“What?”
Her shoulders slumped forward in defeat. “My dad, he lost his job of twenty years, and I’ve been trying to help, so I can’t afford to lose my job too, and part of me thinks you’re just pissed because you’re a spoiled brat who’s used to getting everything he wants, including women.”
Nobody talked to me like that.
Maybe my guy friends.
But I’d never had a girl just snap at me.
If anything, they didn’t speak at all, just tried to clamor to get my clothes off before I got them off so I could continue to avoid the whole sex thing a while longer.
It was always the wrong time.
The wrong woman.
Until now.
And she didn’t even want me.
“Right.” My office phone started ringing, I quickly grabbed it. Jillian was still standing there. I could tell she wanted to say something, and I had no secrets. “Hey, Tatum.”
“I hate Mom.” She sniffled.
“I know you do.” With a sigh, I looked helplessly around the room. “You don’t have classes today, right? Why don’t you come down to Wingmen and hang out for a bit… I have a… um…” I cleared my throat and eyed Jillian’s wide smile. “I have a puppy!”
The line went silent and then laughter instead of tears, all the laughter. “That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day! You couldn’t even keep your goldfish alive!”
“I’m aware I killed Sam. There’s no need for you to bring up bad memories,” I grumbled when she still wouldn’t stop laughing.
“Sorry, sorry.” She sighed. “I needed that. All right, it would be good to surprise Slater anyway.”
“Just surprise him with the door open, and nobody dies today.”
She giggled. “Aw, does big bro need help understanding where babies come from?”
“YOU ARE NOT HAVING KIDS YET!” I roared.
Jillian’s eyes went wide, and then she shook her head like abort, abort, abort, but I couldn’t stop.
“If that bastard gets you pregnant before you finish school, I’m going to MURDER HIM and use our mafia connections to bury the body!”
Silence for a beat, then, “Wait, you have mafia connections?”
“Apparently.”
“Cool.”
“Yes, we’re friends with criminals, score one for the Titus family,” I said dryly.
“Whatever. I’m headed down there and don’t beat down the door if we do close it, I need time with him too, which reminds me, you really need to get laid.”
I was stunned into silence. “Slater told you?”
“Dude, everyone knows.”
“HOW?”
“People talk. Somehow it made it back to campus. You’re even more of a legend now. Some chick started calling you The Tongue, and I almost threw up in my mouth.”
I felt my cheeks heat to about a billion degrees. “Good to know that my sexual prowess is still alive and strong.”
“Things just got weird, so I’m hanging up now.”
“Yeah, good call.” I nodded and hung up the phone to face Jillian. “My sister’s going to be headed over. Can you make sure she gets a visitor pass?”
“Of course.” She beamed. “If she texts you when she’s here, I can greet her in the lobby.”
I softened. “Thanks, that would be great.”
“I am curious, though… about something.” She closed the door. Oh hell, where was this going?
“Okay.” I approached her and crossed my arms so I wouldn’t reach for her and kiss her like I’d been wanting to for days. “What’s up?”
“I just want to know… why.”
“Why?”
“Why are you still a virgin? I mean, is it like a personal thing? Were you a late bloomer? Afraid of your own ability to get it up—”
“Yeah, I’m gonna stop you right there.” I held up my hand. “It’s none of the above.”
She waited; her left eyebrow arched.
“Okay fine, since it’s lunch.” I sat down on the couch, and she joined me.
“I was at prom. I wanted to get it over with, and this really hot popular girl was literally naked on our hotel bed, and I was ready to go, I mean really ready, my dick was—”
“I get it, you were ready.” She stopped me with an eye roll.
I loved teasing her. “Yes, ready to just get in there.”
She tilted her head down and glared at me along the line of her nose. “Don’t ever say that again.”
“Gotcha.” I laughed. “So, I went to the bathroom, and then my phone rang, and I knew that if Tatum called multiple times when she knew I was with my date—something was wrong. Turns out, my parents were fighting again, and my mom had blamed her for some stupid shit, and then I realized that I was in that bathroom because I didn’t really want to follow through with it. I was just checking a box, doing something I’d seen my dad do in his career one too many times. I wanted it to be special. I was just so damn tired of being the good guy, you know? It wasn’t hard to leave. Besides, Tatum was more important than a one-night stand with some girl I would never be with again. So, I abandoned a naked girl and went to take care of my sister. And ever since then, when things get heated, I stop it. I stop everything and make them forget their own name, I make sure every woman gets off, and then I walk away because I haven’t found the right woman, the right time. It’s all excuses to you, I’m sure. But it’s my reason.”
Her lips parted as she looked away, then back at me after a few seconds. “I think it’s commendable that a horny high school student would leave a naked girl to take care of his sister.”
“Some might say honorable.”
“Some might,” she agreed.
And then we were leaning again, or she was leaning, and I was meeting her halfway as she brushed a kiss across my mouth.
I groaned and pulled her back.
A soft knock sounded at the door as we broke apart. Slater barged in with Princess. “This dog attracted so many women and some men if I’m being honest, that I think I could truly bat both ways and have options.”
