After His Peonies: A Romantic Comedy

by Alina Jacobs

  Hunter slowly looked me up and down. His two brothers grinned. Danielle had an assessing look in her eyes.

  "I'll see you in the meeting," he told me. His eyes said, I want to fuck you in the storage room.

  I felt great in the suit. I felt even better when Karen's eyes bugged out when she saw me.

  "Is this well-dressed enough for Harrington-Thurlow?" I asked her, posing.

  Mr. Thurlow came out of his office. "Someone looks like a future associate!" he said jovially. I smirked at Karen.

  I was even more gratified by Hunter's gaze on me every time I looked up from typing notes. The meeting was long, and it was well into the afternoon by the time we finished. Danielle and Walter kept interrupting the proceedings to yell and hurl insults at each other.

  After the meeting was over, I hung around as if I were heading out to the reception area or the restroom.

  I heard Hunter say, "I'll see you downstairs," and he headed in my direction as Danielle and his brothers stepped onto the elevator. I could see Danielle watching us intently as the doors closed. Then Hunter glanced around quickly and guided me to the storage room.

  As soon as the door shut, his hands were on me.

  "I think we're about to break another of your rules," he whispered into my ear.

  "What rule?"

  "No sex in the storage room."

  "That's not one of my rules," I said.

  He bent me over a little table that had been placed there way back when so people could write notes with their fountain pens when they were on the phone. I heard him RIP open a condom packet.

  I was wet already, and I moaned when Hunter slipped inside me.

  One hand on my clit, he kissed my neck as he thrust into me. It was quick and hot. I bucked against him, reveling in the stretch and slight burn from feeling him move inside me. Whimpering, I felt my body squeezing around him. Then I came.

  "Do you realize how hot you look in that suit?" he said, breathing hard and still plastered against me. "I hope you brought a change of panties."

  "You didn't buy me any new ones," I said, kissing his upper lip.

  "Mm, I think I'm going to have to pass on that. I'd rather have you walking around in no underwear."

  Karen gave me a sour look when I returned to my desk.

  "So you're trading sex for fancy clothes."

  "No," I snapped, "I'm trading sex for an amazing man who thinks I'm a much better lawyer than you."

  20

  Hunter

  "I see your little scheme with Meghan is going well."

  The endorphins drained out of my brain, and I looked at Danielle. "Right, yeah. She's wrapped around my finger."

  "Good, because I despise Walter. I want him to burn."

  "So do I," I assured Danielle. "He stole my company after lying to my face. He's going to pay."

  "Don't start falling for her," Danielle warned me.

  "I'm not," I lied. She looked at me intently.

  All the years of deceiving my father at the compound and then working in the cutthroat worlds of corporate law and finance had made me a very good liar. But Danielle was also a snake. I hoped she didn't see how hard I had already fallen for Meg.

  I counted down the minutes until Meg left the office. It wasn't too cold that evening, so I opted to take the train since holiday traffic was so bad. It would also hopefully quell the lust that hadn't been slaked by our too-quick lovemaking in the storage closet.

  "Merry Christmas," I heard her say to the security guard.

  "I love seeing you in these shoes," I told her as she walked toward me.

  "Thank you. The clothes made a huge difference." She rose onto her toes and kissed me.

  I looked down at her. "Come home with me."

  "I was going to take the late train," she said.

  "To where?"

  "Home. Because it’s the holiday season, they of course scheduled track work, and the schedule is weird. It's leave now or leave late tomorrow. And of course my car is in the shop."

  "I'll drive you," I told her. "Even if it's to Pennsylvania."

  "It's just to Harrogate."

  "Wait, you live in Harrogate?" I asked.

  She nodded.

  "Unbelievable." I thought about Greg's offhand comment about Meg moving out to Harrogate with me. Thoughts of having Meg as a partner in trying to wrangle my brothers made me feel suddenly optimistic about moving to Harrogate. But there was the issue of her job. Maybe she could take a corporate law position at PharmaTech? My brain spun as it began concocting another plan.

