Chapter 221
BRADY
My heart lodged into my throat at Tess’s words. Of course, women had said that to me before, but I’d never believed it. And they’d never said it on the heels of me admitting the same to them…mainly because I’d never uttered those words to anyone before.
I’d never felt like I’d needed anyone. It was a mentality I’d started developing in my early twenties after my career took off and money exposed the depth of the relationships in my life. My “friends” turned out to be moochers, and my parents judged me for choosing a career over family.
Brooke and Rich were the closest things I had to friends, but one was family, and the other I paid. I didn’t have friends because I worked endless hours-but I also never searched for friendships because I didn’t trust people.
I never expected to say that I needed her because up until that moment, I didn’t think I did. This whole day-hell, this whole week-I’d stumbled around like a drunk on a street corner trying to find their way home. I knew what had started it.
It wasn’t the pictures Rich had shown me…I’d seen worse. It wasn’t even really the knowledge that Tess had been engaged before. It was a darker, heavier realization.
It was the understanding that my words rang true. I did need her. And that fucking terrified me.
So I had pulled away like I always did. I didn’t need to go to her house today. I could’ve just mailed her the check…but no matter what I tried, I was unable to stop thinking about her. She had consumed my every waking moment, and with it, a fear that what I was feeling would be solely on me and never matched by her.
“Do you mean that?” I whispered.
She smiled. “Yeah…well, I don’t mean it like I need you in the sense that I’m using you for the business connection. Don’t get me wrong; you’re changing my life because of what you see in Perkins Formula. But what I’m saying is that I….” She closed her eyes, her cheeks flushing. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “I have feelings for you.”
My dick, still inside her, feeling her warm wetness, suddenly hardened, thickening inside her.
She exhaled a sweet breath and opened her eyes. “It feels like you like the sound of that.”
I chuckled and leaned down to kiss her neck. I shifted my hips forward, diving deep inside her. I made my way up to her ear lobe, my lips pressing against her ear. “That’s because I have feelings for you too,” I whispered.
Had I really just said that? I didn’t talk to women like this, even if I did have feelings for them. But as the words slipped out of my mouth, a weight inside my chest suddenly dissolved. I inhaled a deep breath and dared myself to meet her eyes.
Her grin was contagious, and I mirrored it, my fingers diving into her hair as I leaned down and kissed her, my tongue massaging hers, our bodies moving in sync.
We moaned into each other’s mouths, her hips lifting to meet my cock at the same time as I dove deeper inside her. The entire time, our eyes stayed locked on each other, and the momentum of the moment continued building up.
It wasn’t just the climax that I was approaching. It was the realization that as I looked into her eyes, I never wanted to look away. Usually, during sex, I avoided all eye contact, but Tess was different than any other woman I’d been with. The power of her gaze melted away my fears, tethering our emotions together in the same way my dick inside her pussy connected us physically.
“I’m going to come,” she moaned.
Before I could even tell her that I was also about to come, the orgasm slammed into me, erupting through my body at the exact time as she cried out, her pussy muscles clamping around my dick.
The dam broke, our juices collided, melding inside her pussy, a flood that intensified the sensations soaring through my body.
We lay there for a moment, panting, and as I rolled over, unsticking our sweaty bodies, I sighed, glancing up at the ceiling of the sailboat’s cabin.
She rolled on her side, sweeping her hair back and pressing a hand against my chest. “Shit, that was something else.”
I glanced sideways at her and slid a hand under her back, cradling her body against mine. “You’re something else, Tess.”
Blushing, she buried her head against my chest. I had feared this moment. Not just confessing my feelings to someone but worrying that I would doubt my words if I dared to wonder if I’d made a mistake in saying anything.
Shockingly, holding Tess next to me, I realized that I didn’t doubt anything of what I’d said, not even for one second. Everything about this just felt right.
“Can I tell you something?” she asked.
“Of course,” I said. Was this pillow talk? The thought amused me. Mainly because after sex, I normally passed out. But with her, I hung on to every word, excited for what she was about to say.
She took a breath. “I was worried that maybe you were upset about the Hamptons, that you just didn’t want to have sex again. I thought maybe that’s why I didn’t hear from you.”
A wash of guilt hit me. I touched her cheek, turning her face to look at mine. “No, trust me, that was definitely not the case. I like the sex. A lot.”
She laughed. “Me too.”
“To answer your question…yes.”
“Yes, to what?”
“Sometimes, I do crash here. Just to get away from things. It relaxes me.”
She chuckled.
“What?” I asked, playfully poking her in the side. “Don’t make fun of me,” I said with a grin.
“No, I’m not,” she laughed. “It’s just…you’re so different than how I thought you were. When I met you, I never would have expected you-a man who could probably afford to rent a room in the White House-to sleep in a sailboat. I like it.”
“The truth is…being out here, on the water, smelling the sea, feeling the tide…it reminds me of my childhood. My mom used to take me sailing as a kid. She taught me everything I know about it.” I paused, shocked that I was about to tell her this. I’d never admitted this to anyone, not even to myself. And yet, words flowed with an ease I’d never experienced with anyone.
“Does she ever come out here with you?” Tess asked, her hand pressing against my chest.
I breathed through the knot that had formed in my chest. “My parents and I were close until I went to college. And then when my company became successful and I got my first big paycheck, I bought this boat for my mom.”
