“You don’t have to come over. I already have my plus one.”
“Elliot,” I reply, controlling my resentful tone.
But the knife of jealousy stabs me in the back. I’m aware that he’s getting closer to her, breaking down her walls.
“What’s going on between the two of you?”
“I'm not sure, Scott. We’re hanging out, and getting to know each other,” she responds.
The traffic noise and wind coming through the other line explains why she’s handling this call as a business conversation. With people around she’ll keep her comments short.
“We always enjoy these events,” I pause, “and we could find plenty of ways to entertain ourselves—like a coat closet”
She huffs, I wait for more.
Jensen replies, asking what kind of formal wear I’d like him to pack. The suit I’m wearing would suffice unless she wants me to wear a tuxedo. That’s Hazel’s department. She decides what we wear during every specific event.
“Hey, what are you wearing?”
“I said we’re not having phone-sex,” she mumbles under her breath. “or any other kind of sex for that matter.”
Oh boy, she’s not even listening to my tone of voice. She’s just pissed, and I better fix this before I leave for San Francisco. Signaling to my brothers I’m heading to my office for a second, I speak, “Though, I’d love to learn if you’re wearing one of those silk bodysuits underneath your clothes, I was referring to tonight, Hazel.”
I clear my throat, pushing away the picture of her wearing nothing but a see-through piece of lingerie. “So, what are you wearing for the gala?”
“Ah…” she sighs, but I’m almost sure I hear a throaty moan behind that.
I chuckle as I walk toward my office. “I guess we’re both thinking about sex,” I lower my voice, “I miss you.”
“Forget it, Everhart,” she responds with a throaty voice.
“Is that what you want me to do?” I don’t let her answer. “Because I couldn’t. I miss you, so much. A couple of weeks ago, you left me hanging.”
“I told you it couldn’t happen,” she explains, her tone flat.
“But I’ll be there tonight,” I whisper. “It can happen.”
My words are filled with desire, but what I want to give her is more than just an intense orgasm.
“I want to fill you with love,” I continue. Caress your soul while professing my love each time I thrust inside you. “All night long.”
“Scott,” my name comes out of her sweet mouth accompanied by a moan.
“Baby, I bet you’re wet and ready for me.” I lower my voice. “You only let your wild side out when you’re with me. And I love that.”
“A… cobb salad please?” Hazel asks to whoever is with her.
A salad? Why in the world would she order something she will only poke around?
Instead of asking her where she is, I continue our conversation. “If I were there, I’d be taking care of you.”
“Stop it!” Her words are harsh, yet desperate.
Needy.
“It has to happen soon, Hazel. I crave you with a passion that I can’t control. I’m addicted to your lips…and your mouth.”
She releases a throaty sound.
“Don’t fight it,” I beg her. My body shivers with lust, and my heart aches with love. “There’s no way to stop what we have. It’s eternal.”
“Scott, please,” she gasps my name.
“Please what, tell me what you need, buttercup. I want to eat you,” I suggest.
And I’m getting hard as I remember the way she speaks my name when she comes. It’s a song, proclaiming I’m hers. The sound of love and she shouts it to the entire universe.
“Everhart, enough!”
“But I need you, Hazel.”
“For how long, Scott?” Her question should surprise me. “Another couple of years of sex around the world. You’ll give me just enough to keep me around. But you’ll toss me aside when I ask for more.”
I sober up, the lust is gone as she throws that nonsense my way. “Hazel, you’ve got everything wrong.”
“Wrong as in, this time I’m not even offering more than a few months,” she implies, “or wrong, as in I want one last round before we part ways?”
“You’re wrong as in we were more than just sex partners,” I clarify.
“That’s not how I remember it, Scott.” She goes quiet for several beats. “Why don’t you stay in New York?”
What the fuck just happened? I left for almost three weeks, and suddenly she doesn’t want me there. I’m moving across the country. We bought a house together. I’m asking my brothers to sell me their portion of our parents’ penthouse.
“I’m sorry for hurting you, and for not handling us the right way.”
“Scott?” That distressed voice makes me want to go back to her now.
This is going to be a long flight. I lean my head against the door, closing my eyes. We need to talk, fix us. This can’t be stretched any longer.
“Instead of San Francisco, why don’t we fly to Vermont. Somewhere under the stars. It’s been too long since you’ve trembled under me while you let yourself free.”
“Enough,” she repeats with a tight voice.
“It’ll never be enough between us, Hazel. Please, let things happen,” I plead. “Tell me you don’t miss us and I’ll stop.”
“Scott,” she whispers.
“I miss you. Us,” I continue, pushing her harder.
My heart beats fast as I let the words flow.
I exhale. “I miss all of you. The moments when you let yourself free and speak your mind. When you feel safe in my arms, and you let me see your bare soul. The times when you open your body, your heart, your soul…only to me.”
I swallow, imagining my lips brushing her skin while I make love to her. “Don’t you miss those nights when you fell apart in my arms? You let me touch the darkest corners of your mind while I buried myself deep inside you.”
I bet she’s closing her eyes, pressing her thighs together. Trying to shake the desire. She’s fighting my words with reason.
