Profited (Bound Together #2)

by Lacey Black

  Pulling myself out of her talon claws, I extend my hand towards the young man. He practically glares at my proffered hand as if it’s a snake about to bite him. Reluctantly, he places his wet hand inside of mine. His handshake is firm; almost too firm, as if he’s squeezing a bit to flex his muscles or mark his territory.

  Take her, buddy. Been there, done that.

  “Yes, of course I’ve heard of Reid Hunter. Good to meet you,” he says with a touch of venom in his voice.

  “Good to meet you, too,” I lie. I couldn’t care less.

  “I was just saying hello to Reid for ol’ times sake,” Gabrielle says with a sweet smile, but it’s the underlying meaning that has Broderick’s ears practically smoking. “We’re old friends, Brod,” she adds. The innuendo is crystal clear, and I’m instantly wishing I hadn’t taken her to dinner that night a few months ago. The sex was good, but definitely not worth all this bullshit that has followed.

  “Yes, it was good to see you again. If you’ll excuse me, I see someone I’d like to say hello to,” I say with a head nod. I extract myself from the conversation quickly and stroll away with purpose before Gabrielle has another opportunity to sink her claws or lips into me.

  Another two hours later and I’m at the end of my rope. I’ve listened to everybody talk about all of the money they’ve made and all of the women they’ve bedded, all while trying to convince everyone around them that they’re in the running for Ruler Of The World. That’s why I’m so damn quiet at these events. There’s no room for me to talk.

  Steven brings the limo around and picks me up in front of the museum. I was the winner of the trip for two to the Cayman’s, and I can’t wait to give it to Carly and Blake at their wedding. I’m sure she’ll be shocked but love it.

  “Home or the office?” Steven asks after I’m secured in the back of the car and we’re heading out of the museum parking lot.

  “Home tonight, Steven,” I tell my faithful employee. He’s more of a father to me than the man whose blood I share.

  “Sure thing, sir.”

  “Enough of that sir shit, Steven. You know better,” I chastise.

  Steven laughs while keeping his eyes on the road. “I know. I just like getting a rise out of you every once in a while. I figured after that event, you could use a smile.” My gray eyes find Steven’s soft blue ones in the rearview mirror. Steven knows exactly why I’m so supportive of the museum. He’s the only one who knows…

  Later that night, I’m lost in the solitude of my house. It’s a massive five thousand square foot Tudor home with white columns and large windows. This house is just that: a place to live. I purchased it not long after Hunter Enterprises took off and the money started falling from the skies. It’s exceptionally well decorated thanks to the young interior decorator I found at a fundraiser for the rain forest. The rain forest. Yep, a big fundraiser in the middle of the fucking desert. I don’t even remember her name at this point. She took my “sky’s the limit” budget and spent every penny she could get her hands on. Then she managed to get her hands on my dick a few times before the job was complete. That was back before my “Once and Done” rule was implemented. I was a twenty-five year old male with more money than I’d ever dreamed of having. And I got whatever I wanted…a lot.

  With my tuxedo now hanging in the closet, I slip into my bed. No one has ever slept in this bed with me. Ever. The interior designer only got the dining room table. And the floor. She ordered my bedroom furniture from my choices in a catalog. I wouldn’t ever let her in this room, not even to measure. I was the only one to step over the threshold during the decorating. I hung the pictures and arranged the furniture. This is my space. No woman will ever be within these four walls.

  Lying in bed and trying to review the contract for tomorrow’s meeting with Cruz, I find myself distracted again. Every once in a while, I allow my mind to go back to that one night. The one night that I spent with the most beautiful woman in the world wrapped around my body in a tent in the middle of the desert.

  Dani. Just the memory of her gets my dick hard. That night was the single best night of my life. It was more than just the experience that weekend, it was the girl. I know it as clear as I know my own name. The humid air, her naked body, the way she mumbled my name in her sleep; it was perfect. Right up until I woke up alone.

