Chapter 22

Chapter 22

The last few days had been crazy busy. My father was back in town, and the legal team had been working twelve hours a day as we loomed closer to the bid-submission deadline. Some nights I didn’t finish working until almost midnight. And even then, the light was still on in Weston’s office when I left. Though that didn’t stop him from making his way to my bed when he finally called it quits.

This morning it felt like we’d barely fallen asleep, and now we were up again. The first light of the day streaked in through a gap in the curtains and sliced a ray of sunshine across Weston’s face.

He petted my hair as I looked up at him, chin propped up on my fist. “There’s a room key on the desk over there.”

Weston’s hand froze. “You want me to have a key to your suite?”

“Well, last night you woke me up about ten minutes after I dozed off. So I thought maybe you could just let yourself in.”

He grinned. “I’m pretty sure you just invited me to slip my cock inside of you while you’re sleeping.”

I play-slapped his chest. “I meant let yourself in my room, not my body.”

Weston leaned his weight to one side and rolled us. I was quickly on my back with him hovering over me. He pushed the hair from my face. “I like my idea much better.”

I smiled. “I bet you do.” We were both still naked from last night, and I felt him hardening against my thigh. “My father is leaving on an afternoon flight, so I told him I’d meet him downstairs at seven. Unfortunately, I have to jump in the shower now.”

He leaned in and kissed my neck. “Is there anything I can do to convince you to be a few minutes late?”

I chuckled. “There’s no such thing as a few minutes with you.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing.”

I shook my head. “It’s definitely not. But it’s also the reason I’m about to go into the bathroom and lock the door.”

Weston sulked. It was adorable. He rolled to his back and blew out a frustrated breath. “Fine. Go. But don’t blame me if there’s a wet spot on your side of the bed when you get out of the shower.”

I wrinkled my nose and stole the sheet from the bed as I stood. “My side? Why don’t you make that mess on your own side?”

He tugged at the sheet I tried to wrap around myself. “Because it’s your fault there will be any mess to begin with. If you’d just give me five minutes, I could make that mess where it belongs—inside you.”

God, I had it bad for this man. What he’d just said was crude, yet I felt that mushy feeling in my belly, just hearing him say his cum belonged inside me. Romantic, right? But it was what it was.

I leaned back down to the bed and kissed his lips. “My father should be gone by noon. How about you meet me back up here for lunch at one o’clock, and I’ll let you make that mess anywhere you want?”

Weston’s eyes darkened. “Anywhere I want?”

Oh boy. That was a dangerous statement. But what the hell? I smiled. “Anywhere. Good luck concentrating today while you debate exactly where that will be.”

***

“You and the Lockwood boy seem to have made friends,” my father said.

It was just the two of us left in the conference room now that he’d rudely told the legal and accounting team to make themselves scarce.

Where is this leading? Dad rarely made observational comments that didn’t have a purpose. He treated people as pawns in a chess game. I shuffled a pile of papers to a neat pile. “We’ve found common ground. It’s not like we have a choice when we’re running a hotel together.”

“He’s not focused on running a hotel with you, Sophia. His focus is on your ass. I’m not dumb. I see the way he looks at you when he thinks no one is paying attention.”

I froze. “How does he look at me?”

“Like he’s a pit bull that hasn’t eaten in weeks, and you’re a juicy steak.”

I cringed—not because it wasn’t quite possibly true, but because hearing my father say it was wrong. The word juicy in any way, shape, or form—when related to me—sounded icky coming out of his mouth. Knowing lies were usually apparent on my face, I avoided eye contact by walking around the room and collecting empty coffee cups and plates left by the team.

“I think you’re exaggerating,” I said. “But…so what if he does? Weston is a nice-looking man. It’s not like I haven’t noticed that.”

I snuck a peek at my father’s face and found it stern. “Jesus, Sophia… Don’t even think about it. That man is beneath you. But in any event, perhaps you could—”

I cut my father off. “Beneath me? What does that even mean? Are there unwritten levels of people I’m not seeing? Perhaps that’s why you walked out on my mother. Was she not the same level as you?”

My father rolled his eyes. “Not now, Sophia. I have a flight to catch. We don’t have time for yet another argument because your feelings were hurt when your mother and I divorced.”

I shook my head and mumbled, not quite under my breath, “Unbelievable…”

Dad took his suit jacket from where it hung on the back of a chair and shrugged into it. “Anyway, as I was saying, the Lockwood boy is interested in you. Perhaps you can use it to our advantage.”

