Tell Me Something (The "Something" Series Book 1) (28 page)

“Ooooh, say it again,” I teased as he lifted me down.

“So very sorry. Now get on the bed on your knees,” he commanded.

Aroused by his demand, I moved to do as he requested. I heard his zipper and watched him over my shoulder as he shed his pants and knelt behind me.

“I’m going to have all of you next weekend, Haylee. We’re going to head down to my house in Charlotte early and shut ourselves in for the two days and play. Do you understand?”

I whimpered as he stroked me with the tip of his penis.

“I didn’t hear you,” he coerced, putting in the tip as I moved back, urging him deeper.

“Yes, yes, this weekend.”

Then he hit it home.

“Fucking Christ, Haylee, your pussy is so sweet.” He pounded hard, causing me to almost lose my ability to stay on my knees. With his fingers rubbing my engorged clit he urged, “Come with me, honey.”

I did spectacularly, feeling him do the same. I couldn’t hold myself up any longer, so I lay flat on my stomach as he broke the contact slowly.

He went into my bathroom, and I heard him wash up. Then he was back with his face near mine. “Are you going to sleep?”

“Actually I’m starving. I was going to go hit the buffet.”

He kissed me softly on the lips. “I wish I could join you.”

“I know. Me, too. But you should go and have fun with your brother.” I slowly got out of the bed and righted my dress before unzipping it completely and stepping out of it.

“Are you trying to get me to stay?” he asked, quirking a brow.

I smiled, enjoying a moment of female empowerment. “While that is tempting, I’m changing into jeans and now new underwear, so that I can go eat.”

He watched as I crossed into the bathroom in order to wash up. He was still watching when I came out to don new clothes. “You all right?” he inquired, looking concerned, stopping me in my tracks.

“Of course. Why do you ask?”

“I want to make sure we’re good, that you don’t feel weird about, um…”

“A quickie?” I supplied and watched his wince. I crossed over, put my arms around him, and kissed him. “I know that you respect me for a lot more than my body. I only wish you could confide in me about where these trust issues come from.”

“Haylee, we’ve gone over this. I’m not going to burden you with my past.”

“I don’t think of it as a burden. I see it as helping me understand and maybe be a little more sensitive to it.”

“I need to get back.” He kissed me again and strode out, a man intent on returning to his brother’s party and avoiding the subject at hand.

***

I woke up when I felt Josh climb into bed with me. I looked at the clock; it was three in the morning.

He nuzzled my shoulder, and I realized he was completely naked. “Haylee,” he whispered.

I found his insistent lips. “Ugh, you taste like cigarette smoke and whiskey.”

“Sorry, I just had to feel you tonight, but I can go.”

“No stay, but no kissing on the mouth,” I giggled, turning back around and feeling his lips on my neck.

“Deal, and I’m sorry I smoked a cigar, but no cigarettes.”

“Mm, you don’t have to answer to me. I merely want you to live longer because you’re sooo much older than I am.”

He chuckled. “Feisty. I like that.”

I felt my panties being dragged down, and then his fingers were working me.

“You’re ready for me, aren’t you?”

“I am, always.”

He entered me slowly and reached around, stroking me gently. I could feel his climax building as mine did the same. I moaned, letting myself go and felt his release minutes later.

His arms squeezed me tight, and he made no move to break the contact. Then I realized he was already asleep. I sighed and curled into him, soaking up his heat and masculine smell.

***

“Where are you going?” Josh questioned, his voice still rough from the night before.

I watched him sit up slightly and grimace. I showed some sympathy. “I put some ibuprofen and a glass of water next to the bed for you.”

“It’s been awhile since I’ve had a hangover. Thank you.”

“You do it for me, so it’s the least I can do in return.”

“My throat feels like crap, probably that damn cigar,” he admitted. “Come here.” He patted the bed, and I shook my head.

“I’m going to use the gym before checkout. I need a good run.”

He looked disappointed, and I was about to change my mind when a knock at the door surprised us both. “Did you order breakfast up?” he asked.

“No, I didn’t.”

