Hate to Love You Strong Brothers #4)

by Ajme Williams

  “We have all night.” Then his mouth was on my and I was assaulted with sensation over sensation. It had always been so good with Noah, but now, it was even better. It had to be because I loved him. And as it turned out, he loved me.

  Soon I was crying out his name as my orgasm slammed into me, my hips as they fucked his face.

  “Mmm,” Noah said, lapping at my pussy. “You taste so fucking good, Andi.”

  “I want you inside me,” I gasped as I reached for him.

  He slid up my body and then rolled us until I was on top. “I want to be inside you. I want to watch you ride me until you’re screaming my name again.”

  My hands slid over his chest, loving how strong and sexy and mine he was. “Maybe I want to watch you scream my name.”

  He levered up, his hands sliding up my back as he jerked me to him. “I’m okay with that too.”

  I teased his dick with my pussy, which wasn’t an easy feat since my body was desperate to feel him, thick and hot inside me.

  “Fuck…have mercy on me.” His fingers dug into my hips.

  I needed to take mercy on myself as well, so I sank down over him in one long slide. Our moans echoed through the room as he filled me.

  I pressed my hands to his cheeks and looked into his dark blue eyes. “I love you, Noah Strong.” The need for him to be sure of that was more pressing than an orgasm. He had to know for sure that I was his and he was mine.

  His expression softened and his eyes filled with awe. “I love you Amanda Walker.”

  He’d never called me by my full name before. No one really did, except Phil once. Noah saying it was different. The way my name flowed off his lips it was like he was saying “you’re mine,” which I was and would always be.

  31

  Noah

  I had been happy for my brothers when they’d each found love, but I didn’t understand it. How was it one woman could be all consuming to them? A person they wanted to spend their entire lives with?

  Now I knew. As Andi accepted me inside her, I understood the power of love and how once it blossomed in one's heart, there was no going back and no way another person could fill that spot.

  It was fucking incredible even as it still scared the shit out of me. If this didn’t work between us, I’d live my life with a hole in my chest. So, I had to make this work somehow.

  She rocked over me and all thought left except for the physical pleasure of our bodies and fullness of my heart as we moved together.

  I widened my thighs so she could take me in deeper.

  “Noah,” she gasped.

  “Yeah baby?”

  “Oh God…” Her fingers gripped my shoulders.

  “Are you going to come?” I asked, dipping my head to lick her nipple as it swayed to her movements.

  “Yes…come with me…”

  Since I was already teetering on the edge, I had no problem joining her in heaven when her pussy gripped my dick and she cried out my name as her orgasm overcame her.

  “Fuck!” I groaned long and loud as the most intense and fantastic wave of pleasure rushed through me. I fell back, holding her hips as I bucked underneath her and filled her with my cum.

  She started to fall forward, but I caught her and pulled her in, giving her a hard kiss filled with all the emotions I was feeling, then I tucked her in close, planning to never let her go.

  She said something about my grandmother sending her home for a nap, so when she fell asleep, I lay with her for a while just watching her. She was stunningly beautiful as it was, but in sleep, when she was at peace, she was like that angel I’d seen the day I pulled up on my bike.

  My work wasn’t quite done, so I slipped out of bed and pulled my laptop out from the pack on my motorcycle. Inside her house, I opened it and checked the progress of the IT team, and sent them additional instructions for searching and cleaning my brother’s computers and all the other staff’s machines.

  Then I called my grandmother.

  “Ryan said you’d be calling. He sounded ominous.”

  “He’s paranoid,” I said, knowing his ominous tone had to do with Andi. “Unless you think Andi would betray you.”

  “What? Never. I trust her like I trust you boys.”

  I smiled, as her comment filled me with happiness that she cared for Andi.

  “Are they saying she was a part of Marcus Chen’s plan?” she asked.

  “They’re suspicious, not without reason, but when I came to talk to her, Marcus was here. He set her up. Just like he tried to set me up. But the deal is done. You still own Strong Incorporated, plus Chen’s distribution market.”

  She was quiet on the phone. “I guess our work is done.”

  I wasn’t sure if she meant all of us or just my work with her.

  “Does Andi know she was targeted?”

  “Yes. But I’ve told her that I believe her.”

  “What about your brothers?”

  “I haven’t talked to them yet. They’ll think I’m letting her off because of how I feel,” I said, knowing I was about to confess my love for Andi to my grandmother.

  “So, you’ve finally owned up to the fact that you’re in love with her?” she said.

  I jerked and looked at the phone. How did she know? “You knew that?”

  “I’ve been around a long time, Noah. I know love when I see it, even when it manifests as bickering.”

  I was quiet for a minute. “This won’t make things weird between you and Andi, will it? Or me and you?”

  “I don’t know why.”

  “What if it doesn’t work?”

  “I’ll be mad if one of you hurts the other, but I understand life is messy. Besides, I’m retiring soon, and while I’d like Andi to stay with the company, she’s a talented woman who may want to spread her wings.”

  Had I been worried about nothing all this time?