  The throbbing of my dick isn’t going away anytime soon. I’m all too familiar with the reaction her memory has on my body. Every time I think of Dani and the amazing night we shared all those years ago, my cock hardens to the point of pain. Doing the only thing I can to relieve the ache, I take my dick in my hand and close my eyes. Her blue eyes, her long blond hair, and her lush lips, swollen and ripe from kissing. It’s her. The only woman to ever worm her way into my heart; the heart that I didn’t even realize I had until that night. She’s imbedded there like a tattoo on your chest of your ex’s name. It’s painful to look at and impossible to miss. I would have given up everything for this one woman. The one I knew for only a matter of hours. The one that I lost a piece of my heart to that night.

  And the worst part, she doesn’t even know it.

  Chapter Three – It’s a Painfully Small World

  Dani

  “Don’t forget to drop your test in the bin before you leave for lunch,” I tell my class of eighteen third-graders. Each one deposits their spelling test in the bin on the corner of my desk before heading to lunch. When the last one exits the classroom, I walk out into the hallway and watch the students all file into the cafeteria for their designated lunchtime.

  Speaking of lunchtime, I’m starving. I realized as soon as I got to class that I forgot my lunch. As much as I like the food in the cafeteria, I much prefer something from home. I quickly shoot off a text message to my sister asking her to run me over something. She was off last night so she was able to sleep a normal night, which really isn’t that normal considering she’s a night owl.

  I head back into my classroom and wait. It isn’t long before there’s a knock on my door. “Your lunch, my lady,” Trysta says with a wide grin on her beautiful face.

  “Why thank you, my good servant,” I quip with an equally big smile.

  “I brought something for me, too. I figured that since I was here, I might as well sit and eat with you,” Trysta says as she walks over to my desk.

  I pull two bottles of water out of my mini-fridge, while Trysta pulls bowls out of a bag. “I made chef salads,” she says.

  “Perfect. Much better than the pressed chicken patty sandwiches they’re serving today in the lunchroom.”

  “Eww. I didn’t even like those in school. There’s no way I would willingly eat one now,” she says as she dribbles Italian dressing over her salad.

  “No kidding. A couple of weeks ago, I forgot my lunch and I had to suffer through meatloaf. I still don’t even know what they put in it,” I say as I grab the ranch dressing out of the bag.

  “Gross. Did you decide on what you’re doing for Ryan’s birthday next month?” she asks before taking a bite.

  “Yeah, I’m going with the superhero theme. I figured we’d just do a pool party at home this year instead of going somewhere.”

  “I like that idea. I’ve already taken that weekend off from work so I’ll be able to help you set up and watch all the kids. I can probably ask Sadie to come over, too. She was a lifeguard for a few years at the Y.”

  “What if I pay her? Do you think I could just hire her to watch the pool for me? There’s going to be so many little kids there that it would make me feel better if I had someone solely watching the pool.”

  “I’m sure she’d do it. I’ll text her when I leave here and ask,” Trysta says with a nod.

  “Thanks. He wants a Batman cake this year. I don’t even know where to begin to get a Batman cake,” I tell my sister.

  “Call that bakery that did it last year. I’m sure they can come up with something. These bakeries nowadays can do just about anything, Dani.”

  I
nod my acknowledgement at her and finish up my salad. Whatever happened to the days where you just had a plain chocolate cake with candy letters on the top? Nowadays, cakes are bigger, each one more spectacular than the last. I went with Ryan to Emma’s birthday party a few weeks ago and her cake was bigger and more complex than half the wedding cakes I’ve seen. And don’t get me started on the chocolate fountain…

  “Oh, I almost forgot!” Trysta exclaims before diving into her huge shoulder bag while I bag up our empty plastic containers. “When I stopped for gas earlier, they had newspapers out on the shelf at the register. When I glanced down, I saw this!” Her excitement was contagious. I prepare myself for whatever image she’s about to show me.

  Except, I’m not prepared at all for this image…

  “This is that guy I was telling you about Saturday morning. His friend kept calling him Hunter, but his name is actually Reid Hunter. He’s gorgeous, isn’t he?” she asks while white dots pepper my eyesight. Shit, I can’t see a damn thing.

