Isa walked around in her one-piece and heels. Her thick shades were over her eyes, and she sipped her margarita with a pink umbrella in the glass. “Where’s your man at?”

“I don’t know.” I lounged on the armchair while the rest of my friends swam in the pool. We had a view of the beach, the waves gentle under the scorching sun. I was in a black two-piece, sunscreen rubbed into every single inch of my body, even my eyelids. “I’m sure he’ll be here soon.”

“Bringing any friends?” Isa asked.

“Better not be.” If he wanted to be in my world, he had to learn to keep a secret.

Thorn walked out of the house in his black swim trunks. He had a plate of hamburger patties, and he carried it to the grill. His light-colored hair was flat on his head because he’d spent all day in the pool. Water dripped down his rock-hard body and fell to the concrete. “Who’s hungry?”

“Me!” Everyone raised their hands.

“Who wants meat, and who wants processed garbage?” Thorn asked.

Pilar raised her hand. “Processed garbage for me, please.”

“Me too.” I didn’t think black bean patties were garbage, but Thorn liked to blow his diet when he was on vacation—not that I disrespected him for it. He was all business when we were in New York, but when we traveled the world, he only wanted the finer things in life.

Thorn shook his head. “I expected more from you, Titan.”

I pulled my shades down so I could look at him. “Then you don’t know me very well.”

“Is that a helicopter?” Pilar shielded her eyes as she looked up in the sky. She was sitting on a pink floaty in the pool. Her hair started to blow harder in the wind caused by the strength of the propellers. “It’s landing right on your property, Titan.”

I left my lounge chair and walked onto the pool deck. Sure enough, a black chopper was landing on the green grass adjacent to the house. I owned a lot of land because I wanted privacy away from everyone. The closest neighbor I had was ten miles away. I saw the logo on the side of the chopper.

Hunt Industries.

That could only be one person. “Looks like my man just arrived.”

“In style,” Pilar said. “He can fly a helicopter?”

“I want your leftovers when you’re done with him,” Isa said.

A jolt of jealousy shot through me, and I had no idea where it came from. I walked across the pool deck and to the stone pathway that led across the grass. The engine stopped, and the propellers came to a halt.

Hunt opened the door and stepped out. He was in jeans and a black t-shirt with aviator sunglasses on. He totally fit the part. “Mind if I park here?”

“Not at all.”

He pulled off his helmet and placed it in the passenger seat. He walked toward me, grinning like a boy in love with his toy. When he got to me, he circled his arms around me and kissed me hard on the mouth, his fingertips digging into my skin. He lifted me off the ground, his muscular arms unflinching as he held me inches above the grass.

It was quite a kiss.

He pulled my bottom lip into his mouth before he set me back on my feet. “You’ve got a beautiful place.”

“Thanks. You have a beautiful chopper.”

“Thank you. I can give you a ride sometime if you’d like.”

“If I’d like?” I asked. “I’d love that.”

He grabbed his bag from the back seats and hooked it over his shoulder. He grabbed my hand with his, and he walked me back to the pool where everyone was watching us. Even Thorn stopped grilling the burgers just to look at us.

When Hunt walked by the pool, he raised his hand in the form of a wave. “Ladies.”

“Hey, Hunt.” Pilar waved, grinning wide.

Isa stared at his ass when he walked by, having no shame.

I bottled my jealousy for a second time.

Hunt walked up to Thorn, his smile disappearing within the snap of a finger.

Thorn did exactly the same.

It was tense, like two wild animals fighting for the same territory. They both looked each other in the eye, a quiet standoff between two alpha men. I didn’t understand what the source of their conflict was. There was no reason for them to have beef with one another. Thorn had encouraged me to pursue the relationship in the first place.

Hunt was the first one to extend his hand. “Burgers smell good.”

Thorn shook his hand. “Want one?”

“Definitely.” Hunt nodded before he walked into the house with me. “So, where are we staying?” He took a look around the large living room, seeing my white furniture and gray floors. It was decorated with a beach theme, a home away from home.

“This way.” I took him down the hall to one of the big bedrooms. It had a private bathroom. It was a little bigger than all the others, but I knew Hunt was used to the finer things. He did show up in a helicopter, after all.

He set his bag down and took a quick look around.

“Is this okay?”

“Is this your room?”

