The CEO's Seduction (A Hamilton Family Series) Read online

  She lifted her chin. “Then let me be hurt.”

  “He told me he doesn’t like you like that.”

  She knew that already. Did they really think she was such an idiot that she didn’t see the truth staring down at her? “You know what? Screw you.”

  She turned her back on him, but immediately crashed off a hard chest. Without looking she knew who it was. Only her luck would be that bad. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” she muttered under her breath as he caught her arms and steadied her.

  Jesus, take the wheel.

  “What’s wrong?” Brett asked, his voice hard, ignoring her as he glowered at her brother. “What did you say to her?”

  Chris tightened his fists. “Me? Nothing. You’re the one—”

  “Knock it off. Both of you.” Anna stepped in between the two men, frowning at both of them. The last thing she needed right now was them fighting over her. Especially when there was nothing to argue about in the first place. Chris was worried Brett was going to touch her, but she knew after last night that he never would. “I’m so sick of everyone treating me like I’m a weak little child. I’m not.”

  “No one thinks you are,” Brett said. His eyes remained on her brother, and he flexed his jaw. “Do we, Chrissy?”

  “Don’t tell me how to feel about my own damn sister,” Chris spat, his face red. “And if you call me that damn name one more time, I’ll—”

  “Brett, come with me.” Anna grabbed his hand, pulling him back toward the library. He looked down at her in surprise, not budging. “We need to talk. Now.”

  “Hey.” Nina crossed the room and grabbed Chris’s arm when he tried to follow them. “We talked about this last night. Let them go.”

  Christopher shot Brett one last threatening look but didn’t move.

  Whatever Nina had said to him worked.

  It was a frigging wedding miracle.

  As they passed every family member, hand in hand, all eyes were on them. She pulled Brett into the library, which doubled as her father’s office, closed the door, and then locked it so they wouldn’t be interrupted. He let go of her hand as soon as they were alone, backing up a few feet from her. She tried not to let that hurt her.

  Tried, and failed.

  Story of her life.

  “What did he say to you? Why were you upset?” Brett asked, his voice strained.

  “None of your business.” She bit her lip. “You know, you can’t have it both ways.”

  He cocked his head. “What do you mean?”

  “You say you can’t be with me, and that you’re empty inside, but then you come rushing to my side if I blink too many times.”

  “I can’t help it if I want you to be happy. Part of wanting you to be happy is keeping my distance, because if I get too close, you won’t be.”

  You’re wrong. You make me happy. The words almost escaped her, but she swallowed them back. He didn’t want to know how much she wanted him. Didn’t want to hear those words, no matter how much she might want to say them. “Then you need to stop swooping in to save me with my brothers. It will only make them think you feel things for me that we both know you don’t.”

  He averted his eyes. “How do you know what I do, or don’t, feel for you?”

  “I know you don’t want to be with me the way they seem to think you do,” she said slowly. “If you were going to do something with me, it would have been last night, when you woke up with me in bed with you, literally naked.”

  He swallowed hard. “Anna…”

  Her heartbeat took off as if she were about to jump out of an airplane, because he was staring at her mouth with a hunger he couldn’t deny if he tried, but she didn’t so much as shift on her feet. He didn’t want to want her, even if he did. “Yeah?”

  “I don’t mean to send mixed messages. I meant what I said last night.”

  “Then stop looking for me every time you enter a room,” she said, her tone short. “Did you know I’m the first one you find every single time?”

  He retreated a step, hitting the door with his back. He looked like a cornered lion, poised and ready to strike if she came too close. “How would you know that?”

  “Because you’re the first person I look for, too. I try not to, but I can’t seem to help myself. Because I like you, Brett.” She pushed him back against the door, her hands flat on his chest, and took a deep breath. “I’m not afraid to say it, and you know how I feel about you. Just like you know, if you wanted to, that you could have me, right here, right now. No questions asked. No empty promises needed.”

  Wow. Way to lay it all out on the line, girl.

  He pressed his hands down on hers, trapping them on his chest, and let out a soft sigh. “I know you think you have feelings for me, but you don’t. You’ve never even kissed me or fucked me. You can’t love someone you’ve never had.”

  “Oh, really?” She stepped closer, pressing her body to his. Her heart sped up at the sensation of her soft curves molding to his hard body. God, he felt so right against her. How could he not feel it, too? How could this be one-sided? “Then kiss me. Right here. Right now. Prove to me that I don’t have feelings for you.”

  “No. Not just no. Hell, no.” He shakily let go of her hands, his gaze locked on her lips despite his refusal. He tried to back up more, but he was stuck between her and the door. If he thought she would give him room, then he was sadly mistaken. She was done giving him room. It was time for the truth. “Absolutely not.”

  “Why not?” She lifted up on tiptoe, wrapping her arms behind his neck. He could have easily pulled free of her grip, but he didn’t budge. Just stood there, all stiff and unmoving. “You want to kiss me. Don’t tell me you don’t. You’re as curious as I am about what it would be like. Admit it.”

