“There you are, darling.” She slides her arm around him and gives him a kiss on the cheek. “I’ve been looking for you.”
He doesn’t acknowledge her. Instead, he lets his eyes travel down Andrea’s body. I hear her hitch in a breath when they linger on her chest. She doesn’t have a lot, but the dress she is wearing shows what she does have. When his eyes reach hers again, they’re a darker blue. And if I wasn’t right beside her, I would think he just saw her naked by the devious smile he gives her.
Then like nothing ever happened, he turns to look at the date on his arm. “I’m right here, sweetheart.”
Then without another word, they turn and walk off.
“The man is a prick,” she hisses. “But I gotta admit he’s hot. I’d totally do him.”
I roll my eyes and down what’s left of my drink.
AIDEN
I watch Hadley over Eve’s shoulder as she stands in front of me. Hadley is drunk. She’s laughing, and her smile is a little lopsided. I should be mad at her for being intoxicated at a work event, but I can’t blame her. I’m on my fourth mixed drink. I just wish it was affecting me like hers are.
“Aiden?” Eve says, getting my attention by placing her hand on my shoulder.
“Yes, darling?” I ask, giving her a big fake smile. Her eyes widen for just the briefest second as if to tell me to fucking pay attention.
“Mr. Johnson was asking about the Lipton case,” she informs me.
I turn to face him, trying to block out the beautiful blonde who I spent all weekend in bed with. “As you know, I can’t discuss an ongoing case.”
He nods. “Of course. Of course. But if I were to ask if the witness from Idaho testifies …”
“Then it will be over,” I finish for him.
He smiles. “Good.”
He looks at my wife, and I watch his eyes fall to her perfectly fake tits. I refrain from rolling mine as she gives him a sweet smile like she didn’t see it. “Would you like a drink, sweetheart?” I ask her, and she nods, starting up a conversation with him.
I grab her champagne flute and walk over toward the bar. Hadley looks up to see me approaching, and she gives me the most evil look I’ve ever seen. Guess she’s not drunk enough.
“What can I get for you, Mr. Kyle?” the bartender asks.
“A glass of champagne and a Long Island. Please,” I answer, digging my money clip out of my pocket to tip.
I turn to face her as I wait for my drinks. “Are we back to this now?” I ask. “You ignoring me? Like I don’t even exist?”
“You don’t,” she states before taking a big gulp of her champagne.
I run a hand down my black suit. “Hadley, I …”
“Darling?” I hear Eve’s voice, and I watch Hadley stiffen beside me. “Daddy wants to talk to you,” Eve informs me, and I mentally cuss myself for the situation I have placed myself in. Plus, I hate her father.
I turn to face them. “Hello, Mr. Bines.”
“Hello, son,” he says, reaching out his hand to shake mine.
“How are you doing, sir?” I ask, taking it.
“Very well. My daughter was just telling me that you guys are planning to move to New York,” he says, and my heart starts to pound in my chest. Not now …
“We are,” Eve assures him.
He smiles proudly. “That makes me so excited.” He throws his right arm over her shoulders. “I miss my daughter and granddaughter so much.”
I tense as I hear Hadley spit out her drink beside me at the mention of his granddaughter. “Fuck.” I hear her friend hiss under her breath before she starts pounding on Hadley’s back. “Are you okay?”
“Yes.” She chokes on the single word and then gasps. “I gotta go …” Hadley coughs before she takes off toward the restroom.
It takes everything in me not to follow her. “That is the plan.” I lie to my father-in-law.
His smile grows. “I just think you opening your own firm in New York would be your best idea yet. Other than marrying my daughter, of course.”
“Here you go, Mr. Kyle,” the bartender says from behind me.
I turn and pick up our drinks. I take a big swig of mine before I even hand Eve hers. “Darling?” she asks running her hand along my upper arm. “Did you ever speak to Had about that case …?” She trails off, motioning her head to where Hadley just ran to.
I take another drink. “I’ll talk to him later.”
