Chapter 9
Chapter
Nine
Emily
Mr. Lane stepped through the doors, and my breath immediately caught in my throat as I took him in.
I hadn’t seen him in nearly five days, which somehow felt so much longer.
He looked the same, though a little rougher, as if he hadn’t slept well.
There were slight dark smudges under his eyes that I could see from across the space between us.
It seemed as if he hadn’t bothered to shave for the last couple of days.
He still looked amazing. If anything, the less clean-cut appearance made him even more appealing than usual, which I hadn’t thought possible.
We both watched as he came towards us, but his eyes never left my face as he took me in.
Even though Veronica straightened her posture and patted her already perfect hair in place, he never once glanced in her direction, though I wasn’t sure if she even noticed.
His expression remained blank, not giving anything away about what he was thinking about what he saw.
Still, I could see in his eyes the desire that he couldn’t hide.
I wondered if Veronica could see it too.
“Ms. Fontaine, my office,” he said curtly, walking past to his door, not even acknowledging Veronica as she stood there beside me. I glanced her way and then turned back to him and nodded.
“Yes, Mr. Lane.”
With my head spinning from all the questions I needed answers to, my belly fluttering with butterflies, and my stupid heart racing from excitement, I turned towards the desk to grab a notepad and pen.
Before I could even take a step, he took me by the elbow and said, “I have your pad and pen in my office.”
I was sure he didn’t, but I wasn’t going to argue.
I just swallowed and nodded again. “Yes, Mr. Lane,” and allowed him to pull me towards the door.
I waited for him to unlock and open it, then he stepped back to allow me to enter first. I took a few steps inside, then stood awkwardly in the middle of the room, wondering whether I should sit in the chair and wait for more instructions.
My hands twisted together nervously on the strap of the purse I was still carrying, since I never had a chance to put it away.
I shifted in my heels as he walked around me to his desk.
I had the brief thought to wonder if I was drooling as I watched him lean against the heavy wood surface and cross his arms and legs.
I almost reached up to check if my chin was wet as the material of his suit stretched across his thighs and biceps.
And then I realized he was staring at me, looking me up and down, taking in every inch of me.
From my wild hair, down to the shiny red high heels, he was staring just as intensely as I was taking him in. It did a lot of good for a girl’s ego.
“Would you like me to get your coffee for you?” I blurted out.
Instead of answering about the coffee, he smirked, making his blue eyes crinkle at the edges, and my knees nearly buckled at how weak it made me. “Were you a good girl this weekend?” he asked.
I started to answer when I heard the door open behind me.
I was confused about why Veronica would have entered without knocking and looked at Mr. Lane to see that he still hadn’t taken his eye off me.
When the door clicked closed again, I relaxed my shoulders, figuring she must have just set something inside the door for some reason.
With the way she had been acting, I didn’t want to face her if she saw the way Mr. Lane was looking at me.
But then the sound of the lock snicking from the inside of the room had alarm bells ringing in my head.
Mr. Lane’s smile grew smug as footsteps sounded across the floor, coming nearer, and a frisson of fear shot through me.
Before I could spin around, a familiar rumbling voice came from behind me, just as a hand landed on my waist and another wrapped around my neck under my chin.
My head was turned slightly to the side.
“I heard that she was a very naughty girl.” A nose nuzzled into the hair against the back of my neck in a way that had become familiar. “She didn’t have a phone on her all weekend. Anything could’ve happened, and she would’ve had no way to contact us.”
I squeezed my eyes closed and let out a silent gasp. There were two of them. There were two. The soft smiles. The broody looks. The good girls. The threats. Two different men. Two identical men.
“Brothers,” I whispered brokenly.
“Twins,” the Mr. Lane behind me chuckled as he pulled the hair from the back of my neck aside, allowing access to the skin there. It seemed to be his favorite spot.
“Yes, twins,” the Mr. Lane in front of me said as he watched what his brother was doing to my neck with longing. Seeing that type of yearning in such a beautiful man’s eyes over me was heady. “You never looked up the company? The CEO and the CFO? Brandon Lane and Brayden Lane.
I felt like such a fool. No, I never looked up the company. I never looked up my boss. Maybe if I had, I would’ve seen news articles about all their sexual exploits with their previous personal assistants. But then, as Veronica said, the CEO can get away with anything.
I shook my head and took a step forward to break contact. “I’m not going to be another one of your conquests,” I said firmly, though even I could hear the quiver in it.
