Between Commitment and Betrayal (Hardy Billionaire Brothers, #1)(12)

“I don’t care what Carl wants,” she spat. “You and my dad aren’t my keepers.”

“Wes is an asshole,” I found myself saying, although I didn’t have to defend my actions to her. Carl Milton had made it clear that Everly was not allowed to date any guy from Wes’s team.

Him and I were partners. The man had lived and breathed by my team. When I’d mentioned that I was thinking about retiring to the press, he’d hunted me down to invest in his hotel and gym empire. That was five years ago and I hadn’t retired then. I’d played four more years while we’d built up the gym and hospitality brand together. In that time, he’d been smart enough to plaster my name on everything.

Hardy Elite All-Access Team. Hardy Hotel. Hardy this, Hardy that. My face everywhere and America went wild.

Carl was a mentor and a friend, and I was going to make sure his daughter wasn’t dating someone he didn’t want her to. At least, that’s the reason I was going with for now.

“How would you even know? You never talk to him here,” she pointed out.

“Exactly. Because he plays a dirty game of football, and he’s cheated on every single woman he’s ever been in a relationship with. He’s not your type.” I turned and started to walk back to the front desk, but she grabbed my arm and yanked me to turn and continue the conversation.

“Totally my type,” she threw back, her poise suddenly slipping.

I leaned in close. “Was he your type when your pussy got wet for me? When you screamed my name, not his, after leaving his house the other night?”

Her eyes widened at my question and then narrowed like she was ready to go to war. “Great. So, you’re assuming I want a serious relationship? That I’m concerned he cheated on someone before me?” She leaned in and whispered, “Maybe I just want to fuck someone in the locker room once or twice like you and Piper have.”

Her sapphire eyes blazed a blue fire now, her jealousy burning to the surface with mine. Two storms brewing to make a damn hurricane. She wanted to goad me; I saw it in how she squared up to me, but she must have realized her mistake. I felt my heart pounding, my body reacting to her, my anger mingling with the desire to be the one to take her back to the locker room and do exactly what she wanted.

She took a step back as I took one forward, and then she spun on a heel, navigating her way to the locker room as she undid that long hair and let it cascade down her back before the doors swung shut behind her.

I swear she was taunting me to come back there, playing a fucking game with my dick that I couldn’t win. Everly was the mastermind, and I was the dumb man being led by lust rather than reason.

But I followed her into that locker room, rounding the corner fast, ensuring no one saw me, before I grabbed her by the elbow and shoved her into the first private shower stall I could without saying a damn word.

“What the hell, Declan?” She turned and faced me, tilting her head up to stare at me as I stepped close to her. We’d been pushing each other for too long now. I wanted to taste her, smell her, feel every part of her. I took my time nestling into her neck, and she gasped but angled her head, giving me access to her neck.

She may have wanted to fuck someone else.

She may have been ten years younger than me.

And she may have been my partner’s daughter.

But Everly was going to be only mine right then and there.

“If you intend to fuck someone in my gym, babe, you can bet your ass it’s going to be me.”

She shook her head and stammered out, “I wasn’t talking about doing anything with you in here.”

“If you’re talking about fucking someone, it better only be me, Drop.” I took my time dragging my lips across her neck as I moved my knee between her legs. She immediately whimpered in response to the pressure of my thigh against her pussy, even with the fabric between us.

“We’re at work.” She stared up at me, and I saw lust in her eyes, saw how she licked her lips.

“And contrary to what I said out there, I don’t fuck at work like some—”

“Piper does my PR. She was giving me an update. Not—”

“It doesn’t matter.” She looked away and one of her hands went to her neck full of necklaces to play with them. She dragged her teeth over her bottom lip and it glistened enough that I had to lower my head to taste it. To taste her.

I took her lips in my mouth, and she opened them immediately, ravaging me like I did her, taking what she wanted from my kiss like she needed it as much as I did.

When my hand brushed over her breast, though, and I felt that nipple pebble, she pushed me back, breathing fast. “We’re at work. My father’s gym. Your gym. I’m barely a part of this community. I don’t want to make waves by sleeping with the king of it. Especially when the king is friends with my father.”

With that, she pushed past me.

I called after her but she didn’t listen.

And she didn’t listen to my text from earlier about taking a car home either.

I didn’t text her about it. I couldn’t. Instead, I tried to let her go, because I knew everything Everly had said was right.

It was just a matter of time before I figured out if we could ignore the pull of being wrong.





5


EVERLY