The knock came again, and I waited to answer until Josh gathered his clothes and went into the bathroom. I looked through the peephole and sucked in a breath. Crap. Opening it slightly, I gave a tight smile to Colby.

“Hi, there,” he greeted, entirely too chipper for someone who should be good and hungover this morning.

“Hi, yourself. What brings you by?”

“Well, I wanted to talk to you for a minute. Mind if I come in?”

“Uh, I’m on my way down to the gym, but we can talk on the way.”

“Sure, sounds good.”

“Let me grab my iPod and I’ll be right out.”

Unfortunately, I underestimated him because as I turned and went towards the desk to grab my music, he put his foot in the door and let himself in. I spun around and flushed.

“Whatcha hiding, Haylee?” he asked, smirking.

I rolled my eyes, trying to play it off. “Nothing. I’m simply old-fashioned about having someone I barely know in my hotel room.”

“Mm hmm. You know, it’s funny. I went by my brother’s room this morning, and he didn’t answer the door.”

“Maybe he’s sleeping,” I said dryly.

“Perhaps, but I was kind of hoping I’d find him here. That possibly you two were together.”

“Why, so that you can make bang-the-secretary jokes and comment on my
qualifications
?” I did air quotes and moved again towards the door, ready to leave.

“I heard enough about your qualifications last night, actually while talking with Brian and Josh.”

“Please don’t make me hit you again,” I threatened, watching his smile.

“I like you, Haylee. You don’t put up with crap. And for the record, I was being sincere. But all right, I’ll walk you downstairs. If my brother isn’t man enough to come out of the bathroom and tell me, his only brother who he should trust, that he’s in fact with you, then I think I may have to do my best to convince you to give me a shot, after all.”

The bathroom door slammed.

I didn’t bother to turn around. Instead, I watched Colby’s eyes light up as if to say he’d been right all along.

“I’ll be down at the gym,” I muttered, feeling annoyed and embarrassed.

I felt Josh’s hand on my shoulder. “Haylee, wait…”

“No, you two talk or whatever. I have stuff to do. See ya, Colby.”

Colby moved in front of the door. “Haylee, I didn’t call his bluff to shame you. I’m sorry.”

His eyes reflected sincerity, but I still wasn’t ready to talk about it.

“She has nothing to feel ashamed about.” Josh’s voice was angry.

I faced him, putting a hand on his chest where I felt the hum of fury.

“Josh, I’m not ashamed, this is just awkward. I’m heading downstairs and will be up later.”

That seemed to calm him down some as I left the brothers to hash it out.

***

Josh was gone when I returned to my room, and there was no note. Sighing, I took a shower and started packing. My flight was leaving in a couple of hours, and I needed to check out. I was about to text him goodbye when I heard a knock at my door.

Opening it, I was surprised to see Colby again.

“He’s not here this time,” I said, not bothering to hide my annoyance.

“I didn’t come to talk to Josh. I came to apologize to you.”

“What for? You weren’t off base.”

He sighed and crossed the room. “No, but I didn’t mean to disrespect you in the process. I wasn’t trying to make it seem cheap or anything.” He looked sincere, but it didn’t matter.

“It’s all right. It is what it is and I know what it looks like. I’m his secretary, ten years younger, and we’re sleeping together. I guess the only silver lining is that he’s single, so I won’t get the trifecta award for the cliché office romp.”

“There is nothing cliché about the way my brother feels about you, Haylee.”

I sucked in my breath and must have shown my surprise.

“You don’t know?” he questioned.

I could only shake my head.

“Well, now you do. He’s happier than I’ve ever seen him. Although I think making it public with you instead of hiding it would go a long way to ensuring you’re both happy.”

“This is only temporary Colby and you of all people know he has hang-ups regarding the general public knowing anything private about him,” I said softly.

He regarded me before speaking. “He does have good reason. Not that you should be penalized for that bitch of an ex-wife he was married to, but, unfortunately, he’s been burned. I guess the point I was trying to make in coming here this morning was one, to say it was really nice meeting you. Two, that I’m sorry for accosting you yesterday and embarrassing you this morning. And third, I think you’re good for him.”