  I suck in air greedily, trying to inflate my lungs with precious oxygen. This can’t be happening.

  “Dani, are you alright?” Trysta asks, worry marring her face.

  “Let me see that,” I whisper almost inaudibly as I reach for the newspaper. There on the cover is a picture of the man I remember from eight years ago. The man I left sleeping in his tent on that fateful September morning.

  “He’s hot, right?” Trysta asks again with a big smile.

  I study the strong lines of his handsome face, the steel edge in his eyes, and expensive tux he’s wearing. Even though his smile is wide, it looks fake and forced. It looks nothing like the smiles I was awarded with that night so long ago. My stomach rolls and I fear that I’m about to lose the salad I just ate. I drop down onto my chair, still not able to look away from the picture.

  Reid Hunter.

  “Dani, what the hell is wrong with you?” Trysta asks, voice full of concern.

  “That’s him,” I whisper.

  “Him who?”

  I look up at my sister for the first time since she showed me the newspaper. The headline read, “Las Vegas’s Most Eligible Bachelor Arrives At Children’s Museum Fundraiser.” Of all the cities in the world, how did we end up in the same one?

  “Reid.”

  Trysta grabs the paper from my hand and looks back down at the black and white image. As if someone flipped the light switch, Trysta gasps and looks at me, eyes wider than the bowls we just ate from. “No,” she whispers.

  My head nod is her only confirmation. I close my eyes and fight off the images that are attacking me. Reid’s gray eyes softening as he smiled at me. The way his body molded to mine just before he drove himself into me. The gentle way he slept in the sleeping bag next to me.

  “Oh my God! This man is like fuck-hot, Dani. How can this be though? How in the world did you end up in the same place as Mr. Drop Dead Gorgeous?” She took the words right out of my mouth.

  “I don’t know, Tryst. What do I do?” I fight the panic that starts to set in.

  I always told myself that if I had the chance, I’d tell Ryan’s father about his son. I would do the right thing and invite him to be a part of his life. I’ve always had the best intentions when it came to my son. But now as I stare at Reid’s picture, all of the fears and uncertainties start to set in. Did I ever really think I would find Ryan’s father? The answer is no. I didn’t even know his last name, so how in the world was I supposed to find a man I didn’t know?

  Now, I’m staring at him, and I suddenly have the biggest decision of my life staring back at me.

  “I don’t know. I mean, you always said you’d tell him if you had the chance, right?” Trysta’s blue eyes search my face as if looking for the answer to magically appear.

  “Yeah, I did. But what if he doesn’t want to be a part of his life? What if he tells me to get lost? Oh my God, what if he wants to take him away from me?” I ask, panic setting in.

  “Breathe, Dani. You’ll never know what he’ll say unless you tell him.”

  Tell him. Sounds so easy, doesn’t it?

  “I’m just supposed to show up at his office and say, what? ‘Surprise, you’re a father!’ That’s your big advice?”

  “I don’t know what I’m saying, Dani. All I know is that you’ve always said you’d want to do the right thing. Well, isn’t telling him the right thing? Maybe you just show up at his office and tell him. He might tell you to get lost, but what if he doesn’t? Doesn’t Ryan deserve the chance to have a father?” she asks, playing her trump card. Because the answer to that question will always be a yes.

  Trysta squats down in front of me. “Listen, you don’t have to do anything right now, Dani. You can think about it for a few days or a few weeks, and then decide what you want to do.”

  “No, I think if I’m going to do this, I need to do it quickly; like ripping off a Band-Aid.”

  “Except this Band-Aid is a hot thirty-year-old millionaire who just happens to be Vegas’ most eligible bachelor,” she adds with a saucy wink.

  I chuckle at her bright smile. Leave it to Trysta to focus on the fact that Reid is hot and loaded. “What are you doing after Ryan gets out of school?” I ask.

  “I’m picking him up from here so that his Mom can go try to score a meeting with Mr. Eligible Bachelor.”

  “You’re too good to me,” I tell her.

  “I’m not. I just know that you need to deal with this as soon as possible. You’ve always been the rational one.” Trysta squeezes my hand and offers me another smile.

