Dating My Brother's Best Friend Read online

  I rolled to the side so that I didn’t crush her as I collapsed. My chest heaved. Fuck. I had never come as hard as I did with her. Holding out on my orgasm had only made it that much better once it happened. I felt like I was still fucking floating on a cloud of euphoria.

  We lay there for a moment, gasping, and then I pulled Cass into me. I didn’t want her to have a moment for second thoughts or doubts. I wanted her to feel my care and love. I hadn’t taken her out to dinner tonight and gone on a romantic walk through Rome because I had just been bored. I wanted to do those things with her as well. This wasn’t just sex for me.

  And maybe I’d be lucky, and she’d feel the same way. Maybe she would stop running.

  Cass went stiff for a second as I drew her in, but then she relaxed against me. More than relaxed—she practically went boneless. I guess someone was tired. I grinned to myself, watching her as she just lay there, looking loose-limbed and sated. Amazing.

  Of course, we couldn’t just lie there forever. We’d made a right mess of things.

  I grabbed some tissues to clean us both up. By the time I finished, Cass was half-asleep. It was adorable.

  “You really are jetlagged, huh?” I asked, settling into bed next to her and propping myself up on my elbow.

  “A little…” Cass yawned. “Someone kept me up last night… wore me out…”

  She sounded amused and like she was trying for a smile, but was too sleepy to quite manage it. I definitely smiled, though, as I watched her slip into slumber.

  It was such a random and mundane thing, watching someone sleep. I sure wasn’t about to stay up all night doing it. But realizing how much trust she had in me to do that… it meant a lot. She could’ve kicked me out. Hell, I’d expected her to, after the last time when she’d lit out of my room like her ass was on fire.

  But instead, she’d just fallen asleep. Like she trusted me. Like she felt comfortable around me.

  It made my heart warm.

  I pulled her into my arms and settled down next to her, my face heating up when she snuggled closer to me in her sleep. I never wanted to sleep any other way. I felt like I was keeping her safe, like I was comforting her.

  Cass kept herself close to me as I watched her. God, I was so grateful for a second chance with her. I had fucked things up last time and while I could understand my own reasoning, that didn’t change the fact that I had hurt two people that I really cared about. And I’d never even had a chance to apologize to Cass. I hadn’t had her contact information and since Trevor had never responded to me… well.

  But now I had a chance to fix things. A chance to do it right and to show her how much I cared about her. I could be there for her this time and stand by her. I could do things the way that I should have four years ago.

  There had never been a woman in the world that I’d wanted as much as I wanted Cass. The depth and power of it had hit me like a freight train all those years ago and now it was back. I’d been thinking about her all of these years. I’d never been able to truly let her go. Why should I fight it now? Why not give into this way that I felt and see where it took us?

  I pulled Cass closer to me, her head on my chest, and was asleep almost instantly. Best sleep I’d had in years.

  And then I woke up to her phone ringing.

  At first, I thought it was her alarm. I could hear her whispering shit shit shit to herself as she lunged for it—but then, as I opened my eyes, I saw her scrambling to answer the phone as she ran into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

  All I got to hear was a cheerful, “Hi!” right before she closed the door.

  My stomach turned a little with worry. What was she hiding?

  14

  Cass

  My heart was a jackhammer inside of my chest as I quickly shoved the bathroom door closed and locked it. I hadn’t expected a call from Chelsea at this time of the morning. Dawn was aware of the time difference and was good about making sure that I initiated calls since I was working.

  But maybe she missed me and was having a nightmare or something? I couldn’t not answer a phone call from my daughter.

  “Hi!” I said cheerfully as I closed the door. It was a video chat, and the screen quickly filled with Chelsea’s face.

  “Mama!” Chelsea looked like she was smiling but in that way that meant she was putting on a brave face. “I really really really wanted to say hi.”

  “Of course, baby, you can always say hi to me.”

