After I went to the gym, I usually headed home to shower.

But now, I went straight to Titan’s penthouse.

We’d never had a discussion about where we would be staying. Her place wasn’t necessarily bigger or better than mine, but since she called it home, I went wherever she was. I walked inside her penthouse in my workout clothes with my suit in my duffel bag. She had an employee collect her dry cleaning every night, so I added it to the pile to be picked up. “Baby, I’m here.”

She walked out of the kitchen in her work clothes, a black apron tied around her waist.

I nearly did a double take. “What’s this?”

“An apron.” She rose on her tiptoes since her heels were gone and kissed me on the lips. “People use them when they cook.”

I grabbed her ass through her skirt as I kissed her. “I know what it is. You just don’t strike me as the kind of woman who wears one.”

“I don’t want to get anything on my expensive blouse.”

“Then maybe you should cook with nothing on…” I kept kissing her, my eyes on hers as I squeezed her gorgeous behind.

“Ouch. That would hurt.”

“Then how about just the apron?”

“I guess I could give that a try.” She gave me one more kiss before she settled back on her flat feet. “How was your day?”

“Good. Yours?”

She hesitated slightly before she answered. “Good. Dinner will be ready by the time you’re out of the shower.” She started to drift away.

I grabbed her by the wrist and tugged her back to me. “As much as I appreciate a hot meal every night when I come home, you don’t need to cook for me.” She could always hire someone to do that for her, but she was an extremely private person who hardly let anyone into her domain.

“I know. I do it because I enjoy it.”

That was a sweet answer—and sexy. “I can always whip up something if you need a break.”

“Will you cook naked?” she teased.

I smiled before I rubbed my nose against hers. “Sure.”

“Ooh…” She walked away and headed back into the kitchen, shaking her gorgeous ass as she walked.

I stared until she was completely gone from sight—a hard dick in my shorts.

---

We sat across from each other, both of us enjoying a glass of wine with dinner. I’d never cooked for a woman before or had her cook for me. It was just sex, sometimes dinner and drinks, and that was about it.

But now we did this on a nightly basis.

It was boring, quiet, predictable…I loved it.

She drank her wine in between bites, sticking to one glass without refilling it. She’d taken my words to heart and watched her alcohol intake. I never considered her to be an alcoholic, but I didn’t want her to overdo it either. She could handle her liquor better than anyone I’d ever met, which was why it concerned me more. Before she even realized it, she would have more to drink on a Tuesday than a man on a Friday night in a bar.

“I think you should come back to Stratosphere.” She held her fork in her hand as she gazed at me across the table. “I know you walked away because of me…and it hasn’t been the same since you left.”

I hadn’t wanted to leave the company either. I’d only done it because I didn’t have a choice. Now that we’d worked things out, it didn’t make sense for me to stay away. “I’d love to come back if you’ll have me. I enjoyed working with you.”

“Great.” She smiled in relief, as if she’d expected me to give a different answer. “I guess we’ll get the legal teams together again.”

“They get paid either way, so they won’t care.”

“Yeah, I guess not.” She turned her attention back to her food and pushed it around with a fork.

I watched the way a few strands of hair fell in front of her face. She was beautiful without even trying, a work of art. There was a distinct sadness that accompanied her features constantly now. I knew it was because of Thorn, and I always steered clear of any subject that could be related to him. I still believed I could bring them back together; I just wasn’t sure how. But I would find a way. “Anything interesting happen today?”

She was about to take a break but chose to put her fork down instead. “Actually, yeah.”

“What?” I took a bite and chewed as I stared at her. She was still in her work clothes, but the apron was gone. Once I’d showered, I’d pulled on a pair of sweatpants and nothing else, making myself comfortable in her home. She liked my choice of attire anyway.

When she paused before she answered, I knew what she had to say was significant. “I had lunch with your father.”

Vincent Hunt seemed to be the subject of most of our conversations lately. “Where did you bump into him?”

“Actually, he called me and invited me to lunch.”

Even if my father was no longer hostile, I didn’t trust him. Dinner was forgotten and the paranoia sunk in. “What did he want? Did he threaten you?”

