His Brother’s Wife

 

Blurb:

Jason Banks always gets what he wants. 

And this time, he wants his brother’s wife. 

I knew it the first time I looked at those delicious curves, 

Until she decided to walk down the aisle with my brother. 

I knew it from the look she gives me, 

That she wants to submit…give in to what I want. 

But she’s a good girl, plays by the rules. 

I? I say f*ck the rules! 

The only rule I wanna play by is, ‘If you love someone, love HARD. Fight HARDER’. 

Tiffany Baby, Care to bend down on your knees…for me? 

Chapter 1

Jason

The last place I wanted to be was here, sitting at this bar, waiting for my brother to come in, but it was our routine and I wasn’t about to make trouble between us—well, at least not more trouble than there already was. I was starting to feel like working for the family business had gone a completely different way than I’d anticipated. My father had created this media company with just the pennies in his and my mom’s pockets. Through the years and with some serious hard work, Banks Media had become a force in the business. We spanned seven countries and pretty much took over the media relations sector of journalism. Of course, it was destined for my brother Jordan and I to work at the company and then eventually run it together. On a business level, Jordan and I saw eye to eye, so running a company with him wasn’t what I was worried about. It was his private life that had come into question on a daily basis.

I saw the man every single day, including weekends when we went to our parents for events and cookouts. Spending that much time with my brother was a bit overwhelming in nature, especially when he had become the biggest douchebag I ever met. I was no saint, by any means, and never really had a steady relationship with any woman, but I was upfront and honest about it. He dragged his wife, Tiffany, through the mud and back. Jordan had fallen for Tiffany before they had ever spoken a word, not that I could blame him with her gorgeous blond hair, green eyes, and a body that belonged in a pinup ad, but it wasn’t until his father hired her on that he really got close to her. Everyone was ecstatic when they announced their engagement, she was one of the sweetest girls I’d ever come across, and Jordan actually seemed like he was settling down and becoming more patient and caring. Well, that lasted an entire three months, and now, we had to deal with this divorce that literally came out of nowhere.

The door swung open behind me, and Jordan’s smug laugh rang out as he greeted the bartender before slapping me hard on the shoulder. He pulled up a stool next to me and ordered a beer, a maniacal grin on his face. It was late, I was tired, and the last thing I wanted was to listen to him gloat about his impending divorce. I hoped he was worn out from the day, but that was too much to wish for.

“It’s almost over,” he chuckled. “On Monday, we will officially not be married any longer. Thank God, I have some good lawyers.”

“You mean dad had some good lawyers,” I grumbled, scooting his hand off my shoulder. It looked like I wasn’t going to be very good at holding back my opinion.

“What’s up with you? You seem a bit more tense than usual,” he said looking over at me. “And that’s saying a lot for you.”

“Just tell me,” I said turning quickly toward him. “Why the fuck would you give up on this girl after chasing her for so long?”

“She can’t have kids,” he said smugly. “I didn’t sign up for that shit.”

“You’re a fucking dick,” I said nodding to the bartender for my tab.

“How?” He turned to me angrily. “When I wanted a kid, to carry on this legacy because God knows you don’t have any prospects, she wouldn’t be able to give me that. It wasn’t what I thought it would be, so how is our marriage supposed to even work? What’s the fucking point of it?”

“So, what? You just said the vows and didn’t think about what they really meant? You know there's more than one way to have a child, dickhead. You could adopt. There are thousands of children out there who need a good home.” I threw cash down on the bar and stood up, drinking the last gulp of my beer.

“What the fuck does it matter to you? Why are you so bent out of shape? Do me a favor, Jason,” he said, glaring, “shut the hell up and stay out of my damn business.”

“You never deserved that girl anyway,” I said grabbing my jacket and walking toward the bathroom.

My brother was such a dick, and here I was, giving him the benefit of the doubt, thinking she had cheated on him or something. But no, he’s broken up a home, ended a marriage, and broken a girl’s heart over something she had zero control over. I really felt for Tiffany. She didn’t deserve any of this. He was so stupid for throwing away a life with this girl. She would have done anything for him, and she’d kept him in line. Maybe that’s what it really was. He didn’t like someone else being in control, not that she was in control of this situation either. She couldn’t have kids. It was probably devastating for her to find out, and then, she goes to her husband, who is supposed to be caring and supportive, and he turns his back on her. I suddenly felt embarrassed that cocksucker was my brother.

I washed my hands and walked out of the bathroom, stopping suddenly at the sight of Rose, the girl I had been messing around with for months. She was a hot little number and instantly all my cares flew right out the window. There was nothing better than getting some frustrations out through some tight ass and a little playtime. She had no misconceptions, and in reality, I was pretty sure she didn’t want to be any part of our fucked up family.

“Hey there,” she said, grabbing me by the shirt and yanking me forward. “I was looking for you.”

“Oh, yeah? What for?”

She bit her lip and looked up at me with her dark brown eyes. I chuckled at her lack of subtlety and looked around quickly as she reached down and cupped my balls. I pressed my hand to the wall behind her head and leaned in, dipping my tongue between her soft, poised lips.

“Where are we going this time?”

She giggled and grabbed me by the collar, pulling me into an old stock room in the back. It was obvious no one ever came into this place, and it was the perfect scenery for our normal debauchery. She clicked the lock closed and turned to me with trouble written on her face. She grinned, biting her lower lip and pulling her shirt over her head. I put my hands up chuckling at how forward she always was. She reached back and undid her bra, letting her big, round tits bounce all over the place. She pulled my shirt from my pants and dropped down on her knees, unbuckling them and yanking them down to my ankles. I leaned back against the dusty pillar and put my arms over my head, waiting for her lips. She pulled my boxers down and grabbed my shaft as it bounced free from the fabric. This girl had me going before she ever took her shirt off, but then again, I knew what she could do with those lips and those hips.

She wasted no time going straight to work, gliding her mouth over the tip of my cock and down my hard shaft. I groaned at the feeling of her tongue whipping wildly around my erection and looked down at her bright red hair as it bobbed back and forth. She slowly reached up and massaged my balls while sliding her head all the way down, taking the entirety of my cock into her throat. She pressed down hard, her lips touching the base, and I could feel her sucking at the back of her throat. She was so fucking hot, and to make it even hotter, she had a tongue piercing, leftover fashion from ten years ago. The soft gel ball rolled along my shaft and pressed right underneath the head of my cock, sending waves of pleasure through my body. I groaned as my hips moved forward, meeting her mouth and then pulling back. I grabbed onto her red hair and shoved her down, watching a smile curl at the edge of her lips. Her eyes gazed up at me, watering and wild as I continued to push my hips toward her face, fucking her mouth hard. She reached her hands up and groped her breasts, bouncing them up and down as I pleasured myself with her mouth. She spread her legs apart and reached up under her skirt, rubbing her clit, rolling her eyes, and moaning with my cock in her mouth. I could feel the vibrations of her voice against my shaft, and immediately, all I wanted to do was fuck the hell out of her.

My eyes moved around the dusty old room looking for a good place to bend her over. Finally, my eyes came to rest on an old oak desk in the corner. I smiled lecherously as I pulled her head back and off my cock. I motioned to the desk and she laughed, not seeing me reach down and grab her by the waist. I pulled her to her feet and turned her around, shoving her toward the desk. I pushed her down over top and flipped up her skirt, happy to find she wasn’t wearing any panties. She looked back and giggled as I shoved three fingers into her pussy and leaned forward over top of her. I moved them in and out fast and watched as she groaned loudly.

“I’m going to fuck the hell out of you,” I whispered into her ear.

“What the fuck are you waiting for?” she moaned.

I smiled, pulling my fingers out of her and grabbing a condom out of my back pocket of my pants. I ripped it open and threw the package to the side, pulling the condom down over my cock. It twitched and pulsated, waiting for her soft, wet pussy. I grabbed her by the hips and slowly slid my shaft through her juices. She reached forward and grabbed the edge of the desk, spreading her feet apart and bracing herself. I teased her at first, going slowly in and out, feeling every ripple of her wet, soaking pussy. She groaned and pushed her hips back, reaching for more.

“Harder,” she pleaded.

I widened my stance and grabbed her by the hips, the anger from my brother earlier still surging through my chest. Instantly, I thrust forward as hard as I could, driving my cock deep inside of her. She screamed out, lifting her hand to her mouth to stifle the sounds from the bar outside the door. I closed my eyes and started to pound her deep and fast, feeling her tight ass in my hands. I slapped her cheek and listened as she moaned over and over to the rhythm of my thrusts. Her pussy grew wetter and wetter, and I knew she wasn’t far from coming all over me. I leaned forward and pushed my hips short and fast into her pussy, wrapping my arm around her waist and giving it to her real good. As my thrusts shortened but grew in intensity, I could feel her body lurch, and she screamed out, throwing her head back, reaching her peak. Her warm juices flowed steadily over my shaft, and I stood up, took hold and fucked her as hard and fast as I could until I felt my raging cock grow even larger. I leaned over and grabbed the other side of the desk and pushed up on my toes, lunging deep inside of her. I took in a deep breath and let my cock explode, ripples of pleasure surging through my entire body.

As my orgasm began to recede and my hips stilled from the movement, I could hear her giggling under her breath. I pulled out and slapped her ass, smiling as she turned around. She leaned back on the desk and crossed her legs.

“What got into you?”

“Just a little family quarrel,” I said, zipping my pants.

Chapter 2

Tiffany

Three months, that’s how long my marriage managed to last. Every other couple in the world was still having sex three times a day, snuggling in the honeymoon period of their relationship. But me? I was sitting in a meeting room at the courthouse, waiting to finalize my divorce. I still couldn’t wrap my hands around how I got here. A couple years ago, I was beaming, being hired by the hottest media company in the world, working my way up quickly to supervisor of the management department, and falling in love with Jordan Banks, the most eligible bachelor in New York. It was like my life had turned into a fairytale, something definitely different from my life growing up. I was born and raised in New York, but my parents had been junkies, and they did nothing but steal to get high and leave me and my brother to fend for ourselves. My brother pushed me to be better than that, showed me every single negative thing about their lifestyle, and made sure I got good grades in high school. When I graduated second in my class, I was offered a full ride to NYU, and though I wanted to get away from the city and all its bad memories, I couldn’t afford not to go to NYU. So, I stayed, working through college so I didn’t have to live with my parents. My brother joined the Army and shipped off immediately, after making sure I was safe and secure.

After that, it was like one amazing thing after the other. I kicked ass in school, I had amazing friends, I was offered the internship that would eventually turn into the career at Banks, and I, in my Senior year, met Jordan. He was so sweet and loving and was absolutely gorgeous on top of it. He had told me he had a crush on me since Freshman year, and I couldn’t believe the son and heir of Banks Media Corp wanted me to be his girlfriend. Of course, I jumped at the chance, what girl wouldn’t? After a few months, I realized I had fallen in love with him. His ambition and charm were intoxicating, and his family was amazing. His parents, Lily and John, took me into the family immediately, and for the first time in my life, I got to experience what a real family was like. We had Thanksgiving dinners, weekends at their estate, Christmas morning presents, and everything else. In a way, I didn’t just fall in love with Jordan, I fell in love with his entire life. That made all of this so much more difficult. Not only was I mourning the end of my marriage, but I was also mourning the loss of an entire family as well, all because of something I couldn’t help.

I guess I should have seen the signs when a month into our marriage, Jordan was hounding me about getting pregnant, but in my love haze, I just thought it was him wanting a family with me. So, I agreed and set an appointment to have a full work up done at the doctors to make sure I was physically ready to carry a child. I remember not feeling nervous at all as the doctor came back into the room, a somber look on her face. She showed me pictures, spouted off numbers, gave me possible treatments, but in the end, all I could hear were my dreams of a family slipping down the drain. Apparently, I had some rare condition that made getting pregnant almost impossible. Everything stopped dead in its tracks, and I rode back to our home in silence, just wanting Jordan’s arms wrapped around me. Little did I know, that would not be his reaction. Instead, he lashed out, screaming that I had tricked him into a childless marriage, that I couldn’t give him what he wanted, that I was a failure and less of a woman.

He moved out that night, packing up to stay at his apartment in the city. I sat quietly in shock in my living room, watching the flames of the fire trickle down to nothing, just like our relationship had done in the blink of an eye. The next week was like a dream, where I was floating in and out of emotional states, trying to get a handle on my life. Just two days after that, I received the divorce papers, which were embarrassingly delivered to my office instead of our home. I signed for the papers, looking up to see Jordan scowling at me from the corner. Since then, it’s been nothing but hell, and though I was completely heartbroken that the man I loved ditched me over something I couldn’t control, I just really wanted everything to be over. I looked up at the clock and sighed. Jordan was late as usual. The silence in the room was deafening, and his lawyer looked up at me with a half-smile. I focused on keeping it together, not breaking down, and not letting him see any more tears from me. He didn’t deserve to bask in my pain, and I realized I didn’t even recognize the man who wanted to end our marriage. I wanted to go home and be alone, where I could start to reassemble my life and get back to normal, whatever that was.

The sound of the clock ticking on the wall was echoing through my brain. Where the hell was he? He was the one who wanted this divorce in the first place. Why he couldn’t be here on time was beyond me. Technically, he wanted an annulment, and I wasn’t sure what the difference was. It didn’t matter to me what the title was. All it boiled down to was that I wasn’t the girl he wanted because I couldn’t give him children. I felt like the King’s wife, having been found sterile, banished to the towers to live her life out in shame.

“We’ve waited long enough,” my attorney said. “I think we should just go ahead and move forward.”

“Agreed,” the other attorney replied.

Just then, the door opened and in sauntered Jordan, no hurry or worry on his face at all. I shook my head at his arrogance and placed my hands in my lap. I didn’t want to even look at him, and I realized quickly how anger toward him had turned him completely undesirable to me. Besides, I knew he wasn’t out there mourning the loss of his marriage. He was a playboy through and through, and he had probably started sleeping around before I even got the papers. I grimaced at the thought of being married to a man like that.

“Sorry I was late,” he said arrogantly. “I had a meeting.”

“A meeting you didn’t need to go to,” I replied. He had forgotten I was the supervisor of his floor.

I kept my eyes glued on the table in front of me, not wanting to look at him for even a second. I could feel his eyes darting back and forth across the room as he, too, tried to avoid all eye contact with me. It was horribly awkward and painful to sit through, especially when, three months before, we were gazing into each other’s eyes and committing our lives to one another. I shook my head, thinking about our wedding day, wondering what had happened to make the sweet and kind man I had married turn into an obnoxious primidone with no heart. Then again, maybe it was all for show. Maybe he was never that kind loving man I thought I knew, and after getting married, he realized it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. I had heard stories about Jordan before we started dating, but his personality and those stories never seemed to match up. I shrugged them off as nothing more than gossip or jealousy. Now, though, looking back and comparing the stories to this stranger sitting across from me, it all made perfect sense. He was a coward, and I couldn’t believe I’d fallen so hard for his ridiculous lies. There was no way you could love someone the way he said he loved me and then dump them on their ass the next day as if they never meant anything to you. It was cruel and harsh, and I was tired of being treated with no respect.

“Alright,” his lawyer began. “Both parties have agreed this marriage has reached its finality. In regard to their personal belongings, seeing as the couple was married three months prior, they have agreed to the following terms: The house in the Greek District, purchased by Ms. Wells prior to their marriage, will stay in her possession, including all items minus Mr. Bank’s personal effects. The apartment in Manhattan, purchased by Mr. Banks prior to marriage, will stay in his possession, including all items minus Ms. Well’s personal effects. Each will continue to possess their personal vehicles purchased before the marriage. In regard to the joint bank account started two and half months ago, Mr. Bank’s has relinquished all rights, and the money has been signed over in the form of a cashier’s check to Ms. Wells.”

The attorney slid an envelope across the table, and I put my hand over it, shutting my eyes, and trying to remind myself to keep it together. I bet giving me that bank account made him feel good, like he had done the right thing. All twenty-two thousand dollars of it, a price he found fair for putting me through so much grief and agony. I didn’t want the damn money that had been put in there to start a fund for our child’s education, the child we would never have. It was almost like he was taking a jab at me for not being able to have children. I grasped my hand around the envelope and slid it into my purse.

“If all parties are in agreeance,” the attorney continued. “Ms. Wells, you need to initial in these three spots and sign at the bottom. Mr. Banks, you will do the same.”

I clutched the pen tightly as I scribbled my name through the legal document. As he pulled the papers toward him, I could hear the tip of the pen scratch across the paper. With every curve of his name, my heart sunk lower and lower, until the tears were burning at the corners of my eyes.

“Well, if that is all,” my attorney said.

“That was easy,” Jordan said in a jovial tone.

I slammed my hands on the desk and shoved the chair back behind me, looking up and staring deeply into his eyes. He looked taken back, almost scared for a moment, but he wasn’t worth the extra breath to explain what he’d done to me. I turned and walked from the room before he could even stand. I sped through the courthouse, tears beginning to blind me as I pushed out onto the sidewalk and jogged toward the garage where my car was parked. Fumbling with my keys, I dropped them twice before finally getting the car open. As soon as the door slammed shut, I grabbed the steering wheel and let my resolve release. Tears dampened my face as the pain in my chest plummeted to my belly. That was it, the love I thought I had for a lifetime was gone with the stroke of a pen.

Chapter 3

Jason

The day was moving by at a glacial pace, and for some reason, I couldn’t get my brother’s divorce from Tiffany off my mind. Everything had gone down the day before, and I had made sure to steer clear of the family dinner. I knew if I heard him gloating about his divorce, or celebrating in any way, I might not be able to keep myself from jumping over the table and hitting him in the head with one of mother’s silver platters. Instead, I propped my feet up on the couch and watched television until it was time for bed, something I didn’t do very often. Laying there, my mind had wandered all over the place, trying to imagine what Tiffany was doing. I knew she was struggling. I mean, how could she not be? She had been blindsided by her husband during a time in her life when she’d needed him the most, and then, he’d cast her aside, leaving her to clean up the mess. I shook my head as I stared at my computer screen, trying to wrap my head around the fact that she was done so dirty and done so by my own blood. It was almost embarrassing to think Jordan and I were related.