“If I were there, I’d be taking care of you,” I profess, unable to breathe because she’s too far away. “Kissing you slowly, deeply. You’d be closing your eyes, feeling my touch, listening to my heart beating for you—only you. My hands and mouth would trace every inch of your body. We’d lose each other into a slow-motion of ecstasy and passion. Our souls—”
“Stop it, Scott Drew Everhart,” she warns me, her voice breathless, yet firm. The bravado is back. The shields are up. “Stop. It’s over. Mainly, because it never started.”
“But you’re wrong. It began years ago, slowly, one minute at a time. One day at a time, we entwined our lives, our hearts. Nothing could’ve stopped it from happening,” I argue mixing my words with hers.
“That’s the magic behind our relationship, little by little we became one,” I continue. “I should’ve let myself believe.”
Believe in her, her heart, and what could happen if I had open my heart. I tossed it away. The idea of her leaving me screwed over my mind and my heart.
“It’ll never be over for me.” I draw in a long breath.
My soul is aching as it awaits to be let back into her world. Wishing to be consumed by her.
How can’t she miss what we had?
Our endless nights that included long talks and hours of sex.
“It’s been so long since I’ve had your soft curves pressed against my body. I yearn to hold you, taste you, feel your skin next to mine.”
She must know we’re meant to be together. Hazel recovered the broken pieces of my heart when I thought there was nothing left of them. She pieced them together, along with hers. It didn’t happen in one day, but slowly, we put them together, making us whole.
With her I found love.
“Is it over for you, Hazel?” I dare to ask.
Eventually, I must learn where I stand.
The oxygen in the room disappears as I wait for her to speak. My heart thumps fast against my ribcage. The sound is so loud. It’s thrashing into my ears. I clench my jaw, curling my free hand into a fist.
“I’ll stay away if that’s what you want me to do. My only goal is to see you happy. What do you want?”
“Why. Are. You. Doing. This?” Her flat tone is like a bucket of ice water that leaves me trembling.
I run a hand through my hair, pushing away the fear.
“I'm doing it because I believe in the magic we create when we’re together,” I answer before she hangs up on me and tells me to go to hell. “You’re under no obligation to give me a chance, but I beg you not to write us off—not just yet.”
“Stay in New York, Scott.” She hangs up, leaving me cold and breathless.
Dead.
Hazel: …unless you’re ready to stop dropping hints and be upfront. I hate liars.
My heart beats again. My entire body sags after reading that text several times. She hasn’t dismissed us.
Not yet.
Scott: See you tonight, beautiful.
Scott: In my defense, I also know how much you love a significant gesture that will take your breath away.
✰✰✰✰
“Are we done with the meeting?” Harrison’s voice booms. “Because I have a plane to catch. I’m meeting the hottest undercover agent, in Seattle. Our weekend is booked with after mission sex.”
I rub my forehead, taking several breaths before opening the door. “We can finish when you’re back,” I say, looking at the floor.
“I take that your call with Hazel didn’t go well,” he observes, shaking his head. “What did I tell you?”
Harrison’s rhetorical question ignites my anger. He warned me twice that whatever I was doing with Hazel would turn into hell. Ever since he married Luna, he thinks he can give relationship advice to everyone who doesn’t wear a wedding ring. But he also thinks he’s the parental figure since our parents died.
“To always brush my teeth, use condoms, and leave right after sex so women wouldn’t get attached,” I answer with his one-night-stand 101 lessons.
Harrison glares at me, pointing his index finger. “If you ever treated Hazel—”
“Shut up!” I order him, marching to the conference room to pick up my things.
Staring at Fitz, Hunter, and Harrison, I wonder how our relationship will change if things don’t work with Hazel. They adore her. She’s the little sister they didn’t have. I bet my parents would love her like a daughter.
“I told you when you this found out, and I’ll repeat it now, ‘it’s none of your business.’”
“Wait, you and Hazel are going out?” Hunter glares at me. “Why am I always the last one to find out this kind of shit?”
“Welcome to the club,” Fitz says gathering his stuff. “But technically, Willow will be the last one to know, and I’m sure she’s going to lecture her little sister.”
Fitz smiles, savoring his vengeance. But I bet Willow will be more concerned about Hazel getting back together with Elliot. She’s not a fan.
“Are you leaving too?”
“Yep, I got invited to a gala. My girl needs a date.” Fitz wears a smug grin. “But I have an offer for you. I will gift you my part of the penthouse if you get the girl.”
“Please, tell me you haven’t fucked up. If she gets back with that son of a bitch.” Harrison crossed his arms, arching an eyebrow. “Fuck, I should’ve killed him when I had the chance.”
“You’re insane, Harrison.” Hunter glares at him.
Picking up my computer, I enjoy watching him pace back and forth a few times before standing right in front of me. “I have to meet Luna in Seattle. She’s coming back from her mission. I can’t do anything.”
Sweet, get out of my way.
He scratches his chin, then fires up the first instruction, “Fitz, you run interception.”