  “I know with the completion of this project, our deal is that I won’t pester you to work for me.”

  “I’m having the IT team run a few more things, and I’ll have a report to you tomorrow.”

  “Well then, I can try one more time to convince you to take over as head of technology.”

  For the first time ever, I considered her offer. It would keep me here near Andi. And while she was brilliant and could go anywhere, I knew she had a fondness for my family, even without me, and would likely stay if given the right job after Gran left.

  “Think about it and let me know tomorrow,” she said before I could formulate an answer. “And Noah, thank you for saving the company—”

  “It wasn’t just my work, Gran.”

  “I know, but without your work, Chen might be walking into my office right now.”

  “Let’s hope he’s on a plane heading back to Hong Kong.” I said.

  “Let’s hope. I’ll see you and Andi tomorrow.”

  When I hung up, I saw Andi standing in the hallway. “When I woke up and you weren’t there, I was afraid you’d been a dream.”

  I hated that for a moment she’d been scared we weren’t real. I stood and went to her, giving her my cocky grin. “I’m your dream come true baby.”

  I scooped her up and carried her back to her room and did my damnedest to make her believe that this dream was coming true.

  The next day, Andi insisted that we arrive separately to work.

  “They already know about us,” I argued. “Probably because you told the wives.”

  Normally she’d snap back, but in her eyes, I saw fear. “What if they don’t believe me? What if they think you’re blinded by your feelings for me?”

  I pulled her to me. “They won’t and if they do, I have a secret weapon.”

  “Your dick is amazing, but I don’t think—”

  I grinned. “You think my dick is a secret weapon?”

  “You’re changing the subject.”

  This was what I loved. Andi and me bantering like tennis players hitting the ball back and forth.

  “I won’t be using m
y dick. At least not in the conference room. I do have a fantasy of taking you from behind on your deck. Or any desk actually.”

  Her smile was sexy and sweet all at once. “You fantasize about me?”

  I rolled my eyes. “All the time. Why do you think I’m always so agitated around you?”

  She looped her arms around my neck. “Me too.”

  I arched a brow. “What’s your fantasy about me?”

  “Sex on the plane was one. In the shower, like we did this morning. Every time with you is a fantasy come to life.”

  I tugged her closer. “Flattery will get you everything you want from me.”

  In the end I gave in because I wanted Andi to feel confident when she walked into the conference room. I tore myself away from her and then headed home to change my clothes before going into the office.

  When I arrived, I went straight to the conference room. My brothers were already there talking and the way they'd all abruptly shut up when I entered suggested, they'd been talking about me.

  "Don't stop talking about me just because I'm here,” I said.

  "I thought you were going to call us yesterday," Hunter said gruffly.

  I took a seat next to Carter, whose stack of papers made the skinny folder with my report seem inadequate.

  Still, I came armed to defend Andi and finish this job once and for all. "I talked to Andi and then I called Gran. That's what I said I was going to do."

  "You could have called us to give us a heads up on what you learned,” Ryan said.

  "You're not the boss of me." I shook my head. The obstinate part of me slouched back and I nearly put my boots up on the table. Instead, I just give them my bored expression.

  "We’re supposed to be working on this together,” Carter said affably and calmly compared to Hunter and Ryan’s irritation.

  "This is one of the reasons why I haven't come to work for Gran. I might be the youngest brother, but I'm not a child —"

  "Then stop acting like one all the time,” Hunter charged.

  "Hunter! That's enough,” Ryan said, earning a glare from Hunter.

  "You don't respect my work. You don't think that I can do the job that needs to be done. So why would you want me here anyway? Just because I’m a Strong isn’t a good enough reason for me to be here. I don’t want handouts or to be seen as someone who hasn't learned anything." The only thing I feel really confident about earning at this point was Andi.

  "That's not true," Carter said, frowning at me. "You are really good at what you do. Without your involvement, this company would very likely be held by Marcus Chen." Carter looked at Ryan and Hunter, and then back to me. "Well, I can't speak for the others, Noah, but I respect you. And I believe you'd make a tremendous contribution here. But I also respect that, that's not what you want."

  "We all know that you’re fit for the job," Ryan said in his very authoritative voice. “Gran wants us to work as a team, and part of that would be giving us a report on what you learned from Andi yesterday."

  I held up my folder. “This is your report.”

  "That the reason he didn't call was because he gave in to her," Hunter said. "You always had a thing for her. Did you consider that maybe her new interest in you was to use you?"

  “Sometimes you’re a real asshole, you know that?” I said to Hunter. Hadn’t he been the one to tell me to go after what I really wanted?

  He shrugged as if to say, I know.

  "If you have a problem with Andi, you can take it up with Gran. I told her everything she needed to know, so it's all on her plate now,” I said.

  "What’s on my plate?" My grandmother said as she walked in looking regal as always. Behind her, Andi followed. She wore a black pencil skirt with a white shirt and fitted jacket that made her look fierce and sexy. It was very difficult not to react to her. I wasn't trying to hide what was going on between me and Andi. Instead, I was trying to prevent my brothers, particularly Hunter, using it against me.