“I think now is as good time as any,” she urges.
“Don’t let me keep you,” her father says, and I wave him off, taking another drink. “If you have business to tend to.”
Hadley just found out two of my biggest secrets. This is the last place I want to confront her because it would cause a big scene. And that’s what I want to avoid. “It can wait.”
“I’ll do it then,” she says, placing her drink on the bar behind me.
“Eve …” I call out, but she’s already turned and started walking away. One thing about Eve is that once she makes up her mind, there is no stopping her.
Fuck!
“So, son, have you started looking at available space in New York? I have a friend, O’Kane, that I know could help you find the right real estate. He’s had the company for ages, but he recently re-married, and his son has taken over.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
HADLEY
MY HANDS GRIP THE COUNTERTOP OF the hotel bathroom, my head hanging as I try to catch my breath. I think I’m hyperventilating.
“Just breathe,” Andrea says, rubbing my back.
“I ... can’t.” I suck in a ragged breath. He has a kid! Not only is the man a husband, but he’s also a father! Dear Lord, what I have got myself into?
“We need to leave,” she states, and I agree.
I couldn’t care less if he fires me at this point. Please fire me, Mr. Kyle. That would be a blessing in disguise.
I hear the door open, and I try to calm my breathing and racing heart, needing to look halfway presentable before I walk back through that crowd of people to exit.
“Hadley?”
My head snaps up when I hear the familiar voice. I look at the woman who stood in Aiden’s office this afternoon. The one I would have never guessed is his wife.
“I’m so sorry,” I say before I can even understand what is happening. This woman has had his kid! She deserves to know that I’m sorry for being the whore.
She gives me a soft smile. “There’s no reason to be sorry.”
“I slept with him,” I blurt out, then slap my hand over my mouth. Andrea cusses behind me. No doubt she thinks it’s the alcohol, but it’s not. I can’t keep a secret like this from this woman. It will eat me alive. I swear I’d never be my mother, and here I am, her twin.
Her smile doesn’t falter, and my hands start to shake. She had to have already known. “He told you.” My voice shakes with anger and embarrassment.
“Something like that,” she says with a nod, and I swallow nervously. Is she in here to kick my ass? I can fight, but I’d deserve it. “He’s had a thing for you ever since you started.”
I close my eyes and shake my head, trying to clear it. This has to be a dream. A very odd dream. A thing for me? I’ve seen him sleep, well, date other women in the three months I’ve worked for him. There’s only one conclusion to that. “You’re swingers?”
She chuckles. “Not quite.”
I frown. “I don’t understand.”
“All I’m going to tell you is that we are in the process of getting a divorce.”
Andrea snorts and crosses her arms over her chest. “That’s what all the cheating men say.”
She looks at her. “True. But I am not the cheating man here in this situation, now am I?”
Neither one of us answer.
Her smile widens. “Have a good time tonight, ladies.” Then she walks out.
I turn to face Andrea. “What in the hell was that?” she asks with wide eyes.
“I don’t know,”
I say, running a hand through my perfectly curled hair. “I just want to leave.” My shoulders slump. They have a kid—a daughter—and she just told me that they are getting a divorce. What am I missing here?
AIDEN
“Fuck!” I hiss as I look down at my watch. It reads a quarter till one. I got stuck at this stupid benefit longer than I wanted to be. They should have just let me write my check and call it good.
“Where to, Mr. Kyle?” Louise asks as I get into the back of my limo. “Back to your penthouse?”
I tap my foot as I undo my cufflinks, needing to get out of this monkey suit. “Uh …” That would be the smartest decision to make at the moment. I should go to work tomorrow and expect her not to show up due to quitting. But that’s not me. I need her to understand that I’m not this bad guy she sees me as. “No,” I say removing my tie from around my neck, then give him the address to her apartment.
I bang on the door. One, two, three times. Finally, she answers it, wearing nothing but a large T-shirt. She still wears her makeup from earlier, and her eyes still hold hatred for me. “Please let me explain,” I say, holding up my hands.