Growing up, we’d gotten along well enough, both knowing our lives were pretty much mapped out for us. In college, I distinctly remembered Jordan pulling me to the side and pointing Tiffany out to me. She was just as beautiful then as she was now, if not more. Her long blond hair would blow in the wind whipping across the campus courtyard, and her smile lit up my world. Apparently, it lit up Jordan’s too because from then on, he was determined to get this girl. When our father announced the new pool of employees for the company, I thought my brother’s head was going to pop off. Tiffany was strong, assertive, and just the woman this company needed to propel us forward. She had worked her way up quickly, and though the whispers said it was because of her relationship with Jordan, those of us who knew her understood it was because of the type of woman she was. My brother had started to change, calming down a bit, staying away from the bars and clubs, and devoting his time to her. I thought about how lucky everyone was that Tiffany had come into our lives, especially since she had a way with Jordan that no one else did. Part of me couldn’t help but think this was all more because he wanted to be single than it was over a family, but either way, he had used that as his cause. It had hit home hard.

I could hear Jordan out in the hallway flirting with the new secretary and for some reason, it fucking pissed me off. I scooted back from the desk and stood in the doorway staring at him as he leaned over her, showing her something in the paperwork on her desk. I strolled over to the desk and tapped on the wood, drawing both of their attention.

“You seem pretty happy,” I said looking him in the eyes. “I thought since you just got divorced yesterday, you might be in a bad mood, or sad, or any of those human emotions we tend to have.”

Jordan’s face faded from smiling to irritation as he stared over the desk at me. I smiled back at him, my hands in my pockets. He looked down at the secretary and smirked, pointing one more thing out before standing up. He cleared his throat and straightened his tie.

“Sorry about that,” he said to the secretary before moving forward and grabbing me by the arm and dragging me into my office. “What the hell? What is your damn problem?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” I said smartly. “The fact that you broke it off with your wife for something she couldn’t control? The fact that it was one of the biggest dick moves I have ever seen, which is saying something.”

“Look,” he whispered angrily. “It’s none of your God damned business, but if you must know, it wasn’t an easy decision for me. I know you are sitting over there imagining this evil nemesis making plans to completely ruin Tiffany, but that is not at all how it went. This was hard on me. I’m just not going to walk around wearing it on my face. I sat on this information for a while before I decided to divorce her. I was miserable, beat down, and didn’t know what to do. I did know I wanted a child of my own, a baby that came from me, and she couldn’t give that to me. I knew if I continued in that relationship, no matter how much I loved her—which I do love her very much—then I would just end up resenting her in the end. I thought it was better to end it upfront than wait until years down the road, when it would get harder to walk away. So there, I hope you are happy.”

He dropped his hand to his waist and walked out the door, slamming it as he left. Maybe I was being a little too hard on Jordan. Maybe I wasn’t there to help him through this when I should have been. Everything he was saying made perfect sense, and I couldn’t fault him for ending something he knew would eventually end in a fiery blaze anyway. I guess in a way he saved Tiffany years of disappointment, fighting, and ultimately, a really nasty divorce. Still, I couldn’t help but think he didn’t really let the news sink in before making the decision to get divorced. I felt like he did what he always did, which was making a major life choice based on emotion, not rational thought. Unfortunately for everyone around Jordan, when he thought with emotions, he was the only one who didn’t get the shit end of the stick. I took a deep breath and walked out into the hall, looking both ways but not seeing Jordan. I turned right and walked down the hallway, glancing into Tiffany’s empty dark office. As I turned, Tiffany’s secretary walked up behind me.

“Hey,” she said cheerfully. “Hey. Um, do you know if Tiffany will be coming back anytime soon?”

“I don’t really know,” she said shaking her head. “She is on sick leave right now.”

“Okay,” I smiled letting out a deep breath. “Thanks, I’ll just try to give her a call.”

I walked back to my office and closed the door, turning my phone over in my hands. I didn’t know whether I should call Tiffany, this family probably being the last people she wanted to talk to. I didn’t even know what I was going to say when she answered, but I wanted to make sure she wasn’t going through this alone. I also wanted her to know no one in the family stood beside Jordan’s decision. In fact, I was pretty sure my parents didn’t know why Jordan was divorcing Tiffany because that would have made him look bad to our parents. Instead, he was a coward and joked his way through the conversation until my mother finally changed the subject. I did know that my mother and father loved Tiffany like their own daughter and were really worried about her. They didn’t want to intrude, knowing their son was the culprit behind her disappearance, but they were constantly whispering to one another about how she was doing. If nothing else, maybe I could be the middle man between them.

I scanned through my contacts and pressed call when it landed on Tiffany. I pulled my cell phone to my ear and listened to it rang on the other end. After several rings, the voicemail picked up, but before the beep, I hung up, not knowing what I would say on an answering machine. Tiffany and I weren’t close by any stretch of the imagination, but I had never called her and not gotten an answer. We always were in contact with the business, and she was very serious about her career, something I admired in her. So, anytime I called her, she immediately picked up, knowing I wouldn’t call unless it was important. I guess today she wasn’t in much of a mood to care about whether the business needed her help or not, and I really couldn’t blame her. She was employed at a company soon to belong to her ex-husband, working alongside him at every turn. If I were her, this would be the last place I would show up and deal with Jordan flirting with girls right in front of her.

Still, there was something that really worried me about the fact that she wasn’t answering the phone. She was in a very fragile state, and from the way my brother phrased giving her their joint bank account as a parting gift, I could only imagine how that slap in the face must have felt. To really think about it, I probably would stay away from the office too, but more so that I didn’t try to murder Jordan in his designer suit, at his own mahogany desk.

I leaned back in my chair, trying to put Tiffany out of my mind, still perplexed as to why all of this was affecting me so damn bad. Sure, I thought Tiffany was gorgeous, kind, sweet, and intelligent, but she was now my brother’s ex-wife, and not really someone I should be comforting during a divorce. I may have a big heart, but I also knew the very important value of family and support. In Jordan’s case, it was difficult for me to show support when I didn’t agree with anything he did. When you felt like your own blood was out there completely obliterating a woman because she couldn’t have children. The thought itself was absolutely mind-boggling, and I needed to make sure she was okay. She deserved so much better than that on so many levels. It probably wouldn’t make anything easier, but I thought she should know she wasn’t alone. Before I could give the thought any more attention, my father stuck his head into my office.

“Can I come in?” He smoothed the lapel of his thousand-dollar suit, a charcoal gray that paired well with his perfectly coiffed black peppered hair. I only hoped I aged as well and looked as good as my father when I got older.

“Sure, Dad, come on in.” I cleared my desk and shut my laptop. “What can I do for you?”

“I wanted to make sure you were doing okay,” he said smiling. “I know with the divorce and everything else going on with Jordan and Tiffany, he may not be the most reliable person right now. And she won’t be back for about a month, which kills me because she’s my right-hand woman. Don’t get me wrong. I completely understand why she would want to be at home. She has handled all of this with grace and dignity, and I want to make sure we do the same with her.”

“Absolutely,” I said nodding my head. “And I am all here, so anything you need you just come and grab me.”

“Thanks, son,” he said tapping his fist on the desk. “Oh, your mother wanted to know if you were coming to dinner Friday?”

“I have plans right now, but I’m not sure what time they start,” I replied. “I’ll let her know as soon as I can.”

“No problem,” he said. “We missed you at the last dinner.”

“Missed you, too,” I said, watching him walking from the office.

In all reality, missing me was probably the farthest thing from their minds. They missed Tiffany and the light she brought to the table every time she approached. I wasn’t going to lie. I missed her, too, maybe too much.

Chapter 4

Tiffany

I pulled my soft plush blanket from the dryer and wrapped it around my shoulders, soaking in the warmth it brought to my body. I sighed, rubbing the fabric against my cheek and dragging myself to the couch. I looked at the display I had laid out on the table in front of me. There were several bottles of wine, some snacks, a lot of junk food, and about five cheesy romance movies. It was like the divorced woman’s starter pack, and I had bought right into it. I had spent the week pretty much asleep most of the time and decided it was time I take the next step, moving my body from the bed to the couch and shoving useless calories, hand over fist, into it. I knew it was pathetic and not grown up of me at all, but my heart was broken, my brain was tired, and I still hadn’t had the chance to come to terms with being infertile, with not bearing my own children. It was extraordinarily depressing and read like one of the movies I was about to watch, except there was no happily ever after in my case.

I groaned as I reached across and grabbed the remote, laying my head down on the pillow and pressing play. I pulled the blanket farther over my head and placed the wine glass I was drinking from down on the floor below me. I plopped a straw in it and sipped slowly as my face still rested on the couch. It was probably the laziest thing I had ever done, and though I knew I had pretty much hit rock bottom, I didn’t really give a damn. While I was here, eating my twenty-thousand-dollar check in the form of Twizzlers and wine, Jordan, my now ex-husband, was out perusing the bars, looking for the next Mrs. Banks who could produce an heir to his pathetic and sad empire. I chuckled to myself wondering how he would ensure his next bride was fruitful. Would he require a gynecological examination as terms for the marriage? Would he make them sign a waiver saying they could produce human beings from their loins? I guess, for the right girl, especially one looking for the money, they would jump at the chance to give Jordan Banks a child. That would seal the deal and create a comfortable living situation for the rest of their lives. I guess I had been the guinea pig.

I knew I should get up, shower, get functioning, but I gave into my desire to spend my Friday night, Saturday night, and possibly Sunday into Monday, lying here on the couch crying away the minutes. Hell, I had accrued enough sick time and vacation that I could stretch this self-pity party out for an entire month if I wanted to. John, Jordan’s father had been so kind and sweet to me, knowing his son decided to skip out on our marriage but not knowing why. I was pretty sure if he knew why, he might punch Jordan over the head and as much as I would love to see that, I also knew it would completely destroy Jordan’s relationship with his parents. I was angry, but I had never been a vindictive person, truly believing that those who did harm to others would find their penalty later in life. I guess you could say I believed in karma. And Jordan’s karma wasn’t racking up too good in the background. I almost expected to see a nuclear explosion when all his bad deeds came rolling around back to him.

I had been so thankful for Jordan’s family, for their love. They’d sent me flowers throughout the week and insisted I not use my vacation time and sick leave when taking a month off. I loved my job, and I loved working for Mr. Banks. He was like family to me, and up to five days ago, legally, he was family to me. I didn’t know what to expect when Jordan first served legal papers about the divorce and was afraid the Banks would take his side, firing me from my job, and demeaning me to everyone. However, just as I knew it would be deep down, they reached out to me, and I couldn’t have been more thankful. Still, as I laid on my couch searching for an answer to my heartbreak, part of me didn’t even know if I wanted to go back to the company when the air had cleared. It was one thing to work for your ex-in-laws, it was another to work side by side with your ex-husband. I just didn’t know if I could sit back and deal with being around him on a regular basis like that. And God forbid the day he started dating someone else who worked in the office. I would have to endure the hell of watching him flirt and talk to another woman the way he used to with me. Just the thought of it made me sick to my stomach, and I tried to push the thought from my mind.

I sipped harder on my straw, bleeding the glass dry and looking down into my empty glass. It kind of resembled how my soul felt, sucked dry and left to wonder where to go from there. Luckily, as far as my wine glass was concerned, I knew exactly where to go from there. I pulled myself up and situated the blanket over my shoulders, reaching for the next bottle of wine, or what I liked to refer to as, my next victim. I chuckled to myself wondering if that was how Jordan referred to the women in his life. Did he number them? Victim one, victim two, and so on? Did he sit back and laugh evilly from the throne room of his castle in Manhattan, looking down at all the “little people” of New York? I shook my head, realizing I really needed to put down the bottle, my imagination was starting to get away from me.

As I popped the cork on the next bottle of wine, watching it fall to the floor and roll into the kitchen, I heard a knock on the door. I rolled my eyes and groaned, wondering who in the world would come knocking, willfully destroying the flow of alcohol into my veins. I dragged myself, still wrapped in the blanket, to the door and opened it wide, staring at Mona, my best friend.

“Oh,” I said turning and walking back toward the couch.

“It’s good to see you too,” she said, shutting the door behind her.

“I was hoping you were the grim reaper, come to take me to the land of plenty,” I said sarcastically.

Mona looked down at the array of junk food on the table and poked at the stale pizza sitting in the box. “Appetizing,” she said, looking down at my glass and straw. “Oh, that’s very inventive of you.”

“Yeah, I thought about just going in one hundred percent and starting an IV, but I figured I’d probably screw it up,” I replied, pouring the wine into the glass. “I didn’t want to be found with one lung full of chardonnay and be labeled the old lonely divorced woman with a thousand cats.”

“You don’t have any cats,” she said flatly.

“Yeah, but when I had finally died, I’m sure they would sense me and come crawling through the windows,” I replied, lying back down on the couch and sipping my wine through the straw.

“Girl, I think it's time for an intervention,” she said, picking up the empty bottle of wine and grimacing at the label.

“What? I’ve only had one bottle this afternoon,” I whined.

“No, not the wine,” she chuckled. “You need to stop moping around like this. You are starting to freak out the neighbors.”

“Whatever,” I replied. “I don’t even think they know I still live here.”

“Well, from the looks of your yard and the papers stacked up out front, they might think the house was taken over by squatters,” she replied.

“You do remember it’s only been five days since I signed away my future,” I said, feeling my heart drop back down into my stomach.

“Yes, I remember. But I also remember it’s been a month since you found out about it,” she reminded. “This guy is such a loser. Like, grade A loser. Seriously, on the women’s timescale chart, you seriously should have only spent twenty-two hours and thirteen minutes of grieving on him. That makes you, like, I don’t even know how many hours behind.”

“Why is everyone on my ass?” I was starting to get irritated, and Mona quickly caught on.

“Hey, weirdo, calm down,” she said, throwing a cork at me. “I was only kidding. Well, mostly kidding.”

“So,” I said taking a deep breath and changing the subject. “What can I do for you?”

“I came to get you out of the house,” she said triumphantly. “You need some air, some fun, and you need to take a damn shower.”

“No,” I groaned. “I have plans.”

“With what? These cheesy romance videos? Come on, girl,” she said pulling me up to a sitting position. “You are so much better than this. I promise Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise will be waiting for you here when you get back. I’ll even chill your shitty-ass wine so you don’t have to continue to drink it warm.”

“I don’t know,” I said, flinching at the thought of getting off the couch, much less moving toward a bar or club.

“You know I’ve never steered you wrong,” she said smiling. “And you’ll get to spend some of that hard-earned divorce money on booze and hot men, just what it was intended for.”

My eyes opened wide, and I smiled at the thought of spending his money on clubs and bars. “Fine,” I said, finally convinced. “But you have to let me get myself together.”

“Deal,” she said. “You go shower, and I’ll move this garbage around so it’s in neater stacks.”

I stuck my tongue out at Mona and headed back to the bathroom, letting my blanket fall from my shoulders halfway down the hallway. I stood in front of the mirror, waiting for the shower to heat up, staring at my reflection in the mirror. Mona looked like a human being while I looked more like something from a zombie movie. Mona was the voice of reason between the two of us and always had been. She had no problems sticking up for herself, and I always chalked it up to the fact that she was barely five feet tall. Her long brown hair cascaded down her back, and her cute little features magically turned seductive when you put some makeup in her hand. She was that friend who was loud and slightly embarrassing, but you couldn’t imagine a life without her in it.

As I let the hot water of the shower wash the last few days of wine and sleep away, I could feel my body begin to react. I did not want to go out to the bars, nor did I have any intention of picking up a man, but I guessed Mona was right, it was time I started acting like a human again, at least for a few hours. I knew I would have a good time, dancing, drinking, and laughing, but I also knew I had the ability to come home and hide out again if I really wanted to. Jordan had completely twisted my life upside down, and I needed to start taking back my control. He was no longer part of my life, and I didn’t need to let him affect me even more than he already had, no matter how hard it was to see that.

Chapter 5

Jason

Desperately needing to get out of the house and have some fun, I agreed to join my buddies at one of the clubs in Manhattan. I really didn’t like clubs because they were so packed and you could never really see the girl you were talking to between the dimly lit room and the strobe lights, but I thought it would be a good change of pace from the bar and Rose. Don’t get me wrong. She was fucking hot, and I never got tired of dragging her off to the back room, but a little variance in my life would be nice. I just second-guessed hitting on girls because while I was not looking for serious, they didn’t know that, and it wasn’t often you found a girl like Rose, who was more than willing to screw your brains out and not want anything more than that. Sometimes, I wondered what her life was like outside of the bar, but then I stopped myself, remembering the rule to these kinds of relationships was never asking too many questions. I had gone to my loft apartment in SoHo to shower and change clothes before going out.

In the shower, I thought about Tiffany, wondering what she was doing in that house in the Greek District. I remembered when my brother found out she wanted to live there and not the penthouse he had bought the year before. He was pretty damn irritated, but he seemed like he loved her so he agreed as long as he didn’t have to sell his place in Manhattan. She didn’t care, as long as he came home to her every night. I didn’t know what he did with the place since they seemed to be pretty much attached at the hip until he’d left her. Well, it turned out it was a good thing he kept his place, and Tiffany got to keep her house. I guess in a way, it would be nice to leave the city every day, get out into the suburbs where you could enjoy some peace and quiet for a little while. I thought her house was awesome with all the amenities Jordan would love, like a big screen television and pool in the backyard, but with the same feeling you get when you went to your aunt’s place out in the country for the weekend.

When I got out of the shower and dried off, I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror and shook my head. As usual, I was still thinking about Tiffany. It was starting to drive me nuts, but I guess I cared about the girl and took personally the fact that someone with my name screwed her over. I had always had a small sort of crush on her, but I figured everyone did. I mean, how could you not? She was intelligent, beautiful, forward, and caring toward everyone around her. I saw what Jordan was talking about when he would gush over her for hours when they had first started dating. It was the first time in my life I had listened to Jordan talk about someone other than himself. He had obsessed over Tiffany for years, and when he’d finally caught her, he was smitten as hell. I thought it was good for him, since his taste in women outside of her were usually blond bimbos with very little brain power.

