But a burn had never felt so good.
Her nails retracted, and she skimmed her fingertips down my back, touching me softly after the way she’d gripped me so fiercely.
I opened my eyes and looked at her, seeing the soft expression she wore when I first came inside.
“I’ll let that one go since it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. But not again.” Even though she was pinned underneath me, half my body size, she exerted a shadow of power that rivaled my own. She commanded the situation with little effort.
It validated my existing obsession. “Yes, Boss Lady.”
* * *
She sipped her glass of water and stared at the TV. The sound was on mute, and there was a replay of a baseball game that aired earlier that day. She wore my white collared shirt with just her panties underneath. Her hair was untidy and her makeup smeared, but she looked stunning that way.
Because I was the cause of the disarray.
I drank my glass as I watched her, clean from rinsing off in her shower. Now I sat in my boxers on the couch, the plastic cover gone. I watched her, intrigued by this mysterious woman and wondering what her thoughts were.
She always had a glass of water after sex. And she always had a fresh vase of flowers on most surfaces. I’d never seen wilting flowers anywhere near her. She must change them out every two days, like clockwork. She was constantly dressed in dark colors, but she surrounded herself with stark femininity. She turned to me and set her glass down. “Are you hungry?”
She’d never offered me food before. “A little.”
“I have some leftovers from last night. Would you like some?”
“Did you make it?”
“Yes.”
“Then yes.” I wanted to taste her cooking—since I’d tasted everything else of hers.
She walked into the kitchen, heated up two plates of food, and then returned. She made leftover chicken breast, plain with salt and paper and lemon marinade, along with broccoli and asparagus.
The meat was tender enough to cut into with a fork, and I ate while I watched her on the other couch.
She took small bites, taking a long time to chew her food before she swallowed it.
It didn’t surprise me that this was the kind of diet she had. A woman didn’t have legs like that without watching every little thing she ate. She drank so much she had to offset it in some way. She obviously cared more about liquor than food.
“This is good,” I said between bites. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” She finished everything before she set the empty plate on the table.
I put mine down too and watched her, wondering if she wanted me to leave or not. I had no reason to stay, but it was hard for me to get up. Whenever I was with her, I was comfortable. I didn’t think about work or the other bullshit in my life. I didn’t think about anything, actually. It was nice. “How did you know about Bruce Carol?”
She crossed her legs and turned her head in my direction. “We don’t talk about business.”
“The deal has been done. I don’t see the harm.”
“I do.” She grabbed her water again.
I should have known that would be her reaction. She wasn’t intimidated by my success, knowing it was no reflection on her own accomplishments. She was confident enough not to let my victory interfere with our relationship, but she wasn’t going to change her mind about her initial rules.
I remembered the night we sat together in her hotel room. We were both satisfied after an intense round of fucking, so we sat in the dark and talked—and drank. I learned she was a writer, that she had a sweet smile when she was comfortable enough to show it.
I liked that conversation as much as the sex.
But I couldn’t ask her anything deep directly. I had to circle in slowly. Otherwise, she’d throw her walls up. “How long have you been living here?”
“I bought this place five years ago. Before that, I was on Madison.”
“It’s nice.”
“Thanks. Your place is nice too.”
“Thanks.” They were similar, probably equal in value. We both had the same view of the city, on the same floor. I was just closer to my office, and she was closer to hers. “Where else do you have real estate?”
“Rhode Island,” she answered. “It’s a beach house. I go there to unwind, to have celebrations.”
“Nice.”
“I also have places in San Diego and Aspen. What about you?”
Now the dialogue was open. We weren’t talking about anything important, but the conversation was nice anyway. I enjoyed getting to know her, having a relationship with her besides sex. She had a group of friends that had access to all of her secrets, so she was willing to share her life with people—if she trusted you. “I have places everywhere. One in Malibu, Hawaii, Lake Como, Cannes…the list goes on.”
“You love the south of France?” she asked.
“It’s beautiful. You?”
“There’s no place like it. I’ve never purchased anything there because I love staying at the resorts. Sometimes it’s nice to have your kitchen and your own space, and other times, I’m in the mood for someone to cater to my every need.”
I nodded in understanding. “Do you have a yacht?”
“Yes, in San Diego.”
She liked her toys as much as I did. “I’d love to see it sometime—if we’re ever there at the same time.”
“Maybe,” she said noncommittally.
I tried to keep the conversation going. “I bought a small plane a few years ago. I have my pilot’s license, and I take it for a drive sometimes. Or I should say, I take it for a flight sometimes.”
She turned my way, her interest piqued. “Yeah?”
I nodded.
“I’ve always wanted to fly.”
“You should. Nothing like it.”
“I just never have the time… I guess I’ll have to make the time.”
When I glanced at the clock, I saw that it was nearly ten. It was time for me to head home and get ready for my day tomorrow, but I continued to stay.
Wasn’t sure why.
