14. Byron Graham
14
BYRON GRAHAM
Fucking jackass.
I sat on the floor of my apartment, my back against the mini fridge, glaring at the floor. Upon returning home, I’d changed out of my suit, thrown on my most comfortable clothes, and dropped to the ground, not knowing what to do with myself next. I was a fucking jackass.
What a horrible day!
But that was to be expected after a shit weekend. The visit with Ronnie hadn’t been bad, but it had hit home that I needed to figure out something for his situation. I was reluctant to pull him out of Holy Mother because I didn’t want to cause him any kind of distress, but it was what he needed. Giving Hope Long-Term Care Facility could provide him with the kind of care and attention he needed to live his best life possible.
After a lackluster visit with my mother on Saturday, I’d passed that night and all day Sunday working through all the information Sebastian’s people had gathered regarding government grants and other kinds of financial support.
Of course, I’d already banked three years of care thanks to Sebastian, and we’d had another date scheduled for tonight, which would have given me four years, but I couldn’t go through with it. Not tonight. My head was a mess, and my heart ached. How could I go out on a date with Sebastian when I couldn’t give him the full attention that he deserved?
Some wicked part of my brain argued that I should have sucked it up and done it for Ronnie.
No. That was wrong. I wasn’t using Sebastian for his money, and I wasn’t selling myself for my brother. We hadn’t hit that level of desperation yet.
But I’d started crunching numbers over the weekend, assuming that Sebastian did only give me enough money for three years. I’d made notes on how I could use it for my brother, stretching every fucking penny until they nearly snapped like a rubber band. Then I made notes on the ways I could spend my money that I wasn’t using on Ronnie to help my mother. I looked into nurses who would visit her house a few times a week, rehab programs, and assisted living facilities.
The sad part was that no matter how I worked it, my dollars didn’t stretch quite far enough. There was never any wiggle room for an emergency, such as my car breaking down or needing to buy a new laptop. God help me if something happened that required me to go into the hospital.
The truth was that as well as Sebastian paid me to be his assistant, I couldn’t stay in that position. I needed to make more money. Which made sense because I hadn’t gotten a master’s degree to be an executive assistant. I dreamed of managing my own department, and eventually, my own company.
Leaving Courtland Enterprises would be a good thing, because I wouldn’t have to worry about breaking the rules by dating Sebastian. If I could find a good job as a middle manager at another firm, I’d make more money and be able to date the very sexy Sebastian Courtland publicly.
I would miss him, though. Our days together at Courtland Enterprises were some of the greatest of my life.
But just as I’d been turning my brain to focus on the next stage of my career, Sebastian had dropped the bomb on my head that my proposal to help save the company wasn’t any good. Clearly, I was fooling myself. There was no way I could sell myself as a manager for any company. My ideas weren’t good enough. I didn’t have enough experience managing anyone. Yes, I’d hired, trained, and managed Kaylan, but we were a department of fucking two. Big deal.
Between my financial frustrations and my failure with the proposal, I felt like I was swimming in an endless black sea. Right now, I was paddling desperately simply to keep my head above water, but I wasn’t making any headway. There was no getting ahead. If I were lucky, I’d be able to improve my brother’s and my mother’s lots in life, but it depended on me never making a mistake, never having something bad happen.
Regardless of my frustrating situation, I shouldn’t have bailed on Sebastian like that with such a lame excuse. I should have talked to him, explained how I was feeling overwhelmed. And as an employee, I should have asked his advice on how to be a stronger employee. Maybe how I could have improved my proposal.
The first step was to apologize.
That was what a mature adult did. It didn’t matter if Sebastian decided that dating me was more hassle than it was worth.
Swearing at myself, I shoved to my feet and hurried to the closet, where I grabbed a pair of jeans and a T-shirt that didn’t make me look like a bum off the streets. I’d go to the office first to see if he was still there. Sebastian often worked late, particularly if he didn’t have other plans. If he wasn’t at the office, I’d go to his house. Calling wasn’t an option. I’d insulted him to his face. The least he deserved was an in-person apology.
