to her, and that was not something I could ever be for anyone.

  “I know exactly what I’m worth. That’s why I have Finn and a staff of accountants.” Glancing over at the glaring clerk, I said to Alissa, “Go on up, I still have a few things to take care of before we go out.”

  After a quick, platonic hug, she turned and headed toward the elevator. Before I moved from my spot, I sent my youngest brother a text.

  Me: Need to fire Katrina.

  Finn: Why?

  Me: Rude to Alissa because she wants to fuck me.

  Finn: Who wants to fuck you? Katrina or Alissa?

  “Probably both,” I mused as I typed my one-word response.

  Me: Katrina.

  Finn: Go ahead. I’ll come out if Nora needs help.

  His offer didn’t surprise me. Finn enjoyed taking breaks from his proverbial mountain of paperwork and interacting with the guests once in a while. Hell, these days, Finn liked doing any kind of work that kept him away from his house. I wouldn’t take a second look if I saw him pushing a housekeeping cart on a Sunday morning.

  Looking at the soon-to-be-former clerk, I said, “You’re fired.” I may or may not have moved my hand in a way reminiscent of some reality show clown. Turning to the nearby member of the security team, I continued, “Please take her to get her things and escort her off of the premises.” The woman in uniform nodded before heading to where Katrina stood frozen in place behind the marble-top counter.

  After Katrina was out of sight, I walked over to Nora’s station to complete my final task before I could go back to looking for a way to avoid buying a stupid hotel in the Midwest without seeming like an obstinate child. “Will you please find out which room Alissa Ross was in and send one of the guys to get her bag and her phone and bring it to her?”

  Nora had been with us for a few years and was excellent at her job. She was also very observant, and even though she’d been several stations away and assisting a guest during half of the drama, she replied, “Already taken care of, boss.” Finn was due for a new assistant soon; Josie had been on staff for a little less than a year. I’d have to remember to recommend Nora for the job.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Juli

  I was extremely busy when the vibration of my phone interrupted my train of thought. Busy writing a prefabricated press release to have on hand in case Marina and Tate were abducted by Martians and transported back to the Red Planet. I probably should have made it generic so I could just fill in the blanks with the species and their homeworld, but that seemed lazy.

  Skimming through the folder on my secure hard drive, I counted over two hundred different scenarios for which I was prepared, and they had all been updated within the past two months. If Marina grazed her knee on a rock formation at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, which she had never expressed any interest in visiting, I could have an official statement released before the Band-Aid was in place.

  More often than not, I used headlines about other celebrities from gossip sites and entertainment rags as a foundation for prep. Because of that, I was covered in the event of a secret lover or a stint in rehab, both of which were far less likely to occur than an alien abduction.

  Most of the files included more realistic scenarios, such as getting caught doing the deed in a public bathroom. Although they were a boring make-love-in-a-bed couple. If they ran down to the courthouse or hopped on a flight to Vegas to get hitched, I’d be able to free up a lot of disk space. I wouldn’t have even been mad if they hadn’t invited me. After being sickeningly in love virtually all of their adult lives, they really needed to do it already. Which reminded me to prepare another two-or three-dozen canned responses to the questions, “When are they getting married?” and “Why haven’t they gotten married yet?”

  As much as I hated being around Thomas and his arrogant, sexy-as-fuck ass, maybe having a project to work on was a good thing. If nothing else, it might help get me away from writing paranormal romance-themed press releases. “Maybe I could publish a novel if I merged the slightly far-fetched files together,” I said to the computer.

  Ugh. Why the fuck was I discussing alien-abduction smut with my laptop? I desperately needed to go out and get some strange. Have I actually gone almost a month without hooking up? I was depriving the world of my talents, and I couldn’t allow the travesty to continue.

  Picking up my now-silent phone from beside my laptop to read the message, the remarkably concise invitation waiting for me, which had also been sent to about a dozen other people in my contact list, was exactly what I needed.

  Thomas: Ultra Luxe.

  The bastard was playing some sort of game with me, and I wasn’t about to let him win. If he thought he could use Alissa to make me jealous enough to spread my legs for him, he was an idiot. He’d tried it once already, and it didn’t work. Didn’t someone once say the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? Even if I were the type of woman to care enough to get jealous, I could tell by the way she looked at her boyfriend there was no way Alissa would cheat on Carter.

  After saving my work, I headed to my walk-in closet to change into my new barely there dress and bend-me-over-the-hood-of-my-Beemer shoes. There was no way I wasn’t going to the club. If I didn’t, Thomas would take it as some sort of delusional sign I couldn’t control myself around him. He may think he had me when I show up, but he would be wrong.

