Then my phone buzzed again.
Boner killer.
I silently cursed under my breath as I pulled away from her, trying not to wake her. I searched for my clothes in the dim light. I found my pants crumpled on the floor where I’d stripped them off the night before, my phone still in the pocket.
I struggled to pull on my boxers and made my way out of the bedroom, closing the door softly behind me before answering the call.
“Kent.” Hudson’s voice was crisp and businesslike, even though it was barely eight in the morning.
“What?” I hissed.
“What the hell are you doing up there?”
“Please tell me you did not call me at eight o’clock to ask me what I’m doing. I’m not five. What the fuck do you think I’m doing?”
It was one thing to wake me up. It was another to act as a cock block and that was exactly what he did. I did not like being treated like I was a colossal fuck-up. I wasn’t him. I wasn’t doing anything that would get me or anyone else killed.
“I’m the one tasked with checking up on you,” he said. “So, what the hell? What are you doing and why aren’t you home?”
“Because I’m a grown man and I don’t have to check in and I haven’t had a curfew in fifteen fucking years.”
“You woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”
“Thanks to you.”
“Look, Dad’s called every one of us trying to find out what you’re doing. He said you’re not answering his calls. He expects a full value assessment by end of day tomorrow. You were supposed to have this wrapped up by now. What are you doing out there, chasing tail like always?”
The accusation hit closer to home than I wanted to admit. “No,” I said, my voice coming out rougher than I’d intended.
Hudson laughed, a sound with no humor in it. “Like hell you aren’t. I can hear it in your voice.”
“You can’t hear shit.”
“Man, I know you. I know who I used to be. You’re with a woman right now, aren’t you?”
I could deny it. He wouldn’t believe me. Instead, I chose to exercise my right to remain silent.
“Shit, Kent, you’re supposed to be working, not playing house with some small-town girl. Get the job done and fuck around after. Dad told me he’s done supporting your lifestyle. You have to pull this off, little brother. I know you can do it. Stop fucking around.”
The line went dead, leaving me standing half-naked in Sylvie’s living room with the taste of guilt bitter in my mouth.
That was a sobering reminder of my actual priorities, wasn’t it? And what had I just done? I’d gone and slept with the woman whose family my father was planning to steamroll. The woman who thought I was here to help save her business when I was actually here to destroy it.
I was so lost in my self-recrimination that I didn’t hear Sylvie approach until she cleared her throat behind me.
I spun around and nearly choked on my own tongue. She was wearing my dress shirt from the night before. Nothing else, just my shirt. It fell to mid-thigh on her smaller frame. I knew with absolute certainty that she was naked underneath. Her legs were bare, her feet bare, all smooth skin and curves that made every rational thought flee my brain.
“Morning,” she said with a smile that was both shy and mischievous. “Coffee?”
She padded to the kitchen without waiting for an answer. I watched her move with the fluid grace of someone completely comfortable in her own skin. The shirt rode up slightly as she reached for the coffeemaker. I got a glimpse of that perfect ass. I had to grip the back of the sofa to keep from grabbing her and fucking her on the counter. It would be so easy. I could lose the boxers in a second and be buried inside her slick heat.
That’s what I wanted. I didn’t want fucking coffee.
“Sleep well?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder with a teasing smile.
I wanted to say yes. I wanted to tell her that I had slept better than I had in months, that waking up next to her had felt more right than anything in my life ever had. Instead, I heard myself saying, “I have to go.”
The words came out harsher than I’d intended, and I watched the light in her eyes dim slightly.