“No. I’m in the master down the hall.” The double doors were made of windows, and they opened up to the balcony overlooking the pool. It had a great view in the morning, when the waves were their calmest.

“With Thorn?” he asked.

“No.” I guessed I should expect to get a lot of questions about Thorn from now on. “We don’t sleep together.”

“I thought I was hanging out this weekend as your lover.”

I shut the bedroom door just in case anyone could overhear us. Everyone was outside enjoying the vibrant sunshine, but they could step inside to use the restroom. “You are.”

“So don’t you think we should stay in the same bedroom?” He moved his hands into his pockets, his cut arms looking muscular in his cotton shirt. It had a V neck, showing the muscular top of his chest. His sunglasses were still on the bridge of his nose, so I couldn’t see his eyes.

“I don’t sleep with anyone. I told you that.”

“I think it’s an appropriate time to make an exception.” He never pressured me to do something I didn’t want, but he was pushing this hard. “I don’t want to fuck you then walk back down the hallway.”

“My bedroom is right next door.”

Hunt clenched his jaw before he pulled his sunglasses off his nose. He hooked them on to the front of his shirt, his dark eyes full of annoyance. He wasn’t used to not getting his way—but he would never get his way with me. “I still think it’s a waste of space.”

“I don’t care what you think,” I said coldly. “This is how it is.”

“Two weeks.” He said it so quietly I could barely hear what he said.

“Sorry?”

“Two weeks until I’m in charge. And I promise you, everything will be different.” He removed his watch and set it on the nightstand. “Let me change, and I’ll join you outside.”

I continued to stand in front of him stoically, but my heart was slamming inside my chest at a million miles an hour. I hadn’t thought about the day everything would change, when Hunt would rule me for six weeks. I put it to the back of my mind because I didn’t want to think about it. But it was approaching. It had seemed so far away, but now it was so near.

It was so close.

---

We sat around the fire pit late into the evening. We had leftover burgers from that afternoon, so everyone ate and roasted marshmallows over the fire. Hunt was in his swim trunks without a shirt, and my friends didn’t hide their stares.

I couldn’t blame them.

Hunt smeared the fresh marshmallow onto the graham cracker with a piece of chocolate. “Want to split this with me?”

“Sure.”

He picked it up and held it up to my mouth.

With my eyes locked on his, I took a small bite. I pulled back, a link of marshmallow goo stretching between my mouth and the rest of the s’more. It reminded me of the other night when Hunt’s come had stuck from the head of his cock to my tongue. It stretched wider apart until it finally snapped in two.

Hunt watched my mouth, seeing my tongue swipe across my bottom lip to collect the white treat around my mouth. I had a stain of chocolate in the corner of my lips. His hand slid to the back of my head, and he leaned in to kiss me. His lips devoured the s’more off my mouth, and his kiss deepened as his tongue moved farther inside my body. It delved inside, exploring. The kiss became far too sexy for guests, but that didn’t stop us. Hunt kissed me like he didn’t give a damn who was watching.

He finally pulled away, his eyes on mine as he licked his lips.

Now I couldn’t wait to go to bed.

I held up the rest of the s’more and fed him this time, placing it in his mouth until he took the entire piece. He chewed slowly as he stared at me, and once he got it down, he licked the chocolate off my fingertips.

“Jesus, I need a boyfriend,” Pilar said as she excused herself and got another beer out of the ice chest.

Thorn had his arm around the model he’d brought up for the weekend, Milania. She didn’t speak much English, but for the extent of their relationship, the language barrier wasn’t an issue.

Hunt smirked at Pilar’s words before he sucked the chocolate off his own fingers. “I’m gonna rinse off. I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.” He kissed me on the cheek just as I kissed him on the other before he got up. He walked back into the house, his ass unbelievably tight in his swim trunks.

When he was gone, Isa ran her mouth. “Jesus Christ, he’s hot.”

“I know,” I said with a happy sigh. “What you saw just now is nothing.”

Christy pouted her lips in pity. “I want a man like that. Every time I meet a guy, he ends up being a boy or a whore.”

“Hey,” Thorn said defensively. “Nothing wrong with being a whore.”

“Hunt is a whore too,” I reminded her. “He’s not any different.”

“I don’t know about that,” Isa said. “He seems to like you.”

“Because I’m sleeping with him,” I reminded her. He was getting good sex from me on a regular basis. He’d better like me.

