“Katie,” he groaned as I slowly pulled back and sucked on his tip, licking the p**cum off of the tip before sitting up and sliding my body onto him. I positioned the head of his c**k between my legs and allowed the tip to gently rub my cl*tas I moved back and forth, pleasuring myself with him. “Katie,” he groaned louder this time. “Please.”

I smiled down at him, almost forgetting that I hated him as much as I loved him. All I could think of was Matt’s call. What problem did they have? I needed to know how Brandon knew Matt. I reached down and caressed his c**k again before slowly sliding down on it. I moaned as he filled me up and my juices covered his hardness. I sat on top of him and rode him slowly, allowing his c**k to slide in and out of me before twirling my hips. He groaned as I increased my pace, and I watched as he closed his eyes. I looked down at him as I f**ked him, and I knew that this was my opportunity to get some answers. I increased my pace even more, and his hands reached up to grab my br**sts as I rode him. And then I slowed my pace until I completely stopped moving.

He opened his eyes slowly and groaned. “Don’t stop, Katie.”

“I want to ask you a question,” I said softly and moved back and forth slowly. I could feel his c**k twitching inside of me.

“What?” he groaned as his hands moved to my h*ps to try and force my movements to go faster.

“I want to know how you know my ex-boyfriend, Matt?” I sat up until his c**k was completely out of me and then sat back down and started grinding on him but not allowing him to enter me.

“Katie.” His eyes darkened as he tried to adjust his c**k to be inside of me.

“Tell me.” I reached down, grabbed his cock, and let the tip of him enter me. “How do you know Matt?” I thought I had won as he groaned and sat up slightly, but then Brandon grabbed ahold of me until I was flat on my stomach. I felt him lower his body onto mine before slipping his c**k back inside of me. He moved quickly, and I closed my eyes as pleasure overtook everything in my mind. I gasped as I felt him going deeper and deeper. He then pulled out quickly and flipped me onto my back before entering me again.

“I want to see your face when you come for me.” He grinned down at me as he increased his pace.

“Tell me,” I gasped. “How do you know Matt?”

Brandon was quiet for a moment as he f**ked me. I could feel his orgasm building up ,and my body started shuddering as his fingers played with me as he f**ked me. I closed my eyes as my orgasm built up, and he slammed into me a few more times before I felt him burst inside of me. I cl**axed a few seconds after him and clung to him as our bodies shook together.

“His dad works for me,” he whispered in my ear. “Matt is Maria’s brother.”

Chapter 2

Brandon

Matt’s phone call had stopped my heart. I hadn’t waited all these years and come this far for Katie to just give up on me. I couldn’t let it happen. I wasn’t going to let it happen. All my life I had gone from woman to woman, not knowing what love was and not caring, and then I had met Katie. Katie of my heart and soul. Katie who set my heart on fire with one smile. The moment I saw her, I’d known she was the one. Something about the way her eyes stared into mine with her shy smile, the way her hair always curled no matter how much she straightened it. There was something about her that couldn’t be tamed. Yet, she appealed to me. She was the love of my life. But now, she was giving up on me.

I watched as Harry played with his Legos, carefully pushing the pieces on top of each other. I loved him more than life itself. My son, the flesh of my loins. I’d never experienced a love like this before. He was the symbol of all my dreams come true, and I would not let him experience the pain I’d had to experience. Before I made any changes in our lives, I had to be one hundred percent sure that he wasn’t going to get hurt. That was why I’d left Katie early this morning. I knew she would be upset that I had left while she was asleep, but as I’d lain with her, watching her sleep, I’d known that I was too weak. I hadn’t wanted to leave. I hadn’t wanted to let her go again. It was becoming increasingly hard to not say to hell with everything and just stay with her. But there was too much at stake. There was Harry to think of now. And I knew that, to a lesser extent, I had to take Maria into account. And my promise to Will. And I couldn’t forget what had happened with Denise. I closed my eyes as I thought about Denise—she was the reason for all of this. If I could only turn back time—then I wouldn’t be in this mess.

