Dating My Brother's Best Friend Read online

  Then he got own onto his knees.

  Oh my God. I hadn’t thought about—I hadn’t expected—

  Raff kissed up my legs, nipping a little with his teeth here and there. I clutched at the bedsheets, twisting them until I was almost sure I’d rip them, trying to keep my breathing steady as Raff moved further and further up my body until he was right between my legs.

  His first lick to my folds had me trembling. I was so wet, wetter than I’d ever been, my body shaking in anticipation of being filled—and Raff lapped at my slick like it was icing on a cake. He worked his tongue inside of me, twisting it, curling it, and I was so fucking glad nobody was home so that I didn’t have to worry about keeping quiet. It felt completely unlike anything I’d ever felt before, odd, but so fucking good.

  Raff was relentless. He kept licking into me over and over, his touch firm but soft at the same time. He kept avoiding my clit, dragging his tongue through my folds or thrusting it in and out of me, until I was wet and aching but not close enough to orgasm.

  My fingers found his thick, soft hair and I tugged on it. “Raff, please—please, I’m so close—”

  “What if I want to keep you hanging, hmm?” Raff’s eyes seemed to gleam in the moonlight. “What if I want you so desperate, you’re screaming to come?”

  Oh God. The thought was wildly sexy. The idea of him keeping me on edge as he finally thrust into me, fucking me until I was sobbing with need, until he finally let me orgasm… I pulsed with heat, my body responding. Raff was so experienced, so in control, and I loved it. I wanted to see what heights of pleasure he could take me to.

  Raff chuckled. “But since it’s your first time, I’ll be nice.” He winked at me, and then he sealed his mouth over my clit, his tongue fluttering against it.

  If I’d been standing, my legs would have buckled. Oh my God. I cried out, tightening my hold on his hair, as Raff sent me careening over the edge of orgasm. I’d never come so hard before. I went blind for a second.

  Raff kissed along my thighs, as pleased as if he’d been a cat with a bowl of cream. I shivered with anticipation, filled with pleasure but still wanting more. And Raff sure didn’t look like he was done with me yet. I couldn’t wait to see what came next. And then what came next. And then what came next.

  Maybe this could be the start of something.

  1

  Raff

  I listened attentively as Kelly outlined the to-do list for the day.

  “Raff?” Kelly asked. She was my second-in-command here at the firm. “Are you even listening to me?”

  “Of course, I am. You were about to tell me something about Parker.”

  Parker was the owner of our consulting firm. He was a believer in unconventional hires, to the point where I had stopped bothering to read resumes because, well, what was the point? Parker would send people over to us without letting us know ahead of time that he was going to hire someone. I’d found a bit of fun could be had in letting myself be surprised and guessing who it might be this time.

  “Well, I can hardly tell if you’re listening to me when you’re looking out the window,” Kelly pointed out.

  “I can listen to you and enjoy the view, y’know,” I replied, teasing. Kelly and I were lucky enough to not only be coworkers, but friends. I enjoyed working with her.

  I also enjoyed my view from my office. The San Francisco skyline was laid out before me, and today was actually sunny, giving me a beautiful and clear view of everything. So often with the famous Bay Area fog, I couldn’t properly enjoy it.

  Kelly rolled her eyes fondly. “I’ll be sure to enjoy it when I have my own corner office,” she said. “But in the meantime, for those of us who still have to work inside the cold, unforgiving windowless walls…”

  I obligingly turned back to face her. “Go on then,” I said, grinning. “What does Parker want this time? It’s a new hire, isn’t it?”

  “You got it in one,” Kelly replied, nodding. “What’s your bet?”

  “Hmmm. Someone who’s a wizard in Excel, obviously, because Parker’s impressed with anyone who can navigate that mess.” Excel was a nightmare and yet we all kept using it. “But with a weird hobby.”

  “Taxidermy?”

  I laughed. “A film noir buff?”

  “With an allergy to adhesive.”

