Hating Him Wanting Him : A Contemporary Romance Collection

by Summer Brooks

  I slapped it, listening to the exotic moan that came from her throat. Gripping one side tightly, I thrust into her, giving in to my carnal instincts. We both yelled out, feeling my shaft slipping in and out from tip to balls. It was so good. I wanted to release but at the same time, I didn’t want the feeling to end. I didn’t want it to be over. It was the most amazing type of torture.

  As she began to mirror my motions, rocking back and forth, meeting me hard in the middle, I dug my fingers into her sides, knowing that was the end. I couldn’t hold back any longer. I breathed deeply and rolled my eyes back, tilting my head toward the ceiling. I thrust once, twice, and on the third I pushed deep inside of her and held her there. My manhood vibrated and pulsed as I released my deep seed. She squealed, shaking as she felt it flow up and through her. The ecstasy flowed through every vein in my body until it had completely run its course.

  I released the deep breath in my lungs and fell forward, rubbing my face against her back. She let her knees slip down and I pulled out, rolling to her side and wrapping my arms around her waist. There was no awkward conversation, no question of where one should go. I simply pulled her sweet cherry skin toward me and nuzzled my nose into the back of her neck. It wasn’t my normal act, no, but I did what felt natural. Who knows? Maybe it was the liquor, but I wasn’t ready to let her go. If I hadn’t been drinking so much, we would definitely be preparing for a round two.

  However, the warmth of her body coupled with the warmth of that whiskey, closed my eyes pretty quickly. I drifted off into a deep dreamless sleep, probably the best sleep of my entire life. This woman was amazing.

  Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

  Mia groaned, turning over in the bed, her hair wild all around her. She reached down and gripped my wrist, bringing my watch to her face. I was so used to the sound that it woke me up on the first beep. She didn’t look very happy with the prospect of moving, though.

  “Ugh, you’re the boss. Call a holiday,” she grumped.

  I laughed and kissed her forehead, rubbing my hand down her cheek. Funny, I felt just the same as I did the night before, only by then I was sober. “But then we will disappoint the client you landed like a badass yesterday. All the celebration will be in vain.”

  “Not all of it,” she giggled, her cheeks turning a light shade of pink.

  I rolled over on top of her and ran my hands up her side, gripping her ribs. “We could always just be a little late…”

  She smiled big and laid her arms up over her head. “That will not work. But we can go out there and get some food.”

  I stuck out my bottom lip and we both laughed. Playfully, she rolled me off of her and trotted naked to the bathroom. She looked over her shoulder at me, her long wild hair swishing against her bare back. My heart skipped a beat, and so did a couple other things.

  While she pulled on a robe, I found my boxer briefs and slid them on. She walked out with a robe for me and I slid it over my shoulders, leaving it open in the front. I liked how her eyes constantly trailed down my body. She hooked her arm in mine and we went out to the living room.

  “What is this?” Mia asked in surprise.

  I looked up to find a full breakfast spread set out on the dining room table. “I guess they are stealth too.”

  “Sure am glad we went to the bedroom. That would have been awkward.” Mia giggled and sat down in the chair, reaching over and grabbing a strawberry.

  I sat across from her, pouring myself a cup of coffee. I noticed her eyes shift to the side, her mind wandering. I flipped her cup and poured her some, putting the carafe down. “Sugar?”

  She shook the daze from her face and looked down at the cup. “Oh. Um no. Just cream.”

  “That’s how I drink it too,” I chuckled.

  She gave a slightly forced smile. “So, there is something I want to tell you. I guess I don’t really need to but I feel like intimacy should include all of it.”

  “You are secretly married?” I asked with a grin. “To a 75 year old billionaire.”

  Her nose wrinkled in the most adorable way. “No, god. Gross. No, I uhm…That was my first time.”

  I chewed a piece of bagel, pushing the bacon to the side of my plate. “The first time what?”

  She cleared her throat and I looked up. “You know, first time…”

  “Oh,” I replied, jumping slightly. “Really? I mean not that I took you as…what I mean is…you know what?”

  I stood up and walked around the table, grabbing her face with my hands. I tilted her head toward mine. “You were amazing. I don’t care about any of that. I am honored to have had the privilege. Are you okay with it?”

  “Yep,” she tweeted. “I just thought you might not be.”

  “You are absolutely stunning, and amazing, don’t be silly,” I replied, pressing my lips to hers.

  She smiled at me as I went back around the table. She took a few more bites of food and stretched. “I guess I should go jump in the shower so I don’t make us late. None of my clothes are unpacked.”

  “I would join you, but I think that might make us even later,” I replied with a wink. “So, I’ll stick to my own bathroom.”

  I watched her gleefully walk down the hall and disappear into her room, shutting the door. Picking up my phone off the table where I had left it, my brow furrowed. There were eleven missed calls from my father. I knew he would be happy about the deal, but damn, not that happy. I dialed him back as I picked at the food on the table.

  “Dad, sorry I missed your call,” I said happily. “I’m assuming you heard about how we, or Mia really, knocked it out of the park with the client.”

  My father was quiet for a moment. “Son. I don’t know how you missed this.”