“Have you seen the footage of the commercial yet?” she asked.
“No.” I hadn’t spoken to my brother since we came back to the city. “I’m sure it came out great, though.” Titan would steal the show with those flirtatious eyes and beautiful smile.
“You have another brother?” she asked.
“Yes. A younger one.” She said she wouldn’t ask personal questions, but maybe this didn’t fall into that category because she’d already met Brett.
“What does he do?”
“Lives in Manhattan. He’s still working for my father’s company. The place is his when my dad croaks.”
Titan’s green eyes concentrated on my face, her intelligent brain working behind her eyes. She examined me in silence, considering how she would approach the situation. She never asked about my father, but she obviously knew we had bad blood. She must have figured that out when she Googled me, just how I figured things out when I Googled her. “You aren’t close, then?”
“We don’t talk.” I hadn’t spoken to him in years. When Dad and I went our separate ways, Jax followed our father. Instead of branching on his own and making his own fortune, he chose to stick it out and inherit everything my father built in his lifetime.
Pussy shit.
When Titan knew she was in dangerous territory, she stopped asking questions.
It made me realize I wanted to know more about her, but I wasn’t willing to give up anything in return. Wasn’t exactly fair.
“Were you close with your parents?” I wasn’t going to pretend I didn’t already have access to this basic information. I knew they were both gone.
To my surprise, she answered the question. “I don’t remember my mother. She took off when I was young, maybe five or six.”
Took off? I’d assumed she passed away. “She left you?”
Titan didn’t see
m upset about this aspect of her life because she remained as unmoved as ever. “My father didn’t talk about it much. He just said she couldn’t handle being a mother and left. Apparently, she slipped out in the middle of the night and left a note. I found the note when I was going through my father’s things. But I never read it.”
How did she have the strength to ignore it?
She answered my unspoken question. “My father still spoke highly of her as time went on. Even after she left both of us, he still loved her. I never understood it. Since he didn’t want me to hate her, I chose not to read it. He wouldn’t have wanted me to.”
“Then you were close with him?”
A painful smile crept onto her features, her eyes reflective of the memories she still held in her heart. “My father was my best friend. I still miss him—every day.”
Seeing the combination of her emotions, the happiness she felt from loving him and the devastation she felt now that he was gone, burned into my skin in a way I hadn’t felt before. I pitied her, wanted to make her feel better. Now I wished I hadn’t mentioned anything at all so she wouldn’t have had to experience this pain right now. “I’m sorry.”
After a deep sigh, she controlled her thoughts and pulled herself out of the dive, returning to the rigid woman who worked her stilettos every day. “But that’s how life goes. We live and we die. My fate won’t be any different.”
Neither would mine.
She rose from the couch and collected the plates. “You should get going, Hunt. I have a long day tomorrow.” She walked into the kitchen and turned on the faucet, doing the dishes. I pulled on my clothes, thinking about everything she’d just shared with me. When I approached her in the right way, she opened like the petals of a flower on a warm spring day. Her heart was open, and her thoughts were no longer invisible. She was just a woman—not a ruler. I felt special that she’d shared that with me, told me something she probably didn’t say to anyone else.
I walked into the kitchen and saw her standing there in my shirt. It was all I was missing, but that wasn’t why I walked inside. I came up behind her and pressed my chest to her back. She stiffened at my touch, immediately feeling my powerful physique against her. I turned off the water and wrapped my arms around her, hugging her to me.
I held her like that for a long time, my intentions unknown. I didn’t want sex from her. I didn’t want anything from her.
I just wanted to be there for her.
Her arms moved over mine, and she rested the back of her head against my chest. She didn’t push me off and encourage me to leave. She let me support her, let me be her crutch. She allowed another layer to come off, to let me witness an even softer side of her.
My lips moved against her hair, and I pressed a kiss to her hairline.
Her chest immediately rose at the contact, her body automatically taking a breath.
She felt something.
It was undeniable.
And I felt something too.
* * *
I sat at my desk and flipped through the news on my phone.
The third story down was an article about Titan.
And Thorn.
* * *
Thorn Cutler and Tatum Titan spend a quiet evening out to dinner with the Cutler family. Proposal coming soon?
* * *
There was a picture of the four of them having dinner, laughing as they shared a bottle of wine. Thorn’s arm was draped over the back of Titan’s chair, showing minor affection, but enough to annoy me.
Piss me off, actually.
I shouldn’t care.
Fuck, I don’t care.
But goddammit, I do care.
Natalie’s voice came through the intercom. “The team is ready to head to Bruce Carol’s office, sir.”
Her voice disrupted my thoughts, but not enough to sway my anger. “I’ll be there in five minutes.” I had nothing to finish up, no phone call to make. I just needed to sit there for a moment, to let the rage slowly leave my body with every pump of my heart. With every beat, it dissolved the annoyance in my bloodstream and cleaned it out.
The pulse in my temple was loud, and my cheek started to hurt because I was tensing my jaw so tightly.
