I eavesdrop on the conversation on the way out the private elevator, and I’m not reluctant to admit I almost smiled when he agreed to someone coming with Emily. That can only mean Forbes. It might finally be my chance to get through to her.
We arrive around seven going to the back room where we always stay. I eye the dartboard remembering the last time we were here. I take my first few drinks, eat the doughy pretzel bites, and go off on my own. In my solitude, I think about what I might say to Forbes if she is the one who’s coming.
If I give everything away, I’m inclined to think she will become more distant. If I can get her to tell me, get her to give up some of her walls, then I might be in better luck.
I’m reminded it doesn’t run out when the black doors slide open, and Emily comes in with Forbes. Emily goes right to Carson, and they neck like no one is around. Forbes makes a face and is distracted by Evan. He says something and then points in my direction. She tilts her head and locks eyes with me. I stop staring at her sparkly blue dress and silver heels and get stuck in her eyes instead. The green comes out more with the black liner she has around the rims. Her lips are glossy, more so the closer she gets.
“Hey.”
“Hi.”
“You missed me?” I narrow my eyes at her.
She glides toward me. I lean on the wall, and she stops a few inches from me. I stare down at her, tilting my head, so I see her eyes better. I’m not sure how tall she is, but with heels, her head stops under my chin, and she cranes her neck to look into my eyes.
“No.”
“Well, you came knowing I’d be here.”
“I had no idea. Emily asked me. I expected you to be wallowing or something.” Her tone descends with condescension.
“Hmm. Sounds accurate.” The corner of my lips twitch, hers purse tighter.
She reaches around me and drinks the rest of my beverage down. I watch her lips curl under the glass, and her tongue darts out over her lips when she does.
“What game are you playing, Forbes?” I lean into her, inhaling her soft, intoxicating scent. The woman is like a siren, and I’m a hopeless man at sea.
“I’m not doing anything.” She sighs.
I frown at her as my fingers fly to her wrist running along the inside. Her breath hitches and her brow tightens, but she doesn’t move away. I see my brothers over her head. Carson is playing pool with Evan and Holden, Emily none the wiser to us.
My hand closes around Forbes’ wrist, and I’m tugging her out the back door before either of us can blink.
“What the hell?” she shrieks. Outside the room, there is a dark hallway, narrow and closed off to the rest of the place. It must be a service access or something. It smells of alcohol and grease.
“Your dad, is he Adrian Walters?” I pin her to the wall, my hands beside her head, her eyes widen in shock going white around the edges.
“Dylan—”
“Is he?” I growl.
“Yes, he is my father.”
“And he—”
“He’s dead,” she snaps.
I swallow hard, my tongue flicks out to moisten my lips, and I exhale sharply. My eyes fleet around hers. I don’t know why the connection isn’t coming to me.
“I have a faint recollection. I know he used to work for us.”
“For you.” She presses toward me, and my body doesn’t move. She groans under her breath, her eyes training on mine.
“What… what does that mean?” My brows turn up, and she bites down on her lip as her eyes avert from mine.
My breath falls short tightening with every second. I feel her chest brushing against mine when her breath comes rapidly, fuller every time, catching her breath almost, from what, I can guess. My lips inch closer to hers, and her head tilts up to mine. It’s like she can’t bare for it to be happening. I know she can’t for some reason, she can’t stand that she wants me.
“Tell me what it is that makes you hate me so much.” I’m not close enough. I can’t see her eyes sharpening, her pupils dilating.
“And pander to your declining self-identity? I don’t think so.”
“Why do it then?” I move my right hand to the curve of her thigh where her dress stops high above her knee. Her breath hitches, the soft skin of her throat bulges when she swallows.
I press my hips to her, hitting above her navel when I do. I haven’t felt a rise this deep in my core in a long time, my cock threatening to ignore all laws of appropriate human contact.
“Because…” she whispers.
“Because?” I pry, itching at the bit for a break in her solitude.
“I wouldn’t… I—”
Fuck it.
I cut her off and press my lips to hers like I’ve been dying to do since I first saw her delectable lips and heard her voice dripping with hate for me. I guess the line is very, very thin. We prove it to each other when our lips tighten around each other, and she moans into my mouth. My fingers slide into her silky hair latching her to me.
Her hands fist against my chest before they flatten out and slide up over my shoulders. All her resolve fades away when she presses her body to mine stretching up on her toes to do so. My body takes over when I hitch her up onto the wall, her knees come around me, her legs latching around my waist. Her fingers dig into my jacket underneath the lapel to press into my skin through my thin shirt.
I turn my head tilting my lips over hers. I part them, my tongue dancing over hers as she tries to fight me for the upper hand. I hitch her dress up higher and grind myself into her heat, and she loses.
I kiss her harder, and she kisses me back.
She keeps losing.
14
Forbes
God, he wins…
The battle, not the war.
My body is open terrain for both of us to fight on, both trying to get the upper hand, be the stronger one, and then both losing. Because neither of us really want to win.
