THIRTEEN
MUCH AS SHE’D LIKE to forget the ordeal with Bram altogether, he’d played into her paranoia. She ascended the stairs to find the guys. Julius’s bedroom was open and empty. She had to shower and get ready for the day but passed by her own bedroom door too.
The other doors hid whatever was inside. Where should she look? Opening random doors would be rude. Who knew what might be behind them?
A laugh came from up ahead. Target sighted.
Assuming both men would be in the same place, and that they were the only ones here, she went to the door and knocked on its distorted glass panel.
It opened just a moment later.
“He’s gone,” she said to Julius who held the door.
Brogan stood in the center of the room in front of a windowed far wall.
Julius glanced back at Brogan who nodded once. “Come here a second, Irish.” Julius slipped past her to leave. Entering slowly, anxiety leveled up. “Close the door.”
Closing the door gave her a welcome distraction. Welcome at least until the large bed got bigger. This was his bedroom, her pulse kicked up.
“Are you okay?” he asked, scrutiny narrowing.
“I’m sorry he showed up unannounced.”
He slipped his hands into his pockets. “We were prepared for it. Your family and friends are welcome here, Gia. Providing they don’t venture up to this floor, we don’t have to make any explanations about sleeping arrangements…
Though if you keep walking around the apartment naked, people will make their own assumptions. ”
Tucking the edges of her robe tighter behind the tied belt, she smoothed her hands over it.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I just wanted coffee. I didn’t think—”
“I told you to never apologize for our relationship to anyone, that includes me… If you’d spent the night in my bed, would you be apologizing?” Rolling her lips into her mouth, she moistened them as her gaze wandered to the bed. “What are you thinking about?”
The bed was broad, sumptuous, luxurious. She could imagine herself lost in those sheets with the man currently inspecting her.
“Women wouldn’t be allowed to gallivant around my parents’ house dressed like this… I don’t know why I thought it was okay here.”
“Because I give you the freedom to do what your parents forbid.”
Gia forced herself to look at him. “There’s another man in the house.”
“Julius is acceptable,” he said. “I would trust him with my woman. But he’s the only one… I can’t stress how important it is for you to be comfortable here.”
“In your home or with you?”
It was just as possible he was referring to the parties they were apparently going to throw in his apartment. Gia had to know where the restrooms were, where guests could find food or flatware. It would be embarrassing if she didn’t know her way around the home of her long-term boyfriend.
“Both,” he said. “Mastering physical intimacy doesn’t seem to be difficult for us.”
She’d used that phrase the previous night. Recalling that moment brought back the intimacy of it.
“Maybe it comes a little too easily,” she murmured.
Downstairs with her brother she’d been suspicious and defensive. Her attraction to Brogan was blurring her sense again.
“Did Bram get in your head?”
Pushing away from the door, she went to Brogan and got up close. He didn’t flinch. Without asking permission, she drew the zipper of his hoodie downward, watching its progress until it loosened. Parting each edge, she exposed his torso.
Swaying forward, she pressed her mouth against him. “What’s Gault?” she murmured, brushing her lips back and forth on his hard flesh.
He didn’t respond until she lifted her gaze to his. “Quid, sweetheart.”
Staying close, she welcomed his fingers untying the belt of her robe. Once it was free, he used the slightest of touches to push the delicate fabric from her shoulders.
Naked, she kissed his torso and drew her fingertips up and down his obliques. “What’s Gault?”
“Not what, who,” he said, continuing his caress on her arms. “Everett Gault owns a global network of distribution centers. He has property on almost every continent, warehouses, loyal staff, and local relationships. Each location has the potential to be outfitted in a number of ways. He’s built his corporation over three generations, to say it’s impressive would be an understatement. ”
“What has that got to do with you and my father?”
His eyes trailed down her body though his view was probably obstructed by how close they stood. “Where’s my quid, baby?”
Flattening her hand, she slipped it beneath the waistband of his sweatpants. Moving it slowly, she gave him the chance to pull away, but he didn’t. He didn’t even blink when she caught her lower lip in her teeth in time with her fingers curling around his hardening shaft.
No underwear. No restriction to her hand tightening as it slid up and down, pleasuring him in a way that empowered her. God, it felt good, and had the added bonus of alleviating her anxieties about their attraction. Obviously he felt it too, he felt something.
Squeezing him hard, she worked her hand slowly, teasing him with this expression of his desire in the palm of her hand, or, more accurately, the constriction of her fist. Sure, she wanted information, and he could refuse to give it to her. Except if he did, he wouldn’t get his happy ending.
“You’re using sex to manipulate me,” he said.
Tipping her chin higher, she grinned, but it was playful. “Reject me,” she purred. “If you don’t want my hands on you, tell me to stop. Push me away.”
Her hand kept on going and his eyes grew heavier by the second.
Giving in, he sealed his lips and inhaled through his nose before speaking. “Gault is selling his chain, selling everything. He had a health scare that changed his attitude to life. Now he wants to enjoy his retirement, except he has no second.”