  I tried to keep my voice down a bit, in case Raff could overhear me. I didn’t want to have to answer his questions. There was no way I could lie to him unprepared like this and there was also no way I wanted to have this conversation right now. Or possibly ever. But definitely not right now with no preparation.

  “I miss you,” Chelsea admitted.

  My heart felt like it was breaking. I sat on the edge of the tub. “Oh, honey, I miss you too. So much. But I’ll be home before you know it. Aren’t you having fun with Aunt Dawn?”

  “So much fun!” Chelsea perked up a bit. “We went to a new park! And Chocolate Square!”

  “Ghirardelli Square,” Dawn explained. “Don’t worry, I didn’t let her have a ton of chocolate.”

  “I trust you,” I assured Dawn, and I did. I knew that Dawn wouldn’t let Chelsea gorge herself on sweets. “That sounds like a really fun trip! You’ll have to take me there when we get back.”

  Ghirardelli Square was the location of the Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory, where the company had begun, and you could stop by their ice cream shop and learn about the history. A fun and rewarding little afternoon trip for a small child. I thought it was a great idea.

  “What kind of chocolate did you get?” I asked.

  “Chocolate caramel!” Chelsea crowed.

  I laughed, even as I teared up a little. I wanted to take her into my arms and hug her so badly. I wanted to be there with her on these little journeys. It broke my heart that I wasn’t there, even though I also enjoyed my job and my work. Would I always feel that I was torn in two like this? I would have to find a good work-life balance.

  After we talked for a short bit longer, I wrapped things up. I did have to get ready and deal with work and there was only so long that you could keep a conversation going long-distance with a three-year-old. “I’ll be home soon,” I promised Chelsea. “I love you so much and it’ll only be a short while longer. Just a few more days, okay?”

  “Okay.” Chelsea didn’t look super happy with it, but she agreed readily.

  I gave her virtual kisses and then Dawn took the phone for a short moment. “She’s doing fine most of the time,” she promised me. “It’s just when she goes to bed or wakes up that it’s hard. She had a long day, but she’ll be fine again once we get going tomorrow morning.”

  “Thank you so much, I appreciate it.” I was sure it couldn’t be easy to babysit a kid when the kid just wanted their mom, and you couldn’t do anything to fix that.

  “I’m happy to help, really,” Dawn assured me yet again. “Now go have a great day. You’ll be home with her soon.”

  “Thank you.” I needed that reassurance.

  After hanging up, I washed my face and took care of some other stuff like brushing my hair, brushing my teeth, and so on. Part of it was just that I was already in the bathroom so I might as well get my morning routine done. But the other part of it was that I could feel myself tearing up talking to my daughter and I didn’t want Raff to know that I’d been crying. If he realized, he’d ask why, and I didn’t know how to lie to him about what had made me upset. He’d want to fix whatever the problem was, that was the kind of man he was, and I couldn’t tell him the truth or a convincing lie that would make him leave well enough alone.

  Especially after we’d slept together again.

  Hopefully he wouldn’t think that I was hiding this call from him because I had a boyfriend. I would never cheat on someone and I hoped that Raff knew me well enough to know that. But oh my God. I wouldn’t have to h
ide Chelsea’s call from him if he hadn’t slept over!

  Why had I let him sleep over? Why hadn’t I told him he needed to leave? I had been so tired, and I’d wanted to sleep with him—literally. I had wanted to fall asleep in his arms.

  It was so dumb of me in the morning light. But at night, with the softness of Rome all around us, I had felt so safe with him. I’d just had an amazing orgasm and he’d been looking at me like I mattered to him. Like I was special. What was I supposed to do with that?

  Not fall for it, you moron! I told myself sternly in the mirror. Damn it, how stupid was I?

  I had told myself that I wouldn’t be with him anymore and that it was a bad idea, and now here I was, sleeping with him yet again!

  At least the first time when I’d done it, it had been in the throes of passion. And, arguably, the throes of anger. We’d been arguing and we’d gotten carried away. But this time there was no such excuse. I’d been experiencing romantic feelings for him again. I’d been drawn to him again. I couldn’t let that happen.

