The Man Who Has No Heart - Victoria Quinn Page 0,18
to my condo, the silence suddenly deafening. I used to thrive in it. Now I sometimes hated it.
“Her plane lands tonight.”
Tucker chuckled. “Wow, your first sleepover with Mom.”
I glared at him as I took a drink. “You’re a fucking asshole.”
“What?” he asked incredulously. “It’s not my fault she wanted to stay with you.”
“Oh, don’t pull that shit. You told her all that stuff about Cleo—”
“I was dating her,” he said. “I mean, it’s not that crazy to mention her.”
“Did you tell Mom you were dating her?”
“Well…no.”
I glared at him again. “We had a deal. I put up with you for weeks.”
“Look, I don’t blame her. Why would she want to stay in my tiny-ass place when she could live in a building full of billionaires?”
His argument made sense, but I still didn’t want to accept the truth. I was a grown-ass man who had to stay with his mother, had to be roommates with her. “We’re showing her an apartment tomorrow. Hopefully, she likes it and gets out.”
“Mom is picky.”
“Yeah, but Cleo hunted this place down. It’s nice. It has everything she could want. And Cleo found her an assistant.”
“Wow, you’re trying to get rid of her as quickly as possible, huh?”
“I’m glad she’s moving to the city—but no, I don’t want her in my condo.”
“Because you and Cleo are fucking all over the place?”
I gave him a blank stare, feeling my neck get a little warm when the mental picture exploded into my brain. I sat on the couch with her on top of me, her tits in my face, her wet pussy around my dick. Oh Jesus Christ.
Tucker drank his beer and stared at me. “What? Are you not fucking all over the place?”
“Tucker.” Even if I were, I wouldn’t share those details.
“It’s a legitimate question. After she dumped me, I assumed you would go for her.”
“She works for me.”
Both of his eyebrows rose. “You’re serious? You didn’t ask her out?”
I shook my head.
“What the hell is wrong with you? She’s a perfect ten—”
“Let’s not do this.” I already knew she was gorgeous. I already knew she had nice, perky tits and an ass that was so juicy I wanted to take a huge bite out of it. I knew her skin tasted like candy and her pussy tasted like vanilla fucking ice cream. I’d rather not listen to my brother notice all the same things I did.
He sighed. “She’s awesome. Why wouldn’t you want to be with her? And she’s so hard up for you, man.”
“You shouldn’t assume.”
“In this case, the assumption is right.”
“I was with her one night and asked why she ended things with you. She didn’t mention me at all.”
He gripped his skull like he was frustrated. “Of course she didn’t mention you. You think she’s just going to look you in the eye and say she wants your nuts in her mouth?”
“Tucker.” I didn’t care if he talked about other women like that, but not Cleo.
He sighed. “That’s not how people are, Deacon. She’s not going to tell you the truth.”
“She always tells me the truth.”
“This isn’t the same thing. She probably thinks you don’t feel the same way, so why would she just blurt that out? It would be embarrassing and incredibly awkward. You aren’t just some guy she can avoid if this goes south. You’re her boss. You get what I’m saying?”
I swirled the remaining liquid in my beer just so I had something to do with my hands.
“Just talk to her. She’ll feel the same way. I promise you.”
I stared down at my beer.
“You can pick up an endless line of random women at the bar, but you can’t ask out one particular woman?”
“It’s not the same.” I lifted my gaze and looked at him.
“Yeah, it’s easier.”
“When I bring a woman home, it’s just sex. That’s all I want. But I can’t have that with Cleo…”
He narrowed his eyes in confusion. “I assumed you didn’t want that with Cleo anyway. It seems like you both want more.”
I shook my head. “I’ve only been divorced for five months…”
“So?”
“I don’t want to be in a relationship again.”
He sighed quietly.
“It was the worst shit I’ve ever had to go through, even worse than losing Dad, because it was five years of fucking torture. I was never happy—not once.”
“Deacon, it’s not the same thing.”
I shook my head. “She took half my money—which she didn’t even earn. She destroyed my research when I didn’t give her what she wanted. She threw a fucking plate at