by Mia Carson
No argument came to mind to counter his words, so Belle did the only thing she could think of. She rose up on her toes and kissed him hotly, capturing his mouth with hers in an urgent need to be close. She melted against him as his hands fisted angrily in her shirt and dragged her up off her feet as they fought for control. She broke the kiss and pushed against his chest until he set her down.
“You’re driving me insane,” she muttered, snatched up the work laptop, and took off down the hall before he could stop her. At her door, she turned back and said, “Thanks,” and ducked into her bedroom.
***
Greyson watched in disbelief as Belle took off again, leaving his emotions a hot, tangled mess and a raging erection in his jeans. His hands lifted in a motion to strangle her as he growled in annoyance.
What the hell is she doing to me? I’m driving her crazy?
For once in his life, he was completely and utterly lost in a turbulent storm of desire and passion so fierce, the idea of finally letting go and seeing what would happen when they came together scared him. He wanted her in his bed, in his arms, wanted to kiss the annoyed grin from her face. She tried to stop it every time, but he caught flashes of it all the same. She couldn’t resist him for long, but the same went for him with her. Eventually, they wouldn’t restrain themselves, and the storm that would rage might be too much for either of them to handle.
His cell rang, and he snatched it up, answering without even looking. Probably Tim, anyway, telling him there was another issue. “Tim, unless the building is on fire and you are running for your lives, I don’t care.”
“Oh, this isn’t Tim, lover,” Aiden said with her voice of silk on the other line.
His hand fisted around his cell. “How are you calling me? I blocked your number.”
“I got a new phone. Not that hard to do,” she replied with a deep-throated laugh he knew all too well. “I was wondering if you had reconsidered my offer.”
“I’m hanging up. Do not call me again or I’m calling the cops,” he warned.
“Is this about that intern tramp?” she yelled.
Greyson’s blood ran cold. “What did you just say?”
“What’s her name, Belle Hall? She’s a student. Looks like she has quite the past,” Aiden whistled. “My, my, she’s bounced around almost more than I have.”
“How did you find out about her?” he snapped.
“Well, when you wouldn’t meet with me, I found someone who would. Tim likes to talk about everything when he’s had a few drinks, did you know that?” she mused with a quiet snicker. “He told me several interesting facts about this girl. Like how she’s living with you. Now why is that, Greyson?”
He stared wildly around his house as if expecting Aiden to suddenly appear. “Why do you care? You’re not exactly the settling down type of woman.”
“And you aren’t the settling down type of man. What game are you playing?”
“Maybe you just weren’t the right woman,” he replied and smirked when she gasped in anger. “You aren’t the woman I want and you will never be back in my life, understand? And you are to leave Belle alone.”
“Or what?” she taunted. “What are you going to do?”
“You don’t have anything on me, no matter what Tim told you. He’s smarter than you think, so back the fuck off.” He hung up and stood in the kitchen, shaking in rage.
He needed to call Tim and make sure he hadn’t given Aiden any important information about their current projects. His friend knew who Aiden was, and he hoped he was smart enough to stay away from her. After gathering control of his anger—enough so he wouldn’t bite his friend’s head off—Greyson called Tim and paced anxiously around his back patio, out of earshot of Belle.
“Hey, boss man, what’s going on?” Tim asked when he finally answered.
“I hear you had drinks with a friend of mine,” Greyson said. “Aiden?”
Tim laughed. “Yeah, man, I did. She’s a piece of work—hot and very interested in every aspect of your life.”
Greyson let out a breath. “So you weren’t drunk?”
“You know me. She couldn’t afford to get me trashed, but she wouldn’t stop coming around the office looking for you so I had to give her something.”
“She came to the office?” Greyson’s face was hot as he kicked at the patio with his boot. “How many times? And why the hell didn’t anyone tell me?”
“You’ve been busy with Belle, and a few times, five or six, maybe,” he told him.
