Terri looked at Lily and then me. “Damn. Do you have a shot of whiskey I can put in my coffee? This just got juicy.”
I snarled my lip at her and shot her a go-to-hell look. I knew I recognized her! I must have seen her with Tucker one night when we all went out. “Wait. When I asked her who she was, she told me she was his girlfriend.”
Lily laughed. “Of course she did. She walked in, saw the two of y’all kissing, and probably got jealous.”
Shaking my head, I replied, “No, she couldn’t have seen us kissing. When she knocked, Tucker pulled away from me.”
“You were in the kitchen?” Lily asked, her brow quirked up as though she already knew the answer.
I nodded.
“Then she saw you through the window. He never shuts the blinds.”
My stomach twisted into a knot. “Oh my gosh. That little lying bitch.”
Terri laughed. “Score one point for the ex.”
“Wait, let’s go back a few steps. What brought on the kiss?” Lily asked.
Groaning, I dropped my head back. “Oh God. It’s so complicated.”
“Why? Because you’re secretly lusting after my brother. Doesn’t seem complicated in the least bit to me.”
Terri giggled then shot up. “Wait. Last night you had a grand plan to seduce Tucker. Tell me you didn’t put it into action. I mean, I get you only have three months to get married.”
Lily gasped. “What? Married? Holy shit, what am I missing? Okay, you need to do some explaining, Charlie.”
Looking back at them both, I sighed. I could go the long version or the short. Terri had already heard all of this, so I decided to go with the short. “My grandfather had a bylaw written in for CMI. If I was to inherit the company before the age of forty, in order to take control, I have to be married. And not just to any man, but to someone with specific requirements.”
Lily’s mouth opened and she yelled, “What!”
Terri held up her hands and said, “Girl, I was just as surprised. This is not the 1950s where the women are required to have a man by their side.”
I nodded. “I said pretty much the same thing.”
“Charlie, you have to be able to do something,” Lily replied.
With a shrug, I slowly shook my head. “If I try to take it to court, it could take months, and by then someone else will be in control, and God knows what will happen to the company. Even though I’m CEO, I can’t remove the bylaw because, well, it concerns me.”
Terri leaned forward. “I find it very hard to believe your father would have allowed that to be in there. I mean, look at how he pushed you and groomed you to take over that business. The last thing he wanted was for you to be tied down to a guy.”
I thought of Mr. Ricker and my stomach turned. “He told the VP to take it out, turns out he never did. He claims they never got the time to do it, which is bullshit. I’ve been racking my brain trying to think of how to prove he lied to my father and said it was done.”
“Your dad wouldn’t have checked to make sure it had been done?” Lily asked.
“Not with Ricker. For some reason, my father trusted him implicitly. Even though I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him.”
“Okay, get back to the marriage thing. Can’t you just hire someone, marry him, and then divorce him?” Lily asked.
I laughed. “No. Dear ol’ granddaddy stated that I had four months—which, by the way, started the day my father died—to be married. The marriage cannot be arranged, and there needs to be proof of a relationship. His only downfall was when he enacted this stupid law, he only required I be married for one year.”
“That’s a weird rule to have in there,” Terri stated as she took a drink of her coffee.
“I guess because back in his day divorce was so frowned upon. But it gets better. My hubby has to have a business degree and sit as a chair on the board to … help me … run the company.”
Lily stared at me like I had dropped a bomb on her, much like Terri had last night.
“Please. For the love of all things that are good in this world, tell me you’re joking with us.” Lily scoffed.
With a shake of my head, I replied, “I wish. I’m chairman of the board and CEO for now, but if I’m not married by December, Paul Ricker gets the position.”
They both gasped, and again Mr. Pootie put in his two cents with a drawn-out meow. Clearly he was as upset over this as we all were. “Yeah, piecing it together yet, ladies?” I watched as my cat got up and headed over to his window seat, clearly tired of this conversation. So was I, to be honest.