  My mission was two-fold. First, I’d frustrate the hell out of the man who wouldn’t leave me alone, then I’d find someone insanely hot to fuck, leaving him
to find a second-rate pussy on which to take out said frustrations.

  Stepping out of the black yoga pants I wouldn’t be caught dead in, even though they did showcase my fantastic ass, I tapped the first number on my favorites list and waited for the call to connect.

  “Hello,” Marina said breathlessly. She’d either been running or fucking moments before, and I hoped for the sake of her relationship she wouldn’t have answered the phone in the middle of a fuck wild enough to make her gasp for breath like that.

  “Hey, I saw your name on the group text from him. Are you guys going?”

  Mentally, I reviewed my small collection of statements related to public intoxication. Based on a scale of likelihood to be needed, they were only slightly higher than the documents about aliens and cheating.

  “No, but Madison and Sawyer are. They dropped off the kids about an hour ago for a play date with their favorite aunt and uncle, so the timing worked out well for them.”

  “Why do you voluntarily spend time with children? They’re loud and messy and smelly and needy.” And apparently exhausting if they were the source of her exertion. The thought made my ovaries want to shrivel up and die.

  “Yes, but they’re also cute and so much fun. Someday you’ll understand.”

  “Doubtful,” I scoffed. “You go back to doing whatever it is you do with little humans. I’m going to go dance.” And fuck.

  “Have fun,” she said before turning her attention elsewhere. “Tate! Get that out of his mouth!” My brain tried to convince me that sentence sounded dirty, and with anyone else it definitely would have, but I just laughed at the thought of the two-time sexiest man alive chasing after a toddler, trying to get a slobber-covered God-knows-what away from him.

  After hanging up the phone and zipping my perfectly tailored dress, I headed over to the vanity to finish the effortless task of turning myself into sex personified.

  *

  The sexy asshole caught my eye the moment I breezed past the line of people waiting outside of the club. As if he felt my presence, he looked up, and every iota of his attention instantly zeroed in on me—well, my boobs anyway. I couldn’t blame him. They were looking especially spectacular.

  As I sauntered across the room, I licked my lips and twirled a lock of hair around my finger. I had Thomas exactly how I wanted him: desperate. Nearly every woman and a few of the men in the club wanted him, but his dick was hard for me. A single snap of my fingers and he’d be on his knees at my feet within seconds. For a moment, I almost wished I could feel his tongue on my body again, but that wasn’t going to happen. Ever.

  When he appeared to be on the verge of losing all rational thought, I knew the time had come to teach him the proper way to make someone jealous. My eyes stayed focused on him until the last possible moment, and then I changed direction, disappearing into the crowd.

  Before I made it to the center of the dance floor, a firm male body wrapped around me from behind. Moving slightly out of his hold, I looked over my shoulder to scope out the talent. Satisfied with his level of hotness, I let him pull me back into the heat of his body and rubbed my ass against the impressive erection that would definitely be pounding me before the night was over.

  Time no longer mattered as I moved my body to the rhythm of lust. I tried to convince myself the heat running through me was sparked by my dance partner, but even with the gloriously fuckable man touching me everywhere he possibly could, all I felt were Thomas’s eyes exploring my exposed skin from somewhere in the crowded room. Closing my eyes, I lost myself in the sensation of the two men’s desire for me.

  A little while later, I was ready for a drink and opened my eyes with the intention of heading for the bar. My plans changed abruptly when a beautiful, slender woman stepped in front of me. Without saying a word, she placed her hands on top of the ones with a firm grip on my hips and pressed her tits against mine. Although they weren’t nearly as impressive as the twins—very few, if any, were—hers were damned fine.

  There was nothing I loved more than a good dicking, but I’d had my fair share of fun with women, as well. Everyone loves boobs, and based on personal experience, people with the same equipment tend to give better head. It had been a while since I’d eaten at the Y, and I suddenly had a craving for it. Plans made, I writhed between my two new friends, still completely aware of the other player in our little game.

  Every movement I made with the intent of driving Thomas insane had a similar effect on my two playmates. After a few songs had passed, I decided to look up to see how my mission was proceeding. Just as I’d suspected, the man was completely under my spell. I could only laugh as jealousy battled with lust for real estate on his face.

