What They Don't Know (Won't Hurt Them Trilogy #1) (12 page)

“That was a
statement, Bria. But here’s a question for you, Ms. Watts. Have you
fucked Bryant since I told you not to?”

I’m not sure why, but
I break out in a sweat, and the air conditioner is on in this place.
It’s a cold sweat.

“What does that have
to do with this meeting?”

“Nothing, and your
lack of an answer tells me that you have.”

“Again, Mr. King, I’m
not sure how my personal life—”

“Answer the damn
question, Bria!” he raises his voice and causes me to jump.

I politely gather my
things and shove them into my briefcase. All the while, I can’t
help but laugh. I quickly reach across the desk to recover the folder
I’d given him. He grabs my hand, and I snatch it away.

“You can keep it.
I’ll send Tony the plan. You two can set up a schedule to meet.”
I rise from the desk and turn to walk away from him. I can feel his
movement. He’s behind me, making his way toward the same door I
power walk through. I quickly make it out of his physical office; now
if I can just make it out of his office’s office, I’ll be home
free to break into a sprint to the lobby where the green-eyed monster
can save me. Well, not save me, but I’ll be in the presence of
another.

“Bria, I won’t work
with Tony. Just so you know, Bryant with you is what sold me. That’s
what I expect. You!”

I grab the handle to
the office door. “Bryant didn’t count on you making advances at
me!”

He laughs. “Bryant
doesn’t care who makes advances to his sweet Bree; as long as he
gets it when he wants it, he has no complaints.”

It sounded as dirty as
he intended it to, coming from his mouth. I’m hot, and mad as hell.
I could spit fire.

“Fuck off, Cruz!” I
yell as I leave the office and enter the hall. And yeah, the whole
sprinting down the hall… not so much. Before I know it, I’m
cornered before I can reverse my steps back to the main lobby.

“Let go of me, Mr.
King!”

“Keep your voice
down,” he whispers harshly. He has my body pinned in a corner. It’s
quite awkward, but I manage to drop my briefcase to wedge my hand
between us, and push him away. He grabs my hands to hold them both at
my sides.

“You should be
flattered; I’ve claimed that nice pussy of yours before tasting
it.”

My body shudders at his
words. They are harsh and cold. His eyes are dilated almost cat like.
He’s so close, I can see them changing.

“Let’s see if you
can follow these simple directions, Ms. Watts.”

“What?” I say
disgustingly.

“Shhh, you just need
to listen.” He grinds his body against me; this time it’s not to
contain me. I can feel how erect he is. He’s taller than I am with
my heels on, so he lowers himself until we are face to face. His lips
are close to mine. I turn my head to avoid a kiss, but he doesn’t
kiss me at all. He grabs my jaw to force me to look at him. My body
is in shut down mode, or King mode. Seems as if he has the only
remote control to it. It, meaning my body. I gasp at his actions. He
grinds against me again, while he hasn’t taken his eyes away from
me. Breathing is a problem for me, and sweat beads are forming on my
neck.

“Bria,” he says in
a deep tone. “You will not give my pussy away, nor will you fuck
Morgan anymore. Is. Your. Pussy. Available. Bria?”

I swallow hard,
attempting to answer, but am interrupted by Dusdin who quickly
retreats when he sees the position I’m in.

“Bria?” Cruz’s
tone is calmer this time.

“No.”

“No, what?”

“No. It’s not
available, and not available to you either,” I say, as I push him
away from me with all the force I have. He grabs my elbow and pulls
me to him away from the corner wall.

“It is, and will be
available to me and only me. How long has it been?”

“What? Let go of me.”

“How the fuck long
has it been, Bria? Huh, tell me,” he says. His grip becomes tighter
on my forearms, as I’m held in place. I close my eyes, because
looking at him now might send me into a rage. “Open them, and tell
me. Tell me how long it has been since you've given my pussy away to
Morgan.” He uses Bryant’s last name as if it were disgusting
coming from his mouth.

I let out a hard
breath, as I answered him. “Saturday.”

“It couldn't have
been Saturday. That's when I gave him my little pill.”

