CHAPTER ONE
BELLA
Tyler is gone.
Dash and Allie are not.
They stand in my doorway with a puppy in Dash’s arms, staring at me as tears stream down my cheeks. After making me feel dirty and foolish with his stupid contract, Tyler has left me to explain away everything Dash and Allie just witnessed. And at this point, I’ve all but announced I’m sleeping with my boss, who is also Dash’s close friend and the owner of the agency that represents his books and career.
“What the hell was that?” Dash demands, glancing over his shoulder in the direction in which Tyler has just departed and then back at me, expectation in his stern look. No, it’s a look that says I’m not on my way to beat his ass, but I’m about to if you don’t talk me out of it. And we all know how Dash likes to fight.
Thankfully, the Golden Retriever puppy distracts Dash with big ol’ slobbering licks. I’m also a fast thinker, thanks to a job that places me on the hot seat more times than not. For instance, with my demanding boss, who I should never have allowed to touch me, a decision that creates a question about my judgment.
I rush forward and greet the puppy before daring a glance at my brother. “I can’t believe you got me a puppy.” The puppy replies with an Olympian effort at kissing away my tears and the sweetness only makes me want to cry all over again. Actually, I do cry all over again, but I direct it right back at the puppy. “Oh my God, you’re killing me with your sweetness.” I glance up at Dash. “And yours. Thank you. I love you.” I eye Allie. “And you. I love you too, Allie.” And I do. She’s good for my brother and has become a close friend—another sibling, in fact.
“She’s a girl,” Dash says. “Just like you wanted.
“Yes, I did,” I approve, and scoop the pup from Dash’s arms and carry her to the living room where the carpet is soft and comforting. As a plus, when I go down on my knees, the furniture hides both of us from loving but prying eyes.
I lower myself to my back and pull the puppy across my body, and while that ache in my heart still cuts deep, the cuddles are welcome comfort.
I nuzzle the puppy’s face and I’m kissed half to death until my tears morph into giggles. I all but choke when Dash appears above me, glaring down at me. “Bella. What the hell was that with you and Tyler?”
I sit up and allow the puppy a moment to explore. “I’m going to call her Molly.”
“Tyler, Bella,” Dash presses. “Why was he here?”
“He wanted me to sign something that had to be an original signature. When I told him you were on your way, he ran away. You have that
impact on people, big brother.”
He kneels down in front of me. “You were crying. He was angry.”
I hold up Molly. “I cried because you surprised me with her, and he’s always angry.”
His lips press together. “That’s not wrong, but he’s a man of control. He doesn’t storm out of a room. And he shouldn’t be at your house.”
“Yes, well, he doesn’t care what he should or should not do. It’s all about money to Tyler. You know that.”
I’m sure this is the winning statement, but Dash proves me wrong, continuing to push. “What did you do to piss him off, Bella?” he repeats
“Told him everything about the contract was wrong, which it was. Thanks to me, he wasn’t able to close the deal tonight.” All of which is the truth, I think, as long as we don’t get into details. I scoop the pup up again and change the subject. “Thank you,” I say again.
“Thank you,” he says. “Molly is my way of showing my appreciation for all you did to close that deal for me.”
“And because you’re afraid I’ll end up old and alone.”
“On the contrary,” he says. “I’d rather you have a dog than the wrong man. For instance, Tyler.”
And here we go again. “Tyler’s my boss,” I say, dismissing his comment. “I’m worried about the puppy needing and deserving love and companionship. My job is ridiculously demanding.”
Allie sits on the chair framing this side of the couch. “You’ll give her plenty of love.”
“Did you get one for yourselves?” I ask, looking between them.
Allie cast Dash a demure look. “I’m working on him.”
“Maybe you can make real babies instead,” I suggest.
“Now I know you’re trying to distract me from Tyler’s bullshit,” Dash accuses.
The puppy whines and starts sniffing the ground. Allie hops up and scoops her out of my arms. “I’ll take her to potty.” She heads for the door, and while yes, the puppy needs to go out, I’m pretty sure she’s giving me and my brother some sibling time.
Allie understands that need a little too well right now, considering I’d rather skip it until I’ve pulled myself together. Damn it, I want to cry again. And damn Tyler for making my insides feel like mush.
I push to my feet, intent on running away from my brother and not afraid to admit it. But he’s standing as soon as I’m standing, planted right in front of me. “Talk to me, little sis,” he urges gently.
He’s obviously not buying my diversions, and while I could make up a bigger story, and basically lie to Dash, that’s not the relationship I want to have with him, or anyone in my life, for that matter. I get that from my mother. She preached honesty and she lived by the truth, no matter how difficult the truth can sometimes be.
