Never

by Lulu Pratt

  “Yes,” I breathe out, lost in the hazy cloud of lust fogging the room.

  Gathering my dress to one side, Andrew exposes me to the cool air of the room as well as the searing heat of his stare. The combination is a heady one and inspires another shiver to race down my spine.

  Without warning, his lips crash into my sensitive flesh pulling a startled cry from my lips.

  Andrew kisses me deeply at my center, his lips soft yet rough against me.

  My knees are already wobbly and I know he’s just getting started. Grasping his shoulders, I work hard at steadying my breath. But those attempts are futile when he begins sucking at my naked mound like I’m his favorite dessert.

  It takes very little effort on his part to shove my legs further apart so that he can expose my swollen clit, as well as my slippery opening.

  “I’m addicted to you,” he confesses, his warm breath in direct contrast to the cool air caressing my most delicate parts.

  Then his tongue surrounds my swollen clit as his fingers dig deeply into the flesh of my rounded hips. His kisses me there, slowly and diligently at first. However, my moans encourage his carnal appetite and his seductive tongue grows relentless in its exploration.

  The world drops out from under me as his attentive mouth probes the very essence of my womanhood.

  The feel of his lips surrounding me is enough to drive me insane. Add that to the fact that the stubble on his chin is creating the most delicious friction against the inside of my thighs, and I’m a lost cause.

  Before I know it, my entire body is tingling and my hips are bucking for more. Greedy with the desire to fall apart all over his tongue, I sink my fingers into his short hair and pant like my life depends on it.

  Every atom in my body bursts with heat.

  I’m on the edge of coming but I don’t want this to end. I’ve never experienced so much pleasure and I don’t want this experience to end.

  I swear to God, the image of him sitting there as he feasts on my pussy like it’s his own personal fountain of youth will be burned into my memory forever. I’ve never laid eyes on a sexier sight.

  Intentionally, Andrew only touches me with his mouth, his hands confined to my hips as he holds me in place.

  “Come for me, Lilah,” Andrew commands and an earthquake shatters my world in half.

  Holy shit.

  The words that escape me are pure gibberish and I don’t care. A tidal wave hits me hard and fast, reaching my fingertips and toes. I turn into a heaving mess and I collapse against Andrew. He catches me effortlessly, like he was expecting the fall. Limp, I recover on his lap.

  Twenty-nine

  ANDREW

  When Lilah grows too still against me, I look down to find her head sagging against my chest and her eyes drooping lower every second.

  Chuckling, I kiss her jaw.

  “Don’t fall asleep on me. We have a party to get back to.”

  Groggily, Lilah turns her head to look at me. Her seductive eyes are clouded with pleasure and unmistakable drowsiness when she groans, “You don’t play fair.”

  I laugh again, pulling her closer to me to savor her natural warmth.

  There’s no way I’m going to admit that I’m addicted to making her come. She has enough leverage as it is. I’m just waiting for the day I wake up wrapped tightly around her finger.

  It can’t be too far off. The thought doesn’t even scare me. What does scare me is that I’m starting to look forward to it.

  “How do you know the people hosting this party again?” Lilah asks, disturbing the quiet of the room.

  After kissing the top of her head, I pull back and answer her question.

  “Ben and Rachel are old friends of the family. Their father, Silvio, was one of my dad’s business partners. My father wasn’t a trusting man, but he trusted Silvio with his life. I remember him always being around when I was younger, so I naturally became friends with his children. We’re around the same age. They’re good people,” I say.

  “It’s awesome that you all still stay in touch,” Lilah says quietly.

  Shifting her across my lap, I bring her feet to rest on the bed beside us. But I don’t move her off me. My selfishness won’t allow it. I want her as near as possible. For as long as possible.

  “Tell me about your parents,” she requests softly, probably anticipating for me to close her out like I did earlier when she brought up my brother.

  Surprisingly enough, the urge I have to smash a wall when my brother is mentioned is absent when I think about my parents. My mother, specifically. The feelings I have about my father are complicated but how much of a grudge can you hold against a dead guy?

  “My mother would have loved you,” I share, staying within my comfort zone. “She was a rebel at heart, just like me. And an artist. She was an aristocrat by blood and raised to follow the rules, but she blazed her own path. She exposed me to all types of art at a very young age and I’ve been hooked ever since. It’s my lifeline and I never would have discovered it without her.”

  Turning to me, Lilah studies my face intently. “Sounds like one hell of a woman.”

  Nodding, I agree with her assessment. “She was.”

  Naturally, her interest is piqued and she wants to know about the other person responsible for my existence.

  “And your dad?”

  I stop toying with her anklet and focus on the carpet beneath us as her question echoes in my head.

  My dad.

  Where the hell do I even start?

  Picking up on my prolonged silence, Lilah backtracks.

  “Sorry, you don’t have to tell me about him. I was just curious.”

  “No, it’s fine,” I speak, and my voice is a lot gruffer than I expected. I swallow the lump forming in my throat.

  Lilah reaches up to touch my face. Her soft palm cups the side of my face as she patiently waits for me to continue speaking.

