****
“Took you long enough." Lily, one of his younger twin sisters, grumbled the moment Tyler stepped into the dining room.
His confused gaze flew to hers, “I’m sorry?”
“You were in there with that reporter woman forever,” Leila, her twin chipped in, rolling her beautiful grey eyes.
Tyler coolly surveyed the occupants of the table as he slid into his seat at the head of the table. His brother, Max, watched him with cool contemplative eyes, as did Anne, their mother.
“Anyone else have any observations they want to share with the rest of the class?” he asked.
Silence fell around the table as he glared around.
Anne Harding was the only person staring him down as she whispered, “Why did you agree to this interview? That woman looks nosy. I heard she already interviewed half the staff on your Texas ranch before you brought her here. What if she discovered our secret?”
Her pained grey eyes stared steadily into his.
“Mother, I don’t want to get into this. Not right now,” he said mildly as he buttered a slice of toast.
Anger surged through him but he deliberately tamped down on it. He was starting to feel things for that reporter; things he couldn’t explain; things he had no business feeling.
“Well when are we going to discuss this?” his mother pressed, oblivious to his inner turmoil.
She always seemed oblivious to everything about him, he mused. She never understood him.
“Well?” she continued. “When she comes down and starts prying our secrets right out of our mouths?”
“Leave it alone, Mother,” he said shortly, his tone deliberately mocking as he raised his coffee mug to his mouth.
A tense silence reigned around the table. Anne’s eyes glittered coldly as she glared at Tyler.
“Brooke is just here to get material for a documentary for charity. She is my guest and I expect her to be treated with civility. Leave our secrets to me. I’ll make sure she’s too distracted to delve that far.”
“How? You gonna seduce her?” Max asked.
“No.”
“Then what?” Max pressed.
“I’ll do whatever needs to be done to keep our family safe. Now everyone, just leave Brooke to me.”
On the staircase, out of sight of the dining room, Brooke slowly retreated, creeping back to her bedroom. What were they talking about? And what on earth had Tyler meant when he said he was going to do whatever it took?
Perhaps there was some secret they didn’t want her to discover? She had stepped within hearing range just in time to hear Tyler say he would do whatever needed to be done. What did he mean by that and what had she gotten herself into?
Several minutes later, Brooke stepped out to the dining room again. The Hardings were all wrapping up and while she noticed they were civil enough, they all left the room almost before her buttocks touched her seat.
She forced a grin as she looked at Tyler, “Is it my imagination, or did I just clear the room?”
“Nah, they’re just done with breakfast. We’ll be inspecting some wells today,” he added.
He looked so handsome sitting there with a slight frown on his face, his dark head of hair in artful disarray.
“We?”
“I thought you were tagging along for the rest of this week?”
“Yeah,” she agreed as she ate a slice of bacon. She closed her eyes, savoring the incredibly delicious taste. Who knew bacon could taste so wonderful?
“Wheels up in ten,” he said smoothly as he got to his feet and strolled out of the dining room.
Brooke made a silent vow as she sipped the last of her coffee; she would not let him touch her again with so much as a ten-foot pole.
“I think I’ve gotten enough answers to questions about your work,” Brooke said, leaning back against her chair in Tyler’s office, five days later. “Now there’s another angle that we must work: family.”
She pretended not to notice that he had tensed up at the word ‘family’.
“We want to explore your relationship with members of your immediate family. Having family gives our rich, powerful, dynamic bachelors a human face and makes them more likable to our readers. That’s all we’re after.”
Tyler studied her out of veiled eyes. “What do you want to know exactly?”
Brooke studied her notes, then looked back up at him, her eyes shining with excitement as she said, “You took over Harding Corporation at a very young age. Your management style obviously differs from your father’s. Can you tell us what he thought of your style?”
Tyler cleared his throat and looked down at his hands, “He was glad I took his legacy so seriously. He was proud. What more do you want to know?”
Brooke stared; he wouldn’t meet her eyes and he was more than a little uncomfortable. Clearly, he was lying.
A past news-clip went through her mind and acting on a hunch, she said, “Tyler, there was an incident at the annual Hamilton Business Conference last year. A reporter caught a clip of Mr. Harding grabbing your lapels and getting in your face about something. He didn’t seem very proud that night,” she added, her pen poised over her notepad.
Tyler’s dark eyes glinted at her as he studied her. “I don’t hear a question in there.”
“What was your relationship with your father really like?”
He grinned suddenly, “Do you have any idea how cute you look?”
The non sequitur made her blink, but she carefully hid her surprise as an irrational flush of pleasure shot through her. Was he trying to distract her?