  I stopped chewing. “What are you talking about? Everything was perfect.”

  With a scoff, my father raised his voice a notch. “Everything except for the fact that you have Richard Cuthbert’s daughter working for you.”

  I was confused. “Uh, where? Like at the office? Is she like a tech or something?”

  “No son, Mia, Mia Crosswell is Cuthbert’s daughter. She took her mother’s name when they divorced,” he spat out.

  The words echoed through my head but I struggled to comprehend them. What the hell had I gotten myself into?

  15

  Mia

  I was pretty sure, that was the best shower I had ever taken in my entire life. It wasn’t because the shower head probably cost more than my first college apartment, or because the water seemed to be set to match exactly what my body was looking for, but because of the thoughts that ran through my head. Every few seconds, a flash from the hot and amazing sex from the night before played in my head. It sent an almost electric shock to my heart that simmered down through every limb I had. I couldn’t help but smile.

  If I could have spent the entire day in there, I would have, except for maybe taking the time to drag him in there with me. But I was there for a purpose, and I had to go back to the real world, at least for a little while. Stepping out of the shower, I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my body. I breathed in the fresh scent of lilacs from the designer products that had been put in the shower for me.

  In my room, I carefully went through my suitcase and unpacked my things into the dresser. I knew we would probably be there a while, and I didn’t want to live out of a suitcase the whole time. They had hung the rest of my clothes in the closet, thankfully, and I quickly picked out my favorite outfit. A calf length, pencil-skirted, black dress with hot neon heels that were compliments of Lily. I had fought it forever, but even I couldn’t deny I looked smoking in it.

  Once my hair was done, and my makeup applied, I slipped on my heels and grabbed my purse and briefcase, stopping for just a moment in front of the mirror. I had this overwhelming urge to whistle at myself, which in turn, made me giggle. I sure hoped Evan had the same reaction to me that I was having to myself. It would definitely build up some tension between us during our workday. Tension
that would assuredly be released later on in the evening.

  Coming out of the room, my heels clacked against the hardwood floors. I stopped in the archway leading into the main area, and glanced over at Evan standing with his back to me, his arm up, and his hand gripping the thin frame around the wall of glass. I smiled, trotting down the steps and over to him. I slid my hands across his sides and around to his waist. Before I had a chance to lay my forehead against his neck, he shuddered and pulled away from me.

  I backed up, slightly thrown off as he turned around, refusing to make eye contact with me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. I figured my 6-inch sexy heels would’ve given you notice that I was coming down the hallway.”

  His face didn’t change. He cleared his throat and walked away from me, talking in a low tone. “We need to get on the road. Mr. Hashimoto will expect us to be prompt. You can be prompt right?”

  I didn’t really like his tone, nor did I understand why he sounded like he was annoyed with me. He was already at the door though, so I thought it best not to question him at that point. “I’ve never been late to anything in my life.”

  He held the door open, still not making eye contact with me. He swung his hand toward the door, his eyebrows lifted up and his lips forced into a straight line. “Let’s go then.”

  I tugged on my dress uncomfortably but moved swiftly through the room and out the door. I could tell that he wasn’t in the mood for me to give him any sort of real attention, so I just kept moving. When we got out to the car waiting for us, he climbed in first and sat in the corner, already looking out the window with his hand perched over his mouth. My eyes shifted from him to the floor and back again as I slid into the seat on the opposite side of the car.

  We rode in silence for several moments before the stark shift in attitude began to boil inside of me. I knew it wasn’t the right time to talk about whatever was going on, so I picked a work topic instead. “We’ll need to get everybody up to speed on everything. I think that’s the biggest challenge here, it could really put us behind if not everyone is educated on this program.”

  “What do you think I brought you for?” He snipped. “I’m sure you’ve got this covered, you seem to be a pro at everything.”

  My mouth hung open for a moment and the words, the snappy comeback, lingered on my tongue for far too long. Remembering my place outside of the personal relationship we had the night before, I decided to keep it to myself and let the silence resume. That day was completely different than any of the others. When we got there, he took complete control, even cutting me off at some points. We were out on the floor discussing different parts of the project, and he couldn’t seem to keep his dismay hidden. He snapped at me and dismissed me several times. By the middle of the day I was tired of it and I didn’t completely hold back. Of course, that made everything worse and caused several small arguments between the two of us.

  By quitting time, I couldn’t wait to get out of the silent car and back into the condo. At first, my plan was just to go to my room and spend the evening reading a book or working on the project. But as I stood there in the elevator, watching him and his foul grimace, everything started to boil inside of me all over again. Biting my bottom lip, I followed him out of the elevator and down the long hall.

  I was at a loss. Everything had been absolutely perfect when I got into the shower that morning, but by the time I was done, it was like Evan had become a new man, and not for the better. I couldn’t figure out what could’ve possibly happened within that short amount of time, without me even being in the room, that made him treat me the way he was. As I stood there waiting for him to open the door, I rubbed my fingertips together and tapped my heel on the floor. I was trying so hard to hold back but every time I looked up at the snide, irritated face he was wearing, all I wanted to do was let him have it.

