by Layla Hagen
My sister’s memory always amazed me. No one remembered details more than she did. No one. I’d just said it as a throwaway comment, but that was enough for my sister. I picked up the dim sum carefully, shoving it in my mouth, buying myself time.
Val propped her chin in one palm, scrutinizing me. “You know, I liked it more back when you couldn’t keep a secret .”
Well, as a PR pro, I’d had to hone that skill. I’d succeeded when it came to my professional life.
My personal life was a different story. As usual, I couldn’t do anything halfway. I could either say nothing at all or share every last bit of detail.
And under Val’s intense scrutiny, I caved. Or maybe it was the fact that I wanted my sister’s opinion, her advice.
“He might be more than a client.”
Her eyes widened. “Wait. Let me guess. Hmm... satisfied smile, light blush. You, sister, have been kissed. By someone who’s very good at it.”
“So good,” I admitted, letting myself slip into a daydream for a moment.
“Ooh, wait. Now I want all the details. Sexy times?”
“Not yet.”
“So you’re planning to?”
“Holy shit, I’m actually not.”
“But your subconscious has other plans for you. Got it. Can happen. Don’t be too hard on yourself.”
She watched me silently for a few seconds, then we both started to laugh.
I proceeded to give Val every single detail I’d been withholding. I forgot all about the food while I brought her up to date.
“Breathe, Hailey,” Val said on a chuckle, interrupting my monologue. I did just that, smiling at my sister. “I can’t believe I didn’t see any signs.”
“Told you I’m honing my secrecy skills. Did I mention he’s hot?”
“Several times. Always a plus. But you say he’s a bit of a recluse and likes to keep to himself, right?”
“Yep.”
“Sounds like just the opposite of you.” Even Val thought that. “But opposites do attract.”
“You’re no help,” I complained.
Val laughed. “Sorry. Just thinking out loud. But you’ve always had great instincts, Hailey. Trust them. In the meantime, what do you think about ordering dessert?”
“Already had pancakes this morning.”
“That’s never stopped you before. Come on, cheesecake. We’ll share it. The serving size isn’t even that large. You’ll have an extra boost of energy from the sugar.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s our excuse, really?”
“Well, we don’t need an excuse, just to appease our conscience. Plus, it fits with our new celebration system.”
I grinned. As a long standing Connor-tradition, we drank chardonnay for good news, pinot for bad news. Each time Lori was pregnant, we had fun adjusting the system, coming up with different sweets every time. With Val’s pregnancy, it was cheesecake for good news, and ice cream for bad news.
“So what are we celebrating now?” I asked.
“You getting some sexy time.”
“But I haven’t gotten any.”
She winked. “Yet.”
We ended up ordering one serving each, of course. If we were going to cheat, we were going to do it properly. While we indulged in the sugary treat, I steered the conversation back to Val, checking that everything was running smoothly at Valentina’s Laboratories.
We talked about Jace’s wedding again. Val informed me that all our Bennett cousins had already RSVPed. No surprise there. They didn’t miss any weddings. To be fair, we hadn’t missed theirs either—and there were nine in total. Unfortunately, they lived in San Francisco, which meant that we only saw each other in person when one of them had business in LA or we went to San Francisco. One thing led to another, and Val and I ended up salivating at the Bennett Enterprises online shop. They produced absolutely stunning jewelry, and not sacrificing a part of my paycheck to their newest collection was a constant battle.
“Hey, a girl must treat herself from time to time,” Val said.
“You are definitely a bad influence today, sister.”
When I returned to my desk, I was a bit sleepy. It would take a while for the sugar rush to kick in. Even so, I made excellent headway on a complicated case.
Before I knew it, the day was over. When I was about to shut my laptop, Cameron poked his head in my office.
“Got a minute?” he asked.
“Sure.”
He came in, standing in front of my desk. “I just want to run an idea by you.”
“Okay.”
“I spoke for an hour to Reid Davenport.”