Last night had been hard. When Matt called me, I knew that I didn’t have much time left. I couldn’t let her leave Marathon Corporation. I knew that if she left, everything would have been for naught. I was mad at myself when I got off the phone with Matt. I had pushed Katie too far and too fast, and she was already breaking. And now she had kissed another man. I wanted to hit someone at the thought. I grew angry and jealous at the thought of her making love to another man. She hadn’t last night, but who knows what stopped her. I was sure that it hadn’t been for the lack of the bartender trying. I was going to have to find out what bar she had gone to and have a talk with the bartender, just in case Katie went in there again and had any ideas. My insides felt like they were going to burst out of my stomach. I clenched my fists as I thought about her kissing another man and enjoying it. I had done everything in my power to get us to this moment, and it wasn’t working out as planned. Not at all.

I thought back to the first night I met her. It was the best and worst night of my life.

The first time I saw her was at 1:30 a.m. I could still remember it as clear as day. I had been walking home when I saw her standing there, looking so lost and innocent. She had been standing against the wall and dancing and singing to herself with a huge smile on her face. I hadn’t been able to stop myself from going up to her, even though I hadn’t wanted to. My insides had screamed at me to move on, but there was something about her that had made me grind to a halt.

“Are you okay?” I’d approached her apprehensively, hoping not to scare her outside of the trashy club.

As I got closer to her, I realized that her face looked pale. I immediately felt concerned for her, though my brain was screaming at me to leave her alone. I knew that Doug’s was a bar full of miscreants, and after the last couple of weeks I had had, I wasn’t interested in meeting any new women.

“Do you need me to take you somewhere?” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them, and my hands gripped her shoulders. As soon as I touched her, I felt a buzz of electricity run through me. She looked up at me then, her big brown eyes friendly and surprised. She studied my face for a few seconds before grinning at me in appreciation.

“I’m fine.” She giggled slightly and moved closer to me. A part of me wanted to kiss her right then and there. She captivated me with her openness. It was something I wasn’t used to. “I’m just waiting on my friends.” Her words slurred and she hiccupped.

I looked around the street to see if I could see any other girls. There was no one else outside, aside from one of the bouncers and a seedy looking man who was staring at her legs. I glared at him before turning back to her angrily. What was she doing standing outside this sleazy club by herself? Didn’t she know what could happen?

“You’re drunk. I’m not seeing any friends here.”

“They’re in the toilet.” She stumbled towards me.

“I see. I’ll wait with you then.” I took her hand and we leaned against the wall, waiting for her friends to come out. She stared at me again with a sweet smile.

“Thank you,” she said softly and I nodded at her, not knowing what to say.

This girl was different, with her big, wavy hair and cheap, overdone makeup. She didn’t fit the sleek, made-up look of other women in the city. A part of me was attracted to her for all she represented, and the other part of me was attracted to her because she was sexy as hell.

“Are you trying to seduce me?” She wiggled her eyebrows at me while staring at me with obvious lust as she giggled and pushed her chest out. I appreciated the fact that she was showing me who she was and what she wanted, even though I knew there was no way I would sleep with her now. Not when she was drunk. Not after what had happened with Denise. I’d be a fool to go down that road. I declined her offer and smiled at her. There was something so lost but genuine about her. Standing there brought out feelings I had never felt before. This girl was different, and I was loath to just leave her alone.

I can still remember my brain screaming at me as I offered to take her home with me that night. I supposed I could have asked to see her driver’s license and sent her off in a cab, but I wanted to make sure she was okay. And I wanted a chance to see what she was like when she wasn’t drunk. I helped her back to my apartment slowly. I was mad at the fact that she went with me so easily. She fell asleep and became dead weight in my arms about two blocks from my apartment, so I picked her up and carried her back quickly, feeling like her knight in shining armor. Only, she didn’t know, and I knew that there was no one else who would ever call me a Prince Charming. I’d placed her in the bed and gone to sleep on the couch in the living room. I didn’t want her to wake up in bed with a strange man and panic, even though I’d wanted to feel her in my arms.