I snagged my wallet, phone, keys, and rushed to the stairs. In my mind, I was already trying to work out what I would say as I jogged to my car. It was nearly seven. Rush-hour traffic would be mostly finished by now. It wouldn’t take me more than twenty minutes to get downtown.
“Byron?”
Sebastian’s voice jerked me to a stumbling stop. I twisted to see him getting out of his car. Carl was standing by the rear door, holding it open for his boss. Sebastian was missing his suit jacket and tie. His hair was messy, as if he’d been running his fingers through it and pulling on it, something I’d seen him do plenty of times when he was frustrated. In one hand was a plastic bag with an unmistakable bucket of fried chicken, and in his other hand was a bottle of wine.
“What are you doing here?” Those weren’t the first words I’d wanted to say to him, but I was so surprised to see him.
“I was coming up to apologize to you.” His expression was so pained, I swore my heart was breaking just looking at him. I’d done that to him. I’d hurt him. This needed to be fixed right now.
“Why do you need to apologize? No, I’m the one who needs to apologize.” I shook my head as I changed direction and hurried to him. This was all fucked up. None of my words were coming out right. “I mean, I was heading to the office to apologize to you.”
As I reached Sebastian, the hand holding the wine shot out and his arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me in so that I bumped against his chest. He set the chicken on the ground and used his now-free hand to cup my cheek, tipping my head up toward his face as my breath caught in my throat. Then he stole it away completely as he kissed me. But that was every kiss I shared with Sebastian—soul-stirring and all-encompassing. It took less than a heartbeat for me to hand myself over to him completely, my relief almost choking me as I placed my arms behind his neck, pulling him even closer.
He hadn’t given up on me.
The warm scent of his cologne drifted around me. His powerful arms fought off the last of the insecurity twisting in my gut, reassuring me that everything was going to be okay.
Except someone was clearing their throat behind us.
I broke off the kiss and took the hand holding my cheek before scooping up the bag of chicken and sides. I peeked past Sebastian’s shoulder at Carl, who was still standing beside the car. “Go home. I’ll bring him back when I’m done.”
Carl’s lips twitched in a barely suppressed smile, but he said nothing as he closed the door and walked to the driver’s side.
“Really?” Sebastian asked, drawing my attention to him.
“You’re coming inside with me. We need to talk.”
His smirk disappeared, and I pulled him to the apartment building. We walked silently up to my place, some butterflies returning to my stomach, but not as big as the condors that had lived there minutes ago.
“Byron—” Sebastian stated as soon as I had the door closed.
“No, please. Let me start.” Squeezing the hand I was still holding, I brought it up to my lips, kissing his knuckles while gazing into his worried brown eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I was so flighty, useless, and a general pain in the ass all day. And I’m sorry for bailing on our date tonight and not giving you even a basic explanation as to why. All day, I felt like I was short with you, because I was just…”
“Hurting,” he finished for me.
“Yes, but that’s not an excuse. My problems don’t give me the right to treat you poorly.”
“No, I understand,” Sebastian said, brushing his lips across mine in another soft, sweet kiss. He led me to my futon and put the food and wine on the floor. The poor thing creaked under our combined weight as we sat, and I sent up a silent prayer for it to not collapse. My hands held in his, Sebastian stared into my eyes, his gaze filled with worry. “I also failed you as a would-be boyfriend. I could tell something was off with you all day, and I did nothing about it. What I should have done was call a halt to everything and sat with you, giving you the time you needed to tell me what was bothering you.”
My heart squeezed at his words. “Darling, that’s sweet, but you can’t do that.”
“Of course I can.”
His arrogance was so adorable. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. “Sebastian, my boyfriend, can’t do that. My boss can, but it would be wrong and probably inappropriate.”
Despite trying to tell him no, the biggest grin spread across his beautiful face. “You just called me your boyfriend.”
I bit down on my wayward tongue, but there was no stopping the burning that was spreading across my face. “Shut up,” I mumbled.
“No, say it again.”
“No.”
Sebastian leaned in closer, pressing his nose into the side of my head. “Please, say it again.”
