“I’ve never met a man who likes a disobedient woman.”
“Well, you haven’t met a man like me, baby.”
I was already so hung up on this guy that I could barely tolerate it. I was a schoolgirl with a crush. I was melted butter on the hot stove. I was dick-whipped. “I don’t know how your ex let you go…”
The mention of her made his features tighten noticeably, but he didn’t respond.
Now I wished I hadn’t made that comment, so I brushed past it. “I actually ran into my ex yesterday…and today.”
“In Vegas?” he asked incredulously. “Where are the odds of that?”
“Pretty good…since he’s a poker player.”
He had a brief look of confusion, but that quickly faded because his mind was fast. “Was he the guy across from you last night?”
“Yep.”
He gave a slight nod. “If it bothered you, it wasn’t obvious.”
“Good.”
“You didn’t know he would be there?”
“Had no idea until he sat across from me.”
“You kept your cool pretty damn well. Must have felt really good to beat his ass.”
“Oh, you have no idea…”
“Good-looking guy.”
“You’re better-looking.”
His eyes showed their smile. “Good answer.”
Mason was the only guy I’d ever loved, but that relationship didn’t feel the way ours did now. There was something special here, something I felt even when I pretended I didn’t.
“Did you guys talk?”
“Today. I was by the pool, and he stopped by.”
The smile faded again, the annoyance shining through. He didn’t interrogate me about it, but it was obvious he didn’t like the idea of us spending time together.
I had nothing to hide, so I told him. “We haven’t talked in over a year, so I was surprised to see him. He asked if we could talk. Told him I wasn’t interested. Then it seemed like he was trying to get back with me, but I told him I already have a man.”
“A man… I like that.
“If I’m your baby, then you’re my man.”
“Yeah.” A smile moved into his eyes, but this time, it looked a little sad, like there was something else on his mind. “I am…”
“I didn’t even give his ass a chance to say anything.” I waved off the conversation as I sat across from Dex and Derek in the bar. “To quote NSYNC, I said…” I raised my arms. “Bye, bye, bye.” I did the wave with my hands in front of me.
Dex chuckled. “And you took his money on top of it. Talk about revenge.”
“Yep.” I flipped my hair over my shoulder. “I’m a boss bitch, what can I say?”
Derek gave a slight chuckle in amusement. “And that was it? He just walked off?”
“Finally.”
“He has a lot of balls talking to you,” Dex said. “Maybe Dad should beat his ass again.”
Derek gave another chuckle. “Or we could give him a break and do it ourselves.”
“So I can be a felon?” Dex asked warily. “No thanks.”
“Dad isn’t a felon,” Derek said.
“Well, he should be,” Dex said. “He messed up Mason pretty good. How did he look? Did he have any scars?”
“No,” I said with a sigh. “As handsome as always.”
My phone vibrated on the table. Can I come by?
I’m at the bar with my brothers.
Cool. I’ll swing by.
My eyebrows furrowed when I read the message, but I didn’t type back.
“What?” Dex asked. “Is that him?”
“No.” I put the phone down. “Atlas.”
“Mom says you guys are seeing each other,” Derek said. “How’s that going?”
“Well…” I tried to put it into words. “I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Dex asked, shocked. “When do you not know something?”
“He’s actually joining us in a few minutes.”
“He is?” Derek asked. “You invited him.”
“No…he invited himself.” He’d already met my brothers, but I didn’t think he’d go out of his way to spend time with them. They were kinda intimidating.
Derek exchanged a look with Dex.
“What?” I asked.
Derek turned back to me. “Nothing.”
“You never answered the question,” Dex said.
I rolled my eyes. “I have my girlfriends to do this with…”
“Uh, hold up.” Dex leaned forward. “I remember you being all up in my business with Sicily—”
“And you’re welcome for that.”
“So now it’s my turn to be up in your business,” Dex said. “So, how’s it going with him?”
I glanced at the door like he might walk inside and overhear us. “This stays between us three, alright? Because I said a couple things to Dad, and he blabbed to Atlas…”
“Dad is a moron,” Dex said.
“Don’t let him hear you say that,” Derek said. “He’ll slam a bar table on your head.”
Dex chuckled, still finding the assault amusing.
I looked down at my beer before I took a drink. “I’m really into him.”
“That’s it?” Derek asked. “You’re into him?”
“He’s kinda…everything I’d ever want in a man.” I tried to shrug it off and pretend it wasn’t a big deal, but that was a pretty big deal for me to say. I’d loved Mason and wanted to make it work, but I’d never thought he was perfect for me.
“Wow.” Derek gave a slight nod. “Damn.”
Dex rubbed his jawline. “Dad talks about him like he’s a son or something.”
Derek looked at Dex again. “I liked him as a friend at the cabin, but now we’re going to have to grill him a bit more.”
“Oh my god,” I said. “I will kill you—”
“Yeah, give him the big-brother treatment,” Dex said. “Make sure he’s good enough for you.”
“Seriously, I feel like I’m in Bridgerton but without the pretty gowns and horses.”
Both of them wore a confused look.
