by Ali Parker
He picked up his coffee and walked to the door, opening it and stopping short. The sound of Bethany laughing with a guy left his blood running cold.
Stop it. It's nothing. Don't get paranoid and fuck things up further.
Moving out in the hall, he took a quick right and walked the long way to Mr. Talling's office so that he could peek into the audit room where the staff were. Bethany's grey suit looked so damn good on her, and yet she had no clue just how beautiful she was.
It's not like he had an opportunity to mention it to her yet. They had to be careful of showing too much of their relationship in the office, but it was damn hard not to pull her aside and make sure she was all right. He could only hope that she was headed to his office earlier in an effort to do just that.
"You need something?" Patrick looked up as Damon stopped by the open door.
He glanced over his shoulder toward Delilah. "The meeting is in that corner office down the hall. Get the lights on and I'll be right there."
"Yeah, no problem." She walked off, and Damon turned back to the room, unable to let his gaze rest on anyone but his woman's.
"Beth, you wanted something earlier?" He pursed his lips as warmth spread through his stomach, infusing the goodness of what could be between them. He was fucking things up and felt like a fifteen-year-old cock-head when they were together as of late. Why he couldn't get himself in check and try harder was a concern. That coupled with the weight of getting married almost seemed too much until he was standing in front of her. Then it all made sense.
"Nope. I'm good." She glanced up from the papers in front of her and flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder.
"Can you come here for a minute, please?" He turned and walked back to his office as he sucked a shallow breath through his clenched teeth. His cock twitched in his slacks, his pulse quickening. The woman had a strange power over him that made little to no sense.
She walked into the office and he closed the door. "How is your stomach?"
"I'll live." She was cold, her emotions on lock-down. He had fucked up.
Some part of him wanted to poke at her and start the fight they were headed toward just to get it over with, but he couldn't push them closer to the edge of ending things. He didn't want that at all.
For her to grow up and act a little more mature? Sure.
For her to understand the sticky situation they were dealing with over him being her boss and her brother and her lover? Yes.
But for it to end? Never.
"Hey." He reached out, but she moved back a step. "Beth."
"Don't." She glanced up, and the hurt in her face lanced his insides. "You leave last night in a pissy mood, get in my face about needing something for my stomach and then don't even wake me up to tell me you were going. I'm glad we saved the firm a little bit of money by rooming together."
"You know-"
Her expression hardened as her face turned red and she poked her finger into the center of his chest as she took several steps toward him, backing him up as she did.
Hot wouldn't cover it. The woman was blistering when she was angry. It aged her by ten years, pulling her toward a confidence that left him needy and aching all over. There was nothing he desired more than to meet his match in the office, in the bedroom, in the world, and he had. Now he just had to be patient while she grew up a little and took ownership of the woman she was going to become.
It was enough to keep him hanging on forever.
"And who the fuck is this Delilah chick? She looks exactly like Christa. Is that some kind of warning? Did you hire her because-"
He gripped her wrist and pulled her flush against him before turning them and pressing her tightly to the full length windows that ran the length of the room.
"Hush. Dad hired her, and she's nothing to me." He leaned down, running his nose along the sensual line of her neck as his cock throbbed in his slacks. "God, you turn me on so fucking much. How? How do you keep pulling me back with this horrid desire to strip you down and cover you in kisses?"
"Pull you back?" Her blue eyes moved across his face as he leaned back a little, but kept his hands locked on her hips, his front pressed to hers.
"I didn't mean it like that. Don't get even more sensitive. I just needed a minute with you." He leaned down to kiss her, but she turned her face away.
"Move. You're not at all the man I fell in love with. Back up."
"What? No. I'm exactly who you fell in love with. You're expecting someone different to show up because I gave you a ring, but that's not how it works. I'm still me. If you don't-"
"Don't you dare say it," she barked as tears filled her eyes.
"Beth. Come on, baby. You know I love you. I was there last night wrapped around you. I'm stressed and shit is hitting the fan. If you didn't work here, it would be a different situation altogether." He trapped her face in his hands and leaned down, taking ownership of her soft lips. She fought against him for a second before moaning and melting into him.
The kiss was long and deep, his pretty girl sucking on his tongue as her fingers slid down the sides of his chest and moved around to squeeze his ass. He rocked into her and licked at her mouth until she pushed at him.
"Stop. You're messing up my lipstick." She shook her head, still not showing any emotion that would lead to reconciliation.
"So?" He kissed her again roughly. "Let's get through today and go out tonight. Just you and me. Last night sucked, as has most of this week. I don't want you hurting."
"Then stop being a dick." She pushed at his chest and adverted her eyes from him. He was losing her.
"Hey." He gripped her chin and forced her to look up at him. "You're mine. No matter what happens between us or what silly little bullshit storm we deal with. We made a promise to each other. Remember?"
"Who is Delilah, Damon? Is she Christa's sister?"
He sighed and moved back. "Yes. She's her twin."