  "I'm leaving tomorrow morning to go back," I told her. "We'll have a night of debauchery before starting the holiday season full of wholesome family fun."

  Meg made a face. "I don't know how wholesome it's going to be. My little sisters have suddenly discovered boys, so all they want to talk about is whatever random little teeny-bopper pop star is the latest craze."

  "I mean, I feel like you've gotten a little boy crazy yourself what with all the sex in a storage closet and the sleeping with strange men you only just met."

  She shoved me.

  "I'm going out there anyway. I can easily take you. Especially," I lowered my voice, "if you touch my peonies."

  "Didn’t you just get off in the storage closet?" she whispered back.

  "Don't tell me that you're already tired of me," I said, putting a hand over my heart.

  When we stumbled back into my condo already half undressed, it was clear she hadn't had her fill. We stripped down, and she pushed me back onto the bed.

  "I like this domineering side of you."

  "You're a bad influence," she said.

  I was glad of it. She straddled me, rolling her hips against me as we kissed. I groaned every time she slicked my cock with the wetness of her pussy. I longed to fuck her.

  "I'm in charge right now," she told me with a wink.

  She dropped wet kisses down my torso, and by the time she planted one on my dick, I was panting.

  My cock jumped as she trailed her mouth and nose lightly over the sensitive skin. She blew on the tip, and I inadvertently thrust up to her face.

  "I can't wait to ride this," she purred. The thought of her straddling me almost made me lose it right there.

  She held my hips and down ran her tongue slowly up from the balls to the tip then circled her tongue around the head and flicked it in the slit. Then Meg looked at me, smiled, and took the entire length down in one move.

  "Fuck! Holy freaking—" I bit down on my wrist.

  I felt more than heard Meg laugh; the vibrations made me clench my jaw so hard I thought my teeth would crack. She pulled off of me, and I tried to get my bearings as she reached into the nightstand for a condom and rolled it on.

  "I’m going to enjoy this," she said.

  Watching her straddle me then lower herself onto me was almost excruciating. I wanted to flip her over and fuck her until she forgot her own name. But I wanted to watch her take pleasure from me even more.

  Once she had me fully encased in her, she slowly moved up and down, making little rolling motions with her hips. Her eyes were half closed, and she moaned softly.

  "I think I'm going to die and go to heaven," I groaned.

  Meg smiled slightly then gasped when my fingers found her clit. I stroked her with one hand, the other supporting her waist as she rode me. I knew she was close when she leaned forward, her hands digging into my chest. I grasped her hips and fucked her, our foreheads pressed together.

  When she came, it was like ripples inside of her, and I groaned out her name as her fingers dug into me.

  Her hair was all over me when we woke up in the morning.

  "Don't go," I told her when she sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

  "I'm not leaving until I use your shower," she said. "It's insanely nice."

  I wanted her to use my shower anytime. Heck, I wanted her to move in.

  I heard the shower running. I couldn't not invite myself in.
/>
  I grabbed a condom then glided into the bathroom. Meg squeaked when I got into the shower and pressed my hard cock against her. I flipped Meg around so that she was facing the shower wall and stroked her with two fingers. My lips grazed her earlobe as I teased her, going from her clit to push into her opening.

  My voice rumbled around the shower enclosure as I told her all the filthy things I would do to her. I felt Meg tremble at my words. She bucked against me, pleading with me to fuck her.

  This thing between us felt like more than just sex. There was a raw tenderness to it, and I felt slightly frenzied at the thought that these moments with her wouldn't just continue the rest of our lives.

  Meg was panting and breathless as I withdrew my fingers. I spread her legs then slid my stiff cock inside the sweet, tight heat of her pussy. The relief of being encased in her came out in a loud groan. Blood pounded in my ears as I took the time to let my hands roam up and down her body, one hand settling on her breast, two fingers on her nipple, and the other hand between her legs, stroking her clit.

