His tongue swept over mine as his hand held the nape of my neck firmly and he kept the kiss running deep inside of our bones. And then he pulled off leaving me breathless.
“Good morning…oh God.” I added under my breath.
Maverick chuckled as I stumbled back into the seat at the island. It curved out to a u or c shape and had another chair at the end. He got up and went over to the stove as Jude sat at the other end with the morning paper. I was shocked honestly, that he read the morning paper. I didn’t do that, and I didn’t know anyone who did.
“Did you sleep well?” Jude grinned slightly to himself but didn’t look at me as he asked.
“I did. Thank you.” I cleared my throat nervously. It was weird, having slept so well actually.
I felt exhausted yet well rested at the same time. And to be sitting there in the midst of Jude and Maverick was intimidating, yet we had done so much together it was hard to be uncomfortable.
“You’re welcome. I always want you to be comfortable.” Jude winked at me and continued reading the paper.
“Thanks… what are you reading?” I asked curiously. I rested my head on my hand as I peered at him.
He grinned that wry, sexy smile of his and I had to keep myself from batting my eyelashes. His tattoos wrapped around each of his arms and reached across his wide pecs. The only bare parts of him were his abs and most of his back. The two of them were so imposing just being around me in the kitchen. But the weirdest part about it was I wanted them together. I didn’t think it would feel the same if it were only one of them… that was new for me.
“Stock reports for the day. Why, are you surprised I read?” Jude closed up the newspaper and smirked over at me.
I giggled nervously. “Honestly yes.” I bit my lip and let my cheeks heat out of embarrassment. I never knew how he would react and Jude was difficult to be around at first. They, of course, both seemed kind enough—decent men, but Jude was… well he was brash. Definitely the harsher of the two.
“I’m sorry.” I blurted out as couldn’t hold back my giggles anymore. Jude only shook his head once with a slight smile.
Maverick laughed over his shoulder at us and continued with the food.
“Don’t apologize, I always want you to be honest. But I don’t read for leisure, I only understand numbers anyway.” He slid the paper away and sipped his coffee. I watched as his lips curled around the glass and his throat bobbed as he swallowed it down. I wished I had tasted more of him—of them both. I never thought about giving men hickies before I met them.
“Oh. Sometimes I feel the same way about legal ramifications and clauses.” I murmured.
Jude grinned at me his eyes softened. “You’re cute, Henley.”
I almost frowned. “Cute?” I gaped.
He and Maverick laughed together.
Maverick turned and handed me a cup of coffee, steaming and it smelled heavenly.
“He just means you’re… actually, cute is a good word.” Maverick said.
He plated food for me and sat with me and we all started eating. It smelled amazing and the eggs were so fluffy, the bacon not too crispy, but—
“Cute?” I asked again.
Maverick grinned down his nose at me and swallowed. “You’re adorable Henley, we both think so. It’s why we were so drawn to you in the beginning.”
I sighed teasing them, “So you acquired me because you thought I was cute and adorable?”
“Wow, you really are a lawyer.” Jude said through a full mouth.
“It’s just I was thinking more along the lines of…”
“Sexy? Gorgeous? Yeah, we think all those things too, don’t worry.” Maverick leaned in and laid a kiss on my cheek.
I finished the delicious breakfast and the coffee that seemed to be straight from Colombia.
“That sounds better.” I muttered with a bout of confidence. They both chuckled in response.
Jude grabbed the plates and came to stand on the other side of me at the counter. Suddenly I was surrounded again, by their aura, their scent, their sheer alpha prowl… it almost made me dizzy. But I just sipped more coffee nervously, sitting up straighter as I crossed my legs.
Jude touched my knee gingerly and uncrossed my legs as Maverick leaned in and touched his hand to my other thigh. I felt the heat taking over me again, all over my body started to yearn for them.
“We want to know how you enjoyed things last night.” Jude dropped his voice low. I didn’t have to really look to see both of them starting to tent their boxers.
I shuddered as I swallowed nervously, my confidence fading away. “It was… a new experience.” I whispered. They easily made my body so hot and bothered. I felt my nipples puckering and they were barely even touching me.
Maverick chuckled at my words and leaned in just to inhale my scent like he needed a hit of a drug. “One you would like to do again?” He asked.
“Didn’t the NDA say I had to?”
“No, we don’t want you thinking you have to do anything. It’s all for you. It’s what you want.” Jude responded.
I bit my lip softly and I realized I did want it. So badly. I wanted everything with them and it had only happened once. I wanted all of me to be—to be claimed.
“I do want to… do it again.” My gaze flickered between them both as I settled back on the white marble counter.
“Are you positive, Henley?” Maverick whispered in my ear and I nearly turned and kissed him as a response.
“Yes, I’m positive. I want to be with you both again.” I let out a deep gush of air. My body was getting so heated. So keyed up, that I didn’t realize how far down the rabbit hole I had gone.
The nerves in my body were alive and wanting more. Wishing their hands would move, do something. But they didn’t.
“Good. We’ll see you again this weekend.”
