Alpha CEO

I let go of her hair and slowly moved my hands from her neck to her ample tits, down to her narrow waist. She licked her lips, sucking in another breath when I suddenly gripped onto her hips. I placed her on the table in front of me so Christian could get the show of a lifetime, feeling sick to my fucking stomach the entire time.

Autumn and I weren’t together. I wasn’t cheating on her, yet it still felt like I was betraying her in every way that mattered.

I stood, spreading her legs to stand in between them. Getting close to her face, I rasped, “If you go into the bedroom with me, I’ll pay you whatever you want to say I fucked you.”

She inhaled, holding her breath as my hand continued its descent, running along her smooth, heated skin and down to the seam of her panties.

“Say that you did?”

“Yes, I don’t need you to ride my dick.”

“What about suck it?”

“I don’t need you for anything other than a lie. Do you understand me?”

She nodded. Money was money, and it didn’t matter what she had to do for it. Carrying her up my torso, I wrapped her legs around my waist and walked us to one of the bedrooms. Kicking open the door, I shut it behind me.

Everyone at the party saw what had just gone down.

Especially Christian.

After all this time…

The ups and downs.

The heartache.

The betrayal.

It felt like I’d finally done something right.

Chapter THIRTY-FOUR

—Autumn—

NOW

One day.

Twenty-four hours.

Our month was almost up, where we’d lived and breathed our family. We were playing house, doing everything together, and our time was coming to an end soon. I didn’t know what to do, and I barely knew how to feel. Still, I kept Julian at arm’s length.

We flirted.

Teased each other.

Kissed a few more times.

However, that was it. When things started to get too heated, he’d stop, and despite being frustrated and wanting him to keep going, I was relieved. If we made love, it’d only fuck things up further than they already had been. We never touched each other in front of Capri, but kids had a way of picking up on anything. She could feel our love in the same way my family could.

Christian had stopped by a few more times to see us. We were still close, especially now that I had Capri. In a way, he’d stepped up and helped be a male role model in her life, and he wasn’t going to stop just because Julian was back. The last two times he was here, Julian and he exchanged more words than they had before.

“Where’s Kinley?” I questioned while finishing up dinner.

Julian was grabbing a beer from the fridge, handing one to Christian who was sitting at the kitchen island.

He nodded, silently thanking him.

See … progress.

“She’s out with her girlfriends for the day.”

Julian nonchalantly asked, “How are you and Kinley?”

“We’re good.”

“You guys have been together what? Twenty years now?”

“Coming up on it, but as you probably remember the first couple of years we were on and off.”

Julian chuckled. “I was a bad influence.”

“You sure as shit were. Who would have thought you were fucking my little sister the entire time?”

“Christian!” I exclaimed. “We didn’t even kiss until I was sixteen, and we didn’t have sex until I was eighteen, so no … we were not hooking up the entire time. Your best friend was still screwing any girl in a skirt.”

“Hey!” Julian scoffed out. “She didn’t have to be wearing a skirt.”

I chuckled, but it was the truth.

Putting his hands up in the air, my brother mischievously smiled. “Relax, I was kidding.” His eyes shifted to Julian. “You actually waited until she was eighteen?”

“First girl I ever waited for anything.” He winked at me. “She was worth it, though.”

“Alright, alright,” Christian chimed in. “Let’s lock that shit up.”

Julian smiled. “Any kids in your future? Capri needs a cousin, don’t you think?”

The expression on Christian’s face quickly turned somber, and before either of us could call him out on it, Capri walked into the kitchen. The rest of the night, we all hung out as if it were old times.

Now don’t get me wrong, they weren’t friends by any means, but at least they were talking and on friendlier terms with one another.

Christian said he was doing it for Capri and me, but I knew better. He was full of shit. He missed his best friend, and the more he was around him, the further his guard came down. It helped that Julian was determined to have Christian back in his life the way he used to be.

Julian didn’t lose.

Ever.

I shook off the constant thoughts, making my way into the garage to tell Julian and Capri dinner was almost ready.

I stopped dead in my tracks when I heard Capri ask, “Daddy, what’s going on with you and Momma?”