Of course, when I moved back here, I never imagined I would end up working for Ronny’s dad. Ronny’s dad who didn’t even know that his daughter existed.
Seven years ago, it had seemed almost like a no-brainer to keep Wes out of things. He was halfway across the country from me, and anyway, we had never been in a relationship. It was just a one-night thing, the culmination of years of competition, leading to a blindingly passionate affair.
But that was all it had been: a one-night thing. I wasn’t going to bog down his life with the knowledge that he had fathered a child. I knew that I could handle things on my own, and anyway, I wasn’t sure that Wes and I could put aside our differences for long enough to raise a child together. Better I just handle things on my own.
Only that plan had hinged upon the idea that I would never see him again. Now that he was here in front of me, I couldn’t help but wonder if I had made a huge mistake in never telling him.
As much as I hated to admit it, it wasn’t wholly guilt that made me wish I had told him. It was also the fact that he was so damn attractive. Hell, he was hotter now than he had been when we were in college. How was that possible? Maybe it was something to do with the easy confidence he carried himself with, with the obvious power he wielded at the company. Or maybe it was more to do with the fact that his clothes were clearly tailored to fit him and his hair shorter than it had been, his messy kind-of-but-not-quite beach-boy look long gone.
Whatever it was, I immediately wanted him, and I couldn’t help wondering what might have been if I had been up front with him about Ronny when I first found out I was pregnant. Would we have put together some sort of a relationship that transcended the realm of one-night stand? Where would we be now?
Except I knew only too well what would have happened. We had both been so young back then. We would have spent the first years at one another’s throats about everything, sure that we both knew best when it came to how to raise our daughter. We would have driven one another crazy, and we would have ended up even further apart than we were now.
Or maybe not. With this secret between us, it was hard to believe we could be even further apart.
There was nothing I could do to change things now, anyway. I knew I couldn’t get myself fired from this job after I had not only uprooted Ronny from New York but also put a down payment on a townhome. That meant I couldn’t do anything to ruin things with my new boss. And that meant this secret had to stay a secret.
I tried not to feel too unsettled as Wes led me around the office. I knew that no one knew anything about me and that they had never met Ronny, but part of me kept expecting one of them to somehow out me to Wes as he introduced me. Of course, that didn’t happen, but it was a relief to have Wes lead me into the privacy of my own office.
The view from here was a lot different from what I was used to, cornfields instead of high-rises, but I had to admit, it was comfortable and stylish. Better than I might have expected.
“I’ll give you some time to settle in,” Wes said, and from his tone of voice, it sounded like he was just as uncomfortable as I was with this whole situation but trying his best to remain professional. Good. I would do the same. “There’s an all-staff meeting in a couple hours that I’d like you to attend, though.”
“Sure thing,” I said, heading over to the chair and flopping down in it, giving it a little spin. When I looked back up at Wes, he was staring at me. He seemed to give himself a little shake, then hastily backed toward the door.
I sighed heavily as the door closed behind him. I rubbed my fingers against my temples, already feeling a headache coming on. What could I do, though? Find another job? I probably should; even if Wes and I were trying to keep things strictly professional, I had a feeling that working for him was bound to end badly. But I knew there was nowhere else in town where I could find myself a similar position.
If I hadn’t already put the payment down on the townhome, I might have seriously considered just going elsewhere. But as it was, and with Ronny in tow, leaving town wasn’t an option. Doing something in another line of work had never been an option for me either. That meant that somehow, I had to make this work. For all our sakes.
I couldn’t help thinking back to college, though. We’d gotten on one another’s nerves all the time, it seemed like. We had gone up against one another for pretty much every opportunity that the business school had to offer, from internships to scholarships and more. Somehow, that had all culminated in that one night together, a night which I could never forget.
We had been at some house party celebrating the end of finals. It was the same day I’d found out I had gotten that internship in NYC. I’d had a few drinks and was dancing with a cute boy who had suggested that we go somewhere private to talk.
I still cringed thinking back to that night. I didn’t know how I had gotten things so wrong. Had I really been naive enough to think that he really wanted to just talk? Of course that wasn’t what he wanted…
I pushed at the guy’s chest, trying to get him off me, but his mouth was still pressed against mine, his body pushing me back against the wall of the garage. We were totally alone here and in the dark. I could still hear the music from the party, the laughter, but it sounded strangely muted, as
if we were somehow underwater.
I distinctly heard the tear of my dress as the guy yanked it open to expose my black lace bra. It was almost as loud as the pounding of my heart and the alarm bells ringing inside my head.
That was as far as the guy got, though. Just then, the jerk was yanked away by a firm set of hands. Wes Brown was there, scowling at the other guy. “The fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snapped.
For a second, I thought they were going to get into a fight. But as Wes stepped forward, looming over the other guy, it was obvious that it wasn’t a fair match. The other guy took off. I slumped against the wall, fighting back the tears.
Wes Brown. Shit. I never thought I would be glad to see him of all people. It was undeniable, though—tonight, he had saved me.
