Chapter 16
Deferred Interest
Sara
As I walk into the lobby with my sunglasses on and my afterglow lighting me up inside, my phone buzzes. My whole body still tingles with what Drew did in the car. What a way to wake up. I sip my mocha and sigh.
I’m paying attention and noticing a lot more since I gave up on Wyatt. And what Drew offers is a really good time. Suddenly, Thursday can’t come around fast enough.
Stopping at a bench, I set down my thermal mug to get my phone out.
Kayla:
Tell me you scored with at least one of those guys last night
Me:
I’m so hungover, all I got last night were kisses *sad face emoji*
Kayla:
*shocked face emoji*
Damn I figured with the bed and the mirror...
If I’d known I’d left you with good boys, I would have stuck around.
We should go to Veiled Vixen more often. That way you can see your boyfriend.
Me:
He’s not technically my boyfriend. We’re just seeing each other.
Definitely not official with Drew. Well, not exclusive. Not after kissing Dante and Finn. Seeing Drew on Thursday night seems forever away. A little rush races through me. It’s only Tuesday. Fuck, I can’t wait to be back in his arms.
Will he go down on me like Finn did? I bite my lip.
Kayla:
Drew might as well have peed on you to claim you last night
Me:
Ew. No. Yuck.
Kayla:
Not literally. *eyeroll emoji*
Unless you’re into that kind of thing
It’s way too early in the morning to think about golden showers. An involuntary shudder rolls through me. Nope, that’s a hard pass. And the thought killed my buzz.
I need to get her on another topic so I can go back to dreamland. Besides, I missed a lot last night by passing out.
Me:
How was your lap dance?
Kayla:
Girl. Amethyst is a legit artist. I asked for her digits
Me:
Did you get them?
Kayla:
Of course
I smile. Good for Kayla. I pocket my phone and grab my thermal mug to head to the office.
Time to face the music.
When I take a sip of my coffee, my hand shakes.
My bosses are waiting for me upstairs. We all enjoyed an impromptu strip show together, but we didn’t learn much last night, except I can’t hold my liquor.
And I really want to have sex in that suite with someone so I can figure out if the mirror is helpful or a hindrance.
Or with all four guys and that mirror. It would definitely be stimulating to watch. A shiver rushes through me. Imagining their hands all over me. Their mouths. Their cocks. The thought of all of them is enough to make me ache.
Oof, I need to focus on work.
As I near the elevator bank, one is closing. I rush forward and squeeze through before the doors close. Ha, I didn’t have to wait for an elevator, which means I won’t be a minute late.
I straighten and reach to press the button for my floor, but it’s already lit. I take off my sunglasses and turn to see who else is in the elevator.
Wyatt leans against the back of the elevator watching the numbers go up. My insides explode into bright colors of warmth. He shouldn’t have this effect on me. For fuck’s sake, Drew just got me off not even five minutes ago. My pussy aches from his fingers. I’m still bathing in the afterglow.
What if Wyatt can tell? My face grows hot.
“Good morning,” I mumble and move to the other side of the elevator.
Wyatt nods but doesn’t speak.
I take a sip of coffee and look up at the numbers. Halfway there. Fuck, a year ago I would have been excited to be in an elevator alone with Wyatt. The opportunity to have his full attention would have sent me spiraling. Now?
I don’t know how to feel. There’s something here, but I’m not game to act on it anymore. I’m done pushing. I’m done trying to make something happen that just won’t.
“How’s your head?” His gravelly voice startles me and I nearly choke on my coffee.
As I cough and sputter, he steps toward me.
Backing away, I raise my startled eyes to see the hurt in his. “I’m good.”
It was an instinct because I know if he touches me I’ll be lost again. He hasn’t so much as held my elbow since we were little.
Nodding, he runs his hand through his hair and leans back against the wall. “Hangover?”
“A little.” My cheeks heat.
Is this where I get a lecture about drinking? Or maybe about sitting in men’s laps? Or maybe just being at a strip club in general? After all, Tom isn’t here, and that means Wyatt has to fill in as my surrogate older brother like he always does.
When he opens his mouth, I hold up a hand. Fuck it. He’s not Tom and I don’t need a fucking lecture.
“Save it. I don’t want to hear it this morning.
” I pop up a finger. “Strip club. Fuck you, I’m twenty-two years old and don’t need or want your or anyone else’s permission to go to a strip club.
If I want to go, I’ll go. If I want to climb up on stage and strip for dollar bills, that’s no one’s business but mine. ”
Wyatt’s eyes narrow.
“Two.” I hold up another finger. “Drinking. Again old enough and the only one who has to pay the consequences is me, so that’s another fuck you.”
“Sara—”
“Three.” I hold up another finger and step closer.
“Save me your thoughts on Drew. I’m not your problem.
I’ve never been your problem. You didn’t want me to be your problem.
So yes, I’m seeing Drew, who, while the owner of a questionable establishment, is a hard worker, and he fucking likes me. So fuck you, Wyatt Hawkins.”
The elevator doors open and I sweep out, not waiting for him to chastise me. Fuck, that felt good. My insides buzz. I feel ten feet tall, like I could do anything.
I walk into Tom’s office and get around his desk before the door closes. My startled gaze jerks up to Wyatt’s dark eyes.
He’s just as controlled as he always is. I used to fantasize about making him lose that control. What might happen? Would he sweep everything off the desk and bend me over it? Pull my panties aside and thrust deep inside my pussy? A tiny shiver works through me.
