One Last Time ?: Bad Boy Bachelors of Orange County BK 1

by Gray, Khardine

  That was his next mistake, and then he made another by pointing at Dylan.

  Dylan threw a punch in his face so quick neither of us saw it coming. His fist balled and flew out in a split second, and the next second saw Brody on the ground grabbing his nose.

  Seeing that Dylan was stronger and more able to handle himself, I thought Brody would have scampered away like the rat he was, but I had to give him credit for getting up and trying to come for Dylan.

  I gasped in shock, moving out of the way when Dylan grabbed him around his neck, using the momentum and speed Brody came for him to hoist him into the air like he weighed nothing more than a rag doll.

  It took Brody by surprise, and he gasped and writhed against Dylan’s grasp, grabbing at his hands.

  “Fucking asshole. I told you, you made a mistake coming here today. Should have gone to the fucking bank,” Dylan barked. “People like you make me sick, getting with women and taking advantage. You won’t do it with my girl.”

  Dylan threw him down, and Brody backed away seeing he was no match.

  “Fuck the hell off and don’t come back!” Dylan growled like a ferocious animal ready to rip Brody apart.

  I watched the whole scene play out before me. Brody getting up and rushing away down the path like he was trying to preserve what was left of his pride, and Dylan still glowering at him.

  I watched, and it hit. It hit me like that eye opener Abby had talked about.

  Guys like Brody were what awaited me after Dylan.

  Why? Because that was who I picked.

  From one to the next, they were the same, and I didn’t realize until it was too late.

  I never realized until it was too late and I was in too deep.

  And… as I looked at Dylan, what he’d said hit me too.

  He’d said he was my boyfriend and called me his girl.

  Was I?

  How could I want that more than anything right now and not have it?

  “Thank you,” I breathed when he looked to me.

  “Come on, I’ll get you some water.” He took my hand and led me back inside to the sitting room, where he sat me down. “Taylor, that guy was a complete asshole. Don’t let him get to you.”

  He must have thought I was more upset from the shock of seeing Brody and from what he’d said to me. I wasn’t.

  “You called me your girl,” I said, speaking mindlessly.

  He stared back, open-mouthed, like he hadn’t realized what he’d said until then.

  He blinked, and those ice-blue eyes seemed brighter to me.

  “Yeah, I guess…” He paused and brought his hand to his chin. “I guess that doesn’t sound like no-strings-attached exclusive. Does it?”

  “Not so much.” I shouldn’t do this to myself because I knew what he was going to say.

  I wasn’t the one with the father who might not be okay with him seeing me because I was a client. It wasn’t my career that was dependent on anything. I had what I had, and I understood we were just supposed to be fooling around. That was what no strings meant.

  “It’s okay,” I told him, and he straightened. “It was just nice. Nice to be called yours. I could be yours for the next ten days.” My voice shook as I spoke.

  “Ten days… God, is that all that’s left?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  He shook his head. “What if I want to see you after that? What if… I want you to keep being mine?”

  I stared at him, not quite able to process what he was saying.

  He smirked. “Please, Taylor, for fuck’s sake, don’t tell me something like my place will be taken. That I’ll be replaced. Whatever. Just say no, but don’t say any of that stuff.”

  A tear ran down my cheek. “You can’t be replaced, and no one’s ever had your place.”

  His eyes held a sheen of purpose that brightened before me like a light. “Really?”

  “Yes. So, if you wanted to keep seeing me, that would be perfect, and if you still wanted me to be yours, I would be.”

  He slipped his arm around my waist and pulled me flush against his chest.

  “I do,” he whispered against my hair, his breath like a gentle caress on my skin.

  I do…

  Yes, me too. Always me too.

  Chapter 15

  Dylan

  * * *

  Less than one week to go and counting.

  Not for the moment when I would end my relationship with Taylor. No, not that.

  I had three days shy of one week to go and counting to speak to my father.

  I must have met with him this past week nearly as many times as I’d seen Taylor, and that guilt was eating away at my insides. It kept festering like a damn wound that was left open and wouldn’t heal. It came from the lie that I was to him.

  The guy who’d kept his promise.

  I’d never set out to do anything other than that, but then she happened. Taylor happened to me, and I couldn’t resist her.

  She was here again. At my place. She came last night and stayed. I was convincing her to stay again, but her mom was taking her and her sisters out for the day.

  I held her in my arms as we stood on the steps leading up to my front door. I held her, kissing her and taking as much of her as I could. She was supposed to leave me ten minutes ago. Like every time, I couldn’t let her go, and I wouldn’t be seeing her until tomorrow.

  That to me felt like torture.

  “Dylan, you are going to get me in trouble with my mom.” She giggled against my lips.

  “She’ll understand.”

  “No, she won’t. She already complains that I don’t see her enough.” She tried to pull away from me, but I pulled her back to my lips, claiming her once again.

  “Dylan, I’m serious. My mother isn’t like my father.” She winced. This time, I allowed her to pull away.

  “Okay, I wouldn’t want to suffer your mother’s wrath. You call me when you get there?” I brushed my finger over her chin.