“Tell your wives to watch it,” I said. “Mom and I have seen it three times already. And don’t you dare embarrass me. Dad already likes him, so there’s no reason—”
“We’re just messing with you,” Derek said. “We already like him.”
“You do?” I asked in relief.
“Yeah,” Derek said. “The fact that he invited himself here is pretty telling.”
“Yeah,” Dex said. “He’s serious.”
“He’s already met you guys,” I said. “He knows it’s just a casual thing.”
“But still, you don’t hang out with a woman’s family unless you’re serious,” Dex said. “Especially not two guys like us.”
I rolled my eyes and deepened my voice. “‘Two guys like us’?”
“I could put him in a rocket and leave him on the moon,” Derek said.
“And I can stop his heart,” Dex said proudly. “Literally.”
I glanced at the doorway and spotted Atlas walking inside. “Okay, he’s here. Be cool.”
“We are cool,” Dex said. “Coolest people ever.”
Atlas stopped by the bar and grabbed a drink before he joined us. His bag was over his shoulder because he’d just left the clinic, and it was swollen with overstuffed papers and his laptop. The sleeves of his shirt were pushed to his elbows to show off his veiny arms, and he had a clean jaw because he’d shaved that morning. With his cognac in hand, he took a seat beside me, his bag on the floor against the wall. “Looks like Daisy already ate all the fries.” His arm moved over the back of my chair, and he smiled at me before he took a drink.
“Guess you should have gotten here earlier, then.” I grabbed the empty basket and shook it, the parchment paper inside scratching against the wicker.
“If it makes you feel better, we didn’t get any either.” Dex extended his hand across the table. “Nice to see
you again.”
Atlas took his hand, doing one of those dude hand embraces with a smile, and then did the same with Derek. “How are the wives?”
“Good,” Derek answered. “They’re actually at SoulCycle together right now.”
My eyes narrowed. “While you drink and eat a bunch of fries.”
“We didn’t get any,” Dex said. “Remember? And look at us. Do we have dad bods?”
I released an annoyed sigh. “I hate that term. It’s offensive.”
“How?” Derek said. “You’ll never have one.”
“Because a dad bod is still a normal weight,” I said. “It’s not like it’s unhealthy or something.”
Dex shrugged before he took a drink and looked at Atlas. “What’s going on with you?”
“Work.” His arm remained over the back of my chair, showing me affection even though my two ripped, brilliant brothers were right across from him. Confident and unafraid, he acted completely like himself. “I feel like that’s all my life ever is.”
“Eh-hem.” I flashed him a look.
He gave a grin and side-glanced at me. “Like I said…work.”
I smacked him in the arm. “Wow…you’ll pay for that later.”
Both of my brothers laughed at his joke.
“Come on, baby.” His arm circled me and pulled me close, giving me a quick kiss on the mouth. “You know I’m joking.” He moved back to his chair and looked at my brothers like they were his friends instead of my family. “Your dad and I started the first stage of our human trials. Not seeing a lot of promising results, unfortunately. It’s early in the process, but we still hoped there would be indications by now. Everything is faster in mice, so we just need to be a little more patient.”
Derek sat with his fingers around his glass. “Hopefully it works out. I can tell my dad is distracted because he’s quieter than usual.”
“Yeah,” Dex said. “He’s not blowing up my phone.”
“What’s it like to work with my dad anyway?” Derek asked.
“An honor,” Atlas blurted. “He’s really meticulous about everything he does, and sometimes he gets in these moods when I know to be quiet. He wears it on his face, all the brain activity going into his thoughts. Sometimes he’ll just sit across from me for a straight thirty minutes and not move. But he usually says something insightful when he’s finished. And as an employer, he pays well and provides benefits and 401(k) matches, so he’s pretty great. When I went down to part time, he didn’t reduce my pay, even though I insisted that he should.”
Derek listened intently then took a drink of his beer. He wore the same look as Dad, falling deep into his thoughts, quiet and contemplative.
Dex was totally the opposite, like Mom and me. “So…is it weird to date your boss’s daughter?”
“Dex.” I launched bombs from my eyes across the table.
“What?” Dex asked. “I’m just curious.”
Atlas shook his head. “Not really. He never asks me about it.”
“Well, I’ve got to give you a heads-up about that.” Dex was in his jeans and t-shirt, looking nothing like a talented heart surgeon who’d just left the office after seeing patients all day. He never wore a white coat. He never wore a tie. “My dad beat the shit out of her last boyfriend—”
“Shut. Your. Mouth.” I raised my hand and closed my fingers together.
Atlas turned to me, his eyebrow cocked. “Is he serious?”
“You don’t know about it?” Derek fished into his pocket and pulled out his phone to show him the video.
I snatched it out of his hand. “No.”
“Okay…so he is serious.” Atlas continued to watch me. “Your dad really did that?”
“Yep,” Derek said proudly.
“Wow…” Atlas gave a slow nod. “That’s pretty badass.”
“He ended up in jail for the night,” Dex said. “It was all over the news. And Mason ended up with a broken nose and a concussion.”
Atlas grabbed the phone from my hand and hit play.
While he watched it, I glared at my brothers.