“No!” she says before slamming the door shut.
I catch it with my foot and shove it open as she turns away, giving me her back. The force causes it to bang against the interior wall, and she spins around to face me once again. “You have some fucking nerve coming here!” she shouts. “Does your wife know you’re here?” she demands.
“Yes.” She was lucky enough to leave long before I did tonight. And she told me that if I had any chance of making this right with Hadley, it was now. Tomorrow would be too late.
She huffs. “I don’t care what type of marriage you two have, I don’t want any part of it.”
“I don’t love her,” It’s the only thing I can say because I can’t deny the fact that she’s my wife. “Not like you think I do.”
“I don’t think you love her at all!” she snaps. “That part was pretty fucking clear when I realized just how big of a whore you are yet also married.”
“I am.” I clear my throat. “A whore.”
“Damn right, you are!” She crosses her arms over her chest. “And she may be okay with you fucking other women, but I refuse to be one of them.” She continues to shout at the top of her lungs. I can’t hold back the chuckle, and she uncrosses her arms. Her eyes narrowed, and her arms frantic, and I find her to be the hottest woman I’ve ever laid eyes on. She’s a match that I just seem to continue to throw gasoline on, and she lights up the world. I love how she fucking glows when she’s mad. “And you guys have a fucking kid!”
“Shut up,” I say softly.
“And she told me that you were getting a divorce …”
“Shut up,” I say a little louder.
“Like I fucking believe that bullshit!”
“Shut up!” I shout.
She closes her mouth and takes a step back from me. Her T-shirt showcases the outline of her large breasts underneath the thin fabric. She is breathing heavily, causing them to bounce up and down, and my hands itch to touch them. My lips long to kiss hers. I know what every part of her body feels like, and now I crave it.
She takes in a deep breath. “Don’t you come into my house and tell me …”
“I said shut up,” I say softly. This time when her mouth closes, it sets in a hard line. I step up to her, cupping her face.
“Aiden,” she says barely a whisper. As if being this close to her is too much. I know exactly what she means.
“I am married,” I say, and her eyes narrow, “but it’s a lie.” I have to get this out. Because I need to fuck her. I need that shirt on her floor and my cock in her pussy. I’m being selfish, and I don’t give two shits.
“How is a marriage a lie?” she asks, eyes search mine.
I wrap my free hand around her waist and pull her to me. She shudders against me, and I can’t help but smile.
“She got pregnant by a man her father hated. We made up a lie that the baby was mine. And we got married.”
“Lies …”
“No.” I shake my head. “Do you want to meet her? Olivia? She calls me Uncle Aiden. Eve and I bought a house that she has been living in for years with the father of her child and the real man she wants to marry.”
“I don’t understand,” she says, her eyes softening.
I let out a long breath. “I know it’s complicated, but it’s worked for us for so long. I ran into my friend, Trent, when I walked out of court last Tuesday. He told me he wanted to marry her. Take their relationship to the next level. But in order to do that, I had to divorce her. So I went to talk to her …”
“That was why you didn’t come back to the office after court?”
I nod. “I spent the day with her, and we filed for divorce. By this time next week, it will be over. And she will be able to marry the man who she wants to be with.”
She stands there, staring up at me. “There has to be more.”
“There is,” I assure her. “So much more.” My hand slides down her back and cups her ass. “But all I care about is us right now.”
“Us?”
“I don’t want to talk about Eve and my fake ass marriage anymore.”
“Then what do you want to do?” she asks, her voice now rough.
My hand cupping her face drops to her thigh where the hem of her shirt lies, and I slide my hand underneath it. She gasps when I caress her soft skin.
“No,” she says all of a sudden, pulling away from me.
I frown. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“I believe you, but you’re still married. And I won’t sleep with a married man, Aiden.” She shakes her head, crossing her arms over her chest.
“You already have.”
