Bad Girls Do: a Billionare Romance Novel (The Everly Brothers Series, Erotic Romance Book 3) (8 page)

“Maybe Andrew will finally relax and have a drink or two,” he said to Hailey.

Andrew sidled up beside Hailey with a glass of champagne in his grip. “Already on it.”

The carefree grin on his face had Sam blinking in surprise. “I’ll be damned. You actually are.”

His brother’s only response was to chuckle and bend to give Hailey a slow, passionate kiss.

Normally, this was when Sam would pretend to throw up and avert his eyes. Even though Hailey was actually younger than him, watching her and his brother make out felt like accidentally stumbling in on his parents. Maybe because Andrew was more of a father figure to him than their actual father ever was.

But tonight he couldn’t help but stare at them. Andrew looked so fucking happy. Warmth spread through Sam’s veins. He loved seeing his brother this way.

A familiar male voice called Sam’s name. “Yo, Everly.”

He turned toward the entrance, where his best friends Zach and Zoey stood.

“Oh look, the terrible twins are here,” James said dryly.

James had given them their nicknames when they had all first met. It had been right after Sam and his brothers had moved to New York following their mother’s death. Sam had been eleven years old, and Zoey and Zach were just a few months younger and rambunctious as hell. To a sad little boy who’d just lost his mother, their easy friendship had been Sam’s salvation. All these years later, the three of them were still the best of friends.

“Catch up with you later,” he said to his brothers before heading the twins’ way. He gave Zach a fist bump and snatched Zoey into his arms for a quick peck on the cheek. She hated when he did that, so like the good almost-brother he was, he made sure to do it often.

“Ew,” she said, glaring at him as she rubbed her cheek.

Grinning, he said, “I’m surprised you two showed up.”

Even though their parents were minor investors in Every Publications and were drifting around here somewhere, this type of event was definitely not their bag.

“You said there’d be liquor,” Zach quipped.

“I said champagne.”

Zach groaned. “Well fuck, I’m out of here.”

He jokingly pretended he was about to leave, and Zoey rolled her eyes. Ignoring her brother, she glanced around the room. “Looks like everyone made it out tonight.”

Sam’s gaze landed on one of their investors: Daniel Milstrom.

Almost everyone.

Though he’d noticed Diane’s father upon arriving, he hadn’t seen Diane around at all. It didn’t surprise him. After their eye-opening meet-up at Beringer’s, he’d texted her a couple of times to see if she wanted to get together, but she hadn’t responded. Apparently, she’d decided she didn’t have it in her to be bad, after all. At least not with him.

He told himself it was for the best, but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t disappointed. He’d thought about that hot encounter in the back of the pub about a million times a day since it had happened.

When Zoey’s eyes narrowed a fraction, he had the discomfiting feeling she knew what he was thinking about. Or
whom
, rather.

“Hey, I just remembered,” Zach said. “Do you still have that bottle of whiskey in your office?”

“Yup,” Sam said. “Go grab it.”

“Sweet.” Zach shot out of the room, and Zoey took the opportunity to stare Sam down.

“Have you been behaving yourself?”

He knew exactly what she was asking, so he chucked her under the chin. “Trying not to.”

She jerked her face away. “Idiot.”

“Brat.”

When Zoey’s brows furrowed and she said, “Huh,” Sam followed her gaze to the glass double doors. Standing just beyond them, looking elegant as ever in a red fitted cocktail dress with a plunging neckline, was none other than Diane. Her eyes were directly on him, and she looked uncertain. Like she might bolt at any minute.

“Why is she looking at us like that?” Zoey murmured.

“Dunno.”

Without even thinking about it, he turned and headed right for her.

“Yup, you’re an idiot,” Zoey said to his back.

Maybe, but he couldn’t stop his movement any more than he could keep from breathing. Something about Diane called to him, made it impossible for him to stay away. Funny how a woman he’d seen many times before could suddenly become so irresistible.

But then again, he knew things about her now that he hadn’t known before. Like how she moaned when she came. Or the way her delicious heat clenched his finger, making him wonder how it would feel on his cock.