  Andi took her usual seat near my grandmother while my grandmother stood at the head of the table. My brothers cast glances at each other, noting that Andi seemed to be in her regular position.

  "Now I understand you have some information to relay to me. Carter, where are we on the takeover of Marcus Chen’s company?"

  "We completed the takeover a day and a half ago, and yesterday we began the process of sending our people over to the office in Hong Kong. Interestingly enough, many of Chen's employees weren’t the happiest workers, and have given us quite a bit of information. Phil is still doing an assessment, but he believed that we should be able to keep many of them on, which will make for an easier transition.”

  "Chen is trying to do some interesting finagling still, but we have our lawyers ready to fight anything that he might do. We've also taken measures to ensure Strong Incorporated doesn't get entangled in whatever legal or other types of actions Chen might take," Ryan said.

  "Excellent." Gran turned to look at me. "And, Noah, you have a report for us."

  "As you know, the hack came in from a computer in Hong Kong but was able to gain access to the system through a malware sent here. We've been able to pinpoint the infected systems. The tech team has scanned all the computers here as well as all and our other locations, to clean them of malware. I also arranged to have them all installed with a protection system I created which will better guard against these types of breaches. It will also create a report every hour of all activity. Now if something does happen again, we will have an easier time identifying the source. It will also note any porn you might be watching, Hunter," I couldn’t stop myself from saying.

  He glared at me. Gran ignored my comment. "Very good. I assume you’ll include the cost of this program you created when you send us the invoice for the work you did."

  "You and I can talk about that later," I said to her.

  She nodded.

  She was about to say something when Hunter chimed in, "Wait a minute. What about the fact that somebody in this company may have been helping Chen?” His gaze briefly glanced over to Andi, before landing on my grandmother.

  Andi frowned and I could see she wanted to defend herself but my grandmother put her hand on the table in front of Andi, a sure sign telling her to not speak.

  "I understand that was resolved, wasn't it?" she asked me. “I was satisfied with your assessment. Has something changed?”

  "I give you all the information. I don’t believe anyone on the inside was involved in this hack or helping Chen. At least not on purpose.”

  "Maybe someone else should look into that," Hunter said. "I think Noah is biased."

  I stood up. "Well, if you would like to investigate all potential accomplices, I can give you the list of possibilities to investigate.” I pulled out a piece of paper from my folder. "One came in through a spreadsheet sent to Gran through Andi.” I glanced at Andi who frowned. I gave her a slight smile to let her know I wasn't about to toss her under the bus.

  Before Hunter or anyone else could say anything, I pulled out another piece of paper. "There is another piece of malware attached to a financial report that came in through Carter's computer.” I slid the paper to him. "And here's one that came in through Hunter’s computer," I glared at him as I slid the paper over to him. "On a report for preliminary focus groups." I sat down again. "So how are we going to do this investigation? Did you help Chen?” I asked Hunter.

  "You can't believe we had anything to do with this," Carter said.

  I looked over at him. "I don't believe any of you had anything to do at this. But of course, I'm just a contract worker. Even so, it seems to me that if you're going to have an investigation of Andi, you need to have an investigation of everyone who received and opened an email that allowed a piece of malware into the system, which will include you and Hunter."

  "I think he’s made his point," Gran said.

  "I think you all owe Andi an apology,” I said.

  "May I say something?" Andi asked Gran, who nodded.


  Andi looked over the rest of us at the table. "I understand how easy it is to doubt people you should trust implicitly," she said looking at me. "But I can assure you that I have always been a devoted and loyal employee of Margaret Strong." She turned and looked at Gran. "It has been my honor and pleasure to work for you. I have learned so much. More than I would've learned in a graduate program as I had initially thought I might do. But as you move to your retirement, I wanted to let you all know that with your leaving, I’ll be leaving too."

  My stomach sank.

  "I can't tell you how disappointed that makes me feel. You know that I would look out for you, Andi," Gran said.

  "I know. But in light of everything, and with the changes going on, thinking that perhaps it's time for me to spread my wings a little.” Andi sat down.

  "I respect that,” Gran said.

  "Andi, please don't leave because we've been jerks," Ryan said.

  "Things are changing in my life professionally and personally." Andi cast a glance toward me, but then turned it back to my brothers. "I'm just wanting to be ready for the next adventure, whatever that might be."

  Inside I lit up as I realized she was essentially telling me that her next move in life would be alongside me.

  32

  Andi

  I hadn't made the decision to resign before I entered the meeting, but as I listened and realized that with the issue with Chen done and Noah now free to do whatever he wanted, I wanted to be free to join him. I wasn't the type of person to throw away personal pursuits to follow a man, but I knew I wanted to go on the adventure that Noah had promised me three years ago when I first climbed on the back of his motorcycle. I had skills and experience, so wherever he ended up, I felt certain that I could find a place for me as well. Standing up in front of the Strong family, a family that I felt very close to, and telling them that I was ready to move on, had been bittersweet, and at the same time very freeing.

  "I'm not so sure this place will function without you," Carter said.