Xander offers her a sheepish grin. “I know it sounds bad, but it was only for that one night, shorty. Their relationship is real. He really likes her. He told me.”
“You’re unbelievable,” she says with a shake of her head, but there’s a soft smile on her lips.
“He was also in on the whole apartment thing,” West adds, and I roll my eyes. Why are we telling her all this?
Her eyebrows pinch together in a cute frown. “The apartment thing?”
“Yeah. There were never any roaches,” West admits.
“What?” she shrieks. She sits up, her mouth hanging open and her eyes darting between the three of us. “I had nightmares about roaches for days after. You assholes.” She crosses her arms over her chest. “Why on earth would you do that?”
I pull her back down, and she resists a little, wriggling in my grip, but as soon as my arms are around her, she stops. “You know why, baby doll. Because we wanted you here and we wanted it to happen fast.”
“But …” She presses her lips together. “You could have trusted me to come to that decision on my own.”
“We weren’t willing to take that chance, princess.”
“Do you always get what you want?” she asks, snuggling into me. I guess she’s too high on orgasms to actually be mad at us.
I nip her shoulder. “Always.”
“I knew there was something weird about that whole roach nest thing,” she grumbles. “You’re all insane, you know that?”
Xander kisses her forehead. “Yep, and proud of it.”
“I guess it’s not the worst thing you’ve ever done,” she adds.
West shoots her a pained look. “Not even close, princess.”
I nuzzle her neck, and she purrs like a kitten. “Consider it a reflection of how much we wanted you, buttercup.”
Xander dusts his knuckles over her cheekbone. “From the first moment we met you, we all knew you were something special.”
West runs his fingers over her hipbone. “The perfect fit.”
Chapter
Sixty-Two
WEST
“Hey, princess. Come in here.”
She pops her head through the open doorway and smiles. Fuck me, I love that smile. Am I really about to wipe it from her face and possibly risk never seeing it again? “I have something I need to tell you.” Looks like I am.
She saunters in wearing knee-high socks and Zeke’s old football jersey. Jesus, is she trying to fucking kill me? Her eyes narrow as she searches my face.
“Come here.” I pull her onto my lap.
“What is it?” she whispers.
I brush her dark curls behind her ears. “Last night when we were telling you about some of the shady shit we pulled, I left something out, something Zeke and Xander don’t even know about.”
She looks at me, waiting. I wrap my arms around her waist so she can’t run out of the room when she finds out the truth. “Your job at Ignition …”
“No, West.” Tears well in her eyes. “Please tell me you didn’t.”
I swallow a thick knot of regret. “I knew you’d never take a job with Hellsgate.”
She tries to climb off my lap, but I hold her tighter. “No.” She shakes her head. “I love that job.”
“Lily, please listen to me. Let me explain.”
She glares at me, all defiance and fire, and even though I would have sworn it wasn’t possible, I fall even more in love with her. “Alison Steadman is an old acquaintance of ours. I knew you’d be a good fit for her magazine, and that’s why I reached out to her.”
“But I thought I got that job because she liked my writing. Because she saw my article.”
I brush away the tear on her cheek. “You did, princess. She and I have a rule that we don’t steal each other’s employees. She wouldn’t have come knocking on your door because she thought you worked for me, so I asked her to give you a chance. But I never asked her to make you features editor. You got that job all on your own.” Another tear runs down her face, but at least she’s no longer trying to run away from me. I press my forehead against hers. “I’m sorry.”
She sniffs. “Is there anything else you need to tell me? Any more secrets?” The meeting I’m about to have with her twin brother in an hour is at the forefront of my mind, but she saves me from having to answer. “Because I can’t keep doing this. Every time I think we have a solid foundation, you pull the rug out from under me. Promise me there’ll be no more bombshells, West.”
I grab her wrists and wrap her arms around my neck. “I can’t promise that, princess, because I plan to surprise the hell out of you for the rest of your life. But I can promise all your surprises will be good from now on. Can you live with that?”
She rolls her eyes, and I cup her chin in my hand. “You did not just roll those pretty eyes at me, did you?”
“You deserve way worse than an eye roll, West Archer.”
“Have I ever told you how hard you make me?” She rolls her eyes again, and I laugh. “Oh, I see, you want to play? Has Fitch been teaching you all the best ways to earn yourself a punishment?”
Feigning innocence, she bats her eyelashes. “No.”
I trail my lips over the sweet skin of her neck, humming my response. Then I lift her off my lap and smack her fine ass. “You need to stop teasing me and get ready for work.”
She places one hand on her hip and glares at me, full of that fire I love so much. “I was on my way to shower when you called me in here.”
I turn her around by her shoulders and slap her ass again, making her squeal. “Go.”
“Are you riding to work with us this morning?” she calls out over her shoulder.
“No. Zeke and I are working from home.”
She turns and gives me her full attention. “So Xander and I get the car all to ourselves?” Little minx.
“If you fuck him in the car and sit at your desk with cum dripping out of you all day, I will give you the spanking of your life when you get home tonight.”
She flashes me a devious smirk. “Is that supposed to be a deterrent?”
Before I can answer, she strolls out of my office. If I didn’t have this meeting with her brother, I’d chase after her and fuck her where she stands. Then I’d ride to work with her so she’d have to sit at her desk with my cum dripping down her thighs.
Chapter
Sixty-Three
LILY
I stare at Alison Steadman, my arms folded over my chest. I admire her so much, and I love this goddamn job. I will put dog poop in West’s protein shake if he’s ruined this for me.
“Yes?” She frowns. She’s probably not used to people barging into her office like this.
“I know.”
She rests her hands on her desk in front of her and leans forward. “Know what?”
“About West asking you to give me this job.”
Laughing, she shakes her head. “I knew he’d tell you.”
I fling my arms down by my sides, acutely aware that I’m acting like a belligerent teenager. “So you didn’t see my article on the puppy farm? That’s not why you hired me?”