13
Maverick
There was nothing I wanted more than to have Henley on that table in the kitchen, eating her for breakfast. She was so damned gorgeous and enticing. I couldn’t get the taste of her out of my mouth, the feel of her out of my head. I could still feel her pussy throbbing around my cock, milking me for everything I was worth and more. I wanted nothing more than to just have her over and over but I had a company to run. We both did.
“What do you think?” I asked Jude. We took a private car to the office sometimes, so we both sat in the back-checking emails on our phones.
He scoffed. “About what, man?” He sighed like he was already done with the day. He was like that some days, not prepared to do anything. We both had our days but his occurred more often. I didn’t mind it though, because at the end of the day we both pulled our own weight.
“You know what.” I huffed.
He chuckled and clicked his phone locked. He shuffled in his seat as he grinned.
“She’s fucking…”
“Cute?” We both laughed, “why the fuck did you tell her that? You know women hate that.” I shook my head, or maybe he didn’t know. Idiot.
“Because she fucking is, I wasn’t going to lie. And she isn’t like other women. You know that.”
“Uh huh. But she is cute.” I joked.
“Fuck yeah she is. That pretty little body of hers is too.” He said, disregarding the driver but he wasn’t one for eavesdropping. And I think we had worse conversations before today.
“Yeah, I agree with you there. What should we do for her this weekend?” I asked him. We were nearly to the office and I would rather not discuss it there.
“I’ve got no fucking clue. It seems like another hurdle right now and I know we are about to walk into even more.”
I scoffed. “Yeah. That’s true. Let’s start with one thing and then tackle another.”
That’s how it always was with the business. There was always something to do, something to take over. I got used to it and so did Jude but sometimes it was still tiring like all things. We had high hopes for the company and still do, but sometimes i
t got overwhelming.
We arrived in the garage and walked through our private security entrance. We went to our respective offices and I started pushing my own papers. Old contracts, new agreements to look over, past agreements… it was just that time of the fucking month for us.
My assistant buzzed herself in around lunch time when I was knee deep in paperwork and prepared to think about Henley for the rest of the day instead.
“Sir, I have a matter to discuss with you.” Martha was always stoic and serious but she got the job done. Jude and I appreciated her for it.
“Go ahead, Martha.” I gestured to the seat for her to sit down. She cleared her throat and looked at me.
“I have some flags coming up in one particular account we share with Hatchett.”
I held back my groan because the company didn’t know about our bad investment yet. We wanted to keep it to just us because we weren’t sure exactly how it would play out. Things could go horribly wrong and the company would weather the storm, or they could put themselves in uproar and destroy the company for it.
Neither were exactly winning scenarios. The thing about the deal was that it wasn’t just that upfront investment, it was any off rolling and net profits from it we would be set to lose if things went badly. It could end up being tens of millions.
“Yeah… what about it?” I asked her. She rolled her eyes at me, but her sass just came with her job description at that point.
“It isn’t doing well, that is what is about it. Look sir, our profits are down thirty percent with them.” I looked at her print outs and graphic of our sales bar on her tablet and agreed.
I nodded slowly, hating seeing it somewhere else other than my own desktop.
“Look Martha, I appreciate you bringing it to my attention. But this isn’t news to us.” I sighed, leaning back in my chair to shove my fingers through my head in frustration. I opened up my blue suit jacket and swiveled my chair until I had the courage to meet her angry face.
“You idiots knew about this and didn’t tell anyone? Not even the partners? Not even the damned hardworking employees? This is everyone’s money, you invested company revenue stock!” She shouted.
I rubbed my temples slowly as I clenched my eyes together. “I know, Martha. We both know, just—”
She got up suddenly and slammed her tablet down onto the table. She disappeared before I could say anything and I stared after her like a dumbass. Moments later I heard Jude’s grumbling and her griping.
“What the fuck is this, the second inquisition?” Jude growled and angrily stepped in front of my desk. He looked down at me like I was the problem but a quick flick of my wrist told him that wasn’t even the case at all. He knew Martha had found out on her own the second he looked into my eyes.
“No, this is a wake-up call for the both of you. Do you have any idea the legal ramifications you are putting this company through right now by keeping this to yourselves? Millions could be lost, and even after that losses will continue to slide because you invested company stock and our profits will permanently be damaged by this now. Who even allocated these funds?” She asked at the end of her rant.
I stared back at her and so did Jude. Neither of us knew what we wanted to say to her. We still wanted to keep things minimal because it wasn’t adding up just yet. But she couldn’t know that. The company couldn’t know that. As soon as morale dropped, the company wouldn’t work the same way. We’d be screwed.
“No one allocated the funds Martha, we used profit shares to make the initial investment. It will run its course; the market has been up and down for the past few months. It will be fine.” Jude said. He said it so casually, like he wasn’t at all worried about what would happen to us. I didn’t know how he managed to do that.
“Oh Jude, you are so pin headed.” Martha sniped.
“Careful.” He responded with a tight jaw, but she just stood her ground and stared him down, regardless of the fact he towered over her.