Dylan’s lips are a fury on mine, coaxing my lips apart and sliding his tongue over mine, over and over as I push back. His lips are so soft, the hair of his beard prickles against my nose and chin. As much as my mind protests, and I feel like I shouldn’t be doing this, I still kiss him back and tighten my legs around his waist.
When I make any attempt to relent, he digs his hips up against me, my sex mere inches above his cock and stopping at the space below his belt. I inhale sharply when I need air, my lips going lax as he kisses my mouth until my lungs fill with air, and I start to need his lips on mine again.
My fingers dig into his shoulders underneath his jacket holding him close. His strong hands grip the curve of my ass on my hips and squeeze hard as he deepens the kiss. This isn’t a good idea. I know it, and yet I continue. It’s bad enough he has already discovered who my father is, but even worse that he has no recollection, or if he does, he wants to get it out of me first. I know the game because I am playing it.
My only advantage is that I get the satisfaction of leaving him in the dark, of holding the truth to myself. But if I tell him, if he gets the chance to wonder about making it right, it’s over. Because part of me, the part that is deep down being kissed by him, knows he might be able to.
“Okay… okay.” I breathe deeply. Dylan pulls away, his lips ghosting mine until his forehead on mine separates them quickly. The heat of our breath pulls between us, and he holds me tightly at my waist as he sets me down on the ground. My heels dig into the wood floor scraping when I try to stand up straight.
His torso pushes off mine, but his lower half remains as he looks down into my eyes.
His cold, gray eyes are blazing, his lips puckered and parted. His beard, always kept and flat, is fuzzed and curling from where I ran my fingers through and around his lips. The waves of his hair are the same, messy and off to the side instead of slicked back and matted down. Dylan looks like a quell of thunder and lightning trying to strike me down.
He lifts his fingers to my face. Though I don’t flinch away, I feel I shou
ld.
But I don’t.
The soft pads of his fingers brush across my cheek, and my breath hitches at the contact after finally calming down. He drags them across my cheek, picking up my loose hair on the way and tucking it behind my ear. Coming back down, his thumb traces the lining of my bottom lip probably where my lip gloss has smeared. His lips are shiny when his tongue darts out to moisten them. I bite down on my lip and lick it before I let out a breath of air feeling cold when his hand leaves me, and he steps back, so we’re apart.
“What are you staring at?” My voice is sharp. The left corner of his lip twitches in response.
“A disaster.” He deadpans.
I scowl. “What the hell does that mean?” God, the nerve of this man… and I allowed it by kissing him, rubbing my body on him, letting him take control over me.
“You know what it means. For me, for you… I’m trying here, but you’re dead set on going about this alone. I’m part of whatever it is that you feel toward me, so I should be clued in on what it is before I make any decisions.”
“Decisions?” I stop him.
It may feel worse that he is right. I want to be an adult about this, but that went out the window with the severity of what happened. I’ve reverted to grade-old tactics protecting myself from losing the only thing that makes sense to me right now.
“Yes.” He leans in close, his hand above my ear hoisting him up. “Like if kissing you again is a bad idea or doing a lot more than that. Or…” his lips press to my ear where he nibbles on my lobe, and my body relaxes as I mewl subconsciously. “I get what I need on my own, so you can’t keep me in the dark anymore.”
I frown. He pulls away from my neck and stares back into my eyes.
He should already know what happened. The fact that he doesn’t is equally sickening as it is incredibly odd. Just as he doesn’t know much about me, I don’t know anything about him besides what the public knows—people in the business world—his brothers run the empire his father started, he stays out of the public eye and hides even more. The gossip mill claims he disappeared for months after his Dad died. Time has it that shortly after he returned to work, my own father was fired.
I realize I am staring into his eyes, and he is doing the same to me.
His lips harden, pressing together as he rubs down his beard with his hand.
“Why are you so concerned with it anyway?” If I had it my way, I wouldn’t have to see him at all. But Emily is my best friend, and he is effectively her family, and I can’t keep compromising our friendship over something that will probably last a lifetime.
“You know why.” He gravels, his voice deep and sharp. It runs right to my core, nothing like the way I had to imagine it when I was desperately trying to ignore a silent need for him.
It isn’t silent anymore—it’s loud and pounding my eardrums, daring me to ignore it.
Daring me to do something about it.
Of course, I know why, but I still can’t come to terms with it or even try to. He wants me, and I can’t imagine why because I’ve been as vile as I possibly can. I tried to make it clear that I hated his voice, his presence, everything that comes with him… but we both know that isn’t true anymore.
It doesn’t work anymore. I want him too, and it might be more than physically, more than kissing him like the ship is going down.
Standing here now, cloaked in his dark, brooding presence, battling my inner demons where he can’t see, I’m more than enamored calling into question the one thing I believed.
What if Dylan isn’t a bad guy?
What if I’m wrong?
“Do what you have to. I’m not obligated to key into your road to redemption with me.”
“Who says I want redemption?” He cocks his head, eyes gleaming like he should be smirking or smiling. The most I have seen from him is a twitch of his lips threatening a smile. I can’t drift and think about how sad he might be—if he becomes a person, I become lost.