“I think it’s more than that,” Isa said. “Just the way he looks at you…”

“He does look at you very intently,” Pilar said. “There was a pool full of hot chicks today, but he didn’t even look at any of us.”

“He’s just discreet.” He hid his wants and desires behind his eyes pretty well. When we first met, I couldn’t read his expression at all. It seemed like he was mad all the time, actually.

“Whatever you say,” Isa said.

The girls broke apart and jumped into the hot tub together, holding their beers as the jets frothed with bubbles. Milania joined them, leaving Thorn and me to sit together alone. We sat in silence for a while before I spoke.

“Milania is nice.”

“She’s alright.” He spoke his mind whenever it was just the two of us, being completely transparent. When other people were around, he was always diplomatic. “Beautiful and experienced, but she talks too much.”

“But she doesn’t speak English.”

“Which is why it’s annoying.”

I chuckled quietly so no one would overhear us.

“Is he staying until Sunday?”

“Yeah. Why?”

He shrugged.

Thorn didn’t make eye contact with me, and his lack of intimacy was unusual. “Why do I get the impression you don’t like him?”

“I never said that.”

“Well, do you?”

He grinned. “No.”

“Why don’t you like him?”

“I just think he’s an arrogant asshole, that’s all.”

“And you aren’t?” I questioned.

He grinned again.

“Maybe you’re too much alike.”

“I just don’t trust the guy.”

“You trusted him weeks ago. You were the one encouraging me to be with him.”

“But that was before…”

“Before what?” I pressed.

He took a long drink of his beer. “Nothing.”

“Thorn.” I was pulling teeth out of his mouth like a dentist. He resisted me the entire way.

“I think he has ulterior motives with you.”

“What does that mean?” Thorn thought Hunt was trying to scam me? Every interaction I’d had with Hunt had been positive. He never gave me any reason to fear him. In fact, he proved how loyal he was in a world of crooks. “What kind of motives?”

“I don’t think this is just an arrangement for him. I think he wants you to be his.”

“As in, romantically?”

Thorn nodded.

I trusted everything Thorn said because he viewed the world with keen eyes. He had spectacular judgment. He’d become one of the most successful businessmen in the world because he was exceptional at what he did. “Why do you think that?”

“What Pilar said…the way he looks at you. The way he talks about you.”

“When have you heard him talk about me?”

Thorn dodged the question. “The guy turned down a great offer because Bruce made some assholish remarks. Hunt could have made the deal and never told a soul what happened in that conference room. But he started a war—for you. Men don’t go to war unless they’re fighting for something they can’t live without—like their woman.”

“Hunt doesn’t see me as his woman.”

Thorn turned his face toward me, the fire highlighting his profile. “You so sure about that?”

“Yes.”

“You need to think again, Titan.”

I trusted Thorn with my life. I should trust him about this too. “I’ll ask him about it.”

He looked back into the fire, watching it dance with his crystal blue eyes. “And in the event that my suspicion is right…what will you say?”

“What do you mean?”

He rubbed his palms together, staring at his hands as they glided past each other. “Is this more than an arrangement to you? As your future husband, I’d like to know if our commitment to one another has changed.”

Now that I knew the source of Thorn’s unease, I smiled. “Are you jealous, Thorn Cutler?”

He smiled back and shrugged. “I’m more concerned than jealous. We made this arrangement a long time ago. Things change…”

“Nothing has changed, Thorn. I like Hunt a lot… I love everything about him. I admit I feel differently about him than I did the others before him. I’m actually happy that I’ll still get to see him once this arrangement is over. I want him to be in my life… I want him to be my friend. But no, there’s nothing more than that there.”

Thorn nodded. “That was the reassurance I wanted. But you should still talk to him…make sure you’re on the same page.”

While Hunt said and did sweet things, I didn’t think his affection was deeper than that. But it didn’t hurt to ask. It wouldn’t be the first time I was wrong about something.

---

I dug my fingers into his hair as we moved together on the bed. He was buried deep inside me, holding his muscular body on top of mine. My ankles were locked around his waist, and unlike when we were at home, we both did our best to stay quiet.

Mostly so we didn’t make everyone jealous of the hot sex we were having.

I’d made him fuck me for nearly thirty minutes straight, subjecting him to watching me come over and over. Every time he looked like he was about to explode, I slapped him across the face. That halted him in the moment, but it also made him burn even hotter.

