by Skye Warren
Chapter 3
Maxine
I walk back to the boardroom wishing I could erase the last twenty minutes.
That should not have happened.
Sex with Mason was dumb enough, but letting him take me without protection, and in my law firm’s file room too, was all a big mistake. The whole no panty thing didn’t help either. Now, he’s talking marriage after a one-time fling.
I started off the day believing a short walk down memory lane would soften him up. Boy, was I wrong. Now he wants more. More, to the tune of holy matrimony. This is not the same Mason Reid I walked away from all those years ago. It was stupid to believe he didn’t change, and that I could turn off all those emotions, or use our history to help him come around. Well, he came around all right.
I need to get this situation back under control, so I stop Mason before we enter the boardroom again.
“Let’s be real,” I start, fixing my gaze to his sky blue eyes that mesmerize me without fail. “What do you want? And I’m not referring to us right now. What’s your end game for this deal with your brother?”
Mason bristles. “That man is not my brother, do you understand? We may share some DNA, but he is not family. What I want to know is why Pearlman, Wright and Associates are bringing in the big guns to get me to be more flexible. You’re the big negotiator. Why the hell aren’t you in the other boardroom…convincing Gareth to get a fucking clue? Why aren’t you telling him to take the deal and avoid turning this into a circus in court?”
“You know why,” I remind him, referring to Gareth’s original request to speak to Mason, before all this talk of a fifty-fifty split came about.
“I’m not buying it.”
I cross my arms and stand my ground. “He wants to have a conversation with you.”
“Bullshit,” he says, shaking his head. “He wants to fuck with me and play mind games. It can’t be that simple.”
“Maybe you should hear him out.”
“I’d prefer to punch him in the face. In fact, if you try to get us in the same room, that’s likely what I’ll end up doing.”
I huff out a breath. “Christ, Mason. Stop being so arrogant. Avoiding him isn’t going to make this problem go away.”
He levels his gaze at me. “What’s in it for your law firm?” he asks, speaking calmly while his eyes skim down my body and back up again, as though he’s seeing me for the first time all over again. “What’s in it for you?”
“You know why I’m here. I’m here to help turn this troubled situation around.”
“Maybe you should be managing him, not me. And you know something else? You didn’t answer my question. What’s in it for the firm? Why are you all so insistent on resolving this? I’ve asked this question over and over again, and every time I do, I get the feeling you’re all hiding something huge. Level with me, Maxine. Tell me the truth.”
“You want the truth? We’ve been trying to get you two in a room together so you can look him in the eyes and have a talk. He doesn’t want any of it. Not the money, not the properties, not the seat on the board. None of that. He wants to meet you, and you’re the one upping your offer to try and get rid of him. Well, he’s not going to go away. Your father did what he did, and Gareth is the result. Things happen. Some men cheat. Your brother had nothing to do with that, and he didn’t ask to be born. Wake up and deal with it.”
“He’s dealing in bad faith.”
“How the hell would you know that, if you don’t go in there and find out for yourself?”
“I don’t want him around. The kid is in his twenties. As far as I’m concerned, it’s twenty-something years too late to do the brotherly bonding thing, or whatever the hell he wants.”
“He’ll drop the request for a seat on the board if you speak to him.”
“I don’t give a crap.”
“You damn well do. Please get in to the boardroom and do the smart thing. Tell my senior partner that you’ll talk to him.” I grip his biceps for a moment. “Please…just do it for me, if for no other reason. Five minutes. And I promise I’ll take care of the rest.”
Mason’s eyes bore into me as he reassesses the suggestion. “Let me just make sure I understand what Gareth continues to baffle me with. He will walk away from everything …for a conversation?”
“Yes.”
“Then he’s a bigger idiot than I thought. Dad named him in his updated will. What you’re trying to tell me is that he’s going to get a bigger kick out of taking away my dignity than getting what’s rightfully his? Well, that’s not going to happen.”
Mason turns and strides back down the hall toward the elevator bays.
“You’re being stubborn and unreasonable!” I shout, clicking my heels as I race to follow him.
“It’s not going to happen,” he barks, pressing the elevator call button.
“Why the hell not?”
“It’s a mind game, and none of you people seem to see it. Figure out who will represent him from another firm. We’re taking this to court.”
“Mason Reid, get your arrogant ass back in there and talk to him, or I’ll represent him in court,” I warn him.
The elevator arrives. Mason steps on, and turns to face forward. “Do what you need to do.”
I stand as the elevator doors close, dumbstruck.
Chapter 4
Mason
I don’t know what’s more frustrating, Maxine blowing me off again, her threat to switch sides and represent Gareth in court, or this half-brother of mine insisting on a one-on-one.
What I need is a drink. I leave the office tower and step outside in just my business suit. It’s freezing cold. Snow is falling hard. I check the time. Even if I phone my driver now, he won’t make it here fast enough, not with all this midtown Manhattan traffic. The Westbury Hotel is right across the street, so I cross the busy roadway and head inside to find the bar.
My phone buzzes in my pocket. I’m sure it’s Maxine, so I ignore it. She needs to know that I’m serious and won’t give in. The bartender greets me with a nod as I sit in a high-back chair at one end of the counter.