“Well, what the hell do you want then? If you can figure it out on your own, or stop pretending that you don’t know, then you don’t need to terrorize me about it.”
“You feel terrorized? Is that what this was?” He presses his body to mine, and my back arches on contact, filling the gap. I swallow hard and clear my head.
“No, I…” His finger lays over my lips, and I inhale sharply.
“You’re a beautiful woman, Forbes. Don’t taint it by playing dumb.”
My eyes widen, and I think for a second about biting his finger off.
Lucky for us both he moves it away, and I can relax only a little.
“I… it doesn’t matter. It was a mistake, and…”
“Don’t say it won’t happen again because I know you’re not a liar either.” He sighs. “Look, Forbes. I’m going to figure this out because you’ve got problems that clearly involve me, and I have enough to deal with without adding that to it. I’m more than capable of resolving this myself, but something tells me you wouldn’t like that very much, and I’m out of strikes.”
“You’d be right.”
“I know. For what it’s worth now, I’m sorry. And I can tell you again when it matters.” He inches closer to me, and it’s hard to breathe with him taking over surrounding my space and thoughts.
But I can think enough to know how right he is. How screwed up is this? I feel like I’m betraying my dad somehow, that I’m going against the one thing keeping us together in his absence. With that, comes the aching possibility that I may be misguided.
That Dylan isn’t the cloak and dagger here, that no one is.
“How do I know you aren’t playing me?”
“You think I have time to do that?” He half chuckles, but it’s more of a break in his voice. “I’m not, Forbes. I’m sorry you think that’s the only way I would be interested in you.”
“Could be because I’m not interested in you.”
“Simple biology.”
“Yes.” I swallow, blinking rapidly.
Dylan pushes off the wall and away from me at the same time the door rushes open. He might have heard the click in the door before I did. Better that he did because Emily peeks her head out the door, smiling a goofy smile.
I’m going to get an earful out of this later.
“Hey, I couldn’t find you. I was about to leave.”
“Oh, you don’t have to wait for me. I’m sure you were planning to go with Carson.” I glance over at Dylan who walks around her and stares over her head at me.
“I… yeah, I was, but since we came together…”
“It’s fine. Uber has missed me.” I force a smile. I can’t be mad at her. I suspected it anyway. And I probably should have driven myself. Her and Carson live together, but their schedules aren’t the same, like tonight when Carson and his brothers came from the office.
“What? No, one of them can take you. Oh, Dylan can take you. Right?” She turns and nudges his arm. It’s clear in the way they interact that they’ve known each other for years. She’s close in age to him, and I imagine they hung out a lot too. But I wouldn’t know for sure.
“Yeah, sure,” he says.
“Great. Sorry, Forbes. We’re still on for dinner tomorrow, though. The big twenty-five.” She hugs me and skips off back behind the door as I confirm our plans. She always makes a big deal for my birthday since freshman year of college. Besides my dad, she’s the only one who has.
“It’s your birthday?” Dylan asks.
“Not yet. Just take me home, please.”
* * *
Dylan pulls up to my building and gets out of the car to open my door. It’s not surprising that he’s a gentleman. They all are, I’m sure. But I try not to pay attention to it.
“You don’t have to walk me up.” I stop at the banister of the stone staircase.
I look over at him, and his stare hardens at me.
The way he looks at me is… I wrap my arms around myself as a chill in the night air passes by.
&n
bsp; “I wouldn’t sleep right if I didn’t.” He nods his head forward, and I start walking, him behind on my coattail.
My unit is on the second floor, all the way down the end of the dark hallway. The lights try to be dim for some odd purpose, but I don’t understand it.
If I get this stuff with my medical bills resolved, then I might consider moving. For now, it works.
“Thanks,” I say to Dylan, fishing my keys out of my small purse.
“You aren’t going to invite me in?” His voice picks up, the most I get besides the usual monotone of his voice.
“No, what kind of woman do you think I am?” I get the key in, turning it to crack the door open.
“One under my spell.”
That gets me to laugh. I step inside and turn to face him holding the door open with my body. He leans over me in the frame, his stare blazing into mine. I want to tell him to go, and I want to remind myself that I shouldn’t feel these things.
I can’t remember how to.
“Goodnight, Dylan. Thanks for the ride.” I lick my lips feeling I should move and close the door, but my feet don’t get that message.
“No problem. I hope you’ll think about what I said.”
“What you said?” I arch my brow.
“You know what I’m talking about, Forbes.”
He leans down closing the space in a fast second to kiss me. I’m shocked for only a minute before I kiss him back despite the small protests in my head. My hand curled around my purse lays against his chest as he leans into the kiss, my lips part to let his tongue slide into my mouth and coat me with his taste. My senses swirl, lose their direction, and fall on him as I kiss this man in my doorway who I thought I knew, but that I really know nothing about after all.
15
Dylan
I leave Forbes’ apartment in a rush.
Around nine, early for me.
My brothers text me and find out where I went. I let them know and finish the drive home. I live closer to Forbes than I would have imagined, barely five miles.
Wilde About Dylon: The Brothers Wilde Series — Book Four Page 10