“Uh...thanks, I think.”
He chuckled, rising from his position on the seat across from her to lean over her, placing a hand on either side of her chair. Brooke shrank back into her seat. What could he possibly be thinking of?
“I haven’t been able to keep my mind off you all day,” he murmured, letting her know exactly what he had been thinking of. “And I think if you’re honest, you’ve thought of me a great deal, too.”
“Yeah, add modesty to your list of traits while you’re at it,” Brooke uttered dripping sarcasm.
He laughed, unperturbed. Then his laughter faded slowly away to be replaced by a look so hot, probing and intense that Brooke could have sworn it melted the very skin off her bones.
Tyler raised one hand and slowly, gently caressed her cheek. Hot tendrils of sensation spread from the slight brush of his finger and a moan of pleasure escaped her unbidden.
Tyler leaned down and brushed his lips against hers in a heart-wrenchingly tender kiss that made her hands curl into fists.
“I want to make love to you, Brooke,” he whispered against her lips.
“Huh?” she muttered dazedly, hungrily raising her lips for more of his kisses.
“I need to make love to you, Brooke. I want to feel my hard dick entering your soft, wet pussy. I want to fuck you until you beg me not to stop. I want to brand you from the inside out as my own,” he finished.
His words were so erotic, a pool of moisture rushed between her legs. Brooke grabbed his head and pulled his lips down to hers for a hot, deep French kiss.
Tyler swung her up off the chair and into his arms, not breaking the hot deep kiss for a second. He was half in love with her, he mused as his hand moved to cup one full thrusting breast through the smooth material of her silk blouse. Brooke moaned and arched in his arms. He gently deposited her ass onto the table with her legs hanging over the edge of the desk as he raised her skirt to bunch around her waist. Her lace pantyhose were a bit rough against his palms and he groaned with impatience. He wanted to feel her—now. He caressed her briefly though her pantyhose and panties, swallowing her moan with his lips. “Fuck this,” he said, forcefully tearing the crotch of her pantyhose using both hands.
“I can’t wait,” he told her, looking into her eyes as he reached for the zipper of his pants and pulled free his hard, thrusting arousal.
Urgency burned right back at him from her bright green eyes and he grunted in satisfaction as she spread her legs wide.
He positioned himself between her legs, using his finger to shove her panties to the side. Tyler rubbed the head of his dick against her wet, soft, moist opening and she groaned in pleasure, rubbing up against him as he entered her slowly. Her chest was plastered against his chest with his arms holding her up on the edge of the table.
“Yes, yes, yes,” Brooke chanted mindlessly as he entered her again and again. He plunged deeper into her, thrusting so fast it seemed his hips were a jack-hammer.
Brooke clung to him as he increased the tempo, raising her hips to meet his thrusts and matching her rhythm to his own. Brooke was helpless to stop the onslaught of feelings he had unleashed. Her back arched in ecstasy as she moaned even louder, panting now with excitement. Pleasure pooled between her thighs, and within seconds, her pussy was pulsing and clenching with the force of her orgasm as a hot, wet rush poured from her pussy. The waves lasted, drawing out longer and longer and when it was finally over, she sagged against his broad chest, sated and spent.
Tyler slowly began to thrust into her again, his dark, slumberous gaze scanning her face as he began to thrust into her again, his face contorted as he concentrated on his thrusts. He changed the angle of his thrusts and began to rub her clitoris between his forefinger and thumb, his thrusts rubbing against her G-spot. He moaned as he entered her, sending waves of pleasure shooting through her and making her spread her legs wider.
He paused in his thrusts to lean her back down onto the table. His large hands shoved her blouse up, exposing her breasts to his view. They were round, plump and beautiful and as smooth as silk. He leaned down to lick one nipple, his tongue laving against the sensitive tip and making her moan in his arms. He entered her as he sucked, shoving against her g-spot while rubbing her clit. Brooke jerked wildly, going berserk as she was assaulted with pleasure from every angle.
Suddenly, another rush of heat pooled in her pelvis and before she could react, the world was tilting on its axis and she was clenching and unclenching around him.
Within seconds, he felt the familiar pleasure rush to pool in his groin and he increased his pace. His threw back his head, groaning as he came, spilling his seed straight into her wet, tight pussy.
As the haze cleared, he realized one scary fact: he had never felt this way about another woman before.
His hands tightened around her as he drifted back to earth. What had he done? Max had only to hear about this to give him a knowing grin and congratulate him for having the good sense to make love to Brooke like he had suggested.