I shivered with the cold, suddenly becoming aware of the fact that my dress was ripped. I hunched over, as though trying to hide the evidence. Wes was already shrugging out of his jacket. He held it out to me. I hesitated for a moment, looking up at his face, unsure what to do. He was carefully looking away from me, where most guys might have been drinking in the sight of my breasts while they had the chance.
I wordlessly accepted the jacket, the denim warm and soft in my hands. I buttoned it up all the way, covering all the evidence of what had happened. I folded my arms across my chest. Wes coughed lightly, uncomfortably, seeming like he didn’t know what to say.
“Can I buy you a beer?” I asked, not wanting to talk about what had just happened and what he may or may not have seen. Wes raised an eyebrow at me, glancing back toward the noise of the party. “Not in there,” I quickly said. “There’s a place around the corner. Mulligan’s.”
Wes laughed. “Sure,” he agreed. “Lead the way.”
We walked quietly to the pub. It wasn’t far, but it seemed like it took forever to get there. Neither of us seemed able to think of a way to break the ice.
As we sat there with our beers, though, we slowly started to open up to one another. I found out that he wasn’t the monster I had thought he was. In fact, looked at in the right light, he was pretty charming. One beer turned into three, and the next thing we knew, it was last call.
“Let me walk you back home,” he said as we spilled out onto the street.
I stared at him for a long moment, uncertain. I had managed, over the course of our time there, to forget about what had happened at the party, but now it all came rushing back. Was Wes trying to make a move on me?
Did I want Wes to make a move on me?
Before he could retract his offer, I nodded. “Sure,” I said, turning my feet in the direction of home. Wes followed after me. Again, we were silent on the walk, but this silence was a lot more companionable tha
n the one earlier in the night.
Back outside my door, I turned toward him, struggling to find the words to say to thank him for tonight. As I looked up at him, my breath caught. There beneath the light of the streetlamp, I had to admit he was handsome. It was something I had known for a while now, but I had buried my attraction behind our rivalry.
There was no rivalry to hide behind now. The next thing I knew, we were kissing.
I could feel the surprise radiating off him, but then he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer, deepening the kiss. Electricity shot through me, making me moan. My knees felt weak. Had I ever been kissed like this before?
No, I definitely hadn’t.
He nipped playfully at my lower lip and then soothed the sting of pain with his tongue. My body tingled with pleasure, and it was all I could do to keep from ripping his clothes off right here.
I pulled back. “My roommate already moved out,” I informed Wes.
He stared at me, and I could see the emotions warring in his eyes. I looked away bitterly. Oh, so he wasn’t interested. Fine.
But Wes cupped my cheek in his palm, turning my gaze back toward him. “Are you sure?” he asked quietly, his eyes gentle as they met mine. Coming from anyone else, I might have scowled and pushed him away. I knew he was thinking back to earlier in the evening, though. To when he had come around the corner of the garage and saved me. He just wanted to make sure I was all right.
Something warm fluttered in my chest. I refused to look too closely at that, though. This was Wes Brown, and even though there was nothing left for us to compete over, it didn’t mean we were suddenly friends. This was just sex.
And I wanted it.
I pulled him in for another kiss, this one vicious and searing as I tried to show him just how sure I was. As our tongues battled for dominance, I couldn’t help but smile against his lips. Maybe there was one more thing for us to compete over.
And I wanted it. More than words could say.
Chapter 3
Wes
Rian wasn’t the first girl I’d kissed, but I had to admit, kissing had never felt like this before. From the very second our lips touched, it felt as though the air was sizzling around us. She approached kissing the same way she did everything else: with a fiery passion and a laser-sharp focus. It was one of the things that had earned my grudging respect in all those years having her as a competitor in business school. This was my first taste of what it felt like to have that focus turned on me, however.
It had me rock hard in no time at all.
I didn’t want to pressure her, though. I didn’t want to do anything that would make her uncomfortable. She wasn’t trying to push me away like she had that jerk earlier in the night, but I definitely didn’t want to be “that guy.” We had had a few drinks, and Rian had never so much as looked at me in a sexual way before.
Then again, she was the one who initiated the kiss. She was the one who told me that she didn’t have a roommate. She was giving me every signal that she wanted this. That, in itself, made the whole thing even hotter. How could I resist?
I let her drag me upstairs to her apartment. Our clothes went flying left and right, and we tumbled naked onto the bed. We continued to kiss, but as our naked bodies moved against one another’s, it gave the whole thing another dimension of lust. I groaned as she wrapped her hand around my throbbing length, and she grinned wickedly at me as she pulled back.
Very deliberately, she guided my cock toward her entrance, a small fissure of concentration forming between her eyebrows. God, she was fucking adorable. How was I only now realizing it?
She wrapped her legs around my waist and pulled me closer to her until I was fully seated inside of her. Slowly, I started to rock my hips against hers, marveling at how tight she was and how perfectly I fit into her. How wet she was, too. It was as though her whole body was crying out for more.
I gave her everything I had, thrusting into her again and again, making her cry out, making her arch her back, making her shiver with desire.