“To our advantage? Exactly what are you suggesting?”

“We’ve had this discussion before. And you’re a smart girl, Sophia. You know exactly what I’m saying. We only get one bite at the apple with this bid. It would be helpful to know what the Lockwoods’ offer will be so we can bid above it for the minority share.”

“Just so I’m clear, you…what? Want me to spread my legs for Weston and then maybe wait until right before he’s about to shoot his load and ask him what his bid is?”

“Don’t be crude. I’m sure there are other ways you can get a sense of things. Chat him up a little bit.”

Over the years, I’d experienced so many disappointments with my father that I’d thought I’d become immune to him letting me down. But apparently that wasn’t the case. I shook my head, feeling a new low. “You should go. You don’t want to miss your flight.”

My father was so arrogant, he didn’t seem to notice the disdain in my voice. He walked over as if he hadn’t just told me to whore myself out and kissed my forehead. “We’ll talk soon.”

After he left, I stood in the conference room for a long time. There was absolutely no way my father would ever accept Weston and me having a relationship. William Sterling might be a brilliant businessman, but he was ignorant when it came to the important things like relationships. It wouldn’t matter if I told him I’d met the love of my life and was happy. The fact that Weston was a Lockwood and our families had a dumb grudge dating back before I was born was more important to honor than his daughter.

***

After “lunch” with Weston, I sighed, looking up at the ceiling. “I needed that.”

He chuckled. “I guessed that, considering you marched into this room and pretty much grabbed my dick.”

I smiled. I had sort of done that. “Sorry. I was just so frustrated. My father is absolutely the most irritating man on the planet.”

Weston turned to his side and propped his head on his elbow. He traced soft figure eights with his finger on my stomach. “Don’t apologize. I’m happy to reap the benefits of William being a dick. Though, I believe I was the one who was supposed to pick the orifice to make a deposit.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Orifice? Really?”

He winked. “You’re lucky you picked my favorite hole anyway.”

“Oh really? I’ll have to remember you like sex better than a blow job in the future.”

Weston shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing better than seeing you down on your knees in front of me. But I fucking love watching your face as you come.”

Yet again, that warm feeling flooded my belly even though what he’d said was far from classically romantic. I pressed a soft kiss to his lips. “Well, thank you for letting me use you.”

“Anytime.” He pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. “You want to talk about it?”

“My orifices?” I joked.

“Whatever went down with your father. But, hey, we can talk about orifices instead. Better yet, roll over and we’ll christen a new hole.”

I chuckled. But Weston did look interested in what had gotten me angry. So I decided to share what my father had suggested. I rolled onto my side and propped my head on my elbow, mimicking his position.

“My father told me he’s noticed you looking at my ass.”

Weston’s eyebrows jumped. He shook his head. “Shit… How’d the rest of that conversation go?”

“Not well.”

He ran his hand up and down, from the curve of my waist to my thigh and back up again. “Sorry about that. I do my best, but it’s impossible not to look at you and think about you naked.”

I smiled. “That’s oddly sweet.”

He shrugged, and his eyes stayed glued to my hip as he continued to rub up and down. “It’s the truth.”

“Well, that’s not the worst of it. After he said he’d seen you ogle me, he suggested I use it to my advantage to pump information out of you about your family’s bid.”

Weston’s hand froze, and his eyes jumped to meet mine. “What?”

“You heard me right. My father pretty much told me to seduce you to get information.”

Weston got quiet, though the stunned look on his face spoke for him. “What did you say?”

“Honestly, not enough. I think I was just so disappointed, I couldn’t come up with an appropriate answer. After he left, I thought of a million things I should’ve said. Like, I would’ve loved to see his face after I told him you were probably already waiting for me up in my room since I’d given you a key before I slipped out of bed with you this morning.”

I laughed and pointed my thumb at the stack of papers on the desk. “I’m pretty sure I would’ve had to call 911 if I’d told him you had access to all the work papers I keep in here, not to mention my body. The papers would’ve probably been a bigger deal, though.”

Weston shook his head. “I’m sorry. You deserve better than that.”

“Yeah, well, Scarlett has a saying, ‘Any time you spend wondering if you deserve better is time wasted. Because if you’re wondering, you do.’ I’ve spent too many years questioning whether I deserved the way my father treated my mother and me, so I’m not going to waste anymore time dwelling over it. I always knew the answer.”

Weston looked down. “You deserve a lot better from the men in your life—a fuck of a lot better.”