  “I will,” she promised and moved back to me for one last kiss.

  She skipped down the drive, got in her car, and drove away. I watched until the car turned the corner and for another minute as I got lost in my thoughts about her.

  I never saw the car parked across the street or the man who got out of it until I turned back to go inside, and my heart slammed in my chest.

  Dad.

  The man was Dad, and he was watching. He was watching me and had seen the whole thing.

  Me with Taylor Cartwright, his client’s daughter. My client.

  Shit.

  I stood frozen solid.

  Frozen… unable to move. Unable to breathe.

  The disappointment in myself overtook me because I should have manned up days ago, a week ago even, or shit, well before that and told him I was seeing Taylor.

  When he walked up to me, it felt like he was walking in slow motion. Like one of those nightmares where everything seemed slowed down. Really, he was walking at a normal pace. The look on his face made me feel worse.

  When he got to me, he stopped paces away and narrowed his eyes.

  “Dylan, please don’t tell me that girl was who I think it is?” He pointed to the road as if Taylor were still here. “Shit, why am I even asking? I saw her with my own two eyes. Maybe the question I should be asking myself is, why am I surprised?”

  “Dad, look… I’m sorry. We just happened.”

  His nostrils flared. “What do you mean, you just happened? That’s bullshit, Dylan. Absolute bullshit. This is beyond unprofessional. And what am I supposed to do when the shit hits the fan and you decide to dump her? Why would you do this? Why would you do this to me again?”

  “She’s not the same. Dad, Taylor isn’t the same as the others. She’s different, and I want to be with her.” I’d never voiced my decision out loud. Not even to Parker, or Taylor for the matter. Here I was, telling the person I’d never expected to tell, and he looked at me like he didn’t believe a word I said. He had reaso
n to. He did, and I understood why he would react this way.

  “Dylan, you don’t know what you want. Clearly, you never did, and the fact of the matter is, you’re a grown man. I can’t tell you what to do. I can’t tell you how to live your life or who you should be with. What I can do is this… treat you the same as I would any employee. You are messing with my livelihood, and I lost millions the last time this shit happened. Millions, Dylan. I don’t even know how I managed to pull things back together, but I did, and I won’t go through that again. If you want to continue working for me, you stop seeing her, or you leave.”

  I clenched my fists, and my lips parted. This was the ultimatum. He was doing it. He would actually fire my ass.

  “Dad, that is ridiculous. I just told you I want to be with her, and you do this?”

  “Saying it is not enough, Dylan. I know you, and I won’t put my trust in you. Not this way. Not this way, son. Year in year out, I see you with one girl after another. You only slowed down some after Tommy’s death. You’ve never been serious about anyone, yet I’m supposed to believe you on this occasion? No. Peter is the next level for the company. He’s the next step that I never imagined. I doubt he’ll want us anywhere near him or his company if you screw things up with his daughter or treat her the way you do all the other women you hook up with. So, choose. Choose.” He shook his head at me. “Tommy would have never done this to me.”

  Yes, I had to agree.

  The perfect son wouldn’t have done anything wrong at all. What a shame fate decided that out of the two of us who got to live, it chose me.

  “Tommy would never have done this to me, or the company,” Dad continued. “But you, you think you should make it some kind of mission to screw with me when I need you most. I allowed you to take charge, and in such a way that your skills landed us this deal with Peter, then, with the same hand, you want to take it away. Crush me most when I need you.”

  Dad walked away, not giving me a chance to answer.

  I wouldn’t have known what to say. I wouldn’t have known how to answer because he had crushed me the moment he compared me to Tommy, like I needed the reminder that I wasn’t him.

  I watched Dad head to his car and drive away, never looking back. He’d dealt his blow and confirmed my fears.

  Tommy would have never done what I did to him. Not just with Taylor, but everything. Tommy would never have done anything to put the company in jeopardy. Not the way I did.

  Choose…

  This was my life. I’d worked so hard to show Dad I could take charge and be responsible. I’d worked so hard to show him I was capable of being the man Tommy was. I knew Dad needed me because he wouldn’t have said so otherwise. He wouldn’t have said it.

  But… what did that mean for me?

  Me and Taylor. Dad had freaked because he thought I wasn’t serious about Taylor, and he didn’t believe me when I said I was. He didn’t believe me.

  The whole thing plagued my mind all day and all night. It was the first time since I’d known Taylor that I’d lost sleep, and it wasn’t because I was with her.

  By morning, I still felt conflicted about the choices laid before me.

  Stay with the company and work for Dad, live out my dream to work with him and excel. Or leave… and be with Taylor.

  Was it that simple? Was the latter that simple? I was serious about her, but what if we didn’t work out?

  It was late in the night when I went to her place like we’d planned, except I’d gotten to her later than I hoped because I didn’t know what I would say.

  She was sitting out on the terrace with a notebook, looking better than I remembered, and it was just yesterday that I’d seen her.

  When she saw me, her face brightened. It lit up like I was the best thing she’d ever seen, and my girl flew straight into my arms.