“That asshole!” Terri bit out.
Lily’s face looked concerned. “Okay, so maybe now we need to talk about you and my brother.”
“She wants to seduce Tucker and marry him.”
I shot Terri a dirty look.
Closing her eyes, Lily fell back against the chair. “This is not going to turn out well.”
“What are you talking about, Lil? They both like each other, yet they are too stubborn to admit it. Hey, speaking of, the kiss this morning?”
My chest squeezed as I thought back to the moment we shared together. With a smile, I bit into my lower lip, still feeling it tingle.
“Holy shit, Charlie,” Lily whispered.
My eyes lifted to hers. “I have no desire to get married. My life has always been about CMI, drilled into my head that I needed to be married to that, not a man. So, when Terri mentioned Tucker and I saw his business degree last night, I got an idea.” I gave a small shrug, knowing this could go one of two ways. My best friends would think it was an amazing idea, or they would tell me I was insane.
“The only man I could ever imagine being married to is … Tucker. This morning I woke up in his bed naked. Which, by the way, thanks for helping me out last night, Terri. You totally broke the girl code on that one. Never leave a friend down like that!”
Lily sighed. “Can we please get back to you being at my brother’s house naked?”
I nodded. “Right. Well he was washing my clothes because I had thrown up on them. Anyway, he told me to put something of his on. I grabbed a T-shirt and then remembered how much it turned him on that weekend we were together when I wore his shirt. I thought maybe if I could win him back over … seduce him … we could start dating. And … and then … we could …”
“Get married,” Terri finished.
Chewing on my finger, I nodded. “Anyway, I’m such an idiot around Tucker, always have been. I walked into the kitchen and tried to put my sexy on, but damn it all to hell, he looked sexy standing there, and it threw me all off balance. Then he smiled at me, his dimples popping out, and the next thing I knew I was on the floor in pain, then on his island while he looked at my knees. And then … we kissed.”
“A small kiss?” Terri asked.
My cheeks heated. “No. Far from small. Big. Fire hot. Like, he was up all against me, and I swear, if that bitch hadn’t showed up we would have been …”
“Stop! Ewww, gross. Please, I already have a visual in my head, thank you very much.”
I chuckled.
“So why did he look so mad at you when I picked you up? I get why you were upset, you thought he had a girlfriend after he kissed you.”
Terri chuckled. “You mean after they were all up in each other’s business?”
Lily threw a dirty look Terri’s way. “Shut. Up.”
“He wanted to talk to me, but I was still reeling over what had happened and the thought that he had a girlfriend. I might have said something about regretting the kiss.”
Lily and Terri both sighed. “God, Charlie. Way to break the guy’s heart again,” Terri said as she got up and headed into my kitchen.
“What? I thought he had a girlfriend!” I fell back onto the sofa and stared up at the ceiling. “Ugh. This whole thing sucks. How in the hell am I going to seduce a man who probably hates me even more now? It took seven years to get him to even touch me again. I only have a few months to win him
over, get him to ask me to marry him, and show the board it’s a real relationship.”
Lily stood over me with a frown on her face. “Here’s an idea. Why don’t you tell Tucker the truth?”
I sat up and spun around to look at her. “The truth?”
“Yeah, Charlie. If you tell him what’s going on, maybe he’ll agree to it.”
Laughing, I looked between them. “Where have you both been the last seven years? If I told Tucker I needed him to pretend to be my boyfriend, then we had to get married and stay married for a least a year, he would laugh in my face. He’d probably enjoy watching my pain and suffering.”
Lily placed her hands on her hips. “Or … he would do it because deep down inside you’re both crazy about each other.”
My thumb came up to my mouth, and I started chewing on my nail. “I don’t think I can take that risk.” As I lifted my eyes up to them, they pooled with tears. “If he said no, I’d lose everything.”
Terri dropped to her knees and took my hands. “Oh, honey, he’s not going to say no. Deep down Tucker really cares about you.”
