I understood why Titan did what she did.

Didn’t mean I was happy about it.

I didn’t speak to her for four days. She didn’t call me, and I didn’t call her. We worked on our respective projects independently. Fortunately, we didn’t have anything pressing to discuss for Stratosphere.

I focused on work and expanding my empire. When I was angry, I threw myself into work harder. I bought a whole food chain and invested in an online shopping retailer. I bought things left and right, looking for ways to expand my wealth as quickly as possible.

Money wouldn’t make me happy. But it made me feel like I had control over something.

It was all I had right now.

I went out with Pine and Mike a few times. The women were there, sliding their hands up my thighs and whispering dirty things into my ear. They wanted to be in my bed—even at the same time.

But I ignored their advances, only one woman on my mind.

My old lifestyle didn’t interest me anymore. The second Titan walked into my life in those black stilettos, my world changed. The same old tricks didn’t work anymore. The one-night stands were boring. My heart was no longer empty.

There was only one place I wanted to be, one bed I wanted to invade.

But I was too angry.

I wasn’t ready to see her.

She didn’t owe me anything. It wasn’t like it was a secret. She told me this was her plan all along. I won her over, but with the snap of a finger, I lost her again. The universe didn’t want us to be together.

Or someone didn’t want us to be together.

On the fifth day, my knuckles finally relaxed and the rage dulled inside my chest. I could look at her without telling her she’d made a mistake. I could be calm and professional. I could be the man who preceded me by reputation.

I walked into Stratosphere with my paperwork tucked under my arm in a folder. I greeted our assistants then headed to her office. I knew she was there since the door was open. My knuckles tapped against the wooden door before I stepped inside.

She sat at her desk with a perfectly straight back. Her slender shoulders were elegantly poised, and her makeup highlighted the natural beauty of her features. She wasn’t startled by my presence. She was a pro at hiding her emotions. Now that there was distinct distance between us, it was much easier for her to hide what she didn’t want me to see. She wore a black jacket that was tight against her body, large black buttons reflecting the lights from up above. Diamonds gleamed from her earlobes, subtle but elegant.

I welcomed myself into her office and took a seat. I rested one ankle on the opposite knee, unbuttoned the front of my suit, and then laid the folder in my lap. Like nothing was different, I behaved as if this were any other meeting. She meant nothing to me. She was just a person sitting behind a desk.

She looked at me, her green eyes vibrant like a forest. She projected a hard exterior, but her smooth flesh suggested otherwise. I’d experienced all of her, and I knew there was nothing but softness under that tough exterior.

I noticed the engagement ring on her left hand, but I didn’t allow myself to stare. I hadn’t been expecting her to wear it, but it wouldn’t make sense for her not to. Now I would see her wear it all the time, publicly proclaiming her love for a different man.

We still hadn’t spoken to each other, but that wasn’t unusual for us. Our connection transcended words. “I’ve worked up a lot of ideas. I think we should coordinate with the stores and prepare for the holiday season. Experienced shoppers will hit the aisles before Thanksgiving even arrives.”

After staring at me for a long minute, she nodded. “Lay them on me.”

I placed a copy on her desk then went through my suggestions.

She listened to me, challenged me, and added her feedback. She was an easy partner because she was always honest with no ego. If I didn’t like her idea, she brushed it off without conflict. Nothing was ever personal with her. She just wanted to do her job well.

After a few minutes of discussing back and forth, it started to feel normal again. We didn’t talk about the engagement or how heavy that ring was on her finger. She didn’t ask where I’d been the past week and I didn’t ask what she did in her spare time.

We just stuck to business.

When we finished, I left the chair. “I’m heading back to my building. I’ll see you later.” I turned my back on her and walked out without waiting for a passionate goodbye. She wanted to remain professional at work, and that was easy for me to do. I thrived doing business, and since our personal relationship was so strained, this was much easier. I could stick to the facts. I could stick to the numbers.

I could stick to the bullshit.

---

A week of not getting laid was taking its toll.

Titan came to me in my dreams, making me wake up warm and sweaty. My thoughts strayed when I was at work. I had a meeting with one of my executives, and while he droned on about quarterly profits, I imagined Titan sitting on my face.

