A Pound of Flesh (A Pound of Flesh #1)(198)

Austin regarded his cousin and brother, the cold fingers of defeat gripping his chest. “Where’s the contract?”

“Here, Mr. Ford,” said one of WCS’s lawyers.

The sly, backhanded nature of the whole scenario started to surround Austin like a suffocating fog. Storming past Carter and Adam, he grabbed a pen off the table and signed his name. All his hard work, all his dreams, signed away in one brief moment. The taste of vomit became strong in the back of his throat.

“There is also a gag order for you to sign,” the lawyer said. “It states that, should you besmirch Mr. Carter’s or the company’s name, the entire deal will be null and void and you will be entitled to nothing. Legal action will also be swift and indiscriminate.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Austin retorted. Throwing the pen down hard, he glared at the board members. “Good luck,” he sneered with a thumb in Carter’s direction. “You’re gonna need it with this prick running the show.”

He turned to Carter and smiled tightly. “Well done, Carter. Looks like you landed on your feet.”

Carter shook his head. “No, I just got what I deserve. As did you.”

“Whatever,” Austin snapped, pushing past his cousin. He needed to get out, find a bottle of JD and a woman, and lose himself in both for a week.

“Oh,” Carter said suddenly, stopping Austin in his tracks, “Kat says hi.”

The sound of Austin’s jaw snapping shut echoed around the room. He could practically hear Carter’s smug f*cking smile. With his temper unraveling, he shoved through the doors and left WCS for the last time.

*

“Just suck.”

“I can’t!”

“Of course you can. Suck!”

Kat coughed on the noodles Carter was dropping into her mouth and began to giggle. Carter laughed with her. The noodles slid down her chin and fell to her bare breasts. Quick as a flash, Carter dove onto her and began to lick and slurp the noodles into his mouth. He may have licked her nipples, too, because eating Chinese food naked was all about the perquisites.

His adventurous mouth moved to her chin, and then to her lips, where he kissed her, covering her in sweet-and-sour sauce. She squealed, feebly trying to push him away. “You’re an ass.” She giggled.

“I know,” he admitted with a waggle of his eyebrows.

He sat back against the pillows at her side, grabbed the box of Kung Pao chicken and his chopsticks from the side table, and returned to stuffing his face. Girl had helped him work up an appetite in the last hour, and he needed to refuel. Kat, still naked and smelling of their lovemaking, nibbled on garlic shrimp while watching some predictable Christmas movie on the flat screen.

Carter let the domestic simplicity of their situation soak in. The calmness of their relationship and the easy silence they enjoyed surrounded him like a cocoon. He’d never been more comfortable with anyone in his entire life, happier or more loved. All the shit that’d come and gone seemed insignificant, and, as God was his witness, he’d go through it all again if it meant being with her.

He swallowed his mouthful of food and licked his lips. “So, you’re staying over tonight, right?”

He usually didn’t ask—letting Kat decide when she stayed with him—but, weirdly, tonight he needed to hear her say she wasn’t leaving.

He never wanted her to leave.

The thought made him sit up a little straighter. Startled, his mind tried to wrap itself around what that would mean.

What, forever?

Like, move in?

He kinda liked the idea—a lot. It definitely had its appeal. He glanced at her naked legs stretched down his bed. But it was more than that. He’d want her to move in because he loved her.