I shook my head in disbelief. “Good to know you have options when you’re dating my sister.”
“Chill, it’s just an observation, and I love your sister more than I love you, which is saying a lot since I feel like we were separated at birth.”
“Which would make my sister your sister,” I pointed out.
Slater glared. “I swear if you ruin sex for me, I will choke you!”
“And on that note…” Jillian got up. “Let me know when she gets here.”
“Aunt Nadine?” Slater backed up, covering his package. “Again?”
“No.” I rolled my eyes. “Your girlfriend.”
Slater’s face softened. “She’s so hot…”
“And now you go.” I pointed at the door.
Slater winked at Jillian and walked off.
Jillian started to follow him.
“Jillian, wait—”
“It was just a kiss.” She looked down. “It doesn’t have to mean anything or get over-analyzed or talked about. Sometimes a kiss is just a kiss.”
“And sometimes,” I countered, “a kiss is everything. Some might even say, better than sex.”
“Says the guy who’s never had it.”
“Then let me prove it to you.”
“What?” She gasped like she was horrified at sleeping with me. “What did you just say?”
I shrugged. “Let me prove to you that kissing could be better than sex.”
“But that would mean we would be having sex.”
“That’s usually how proving a point works, you have to prove one over the other, meaning you engage in both.”
Her eyes narrowed. “If I won’t date you, why would I sleep with you?”
“Maybe because you’re the first woman I’ve ever wanted in that way, the first woman I wouldn’t turn down. Maybe, Jillian, because you would be my first.”
She was speechless.
And motionless.
I almost waved in front of her face.
The front desk phone rang, snapping her out of her shock.
“Better get the phone,” I whispered.
She stumbled over her feet as she power walked to her desk, and I had to wonder if I’d finally made her crack.
The idea had me more excited than I had a right to be.
Because what I said was the God’s honest truth.
I wanted her.
In every way.
And I wasn’t backing off just because she was afraid.
If anything, I was even more encouraged. She wanted to keep her job? I could make sure she did, all I had to do was go to Ian and Lex before we got caught.
It’s not like any of them are guiltless.
I smiled through the rest of my lunch, imagining her saying yes, and when Jillian delivered Tatum to my office, I had already planned out the entire seduction of Jillian Hillstone, she had no chance in hell.
Chapter Eighteen
Jillian
I couldn’t stop thinking about Finn’s proposition all day, and when it was almost five, I was shaking with nerves. I was going to his house, alone, well not alone if we counted Princess.
“I can’t believe you have a puppy.” Leo laughed as Finn walked out with the pink backpack and Princess in hand. “I mean, couldn’t you have gotten a Mastiff or something?”
“Apparently, you don’t get a choice when your aunt is Nadine Titus.” Finn laughed and then shrugged. “She’s not so bad.”
“Can I just say I’m worried about you?” This from Slater, who approached with a dog treat that magically came out of his trouser pocket. Tatum was still here and was rubbing his lower back I don’t even think she realized how much they touched each other.
I was insanely jealous.
I could have that.
Maybe.
I wanted that.
“Why are you worried?” They’d stopped in front of my desk; Knox approached and gave me a knowing look that had me glaring back like what?
He just shook his head.
He’d been here the longest.
Therefore, he knew me the best, even if he was oddly secretive and constantly with his adorable wife.
Leo piped up. “You have a dog called Princess, and yesterday you announced to the world that you’re still a virgin! I’ve known you years, and I had no clue. You always made it seem like—”
“—like,” Slater tried. “Like you were Finn Titus, the great lady slayer, and everyone believed it.”
“Because it’s partially true.” Tatum made a grossed-out face. “If only I could stop hearing about how good my big brother is with his tongue!”
“Too far!” Leo gagged.
Slater held up his hand for a high five, and Knox stared me down as if he was waiting for me to say, “um actually he is, so, there!”
I shifted uncomfortably on my feet and stared down at my pencil like it was going to grow three heads.
“You’re blushing,” Knox whispered while the rest of them talked, or argued was more like it.
“It’s hot in here,” I said defensively.
He tilted his gorgeous head. “So, I hear you’re helping with Princess.”
I cleared my throat and straightened my spine to stare him down or more like stare up at him and try to look intimidating. “It’s what good friends do.”
“Hmm, you know what else good friends do?”
“Other than dog sit?”
His eyes gleamed. “Other than dog sit.”
“Hug?”
He chuckled. “I always wondered who would finally do it for Finn. Good to know it’s someone I actually like.”
“Oh no, no, it’s not like that.” I swallowed the rising panic.
Knox grinned. “Oh, it’s exactly like that, and I’m never wrong. Have fun with your sleepover tonight, Jillian, and take it easy on him, he’s new.”
“The dog?”
“Is a girl… I meant Finn.”
“Right.” Alarm bells rang in my head. This was not helping me say no to one of the best questions I’ve ever been asked.
To take Finn Titus’s man-cherry.
Dear. God.
Was this real life?