  I bit back the sappy words I wanted to say and instead growled into her ear how much I wanted to fuck her. She wiggled back against me in response, and I answered her with a thrust.

  "This is so hot," I whispered in her ear as I thrust into her, stroke after stroke. Her eyes were closed, her head tipped all the way back to rest against my shoulder as her body clenched around my cock.

  I felt her body pulse, intensifying into an orgasmic spasm around my cock. And it felt like she had taken a hammer and smashed me into a million pieces. She turned around and smiled at me, and all the pieces rushed back together, remaking me in her image.

  I felt relaxed and satisfied physically but, strangely, slightly bereft.

  "How was the shower?"

  "Hmm," she murmured as I tossed the condom. "I suppose it was adequate."

  "Adequate." I felt her eyes sweep over me, and she smiled to herself. "What?" I growled.

  She tapped her fingers against a set of circular bruises on my buttocks. I had been marked.

  "Now everyone knows you're mine," she said, squeezing me lightly. A part of me felt flush with pleasure at the thought that Meg thought of me as hers.

  She felt like mine when she was sitting next to me in the car later that morning.

  "So," Meghan said, "you have to move back to Harrogate to take care of your brothers?"

  "It looks that way."

  "Can't you just pay someone to do it? Aren't you a billionaire?" she asked.

  I felt my annoyance creep back in. "Yes, but it's complicated. The Holbrooks screwed me and Greg out of our company, just as we were starting to really see huge profit gains."

  "But you were given a payout," Meg insisted. "Better than nothing."

  "Yes," I conceded, "but we reinvested the money, so it's not like I have a basement full of gold bars. Everything's riding on Liam's company, Platinum Provisions, Mace's and Garret's company, Svensson PharmaTech, and—heaven help us—Archer and Mike's company, Greyson Hotel Group."

  I scowled. I didn't really want to talk about the past. I felt the old well of bitterness and hurt at Walter's betrayal.

  "I should have seen it coming, but I trusted Walter. He was like a father to me. My own father was a real piece of work—still is, hence my needing to take care of my little brothers that he abandons."

  "Is it just the boys?" Meg asked hesitantly.

  Now that was a very sore point. I clenched the steering wheel and spat out through my teeth. "The girls are more valuable in a doomsday cult for obvious reasons."

  "Can't you do something?" she cried.

  "Why does everyone want me to solve their problems?" I bellowed.

  Meghan sat back in her seat. We were silent for several minutes.

  "I know it's hard to be responsible for your siblings," she said softly. "My younger sisters are still out in Harrogate. Great-Uncle Barry supposedly takes care of them, but I know they miss me. He's not doing the best job. I need to figure something out with them." She ran a hand over her forehead. "They're boy crazy, and he doesn't watch them. I know they're going to get into trouble. I was thinking about taking them with me to New York City, but I need a decent, stable job first."

  "Or you could move back to Harrogate," I said quietly.

  "I could, I suppose," she said.

  She didn't sound happy about the idea.

  21

  Meghan

  "See, I'm the perfect boyfriend. I even provide curbside delivery," Hunter quipped as we pulled up in front of my crumbling Victorian childhood home.

  I laughed. "So you're my boyfriend now?"

  "I drove you home and sent you flowers and ate you out. Repeatedly. I feel like we're solidly in boyfriend territory here," Hunter said, a devilish grin on his face.

  I leaned into him, giving him one last kiss, then smiled to myself as I watched him drive away.

  "You're back!" Minnie yelled as she and Rose jumped on me.

  "Look at her shoes!" Rose exclaimed.

  "Was that your boyfriend?"

  "What's his name?"

  "He's so handsome!"

  "Hush," I told them as we headed inside the house.

  "I want a boyfriend," Minnie said.

  "You're too young," I scolded her.

  My sister Hazel was in the large kitchen when I walked in.

  "How is art college?" I asked her, giving her a long hug.