I walked back to my room and pulled out my outfit for the night, putting it on and looking in the mirror. Immediately, I took the shirt back off and tossed it in the corner. I looked like my brother, and it was not what I was going for. Sure, we had a lot of similarities, but it was mostly aesthetic. When it came to business, though, we tended to agree more often than not, and we saw the company going in the same direction. That probably had more to do with having the same educational background and being raised by the same father, but I put a mark on the positive side for our relationship. When I was done getting ready, I checked my hair one last time and gave my reflection a charming smile. I grabbed my keys and took the elevator down a floor and hopped out, glad to see the car I called was already parked out front. The driver opened the door for me and then climbed into the front. He already had my destination, so we pulled off, watching the apartment fade into the background. I looked around as we drove, watching all the people getting out of their cars for an evening out in town. You could tell who the clubbers were and who the rich people on their way to dinner were. The excitement was a completely different level, and with winter quickly approaching, the rich bitches had pulled out their mink stoles and fancy jewelry. Driving through Manhattan on a Friday night offered more glittery sights than a jewelry store.

We pulled up in front of the club, and I hopped out, giving the driver my card so he knew my number when I called for a ride home. The doorman greeted me with a hug and a hand shake and opened the ropes to let me straight into the club. I winked at the blond girl standing in the front as I passed and laughed as she blushed and giggled with her friends. When I got inside, I went straight to VIP, finding my friends pulled up around a table, gawking at the girls on the dance floor and pounding back shots of vodka. I ordered a whiskey tonic from the server and pulled up a chair, listening to their mindless chatter about who they were going to be banging in the bathroom at the end of the night. I didn’t really like these guys very much at all, but now that hanging out with Jordan made me sick to my stomach, I had called up my old college buddies and got them into the good clubs. We were all relatively successful, but I was the only billionaire of the group, and they knew I could get them in the good spots. I was pretty sure they used me just as much as I used them to not feel like a loser coming to a club by myself. I didn’t want to be that creepy guy in the corner staring girls down while I sipped my drinks and picked my next victim. I was an ass, but I was not a creepy asshole.

As I took a sip of my drink, I choked. Was that—? Yes, that was Tiffany standing there with her best friend. Immediately, I was floored at how absolutely stunning she looked. She was wearing a short, tight black skirt that barely came over her ass and a low-cut top that was open in the back. Her long sexy legs ended where her six-inch heels picked up. Her long blonde curls fell over her shoulders in ringlets and her smooth fair skin was highlighted with subtle makeup. She was laughing at whatever Mona was saying, but she didn’t look like she was being genuine. I had this overwhelming feeling driving me to go and talk to her. I set my cup down and straightened my shirt, rolling my sleeves up to my elbows to look more comfortable and relaxed. I pushed the chair back and took a big gulp of my drink as I walked forward toward her. As she fake laughed again at whatever the douche in the group was talking about, she turned her head toward me, her fake smile forming into a genuine one. She stepped away from the group and met me across the floor. I leaned in and half hugged her, stopping to kiss her lightly on the cheek. She didn’t think anything of it because that was the normal greeting in our household, but I felt the electricity surge through me as my lips touched her skin.

“How are you?” I had to yell over the music.

“Okay,” she said shrugging. “You?”

“I’m good,” I said nodding. “I’ve been worried about you.”

“Yeah, I saw you called,” she said, smiling awkwardly. “Sorry I didn’t call you back.”

“It’s alright. I understand. I’m just glad you’re doing good,” I replied. “The office hasn’t been the same without you.”

“Yeah, right,” she chuckled. “I bet no one has even noticed.”

“I noticed,” I said feeling an awkward silence coming on. “Look, I just want to say that what my brother did was wrong.”

“It’s okay,” she said taking my hand. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“No, but still, he’s my brother,” I replied. “Even after all the stupid shit he’s done, I thought he was a better man than that.”

“I guess that makes two of us,” she yelled, laughing.

“Can I buy you a drink?”

“Sure.” She shrugged her shoulders and followed me over to the bar.

She ordered a Jack and Diet and I got another whiskey tonic. We stood there, looking at each other for several moments. I thought it would be awkward, but that wasn’t really the vibe. Instead, I felt comfortable around her.

“You remember the time we came here and Mona got wasted and fell off the bar?”

“Oh, my God.” She laughed. “That was like twenty-three stitches. She felt right on that bottle of vodka those guys bought. They were so freaked out by the blood on the table, they wouldn’t let us buy them a new bottle.”

We stood at the bar talking and reminiscing about when we all used to go out together to the clubs. When I thought back to those times, I realized that most of the evenings, Tiffany and I spent together with Mona and whoever she was dating at the time. Jordan was usually off hobnobbing with the rich dudes and secretly scoping out all the women he wouldn’t be taking out that night. Tiffany never noticed, and if she did, she handled it with so much class that no one would have ever known. We walked over to the VIP area and sat down at a booth. She looked relieved to be off the dance floor and out of the view of everyone around her.

“You okay?”

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I just really didn’t want to come out tonight. I mean it's good for me, but I’m already tired.”

“Well, now you have this booth to hide out in,” I said.

The rest of the night went off without a hitch, and I hugged Tiffany goodbye before closing her cab door and watching it drive off. When I climbed into my own car, I couldn’t help but think about those long, smooth legs and the ripe curves of her body. I had tried to ignore the fact that she looked so fucking hot all night, and now that I was alone, I let it flow. By the time we pulled up to the apartment, I had more than a hard on, and I adjusted myself before I got out of the car.

Up in the apartment, I stripped down for bed and pulled the covers over me, suddenly not as exhausted as I had thought. As visions of Tiffany’s short skirt raced through my mind, I didn’t even realize I had my hand firmly placed on my cock. I closed my eyes and leaned back, imagining what it would feel like to slide my hand up her thigh and under the edge of her skirt. I could almost feel the warmth of her skin as I rolled my fist up and over my dick. In my mind, I slowly pushed her skirt up to reveal her tight wet pussy, throbbing and waiting just for me. I didn’t want to wait a second so I grabbed her by the waist and laid her down on the bed, rubbing my shaft against her clit.

I reached over next to the bed and grabbed the lube from the drawer, squirted it into my palm, and rubbed it over my shaft. I closed my eyes again and imagined pushing hard into Tiffany, feeling her wetness glide me through, deep inside of her. I could hear her raspy moans as her tight wetness pulsated around my erection. My hand tightened as I imagined her face, her big blue eyes staring up at me in lust as I massaged her tits and thrust deep inside of her. I threw the covers back and gave myself some room as my mind moved over every part of her sexy little body. I grabbed tightly to my cock as my hips moved up and down, picturing her now on top of me, grinding against me, and screaming out in pleasure as I filled her completely up. She was so fucking hot lying above me, rubbing her clit with her fingers as her hips began to move faster and faster.

“Yeah,” I groaned through gritted teeth as my hand fisted my cock at a rapid pace.

I grabbed Tiffany around the waist and started bouncing her up and down on my cock, slamming her down hard and hearing her scream for more. I pushed her legs out to the side and pulled her down again, the sound of our skin slapping together, echoing through my mind. As I pulled her down again, I moved her hips back and forth repeatedly, feeling the juices inside of her running down my shaft. I groaned loudly in my bed as I could feel the orgasm approaching. I clenched my eyes shut and watched as Tiffany put her hands down on my thighs and moved faster and faster, her body reaching its peak. She threw her head back and screamed out, her pussy vibrating around my cock as she came hard and fast.

I gripped my shaft and pulsated my hand, imagining her wetness vibrating around me. I sat up straight on the bed and groaned loudly as I too reached the top of ecstasy. My hand moved fast and hard up and down and as Tiffany’s coy smile flashed through my head, my cock exploded, my warm seed flowing out of the head and down my hands. I groaned loudly as the orgasm flushed through my body, and then, I slowly released the grip of my hand. I opened my eyes to an empty bed, but I still felt Tiffany’s presence there as I grabbed a towel, cleaned up my mess, and threw myself back into the bed. Hopefully, I’d have some really good dreams about that blond beauty tonight.

Chapter 6

Tiffany

It was Monday, exactly one week since my marriage had been signed off as dead by a judge. That was exactly what I had been feeling, like someone had died and I was left to mourn their end. I stared up at the ceiling thinking about the last week and everything I had been through. Immediately my thoughts shifted to Saturday night. I’d been more than surprised to spend the evening talking and laughing with Jason. He had a wonderful sense of humor, and we had so much fun talking about life, reminiscing about the fun we all used to have, and just relaxing. It wasn’t a surprise to me that I had a good time with him. He had been one of the people I spent most of my time with when we were all out partying right after college. It did, however, surprise me that I was lying there thinking about how sexy he looked when he had approached me in the club. When I looked over and saw him, I almost didn’t recognize him and had initially wondered who was the hot guy walking toward me. I was a little embarrassed when I realized it was my ex-brother-in-law. I tried not to think of him that way, though, since Jordan and I had only been together for three months before ending the marriage.

I had always thought Jason was handsome, even more handsome than Jordan, though I liked Jordan for way more reasons than the way he looked. I guess, in a way, I always had a tiny little crush on Jason, but it wasn’t something I could ever talk about with anyone. He was the brother of the man I married. It would have been frowned upon. But what about now? What about when I was no longer married to his brother? I shook the thought from my head, chastising myself for even thinking it. Was I crazy? Still, thinking back at Saturday night, I couldn’t help but feel like we were more than having a good time. In fact, after a few drinks, we were kind of flirting with each other. I could still feel his hand touch mine as we laughed, sitting at the table. There was a spark in my chest when our skin touched, and from the way he looked down at our hands, I knew he had felt it, too. I caught myself hoping he wouldn’t let go, but as soon as he spotted Mona heading over to us, he pulled his hand back and stuck it in his lap.

I picked up my phone from the nightstand and rolled it around in my hands, thinking about texting him and seeing what he was doing. I flipped to his number and opened a new text typing out the words before deleting the whole thing and switching over to Mona’s messages. I knew that whatever I was feeling toward Jason had to be some kind of residual feelings for Jordan or some crazy idea at a rebound fuck. I texted Mona that I needed to talk, and she instantly responded back that she would be over ASAP with a huge pizza. I drug myself from the bed, brushed my teeth, and did my hair, not wanting to hear her complain that I looked like hell again.

When she got there, I grabbed some plates and napkins, and we sat down, chowing down on the first thing I had eaten all day. I knew Mona was curious as to what I wanted to talk about, but she was letting me gather the courage to bring it up first. I glanced over at her as I took a bite of my pizza.

“So,” I said with a full mouth. “I kind of caught myself lost in thought about a guy this afternoon.”

“Oh, yeah?” she said excitedly. “Wait, we aren’t talking about Jordan, are we?”

“No,” I said with a disgusted face. “It's absolutely nuts, and I’m pretty sure it's like my mind being an asshole, but I was thinking about Jason.”

“Okay,” she said with a shocked face. “So, what does that mean?”

“I don’t know,” I sighed. “I mean it's impossible for me to have a crush on him, right?”

“No, he’s freaking hot, and you spent more time with him than Jordan at the beginning of your relationship,” she said chuckling. “But you tell me. Is it crazy, or do you have an actual crush?”

I sat there for a few minutes, chowing down on my pizza and allowing my mind to bring up visions of Jason. The first few were my mind thinking about how sexy he was in almost every way. Then, without knowing it, I started thinking about how funny he was, how sweet he was, and all the little things we talked about on Saturday night. I pulled myself from the thought and ran my hand over chest, shaking my head.

“Oh, God,” I gasped. “It’s an actual crush. What do I do?”

“Whatever you want to do,” Mona said leaning forward. “Don’t you see the beauty of this? You are a single woman with no ties to anyone. You can crush on whoever you want, whenever you want. You can ask a guy out, you can date someone, you can fuck someone, you can date five someones at one time if you wanted.”

“But this is slightly different,” I said putting down my pizza. “This is my ex’s brother. This is Jason Banks we are talking about here.”

“So?” Mona laughed loudly. “God, this is so perfect. Most people who go through a divorce are already in another relationship. Hell, my father was already engaged when the divorce went through with my mother. There is nothing wrong with scoping someone out already, even if he happens to be the douche bag’s brother. Who knows, maybe you were meant to be with Jason and you just got your j’s mixed up.”

“This is crazy,” I said shaking my head. “Like, Jerry Springer crazy.”

“Call him,” she said with wide eyes.

“No,” I gasped. “And say what?”

“I don’t know.” She laughed. “Wanna have lunch? Wanna talk? Wanna have wild, blow me away, passionate sex?”

“Get serious, Mona,” I said with blushed cheeks.

“Oh, my God,” she screamed, seeing my red face. “You do want to fuck his brains out! I love it!”

“Stop,” I said, laughing and holding my cheeks. “He’s hot. I mean, can you blame me?”

“Absolutely not,” she roared. “Call him. Do it. Do it now. Come on.”

“Fine,” I said putting up my hand. “But you have to be quiet.”

“Scouts honor,” she said holding up two fingers.

“You have a vagina. You couldn’t have been a scout.”

“Fine,” she responded, holding up a v. “Vagina honor.”

“That’s some serious shit,” I said as I scrolled through my phone.

“I know,” she said with a serious face.

I found Jason’s number on my phone and sat there with my finger hovering over the call button. I was completely freaking out, not knowing whether I should do it or check out and just go back to imagining him naked in my head. I tapped my foot loudly on the floor and closed my eyes, pressing the call button and holding it up to my ear. I looked over at Mona who was covering her mouth with her hands and squealing. I put my finger to my lips and shushed her as the phone rang in my ear.

“Hello?” His voice was deep, and I immediately thought about hanging up.

“Hey,” I said as Mona moved her hands to get me going. “It’s Tiffany.”

“Hey, how are you?”

“I’m good.” Not really. Not at all. I was feeling awkward. “I actually was calling to find out if you wanted to have lunch tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow?” he asked. I held my breath waiting for his response. “Yeah, that actually sounds perfect.”

“Oh, great,” I said, surprised.

“It’s funny,” he chuckled. “I was actually getting ready to call you and ask you the same thing.”

“Ha,” I responded with wide eyes.

“So, I’ll meet you at the Frisk? Like twelve thirty?”

“Yes,” I said excitedly. “That sounds great!”

“Awesome,” he said nervously. “It was good hearing your voice, Tiff.”

“You, too,” I said before hanging up the phone.

I looked over at Mona who seemed like she was holding her breath. I smiled and nodded my head, watching her jump from the couch and basically run me over. I laughed as she screamed loudly in excitement. I couldn’t believe I had just asked Jason out on a date. Well, a kind of date. I didn’t know what to call it, but my heart was racing and butterflies were pushing through my entire body. I didn’t know if this was right or wrong, but at that moment, I didn’t really give a damn.

Chapter 7

Jason

I sprung out of bed as soon as the sun came up, completely awake and ready for the day. Knowing I was going to have lunch with Tiffany was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. I had never been this excited for lunch in my life, and I shook my head at the clothes hanging on the door. I had picked out my outfit the night before like some excited school girl. She was just a girl, but there was something more to it than I could explain. At that moment, I wished I had a friend other than my brother to talk to. I couldn’t tell him I was having lunch with Tiffany, and I no way in hell could I tell my dad, though I was completely unsure of what his reaction would have been. Instead, I had to keep it to myself, and I felt like I was going to burst. I hopped in the shower and let the water calm my nerves, using the aromatherapy body wash my mom had sent home with me because she thought I was too uptight and stressed out. To my surprise, it helped calm me, but only until I was out of the shower and staring at myself in the mirror.

I fixed my hair carefully, putting every single piece in the right place. My face was shaved the day before, so I still had that smooth but not too smooth look. I never liked how I looked right after a shave, like I had taken ten years off my face. I guessed I would enjoy that later in life. I sprayed some cologne on me before pulling on my suit and straightening my favorite silver and burgundy tie. I stopped as I passed the mirror, impressed with how professional I looked. Maybe I should force myself out of bed this early every day. Maybe my mother wouldn’t feel the need to buy me stress therapy products. I grabbed my keys and headed out of the house, grabbing a cab and plopping down in the back seat, slightly out of breath. As we drove along, I could feel the warmth of the holidays approaching and thought about the fact that maybe, just maybe, I wouldn’t have to spend them without seeing Tiffany’s beautiful face. I shook the thought from my mind, realizing I was getting about fifty steps ahead of myself.

When I arrived at the office, I greeted everyone happily before realizing I needed to tone it down a notch, judging from the surprised looks on people’s faces. They were going to start getting suspicious, and the last thing I needed was to have my father come in and start asking me questions, or worse, Jordan. I knew I should probably feel guilty about having this feeling about his ex-wife, but for some reason, I didn’t feel even an ounce of guilt. Maybe it was because he treated her like complete shit, and she deserved so much more. When I sat down at my desk, I realized I had several hours before meeting Tiffany and needed to find something to take up my time. Luckily, there were meetings scheduled all morning, so I happily trotted down to the conference room and listened intently to each person’s presentation. My father looked over at me and furrowed his brow, noticing my happy, awake status. He was used to my normal scowl and twelve cups of coffee. Slowly, I picked up my cup and took a sip, trying to wipe the look of excitement off my face.

When the meeting was over, I finished up my notes and looked down at my watch. It was noon, and time to head over to the restaurant. I had picked one several blocks away to avoid running into Jordan or anyone from the office. As I turned into my office, my father poked his head out of his.

“Jason,” he said, making me freeze in place. “Jordan and I are going next door to the deli for lunch. You want to join us?”

“Oh,” I said letting out a deep breath. “Um, not today, Dad. Thanks.”

“You got a hot date?”

“Ha,” I laughed awkwardly. “Maybe.”

I laughed like it was a ridiculous sentiment and heard my father laughing as well. I shook my head as I grabbed my jacket off the chair and headed out to the elevator. As the doors flew open, Jordan stepped off and looked at me suspiciously. I smiled and stepped around him into the elevator. He looked back at me curiously as he made his way to my father’s office. As soon as the elevator doors closed, I leaned back against the wall and let out another deep breath. Why did it feel like I was on some secret mission from hell?