  “My dad was a man about his business,” I start off before pausing to rearrange my next string of words. “He built his empire from the ground up and naturally wanted his sons to follow the path he had so diligently paved. For my brother, that wasn’t a problem. He’s a natural when it comes to every aspect of running of a business. He shadowed my dad every chance he got. But I never took an interest in that stuff.”

  Lilah’s focus hasn’t wavered once and I can tell she wants me to get it all out before she speaks up.

  With a deep sigh, I go on. “My father took my disinterest in the family business as a slap in the face. He couldn’t understand why I didn’t share the same values as him. He despised my art and called it a distraction.”

  I stop and shake my head at the memory of some of the things he had shouted at me on various occasions.

  “He said he would never support something lazy, unmotivated people chose to dabble in. So, instead he focused all his attention on pitting me and my brother against one another. Nothing I did could compare to what my brother accomplished. I’ll never forget Father’s Day when I was twelve years old…”

  Lilah speaks up when my words trail off.

  “What happened?” She asks carefully.

  “I made him a painting,” I scoff, recalling the memory all too vividly. “Worked on it for about a month in my mother’s studio until it was finally time to give it to him. When I gave it to him he just sneered and tossed it in a corner of his office. He and my brother were headed out to the golf course and he told me that the best gift I could give him would to be more like my brother.”

  Lilah’s gasp feels me with dread. The last thing I want is her pity. That’s not why I told her. Actually, I don’t know why I’m telling her. The words just won’t stop flowing once I start.

  “That must have been tough,” she says finally.

  “Yeah, something like that,” I tell her, resurrecting my invisible wall. I don’t do vulnerable and this woman has me wide open right now.

  But she doesn’t push. She just stares at me with those eyes that
make me want things that I’ve never wanted before. Things that I only want with her.

  “Thank you for telling me,” she whispers, kissing the corner of my mouth. “And thanking you for bringing me here. It means the world to me.”

  Her words hit me in the chest, igniting warmth in the previously hollowed-out space. I’ve never felt anything like this before and it’s confusing as hell.

  How did sneaking away for a good time turn into a heart to heart with the woman who was just supposed to be another box I checked off my bucket list? A bucket list that she blew apart. Now the only list I have is ways I want to make her come.

  “I guess we better get back,” Lilah sighs, sensing that our conversation is over.

  I’m thankful for her natural ability to read my body language so well. When she stands in front of me, I smile up at her mischievously because I know what’s coming.

  “Can I have my panties back now?” she asks cheekily, fisting her hands at her hips.

  Her dress shifts dangerously, almost giving me a flash of the part of her I adore the most.

  She feigns annoyance when I tell her that they’re better off in my pocket and I grab her hand pulling her back out into the hall.

  Lilah’s threatening to get me back somehow when someone clears their throat up ahead.

  My walk down memory must have conjured him up, because right there in the flesh is my brother.

  “Motherfucker,” I bite out.

  Instantly, I stop walking to watch his haughty approach. There’s already an annoying sneer on his face that I want to smack off.

  Beside me, I feel the second Lilah tenses in response to the shift in my demeanor.

  “Andrew,” my brother greets us coolly as he closes in. “Long time no see.”

  Thirty

  LILAH

  If you told me an hour ago that my world was going to come crashing down on me tonight, I would have laughed in your face and asked you what you were smoking.

  Tonight’s perfect.

  Absolutely nothing can go wrong.

  Holy shit was I wrong.

  As the gravity of this moment sets in, I shake my head for once again being so naïve to believe that the universe doesn’t have it out for me.

  I know the second that they come face to face exactly how they’re related. It’s all right there. Despite how utterly different they are, their similarities are impossible to ignore when they’re standing right across from each other.

  How the hell had I missed it?

  Was it willful ignorance or just plain blindness on my part?

  Even before Andrew speaks, I’ve already guessed that this is the brother he has such a strained relationship with.

  Edward. My boss. The man I’m working for in order to secure money for my project is my boyfriend’s brother.

  Fuck, fuck, fuck.

  I don’t mean to jump when Andrew starts speaking but it’s inevitable considering how fraught my nerves are at the moment.

  “Lilah, I want you to meet my brother. Edward, this is my girlfriend, Lilah.”

  It’s the first time I’ve heard him use that title to describe me, and while I should be rejoicing at the sound, I’m shaking in my boots.

  Edward is going to blow my cover in just one second and I suck in my last breath, waiting for my world to crumble.

  “Nice to meet you, Lilah,” Edward says without a trace of recognition evident on his face.

  My heart is pounding in my ears as palpable fear grips me, rooting me to the spot.

  Nice to meet you?

  What?

  Why is he pretending not to know who I am? As if this moment couldn’t get any more stressful, here he is playing games.

  He doesn’t give me the time of day as he focuses solely on Andrew.

  “I can’t say I expected to run into you here, Andrew. I thought you were too good for these kinds of events. What changed?” he sneers.

  The muscle at the base of Andrew’s jaw is ticking double time. His brow narrows and he gives his brother a look I’ve never seen before, full of animosity and contempt.