She wouldn’t approve of a barrier between me and Dash.
I don’t approve, either. Not so long ago, Dash hid a lot from me. He hid his underground fighting from me because he was embarrassed. He didn’t like what it said about himself. I’m not sure what this thing with Tyler says about me, but I don’t think I like it either. This is why I confess to Dash, “I’m not ready. I need to process and think.”
His chin lowers, his eyes fixed on me. “Bella,” he says, compelling me to speak with that one word.
“I need to think,” I repeat more insistently. “And I need to deal with this myself.”
“I tried dealing with things on my own,” he replies, speaking of his fight club habit, no doubt. “It didn’t go so well for me,” he adds. “Don’t make the same mistake.”
“I’m not going to shut you out and hide some major problem from you, Dash.
I’ve worked with Tyler for five years now. I just haven’t been under these intense circumstances with him since I was in LA. He’s intense. And without the office as a buffer, more so than ever. It was” —I lower my lashes and then lift them—“overwhelming. But even so, I’m exhausted, or he wouldn’t have been able to get to me tonight. He’s also my boss,” I add. “And I don’t need my big brother to insert himself into my career. I won’t have a career if that’s how this plays out.”
He studies me for a long moment. “This is a work thing?”
I think of the contract Tyler just offered me and I don’t even hesitate to reply with “Yes,” because Tyler made it clear that’s all anything with me is or will ever become.
“What did he do to piss you off?”
“I swear you asked this, and I have answered. Tyler acted like Tyler, and that’s what pissed me off. Him being him. And for the record, I’ve seen him make grown men cry.”
He scrubs his jaw and settles his hands on his hips. “Okay. That’s all you had to say. And I’m sure the situation with his father hasn’t made him more tolerable.”
“No, it has not. Add to that, the time zone change from LA to Nashville and the stress of holding your contract in the palm of my hands, and I think I really did need a puppy.”
He narrows his eyes on me, a warning that he’s not done pushing even before h
e observes, “Not many people get away with fighting with their boss and keeping their job.”
“Not many people bring their boss the money I do mine.”
He considers me a moment and then says, “Why don’t you go out on your own?”
“I’m frustrated with Tyler, Dash, not my job or the firm. Hawk Legal has resources I could never have on my own. They are the best of the best, and I want that for my clients, including you, Dash. I’m good at what I do, but collectively, the firm has someone who has experienced every situation that comes up and brings that knowledge to whoever needs it.” I change the subject. “I need to run to the store and buy supplies. You want to come?”
“I bought you supplies. I’ll go grab them from the car. I also arranged and paid for a full-time pet sitter for the first six months.”
I blink. “You did what?”
“She’s a puppy nanny. Allie says she’s amazing, but if you don’t like her, we’ll find someone else. She’s going to stop by in half an hour to meet you. She’ll even do general assistant work. The idea is that you don’t have an excuse for being alone. And you can go to work without worrying tomorrow.”
Alone is better than being a fake fiancée to my boss, I think. “I don’t know how I feel about the puppy bonding with her and not me.”
He laughs. “Already jealous?”
“Yes,” I say, an easy admission, especially since I’m not completely talking about the puppy and the nanny.
Soon, Tyler will have his own nanny, a fiancée for hire, eager to tend to all of his manly needs.
And there is no scenario where she will be me.
CHAPTER TWO
BELLA
Puppies equal love, happiness, and a sure way to be up all night and still wake up early.
While all these things prove true with my new puppy, I also credit Molly for allowing me zero bandwidth for all things Tyler. I don’t know if it’s good or bad, but all my plans to wallow in my emotions and dissect them to pieces while in a hot tub while eating an entire pint of ice cream and while crying just don’t happen. I don’t even have time to dread a morning confrontation with my bastard boss.
Molly’s kisses and snuggles work wonders on my stress levels, more so than that ice cream I’d have regretted tomorrow. I settle into bed, exhausted to the point that I fret none and sleep some, in between the many puppy demands. A puppy really is like a newborn. At one point, staring into the darkness after settling the puppy in from her pee break, I do have one thought. My manwhore boss doesn’t deserve credit for my sleepless night. One thing my father taught me was self-respect must exist to expect it from a man.
I shut my eyes with this in mind, blessed darkness consuming me until it does not. Suddenly I’m back in the past.
I’m in my office, against my door, with Tyler touching me, really touching me, for the first time ever...