Fantasy that will never happen.
I sit in my chair and cross my legs. “How may I help you?”
He draws in a breath and steps forward. I arch an eyebrow and set my elbows on my desk, lowering my chin to rest in my hands, just waiting. Because whatever he’s going to say should be good.
“Tom is gone.” He’s so fucking still.
What would he do if I started stripping off my clothes? I almost laugh out loud at that thought, because the last thing Wyatt wants from me is anything sexual. His control is locked firmly in place.
“Yes, he disappears all the time. Do you need any help with business today? Or are you just here to tell me things I already know?”
“Fuck, Sara.” He runs his hand through his hair and steps forward again.
The closer he gets the harder it is to keep up the nonchalance and breathe.
“You’re not my sister—”
“I never have been.” I lean back and fold my arms over my chest. See? This is his problem. He sees me as a sister.
“But I’m responsible for you.” He looks like he’s in pain.
Fuck that. I stand and walk around him to the door, pulling it open. “No, you aren’t, Wyatt. The only one responsible for me is me. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to get to work.”
Wyatt
Her citrus scent fills my nose as she passes me. I’m holding on by a thread here. I watched her last night. The way she responded to Drew’s kiss. The way Drew claimed her on his lap. The way her eyes grew wide seeing the stripper and wondering how we all saw the woman.
How she could have been hurt when she fainted if Dante hadn’t caught her. The way she clung to Dante’s thigh on the bed. The curiosity in her gaze as she asked about the mirror.
I don’t know how much of her flaunting this newfound independence I’ll be able to take.
Or how much watching the others touch her when I can’t I can handle before I break.
She clears her throat behind me. Her voice is snippy when she says, “Are you lost?”
She has no idea how lost I am. I turn and fire fills her pale green eyes. Her toe taps on the hardwood floor. Her dress flows over her curves, hugging them softly.
Everything inside me wants to pick her up, toss her down on that desk, and fuck her until I’m all she thinks about. All she needs. But I can’t.
It’s not only a promise to Tom. It would rip us all apart. Finn, Dante, and me.
Sara can never belong to one of us without destroying the other two. Maybe it’s best that she’s with Drew.
Even as I think it, my insides burn, remembering his possessive touch. She’s not his. She’ll always be mine, even if I can’t do a damned thing about it.
I close the distance between us and she sucks in a sharp breath. Her eyes are wild as they search mine. The air between us is charged, electric. One more step and I could touch her soft curves. Kiss her plush lips. Taste her. Touch her. Own her.
My blood flows hot through my veins. She wets her lips, drawing my gaze, and for a minute, I want to give in to the urge. To say fuck it to the universe and take what’s mine.
“Sorry to interrupt.” Finn’s voice makes both our heads turn. He smirks. “Wyatt, we’re supposed to go over the Addison file?”
Sara slips back into her office, taking her warmth from me. Taking my urges with her. They still burn inside, but the immediacy has lessened.
Nodding to Finn, I turn my back on her. I wouldn’t have lectured her in the elevator. I just wanted to check in to see how she was feeling. But then she popped off about how much of a grown-ass adult she is.
Like I need a reminder that she’s ripe and ready to be plucked.
My plans didn’t include following her into her office and closing the door. But I did. Almost like I couldn’t help myself.
I’m wound too fucking tight. I’m going to do something I shouldn’t if I don’t do something else to release some of this tension.
Finn follows me into my office and closes the door while I go around my desk.
“Do I want to know what was happening there?” Finn sinks into a chair and plucks a pen from my desk. He spins it in his hand as he studies me.
“No,” I bite out. Fuck. I pull up my phone and look at the texts Talia sent me last night. She wants me to take her out, show her off. Maybe that’s what I need. Talia.
I just need to find a release, and that’s what Talia will do for me. Even as I type, I cringe, knowing this isn’t what I want. She isn’t who I want.
I want red hair spread on my pillow with pale green eyes blazing up at me while her small body writhes on my cock. Fuck.
Me:
Thursday dinner?
Talia:
Will we be having dessert?
I rub the back of my neck. She’s not who I want, but she’s not off-limits. She’ll take care of the immediate need so I can focus on what’s important. Tom’s disappearance and keeping Sara out of danger.
Me:
Plan on it.
I set my phone away from me on the desk and lift my gaze to Finn’s concerned green eyes.
“You know she wants you still. If you want her, you could have her.” He rubs his jaw. Sara. “Tom would get over it.”
Finn doesn’t understand. He thinks it would blow over. He believes Tom would be angry for a while, but then everything would go back to the way it’s always been. Except it wouldn’t just fracture me and Tom. It would fracture all of us.
This isn’t just some woman we all want. This is Sara.
The little sprite who followed us around.
The young woman who tried to get us to pay attention to her.
The grown woman who makes me long for her at night, when I’m alone in my bed, stroking my cock to the memory of her lips, the fire in her eyes, the curves of her body.
“It can’t happen.” I shake my head to rid myself of my dirty thoughts. It hurts too much to think about what can’t be. “Let’s focus on work.”
My phone vibrates, but I don’t look at it.
Finn leans over and glances at the screen. He flinches. “Talia? Is that really smart? I thought you were shrugging her off. She’ll just dig her claws deeper into you if you play with her again.”
I shrug. She’ll help me clear my head so I don’t do anything stupid like kiss Sara, because once I kiss her, there will be no turning back. She’ll be mine.