  “No more sex,” I told myself firmly in the mirror as I finished washing up. No more. I couldn’t let this guy open up my old feelings and old wounds again.

  Somehow, I had to get through the rest of this trip without succumbing again. Who knew how deeply I would fall in love with him given the chance? No way, no way at all.

  I opened the bathroom door, now in a bathrobe—thank God I’d hung mine on the back of the bathroom door yesterday—and gave Raff a polite but distant smile.

  He was, to his credit, already dressed. And… making the bed?

  Stop being impressed by him! I scolded myself yet again. Okay, so it was very considerate of him to be making the bed for me. But I couldn’t let it turn my head.

  “Hey, I’m sorry, but would you be able to go back to your room? You should probably get ready.” I walked over to my suitcase to grab some clothes for the day. “We have more important meetings today and I’m sure Kelly will want to brief you on how her dinner meeting went last night.”

  Raff gave me an odd look, like he was trying to see through me. “Sure.”

  Damn it, he was still all rumpled from sleep, and from our activities the night before. I wanted to run my hands through his messy hair and kiss him with that morning stubble to see what it felt like. But I had to be strong. I had to keep my wits about me.

  I had to remember why he wasn’t good for me.

  “Great, I’ll see you later for our first meeting.” I took a deep breath and smiled again. “See you in the lobby!”

  Raff seemed surprised by my casual demeanor, but he left without a fuss. I slumped onto the bed in relief. Okay. There was no reason for me to be rude the way I had yesterday. I would just keep him at arm’s length, very politely and professionally, and I would let him figure out the rest. He was an intelligent man, he could put it all together.

  I got ready and then met Raff and Kelly in the lobby, and we all went to meet with Furio.

  Right away I could tell there was something going on between Kelly and Furio that wasn’t there yesterday. Before, he’d been ignoring her in favor of me, even though Kelly had clearly wanted his attention and I’d been doing everything I could to politely ignore him. I’d thought that Kelly’s interests were just professional—that she was angry that I was getting attention when I was just an assistant and so she’d stooped to the lower blow of saying I was flirting with him.

  But now…

  I wanted to say something to Raff, but I was worried he might talk to Kelly about it and then she’d find some way to get angry at me. It was clear that she didn’t like me, and I wasn’t about to add fuel to the fire.

  Best to keep my mouth shut and just see how things played out.

  There was definitely something going on, though. We all sat down in Furio’s conference room for the meeting on expansion, finalizing plans, and Kelly and Furio kept purposefully not looking at each other. I wondered, had he made a move and she’d been angry? Had she made a move and he’d rejected her?

  It was almost like they were worried about looking at each other too much and so they ended up overcompensating. Hmm.

  Well, there was one side benefit to it all—Kelly was being unusually quiet today. I didn’t mind that she spoke up. It was her job to do that and her ideas were good. But today she wasn’t saying anything, she was just trying to avoid, it seemed, anyone noticing her.

  Odd.

  Well, if Kelly wasn’t going to speak up, then I would. Raff couldn’t do all the talking and I’d already contributed a few small ideas before this so why not voice my ideas this time as well?

  Raff and Furio seemed to appreciate it, but thank God, Furio was no longer flirting with me. Instead, he was treating me with a distant friendliness, focusing the rest of his energy on not looking or paying attention to Kelly.

  Well, that was a relief. Furio and Kelly could do whatever they wanted. I was just glad that Furio was no longer flirting with me. Now, if I could just get through dealing with my annoying attraction to my actual goddamn boss…

  I might actually survive this trip.

  15

  Raff

  If Kelly and Furio thought they were being subtle by pretending to ignore each other and being quiet, then they had another think coming. I was sure that Furio had been unable to resist while taking Kelly out last night. Kelly wasn’t what I wanted, clearly, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t a beautiful woman. Furio must’ve flirted and, well, I wasn’t surprised that Kelly hadn’t been able to resist.