“Double Jack on the rocks,” I tell him.
“Right away,” he answers, and brings over the bottle and glass. “Happy holidays.”
I give him a harsh look. “Do I look like the holidays make me happy in any way, bud?”
He pours my drink, studying me for an extra few moments. His eyes dart over to a table somewhere on the other side of the bar. “It must run in the family.”
“What?”
He nods over to the same area. “You and your twin, Ebenezer over there,” he says. “Except he’s busying himself with a deck of cards, instead of riding my ass.”
I take a look and roll my eyes. Gareth. “Bring over another double Jack, and one of whatever he ordered,” I tell him, getting to my feet.
Gareth wants a conversation? He’s about to get one. I take my drink with me to have a chat. “You’ve got five minutes,” I bark without addressing him. He’s playing solitaire gin rummy. “Talk.”
Gareth glances up at me. For a split second, it feels like I’m looking in the mirror. The kid looks exactly like me, from the wavy brown hair to the bright blue eyes to the athletic build. He even looks like he’s wearing the same brand of shirt that I like. I already hate the fact that my old man sowed his seed in some strange woman, and she pops out my fucking mirror image.
Except he’s not talking.
“You’re down to four minutes, kid,” I announce. “Try not to tempt fate in your youth.”
He shakes his head. “You realize you’re only like four years older than me, right?”
“Three and a half minutes,” I say, taking a seat across from him. “What the hell do you want from me?”
His eyebrows lift high up on his forehead as he gathers up the cards. “I’ll tell you what. Let’s play one hand of poker. If you win, I’ll leave you and my inheritance alone…but if I win, we have a conversation. No time limits
. Anytime I want to talk, we talk. I’ll take whatever our father wanted me to have, and nothing more.”
“Were you not hugged as a child or something? What’s with you and wanting to chat?”
He shuffled the deck. “Do we have an agreement or not?”
Glaring at him, I nod. “Fine, but I deal the cards.”
“Whatever.”
Gareth slides the deck to me and leans back in his chair just as the bartender brings over our drinks. Finishing my first and second drinks in quick succession, I give the deck another shuffle.
I deal the cards, and Gareth grumbles as I turn the river card. A smile rises up my face. “If this were for real money, I’d throw in a bunch of chips and raise your ass,” I tell him.
“This is for real money,” he reminds me.
“Well, I’m all in, buddy.”
“Are you sure?” he asks.
I place the deck on the table and take a look at the fucked-up hand I just dealt myself. I don’t want to drag this out, so I bluff. “Positive.”
The kid throws down a straight flush. “What you got in your hand, brother?” he asks, smug as fuck now.
I stare up at the colorful Christmas lights above my head for a second. “So you fucking win. So we talk. Go on. Start talking.”
He reaches into his pocket and drops a business card on the table. Emptying the rest of his drink, he pushes his chair back. “You can pay me later... I’ve got a flight to catch.”
“The fuck is wrong with you, boy? You wanted to talk, and now you’re leaving? Just don’t stretch out this crap with the lawyers. And take your shitty cards.”
“You keep them. Merry Christmas, bro,” he says, and strides off.
I’m not even in the mood to go back to the lawyers’ offices. The bartender nods when he sees my hand in the air, signaling him for another drink. Two more of these will hit the spot. I ignore the Christmas carols playing on the hotel’s Muzak system, nursing my drinks as I try to figure out what Gareth’s cryptic business card is about. He either owns or manages an art gallery. I can’t tell, and decide I don’t give a fuck by the time my fourth drink is done.
Maxine’s text is still sitting unopened in my phone about a half-hour later. Deciding to reply with a short message that we’ll carry on when Gareth gets back, I pull out the phone and unlock the screen.
What the fuck?
Her message floors me. The first message was to beg me to return to the boardroom, but her second text says, “Your brother just signed the original settlement.”
I reply with a one-word question. “When?”
Her response reads, “Now. When can I see you?”
“Meet me at the condo.”
“Be there in an hour.”
All I know is I’m more likely to get the truth from her outside her office, but by the time I get into the back seat of my town car, I don’t want to know anything else about Gareth, or his hang-up about being mysterious, or whatever the fuck he’s up to. He signed off his rights, so he can’t get more than what Dad wanted him to have. To me, it’s over. If and when he comes around again, I’ll deal with his let’s bond crap then. There is something infinitely more important that requires my time.
Someone.
Maybe I should be thanking Gareth for being a dick. His idiotic crap was instrumental in bringing me and Maxine face to face.
Chapter 5
Maxine
It takes me thirty minutes to get to Mason’s place. The nervousness gets to me. I’m beyond torn, right up until I make it up the elevator that lets out in the outer hallway of his Central Park west condo. It’s been years since I’ve been here, but everything looks the same.
I try to update Mason about his brother. Gareth’s whole reason for wanting a conversation with Mason has to do with the fact that he was the last person to see their father alive. It’s possible that Gareth just wants to deliver a personal message, but he refuses to tell anyone but Mason. And my stubborn ex won’t listen right now. His mind is on other things, and if I were honest, I haven’t been able to think of anything else since he took me in the file room.