My reaction was stupid. Titan told me about her relationship with Thorn. She wasn’t sleeping with him. Thorn confirmed the same thing, even encouraging us to work out our differences and be together.
So I shouldn’t care.
But something about their arrangement bothered me—probably because I was left in the dark. What was their connection? What did they mean to each other? What did each one get out of this lie?
And why the fuck wouldn’t she tell me?
I was fucking her. I had a right to know.
Natalie’s voice came through the intercom again. “Sir, it’s been ten minutes. Just wanted to see if I could help you with anything.”
I needed to bottle these thoughts inside and forget about them. “I’m coming.”
* * *
I walked into the boardroom with my legal team. Bruce was sitting on one side of the table, his lawyers flanking him on either side. They were all middle-aged men with collars that fit too tightly around the necks. Stubby fingers with wedding rings and knuckle hair were marked on all of them. “Afternoon, gentlemen.” I walked to each one and shook hands. Bruce stood up to greet me, giving me a smile before patting me on the back.
“It’s great to see you, Mr. Hunt. Let’s get down to business, shall we?”
“Right to the point, Bruce,” I said. “I like it.” I moved back to my side of the table and handed out the contracts. We were officially signing the paperwork and wiring the money for ownership of the company. It was something I couldn’t delegate to someone else to do since I was the one acquiring it. But I’d rather have spent my time focusing on my next venture. “As you can see, I’ve agreed to accept all of your requests. Your stake in the company will be paid quarterly.”
Bruce flipped through the contract, unsurprised by what he saw. His legal team looked through it more carefully, making sure it matched the one my assistant had emailed a few days prior.
I sat back in my chair and watched Bruce, never taking my eyes off him. Until the company was officially mine, I still had something to lose. I had to remain as poised as ever, examining my surroundings for any sign of disaster.
“Everything looks in order to me,” Bruce said. “You’ve given me more than a fair offer, Hunt. Much better than what that tight-ass offered me.”
My fingers rested on the table, and they immediately retracted, forming a fist. I was jumping to a conclusion when I assumed he was referring to Titan, but she was the only other person who made him an offer that I knew of. “Excuse me?”
“Tatum Titan,” he said. “I’m sure you know she met me with me first.”
I stared at him down, my eyes so concentrated they started to water. I couldn’t blink to give them a respite from the air. Now I stared at Bruce with adrenaline pumping through my heart, offended as if he’d just insulted me to my face.
“Her offer was piss,” he said. “And even if it weren’t, I’d rather lose the company than hand it over to a woman. Maybe if she offered to suck my dick, I would have played a different tune.” He laughed uproariously like it was the funniest thing he’d ever heard. A few of his lawyers chuckled, probably because they were excited they were about to be paid. “But she does have a nice nectarine, so I’ll give her that.”
My knuckles turned white.
Thankfully, there were six feet in between us. Any less than that, and I may have grabbed his scalp and slammed his face into the table. I dragged my hand across my face, trying to control my clenched jaw and flaring temper.
The lawyers were near the end of the contact, almost ready to cross the T’s and dot the I’s.
Instead of thinking about the fortune I was about to attain, I kept picturing a pool of blood surrounding his dead body. As if he’d just insulted my dead mother, I was livid. He cr
ossed a line I hadn’t realized existed. He provoked me in a way that made smoke come out of my ears.
I despised this man with every fiber of my being.
I rose to my feet, everyone shifting their gazes to watch what I was doing. I buttoned the front of my suit, staring down the man I’d immediately marked as my enemy. “Deal’s off. Let’s go.”
My team looked at me, confusion written all over their faces. But they didn’t dare question me in front of anyone. They closed their portfolios and their laptops and packed up.
Bruce’s confusion was ten times as strong than everyone else’s. “Mr. Hunt, what’s going on?”
“Deal’s off.” Just because I spoke calmly didn’t mean my rage was under control. My ferocity filled up every corner of the room. People became smaller as I doubled in size. “My offer is officially withdrawn. I won’t be doing business with you—and I’ll never do business with you.” I turned around and walked to the door just as Natalie opened it for me.
“Hunt, what the hell?” Bruce stood up, both of his hands hitting the surface of the table. “We had a deal. You can’t just walk out of here like this.”
I turned around, and when he saw my gaze, he shrank back slightly. “I don’t do business with assholes. And I can do whatever the hell I want, Bruce. I’m one of the richest men in the world, and now, you’re one of the poorest.”
5
Titan
Thorn called me while I was at work. He usually only contacted me outside of working hours because he was too busy handling his own businesses. “Have you seen the news?”
I sat at my desk with my laptop open beside me. “No. Why?”
“You should check it.”
I moved the touch pad so the screen turned back on, and then I brought up my home page. “What am I looking for, Thorn?” If it was a natural disaster, those happened every day. If it was a murder, those happened too. Not much made me blink twice anymore.
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