“Yeah right. Look, I don’t know what you think is going on here, but it’s bad. I suggest you send it up to accounting.” She sighed heavily.
“I don’t think we will be doing that, Martha. Not because it is not a feasible idea, but because we aren’t at that point yet. Once the company gets wind of things, it will be a lot harder to keep their trust in the long run. There isn’t anything we can do at this point but watch the numbers, all of H&P doesn’t need to do that.” I said calmly.
She calmed down a little bit and nodded to herself it seemed. “Okay. That’s fine sir, I just wanted to bring it to your attention.” Martha said and turned to leave.
“Martha.” Jude clapped his harsh voice at her and I glared at him because it wasn’t necessary. “This doesn’t leave the office at all. This conversation never happened.”
She met his eyes and glared back before she shut the door behind her. I looked at Jude long and hard, he looked back at me and didn’t have a damn thing to say.
We could be in deep shit.
“So. What do we do here, oh wise one?” Jude took his jacket off and chucked it onto the couch.
Then he poured himself a scotch and sat back on the couch. He pressed the cold glass to his forehead first, before he drank it down and got up for another. He did that once or twice while we both said nothing. I stared at the numbers and knew something wasn’t adding up but I couldn’t place what. It truly didn’t make any sense at all.
Financial was always on point with their reporting. Accounting never missed a number, decimal, or comma. Human Resources kept everything in line. Our company had an amazing business model that Jude and I worked hard to establish. We couldn’t let this odd mishap take it all away from us.
“Jude.” I got his attention. He was back to laying on the couch with the scotch cup in his hand, leaning down and pointed towards the ground. A photographer would enjoy the picture but from my point of view it looked like he keeled over and died.
I laughed once and got up. He used to do this a lot in college, pretend he was sleeping to avoid the hard shit. I went and stood over him, knowing he knew I was there by then.
“Jude. I’m going to tea bag you if you don’t get up.”
He groaned and pulled back a smile before he got up. He turned to face me, and I sat on the table across from him.
“There is nothing we can do but hope for the best, man. That’s it.”
~
I spent the next few days buried deep in that account. Jude and I still worked out together as always, had breakfast most mornings. By week’s end we were buried deep in quarterly reports we nearly forgot about.
But we were in a damn conference room all day. Papers stacked the fucking table, cologne and ink scented the air and everyone’s cologne gave me a headache. It was why I worked alone in my office but I wanted to present the whole team player attitude to everyone. So did Jude, as much as he hated it.
“Sir I have this report from Hatchett, there is no folder for it.” A young intern got my attention. He was a recent college graduate and was pining for the permanent position we offered two of the interns out of ten. It was lucrative and hard but they all pushed through.
“Just give it to me.” I told him. “And Chad, hand me anything marked with this, will you?” I whispered to him. His eyes widened like I was giving him a special task. I suppose I was, in a way.
“Yes sir, I will.” He nodded and went off.
I got back to the work and Jude joined in. It was mostly matching numbers on numbers, making sure all streams of revenue were operating as they should be, if not better.
“Sir, it looks like our bonuses will be higher this year.” Someone from financial said to either Jude or me. I doubted it was Jude though, because he wasn’t nice to anyone.
Both Jude and I pretended we didn’t hear him because we weren’t sure who would even get paid this year.
14
Henley
I was once again a restless woman.
Even though the meeting
with Maverick and Jude went well and I signed a whole contract, I was still jobless. I couldn’t believe it.
The guys had… well I felt lied to. Could they really have only wanted me once, and that was it?
I doubted it based on their behavior the next morning. But it was a seed in my mind. I gave myself to them, let them fuck me and use me and they didn’t even call or email or fucking anything. What the hell?
I really thought they were stand up guys. I knew work was probably busy and they were running a company after all. But how could they be so busy as to not even call me? What if I was freaking out all alone, would they care? No.
I felt like a failure and settled into my couch one again for a movie. The plot twist was I had ice cream and could comfort myself with that. It was good, peanut butter. I had on sweats to match and everything.
But I kept thinking about them. Jude, the way he smiled at me all the time and Maverick, the way he always made me feel comfortable. They put effort into me, so why were they treating me like I didn’t matter?
I felt dejected and alone.
I was two episodes into the riveting crime show when the door keys jingled. I hadn’t heard that sound in so long I almost cried.
When last had I seen Denton, my best friend and roommate? I didn’t know. I stood and greeted him at the door. I probably looked desperate.
“Hey babes, I get an entryway greeting!” Denton smiled and hugged me.
We had been friends so long. He made me feel safe and loved, I didn’t get that from anyone else.
Denton was muscular, a very high build type and it made him stand out in the fashion world. He had dirty blonde hair, always nicely cut and highlighted. He was very good looking and broke women’s hearts everywhere.
“Yes, I missed you!” I hugged him so tight, wrapping my legs around his waist and my arms around his neck. He even smelled the same and it was all so familiar.
6+ Us Makes Eight_A Teacher and Single Dad Romance Page 25