  We had a good chuckle. “It’s probably someone looking for a second chance in life,” I offered up, a little more serious than before.

  Parker liked to give people second chances. He was a big believer in giving people an opportunity to redeem themselves or change their life path, especially people who’d messed up earlier or had tried one career only to find it made them unhappy. I wasn’t sure what the story behind that was, but Parker was a good man despite his eccentricities so I wasn’t going to complain.

  “A pastor who decided to give up his dedication to Jesus for a dedication to capitalism?” Kelly suggested.

  “Maybe a model who’s looking to be known for her brains instead of her body,” I replied, trying to offer up a more serious suggestion.

  “You’d enjoy that,” Kelly laughed. “This person’s going to be your new assistant, after all.”

  What? Well, that was Parker for you. Hiring me a new assistant without telling me until the person was about to walk through the door. I sighed inwardly. It was fine. I could handle it.

  My phone buzzed with the alert for an inter-office call and I picked it up. “Rafferty here.”

  “Mr. West?” It was Charles, our head receptionist down in the lobby. “Your new hire has arrived.”

  “Excellent, send them up to my office, please, thank you Charles.”

  Charles hung up and I raised my eyebrows at Kelly, who grinned wickedly. “This’ll be hilarious, I’m sure.”

  A moment later, in through the door walked—

  Cass.

  The face that had been haunting my dreams for four years was now right in front of me, in daytime, while I was awake. I was tempted to pinch myself, just to make sure that I was actually conscious.

  Cassidy Benson.

  God, she was even more beautiful than the last time I’d seen her. Her thick blonde hair was pulled half-back, allowing some waves to fall pleasingly down her back while keeping it out of her face, showcasing her heart-shaped face and dark, striking blue eyes. She wore a dark gray tailored suit that hugged her generous curves and showed off her figure while still being professional and sleek.

  My mouth practically watered. She had gotten even sexier in the intervening years and I wanted to grab her and haul her to me, see if she still kissed the same way or if that had changed too. If she still made the same breathy noises as I ate her out. If she still shook like a leaf as she came.

  Down boy, I warned myself. It was one thing to have the object of your fantasies appear before you. It was another thing to have inappropriate thoughts about your new coworker. My assistant, to boot. I had to be careful.

  It took me a second to realize that I was frozen. Not only was I frozen, but so was Cassidy. She stared at me like I was a ghost.

  Kelly looked between us briefly. “You must be the new hire,” she said, addressing Cassidy. “Welcome.”

  “Ah, thank you.” Cassidy smiled at Kelly. She seemed nervous.

  Hell, I was nervous. Or, well. Not nervous exactly. More worried about controlling myself and letting it slip that Cass and I knew each other. Damn it, Parker. For once I was pissed at my boss. He couldn’t have let me choose my own damn assistant?

  “I’m Kelly,” Kelly went on.

  “Cassidy,” Cassidy said, sounding a little strangled.

  “I’ll bring Cassidy by your office later so you two can meet properly,” I said quickly. I wanted to talk to Cass and learn what the hell was up. “You can discuss her duties. Right now, I’d like to give her an overview and discuss my needs.”

  Kelly knew when she was being dismissed. She nodded. “Nice to meet you, Cassidy. See you later, Rafferty.”

  Once
Kelly had left, I closed the door after her. Cassidy paced away so that there was space between us. She seemed to be mentally composing herself.

  “This is unexpected,” I said, trying to find a way to start the conversation. What did you say to someone you hadn’t spoken to or seen in four years?

  “You can say that again,” Cass agreed. “I was hired by Parker Brandeis. I assumed I was going to be working for him. As his assistant.”

  “You are working for Parker, technically,” I pointed out. “But he owns several businesses and he put me in charge of this firm. So, you’ll be my executive assistant.”

  To my surprise, Cass looked… well, panicked. Like she was considering running for the door.

  Why?

  Then her face changed from panic to disappointment. I frowned. What was going on?

