by Mia Carson
He stormed through the office. Ryan was talking, but Rhett tuned him out. He had no idea what his brother said to him, and frankly, he didn’t give a damn anymore. He shoved his brother so hard he staggered backwards into the office. He followed that up with a right hook, sending his brother falling backwards.
“Rhett,” Jeremy hollered, rushing in to try and break them up.
Rhett shoved him aside and went after his brother again. They scuffled, landing blows to each other, and wound up on the floor. It took Jeremy, Adam, and two other employees to pull them apart and keep them apart. Rhett spewed curses at his brother as Ryan wiped the blood from his lip on his jacket sleeve.
“Get ahold of yourself. She’s just one woman. You’ll find someone else, someone we all approve of.”
“I don’t want someone else!”
“You won’t have a choice,” he warned.
“Why not?”
“I told you, I own you. Without us—without your family—you have nothing, do you hear me? Not a dime to your name, not a company, nothing. You will be out on your ass.”
Rhett lunged for him again, but Adam and Jeremy held him back. “Asshole!”
“Maybe I am, but if that’s what it takes for you to figure your shit out then that’s what I’ll be.” He shoved the other employees off him and straightened his tie. “I expect to see you first thing at the main office tomorrow morning so we can talk about your future. And we’ll find you a new assistant, one we approve of.”
He yelled at the others to get out of his way as he left. Jeremy and Adam didn’t let go of Rhett until his brother was gone.
“Are you all right?” Adam asked.
“No, I’m not all right. Where the hell is Zach?”
“He didn’t come in today,” Jeremy told him.
“Good. When he does come back, you can tell him he’s fired. I don’t want to see him here ever again, understood?”
“Rhett, you can’t just fire him.”
“Yes, I can,” he growled. “I’m done putting up with him and his shit. I’m going out for lunch—a very long lunch.” He wanted to go after Freddie, but he needed a plan and there was only one brother who might be willing to help him with what he had in mind.
Rodney had rebelled in the beginning when their dad tried to get him to partner with Ryan and take over the family business. He wanted nothing to do with it and fell in love with a woman the total opposite of what their dad and mom hoped he would find. Unfortunately, tragedy hit when she was struck by a car and killed. Rodney was left alone without the love of his life. He was dragged back into the Macon fold and never escaped again. Rhett floored it through the city to the offices Rodney held in downtown LA for the marketing branch of the main company.
He breezed past his brother’s assistant and knocked loudly on his door as he opened it. “Rod?”
“I’m going to have to call you back,” Rodney said and hung up the phone. “Rhett, from your disgruntled and slightly bruised face, I’m going to assume Ryan’s chat with you did not go well.”
“No, it did not. He fired Freddie. She’s pregnant and he had the gall to fire her!”
“And he threatened to kick you out of the family,” he stated. “It sounds familiar.”
“Rod, I know you never found love again, but Freddie… this woman is the one I’m meant to be with and I have to find a way around all this. I can’t be without a job. She needs financial support for her sister and our baby and…” Rhett slumped over his brother’s desk. “I’ve never asked you for anything and I know I wasn’t there when you needed me, but I need your help. Please.”
Rodney tapped his chin in thought as Rhett waited for his second oldest brother to kick him out of his office or pick up the phone and call Ryan. “What did you have in mind?” he asked finally.
“Several things. Several very important things,” Rhett informed him.
“Well, let’s see how we can mess up our dear brother’s plans,” Rodney said cheerfully. “I’ll call for lunch. This could take a while.”
***
Freddie moped around her house for days. She’d cried nonstop the first day after getting home from the office. She’d trashed her living room and bedroom. She considered tearing the cabinets Rhett had fixed from their hinges, but sensed that was the hormones talking.
Rhett texted her every few hours, but she had nothing to say to him that didn’t come out sounding terrible, so she left his messages unanswered. If he called, she let the phone ring. Rosie tried consoling her several times, but the rambling old woman was at a loss as to what Freddie should do. She needed to find a new job. She was, sadly, too mentally unstable to even consider a new endeavor right now.
After a week, she finally managed to visit Clarice. She meant for it to be a happy visit, but instead, she broke down, and by the end of it, her baby sister was comforting her as she bawled her eyes out, crying over Rhett and the baby. For so many years, she’d been strong, but suddenly, her strength was gone. All gone.
Clarice handed her a tissue. “You should probably text him back at some point,” her little sister pointed out as if it were that easy.
“And tell him what?” she asked, her nose stuffy from crying.
“Tell him you love him,” she said. “I’m not sure why you both waited so long anyway.”
Freddie sat up, mopping up her face, and stared at her little sister. “What do you mean?”
“The first time I saw you both here together, I knew it. Everyone knew it,” she explained. “You never looked at Mack that way—ever—and he certainly did not treat you as well as Rhett does. He loves you, Freddie.”
“And if you’re wrong?”
“If he doesn’t love you, why does he keep texting you when you refuse to text him back?”
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispered, afraid, as she rubbed her belly. Soon, it would grow and she would see what their love created. “Have a baby? Be with a man whose family hates me because I’m not good enough for him?”