Greyson groaned and held the phone away from his ear, his free hand gripped into a fist as he fought the urge to bellow his anger. He sucked in a few deep breaths, muttering to himself not to lose it, and put his cell back to his ear, Tim still talking.
“…then there was the two shots of tequila, and she was pretty drunk herself,” Tim rambled on until Greyson cut him off.
“Why did you tell her about Belle?”
“She was asking about the company. I figured it was safer to have her mind on something else. You heard the rumors of who she’s been seen with, right? Our competitor’s CEO. The last thing we need is her snooping around.”
Greyson rubbed at the throbbing pain in his forehead. “Yeah, well, now she’s snooping around Belle’s life.”
“She called you?” Tim cursed. “Sorry, man, I didn’t think she’d go that far. But just a forewarning—she was on a jealous rampage after I said Belle was staying with you. I think she expected to break you.”
“She should’ve known better,” Greyson growled.
“What are you going to do?”
“I can’t do anything yet, but if she gets too close to Belle, I won’t have a choice. I’m not letting that woman anywhere near my girlfriend.”
“Girlfriend? When did that happen?”
“Long story. We can talk about it at the gamers' function Friday,” he promised.
He hung up after a quick update on the project’s progress. Belle remained in her room. He debated banging his fist on her door and making her open up, but he knew from experience that approach never worked well for either of them. He’d had enough doors slammed in his face the past few weeks.
He stalked to his office and closed himself in, debating what his next move would be if Aiden pushed. She had clearly done her homework on Belle, and as he sat there, another, darker thought crossed his mind. Aiden’s talent was finding out secrets. Maybe he could use her to find out what happened to Belle’s family, to give her some much-needed closure… But that would involve working with the woman he wanted nothing to do with.
Belle’s eyes, filled with pain despite what she’d said about her parents, appeared in his mind again. Only setting it aside as a last resort, he jotted down the number Aiden called him from and tucked it away in his desk drawer.
Chapter 5
A loud dinging echoed, and Greyson groaned, dragging a pillow over his head to make it stop. The dinging continued, and he grumbled, burrowing as deeply into the quilts as he could. His door flew open and something bulky and soft whacked him hard in the back.
“What?” he growled.
“Someone’s at your door,” Belle said through an irritated yawn. “You going to answer it?”
He lifted his head to tell her to ignore it when words failed him and all he could do was stare. The dark blue nightgown she wore barely covered her curves and brought out the icy blue of her eyes as they glared at him. The spaghetti straps would be so easy to glide over her shoulders, and one simple tug over her breasts would reveal her delicious body to his hungry gaze. He wondered what she wore underneath and sat up, ready to find out. She took a step back as her gaze slithered down his bare chest. He grinned, scratching absently at his beard. Then, she took a step closer and another.
Greyson licked his lips, ready to snatch her and drag her under the quilts with him, but she still wasn’t at one hundred percent and every protective instinct in him said it would be too much.
And then there was the doorb
ell, still ringing over and over throughout the house.
“You should… you should get that,” Belle said, her voice hoarse.
“Yeah, guess I should,” he grumbled and threw off the quilt to climb out of bed. He stalked towards her in his silk sleep pants and brushed his arm against hers, sending a shock between them that made them both gasp. He paused for a moment to lift a strand of her hair and let it slide through his fingers before he continued towards the door. “You can go back to bed. It’s gotta be early.”
“I’ll make some coffee,” she suggested instead and followed him out.
He turned for the front door but watched as her nightgown bounced up as she walked, revealing the slightest glimpse of an ass that his hands itched to grab again. They curled into fists, imagining those mounds in his palms, but he shook his head and tried to focus on walking to the door.
Hard not to when the doorbell was still ringing. “I’m coming!” he yelled, ready to rip whoever was on the other side a new one when two bright, smiling faces appeared and rushed past him into his house. “What the hell are you two doing here?”