I sighed and continued. “I guess I’d hoped it would reconnect us. She never ended up coming out. She justified it by saying that she couldn’t support me using my money to buy her anything when all she wanted was a grandchild. She didn’t like that I sacrificed having a family to put my success first. Our relationship just hasn’t felt the same since then. But maybe that’s part of life. People’s relationship with their parents changes.”
Tess was quiet for a moment. “My mom died when I was a kid,” she whispered. “Ovarian cancer.”
I squeezed her arm. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s okay. It was a long time ago.” She propped herself up on her elbow and looked at me. “My point is…that nearly destroyed my dad. But he went to therapy to get better, for me. And we’re close as ever. He easily could have done the opposite…let himself and our relationship fall apart. Brady, I don’t think the issue was your career. It was your parent’s inability to accept that you just wanted something different than what they did.”
Her words filled a hole in my heart I didn’t even know existed. I shook my head. “Seriously…where did you come from?” I leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. I was hesitant about my next words. I’d already admitted how I felt about her, saying more felt like a risk. And yet, the comfort between us just felt too good. I wanted her to know my thoughts, and I wanted to know hers.
I ran a finger across her lips. “The craziest thing is that I’m not even against a family like my parents think I am. I always wanted kids. I just wanted a career first, you know?”
She was silent, her eyes absorbing mine, and for a brief second, I wondered if she didn’t want kids. “I know what you mean,” she whispered. “I feel the same.”
This time, she kissed me longer and harder than she ever had, and a piece of me hoped that time would freeze and I’d remember this moment, right here, forever.
After our conversation on the sailboat, I invited Tess back to my penthouse for the evening. The next thing I knew, seven days had passed, and we’d fallen into a pattern I’d never dreamed of enjoying. I worked remotely as much as I could, but on the days I went in for meetings, the world without her next to me felt different.
We were still waiting to hear about any advancements with Perkins Formula, and for the first time in my professional life, the hiatus gave me no anxiety because I had other more enjoyable things to think about. Every morning, I woke up in her arms, and every evening I fell asleep with her by my side.
It wasn’t just the frequency and intensity of our sex that I relished. It was the little moments in between, the kisses, the laughter, the conversations that drifted into the night, secrets and thoughts I’d never told anyone.
Time with Tess moved differently. A minute stretched like an hour, but twenty-four hours felt like barely a minute had passed. I couldn’t understand it. With her, my senses shifted into overdrive, becoming heightened, everything so much more intense.
Friday evening, after a long meeting, I called Brooke on my way to the corner grocery market down the street from my apartment building.
“Hello,” I said in my trilling voice.
“Whoa,” Brooke said. “You sound different.”
“Just having a good day,” I said. A cop car sped by, the siren blaring.
“Where are you?” Brooke asked.
“Oh, I’m walking to the store from the office. Going to cook up some dinner.” Tess loved salmon, so I thought I’d surprise her with a date night in.
“You’re…walking? And cooking? Okay, who are you, and what have you done with my brother? And where have you been all week?” “Nowhere,” I lied.
Brooke gasped. “You’ve been with Tess.”
“How did you know that?” I asked, genuinely shocked by how quickly she’d said that.
“Women know these things, Brady. Holy shit. Tell me everything.”
“I took her on the sailboat,” I whispered, pausing at a flower vendor and sniffing a bouquet of roses.
“Are you serious? You’ve never taken anyone out there! Brady!”
I handed the vendor a twenty, even though the roses were only ten, and tucked them under my arm as I approached the market.
“I can’t explain it, Brooke,” I said. “It’s like the world was blurry before I met her, and she became my glasses to help me see.” I groaned. “Oh my
God, I can’t believe those words just came out of my mouth.”
Brooke chuckled. “Brady, you’re in love.”
I shuffled to a stop on the street corner. “What?”
“That’s what you’re describing,” she said. “You love her.”
I glanced up at my apartment building half a block up the street, my eyes scanning the top windows of the penthouse, my stomach swirling at the image of her somewhere in my apartment.
I noticed a crowd on the front steps below and what looked like cameras, so I made a mental note to take the back entrance. I wasn’t used to walking-my driver always dropped me off in the garage.
My phone vibrated, and I glanced at a text from Tess. “Sorry, hold on, she’s texting me.”
Headed to the corner store to grab us some dessert for dinner. If you get home before me, get naked 😉
A smile spread across my face.
“Are you smiling?” Brooke asked. “If you’re smiling right now, then
I’m right in saying that you’re in love.”
“Shut up,” I laughed. My eyes drifted to a newsstand on the corner, and my stomach dropped. “Brooke…I’ll call you back.”
I hung up before she could ask why and ripped the magazine from the stand. The photograph on the front cover showed me and Tess on my sailboat. Her eyes were closed, her head thrown back in a way that made her waves curve over the boat. My arms were resting on either side of her, my lips pressed against her neck.
The headline made my stomach drop. Billionaire Brady Wyler is off the market! CEO of Wyler Marketing caught kissing business partner Tess Perkins.
My phone rang, and I glanced down at Rich’s name. I answered immediately.
“Brady,” he snapped. “Another photo? Are you fucking kidding me?” “I’m looking at it right now,” I whispered.
“You said you had this under control,” Rich said. “I mean, at least you both have clothes on this time, but how am I supposed to explain this to the investors? This doesn’t look good!”
There was a commotion up the street, the crowd of cameras outside my building surging forward toward the front doors. I suddenly remembered Tess’s text about running to the store.
“Shit.” Those weren’t news cameras. The crowd was the paparazzi, and they were coming for Tess.
I hung up on Rich, dropped the roses, and sprinted as fast as I could up the street.