“You ready?” Finn appeared next to Knox.
“Y-yup.” I tried to look confident when Knox winked at me and then joined the other guys.
Bizarrely enough, they were all watching us with grins like they knew something I didn’t.
“Are they acting weird?” I asked Finn once we were in the elevators.
He snorted. “When do they act normal?”
“Yeah, that’s a good point.” I stared straight ahead. “Day two, and Princess lives, you should feel proud.”
He gave me an annoyed look. “I kept a four-pound dog alive. I should get a prize.”
“Shoot, all out of dog treats,” I teased.
He laughed and handed me Princess, and we seamlessly got into his car and fell into easy conversation all the way back to the apartment.
I thought it would feel like I was invading his space, but if anything, it was like, I was becoming a part of it.
That fast.
When we walked back into the apartment, he put his hands on my shoulders and turned me toward the hall. “Go use the outdoor shower, relax a bit, I’ll grab some wine or vodka if that’s what you prefer. We’ll pick out our dates for the weekend, and you can tell me all about my failures as a human and why you refuse to have sex with me.”
“That was… a lot of words.” I gulped.
“Shower first.” He slapped my ass lightly. “Talk later.”
I felt that tiny slap tingle through my body even when I took him up on his offer and went into the shower and washed off the day’s work and nervous sweat.
It was a bit chilly for Seattle, but the water was hot, and it was one of the coolest things, hearing traffic, airplanes flying overhead, the lights from the city while being naked.
If I lived there, I’d shower every day in that shower, or at least every night.
I shook my head. I was leaving soon.
That was ridiculous.
He wanted sex, not a girlfriend.
Must remember that.
Though my heart reminded me that he wanted to date, to explore or see where this went.
Ugh, no matter how I looked at it, I was risking everything, and he was risking nothing but a possible broken heart.
My heart wouldn’t just be broken, I’d be devastated, and how did a girl go from someone like Finn Titus to dating other men? I mean, I would just straight give up, because nobody was like him, no one.
I groaned and pressed my head against the rock wall.
My thoughts weren’t helping me, so I grabbed the fluffiest towel known to mankind, wrapped it around my body, and got dressed in some sweats for the rest of the night.
I chose a pair of black joggers and a white Nike tank and then made my way back into the living room.
Finn was sitting on the couch, tie gone, a few buttons undone, and Princess was snoring on his lap. He had the remote in one hand and a glass of wine in the other with a spare next to him.
I leaned against the kitchen wall and watched for a few seconds.
“It’s creepy when I can hear you breathing heavy,” Finn said without looking my way.
My face flushed to a billion degrees as I joined him on the couch, grabbed my wine, and clinked my glass with his.
“How was the shower?” His smile was gleaming, his blue eyes were going to be the death of me, along with his caramel hair. God shouldn’t throw these ones out in the wild, not without at least a dozen warnings taped to their bodies. Warnings like beware breaker of hearts and giver of orgasms!
“It was good.” I sipped slowly. “You want to go change and get comfortable?” Maybe button a few buttons, so I don’t stare at your rock-hard chest?
“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?” He looked down at himsel
f.
I shrugged. “Work clothes?”
“What if I wake up the demon?” He glanced at Princess as she snored against his thigh.
With a smile, I move my hands to scoop her up. “She’ll be ok—”
I froze.
He froze.
And then our eyes locked because, dear God, I accidentally just grazed him in a spot friends don’t graze. Ever.
And it was hard.
He was hard.
I was dying.
“Not from the dog,” he explained, his eyes darting to my mouth. “Sorry, I felt the need to explain myself.”
“I wouldn’t have assumed a tiny chihuahua could do it for you,” I said breathlessly.
“Well, let’s hope not,” he whispered.
The room was electric.
My body was hot.
And he was just… gorgeous as he ran a hand through his hair and then tilted his head. “So, do you have an answer for me?”
I took a steadying breath. “I think I need more wine before I answer.”
“I think you need a clear head so you can count orgasms.”
I gasped. “You can’t just say things like that!”
“Just did.” He leaned in and pressed a kiss to my neck, and I let him because I was weak, and he felt so good, and this entire moment felt unreal.
How was I even still balancing my wine glass?
Princess moved between us.
We both looked down at her sprawled body.
“Think we can just move her?” he wondered.
“What if we really do wake her and she doesn’t go to sleep? Then we don’t sleep?”
He burst out laughing. “Are we parents now?”
I clinked my glass with his. “Looks like it, you’ve got morning feeding, a girl needs her beauty sleep after all.”
“Nah, she already has everything she needs. She’s stunning.”
I didn’t know how to respond, so I said nothing as he carefully set his wine glass down and then laid her limp little exhausted body on the other chair.
I thought he’d get up and change.
Instead, he sat back down. There was maybe an inch of space between our bodies as he grabbed my wine glass and set it on the table.
“Wh-what are you doing?”
He inhaled then cupped my face. “Trying to be convincing.”
“You really don’t need to—”
His mouth crushed mine.
The Setup Page 10