3. Future Wife?

Chapter 3

Future Wife?

Leo

I ’d never met such an infuriating woman in my entire life. It wasn’t just that she called me out on my bullshit or was more stubborn than I was; it was how fucking attracted I was to her—all of her—and I couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

It didn’t help that despite her scaring the absolute shit out of me, I’d manage to catch a glimpse of her rosy nipples and the way her wet underwear clung to her. She was perfect, but she was off-limits and permanently on the do-not-touch list.

Well, I mean, I could touch her, but my life was enough of a clusterfuck.

We’d known each other for years—although not that well—but I’d only recently noticed her as more than my friend’s little sister. She was quiet and she barely spared me a glance when we were in the same room.

My brother was best friends with her brother, and recently, I’d become good friends with him too. He’d even hired me to run his foundation, which was another reason Libby was off-limits since she was going to officially be an employee in a few weeks.

Right then, she was nothing more than my acquaintance, though.

The first time I really started paying attention to her was a few months ago, when she gave me her very best teacher stare through her computer screen on a video call. Our temporary headquarters had been finished, and I’d claimed the corner office without consulting her. It was the most expressive I’d seen her, and she hadn’t needed to speak for me to hear her words.

Even now, she looked at me like she either wanted to hate fuck me or rip my dick off and shove it down my throat. I couldn’t really tell. It didn’t matter anyway since touching her would mean my untimely death at the hands of not only her brother but probably my own brother as well.

It might be worth it.

After what felt like an eternity, Libby finally came out of the bathroom. She’d put her blonde hair in a braid, and fuck, she looked good in my shirt.

She turned on the light in the hallway before closing the bedroom door so only a sliver of light came in.

“Scared of the dark?” I teased as she rounded the foot of the bed and climbed in on the other side.

“It helps me sleep.” She reached over and turned off the light on the nightstand, keeping her back to me.

“It’s not good for your circadian rhythm to have a light on.” I was tempted to get up and turn it off but rolled onto my side to stare at the back of her head instead. It sounded childish, but I was enjoying pushing her buttons, especially since that was what seemed to get her to notice me.

What the hell was wrong with me? I was pushing thirty yet acting like I was twelve. I’d already gone through my quarter-life crisis, so what was this?

“Let me guess, you like it pitch black to match your soul?” She yawned.

“I like it pitch black because I’m an adult.” I rolled onto my back, trying to get comfortable. “Once you’re asleep, I’ll turn it off.”

She sat up and stared down at me, giving me a look that both made my balls retract and my dick twitch. “You’ll leave it on.”

My eyes went to her mouth, and I propped myself up on my forearms. “Tell me why.”

Her eyes traveled to my flexing arms and abs. “It’s none of your business.” She flipped her pillow over and flopped back down with a sigh. “Just... don’t.”

“Fine.” I lay back down, folding my hands on my stomach to stop myself from reaching over and wrapping her braid around my hand.

The more I thought about it, the harder I got, and I turned onto my side to face the door. Out of sight, out of mind. Only, she wasn’t out of mind because I could practically feel her in the bed with me. A queen bed was way too small for two grown adults to share. I didn’t often share my bed, let alone share it with a woman who didn’t want me.

But why would a woman like her want a man like me? She was the girl next door, and I was the rake who wanted to use her braid to guide her mouth to my cock. And then there was the dilemma of us working together.

Fuck. Now I was thinking about doing it in my office.

Was the heater on, or was I having a hot flash?

I hated sleeping in pajamas, and the damn things were already getting all wonky. I freed a leg from under the blankets and rolled to face her again, the cool air hitting my back. When that wasn’t cutting it, I rolled onto my back again, pushing the blankets off me. My dick was hard now, and I contemplated going into the bathroom farthest from the room to take care of it.

“Will you stop moving, please?” Libby didn’t move a muscle, which was for the best since my hard-on was very noticeable, especially with the soft light coming in from the hallway. Picture-worthy, even.

I adjusted myself and turned my pillow on its side to give my head more of a boost. “I’m not used to this side of the bed.”

“Then why did you move there?” The frustration in her voice only spurred me on.

“So you can’t escape so easily.” I honestly don’t know why I’d switched sides; it felt like something I should do.

She looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes. “And here I thought you might actually have a heart.”

The hard thudding currently going on in my chest indicated that yes, I indeed had a heart despite popular belief. “Why do you hate me so much?”