  Andrew’s grip on my hand grows tighter, pulling me closer to his side as if he wants to shield me from something.

  “I wish I could say it was good to see you, Teddy. But we both know that’d be a lie.”

  Edward snarls as soon as the name slips past Andrew’s lips. That same petulant expression he gives me when he’s annoyed in the office blankets his face right now.

  An eerie sense of déjà vu sends chills crawling up my arms.

  What the hell is going on here? I’ve stepped into the twilight zone and I know for a fact that I’m fucked whether I say something or remain silent.

  “I see not much has changed,” Edward remarks, sliding me a cursory glance. “Still running through pretty women like water.”

  His words hit me right in the gut which I’m sure is exactly what he intended. His implication that I’m just another woman on a long list doesn’t sit well with me.

  Even if I’ve been plagued by those same doubts myself. But I can’t concern myself with those thoughts at the moment. There are more pressing questions that need to be answered.

  Like, why the hell had Edward kept me on his brother’s account but not tell me it’s his brother? A brother he doesn’t even speak to regularly or seem to like? The animosity between these two is tangible and somehow I find myself tangled in the middle.

  A snarl of my own threatens to take over my face but I rein it in and clutch Andrew’s arm. I grip it a little too tight, pulling his attention away from Edward. He looks down at me and asks, “You okay?”

  With a jerky nod, I confirm that I’m fine. Even if my heart is racing a million beats per second.

  A nasty mix of confusion and horror cripples me, but I school my features into a watery smile. He doesn’t look anywhere near convinced but decides not to push the issue in present company.

  Edward is silently flexing his power and the smug look on his face makes my stomach churn as I anticipate the moment this is all going to blow up. The fizzy Champagne I drank earlier threatens to make a reappearance.

  “What are you up to these days, little brother? Still playing around with crayons in your basement?”

  His blatant disregard for Andrew’s talent makes me bristle, especially in the wake of the conversation we just had.

  Disgust turns the corners of Andrew’s mouth down into a scowl.

  “Why don’t you cut the shit, Teddy? You can try to cut me down all you want but it won’t change the fact that you’re a pathetic follower who’s always been jealous of me.”

  Edward’s face falters and he shows the first visible signs of discomfort. In a matter of seconds, he’s recovered and spewing more insults.

  “Jealous? That would imply that you had something I wanted—”

  “Oh, but I do,” Andrew states confidently as his body gradually relaxes beside me. “I have my freedom and that’s something you’ll never have as long as you’re playing the role of a puppet.”

  Sounding in control of the situation, Andrew goes on. His voice is clipped and calm as he appears to read Edward like a wide open book.

  “That’s your problem. You never developed your own identity outside of other people’s expectations and now you despise anybody who lives their life on their own terms because you were never brave enough to take that chance. That must be hard for you,” he finishes with a shake of his head.

  “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about,” Edward says in a tight voice.

  A rigid moment of silence passes between the brothers while I stand there feeling like a fish out of water.

  I need to get the fuck out of here. Where’s the emergency exit when a girl needs it?

  This is the most stifling exchange I’ve ever witnessed and it’s just growing worse by the second. The tension is radiating off them in waves and I don’t want to be here when the situation inevitably detonates right before my eyes.

&nbs
p; Here I am, in bed with one brother while working for the other one. How on earth did I get in the middle of this sibling rivalry?

  Someone should really make a movie about my summer. It’ll be a blockbuster hit because I can’t make up this crap. What the hell is going to be thrown at me next?

  The uncertainty of it all is starting to gnaw at my sanity.

  I spot Charli coming into view down the hall and my shoulders sag in relief. Luckily, the universe is throwing me a bone.

  “There you two are, I was just about to put out an APB—” she pauses when she sees Edward standing there. “Oh, hello.”

  He spares her a cursory glance, much in the same way he’d perused me earlier.

  “Good seeing you, Andrew,” Edward says. He turns on his heel and walks away without a backward glance, abandoning me.

  Charli looks to me for an explanation of what just transpired.

  “What was all that about?”

  I wish I knew.

  Thirty-one

  LILAH

  When I get back to the office the following week, I have no idea what to expect. The remainder of the Hamptons trip was uneventful and we didn’t run into Edward again. However, I was on edge until we left. My unease made Andrew worry.

  Every time he asked me if I was okay, I lied or gave him a placating smile to ease his concerns. In truth, all I could think about was what was waiting for me back in Connecticut.

  Had I ruined everything?

  Now that Edward knows I’m involved with his brother and my only client, will he give me the ax when he sees me? Is my dream of helping children over?

  And where exactly do I stand with Andrew? I had ample opportunity over the course of our trip to tell him that I knew his brother but I chickened out every time our conversations presented a natural opening. Now I feel like a fraud.

  I’m still confused about why Edward pretended he didn’t know me. Does he want me to fall in line and go along with whatever sick game he’s playing?

  After the way I saw him interact with Andrew, I’m not sure I want to be on his side. It’s one thing to have me working on this special project of his, but deception isn’t something I’m comfortable with.

  I have to tell Andrew, I’m just not sure how without blowing my cover and coming off as a liar.