by Linda Kage
Finally impressed because Price wasn’t interested in women in the least, I sat back in my chair, gripped the armrests, and whistled as I began to rock. “That is new. He’s usually more into bra sizes than backsides.”
Price shot me a glance as if to say, exactly. “Which tells you just how pretty the rest of her is, right? So there are already two pots going around: one over how long she’ll last and the other over how soon she’ll start getting busy with Draper. You want in?”
I furrowed my brow. “Has she even been hired yet?”
“Oh, honey.” Price shook his head sadly and made a disappointed tsking sound with his tongue as he waved a dismissing hand at me. “There’s no doubt he’ll hire her. Ooh! Here we go. Game time.” After glancing over his shoulder, he rushed back to the doorway and peeked out into the main workroom. “They’re coming out,” he whispered loudly.
I rolled my eyes and sat forward in my chair again so I could get back to work. Price got a little too invested in office drama sometimes.
“Hmm. You know, maybe he didn’t hire her. She doesn’t look all that happy.”
“She doesn’t?” I murmured distractedly as I listened with only half an ear and opened a new account on my screen. “Hey, did you set up a meeting for me with the Winstons?”
“What? The Winstons? Yeah, I think so. I put the time in your calendar if I did.”
“You think so?” Frowning, I clicked into my calendar and scanned the page until I finally spotted the appointment I was seeking for nearly three weeks out. Huh. I wondered why they wanted it so far in the future? Oh well, at least they were still interested in meeting.
“He totally hired her,” Price whispered conspiratorially from his spying spot at the opening of my office. “He looks way too smug and happy, and—ope—he just set his hand on her back. Her lower back. He did notice her ass. That man’s going to be working his way into her panties faster than a squirrel breaking into a can of peanuts.”
Poor Melissa, I silently commiserated, except I was slowly starting to grow less and less sympathetic for Art’s wife with every new woman she caught him with.
I sighed and sent my assistant an annoyed glance. “Do you think you could find something better to do than eavesdrop on Art and his—”
“Shh!” Price waved an insistent hand, shushing me. “He’s going to make an announcement.”
Oh Lord. I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling just as Art’s muffled voice filtered into my office. “Everyone,” he called. “I just wanted to introduce you to a new face you’ll be seeing around the office. I just hired El Nicksen here, and she’s going to be my—”
“Nicksen?” I sat up straight and frowned, not hearing the rest of what Art had to say.
Had he just said Nicksen, though? Or Nixon? Or something else that sounded similar to Yellow’s surname? Who would El Nicksen be, anyway?
Pushing from my chair, I curiously wandered my way over to where Price was hogging all the door space. Squeezing in next to him, I peered out at the new hire as well.
“Son of a bitch,” I immediately hissed when I caught sight of her side-profile. Ducking back into my office, I ran my fingers through my hair and clutched my head.
But what the hell did she think she was doing, coming to work here? At my company? Did she know I was one of the owning partners? Is that why she was here? Was this because of me?
No, that would be stupid. Why would she do that?
But still…
If she’d done any research about the company she was interviewing for, it wouldn’t be hard to learn I was one of her new boss’s partners. What would possess her to seek employment where I worked?
So she probably didn’t know.
Unless she did.
I began to crack my knuckles as I paced.
Discovering more drama was occurring inside my office than outside it, Price turned from the exit to blink at me before his eyes widened.
“Holy shit,” he gasped. “You know her.”
“What?” I blinked at my assistant, suddenly not even seeing him. Only seeing Yellow, next to Art, his hand on her back and that self-satisfied, I’m-so-getting-laid smirk on his face. And I felt sick to my stomach.
No, actually, I felt like a stupid fool. She’d probably just been gradually getting close to me in order to tempt me into doing shit I shouldn’t so she could stick it to Bella one more time. Even though I had no idea why she’d have it out for my twin to that kind of evil extreme. Or maybe she wanted to stick it to me because I’d told her we couldn’t go any further than that hug. And her sleeping with Art would definitely get under my skin.
“Hey.” Price snapped his fingers in front of my face. “Baby, you need to breathe for me, okay.”
Returning to the present I narrowed my eyes at him and huffed out a breath. “I am breathing,” I finally answered, my voice hard. “And I don’t know her.”
I’d deluded myself into thinking I was getting to know her. But honestly, that woman out there was a complete stranger to me.
Price snorted. “Well, that’s a lie if I ever heard one.”
Not about to be the source of hot, juicy gossip around the office, I didn’t delve into exactly how I knew Yellow. Or El as I guess she was called.
Seriously, had she always gone by El, or was that a new thing? I’d only ever heard Bella refer to her as Yellow, and they’d known each other a couple of years before the incident with Ethan happened.
My gut gave another sickening lurch.
“I’ve crossed paths with her on exactly three different occasions,” I informed Price. “So I really don’t know much about her past her name.”
And not even that, since I had no idea she went by El.
Except I also knew she had awesome taste in movies, liked long hugs, popcorn and Reese’s Pieces, and she laughed at my tacky jokes.