“Rhett thinks you are. Will you please call him back, and at least have him over to talk? You both deserve a chance to figure this out.”
Freddie hugged her sister and kissed the top of her head. “When did you grow up on me?”
“I didn’t, trust me, but you’ve sacrificed too much for me to not be happy.” She fiddled with the edge of her robe and shrugged one shoulder. “You carried the burden of Mom’s suicide for too long without me.”
“What? How did you find out?” she asked, panicking.
“I asked. I knew she wasn’t sick, not like what you said. She was like me and she couldn’t take it anymore. And I know you worry about me too, but I don’t want you to. I’m going to be fine,” she insisted, bobbing her head. “I’m going to be just fine, but only if you are, too.” She caught her sister’s hands in hers and squeezed them tightly. “It’s your chance to be happy, Freddie. Don’t waste it, please.”
She hugged her even harder, and the sisters sat on the couch in the sitting room of the home, talking quietly about their mom and the baby Freddie carried. They talked for hours as the afternoon turned into evening and night crept in around them. Clarice appeared clearer-headed than she had in a long while, and it lifted Freddie’s hopes that her sister would be strong enough to pull through on her own. She had to be. Freddie could only be her support, but Clarice had to make the change and prove to herself she could overcome this illness.
Clarice yawned and Freddie pulled her to her feet. “Come on, you should get some rest.”
“And you have a boyfriend to call,” Clarice reminded her sleepily. She stretched her arms over her head and rubbed Freddie’s stomach. “Night, little one.” She grinned and wandered towards her room, Theo trailing behind.
“Congratulations,” he whispered to Freddie as he passed.
“Thanks,” she replied and stood there for a long while, holding her flat stomach and dreaming of holding a baby in her arms with Rhett by her side. Her house fell
away and she imagined a different one, one they built together, the home they both so desperately wanted to have.
Freddie sucked in a deep breath as the images hit her over and over of the life she wanted for her and Rhett, together. No asshole big brother would scare her away from him. She would get home and call him and tell him to come over. She was still pissed about the bet, but she believed him when he said he’d called it off. And he loved her. That she felt for certain in every touch and every lingering kiss. Freddie had let life trample her too many times before. This time, she would stand up and fight back for what she wanted.
And she wanted Rhett.
She pulled her keys from her purse after she’d parked her car out front and hurried to get inside, fumbling for her cell at the same time. She dropped everything on the front porch, cursing her clumsiness and nerves. When she managed to get inside, she called Rhett, but it went straight to voicemail.
“Hey, it’s me, please call me back as soon as you hear this. I want you here and I don’t care what your brother says. I know what you feel and what I feel and this baby needs us both, and please, call me back,” she rambled.
Once the message was sent, she hung up and clutched her phone to her chest, begging for it to ring.
“Is that true?”
Freddie’s eyes shot open. Rhett stood in the doorway of the kitchen, holding the cute teddy bear from the first day and an even bigger bouquet of blue tulips. “Rhett.”
“I wanted to surprise you,” he explained, closing the distance between them. Each heavy step made Freddie’s breath come faster. She saw the cocky smile on his face, but underneath was a look of such raw emotion it brought tears to her eyes. She felt it as if his love reached out and held her in its arms. “I waited as long as I could, though I’ll admit, I think I drove by your house every night.”
“You did?”
“Yeah,” he said with a nervous laugh. “I was so scared, Freddie.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought I fucked this up,” he admitted. “I thought I lost the only woman I’ve ever loved and my chance to be a family with you and the baby. I… my brother isn’t me. I want you, all of you, and I won’t back down.”
Freddie set her phone on the table nearby. “Good, because I won’t let you.”
She reached out and grabbed his shirt, dragging him to her. The bear and flowers fell to the floor as he wrapped his arms around her and they kissed. She sighed at the feeling of being back in his arms. She’d missed him. God, how she’d missed him. Every inch of her body cried out for his love to swallow her as the kiss deepened. He tugged the band loose from her hair so it cascaded over her shoulders. He ran his fingers through it, then to her neck, caressing her shoulders and hugging her to him as if afraid he would lose her if he let go too soon. She sank into his warmth, tears of joy pricking her eyes.
“Rhett,” she whispered, muffled against his shirt.
“No, I get to say it first,” he whispered and leaned back so he could see her face. “I love you, Freddie, and I will never leave you.”
Chapter 12
There, he’d finally said it. The words were out. He waited for her to fulfill his nightmare and reject him. Instead, Freddie stood on her toes and gripped him by the back of his neck so their foreheads met.
“I love you,” she replied. Nothing more needed to be said.
Rhett scooped her up in his arms and carried her through the tiny house to her bedroom. Tonight was for the two of them coming together as one and admitting their feelings for each other. Rhett wasn’t sure the night held enough hours for what he wanted to do to Freddie, how he wanted to show his love, his devotion for this amazing, fiery woman. All week, he’d nearly broken down and begged her to come back to him, but he wouldn’t come back to her empty handed.
He had a plan, a plan he would share with her once they were both well-sated.
He hungered for her body. All those nights spent alone in his bed left him wanting so much from this woman he didn’t know where to start.
