It Started with a Lie (Truth and Lies Duet Book 1) Read online

  I force that thought out. That’s not what I want. I’m not even attracted to her. I hate her with a strange sort of passion. She’s here to ruin my life, and she’s masquerading around like she’s here to help.

  And there she is again.

  I can’t seem to stop thinking about her.

  I force my focus on Tess. I nip at her neck, kiss her skin, trail down my mouth to her breasts. I nuzzle them and grab them, lick them and tweak them, pinch them and suck them. They’re bigger than Viv’s. There’s nothing soft or subtle about Tess.

  She lets me know she’s having a good time with loud and enthusiastic moans, and I can’t help but think Viv would never be that loud. She may be firm and direct when it comes to business, but she seems so much more demure than Tess. She’d give me soft purrs and kitten moans, not loud shrieks of pleasure.

  I think I’d like the soft moans more.

  Tess is almost riding the line of going overboard, and as I prepare to fuck her by sliding my finger inside her, I wonder if she was this loud with Jason. She’s a good fuck, wild and crazy, but I’ll never see her as anything more than a good time.

  Viv, though...

  Viv.

  I don’t finish that thought because Tess is lowering my zipper and kneeling on the floor and pulling my dick into her mouth. She sucks me in so far I’m going down her throat, and she doesn’t even gag. Her eyes don’t water. Her lips are wrapped around me, and all other thoughts leave at that point. I don’t even have to force them away. They magically disappear on their own.

  My balls tighten, and I pull myself out of her mouth. No coughing or choking—this girl has clearly done this before, and she’s damn good at it.

  I grab the condom from my back pocket and secure it. I figure she’ll lead me to the bedroom or the couch, but she doesn’t. Instead, she pushes me toward the door, laces her arms around my neck, hooks one leg around me and then the other, and I shove my way into her as we fuck right in her entryway.

  My hands move under her ass, and she cries out so loudly I think she must be having an orgasm. She isn’t contracting around me, not yet, and I try to get on board with the enthusiasm. I try to match her screams with grunts of my own, but I’m no match for her brand of crazy. She’s staring at my face as I drive into her over and over, and it’s too intimate for someone who’s just supposed to be a fuck buddy. Besides, I can’t come standing up like this—it’s too much of a workout as I try to hold her body up and thrust into her at the same time. I’m in good shape, but even I have my limits.

  I finally let go and set her down. “Bend over,” I say, and she follows directions as she grabs her ankles. This is a much better angle for me, and this way I’m not staring into her face. This way, I can pretend she’s whoever I want her to be, and she can pretend I’m whoever she wants me to be, too. Maybe she’s pretending I’m my brother. It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened. She could be pretending I’m Jason or one of her other exes. Or it’s possible she’s not pretending at all, that she’s present in the moment with me even though we agreed it’s nothing more than sex.

  I can’t say the same, though.

  It’s not Tess’s face in my mind when my thrusts slow and my balls tighten and I let go as I finally blow my load.

  I just wish it wasn’t Viv’s.

  chapter fifteen

  When Friday rolls around, I’m ecstatic for a few days away from the woman who has taken over my office and seemingly my life. I’m ready for the weekend, but first I have to get through the day.

  It’s just about lunchtime and I’m nearly finished looking through the newest data for one of our clients when she walks through the door. A few beats later, my email pings with a new message from Lauren sent to my whole in-office staff.

  Employees of FDB:

  Enjoy the free lunch in the breakroom, and Happy Friday!

  Lauren Weller

  Administrative Assistant to Brian Fox

  I glance over at Vivian. “Free lunch?”

  She nods. “Little bags from Panera. Sandwiches, chips, that sort of thing.”

  “From you?”

  “Well, from you technically, I guess.”

  My brows furrow. “What are you talking about?”

  “It’s always a good morale booster to surprise everyone with lunch.”

  “You bought lunch for my staff?” I ask.

  She lifts a shoulder. “I know you don’t want anyone to know about me, but I still have a job to do here. Since I’m acting for the co-owner with the biggest stake in this company, part of that job is to take care of my staff.”

  “You’re not a co-owner,” I grit out. “And it isn’t your staff.” It marks yet another time she’s treating other people with a congeniality I don’t always seem to receive, but it isn’t just that. It’s the fact that she did something nice for my entire staff I never once thought of doing.

  She clears her throat. “I don’t mean to be blunt, Brian, but when you signed enough of your stake over to Mark to give him fifty-one percent of this company and he hired me to fix it, he hired me on as acting CEO.”

  I blow out a breath. Fuck her, fuck this lunch, fuck Mark, and fuck my life. I don’t respond, and I certainly don’t take part in the free lunch she provided for my staff.

  * * *

  “It’s five,” I say when the clock strikes the magic number. “You can go back to your hotel now.”

  She glares at me as she packs up a few folders and her laptop. She moves quickly as she sticks her things in her bag, yet she lets out a long sigh before she responds. I briefly wonder if the sigh is in relief that she gets to spend a few days away from me. Probably not, I realize with some degree of arrogance.

  “Just for the record, I’m not leaving because you told me to,” she says.

  I raise a brow as if to tell her to explain why she’s leaving. As if I care.