“Thanks, Colby.”

We both jumped at the sound of the knock at the door.

“Speak of the devil,” Colby remarked, smirking.

I opened the door to see Josh. “Hi,” he greeted softly and then stiffened upon noting Colby over my shoulder.

“I was just leaving,” Colby said, going towards the door. “See you in the lobby in an hour, Josh.” The door closed leaving us alone.

“What did he want?” he questioned, appearing irritated to find him in my room.

“He wanted to apologize,” I said simply, and watched as Josh relaxed.

“Good. I’m glad he did. I was hoping to have you fly back with me today, but Colby and I have personal business we need to go to Florida for. I should be back later this week.”

I waited for an explanation of his personal business, but that was all he was willing to share. Disguising my hurt that he wasn’t confiding in me, I kept my voice light. “That’s fine. I’m heading to the airport. Safe travels, all right?”

“You too,” he responded, kissing me soundly and walking me out to the elevator.

I didn’t see or hear from Josh the rest of the week. Nigel mentioned that he had gone to a funeral in Florida and then home to Virginia for personal reasons. It was a cruel reminder that I wasn’t really a part of his world. I wondered if we still had plans for the weekend. He had mentioned it the last night in Vegas, but he’d been drinking and it was before Colby had discovered us the next morning.

The bright spot, however, was that by Friday I had found out I’d been accepted to all of my top schools, including Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, Yale, Columbia, and NYU. I was excited and wished Josh was with me to share the news. In texting Sasha, Catherine, and Will, I was hoping at least one of them might be up for going out to celebrate.

It was nearly six o’clock, my normal end of work time. According to Josh’s itinerary, he had just landed. Nigel had thought he would most likely head into the office and I was torn whether or not to wait for him. Sighing, I looked up to see Brian coming off the elevator.

He must have had the bypass code in order to come straight up. He looked amused. “It’s Friday. Why the mopey face?” he inquired, surprising me by sitting down in Nigel’s chair and scooting over towards my desk.

“Uh, Josh’s plane just landed, if he’s coming into the office, it probably won’t be back for another hour or so. I’m packing up for the evening.”

“I know, I just talked to him, he’s meeting me here and then we’re going to dinner. Now why the mope?”

“I’m not. I was trying to see if anyone was available to go out tonight. I just wanted to share my news.”

He seemed intrigued. “So share with me.”

Why the hell not? At least he’d be happy for me. I handed over the letters.

He glanced down and read through them briefly. “Holy shit, Haylee, you got accepted to all of them?”

“I did,” I said, smiling. It did feel good to share the news.

“This is a cause for celebration. Did you tell Josh?”

And therein lay the root of the mopeyness, if there was such a word. “He’s been out of town all week. I haven’t had a chance to talk to him.”

He looked thoughtful and then went over to Nigel’s phone to dial a number on speaker.

I felt my heartbeat in my ears when I heard Josh’s voice answer.

“Josh, it’s Brian. I’m at your office, but I’m going to have to take a raincheck on dinner tonight.”

“All right, then why come to my office?” He sounded mildly annoyed, but that was nothing new.

“Well, I didn’t find out that I had other plans until I came here, and now I’m taking Haylee out to celebrate, instead.”

Silence. Brian glanced over at me and winked.

“Take me off speaker,” Josh commanded.

Brian didn’t seem the least bit concerned and picked up the phone mildly. “All right. Done. Uh huh. Yep. You got it. Talk to you later.” He hung up and then smiled at me. “I suggest we go before he gets here because he is not in the best of moods.”

“What did he say when you took him off speaker?”

“Not anything worth repeating and nothing to worry about,” he said, smiling.

I doubted that highly, but I was anxious to get the hell out of the office. “Who are you calling now?” I asked as we got into a cab.

“Sasha. I figured maybe you would want her there, too. I know she’ll be thrilled for you.”

“I texted her earlier but haven’t heard back.”

“I think she’s probably at the gym; she leaves early on Fridays.”