In the present day, I woke with a gasp, my erection in hand, my body straining against the sheets. I was alone, though, with just the memory of Rian’s body against mine. For a moment, I ached with the sense of loss, and it was like losing her all over again.
It was the third time this week I had woken up from that dream. Dream? Well, memory. It had all happened once. My mind seemed to recall every single detail.
I swallowed and rolled out of bed. As much as I tried to ignore my raging boner, though, I couldn’t help but let my hand drift southward as I stood there in the shower. If I didn’t take care of it now, I reasoned, there was no way I was going to make it through work. Not with her there in the same building.
After all, having her in the same building as me, knowing she was out there every single day, crossing paths with her every so often? That was the whole reason she was on my mind so much at the moment. Fortunately, our paths hadn’t crossed much lately. No awkward elevator rides, and hardly any interaction in the hallways. I was counting it as a win so far.
These recurring sex dreams might be awkward, but at least they weren’t totally out of control.
Which was why I nearly choked when I saw Rian’s name on my schedule for that afternoon. I hurriedly clicked on the appointment and swore when I saw what it was. Of course. I was scheduled to take her out to lunch. It was a tradition that George had started, taking all the new managers out to lunch. In fact, this lunch had probably been set up back when George had first hired Rian when he was still the one in charge of the company.
I had no choice but to carry on the tradition. If I had seen this in my schedule sooner, I might have made some changes, decided that this wasn’t the way I wanted to handle the company. If I canceled it now, though, people would wonder. Rian would wonder. I didn’t want that.
The less that people talked about Rian and me, the better.
In any case, it was just lunch. What could possibly go wrong? We were hardly going to launch ourselves at one another and start ripping off the other person’s clothes in public. We were both adults, and we could act like it. Still, the idea of being one-on-one with Rian was unsettling. Given our past history and my near-painful attraction to her, there were so many unfortunate ways that this could go.
There was a knock on my door, and when I looked up, Devin McKay was standing there. I forced myself to forget about Rian for now. It was too late to put off going to lunch with her. Might as well just face it as professionally as I could.
Speaking of being professional, Devin was one of the dozens of reasons why no one at the business could know that I had slept with one of our new managers, even if that had all happened a long time ago. The last thing I needed right now was a scandal. Not when Devin, a wealthy financier, was dangling millions of dollars in investment capital in front of me.
If things continued the way they were currently going, it was only a matter of time before the partnership I envisioned was finalized. I wouldn’t do anything to risk that.
Not least of which because I liked Devin. We’d hit it off even from our very first meeting. The guy had a great sense of humor, especially about the sometimes dry business world. I was learning a lot from him as well. He had a ton of experience, and he really knew people in a way that was almost uncanny. I knew he had his own agenda and that that was why he was here, but I didn’t think he was only looking out for himself. I had a feeling this partnership could be mutually beneficial.
A scandal could totally ruin things, though. So I pushed thoughts of Rian out of my head, or at least as much as I ever could these days.
Fortunately, the meeting with him went as well as they ever did, and at the end of it, I found myself shaking Devin’s hand as he said he’d have his people draw up some preliminary plans for a partnership between our companies. To be honest, there was still a part of me that was in shock that it was all so easy. There was still a part of me that felt like I had to run things by George
before I committed to agreements like that. But I was the CEO of the company at this point, and that meant I had the power to make those decisions.
George wouldn’t have left me in charge if he didn’t think I could handle it.
I was grinning to myself when Beth came to the door, a sour look on her face. “The new manager is in the lobby, ready to go to lunch with you,” she said, and I glanced at my watch in surprise. I hadn’t expected things with Devin to take so long. Was it really already time to take Rian to lunch?
I steeled my nerves. “Thank you, Beth,” I said to my assistant. I’d been wondering if kindness could kill that mean streak inside of her.
Instead, her look darkened further. “No one ever takes assistants out to lunch,” she said pointedly.
It startled a laugh out of me, and I immediately felt guilty as I saw her frown deepen. “If it’s any consolation, I’m just doing this because it’s a tradition that George set up with the new managers,” I said, shrugging. Maybe that was a little too truthful, but the words were out of my mouth before I had a second to really think about them, and at that point, there was no taking them back.
“Anyway,” I continued, “this isn’t a social event. We’re just going to discuss business.”
Beth didn’t look convinced, but I didn’t have any more time to spend thinking about it. Rian was waiting for me. I suppressed the little thrill of excitement that went through me at the thought. Business, not pleasure, I reminded myself.
As I walked into the lobby, though, I was struck again by how beautiful she was. She was wearing a simple pantsuit, but somehow with her hair artfully tousled as it was, she looked like she had just stepped off a movie set. The high waist of the pants hugged her curves perfectly, and all I could think about was how I had missed her.
To tell the honest truth, I had tried to forget about her since college. It had hurt, the way she had just disappeared on me. I don’t know what I had expected after that night, but I had at least thought she would say goodbye before she left.
S is for Secret Baby Page 2