  “I’m leaving because I’m heading home for the weekend and my flight takes off in under two hours.”

  A strange sensation rushes through my chest, something I can’t quite identify—but it’s definitely at odds with my brain rejoicing that she won’t even be in the same city as me.

  Disappointment? Is that what that was? It couldn’t be. There’s no possible reason I’d be disappointed she’ll be gone for a couple of days. I’m thrilled to be away from her, thrilled to have some of my privacy back even if it’s just for a few days. Shit, maybe I’ll stay at the office all damn weekend just to remember what it’s like to be alone in here. I can jerk off with my door shut and no one would care.

  I certainly can’t do that with Vivian Davenport sitting a few feet away from me.

  “Safe travels,” I say, averting my eyes to my phone as if I’m disinterested. I want to ask more, like why she’s going home and whether there’s someone there waiting for her, but I keep my mouth shut. She doesn’t say another word as she finishes gathering her belongings and walks out the door.

  I at least expected her to bid me a good weekend. She seems like she has manners.

  She must really hate me, which is fine since the feeling’s mutual.

  A short while after she leaves, Jason saunters into my office. “Big weekend plans?” he asks.

  I shake my head. I thought about calling Tess again, but I don’t want to initiate it. There’s less guilt that way. “Work, probably. You?”

  “Hanging out with Tess tonight.” He slides into the chair opposite my desk, and that weight of guilt presses on me again. “You and Viv want to do another double date?”

  “She took off to Los Angeles for the weekend,” I say.

  “Why?”

  “Family stuff.” The lie is instant and automatic, and I wonder when it became so easy for a lie to roll off my tongue.

  “And you didn’t go?”

  “Too much to catch up on here.” I click around on my laptop for a few beats to prove my point, and then I glance up at him. “We’re not really at the meet the family stage yet.”

&
nbsp; “But you’re at the share an office every single day stage?”

  I lift a shoulder. “She needed a space to work.” I glance around. “This office is huge, and you can’t beat the views.”

  He nods. “True story. How are things going with you two?”

  “Fine.” I throw the ball back in his court because I don’t really want to tell more lies. “How about you and Tess?”

  “I can’t get her out of my head. We just sort of drifted apart the first time, you know? I wanted more, she didn’t. I’m hoping she’s in a place where she does now.”

  “Do you think she does?” I ask, fully knowing the answer to that.

  He shrugs. “She seems open to it. She didn’t say no. It was a little strange she went home alone after our double date the other night, but maybe she’s just playing it slow because she wants something less physical and more meaningful this time around.”

  I fail to mention the reason she didn’t go home with him is because I met her at her place. I don’t know what to say, so I try to steer the conversation so it’s clear I think we’re done talking about this. “Good luck, man.”

  My plan to end that part of our talk doesn’t work.

  “You think she seemed into me at dinner the other night?” He’s vulnerable, and I’m not used to seeing him like this. She’s knocked him down a few pegs, shaken his confidence. He’s always had a pretty easy game when it comes to the ladies, but something’s different where Tess is concerned.

  I need to stop sleeping with her. This entire conversation is evidence that even if she doesn’t want more, he does, and it’s not right for me to stand in the way when all I want with her is a roll between the sheets.

  “Yeah. I think she did.” Another lie to add to the list.

  “For the record, I really like Viv. You two are good together.”

  “I’m glad you approve.” I don’t know what else to say, yet I’m sort of left wondering if he’s right. Would we be good together?

  I may hate her, but I haven’t loved or hated so passionately since...

  That’s when it dawns on me.

  Since Kendra.

  Since the girl who used me for a year to get to my brother broke my heart.

  Love turned to hate when I found out what she was doing, and I can’t help but wonder one thing.

  Can hate turn to love this time?

  chapter sixteen

  I’m trudging carefully through revising a contract on Tuesday morning when Lauren walks into my office holding a Starbucks cup. I feel a rush of relief that my secretary knows me so well. I’m just about to thank her for a cup of salvation when she sets the cup on Vivian’s desk.

  I glance at Lauren’s hands to see if she has another cup that might be for me, but they’re empty.

  What the fuck?

  “Payback for those two you brought me last week,” Lauren says with a smile.

  “Oh, you didn’t have to do that!” Vivian says. She stands and gives Lauren a hug.

  A fucking hug.

  What the hell am I missing here?

  Why is she so nice to everyone around me but she’s such a goddamn devil to me? How does she know Lauren’s Starbucks order, and how does Lauren know hers?

  Lauren is my secretary and I don’t even know how she takes her coffee. Both of them are all smiles this morning while I try not to seethe behind my desk. And that’s when something sort of clicks in my mind.

  Is it just me? Am I the problem?

  She obviously cares enough to get to know Lauren. She bought lunch last week for the entire office. Everyone seems to love her, and they don’t even know the truth that she actually does work here. Maybe my employees are treating her with kindness because they believe the lie that she’s my girlfriend and think being nice to her might get them into my good graces.

  But somehow I doubt that.

  I’m starting to piece together the real issue here, an issue I’m neither ready nor willing to admit, when my phone interrupts my thoughts with its jarring ring.