"Right. Awesome." Bethany ran her hands over her breasts as she smoothed down her shirt and Damon's stomach tightened farther. Stripping her and making her forget everything but him sounded like such a good idea, but it wasn't the time or the place. Surely Mr. Talling was already waiting with Delilah for him.
"Dinner tonight. We can talk about all of this."
"Yep, 'cause I'm not sleeping with you again until we do." She turned her back to him and walked toward the door.
"Excuse me?" The lust that pumped through him moments before dissipated. Did she think he was a pet to be rewarded with her body when he behaved and not otherwise? Hell no.
"You heard me. I want this thing between us, but I'm starting to feel like I'm the only one that does." She walked out and closed the door behind her.
He growled low in his chest and pressed his hands to his face as he moved back toward the window and groaned. She was young, inexperienced, immature and so fucking hot.
"So damn difficult." He ran his hands down his face and took a shallow breath before calling his dad and dropping down into a chair.
"Morning, son. Everything okay?"
"Yes. We're here and I'm about to meet with James. The team is fully engaged, but I'm not calling about work." He sighed and let his eyes move across the beautiful view of the city that the office afforded.
"What's going on? Bethany okay? Matt?" The mild panic in his father's voice forced him to get to the point quickly.
"It's me and Bethany. I love her, but fuck if she's not difficult," he growled and leaned back in his chair. "One minute she seems to accept me for the moody bastard I am, and the next, I'm hurting her damn feelings over and over again. It's exhausting and coupled with all this work bullshit, I'm starting to wonder if I did the right thing."
"By proposing?"
"Yes, Dad."
"Only you can answer that. Having your significant other at the office with you isn't the most ideal situation, but Bethany is a smart girl. She'll hold her own if you give it to her."
"I guess."
"I
know she is. Stop treating her like she's at the office all the time. Knowing you, that's what's happening."
"We have to be professional here. I refuse to be anything but," Damon huffed and got up. The only good thing about having yet another fight was his hard-on was officially gone.
"Right, but you don't have to be professional the minute you walk out of the office. Take her out and have fun. Let that angst go while you're at home, at the hotel, out for a dinner date. Don't carry it with you. I know how you are. I bet you're being office Damon all the damn time."
"I am not." He forced a chuckle as he realized that he was doing exactly that. Fuck.
"If you guys love each other, work it out. It will be fine. I promise. Just force her to be like you in the office, and force yourself to be like her anywhere else."
"All right. I'll be in touch." He dropped the call and swallowed the need to apologize a million times to her. It wasn't that he wasn't willing to, but that he couldn't figure out what the hell he was actually apologizing for.
Be more fun outside of work. He could do that. Maybe.
Chapter 16
Bethany
Maybe she was overthinking it. A few weeks back he'd been more of an ass than ever, and she'd been fine with it. For some reason, she half-expected him to change simply because of the engagement, but she hadn't changed much, right?
She packed up and walked out of the conference room after everyone else had skipped off to dinner thirty minutes before. Damon had texted sometime just after lunch for her to meet him out at the street around seven. After a long day of trying to catch up to where everyone seemed to expect her to be, a hot bubble bath and TV sounded good, but that wasn't happening.
As long as there wasn't another fight to deal with, she'd be good. Too much more and she was liable to crack and chuck the ring at him. There was only so much someone could be expected to put up with, even someone head-over-heels.
She took the elevator down and stifled a yawn as she walked out of the building. A sleek black Mercedes much like Damon's sat parked in front of the building as other cars moved by in the street. Bethany clutched her bag in front of her and tried to appear casual as she looked around. If Damon were in the car, he needed to roll the damn window down.
As if on cue, it rolled down.
Her breath swept from her chest as he smiled, neither of them saying a word.
Don't cry. Don't cry.
The five o'clock shadow that dusted his chin and cheeks left him looking more rugged than she could handle. How physical attraction could wash over the aches and pains and make them momentarily better was a mystery that she was too tired to think through, but it worked its magic on her.
"Hi, pretty girl. I have the night off and was wondering if maybe you'd like to go to dinner? Maybe grab a drink at a piano bar after and let me twirl you around the floor a little? Dessert could be optional, but might be fun. A long shower?"
"I thought you didn't dance unless forced to." A smile touched her lips as she trapped the pain of their roller coaster relationship deep inside of her.
"Only at a wedding or when-"
"Seducing a woman. I remember." She glanced down the street and shook her head. "I'm good, but thanks for the offer. I'm not looking for one night, but many. The guy who's supposed to come get me is... well, he's soon to be everything to me. I think." Tears blurred her vision.
So much for trapping it behind a cheeky facade.
He got out of the car and moved to stand in front of her, his expression loving and filled with concern.
"Baby. I'm right here. You know we have a lot to work through."
"And a ring doesn't change that. I get it." She reached up and wiped at her tears angrily. "I wish dinner and dancing were the cure-all for the hurt inside of me, but it isn't."
"Can it be a start?" He touched the side of her face and licked at his lips. "Please."
It wasn't a request.
