CHAPTER TWENTYI almost expected Ezra to be waiting on me in my office when I arrived on Wednesday morning; I was that sure he’d choose us together than us apart. But I wasn’t disappointed—at least not too disappointed—when he was nowhere to be seen when I walked in. I still had faith he’d come through.Humming to myself, I booted up my computer, started the coffee, and then checked emails. I glanced over the portfolio we’d been working on yesterday, and scribbled down a few notes and ideas for revision before a yawning, grumbling Brick stumbled into the room.“Coffee,” he croaked.I hurried a mug to him, then stepped back so I could shake my head and whistle. “Wow, you look hungover.”“Not hungover,” he mumbled before sipping. After that first swallow, he sighed and closed his eyes as if relieved. “At least not hungover from alcohol.”“What else is there to be hungover from?” I asked, squinting, and suddenly feeling too naïve for my own
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONENo more women stormed Brick’s office for the rest of the day. From his behavior, a person never would’ve guessed he’d been slapped, threatened, and broken up with, all within five minutes. I had to wonder if somewhere inside him, it truly bugged him.Outwardly, he nodded, grinning as he took a step back from the work table in his office to inspect our finished portfolio in all its glory. A dozen posters were spread across the tabletop and ready to be displayed.“Holy shit,” he murmured in awe, scanning his gaze across our hard work. “I think we’re done. I think we’re really done.”“And just in time, too,” I said, standing beside him, my hands against my heart as I breathed out a relieved and proud breath that it was finally finished.But my stepbrother rounded on me with an incredulous blink. “Are you kidding me? I’m usually up until midnight the night before the presentation, scrambling to get it together. I’ve never b
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO“I’m starving.”Still in the midst of post-coital recovery, I blinked up at a ceiling fan before finding the gumption to turn my head to the side and take in Ezra’s expression.His entire body rolled my way until he was facing me and lay on his side where he tucked his hand under his cheek and grinned with so much animation he practically glowed. “Aren’t you hungry?”“Uh…” At the moment, I couldn’t rightly answer. I felt so limp and sapped of all energy after what we’d just done, my brain was still trying to process what hungry and starving even meant.Ezra, on the other hand, seemed energized and ready to tackle the world. Laughing, he popped up into a sitting position with way too much enthusiasm, asking, “When was the last time you ate?”“Umm…” Too boneless and sated to think properly, I frowned. “I don’t know. Noon?”Noon was a word, right?“Then you could definitely eat too.”I could? Okay. Whatever he thought
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREEHave you ever had one of those mornings where you woke up and everything just felt right? The best amount of cushion possible was molded around you, the perfect covers on top, pillow fitted just so under your head, the temperature of the room excellent, and you’d slept a good, solid deep sleep? Then your alarm ruins it all, and you groan because you want to keep lying there, just like that, without moving a muscle, for the rest of eternity?Yeah, it was one of those mornings, for sure.My eyes flickered open. I stared at the wall of my room for a moment, feeling rested and relaxed. A slow smile started and then, boom, the alarm shrieked out this totally unnecessary and increasingly annoying racket, making something grumble in complaint right into my ear before a warm weight draped across my stomach shifted.I squeaked. Totally didn’t scream, because I’m not a screamer, but there was a definite noise of alarm that escap
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOURWhen I showed up at work, the prints for our department’s portfolio were no longer spread out and displayed on the worktable in Brick’s office.I frowned as I entered, wondering if he’d moved them somewhere for safekeeping so they wouldn’t accidentally get damaged before the presentation, but when I looked around after storing my purse and coat, I couldn’t find them anywhere. I texted Brick, asking if he knew where they were, but he didn’t answer, so I continued with my day until he could make it in and I sat at my desk to check emails.All the while, I chewed nervously on my thumbnail, casting worried glances toward the doorway every few seconds and wishing Brick would show up already, because I was beginning to dread someone had maybe stolen our freaking portfolio.During one such peek toward the doorway, I froze solid when I made eye contact with none other than Christopher Elton, who was passing by in the hall and p
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE“And they weren’t here when you came in this morning?” Brick repeated the very question he’d asked me about a dozen time since he’d walked in the door. “None of them?”I shook my head and bit my lip. “At first, I just thought you’d put them somewhere.”“Where the fuck would I put them?” he exploded, losing his cool. “This was the best place to leave them. Christ.” He gripped his hair with both hands. “That was the best fucking portfolio my people had ever put together.”Wringing my hands, I looked around the office as if hoping at least one of the prints we’d assembled yesterday would suddenly appear from thin air.“You know who’s behind this, don’t you?” he raged, pacing the floor like a captured wolf, ready to tear out the throat of the first person who opened the door to his cage. “My vindictive bitch of a mother, that’s who. Well, this is crossing the line. Chasing away all my women was one thing, but this shit ain
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIXThough the voting presentation of portfolios took up a good portion of the day, an hour and a half remained afterward before my full eight-hour work day was up.Sadly, I couldn’t remember much of anything I did in that hour. I was floating on too big of a high. Brick spent the entire time out of the office, telling his team how awesome we’d done with our designs, raking in more yeses than any other department, which also meant we had more work cut out for us than the other departments.As soon as the clock ticked into clock-out range, I was out of there, pulling my coat on and hurrying from the office. I had no idea where I thought I was going in such a hurry, I just had to get outside in the fresh air where my excitement had room to fully burst open.I barely refrained from screaming and dancing in a joyous circle the moment I pushed through the front doors, but I wanted to. Oh, how I wanted to. My design had been freak
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVENIt would probably be completely unnecessary for me to say my weekend at Ezra’s was amazing, but it was. It totally was.We spent most of it inside, trying to christen as many rooms as we could—double-christening a few. And when we weren’t sexing it up, we’d sit out on the back terrace, wrapped in a blanket together, enjoying the sunset. Or we watched movies, argued politics, heck, we even played a couple games of chess together. And I took a spin in his mammoth kitchen once or twice, whipping up a batch of chocolate chip cookies.Nothing else in the world existed but us.By the time Monday came around, we were both loath to return to reality, where we had to hide our relationship at work and pretend we barely knew each other.When we returned to his light-blue Bentley in the garage—my purse and overnight bag with me—we were both unusually quiet and subdued. Ezra held my hand while he walked around to the passenger sid