  I blow out a breath as I glance at the screen, and it’s a client. This particular client tends to be fairly needy, and he always wants me there in person and on short notice. It used to be fine when we were just starting out and he was my biggest client, but now I’ve added more to the table. I was busy back then, but I’m even busier now. My entire life is this company, all day every day, and I really don’t have time to take a business trip on short notice.

  But I will. I always do, because the number one rule in good business is to keep the client happy.

  “Good morning, Paul. How’s the weather in Miami this morning?” I answer. I put the call on speaker so I can keep shuffling my paperwork as we talk, an old habit that dies hard. It’s still my office, and I’m not going to bend over backwards just because some chick thinks she can set up shop in my territory.

  “Humid, Mr. Fox. Humid.”

  I give him the fake laugh he always buys, and then I ask, “What can I do for you today?”

  “Our contract with Schneider Technologies ends in a couple weeks, so we’ll need you back here for renegotiations sometime before then.”

  If he wasn’t the president of Porter Electronics, I’d tell him where he could shove his renegotiations. I take a quick glance at my calendar. Thanks for all the notice, asshole, is what I want to say. Didn’t you know this expiration date was coming?

  I study my calendar. I have a local conference I’m presenting at on Friday, and I was going to use most of Thursday to finalize my presentation. I suppose I can put in a few extra hours each night this week to make it work, and the thought of getting away from Viv for a few days has me feeling lighter somehow. I need this. I need a few hours away to do my work without someone breathing down my neck, clearing her throat, smelling like roses, licking her lips, and interrupting me every three seconds.

  I need to get away from her and her goddamn distractions.

  “As it happens, I’m heading to Florida tomorrow evening,” I say as a way to appease him.

  “You are?” Viv murmurs loud enough for me to hear but quiet enough that Paul doesn’t catch it.

  I ignore her. “I’d be glad to meet with you on Thursday.”

  Viv starts shaking her head in the corner, and I ignore her.

  “Thursday works for me,” Paul says. “It might bleed into Friday.”

  “Unfortunately I’m presenting here in Vegas at the Vegas Business Con, so I can’t do Friday. But I’ll be there first thing Thursday morning,” I say, and Viv’s violent headshaking becomes a little more vehement.

  He sighs heavily, as if the fact that I’m only clearing one day for him just isn’t good enough. I can’t afford to lose him as a client, but I can’t afford to give him any more than twenty-four hours this week. “Fine,” he finally agrees.

  We discuss a few more details, and when we hang up, Viv glares at me. “You don’t have the budget for a last-minute flight to Miami.”

  “That’s what plastic’s for, babe.” I shoot her a grin and dial Lauren’s extension even though she sits literally twelve feet outside my office.

  “I’m not your babe.” I hear the angry words come from the corner of my office, but I take the high road as I choose to ignore her.

  Rather than put Lauren on speaker so Viv can overhear all the details of our conversation, I pick up the line. “Book me the redeye to Miami this Wednesday.”

  “Same accommodations as usual?” she asks.

  The usual is the Ritz. The budget-friendly hotels Viv mentioned a few days ago flash through my mind, and I shake my head. Fuck it. “The usual,” I say, and I cut our call.

  Viv blows out a breath and shakes her head while she closes her eyes.

  I arch a brow at her. “What?”

  She stands and walks toward my office door. “Mark specifically requested I accompany you on all business trips to track spending.”

  My chest tightens and my stomach turns on me. I can’t fucking get away from her.
/>   She heads out to talk to Lauren for a minute, and when she returns, she sits back at her desk like everything is back to normal.

  “What did you just do?” I ask.

  “Gave Lauren my credit card number to book me on the same flight as you. Oh, and also, the hotel’s on me.”

  “On you?” I ask. She doesn’t seem like the generous type.

  “Okay, on your brother. He gave me a card for my expenses.”

  “He gave you, a stranger, a card, but he’s essentially putting a freeze on my own spending?” I ask.

  She nods and presses her lips together, and then she sits. “That about sums it up.” She opens her mouth to say something else, but I’m already storming angrily out of my office, so I never get to hear whatever it was.

  As I stalk past my secretary, she stops me. “The red eye is full, Brian,” she says. “I can get you on at twelve-fifteen Wednesday afternoon. You’ll land a little after eight at night.”

  “Fine,” I say. Can’t one damn thing go right?

  * * *

  We never discussed going to the airport together, and I don’t even really think about it until I’m getting in the line for security and see her just making her way through the metal detectors. I barely recognize her since she’s not wearing her usual professional attire, but the gorgeous dark waves cascade around her shoulders in a flurry just like they always do, and that’s what calls my attention to her.

  I go through the precheck line since I travel for work often. I’m through security and catching up to Viv in record time. “Hey,” I say, tapping her on the shoulder.

  She whips around. “Oh!” she says, her hand flying up to her throat. “You scared me.”

  Something’s off. She looks far less put together than usual—a strange sight to behold considering I have yet to see her as anything besides perfectly poised. Her eyes are red-rimmed and she’s wearing jeans paired with a giant gray Raiders sweatshirt that’s unfortunately covering the delicious body I know she has under there.