She chuckled like the suggestion was absolutely absurd. “No.”

But it wasn’t absurd. My father had manipulated me my entire life. Just in the last few months, he’d been intent on destroying my life. It wasn’t a ridiculous suggestion to make, and I didn’t want Titan to forget that.

“He said he wanted to get to know me.”

Both of my eyebrows nearly lurched off my face. “Did he come on to you?”

This time, she rolled her eyes. “Diesel, come on.”

“Did he?” I pressed.

“Your father has never looked at me like that. And trust me, I can tell.”

My father’s dates were always in their twenties, younger than both Titan and me. He clearly had a preference for the young and the beautiful. Titan fit that criteria perfectly, but she also had so many more features that made her innately desirable.

“When I spoke to him in his office, I told him I would be his daughter-in-law someday.”

I already knew we were both committed to this relationship because it was special to both of us. I’d never loved a woman before, and I was a man she couldn’t live without. We wanted to get married—someday. We were both willing to sacrifice everything to make that happen. But hearing her say it still made my body feel a jolt of happiness.

“So he said he wanted to know me better.” She spoke with confidence, but she was obviously tense about my reaction. “So we had lunch for about an hour. He asked me about my father, my relationship with you, and he told me a few things about himself too…”

Even when I was still speaking to my father, we didn’t have deep conversations. It was all work and money. “What did he say about himself?”

“He talked about your mom.”

He never talked about my mom. “What did he say?”

“That he misses her every day.” Titan watched my reaction, paying attention to every single detail on my face. When I gave her nothing but a stoic expression, she moved on. “He wants to make things right with you. He’s just not sure how to do that.”

“It’s been ten years,” I said coldly. “He can’t make it right.”

“Diesel.” Her deep tone would set anyone on edge. Her disappointment was packed into the single word. “It could be thirty years, and there would still be a chance. Your father has been making steps toward reconciliation, which is more than I can say for you.”

I narrowed my eyes as I watched my woman take my father’s side. “I notice how quickly you’ve forgotten everything he’s done. You sweep it under the rug like it’s nothing.”

“I’ve never swept it under the rug. Your father didn’t handle his grief well, and I’ve never made excuses for it. But he’s always loved you and wanted to do something about it—he just never knew how. Meet him halfway.”

“Ten years,” I repeated.

“So you’re saying he can never be forgiven?” she asked incredulously. “That he doesn’t deserve to have his son back in his life? That’s what you’re telling me?” She leaned farther over the table, developing that fire she possessed in the boardroom. She was disappointed in me, but she was also pissed. “That you won’t even try out of respect for your mother?”

The second my mother was mentioned, my hostility dwindled. I respected her in death as much as I did in life. “I just…it’s more complicated than that. You see the situation in black and white, but it’s deep and painful for both of us. It’s not as simple as shaking hands, calling a truce, and going to lunch. He did horrible things to both me and Brett. He’s ignored me for ten years. And for the past few months, he’s launched a ruthless attack against me. He’s stalked my girlfriend and me to dig up dirt on the both of us. He stole my company just to be spiteful. He’s threatened me countless times, in my own office. You expect me just to forget about that? Well, I can’t. Even if I wanted to, I can’t. I can’t forget the resentment and the hurt with the snap of a finger. It’s not so easy…”

Titan watched me with the same aggressive eyes. “What if he died tomorrow?”

“What?”

“What if he got hit by a bus tomorrow? And you knew he wanted to make things right with you, but you denied him? How would you feel? Would that guilt haunt you for the rest of your life? Yes, it would.”

“Titan, he never told me he wanted to make things right. He only talks to you.”

Her tense posture softened. “Does that mean you want him to?”

“I didn’t say that…” When we’d spoken in my office, he’d told me how angry he was that I’d walked away from him. It was the first time he showed me some kind of affection in years. Before Mom died, we used to throw a football around in the park and get ice cream together. But when she was gone, he didn’t have a heart left to love any of us anymore.

“Meet with him, Diesel. Talk to him.”

I considered it, but then I quickly changed my mind. “Titan…I don’t know.”

