He sighed, and wished he didn’t have to answer his brother. “Maybe. She was there.”
Tim heard the condescension in Danny’s voice. “What the hell are you doing with her now? Something that’s going to cost us another million?”
“No,” Tim said, and he was as certain as he could be of it. Wasn’t he?
He wanted to hang up the phone, but Danny wasn’t done with him. “Have you been seeing her all this time? Ten years?”
“Nah,” he said. “I just met her again about a month ago.” At your wedding.
“What do you think she’s after?”
“Nothing,” Tim said. “We’re doing some work for her. A rehab.”
“And you’re seeing her socially? Slow learner, much?”
“I told you. I don’t know anything about a payoff, if that’s what it was.”
“You said, ‘maybe.’ What the hell did you do to her?”
“I don’t know, Danny. I need to talk to her.”
“No, you don’t,” Danny said. “You need to stay away from her. Let me get legal to look into what happened ten years ago. I want you to talk to them, too. Learn what you should do now to protect yourself. If it’s not too late already. You’re fucking her, aren’t you?”
Yeah. He was, and, essentially, the rest of his firm was, too. “ReBuild has our own lawyers. If needed, I’ll talk to them. I’d like you to just leave this alone, Dan.”
“I can’t,” his brother said. “Not if there’s potential liability.”
“There’s nothing that would affect Randall Enterprises at this point.”
“Don’t be naïve. Something happened ten years ago—something, best guess here, that you did—that led to a million-dollar payoff. Could she make the case now that we’ve been negligent? Failing to correct whatever million-dollar actionable offense you committed ten years ago?”
Shit. Shit, shit, shit.
“I have to talk to her.”
“Please, Timmy.” Tim hadn’t heard that nickname in a lot of years. His brother must be desperate. “Please get counsel first.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Danny wasn’t satisfied. “Think with your brain, not your dick. Don’t see her again until you get a legal opinion. Please.”
* * * *
Vin sat back in his chair and put his feet up on the desk. He had his phone in his hand, scrolling through his contact list, and he wasn’t all the way happy.
It was Saturday afternoon, and he was alone in the office, trying to clear his desk. He was going to see Kai that evening, and he was really looking forward to it.
Which was why he was unhappy.
He’d been seeing Kai for a month now—pretty regularly from that first Friday evening he’d gone to her condo with Tim and Ryan. He’d seen her only once a week or so at first, but more frequently lately. He’d been with her Monday and Wednesday, evenings and nights, and he’d taken her to lunch on Thursday. That one hadn’t even involved sex, and still, he’d liked it.
He was glad he was getting more time with her, happy always whenever she said yes to his request.
Really, he was happy.
And that had him concerned.
See, there was Amanda’s name and number. She was a petite but fiery redhead, totally hot in the sack. And there was Belinda, whose long legs went up to there, and she knew how to use them. Cecile had a mouth and, as he’d once heard an old cowboy say, could suck the chrome off a trailer hitch.
That was just the first three letters of the alphabet.
All those names and numbers, A all the way to Z—Zoe, spectacular ass—and he hadn’t dialed any one of them for a month.
Only just K for Kai.
It wasn’t like she’d asked. They’d had no kind of conversation about exclusivity. He was all but certain she was still seeing other men—his two best buddies if no one else. Which was its own can of worms.
The irritating fact was he liked being with Kai any time she was free to see him, and, when she wasn’t, he was happy to be alone. A couple of times he’d texted Tim or Ryan to join him for a beer and found one or the other available to do it. But he’d otherwise spent his time at home. Reading. Taking in a game on the tube. Whatever. Just not…scrolling through his contact list.
Not calling a girl. Not trolling the bars for someone to add to the list. That Q slot was still open, though he’d nailed X a couple years back.
He wasn’t just concerned. He was worried.
Was he getting old? Thirty-two didn’t seem like it, though he had to admit he’d been noticing more and more invitations to weddings and little-bundle-of-joy announcements from his circle of friends and family.
Vin had been thinking, when he bothered to ponder it at all, that he had a good few more years to play the field. It wasn’t like he didn’t expect at some future point to settle down and have a couple rugrats—he was from a big, Italian family, after all. Though, now he thought about it, some of those announcements had come from his younger sisters. Three of them, in fact. One brother, too.
But he’d been putting a lot of his energy into developing his business. And, all right, developing his contact list.
He still had the fire for his work—that was why he was at his desk on a Saturday, and not even complaining about it.
When it came to women, though, his list had narrowed. All the way down to one.
And it was a problematic one.
Ryan had started coming to work grumpy maybe three weeks back. Then, last week, it had been Tim. Following each of those events, Kai’s schedule had seemed to have a few more openings, so he didn’t think he was wrong to be putting two and two together.
It worked for him. He liked that Kai was available now when he called or texted. That was all good.
But his partners were his buddies and important to him in more ways than one. And if two out of three of them were cranky, that wasn’t going to be good for either their friendship or the business.
Even though, he had to say again, he liked when Kai welcomed his calls.
He was the boss, but they fucking hadn’t taught this in business school. Well, except for the part about refraining from personal relationships within the business sphere. Even aside from a little gangbang action a few weeks back, the three friends had already broken that caveat by joining up to start the business.