  “I’m freaking out,” I whisper.

  “I know, sweetie. Just know that whatever he decides, it was his decision. You’re doing the right thing by giving him the choice to be a father or walk away. And whatever he decides, we’ll live with. You have me and Dad, and we’ll continue to help you as much as we possibly can.”

  “Look who’s the rational one now,” I say with a grin.

  The bell ringing reminds me that I’m halfway through a school day. I still have a few hours to determine what I’m going to do, and exactly what I’m going to say if the opportunity presents itself.

  After a quick hug and a promise to text her the minute I decide what I’m doing, I dive back into my classroom. The students are filing back in following their lunch break and recess, and you’d think that they’d just consumed a few spoonfuls of sugar each by the way they are carrying on.

  I have no time to dwell on the Reid situation, as I have to teach the second half of my school day. It’s an exceptionally hard day when the kids are wired and my mind keeps drifting to a pair of dark gray eyes and a mouth made of sin. This is going to be a very long afternoon.

  * * *

  Ryan and I met Trysta in front of the school at the end of the day. As soon as I told him he was going home with her, he started working on her to take him for ice cream. “Please, please, please, Aunt Trysta?” he begs, flashing his full-watt smile at his unsuspecting aunt.

  “Jesus, his smile even matches,” she mumbles quietly so that Ryan can’t hear.

  “Tell me about it,” I reply as he climbs into Trysta’s car.

  “Of course you can have ice cream,” Trysta replies before she gets into the driver’s seat. “Do you want to go to Baskin Robbins or to that frozen yogurt place by the shopping plaza?” she asks her nephew.

  “Baskin Robbins definitely!” he exclaims.

  Making sure my son is buckled up in the backseat, I turn back towards my sister. “I’m going to his office. I did a Google search and found his office in the business district downtown,” I say, biting the inside of my cheek nervously.

  “I think you’re making the right decision,” she says as she gives me a big hug. “Text me when you leave. And don’t worry about us. We’ll start dinner and have it ready when you get home,” she says as she slides into her car.

  I watch them pull out of the lot before heading back into my classroom. Usually I would grade papers and do a littl
e prep work for tomorrow, but today, my mind is anywhere but in the classroom.

  Gathering up my satchel bag, I start to head towards my door. “Hi, Dani.” I try not to show my grimace as I notice the man in front of me. Doug Foster has asked me out on at least a dozen dates this school year alone.

  “Hi, Doug,” I say as I make my way towards the shorter man. He’s completely blocking my doorway, making it so that I can’t easily escape the room without basically brushing up against him. Not happening.

  “You’re leaving a little early tonight,” Doug says with that crooked grin.

  “Yep, I have an appointment.”

  He continues to stare at me as if waiting to hear where I’m going. Definitely not happening.

  “Listen, Doug, I don’t want to be rude, but I have to get going so I’m not late for my appointment,” I tell him politely.

  “Oh, sure thing, Dani. I just wanted to stop by and see how your weekend was. I heard they were having a big Star Wars convention in a few weeks. I thought maybe you’d want to go with me,” he says very eagerly.

  “Oh, well, I’m not really much of a Star Wars fan,” I tell him. His face falls. The look of devastation on his face reminds me of how I felt when Trysta told me there was no Santa Claus.

  “Really? Like…at all?” he asks, his mouth hanging wide open.

  Doug is a nice guy, really. He’s just a little on the geeky side. His Dockers are always finely pressed, while his button-up shirt is always rumpled with the back pulled out of the waistband of his pants. Then there’s the fact that his dark-framed glasses are continually slipping down his long nose and have to be readjusted. And if that doesn’t scream geek, the pocket protector with exactly three black pens and two red pens, in order with alternating colors, is like a flashing neon sign. Plus, he wears black socks with his brown loafers for Christ sake.

  “Yeah, like at all. Listen, it was nice seeing you again, but I really have to go.” I push my way past him, pulling my door closed as I go. After making sure it’s locked, I throw Doug a wave and a polite smile over my shoulder as I head out to my car.