I was hard up.

As much as I wanted her, I refused to cave. She had to come to me first. She had to tell me she wanted me. She had to remind me that she was still mine, inflate my hope like a balloon.

I sat on the couch in my living room, enjoying a glass of scotch while the game was on. I was in my sweatpants and shirtless, hoping Titan would pay me a visit at any moment. My phone was on the coffee table, but the screen was black.

I took a drink, letting the square ice cubes touch my lips as I drank. I’d told Titan to cut back on the alcohol, but I needed to take my own advice. I’d been drowning myself lately because it made me feel numb.

It was nice not to feel anything.

The elevator beeped, and the light above the doors lit up.

My eyes immediately shifted to the entrance, and my heart began to race. My cock hardened in my boxers, growing in expectation. Titan was on the other side. She was the only person who would drop by unannounced.

She was the only person with that right.

The doors opened, and sexy legs stepped inside, toned in the black heels. She was in the same gray dress as she wore earlier, the black jacket skintight and slimming.

I didn’t rise from the couch. My elbows rested on my thighs, and I leaned forward. My head was turned her way, and I ignored the TV. The commentators rambled on in the background, so I grabbed the remote and turned it off.

She stood by the doorway and looked at me like she didn’t know what to do next. There was only one reason for her visit, and she couldn’t sugarcoat it.

She wanted me. Plain and simple.

She sauntered toward me, moving slowly as the tension escalated. Her eyes were locked on mine as her cheeks flushed with a wave of pinkness. Her fingers worked the front of her jacket, and she undid every button slowly.

My eyes never strayed from hers.

She dropped the jacket on the ground then moved into my lap. She pushed my shoulders against the couch and hiked up her skirt to her waistline.

She wasn’t wearing panties.

Fuck.

She tugged the front of my sweatpants down until my length was revealed. She scooted up, grabbed me by the base, and then directed herself onto my length. She slowly lowered herself, her pussy slicker than it’d ever been since the day I met her.

She wanted me badly.

My hands moved to her hips, and I tugged her down until I was deep inside her. I could feel the tightness of her incredible pussy, the overwhelming wetness. She felt so good, like her pussy was made to fit my monster cock perfectly. “Miss me, baby?”’

Her hands snaked up my chest until she reached my shoulders. She dug her nails into my skin harshly, clawing at me so I couldn’t get away. Her beautiful tits were hidden underneath her dress, but seeing her like this was just as sexy. Too anxious to feel me, she hadn’t been able to wait to get everything off and onto the floor. “Yes.”

I planted my bare feet on the floor, and I thrust into her, sliding my soaked dick deep inside her. She moved with me, matching my pace perfectly. Her nails dug deep, and her breaths came out as pants. She breathed harder and deeper as she ground with me, dragging her clit against my pelvic bone. She didn’t start off slow and gentle. She got right to the point, fucking my brains out because she was going crazy without me.

I’d been going crazy too.

We didn’t share a single kiss because we used all our energy just to fuck. She slammed down on my dick, and I thrust hard into her, taking all of her pussy every single time. She knew how to take my enormous size like a real woman. She rode it deep and hard, knowing exactly how she liked to be fucked.

As did I.

Her fingers shook as they gripped my shoulders. She skipped breaths as she prepared to explode. Whimpers turned to moans, and soon she was screaming in my apartment, the sound joining all the faint echoes from our past.

I wanted to keep going, to make it a sex marathon like we used to have. But I hadn’t gotten laid in too long, and she looked too damn sexy walking into my apartment without panties. She came here to fuck me. She couldn’t handle the distance any longer. The silence killed her, the hormones suffocated her.

I released deep inside her, dumping more come than I ever had. I filled every single inch of her, feeling my come dribble back out and toward the base of my length. I kept going, giving her more than she could hold.

She scratched her nails down my chest and moaned again, rolling her hips and enjoying the feeling of my explosion. She pressed her face to mine and slowly came down from the high, the tenderness stretching between us.

When we were both finished, we looked at each other with the same lust, like we hadn’t been satisfied by that rendezvous. But there was depth in the look, feelings that were far more profound than sex.