  Maybe she had, but this didn’t seem to be the tension of two people who had gone out and then one of them’d had to reject the other. It was more that they wanted to pay too much attention to each other and so in trying to seem ‘normal’ they were overcompensating.

  It was actually pretty damn hilarious.

  But it wasn’t my place to judge how they wanted to handle their one-night stand. It was my place to do my job.

  But while Kelly and Furio were working to keep this whole thing under wraps, it meant that Kelly was being quiet, which left a bit of a gap—a gap that Cass seemed happy to fill. She added her comments without stepping on anyone’s toes or sounding like she was trying to pass herself off as more of an expert than Kelly or myself. But she was smart. She knew what she was talking about.

  Furio seemed impressed too, although he wasn’t flirting with her anymore and thank fuck for that. If he’d slept with Kelly and then still been flirting with Cass, I wouldn’t have been able to hold in my temper. I would’ve torn that guy a fucking new one. Cass deserved better, and so did Kelly.

  But fortunately, he was keeping his flirtations to himself. And I could just sit back, so to speak, and let myself get blown away by Cass.

  She had done her homework before we’d gone on this trip and had obviously done her work in general to understand how this kind of business worked and what our role would be as a consulting firm. She wasn’t just an assistant, I realized. Or at least, she wouldn’t always be one. Some people were just good at being the support. They were organized and helpful and there was nothing wrong with being an executive assistant. Unlike some people, I wasn’t obsessed with the idea of ambition and I didn’t look down on those who didn’t have it. For some people a job was a job and that was all, and all the power to them, I said.

  But Cass was someone with ambition and she clearly had the education and smarts to back it up. She wasn’t going to be an assistant forever. I could see her being a consulting partner just like Kelly or myself. She didn’t have an MBA, that was true, but degrees weren’t everything. I knew plenty of people who’d succeeded in an academic field and gotten their degree who were also, well, total idiots in the business world.

  Cass was a hard worker and she’d obviously had to put in a lot of time to keep up with all of us and understand what we were talking about instead of just taking notes. She had a good instinct and understood what people wanted and what would catch their attention. I was definite
ly impressed with her and I made a mental note to talk to Parker about her when we got back home. He should keep an eye on her and see if we couldn’t get her some training for a higher position. Maybe he could sponsor her for an MBA? If she even really needed one—I saw no reason why she couldn’t climb the ladder as-is.

  “Well, that was successful!” Furio stood as we wrapped up the meeting. There was a huge, relieved smile on his face. “I’m excited to get this entire endeavor off the ground. Tonight is your last one in Rome, yes?”

  We all agreed, yes. Our flights went out late tomorrow morning. I always tried to have our flights schedule late in the morning so that we had time in case someone accidentally overslept or morning traffic was terrible. No sense in making ourselves miserable getting up at five a.m.

  “Then you must allow me to treat you for dinner and drinks tonight. I am taking my staff out to celebrate. Why shouldn’t you come with us?” Furio sounded excited and it would be difficult to say no without being rude.

  “Sure,” I replied. I glanced over at Cass to make sure she was okay with it. Just because Furio was no longer hitting on her, didn’t mean she might not be uncomfortable with hanging around him in a relaxed, non-business setting.

  Cass gave a small but genuinely relaxed smile. “That would be nice,” she agreed.

  And with that, we were heading out for the night.

  The dinner was delicious, not that I would expect anything less in an Italian restaurant in Italy. The conversation was boisterous and we were all having a great time, and before I knew it, Furio was suggesting we move things to a nightclub.

  “Yes!” Kelly agreed enthusiastically. She’d had a bit of wine to drink but not too much… enough that she was relaxed, though. I could see her looking over at Furio now, and him looking back at her.

  Hoo boy.

  Well, I wasn’t sure how I could say no if Kelly had said yes. We were kind of a package deal as coworkers. “Can’t hurt,” I agreed. “Just for a short bit.”