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Or I can let myself live in a fantasy world for just a little longer. Since I know what a greedy, lonely bastard I am, there’s no denying which one I’m going to pick.
“Is everything okay?”
I blow out a long breath. Giving in to the need that’s been eating at me since those first words from her full red lips buried themselves under my skin. It’s been so long since I’ve had this sort of a connection with another person and God knows I need it now more than ever. “It’s just been a long day.”
Valerie chuckles, the sound soft and breathy. “I know. I found you trying to drink an entire bottle of bourbon all by yourself, remember?” She’s quiet for a minute, her voice unbelievably gentle when she asks, “Do you want to talk about it now?”
She asked about my day before, back when I fully believed she knew damn well how my day went. How all my days go.
But I’m not convinced she does anymore. I almost believe Valerie really doesn’t have a clue she’s not supposed to be talking to me.
Certainly not kissing me.
Yet she did, and the memory of the soft brush of her mouth over mine makes me want to give her something back. “A business partner backed out of a deal I’ve been working on for almost a year at the last minute.”
“That sounds bad.” There’s sympathy in her tone and it seems genuine.
Leaning back against the cushions of the sofa I’ve been sitting on since arriving home, I adjust the line of my dick as it perks up, fully invested. All because a woman’s showing me sympathy. Fecking ridiculous. “It’s just frustrating.”
Things were going fantastically when I first came to Sweet Side. My mother had been here long enough that my name was already well known and making connections was easy. Within six months I had a handful of developments in the works. This area is growing and the commercial possibilities are endless. So many of the existing buildings are ageing out of use—crumbling thanks to the brutal combination of salt and humidity. I was set to double my already substantial holdings in under five years.
Then I made the mistake of attaching myself to a woman with as many connections as I had. Maybe more.
Obviously more.
“I’m sorry.” Valerie’s simple words warm me in a way I can’t explain. Maybe it’s just her voice. It certainly warms parts of me. But it’s the sincerity in what she says that makes me want to tell her more.
“Me too.” I work a few more buttons of my shirt free as I take a sip of the bourbon I poured myself as soon as I walked through the door of my apartment, intending to continue what I started before Valerie stepped in.
But then she texted me. And the desire to forget today disappeared.
“Can you pull in another investor to replace them?” She pauses. “Or maybe negotiate a more favorable deal with the one trying to withdraw?”
I sit up a little straighter, her surprising suggestion making me consider Valerie outside of what I’ve been focused on. I know she’s gorgeous with a body like a fucking goddess. Soft and curved in all the right places, including a set of tits a man could bury himself in and never try to find his way out of. The possibility such a distracting exterior might be hiding something equally alluring underneath has my already intrigued cock standing to full attention.
“Both good ideas.” I take another sip of my drink as the reality of my situation sits cold in my gut, stealing the momentary reprieve Valerie’s company gave me. Reminding me her company is also only temporary. “Both easier said than done.”
“I could help you.”
Her offer takes me by surprise and makes my response come out harsher than it should. “You?”
She scoffs. “Don’t sound so appalled I might have a skill set, Mr. Hadaway. One you seem to be in desperate need of, by the way.”
The irritation in her tone makes me smile, and I don’t miss that she's gone from calling me Fynn to Mr. Hadaway, a development that’s only making me harder. “Tell me about this supposed skill set, Miss—” I just realized I don’t know her last name.
“Berdard.” The way she says it is almost lyrical. “And maybe I don’t think you deserve my skill set anymore.”
My smile widens at her jab. I’ve always loved a woman with a spine and this one seems to have a backbone of steel in spite of her sweet softness. “You might be right, but tell me about it anyway.”
She scoffs again, but Valerie Berdard’s scoffs are nothing like the ones I hear from other women. Instead of a nasally snort of a sound filled with distaste and disgust, hers is softer. Lower. Almost like a moan and it forces me to shove the heel of one hand against my aching cock, trying to get it to go down so I don’t feel like a lecher.
“I might just keep it to myself now considering you doubt I have any skills.” I can hear the pout in her voice and wish I could see it. Be close enough to do more than see it. The thought pushes me to say something I probably shouldn’t.
“I don’t doubt you have skills, Valerie, and I’d love to learn about all of them.” My words come across suggestive as hell, which is exactly how I mean them. I might have managed to turn her down before, but that was when I was still almost positive Valerie was playing with me. Now, with more than a few blocks between us, I’m feeling a little more comfortable being what I haven’t had the opportunity to be in so fucking long it’s almost painful.
A man. Interested in a woman.
The soft sound of her inhale has my cock twitching against my hand. “It didn’t seem that way earlier.”
