How did I want to spend my Monday night? Not with my parents.

I’d disconnected from them and the way they lived long ago. When I was younger, I’d been keen to please them, but now that I was older, grown, I’d learned my lesson about allowing toxicity into my life. Even if that toxicity came in the form of my parents.

I’d already showered, and Erika had separated off to the guest room to do the same. The buzzer in the living room rang, and I walked through and answered the call. “This is Cox.”

“Evening, Mr. Cox. Your mother and father are here to see you?” The doorman prompted.

“Let them up,” I replied, then hung up. Fuck it, maybe it was rude, but I was in no mood to entertain, now that they were here. They’d complicate things further with Erika, and I didn’t need that.

They only came to town with reason. That reason was usually to get under my skin or suggest I pursue another career, join the family company. At this point, it was water off a duck’s back, but the fact that Erika would have to sit through it…

“I love the view,” she spoke behind me.

I turned on the spot, caught a glimpse of her in a pair of tight jeans and a camisole and held back a groan. Christ, she was flawless. And that would make tonight even more frustrating.

Erika tucked her hair behind her ear and stared out of the wall-to-floor windows that looked out on Central Park. “I mean, this view must be worth millions. Or rather, it’s priceless.”

I preferred my view instead. The one of her, her arms folded under her breasts, her shoulders, slightly freckled and tense. “Beautiful,” I said, then flicked my gaze away from her and to the park and the lights. Man, it was already too damn late for me.

The elevator binged open, and footsteps clattered down the hall. “Yoo-hoo,” my mother called out. “We’re here.”

Mom and Dad entered the living room, Dad carrying two pizza boxes and grinning broadly. “Hot out of the oven,” he said. He halted and stared at Erika, as if he’d only just realized she existed. Or as if he could see through her clothes.

“Reattach your jaw, Dad,” I said.

He snapped his teeth together and had the decency to color. He placed the pizza boxes on the table. “I’m afraid I didn’t bring any wine.”

“Fine,” I replied. “Got beers in the fridge.”

My mother pulled a face but didn’t openly protest. She took a seat next to my father, and Erika sat across from them, smiling brightly. “How was your day, Mr. and Mrs. Cox? Did you enjoy New York?”

“Not really,” Dad said. “Too busy in this city.”

“Well, it is the city that never sleeps,” Erika replied, with that chirp in her voice. If anyone could help me bury my frustration at the fact that they were here, it was her.

“Hmm, I don’t like it either. I prefer a smaller setting,” Mom put in. “Which reminds me, Noah, I meant to talk to you about something.”

“Oh yes,” Dad followed up. “We’ve got great news.”

Here we go again. I remained standing, waiting for whatever it might be. Some ill-intentioned attempt at digging their claws into me. Another failure, of course. Nobody got claws in me. Nobody fucking dared.

“I’ve decided to open a branch of the company in New York,” my father announced and spread his arms. “Cox Tech is coming to the Big Apple, and I couldn’t think of a more fitting CEO than you, son. What do you say? You’ll be in charge of a building full of people. You’ll have your own office. Hire your own secretary. The works.”

“It would make us so proud,” Mom said and beamed at me. I’d gotten my brown eyes from her, but that was the end of it. I wasn’t anything like her in personality. She was cold, calculating, and she treated my father like trash.

Dad? He was a cheater. And a manipulator. Christ, it was a miracle I’d turned out relatively normal. “No,” I said. “I’m not interested.”

Erika watched the conversation like a Wimbledon attendee, her head snapping back and forth, documenting verbal serve and volley. “Darling,” Mom said, “come on. We’ve entertained your career choice for years now. We gave you the opportunity to explore this, to enjoy what you do, but now is the time to knuckle down and do what your family needs you to.”

“Exactly,” Dad said, and shifted closer to the pizza boxes on the table, ruffling his gray hair with long fingers. “We need your help. You wouldn’t really refuse when you’re the only—”

“Not interested,” I said, then clapped my hands together. “Excuse me while I get the plates and drinks.” I swept into the kitchen before they could get another request out and busied myself with the fridge. I exhaled, inhaled, exhaled, trying to slow myself down.

Fuck, they made me angry. Not just angry but fucking furious. How dare they come here and do this again? I’d kicked them out the last time. What made them think they could follow through with it again? Perhaps because of Erika’s presence. They weren’t wrong.

The only reason I hadn’t lost my shit at them was because I didn’t want to embarrass her.

Voices rumbled from the living room, and one of them belonged to her. I frowned and moved around the island, carrying the plates in one hand, the beers in the other, fingers hooked through the plastic rings.

“—fantastic ob-gyn,” Erika said.

“I’m sorry, dear, but you clearly don’t understand the gravity of the situation,” my mother replied. “I wouldn’t expect you to, of course. You’re not part of the family. Coxes are meant to fulfill their roles as designated by their parents.”

“That’s what my father expected of me,” Dad said, gruffly. “And I damn well did exactly as he asked of me. I wouldn’t have dreamed of disrespecting him in this way.”

