: Chapter 30

Although I’ve already fucked her twice this morning, it kills me to leave her in bed. Looking at her as she lies there all drowsy and satisfied is enough to make me hard again. Even if I weren’t, I’d still want to stay. I hate the thought of leaving her naked body while it’s all warm and soft and so fucking ready for me.

“Are you sure you have to go?” she says lazily, rolling onto her belly and looking up at me. I eye her gorgeous round ass and growl. “Yes. Believe me, I’d rather stay here with you. And your ass. But we don’t all have today off.”

“I know,” she says, stretching out. “Lucky me, eh? Or maybe just really great planning, who knows?”

I arch an eyebrow at her. “Maybe my secretary should organize my calendar a little more efficiently. I definitely need a day off soon.” A day for me to spend every fucking hour with a part of me inside her.

Her lips twitch with a smirk. “But seriously, I know how important work is to you, and I know you’ve already taken the weekend off. But will I … Will I see you later? Or at work tomorrow?”

I should say I’ll see her at work tomorrow and give us both a little breathing room, but my dick is already telling me that’s not going to happen. Still, I try to play it as casual as possible. “I’ll call you tonight, mi rosa. We can make plans if you want to. And if you’re lucky, maybe they’ll be plans involving that beautiful ass. ”

I lean down and kiss her, my tongue tangling with hers and her arms snaking around my neck. “Promises, promises,” she says, winking at me. Fuck. Yeah. Definitely hard again. It’s going to be an uncomfortable ride back to the penthouse.

I close the door behind me and walk straight into two teenage boys who are standing in the communal hallway. They look about sixteen and seventeen, all gangly limbs, peach fuzz, and low-hanging skater pants. They stare at me for a few seconds, then the taller one breaks out into a grin. “Dude!” he says. “Way to go!”

They disappear off into their apartment, laughing and pushing each other, and I can’t help smiling. I guess the walls to her apartment are pretty damn thin.

Constantine is waiting outside for me, and he raises one eyebrow when he sees how I’m dressed. He knows this is her place and that I’ve been here since he dropped me off on Friday. “I can trust you, right?” I say simply.

“Of course, boss. My lips are sealed. And congrats. She’s a great girl. Here’s that number you asked me to find.”

I murmur my thanks and climb inside, sinking into the soft black leather seat with a sigh. My temples throb with an impending headache. It’s been a long time since I stayed up all night doing anything other than work. I wasn’t at all tired while I was with her, but now the lack of sleep is threatening to catch up with me. I need a quick shower, fresh clothes, and coffee, not necessarily in that order.

I glance at the phone number on the folded piece of paper. It belongs to Trent McKenzie, owner of McKenzie Holdings and a number of apartment buildings across the state. He answers after a few rings, his voice thick with sleep.

“Trent McKenzie?” I ask.

“Yeah. Who the fuck’s this?”

“Drake James, on behalf of the law firm James and James. I’m calling about the apartment building you own in Brooklyn.”

He snorts. “It’s six fucking a.m. Call the office.”

“I’m aware of the time, which is precisely why I’m calling you and not your office. Specifically regarding the building violations at Geneva Place.”

“That building is up to code,” he snaps. “They’re all up to code.”

“I don’t give a rat’s ass about your other buildings, Trent, but the security measures at Geneva are nonexistent. I’ll let you do a little research on my law firm when you get off this call. But know this, if you don’t have a security system that prevents strangers from entering the building in place by the end of the week, I will take a very personal interest in you and all of your properties. If that happens, you and I will get to know each other really well, and I promise you that is not something you want to happen.”

“Who the fuck do you⁠—”

“Think I am? Like I said, look me up.” I end the call and close my eyes, pressing my neck back against the headrest. That was satisfying, at least, and helped me blow off steam ahead of what I know will be a tough day. I have to talk to Nathan, for starters.

The thought of that fills me with dread, but I remind myself of why I need to speak to him. Amelia Ryder. Everything about her calls to me. Her deep, infectious laugh, the way her eyes sparkle when she smiles, her hands in my hair. My head between her thighs. Her scent. Her taste.

I stifle a groan. Today is going to be a long fucking day, made even worse by the fact that she won’t be in it.

I jerk my head in the direction of my older brother’s office door. “Is he free?”

Helen offers me a brief smile. “Well, he’s not in a meeting.” Her not-so-subtle way of telling me he’s slammed and I shouldn’t take up too much of his time. Probably sorting out the shit with the Ryans that he mentioned on Friday, which now feels like a different lifetime.

“I won’t keep him long, Helen.”

