Chapter Eleven

Cormac

I’d gone home and changed before I went to the office. It was nearly four by the time I got there, which meant that the workday was all but over by now.

I passed Hunter in the reception area and nodded at him, before I made my way to the elevator. When the doors pinged open, it was Rhett who stepped out, and I had no other choice but to stay and confront my brother.

He was glaring at me, eyeing me up and down.

“You look like you’ve recovered,” he said and pushed his hands into the pockets of his pants. I shrugged in response. My brother had no idea about the day I’d had, and I wasn’t going to stand there and explain it to him.

“You guys need to get your shit together, Mac, I’m serious,” Rhett said, and I looked him squarely in the eye.

“I do have my shit together, Rhett, and leave Pierce out of this. It’s one day, let’s just move on,” I said, and I knew I’d made a mistake. Rhett was fiercely protective of his family, and he’d done more for me than was expected of him; however, I also knew exactly how serious he was about work too.

“In any other workplace, Mac, you’d lose your job over something like this. You missed an important conference call with the folks in Japan, the account you were supposed to be handling. Pierce took care of it today, but I don’t want this happening again,” Rhett lectured, and I stood in front of the elevator doors, awaiting the moment that I could make my escape.

“I’ll catch up with Pierce, and this won’t happen again,” I replied. Rhett’s harsh glare softened a little.

He patted my shoulder and smiled.

“I don’t regret giving my brother a place in my boardroom, not yet, Mac,” he said, and I nodded.

“You won’t regret it,” I replied, and finally, he turned around and walked away.

I entered the elevator and loosened my tie. I felt like I was going to lose my mind over Olive. It had taken every ounce of strength in my body to walk away from her back there. I would have liked nothing more than to take her right then. My cock would have thanked me for it.

Instead, I’d walked away and returned to my house and taken another shower. I did it in the hopes of washing away every trace of her from my fingers and my body. Instead, I’d stood in the shower and helped myself to my fantasies of her. Of her plump red lips hanging open, of what her nipples would have looked like if I had stripped her clothes off. Of how gorgeous she looked when she came.

Now I was guilty again. I’d taken my brief relationship with Olive a step further. I had my finger inside my best friend’s sister’s pussy. What could possibly be worse than that?

When the elevator doors opened on the floor of my office and I stepped out, I saw Pierce walk out of his office. We were located right next to each other, so it wasn’t a surprise bumping into him. Pierce kept walking toward me, and I walked toward him down the narrow hallway.

I cleared my throat, in the hopes that I’d be able to come up with something appropriate to say. Things had changed since the last time I saw him.

The last time I saw him, I’d promised him that I would stay away from his sister. In the matter of an hour, I had broken every aspect of that promise, and Pierce had no idea.

“Hey, man,” I said as I crossed his path. Pierce, instead of replying to me, glared at my face and then continued on his way. I stopped in my tracks and turned to my best friend. I stared at his back, wondering what it was going to take to repair our friendship. Whether it was even worth repairing.

I didn’t blame Pierce for his behavior; I blamed my actions. Everything that Pierce had predicted about me had come true. He had every right to be mad at me for hitting on his sister, and he had every right to know the truth. That was what I would have expected from him if I had a sister.

I watched Pierce get in the elevator, and the doors closed. Then I turned and went into my office and banged the door shut behind me.

In the privacy of the four walls, I sat down at my desk and ran a hand through my hair. The problem wasn’t only how guilty I felt about my situation with my best friend; the problem was that I still couldn’t stop wanting Olive.

Now I had a taste of her. Now I knew exactly how her body trembled when she was turned on. Now I knew the sound of her moan as I pleasured her. I didn’t know how I could possibly unlearn that. I knew that every time I saw Pierce, I’d be reminded of his sister and how much I wanted to get to know her.

I also knew what the right thing to do was. I needed to tell Pierce. He should have known exactly what I had done and how I had betrayed him. But how was I going to do that without screwing up our friendship?

Coming to the office had been pointless. In the two hours that I sat at my desk, staring at my computer screen or leafing through files, I did it all without any real focus. My mind was whirling with conflicting thoughts of how amazing Olive was and how guilty I felt about the fact that she was Pierce’s sister.

I needed a distraction. I needed a drink, but I couldn’t call my best friend and ask him to help me drown my troubles in alcohol.