I gripped the plates so hard they rattled slightly.

“Noah deserves to be happy,” Erika said, and her tone was firm. “He’s worked his entire life to get where he is today, and there’s not a chance he’ll give that up. I sympathize with him entirely.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about,” Mom sniffed. “You’ve never had any ambition, have you, Erika? You were the bookish one in your family, nothing like your brother Marc, who’s a fantastic businessman, from what I hear.”

“I am what I am,” Erika said, still sharp as nails. “And I wouldn’t change what I do for the world. I’m really disappointed, Mrs. Cox. When I saw you this morning, I was excited to catch up, but it seems you’re only here to fulfill an agenda.”

My parents quieted, and a smile cracked my lips apart. Shit, little miss was actually defending me? She had to know I didn’t need that, but the fact that she gave this much of a shit warmed the hell of the coal lump I called a heart.

I entered the living room before things could reach an ugly head and placed the plates on the coffee table next to the pizzas. I handed out the beers but paused on Erika’s one. I cracked it for her, then gave it over.

“Thanks,” she said and took a sip. She drank beer as neatly as she ate. The only time I’d seen her sloppy was on my cock. “I was just telling your folks about what we do. It’s an amazing job.”

My parents were mirror images of disapproval. In fact, they were dirtying up the vibe in here.

“All right,” I said and clapped my hands. “That’s fucking it.”

“Language,” my mother gasped, faking it as usual. She swore like a damn trooper on a good day.

I reached over and plucked the beer cans from their hands. I lifted the pizza boxes from the table and placed them in my father’s lap. “Get out,” I said. “Take your shitty attitude, your crappy pizza, and get the fuck out of my apartment.”

“Noah!” Mom exclaimed. My father looked as if he’d lapsed into shock.

“Now,” I grunted. “I’ve had enough. The only reason I put up with you here was because I had a guest. It seems you’ve pissed her off too, so the gloves are fucking off. Get out of my apartment right now. Next time you want to talk, call me. I’ll see if I can free up some time in my schedule to have a discussion with you.”

They stared at me for a second longer, and I checked my watch, looked back up at them.

Finally, they got up and made for the hall. I walked them all the way to the doors, hit the down button for the elevator in silence, then ensured they were inside and on their way down before returning to the living room.

Erika sat exactly where I’d left her but stared out of the windows instead of at me. “Well,” she said, “that was interesting. I had no idea your parents were like that.”

“Manipulative twats?” I asked. “Yeah, they play the game well, but I’m done being fooled by them.”

“Sorry I basically invited them here tonight,” Erika said. “I was just trying to be friendly. I had no idea they’d spring that on you. Sheesh, you’d swear they thought you were fresh out of college, not a qualified physician.”

I shrugged. “I really don’t give a fuck, Erika. We’ve got bigger problems.”

She faced me, frowning, her breasts pressing against the cotton of her top. They were so fucking luscious I could barely think straight. “What’s that?”

“They took the pizzas with them. We’re out of food.” I didn’t bother mentioning that I’d overheard her defending me. That would only make things tenser between us. “What are you in the mood for?”

She licked her lips and looked me over.

Fuck me.

“Uh, how about sushi?”

“On it,” I said.

The next twenty minutes passed painfully slowly while we waited for the sushi to arrive. I unbuttoned my cotton button-down and let it hang loose. Erika stared at me, and I grinned at her, challenged her with my eyes.

She tied her hair up high, adjusted her shirt around those breasts, and licked her full lips. “Why are you staring at me?” she asked.

“Why do you think, Erika? Just because we came up with this pact, doesn’t mean I’m not thinking about breaking it. No sex doesn’t work for me.”

“In general?”

“Fuck no. Just with you,” I said, and balanced my forearms on my thighs. “You have no idea what I’d do to you, Erika.”

“I have some idea,” she whispered, green eyes sparkling. “We both have some experience in the matter.”

I sat back with my beer, shirt falling open further, exposing my abs, my tats, and I watched her admire me. “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet.”

Erika cleared her throat. “And I won’t see anything more. Perhaps, we should steer this conversation into calmer waters. You know what I’d really like to do sometime?”

“What?” I asked, mildly amused by the evasion, mostly frustrated by it.

“Take a walk in Central Park. I’ve never been,” she said, and shrugged her shoulders. “I went straight from Syracuse to Chicago, and that was it. Didn’t really get the chance to explore the city, and you know what a fan I am of Friends. Central Park. You get it, right?”

“I do. And it can be arranged,” I replied.

Erika smiled but switched her focus to the windows again. The buzzer rang, signaling that our food had arrived, and shut the conversation down. I fetched the food and returned to a muted Erika. She barely spoke throughout our meal and excused herself right after and went straight to bed, leaving me to drink on my own.

She’d put her foot down. She wouldn’t let it happen. We’d made this dumbass no-sex agreement, but I was already sick of it. Too tense from her constant presence, from the desire.

She’d made this a challenge.

And I never backed down from a challenge.