Seduce (24 page)

“I better get
some clothes on before we get caught like this.”

I watched her walk back into the conference room while I washed my hands and
splashed some cold water on my face.

I walked back out to join her and quickly dressed, all the time watching Lily.

When we were both fully clothed, she walked up to me and kissed me.  “We’ll carry on when we get home tonight,” she said and sauntered out, swaying her sexy bottom.

I walked behind my desk and sat down heavily.  I was in love with her.  H
ow the hell that had happened I had no idea, but I loved her.  It was clear as day.  But what the hell should I do about it?  There was no way on this earth I’d ever be able to let her go, that was out of the question.  But did she feel the same about me?

S
he always looked at me like I was the only one in the room and once or twice after we’d been intimate, I’d felt like she was about to say something, but she’d held back. Part of me was frightened to push it with her, in case I was wrong and she crushed me instead. 
I’m so screwed.

“No need to ask what you’re thinking about,” Lucien stated and took a seat opposite my desk.
I hadn’t even noticed him walk in.

“What are you doing here?” I grouched.

“Well, I figured since Lily looked rather flushed, you would be in a good mood, guess I got it wrong.”

“Leave Lily out of this.  What are you doing here?”

“I’ve come to take your assistant for coffee.”

“I don’t think….” He didn’t let me finish.

“I know she’s your woman, Michael.  I’m your brother.  If you can’t trust your own brother, who can you trust?  I promise the only thing I want from Lily is friendship. I can talk to her and I know it will stay with her.  She’s becoming a friend, and I guess you could say a sister.”

He was right.  He wa
s my brother and had never given me any reason to doubt him.  “Sorry Lucien.  She has me tied in knots.”

He laughed.  “I can see that.  I can also see how much you love her.”  I met his ey
es.  “You’re my brother and I’ve never seen you act with anyone else the way you do with Lily…. That’s why you have to tell her.”

“No.”  I stood and walked to the window
, resting my forehead against it.

“I can’t lose her
, Lucien.  She’s my life.”

“What happens if she finds out further down the line and she leaves you be
cause you didn’t tell her?”

“That won’t happen.”

“Michael.”

“This conversation is over.”

“I think Ramon’s gay,” Lucien said.

I just stared at him.  “What?”

“You heard me.  Sit down.”

“I think I need to
for this conversation.”

“Why do you think our brother is
,” I waved my arms around, “you know.”

“You can say it Michael….
gay.”

“Do you know or just speculating
?” I asked him.

“He’
s never been seen with a female, ever.  I mean, have you ever seen him with a woman?”

I shook my head.

“Exactly.  Plus Ruben saw him in town the other night in his club.  He said he was about to walk over and let him know he was around when another guy went up to him and put his arm around him.”

“That doesn’t mean he’s gay.  He could have just been a friend.”

“I don’t think so, but I’m not about to ask him.  I don’t want him to confirm it.  There’s nothing wrong with it, but it would be weird, him being our brother you know,” Lucien said and actually looked to be squirming.

“Okay, I can’t take anymore talk of this, go and take Lily for that coffee and look after her.”

“With my life,” Lucien said, and I believed him.

~~ LILY ~~

Back at my
desk after my run to the restroom to put my panties and bra back on. I felt rather flushed after what I’d just instigated in Michael’s office.  Where the hell my inner vixen had come from, I had no idea, but it sure as hell turned me on, not to mention what it did to Michael.

I was mortified to walk out of his office to come face to face with Lucien
, who was sitting on the sofa in the guest area.  He insisted he’d only waited five minutes, but I had my doubts.  He smirked and walked into Michael’s office, to wind him up no doubt.

“Hi
Lily,” Sylvia said.  “Can I come in?”

“Of course you can,” I replied, more than curious as to why she was asking
. She never had in the past.  “Sylvia, is everything all right?”

She sat on the corner of my desk.  “
Yes.  Are you all right, Lily?”

I raised an
eyebrow.  It was an odd sort of question for Sylvia to be asking.  “Yes, I’m fine.  Why wouldn’t I be?”

“No,
no it’s okay, just thought I’d ask.”  She jumped up from my desk and headed for the door.

“Sylvia, wait up.”  I walked towards her. 
“Please, tell me what’s going on.”

She looked pale
.  “Jacky said she heard you and Michael arguing and that you’d be moving out soon.”

I was pissed.
Jacky needed to mind her own damn business.  “We haven’t argued, so I don’t know where she got that idea from.  And as for me moving out?  There is no chance of that.  Everything between Michael and me is good.  I don’t ever remember being so happy.”

She seemed to sigh in relief.  “Thank god, I should have known better than to believe anything she said, but I needed to hear it from the horse’s mouth, you know.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.  Next time don’t believe anything she says about us. I think she’s jealous.”

“I won’t.  I better get back to work,” she said as she walked out of the office.

“
Shit.
”

“Nice vocabulary for a hot young woman,”
Lucien said.  I turned and he was sitting at my desk.

“Comfortable?”

“Actually no, this chair is rock hard.  How the hell do you relax on the thing?”

I laughed.  “That’s the point.
I wouldn’t get any work done if I relaxed on it,” I smirked, “besides, that’s what Michael’s for.”

“I really
did not need to know that…. Grab your purse.  The big boss has given me permission to take you for a coffee.”

“You asked his permission?” I asked while I retrieved my purse from the bottom desk draw
er.