“What’s the harm?”

She didn’t understand. “I’ve already been hurt by him a lot in the past. I don’t think I can get my hopes up and be disappointed again. It would kill me. It’s easier for me to hate him than hope for the possibility of more.”

“Because you still love him,” she whispered. “You have to try. You’ll hate yourself if you don’t.”

I hadn’t finished my dinner, but I was no longer hungry. I pushed the dish away then ran my fingers through my hair, feeling her intense gaze fixate on my features. “I can’t forgive him for what he did to Brett. That’s something I can’t brush off.”

“What if Brett forgave him?”

“That would never happen.”

“And what if it did?”

I shrugged. “I don’t know. The whole thing is complicated.”

“You chose Brett over your father, which I admire. Brett didn’t have anyone, and you stood by his side. But don’t forget that you lost another brother in the process. Jax is innocent just like you are. You owe it your mother to find your way back to each other.”

I’d only spoken to Jax once in the last ten years. I didn’t know much about his life anymore. It was a shame that we drifted apart so severely. He chose my father over Brett, but that didn’t necessarily make him a bad guy. When we were growing up, Jax was never mean to Brett. “Why are you doing this, Titan? I know you lost your father and you don’t want me to experience the same thing…but this is completely different.”

“I want you to be happy, Diesel. That’s all.”

“I’m happy with you. I don’t need anything else.”

She reached across the table and rested her hand on mine. “I know. But I don’t have any family in the world. Thorn was the best thing that I had, and now that he’s gone…it’s just me. I don’t want you to feel alone the way I do, Diesel. You have a father and a brother out there. You should have them in your life.”

---

Thorn’s assistant looked at me with disappointment. “I already told you he doesn’t want to see you in his office again.”

“Tell him it’s either here or at his front door. His call.” I took a seat on the couch and waited. I watched his assistant speak to him on the phone, talking in whispers so I couldn’t overhear. She hung up then nodded toward the door, telling me I could walk inside.

I helped myself into his office, seeing him sitting behind his desk typing on his computer. “How’s it going?”

He kept his eyes on the screen. “Pretty good until you showed up.”

I sank into the chair and watched him.

His fingers tapped against the keyboard as he typed quickly. He was in the middle of an email, so I waited for him to finish. He skimmed through his email quickly before he sent it off. He turned in his chair and faced me. “We’re going to have the same conversation we’ve had dozens of times, so can we do the quick version? I have a lot to do today.”

“Forgive her, Thorn.”

He sat back in his chair, his arms on the armrests and his gaze focused on me.

“She tries to hide it from me, but she’s still miserable.”

“Imagine how I feel. I’m still dodging my mother’s calls. The world thinks I’m an asshole who was stupid enough to dump Tatum Titan. I can’t go anywhere without the press shoving microphones into my face. I went from a respectable businessman to an idiot having a mental breakdown.”

“And she feels terrible about all of that.”

“Feeling terrible doesn’t change my situation,” he said coldly. “She made her decision, and I respect it. You need to respect mine.”

“You two belong together.”

He chuckled and shook his head at the same time. “She’d be marrying me if that were the case. But she wants to marry you—and she’s willing to sacrifice everything to make that happen.”

I’d always believed they were just friends, but sometimes I wasn’t so sure. “Are you in love with her?”

He chuckled again, this time, a little louder. “Really, Hunt? She’s yours, and you’re jealous of me?”

“I’m not jealous.” I had nothing to be jealous of. “I just wonder if that’s the real reason you’re so angry. I wouldn’t blame you, Thorn. She’s a remarkable woman. If she left me, I wouldn’t be happy about it either.”

“I admit Titan is a beautiful woman that I find attractive.” He held my gaze, unafraid to speak his mind. “I wanted to be her husband. I wanted to fuck her. I’m not going to sit here and pretend otherwise.”

All the muscles in my body immediately tightened in reaction.