I lifted her as I got to my feet, and I carried her into my bedroom. My cock was still inside her, where it would be buried for the rest of the evening. I hoped she’d been sleeping well, because neither one of us would get sleep tonight.

I set her on the bed and yanked her dress over her head. Her bra came next, and then she was finally naked underneath me, gorgeous and sexy. I gripped both of her tits because I missed them as much as I missed the rest of her. I got my sweatpants and boxers off then positioned myself on top of her, prepared to fuck her even harder than I just had. I was semihard, but I was quickly returning to full mast.

Her arms circled my neck, and she kissed me hard on the mouth. “Give me all of your come, Hunt.” She locked her ankles together against my back. “I missed it…”

---

It seemed like we went back in time.

Now we were fucking the way we used to. We didn’t talk about our lives. We didn’t talk about anything. It was right to the point—and then she left. We really were just a hookup. I was a booty call.

I didn’t ask her how she felt about being engaged to Thorn. I never asked if she was happy. I didn’t want to know when they were getting married. I wasn’t ready to listen to those painful words just yet.

I was still broken.

When I went to Stratosphere the next day, Titan was already in the conference room. We had a meeting with a few distributors for the East Coast, and coffee and snacks were supplied by our assistants. She sat at the end of the table, her tablet in front of her along with her notepad and pens. She wore a skintight red dress and black heels. Red was an intense color, and very few people could wear it so well. She made it look like a second skin.

I took a seat and opened my satchel.

She looked through her tablet, silently preparing for the meeting.

We didn’t say hello.

It didn’t seem like I fucked her for hours last night. There was no sleep in her eyes. She didn’t appear to be tired at all even though she’d left my place around two in the morning. It shouldn’t surprise me that we could sit together like this, as if last night hadn’t happened.

But it still surprised me.

I caught the glimmer in the corner of my eye, the bright sparkle the reflected off the diamond on her hand. I didn’t look directly at her ring because it would only piss me off. But it was distracting, the way it shimmered with the rainbow.

I finally turned my head and got a glimpse.

It was an enormous diamond in a white gold band. It was simple but enormous. Thorn cared more about making a statement with the jewelry he placed on her finger than giving her something she truly wanted.

Titan preferred subtlety.

If I bought her a ring, it would look much different from that.

I glanced away, hating myself for looking in the first place. “You want to lead this one?” I stared out the window because looking at the cityscape of Manhattan was far less painful than looking directly at her.

“Sure.”

I’d led the presentation last time, so I didn’t want to overstep by going first again.

She glanced at her watch. “They should be here any second. Anything we need to go over?”

I could crunch numbers and talk business all day. Titan made it easy. But we were so good together when we did other things. I hated this distance, this coldness. It was sickening. “No.”

Titan lifted her gaze and stared at me. I wasn’t looking directly at her so I wasn’t sure if I was right, but I suspected I was. She stared at the side of my face, her green eyes burning into me like fire. I knew she wanted to say something, to address this tension between us. But picking at the seam would only force it to rip apart completely.

It was better to say nothing at all.

---

I walked into the restaurant and took my seat in the booth. We were at Charlie’s Steakhouse, a popular place for lunch for executives. It was close to my office, along with everyone else’s. It was hard to get a table, but I never had a problem getting in anywhere.

I sat across from Kyle Livingston, who had made it into town the night before.

I didn’t waste any time getting an audience with him.

Kyle shook my hand. “How are things, Diesel?”

Fucking terrible. “Good enough. What about you?”

“My wife is pissed at me, but she’s always pissed at me.”

“What did you do this time?”

“Told her I didn’t want to start a family just yet.” He shrugged. “Work has been too hectic.”

If Titan were my wife, I’d be knocking her up right now. “Work is work. Work shouldn’t be life.”

“Really?” He narrowed his eyes in annoyance. “You’re the biggest workaholic I’ve ever met, and you’re going to tell me that?”

I brushed off the comment by getting the waiter’s attention and ordering a beer.

Kyle did the same. “So, how’s your secret lover?”