“He will always make time for you, Mr. James, you know that.”

“Noted.” I stride past her desk and knock once, then announce it’s me before stepping inside.

He’s just putting down his phone and raises an eyebrow when he sees me. “Hello, stranger,” he says, looking marginally pissed. “Where the fuck have you been?”

“You mean over the weekend? Traditionally the time when people aren’t in the office?”

“You’re not people though, are you Drake? You’re a workaholic who thinks weekends are fictional. And anyway, I wasn’t talking about work. You disappeared from Dad’s on Friday, and nobody’s been able to get hold of you on the phone since. I ended up checking in with Constantine just to make sure you were alive.” His right eye twitches, and he shoves his hands through his hair. I bite back my sarcastic retort. He already looks stressed as fuck, and I’m about to add to his woes.

“Message received and understood, brother. I was a selfish ass, and I apologize. You okay? You look like shit.”

“Thanks, I appreciate the compliment.” He scrubs his hand down his face and sighs. “Sorry I went off on you. You’re a grown-up, you can do what you like with your spare time. I’m just in a crappy mood. Luke is teething, and sleep is a distant land. Plus, three of the Ryans’ clubs got raided last week, so they’ve obviously pissed off somebody important. I feel like I’m wading through shit.”

I drop into the seat opposite him, watching as he flicks his tongue over his bottom lip. For the Iceman, this is having a meltdown. “Anything I can help with?”

“You can take me out for a drink when this day from hell is over.”

When this day from hell is over, I’ll either be heading back to Brooklyn or I’ll be in my penthouse wishing I was in Brooklyn. Every moment away from her feels wasted, and I already miss her. Still, this is my brother, and if he needs a drink and some company, I’ll make sure he gets it.

“That I can do, bro. How’s Mel?”

“She’s fine, why?”

“Well, I’m guessing that Luke’s teething and sleepless nights are probably affecting her too. And, you know, I like her more than I like you.”

Eyes twinkling, he places his hand over his heart. “Ouch! You really know how to boost a guy’s morale, don’t you?”

I nod. “It’s a gift. And everyone likes her more than you, so you better get used to it.”

He laughs, then rests his forearms on the desk. “Did you come here to tell me how much you like my wife, or was there something else?”

Oh yeah. That. I wince. This is our firm. The clue’s in the name—James and James. We built it together, but I can never escape the feeling that he’s really the one in charge. Maybe it’s because it was his idea or because he’s a few years older than me. I don’t know where it comes from, but right now I feel like I’m asking permission or apologizing, and I don’t love it.

“Yeah. I do need to talk to you about something.”

He nods, eyes narrowed as he regards me with suspicion. I loosen my tie. “Stop trying to read me, Nathan.”

“Can’t help it. It’s my job. Stop fidgeting and talk to me. Then I won’t need to read you, will I?”

I blow out a breath. I guess I better just rip off the Band-Aid. “I slept with Amelia.”

He frowns. “This isn’t new information.”

“Again. This weekend. Several times.”

He closes his eyes and leans back in his chair. “For fuck’s sake, Drake,” he mutters.

“Don’t for fuck’s sake me. Like you just said, I’m a grown-up.”

His eyes snap open. “I take that back. You fucked your goddamn secretary. Do you have any idea of the Pandora’s box you just opened? Of how many HR policies you’re in breach of? You could get the whole firm sued or canceled.”

Anger simmers beneath my skin. “Don’t treat me like your fucking junior associate, Nathan. I⁠—”

“A junior associate fucking your secretary wouldn’t be half as bad as you doing it, numbnuts,” he barks.

I know he’s right, but still, I’m pissed and I’m not here for a lecture. I’m here to talk to my brother, my ally in life, and instead, I feel like I’m talking to my boss.

“I know that, dipshit. And I don’t need to be reminded of our HR policies. I fucking wrote them.”

He grinds his jaw like he wants to argue, but for whatever reason, he doesn’t. We’ve had our fair share of fights, and we both know how easily it can escalate. “And don’t call it fucking,” I add. “It was more than that.”

He sighs, leaning back in his chair. The anger seems to drain out of him, and he just looks tired. “What the fuck, Drake?”

“I know. I tried to stay away from her. I tried so fucking hard. But I couldn’t. I can’t stop thinking about her for more than a damn second.” I screw my eyes closed and wait for a rebuke that never comes.

“So what the hell are you going to do now?” he asks instead, his tone a little softer.

I recall the way I left her, lying naked on her bed, her big hazel eyes looking up at me with such trust. She’s taking a huge chance on me, and I won’t let her down. “I like her, Nathan. And she really likes her job.”