His fingers curled around her breast. As he squeezed, his cock pulsed in her hand. Groaning, he lost his other hand in her hair.
She kissed his chest again. “You and Daddy both want his company.”
“Yes,” he grunted.
Tracing her lips on his delicious body, she tried to put the pieces together. “What does this have to do with me? I don’t know Gault.”
“Quid, Irish,” he panted.
The strained need in his voice elevated her chin. His head went back, the urgency in his grip on her breast demanded more. Ah, he neared the edge.
Gia wasn’t cruel. She couldn’t take him this close to the precipice and then not let him fly.
Tormenting a man like Brogan with just her hand was incredible.
He could have pushed her away, refused to answer her questions, and left her in the dark.
Instead he chose honesty and that was something she valued more than he could know.
Dropping to her knees, she peeled down his pants to wrap her mouth around him. Expected or not, he grabbed for her hair, groaning as she roused him with her mouth, with her hands. Sucking and rubbing, she didn’t neglect licking and kissing each impressive inch of him.
“Babe,” he hissed a fraction of a second before his climax hit the back of her throat.
Gia swallowed, emboldened by the achievement of pleasuring this man into shooting his load inside her.
With his taste still fresh, she tucked him away and pulled his waistband to his hips.
Sinking back to sit on her heels, she ran her fingers through her hair, peeking up to find him looking down on her, a curious expression on his face.
“Gault doesn’t like disharmony,” he said, his voice deeper and slower than usual. “He sees corporate conflict as a waste of energy and resources and doesn’t believe in grudges. He’s an unusual man.”
Running a finger beneath her lower lip from one side to the other, she took a second to let her heart rate climb down.
“And so if you can show that you have a known competitor’s daughter in your bed, you look like a reasonable guy.
The type who doesn’t hold grudges?” He tipped his chin to the side in a semi-nod of assent.
Her thoughts carried on down the track. “And by extension, Daddy, who hated the idea of us being together, can send the same message if he shows he has no problem sharing his daughter with an adversary.”
“Yes.”
“Wow,” she breathed out, deflating, hands resting on her thighs. “I suddenly feel very important in your little game of corporate chess.”
Snagging her robe from the floor, she put it back on but only gathered the sides together instead of tying it. Ignoring his proffered hand, Gia climbed to her feet.
“Irish,” he said when she started to go.
She turned back. “It’s okay, Brogan,” she said. “We’ve been doing this for a week; it’s not like I was madly in love with you. I’m not hurt. I always knew this setup was rooted in some scheme. Thank you for telling me the truth.”
Even though she’d had to ask for it and had kind of coerced it out of him, she was grateful to have some answers.
“What are you going to do?”
“Nothing,” she said. “You want me to do as I’m told until our deadline and I will so long as you keep helping Shanna.
That was our deal. Knowing more about your motivation doesn’t change our arrangement.
” She cleared her throat and jabbed a thumb into the air above her shoulder.
“I’m going to get ready and go to the spa. ”
“Do you have your credit card? If you need money—”
“No,” she said. “My mom has an account there, her and her cronies go all the time. Her bill is so high she doesn’t notice my add-ons.
” She backed up. “She says it’s a woman’s place to be groomed at all times anyway; I think she’s secretly relieved that I go.
Shanna and I are going shopping this afternoon. ”
“Pick out something nice for tonight.”
She shook her head. “We just window shop.”
“We’ll have plenty of engagements over the next few weeks. You can keep the clothes. Get whatever you want.”
Gia stopped by the door. “It was my choice to blow you and I didn’t do it for payment.”
“I didn’t mean—”
“There’s nothing to feel guilty or bad about,” she said, offering a smile.
Somehow she sensed he wasn’t trying to pay for the sex act as much as he was trying to make up for what he saw as deception.
“I knew you had ulterior motives and it’s not the first time I’ve had a man use me to influence my father. What time do you need me tonight?”
“If you’re not going to buy something, you’ll need to change,” he said. “There are clothes here for you. Come back and get ready when you’re done with Shanna. Use this as your base.”
“Okay.” It made sense to stay there in the city rather than traveling to her parents just to come back to town. “Brogan…”
“Yes?”
“Thank you,” she said and slipped out to go back to her room.
Brogan had given her knowledge. Now she had an idea of what was going on.
What she’d said about not being in love with him was true. Even if some part of her wanted to think they were starting something, or there was something between them, nothing so far suggested their attraction might go further.
His motives for making this deal were his own, she’d had motives too. Their deal was an exchange, a quid pro quo. Each was getting something from it and that had been the arrangement from the start. Nothing was different. Not yet.
Lost in the steam of the shower, Gia leaned back against the wall and touched her lip. Their deal was one thing, it was straightforward compared to processing what their new intimate “relationship” was doing to her. Brogan wasn’t the man she’d expected him to be. Was she as unexpected?
Their weeks together were laid out ahead of them. This was just beginning. Where would they be when the bell struck eight weeks and their deal was over? Would she turn back into a pumpkin or would she be saved by her Prince Charming’s kiss?