Her eyes widened as she saw him approach, her hands nervously clasping in front of her. But then she took a visible breath and calmed, silently waiting for him.

Something in his gut twisted. He could only hope Diane was here because she’d decided to keep crossing items off her list. Because now that he’d seen her again, he knew without certainty that he wasn’t going to rest until he’d had her.

Had her good and hard, and in every depraved way he could possibly think of.

Chapter Six

A
fter agonizing all day about what to wear, Diane had finally chosen a red cocktail dress that ended in a straight line above the knee. The cut and hem of the dress were elegant and appropriate for a business event, while the low neckline hinted at a bit of sexiness. She had to admit it: she was nervous about seeing Sam again, and she didn’t want to send him the wrong message.

The problem was she didn’t know what message she wanted to send.

When she emerged from the suite of rooms she lived in at her father’s brownstone, she found he’d grown impatient and left without her.

Typical.

So she’d hopped in a cab and ridden all the way to the Midtown offices. Nerves built within her as she rode the elevator up. She’d debated calling Sam earlier and letting him know she’d be here, but in the end, she’d decided to simply show up. Maybe there would be such a crush of people that he wouldn’t even notice her. The thought of that was both comforting and distressing.

Anxiety built within her as she stepped into the offices and checked her coat at the reception area. She was saved from further wondering about whether she’d see Sam when she approached the wall of glass looking into the massive conference room. Even though both the conference room and this neighboring open space were packed full of people, her gaze landed on Sam almost instantly. He was standing right in front of the open glass doors talking to Zoey Beringer, and he wore a teasing grin on his face.

When Zoey said something to him and he slid his fingers under her chin, Diane stopped dead in her tracks, instant confusion racking her body.

She’d never really taken note of their friendship during prior social events. Honestly, she’d never really taken note of Sam, other than in purely objective recognition of how handsome he was. But there was something intimate about the way the two of them looked at each other, how close they stood to one another. It made Diane’s chest constrict in a wholly unexpected way.

Holly hell, she was jealous.

The knowledge floored her. Discomfort rolled through her as she stood there debating whether to walk away or enter the room. She was saved the trouble of further contemplation when both Zoey and Sam glanced over at her.

A feral look overtook Sam’s face and he almost instantly took off in her direction. Zoey called something to his back, but he didn’t respond, simply stalked toward her with single-minded intensity.

Diane’s breath caught, and primitive fear curled low in her stomach. He looked like a starving beast hunting down his meal. The instinctive urge to flee nearly overcame her, but from the way Sam’s nostrils flared, something told her he would enjoy the chase.

He stopped in front of her, his eyes drinking her in. “I wasn’t sure you were coming.”

“Sorry,” she murmured. “About not responding to your texts. I just…”

“You weren’t sure you wanted to meet me.”

Since his words weren’t a question, she didn’t bother trying to refute them. Her eyelids fluttered down. “It’s a lot to handle. I...I’ve never done anything like that before.”

“That was the whole point. Wasn’t it?”

“You’re right.” She let out a wry laugh. “Guess I’m not so good at being bad.”

“Oh, I’d dare to say you’d be pretty good at it if you decided you really wanted to,” he murmured, his voice low and husky.

His tone provoked a response from her body, making her soften. Making her wet.

When she dared to drag her gaze back to his, she found him staring at her, his blue eyes swimming with some dark emotion. But then, as if sensing he was frightening her, he slid his hands into the pockets of his slacks and took a step back. “Have you been to the offices before?”

“Yes. Back when…” She trailed off when she realized she’d been about to say when she was dating his brother. Somehow, that didn’t seem like the right thing to bring up.

When Sam’s mouth twisted into a wry grin, she had the feeling he’d guessed her hesitation.

Diane caught a glimpse of Andrew inside the conference room. He was standing with a group of people, drinking a glass of champagne while his arm rested on his fiancé’s waist. He let out a loud laugh, and she realized she’d never seen him look happier. He was clearly a man in love.

While she was happy for him, she couldn’t help but be envious, too. He looked like a man who had everything he wanted out of life, whereas she couldn’t even figure out what she wanted right now.

