Weston:Greg wants a strategy meeting in the morning about the contract.
Blade:I’ll tell Avery.
Weston:For…?
Blade:She’s still my assistant.
Weston:Right. Are you sure you’re okay with parading Avery around just to win that contract?
My heart skipped a beat. Was this a trick question? My brother couldn’t know, could he? I’d never had a real serious girlfriend. Whenever I had to attend charity dinners or other invitational events, I always went alone or took a date who was a friend of whatever eye candy Weston was with at the moment.
You don’t care about Avery. And she certainly doesn’t care about you.
But she had put plants in my office and decorated.
I needed to come up with a response to Weston. What was the correct answer?
Blade:She’s the love of my life and I’m proud to show her off.
I winced as soon as I sent the text. Maybe that was too heavy-handed.
Weston:Oookay.
Weston:Is everything all right between you? Seems like a little bit of overcompensation there.
I felt myself starting to panic. Why couldn’t my family leave me alone? Was it too much to ask for a man to orchestrate a fake relationship in peace?
Blade:Really? Because it sounds to me like jealousy from you.
Weston:Whatever, dude, I’m just trying to look out for you. I’ll see you in the morning.
Shit. Why did relationships have to be so complicated?
I was steaming when I finished with my workout. Usually I felt calm and centered, but now I felt like I could throw that stupid grilled cheese maker, which was still sitting on my counter, through the window. To make matters worse, Avery was still in the bathroom when I was done with my workout. Seriously, why did that woman need to be in there for hours? I could hear her giggling as she texted with someone, the phone chiming softly with every new incoming message. What had she been doing in there all this time? I half wondered if she had touched herself in the bath. If so, had she thought of me?
“You sound just like your father,” I chastised myself as I paced in front of the bathroom door. Usually I tried to go to sleep by eleven, but with my brothers and Avery throwing off my schedule, it was already past midnight.
I banged on the door. “I need to use the shower.”
“Sorry!” Avery called. I heard her splash and step out of the tub. “I’m out!”
The door wrenched open, and we were face-to-face. Avery only wore a towel; her hair was wet, and her skin glistened. I wanted to take the towel off and bend her over to press my mouth against her pussy, which I was sure was as pink as her nipple.
I clenched my jaw. “We have work in the morning.”
The bathroom was steamy and smelled like her, fruity and feminine. I opened a window and took a freezing shower. It only minimally calmed the heat in me.
“It’s just because she’s a woman. It’s not personal.” I stared at myself in the mirror. “Stop acting like Dad. His sickness is controlling you.” I imagined a wall of ice surrounding me. I breathed in and out; the open window had taken away most of the fruity scent of my assistant.
I am calm. I am in control.
Unfortunately, when I walked out into the bedroom and saw Avery in my bed, I realized I was anything but.
21
Avery
Blade seemed to be in a bad mood when I brushed past him out of the bathroom.