“Is now really the time to have a heart-to-heart? I don’t hate you.” She rolled over to face me, her eyes immediately going to my crotch and staying there longer than necessary.

“Could have fooled me. Now is as good a time as any. You have my undivided attention.” I pulled the blanket up to cover my lower half. “Tell me.”

She finally looked away from my dick. “You have no consideration for other people.”

“Is this about me taking the corner office? If it’s that big of a deal to you, you can have it.” I drummed my fingers on my stomach. “Or is this about the fundraising dinner?”

We’d had many disagreements over fundraising activities, mostly because she didn’t realize that to get donations, we had to spend money to get the attention of the big donors.

“Forget it. You wouldn’t understand.” She started to turn away, and I reached over and ran my knuckles across her arm. She froze, looking down at where I touched her. “What about the... um... sausage?”

Her skin was so soft and inviting that it took all my willpower not to pull her closer and kiss her. I didn’t know where these urges were coming from, but I needed to lock them down before I did something stupid. My stupid days were in the past.

“Impressive, isn’t it?”

It was only then that I realized I’d fucked up in my lust-filled haze. She meant the blanket, didn’t she?

She knocked my hand away and gave me her back again, scooting to the very edge of the bed. “Go to sleep, Leonardo. And stay on your side of the blanket sausage.”

Had her nakedness earlier short-circuited my damn brain, or was I really that loopy from being woken up? Either was a possibility and now it was going to be even more awkward between us.

“I’m sorry.” I closed my eyes, the silence coming from her side of the bed suffocating. Maybe I should have opted to go to the hotel.

I hoped this wasn’t a preview of what it would be like working with her full-time.

I’d slept like a baby and had already convinced myself it was because of Libby. The blanket sausage had failed miserably, and at some point, she’d ended up in a spooning position on my side of the bed with my arm wrapped protectively around her waist. But instead of making my move, I’d slipped out of bed before my alarm went off at seven and got ready as quietly as possible.

There was a lot that had to be done before the ribbon-cutting ceremony at ten, and the rain the night before had complicated matters. Luckily, when I’d gotten there, my team was already strategically placing cardboard and plywood, although the ground hadn’t been too bad.

Now it was almost ten, and I wondered where the hell Libby was. She hadn’t arrived with her brother and my call to her had gone straight to voicemail.

“Leo, are you even listening?” Carter, my best friend and the foundation’s social media manager and photographer, pulled me away from my thoughts of Libby.

“Can you repeat that? I’m sorry, there’s a lot going on.” I adjusted my tie and turned my full attention back to him.

“We’ll do the group shots right after the groundbreaking. Otherwise, we’ll never get them done. Besides the one with the whole group, I was thinking one with you and the founders, and then a few candid shots of you and them mingling.” He ran down his plan while he opened the bag he had over his shoulder and pulled out an expensive as fuck camera. With some twists and snaps, he had it ready to go with an impressive lens.

Carter had always been into photography, and after one semester at college, he’d switched from business to visual arts. His parents had practically disowned him over it, but he was happy and made good money from his skills. Not that he needed any more money. Neither of us did, which was why we were both working for practically nothing.

“Sounds good. Make sure to get some photos of the crowd too. There are some big names here.” I looked around at the growing crowd, which included prominent New York businesspeople, a few celebrities, and a handful of professional sports stars.

The only one who seemed to be missing was Libby.

“You’re doing it again.” Carter shoved my shoulder and smirked. “Who is she?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Carter could read me like a book, and the last thing I needed was for him to say something about my little crush the next time he was around my mother. He knew how she could be, and he enjoyed watching me squirm.

All it would take was one mention of a woman and my mom would start talking about babies and planning the wedding. That was the last thing I needed to deal with. It used to be my older brother she’d harp on, but with him being in a polyamorous relationship, she’d switched to me.

Carter snorted but then sucked in a sharp breath like he was about to have an asthma attack. “I really hope this chick is glaring at you and not me because, damn, I think that might be my future wife.”

“What are you even…” I followed the direction of his gaze and saw exactly who he was talking about.

Libby.

She stood next to a cab, and she was staring straight at me, her eyes narrowed, and her lips pressed in a tight line. She headed straight for me.

“She’s off-limits.” I couldn’t keep my eyes off her, which was bad news since Carter was looking between me and her.

“Fuck, man. Have you slept with the entire city?” Carter sighed. “Although, until there’s a ring on it, she’s fair game.”

