by K. A. Linde
“Definitely.”
“Jerk.”
I grinned as I placed both of the plates on the table and grabbed a bottle of red wine. I poured each of us a glass. Morgan sniffed it before taking a sip. She made a horrible face and then had another sip.
I tried to hide my laugh. “You’re, uh, not a wine drinker?”
“I like it, but the first sip always tastes terrible.”
“I’ll remember that when I take you wine tasting.”
Her eyes lit up. “We’re going wine tasting?”
Whoa. Where had that come from? When had I even had the thought that I was going to take Morgan out? It was as if there was no processing from my brain to my mouth. I was just going to take her.
She might be overthinking things, but when I was with her, everything felt completely natural.
“Yeah. The Lubbock wineries are surprisingly good. Unless you want to go to Napa or something. I have to use up all my vacation before I start the new job.”
Holy fuck! Honestly, did I just suggest going on a vacation with her?
“I wonder if I have access to the private jet now,” she said with a mischievous smile.
“I’m pretty sure, if we don’t want Jensen to know yet, taking his jet to Napa might tip him off.”
She giggled that perfect laugh. “You’re probably right. But it’d be hilarious to see his face.”
“Can’t argue with that.”
She seemed to be brimming with excitement over the fact that I’d already confirmed a second date. I was starting to wonder who I was and what had happened with the normal Patrick Young. I’d never dated like this. Sex always happened on the first date, and then I’d get bored easily. I never cooked for other people. And the second date was never a guarantee and
I’d been worried that mentality would translate to Morgan as well. That I’d fuck everything up just by being me. But it seemed she brought out the best in me.
Twelve
Patrick
We finished up dinner, and then after cleaning up, we moved into the living room. I flipped a movie on in the background and wrapped an arm around Morgan’s shoulders as we both pretended to watch the romcom on TV. All I could feel was the press of her hip into mine, her head tucked into my shoulder, our fingers threading together. The weight of her slight figure drove me crazy. I wanted to push her back into the couch and find all the ways to make her come. At the same time, I didn’t want to rush her.
Fuck!
“Did I mention that Steph wants you to be a bridesmaid?” I asked.
“What?” Morgan sat up and looked at me. The movie completely forgotten.
“Yeah. She’s thinking a New Year’s Eve wedding. I think you might have to wear glitter or something.”
“She would.” Morgan rolled her eyes. “Are you in the wedding?”
I nodded.
“Oh, good.”
“Why?”
“Weddings are so…” She made a face and stuck out her tongue.
I laughed. “Aren’t you obsessed with that show Say Yes to the Dress?”
“I like TV,” she said with a shrug.
“How do you have time for it?”
“It’s good background noise. But I can’t believe that Steph wants me in the wedding.”
“Makes sense to me. Y’all are close. You’ve known each other since you were kids.”
“True.”
She leaned her head back against my shoulder and watched the movie again. I was distracted by the way her thumb dragged across my hand that I couldn’t have told anyone what the movie was even about. Self-restraint was not my forte. I was dying to move forward.
“Patrick?”
“Hmm?”
Morgan sat up straighter. Then, she hitched her leg over my lap and straddled me. My eyes strayed to inch after inch of exposed thigh as her dress slid up dangerously high. My hands went to her hips. Half to keep her still and half to force her down. I wasn’t exactly processing with her sitting on me like this. Well, my dick was.
It was saying, Take this and run.
She slipped her hands under my shirt, running her nails across my chest before tugging it up and over my head. Her eyes widened in appreciation. Even as her hands shook slightly, she moved them down to my belt buckle. Her eyes met mine for a second before she pulled it loose and snapped the button on my pants. My body jerked as she moved to the lining of my boxers.
“Fuck,” I muttered, shoving her hips down hard against me.
Her eyes snapped back to mine. Then, she circled her hips in a hypnotizing figure eight. My fingers dug into her hips. Hard.