His mind is already plotting a way to keep Elliot away from his little sister. He’s that protective of Hazel. And just like her, he likes to organize and bark orders.
“This wouldn’t be an issue if you’d manned up earlier, Scott!”
“You think so?” I snort, tightening my jaw. “You don’t know shit, Harrison.”
Being the oldest has always given him some royal treatment with our parents and our younger siblings. We all have different strengths and knowledge. We can spend hours discussing how he knows Hazel best. But the truth is that I’m the one person who she’s trusted the most for the past few years. He doesn’t know she has three different frowns, at least twenty different smiles, and that her mouth can say one thing, but her eyes are the ones that always deliver the truth.
I grab my things and turn to look at Fitz. “If you’re coming with me, let’s go.” Then, turn around to look at Harrison. “Stay safe.”
Chapter Thirty-One
“It was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they meant we were supposed to be together.” ―Nora Ephron
Hazel
When I arrived at my office from lunch, I find chicken fingers, and sweet potato fries with a little note attached to it.
I can’t wait to see you.
SDE
PS There’re protein bars in my office, in case you need a snack.
My heart beats fast, melting just a little. He sent me food.
Hazel: Why did you send me food?
Scott: Why in the world did you order a Cobb salad?
The man has a point, I don’t like to eat salads. I picked through the one I ordered, but I barely ate.
Hazel: You flustered me.
Scott: I’m sorry. I’ll see you soon.
Hazel: Have a safe flight.
Another incoming text pops and it’s Harrison again.
Harrison: There’s a rumor you’re getting back with your ex. And by that, I mean the douchebag, not my brother.
Rumor? Fitz opens his mouth once again. The man should understand what confidentiality means. As a lawyer, he knows the meaning of that word. However, he doesn’t use it with my personal information.
Harrison: Don’t ignore me!
Hazel: I wouldn’t say getting back, only getting to know each other.
Harrison: What are you doing, Beesley?
What am I doing? That’s an excellent question, Harrison. I’m not doing anything. There are two men who I wanted to have everything with, but decided I wasn’t enough. Suddenly they’ve decided I’m enough for them.
Is that what’s happening?
Hazel: Who told you about Elliot, Everhart?
Harrison: Fitz, who is heading to your rescue.
Hazel: Thank God!
If someone can run interference between Elliot and Scott, it’s Fitz. He’ll make light comments, be funny, and drag his brother’s attention toward him. Tonight’s impending disaster will push my limits. I might change my identity, and move to Bermuda to avoid any confrontation.
Hazel: Hey, wise old man, answer this: can one care for two men at the same time?
Harrison: Care? Of course. You can care for as many as seven billion people. Not be in love with both, if that’s what you’re asking.
Hazel: What does that mean?
Harrison: I don’t think you love Scott and Elliot equally. I believe you once loved one and you are in love with the other.
Hazel: That doesn’t help me.
Harrison: My advice is that you shouldn’t throw away two years of magic just because my brother is an idiot. If anyone deserves a second chance, it’s him.
Hazel: It was only nineteen months of … that.
What was that?
I beg you not to write us off, he requested. His husky voice carried so much pain, lust and desperation. The beating of my heart speeds up as I remember his question, is it over for you?
I don’t know. My soul hurt as I listen to his words. My heart wept as I recognized his pain.
Hazel: We weren’t together.
Harrison: Please, Hazel. You can only lie to yourself. I witnessed your relationship. We went on vacations as couples.
Hazel: Whatever we had, ended.
Hazel: Hey, don’t you have a few countries to save?
Harrison: Text if you need me. I’m off the grid.
Hazel: Another mission?
Harrison: No, my woman is coming home.
I see the dots dancing on the screen and fire a text before he tells me he’s about to have sex with his wife—in extreme detail.
Hazel: Please, stop before you disclose things I won’t be able to erase from my brain. Tell Luna that I miss her.
I miss her so much. She’d understand me. At least she could tell me something like…what would she say?
Shut up, Hazel, and have sex with them both. It has been too long.
Would they mind if I have sex with both? We can work out a schedule. I shake my head and concentrate on my food.
✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
“I love you,” Willow says instead of hello.
Those words are the beginning of a long lecture. I check my email, but the inbox is empty. Maybe I should head home, lose the call and turn off my phone. No, wait, I must get ready for the gala.
“That’s not how you greet people over the phone, sweetie,” I remind her.
“Scott?” She shrieks. “Seriously, you’ve been sleeping with Scott for the past two years and never told me.”
“It’s complicated,” I deflate, resting my forehead on the keyboard.
“That’s what Fitz told me.”
“So, you’re up to date,” I say, gathering my things and heading to the elevator.
“But you can fill the blanks. The name Elliot was thrown a few times, but nothing specific was said,” she says, with that bossy voice I hate.
While I drive home, I tell her all the details starting with my relationship with Scott and then what’s happening with Elliot.
“And I swore that you had a crush on Harrison.”
“For the millionth time, Harrison is like my big brother!” I gag.
“That’d be disgusting,” I protest.
“But as I replay everything that’s happened since I met the Everharts, it makes sense. You and Scott have been a couple for a long time.”
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