“Conquests?” The Mr. Lane in front of me, I assumed was Brandon, arched an eyebrow as he smiled. Always with a damn smile. “Has somebody been talking?”
I pointed at him and spun around to see Brayden looking like his usual dark and dangerous self, standing right there just inches away from me with his arms crossed over his chest and a scowl on his handsome face.
How I ever thought they were the same man, I’ll never know.
“So you admit it! Veronica told me about how many assistants you’ve been through.
” Just the thought of it made my chest ache and a lump forming in my throat.
I couldn’t even finish yelling at them about it because I was about to cry already.
“Oh yes, Veronica.” Brayden drawled sarcastically.
I sniffled and turned back to face Brandon, ready to tell him I needed to quit, when hands grabbed me by the waist and jerked me until my back hit his chest and my breath left me in a soft woosh.
He leaned down and spoke softly into my ear.
“Let me take a wild guess, she made it sound as if we were the ones who seduced all those personal assistants instead of having them fired, and sometimes even arrested, for trying to seduce us. Is that right, sunshine?”
I scrunched up my eyebrows as I thought about it.
I thought of the words that she used. Because that was the way she made it sound—that the Lane brothers were the master seducers of women, and I would be next if I dressed sexy instead of cute.
Did she ever explicitly say that they were the ones, or did she just imply?
I looked at Brandon, then tilted my head back to look at Brayden.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry,” I said sincerely.
“Veronica may have led me to believe that you two were something you weren’t, but…
” turned back to face forward, then dropped my chin in defeat.
“You have been playing a game with me this whole time. I’ve been nothing but a game to you,” I whispered, my voice catching at the end.
Brayden let go of my waist with one hand and turned my chin up to look back at him again.
His hold was firm, yet gentle, as his thumb stroked over my bottom lip.
He hummed low in his throat, the rumble deep and seductive, making my belly flutter.
He studied my face as he kept me pinned against his chest, my arms down against my sides.
I could see the different shades of blues in his irises with how close we were, and it was fascinating.
I felt like I could study everything about his face for hours and never be bored.
I couldn’t stand it. He needed to let me go.
“Please let me go,” I said softly. “I’ll ask to be transferred to another department. I really need the money this job pays.” My desperate plea was clear in every word.
“Brother,” he called out quietly, “hand me your tie.”
There was a rustling, and then movement in my periphery before what he’d said cut through the haze I’d fallen into while staring at him. These men were dangerous; I had to remember that.
“What are you going to do with that?” I asked warily as Brandon handed the blue and black silk tie over to Brayden, who shifted my arms so quickly and effortlessly from two hands to one and had them tied before I could even contemplate struggling.
“What are you doing?” He took the purse I was still holding and handed it over to his brother, who set it carefully in the chair I usually sat in.
“Brother,” Brayden called out again, ignoring my protests. “Our pretty little slut dressed up for us today. Let’s not disappoint her. Unbutton her blouse. Show her how much you appreciate the way her tits look in that top.”
Brandon stepped closer, his blue eyes on mine, searching my face for something.
For what, I didn’t quite know, but he must have been satisfied with whatever he saw there, because his lips tipped up ever so slightly in the corners before he reached out and did exactly what he’d been told.
One by one, tiny black buttons slipped from their holes until my red blouse began to gape open, revealing the new lacy red bra the saleswoman had insisted I needed to go with the new clothes.
At the sight of my creamy flesh spilling over the top of the red lace cups, Brandon’s pupils fixated, then dilated.
It was fascinating to watch as the man, always calm with a ready smile on his too-handsome face, turned into something that more resembled a feral beast, ready to devour his prey.
I swallowed nervously and shifted on my heels.
“Wh-what are you doing? Mr. Lane? Please let me go. This isn’t funny.”
Instead of answering, Brandon looked up from where he’d been staring at my breasts through the lace and met my eyes.
As he held eye contact, he brought his hands away from where he’d still been holding my shirt open on the last button and cupped both breasts gently.
I inhaled at the contact. No man had ever touched me there before.
But when he swept his thumbs over the hardened nipples, my body jerked in surprise at the sensations that darted through me.
“You shouldn’t,” I gasped. “You both need to stop toying with me. Oh!” I let out an embarrassing sound that was half squeal, half moan as Brandon Lane pinched both of my nipples through the red lace.
“Pull the cups down, brother. See if those nipples taste as good as they look,” Brayden encouraged from behind me, running his nose along the back of my neck to his favorite spot. “Our dirty little slut seems to like it. Let’s see how much she enjoys having her nipples sucked.”