I grinned. “The danger element is fun. I promise your reputation is safe in my hands.”
My hand slid further up her inner thigh until my fingers were rubbing her over her panties. I was almost bummed that she was wearing them. But it just meant I would be able to tease her more.
I spread her wide for me, pulling her leg over my thigh. Her eyes were wild with the fear of being caught.
Our server returned with our drinks, but I saw her coming in time to resume a normal appearance, even though Cassia was flushed and panting a little bit. Once the server left, I went back to caressing her through her damp panties.
Cassia wrapped her hand around my forearm. “Davenport, you can’t do this. I can’t be quiet.”
“You have to be quiet. Your reputation is on the line,” I teased. Truth be told, I would punch anyone who wanted to speak ill of her.
“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” she panted as I pushed two fingers inside of her and kept my thumb pressed against her clit.
We weren’t visible to most of the other patrons, but it was fun pushing her over the edge with the thrill of getting caught. Her body arched and her hand flew over her mouth as her pussy clenched around my fingers.
“Fuck you’re beautiful.” I watched her ride out her climax and then slump back against the booth.
Once she was breathing more normally, I pulled my fingers out of her and she swatted me across the arm.
“You liked it.”
She grinned like she couldn’t hide it.
“I’m not sure when I’m going to come back from Japan, but how would you feel about me coming to New York when I got back? I’d like to be there and support you.”
Her eyes fluttered. “You would?”
“Absolutely. This is a huge deal. And I know you, you’re going to need reminders to remember to enjoy it. You’ll be all stressed out.”
“You’re probably right about that.” She took a sip of her soda. “I would sort of love it if you came. I’ve never had someone come to an event to support me before.”
“Have you told your parents anything about you since you left home?”
She shook her head. “I doubt they’d care. I don’t even know if they’re still in town, it’s been so long since I’ve seen them. They were always talking about selling the house and traveling. I don’t know why the hell they had a kid, when it was clearly the last thing they wanted.”
“I get your train of thought, but I am very happy you exist, so at least they did one thing right. And maybe they weren’t the best parents, but at least you figured out how to take care of yourself instead of ruining your life like a lot of people would’ve done.”
She shrugged. “I didn’t go to college. I didn’t do a lot of things I should’ve. I could’ve done a lot better job.”
“You’re so hard on yourself.”
The server came with our food and quickly disappeared again. She stole a French fry from my plate, and I stole a Brussel sprout from hers. We ate together talking about stupid stuff. Neither one of us wanted to ruin the evening with more heavy discussion.
Once we finished eating, we just sat together talking.
Cassia finished her soda. “I’ve got some chocolate at home. Do you want to come over for a while or all night?”
I smirked. “I would like that very much.”
We went back to her house. Cassia changed out of her dress and returned in a pair of shorts and a tank top. It was clear she’d forgone the bra and I was willing to bet she didn’t have on any panties. And my dick was hard since I’d watched her come in the booth.
She brought a bag of chocolate over and sat down next to me. “I wanted to be comfortable, I hope that isn’t a problem.”
“I hope it’s not a problem if I bend you over your bed and shove those shorts down your thighs and fuck you from behind.”
She squeezed her legs together.
Bullseye.
“I was going to start a movie or something.”
She was going to play coy, huh? She wanted to push me to see how long it would take before I just had my way with her. Two people could play at that game.
I pulled my Henley over my head and tossed it on the floor. “I hope you don’t mind, but it’s warm in here.”
Her eyes traced over the hard lines of my bare chest. She swallowed audibly. “Nope, not a problem. Take your pants off if you want. It can definitely get hot in here.”
She got up and went over to her DVD collection on the bookshelf next to her television. She bent over at the waist, putting her fine, round ass in the air as if she were looking at the lower shelf of movies.
She settled on one and only swung her body over; now I could see how heavy her tits were pulling against the fabric of her tank top.
My mouth went dry and my cock pulsed in my pants, pressing against the zipper.
She righted herself and came back to the bed and sat down next to me. Fuck, she was evil, but I could hold out. It would be easy enough. I thought. She had definitely gotten off more than I had in the last twenty-four hours.
The movie started and I nearly choked. It was porn.
“Cin, what are you doing?”
“Oh, I thought I grabbed Pirates of the Caribbean, my bad. I’ll change it.”
She’d managed to start the movie somewhere in the middle where there was an orgy of fucking going on.
She got up and then bent over at the waist again to change the DVD.
Fuck. I wasn’t going to last if she was going to pull out all the stops of playing dirty. I was standing before I even realized it.
She switched out the DVDs and I moved in behind her and grabbed her hips and pressed my dick against her ass.
“You want to make good on your promise?”
“I do.”
She stood and pressed back against me. I quickly did away with her tank top and then turned her and bent her over the bed. I yanked her little shorts down her legs, Sure enough, she was going commando again.