“Boyfriend,” I whispered.
The silly man holding me hummed and scooted even closer to the point of nearly pulling me into his lap. He wrapped his arms tight around my shoulders. “Boyfriend. You make that word sound like magic.”
“And you’re ridiculous.”
Sebastian straightened, his expression turning serious. “I am, but I’m also worried about you. Can you tell me what upset you so badly today?”
So I did. Everything. From the visit with Ronnie to ongoing money worries about his care and my mother’s to my solution of finding a new job that had ultimately fizzled when I realized I didn’t have the experience and knowledge I needed after getting my proposal shot down.
“First, I’ll get my people working on getting the money for Ronnie’s care settled in the next week.”
“No, Sebastian—” I cut him off, but a stern look from my caring boyfriend had me stopping again.
“We agreed on a year of care for a date. This is date number four, so I already owe you a lot of money.”
“This is not date number four!”
“Of course it is. I brought dinner, and we’re going to watch a PBS documentary on my phone. This is totally a date.”
Motherfucker. He had me there.
“I just want to set up all the money for Ronnie’s care in a trust. If something were to happen to you—God forbid—this money will be protected from your mother or anyone else who might try to use it for something else.”
That right there almost sent me into tears. Protecting Ronnie and his interests was all that mattered to me.
“And second, you can’t let one minor stumble like that proposal derail your plans. If I wasn’t a complete idiot where you’re concerned, I would have seen earlier that you need to be prepared for a bigger role in the corporate world. You’ve got the brains and the people skills. You’re destined for big things, and keeping you pinned to my side is only holding you back.”
“It is not! I’ve learned so many amazing things while I’ve been your assistant and tackled problems that I could never have expected.”
“Besides…” Sebastian paused and released a soft sigh, “I might have been too rash in my judgment with your proposal. After you left, I had a long talk with Declan, and he’s a big supporter of your idea.”
My hands leaped to my mouth, and I struggled to breathe. “What?”
“That’s why I handed it off to Declan and several of the other vice presidents to look over and give their opinion. I’m worried that I might not be giving it a fair shake, because I’m afraid of being biased in your favor. Declan supports your suggestion, but all he needed was to see the risk-reward ratio to make that decision. I want to get input from the others. Use these brilliant people and make them work for their paycheck.”
My heart was already in my throat with every word he spoke, but the idea of the other vice presidents giving their thoughts was exciting.
“What if they say they like it? Would you actually put my proposal in action?”
Sebastian’s smile became a little crooked as he nodded. “I would. I’d take a step away from my suggestion and put everything we’ve got behind your idea. It would have my full support.”
I launched myself at Sebastian, tackling him against the futon and claiming his mouth for a brief kiss. “I promise to work extra hard. You won’t have to worry about anything. I’ll meet with all the department heads, handle all the big planning, get the research done. It will?—”
Thankfully, the sexy man under me stopped my babbling with a kiss that curled my toes in my sneakers. Only when he’d turned me into a puddle of goo on top of him did he finally break off the kiss and grin at me.
“I know you’ll put in the work, but even though you came up with the idea, if we do it, the plan is no longer yours. It belongs to the entire company. It’s not on your shoulders alone to make it succeed.”
I nodded, my heart soaring at his faith in me. “I just don’t want to let you down.”
Sebastian touched my cheek, his eyes softening. I couldn’t remember anyone ever looking at me like that. “Never. You could never do that.”
This man. I’d never fucking stood a chance.
I kissed Sebastian like my life depended on it, and he immediately responded, pulling me in tight. Strong hands moved along my body, molding me against him while our tongues slid and tangled together. Heat rushed through my veins, melting away all my common sense and fear. Nothing else mattered but feeling him close.
At least, until his foot bumped into the bottle of wine, knocking it over with a cringe-worthy thud . Thankfully, it didn’t break. Almost growling, I pulled away from Sebastian and snatched up our dinner. I carried it quickly into the kitchen and put the food and wine on the counter. That would be for later. Right now, I had other plans.