“Too much?” she asked slyly.
“Not enough,” I told her. “Definitely not enough.”
A part of me still couldn’t believe that I was here with Morgan Wright. That she was the girl driving me crazy as she ground her hot body against mine. But I fucking wanted more.
She leaned forward until she had her lips against my ear. “Then, take more,” she said, as if reading my mind.
My hands moved to her ass. I hoisted her up and then dropped her onto her back across the couch. She stretched out before me with her arms over her head. Her dark hair fanned out around her face. A coy smile played across her kiss-swollen lips. She looked like a fucking goddess.
I covered her body with mine, crushing my lips to hers. Our hips pressed together. I was sure she was all too aware of how much I wanted her in that moment. In response, she moaned and pulled her knees up to either side of my hips. I grasped her bare thigh before bunching her dress up to her waist. I traced the lace of her thong, and she moaned.
I pulled back to look at her, and she threw her arms around my neck.
“Don’t stop,” she said breathlessly.
Her cheeks were flushed and her breathing unsteady. And, God, she felt so good. I wanted to study every inch of her skin. Lick, kiss, and suck every sensitive part of her body until she trembled beneath me from release.
I pulled her back up, grabbed the hem of her dress, and tugged the whole thing up and over her head. She released backward and gave me the view of a lifetime. Her tits spilled out of a black lace bra that matched the thong I’d been fingering.
“Jesus Christ,” I groaned.
“Probably not who you want to talk to right now.”
I smirked and slid my hands back up her thighs. “Probably not.”
She bit her lip and squirmed as I took my time moving up to the apex of her thighs. I dragged a finger across the damp fabric left covering her.
“Patrick,” she moaned.
“Yes?”
“Tease.”
“Mmhmm,” I agreed.
I’d just hooked my finger under the material, ready to give her exactly what her body was demanding, when a banging came from the front door. Morgan and I both froze, eyes wide and fear palpable.
“Fuck.”
Morgan jerked up and reached for her dress. “Fuck is right. Fuck. Are you going to answer that?”
Another knock sounded at her whisper. “Patrick?”
My head fell into my hands. Austin.
“Fuck,” she hissed louder.
“Just…go into my bedroom. I’ll convince him to leave.”
“Are you kidding me right now? You want me to hide? How old are we?”
“Do you want to deal with him right now? Right after he got out of rehab?” I asked in frustration.
“Fine, fine,” she spat, jerking away from me and walking into my bedroom.
She closed the door, and I cursed whichever god found this funny.
I threw my shirt back on, took a cursory glance of the room to make sure nothing was out of place, and then yanked the door open.
“What the fuck, dude?” Austin asked, stepping into my house. “Can’t answer your phone?”
“I didn’t have my phone on me.”
I patted my pockets for dramatic effect. I hadn’t looked at the damn thing since I got Morgan to my house. I hadn’t even consider
ed that Austin would want to get ahold of me. It’d been different since he stopped drinking and started dating Julia. Our weekends had been all about getting wasted and going home with one of our normal hook-ups. We didn’t hang out as much because of it, but I’d rather have him sober.
“Julia is out with Emery and Heidi tonight. I thought we could hang. What the hell were you doing in here?”
“Uh, nothing.”
Austin gave me a solid side-eye. “You didn’t answer your phone, and you weren’t doing anything. Either you’re jacking off or there’s a girl here.”
“Neither. Just here by myself.”
“Is it Mindi?” Austin asked with a shake of his head. “I think she’s crazy, but I’m not against you dating her …even if I can never say her roommate’s name again if I want to keep my balls.”
I laughed. “Not Mindi. It’s no one. I’m alone.”
“Whatever. Don’t tell me. Just answer your phone next time. I’ll leave you with your nobody,” Austin said with an eye roll. He didn’t believe me any more than I was telling the truth. “Are we still doing lunch tomorrow? We can catch the Tech game.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Tell your friend I said hi,” Austin said. He chuckled at himself, punched me in the arm, and then left.