“I’m going to start assuming that you’re always just naked under your clothes and I’m going to be hard all the time.”
She giggled and I gave her ass a hard slap.
“Chris!” she exclaimed in surprise.
I undid my pants and pulled out my cock, filling her fast and hard from behind. I wasn’t feeling patient. I wanted her desperately.
But her soaked cunt proved she was just as desperate for me.
I fucked her hard and unrelenting. She was at my mercy as I fucked her from behind. Her fingers knotted in the sheets and her moans filled the room along with the sounds of our bodies slapping together roughly.
She came hard and I followed her over the edge. She collapsed on the bed and I flopped down next to her, my pants and boxers still around my knees.
“Holy hell, Cin. You drive me fucking crazy.”
“Good. I like you that way.” She pulled me into a deep kiss.
13
Cassia
Sofia came back into town.
We went back to work harder than ever. She loved the new designs I’d come up with, and we finally had model measurements. Now we just had to make the actual clothes.
Whenever I wasn’t working or hanging out with Sofia, Chris and I spent time together.
It was bittersweet, though. I started to realize that all my friends got something out of me. I hadn’t heard from Brayden since I quit.
And I wondered if Sofia and I weren’t working together anymore would I ever hear from her.
I didn’t let myself linger on those thoughts too much. I couldn’t worry about friendships, or the future, when I just needed to keep my head focused on sewing my designs together.
It was late when Chris knocked on my door.
“Hey, you,” I said pulling him my bedroom.
“I’m leaving in the morning.”
“I know.”
“I want to stay with you tonight before I go.”
“Okay. I’d like that.”
Sinc
e our last fight, I’d been trying to tell him exactly what I was feeling and thinking. It didn’t always make things easier or more comfortable, but at least I knew he knew what I was thinking, and I knew what he was thinking. It made me feel more secure that he wasn’t hiding something from me.
Just before I was about to say something there was another knock at her door.
“Your other boyfriend?”
“Damn it, he wasn’t supposed to show up until after you left.”
Sofia’s voice filtered through the door. “Chris, dad is looking for you.”
“Fuck. I have to go talk to him.”
I nodded. “I know.”
“I’ll be back.” He gave me a quick kiss.
As Chris left, Sofia came in and closed the door. “Do you know about Chris and our dad?”
“That they don’t get along great?”
She nodded. “I know some of it. I don’t think he wants to tell me everything.”
Sofia sighed. “There’s a lot of bad blood there. They’ve just never gotten along. Sometimes I wonder if it’s because they’re too much alike.”
“That’s always a possibility.”
I sat down on my bed as Sofia took the chair. “I think it’s really unfair that there is this expectation that a child has to take over the family business. Especially when they don’t want it. Honestly, I was probably the best one for the job, but I loved singing too much. And I think because I was the only girl, my dad never looked at me like I was the symbol for our family. It’s not like if I get married that I would be keeping the family name anyway.”
I nodded. “Do you get along with your dad?”
She shrugged. “As well as anyone can I suppose. He doesn’t even get along with our mother and they’re still married.”
“Sofia, can I ask you a weird question?”
“You can ask me anything.”
“Are we friends?”
Sofia smiled. “I hope so. I know that going into business blurs the lines, but I’m really glad I’ve met you. I don’t make friends easily, especially now. The fame kind of puts a damper on that. And I wish I would’ve met you back when Chris did. I bet we would’ve been fast friends.”
I smiled. “I feel the same way, but I’m terrible at making friends. And I was afraid maybe I was reading into it too much.”
Sofia shook her head. “Not to me, you weren’t. I know it’s a little awkward because he’s my brother, but if you ever want to talk about him, I’d be willing to listen. I know it’s hard not to have someone to talk to.”
“I appreciate that. Right now, I just think your brother is way too good for me and I don’t know why he’s with me.”
Sofia shook her head. “You’re wrong. He’s not too good for you. In fact, watching you guys after the last few days, the two of you make a lot of sense.”
That shouldn’t have made me so happy, but it did.
“All right, well I’m going to go call my manager.”
“Sofia, can I ask you one more question. And it may be none of my business…”
“Go ahead and ask…”
“Is there something going on between you and your manager?”
Sofia let out a long breath. “No. He’s my manager. That’s all.”
“Not the first time someone has asked you that question?”
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “Everyone seems to think I have a thing for him. I don’t. It would be really stupid to get romantically involved with your manager. The things that could go wrong.”
“That doesn’t mean that you don’t want to get involved with him.”
Her lips twitched. “I suppose it doesn’t. But I don’t want to get involved with him.”
I nodded. “I understand. Everything gets tricky when romance or friendship are involved.”
“No joke. Just so you know, if you break my brother’s heart, I’ll still be your friend, but I might have to punch you first.”
I grinned. “That’s fair.”
Sofia excused herself and I waited for Chris to come back.
Only…he never did.