His younger sisters, fraternal twins, set down a duffel each and spun around his house before rushing to tackle him in a bear hug as they’d had when they were kids. “Can’t we stop by to surprise our brother?” Mel, the redhead, said with a laugh as she squeezed him extra hard.
“Mom didn’t tell you?” Molly asked, her narrowed gaze staring up at him. They were as short as their mom.
“No, she didn’t,” he mumbled and wrapped his arms around them, picking them up off their feet. “But I don’t mind the surprise.” He hated surprises—all surprises—and his mom knew that. So did his sisters. Especially when there was a barely-clad Belle in his kitchen.
They released him and followed his gaze towards the kitchen. The sound of clanking dishes echoed, and before he could stop them, Mel and Molly rushed through the house.
“Hi,” Belle said brightly after his sisters introduced themselves. “Oh, that’s right! Your mom said you might be stopping by one day.”
Greyson’s brow furrowed as he turned the corner to see Mel and Molly standing with Belle as she made everyone coffee, still in her skimpy nightgown. His sisters shot him looks over her shoulders, Mel grinning and nodding like the annoying little sister she was. Apparently, she approved of Belle’s looks—which, as much as he hated to admit it, made him feel damn good. She had a girlfriend of her own back at school.
“Did we interrupt something?” Molly asked, waggling her eyebrows as Belle handed her a cup of coffee.
“No, you didn’t,” Greyson said through gritted teeth.
“Sadly,” Belle added quietly, and he stilled. His sisters glanced at each other and burst into laughter. Greyson shot her a look, and she shrugged, smiling coyly as she raised the steaming mug to her lips. “What? Just being honest.”
“How long are you two staying?” he asked, ignoring his sisters’ laughter.
“A few days,” Mel said with a shrug. “Not with you, though, don’t worry. Mom said we should stop here first, though, at least for one night.”
“Course she did,” Greyson grumbled and leaned his hip against the counter. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I have a function to go to tonight, so I won’t be around. And I have to head into the office soon.”
Mel and Molly linked one arm each with Belle and grinned mischievously, making his stomach plummet. “That’s alright. We never said we came here strictly to visit you anyway,” Mel said with a wink.
“Yeah, we’ll keep your new girlfriend company,” Molly added. “If she doesn’t mind.”
“Absolutely not,” Belle said and giggled when Greyson rolled his eyes. “Oh, it’ll be like a girls’ night! I've never actually had one of those. Mind if I call my friend Carrie?”
“Is she hot?” Mel asked.
“I thought you had a girlfriend?” Greyson asked.
“Eh, we broke up a few weeks ago. I’m on the market.”
Greyson worried what Belle would think of his sisters, but she seemed to be enjoying the company of women her age. Not that he was so much older than her, but living with him wasn’t exactly easy.
“Nice. I'm not sure if Carrie swings that way, but she is quite attractive, in my opinion,” Belle answered.
“Perfect, then we’ll have a ladies' night and you can go do your thing with your bros,” Molly said in a deep, guttural voice, mocking Greyson as she always did.
“They’re not my bros,” he muttered through gritted teeth.
“Menfolk,” Belle supplied. “And tell Tim I said hi—oh, and Davis.”
“Mind if I talk to you for a second before I leave?” he asked and motioned towards his bedroom. Mel and Molly repeated the talk part, adding air quotes and giggling until he glowered at them. Their smiles didn’t fade, and Belle chuckled quietly as she followed him to his bedroom and he shut the door. “I’m sorry for doing this to you. Leaving you with them.”
She hopped up on the edge of his bed, and his eyes went directly to her breasts, free from any impediment except the thin layer of fabric. “I don’t mind. They’re my age, right?”
“Yeah,” he said and cleared his throat when the word came out rough. “And your friend is more than welcome. My sisters know where the wine cellar is and how to work everything so you’ll be well taken care of, I’m sure.”
