Page 7 of Just A Kiss
After I finish my shower,I crawl into bed with wet hair because I’m too exhausted to dry it. Yawning, I check my phone and see I have no new messages. My brother never did respond to my last text, which means he’ll call me tomorrow and tell me how busy he is and how he doesn’t have time to come to Chicago. He’s been blowing Mom and me off for as long as I can remember. Last time we saw him was last year for Thanksgiving. And that was only ’cause Lynn’s parents went on a cruise to the Bahamas, so they were free. They live in California too, just a few miles away from them actually. I need to ask him if he can help me out with Mom’s expenses. If not, I’m not sure what I will do. My mother bought this house when we were just kids, so I’ve lived here for as long as I can remember. I owned it, but the financial obligations regarding my mother forced me to borrow against it. And I’m still paying on that. My car is paid for, but it’s not worth anything. And I don’t have a degree of any kind to qualify me for a job that will make me a shit ton of money by the end of the year.
Running a hand down my face, I make sure my alarm for the morning is shut off ’cause for the first time in a long time, I actually have a day off from the clothing store. Turning off my lamp, I roll over onto my side and close my eyes, ready for a nap before the craziness starts all over again.
This is a very bad idea! Your best friend just married his twin brother. You hate them both. Asher Kyle is a player. But he’s not the first player I’ve ever crawled in bed with, so it’s not like I can’t handle myself.
He grips my hips and shoves my back into the wall, causing me to lose my breath. His lips are on mine the next second, and then his hands are in my hair. I moan into his mouth, and I grip my bridesmaid dress, yanking it up to my hips.
“You sure …?”
Tell him no! “Yes.” I breathe as my hands go to his slacks and undo his belt. I can feel how hard he is, and I want it. “Please …”
I sit up straight in bed, my heart pounding and my body shaking. Running a hand through my hair, I fall back and close my eyes as I try to get the memory of Asher and me out of my head. It’s been there for two weeks now, and every time I close my eyes, it’s like it happens all over again.
My phone rings, and when I reach over to snatch it off my nightstand, I see it’s Hadley. “Hello?” I’m panting.
“Did I wake you?”
I swallow and lie. “No.”
“Did I interrupt …?”
“No.” I take a deep breath, trying to even out my breathing, and sigh. “Nothing like that.”
“What’s wrong?” she asks, catching my tone. I can’t hide anything from her. We’ve been friends since we were young, so she’s more like my sister than my best friend.
I haven’t told her that Asher and I slept together in Tahiti. It was her wedding, and I haven’t spent much time with her since we got back. Hell, I didn’t see her much before the wedding either. We both have very busy lives. “I saw Asher last night.”
“What?” She gasps. “Where?”
* * *
I walkoff the elevator and step into the busy office on the thirtieth floor of Legacy Tower. My twin brother, Aiden, and I work for our father and his business partner. People are rushing around to start their day, but when I look down at my watch, I see that it’s a quarter till eight. “Millie, is Hadley in her office?” I ask, approaching her desk. Millie is the receptionist who holds this company together. She’s been here since the beginning.
She nods, not even bothering to look up at me. “Mrs. Kyle arrived with Mr. Kyle twenty minutes ago.”
It’s still weird to hear her called that. Hadley couldn’t be on time to save her life, but ever since she moved in with my brother, she’s no longer late. Shocker. “Send her to my office,” I order and then storm away from her desk.
I shove open my door and throw my black jacket over the couch. Plopping down behind my desk, I squint as the Chicago morning light shines into my office through the floor-to-ceiling windows behind me. I didn’t get any sleep last night after I left Andrea’s place. I went home and buried myself in work to try to get my mind off her. It didn’t help.
A knock sounds on my door. “Come in,” I call out.
Hadley enters with a smile on her face. “You wanted to see me?” she asks, running her hands down her black dress.
“Sit.” I point at the chair across from my desk. Her smile falters a little, but she nods and complies. I lean back in my seat and cross my arms over my chest. She squares her shoulders and sucks in a deep breath. Ever since my last assistant tried to kill her, she’s been picking up my slack, and I appreciate that more than I let on. I’m a lot like my brother in the sense I hate to tell someone thank you.
My door swings open once again and in walks my new assistant. “Mr. Kyle—”
“Get out!” I interrupt her.
“But sir, you—”
“Get out!” I snap.
She spins around and runs out, slamming the door shut behind her.
Hadley watches her exit and turns back to face me, wearing a hard look on her face. That probably just brought back memories of how my brother treated her when she started working for him. The only difference is that I’m not secretly in love with my assistant.
“Did I do something wrong?” Hadley asks with narrowed eyes, ready to defend herself.