“But I’ve never been in love with her. I’ve never had romantic feelings for her. It has nothing to do with her—just me. I’m incapable of romantic emotion, which was why losing her was even more unbearable. She was my only chance to have a somewhat normal life. I still want to have a family someday, but now I’m not sure how to do that. I suppose I could find someone else to have an arrangement with me, but I don’t trust anyone the way I trusted her.” He rubbed his jaw as he worked through his thoughts. “So you don’t have anything to worry about, Hunt. My intentions of marrying her were solely based on convenience. But I admit, I did love her as much as I possibly could…more than I’ve ever loved anyone else. But that love only extends so far…into the realm of friendship.”

I believed him. He had no reason to lie to me now.

“I loved having Titan as a partner, someone I could trust implicitly. Finding that kind of relationship in the world in which we live is just not possible. I had something rare, something wonderful. Titan had the moral high ground most businessmen lacked. She had to work twice as hard and be twice as smart to survive in this world, but she did it with grace. She’s a role model to me in a lot of ways. I won’t lie, losing her has been hard for me. I feel lonely because she was the one person I could be myself around. She knew everything about me, all the good and the bad…but mostly the bad. And now she’s gone.”

“She doesn’t have to be gone, Thorn. She misses you.”

He shook his head. “It’s over. She betrayed me…and I’ll never get over it.”

“I hope that’s not true.”

“It is,” he said simply. “I don’t hate her. I understand her decision. I want her to be happy…but I can’t go back to what we were.”

“Maybe you just need some time.”

He held my gaze, his blue eyes softening as the sadness took over. “Unlikely.”

---

I showered when I got to her penthouse. She wasn’t home yet, having to work late for Illuminance. I’d already placed a pot roast in the slow cooker so she wouldn’t have to worry about making dinner when she got back.

I liked our routine.

She made dinner most of the time, but if she was busy, I took care of it. We shared our space in harmony, splitting dressers and dividing closet space. I used to have an enormous penthouse all to myself, but I hadn’t missed it yet.

When I was out of the shower, I dried my hair with a towel then walked into the bedroom. I reflected on my conversation with Thorn, feeling the annoyance swell inside me. I couldn’t believe how difficult it was to put them back together.

Thorn wasn’t himself.

He’d turned into a different person. The anger and resentment had turned him into a coldhearted man. I already knew he didn’t have affection for most people, and he certainly wasn’t compassionate. But I knew he felt differently about Titan.

He was devastated.

But I wouldn’t give up. Titan needed him in her life, and I knew he needed her too.

I’d figure it out—eventually.

Just when I pulled on my sweatpants, she stepped into the bedroom. She was still in her sky-high heels, wearing her black dress with a white gold necklace. Her satchel was left by the door, and she turned to me with a smile on her face. “Something smells good.”

When I looked at her, I didn’t think about dinner, Thorn, or anything else. All I thought about was her beautiful lips, painted red with her lipstick. I thought about the way her gentle breaths would fill my mouth. That small tongue always drove me wild, whether it was in my mouth, against my cock, or dragged across my chest.

I moved into her and immediately dug my hand into her hair. My mouth sealed over hers, and I kissed her, getting lost in the lustful embrace. My tongue immediately went into her mouth, escalating the passion before she even had a chance to breathe. I hooked my arm around her slender waist, and I dragged her into me, feeling the shape of her breasts through the soft fabric of her dress.

Her arms wound around my neck, and she pulled herself higher on her toes so she could kiss me harder. She matched my intensity instantly, her nails pressing into me with aggression. She knew what she wanted, and she wasn’t afraid to take it—just the way I did.

I guided her to the bed and lowered her back to the mattress. I stood at the foot of the bed and shoved my sweatpants and boxers down until my thick cock popped out. I yanked her panties off, and I shoved her dress around her hips.

I gripped her ass and dragged her to the edge of the bed, positioning her so she could take my cock deep and hard. I shoved myself inside her with a deep thrust, pushing all the way inside until every inch of my cock was sheathed.

She responded with a moan. Her nails dug into my forearms, and she gasped as if she’d never felt me like this before.

My hands gripped the back of her thighs, and I pinned her perfectly underneath me, her legs spread and her pussy ready for me. I thrust into her hard, fucking her like I hadn’t just had her that morning before work.