I was just about to come for the third time, and this orgasm somehow felt stronger than the previous two. My fingers dragged down his skull to his muscular back, feeling the individual muscles shift as he arched his back then thrust his hips, digging deeper into me. His hard jaw was etched in a sexy scowl, anxious to fill me with all the come he was desperate to release. “I’m about to come…”

He ground against me harder, his balls smacking against my ass. “I know, baby.”

My nails skimmed down his back to his ass, and I gripped the powerful muscle tightly. “Come with me.”

He growled against my mouth, his body shaking in relief now that he had my permission.

“Almost there…” I breathed into his mouth, our lips brushing against one another, exchanging kisses and heated breaths. I closed my eyes when I felt everything down below tighten. I gripped his cock like a fireman squeezed his hose. “Fuck…here it comes.”

His final pumps were hard, smacking the headboard into the wall. He took a deep breath and held it just before he came. Then an angry moan escaped his lips, the vein in his forehead bulging as he found his release. He filled my drenched pussy with all of his come, and when he was finished, he still thrust gently inside me, the products of our arousal still moving together. “Damn…”

I ran my hands through his hair and kissed him, giving him tender embraces with lots of tongue. He pleased me so well, made me come harder than any other man before him. “That was good…”

“You make me good, Boss Lady.”

“Making a woman come so many times is no easy feat…you know what you’re doing.”

“I’m glad I get to use all my experience on you.” He kissed me a few more times before he pulled out of me, his soft cock still impressive.

I loved sleeping when I was still full of him, still connected to him in some way.

He rolled over and lay beside me, his glistening pecs solid. His chest rose and fell slowly, and he placed one arm behind his head. He stared at the ceiling, his hair a complete mess from my fingers.

I turned over and ran my fingers up his body, tracing the hard abdominals just above his hips. I felt each groove, thinking of rocks along a riverbed. His tanned skin was beautiful, flawless. His muscles stretched the skin in all the right places. He filled out his clothes perfectly, and he looked even better naked.

I hooked my arm around his waist and rested my face on his shoulder, smelling both of our scents mixed together. It was vanilla, sweat, and his cologne all wrapped up into one—good sex.

He rested his arm on mine and turned his face slightly toward me. “Can you feel me inside you?”

“Yes.”

His moan was so quiet I could barely hear it.

“Does that turn you on?”

He answered instantly. “Yes.”

“It’s one of my kinks too.”

“I’ve never fucked a woman without a condom, so this is a first for me.”

Several thoughts flashed through my mind when I heard what he said. I’d never asked him about his past love life. I hadn’t cared about the women before me or those who would take my place once I was gone. But now I felt a warm sensation between my legs—and not because of his seed. “Not once?”

“No.”

“Not when you lost your virginity?”

“No.”

I propped myself up on my arm and looked down at him. “I’m surprised.”

“It’s not that surprising.” He looked at me as his fingers moved through my hair. “A lot of women would love to get knocked up by me, force me to be stuck with them. It’d be a great way to access my wealth. So I never trust a woman, even if she says she’s on the pill.”

“Then why did you trust me?”

“Because you’re Tatum Titan.” His fingers moved along my neck. “You don’t need me for anything.”

I looked into his dark gaze and thought about warm coffee on a winter day. I loved the way they lightened when he was outside in direct sun. They carried the color of hazelnut, a brighter color that made him look soft. In the dark or when he was moody, they took on the color of coffee beans—dark and textured. “What do you think of it?”

“Baby, there’s nothing like it.”

I’d noticed he’d started calling me baby often. I hated nicknames because they were sexist and annoying. But that endearment fell nicely on my ears. It made me feel cherished, desired. If someone else would have said it, I would have told him to knock it off. But I never told Hunt to stop.

The thoughts brought me back to what Thorn said to me. “There’s something I want to ask you.”

“Go for it.”

“We’re honest with each other, so I know you’ll tell me the truth.”

He smiled before he sat up, propping himself on one arm the way I was. He pivoted his body toward me. “This should be good.”

“Thorn thinks you see this as more than just an arrangement…that you see me as something more than a temporary partner.”

His expression didn’t change at all. His eyes were the identical mocha color, and a slight smile was still plastered across his lips. With the same confidence he took into the office every day, he held my gaze. “And what do you think, Titan?”

I tilted my head at the question, surprised he answered my question with a question. “What does it matter?”