I kept my mouth shut. If I gave him any inkling that I had a hard-on for her, he’d tease me mercilessly.

I looked at my watch as she got closer, and before she could even say whatever she was marching over to me to say, I spoke. “You’re late, Elizabeth.”

“I’m right on time.” She looked ready to kick me in the nuts.

“This is Carter, our photographer and social media manager. Carter, this is Elizabeth St. James, Ryker’s sister, and our program manager.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Ms. St. James.” Carter extended his hand, and she took it. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes as he brought her hand to his mouth and kissed the back of it.

“Please, call me Libby.” Her cheeks pinkened as he let go of her hand.

I cleared my throat. “Elizabeth, a word?”

Carter gave me a disapproving glance before turning his attention back to Libby. “I need to get set up. Maybe after the ceremony we can go get lunch and talk about your vision for the social media pages.”

“I’d love that.” She gave him a warm smile and it felt like she was stabbing me in the chest. She never smiled at me like that.

I needed to get my shit together. The whole purpose of me taking this job in the first place was to rebuild my image and reputation and to prove to my father that I could take things seriously for once in my life. Getting in a pissing contest with Carter over a woman probably wasn’t the best way to do that.

“I know a great new restaurant we can go to. It’s hard to get reservations, but I know the owner.” I couldn’t help myself, and both Libby and Carter gave me incredulous looks. If I could have given myself a look, it would have been the same.

Carter shook his head and walked toward where Ryker was talking to one of the few select reporters I’d invited onto the property.

Libby crossed her arms over her chest and stared at me. It reminded me of the stares teachers used to give me waiting for me to explain to them why I’d done something disruptive or stupid.

“You were supposed to be here thirty minutes ago.” I shoved my hands in my pockets to stop myself from reaching out and tucking her hair behind her ear. She’d taken her braid out and her blonde hair fell in soft waves around her shoulders.

“You didn’t wake me up.” She avoided looking at me, and her voice trembled slightly.

“You didn’t tell me you needed me to be your alarm. Did you not set one on your phone?” I tried to keep my voice gentle. All I wanted to do was pull her into my arms and make whatever was wrong better. Clearly, there was something else going on if she was blaming me for not waking her up on time.

“Hey, Lib.” Ryker came to stand beside her with a huge smile on his face and then frowned. “What’s wrong?”

She cleared her throat. “Nothing.”

“You didn’t tell her I was staying at your condo. She got there around midnight, soaking wet.” I didn’t need to tell him about how I found her practically naked by the door or how we shared a bed.

“I thought you were going to Ethan’s.” Ryker looked at me, his eyes narrowing the tiniest bit. “Did you go sleep somewhere else?”

Well, fuck. He definitely wasn’t an idiot.

Libby sighed. “My train was delayed, and Ethan has that whole roommate situation going on. I was a little surprised that the place was cleared out. I wanted that couch.”

“I thought you might want to get new stuff. You deserve it.” Ryker hadn’t taken his eyes off me, and I hoped my face wasn’t revealing anything. “Wait. Why were you soaking wet?” He finally stopped staring at me as if he was about to slaughter me right in front of everyone.

“Oh, look! We’re about to get started. We should go grab a shovel.” She started to walk off, but Ryker stepped in front of her.

“Did you walk from the train station in the middle of the night?” He sounded exactly like my older brother when he was about to give me a lecture.

“It was only two blocks away. I’m a grown woman.” She certainly was, but even I was feeling overprotective.

Her walking with her bag in the middle of the night was asking for someone to snatch it or worse. Hell, even outside of big cities it wasn’t safe for anyone to be walking alone.

“Libby.” He ran a hand down his face. “This is New York.”

“No, really? I hadn’t noticed.” She pushed past him, leaving us both staring after her.

“At least now I’m not the only one she’s pissed at. I put her in a bad mood.” I wasn’t entirely sure why or how to fix it; I’d only been about twenty-five percent asshole.

“You didn’t. It’s a bit of an emotional day for both of us.” He clapped me on the back. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Ryker hadn’t shared a ton about his upbringing, but the plot of land the community center was going to be built on was where they’d last lived before moving to Connecticut as children. My brother had been tight-lipped about Ryker’s past, but I respected him for protecting whatever story Ryker wasn’t ready to share with me.

This was why I couldn’t fuck this up. It was important to them both, and the last thing I wanted to do was hurt Libby, but as I followed Ryker to the front of the crowd, I worried that somehow, I already had.