I lifted my eyebrows. “You don’t think he’ll say no?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so.”
Turning over her shoulder, she looked at Lily. “What about you, Lily?”
When Lily looked up from her phone, she frowned. “Um. I think being honest with him is the best thing you could do. If you’re not, this could turn bad really quickly.”
“Is everything okay, Lily?” I asked.
With a heavy sigh, she looked at me. “Yeah. Sorry. Um listen, I’ve got to run, honey. But I agree with Terri. Just tell him the truth.”
Quickly walking over to me, she kissed me on the cheek. I reached up for her arm and looked at her. “Promise me you won’t say a word to Tucker about this.”
She rolled her eyes. “Oh God, Charlie. You’re going to ask me to lie to my brother?”
I stood up. “No. I’m just asking you to not share what I shared with you this morning. Let me handle this my way.”
“This is not going to end well if you keep the truth from him. I can’t watch you hurt him again.”
Terri agreed. “I’m with Lily on this one, Charlie.”
My heart sank. I knew if I told Tucker the truth, he would turn down the idea. I’d hurt him too much for him to ever do anything for me. I had to do it this way. It was my only hope of keeping control of my father’s company and following through with my promise to him. I had to seduce Tucker and make him see he could trust me again. The irony of me trying to get the man to trust me while I built our relationship on a lie wasn’t lost on me. A strange pain in my chest hit me, but I pushed it away.
“I don’t have any other choice,” I whispered.
Lily’s shoulders sank. “You do; you’re just too afraid to pick the right one.”
GINA LEANED AGAINST the kitchen counter with a smug expression on her face when I walked back into the kitchen from my room.
“You’re still here?” I asked, pulling out the orange juice.
“What in the hell did you ever see in that woman?” she asked.
I ignored her.
“I mean, the way she was hanging all over you when I walked up.”
“I’m pretty sure we were both hanging all over each other, Gina. What else do you need? I’m not really in the mood.”
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I took it out to see it was Lily.
Traitor. She’d come and picked up the enemy.
Lily: Charlie freaked because Gina told her she was your girlfriend.
Charlie thought you were about to cheat, and that’s why she bolted.
What in the hell?
My angry gaze lifted from my phone and landed on Gina. She had the nerve to smile.
“You fucking told her you were my girlfriend?”
Her smile dropped.
“Gina! Answer me!” I shouted.
“I was kidding. When she asked me who I was, I said it in a playful way.”
A playful way. Holy shit.
“Get out of my house and don’t you ever come back.”
“Tucker, baby, please.”
Gina moved toward me, her arms reaching out, but I shook my head. I knew months ago things were over between us. Why it had taken me so long to kick her ass to the curb was beyond me. We had nothing in common.
“Get out.”
She shook her head. “Let me explain. If we could only—”
Taking her elbow, I pulled her to the door and grabbed her backpack, pushing them both outside.
“Get. The. Fuck. Out! And don’t ever come back or try to contact me.”
Turning, I rushed up to my bedroom to get dressed. I knew what I had to do, and I wasn’t about to wait a minute longer.
I STOOD OUTSIDE Charlie’s penthouse. What in the hell was I even doing here? For the last seven years the two of us had exchanged jabs, dirty looks, and heated glares. Most of the time they were sexually heated, but we both ignored it. She walked away that weekend, never looking back. I knew why; Lily had told me, but it still didn’t help with the hurt and anger that she just wasn’t honest with me … that she didn’t think I would support her and help her build her career.
Seeing her this morning brought all those feelings I’d locked down right back up to the surface. I had never wanted a woman more than I wanted Charlie and at the same time, I refused to open my heart to her again. Especially knowing she had planned to deceive me.
But here I stood, outside her place, getting ready to jump full into this little game she played. I felt like a dick, but a small part of me knew why I did it. If I could get any part of her, even if temporarily, I’d do it.