I grabbed a cab and headed over to the restaurant, nervous and excited all at the same time. I still couldn’t believe what had happened yesterday. I sat there with Tiffany’s number on my screen and my finger hovering over the call button when she had called. At first, I thought I’d pressed the button, but when I put the phone to my ear and said hello, her sweet voice came through on the other side. I wasn’t a big signs kind of person, but there had to be something more than just coincidence to that. It had to be some kind of sign, even though the thought of me dating Tiffany seemed strange and taboo. Maybe, just maybe, in some sort of lightning strike of good luck, I somehow managed to get myself in a position where Tiffany and I could be in a relationship with each other. I took a deep breath and shook my head, realizing how crazy I sounded. That was nuts, I needed to keep my head on straight and not go running around with these silly fantasies in my head. We were friends, meeting for lunch, and nothing more.

The other night, sitting next to her in the booth at the club had been amazing on many levels. We laughed, we talked, we reminisced, and I even found us flirting quite a bit. Every time her leg had brushed up against mine, electricity had jolted through my stomach. And my crotch. I hadn’t even realized how one person could want someone as much as I did at that moment and not even realize it until I had gotten home. Sure, at first, it was complete and total animal magnetism, but then my thoughts turned her sexy laugh, her enchanting eyes, and her fragile sensibility that she kept hidden underneath a strong and tough façade. Regardless of whether this was a date, or just two friends having lunch, no one could deny the amount of sexual tension that had built between us in that booth the other night.

I pulled up in front of the restaurant and hopped out, pulling my coat closed and shivering. The weather had taken a turn and the air was almost frigid. I loved New York, but the winters could sometimes be brutal on the senses. Shockingly, it was only October but felt more like December than anything else. I pulled the door open and approached the hostess.

“Hi,” I said smiling. “I’m meeting a woman named Tiffany.”

“Yes,” the hostess smiled. “Right this way.”

I looked up as we moved through the restaurant, spotting Tiffany in the back corner. She was looking down at her hands and seemed nervous. She looked absolutely beautiful in a warm, off-white sweater, jeans, and flats. Her hair was pulled halfway up with curls cascading over her shoulders. Her fair skin was offset by her rosy cheeks, and her eyes glimmered as she looked up and saw me walking toward her. She smiled wide and waved as I approached. I leaned down and kissed her gently on the cheek, lingering longer than I probably should have. I took off my coat and hung it on the chair, thanking the hostess and sitting down.

“You haven’t waited long have you?”

“No,” she said. “I just got here, too. See my hands are still cold.”

She reached up and put her fragile, sweet hand against my cheek. She smiled and held it there as we stared at each other across the table. As if noticing we’d held gazes a little too long, she blushed and pulled her hand back into her lap. We looked over the menus and ordered some coffee to warm us up. I watched Tiffany as she poured cream and sugar into her coffee, stirring it and then licking the spoon. Her pink lips were drawing me in, and I had to take a deep breath and clear my throat to get my mind back on track. We started talking about our day, and she listened intently as I talked about work, forgetting that she worked there, too.

Her laugh was intoxicating, and I soon lost myself in our conversation, not paying any attention to the time. She told me about her parents and their problems, about her brother and how he had made it out safely from his time in Iraq. She spoke about her brother like I hoped she talked about me, with warmth, love, and admiration. The fire in the restaurant’s fireplace crackled as we ate and continued talking for about an hour after our lunch was done. I couldn’t tear myself away from this woman, no matter how hard I tried. Finally, my phone cut into the conversation, and I apologized, looking at the text message. It was from my father, letting me know I missed the last meeting and that everyone was headed home. He wanted to make sure I was okay. I stared blankly at the message. Why was everyone heading home? Then, I saw the time. Wow, three o’clock.

“Wow,” I said laughing. “It’s almost three.”

“Oh, no,” she said, panicked. “Did you miss anything important at work?”

“Nah.” I laughed. “Just that normal marketing meeting that puts everyone to sleep. No big deal.”

“Well, I’ll let you get back to work,” she said smiling. “I have some things I need to take care of in town before heading home, anyway.”

“I’ll walk you to your car.” I stood and came around the table to pull her chair out.

As she put her coat on, I placed cash in the bill holder and turned to her, entranced by the way her hair swished around her as she buttoned her jacket. She was stunning, and I didn’t want the date to be over yet. I walked next to her through the restaurant, my hand on her lower back as we moved toward the door. We stepped out into the cold air, and we both pulled our collars closed around our necks.

“Gosh,” she said, shivering. “Winter just got here out of nowhere. Pretty early for these types of temps. I’m going to have to turn on the heat at home.”

“I know. I’m used to this weather in December, not October,” I replied.

We continued talking about the weather as we took the elevator up the parking garage to her floor. I followed her out and across the garage to her car parked in one of the spots. The place was pretty much empty, and I watched her standing next to her car and got the impression she didn’t want to part ways either. She pulled her keys out and looked up at me, a shy smile on her lips.

“Thank you for lunch, “ she said kindly. “It was really good seeing you again.”

I looked at her for a moment, and though I knew better, I stepped forward, framed her face with my hands, and pressed my lips firmly against hers. She stood tense for just a moment before her body released, and she leaned into me. Her hands pulled around my waist, and she stepped closer, opening her mouth and allowing me to taste her. Passionately, we kissed for several moments before she opened her eyes and pulled away, running her fingers over her lips.

“I’m sorry,” she said, putting the keys in the door. “I just don’t know if I can do this.”

Chapter 8

Tiffany

The last place I wanted to be was anywhere near the office or Jordan for that matter. John had sent me a text, begging me for help. Their agency temp was not cutting it—well, at least not in the way I always got the work done. I had woken to the text notification and seriously thought about going back to bed. I knew Jordan didn’t know anything about this because he would have never let them ask me for help. He would have taken everything on his own shoulders, even if it meant he slept at the office. His pride was always one of those things that caused way too many fights in our relationship. The man just could not let go.

On top of all of that, I couldn’t get Jason off my mind. We had an amazing lunch and everything was perfect, even the kiss. That was the problem, though. It was perfect. Kissing my now ex-husband’s brother should not feel so right, without any of the wrong. No, I didn’t think I was ready to jump into another relationship, but at the same time, I couldn’t seem to get Jason out of my head. It had been the first time in forever that anyone had listened to me, really listened. Jordan had always seemed to be waiting for his turn to talk or to have half his attention on other matters. Ultimately, I blamed my relationship fears on bolting from the parking garage, but I had to admit, I was worried about whether I could resist Jason or not. One touch of his lips and I was a damn puddle on the ground. The last thing I needed was another playboy in my life who would dump me when I became an inconvenience to his lifestyle.

I picked up the phone and dialed John’s number, not wanting to take the chance of Jordan intercepting my call on the office line. We hadn’t spoken since we finalized the divorce, but I knew him all too well. If I caught him at a moment where he no one else to charm, he would get on the phone and make me feel so small. He had a way of doing that without making himself the obvious bad guy. It was part of his gifts, I guess, if you considered it a gift to be an underhanded kind of asshole. Part of me hoped John wouldn’t answer the phone. I had agreed to do a little bit of work, but even that made me feel bogged down and heavy. Sadly, to my dismay, John answered.

“It’s so good to hear your voice,” he said kindly. I could hear his personality in his tone, and instantly, I missed the family.

“It’s good to hear yours as well,” I replied with a smile. “So, you have some work for me.”

“I do and thank you so much for helping. I have arranged a car to pick you up in an hour if that’s okay,” he said wearily.

“That’s fine,” I replied.

“I’ve also arranged for Jordan to be out of the office at that time,” he said. “I didn’t want things to be harder on you than they already were.”

“Thank you, John. I really appreciate that ” I said with a relieved sigh. “It was what I was worried about the most right now.”

“Not a problem,” he said with a smile in his voice. “I’ll see you soon.”

“See you soon.” I ended the call, a little relieved to know John had thought about my working conditions in advance. Knowing Jordan wouldn’t be there lifted some of the weight of my fears.

No matter what happened between Jordan and me, I would never stop loving his mother and father. They were always welcoming, but when they found out my parents had been neglectful junkies and I didn’t have anything to do with them, they doubled down on making me feel like part of the family. I was really treated like how I’d always imagined a daughter would be treated, including shopping trips with mom, fishing trips and days on the golf course with John, the whole nine yards. They hadn’t forgetten me during Christmas from the get-go, even before Jordan and I were married. I was part of that family from the first word, something that was going to take a lot of time to get past. When you break up with someone, you’re not just mourning the loss of that specific person but the entire world you built around that person and everyone in it. For me, it was like losing the family I always wanted. Maybe the fact that I’d been so absorbed with his family was one of the reasons I’d been so blind to who Jordan really was. Either way, I needed to get over it and move forward, and maybe a little work was the thing I needed to do that.

When the car arrived to pick me up, I was ready to go, my coat pulled on tightly, my bag over my arm, and my nerves simmering in my chest. These nerves weren’t for Jordan, though. They were for Jason, who I knew would be there today. It had been two days since our lunch date, and I hadn’t called or texted him. I knew he was giving me space, but I couldn’t tell whether the butterflies in my stomach were nerves or excitement. When I pulled up out front, I took a deep breath, not ready to walk back into my old life. The guard greeted me kindly, always remembering me, before I hopped in the elevator and made my way up to the floor my office was on. Everyone greeted me equally kindly, but I could see the look of pity on their faces. Great. Apparently, everyone had heard about the divorce. I made my way swiftly to John’s office, grinning as I knocked on the doorframe.

“Hey there, mister,” I said in a friendly tone.

“Tiffany.” John hurried over and hugged me tightly. “Come, sit down.”

“Thank you,” I said, taking a seat and looking around.

“How are you?”

“I’m doing okay,” I said with a sigh. “Just putting things back together.”

“Lily and I want to say how sorry we are for the way Jordan handled all of this,” he said diplomatically but with feeling.

“Everyone needs to stop apologizing for him,” I replied. “He is the only one who hasn’t apologized for himself. It will be okay. We just didn’t work out.”

“May I ask what happened? He isn’t really talking to anyone about it.” John didn’t sound very surprised about Jordan’s lack of communication. I wanted to push Jordan in front of that train he was avoiding, but I also didn’t want to sink to his level.

“It’s personal,” I said with a smile.

“Understood,” John said shaking his head. “I’ll never ask again.”

“Thank you,” I replied.

“No. Thank you for not leaving. No one would blame you if you had.” He walked around his desk and sat on the edge. “This place wouldn’t run the same without you, as you can see. The temp is good, but she’s not you. We have gotten behind on these client marketing workups, and I want to take some stress off the poor girl before she has a mental breakdown.”

“I understand,” I chuckled. “It definitely takes a different kind of person to handle this position.”

“Well, I just want you to get back to feeling good,” John replied. “We miss you here and don’t know what we would do if we lost you.”

I smiled. It would have been nice if Jordan had taken that approach during their marriage. Things would be a lot different if he hadn’t thought of me as disposable when I didn’t turn out to be that “perfect wife” he was looking for. At that point, though, it didn’t seem like it was all that important to me anymore, especially with Jason on my mind.

“We put the files on your desk,” John said, interrupting my thoughts. “Let me know if I can get you anything or if you have any questions.”

“Thank you, John.” I stood and hugged him one last time. “I’ll be in touch with updates.”

I walked out of John’s office and down the hall to mine. They had put the temp up in another location, leaving my office calm and quiet. I walked over to the desk and reached to pick up the files, seeing the picture of Jordan and me on the desk from our wedding day. I shook my head and grabbed the picture, tossing it into the garbage bin next to my desk. There were quite a few folders with loose papers, so I walked across the hall to the lounge to grab an empty box. As I rounded the corner, I ran straight into Jason, surprising myself at how happy I was to see him.

“Hey,” he said with an awkward smile. “How are you?”

“Good.” I grabbed a box and motioned toward my office. “Just picking up a little work to help you guys out.”

“I know. My dad told me,” he said. “You look great.”

“Thanks.” I tossed the files in the box and lifted it up. We stared at each other for several moments before Jason took a deep breath, breaking our gaze.

“Can I walk you to your car?”

“Sure, whatever,” I said nonchalantly. He took the box from my hands, and we walked quietly to the elevator. Once the doors closed, I turned toward Jason. The intensity inside that small space was overwhelming. Jason dropped the box and moved toward me, matching my needy steps toward him. I threw my arms around his neck and pressed my mouth to his, feeling the heat between us. Immediately our mouths ravaged each other, as our hands moved over one another’s bodies. His tongue slipped into my mouth, and I moaned quietly, feeling him searching for something, something I felt the exact same need to search for. Jason’s hands slid around my waist, and he pulled me close, rubbing his hard cock against my body. I could feel every inch of him slide against me, and instantly, I wished the elevator ride was a lot longer.

I pulled my hands down his chest and over his stomach, holding back from reaching down and taking him into my hands. His kiss began to slow as the floors ticked past. I pulled back and stared deeply into his eyes, our breath matching, and our arousal more than heated. As the elevator hit the bottom floor, I pushed back, reaching down and picking up the box. I wiped my lip gloss from the corners of my mouth and giggled to myself as he straightened his clothes, reaching down and groaning lightly as he shifted his hard erection into the band of his pants. As the doors opened, I stopped, wiping the smile from my face as I stared directly at Jordan. He was looking at the two of us suspiciously, and I just rolled my eyes at him, turning to Jason.

“Thanks for walking me this far,” I said before turning and pushing past Jordan.

“Good to see you, too,” Jordan yelled after me. I put my hand up in the air and considered flipping him the bird but just waved it condescendingly instead.

As if on a mission, I headed straight for the car without slowing my pace as I’d sped from the elevator. I set the box down on the trunk and clicked the button to unlock it. Opening the trunk, I realized I hadn’t looked in it since I had moved everything back into the house. However, where there would normally be a sinking feeling when staring at the things remaining from my marriage with Jordan, there was something else this time. I shifted the contents of the trunk and put the box in, glad to be getting out of there before Jordan had me cornered in the office. As I unlocked the other doors and reached out to grab the handle, I stopped, butterflies whirling around in my chest. I couldn’t help the smile that instantly curled at the edge of my lips just thinking about my encounter with Jason in the elevator. My knees were still shaking, and my heart was beating like crazy.

I don’t know what I had gotten myself into, but at that moment, I liked it.

Chapter 9

Jason

Seriously, if I had to sit through Jordan’s rambling and accusatory questioning for one more minute, I swore I was going to knock him out and take off. I knew what he saw was exactly what he thought it was, but I couldn’t tell him that. Shit, I could barely recognize what happened myself. It was all so sudden, so natural, and I didn’t even think twice about dropping that box and grabbing onto her. Tiffany had come into the office to pick up work, and we had sent Jordan out to avoid any discomfort for her. Well, it seemed that he happened to walk in on the tail end of the most exciting part of her visit to the office. I looked down at my phone and held back a grin. It was Tiffany. We had been texting since she left the day before, and what started as simple, coy flirting had become a full-fledged sexting session. In all reality, it had become that by nightfall and now had carried over into the next day. I did not have a problem opening my phone to erotic pictures of Tiffany’s sexy ass body, but it was only slightly nerve racking when I was standing in front of Jordan, trying to pay attention to his incessant whining.

“So, what was going on in that elevator?” He was being so persistent.

“For the thousandth time, Jordan, nothing. I was helping her carry her stuff down to her car,” I replied. “You spooked her so bad I didn’t even make it to her car.”

And there he went again, off on another rant, another speech about brotherhood, something he hasn’t thought about one day in his entire life. Sure, it was probably taboo and wrong as his brother to be getting naked pics from his ex-wife, but there was something about this girl that I couldn’t shake. She was sexy, curvy, bright, and those lips made my dick twitch. Every single picture she sent was crazy hot, but I really couldn’t wait to see it all in person, put it right in front of me so that I could put my hands on her, feel her breathing heavily, watch her face as I pleasured her. I shifted in my chair, my cock getting harder by the minute. It was yet another awkward thing to add to the list of awkward moments in this office today.

I pulled my phone into my lap and clicked open the picture Tiffany had just sent. She was standing in front of her mirror completely naked, her tits round and vibrant, her hair trickling over her shoulders, and her pussy plump and ready for me. I could already imagine sliding my finger between her folds while I massaged her breasts. I seriously felt like I didn’t have enough hands. There were just too many places I wanted to caress, and no patience to wait. I clicked open the message and told her I would be over at lunch. She sent back a winking faced emoji, and immediately, I started to get nervous. Well, maybe nervous wasn’t the right word for it, maybe excited would better describe the raging hard-on I was hiding underneath my desk.

“Jason,” Jordan shouted. “Are you even listening?”

“Oh,” I said putting my phone down. “Sorry, what was that?”

“Are you going to be done with the ice cream company’s report by tomorrow?”

“Uh, yeah,” I said looking down at the file. “No problem.”

“Damn, dude, I asked you three times.” He rolled his eyes.

“Sorry, man. I’m a bit preoccupied today,” I said, shaking my head and leaning forward.

“Whatever,” Jordan said with a sigh. “I’ll talk to you later.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking back at my phone.

I clicked open another picture and laughed. At that moment, I had never been so happy that I bought her that selfie stick two years ago for Christmas. She was lying on her back on the bed, her legs spread open, with her fingers rubbing her clit. God, I was going to fuck the hell out of this girl. Her caption read, “Hurry up, I need you inside of me.” Talk about wanting to take an early lunch. But it was only ten in the morning. There was no way I could sneak out that early, though I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to make it back that afternoon. In fact, I was pretty sure if I had it my way, I’d have Tiffany naked for the rest of her time out of work.

I tried to focus on the file in front of me, but with texts coming in every few minutes, Jordan giving me the death glare from outside my office, and my constant shift from semi-chub to full on massive erection, there was no way I was going to get anything done. I put my phone in my pocket and breathed deeply until I was okay to walk out into the hallway. There was really no hiding this kind of boner, and it was starting to ache, it was so ready for her. I grabbed a cup of coffee, put my cream and sugar in, and went back to my desk. I pulled open the file, knowing if I wanted to waste the rest of the day with this girl, I was going to have to at least finish this file. By the time I was done, it was a quarter to twelve and immediately my heart started racing. I dropped the file on my brother’s desk, glad he was not there, and grabbed my jacket. I wanted to get out of the office without too much questioning, and it proved easier than I thought since my father was in a client meeting when I left.