“Guess it didn't work
or he was determined to have his cake and eat it too,” I chuckle.
“Wait, that makes Sunday too.” I raise an eyebrow as I taunt him.
He pushes me away and adjusts his visible hard-on.

He shakes his head and
puts one hand in his pocket. It's like he’s posing for the cover of
a magazine. Even pissed, he's GQ.

I grab my briefcase
from the ground. I can't believe this guy. He walks backwards facing
me. He laughs as he shakes his head again.

“This deal doesn't go
down if you continue to fuck Mr. Morgan.”

I scoff. “You can't
do that!”

“I can, Bria. I have
no problem not going through with it.”

“That's breach of
contract.”

He shrugs as he back
into his office door.

“I won't have sex
with you, Cruz!” I yell down the hall.

“That's fine, Bria,
but you won't have sex with Bryant either. Run along, he's waiting
for you.” He smiles as he turns his back fully upon entering his
office.

“Ugh! This can't be
happening,” I yell, but it is.

The remainder of Monday
goes by in a blur. I manage to come up with a name for my company. It
sounds weird as an acronym, but my boss is pleased with it. I meet
his deadline with four days to spare, and it's perfect.
TTLF
(True To Life Fantasies) LLC.
I'm pleased with it as well.
Something of mine to bring happiness to others, and me as well. I'm
very pleased.

I hear my phone beep as
I shut down both computers. I know it's from Bryant. I'm nervous
before I even read it.

I send one back.

I'm confused because I
know Cruz wasn't happy. I believe the threat he made to me about
ending all sexual ties with Bryant. I'm just not sure he knows.

Bryant is standing in
my doorway with a glass of red wine when I get home.

“A glass of red wine
for m'lady.” He kisses me on my cheek. I shake my head at him,
taking the wine from his hand.

“What? What did I do
now?” he says.

“Nothing, Bryant,
nothing. I'm tired.”

“I knew you would be.
Mr. Wilke said you had a lot going on today. He said you crushed some
big deals.”

“Yeah, I did.” I
smile.

“You know he wanted
your panties at one point.”

I laugh. “He told
me.”

“What? When?”
Bryant questions.

I walk into my kitchen;
it smells great. “Hey, good lookin’, whatcha got cookin’?” I
say, opening one of the pots on my stove.

“Crusted parmesan
chicken with butter garlic sauce leaks, and steamed carrots just to
start.”

I turn, curiously eying
him. “To start?”

“Yes. Dessert, we'll
make homemade ice cream. If you're up for it.” He knows what
homemade ice cream does to me.

“You've thought of
everything tonight.”

“Not everything.”
He smiles devilishly.

“So dirty, you are.”

“Only around you,
Bree.” We laugh.

“So the meeting with
Cruz went well, I take it? He called me and said it's a go. Something
about tonight’s events would play as a game changer.”

“Bryant?” I trail
off. I have to tell him.

“The guy asked me my
plans for tonight.”

“Why did he want to
know that?”

He shrugs.

“I think the guy is
homesick. All he has is his company, some employees, you know,” he
says, while popping a carrot in his mouth. “So I invited him
tonight.”

“What?”

“Yeah, I didn't think
you'd mind.”

“Bryant,” I whisper
and I drop my head.

“I know, I know. You
want to get comfortable in sweats. You still can, just put on socks.”

“Socks?” I raise an
eyebrow in question.

“Yeah, your feet are
cute. Kinda don't want another man admiring your toes in front of
me.”

I shake my head. “My
feet aren't what you have to worry about with Cruz.”

“What does that
mean?” Bryant asks.

“There are things you
don't know about Cruz, Bryant.”

He eyes me with a
frown. “Yeah, like what?”

I pause, because I'm
not sure how to approach Bryant with the situation. “He's an ass
for one.”

“Yeah, so am I. So
you say.”

“He came on to me.”

Bryant just laughs.

“You find that
funny?” I question him harshly.

“Yeah I do, Bree. A
lot of men come on to you, you're beautiful.” He walks towards me,
and snakes his arms around my waist.

“No, Bryant.” I
push him away. “You don't understand.” How can I tell him without
telling him that this is not my first encounter with Cruz?

“Bryant, Cruz—” I
began to say, before I hear a tap on my wall that interrupts me.