Belle nodded and leaned back on the palms of her hands. She uncrossed her legs, and the nightgown barely hid the glorious sweetness he’d experienced once before very briefly. It didn’t help that she nibbled her tongue between her teeth and raised a brow, watching him closely. Her chest rose and fell with each deep breath she took, luring him, and Greyson’s silk pants hid none of his arousal. She licked her lips when her gaze flickered down to his quickly growing erection, and he growled as he stalked towards the bed.
He cupped her cheek in one large palm, and she leaned into his touch with a sigh that tore at his chest. How easy it would be to lay her back and rip her panties off, to delve into those depths he knew would be crying for him. To plunge into her as he’d wanted to since the first day he saw her outside his office. Even more when she stood up to him the first time and every time after that.
Gently, his other hand slid up her bare thigh, reaching under the hem of her nightgown as he leaned down and slanted his lips over hers. She sat up, and her hand pressed against his groin. He grunted as she gasped in surprise.
“You’re so big,” she whispered, and he caught her glance downwards, along with the flicker of worry.
He pulled away and really stared at her face. He couldn’t love her the way he wanted if she was still injured, and he nearly forgot she was a virgin. Even if he wanted a quickie this morning—just a few minutes to drive them both over the edge and hear her scream—he couldn’t do that, not yet. The first time with Belle would have to be gentle, slow, and patient. Three things he was not when it came to his past lovers.
“Maybe we can worry about this another time,” he said and kissed her lips sweetly. “When my sisters are not in the other room.”
Hushed giggles sounded close by followed by rushed footsteps, and he whipped around, glaring at the door. “Or perverts in my house! Damn it, Mel, Molly! Really? We’re not in high school anymore!”
Belle was laughing, and before he could catch her, she shimmied off the bed and flounced towards the door. “Whatever you say, bear,” she said and left him alone.
“Bear?”
Absently, he tugged at his beard. Despite the moment being ruined, he couldn’t stop the smile spreading across his face. The smile remained as he finished getting ready for a day at the office and packed another set of clothes for the function later that night. Every time his eyes lingered on the bed, the quilt shifted where she sat, he imagined their first time together. Soon, it would be soon, otherwise he would lose her because he was too scared to take that next step forward and make a real commitment.
Chapter 6
Belle immediately fell in love with Mel and Molly. They spent most of the day out shopping—at the expense of their brother, of course. They hit all the stores that had his card on file, and the second Belle mentioned she was his girlfriend, the women attendants were more than happy to help find her some cute and sexy outfits for one of their favorite clients.
At first, she hated it, wondering how many other women the twins took shopping on Greyson’s behalf. After the first store, she voiced her concerns, and Mel and Molly cackled.
“Oh, Belle,” Mel said and hugged her close, “you’re the only one we’ve ever liked. Actually, you’re the only one we’ve ever met.”
“Really? But I thought he had a girlfriend… a long time ago,” she wondered.
“He did,” Molly said, “but we never met her. That was when he wasn’t talking to any of us.”
“When did that happen? He acts like he loves you,” she said as they strolled into another store. Belle was so caught up with getting to know more about the man she was falling for, she didn’t even notice the name of the store.
Mel and Molly nodded in unison. “He does,” Molly said. “But Dad’s death hit him really hard. He felt guilty, and it tore him up. He was worried he’d hurt us too, so he pushed us out of his life for a few years.”
“Then that girl tore his heart out and stomped on it,” Mel snapped. “He broke down, called Mom, and let us back in, for the most part.”
They pulled Belle to a stop as a woman walked over to them wearing a slinky dress. “Ladies, good to see you again.”
“Likewise, Tiff,” Mel said.
“You two come here often?” Belle asked as she glanced around and felt a wave of heat wash over her body. “Oh my God, what type of store are we in?”
Everywhere she looked, there were mannequins wearing sexy lingerie—pieces she had never even considered wearing. A wall towards the back of the store was labeled ‘bondage’ and another one beside it advertising 'Pleasure for Her.'
“You are in one of the top-of-the-line lingerie stores,” Molly told her happily.