I decided to take a cab, so my brother wouldn’t try to interrogate our drivers and so I wouldn’t blow my cover. While I knew I should feel guilty for sneaking around, I didn’t. Instead, it was pretty thrilling to be jumping in a cab to give it to this girl who was way out of bounds. Not only that, but Tiffany was amazing, and after I got this arousal out of my system, I wanted to talk with her, really see where her mind was at. She was still reeling from the change of life she was experiencing, but she also seemed to be right where I was when it came to seeing each other. In fact, it shocked me that she was all about me coming over to her place, something I thought she would push off. But I wasn’t going to argue with the girl, those pictures were enough for any man to throw caution to the wind and say screw it.

When I pulled up in front of the house, I started to get nervous. The last time I had been there, things were fine between her and Jordan, though I still didn’t feel that guilt I probably should. The amount of intense sexual desire between us, both in the elevator and through these messages was beyond anything I had felt with anyone else. As I walked toward the door, a level of excitement bubbled in my gut. I couldn’t even begin to know what to expect. I knocked on the door and waited, listening to Tiffany’s footsteps as she approached. She cracked the door and smiled at me, opening it and stepping to the side. I walked in and looked around, realizing she had done some redecorating since the last time I was there. She leaned in and kissed me on the cheek, sending heat into my belly. She turned and walked toward the living room, wearing tight spandex shorts and a low-cut sweater. She looked fucking smoking hot.

When I turned the corner in the living room, I felt Tiffany’s body press hard against mine. She ran her lips up my neck and breathed heavily into my ear. Instantly, my hands ran up underneath her sweater, remembering what her body looked like underneath. She was wearing a strapless bra under her top, and I pulled it down, massaging her firm perky tits. She pushed her open mouth against mine, and we kissed deep and longingly. She pulled back, breathing heavy as I pushed her against the wall.

“Maybe we shouldn’t,” she said breathlessly. “It’s only been a couple of weeks.”

“Maybe.” I kissed her neck and watched her bite her lip and lean her head against the wall.

I put my other hand under her shirt and pushed hard on her breasts, massaging them deeply. My hips moved forward, and I ran my hard cock against her, my pants becoming painfully tight. She pushed back with her hips and moaned as it ran over her pussy. She reached forward and took my shaft into her hands through my pants, squeezing hard. I reached around to unclasp her bra and then pulled her sweater over her head.

“This is going so fast,” I groaned as she unbuttoned my shirt and pulled it off my shoulders. “Maybe we should slow down.”

“Mmhmm,” she moaned as I pulled on her tight spandex pants. “Maybe we should.”

She unbuckled my pants and pulled them down to my feet. I flipped my shoes off and stepped out of them, my cock finally getting a bit of breathing room in my boxer briefs. Tiffany trailed her fingers down my stomach and reached down into my boxers, staring me in the eyes as she pulled my dick out and began to jerk it fast and hard. I reached forward and pulled down her panties, spreading her legs with my knees and cupping her wet pussy. She moaned loudly as I rubbed back and forth between the folds, matching her intensity.

“You like that?” I whispered into her ear.

“Mmhmm,” she moaned.

“How about this?” I pushed two fingers deep inside of her and watched as she arched her back and spread her legs wider.

“Yes,” she screamed out.

She turned her hand over on my cock and rubbed it hard and slow as she moved her hips in rhythm with my hand pushing in and out of her. I took my other hand and continued to massage her tits, feeling her nipples harden as soon as my hand brushed over them. I looked at her body writhing at my touch, and my cock instantly got harder. Her curves and dips were so fucking sexy, all I wanted to do was wrap her legs around my waist and fuck her right here against the wall. But then, it would be over quickly, and I had no plans to make this a quick thing. I wanted to savor her, make her come over and over again, taste her, and finally, when she was satisfied, I wanted to fuck her so hard she begged me not to stop. I wanted to see those tits bouncing up and down as my body slammed into her over and over, bringing her to the edge of orgasm, and then pushing her further over the edge. I had never wanted anyone as much as I wanted her right then, and from the juices running down my hand, I could tell the feeling was mutual.

I took my fingers out of her pussy and rubbed the head of my cock through her folds, letting her feel it for just a second. She moaned and grabbed at me, trying to get it inside of her, but I wasn’t ready, knowing once I was all the way in, there would be no stopping. She breathed heavily, waiting to feel my shaft inside of her. I grabbed my cock and hovered the tip just over her pussy. I pushed in just about an inch, letting her get just a taste before pulling back out and smiling.

“Fuck me, damn it,” she growled.

“Not yet,” I whispered. “First, I want to taste you.”

Chapter 10

Tiffany

I pressed my back against the wall, my hands holding my breasts and the air leaving my chest as Jason dipped down on his knees and moved his tongue through my wetness. I had never been in a situation where I felt so much want and need for anyone. I couldn’t even start to come to terms with what was going on with Jason and I, but at that moment, all I wanted to do was let go and let him take my body. The plethora of text messages that had been sent back and forth over the last day had gotten me hot and bothered, and though part of me wanted to take care of it myself and not get involved in anything complicated, I knew my own fingers were not going to do the trick in this situation. I needed Jason, all of him, every damn inch of him to make me feel better, and I was determined to give him the time of his life.

There was something so hot about Jason’s face pressed between my legs, almost as if I had wanted him there a lot longer than I realized. He reached up and tugged at my waist, pulling me down to the floor. I leaned my upper back against the wall as he pushed my thighs wide apart and dove down with his mouth. I could feel his lips caress my mound like they did my own lips just a day before, and I moaned loudly as his tongue did circle eights over my clit. My hands moved down to Jason’s head, and I pushed my fingers through his dark hair, feeling his head swivel as his intensity increased. I gasped as he slid two fingers inside of me and began to push in and out, his mouth firmly planted on my nub, sucking and nibbling me closer and closer to orgasm. I breathed deeply, trying to keep myself under control but there was no way I could at that point, the wanting had been there for so long.

The heat of the moment bubbled up in my stomach as I began to grind my hips against his face. Sensing how close I was, he picked up the pace, moving his fingers deeper and harder, and pressing his mouth firmly into my wetness. I cried out, throwing my hands to my side and grinding my hips. He clamped his hands around my waist and moved me with his mouth, bringing a feeling of pleasure surging through me. Like the fire that ignited the bomb, that pleasure pushed my orgasm over the edge. I screamed again, tightening every muscle in my body, arching my back and taking in a deep breath. The waves of orgasm hit me like a ton of bricks, and I could barely keep my composure. As the juices flowed, Jason moved his mouth over my pussy fast, lapping up my taste and groaning. As my muscles relaxed, and I let out a deep breath, I could feel a smile pull at the edges of Jason’s lips. I leaned forward, pushing him back and climbing to my knees.

“Stand up,” I said, biting my lip.

He scrambled to his feet and cleared his throat, ready for what was going to come next. I raked my fingers down his sides and grabbed onto his ass, pulling his body toward me. I reached up and wrapped my hand around his long hard shaft, almost taken back by how big it was. I looked up into his eyes and grinned as I closed my eyes and took his cock deep into my throat. He lurched and groaned as I deep throated his shaft, pressing my lips against his skin at the base. His eyes got big as I sucked hard, pulling it back out and then diving back down. He wrapped his fingers gently through my hair and pushed gently against my head, taking only slight control. As I pulled my head back up, I wrapped my tongue around his shaft, sucking hard. He moaned out, grabbing harder at my hair. His hips began to thrust forward as his hand held my face still. I opened my mouth wide and allowed him to push deep down into my throat. My eyes watered as I looked up at him, his face dark with desire. I reached my hands up and coddled his balls, gently massaging them as he picked up the pace.

I moaned quietly, the arousal simmering in my belly while I watched him fuck my mouth. It was as if we couldn’t get enough of each other in those moments. He pulled back, loosening his grip on my hair and taking a calming breath as he looked down at me. Slowly, he reached down and scooped me into his arms, carrying me back toward the bedroom. I ran my lips across his neck, feeling his strong hands gripping my thighs and his muscular arms beneath me. He gently laid me down on the bed, and I pulled my head up on the pillow. As he hovered over me, I could see the passion in his stare and despite my assumption that he would dive right in, he ran his fingers through my hair, resting his body to the side. His face pushed down toward mine, and he kissed my lips, gently at first, but then turning deeper and needier. His hands slipped over my breasts, and he grasped them, massaging with his hands as his tongue explored my mouth. I gasped as his hard cock rubbed against my side, making more wetness pool between my legs. I wanted him so badly, but this touch was something I had not experienced before, his emotions spilling out over my skin. The men in this family were never very good at verbal expression, but Jason had found an outlet to express his.

Slowly, he rolled over on top of me, pushing my legs apart, his eyes still focused on mine. My breath picked up from the intensity of the contact, and I gasped as his cock slowly slid through my juices. I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, feeling every inch of him fill me up. His lips trailed down my throat as his hips began to push forward slowly until our bodies connected. I opened my eyes and found his stare still steady, and I locked on as if our gaze was what held us together. He penetrated me to the core, groaning into my mouth as our lips hovered closely together. I could feel the bulge in his cock as he took his time, wanting more but holding back. His restraint was almost more than I could handle, and my fingertips danced across his back, secretly begging him for more. As if he could read what was in my mind through my eyes, he started going faster, his hips moving in a wave as his body swiped across my clit. I pulled my legs up to the sides of his body and held tightly to his neck, pulling his body close to mine.

I could feel the muscles tense and release as he pushed forward with his legs, holding himself just inches with his massive trembling arms. My body reacted in every way to his lustful gaze and all-encompassing coverage. My hips tilted upward and my thighs relaxed, opening myself to him fully. It was the first time I had ever felt that comfortable with a man before. I wanted all of him, and I yearned to feel him come inside of me, knowing it was safe since my condition didn’t allow me to have children. The feeling was free with no attachments of stress or anger. It was just two people connecting on a level beyond cosmic, and it seemed the world had stood still. I moaned quietly with my breath as the buildup of another orgasm brewed inside of me. The feeling of his soft warm skin brushing against my wetness sent ribbons of arousal through my body.

Jason’s movements grew stronger and more powerful, showing me he, too, was reaching the edge of his climax. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he fought to control his muscles. His body yearned to let loose while his mind concentrated on the deep steady movements inside of me. I knew I needed to give him permission to free himself from the constant need to fill me with his shaft and allow himself to feel the orgasm fighting to break through. I leaned my face to his ear and whispered.

“I want to feel you come.”

He groaned loudly and let out a deep breath, pushing his arms up and grabbing my thighs. He hooked my legs over his arms and began to thrust deeper and harder. His speed quickened and the strained look from before was replaced with determination. He bit his lip as his hips moved faster and faster, his cock throbbing for release. I reached my arms over my head and grabbed the edge of the mattress moaning loudly as he pushed into me hard and deep. My muscles began to tense as the feeling of skin on mine pushed me over my edge. I arched my back and tilted my head, screaming loudly as ribbons of pleasure flowed through my body, taking over my senses and blinding me with passion. I could feel him sit up and grab me under the back as he pushed several times short and hard inside of me. With the final push, his fingers grabbed at my skin and his muscles tightened. His eyes closed as his head tilted backward, and I could feel the explosion of his seed inside of me. I screamed out in pleasure as his cock pulsated against my already shivering walls. Deep groaning sounds escaped his throat as he twitched in front of me, letting the last of his orgasm simmer out.

For several minutes he sat there, holding my exhausted, heaving body in his arms as one by one, his muscles relaxed. He laid me down gently on the bed and let out a deep breath, pulling his still hard cock from inside of me and collapsing on the bed next to me. We laid there in pleasured silence for several minutes before he turned on his side and propped his head up on his hand. He moved the hair from my face and pulled the sheet up over my exposed body. I smiled as he leaned down and gently kissed my lips. I glanced over at the clock and chuckled.

“I think I made you late for work,” I whispered.

“I’m not going back,” he said grinning. “I can’t leave this. Hell, my father is the owner of the company. I’ve never used that to my advantage to miss work, but today, I think it will be okay.”

“Good,” I said touching his face. “I like you here.”

“I like being here, with you,” he said kissing my cheek. “And I want to talk to you about your medical condition.”

“Okay,” I said, taking in a deep breath. “Well, it's called PCOS, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome. I grow a bunch of small cysts on my ovaries, and in turn, it makes it pretty much impossible to get pregnant. It’s been a bit to take in. I mean I lost any chance to have a child and lost my husband all in one month. It’s been overwhelming, to say the least.”

“I know,” he said looking at me in a way no other man ever had. “I’d like to help if you’d let me. I have some contacts with some amazing doctors, and I’d like to set you up for a second opinion.”

“That would be amazing,” I said. I bet he didn’t know just how awesome he was.

“Good,” he said, smiling. “That was easy.”

“I’m not one to fight someone looking out for my best interest,” I laughed.

“I’ll always look out for your best interest,” he replied.

And I was going to hold him to that.

Chapter 11

Jason

My home office looked like the inside of a doctor’s office with printed medical journals sprawled out all over the place. I had a bucket of highlighters sitting next to me, and the pages I printed were highlighted according to the type of information. By the time I was done with one sheet, it looked like a rainbow and the paper had become flimsy from the amount of ink that was saturating the fibers. I had decided that since Tiffany was busy this weekend getting stuff moved around in her house and spending time with her best friend Mona, I was going to get myself up to speed on her medical condition. I couldn’t really be there for her or find her the best doctor for a second opinion if I didn’t know everything there was to know about this disease. The internet, as always, was peppered with information that I had to sort through from medical journals to personal stories of women who suffered from the condition. There were your normal fairy tale stories of women who were told they would never get pregnant and then, poof, they had triplets, to women who suffered almost debilitating depression because of the lack of fertility. Thinking about Tiffany having to feel even an ounce of the pain these women did made me uneasy, and I was determined to make her into one of the success stories.

After I understood what the condition was and what it scientifically did to her body, I started looking up treatments. There was everything from invasive surgeries to holistic remedies, and by the time I was done sorting those out, my head was spinning. I knew treatment was not up to me at all, but I wanted to give Tiffany the best options, the ones she would feel most comfortable with and would offer her the best chance of recovery. Just knowing the woman for five seconds, you could tell she was meant to be a mother. Her nurturing nature and huge heart were some of the things I had admired for years. She was everything you expected a woman holding a baby in her arms to be. How had she managed to escape college without becoming a teacher or a caregiver? I knew how her life was growing up, though, with parents who were dependent on drugs, and I wondered how much that affected her want for her own children. She had been independent since she was a small child, having to take care of her parents when they were all drugged out. From that, her brother had protected and shielded her until she could break free of the chains and become the woman she was.

It was already an adult fairy tale, and I figured if anyone could work past this condition, it would be Tiffany. I took a break, grabbing a beer from the fridge and walking out onto my balcony. I didn’t live in a high-rise like Jordan but, instead, hung out in a three-story SoHo loft with a walk-out onto the roof sanctuary that also housed a swimming pool just for me. It was like my break away from the business of Manhattan, while still being able to walk outside and see the chaos of the city. I absolutely loved every part of it. I pulled my phone out and smiled, looking down at the message from Tiffany. We had been talking ever since I left her house late Friday night. Everything in me wanted to stay, but Saturday morning was the annual fall breakfast at my parents’ place, and so, I’d gone home to get changed and ready for that. It felt weird not having her there, and even my mother had commented on her absence. Jordan simply rolled his eyes and passed the potatoes, not wanting to talk about it, irritated that his family wasn’t going into woman-hater mode with him.

The entire time at breakfast, I had thought about Tiffany and the amazing sex we’d had the night before. Her body was so tender, so soft, and it felt like more than just a roll in the hay like I thought. I had years of emotions behind it, having watched her from afar for many years, envious that my brother could be with such an amazing creature. For her part, I don’t know how she felt, but she seemed to be just as emotionally vested as I was. Physically, though, our bodies connected right away, and it was like I knew just how to pleasure her, the knowledge that would normally come later in a relationship when two people had fully brought their bodies together, over and over, learning each other’s pleasure zones and arousal buttons. Not so with Tiffany. She and I, once close, were like magnets, rubbing against each other, drawn closer and closer, and feeling every single inch of each other’s bodies. I couldn’t wait until the next time I got to be alone with her. There were several other things I had in mind for that sexy body.

Tonight, though, was the regular Sunday night dinner where I would get to sit across the table from Jordan and keep my secret to myself. I was even more disgusted by the way he had treated Tiffany, especially now that we had given ourselves to each other and now that I understood her on an entirely new level. I was disappointed the situation was as it was and I couldn’t keep her close to me, bringing her along to my parent's house to show off and hold hands with her. Jordan had been the only one to regularly bring girls to my parents while I had reserved that for a time I knew the girl was the one. I knew it seemed crazy, but that was how I felt about Tiffany, regardless of where her feelings for me were. That was something I wasn’t going to push, especially since the ink had hardly dried on her divorce.

However, I wasn’t going to lie. I didn’t hesitate to torture my brother, knowing he was wondering about the girl who was taking my attention away. He had stopped hounding me about Tiffany, though I knew it was still on his mind. He would just have to wait like everyone else until the time was right. In the meantime, I would get to keep my feelings for Tiffany private and just between the two of us. Our time would be our time, and I felt it would make it even that much more important to the two of us. It wasn’t very often, especially in my family, when something special came into your life that you got to enjoy in privacy before everyone wanted to be a part of it. I wasn’t sure how my family would react, but I knew in time, no matter how they felt at first, they would be happy to have Tiffany back into the fold.