“Because I want to know if you’re really the one asking. If this something you’re concerned about. Or is this something he’s concerned about. Who am I talking to right now?”

Those simple words told me he disliked Thorn as much as Thorn disliked him. The two men in my life didn’t care for one another—even despised each other. Thorn had never had a problem with the other men I took to bed. And I never disliked any of his girls, even if they were a little annoying at times. “You’re talking to me…but he’s the one who brought it up.”

“He seems jealous.”

“He’s not.”

“We both know he doesn’t like me.”

Hunt was a lot more observant than I gave him credit for. He handled himself so well around Thorn that I couldn’t help but respect him even more. “He’s just a little paranoid.”

“Paranoid about what?”

The answer was complicated, but since Hunt knew all the backstory, it would make sense to him. “That you’re going to take me away from him.”

“If he’s that concerned about it, maybe he should give you more. Treat you better.”

“I don’t want to be in a relationship him. I love him to the end of the earth and back…but I don’t see him that way.”

“Maybe he sees you that way.” He still maintained the same expression even though he’d managed to turn the tables on me and make me question Thorn when I was supposed to be questioning him. “But he knows you don’t feel the same way.”

“I don’t know…doesn’t seem that way.”

Hunt finally turned his gaze away. “Something to think about.”

---

We packed all of our things and prepared to leave my home in Rhode Island. Thorn’s driver was going to return both of us to New York, while everyone else took their own vehicles.

And Hunt took his chopper.

“How about I give you a lift home?” Hunt asked as he pulled his bag over his shoulder.

“In the helicopter?” I asked in surprise.

“Yeah. The flight is only thirty minutes.”

“It’s not the duration I’m worried about.”

“Come on, it’s beautiful. Unless you don’t trust me?”

I trusted this man more than a commercial pilot. He would get us there safely. “My luggage?”

“It’ll fit.”

I couldn’t suppress my smile at the thought of being that high in the sky, flying over the coast back into the city. I’d be able to see the skyscrapers long before I was even close to them. Flying had always been exhilarating for me. Some people were terrified of being in the air and preferred their feet planted against the earth, but I was the opposite.

I preferred the sky.

“Sounds like fun.”

Hunt showed his enthusiasm by pulling me in for a hard kiss on the mouth. He gripped my blouse at the small of my back, bunching up the fabric as he breathed hard into my mouth. When he pulled away, he wore a handsome smile. “Then let’s prepare for takeoff.”

We said goodbye to everyone, and the maids were already taking care of the mess we left behind. Thorn didn’t look too pleased about me jumping into a helicopter, but he didn’t question me in front of everyone.

After securing our luggage in the back, we pulled on our helmets, and Hunt spoke to someone over his headset. He issues some codes before he gripped the gear and lifted the helicopter into the air.

“Oh my god.” I clutched at the door as I peered down to see my house, which was getting smaller and smaller. “My house looks so tiny.”

With aviator sunglasses and a thick helmet, he looked sexy as hell. The sun was bright on his face, and he looked like a man who still possessed the spirit of a boy. He was a pilot, taking a beautiful piece of machinery into the sky.

I watched him with a smile on my face, loving seeing Hunt so excited.

It was difficult to tell where he was looking with those glasses, but he must have been looking at me because he said, “What?”

“What?” I repeated.

“Why are you staring at me?”

“Because you’re cute.”

“Cute?” he asked, his eyebrows furrowing. “I’m a man, and men aren’t cute.”

“Fine. You look sexy.”

He directed the helicopter northwest. “That’s better.”

“So…have you ever gotten a blow job while flying?”

“Not while piloting,” he said. “And as much as I would like one now, I’ll have to turn down your offer.”

“Why?”

“Too dangerous.”

“Safety man. I like it.”

We flew most of the way in silence, taking in the spectacular views under the clouds. The rotors were so loud that we could only speak to each other through the intercom system in our headsets. It was a strange way to talk, but I got used to it after the first few sentences.

When we arrived in New York City, it was an even bigger treat. The sun was starting to set, and the lights looked so beautiful. It wasn’t much different from the view out the windows of my penthouse, but at this height, the city actually seemed small. “Most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

He turned his head my way. “Yeah.”

