3. Callie

Kane wanted me in the meeting?

Beyond what I’d picked up from Sawyer over the months, I certainly wasn’t qualified enough to sit in on a meeting as important as this one for anything other than taking notes, and Sawyer was often against a paper trail like that.

As I forced a polite smile, ready to decline, Sawyer beat me to it.

“Alright,” he said. “She can stay.”

I could stay?

I sent him a glance, trying to get a read on what he was thinking but his face remained as impassive as ever, and his attention was solely on Kane. There seemed to be a secret conversation happening that I wasn’t privy to. Ideally, I wanted to crawl back to my desk and scrape by the rest of my shift before going home and drowning in some wine, but they clearly had other ideas.

“Do you want me to record anything?” I asked Sawyer, unsure what other value I could bring to something like this.

“Just listen,” was his only reply.

Great. Excellent notes, boss.

Taking the only available single chair around the small coffee table, I settled in to observe whatever it was Kane decided he needed my insight into, and prepared for what was sure to be a boring pissing contest between two Alpha men unwilling to back down even an inch for the other.

It turned out, I was pleasantly surprised.

Sawyer jumped right in and began detailing the new, affordable Alzheimer’s drug he had been helping to develop. He learned about it a year or so ago and has been investing heavily because while it’s not a cure, it can give a lot of ‘better’ days to those affected. However, despite his efforts, he didn’t have the means to get this drug into the hands of patients without raising costs.

Kane was utterly enthralled throughout Sawyer’s entire speech, and then a knowing smile crossed his face. The distribution problem required his company, Golden Dove, to step in. Golden Dove had excelled at giving back to the people for years, and if anyone knew how to absorb the costs as a company rather than passing them onto the customer, it was Kane Lewis.

I was amazed to watch them talk, discussing numbers of money I could only dream of. Kane’s desire for my insight became clear when he wanted to know rough numbers of how much I was forking out for bills, medicinal and otherwise. Keeping the real numbers close to my chest – I didn’t want to spill that kind of info to a man I hardly knew – I provided him with a few estimates.

Even when Kane explained why the costs were so high, it really came down to corporate greed because those with money were more than capable of absorbing some of the monetary stress if it meant saving lives. That seemed to be the one thing that both he and Sawyer agreed on, and it became the baseline for the rest of their discussions. Working together, they could do amazing things to keep this drug as low costing as possible while helping more and more people.

It was the first time I saw Sawyer speak about his work with any kind of passion. When he took over Crane Enterprises from his father a few years ago, there had been a swift change in direction, and it seemed Sawyer was committed, deep down, to doing the right thing with the company he now had.

“You wouldn’t believe it,” I explained to Bianca a few hours later on the bus home. “They were sitting across from each other like Gladiators and neither of them moved unless the other did. It was like they were mirroring each other while looking for some kind of threat.”

“Men,” Bianca chuckled down the line. “What’s threatening about a man in a suit?”

“We will never be rich enough to know,” I sighed, staring out the fogged window at the passing city. I kept my breathing shallow so as not to break in the musky stink of the bus, and my mind replayed the meeting over and over.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Bianca groaned.

“But ohmygod!” I shifted in my seat and a pulse of excitement wormed its way through my body. “I won’t complain about having to stare at two men who are as hot as all hell. Sawyer might have the sexy, smoldering good looks but Kane?” I groaned and pressed back in my seat. “He’s like one of those underwear models that you convince yourself aren’t real because how can one man be so good-looking?”

“I’m jealous,” Bianca whined over the phone. “You get to look at sexy men all day and I just get dogs.”

“Dogs are cute though,” I pointed out. “You get to spend your day with animals which is infinitely better than people.”

“Maybe. Although,” Bianca purred slightly and I could hear the smirk in her voice. “Kane must have some kind of crush if he immediately asked you to stay in the meeting.”

“Normally I’d laugh you off,” I replied, “and say that it was probably a power trip with Kane showing he could order me around but when the meeting was over? He winked at me when he left.”

“See!” Bianca screeched. “Even if it is just to pull one over on Sawyer, maybe you’ll get a nice, juicy man steak out of it.”

“Oh please,” I laughed, forgetting to keep my voice low and earning an irritated look from another nearby passenger. “He seems just as firm as Sawyer though. They talked the same, never really saying what they wanted to but the way he helped me up after I fell? The way Sawyer helped me up?”

I puffed out my cheeks as warmth swept up my throat.

“Maybe it’s a boss thing.” Bianca rustled slightly. “Money and power make people a hard ass and helping you up saves them from some kind of lawsuit.”

“I’d believe that if I believed what everyone else said but I don’t think it’s that. I’ve seen Sawyer’s soft side. He hides it well.”

“And Kane?”

“Well,” I chuckled. “His hand did linger on my elbow for way longer than was necessary. A girl can dream.”

“If that’s all you’re going to be doing, you got to at least get me a picture so I can understand these men you’re lusting after,” she laughed.

Lustingfelt a bit strong. Deep down, I knew nothing was going to happen, but I could fantasize a little—enough that my days weren’t so completely dreary.