My hand goes to Tyler’s hand, which rests on my waist, in my mind trying to control what comes next but all it does is create another connection, me to him and him to me. But he’s also simply imitating what Josh did to me out on that patio—where he touched me, how he touched me. But there is no comparison. One is ice and one is heat. Tyler is the heat. “You are not Josh.”
“Why does that matter?” he challenges. “This is an exercise in control. Your control, Bella.”
My eyes meet his and I swear, I have that same sensation I had when he first touched me. I feel him in every part of me. “What are you doing, Tyler?” I whisper. “What are we doing?”
“Tell me no, Bella,” he demands, his voice low but no less commanding.
“No,” I say easily, but it’s not exactly the version of “no” he’s asking for. I’m not saying “no” to his touch. I’m saying “no” to saying “no” to Tyler. Because I can’t seem to will myself any more than him to remove his hand from my body.
Tyler rather obviously senses the real meaning behind my version of “no.”
I see that in the way he narrows his eyes on me and I feel it in the flex of his fingers on my waist. There is possessiveness in the warmth of his touch that I might be imagining, but I am so screwed because I really hope that I am not. As if confirming my suspicions, he says, “Define your version of no, Bella.”
I push back, rebelling against the command I’ve read in his tone. “I said what you
wanted me to say.”
His other hand comes down on the door beside my head, almost as if he’s caging me. “Tell me no, Bella.” There’s something almost raw and angry in his words.
“Tyler—”
He shocks me then, cupping my face, his grip firm but not painful. “Is this how you tell everyone else no, Bella? Because if it is—”
“Don’t be an asshole,” I snap back at him. “I told you, you are not everyone else. And if you think I sleep around to get business, stop touching me and fire me, Tyler. I will happily pack up my desk today.”
Seconds tick by in which he stares down at me, his blue eyes piercing, the air thick between us until he abruptly twines his fingers into my hair, giving the long strands a rough, erotic tug. His mouth lowers, lingering above mine, his breath on my skin. “I do not think you sleep around but damn it, woman, you really don’t take orders well. I said, say no, and then this ends right now.”
“I already did. You didn’t like my version of ‘no.’”
The muscle in his jaw flexes, seconds ticking by before he murmurs, “If there is one thing I’ve learned that you need to understand, it’s that there are consequences to actions. This is what happens when you don’t say no.” His mouth closes down on my mouth, and then he’s kissing me.
The world spins around me with the shock of the moment, and there is no thinking on my part to be found. I know he shouldn’t be kissing me. I know I shouldn’t kiss him back, but I do. I know I should stop this right here and now. No is the right response, he’s right on that point. Because he is my boss, and the repercussions of our actions do have consequences. But the truth is, I just cannot seem to care. I don’t even try. Though my hands don’t move—one remains pressed to his where it rests on my waist, the other on his chest, though I don’t remember how it got there—I moan for him. I sink into the kiss, drinking in every moment of the sinful play of his mouth against my mouth.
When his lips part from mine, I burn for more. I want to pull his mouth back to mine, but he lingers a breath from another kiss, so close but out of reach. Time stands still, expanding over eternity, it seems, and yet in an illogical contrast, too quickly. I am barely hanging onto my sanity as the beats drum by.
Beats that could morph into regret and worry if I’m allowed to think too much longer about facing the consequences of my actions tomorrow. Or even hours from now. I could almost convince myself he was going to find the good sense I do not apparently possess and end this, after what was some lesson to me on why no is no. But that’s not what happens.
He leans in and brushes his lips over mine, a gentle touch contrasted by his teeth catching my bottom lip roughly, a promise of something dark and delicious in that act. But I’ve always known Tyler has a darker side to him. I breathe out with the sensation spiraling through me, and he reaches up and drags the zipper down the front of my dress until it ends just above my belly button. His eyes, emotionless but for the hunger in their depths, meet mine, a challenge in their depths. I don’t know if he wants me to say no now or if he’s daring me to keep going.
He all but ensures I ride this out, pressing the lace cups of my bra down, exposing my ample breasts and nipples. His gaze lowers, and he runs his tongue over his lips as if his mouth waters at the sight of me. I suck in air as he catches the puckered peaks of my nipples in his fingers. What follows is a rough tug and twist that both hurts and feels so good, so much so, that my knees turn wobbly. My sex clenches, and I’m slick between my thighs all over again, as I haven’t been for a man in a very long time.
Maybe not ever.
It’s the forbidden thing I assume, the reason I’m reacting to Tyler with such intensity. This is going nowhere good but the moment, and it has
to end. I have to say no.
I gasp and sit up to find sunlight beaming through the window while the puppy sleeps soundly in her puppy pen. ...
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