  Cass took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “I realize this might be getting off on the wrong foot, but I’m not sure that working together would be a good idea.”

  My jaw dropped. What!?

  2

  Cass

  I never could’ve expected this when I woke up this morning.

  I’d been so excited to start work this morning. This job had been an amazing opportunity for me. It was the reason I’d packed all of my bags and moved across the country to San Francisco. I’d uprooted my daughter at a young and tender age, taken her away from the grandparents who doted on her, and all in the hopes that this job would be the one that finally got my career off the ground after years of it stalling so I could raise my little girl.

  Not that I resented her. If I hadn’t wanted to have my child, then I wouldn’t have gone through with the pregnancy. I did want her, and I adored her. Chelsea was the light of my life, my pride and joy. And it was partially for her that I’d taken this job. I wanted her to be proud of her mother and to see that there wasn’t anything she couldn’t do if she put her mind to it. I wanted her to have the best education the way that I had, and to do it without leaning on my parents for it.

  Once, I’d had ambitions. I was going to go places. And sure, I’d had to take a few years off because of my baby. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t going to give it up entirely. I was going to have both, damn it. And my daughter would see that there was nothing in the world she couldn’t do or be.

  And Mr. Brandeis had been so great and understanding. He had been all about giving chances to single parents, to women who needed a leg up. He’d been overjoyed to have someone with my education and accomplishments as a part of his team and had spoken about all the good I could do as a part of his consulting firm.

  Not to mention… well. I wasn’t the type to ruin my job by sleeping with my boss, but Parker Brandeis had been charming and handsome. It would’ve been fun to work for him, I’d thought. Someone who was so generous and driven, someone who was closer to my age, not some fifty-year-old grump who was stuck back in time.

  I had been so excited to work in such an environment with someone who seemed to really care, someone who seemed to be fun to work with, and now.

  Now this.

  My stomach felt like it had dropped out of my body completely. Instead of the charming Mr. Brandeis as my boss, apparently, I was going to be working for Rafferty West. The man who’d abandoned me, and my brother, four years ago. The man I’d been in love with who had just… dropped me. Like I was nothing.

  And he’d dropped my brother. Okay, you just wanted a one night stand? Fine, Raff. Fine. But to abandon the person he was supposed to go into business with? The man who had been his best friend for years?

  Fuck him.

  So really, this wasn’t a good idea. I shouldn’t be in this position. Especially if Raff found out about… well.

  Raff frowned at me, looking genuinely confused. “Why wouldn’t it be a good idea?”

  “Well, for one thing, does the name ‘Trevor’ ring a bell to you? He happens to be my brother.”

  Raff sighed. “I understand completely why Trevor would be angry at me. But that’s between your brother and me. That’s separate from the two of us.”

  I swallowed the angry words that wanted to fly out of my mouth and took a mental step back. Okay, so I was angry for Trevor, angry at Raff on his behalf. But if I got into it with Raff, my secret might slip. My secret about my daughter. Or, rather, our daughter.

  Chelsea was Raff’s child, but he didn’t know that. And I had zero intention of letting him know that. Not after what he’d done to me. When we’d hooked up on my 21st birthday I’d had every intention of seeing if that could be the start of a proper relationship between us. And if Raff hadn’t wanted that, I suppose that would’ve been fine. I would’ve been brokenhearted but—all he’d had to do was be honest with me.

  Instead, he’d pretended that he’d blacked out from drinking, that he was too drunk to remember what we’d done. As if. The asshole hadn’t had nearly enough drinks for that. I’d heard stories from Trevor. I knew that Raff could hold his liquor.

  I had shown up with coffee and everything, offering a round two, and he’d looked at me like I was crazy. He’d asked what I was talking about, claiming to be too hung over to understand, and saying last night had never happened.

  Yeah. I’d hidden at Dawn’s house all week. I hadn’t even been able to stay in my own room, the room where Raff and I had fantastic sex. I’d needed to get away. Dawn had been so understanding. She was truly my best friend.