Plus she smelled good.
And she’d slept with my sister’s boyfriend.
I’d somehow been forgetting that last detail a lot lately. But seeing her out there—next to Art—brought it all flooding back.
Bella and Yellow had been part of a group of friends because Bella had been dating Ethan and Yellow had been seeing Liam, one of Ethan’s friends. But then, I guess Yellow and Liam had broken up, and so Chad, some other guy in their circle, had asked her out.
I remember Bella telling me about it, and she’d defended Yellow for it back then because she said Yellow had tried to refuse Chad’s advances, but he’d insisted until Liam had promised he was cool with it, so it had worked out okay.
Some of the other women in their group started to talk badly about Yellow for moving from one dude in the group and right on to another. Yet Bella had stood up for her.
Apparently, Yellow and Chad hadn’t panned out either, though. After one date together, they’d never gone out again. So she moved on to yet another member of the group. She moved on to Ethan.
Bella went over one morning to his apartment to surprise him and found Ethan and Yellow in bed together. My poor sister had been blindsided, sobbing in my arms, confessing how surprised she’d been. Yellow had seemed so sweet and innocent to her. She’d even defended Yellow when the other girls in their group had bashed her.
I had to admit, I’d gotten my own taste of Yellow’s kind, guileless side. She’d suckered me in, just like she had my twin. And it had made me forget all about the first time I’d met her myself at Ethan’s apartment.
A week after Bella had caught Ethan cheating and she’d broken things off with him, I’d gone over with her to his apartment to pick up her things she’d left behind. But as soon as we reached his door and before we could even knock on it, it opened to display a tumbled blonde, her hair a mess and clothes wrinkled with a bra clutched to her chest in a death grip.
She jarred to a halt when she saw us, her face pale and eyes dazed and disoriented. Appearing scared to death, she recoiled in horror when she focused on Bella.
“Oh, you bitch,” Bella seethed. “
Again?”
She physically dove at Yellow, her hands curled into claws as she screamed vile accusations. I’d had to move quickly to wrap an arm around my twin’s waist and hold her back.
In return, Yellow had sucked in a breath and gaped at us. Her gaze met mine for the first time. She seemed so panicked and unsure, I could actually read her thoughts as she gaped at me.
What do I do? What do I do?
“Go,” I growled, not sure how long I could hold my sister off her.
And so she’d gone, racing past us, never to be heard from again until I ran into her at the theater over a year later.
It’d been easy to forget the destruction she’d caused with Ethan when I’d been acting as her hero and helping her out of an uncomfortable situation. It’d been impossible to remember that she couldn’t be trusted when she’d been playing movie trivia with me and sharing my popcorn or she’d hugged me as if she hadn’t been hugged by anyone in her entire life.
But it all came back now. There was a reason my sister hated her. She made people think she was one thing when she was really another. She tricked you into liking her. She deceived you.
And it had been working on me. I’d started to like her, too. Except I wouldn’t fall victim like Bella had. No more being a fool. She was meant for the Arts and the Ethans of this world. Not me.
Chapter Ten
Fox
ABOUT THREE WEEKS LATER
“Go, shawty,” I sang under my breath as I slid into my ride after work. “It’s your birthday. We gon’ party like it’s your birthday.”
Grinning, I started the engine and tugged at my tie. Once it was free of my neck, I slung it into the passenger seat and started to back from my parking spot, only for a text to come in.
Thinking it was a message from Bells, I pressed the brake, cranked up the radio, playing 50 Cent instead of singing to him, and I checked my phone.
EL: Happy birthday! I hope it’s a good one.
Birthday wishes from El. Sweet, but not exactly who I’d been hoping to hear from. I grinned, anyway.
PARKER: Thanks. I’ll give you all the glorious play-by-play details during our session tomorrow if you’d like, since you’re so suddenly interested in my sex life these days.
She sent me a middle-finger emoji, so I tossed back a laughing face. Tonight was going to be a good one; I could feel it thrumming through my bloodstream.
Since I’d been hoping the text had been from Bella so badly, I went ahead and rang her as I finally put my truck into reverse.
It took her a few more rings than usual to answer, but when she finally did, effervescence consumed me. There was just something about hearing her voice that got my juices flowing.
“I know what I want from you for my birthday,” I said, be-bopping around in my seat like I was dancing as I drove.
“Really?” She sounded amused. “What makes you think I was planning on getting you anything?”
“Only the fact that you’ve gotten me something for my birthday every year before this one,” I snarked back, unable to stop grinning.
“Well, you’d be right, then. Except I already got you something. It’s actually from both Gracen and me.”
I grimaced because, um, no.
What I wanted from her had nothing to do with her twin’s involvement.
“Alright then,” I revised. “I want something else extra from you for my birthday, then, since, you know, I’m so generous about letting you use and abuse my body whenever you like.”
“Abuse?” she cried incredulously. “Whatever. You love the things I do to your body.”
“I do,” I had to admit with a sly grin. “I really do. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that bruise you gave me. You know that one on my wrist after you handcuffed me to the—”
“Oh! That is the lamest argument for abuse that I have ever heard. Especially since the handcuffs were your idea to begin with.”