"Yeah. Sure." She touched his hand before turning her face to kiss his palm a few times. "Stop shutting me out, and stop being a dick. I've kept up with your rules and your demands and your needs. Give back a little before this thing falls apart."
He nodded stiffly, obviously not liking the idea of her taking control of the conversation or directly addressing the issue.
His problem. If it falls apart it won't be because I didn't give it my all.
She walked around him and got into the passenger's side of the car to find a pretty bouquet of red roses laying between the seats.
"What do you feel like for dinner? Seafood, steak, something else?" He picked up the roses and handed them to her. "For you."
"When did you have time to get these?"
"I made time." He reached over and touched her arm with the back of his fingers. "Let’s have fun tonight and try to leave all this angsty bullshit behind us for a while."
"I'll try."
"What can I do to change that trying to doing?" He tugged at a strand of her hair before leaning into her seat and kissing her softly a few times. "Where's my girl under all this drama? Is she in there? I want her. I need her. Tell her to come out and have dinner with me."
She nodded, not willing to push it any further. "Okay."
"Good." He dropped back in his seat, clueless. "Now, where to?"
"Let's go to the steakhouse Erica was talking about in Jamaica."
"You wanna fly to Jamaica?" He winked at her and reached for her hand, pulling it up to his lips and kissing softly. "I know the one. It's one of the best in the world."
"Good." She pulled her hand from his and turned to look out her passenger's side window. "I heard it rains here all the time, but it hasn't at all today, unless I missed it."
"You were trapped in a conference room all day." He brushed his fingers by her leg and pushed her skirt up a little before gripping her thigh softly. "You want me to stop by the hotel so you can put on something more comfortable?"
She glanced over at him and rested her hand on his, not wanting him to go any higher. The need to protect herself from whatever they were headed toward rolled through her violently.
"Yeah, that would be great actually." She forced a smile and reached to turn on the radio.
"You sure you're all right?"
"Yep. Just a lot on my plate right now." She crossed her legs in a way that forced him to pull his hand back. "I think the one thing I can't shake is why you wouldn't have told me about Christa's sister coming to work at the firm. I guess it's really not my business." She shrugged and kept her voice soft and conversational, as if they were discussing the color of the drapes in a house. "It just shocked me to see her there with no clue of who she was or that she was coming."
"I get that." A tenseness entered his voice that didn't belong there. It should have been her that was tense over the situation. Omission of truth was the same as lying, or at least that's the lesson he'd taught over her punching Sadie in the face and not saying anything about it. How was this situation any different?
She pulled out her phone and texted Matt as Damon sighed softly and put both hands on the wheel, squeezing tightly until the leather creaked in protest.
Bethany: Where are you?
Matt: At the hotel. What's up? You need me?
Bethany: Yes. I'm going to tell Damon I have a stomach ache. I can't do this tonight. Can we go somewhere undercover?
Matt: My chest hurts over this, but yeah, I like undercover.
Bethany: Mine too, but I can't keep up this fake shit anymore. I'm hurt and I'm sure it's my fault, but I need to get away from it for the night.
Matt: Text me when you're free.
The phone rang on the car’s console, and Damon tapped it twice. Ben's voice filled up the car as they pulled up into the driveway of the hotel.
"Hey boss man. We're all going to a great piano bar down the street from the office. You and Bethany should join us."
"Naw, man. We-"
"Just a second, Ben." She pressed mute on the dashboard. "You sho
uld go. My stomach is starting to get sick again. Seriously. Come back to me tonight and we can catch up."
"No." His expression tightened further as anger burned across his face. "I'm coming up with you."
"No. Really. I don't want to be sick in front of you. I love you." She leaned over and kissed him, but he didn't return the gesture.
"Beth, I'm not letting you be sick alone. We're in this thing-"
"Go. I need some time to myself. I'll text you if I need something. Let me be gross in peace." She forced a laugh and grabbed her purse and got out of the car.
He sat in the car, staring out the front window as she turned to wave at him. Nothing. It wasn't until she was standing in front of the elevator with tears running down her cheeks that she realized that she left the flowers he got her sitting in the front seat.
"Fucking great."
*
"I think you guys are putting way the fuck too much pressure on yourselves. My God, you just got together three weeks ago." Matt dipped his chip into the bowl of hot salsa between them.
Bethany sucked down another drink of her frozen margarita before answering.
"I know. I keep telling myself that, but some of the little things he's done that have hurt me seem to feel so damn big. So big..."
Matt reached over and squeezed her hand. "So let's talk about something else. You and Damon will figure this shit out. You're too right for each other not to, okay?"
"Okay." She glanced down and forced the hot lump of regret in her chest to go back down. They would figure things out... maybe. Hopefully. "Did you ask Erica out?"
"No. She's a piranha." He laughed as Bethany gave him a look.
"She's a great girl and someone that you would-"
"I know. I've heard it a million times. No is my answer. I don't want a woman like her. Honestly." He shrugged. "She's beautiful and leaves my insides shaking with white-hot need, but she's not the kind of woman I want to emotionally tie myself to."