“Okay, enough about me,” I declared. “Tell me about your day.”

Bianca immediately burst into a long rant about a client who had forgotten to pick their dog up for three days. She had to pull out the big guns when explaining that a Veterinary Practice was not a shelter for dogs and that if they couldn’t take care of their animal, then there would be consequences. Her rant led on to pouring our frustrations about her boss and his refusal to give her more hours but with a new big client secured there was a chance of a bigger bonus.

I ended the call when the bus pulled up to my stop and, after checking how late it was, I hurried across the street to the hospice currently caring for my mother.

Each day was a gamble. Would she recognize me? Or would this be one of those days where I don’t exist?

I got my answer as soon as I stepped through the doors, and the nurse flashed me a sympathetic smile.

“How is she?” I asked, pausing in the doorway to the lounge.

“It’s been a tough day,” the nurse replied. “A quiet day can be good but she didn’t recognize her nurse this morning and that caused some issues.”

“Is she okay?” Worry swarmed through my chest and I took a step forward, but as my mother’s eyes listlessly passed over me without a hint of understanding, I hesitated.

Having my own mother look at me as if I’m a stranger is a deep, unique pain that I’m not quite ready to take on board today.

“She’s fine,” the nurse assured me. “Although now that you’re here, I do have to remind you that your bill is two weeks overdue. You’re coming to the end of your grace period and I understand things like this can be difficult but I have to chase it up.”

Despite the kindness in the nurse”s voice, there was a touch of irritation in his eyes. Normally, I’d sympathise with how hard it is to chase people for payment, but just a glimpse of my mother makes my heart heavy in my chest.

“I’ll get to it,” I replied sharply. “It’s been a tough month. I explained all this to you boss. I thought she agreed to give me an extension?”

“She did,” he replied with a tight smile. “But that extension is up next week and I have to remind you. I’m sorry, it’s policy.”

Of course it was.

“Alright, I understand. You’ll have your money by the end of next week.”

How I was going to get that money though, I had no idea. It looked like my evening of relaxing was going to turn into searching for another bank willing to give me a loan.

It would be worth it though, for my mother. She deserved the best care.

By the time bedtime rolled around, I was exhausted. For my own peace of mind, I typed up everything I remembered from the meeting then spent two hours with a bottle of wine and my laptop filling in countless loan applications.

This wouldn”t be an issue if I were as rich as Sawyer or Kane. I know they did everything they could to help those less fortunate than themselves. Kane was even famous for being a man born into money who had given away more than he’d ever earned, but I couldn’t stomp down the rising jealousy.

If I had that kind of money, my mother would be in the best facility in the country.

Heading upstairs, I played out a scenario in my head where I asked Sawyer for a raise. I’d never done that before, but given my crumbling financial situation and the unstable access I had to loans, maybe it was a path I should consider.

Our conversation ran several different ways in my head until Sawyer got tired of turning me down and promised to teach me a lesson for asking too often. He struck me as the kind of man who didn’t like to be questioned or disobeyed. Tiredness fed into the fantasy when I stepped into the shower and my desire for a bigger salary melted into a desire for attention.

To be noticed by Sawyer the way Kane had noticed me. To feel those strong arms throwing me around with the same ease that he picked me up from the floor. I bet he could throw me onto the bed and ravish me without breaking a sweat.

I ached for him when I stepped into the shower. Each drop of water across my skin was a hint of what his touch could feel like against my bare skin. I wanted the pressure of his fingertips to leave bruises on my arms, wanted my throat to sing with the claim of his mouth. I wanted his hands in my hair and his lips against my ear telling me how proud of me he is. How he only promoted me so he could get close enough to fuck me.

Within minutes, I was pressed against the shower wall with my fingers deep inside my pussy. In my mind, those fingers were his as he pressed me against the filing cabinets and gasped desperately about how he couldn’t stay away from me. He was jealous that Kane had touched me, that he’d looked at me and I wanted to remind me who I belonged to.

Fuck, I wanted to be owned.

My whimpers melted into the water pouring around me as I thrust my fingers deep, fucking myself as aggressively as I was certain he would. He was a man of power, He committed, and I knew he would commit to me if he had the chance. I pressed the heel of my hand upward against his clit and pictured Sawyer kissing his way down my body. He’d part my thighs and look at me, put me on display and then eat me out like I was some kind of delicacy.

And through it all, his intense eyes would cut through the fog of lust and keep me grounded in the moment, focused on the pleasure.

Suddenly, as Sawyer’s phantom mouth licked over my pussy and kissed my clit, Kane appeared next to me and slid his hand gently around my throat. He smiled and just as he leaned in to kiss me with those full lips, I came.

My cry bounced off the walls, and I shuddered down the tiles, wrapped up in pleasure for a few long moments with both Kane and Sawyer in my mind, watching me fall apart with knowing smiles.

Shit.

Slumped beneath the spray, I panted as my body tingled and rippled around the pulsing waves of pleasure.

Kane and Sawyer.

Together.

Well, that fantasy was going to make facing them at work a little more difficult.

Worth it.