  "I should have gone to accounting school. I’m never going to make any money," Hazel complained.

  I knew that feeling.

  "I saw you decorated the house," I told her. "It looks great!"

  I heard the front door slam, and Uncle Barry slowly walked into the kitchen and sat down, wheezing, in a chair. He was a large man and was starting to have trouble walking.

  "Meghan!" he greeted me. "Good to see you!"

  My little sisters didn't seem happy that he was there. Uncle Barry and I made small talk as I helped Hazel finish dinner.

  "You should think about moving back to Harrogate," my great-uncle said. My sisters nodded enthusiastically. "We could find some work in the city for you to do. Ernie wants to retire as lieutenant mayor. I know the city council would approve you."

  "I have my law career," I demurred.

  "Harrogate is still in the state of New York. You could still practice law. Besides, law is a great segue into politics," Uncle Barry continued.

  "I don't know," I told him.

  "There are lots of good men here, ever since Svensson PharmaTech located its expansion here. Other companies are moving in as well. After decades of upheaval and disinvestment, Harrogate is on the upswing. It’s a great place to invest."

  "Thanks for the sales pitch," I said, putting his plate in front of him.

  "Yum!" He smacked his lips. "You're a great cook. You could make someone a very happy wife. Family, career—you could have it all in Harrogate!"

  We opened presents the next morning. Between my student loans and the high cost of living in New York, I didn't have much disposable income for Christmas gifts, but I had done the best I could.

  The holidays were when I missed my mother the most. She had died a while ago, and the younger ones barely remembered her. While Uncle Barry went off to take a nap, I pulled out the photo album and told my sisters stories about our parents. My father had tried to hold it together after my mother died, but the grief finally took him.

  "I wish you would move back home," Minnie said sadly. "Uncle Barry is the worst."

  "Shh."

  "He is!" she hissed angrily. "He's always telling me I need to keep myself tidy, that men don't want a used tissue."

  "At least he can't make it up the stairs," Rose said. "We have some escape from him."

  "Why can't we move with you? You and Hazel are living the high life in New York City," Minnie complained.

  "We'll see," I told them.

  Part of me wondered. Maybe I could move back to Harrogate—if, heaven forbid, I was
fired. Hunter would be here. Would it be so bad?

  22

  Hunter

  Christmas morning was chaos. Remy had chopped down a huge pine tree and put it in the foyer of the old, sprawling mansion I had bought in Harrogate to house all my brothers. One major item was to renovate it, but my little brothers were tearing the whole thing to pieces, and it hardly seemed worth the effort.

  "Stop it!" I yelled at them when I walked into the foyer.

  My older brothers, who did not spend much time with the littles, had gone way overboard with presents.

  "We should save some of these," Greg said to me.

  "Too late," Mace replied.

  The younger kids were fighting over the presents, tearing into the boxes. Paper and ribbon were everywhere.

  "That one's mine!"

  "It has my name on it!"

  I put three fingers to my lips and let out an ear-piercing whistle. Everyone stopped and looked at me.

  "Good. I have your attention." I tried to make my tone as authoritative as possible. "Everyone bring the nearest package to me. Christmas is supposed to be about family. You all are acting like animals."

  "But…" Nate, one of the teens, started to say.

  I advanced on him like one would to make a pit bull back down. I didn't touch him, just moved into his personal space. He backed up, shut his mouth, and promptly handed me the box in his hands.

  The younger Svenssons quickly stacked the presents. The festive boxes and bags were either partially unwrapped or completely destroyed.

  "You will all now shower, because you smell like a swamp," I ordered them.

  Mace helped me supervise the process.

  "I want to take a bath!" Andy, the youngest, whined. I was on him immediately.

  "No baths," I barked. "Shower. Seven minutes. Now."

  "But he's scared of showers," Remy said.

  "I. Don't. Care," I growled.

  After the kids were clean, I had them all sitting neatly at the long tables Remy and Archer had set up in the large dining room.