Bryant turns around to
greet him. “Hey, man.” They shake, slap hands, or whatever
handshake men do.

“Did I just hear my
name?” Cruz makes a questioning gesture with his hand.

“Yeah.” Bryant is
laughing, as he continues to speak to Cruz. “Bree said you came on
to her.”

Both Cruz's eyebrows go
up in shock. I'm standing there with a “yeah mister, I told” look
on my face.

“Well, you are
beautiful, and I'm a bachelor. That’s normally what happens when a
beautiful woman and an eligible bachelor meet.”

I shake my head. “No,
not in your approach,” I say.

“I'm sorry. I'm not
following,” Cruz says.

“Your approach.” I
point to Bryant. “About Bryant.”

“Ohh. Well, you two
aren't dating or involved, right? I mean that's what you claimed.”

“No. That's not what
I'm talking about.”

“I'm not sure I
follow you, Bria.” Cruz is acting like our little encounter didn’t
happen this afternoon. This ass is going to make me say it.

“You don't follow
me?” I walk toward him, to get in his face because he has pissed me
off for the last time.

“Whoa, Bria, what's
up with you tonight?” Bryant catches me by the arm, before I reach
Cruz.

“Bryant, please
listen to me for a second. You can't believe anything this guy says.”
Cruz is standing in the opening of my kitchen, leaning in the doorway
like a smooth criminal. He has the nerve to wear the smuggest smirk
on his face, and I just want to slap it off.

“Bree, you okay?”

“I'm fine, Bryant;
look, he came on to me, okay,” I try to whisper, but fail because
Cruz hears me anyway.

“I've already
admitted that. Now if it made you uncomfortable, then I apologize. I
thought I could take you out, since you said you two weren’t an
item.” He pointed back and forth to Bryant then me.

“We're not, but I
don't want to go out with you either,” I say through my teeth.

“Okay then, that's
settled. Can I use your bathroom?” Cruz asks, and he gets bathroom
details from Bryant.

“It's down the hall
on the right,” Bryant answers. “What. The. Hell, Bree?”

“Bryant, please, I'm
your friend. You’re supposed to take my side.”

“I mean I would,
Bree, but I'm not sure
why
I'm taking your side.”

“He hit on me.”

“We've established
that.”

“And you don't care
one bit?”

“No, Bree, I don't.”

“It doesn't offend
you that the person you've partnered in a business with, just hit on
your best friend? Who you wanted a relationship with? Who you are
currently, let me remind you, having sex with, nonetheless?”

“No!” he
whisper-yells.

“Are you serious?”

“I am, Bria. That
doesn't bother me.”

“So if I decide,
let’s just say, I want to go out with him, it wouldn't bother you?”

“Do you want to go
out with him?”

“No, Bryant, I
don't!”

“Then, why are we
talking about this?”

“Ugh, you're an ass,
Bryant Morgan.”

“I think we've
already established that,” he retorts.

I roll my eyes.

“So, Ms. Watts, are
we cool?” Cruz asks, as he comes from the hall leading from my
bathroom.

“Whatever,” I say,
trying not to look his way. He bends so that he comes very close to
my face.

“Say we are cool.”
He's too close; I can smell the mint on his breath.

“We're cool.” I
can't help but grinding my teeth, as I speak the words. Bryant laughs
and pulls Cruz away from me.

“All right, man, cool
it before she throws both our asses out.”

“She's too nice a
lady to do that.” Cruz winks at me as he opens my refrigerator.

“Um, hello. My house,
my refrigerator.”

“Yes, and you're rude
for not offering me anything to drink.”

“I didn't plan on you
staying.”

Bryant laughs again.

“Oh, am I not
welcomed here?” He stares at me.

I just stare back at
him, neither of us blinks.

Bryant shakes his head
on his way to the dining area to set the table.

“Do you want me to
leave?” Cruz asks, breaking the silence.

“I didn't invite
you.”

“Do you want to
un-invite me?”

“I didn't invite
you.”

“Are you going to
fuck him tonight?”

“I didn't invite
you.”

“Do I have to give
him something stronger?”

“I'll report you, if
you do.”

“I'll withdraw the
deal, if you do.”