I breathed a sigh of relief when he was out the door, and Morgan peeked her head out.
“He’s gone?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I guess I should have been checking my phone.”
“I guess so. Who knew my brother was so needy?”
“He says hello by the way.”
“So I heard.” She frowned.
There was a divide between us now where there hadn’t been before. A few short minutes ago, we’d almost crossed a line that neither of us could come back from. Now, we were standing a half-dozen feet apart with nothing but space. Those few minutes had given her time to reconsider. I could see it on her face.
“Maybe we should take this slow,” I suggested so that she didn’t have to.
“No, we shouldn’t.”
I cleared the distance between us. “There’s plenty of time.”
“I don’t get it, Patrick. Didn’t you hear Austin? You normally have some new girl here. You don’t think twice about moving forward or whatever with them. But it’s different with me? You want to go slow with me? You’re never the gentleman, but now, you insist on it?” She scoffed and looked away from me. “If you don’t really want to do this, then just say so.”
I grabbed her chin in my hand and forced her to look at me again. Anger at the accusation hit me. Maybe I’d been concerned before, but tonight had changed things.
“My past is completely wide open to you, Morgan. You know all about what I’ve done. I’ve never had to hide who I am from you because you’ve been there from the beginning. You’ve seen it all, just like Austin. It’s not surprising that he thought you were another girl. Because, for me, there has never been anything else. Physical with no connection. You’re damn right that I’m not a gentleman.”
“So, that’s it then?” she asked with that hardened strength I’d seen from her in the boardroom. The defense mechanism she deployed when dealing with the outside world.
She pushed me away, but I reached for her elbow and held her in place.
“No, that’s not it.” I tugged her close again. “I think we should go slow because I want to do this the right way for once.”
She paused, and I saw the anger slip away. “You want to do this right?”
“Yeah,” I said, suddenly nervous by my own outburst. “You’re different, Morgan. You’re not just some girl. You never have been, and you never will be.”
Thirteen
Morgan
“Knock, knock,” a voice said from the door of my office on Monday morning.
“Julia,” I said with a smile. “Come in.”
“Are we still doing lunch?”
“Yes, let me send out this email, and then I’ll actually eat lunch today.”
She laughed as she walked over and plopped down in a seat in front of my new desk. It had come in this weekend, and Jensen’s office was finally starting to feel like my own.
“I’m excited that you invited me to lunch. I like having girl time with you,” Julia said.
“Same. I didn’t really have girlfriends before you all started dating my brothers.”
“I’ve never been that great at girlfriends either,” Julia said. She swept her rose-gold hair to one shoulder, revealing the myriad of piercings on her ear and the tattoos peeking from her shoulder. “Heidi kind of forced me to be friends with her.”
“She and Emery are quite a pair.” I sent out my last email and then stood. “Okay, I’m ready.”
“Great! I was thinking Thai Pepper if that’s all right?”
I glanced at my clock and sighed. “They’re so slow though.”
“Yeah…but the food is worth it.”
“All right. I should probably let David know on the way out.”
Julia sent me a sly look as we left the office. “David’s cute, right?”
“Is he?” I asked, taken off guard.
“Come on. You’ve noticed. You work with him all the time.”
“Haven’t really noticed.” I waved at David when we got to his office. “Taking a long lunch. Text me if you need me.”
He was on the phone and held his thumb up. I really looked at him for the first time. Julia was right. He was good-looking. Tall and broad-shouldered with an energetic smile. No wonder Patrick had been worried about David when he saw us together.
Oh well. It was probably good I had no interest in my own CFO. Talk about trouble. That would make Patrick look like nothing in comparison.
“He is kind of cute,” I admitted as we started to walk out of the building together.
“Right! Good. I’m glad you think so. I think you should go out with him.”
“Are you crazy? He’s my subordinate.”