  I stood still, just inside the condo. Evan immediately walked over to the bar and poured himself a drink. He took it to the window and stared out. I felt as if he was waiting for me to leave the room. Normally, I would’ve just done it and headed off to bed, but this time his attitude was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

  I slammed my purse down on the table and walked to the center of the living room crossing my arms. “What the hell is wrong with you? Everything was fine before I got into the shower this morning and then suddenly, you’re acting like a complete asshole. You embarrassed me at work today. And everyone could tell there were some kind of creepy tension between the two of us. I will not spend the next however many months fighting with you and not even have any clue as to what I did wrong. Maybe you should act like an adult and actually have a conversation.”

  I heard him chuckle, and he turned around putting his glass down on the small side table next to the couch. He set it down hard, spilling some of the liquor out onto the wood. He had a sneer on his face and an entertained look in his eye from my comments. “So, you want to call me a child. You want to stand there in the living room, facing me, and call me a child. How about maybe thinking about the fact that you should’ve acted like an adult from the beginning, and told me that you were Richard Cuthbert’s daughter? The same man that put my father through hell all because he wasn’t a good enough businessman to close the deal.”

  My fists clenched and my jaw closed tightly. I took another step toward him, narrowing my eyes. “How dare you! My father almost lost his entire business because your father snuck around behind his back and stole the deal right out from under him. Your father wasn’t even going to make that deal until my father told him about it. He used him and then tried to destroy him. That is all beside the point. There was no reason for me to disclose who my father was. This is my career and my life, not his. I can tell you this though, the apple hasn’t fallen far from the tree.”

  He tilted his head back and laughed. “Right. Because you have so much room to talk. You knew the day I called you in my office who I was. You had every opportunity to come clean about what was going on. Hell, maybe I’m giving you too much credit. Maybe you knew exactly who I was when you searched out this company to do multiple internships for, and eventually make your first employment outside of college. Is this some kind of sick family feud, lifelong, revenge tactic?”

  I shook my head, not believing what he was saying. I grabbed my purse off the counter and walked toward the hallway stopping and turning around. “You have a lot of audacity, you know that? I know you’re the little rich boy who has always gotten his way and has always been backed up by daddy, but let me just let you know right now, not everything is about you. Not everything in this world revolves around you. I can promise you, until I figured out who you were, you didn’t occupy even a microbe of space in my brain. That’s how unimportant you are to my life.”

  I didn’t give him a chance to say anything back. I knew that was a low blow, but I was angry. I stomped down the hallway to my room and slammed the door shut, locking it behind me. I knew if he followed me, I just might punch him in the face. That’s how angry I was. I dropped my purse on the floor and kicked off my shoes before falling face first in my bed. Grabbing the pillow, I shoved my face into it and screamed at the top of my lungs.

  Part of me was glad that I was so angry. I knew that if anger filled me, there was no way that heartbreak could enter into the equation. After all, what was there to be heartbroken over? At least I found out what kind of man he was before anything went any further with him. Still, it was hard to believe that the man standing in the living room just five minutes before had been the same man that I had spent the night with. Every ounce of sweetness and kindness he had shown, had drained completely out of him and all because his father and my father had a falling out almost two decades before.

  I couldn’t believe that I had found myself in that situation. To top it all off, I had really been hoping that something would come out of our time together. From the looks of it, the only thing that was gonna come out of it was anger and hurt feelings. Just my luck.


  16

  Evan

  “I’ve got it,” she said with an attitude, taking the tool from my hand.

  I backed up, putting my hands in the air and then crossing them over my chest as I watched her work. It looked weird watching her as she wrenched in a piece to the machinery, bent over in her tight black skirt, white blouse, and dress flats. Part of me was highly attracted to her, but the other part of me was still unequivocally irate at the information my father had given me.

  No, let me take that back.

  I wasn’t angry because she was Cuthbert’s daughter. I was angry because she concealed it from me. She lied to me about it. She had to have known it would’ve been an issue if I found out. I just didn’t understand. I knew that I said some nasty things to her when I first found out, but I was taken by surprise, off guard. If she had come clean from the beginning, and told me she was just trying to make her own way, especially after the work that she had showed me, I most likely would’ve worked something out with her.

  Of course, then there was my father. It wouldn’t have mattered if she had discovered the biggest piece of technology in American history, he wouldn’t have wanted her working for us. I knew that things weren’t going to be okay between us, but I had no idea it would be that hard to work with her. There were so many emotions flowing through me, something that I was not used to in the least. I had spent the last decade building my career, avoiding emotional relationships at all cost, and focusing on myself and my business.

  There I was though, standing in a giant warehouse, across the country from my office, watching a girl that half the time I wanted to strangle and the other half I couldn’t imagine not being around on a daily basis. Everything in me wanted to give in to the emotions I had for her based on that amazing first night we spent together. Every time I thought about it, my father’s voice would echo through my head. I could hear the stories he used to tell my mother after another tumultuous court battle between him and Mr. Cuthbert. I knew it was because my father cared about him as a friend, but he would’ve never stepped out and said he made a mistake. So, instead, part of what Mia was saying was true. My father did try to ruin his life.