Her fingers locked around my wrists, and she dragged herself back to me, taking in my cock as I gave it to her. “Diesel…”

I stepped closer to her, hitting her deep.

She moaned harder, her head rolling back as she released a quiet scream.

I pumped her with come every morning, every afternoon, and every night. I wanted her to be stuffed at all times, to overflow with my desire.

She moved her hands up my chest, her hair stretched out across the mattress around her. Her green eyes were wild with fire, and her beautiful lips were parted in ecstasy. “I love you…”

That was the biggest turn-on of all. I leaned over her and shoved my hand into her hair, getting a tight grip on her so she couldn’t slip away. I rolled my hips harder so I could pound into her with the same aggression. “I love you too, baby.”

---

She sat beside me on the couch, her legs resting over my thighs. She was in my t-shirt and a fresh pair of panties, her hair still messy from the way I’d wrapped it around my fingertips. Dinner was in our bellies, so we enjoyed a glass of wine in front of the TV.

Titan was all over me—all the time.

I loved it.

Her hand rested across my chest, and she placed her chin on my shoulder. It wasn’t comfortable for her to watch TV that way, but she’d rather be on me than anywhere else. “Diesel?”

My hand moved up and down her thigh. “Yeah, baby?”

Her hand glided down my chest toward my torso. Her fingers felt cold against my skin, probably because I always ran a few degrees warmer than her. I could be shirtless and barefoot but still perfectly comfortable. She could be deep under the covers in bed and still shiver. “Did you read my father’s book?”

The question caught me off guard. It was the last thing I expected her to ask. It took me a second to comprehend the situation, to try to understand what would make her ask me that. I had the book in my nightstand. Maybe she opened the drawer one day and discovered it. But she hadn’t been at my place in a while, so this must have happened some time ago. “Most of it.”

Her eyes softened in the special way they only did for me. A slight smile formed on her lips. “Why?”

“I wanted to get to know him—and you.”

“What did you think?”

“I enjoyed it. He was a great poet.”

“Really?” she whispered, her eyes burning with emotion.

“Yeah.” I squeezed her thigh. “I felt like I was reading an autobiography of his life.”

“I organized the poems that way…putting them in order.”

I remembered one poem in particular. It was the last one I read. It was too emotional for me to continue. “My favorite was ‘Remember Me.’”

The touched expression on her face died away as the tears welled in her eyes.

I knew exactly what it was about as I read it. He was diagnosed with cancer and knew he didn’t have much time to accept it. He expressed all his fears. He was afraid to die and face what was next, but he was more afraid of what would happen to his daughter when he was gone. He didn’t know who would take care of her. And he didn’t want her to remember the final months of his life, but instead, remember the good times they had. “I could feel how much he loved you.”

Tears broke free, but sobs didn’t accompany them. She wiped her tears with the back of her forearm, quickly bringing herself back to a sense of calm. “He did.”

“He’d be proud of you, you know,” I whispered.

She nodded. “I do.”

I placed my palm against the back of her head and pulled her into me, placing a kiss on her forehead. “How did you know I was reading it?”

“I found it in your nightstand.” She wrapped her arm around my neck as she held on to me. “I wasn’t snooping…just looking for painkillers.”

“I don’t care if you look through my things. I have nothing to hide.”

“Even if you don’t care, I respect you and trust you too much to do that.”

My body flushed with an underlying sensation of heat. Just as I fantasized about her naked on my bed, I imagined this kind of foundation between us. I loved the way her voice didn’t flinch when she said those words. Like there was no longer a doubt in her mind, she trusted me implicitly. “That means a lot to me.”

“And it means a lot to me that you read his poems.”

“I wish I’d had the chance to meet him. Seemed like an amazing guy.”

“He was,” she said with fondness. “All he wanted was to give me a better life.”

“And I think he succeeded.” I kissed her on the forehead again, nuzzling her with affection. I’d never caressed a woman with my lips like this. I used to see women as sex objects. All I wanted to do was fuck them and forget about them. While I viewed Titan as the sexiest woman in the world, I saw so much more. I saw the woman I wanted to wake up to every morning.

“He did. And you make my life even better.”