  By the time I was ready to move the party someplace a little more private, I still hadn’t felt Thomas look away. This time, when I looked up, he was wedged between two bimbos. Good for him. Maybe he’d finally learn his lesson and would leave me the fuck alone. It would’ve been easier to believe if he hadn’t been trying to stare right through my dress while they rubbed their fake tits all over him.

  As it turned out, being the subject of his intense focus as he ignored the sluts he danced with was a major turn-on. The more he craved me, the hotter I found him. The asshole had changed the game while I wasn’t looking. Thomas Ramsay was beginning to get under my skin, and I couldn’t let him win.

  “Wanna get out of here?” I shouted so both of my dance partners could hear over the music.

  Their answers came in the form of a tongue laving the side of my neck and small hands skimming the length of my sides toward my breasts. A few minutes later, we found our way out onto the sidewalk.

  “There’s a hotel a few blocks over,” the tall, muscled man said. His voice was deep and growly. Yum.

  “Perfect.” What better way to fuck with Thomas than to fuck them under his roof? With any luck, security would alert him to lewd behavior, and Thomas would get an eyeful when he watched the playback from the camera in the elevator in the morning.

  “Let’s go.”

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Juli

  The co-owner of a five-star luxury hotel manning the front desk should have seemed out of place, but from what I could tell, Finn was a down-to-earth guy. I had no trouble imagining him as the type of executive who enjoyed interacting with the guests. His oldest brother was a different story. If Thomas had been standing behind the counter, I would have looked for a hidden camera.

  “Hey, Finn,” I said, entourage in tow. “Do you have a room available?”

  Smirking as he glanced at my new friends, who stood a few feet away and weren’t paying attention, he replied, “We’re fully booked, but I assume you’ll only need it for a couple of hours?”

  Finn’s question didn’t need to be answered. The man, who looked a little too much like Thomas for my liking, took a plastic card from the top of a stack and shoved it into a small machine next to the monitor in front of him. After a few keystrokes, the light on the machine turned green.

  “Thomas and I keep a suite reserved for personal use. Alissa is staying there tonight, but she’ll be out for a while. Thomas’s room is on the left; try to leave before she gets back.” Glancing at his Rolex, he continued, “I’ll send housekeeping up around one; you can stay until then.

  “Nora, will you call up to six and have Sarah move Alissa’s bag into my room?” Finn asked the brunette a few feet away as he tucked the keycard into a small folder and wrote the room number on the front. As he held it out to me, I couldn’t help noticing his surprisingly neat penmanship. “If you break anything, make sure it’s Thomas’s.”

  “That’s the plan.” I couldn’t keep my lips from curving into a mischievous grin as I snatched the card from his hand. Even though I had an aversion to beds, there was no way I’d let the opportunity to fuck my new friends on Thomas’s bed pass me by. “Will you apologize to housekeeping in advance for me?” Amused, Finn shook his head and chuckled as we walked away.

  “Hey, Juli
anne?” the handsome blond called out before I’d made it very far.

  “Yes, Finnegan?” From the extensive research I conducted on the Ramsay clan when I first learned of Sawyer, I knew his actual name was simply Finn, but I couldn’t help but tease him. Only one other person called me Julianne on a regular basis. With Tate, it was a sign of affection—something special between friends. Finn would probably loosen up and lose the formality after we got to know each other a little better.

  “If you swipe the card before you push the button for six, the elevator won’t stop on any of the other floors.” If the man was more or less serving as my hook-up concierge, how much looser did he need to be before he was comfortable enough to call me Juli? Maybe it was just a quirk and he called everyone by the name on their birth certificate.

  Finished with the analysis of the man’s choice of proper nouns, I decided it was time to have some fun. “Good to know.” Those three words and a flirty wink were my way of thanking him. “Where’s the camera?”

  With a smirk, he pointed up and to his right. “Try not to give the security team a heart attack.”

  As soon as the doors slid closed, I leaned back into the corner opposite the camera and pulled my female companion up against me. With my eyes locked onto the small black lens that would usually go unnoticed, I roughly claimed her mouth, using one hand to hold her head in place and the other to grope her ass. Without looking away from Future Thomas, I slid my hand up a little, which raised the back of her dress just enough to briefly reveal the juncture where the firm flesh met her thighs.

  Even though the elevator moved at a casual pace, we didn’t have much time left. Releasing my grip on her, I tugged on the low neckline of my dress, exposing my left nipple. Before her hot, wet tongue came out to play with one of the most sensitive parts of my body, I made sure we were angled just enough for the camera to have a full view of every last lick, and then guided the woman’s eager mouth to my breast. Perfect.