“They were, weren’t they?” I chuckled. “Damn, I come up with the best ideas. Like tonight,” I went on. “For my birthday. I have the whole thing planned. It involves you being naked the entire evening. And me kissing, licking, and basically loving every inch of your body from sunset until dawn. You’re going to have so many fucking orgasms, you won’t know when one ends and the next—”
“I can’t.”
“Ends. I mean, seriously. Can you think of anything better than—wait. Did you just say no?”
“I’m sorry,” she gushed. “I’m so-so sorry. But I have plans. Gracen’s on his way over right now, actually, to pick me up.”
Gracen?
She was spending my birthday with her brother?
My mouth fell open, and I just gaped up at the red light I’d stopped at. “How can you have plans?” I asked before I could check myself. “It’s my birthday.”
The husky laugh that filled my ear did things to me. I think I was becoming all too obsessed with it. “You make it sound like we’ll never see each other again,” Bella cooed. “And besides, I thought you said you were already doing something tonight. Remember? You’re going to dinner at your parents’ house.” She paused, then exploded. “Oh my God. You didn’t forget that, did you?”
“No.” I frowned and petulantly mumbled, “I didn’t forget. But I was hoping I could cut out early and see you afterward.”
Except that wasn’t entirely true either because I realized I was almost to her house now. I’d been driving toward her the entire time we’d been talking to each other. So I guess I really hadn’t wanted to see her later. I wanted her now.
And later.
And every minute in between.
But she had plans.
Pulling to the curb about a block from her place, I put my truck into park and rubbed my hands over my face to force myself back under control.
That didn’t work, though, because a moment later, I blurted, “Or better yet, why don’t you just come with me?” I nodded encouragingly, though there was no way for her to see me. “Yeah. One of us could feign a stomach cramp or something right after dinner and then head straight back to your place and—”
“Fox,” she cut in quietly.
Fuck. I’d said too much. After wincing and fisting a hand against my mouth, I dropped my fingers and lifted my brows innocently, murmuring, “Hmm?”
A pause followed. I held my breath, waiting. I knew it was probably stupid for me to fish for more, but hell. It was my birthday. I wanted to spend it with her.
Bella cleared her throat briefly before she said, “You do realize you just invited me to go to your parents’ house with you, don’t you? Like as a couple. If I did that, we’d basically be telling the world we were—you know—together?”
Yes, something inside me sighed over the idea. Together. That was exactly what I wanted.
But it was obvious from her tone that she did not want any such thing, and she was giving me an out here to back away from the suggestion and say something like you’re right, never mind. I wasn’t thinking. Just ignore me.
Except that’s all I’d been doing lately. Thinking. And I didn’t want to be her dirty little secret anymore.
“Yeah, well…” I forced a grin, trying to sound playful—not so desperate and begging. “That could be your birthday present to me, right there. Telling the world we’re together.”
“What?”
“Why don’t we just tell everyone we’re, you know, exclusive?”
“But…” She fumbled a moment, clearly not prepared to get any pushback from me.
“We are exclusive,” I said slowly. “Aren’t we?”
“Yes. Of course. But I haven’t even told Gracen yet.”
“So tell Gracen,” I encouraged. “You said he’s going to be there any moment, right? You can just give him the news, then skip out on whatever you two had planned together, and come with me.”
Gray would understand. He was an understanding guy.
But Bella sounded like she was cringing when she hesitantly start
ed, “Fox. I—this—it’s just so sudden. I didn’t even know you wanted…”
Except she did know, and that’s why she didn’t finish the sentence.
“I do,” I said anyway, and my quiet voice hung in the air between us. “I want us to be public. I want to stop hiding. I’m tired of lying to every-fucking-one in the entire family. That’s not me. And I hate doing it.”
She released a sharp, shaking breath.
I waited, letting her have however long she needed to answer because there was no race here. I didn’t need to push her for any immediate declarations. I was in this for the long haul. But I was going to stop backing down from letting her know what I wanted as well.
I was a year older now. Wiser, and all that shit. And I’d never get what I wanted if I didn’t even make it clear to her exactly what it was that I did want. So…
I made it clear.
“I want to be in an open, romantic, committed, dating relationship with you. One that everyone knows about.”
“Oh…” she said breathlessly.
And that was it. No declaration of her own to let me know if she felt the same or even if she felt differently. Just…
Oh.
I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the steering wheel, certain I’d messed up and scared her off.
At the beginning of our affair, I had gotten why she was so reticent about letting anyone know what we were doing. It was fresh and new; who’s to say we would even mesh that well? We didn’t need our families right up in our business every step of the way, making it ten times harder to navigate the beginning of a relationship.
But that had been months ago. And we were still together. I’d grown to fucking love Isabella Lowe like I loved no one else. She was it for me. I didn’t care who knew what I felt for her. And hiding it was becoming bothersome. Really damn bothersome.
So I no longer understood her reasoning for keeping everything between us under wraps.