I spent the rest of the afternoon organizing the notes into folders and putting them together. I figured eventually Tiffany might want to read some of the information, but for now, I had a pretty good understanding of the disease, what the symptoms were, and what to talk to the doctors about. I would be making phone calls first thing in the morning from the office. I wanted to get on top of this as fast as possible so Tiffany could put her mind at ease for the future. I had no idea how she felt, but I did know that the less stress she had, the quicker she could come back to work, and the more relaxed we could be around each other. The best thing I knew how to do was get her in to see a doctor and be there for her, no matter what the end result was. I couldn’t help but think there wasn’t something we could do to get through this, even if she didn’t end up with me in the end. I just wanted her to be happy. Everything else would work out how it was supposed to after that. I flipped my office light off and headed to my room to get changed and get ready to go to my parents’ house for dinner. It was going to be a fun night, watching my brother act the douchebag like he usually did, knowing in the back of mind, I saved Tiffany from a miserable existence in his shadow.

My parents always sent a car for me on Sundays. They wanted me to enjoy wine with dinner and whiskey afterward without worrying about me getting home. They had moved outside of the city when we were young teenagers, into a large mansion on the edge of town. I hopped in the car and sat back, watching as I passed the changing colors of the trees and texted Tiffany on my way there. She was eating pizza and drinking tequila with Mona, and it made me a little jealous, but only because I wanted to be there with her. When I arrived at my parents, I shoved my phone in my pockets and walked up the large front staircase. My mother had already pulled out the fall decorations, and there was a large wreath covered in orange, red, and brown leaves hanging from the front door. The maid opened the door before I could even reach for the handle, and I smiled as I walked in, smelling the scent of Sunday evening dinner. It was really the only time my mother cooked anymore. Instead, she’d hired a chef and spent her days and nights between the office and doing her crafting with her friends from the club.

At the start of dinner, I looked down at my phone and smiled at a picture Tiff sent of her and Mona sprawled out on the floor, surrounded by tequila and pizza. They were ridiculous, but I was really pleased to see Tiffany starting to act like her old self again. She was way too precious to be caught up in heartbreak, and I was happy to be part of the solution.

“That your new girlfriend?” Jordan looked up at me and raised an eyebrow. “Where’d you meet her?” He sounded suspicious, but I ignored his tone.

“I met her at a bar a few weeks ago,” I said smiling. “She’s pretty awesome. You’d really like her.” I stared right at Jordan with a cocky smile. He squinted his eyes at me with curiosity.

“Is that why you didn’t come back to work on Friday?” My father interrupted our stare-off, and I switched my gaze to him, taking a deep breath.

“Um, yeah, actually,” I chuckled. “She had some stuff going on, and I wanted to be there for her.”

“Well,” my mother said. “I need to meet this girl. We need to meet this girl. You haven’t talked about a girlfriend since that flakey girl you dated in eleventh grade.”

“I know.” I laughed, thinking about little Marcy from school. She was sweet but not too bright. “When the time is right, you will all meet her.”

That seemed to appease my mother and father, but Jordan kept his gaze fixed on my face. I knew he had his suspicions, but I couldn’t have cared less about what he thought. I was going to make the best decision for Tiffany in all of this, something he neglected to do from the get-go. If he wasn’t going to cherish her and treat her right, I would make sure that I did.

Chapter 12

Tiffany

I looked in my bathroom mirror after applying the last of my makeup and my cherry lip gloss. My hair looked silky smooth and flowed over my shoulders in ringlets. I was nervous, and I didn’t really know why. The other night was amazing with Jason, and we had talked non-stop since then, sending silly texts back and forth and staying up until the wee hours of the morning talking on the phone. He had a great dinner with his parents and laughed at how they noticed his attention was elsewhere. Everything seemed perfect, except that our relationship was a huge secret. I didn’t know where it was going or if I should even be thinking about that, but I couldn’t help but let it plague my mind. I just wanted everything to go smoothly. I wanted his parents to accept that we were dating, Jordan to get off his high horse about thinking I was still his property, and this medical stuff to be lifted off my shoulders. The only thing I could tell myself was to be patient and let it play out. Nothing was going to come from worrying so much.

I had gotten a lot of work done on Saturday and was ready to turn it in for more, but that meant going to the office. This time, however, I wasn’t as nervous as before, knowing Jason would be somewhere in the office. John would be pleased the files were done, and I knew there was plenty of work to keep me busy for a while. I wasn’t quite ready yet to get back to my office, but I didn’t mind having something to keep me occupied during the day. I knew, too, when I got there, I would be able to stick my head in Jason’s office and surprise him since he didn’t know I would be coming in today. I finished getting ready and grabbed my phone, dialing John’s cell phone number.

“Hey there,” he said happily.

“Hey, John,” I replied. “I finished up those files and was going to come trade them for some more. I wanted to ask—”

“I’ll make sure Jordan is out of the office,” he interrupted kindly. “I have some errands I can actually send him on right now if you're ready to come over.”

“Sounds perfect,” I replied.

“Great,” he said. “I’ll see you soon.”

I hung up the phone feeling better that he wouldn’t be there. The last thing I wanted was for Jordan to ruin my good mood. I hopped in a taxi and headed over to the building, excited and nervous to see Jason’s smiling face. He texted me on the way, but I didn’t answer back, figuring dropping in would be better than a text. When I arrived, I took the elevator up and smiled at the receptionist who seemed happy to see me. I wondered what kind of chaos was going on while I’ve been gone but pushed the thought from my mind, not ready to jump back into anything stressful. I walked to Jason’s office and poked my head around the corner, smiling as he looked down at his phone with a concerned look.

“I’m okay,” I said smiling.

“Hey,” he said excitedly. “This is a surprise.”

“I know,” I replied. “I mean it to be one. I just came to grab some more work. I’ll poke my head in before I leave.”

“Please do,” he said happily. “I’ll walk you out.”

I nodded and walked merrily down the hall to John’s office. He was equally as pleased to see me and was very gracious for the expediency in which I prepared the files. I stopped by my office and refilled the box, noticing that only one or two folders had been taken since the last time I was there. The temp must really be struggling since a pile like the one on my desk would normally have been done in two working days. I shook my head and headed back to Jason’s office, standing in the doorway with a smile for him. He got up and walked over, taking the box from my hands.

“Walk me out?”

“Of course,” he replied with a wink.

We walked to the elevators, ignoring the blank stares from the people around us. Once inside, I reached over before he could press the button and hit the seventh floor button. He looked at me strangely, and I chuckled.

“Are we doing some construction today?”

“The crew is off on Tuesday,” I said as we rode down to the seventh floor.

When the doors opened, I walked out backward, giving him a knowing look. He laughed, carrying the box with him and setting it down on a pile of wooden beams. The floor was being renovated, so it was slightly dusty, but I knew we could be alone there. I watched Jason as he looked around the floor, still unsure of what we were doing there. All I could think about was getting him out of those clothes. I walked over and grabbed him by the tie, mashing my lips against his. He stepped forward, putting his arms around me and kissing me deeply. I could feel the warmth between my legs as his cock began to grow hard in his pants.

“Take me,” I whispered into his ear, pulling his jacket down and tossing it to the side.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said with a coy smile.

Instantly, we were on each other, pulling at each other’s belts. I could feel the passion ignite as we stumbled across the room toward the windows. Pressed against the window was a desk, covered in a white drapery. I pulled the drape off and watched as Jason undid his pants and pulled his cock out the top. He stroked it hard with his palm, staring me in the eyes. I immediately took my pants off and backed up to the desk, sitting part way on the edge and reaching down between my moist folds. He gritted his teeth and jacked his cock harder, watching as I rubbed my fingers through my pussy, my eyes fixed on his. I wanted him so bad, but I loved watching him want me even more. I lifted my fingers to my mouth and sucked on them, pulling them back down to my clit and then pushed them deep inside me. I gasped with a small whine as I began to finger myself, watching his cock get harder and harder.

He groaned as his hand slipped over his cock, but he stood steady, watching me bring myself closer and closer to orgasm. I pulled my fingers out and rubbed my clit fast and hard, feeling his eyes rolling over me in the heat of the moment. I lifted myself up and leaned back slightly to give him a better view as my fingers circled around my nub, bringing me closer to the edge of ecstasy. I tilted my head back as I rubbed my pussy, moaning loudly, not caring if anyone could hear me. The cold bare wood beneath me squeaked as I lifted my hips and moved them around, my hand still rubbing hard against my skin.

“I want to see you come,” he growled.

I smiled in agreeance, knowing the sooner I came, the sooner I could have that large, hard cock inside of me. I licked my fingers again, watching his hand tighten around his shaft and then plunged them deep inside, moaning as I moved my hand faster and deeper inside of me. He stepped forward, pushing my thigh open, a serious and determined look on his face. I could feel myself at the tipping point, and I reached up with my other hand and grabbed my breasts, squeezing hard as my fingers moved over my nub. I arched my back and continued to grind as the orgasm in my stomach flowed over, sending waves of pleasure through my body.

Jason stepped forward, groaning, and yanked me off the desk, turned me around, and bent me over, shoving his cock into my pulsating pussy. He growled as the juices flowed over his hard shaft, grabbed me by the waist, and began to fuck me deep and hard. He reached back and slapped my ass with the tips of his fingers, the pain mixing with the pleasure. I reached forward and grabbed the other end of the desk, still feeling my clit pulsing from the orgasm I had given myself. I could feel every single inch of his dick sliding in and out of me, and I screamed out loudly as pushed in hard, our bodies slamming into each other.

“Yes,” I yelled out, flinging my hair back out of my face.

Jason reached one hand up and grabbed my hair pulling my head back slightly as he used my waist to push and pull from. I could feel his unexpected erotic emotions pulsing through the air as he slammed his cock into me over and over. The sound of the desk bouncing into the beams on the windows echoed through the empty office, accompanied by my loud moans. He let go of my hair and pulled my body toward him as his hips thrust forward. I looked back at him, gritting my teeth, and watched as his face showed determination and lust. I could tell he was on the edge of orgasm, and immediately, that turned me on. I spread my legs apart and reached down, rubbing my clit as his cock filled me over and over again. The vision of his face and the sound of his groans brought me to another peak very quickly.

I rubbed hard, screaming out as he leaned forward grabbing my shoulders and thrusting deep. I came all over his dick, and he dug his fingers into my shoulders, his breath on the nape of my neck. His hips moved melodically as his body tensed and his cock twitched inside of me. He growled loudly as he lurched, his orgasm shuddering through his body. I could feel him release inside of me, and even after it was done, he continued to gently push in and out with his hips until finally, he slowed to a stop. He leaned forward against me and breathed heavily, his heart beating so hard I could feel it on my back. I pressed my face against the cold wood of the desk and relaxed for a moment, feeling the closeness of our skin. Slowly, he stood up and pulled his pants up, reaching over and helping me to my feet.

Quietly we got dressed, smiling with blushed cheeks when catching each other’s eye. When he was done dressing, he walked over to me and wrapped his hands around my neck, kissing me sweetly on the lips. He looked into my eyes and smiled, a small chuckle shaking his chest.

“What?” I said smiling.

“That was the best work surprise I have ever gotten.” He laughed again.

“I thought you’d like that,” I said. “But you need to get back to work.”

“I do,” he groaned. “Come on, I’ll walk you out.”

We stood close in the elevator, our shoulders touching and our breath matching. I checked my hair in the mirror and wiped the cherry lipstick from his cheek, turning back and grasping the box in my arms as the doors to the elevator opened. I looked up to once again find Jordan staring at me, an irritated look on his face.

“Hey,” I said, walking past. I turned and winked at Jason before heading out to catch a cab.

As I climbed in, I realized something. I didn’t feel anything when I saw Jordan. There was no wrenching feeling in my chest or drop in my stomach. It was like seeing some random person from the office. At that moment, I understood there was a reason for that. My heart had never actually belonged to him in the first place, something I knew all along but never allowed myself to see. Finally, I felt free from his clutches, free to feel however I wanted to for Jason.

Chapter 13

Jason

I stirred my drink, thinking about how I hadn’t seen Tiffany since the day in the empty seventh floor. She was so hot, looking at me with wanting eyes as she rubbed her fingers over her pussy. I wanted to fuck her so much but watching her play with herself was the hottest things I had ever experienced in my entire life. I couldn’t help but stand there and stare, stroking my shaft and waiting for those juices to start flowing. Diving into something with Tiffany had become an adventure that I hadn’t quite expected. She was smart, beautiful, charming, and fucking sexy as hell. I had always wondered, in the back of my mind, what kind of girl she was in bed, and though I expected more than a timid mouse, I wasn’t expecting a handful. But I was not complaining, because everything she did drove me absolutely wild. We had been texting all week, and it was finally Friday. She would be coming to this bar with Mona. We had staged a happy “run-in” with each other. It would look casual, but we could be out in public together. After the video she’d sent me two nights ago, though, I wasn’t sure I would be able to contain myself. I might just have to pull her into the back room and bend her over a box in the stocking area. I looked down at my drink, smiling at the thought.

“You look happy,” Jordan’s voice caught me off guard.

“What are you doing here?” I was more than a little irritated he was here. It was like he was still hounding me about seeing Tiffany and me together again in the elevator. Little did he know, we had just come back from fucking the hell out of each other a few floors up.

“Don’t sound so excited to see me,” he said grumbling. “Listen, man, I have to ask, is there something going on between you and Tiffany? You guys looked awfully cozy in that elevator again.”

“Dude,” I sighed. “Will you please give it a rest? There is nothing going on. Tiffany is not my type, and I have other things on my mind than dating your ex-wife.”

“All right,” he said, shaking his head. “I’ll leave it alone.”

“Thank you,” I said with a sigh. “So, what’s up, dude. This was never really your scene. Why are you showing up at the bar so much lately?”

“Gotta take advantage of the single life,” he said, laughing. “You haven’t seen me here because until a few weeks ago, I wasn’t allowed to be here checking out chicks. Now, though, I gotta soak it all up. I’m starting to understand why you’ve stayed single for so long. There are so many choices. It's like an amazing buffet in Las Vegas.”

“Yeah.” I snorted. I watched him as he looked down, stirring his drink. The excitement left his face, and he looked like he was contemplating his words. Part of me felt incredibly bad about what was going on between me and Tiffany. I had been fine the entire time, no guilt, no bad feelings, but now with that look that screamed lonely, I couldn’t help but feel a little bad about what had been going on. I slapped Jordan’s shoulder and smiled, watching his eyes move up to the bar and then across the crowd.

As I slumped down, feeling the guilt creep in, I looked up at the door and watched as Tiffany walked through into the bar. Instantly, that guilt disappeared with the reminder of how absolutely amazing she was, and how badly my brother had treated her. Her blond hair was pulled back into a curly ponytail. She was wearing a low-cut sweater and a pair of jeans tucked into knee-high black boots. She took off her peacoat and draped it over her arm, looking around the bar until her eyes met mine. Immediately, her smile lit me up inside, and I watched her body move with grace, her luscious hips swinging side to side, and her breasts heaving as she made her way toward me. My cock started to twitch in my pants as I imagined pulling her pants down, spreading her legs, and fucking her hard against the bar, watching her face in the mirror in the back. She could grab onto the service railing as I plowed into her. I shook the idea from my head as she got closer and scooted past Jordan, barely looking at him. She took a seat next to me with Mona and they ordered a drink.

“Hey,” she said looking at me and then up at Jordan. “Hey, Jordan.”

“What’s up?” He tried to play it off like he wasn’t surprised to see her. Instead, he stuck his mini straw in his mouth and looked around at the women in the bar. She laughed to herself and turned to Mona, giggling and whispering as they chimed their glasses together. Under the stool, she moved her leg near mine and secretly ran her foot up my calf. I could feel the goosebumps running down my arms, and I rubbed my body, pretending I was cold. Jordan kept his vision fixed on the back of the bar, not wanting to show his interest in Tiffany. I thought it would bother me how he reacted, but I quickly realized it wasn’t going to be his reaction I cared about. Instead, it would be hers.

“That girl is fucking smoking,” Jordan whispered. “You guys have fun.”

We all watched as he walked over toward a busty redhead in the back corner. I watched Tiffany’s face, wanting to see how she would react to Jordan hitting on another woman, but her gaze stayed fixed on the television screen above us, and I didn’t see even the slightest hint of jealousy. My heart fluttered at the thought that her attention was so tuned to me that Jordan didn’t even affect her any longer. She turned her stool toward me and smiled, her hands quickly running over my thigh and across my crotch. My cheeks heated quickly, and I wanted to grab her and take her out of the bar.

“So, when we saw Jordan at the elevator when it opened,” she said, looking me in the eyes, “I realized something.”

“What’s that?” My heart was racing, terrified she was going to say she wanted him back.

“I realized I didn’t care anymore.” She smiled. “I didn’t feel anything when I saw him. I realized my heart never actually belonged to him. I had tricked myself into thinking it did, but I knew from the very beginning I would never fully be able to give myself to him. I don’t know why I lied to myself like that, but now I realize it, and it's freeing.”

“I’m glad,” I chuckled with relief. “I really want to kiss you right now.”

“Me, too,” she sighed, looking down.

“I really like you, a lot,” I said, staring at her until she reconnected with me.

“I really like you, too,” she said, blushing and biting her bottom lip.

We drank our drinks and turned to Mona, listening to her talk about the dating scene and her hilarious yet really sad experiences recently. I was relieved that, for at least the current moment, I didn’t have to deal with that world at all. I felt comfortable knowing that I had Tiffany by my side, even if I couldn’t show it to the world. I caught my brother glancing over several times, but he ended up leaving halfway into the evening, the redhead in tow. Tiffany didn’t even act like she noticed but continued to tell stories and laugh loudly at how amazing she thought Mona’s dating life was. I scooted my stool a little closer to Tiffany, running my fingertips over her lower back. She turned and looked at me with blushed cheeks, her eyes telling me she was thinking about more than just a few drinks at the bar. Had she not been out with her best friend, I would have taken her back to my place and gotten her naked in my bed, but as it were, I just dealt with being out and tried to enjoy some public time with her.

I kept the alcohol flowing for the girls, knowing the drunker Mona was, the less likely she would notice as our PDA steadily increased. It was almost thrilling, trying to hold hands, be close, and still keep it unknown to anyone around us that we were seeing each other. From the way Tiffany acted, she hadn’t even told Mona the whole truth yet, and so there we were, sneaking kisses by the bathroom, secretly rubbing each other’s legs under the cover of the bar ledge, and sitting very close, feeling the electricity move between each other. By the time I got this girl in bed again, which wouldn’t be tonight, I was going to explode before she could even get it out of my pants.

