Cold Hearted Bachelor

Fuck, thank fuck we’re both fully clothed.

“Pea, we should tell him about the house and call.”

“What house?” Spencer spins around to face me. “And what call?”

Paisley rushes to Spencer, placing her hand on his arm to get his attention. “Vaughn was just doing what I asked. He was just being a good older brother.”

I wince at that.

“What I mean is,” she continues, “I’ve had someone following me. And doing things.”

“What kinds of things?” Spencer sounds like he’s about to lose his shit. And maybe he is.

I jump in, “Spencer, she has a stalker. I didn’t feel safe having her stay at your parents’ house. The stalker would look for her there. And they’d never look for her here.”

Spencer turns back around to face his sister, wrapping his arms around her. “What the fuck? Why didn’t you guys tell me?”

I scrub a hand down my jaw. “I wanted to.” At first. I wanted to at first, until the night I kissed her, and tasted her. And let’s face it, had we told Spencer, then she’d probably be staying at his house and not mine. I just didn’t want to share her. I’m a selfish man, and I liked having her here.

“I’m sorry,” Paisley says, “I didn’t want everyone to worry if it turned out to be nothing. I asked Vaughn not to say anything.”

Spencer lets out a deep breath. “Have the cops been notified? What exactly happened?”

Paisley spends the next twenty minutes explaining everything that’s been going on. And I try my hardest not to think about how last night I was inside her. I know, I have fucked up priorities, I’m working on it.

Spencer goes on to declare he doesn’t want his baby sister out of his sight and a small part of me deflates at the thought. I liked taking care of her. Is that so wrong?

“The whole reason I came by is to tell you,” Spencer looks at me, “that we lost another account today.”

“Who?” I ask.

“Matheson. Jim Matheson. Says they’ve heard it through the grapevine we do shoddy work.”

“Fuck.” That was a golden account, one we’d already hired a crew for, and were set to break ground next week. “Did you get Hank on it?” Hank’s our lawyer, and probably our best bet to keep people from terminating their contracts.

Spencer rubs the back of his neck. “Yeah, Hank’s on it, but it doesn’t look good. Wendy says the phone has stopped ringing.”

Wendy’s our receptionist and usually fields calls all day long from potential clients.

“Do you think this has anything to do with me?” Paisley asks, moving closer to stand next to me.

I take one step back. I don’t want to tip Spencer off about anything, especially right now. “I don’t think so.” I want to go and wrap an arm around her, pull her close and peck a kiss to the top of her head.

But, I know I can’t do that.

“Well, what else could explain this?” Spencer asks, not making Paisley feel any better.

We’re supposed to be protecting Paisley, not making her feel like shit because her stalker may be taking out their anger with her on us.

“I don’t think it’s Paisley. But, somewhere we have someone mad at us.”

Paisley returns to her bottle of water. “It has to be the same person, Vaughn. I know you’re trying to protect me, but I feel awful this is affecting your work.”

God I want to fucking hold her right now. I even take a step in her direction, but then I remember who else is standing here in my condo.

“You got coffee?” Spencer asks, and I follow him back into the kitchen.

“Yeah.” When his back is turned, I squeeze Paisley’s shoulder as I walk by. “It’ll be ok,” I tell her.

“How can you be so sure?”

I can’t be, but I’d never tell her that. I’d never tell anyone that. “I just know.”

“Another thing,” Paisley spins in her stool, “no telling Mom and Dad, Spence.”

He’s finished pouring his coffee into a mug and blows on it. “No way.”

“I don’t want them to worry.”

“Pea, maybe we should tell everyone,” I add in. “Your dad would be pissed if he found out and we didn’t tell him.”

“Fine, I’ll tell them this Sunday at dinner. That gives me a few days to find out who’s doing this.” She smiles. “Want to come to dinner with me?”

And just like that fear courses through me. Sunday dinner. At her parents’ house where I’ll have to pretend I don’t have a thing for her. Where I’ll have to pretend that I didn’t have my dick inside her last night. Or I’ll have to pretend she isn’t the hottest kisser I’ve ever known. Fuck.

“Ok,” I say, not really feeling too happy about this whole situation.

“Ok, today Vaughn and I need to go into work for a little bit. Get things under control. Can you stay here and work, and one of us will go to the meeting with you?” Spencer asks Paisley.