“I moved here when I was fifteen.” I remembered the day my dad relocated after he was let go at his job. “I was raised in a small town in New Jersey. My dad was a painter, and when he lost work, he had to move here to find something else. Money was always a challenge because he had to keep finding work. When he worked for a bigger business, he never made enough money.” I didn’t know why I was telling him any of this. It was personal and boring, but my mouth kept moving. “When I was old enough to start working, I helped out. It made everything a lot easier on my dad. But then he got sick…and there’s wasn’t anything I could do.” When I thought about the final six months of my father’s life, I was full of heartbreak. But I tried not to think about it too deeply. If I did, I’d start to cry. “I wanted to be rich because I wanted to take care of my father. He took care of me when my mother proved how easy it was to just run off. He stuck by my side and gave me the best life he could. I wish he could see me now…to see what I’ve done.”

“Who says he doesn’t see you right now?”

I turned my head his way and saw the affectionate look in his eyes. His sunglasses were gone, revealing his expression for me to see. His smile was encouraging, but his eyes held heartbroken understanding.

“I’m sure he’s proud of you, Titan. I just met you a few months ago, and I’m proud of you.”

“Yeah?” I whispered.

“If I ever have a daughter, I hope she’s just like you.”

“Why?”

“You don’t take shit from anyone—and that’s how I’d want her to be. She would know her value—just the way you know yours. She wouldn’t be afraid to kick a man in the balls if he touched her the wrong way. If someone disrespected her, she would make him pay for his foolishness.”

No one ever praised me the way Hunt did. Most people just cared about how I started my business, where I learned all my secrets. They wanted to take my playbook and use it to their advantage. Hunt was the first person to compliment my character, not my success. It was a nice change. “I don’t think anyone has ever said anything so nice to me.”

“I kinda like you. I don’t do business with anyone, so I guess that was obvious.”

“I like you too, Hunt.”

“You want your son to be like me?” he teased.

I didn’t think much about my kids or how they would be. All I knew was that I wanted them. But when I pictured Hunt as a little boy, it made me smile. He must have been adorable. “Wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world.”

---

Brett Maxwell called me while I was at the office.

“Hey, Brett,” I said as I typed an email at the same time. “How are you?”

“I’m great. I was hoping I could swing by in a few minutes. I’ve got the final commercial edited.”

I didn’t care that much about it. I could just watch it on TV whenever it aired. But since he was excited about it, I went for it. “Sure. I’ll tell Jessica you’re coming.”

“See you then.”

Just when I hung up, Hunt called me.

“Hello, Mr. Hunt,” I said in a snooty business voice. “How can I help my partner today?”

“You could start by talking to me like that while I fuck you.”

He always started with the vulgar comments right off the bat. “Doesn’t sound so bad. I wish I’d gotten different doors now…” I’d order him down here on my lunch break if I could. He’d fuck me good on my desk, and then leave immediately afterward. His come would stay buried inside me until I got home and took a shower.

“You know, there are people you can hire to take care of that for you.”

“I don’t want to make it obvious.”

“Since when did Tatum Titan start caring about what her four assistants thought?” he questioned. “I can come down there and change those doors for you right now.”

“In tight jeans with a tool belt?”

“Whatever you want, baby.”

“And without a shirt?”

“Of course.”

“Hmm…sounds nice.”

“And you know what? I’ll do it for free.”

“I was hoping you’d want some other compensation for it…”

His voice was silent, but I could feel his heavy breathing through the phone. He was probably gripping a pen right now, a raging hard-on in his slacks. “You’re lucky your two weeks aren’t up yet…”

“Why?” I was playing a dirty game. I rolled the dice, not caring whether I won or lost. “What would you do right now if you were calling the shots?”

Another pregnant pause of silence. He was probably clenching his jaw right now, grinding his teeth together. “There’s a Four Seasons across the street from my building. I’d book a room, have you meet me there, and then I would throw you on the bed with your ass over the edge. I’d eat your pussy, finger your ass, shove my cock down your throat, and then I’d fuck you in the ass until you couldn’t take it anymore. I would come inside you twice, pumping you with so much of my seed that you could barely hold on to it. Then I’d order you to go back to work and keep it in there…until later tonight when I’d order you to show it to me. Titan, if I were in charge, that’s what we’d be doing right now.”

Now I was the one rendered speechless, my voice gone and only my shaky breath remaining. All my confidence evaporated once his dominion had crushed mine. He still had two weeks until his regime could begin, but he’d obviously been planning every single moment of it. “I…I’ve gotta go.”