“I’ve actually only been here once,” she said to Sam. “And I never made it past the reception area.”

What did that say about her so-called relationship with Andrew?

“I’ll give you a tour.” He motioned toward the corridor leading away from the conference room and, when she turned, rested his hand on the small of her back and guided her in that direction.

“What if someone sees us?” she whispered. “Your brother?”

But Sam only shrugged, as if he didn’t care what Andrew thought. As if this situation were perfectly normal.

He stopped to snag them a couple glasses of champagne from a passing waiter and to offer his thanks to several business acquaintances that congratulated him on the expansion. If anyone thought it was weird that Diane was disappearing with Sam, they didn’t say anything. But then, a lot of these people probably didn’t even know she and Andrew had dated. Lord knows she’d never been excited enough about their relationship to talk about it.

Finally, they made it past the crowd of people milling about outside the conference room and into the quieter corridor.

Sam’s hand fell away from her back and he lifted the glass in his other hand for a sip. “The executive offices are down this way.”

Curiosity prompted her to say, “So you have an office here? I was under the impression you didn’t come into work often.”

He gave her a wicked grin. “I don’t. Only when one of my brothers manages to guilt me into it. Which isn’t often.”

Sam stopped in front of a set of dark wooden doors and turned the knob, motioning for her to enter. As she stepped inside, the voice of a man filtered out from deeper inside the room. She exchanged a curious glance with Sam, who looked as confused as she did. But then his expression cleared and he turned toward the large mahogany desk set in front of the large windows at the far end of the room.

A man in an elegant suit sat in the chair at the desk, his back turned to them so that he faced the windows with their impressive skyline view. He clutched a bottle of amber liquid in one hand while talking and laughing into the phone.

“I thought you were going to bring the whiskey back to the conference room,” Sam said dryly to the man.

The man gave a start and spun in the chair to face them. That was when she recognized who it was: Zach Beringer, Zoey’s brother.

His eyes widened as he took note of her presence and he murmured into the phone, “Let me call you back later.”

Her shoulders ached to bow forward, like that would hide her from Zach’s curious gaze, but she forced herself to stand straight, as if she didn’t have a care in the world.

Zach stood and schooled his features into a quirky grin. “Sorry. Got distracted by the view.”

When his eyes wandered to Sam’s, Diane could all but read his expression. He wanted to know what she was doing here.

Well, at least that answered one of her questions: whether Sam had been bragging to his friends about what had happened between the two of them.

Zach cleared his throat and lifted the bottle in his hand. “Did you want some?”

Sam shook his head. “I think Zoey does. She’s back in the conference room.”

“Oh.”

Understanding dawned on Zach’s face, and this time, Diane couldn’t stop the heat that crept to her cheeks. What did Zach think she and Sam were going to do in here?

Even more importantly, was he right about it?

“Well, um.” Zach coughed into his fist. “I’d better get this to her. You know how psycho Zoey gets without her liquor.”

With those words, he beat a hasty path to the door, exchanging a loaded glance with Sam on his way past. It was so quick she would have missed it had she not been looking for it.

Her stomach gave an anxious flip.

Oh god
. She’d never known the Beringers to be gossipy like some of the Manhattan elite could be, but she still couldn’t help but worry.

Then Zach was gone, the door shutting behind him with a firm click. The cavernous room suddenly felt too small with her and Sam in it.

Fighting her spate of nerves, Diane ambled through the room, examining its contents. Sam’s artwork covered the walls; fiery, impressionistic pieces she couldn’t help but admire. They practically oozed passion and danger. Like the man himself. His desk was far too neat. Clearly he hadn’t been lying when he said he rarely came in.

“It’s a nice office. Shame it doesn’t get more use,” she teased.

He grinned at her words. “You should see my art studio. It’s a fucking mess.”

Laughing, she picked up a framed photo from his desk. It was of him standing at an easel with several kids. They all held paintbrushes to a canvas that had already been dotted with splotches of color. The top of the easel had a plaque emblazoned with the words “Art for Underprivileged Youths”.