Atlas couldn’t look away from it, totally engrossed in the video. My dad’s voice was audible. “Old man, huh?” Shouts rang out in the bar. Then my dad spat on Mason. “Look like this old man made you his bitch.”
I closed my eyes, mortified.
Atlas wore a big-ass smile. “Wow, that was pretty fucking awesome.” He slid the phone back across the table to Derek.
“He’s not a psychopath.” I came to my father’s defense because that was his one mistake.
“No,” Atlas said. “He’s a badass.”
“So, long story short,” Dex said. “Don’t fuck with my dad.”
“Yeah,” Atlas said with a nod. “I’ll make sure to clean out those beakers really well.”
“I think the lesson here is not to hurt Daisy,” Derek said. “Because that’s the one thing that sets him off.”
Atlas returned his arm to my chair, his fingers touching my other shoulder. “Then it looks like I’m safe.”
19
Atlas
It was late.
Everyone had left for the day.
I sat alone in my office with paperwork requiring my attention, but my mind was exhausted. At this time of the day, no amount of caffeine or a good workout could invigorate me. The mind could only function at a high performance for so long before it got fatigued, just like muscles during a workout, legs in a marathon.
But I stayed because I had too much shit to do.
The door to my office opened, and Daisy walked inside.
My eyes flicked to hers, knowing she was about to head out for the night and wanted to have some chitchat before she said goodnight.
But that wasn’t her intention.
She was in a white bra and thong, the color really beautiful on her skin, especially with her dark hair. Her heels tapped against the floor as she slowly approached my desk, the diamond in her navel ring glittering.
In silence, I just stared, my fingers resting over my bottom lip.
She came closer then pressed her palms against the surface of my desk, her cleavage exposed when she leaned over, her long hair sliding forward in a slow and seductive way. She must have been wearing that underneath her clothes all day—and I had no idea.
I’d never met a woman like her.
Confident.
Blatantly sexy.
Unapologetic.
Brilliant.
She knew exactly who she was, and she was proud of that person.
She flicked her hair back and stared at me, like it was my turn.
Without taking my eyes off her, I closed my laptop and placed it in my top drawer. My papers were too important to scatter around and risk losing, so I slid everything over to the opposite side.
She watched me, like a cat about to pounce.
I got to my feet and came around the desk, harder than I’d ever been in my life because I was about to have this woman on my desk, a memory I would replay during the afternoons I sat there and let my mind drift.
Just when my hand slid into her hair to kiss her, she fell to her knees.
And yanked down my jeans.
I inhaled a deep breath, watching her seal her perfect lips around my cock and shove it into her throat. On her knees on the hardwood, she sucked me off while she looked me in the eye, flattening her tongue and opening wide so I could watch my big dick somehow fit inside her little mouth.
Damn.
My hand moved into her hair at the back of her neck, and I enjoyed it, my feet planted apart, drops of her saliva spotting the floor.
She was the best I’d ever had, hands down.
She sucked me until I felt the tightness in my balls, and like she knew when I was about to hit my trigger, she pulled her wet mouth away. She got to her feet and lifted her ass onto my desk.
My shirt was yanked over my head, and my jeans were pushed to my ankles as I positioned myself between her open legs.
> “I’ve been so turned on watching you work all day…” She propped herself up on one arm and guided me into her. “This will only take a few seconds.”
I moaned before I was all the way inside. Imagining her with wet panties all day just because I was in the office was so goddamn hot. She’d gotten on her knees and sucked me off like it was a pleasure to choke on my dick. She pulled me into her like she needed me to draw breath. She made me feel more manly than every other woman I’d ever been with.
And when I was inside her…I felt like a god.
I fucked her on my desk, leaning over her while I had one arm hooked behind her knee, drilling into her hard like she wanted.
As she’d said, it took just a few seconds before I made her scream.
“Yes…” Her head rolled back, and tears glistened in her eyes before they left the corners and dripped down her cheeks.
Watching her come like that made me come even harder.
I filled her pussy with a few pumps, moaning in satisfaction, hitting a high I’d never known.
She lay back for a moment, taking a rest.
My softening dick was still inside her, saturated with her come as well as mine.
She gently pushed me off then pulled on her panties that had been left on the floor. Her fingers fixed her hair, and without looking at me, she walked out.
I watched her go, my dick wet and my pants at my ankles.
She went to her office and pulled on her dress, grabbed her bag, and then walked out.
Just like that.
“That doesn’t make any sense.” Daisy threw her papers down. “If she had a blood clot, there would be noticeable swelling, and for her to have symptoms this intense, it’s a pretty big blood clot.”
Anthony leaned against his desk and stared at the bulletin board in his office. “I think it’s the only thing that does make sense.”
“There’s no water retention, no change in skin appearance, nothing.”
Anthony continued to stare.
Daisy stood with her hands on her hips, tapping her foot like she usually did when she was angry.
I stayed quiet near the door, giving them a moment before I announced myself.
Daisy’s head turned slightly, and her eyes narrowed, still not seeing me.
The Girl Who Doesn't Quit (Soulless Book 12) Page 18