The CEO's Seduction (A Hamilton Family 1)

Anna picked up the skirt of her dress and took off at a run, heading out to the garden where Brett had to be. She bolted into the moonlight and skidded to a halt, because he was there. Alone. With no sign of an angry Chris.

He had a bottle of whiskey in his hands, and it was open. The lid sat next to him on her favorite bench. “Want the garden to yourself?” he asked coolly. “I can go.”

“N-No.” She wrung her hands. “I just…well, Christopher knows about us. I wanted to give you a heads-up, since he’s looking for you.”

Brett didn’t look up, just glowered at his whiskey. “Okay.”

“No, it’s not.” She stepped closer, but he still didn’t look at her. “Are you insane? He’s furious with you.”

Brett finally looked up at her. He was cast in the shadows of the night, but there was no mistaking the pain in his green eyes. “So let him get it out of his system now. I’m ready.”

Anna swallowed. “Why would you just let him come get you? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“He’s right to be pissed.” He set the bottle down hard, clinking the glass on the concrete bench. “I shouldn’t have touched you, because I fucked it up, just like he knew I would. I failed to show you how much you mean to me, just like he knew I would. He knew I’d suck at this, and he warned me away, but I didn’t listen, just like he knew I wouldn’t. So, yeah, I’m going to sit here and wait for him.”

Anna drew in a deep breath, her heart soaring at his words. “Brett, I—”

“Don’t say anything.” He picked the bottle back up but didn’t take a drink. “I did what I did, and I’ll suffer the consequences. He can kick my ass tonight, and I’ll let him, just like I let the rest of your brothers last night.”

Anna leaned against the house, her stomach twisting into one big, giant knot. “They…hit you?”

“Didn’t Wyatt tell you that part?” He saluted her with the bottle of whiskey, but still didn’t drink. “Guess not.”

“He didn’t tell me anything. I didn’t know any of this.”

That got his attention. He set the bottle down and stood up shakily. “You said you knew why I didn’t come to you. You said he’d told you.”

She bit down on her trembling lower lip. “He kept telling me we wouldn’t work. I thought you meant that. I thought you didn’t want to be with me anymore.”

“Anna…why would I not want to be with you?”

She swallowed hard. “I don’t know, but you have to go now.”

“So you want to be with me?” he asked slowly.

“It doesn’t matter, because I won’t be able to be with you if you’re dead.” She glanced over her shoulder nervously. “Get out of here before my brother kills you.”

“He won’t kill me. I’m going to lie here, staring up at the stars, and wait for him.” He lay down on the ground, like they used to do as kids. “Want to wait with me? Lie down, here, next to me.”

She could think of a million reasons not to, the most important one being her angry brother…and yet, she lay down next to him anyway. “You’re crazy.”

“Maybe. Maybe not. But for now, I’m going to talk to Chris when he gets here. Once we’re done, then you and I are going to continue our conversation about what we want from each other, with no misunderstandings in the way.”

“But I don’t want to wait, and I don’t want Chris to find you.” She scooted closer until their arms brushed. “I didn’t mean what I said,” she said, her voice so quiet she barely heard her own words. She stared up at the Big Dipper and took a deep breath. “I lied to you.”

“What do you mean?” he asked slowly.

She hesitated and turned her head toward him, too. “I only said what I said because I thought you needed to hear me say it so you wouldn’t feel guilty. I thought that’s what you wanted because you didn’t come to my room.”

Her voice broke on the last word.

He stared at her. The moonlight played with his five-o’clock shadow, making it look deeper than usual. “So all the stuff about not wanting to be with me in the library…?”

She swallowed. “Was a lie. All of it. I still want to be with you. Do you want to be with me?”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” he asked, his voice breaking.

He closed the distance between them and melded her lips to his. The grass below her cheek tickled her skin, but she barely noticed. The force of his kiss slammed her into the rough brick wall of the house, but he cushioned her head with his hands and buried his fingers in her hair. Her teeth bit into his lower lip, mixing the pleasure with the pain, and it fueled him on more. When his tongue tangled with hers, she whimpered into his mouth and clung to him. Just as she was sure she had died and gone to heaven, something yanked him out of her arms. “Wh—?”