3

She reached across the space, her hand gently touching my thigh. “Please listen to me, okay?”

It was just fingers casually resting on my leg, but something about them felt so good.

Too fucking good.

“I’ve heard you out.” I moved her hand away, assuming that feeling would leave with it. But it didn’t. “And what you don’t know—or maybe you do—is that I made Hannah a promise in high school that I wouldn’t go anywhere near you or any of her close friends. Even though that promise was a long time ago, it’s good for a lifetime.”

Back then, I had gotten around as much as I did now.

The bachelor, the ultimate player—Hannah rotated between titles, depending on the day, but they meant the same thing. I was the guy who had no plans on settling down, and my sister didn’t want me to fuck her friends and then leave them right after, which was what I was known for.

“Camden, Hannah doesn’t have to know.” Her voice was a little above a whisper. “And what I’ll get out of this will most likely be the best sex I’ll ever have in my life.”

My face tilted to the side; my brows rose. “What would give you that assumption?”

“You’re forgetting we grew up together. Hannah’s room was directly next to yours; you guys shared a wall. I heard”—she smiled—“everything.”

“That was years and years ago.”

She leaned back against the cushions, putting distance between us. “And I’m sure you’ve only gotten better.”

Praising my manhood.

I liked her style.

But this proposition was risky.

Did I want to taste her?

Fuck yes.

Did I want to feel her virgin pussy pulse around my dick?

Fucking yes.

But doing that would come with consequences.

Oaklyn was practically family. Given that she’d never done anything like this before, that could make her extra emotional and clingy. Needy even.

I didn’t handle any of those well.

“What do you say, Camden?” As she repositioned herself again, her sweatshirt fell off her shoulder, showing the dip of her neck, her jutted-out collarbone—both incredibly sexy. “In one year, if I’m still in the same place, are you going to swoop in and rescue me?”

There was nothing rescuing about the way I liked to fucked.

I was naughty.

Insatiable.

Animalistic.

I wanted sweat and pain and shouting at the top of our fucking lungs.

I jiggled the remaining ice cubes. “When the time comes, how will I know you’re still a virgin?”

Where did that question come from?

What the hell has gotten into me?

Why am I even teasing myself when I know how dangerous this is?

“I’ll tell you.” She grinned. “It’s not like I haven’t had your cell number for a million years.”

Oaklyn was wrong; she did in fact want a prince, one who would ensure her first time was like a fairy tale. Where she’d be kissed. Loved. Desired with soft, tender embraces.

But I was no fucking savior.

Nor was I soft. Tender. Loving.

I was a man who focused on orgasms, not commitments.

I didn’t just want my power to break the bed. I wanted my stroke to send the headboard straight through the wall.

There was a big difference.

And because one of us needed to act with something other than what was between our legs, I said, “Oaklyn …” My voice faded as her expression began to captivate me in a way I couldn’t fight, so I got up and went into the kitchen, adding more ice and vodka to my glass before I returned to the couch. I thought the break would make this easier, but my dick was even harder now. “You do know what you’re asking from me, don’t you?”

She bit her lip, those deep blue eyes fucking twinkling. “I’m not asking you to strip me naked right now.” She allowed that thought to simmer. “It’s a year away.”

She had a point.

So much shit could happen in twelve months.

Hell, she could be married by then.

“I’m also not going to beg you to take my virginity—”

“You don’t have to beg me,” I growled.

Fuck, that wasn’t the appropriate response.

I needed to be stronger.

I needed to say no.

I needed to show her that I was unaffected by this request.

But I couldn’t.

There was plenty of pussy I’d turned down over the years. Women who had done nothing for me or couldn’t handle a one-night stand.

But Oaklyn Rose wasn’t a woman I could ever deny.

She held out her fingers. “Should we shake on it?”

The moment our hands locked, rule number three formed in my head.

You don’t fuck your sister’s best friend when you promised her you wouldn’t.

And, goddamn it, I had a feeling that one would be broken too.

TWO

Camden

One Year Later

T

he text came through my phone as Declan and I were walking out of the downtown Boston office of Hooked, a dating app that had been founded by three Harvard graduates. They were several years older than me and all part of Harvard Business School, which was why we’d never crossed paths on campus. They were currently in litigation with Faceframe, a social media giant, along with one of Faceframe’s employees.

That was where we came in.

Easton, Grayson, and Holden, the partners of Hooked, wanted to take those motherfuckers down, and Declan and I were going to do everything in our power to make sure that happened.

The second my feet hit the sidewalk, on my way to the SUV that was parked outside, I caught a glimpse of the message on my screen.

“We need to discuss Hooked,” Declan said.

The sound of him dragged my attention away from the text. Before I could even register the words I’d just read, I shoved my phone into my pocket and slid into the backseat, and the SUV immediately took off for the airport.

“I thought the meeting went well,” I told him. “They’re ready to go to war, and there’s no question in my mind that we’re going to destroy the opposition in the courtroom.”

“Is that what you think?” His brow furrowed, his tone as condescending as usual.

After passing the bar several months ago, I’d been placed on Declan’s team. Since his relationship with my sister was now common knowledge—accepted by my aunt and uncle, the owners of The Dalton Group, and their three sons, Dominick, Jenner, and Ford, who ran the whole show—she worked under a different litigator at the firm, my cousins’ attempt to keep their personal lives out of the office. That made me the only Dalton on Declan’s team, and during the short time I’d been employed under him, one thing had become apparent.

When it came to law, Declan Shaw was a fucking animal.

And I loved every second of it.

Even the ones that tested me, like he was doing now.

I loosened the tie from my neck and adjusted my cuff links. “No, that’s what I know.”

“Then, you do know who they’ve hired for the opposition, I assume?”

“Declan, you’re fucking kidding me, right?” I chuckled. “I don’t give a shit who we’re about to face. We’re going to destroy them. End of story.”