I stared at Cameron as the morning texts with Reid flashed through my memory. I’d forgotten all about them until now.
OH MY GOD. Reid hadn’t, he couldn’t....
“He is very impressed with your work.”
I hung on to the slim hope that this would go in another direction.
“And he had a suggestion that’s a bit out there.”
“Go on.” He had gone and done it. I braced myself, even though I knew what was coming.
“He wants you to work exclusively for him until this Marion issue is resolved. I told him it’s not a good idea. It would be a waste of your time and your clients’ faith. They’d have to be reassigned to someone else. But I said I’ll run it by you anyway.”
I was going to give Reid a piece of my mind. Oh, I definitely would. But I forced myself to remain calm and professional in front of Cameron.
“Cameron, I appreciate you bringing this to me, and Reid’s faith in me, but you’re right. It wouldn’t be fair to my other clients, and honestly, his case doesn’t require so much time.”
“That’s what I thought. I’ll call him back. See if I can pick his brain some more on corporate PR.”
“Corporate PR?” Our niche was Hollywood.
“I have thought about it for a while. Create another branch maybe, so our brand wouldn’t get diluted between Hollywood PR and corporate PR. Income stream would be much more stable. We’d have yearly contracts, not case-based. The thought of chasing our next customers wouldn’t keep me up at night. Reid had some interesting insights on the subject.”
Was the agency in trouble? I was billing my clients like crazy, but I’d never looked over a profit and loss statement. I didn’t have access to those kinds of documents. I’d told Victor that publications were a dime a dozen in this city, but frankly, so were PR agencies.
Heavy marketing was necessary to gain visibility, and I had no idea how high those costs were.
“Well, I’ve kept you long enough. See you tomorrow, Hailey.”
I was a little rattled as Cameron left, suddenly wondering just how secure my job was. Cameron had said all this kept him up at night.
I almost forgot all about Reid until my phone buzzed.
Reid: How was your day?
No doubt he wanted to brag about his conversation with Cameron. Part of me still couldn’t believe he’d gone ahead with that. I played with my phone between my fingers, first intending to text Reid, then to call him.
Then I decided to deal with this infuriating man the best way I knew: face-to-face.
When I entered the hotel, I pasted a smile on my face, heading straight to the receptionist, who smiled back.
“Is Reid still in his office?” I inquired.
“Let me call.” Natasha spoke quickly into the phone, and from what I overheard, Reid was already at the penthouse.
“Go ahead to the elevator. I’ll call Reid and tell him you’re here,” Natasha told me after hanging up.
Clearly, Natasha thought we had an appointment, and I didn’t do anything to dispel that notion.
I smoothed my dress with one hand and my hair with the other as I rode the elevator. I steeled myself, determined to say my bit before he had a chance to lay on the charm and disarm me.
When the doors of the elevator opened, I immediately saw Reid leaning against the bar counter. The only lights o
n were the dim ones above the bar.
“Hailey,” he greeted in a low, gravelly voice. As I approached, I noticed he wore one of those thin white shirts again.
He could have been naked for all the fabric covered. Every single plane and muscle was visible. I licked my lips, forcing my glance up, stopping a few feet away from him.
“I can’t believe you called Cameron,” I said.
His lips curled in a smile. “What’s so unbelievable about it?”
“You don’t need me working full time on your case.”
Reid was silent for a few beats. His gaze traveled over me slowly, and then he moved closer.
“No, Hailey. I just need you.”
Oh, God! The heat in his gaze, the sheer weight of it pinned me in place. He was close, but I wanted to pull him even closer, even mad as I was at him. How could he have such an effect on me?
Chapter Twelve
Reid
“You can’t just go around commanding everyone to do what you want.”
I loved her fierceness. Her fire. It drew me to her like nothing else.
“Generally, I can. But that wasn’t my intention here.”
Honestly, I had no fucking idea what my intention had been. I’d called Cameron on a whim, which went against everything I knew about myself.