As I turned back to Sebastian, I whipped my T-shirt off and tossed it on the floor.
“Not in the mood for dinner, huh?” Sebastian teased.
“No, I’m hungry for something else.”
My lover’s grin turned so very wicked as he spread his legs wide and patted his thigh. “You can have anything you want.”
“Oh, I plan to.” I took another step toward him but stopped suddenly. Shit! Almost forgot something important . I darted into the bathroom and jerked open the medicine cabinet behind the mirror. There I grabbed a new bottle of lube and a condom. Sucking his cock was nice, but I needed to feel him inside me.
I sprinted into the living room and stepped between Sebastian’s legs. As I kneeled, I tossed my new treasures onto the cushion next to him.
Sebastian raised his hand to his mouth and rubbed his thumb across his bottom lip. “You look like a man with a plan.”
“I always have a plan when it comes to seducing you.” I placed my hands on Sebastian’s knees and slid my palms up his legs, wringing a long, low grunt out of him. The front of his pants had begun to tent as his hard cock pushed against his briefs.
“You’re the only one who can seduce me with a look. I’m already yours.”
“Mine,” I murmured. I liked the sound of that. Sebastian Courtland was mine. All that power, strength, beauty, and kindness were mine. Always mine. After what felt like a lifetime of always putting other people first, I finally had something that belonged to me alone. And he was the greatest treasure ever.
As I reached his hips, I shifted directions to cup his cock through his pants with one hand while unbuckling his belt with the other.
Sebastian hissed, his hips lifting from the seat to press his dick into my hand. “Fuck. I love your touch.”
“Just wait until I suck you,” I purred.
With one hand on the nape of my neck, Sebastian pulled me forward to capture my mouth in a blistering kiss that stole my breath away. Every time I kissed this man, my head would spin. Nothing had ever felt so hot and desperate. We couldn’t get enough of each other. We were ravenous, starved for one another.
My fumbling fingers slipped inside his underwear, and I stroked his long, hard length while swallowing his shaky moan of pleasure.
That. I needed that.
I wanted him trembling and desperate. His aching cock in my hand, in my mouth, in my ass.
“Is that what you needed?” My swollen, wet lips brushed against his as I continued to stroke him slowly.
“More,” he growled.
I smiled and pulled away slightly so I could see his face. “I’ll suck it if you beg so pretty for me.”
His eyes widened in surprise, but the fire in his gaze only burned hotter. The cock in my hand got even harder.
“Please.” He exhaled, the thread of his voice trembling. “Please, Byron. Baby. Will you suck my dick? Please. I need it.”
Fuck . I hadn’t been sure he’d actually do it, but he did, and it was so damn hot.
“That’s it. Good boy. You beg me and I’ll give you anything you want.”
“Suck it. Please, God, just for a second. I need…I need you…”
I bent my head and took him in my mouth, pushing that leaking cock past my lips and sliding it across my tongue. A shout erupted from Sebastian and his entire body shivered.
I sucked him hard, bobbing on his dick, taking him deeper each time until he brushed the back of my throat. I held him there and swallowed, the muscles squeezing the spongy head, making him cry out again.
Cocksucking was not one of my favorite things, but I knew I was damn good at it. Plus, feeling Sebastian come apart under me was highly addictive.
A hand came to rest on the top of my head, his fingers lightly twisting in my hair while being careful not to put any pressure on me. I didn’t feel trapped. Just wrapped in Sebastian’s haze of ecstasy.
My cock was throbbing and leaking. I shoved one hand down to unbutton my pants and pushed them to my thighs. Sebastian must have noticed, because he groaned and shifted slightly. One hand remained on my head while the other slid along my spine, the tips of his fingers caressing the curve of my ass.
“Byron, let me fuck you,” Sebastian begged, turning the remains of my brains to complete mush. “I’ll fuck you so good.”
Yeah, this teasing, begging game was over. I needed to be filled before I died.
I pulled my mouth off his dick but continued to stroke him with my fist. “Take off your shirt.”
Sebastian grabbed the edges, looking like he meant to rip it off.