  “No.” He shook his head. “I’m not.”

  “I saw it last night, in my room. In your eyes. In your…” She drifted her gaze down, drifting off. “In your body. So don’t lie to me. Don’t ever lie to me. I won’t ask for anything from you except that. All I want from you is complete honesty.”

  “Fine. You want the damn truth? I want to fucking kiss you.” His jaw flexed, and his hands found her hips. He didn’t push her away, but he didn’t pull her closer, either. “But wanting to do something isn’t the same as doing it.”

  Her breath caught in her throat. He’d finally said he wanted her, and it hadn’t occurred in her imagination this time. She bit her bottom lip, and his gaze fell to her mouth. When his fingers flexed on her hips, she lifted her chin. She’d never been afraid to go after what she wanted, and this time was no different. “Until it is. Kiss me.”

  “I can’t, Anna. I promised your brother—”

  “He’s not here.” Unwilling to accept the stupid bro-code she had no part in, she yanked him down. “Kiss. Me. Now.”

  “Damn it, Anna.” With a tortured groan, he closed the distance between them until his lips touched hers.

  As soon as their mouths met, the rest of the world ceased to exist for her.

  All her life, she’d been picturing this moment.

  How he would feel. How he would taste.

  And nothing could have prepared her for how much better the reality was than the fantasy. His arms closed around her, and he took over the kiss with a leashed power that she’d only romanticized about when she was in bed alone. He left no doubt in her mind that he controlled the situation. He yanked her closer and spun them so her back slammed against the door, and now he was the one trapping her. Ravishing her.

  His hands left her hips and slid into her hair, holding her exactly where he wanted her. When his tongue slid inside her mouth and found hers, she whimpered and clung to him, unable to believe he actually kissed her back. And not a half-assed kiss, but one that felt like he’d been dying to do this for years.

  Just like her.

  She trailed her fingers down his shoulders, reveling in the hard lines of his biceps. When her fingers left his arms and trailed across his lower ba
ck, he let go of her and stumbled back. Eyes wide, he covered his mouth and turned a ghostly shade of white. “No. This didn’t happen. This never fucking happened.”

  “Wh-what?” she asked, blinking up at him. How could he go from smoking hot to icy cold within seconds? How could he deny what they had between them? That had been pure magic. The type of feeling that people wrote books about. “But—”

  “No.” He dropped his hands to his side and curled them into fists. “Damn it, Anna. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”

  “Yes.” She pressed her fingers to her swollen lips. “I kissed you. And you kissed me back.”

  He swiped a hand through the air, his face red. “No, I didn’t. We can’t do this. It’s wrong. Wrong.”

  Her stomach hollowed out, and she pressed a hand to it. Out of all the reactions she expected out of him, pure denial was not one of the ones she had pictured. Was he so appalled that he kissed her that he had to pretend it hadn’t even happened?

  God, way to make a girl feel like an unattractive idiot.

  She pressed her fist harder into her stomach. Her heart twisted, but she refused to show him how much his rejection hurt. She shrugged and straightened her hair. She could still feel his fingers buried in it. “Fine. Whatever. It never happened.”

  “Damn it, Anna.” He thumped his fist down on the bare table by the door, breathing heavily, and she jumped. “You ruined everything. Don’t try that again. Stay as far away from me as you can, and stop trying to force me into feeling something I won’t. I’m not something you can fix up and make pretty, damn it. I’m not one of your pet projects.”

  She lifted her chin, ignoring the stab of pain his words sent piercing through her chest. “You know what? You were right.”

  He fisted his hands at his sides, still breathing heavily and looking like a caged lion about to be set free for its first hunt. “About?”

  “About me not having feelings for you.”

  She practically ran out of the room, letting the door shut between them, but she didn’t make it a step before she crashed into Wyatt. He caught her so she didn’t hit the floor, then glanced down at her in surprise. There were tears in her eyes that she refused to let fall, and his gaze fell to her lips with concern.

  Her more than likely swollen lips.

  His entire body went tense and his eyes narrowed dangerously. “I’ll kill him,” Wyatt, her ever-calm brother, announced. He let go of her and headed for the library.

  Crap.

  If he reacted this way, what would the rest of them do if they knew?

  “Wyatt, don’t you dare take another step.” She grabbed his elbow and yanked him backward. He didn’t budge, but he stopped walking forward. She’d call that a win, thank you very much. “I swear to God if you say one word to him, or tell one person about this, I’ll never forgive you.”

  He growled. Actually growled. “He kissed you. He promised to never—”

  “He didn’t kiss me. I kissed him, and he told me not to do it again. And I won’t.” She took a deep breath, shaking her head. “I won’t kiss him again.”

  “Why would he tell you to never do it again?” Wyatt eyed her. “He’s not going to find anyone better than you.”

  She rolled her eyes. Men really were idiots. “Do you want him to want me, or do you want him to stay away? Make up your mind.”