Knocking, I waited for her to open the door. I figured she would open the door and then slam it right in my face. However, when it opened, she frowned and let me in. I was surprised. Of course, she was on the phone and distracted. She was talking business. Christ, it was Saturday, and she was taking a business call. Guess she has a lot of pieces to pick up after her parents’ funeral.
I rolled my eyes and looked around her place. It was cute. “Charming” would be the better word. It looked as if Charlie liked antique furniture and the colors blue and white. My eyes wandered around the room. I could tell it had been remodeled, and Charlie stayed with the charm of the original building. I couldn’t help but smile … Seemed like we had something in common.
Feeling something at me feet, I looked down and let out a terrifying girly scream.
A pillow hit my head, causing me to look over to Charlie. She leaned against the giant windowsill looking beyond pissed off. When I glanced back down, I saw a cat. A cat that had been shaved.
Yes. I said shaved.
“What in the hell happened to you?” The cat looked up at me and if I hadn’t known any better, I would have sworn the little fucker gave me a dirty look. I hated cats. Well, “hate” might have been a strong word.
No … I hated cats.
“Listen, Paul, it’s Saturday afternoon and you and I both know this is a bullshit call of yours. This can wait until Monday, so until then, I’m through with this conversation. Unless it’s an emergency, I’m off the clock. Yeah, well, that was my father. It’s my company now.”
My cock jumped in my pants at how she talked to this douche with authority. It was hot as hell.
She frowned at something this Paul guy said to her.
“Have a good day.”
Jamming her finger against her phone, she took it and acted like she was going to throw it across the room. Instead, she held her hand up, tossed the phone onto the sofa, and dramatically let out a scream so loud I nearly jumped ten feet into the air.
“I hate that man!”
My brows lifted.
“Better him than me.”
Her angry gaze snapped over to me.
Shit.
“Get out of here!”
Lifting my hands, I shook my head. “She’s not my girlfriend, an
d she hasn’t been for months. She said she was only kidding when she said that to you.”
Charlie laughed. “Oh, yeah, right. Bullshit. She said she was your girlfriend … who kids about stuff like that?”
I shook my head and walked over to her, desperately wanting to pick up where we had left off. This woman drove me insane.
“She’s not.”
Charlie was pressed against the large window that overlooked downtown Austin. She looked sexy as hell, and I wanted to crawl back into her. She’d opened a door I thought had been closed and there was no fucking way I was going to let her slam it shut on me again. Right now, I didn’t really give two shits that she was using me. I’d use her right back—and enjoy every minute of the abuse.
“We need to talk,” I finally said.
She pushed off the window and headed into her kitchen. “About?”
“This morning.”
“What about it?” she casually said, glancing over her shoulder at me. I saw it in her eyes though. She wanted me as much as I wanted her. Fuck any plans she had, I knew Charlie wanted me. A small part of me was glad I was the one she was trying to trick into marrying her. It meant she had feelings for me.
“If Gina hadn’t walked in on us, I’m pretty sure we would have fucked.”
She stilled for a moment, and I wished I had used a different word.
“I guess it’s a good thing she walked in then, isn’t it?”
“Is it?”
Turning toward me, she had a mixed look on her face. Half hope and half fear.
“Are you asking me if I thought it would have been a mistake to sleep together?”
“Yes. You seem to like making that accusation when it comes to us.”
Her lips pressed together, and I realized I held my breath while waiting for her to answer.
“Yes and no.”
My head jerked back. “What the hell kind of answer is that, Charlie?”
“An honest one.”
I stared at her, waiting for someone to jump out and tell me this was all a joke. That the woman I had pined over all these years, the one who had consumed my every dream it seemed like, the one I had jacked off to more times than I wanted to admit to, was actually standing here possibly going to give us a shot. However, I knew that wasn’t reality. Reality was she needed a man to marry, and that man was me. Maybe I should have been flattered. Maybe deep down inside she truly did want a relationship with me, but then the truth of seven years ago hit me.
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