  Then, just a week later, he’d left town without a single explanation or any warning, before I’d even known I was pregnant, and he’d left no forwarding address. He’d never called or written. How could I tell him about his child?

  And would he even have cared?

  I didn’t think that he would care. But there was no way I was going to tell him about it now. What about custody issues? What if he got me fired because of this? What if…

  No. I had to play is safe. Be careful. Raff’s awful lies to me and his abandonment of Trevor had proven he wasn’t to be trusted. I’d play nice—so that I kept Chelsea and me safe.

  Besides, if I was being honest, I couldn’t pass up this job. Not after I’d moved across the country for it, to the most expensive city in the United States. My chances of getting another job as good as this one, that paid this well, were pretty slim and I was not carting my three-year-old daughter back home in another tough move. She deserved better.

  I took a deep breath. Then another. You can do this, I told myself.

  “Trevor and I are close, you know that,” I replied, keeping my voice even. “But I suppose you’re right, that’s between the two of you. We can all be professional here.”

  I couldn’t quite make myself smile, but I adopted a cheerful demeanor. I just had to stay in this job long enough to get some experience under my belt and some good references so that I could find somewhere else to work. Who knew, maybe Mr. Brandeis would be open to transferring me to another position after I proved myself in this one. A girl could dream.

  “Why don’t you show me around?” I prompted, ready to move on from this conversation. Ready to move on from Raff.

  As his assistant I’d be working with him closely, as I found out to my dismay while he gave me a rundown of things. But I told myself I could handle it. I had to be able to handle it. And Raff was my boss. Surely nothing too crazy would happen. I would leave him at the end of the day, and he would be out of my life until the next morning. I wasn’t obliged to tell him about Trevor, Chelsea, or myself. He was just my boss, it was only work business.

  Raff seemed to be trying to be friendly with me. Cracking jokes and the like. I hated how charming he was and how handsome his smile still was. I’d always hoped that he would be miserable and downtrodden, that his hair would all fall out and he’d grow out of his usual good looks. In my fantasies, when we met again, I was successful and beautiful and happy, and he was a failure. He’d wish that he’d never left me, and he’d see that I was too good for him, he’d grovel a bit, you know, typical fantasy stuff.
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  But nope. Raff was even more handsome than before. He’d finished growing into himself, the last soft edges of youth worn away, leaving him with a jawline that looked like it could cut glass and a broad, firm body. His tailored suit in a dark blue color did nothing to hide his physique. And his smiles were still deadly weapons.

  Damn it. He was successful and happy, and I was the one struggling. It wasn’t fucking fair.

  Somehow, I made it through the day. I felt like I was stumbling out of the office like a baby deer. This was absolutely nuts. Absolutely ridiculous. But somehow, I had to put up with it. Ugh.

  At least I got to go home to my favorite person in the world.

  Chelsea shrieked with joy upon seeing me. Dawn greeted me with a smile and a hug. Thank God that Dawn was a freelance coder and could work from home. Her being in Silicon Valley was part of why I’d wanted to move here. Dawn volunteered to look after Chelsea while I got regular childcare sorted out.

  “How was your day?” Dawn asked.

  “Oh, you know, a first day at an intimidating new job,” I deflected.

  “You’ll have to tell me all about it later, I’ve got to go.” Dawn hugged me again, then hugged Chelsea. “Have fun you two!”

  I picked Chelsea up. “How was your day, my darling?”

  Chelsea wrapped her arms around my neck. “I missed you.”

  Chelsea was used to having me at home a lot, or being with her grandparents or her Uncle Trevor. She liked Dawn, knew her from birthdays and Christmas and Skype calls, but going from a place where she had a whole family that she loved and who doted on her to just me, and me being at work… it was hard, I knew that.

  “I missed you too, darling. Let’s have dinner together, okay? Aren’t we lucky that Mama has a job that lets her spend so much time with you.”