Truth to tell, that had worked and worked great. At least until now, when a woman was on the verge of gumming up the works.
He wasn’t the sort to put off dealing with a problem. Generally, he liked to stay on top of issues rather than let them fester. He’d only let the deal with Ryan’s grumpiness and Tim’s sour mood go on because, well, having open access to Kai was such an upside.
And, maybe, because he didn’t know just how to go about handling the problem. He’d be perfectly happy, he guessed, if Tim and Ryan were done with Kai. The idea of settling down into an exclusive relationship with her didn’t freak him out, which is what he would have predicted about such a concept even a couple months back.
Problem was, if Tim and Ry were done with the girl, they weren’t happy about it. Just possibly, that was a problem the CEO ought to handle.
The two had shown up for b-ball that morning, though Vin had anticipated they might not. They stepped up for the game—there was nothing like a little competitive physical activity to work out a guy’s frustrations. But they’d both said no to joining him for lunch after, which wasn’t quite a standing deal but happened maybe three out of four Saturdays.
He might have found a way to talk it through over lunch, but he hadn’t insisted they join him.
Now, he would. Tomorrow would be a summit-meeting Sunday.
* * * *
Kai had meant to spend a productive Saturday afternoon in the office. Even at the end of her busy week, she usually got invigorated for an afternoon of work by the hours she spent with her personal trainer and then her massage therapist.
It hadn’t worked this time, though. Sh
e’d walked through her Upper East Tone, her first and favorite location, taking the stairs all the way up to her office. Most days, that walk, with its view of Tone’s carefully planned spaces and the bustle of activity within them, gave her a lot of pleasure, a sense of accomplishment and success.
Today, she wasn’t feeling it. And her attention to work at her desk had sucked. Eventually, she’d given up and taken herself home. She passed a couple hours of the afternoon making calls to her folks and two of her sibs. But she was feeling a bit glum, and she wasn’t effectively hiding it from her family, so she gave up on that, too.
She was looking forward to spending the evening with Vinnie. She always did, even as she was seeing him more and more frequently. The problem wasn’t that she was seeing him often or enjoying her time with him, but that she wasn’t seeing Ryan or Tim.
Ryan hadn’t exchanged a word with her since that night he’d rubbed his fingers over the two hickeys on the slope of her ass and told her to call him when she was done with “them.”
She hadn’t had to ask what—or who—he meant. She’d seen all three men that initial week, after they’d come to her condo all together. They were a likable bunch, and she didn’t really see anything wrong with spending time with each of them. None of them had made any sort of commitment.
In fact, such a circumstance would be entirely consistent with the philosophy she promoted at Tone. Many men had sexual relationships with more than one woman. Probably, even these three men did. Reasonably, women ought to have that option, as well. Kai had made a point of practicing what she preached at Tone—she put a lot of effort into staying fit and dressing with that feminine-business flair Tone was known for. Her busy work life had precluded much experimentation in sexuality, but here was her chance.
For that week, it had seemed to work. In one night, she’d shared her body with three very attractive men. In the next few days, she’d been with each of them again. She’d enjoyed it all very much, and clearly the men had, too. She’d deliberately determined to not look forward, but to take all the pleasure she could from the unexpected situation that had developed. Like she would a gift of beautiful flowers, she intended to take joy in it each day, not diminish the pleasure with worry that it would fade and be lost to her.
And it was working, except that…it had been three weeks since she’d seen Ryan, and one week since she’d heard from Tim. And…she missed them. She liked Vinnie a lot, true. But she…longed for the others, as well.
Nothing in Tone’s sexual program prepared her for that. Even Patricia, who’d leant a sympathetic ear by long-distance telephone, didn’t know how to counsel her. Possibly, Kai might want to see three men, but she had no control over whether three men would want to see her.
That didn’t seem right to Kai, though mentally stomping her feet about it didn’t appear to help. She was pretty sure Ryan wanted to see her—apparently, he just didn’t want to share her. That might frustrate her, but she could understand it. Maybe, even, she could appreciate it.
She didn’t get the deal with Tim, though. They’d had a lovely night the weekend before, when he’d taken her to a charity gala. He’d introduced her to his brother and sister-in-law. His loving had been sweet in bed that night and fiery hot the next morning. He’d kissed her good-bye and said he’d call her about getting together later in the week.
But he hadn’t.
She should be perfectly happy with Vinnie and, really, she was. Any woman would be. She felt foolish to be lamenting the fact that she had one, single, highly attractive man who wanted to spend time with her. But she was lonely for them—Tim and Ryan—and she wanted them back. She wasn’t looking forward—she couldn’t conceive, really, what would come of a relationship with three men—but she knew what she wanted now.
Kai didn’t know what she could do about it, though, so she put the issue from her mind. That, too, was a tenet taught at Tone—enjoyment in the moment, because that was all there was. Worrying about what was to come or pining for something different wasted time and energy. It made sense to do everything possible toward one’s goals, but what came after was acceptance.