“So where are we going?”

“Piano bar uptown. You’ll like it, and it’s perfect for celebrating.”

“Brian, you don’t have to do this. I feel like I totally crashed your Friday night with my pity party.”

“You’re kidding, right? Come on, Haylee, this is huge news. Did you let Mark know?”

“Uh, no, not yet.”

“He told me how impressed he was with your essay, and he could make the trip down, so we should call him.”

“He told you he was impressed?”

Brian nodded and dialed his phone, putting it again on speaker. “Mark, I have Haylee here and we have some news.” He gestured for me to take the phone.

“I got into all of the schools.”

“All of them?” he questioned, sounding astonished.

“Yep. Stanford, Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Columbia, and NYU.”

“Haylee, that’s awesome. I’ve never known anyone to get into all of them. I told you your personal statement was incredible.”

“Well, thank you for critiquing it and looking over my application. It meant a lot.”

“Of course. Are you celebrating?”

“That’s the plan,” Brian replied, taking him off of speaker. “Meet us. I’m bagging on Josh for dinner, and I think you should come down. Yeah, so who cares?” Brian winked again.

I figured Josh was going to be plenty pissed off when he found out that all of his friends knew my news, but he didn’t—and they were taking me out.

“All right, prepare for a long night. Mark will meet us there in a couple of hours.”

Once we arrived at the piano bar, he got us a great table within minutes.

“Brian, I can’t thank you enough for this, but Josh is going to flip that both his best friends are out celebrating with me, and he doesn’t even know what for.”

“Well, then, he should have asked,” he quipped back but then relented a little. “All right, I’ll text him the place right now. If he shows up, then good, but if not, you’re going to have a great time anyhow, all right?”

Sounded good to me.

***

I was pretty much drunk. It was after ten o’clock which meant a firm four hours of drinking. Mark and Brian had been thrilled that I loved the beer that was on draft, and we had done a chugging contest at which I’d lost, big time.

Sasha sat beside me and handed me the glass of water that Will had been kind enough to order from the waitress. Catherine had unfortunately been out of town. Brian and Mark were recalling a story from college when I glanced up and saw Josh walking towards us.

“Hey, look who decided to join the party,” Brian drawled.

Surprised, Josh looked towards Mark, “I didn’t know you were coming, too.”

“Well, Brian called to come out for the celebration.”

If Josh found this odd, he didn’t say so.

Brian pulled out a chair. “Take a seat. Let’s get you a drink.”

“So what is the celebration exactly?” Josh queried, looking at me.

My face heated at the fact that he was the only one still in the dark. “I got into all of the law schools I applied to.”

I couldn’t read his expression, but at least his words were sincere. “That’s terrific. When did you find out?”

“Well, I started receiving letters Tuesday, and the last one from Harvard came today.”

Josh held up his glass. “Cheers, then. Congratulations.” His eyes flicked over mine and then he turned towards Mark in conversation.

“You feeling all right?” Sasha asked me, and I faked a smile.

“Yes, a little bit tipsy. Excuse me. I’m going to make my way to the ladies’ room and make sure my balance is still intact.” Will helped me out and I gave him a smile. I needed to get myself together as seeing Josh again after a week of radio silence had me off balance. The drinks didn’t help either.

In the restroom, I took a deep breath and glanced in the mirror. At least I didn’t look too bad for working a full day and now having been out drinking for a few hours. And my stomach was cooperating thanks to the carb fest Brian had insisted on ordering before starting on the beer. As I came out of the restroom, I came face to face with Josh. I hadn’t expected him to follow me, but he appeared to have been waiting for me in the hall.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he questioned, searching my eyes.

“I just did.” I didn’t mean to be flip, but I was a little drunk and a lot annoyed with the man.

“I meant before you told everyone else. Why didn’t you tell me earlier this week?”

“It must of slipped my mind with all of the phone conversations we shared,” I retorted sarcastically, considering he hadn’t once contacted me.

“I didn’t get a chance this week. I had the funeral and some things to take care of. How did Brian get involved?” His tone was light even if his question wasn’t.