I’d professed my love for a nameless woman the last time I saw him and Rick Perry. I’d been hoping to come clean about Titan’s identity by now. Looked like that was going to be on hold for a while. “Good.”

“Are you going to tell me who this woman is yet?”

“Nope.” I took a drink before I commandeered the conversation. “I wanted to talk to about working with Titan. You both have the same interests, and you can both be vital to each other.”

“Why are you talking about her when she’s not here?”

It was a good question. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a good answer. “Titan doesn’t chase opportunities. She’s too classy for that.”

“Really?” he asked. “She seems like a hustler to me, but not in a bad way.”

She was. She hunted her prey down until she got what she wanted.

“But, I just got a call from Vincent Hunt yesterday. He’s the reason I’m in town…” His eyes drifted away along with his voice, understanding the obvious tension that filled the space around our table. Everyone in the industry knew my father and I weren’t on speaking terms. They also knew about the little stunt I’d pulled. No one asked me about my father because they knew they wouldn’t get an answer. And I knew no one was stupid enough to ask my father about me.

I shouldn’t be surprised my father moved in on Kyle so quickly. When he didn’t get his way with Titan, he was pissed. Now he had to make good on this threat and punish Titan for siding with me. It was a blow to his ego—because no one ever said no to him. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

“Your father?” he asked in surprise.

“Not him specifically, but what he’s going to offer you.”

“How do you know what he’s going to offer me?” His beer had been set on the table minutes ago, but he hadn’t had the opportunity to drink it. We’d been conversing too intently.

“Because he offered the same thing to Titan. She said no.”

“What was the offer?” He didn’t look at the waiter once the basket of bread was brought to the table. He didn’t take his eyes off me as he ordered his lunch.

I ordered then handed the menus over. Once the waiter was gone, I continued. “He offered to get Titan into stores all over the world in exchange for five percent.”

It took Kyle nearly a minute to process the deal. “And she said no because…?”

“She thinks the two of you could accomplish a lot more.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “She thinks the two of us could do better than what Vincent Hunt offered? To get her products in everywhere with only five percent in return? I’ve been doing business a long time, and I’ve never heard a deal like that.”

“Exactly.” This deal had no effect on me whatsoever. I could have just let it go and moved on with my life. But my father was trying to screw with Titan, and I couldn’t let that happen. Vincent played dirty, so I would play dirty too. “Titan thought it was too suspicious. Why would a man like Vincent Hunt make a deal like that? The second something doesn’t make sense is when you should start worrying.”

Kyle didn’t seem totally convinced, but he didn’t reject my thoughts altogether.

“I think his businesses are failing.” That was a lie, and I felt a little guilty for spreading a false rumor about my father. It was wrong of me to tell the world about my relationship with my father—but at least the story was true. This was pure bullshit. “I think this is just a desperate move to ride Titan’s coattails.”

He crossed his arms over his chest, eyeing me closely.

“I think you should skip his offer. Don’t even meet with him. Work something out with Titan. The two of you could be immensely beneficial to each other. You could both get what you want without having to give up a single part of your company. Sounds perfect to me.”

Kyle rubbed his chin as his eyes shifted away from my face. He considered my words in silence, going over everything I said.

I hoped it was enough to entice Kyle. I couldn’t let Titan lose this opportunity because of me. It was one of her biggest business goals. There wasn’t a single doubt in my mind that she would find another way, but it would take her a long time.

Kyle finally spoke up. “It is suspicious…”

“Extremely.”

“Titan is a smart woman. I trust her instincts.”

Good.

“I already scheduled the meeting with Vincent, and I don’t want to cancel it so late. Wouldn’t want to get on his bad side.”

My father was a smooth talker. Hopefully, what I’d said today was enough to keep Kyle on our side. “How about I arrange a meeting with Titan for tomorrow afternoon?”

“I’ll have my assistant take care of it,” he said. “My schedule is pretty packed this week.”

I wanted to push him a little harder, but if I made my aggression obvious, Kyle would become suspicious. “Sounds good.” I soothed my nerves by taking a long drink of my beer. The frothy liquid went all the way down my throat, but it wasn’t enough to calm my raging heart. I was the reason Titan had lost this opportunity.

I had to get it back.