“So what was it, then?” Her eyes flashed. I wanted to kiss her. Lift her up in my arms, hold her against that bar and bury myself inside her.
“You’re beautiful when you’re all worked up like this.”
Her cheeks flushed. “I’m serious. I want an explanation.”
“I don’t have one, Hailey.” I stepped right in front of her, breathing her in, losing myself in her citrusy scent, the shape of her lips. “I’m not an impulsive man, never have been. I don’t make spur of the moment decisions, and I definitely don’t act irrationally.”
I’d always been the type to think everything through, to weigh pros and cons before acting. I wanted to do everything differently with Hailey. Correction. It wasn’t simply that I wanted to. It was something stronger. I had to.
I cupped her cheek. Her eyes widened, but she didn’t attempt to move away.
“Since meeting you, I keep doing things I never thought I would do.”
I cupped her other cheek as well, and when she parted her lips, darting out the tip of her tongue just a bit, licking that lower lip, I couldn’t control myself anymore. I buried my hands in her luscious hair, kissing her hard. I needed to explore every single curve.
Most of all I needed to know what she needed and give her exactly that.
I moved to kiss her cheek, up her temple, then down to her neck. Hailey hummed slightly, and it was all the encouragement I needed. I slipped a hand between us, touching her breast, circling the nipple until I felt it tighten and push through the fabric. I remembered how it had felt to touch her in the pool, how I’d barely kept myself from slipping my hands under the tiny bikini and touching her bare skin. I couldn’t hold back tonight. It was impossible.
I lifted her dress, turning rock hard when I realized she already had goose bumps on her thighs, as if she’d been yearning for my touch just as much as I’d been craving to give it to her.
I let my hand glide slowly toward her inner thighs, so slow that I could enjoy every whimper I drew out of her, every breath of anticipation. When my thumb nudged the edge of her thong, her knees buckled. I secured her with an arm around her waist, feeling her smile against my lips.
I couldn’t stop kissing her, couldn’t stop touching her, and if I continued like this, I’d end up taking her here, on the bar, or maybe on that corner on the couch, if I found enough self-restraint. I retrieved my hand, letting her dress fall to her knees again. Her whimper of protest nearly had me pinning her against the bar. And when she reached out to my belt, undoing it before I even realized what she intended, I kissed her so hard that we both stumbled backward.
I jutted my hands out, propping them against the counter to keep Hailey from colliding with it. She seemed too lost in the haze of lust to notice much—too lost in me.
I liked that.
I gripped her ass with both hands, kneading those cheeks, pressing her against my erection. The small sound of pleasure humming in her chest made me lift her up. She wrapped her legs around me the next second. Fuck, it would be so easy to slide her thong to one side, lower my zipper, and just bury myself in her right here. We weren’t going to make it to the bedroom, I knew that.
But I found it in me to walk with her across the living room until we made it to the couch. I lowered her on it, and then nearly crushed her with my weight as I slid on top of her, my mouth ravishing her neck, kissing her breast over the dress before I sat back on my haunches and pulled the dress over her head.
If I hadn’t already been rock-hard, the sight of her in lingerie would have done the job. She was wearing black silk that contrasted with her flushed skin. While I took an eyeful, Hailey worked on ridding me of my clothes, taking off my T-shirt, then running her tongue over my chest, lightly biting my nipple. I fisted her hair.
“Fuck, Hailey.”
Her breath was coming out in short, rapid bursts. And the way she looked at me, as if I was the only man in this world for her, slayed me. I felt inexplicably linked to her. I kissed her soft skin, worshipping it until she scratched the armrest behind her while calling my name in a soft plea.
My name in her mouth made me lose all thought.
I took care of her panties and her bra before unzipping my jeans, throwing them away. My boxers went next, and then I was lying on top of her again, my erection pressed against her right thigh, my forearms planted on either side of her small shoulders, supporting my weight. I kissed her, twining our tongues as I drove inside her.