When the end of the night came around, I paid our tab and helped direct Mona, who was now pretty lit, out of the bar and toward the cab waiting on the corner. I held the door open as Mona slid in, and Tiffany bent over to make sure she was strapped into her seatbelt. Before Tiffany climbed in, she stood back up, smiling at me thankfully. Before she could say a word, I grabbed her by the back of the neck and pulled her in for a deep sensual kiss. She leaned into it, whimpering at the surprise of it. When we parted lips, she kept her eyes closed for a moment, and I couldn’t help but think she looked like an angel. When she opened them, she smiled, mouthing the word “goodnight” before climbing into the cab. I shut the door and tapped the roof of the cab, watching it drive off down the road. They weren’t that far from Tiffany’s, but I didn’t like the idea of them walking back. I’d talked Tiffany into taking the cab.

I stuck my hands in my pockets and meandered down the sidewalk, breathing in the cold air of New York as I strolled. There were plenty of cabs out on the strip, so I decided to go for a little walk before retiring for the night. There was something amazing about love and the smell of the city around you. I hadn’t ever been in that situation before, and it was almost intoxicating. I now was starting to see New York City’s obsession with love and dating. It was almost like a drug. I walked along the sidewalk watching other couples, whether they were together forever or just met each other, stumble out of bars and clubs. Some held hands, some made out every three steps, while others argued in the shadows, the troubles at home seeping out into their public lives.

Tiffany was an amazing girl, someone I now could not even think about not having in my life. It was no longer a question of whether we were going to miss her at my parents or not. It was now a question of when the right time would be to bring her out to the family. I needed to talk to her, knowing this was a joint decision. After seeing her face when Jordan walked off, I knew she wasn’t thinking about anyone other than me. I couldn’t be happier about that.

Chapter 14

Tiffany

The birds chirped incessantly outside my window, but I didn’t want to open my eyes, knowing I had drunk way too much the night before and was destined for a hangover. Slowly, I cracked one eye open, quickly shutting it at the pounding it let into my head. I pulled the blankets over my head and laid inside my cocoon, feeling the warmth of my own body heat seeping through me. I laid there for several minutes with my head on the pillow, thinking about Jason and how he had acted at the bar. He was warm, loving, and I could tell he wanted to be able to show just how attracted he was to me. Hell, I’m not a fan of PDA, but last night, all I’d wanted to do was feel his arms around me and kiss him in public. I guess you always want what you can’t have, and with Jordan across the room for most of the night, there had been nothing I could really do. I was still shocked at how much I did not care about Jordan. Nothing he did was affecting me at all, even the fact that he had been hitting on the redheaded slut in the corner and ended up leaving with her. Anyone else in my position would have run out crying, but it seriously did not bother me at all, especially with Jason sitting right there, his hand secretly on my thigh. There were definitely a few times there that I thought about taking him in the bathroom and having him fuck me in a stall.

However, I wasn’t really the bathroom type of gal, and I was trying to keep things under wraps, so I kept my fantasy to myself, knowing if I told him, it would have just been false hopes for him. It was one thing to bang on an empty floor under renovation. It was another thing altogether to screw someone in the bathroom of a dirty New York City bar. I had to draw the line somewhere, and last night, it was with that. At the end of the night, after getting Mona safely in the cab, I couldn’t help but be completely smitten when he grabbed my face and planted one on me. It felt so good to be kissed like that, by him, in the middle of the city. I knew we would still need to hide things for a little while, but allowing ourselves that one moment really made me even more excited for what our future had in store. I wanted to make things official with Jason, but I also wanted to keep things moving slower than they seemed to be going. The biggest problem was that we couldn’t keep our hands off each other, which kind of defeated the purpose of taking things slowly.

I listened carefully, hearing Mona in the kitchen. She had stayed the night at my place since I lived close to the bar. Every time she stayed over, she would wake up in the morning and make breakfast, no matter how hungover she was. She always said it was because she was hungry, but I knew part of it was because she really did care about me and wanted to say thank you. Most of the time, even when I was wasted, I had to look out for Mona. I guess it was a fair trade-off since she was the best giver of advice that I had ever met. I could tell her anything, and she would tell it to me straight. That was how I knew she loved me. She didn’t just agree with everything I had to say because I was her friend. She agreed with some things, but others, she didn’t cut me any slack on.

I pulled myself from the bed and wrapped a knit sweater around my shoulders, feeling the chill in the air. It was about time to start using the heat in the apartment to keep it warm. I shuffled out to the kitchen, feeling like complete hell, and sat down at the breakfast bar. Mona’s hair was a mess, and she turned around, poured me a glass of orange juice, put a cup of coffee in front of me, and slapped two aspirin down on the bar. She cracked a pained smile and nodded her head, telling me she felt just as bad, if not worse than I did. I guess when we’d been at the bar, she’d been drinking faster than I had, my mind constantly being torn from my drink to wherever Jason’s hands were secretly touching me. Come to think of it, I was pretty sure she was drinking two for my every one, and I hadn’t really noticed since I constantly had the straw in my mouth. It was a way to control the butterflies floating around in my chest. I’d had to do something to distract myself, or I might have jumped him right there in the middle of the bar.

I sipped my coffee and closed my eyes, letting the aroma float up through my nose and into my brain. I seriously wondered what I ever did without coffee. Mona put down a plate of eggs and bacon in front of me, and I winced at the thought of eating anything.

“Eat,” she warned. “Promise it will make you feel better.”

I sighed like a child and brought the fork to my mouth. Once they were in my mouth, I instantly realized just how damn hungry I was in the first place. I smiled and shook my head, thinking about how, again, every piece of advice Mona gave me was helpful. I wanted to tell her the rest of the story with Jason since she already knew I had seen him out and about several times. She’d been the one to convince me to call him and ask him to lunch, but I was nervous at what her reaction would be.

“So,” she said sitting down next to me. “What’s up with you and brother number two?”

“Ha,” I chuckled at the thought of that as Jason’s title. “I don’t know. I guess I really like the guy. A lot.”

“I knew it.” She smiled. “But . . .”

“But what?” I rolled my eyes. “There is always a but with you.”

“Well, life isn’t black and white, sweetie,” she said with sass. “I just know this is a very tricky situation, and you have to remember that sometimes blood is thicker than water. I just want you to be careful.”

“I know,” I said with a sigh. “It just feels so good to look at Jordan and feel nothing. I mean it did not bother me one bit to see him walk off with that redhead. It was like I was watching someone I didn't even know.”

“And I am so glad.” She smiled. “That should tell you something about your real feelings toward him. I just want you to be careful. We’ve all heard about the rebound. I know you care about Jason, but when we get out of serious relationships, we can be blind to the things we normally wouldn’t be blind to. I’m not saying Jason is a bad guy. I’m just saying it's very complicated, and you need to take your time going into it. You might find out a lot of people are hurt by this relationship.”

“I understand,” I said, really taking what she said to heart.

“Good,” she said. “Now, eat your eggs and relax. We had one hell of a night last night. It was fun, but I feel like I was hit by a truck.”

“Me, too,” I said, biting into a strip of bacon. “At least you didn’t go home with that creepy guy at the bar last night.”

“Oh, my God.” She laughed. “Mr. Plaid-Shirt-and-Matching-Socks? My drunk goggles were on high alert last night. I am positive I would have come out of his apartment this morning as a brand new lampshade. That dude was crazy weird. I wouldn’t have cared if you lived in New Jersey, I was determined to get to your house and not to his.”

“I do have to say he was persistent.” I laughed.

“Yeah,” she scoffed. “Looking for his next victim to show his comic book figurine collection to.”

“You could have been the next cosplay girl at the Star Trek convention,” I replied.

“God, could you imagine me in that scenario?” She laughed loudly. “I would totally have been wasted, stumbling across the stage in purple body makeup and fake ears.”

“It would have been amazing.” I giggled.

“Ahh, yes, so much for lost chances,” she said sarcastically.

We talked at length about the evening, the crazy dude at the bar, and the kiss that she apparently didn’t miss, even though she had been completely wasted. We touched a little more on Jason before we both made our way back to the beds in my room and the spare room and collapsed. She fell asleep almost instantly, but I laid there awake thinking about Jason and what Mona had said to me. I knew she was right, but it was so hard to admit since it felt so good to have him wrapped up in my life. At first, I’d thought it was just the familiarity of the family, having him around just like I did when I’d been married to Jordan. As things progressed, I knew that wasn’t true. I knew it was more than that, and life seemed totally different when he and I were with each other. When we were alone, I didn’t even think of him as a Banks. I thought of him as Jason, the incredibly sweet man who I couldn’t keep my hands off of. After the initial attraction had been satiated with hot sex, then had come the rush of emotions I hadn’t expected at all. I hadn’t even imagined I could fall for him in any way, shape, or form.

I turned over and looked at my phone as it began to ring, smiling at Jason’s number popping up on the screen. I cleared my throat and pressed the button, excited to hear from him. I tried to keep Mona’s words present in my mind as I answered.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said, obviously wide awake.

“Hey there,” I said sleepily.

“I won’t keep you long,” he said. “I know you guys are probably hung over, but I wanted to see if you wanted to go to dinner at my parent's house tomorrow evening.”

“Oh,” I said, Mona’s words echoing through my head. “I think that may be too much too soon.”

“Okay,” he said with hesitation. “No problem. I’ll talk to you later.”

“All right,” I replied, getting the impression he might be upset with me turning him down.

We got off the phone, and I laid there, thinking about my choice. I tried texting him a couple of times, feeling bad about possibly hurting his feelings, but he didn’t answer me back. As soon as Mona had gotten up, I raced out to talk to her. She listened carefully as I explained what happened, telling her I thought she was right about everything, and I was trying to take it slowly. She smiled at me and rubbed my back, trying to make me feel better.

“All I have to say, sweetie, like I said before, is you just need to be careful,” she whispered.

She was right. I had gotten so wrapped up in the romance of it all that I couldn’t help but want to jump headfirst into everything. I needed to slow down and take my time, even if it affected us. Still, knowing that I had possibly hurt his feelings left me feeling slightly off. Being careful was proving to be much harder than it seemed.

Chapter 15

Jason

It was Monday, and I was sitting at my desk staring at my computer screen. Work was the last place I wanted to be that day, but I really didn’t have any choice. I needed to be functioning and awake, ready to take on the challenges of the day. Instead, I was sitting there thinking about Friday night, Saturday morning, and Tiffany. Everything had seemed so perfect, and after that kiss, I’d thought for sure she would be ready to come out to the family that we were together. After she told me it was all too much too soon, I had sunk down into my thoughts and hadn’t even texted her back yet. There were several times I picked up my phone and stared at the messages, knowing I didn’t want to leave her hanging, but my pride was hurt, and I couldn’t seem to gather my thoughts well enough to get the words out. I probably wrote out ten different messages over the course of two days and never sent any of them. I was hurt and worried at the same time, something that was more than a bit confusing.

I knew it was probably hurtful to her that I had bailed like that. I had worked so hard to protect her from getting hurt that I felt terrible about blowing her off, but I needed time to think about everything. I guess I had gotten ahead of myself in my thoughts with us and my family. I ended up not even going to dinner, telling everyone that I wasn’t feeling well. When Tiffany said she didn’t want to go with me, I couldn’t help feeling rejected, having tried so hard to make her feel comfortable and loved. It crossed my mind that it could have something to do with Jordan and how he’d picked up a girl at the bar that night. She hadn’t responded in any way and had even told me about her revelation about their relationship, but I couldn’t help thinking maybe her lack of reaction had been my wishful thinking. I never thought I would be in a relationship with a girl where I was worried she could be thinking about my brother. I was starting to understand how tricky something like this could be. It wasn’t just about how other people viewed our relationship. It was also about how we viewed each other in the situation. As much as I didn’t want to find out she was thinking about Jordan, she probably, equally, didn’t want me to worry about it. I hadn’t really given a lot of thought about how all of this could affect us on the inside. Not everything was peaches and roses in this situation, and eventually, we would have to face that head-on.

However, even if she had denied my invitation because of Jordan, I couldn’t really be mad about it. It was really wishful thinking, hoping that I could stepped into the picture and, all of a sudden, she no longer cared that she had just been brutally dumped. I guess it was hard for me to understand how any of that felt. After all, I was coming in with a fresh viewpoint, a fresh heart, and no hard feelings toward anyone. Well, at least not the kind of feelings that would hinder me from being in a relationship with someone. The last thing I wanted to do was push her further than she was ready to go or end up the rebound guy. If she did have leftover feelings for Jordan, which was completely possible because she’d thought she was in love and had been married to the guy, even if it was only for a short time, then we would handle those feelings as we went. I had to be open to the understanding that, as much as her revelation sounded great, it may have been a combination of her wanting to move on and the excitement of our relationship just getting started. I would need to understand that part of our lives and be able to handle it without taking it personally or assuming it was in any way showing of her lack of feelings for me. It was such a tricky situation, and I also didn’t think about how I needed to put Jordan’s feelings into the mix either. After seeing his lonely face at the bar, I had felt my first real tinge of guilt. Yes, it was quickly extinguished when Tiffany walked into the room, but that didn’t take away from the fact it was there for at least a moment. He had to be feeling something, and as much as I wanted to paint him as the evil guy, I knew my brother wasn’t a complete asshole. He put up a façade to make people think he didn’t care at all, but beneath the surface, I knew there was more going on in his head than any of really understood.

I sighed and got up from my desk to grab a cup of coffee. Luckily, the office was quiet since my father had investor meetings all day and almost everyone was on call for him. I was left to man my station and get some work done. Work, however, was the last thing on my mind, and I had paced the hallways at least five times since everyone had gone to the meetings. My brother would be back soon to take a break. He hated those meetings even more than my father and would use any excuse to nab a few minutes away. As I fixed my coffee, I glanced over at Tiffany’s dark office, wondering if she would ever actually come back to work. It was going to get interesting once she did. How the hell would that dynamic actually work? I guess either we would be faking it while at work, or everyone would know and hopefully all the kinks would be worked out. Either way, I hoped she came back soon, for both personal and professional reasons. She really did keep the office on its toes, and without her here, things were lagging behind. I knew my father saw it, especially with the temp having a hard time filling her shoes and taking three times as long to get the files together. Tiffany had spoiled the company with her determination and dedication, and that would be a really hard thing to find a replacement for.

When I got back to my desk, I saw that I had received a new email from HR talking about the upcoming cocktail party the company was putting on. It was on Thursday, scheduled in celebration of the quarter ending, an impressively successful quarter. It was going to be a formal event in one of the large hotels in the city. Everyone from the office, the investors, and several of our biggest clients would be invited. There would be booze, food, dancing, and a lot of friendly conversation. I really wasn’t looking forward to it because I often spent most of the years past events explaining why I hadn’t brought a date. I was getting tired of the jokes made about it being past time for me to get on the marriage train. Obviously, marriage wasn’t a foolproof plan to happiness, and even Jordan, who had gotten married, wouldn’t make it to the cocktail party with a wife on his arm. No doubt that he would at least come with a date, though. He was smart enough to know that taking some girl with him was less of a headache than listening to the clients joke about your lack of matrimonial support.

I sighed and tapped my finger on the button, knowing I would have to RSVP before my father caught wind that I hadn’t. Immediately, I thought about Tiffany and wondered if she already had plans to go to it. I took a deep breath and fished my phone out of my pocket and dialed Tiffany’s number. I hoped she wasn’t too angry at me for not returning her text messages. I was being a little bit sensitive about everything, and I knew I shouldn’t have been. To my surprise, she picked up on the first ring, her voice sounding relieved and settled. I guess I had affected her more than I thought I would. I started to feel bad about it.

“Hey,” I said with a sorrowful tone.

“Hey,” she replied with a happy voice.

“I want to apologize for getting upset about you not wanting to eat with my parents,” I said. “It was really insensitive of me to not think it might be a little strange and maybe too much.”

“It’s okay,” she sighed. “I’m sorry I was so blunt and short about it.”

“You weren’t,” I replied. “I was just being sensitive. I blame the booze and lack of sleep.”

“I can accept that,” she laughed. “So, what’s up?”

“I wanted to see if you wanted to go the cocktail party for the end of the quarter?”

“Of course,” she said. “I’m already signed up to go.”

“Am I going to fight your date?”

“No,” she laughed. “I am going solo with the hope there is a hot man waiting for me there. Preferably named Jason.”

“That’s pretty specific.” I chuckled.

“Yeah, you know me.” she giggled. “I like to plan out everything perfectly.”

“I don’t blame you,” I replied, walking around the office. “Okay, well then, I will see you there.”

“Absolutely,” she said before hanging up.

I clicked the phone off and stood staring out the window, clutching the phone to my chest. I was relieved she wasn’t upset with me, but at the same time, I still wondered what was going on in her head. Was she really okay with my apology? Had she said no to dinner because of the speed things were going or was it because of Jordan? Speaking of Jordan, my attention turned quickly as I heard him clear his throat behind me in the doorway. I turned quickly and smiled, wondering how long he had been standing there.

“So, is the new girl coming to meet us at the cocktail party?”

“I hope so,” I replied, thinking about Tiffany’s sweet face.

“Good,” he said suspiciously. “I can’t wait to meet the girl that has taken my brother’s attention from everything.”

I smiled nervously as he tapped the doorframe and walked from the room, looking me in the eye as he passed into the hallway. Fear dropped into the pit of my stomach wondering why he was acting so strange. Was it possible he knew what was going on but just wanted to confront it head on? The last thing we needed was for Jordan to lose it at the cocktail party. Not only would he embarrass the company, but he would put Tiffany through even more crap than she had already been through with him. On the other hand, the sooner he knew, the sooner he could start to work it out in his head. If Tiffany truly felt she and Jordan had not been meant for each other, then somewhere deep down, he had to have felt that, too. But knowing my brother, he was not looking deep down inside. Instead, he was looking only surface deep where anger and jealousy were mounting.