Mason stands in the middle of the massive unit that takes up the entire fortieth floor, but in a few strides, he’s in front of me, eyes daring. I don’t want him wasting any time, not with my skin burning hot everywhere that he touched me earlier. I pop up on my tiptoes to run my tongue over his lips, already hungry to taste him. The file room was just a warmup. Here at his place, behind closed doors and with complete privacy, there’s no holding back.
My body sways into his as he grasps the sides of my face in his hands. I lift my gaze to his eyes, which are so intense right now that I have a hard time biting back tears. With all the unresolved feelings wreaking havoc on my brain, it’s a wonder I’m not a shaking bundle of nerves right now. Mason is the only man who has ever been capable of leaving me feeling unsteady. He shakes my rock solid self-assurance, erodes my confidence, and breaks down the walls I’ve taken years to build up to defend myself from the effect that only he has on me.
Without breaking eye contact and without a word, Mason slips my jacket from my shoulders, unbuttons my shirt, and slides his hands to the back of my bra to undo the clasps.
I stand there while he drags off my skirt. I’m naked, frozen, unable to mask how much I’ve missed having his hands on me, and not caring that Mason loves that very fact. He buries his hands in my hair, and is far from gentle as he tilts my head back.
He leans down, grazing his lips against mine, and I can’t help but relish the scorching heat that expands out from my core. His kisses have always been hard-wired to my crotch. Need pulsates through to my clit. I can’t keep my hands to myself all of a sudden. I want to feel his rock hard cock in my hand, and in my mouth, and deep in my womb.
Mason reads my mind. He takes my hand and cups it over the bulge in his pants. He grips my back, pulling me tight against him with my hand in between us. His mouth covers mine. I moan as he parts my lips and explores my mouth ravenously with his tongue. I’m melting. My mind is far away, outside my body as he picks me up and carries me to his bed.
Until he pulls away and says, “Get your ass on the bed. I want you on your knees. Now.”
I smile and forget everything outside his bedroom door. The world can end out there and I wouldn’t care, because right now, I can’t wait for what’s coming next.
Chapter 6
Mason
Maxine is on board. Great. No need to waste time. As soon as she climbs into my bed, I lean over her and smack her ass cheek hard. The sultry whelp she lets out goes right to my balls. She loves to be spanked, and I love seeing her ass raw and red after I’m done with it. We’re a perfect match. It’s been hell not having her at my side, so I’m loving that I’ll get my chance to punish her by taking it out on her perfect ass.
“I’ve been so bad, Mason,” she admits.
I extend her torture by making her wait until I’m good and ready to continue. Standing behind her, I reach forward and mold my hands over her breasts. I cup them, testing their weight in my palms, loving the feel of her nipples pebbling as I knead and massage them. She arches her back as I tweak her nipples roughly, and sticks out her round, firm ass some more.
I release her breasts and hurriedly let my dick spring free. Maxine hisses as she looks back at me. She catches sight of my throbbing cock that’s pointed right at her butt. I’m not ready to remind her how her cunt fits my dick like a glove whenever I take her from behind. Not just yet.
Walking around to the other side of the bed, I stand at her face. “Suck me hard, Maxine. Like you mean it,” I growl.
She licks her lips, and fuck, I swear my cock swells some more just from that image of her pink tongue passing over her sweet, full mouth. It’s already dripping with precum. Without using her hands, Maxine drifts her face forward and parts her lips. She licks from the tip of my cock right up to my balls, then back down again. Her moaning is so loud as her mouth takes in my cock head that
the vibrations have me sure I’ll blow my load way too soon. Maxine fixes her gaze on me and bobs up and down my length, working me over with her hot mouth.
I need to regain control so I don’t come all over her face too fast. Burying my hands into her hair, I fuck her pretty little mouth, jerking in and out, hitting the back of her throat. I notice she has balanced her forward weight on one hand so she can play with her clit. As much as I want her to get off too, she can’t do that now. I use my free hand to reach forward, and slap her ass so hard it leaves a bright red handprint. The move also slams her face into my groin. Maxine is stunned, but catches the look in my eyes and returns her hand to the bed.
She doesn’t hide that she wants more of my hand crashing down on her backside. Her waist tilts on each side wiggling her ass for me as she continues to suck me hard.
My hand comes down hard on her other ass cheek, leaving another mark while almost going blind from the sensation that transfers to me through her mouth. I can’t keep this up for too much longer. Not if I want to fill her cunt with my cum, and mingle our juices together deep in her womb.
She whimpers, as though begging for me to continue my spanking. I can’t say no to the pleading expression in her eyes, and honestly, I want more of that tingling sensation on my palm. Releasing my grip on her hair, I pull my cock out of her mouth.
“Turn around,” I demand, stroking myself, tugging to make up for the cold void that’s left, now that her hot mouth isn’t there anymore.
Maxine moves around on the bed until her ass is in my direction. As she knows what’s coming, she drags over a pillow and buries her face in it.
“You’ve been so naughty, I can’t even tell you how much I need to spank you to make up for it,” I groan, preparing her for what is to come.