His frown turns to a scowl. “So?”

I suck in a deep breath. “So we’re going to keep seeing each other in secret and see where this goes. For the time being, she’s going to keep working for me. I was thinking of getting her moved over to work with Fred Darwin when Marla goes on maternity, but⁠—”

“Fred announced his retirement. Yeah.”

I was actually kind of glad when I got word. Having Amelia around was torture, at least before this weekend, but it was a torture I was addicted to. Now I’m addicted to everything about her, and I don’t want anybody else as my secretary.

Nathan blinks at me. I loosen my tie again, and we stare at each other in silence like we’re in some kind of standoff. What the fuck did I come in here for? Approval? No, I came for advice. Maybe even for congratulations, because this is a big fucking deal for me. Deep down, I was excited to tell him and thought he’d be happy for me. Instead, he seems more concerned with HR policies and our image.

Even if he thinks I’m a nutjob who’s putting our entire firm at risk, he’s still my big brother, and I want him to be that right now more than anything else. “I’ve never felt like this before, Nathan. Not about Tiff, and definitely not about anybody since then. My last relationship ended when I was twenty-three. I don’t know what I’m doing, and I badly want this to work. How do I not fuck it up?”

“You haven’t exactly given yourselves a fighting chance, Drake. The secrecy …” He shakes his head and lets out a weary sigh. “It might be exciting for a while, but it’ll get old real fucking quick. What about Dad and the others? Will you tell them? Will she tell her family, her friends? Will Emily Gregor gossip about it to Amber at some society lunch?”

“Amber already knows some of it, and she isn’t likely to do anything to damage our firm, Nathan.”

He looks surprised and a little upset. Maybe he thinks I should have confided more in him, but here we are, shooting daggers at each other. Is it any wonder I didn’t?

“I don’t find the secrecy exciting, by the way. I fucking hate it. But for now, there’s no other way to do this. I can’t force her out of her job. It wouldn’t be fair. And I have no intentions of going back to Chicago.”

He jerks back as though I’ve taken a swing at him. “Who even mentioned you going back to Chicago?”

“That would be the only way for me to not be her boss. I could transfer her, I guess, but I know she’d see it as a punishment, and …” I drop my head into my hands. “Of all the fucking people I could fall for.”

“She’ll have to sign an NDA,” he says, his legal brain kicking in and looking for solutions.

My head snaps up. “Fuck no,” I say, my legal brain completely backfiring.

He rolls his eyes. “It’s no big deal. We’ve had employees sign them before.”

Is he fucking serious? I get to my feet, outraged. “Not about stuff like this. Not a please-don’t-tell-anyone-your-boss-screws-you-on-his-desk-every-afternoon NDA.”

Nathan’s eyes flicker to his desk, and I swear that deviant fucker smirks. I fold my arms and lean away. “You’ve fucked Mel on this desk, haven’t you?”

“A gentleman never tells,” he says smoothly, but the twinkle in his eyes says I’m right. Of course I’m right. What’s the point of having your own office and a huge sturdy desk if not to fuck the woman you’re obsessed with on it every chance you get?

I force images of Amelia naked and spread out on my desk from my head and sit back down. “I’m not having her sign an NDA. I trust her.”

“You barely know her,” he counters.

“I know her better than I know any other employee we have.”

“Let’s fucking hope she’s the only one you know so intimately,” he mutters.

I roll my eyes. “Get your head out of the gutter. I don’t mean like that. I know when I can trust someone, Nathan, and I can trust Amelia.”

He runs a hand over his jaw, staring past me at the painting hanging on his office wall. He does his best thinking staring at the painting of the beach in Spain that Mom finished before she got too sick to paint anymore. “If this gets out …”

“It won’t. At least not until we’re ready for it to. Hey, maybe it’ll just fizzle out and we’re worrying for nothing.” Even as I say that, I find myself thinking like fuck it will.

We sit in silence again, with nothing but the relentless ticking of his clock and my own heartbeat in my ears. Like always, it’s me who cracks first. “Just please tell me you have my back. It’s not like the way you and Mel started up was conventional.”

“I always have your fucking back, dickwad. That doesn’t mean I have to agree with everything you do or throw a fucking ticker tape parade at every stupid decision you make. You really, truly like this girl?”

I can’t help but grin at him. “Yeah, I do.”

“All right. Then I suppose you’d better find a way to make it work, hadn’t you?”

I will find a way, I vow to myself. Amelia Ryder is mine, and there’s not a chance in hell I’m ever letting her go. I’m going to make that woman happy if it’s the last damn thing I do.