enough to throw me over the edge, and I come undone. Now I’m the one throwing my head back and opening my legs as much as I can to get him as deep as he’ll reach. Talent presses his lips against the racing pulse point on my neck and carries me up and away.
I come down like a feather in the wind.
The word has spread from the tip of my tongue, down my throat, into my stomach and lungs and kidneys. It flows through my blood, coursing through my veins and pumping through my heart. It’s in the tips of my fingers and toes, and behind my heavy eyelids.
It’s between my legs, against my chest, and kissing the side of my face.
“I’m not ready to get up yet,” I say softly. Twisting his hair between my fingers, I rest my head against his and watch the waves crash against the shore from his office window.
“We don’t have anywhere to be but here,” he says. Talent runs his hands up and down my thighs, careful not to turn the chair away from the view.
An hour later, we leave Talent’s office hand-in-hand, freshly fucked and glowing. My dress is wrinkled, and my hair isn’t as wavy as it was when I arrived. Talent’s tie is in his back pocket and his suit jacket is unbuttoned, but we’re passable as a normal couple on their way to lunch.
Wilder Ridge is at the reception desk when we emerge. I hesitate for a split second before he spots us together, wondering if I should hide inside the office until Wilder fucks off. When eyes his own shade of gray look up and narrow, all thoughts of laying low until he’s gone disappear. Talent stops us to wipe lipstick away from under my lip, unconcerned with the implications going public can cause. Even if it is only his older brother and the receptionist.
Wilder’s warning from the gala is still fresh in my mind, but I’ve never been one to let the opinions of others stop me from anything. I won’t start now. Fake it until I make it.
“Is he going to be a problem?” I ask in a voice so low only Talent can hear.
“No,” he answers confidently.
I don’t want to be the reason family dinners are tense, but I won’t be terrorized by his judgment. Leveling the playing field can be arranged. One chance meeting with a counterpart, even something as quick as a hand job from a Hush escort, will guarantee Wilder’s interference ends with disappointed scowls and rigid body language.
No one turns down a hand job.
And I’m not above blackmail.
One step ahead of Talent, I don’t let years spent as Cara Smith go to waste. I’m the very essence of confidence. Standing tall, I keep my shoulders back and my expression bold, capable of controlling how this encounter goes because I’m the baddest person in the room.
The older Ridge brother isn’t easily swayed, but he leans against the reception desk with his hands in his pockets and a grin on his lips. He and Talent share a lengthy look that seconds as a silent conversation that I gladly eavesdrop on.
It says, you son of a bitch.
And, don’t fuck with me.
“I’ll be in sometime tomorrow,” Talent says. He squeezes my hand.
Wilder chuckles and says, “Are you going to introduce us to your girlfriend?”
The receptionist gives herself whiplash, looking back and forth between the Ridge brothers before her curiosity focuses on me. She’s a woman, so she notices the difference in my appearance from my arrival and can probably guess why I’m not wearing lipstick anymore. She blushes, and I wink.
“We’ve met,” I say to Wilder like an afterthought. “Or did you forget our talk at the gala?”
“Of course not, Cara.” Wilder steps away from the desk and offers his hand to shake. “I’m only surprised to see you here.”
Talent steps forward with the look of the devil in his eyes, like he might choke the life out of his own brother for insulting me. My mouth spreads into a smile that stops Wilder before Talent has the chance to. His hand hesitates in the space between us, unsure of himself.
“You must have me confused with someone else,” I say, shaking his hand. He’s physically stronger than me, but Wilder Ridge has never met a woman of my caliber. I allowed his weight throwing to go unanswered at the gala, but this is a brand-new day. “I’m Lydia Montgomery, and you won’t ever disrespect me