A groan tore from my chest. Jesus, I’d meant to enter her slowly, but I’d lost all control. She was so tight around me, and she felt out of this world good, as if she’d been made just for me. It took all I had to keep still for a few seconds, giving her time to adjust. I rolled my hips back and forth gently at first, but then I pounded inside her ferociously, wanting to give her every last ounce of pleasure I could. I lifted my head higher, watching her beautiful face, enjoying every single moan I lured out of her. I looked between us, and at the sight of us joined like that, my balls tightened, a bolt of energy zipping up my spine.
“Fuuuuck, Hailey. How can this feel so good?”
She blinked her eyes open, and even through the haze of lust, I saw my question reflected at me. It didn’t always feel so out-of-this-world good for her either. When I felt her spasm around me, I slowed down, sliding a hand between us, moving my fingers over her clit. Hailey cried out, gripping my shoulders. She was so close to the edge, I knew it would take just a few more strokes to send her tumbling right over. I stilled inside her completely, feeling her inner muscles tighten. I circled my thumb around her clit, making her clench around me. I brought my mouth to her neck, alternating between gentle kisses and light biting.
“Ooooh.” Her voice shook as she exploded, growing so tight around me that I nearly went over the edge with her. A faint blush spread over her neck and chest. She rolled her hips back and forth as my hand kept working her sensitive spot, taking her even higher. She came a second time, and then I thrust inside her fast and hard, losing myself in her scent, her warmth, the way our bodies sounded as they moved against each other.
“Reid.” Her voice shook again as I widened inside her, and then came so hard that the muscles in my entire body went on lockdown, pleasure rippling through me so intensely that I was out of breath by the time I slowed down, cradling her in my arms.
I couldn’t gather my thoughts or physical strength to do anything more than be careful not to crush her. We were still joined. I didn’t want to change that either. I had the overwhelming urge to lock the hotel and throw the key away to keep her here with me.
“Oh, crap.”
Her panicked voice drew me out of my thoughts. She was squirming
underneath me, and I immediately realized why.
“We forgot to use protection,” I croaked out.
“I’m... I’m on the pill,” Hailey said, “but I haven’t.... I mean, I’m clean.”
“So am I,” I assured her as I pulled out and reached for the napkins on the coffee table.
“I need to go to the bathroom,” she whispered. I watched her move through my living room, picking up her clothes, naked and unconcerned about it, and my desire to keep her here intensified.
I couldn’t believe I’d forgotten about protection. I never forgot. I chuckled. More proof that Hailey made me lose my mind. I knew the lack of barriers wasn’t the only reason this had felt better, more intimate than anything I’d experienced before. It was just Hailey. She had this effect on me, magnifying every sensation. I cleaned up quickly in the second bathroom, then slipped on jeans, waited for a few minutes to give her some privacy, and headed after her. I felt guilty for practically mauling her on my couch instead of taking my time with her the way she deserved. Hailey was in front of the sink, combing her fingers through her hair. Her nipples were still taut and perky, as if she was still on edge. I got hard just at the thought. I noticed she had red marks on her ass cheeks from how hard I’d gripped her.
“I hurt you,” I said. She startled.
“Reid! How long have you been watching me like a peeping Tom?”
She jutted one hip out, resting a hand on her waist. I loved how confident she was in her nakedness.
“Not long.”
“Uh-huh.” She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, then waved her hand and slid on her dress. “You didn’t hurt me. I color easily, but it’ll fade in a few more minutes.”
She turned back to the sink. I stepped behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist, looking at her in the mirror.
“You make me lose my head, Hailey.”
“Hmmm... weird. You happen to have the same effect on me.” Blushing, she added, “I don’t usually do... this.”
I tugged with my teeth at her earlobe. I liked the sound of that... that I made her act impulsively, out of character.
Hailey didn’t miss my smile. “You could look less pleased with yourself, you know.”