“Brian came by the office tonight, and I showed him the letters. It snowballed from there.”

“He does have that effect,” Josh noted wryly.

“I’d better get back. Thanks for coming.”

“Haylee, look, I was busy, and I didn’t want to burden you with stuff. And I knew it was that time of the month, so I figured spending the week away would be good.”

My temper snapped. “You went from not being able to spend a night away to completely frigid. And if you’re going to imply your silence was because I was on my period, well that makes me think that all you want me for is sex.”

He balked. “You know that’s not true, and I apologize if it came out that way.”

“Why the distance this week? What happened after Vegas?”

“What? Nothing, I just…”

“Just what?”

“Look, I don’t want to talk about it. It’s nothing to do with you, all right? It’s been a bad week all the way around.”

“Are you going to tell me why it was such a bad week?”

His eyes already told me the answer before he did. “No, you’re going to have to accept that I’m a private man. I’m not going to tell you everything.”

“Right. Because I’m just the temporary secret girlfriend with an expiration date. Why bother to confide in me?” There, I said it, and immediately I saw his anger.

“Is that what you really think?” he questioned.

I gave a half shrug, turned around, and headed back to the table. It took all of my willpower not to cry but instead to plaster a smile on my face for the next thirty minutes.

I did my best to ignore Josh once he appeared back at the table. He also must have realized it would look awkward if he took off right then, so we both went through the motions.

It was past my bedtime and I could feel myself fading. “You guys are the best, but I should get home. At this rate I think I’m going to be good and hung over, Brian.” I gave him a pointed look.

He held up his hands, and we all laughed.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. You accepted the beer chugging challenge and I have to say gave me and Mark a run for our money. Plus you’re in your early twenties and should have twice the stamina we do,” he teased.

Hugging Sasha first, I promised to meet her for lunch soon. Will embraced me next and told me he’d call when he got back in town since he was flying out the next morning for a modeling gig. Next was Mark, which was kind of awkward. He’d seemed uncomfortable ever since Josh had showed up. Brian, of course, lifted me off my feet with exaggerated exuberance and kissed me on the cheek.

“Congratulations again,” Brian said.

“Thank you.” I faced Mark. “And thanks again, Mark, for looking over my application and statement.”

Blushing slightly, he nodded and then gave me a thoughtful look. “Wait, you never said: which school are you going to choose?”

Oh, that. “I honestly have no idea. I feel like I should play roulette with the letters and let fate decide. Although I talked to my father’s former partner today, and he said that he could find me affordable housing near Stanford. I guess I need to map it all out.”

“Mark could probably find you affordable housing near Yale, too,” Josh offered.

“Well, I vote Columbia or NYU, so you can stay in the city,” Sasha remarked.

“Me, too. Stay in New York, Haylee girl,” Will said.

I had to hold my tears back by biting my lip. I felt like the friends I had made here would miss me when I left. That feeling hadn’t been with me when I’d left high school, college, or LA. Looking at their faces, I tried not to get too emotional about the fact that each of them had taken time out of their busy schedules to be with me tonight. “Well, I’m going to try to figure it out by next week, and I’ll let you know.”

Just as I was about to walk outside, Josh stood up. “I’ll make sure you get a cab. Anyway, I need to get home myself.”

We walked out in silence while I tried to get a handle on my emotions over having real friends for the very first time.

“My car is over here.”

“It’s all right. I don’t want for people to see. I’ll take a cab.”

“I don’t give a fuck if someone sees us. Get in my car, Haylee.”

My feet thankfully decided to follow the direction of my brain screaming that he was being a complete jerk at the moment. I didn’t budge.

We were in a standoff in the middle of the sidewalk. Finally, his eyes softened.

“Please get in the car,” he relented.

That was better and I knew we shouldn’t do this publicly. After Josh opened the door, I scooted into the back seat and stared out the window.

We stayed silent during the entire ride and up until we arrived at our floor in the building.

“Get your bags packed. We’re leaving for Charlotte, please,” Josh requested.