That gets me a slap to the face.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
HADLEY
MY HAND STINGS FROM CONNECTING with his cheek, and I start to rub it. He reaches up and rubs his face as well, and I square my shoulders. “You deserved that.”
He nods once and then sighs heavily.
“You wanna share a few things?” I ask. “How about I go first.” My mind is telling me to shut up, that this is not the time to share our pasts, but my mouth isn’t listening. I know it’s the alcohol I consumed when I got home after the benefit. I had two glasses of wine and then passed out only to be woken up by Mr. Jackass standing at my door. “My dad was a police officer. He was the greatest man I have ever known. He treated my mother and me like we were his world. He was loving. He was giving. And he worked hard to provide for us while putting his life on the line every time he walked out our door. When I was sixteen, I found out my mother was having an affair on my father with his partner.”
“I’m so sorry, Hadley …”
“His partner!” I growl. “The very man who was sitting in your conference room the other day. That man was like my second father up until he and my mother ruined that.” He runs a hand through his hair and sighs. “Then in the days to come, I found out it had been going on for years!” He reaches out to me, but I take a step back. “I won’t be that woman, Aiden. I won’t be like the very woman I despise.” Once I finish, my hands are clenched by my sides, and my heart races.
“I’m sorry about what happened between your mother and father, but Eve and I are not the same. And you are not the other woman.”
“Then what am I?” I demand.
This time when he steps up to me, I don’t pull away. Instead, my heavy eyes look up into his, and my breath comes quicker when his hand cups my cheek like it did moments ago. “You’re the one who deserves to be with the guy who is utterly obsessed with you. And I’m that guy, Hadley.”
My heart pounds harder as that anger from earlier starts to fade.
“I should have told you. But I … I didn’t think to, honestly. And then, after last Tuesday, I thought I wouldn’t need to.”
“I just … I can’t …” I can’t finish my sentence because I’m not sure
what to say.
“Tell me it’s okay,” he demands softly.
“Okay to what?” I ask looking up at him.
He pulls me to him, and I don’t fight it. “Okay to want you. Okay to need you. Because I do, Hadley. I need you so fucking bad.”
“Aiden,” I say softly, feeling my resolve break.
“Hadley,” he whispers before his hand dips under my shirt. “Say okay.” It slides up my stomach and over my navel. I hitch in a breath when his large hand cups my breast. His lips lower, and I lick mine. They touch mine tenderly, and I kiss him back just as softly, wanting him to rip my shirt off and throw me up against the wall.
I place my palms on his chest and push him away. He removes his hand from under my shirt, and I stand there staring at him, taking another step back. I lick my lips, and his taste still lingers. He looks down at me, waiting for me to either kick him out or jump him. God, I want to do both. I want to hate him. I want to fuck him.
“Make a decision, Hadley,” he says as if he is reading my mind. “I’m running out of patience.”
I swallow nervously. “Patience?”
He nods once, his blue eyes looking me up and down. His right hand comes up to his mouth, and he runs his finger over his lips as a smirk grows. “The patience to let you choose,” he says when his eyes meet mine. “You can tell me you don’t want me, but that’d be a lie. Your eyes give you away.” My legs threaten to buckle. “Your nipples are hard. And we both know your pussy is wet.” He’s so right. “Now tell me I’m wrong.”
I shake my head, refusing to say it out loud.
His smirk grows into a full smile. “Take off your shirt,” he orders.
Without thought, my hands grab the hem of my shirt, and I lift it up and over my head. He hisses in a breath when his eyes fall on my breasts. And he was right. My nipples are hard for him. “Now your underwear.”
I bite my lip nervously, and he growls deep in his throat when I hook my fingers into my thin lace and slowly glide them down my legs for him.
I stand completely naked while he is fully dressed in black slacks and a white button-up shirt. “Are you going to fuck me or just stand there and stare at me?” I ask, but my voice was soft, giving away my nervousness even though I tried to sound like I had some courage. Like my knees aren’t shaking due to the alcohol and the feel of being completely exposed.
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