“Not really.  I did tell him
though. I don’t want a black eye for kidnapping you for a short while.  I have an appointment in an hour, so I can spare thirty minutes. I can’t wait to find out what you were both up to in there when I arrived, because I had to use my own key to get in.”

I blushed.  There was no way in hell I was telling anyone what we’d done in there.

He laughed.  “Mmm, that good, huh?”

“Shut up, Lucien.”

He took my hand and pulled me out of the office, into an elevator and straight to Starbucks before I could even get my thoughts together.

As we sat down by the window with
our drinks, I noticed Jacky sitting across with a couple of other women who worked for the company on a different floor.

Lucien followed my gaze and then turned back to me.  “Ignore them Lily.  Jacky might be acting all jealous because you’re living with Michael, but the truth i
s, she would go with anyone who had money.  And before you ask, no, none of us have taken her up on the offer.  She works for us.  Until you came along, employees where strictly off limits.  But you’re the exception.”  He smiled.  “You have Michael so tied in knots it’s funny. I’ve never seen my brother like that before, so you need to let us get the teasing out of the way.”

I rolled my eyes.  “Boys will be boys.”
  I took a few sips of my drink, conscious that Jacky and her friends were glaring at me, probably wondering what I was doing living with one McKenzie while drinking coffee with another.

“Lily.”

“Sorry, they’re annoying me now…. So Lucien,” I grinned, “I think you need….”

He didn’t let me finish.  “I don’t need anything or anyone,” he said with emphasis on the ‘anyone’.

“You know, one of these days I hope you meet a woman who really does drop you on your ass, and when that happens, I will laugh my socks off!”

“W
ishing that on me is just cruel.”  He sulked.

I really did like Lucien.  H
e was serious most of the time, but with me, he was playful.  There was no sexual tension coming from him, he just needed a friend and I wanted to be that friend.  Michael had started to settle down when I was around his brothers and started to trust our relationship.

The realization in his office earlier that I loved him was a shock.
I never really loved David, not like I love Michael.  He was my whole world.  Without him I’d crash and burn.

“Earth to Lily!  Where did you go?  Never mind, I know where you went.”  He roared with laughter.

“I’m telling you, one of these days you’ll be dropped on your ass by a woman and I really can’t wait to see it.”

“You,” he pointed hi
s finger at me, “are asking for trouble.  Come on, I have to leave or I’ll be late for my appointment.  I’ll take you back upstairs, so Michael doesn’t shout at me.”

“Really, I’m quite capable of walking into an elevator and then walking back to the office on my own.”

“Humor me, besides your friends have just climbed aboard.  Come on.”  He practically dragged me to the elevators.  “Play along,” he whispered, then wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into him.

He started to
pretend to nuzzle my neck. I moved slightly which drew my body more into him.  He met my eyes and winked.  “Oh, Lily, you taste like heaven,” he whispered.

I could feel a giggle working its way up inside me, so when the doors opened two floors before ours, Lucien pulled me out and ushered me away and through the emergency exit
to the stairs.

We both burst out laughing.  “God, that was so funny.  Did you see her face?” Lucien asked me.

“Yes.”  I couldn’t stop laughing.

I t
ook a deep breath and Lucien led me up the two flights of stairs back to Michael’s office.

“Okay, I’
ll leave you here.  Thanks for having coffee with me and the fun in the elevator.”

“You’re welcome.  Take care.”  I hugged him and quickly kissed him on th
e cheek before I walked back into my office.

~~ MICHAEL ~~

I closed my office door
and leaned back against it.  I’d just seen Lily and Lucien hug each other, followed by Lily leaning into Lucien to kiss him.  Okay, she kissed him on his cheek and they were laughing.  What the hell was going on?

Control, that’s
what I needed.  I knew deep down that nothing was going on between them, but I couldn’t seem to stop the jealousy that flared up and take me completely off guard.

I loved her and was terrified of losing
her, which was the problem.

She knocked on my door and tried to open it.  I stepped away and in she walked.

“Michael, what’s wrong?” she asked and stood in front of me with her hands on my arms.

“You kissed him,” I blurted out.

She was speechless at first, then she took hold of my face and kissed me.  “He’s your brother.  He took me for coffee.  He walked me the last couple of floors up here.  I hugged him and kissed him on his cheek to say thank you and take care.”

“Why did you walk the last few
floors?”

She grinned.  “Jacky was in the elevator with a couple of friends, so Lucien pretended to be all over me.”  She kept her eyes locked with mine.  “He snuggled into my neck and pretended he was nibbling it or something, but what he was really doing was nothing, just trying his best not to laugh.”
  She looked up at me.  “Michael, I promise you that’s all it was.”

She looked close to tears
as she pulled away from me.  She walked over and sat on the sofa.  “I can’t keep doing this.” She wiped a tear away.  “I can’t keep explaining myself to you every time you get the wrong idea.  I’m your girlfriend and he’s your brother.  You need to trust us.  Lucien needs a friend and I want to be that friend for him, but I can’t handle you questioning me every time I see him.  You need to trust me like I do you.”

She
had me panicked after what she’d just said.  I sure as hell didn’t want to drive her away, plus she was right, I had to stop questioning her every move.

I sat next to her on the sofa and pulled her into me.  “I’m sorry Lily, so very sorry.  I do trust you and I know deep down that you wouldn’t cheat on me,
it’s just getting my mouth to catch up to my brain.”  She chuckled.  “Here, let me.”  I moved her away from me and used some tissues to wipe her tears away.