“Have you talked to Eric?” Camilla asks. The sweeter of the two sisters, her voice is soft and comforting. She reminds me of their mother—prim and proper and nurturing. Sienna, on the other hand, is more lively. She’s the one you could call at midnight and ask to sneak out and go for a drive. Camilla would’ve died before breaking the rules.
I hold my Warrior pose as long as I can, weighing my words before answering her. “I haven’t talked to him. I doubt I’ll ever hear from him again, to be honest.” I release the pose and breathe. “I’m okay with that. It’s the way I want it, actually. If he called, it would just set me back. I need to be focused on what I want and what I’m able to get.”
“You can get anything you want,” Camilla says. “You can go to school. Teach yoga. Change jobs or—”
“Move to LA with me,” Sienna chimes in. “Cam is right. You can do whatever you want.”
“You make it sound so easy.”
“If you’re thinking about dating, I know a guy,” Camilla offers, ignoring her sister’s glare, “that I think you might like.”
“I’m sure you do,” Sienna says.
“Don’t start,” Camilla fires back. “I don’t say a word about your little friends-with-benefits thing with what’s-his-name and I know him. I don’t know why you feel the need to put down a guy you don’t even know.”
“Because I don’t know him!” Sienna jumps to her feet, the purple ends of her hair swishing behind her. “You won’t let me meet him. You made me promise not to even bring him up to Linc or Graham or Barrett. That says something, Cam.”
“It says I don’t want them to run him off before I decide if I like him or not! I need some room this time,” Camilla says, taking a step towards her twin. “Once you all come into play, you either plant thoughts in my head or you scare him off.”
“Only when we need to,” Sienna says.
“I don’t do that to you!”
“Because I don’t need it,” Sienna says, holding her ground. “You’re the fragile one, Cam. You’re the one we all have to watch out for.”
“Hey,” I say, a little louder than necessary. “Settle down, you guys.”
Their faces fall, Camilla’s eyes finding the mat and Sienna, the fierier of the two, shaking her head.
“I’m sorry, Sienna. Just give me some space, okay?”
Sienna holds her hand out and Camilla squeezes it. Their bond makes me smile.
“Anyway, you were saying something about a guy you know?” I ask gently. I don’t really care, but I don’t want this silence to last for too long.
“He’s nice,” Camilla says. “He just moved back to town too. Well, I guess he’s always lived here, but he was gone for a while. Keenan Marks. Do you remember him?”
I shake my head. “Maybe vaguely. Short black hair?”
“Yup. I think you should let him take you out. He remembers you,” she smiles softly. “I think y’all met before you went to Columbia.”
My first inclination is to say no. But when I look at Cam’s hopeful face and Joy’s raised brow, asking me without asking me what I’m going to do about Graham, I realize I might be able to kill a couple of birds with one stone.
“Give him my number,” I say, getting back into Warrior position. “We’ll see how it goes.”
Graham
THE GREEN FLAGS COME OFF the file easily. Wadding them up, I throw them in the trash.
“Well done, Ms. Sims,” I say out loud. The first error was intentional. I was just curious how well she paid attention to detail. Apparently, she’s careful because the second two she found weren’t on purpose and that’s a problem in and of itself.
“Graham?” Mallory’s voice rings through the intercom. It’s sweet, professional as always. Anyone overhearing it wouldn’t think twice, but I do. I hear the little tease, the slight taunt that lies just beneath the surface.
Besides her keeping me in a state of constant distraction, I hate to admit Lincoln was right: It is nice having her around.
“Yes?” I respond.
She smacks her lips together, the sound going straight to my cock. This is what I’ve been waiting on all day, the moment when she brings up what almost happened yesterday. Despite thinking about it all night and all morning, replaying the things I wish would’ve happened, I’m still not sure how I’m going to deal with it.
I want her. Of course I fucking do. I’ve admitted that to myself. Intelligence, round ass, sharp tongue—what’s left to be desired? But that’s just the thing . . . it’s all desire. It simply won’t work. Besides, desire uncontained can really fucking burn.
The women I fuck aren’t involved in my life in any way. They’re acquaintances, women that know our time together is just that—a few hours here and there. It offers me freedom to work without the trappings of a relationship. It gives me autonomy to do what needs to be done. It’s clean, organized, practical. Mallory Sims is none of those things.
So what happens if that box is opened? I already know she doesn’t fit inside a mold. I can’t just put this girl back in a box and I’m not sure where that would leave me. Her. Us.
I sit at my desk and stare at the phone, waiting to see exactly what she has to say. She’s been very coy all morning. Polite. Detailed. Hot as hell. But she hasn’t crossed a line or asked me about yesterday. Until now.
“Graham?” she asks again.
“I’m sorry. I’m here. What can I do for you?”
“Your mother is on line one.”
Chuckling, I place my hand on the receiver. “Not what I thought you were going to say.”
“Hmmm . . .” she says. “What did you think I was going to say?”
The silence is filled with a heaviness that’s undeniable.
“I can tell her you’re busy.”
“But I’m never too busy for my mother,” I grin. “Send her through.” I wait, relieved, to hear her voice.
“Good afternoon, Graham,” she says sweetly in the phone.
“Hi, Mother.”
“I suppose you heard the news. Lincoln and Danielle are getting married at the Farm.”
“I did. Barrett told me.”
“Oh,” she says, sounding surprised. “Linc didn’t say anything to you at all? That’s odd.”
“He did,” I grumble, turning away from my computer so I’m not tempted to check my email. “Barrett just spoiled the news.”
“Are you helping get things together?”
Sighing, I look out the window. “I told him to send me contracts before they signed them. I’ll have our attorney look at them and make sure we pay for them through the company.”
“I hope your siblings tell you how much they appreciate you,” she says.
“I just hope they all sign prenuptial agreements,” I laugh. “Lincoln is all ‘I’m in love and I’m not signing shit’ right now and it’s ludicrous. I like Danielle just fine. But that doesn’t mean Lincoln doesn’t need to cover his ass.”
“Assets, Graham. Cover his assets,” she corrects me. “I agree, but it’s Lincoln’s money to gamble with. I hate to say that, but it’s true. He’s a grown man.”
“Sure he is. He’ll have some grown man problems on his hands if this doesn’t work out.”
“You know, sometimes things aren’t so black and white . . .”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I ask.
“It means that sometimes things get blurry. Lincoln loves Dani, Graham. If he believes in that, maybe we should too.”