The next morning she woke up with a trusting face and a huge but weary smile, and I knew she wasn’t like all the others. She was different, and as she looked at me so guilelessly, I knew that I wanted a relationship with her. But I couldn’t forget what had just happened with Denise, so I called Will and asked him to check her out and follow her. I just needed to know that she wasn’t setting me up. It was the second-worst decision of my life, and once again, I felt like everything was crashing down around me.

“Ow,” Harry whimpered, and I was immediately brought back to the present.

“What’s wrong?” I hurried over to him.

“My Lego hurt me.” He grinned at me and jumped up. “I want to go and play on my new skateboard now.”

“Not right now, Harry.” I shook my head and ruffled his hair.

“Oh come on, Dad. I’ll be careful.” He looked up at me with a hopeful expression and a small pout. He reminded me so much of his mother with his expressive face. I hugged him to me for a second and shook my head.

“Maybe tomorrow.”

“You always say that.” He frowned and pulled away from me. “I’m going to go and play Wii.”

“Maybe I’ll join you in a few minutes,” I called after him as he ran out of the room, and he looked back at me with such a look of joy that I told myself I definitely needed to play with him after my call.

“Hello?” he answered slowly and unsurely. I knew he was worried about my tone. I had been furious with him last night.

“Matt, it’s Brandon.”

“She’s not answering my calls, sir.”

“That’s fine.” I bit my lower lip, not sure how to continue. “Right now I need you to focus on something else.”

“Sure. Do you want me to look into another company?” His voice grew excited at the possibility, and I sighed internally. He wasn’t as good a detective as his father Will had been. I knew his heart wasn’t in the job, not if it wasn’t to do with business. Matt was a journalist first and foremost, a detective second. And I didn’t trust him, not like I had trusted his dad. But when his dad died of a heart attack two years ago, he had taken over the business, and I’d remained loyal to honor his dad.

“No, I need you to find a bar.”

“A bar?” His tone sounded surprised.

“I need to know the name of the bar Katie went to last night when she left your apartment. And I need to know the names of all the bartenders that were working last night.”

“How am I supposed to find that out?” Matt sounded bored, and I wanted to reach through the phone and smack him. Matt irritated me, and if it weren’t for all he’d done so far and all the information he knew, I would have told him what I thought of him. The only reason I’d hired Matt to date Katie was because I knew he was gay. No matter what happened, he was never going to seduce her and have sex with her. And I didn’t care about a few sloppy kisses—not from him. I knew he could never set her on fire like I did.

“Do some work.” My tone was angry. “Go through her credit card bills, see who saw her in the street, check every neighborhood bar around you with photos, do whatever it takes. But get me that information.”

“Sure,” he sighed.

“I want it by tonight.”

“But I was planning on—” He started and I coldly interrupted him.

“I don’t care what your plans were. I need this information by tonight.”

“You only care about yourself,” he muttered with a bitter tone.

“Don’t forget who got you the job at the Wall Street Journal,” I hissed. “And don’t forget who’s looking after your sister.”

“How is Maria, by the way?” His voice was glib. “Should I reserve a date on my calendar for the wedding?”

“Funny.” My tone was anything but humorous.

“I dare say she wouldn’t mind being a part of some sort of sister wives marriage,” he joked. “Seeing as you like the group stuff anyways.”

My blood boiled over at his comment. I knew that he was sending me a warning, not just idly joking. But he had no idea who he was messing with.

“Matt, just get me the information.” I hung up the phone and rubbed my temples. That was the problem with having too many people in your business. Will was the only other person who knew what had gone down with Denise and me that night. And now it seemed that Matt knew as well. I knew then and there that it was over for him as well as for Maria. I’d done as much as I could to help them and honor their father’s wishes, but I could take them no further. I didn’t care how cruel I had to be.