I had always looked forward to the cocktail parties, mostly because I could remember going to them as a child and dancing the night away with my mother. My father had always turned these events into fun outings for the family, and he didn’t stop just because we had grown up. Now, I was going to get to share that with Tiffany, even if no one else knew about us. Sure, she had been to them before with Jordan, but he’d always left her sitting alone at the bar while he went perusing through the crowd, trying to make a name for himself. This time, she would be there with me, and I wanted her to have a blast.

Chapter 16

Tiffany

My dress was sparkly and daring, unlike the extremely conservative dresses I had worn in the past. This year, I chose a short, black dress with a sparkling black lace overlay that showed not only cleavage but gave the illusion of an open back. My hair was wild and curly, tossed to the side and left to spiral down over my shoulders. I had done my makeup in a dark, sultry style with deep eyeliner, smoky eyeshadow, and a bright red lipstick to set off the entire ensemble. I’d encased my legs in silky, barely there thigh-highs and donned my black, six-inch heels, the ones that made my legs appear even longer. I wore a long over coat over my dress, and I couldn’t help but smirk as everyone stared when I took the coat off and checked it. In front of me, I clutched my small purse in my hands but tried not to fidget, wanting to look as calm and collected as possible. This was the first one of these I was coming to without a date since I had dated Jordan for pretty much my entire career at the company. It was nerve-racking, mostly because I knew what these people were whispering behind my back. I was the woman scorned, tossed to the side, and now, I was back, with a little sexy black dress. If it weren’t me they were gawking at, it would be almost comical.

“Tiffany,” Lily called, waving and grabbing John by the hand. They maneuvered over to me, and Lily immediately hugged me. “John said he had seen you. You look absolutely amazing. How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay.” I smiled. “Getting back on my feet. I feel better every day.”

“I’m so glad.” She took me by the hands. “I’m sorry my son is such a jerk. We miss you so much.”

“Awe, I miss you guys, too,” I sighed.

“You need to start coming back to Sunday dinners,” she said. “Even if I have to kick Jordan out of them.”

I laughed. “I wouldn’t ever expect you to do that. I think we are starting to come to a better place, so hopefully, one day soon, he will feel comfortable enough to have me around for them.”

“Hey there,” Jason said, walking up in his black tuxedo. He leaned in and kissed me on the cheek. “It’s good to see you again. You look wonderful.”

I blushed, looking down at how delicious he looked in his outfit. All I could think about was ripping his clothes off and doing him right here in the middle of the floor. I could feel the heat between my legs growing deeper and deeper, and it was excruciatingly hard for me to smile and play it off like I hadn’t just seen him last week fucking me from behind while I screamed out in ecstasy. But, knowing Lily was right there and everyone was watching, I smiled politely and thank him for the compliment, trying to turn my attention back to Mr. and Mrs. Banks. As they greeted other guests, I watched, standing next to Jason still, feeling the pull to be closer and closer to him. I moved to the left, my arm brushing his, and I could feel the electricity surging through my body. I hadn’t wanted someone that much in ages. This was proving to be a bit more difficult than I had thought it was going to be. Thankfully. they had an open bar at this event. Just as I was about to turn for a glass of champagne, Jordan walked in the room. He was arrogant as ever with his always-charming smile and walk that screamed superiority. I just wanted to punch him in the chin. Trailing behind him was the redhead we had seen leaving the bar with him, but this time, she was a bit more clothed, though not by much. She seemed timid and overwhelmed by the number of people who flocked in Jordan’s direction, and I immediately remembered the first time I had been in her shoes, though I think I handled it with a bit more class and without see-through stripper heels.

I spent several hours mingling around the event, talking to different employees, meanwhile looking up across the room to catch Jason’s lustful gaze. Every time I saw him and our eyes met, I felt like the only girl in the entire room and was immediately flushed. There was even one moment where the person I was talking to asked if I was feeling alright since my cheeks turned red so fast. I laughed and excused myself to the bar to grab another drink. I didn’t want to be completely wasted but getting through these events on a normal basis was already nerve-racking. Add in my secret love affair, my ex-husband, and his slutty date, and I needed more than a glass of champagne. I ordered a glass of wine and a shot of tequila from the bartender and smiled as he handed me salt and a lime. I licked the salt off my hand, took the shot, and bit down on the lime, looking up as Jordan walked in front of me. I choked a bit and pulled the lime from my mouth, placing it on the napkin and sliding it toward the bartender.

“Hi,” I said, wiping my mouth and hand.

“Hey.” He turned toward me and leaned against the bar. I took a step back, feeling crowded. “You look very beautiful tonight.”

“Thanks.” I laughed. “So do you.”

“You know, I’m really glad we have reached a place where we can do these events together,” he said, arrogantly looking around the room.

“Yeah, sure,” I said nonchalantly.

“I want us to get to a place where it’s not awkward at all,” he said. “No hard feelings.”

“No hard feelings?” I laughed. “You mean about your downgrade?”

He stopped and looked down at me, processing what I just said. I glanced over, seeing Jason approaching us. Anger flashed over Jordan’s face and he stood up straight, buttoning his jacket. He looked over at Jason and back at me.

“What’s wrong, dude?” Jason slapped Jordan hard on the shoulder. “What are you guys talking about?”

“She just called my date a downgrade,” he said, shocked.

“Is that true?” I could see Jason was holding back laughter and forcing himself to sound upset.

“Sure,” I said shrugging. “But it’s okay because I upgraded.”

I winked at Jason before Jordan looked back over at me. He huffed and puffed, not knowing what to say back to me. He looked to Jason for guidance, but Jason put up his hands and shrugged his shoulders. Finally, Jordan grabbed his beer from the bar and stomped off, tripping over the chair leg sticking out from one of the tables. He said something to his date, and she sent him a worried look before tagging along behind him. When he was out of ear shot, Jason and I both turned our backs to the crowd and burst out into laughter. Oh, it felt so good to let all the stress out like that. I hadn’t meant to piss Jordan off, but when he had come over so haughtily, I couldn’t help but put him down hard. The words just purged from my mouth, and I didn’t even have a chance to stop them.

“That was amazing,” Jason said, still laughing.

“I had to.” I giggled. “ I mean I saw the opportunity, and he came at me with the ‘no hard feelings’ comment, and it just spewed out.”

“Are you serious? He actually said ‘no hard feelings’? What a dumbass.” He laughed, turning back to face the crowd.

I looked at him standing there under the dim lights, his hair perfect, his dimples deep, and his tight body covered up, making him look like James Bond. I wanted to get him out of that tux so bad I could hardly contain myself. Heat pooled in my panties as I stood contemplating my next move. I stepped a bit closer and faced the bar, feeling his breath as it hit my neck. I tightened my fists, trying to restrain. We both should stay longer to cultivate social ties for the business, but ultimately, it held little appeal to me compared to the passion pulsing through me. I could no longer hold back.

“You want to get out of here?” I turned to look him in the face and gauge his reaction. “I really want to fuck you.”

He looked at me with a small smirk pulling at his lips before grabbing my wrist and tugging me up the side of the room, out of the view of everyone. We moved quickly through the tables and out of the room. I followed him up the escalator and into the hotel lobby, looking around as he stopped and turned to me. None of the guests were up here yet, so I leaned in and kissed his lips softly.

“I got us a room,” he whispered.

“Presumptuous of you, sir.” I laughed.

“Hopeful,” he said with a chuckle.

I followed him past the bank of regular elevators and to the golden elevator at the end of the hall. He pulled out a thick black key card and put it into a slot where there would normally be buttons. We stepped inside and turned, holding our breath as Jordan walked around the corner with his date. He didn’t see us, but we saw him, and he looked really pissed. The doors closed in the nick of time, and we let the air out of our lungs, laughing the entire time. As soon as we turned toward each other, it was hopeless, and I broke all control that I had been preserving. In two seconds, we were in each other’s arms, our mouths pressed against each other in a heated entanglement and our hands running over each other’s bodies. Immediately, we were breathing heavily, and I was pulling at the bow tie, as his hands reached up under my skirt and grazed the top of my thigh-high stockings. He grinned when he felt the garters and moved his hand over to brush the outside of my panties. I moaned into his mouth, wanting more and feeling his fingers pry at the edges, looking for the prize beneath the satin fabric. He pressed his hips toward me, his long hard shaft rubbing against me.

I reached down and grasped his cock through his pants, listening to him groan loudly. I pressed my body hard against his, pushing him against the wall. He ran his hands down my back and grabbed my ass, lifting me up in the air and biting at my neck. He sat me back down and pulled my skirt up to my waist, switching positions and pushing me up against the wall. He stepped back, pulled my panties to the side, and slipped his fingers through my juices. I spread my legs apart and let him glide his fingers inside of me, holding tightly to the railing around the elevator. I screamed out in pleasure as he fingered me, forceful and fast, pulling his fingers out and sticking them in my mouth. I sucked them and then leaned my ass against the railing as he pushed them back inside of me, pressing his firm mouth against mine and licking the taste of me from my lips. I moaned as his fingers slammed into me, and he wiggled the tips of them as he pushed deep inside of me.

“God, I want to fuck you so hard,” I growled.

“Don’t worry,” he whispered breathlessly as he pulled his fingers out and pulled my dress down. “You’re going to get it, but first, I’m going to blow your mind.”

He grabbed my hand and pulled me inside the suite as the elevator doors slid open, our bodies gliding into each other as he led me toward ecstasy.

Chapter 17

Jason

Everything about this woman was the sexiest thing I had ever encountered. From the moment she had walked into the ballroom, I wanted to rip her clothes off and fuck her. It took everything in my body not to stay as close to her as I possibly could, but I knew I had political responsibilities at the event. Staying close to Tiffany would have kept me distracted, but still, looking out over the crowd and seeing her standing there, her legs going on for days, the lace top of her silk stockings peeking out every time she leaned into the bar, and her dark sultry eyes staring back at me, I couldn’t help but try to find a way to get close to her. When I saw her bored face and Jordan’s arrogance across the dance floor, I knew I needed to get in there to intercede and at least play referee. I was shocked at what she had said to him, but I was so proud when she replied that she had upgraded. She at least let him know she was no longer sitting around thinking about him. Instead, she admitted she was, without a doubt, with someone, a someone she thought was even better than him. That, in itself, made the intrusion all that much better.

Now, standing in the dark comfort of the hotel’s penthouse suite, looking down at this amazing woman, I had to kick the night’s thoughts from my head. We were finally alone, and I wanted to experience every part of her body in detail. It was like being on a small vacation away from the stresses of real life, surrounded by lush blankets and unfamiliar furnishings. I looked at Tiffany in the dim lighting of the penthouse, the city lights shining through the windows giving her a surreal glow. She reached up and unzipped her dress, pulled it from her shoulders, and let it fall to the floor. She stood in the wavering shadows, her black lace bra and matching panties instigated the tenting at the front of my pants. Garters held up her soft silk, thigh-high pantyhose, and her black, impossibly-high heels glistened. I walked forward, pulling my jacket off and tossing it to the side. As my hands slipped around her waist, she pulled the bow tie from my neck and dropped it to the floor, following with her hands manipulating the buttons of my shirt. Slowly, she undressed me, taking time to kiss my body as she removed each piece. My muscles tensed as her lips rubbed down my neck and as her soft skin pressed against mine.

She pulled back and looked at me with her sultry eyes, a patient wanting covering her face. She took my hand and turned, leading me back to the bedroom. As we entered, she let go of my hand and turned around, reaching back and unclasping her bra. I watched as her large, perky breasts spilled out of the fabric, bouncing lightly as she reached down to unclasp her garters. I reached forward and grabbed her hand, wanting her to leave them on. She smiled mischievously as she hooked her fingers into tiny ribbons on either side of her black silk thong and lightly tugged, letting them fall away like gift wrap before stepping out of them. I pulled my boxers down to the ground and let my hard, raging cock spring free, watching as she back up and scooted up on the large, king-sized bed. Her body almost disappeared into the billowing blankets and pillows covering the surface, and I walked forward, crawling across toward her, our eyes locked in lust.

My hands moved up her legs and onto her warm thighs, and she wriggled and gasped at my touch. I watched her face as I moved her thighs apart and looked down at her bulging, wet mound. I licked my lips, wanting to taste her juices and lowered my head toward her. She reached down and stopped me, shaking her head.

“Lie down,” she whispered, biting her bottom lip.

I turned over on my back and laid into the soft blankets, watching her turn over, facing down my body, and scoot back toward my face. She pulled her legs across me and straddled my lips. The smell of perfume and lust pushed desire through my chest. I reached up and grabbed her hips, pulling her down onto my face and rubbing my mouth through her folds. She sat up straight, grasping her breasts and moaning as I pushed my tongue out and licked every inch of her sopping wet pussy. Slowly her hips began to grind, her body giving in to the pleasure of my mouth. She reached her arms back and grabbed the heels of her shoes, crying out in pleasure as I moved her back and forth over me. For several minutes, I lapped at her clit, the taste of her taking me over, wanting more and more of her. I pushed my tongue inside of her and listened to her low, growling moans. She let go of her heels and bent forward, taking my cock into her mouth, licking up and down the shaft, before plunging down. I groaned into her pussy as her desperate cries were muffled by the long shaft deep in her throat.

She pushed her head down, deep throating my cock and holding steady at the base as she clutched and retracted the muscles in her throat. She bobbed up and down at short intervals for several seconds before retracting, sucking her the entire way up my cock. Heat spread through me, and I pulled her down, reaching around and rubbing my thumb over her ass. She screamed out in pleasure feeling me taking all of her in, her hips still moving slowly against my face. I wanted so badly to taste her come, to feel her writhing and shaking on top of me. I pushed my face in harder wildly moving my tongue over her clit. She pulled up to a sitting position and cried out as I pushed her toward the edge of orgasm. Her hands moved up her body and grabbed at her tits, and her muscles began to tense. I slid my hand under her and pushed two fingers in, watching her start to fuck my mouth. I loosened my grip and allowed her to take control, watching as she eclipsed, her body clenching and shaking on top of me while she screamed out, throwing her head back and climaxing. Her warm juices trickled from her body, and I continued to lick, even after she had come down. Her body twitched as I flicked my tongue against her nub, and she moaned and giggled at the same time.

I pushed her down my body, still facing away from me and she looked back, her finger hanging from the edge of her lip. She reached down and grabbed my cock, pushing down slowly through her juices until I was deep inside of her. I growled loudly at the feeling of my hard cock sliding deep inside and watched as she bent forward and began to move her hips up and down my cock. I could see her moist pussy glistening with wetness as she slapped her body up and down, taking me deep then pulling up slowly before thrusting back down again. Her round ass bounced in front of me, and I reached forward, grabbing her cheeks and digging my fingers into her skin as she rode me reverse cowgirl.

I pulled myself to my elbows and then to a sitting position, running my hands over her back and pulling her up against my chest. My hand ran up through her tits and I lightly grasped her neck, feeling her head lean back ward and her hips begin to grind. She whimpered as my right arm moved over her thighs and my fingers began to dance over her clit. I held her still, feeling her wiggling as I rubbed her pussy, my cock stuck deep down inside of her. She reached around my hand and massaged my balls as I pushed down on her clit and moved my fingers in a circle. My hips thrust forward slightly, and I could feel my wet shaft moving just slightly inside of her. She bit her lip and closed her eyes, her hand sliding from my nuts to my hand. Together we massaged her nub, my fingers slipping inside of her just above my cock. Her hips moved forward and back again, amplifying the feeling of my cock sliding in and out just enough to send heat to my belly.

“Fuck,” she moaned. “Don’t stop. Fuck, don’t stop.”

I choked down the urge to push her flat on her belly and slam into her hard and, instead, continued to fuck her with my hands. She sat up and leaned forward a bit, pushing her ass further into me, but I didn’t let her get away. Instead, I leaned forward, my hand still on her pussy, and held her there while I pushed her closer to another orgasm. She screamed my name as she clawed at the bed in front of her, her body twisting and turning, trying to feel my long shaft sliding in and out. Just as her screams reached a fevered pitch, I pulled my legs back and slammed her down against the bed, picking her up at the waist and slamming my cock inside of her. She reached her hand underneath and continued rubbing her clit.

“Yes,” she screamed. “Harder.”

I spread her ass and slapped her cheek before grabbing her hips and thrusting fast and hard inside of her. She moaned loudly to the rhythm of our skin slapping together, the sound filling my ears and pushing my orgasm to the brink. She began to meet my thrusts, pushing her body back as I pushed forward, creating a deeper and stronger force. She scratched at the bed in front of her, trying to grab hold. I growled loudly, plunging over the cliff of ecstasy. I slammed into her deep and hard and pulled her close, watching her hand rubbing her wetness faster and faster. I closed my eyes as she erupted and allowed the orgasm to take over. My cock pulsated and pushed as her pussy vibrated against my shaft, our juices swirling around inside of her. She screamed out as I groaned loudly, thrusting short bursts until, finally, my body began to relax.

I rolled over on the bed and looked over at her as she laid down on her stomach, breathing hard and smiling. She leaned over and kissed me sweetly, pulling the pillow under her head and watching as I recovered from my orgasm. My heart began to slow and my breathing returned to normal as I turned onto my side and ran my fingers up Tiffany’s back. She smiled at me, her eyes looking sleepy.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course,” she whispered.

“Are you really over Jordan?”

“Yes,” she said, her eyes opening wide. “The only reason I took that jab at him tonight, besides it being hilarious, was to let him know that I had moved on. I wanted it to be very clear I had someone else in my life. It was closure for me and, hopefully, for him as well. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but he is wandering around like a lost dog with a crazy gutter rat trailing behind. He needs to get himself together.”

“Very true,” I replied, feeling so much better after her response. “I’m glad you let him know you're taken. Now, when do I meet the lucky guy?” I laughed and poked her nose with my finger.

“Oh, I don’t know,” she said with a smile. “Maybe in the morning. He’ll probably come looking for me.”

“I should be ready,” I said with a serious face before tickling her sides.

I reached down and pulled the blanket up over the top of us, snuggling in next to Tiffany. She kicked her shoes off the edge of the bed and rested her face on my neck. It felt so perfect having her right there with me. Knowing she was mine and I was hers was incredibly liberating, and now all we had left to do was wait for the right time to tell the rest of the world.

Chapter 18

Tiffany