  It didn’t take a minute for her to realize that I wasn’t my usual self.

  She saw straightaway that something was wrong.

  “What’s wrong with your face? It’s not smiling.” She chuckled.

  I’d never really stopped to appreciate all the things I loved about her. Like the way she talked and how she said certain things.

  “Taylor… my Dad found out about us.”

  The smile on her face fell the minute I said that, and she stepped back, out of my arms.

  “How?”

  “He saw us yesterday. He came to look for me. It was just as you were leaving. He saw us together.”

  She pressed her lips together and stared at me. “What did he say?”

  I thought for a moment about whether or not I should tell her. I almost didn’t, but what would that achieve? She should know.

  “He gave me an ultimatum. He threatened to fire me if I continued to see you.”

  She gasped and shook her head. “What? He would really do that? Dylan, that is absurd. It’s not like we’re kids.”

  “No. It’s not, but he has reason and grounds to. If he didn’t, this would be bullshit. He wouldn’t believe me when I told him I was serious about you. He wouldn’t believe me.”

  She held my gaze. “You told him that?”

  “Yes.”

  “But… if he didn’t believe you, then the only other choice is to leave me.” Her eyes brimmed with tears.

  Hearing her say that hit me hard because I didn’t want to leave her.

  “Taylor—”

  She held up her hand. “Don’t, please, don’t say it. I get it. I get it, and I understand. This is your career and your life. It’s not as simple as deciding to go left or right. Millions of dollars are at stake, like they always are… Money and business. Nothing else matters. Not even… me.” Her voice took on a frail edge and disappointment washed over her beautiful face.

  Money and business were probably the thing that had kept me going for a long time. The chance for more money, the chance to work with Dad in the family business. As I looked at her and saw how hurt she was, those things faded in my mind. All of them.

  The woman who stood before me was the most amazing being I’d ever come across. She’d been the only one to tame me and the only one to unlock my heart and make me feel things I’d never felt. She made me feel things I never thought I could feel. She’d told me that every guy she’d been with had taken advantage of her in some way. Working with her got me where I was. It secured Dad this deal he called the next level.

  She’d given me an advantage, but no way in hell was I going to allow her to think I was just like the others. Or, that money and business were more important to me than her.

  I stepped closer to her and cupped her face, lowering my lips straight to hers.

  Just like every time I kissed her, this kiss felt different. But it wasn’t because of her. It was because of me.

  I was different because I wanted her to know how serious I was about her.

  Chapter 16

  Taylor

  * * *

  My mind reveled in the velvet warmth of his kiss.

  His kiss, urgent and yet exploratory, sent spirals of ecstasy through my body, searing the path to my soul.

  I wanted to talk more. I wanted to ask him what we were doing about us, but I was too lost in the way he was showing me.

  He was showing me what I’d hoped for all these weeks. It was all there in the way he kissed me and touched me. It was the sort of touch and kiss to say everything because sometimes, actions spoke louder than words.

  Right now, they were deafening. Screaming at me from all around and deep within as every fiber in my being came alive. Alive as if I’d been given new life. Like this was the first time my eyes were opened to life and what I’d experienced before wasn’t living.

  Dylan swept me up into his arms, lifting me and carrying me inside the house and up to my room. Into my bed, where layer, by layer our clothes came off.

  Skin to skin we lay against the satin sheets, my body against his.

  Everything faded from my mind when he rolled me on to my back and his c
ock seared into me. He filled me up completely, and my world was filled with him. Just him, and only him.

  Dylan.

  Waves of pleasure and ecstasy coursed through me as he started to thrust into me. Pleasure, raw and primal, licked at my nerves. Explosive and pure.

  It pounded the blood through my heart along with something else. Something that flowed within me, from me to him, like warm honey. It vibrated through my soul with liquid fire.

  It wasn’t until he lowered his head and laced his fingers through mine that I saw what that something was. It was in his eyes. It was written all over his face as he looked at me and watched me come undone in his arms. It was love.

  Love was in his eyes. Love was him. It was reflected in the tenderness of his gaze, and my mind, body, and soul were all his. Everything that made me, me. belonged to him because I knew in that moment, like pure truth, that there was no other man for me.

  The passion we shared intensified throughout the night as we allowed the maddening hold of love to take us. I didn’t remember falling asleep. But, I fell asleep and regretted it because when I woke up, he was gone.

  Dylan was gone, and I didn’t know where he went or what was happening. All I knew was I loved him.

  * * *

  It took a lot for me to put on a brave face and get to work today.

  I got in late. That wasn’t planned. It just happened. I didn’t need to see Dad for anything today, so I figured it would be okay.

  Part of me thought waiting at home until I felt like I could come out would be best. Another part thought to stay because it hoped Dylan would call, then it encouraged me to call him. Except I didn’t.

  I didn’t know what last night meant for him, and we were at that vague stage where all I was left to do was assume.

  I’d assumed we were together weeks ago until he’d called me his girl. Now I was assuming last night had been one last time.

  I didn’t know, and I didn’t want to take the risk on my heart and call him only for him to tell me just that. Tell me something I should know.