“Wait!” I shouted. “Rip a seam, lose a single button, and I won’t let you fuck me. I’ll make you watch as I fuck myself with a dildo and I won’t let you touch yourself,” I threatened, not believing for a second that I’d be able to go through with it.
Sebastian’s hand clamped on my wrist suddenly, stopping me from stroking him. He squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his teeth as if he were struggling to regain control.
“Um…” He swallowed hard. “Could we circle back to that idea someday? The dildo part.” His voice was so low and rough, it was practically a growl. He was turned-on, and I was wondering what it would be like to be watched in a moment like that.
Later! Later!
I wanted the real thing now.
“Shirt! Condom!” I snapped, pulling free of his hold. I jumped to my feet, snatched up the condom, and threw it at his chest. With him busy, I lowered my pants and underwear to the floor. Unfortunately, I forgot about my damn shoes, forcing me to do a wiggling dance to get everything off without falling over on my damn face. Graceful, I was not. At least Sebastian didn’t seem to notice as he lost his shirt, pushed his pants to his thighs, and fought with the condom wrapper.
Naked and horny, I grabbed the lube and squeezed some onto my fingers. I braced my free hand on Sebastian’s shoulder while I shoved two slick fingers into my hole. The burn and stretch helped to clear my head, but not much as my gaze skimmed Sebastian’s bare chest to where he was rolling the condom down his rock hard dick. So fucking sexy.
The second it was in place, I removed my fingers and put my knees on either side of his hips. The fat head of his cock brushed my slick hole, teasing us both. I lowered myself, hanging on to the back of the futon that noisily creaked with every movement. We cried out in molten hot bliss as he filled me inch by inch. So full at last. He was so hot and thick inside of me, and I was finally so damn full.
But it wasn’t enough.
I rose and dropped, taking him again and again in low, slow strokes. I rolled my hips with each rise, rubbing my aching cock on his incredible stomach.
Everything was so fucking amazing. His flushed face and blown pupils watching me with a rapt, hungry gaze. Each broken pant accompanied by a slap of damp flesh and the creak of the futon’s aging frame. My cock rubbing against him while his massive dick stretched and filled my ass. The thick scent of sweat and sex building between us.
Oh God, I was so close and I didn’t want it to end.
“Harder! Fuck! Bastian, fuck me harder!” I shouted, giving up all semblance of control. I just needed to come.
Sebastian grabbed my ass with his hands and took over, lifting me up and forcing me down hard as he began thrusting upward. The angle had shifted, and he slammed straight into my prostate on the first thrust. Stars exploded before my eyes and an electric current arced through my body. A scream ripped from my lips, and I came so fucking hard I forgot how to breathe. I couldn’t even get my hand to stroke myself. My fingers had a death lock on the back of the futon and I could only rub my dick on Sebastian while I came in seemingly endless waves of bright, hot ecstasy.
When my brain started working again, my head was resting on Sebastian’s shoulder, and we were panting as if we’d finished a marathon.
“What happened?” I gasped.
“I’ve never come so hard in my life.”
“Thank fuck,” I groaned, squeezing my eyes shut. “Because I think I died there for a second. I wasn’t sure.”
“Don’t…die…”
I patted Sebastian’s shoulder because I’d run out of words.
Common sense said that I needed to get up. We were covered in sweat and cum. The full condom was going to make the mess worse if we didn’t move soon, but moving took too much energy and it felt so good to just be held in Sebastian’s arms.
“Byron?”
I hummed in response, still gathering the energy for words.
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I hate your futon. I’m buying you a new bed.”
“No,” I said with a weary laugh. “This is only our fourth date. It’s too early to buy me furniture.”
There was a long pause. He had no witty follow-up? No gentle cajoling?
“Baby, could you do me a favor?”
I kissed Sebastian’s shoulder, grinning at the endearment. “Sure.”
“I need to buy a new bed, but I have nowhere to put it. Can I store it at your place?”
He hadn’t even finished speaking when I almost fell over laughing. God, I was falling so damn hard for this sneaky man.