He laid her back on the bed, his lips finding their home against hers as he covered her with his body. She tugged at his t-shirt and slipped her hands beneath the fabric. She traced his spine, inching further up as his tongue danced with hers sensually. He kissed along her neck, sucking on her earlobe as she shivered for more. She pulled and he slid back so his shirt slipped off, giving her full access to his naked chest. He cursed when her fingers brushed feather-light across his chest, circling his nipples and lower to his ribs.
There he was, trying to make up for his actions by loving her, and she drove him insane by her simple touch. He grunted and gathered her hands at the wrists. She grinned wickedly up at him when he placed them over her head.
“Stay,” he grunted.
“Oh, like that, is it?” she murmured.
“Yes,” he agreed as he shoved up her shirt, pushed aside the cup of her bra, and drew one pert nipple into his mouth without mercy. She gasped, wiggling beneath him as a moan slipped from her lips. “Exactly like that,” he whispered around her breast.
He kneaded the soft mounds in his hands, sucking and teasing her flesh until she whispered his name on a frantic breath. Her back arched off the bed and he grinned as he ground his throbbing cock against her sex. For over a week, he refused to let himself have release, not until Freddie was back in his arms. He was dying to fill her again and knowing she carried his child only ignited the primal instincts in him more.
In a few easy moves, he lifted her shirt over her head and removed her bra so they were no longer in the way. His hands squeezed down her ribs to her waist, and when his lips reached her belly, he kissed it sweetly.
“The baby?” he asked suddenly. “Can we…”
She grinned down at him. “The doctor said everything’s in order, so yes. Yes, we can.”
He winked and licked a trail from the top of her jeans to the sides of both breasts. “Good, because you will be hoarse by tomorrow morning from screaming.” He took his time tasting her exposed flesh as his fingers massaged her body, tugging hard on her nipples until she cried out and her hips searched for his. He rolled her over and let his lips linger along her spine as he continued to move down her body. When he met her jeans this time, he reached under her to undo the button and zipper and dragged them languidly down her legs.
Her panties came off with the jeans and he held the globes of her perfect ass in his palms as his knee spread her legs just slightly. His hands smoothed up the inside of her thighs but didn’t go all the way, not yet. He kicked out of his jeans in a hurry and stretched out beside her. One hand snaked beneath her body to clutch her breast while his other spread her swollen and throbbing lips slippery from want. His cock twitched over how wet she was already, but he remained in control, for now. He rubbed her clit, circling the tiny nub, and her legs parted wider as she sighed. He nipped and kissed along her shoulders and back, rubbing himself against her thigh as he moved his hand. One finger dipped within her sheath, but he withdrew it to the sound of her aggravated moan. He repeated the motion, going in a little further each time, and each time he pulled out, teasing her to the edge of ecstasy.
She rolled to her side, pressing her ass against his cock, and he cursed, but his hand moved around to the front of her body, rubbing her cleft in lazy circles. She turned her head enough so he could devour her mouth as he would soon devour the rest of her. But she suddenly rolled him over onto his back and straddled his legs, holding his shaft in both hands.
“What are you doing?” he demanded, his brow arching. “I wasn’t finished playing with that.”
“No? Two can play the tease game.”
Her hands tightened as they moved as one down his shaft and back to the tip. He groaned, grabbing her hips, but she wiggled free and closed her red lips around his tip. He watched as she took him into her mouth, each inch that disappeared lighting another spark within him. She pushed her hands to his base, then further, and his hips bucked as she found the
hidden inches of his cock.
“Christ, woman,” he growled, his head flopping back to the pillow as his vision blurred.
She worked wonders with that mouth of hers, but he would not let her have all the fun. He picked her up and spun her around so he could lick and suck her clit. She trembled as she gasped, her mouth still around his cock as he held her to his face. As his tongue penetrated her body, she sucked harder on his shaft. He timed his movements with hers. Filling her two ways like this pushed him dangerously close to the edge. He nibbled her bead, sucking hard on it as she rode his mouth and hers pulled free of his body. He held her securely, not about to let her squirm away as he ravaged her, wanting to hear her scream in pleasure. Her lips throbbed against his tongue as her moan turned into a long, drawn out gasp before breaking into a scream. As the orgasm rippled through her body, he pulled his mouth free, shifted her body around, and rolled her over onto her back. He spread her legs wide, pressing them back into her chest, and thrust home in one clean move of his hips.
The deep angle let him fill her completely. She dug her nails into his arms as he drove within her, pushing her into the realm of ecstasy again in seconds. He moved his hand to her clit, rubbing it hard as his thrusts increased in speed, unable to hold back any longer. She arched her back and grabbed the edge of the mattress behind her head as they cried out as one. He forgot all sense of control and simply pushed until the orgasm claimed his strength and his body went limp.
Panting for air and drenched in sweat from their exertions, he sank to the bed beside her, his legs trembling and his swollen cock exhausted. Freddie’s hand found his on the bed and he brought it to his lips, kissing each knuckle in turn and then her palm.
“I missed this,” he told her. “I missed you so bad it hurt.”
“Same,” she replied. “You know, I actually thought this—us, what we were doing—would end well, but now… I messed up your life completely.”