14
Chris
I would’ve done just about anything to avoid having this conversation with my father. I knew it was going to come with a huge chunk of disappointment and how he expected better from me.
I found him in his office already yelling at someone else on the phone while he checked email on his laptop.
I flopped down in the chair in front of him and waited for him to get off the phone. It didn’t take long.
“Well, Christopher, are you ready to get your head out of your ass and come back to work? Cavanaugh doesn’t seem too keen on coming aboard without you. I guess you’re not completely incompetent with the clients. That’s good to know.”
Everything in my body tensed at once. Every time Nash talked to me, I wanted to punch him in the face. This was the problem I was having with working for him. He was an asshole. There wasn’t much endearing me to the family business aside from my grandfather, but he wouldn’t be around forever.
“That’s flattering, for sure. But no, I’m not coming back to work.”
That got his attention. He stopped looking at his computer and fully turned his attention to me. “Excuse me?”
“I quit. I’m not going to go back to work for you.”
“You’re certainly not going to coast through life on a trust fund. What the hell are you going to do with your life? What could be better than working for a company that has your name on it? I thought you had more integrity than that.”
I sat forward. “Have you been paying attention to anything I’ve done since I was eighteen? I got a 4.0 average in college. I worked my ass off. I paid my own way through school. I’ve had a job consistently earning my own wages. I don’t have twelve houses across the country. I have one apartment in Minneapolis where my business partner is, and one in Chicago, which I’m letting go once the lease is up. Yes, I used a little trust fund money to help in my business venture. But it’s my fucking money and I was investing in myself, because lord knows my fucking father wasn’t going to.”
“Watch your fucking mouth.”
I bit back my snarky response. “You don’t have to like what I do with my life, but right now, you get to stop commenting on what I do with my life. You have no say. I will never work for you. I will sooner be a barista at The Daily Grind then take a fucking penny from you.”
Fire burned in my father’s eyes. He was pissed. I’d never stood up to him. I’d never talked back. That was my fault. I should’ve stuck up for myself a long time ago. Maybe he would’ve shut the fuck up a lot sooner.
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m flying to Japan tomorrow morning to sell the game I designed with my business partner for a multi-million-dollar contract and probably with the request to produce more. There are a couple of companies state-side that are interested too.”
“Game? You designed a game? What like Twister or Clue?”
“Seriously, Nash, get with the times. Video games.”
“You’re designing video games?”
“I am.”
“That’s what you’re doing with that bullshit art thing you’re always doodling?”
I stood up. “I am tired of taking your abuse. You don’t understand me. You don’t respect me. That’s fine. Whatever. But stop being such an asshole. I don’t get why you hate me so much. You love the rest of your kids.”
Nash stood up. “You think I hate you?”
“No, I know you hate me. Do you listen to the way you talk to me? You hate me. You hate everything about me. There is no making you happy. And I’m done trying. If you’re smart, you’ll be nicer to the rest of your kids because I’m pretty sure they all think you’re an asshole too. You never listen to anyone and you think you always know best. Well you don’t. Get a fucking clue.”
I stormed out of his office not wanting to endure anymore bullshit. I knew that Cassia was upstairs waiting
for me. But I just couldn’t deal with talking to anyone right now. I just needed to get out of the house. If I stayed, Nash would probably come looking for me.
By the time my head started to clear, I was in Omaha getting on a plane to go to New York City to fly to Asia.
* * *
I didn’t turn on my phone until I got to Japan. I stared at the messages from Cassia. She’d tried really hard to remain calm. She had no idea what happened to me. No one did. I didn’t tell anyone. But she knew I was going to Japan.
Cassia: Are you okay?
Cassia: Is there anything you need?
Cassia: I’m trying not to take anything personal, but why won’t you talk to me?
Cassia: Have a safe trip. I wish you the best.
She was writing me off. And I felt like such an asshole. I didn’t know what to say. I had left without saying good-bye and by the time I thought I would be able to talk rationally about what happened, I had to get to Omaha. I’d blown our last night together and possibly blown everything to hell.
Chris: I made it to Japan. I’m sorry I didn’t say good-bye. My dad just got under my skin and I had to get out of there.
Cassia: I’m glad you’re safe.
That was all she said. I left her alone, unsure of what to say.
The next couple of weeks went by in a blur. Tony and I were in and out of meetings and contract negotiations. I barely had any time to think.
And then it was done. We’d signed on the dotted line. Money was wired to our business account and we had deadlines for new specs for another couple of games in the coming months. Tony had also set up some meetings in New York and Los Angeles for a few more people who were interested. Everything was blowing up around me in the best way. I was thrilled.
Except, the dull ache in my chest never quite relented. I was sure I’d ruined everything with Cassia.
I couldn’t dwell on it though; I had to focus on what was in front of me. I had to prove to myself that I didn’t need Davenport Investments, or even the name, to make it.
That was how life worked. Right?
Billionaire Barista: Love Demands a Holiday Page 13
