CHERISH (The Billionaire's Rules, Book 12) (7 page)

“I can’t say I have,” she admitted.

Brayden’s hazel eyes were staring so
intently at her that she almost felt like he was trying to read her
thoughts.
 
And for the briefest of
moments, she thought it possible that he could read her thoughts after all.

“You mean to tell me that you came to an
interview today for an unknown position with a company that you know nothing
about.
 
Is that right?”
 

She looked up at him as he stood there,
arms folded, judging her.

“This was all very last minute.”

“I don’t think you respect what this
company does,” he told her.

She licked her lips.
 
“Of course I respect you.
 
This is a very successful
company—“

“I didn’t say anything about you respecting
me,” he chided her.
 

“What?” she asked, her heart beating
faster.
 
She felt confused, almost
dizzy.

Brayden walked around the desk again and
moved into her personal space.

Her heart was pounding faster now, as he
stood nearby.
 

She wondered if he had this effect on
every woman he met, and she suspected that he did.
 
The truth was, she was thrown off by how
handsome and sexy and confident he was.
 

And it showed.

She felt completely exposed and
humiliated, and she thought that Brayden Forman seemed to be taking some
delight in the effect he was having on her.

Now he leaned against the edge of his
desk, directly in front of where she sat.
 
His palms gripped the edge and he rocked slightly back, looking down at
her.

“Admit that you think Hookup is slimy,”
he said.
 
“Just tell me the truth,”
he continued, his voice growing lower, confidential, as if this was just real
talk between friends.

Lanie scratched her head.
 
“I wouldn’t say slimy.”

“What word would you use to describe it,
then?”

“I don’t know.
 
Maybe immature.”

He stared at her for a long, long
time.
 
His eyes were burning into
hers, and she looked away.

His lithe, muscular body was so close to
hers, and she felt that she would have perhaps given just about anything to
feel what it would be like to touch his bare chest, run her hands down his
belly…

“Hookup is a service,” Brayden said.
 
“A very necessary service that helps
likeminded people find each other and truly connect in this modern age where
everyone is so disconnected.”

“Is that what you call it?
 
Connecting?” she asked, raising an
eyebrow at his spin.
 
“I’d call it
cheap sex.
 
Connection is something
altogether different.”

“Spoken like someone who wouldn’t know
the difference,” Brayden shot back, as he moved from his desk and walked back
towards the window, turning away from her and looking outside.

“I suppose we disagree,” she told him,
feigning indifference, but his comment had penetrated her defenses with
pinpoint accuracy.
 

She didn’t know enough about either sex
or love to truly know what was cheap and what was the genuine article.

“I think,” he said, “that this interview
has now reached a conclusion.”

She sat there for a second, wishing she
could somehow salvage things.
 
She’d
needed this job, needed it badly.

But somehow everything had just unraveled
from the very first moment and there was no way to change any of it.

***

It was only when Lanie had gotten on the
T and returned back to her empty apartment that she felt the full effect of
this failure.

She curled up in her bed and began
crying, and wishing she’d never taken this apartment or the stupid job
interview or any of it.

All she’d done was confirm what she
already knew to be true about
herself
.

People
just don’t like me.
 
Let’s face
it—there’s a reason why Ivy found Cullen and he married her and gave her
the life that every woman dreams of.
 

Because
Ivy is smart and pretty and confident and people just love her.

But
not me.
 
I turn people off.
 
I make
them angry.

She sobbed into her pillow and wished
there was someone to sit on the bed beside her, rub her back and tell her
everything would be okay.

***

Later, she was soaking in the bathtub,
replaying the interview over and over again in her mind.

Her skin was soft and the water was warm,
lapping at her thighs.

She had placed her phone next to her on
the edge of the tub, and she pushed it away from the inside of the rim, not
wanting it to slide off and into the water.

The last thing she could afford now was
to have to buy a new cell phone.

Lanie closed her eyes and imagined
Brayden’s face, his wicked stare, the way he’d looked at her.
 
It wasn’t that big of a stretch to
imagine those eyes being full of passion for her.
 
Burning for her and her alone, and as
she thought about it, her hand strayed between her legs and began to feel her
fleshy mound that quivered with desire.

“Oh God, Brayden.
 
Yes.
 
Fuck me.
 
Just like that,” she said, moaning as
she imagined what it might be like.
 

She remembered the way just his hand had
felt enveloping hers—and that heat.

Oh, that heat.

“I’m so wet for you, Brayden.
 
Your cock is so big.
 
It’s fucking me so good.”

She’d never actually had sex before, but
it didn’t seem so impossible to imagine it at that moment.

Even imagining “cheap sex” didn’t seem so
bad, as long as she was doing it with Brayden, feeling his hard body, seeing
his eyes,
feeling
his tongue in her mouth.

“Brayden, I’m going to come,” she cried,
and then the orgasm was hitting her.

A small sound distracted her as she was
climaxing.

Was that the radio?
 
Had she somehow started playing a clip
on YouTube?

Lanie sat up in the tub, and reached over
to grab her cell phone.

Oh,
no.

Oh,
God, no.

She stared in horror at the screen of her
cell phone.

There was a call in progress, and the
number showing was Brayden Forman’s number.
 
The voice was his.

“Hello?” she heard him say, his voice
slightly tinny from a distance.
 
“Is
this a joke, Lanie?”
 

She hung up the phone and sat there,
stunned.

Her humiliation was now complete.

She’d just accidentally called Brayden
Forman and masturbated to completion while he’d listened on the other end of the
line.

Don’t
forget that you were screaming his name.

Lanie sank down in the tub and prayed for
oblivion.
 
Unfortunately, she knew
that her memory of this disaster was not likely to go away anytime soon.

And the worst part of it all?
 

He knew.

Brayden Forman knew how she felt about
him.

THE
END OF CHERISH (THE BILLIONAIRE’S RULES, BOOK 12)

Thank you so much for taking the journey
with Cullen and Ivy, and I do hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as I have!
 

The next book in the Billionaire’s Rules
will continue Lanie and Brayden’s story, and that next installment will be
coming very soon, so stay on the lookout.

And thank you so much for continuing to
support my writing and being patient, as it takes time to complete each new
book.
 
Please know that your
kindness and interest is so appreciated!
 
You are the best readers in the world.

More to come, as always,

XOXO, Kelly

OTHER
SERIES BY KELLY
:

Naked

The Debt

For His Pleasure