“Alright, baby.” His grin was loud through the phone. “Hope you don’t miss me too much today.”

Damn, I already missed him right now.

I hung up just when Brett was ushered into my office by Jessica. I cleared my throat and tried to keep the flushed color out of my cheeks. But when I looked at Brett, a man similar to Hunt in so many ways, it was difficult to clear the fog that thickened in my mind. His eyes were identical to his brother’s, and they had the exact same intensity. “Hey, Brett. It’s great to see you again.” I came around the desk and shook his hand.

“The pleasure is all mine, Titan.” He pulled the satchel off his shoulder and pulled out a sleek gray laptop. “How are things going?”

They’d been better. My hand would be in between my legs right now if I had enough privacy. “Good. You?”’

“I’ve very happy with the way the commercial turned out. You and Hunt look like you belong together.”

My heart leapt into my throat.

Brett didn’t see my reaction because he was opening the file on his computer. He moved a few things around before he opened it to full screen. Music projected from the speakers, accompanied by the sound of powerful motors running. And then there was me, driving down the windy road with Hunt right behind me. Scenes cut and shifted, going back and forth between us. Hunt smiled at my competitiveness, appreciating the challenge. I didn’t look challenged at all. After a few more cuts, the commercial ended and brought up a black screen of current auto deals.

Looking at Hunt didn’t help.

“What’d you think?” Brett shut the laptop.

“It was phenomenal. People will love it.”

He smiled at the compliment. “That’s what I’m hoping for. I intend to sell a lot more cars this year. Photographers have snapped Hunt in his Bullet around town a lot, and my numbers have spiked ever since. But let’s see how they spike when you’re the one being featured.”

I hoped there was a spike at all. Not a lot of men respected my success, thinking my vagina was some kind of handicap. “We’ll see.”

“I’m having lunch with Hunt today, so I’ll show him then.”

Was I the only one who thought it weird for him to call his brother by a last name different from his own? “Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate it.”

“Anything for you, Titan. My brother told me you just acquired Bruce’s company—congratulations.”

“Thank you.” We had our work cut out for us, but we’d make it work. With the kind of discipline between us, we would make things move at a rapid pace.

“My brother is very picky when it comes to business. He obviously has a great deal of respect for you.”

When Brett’s eyes drilled into my face just the way Hunt’s did, I walked around the desk and put space between us. “And I him. He’s a brilliant man.”

“I don’t know about brilliant,” he said with a chuckle. “But he’s got a good head on his shoulders.” He slipped the laptop back into the case and took a seat in the armchair. “And he’s not as arrogant as he could be, I suppose.”

He was cocky sometimes, but only in good ways.

“My brother is exceptionally fond of you. Never has anything but nice things to say about you. Since he doesn’t say much at all, it’s a pretty big deal.”

It seemed like he was trying to fish something out of me. “I consider us to be good friends.”

“I bet that would be different if Thorn weren’t around.”

My heart froze.

“He’s never said anything to me, but I’m his older brother. I can read him better than he realizes. He’d be ticked at me if he knew I said anything to you, but since he’s always ticked at me, doesn’t make much of a difference.” He rested his fingers against the side of his head, smiling.

“He’s been nothing but professional toward me.” When Hunt said his brother was onto us, I didn’t realize how serious he was. Maybe he did know, and he was just trying to get a confession out of one of us. “Men and women can just be friends. I see it all the time. A man like Hunt has his pick of any woman he wants. A workaholic like me isn’t exactly desirable.”

“I highly doubt that.” He still wore his endearing smile. “I knew there was something more there at the racetrack—and at the shoot.”

What happened at those two places? We’d been distant with each other in the public eye. Hunt had come to my room a few times, but no one ever caught us. “Why?”

“Watching you drive like that nearly gave him a heart attack. He wouldn’t feel that way for just anyone.”

I still didn’t understand the significance. “Why?”

“Because that’s how our mom died.”

My heart stopped beating, and sorrow like I’d never know seeped into my veins. I’d lost my father tragically, and he lost his mother in a terrifying way. I knew his mother had passed away, but I had no idea how.

“Some kids were speed racing on a deserted road, ran a stop sign, and killed her on impact.”

God, Hunt.

“I could tell he was genuinely afraid for you. I’d never seen him like that. You’re obviously very special to him—whether he’ll tell you that or not.”