“As the head of HR for Wright Construction, I will agree that it is crazy and a horrible idea…but as your friend.” Julia winked. “He’s, like…barely your subordinate.”
I shook my head. “That’s an awful idea.”
“The girls and I are determined to hook you up with someone by Christmas!”
“Uh,” I said in response.
What the hell could I say to that?
It’s not like I could say that I’d started talking to Patrick. That would get straight back to my brothers. Something I did not want to deal with yet. It was enough that Patrick liked me and wanted to see where this relationship was going. If it really went somewhere, well, then we’d cross that bridge when we got to it.
“It’ll be fine,” Julia said.
I didn’t correct her. It was easier that way. It wouldn’t come to that anyway.
We drove across campus in Julia’s black Tahoe and parked in the back lot outside of Thai Pepper. It was a hole-in-the-wall sort of place that was always packed for lunch. It was noisy and hard to find a table, but the food was too good to pass up.
“Ah, there they are!” Julia said when we entered the restaurant.
“They?” I asked.
My eyes scanned the room and landed on Heidi and Emery holding a table in the corner. I laughed and shook my head. I should have known that she’d invited them. This was clearly an intervention. I was the only one who hadn’t known what was happening.
We maneuvered our way across the crowded room. I pulled out a seat across from Emery, and Julia sat across from Heidi. They were a commanding trio. I was the CEO of a huge organization, but I was out of my depth with girl chat. The last time we’d had a girls’ night was to celebrate my promotion. I’d gotten wasted and hung out with Patrick most of the time. I couldn’t even remember what had happened at the end of that night, except that he’d gotten me home somehow. This was all to say that I failed at girlie things.
“Morgan, we’re so glad you wanted to do lunch,” Heidi said wit
h a wide smile. Her blonde hair was in a slicked-back ponytail at the top of her head, and unlike her friends who preferred shades of black, she was in a fitted, long-sleeved pink top.
“What Heidi means is,” Emery said, “thanks for letting us commandeer your lunch with Julia. Now, I hope you don’t mind Heidi trying to butt her way into your love life.”
“You should get used to it,” Julia agreed.
“Hey, I’m not that bad!” Heidi cried.
“No, you’re worse,” Emery said.
“I don’t hear any of you complaining now that you’re engaged and shit.”
“Whatever,” Julia said. “We all know the real hook-up is you and Emery.”
“I do love her,” Heidi said, draping an arm across Emery’s chair and batting her eyelashes at her.
Emery kissed Heidi’s cheek. “You know it.”
“Get a room,” Julia groaned. She turned to look at me. “Can you believe these two?”
I laughed and shrugged. They all seemed pretty amazing to me. I hated that I always felt like an outsider, even when they were including me. That was how I felt about Steph inviting me to be in her wedding. We’d talked on the phone this weekend, and I still couldn’t believe that she wanted me to be a part of it. I wished relationships came as easy to me as my loyalty to my family and my passion for work.
“Now, as we were saying,” Heidi said, pulling out a notebook after we ordered our pad thai, “we’re on a mission. We know there’s the big Wright Christmas party coming up in, like, three weeks. We thought we’d help set you up on some dates.”
“Heidi made a list,” Emery said with a dramatic eye roll.
“Y’all, I really appreciate this,” I said. I chewed on my lip. How the hell was I going to get out of this? I didn’t want to go on any blind dates, and I didn’t want to tell them about Patrick.
“Just give it a shot,” Julia encouraged.
“Okay, option one is,” Heidi said, “Todd Hammond. He’s a pretty boy. He likes to wear Ralph Lauren polos and boat shoes. One of those frat guys, but he’s not a douche. Emery will pull up his picture.”
“Um, y’all…”
“Option two, Jeremy Masterson. He’s one of those gym guys. Likes to wear sleeveless shirts sometimes. We’ll forgive him because he’s the hottest option.”