So she lit scented candles around her deep, claw-foot tub and indulged in a long soak. Then she dressed for Vin. She had some new lingerie—a certain few items had been sacrificed to a bit of alpha male aggression in the last weeks—that she was sure Vinnie would appreciate. With a glass of wine, she sat out on the deck and waited.
Not for long, though, because Vin was always prompt. He knocked at her door before she’d taken a second sip of the Merlot. The look on his face when she opened the door was very gratifying and much, she thought, like he was seeing on hers. A look that meant…this is good. This feels right. Everything is so much better now that you are here.
“Hey, babe,” he said, and then he did exactly what she wanted. He stepped in and took her up in his arms, holding her close and long like he’d missed her and hadn’t been all the way happy since he’d been with her last.
Which perfectly reflected what she’d been feeling.
When he set her back on her feet, he leaned in to kiss her. “How are you, babe?”
“Fine,” she said, but she was aware that he was evaluating her closely and that maybe he didn’t entirely believe her. Though he was easily distracted, and she had the key. She smiled, said, “I’m happy you’re here,” and kissed him. With that, the subject was changed.
He’d told her when he’d arranged the date that he had theater tickets. They’d agreed he should come early so they could have a light dinner at her place before the show. He’d come plenty early, so there was time for…
True to Vin’s nature, he didn’t leave her in charge of the kiss for long.
He was an affectionate man. He knew what to do with his lips and his mouth, and there were times when he could spend long minutes just lazily kissing her.
This wasn’t one of those times.
He took her mouth like he’d been starving for her, a feeling that was every bit as seductive as the pleasure of the kiss. He ran his hands down her body, the rough feel of the coppery silk sheath she wore seeming to incite him as much as it did her. Kai wrapped her arms up around his shoulders and clung as he investigated his favorite parts. He palmed her ass, bringing her against him so she could feel his rampant boner. He squeezed and clutched and let out a groan when one hand wandered down her thigh and found the high slit at the back center of her skirt. His middle finger circled there at her silk stocking, and they both moaned when he slid it up enough to reach the bare skin of her thigh. Just that touch, his finger stroking back and forth along the top of her stocking was enough to make her shiver.
With no more than that touch, he held her to him and leaned back so he could see her. He kissed her mouth once more, hard, briefly, and then looked down at her. He put his left hand at her neck, slid it to her shoulder, and then covered her right breast. As her nipple tightened under his palm, his gaze came back to hers. “You are the fucking hottest woman I’ve ever known.” He went back to looking at her breasts, where her nipples were hard points visible now behind the silk, making themselves entirely obvious. “How the hell do you do this? Do you have a single fucking thing on under this dress?”
She did, in fact. Though not much. There were the stockings and a little wisp of white silk that held them up. From Sugar Cookies, the matching demi bra left her nipples bare to rub sexily against the silk of her dress—or to be rubbed, if a handsome man showed an interest.
Which he did.
He watched his fingers as he took hold and her eyes as he squeezed. By the satisfied glint in his eyes, Kai knew he saw her shiver again.
Her breath was rough and audible as he held her—that grip on her nipple and that one finger along the back of her thigh.
Vin could be a demanding, commanding lover, and Kai knew his alpha had been stirred up. Which usually meant really hot things were about to happen.
Slowly, so much so that she wasn’t initially aware of i
t, he moved his finger up her thigh. He paused when he’d made it clear where he was going with it and waited to see the knowledge of it in her face. When he was satisfied, apparently, that she knew what was coming and accepted it, he pushed his finger into her ass.
“Ah.” Kai closed her eyes for a moment, shuddering at that crude invasion.
“Maybe you should have worn panties,” he advised.
“I…must have forgotten.”
“Too bad. Better luck next time.”
Kai had no problem with her current luck. Vin pressed in a little farther and then pinched harder at her nipple, letting her know she wouldn’t escape his possession. He controlled her just like that—his hold on her nipple and his finger in her ass.
She was panting, losing herself in those dark chocolate-brown eyes. His nostrils flared, and she was sure he was scenting the moisture that drenched her pussy.
“What are you going to do now, babe?”
It took a moment for her to process the words. Usually, with Vin, she didn’t need to do anything. He always had a way of taking care of her. But he was silent, waiting for her response.
“I—” Really, she was panting. “I need to come.”
“Uh-huh. I can see that. How are you going to make that happen?”
Still, she had trouble following his words. But he waited patiently. Or maybe not all the way patient, because he gave her nipple an extra tweak.
“I…uh.”
Without moving his feet, he leaned his shoulders back against the door behind him. “This give you any ideas?”
Distractedly, she looked at him. His cock was hard, thrust up behind the slacks of his suit. His position—leaning back—kind of made it obvious. Made it available. Her gaze flew back to his.
“Lift your skirt, babe.” He said it like he was an impatient tutor with a dull student. “Dry hump me until you come.”
“Oh.”
She did it. Like it was the most obvious thing. Like it shouldn’t have taken his words for her to figure it out.
With a hitch of her breath, Kai lifted her skirt, an action that drew Vin’s eyes down to her pussy. He gave a grunt of appreciation for the way the white silk garter framed her. She’d noticed it herself as she’d dressed for him. She’d been sure even then that he’d like the look.
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