  “I don’t know, damn it.” He walked back to her and wrapped her in his arms. She leaned against him, letting him comfort her for a moment before she pulled away. “I want you to be happy, whatever that means.”

  She swallowed hard. “Well, whatever happiness I find in life won’t be with him. I see that now.”

  “I’m sorry.” He sighed and eyed the closed door behind her. “Maybe it’s good this happened today. Now you can move on. Right?”

  As if. She nodded. “Right. Don’t tell anyone, okay?”

  He opened his mouth, shut it, and glanced at the library door one last time. “Yeah. It’ll be our little secret.”

  Anna gave him one last bright smile, so fake it hurt, and then walked up the stairs to her room. Once she locked the door, she slid to the ground and hugged her knees. She didn’t know what the heck really happened in the library, but he’d kissed her with as much passion as she’d kissed him. It scared him enough to make him push her away even more than before.

  She was sick of being pushed away.

  All her life, she’d been waiting for him to wake up and see that they belonged together, but that was never going to happen, and it was time to accept that. She had a successful job helping children learn how to speak properly, a nice apartment in the city, and a bunch of friends who loved her. She didn’t need a man to make her happy.

  And, more importantly, she didn’t need Brett Ross.

  Chapter Six

  Later that night, Brett lay in bed alone, glaring at the ceiling. He couldn’t see the damn thing without his contacts or glasses, but that didn’t stop him from giving it the evil eye. How many times would he replay that damn kiss in the library? Every time he closed his eyes, he felt her body against his and her lips.

  And he couldn’t shake how right it had felt.

  How right she’d felt.

  What would it be like to be good enough for a girl like her? What kind of man deserved Anna Hamilton? Cursing inwardly, he shook his head at himself.

  Picking up his phone, he checked the time.

  Three in the morning.

  If he didn’t get to sleep soon, he would be an actual zombie come morning. Maybe he could sneak downstairs and grab a quick shot or two of whiskey.

  When he stepped out of his room, he frowned at Anna’s door. Even now, he was tempted to see if it was locked or not. The memory of her skin touching his flashed through his mind, and he took a sharp turn for the stairs. He needed a damn drink.

  Or five.

  However many it took to get her off his mind.

  When he reached Mr. Hamilton’s office, he opened the heavy library door and closed it behind him silently, leaning against the intricately carved wood, right where he’d kissed Anna earlier. He always felt out of place in this room. Its opulence fairly shouted of money, and he’d never had any of his own growing up.

  Even now, with more money than he knew what to do with besides give it all away to orphanages and other such places to help kids like himself, he didn’t feel right standing here clothed in his pajama pants and glasses. Smoothing his hair, he stepped into the moonlight and crossed the room to the window, where all the expensive liquor was kept. Last time he’d slept in this house he had been eighteen. He, Christopher, and Wyatt had drunk his father’s best scotch, and had gotten their asses grounded for it.

  Well, Wyatt and Christopher had.

  Brett’s aunt and uncle had simply shrugged and returned to their own perfect little life where they didn’t have to deal with the rebellious teenage burden of a nephew they’d been cursed with. But really, had he expected anything different from them?

  Nowadays, he only heard from them when they wanted something from him. Money. Cars. Vacations. He gave it to them every damn time.

  But it was never enough.

  They always came back for more.

  He didn’t like showing weakness to anyone, and his family—or lack thereof—definitely fell under his weaknesses. They were part of the reason he was the way he was. He’d never been shown love by the only family he had, so he’d learned to live without it. He preferred it that way. It was clean. Easy. It was all he knew.

  What would happen to Anna if he slept with her? Would he be able to fuck her and leave her, like he did with all the other women who visited his life? Would he even want to walk away from her? Somehow he doubted he would, and it scared the hell out of him. And that right there was the goddamned truth.

  Anna scared him.

  The way he felt about her was terrifying.

  Never once had he backed down from a challenge in his life. When Christopher dared him to moon the
principal, he’d done it. When the time to take over his father’s company came, he’d stepped behind the desk despite his paralyzing fear that he would ultimately fail. And he hadn’t failed. In fact, he was good at it. He’d increased profits, and the value of his stocks had skyrocketed since he took over as CEO. His employees liked him. People had job security and valuable 401(k)s. He had a penthouse, and nice cars, and enough money to buy anything he needed, or wanted, and…and…

  It wasn’t enough.

  With Anna, he wanted more.

  All this time he had been convincing himself that he refused to touch her only because of a promise he had made as a child, but that wasn’t the whole story. He couldn’t touch her because if he did…he might never be able to stop. He couldn’t touch her because deep down, he was aware that he didn’t deserve her.

  What would it be like to be the guy who did?

  What was it like in his shoes?

  He slammed down the empty glass, his head more than a little fuzzy, angry at himself for even wondering about stupid shit like this. “You’re an idiot.”

  “How long are you going to stand there talking to yourself, drinking my dad’s best whiskey?” Wyatt asked.

  Brett searched the shadows for his friend.

  Judging from his voice, he sat on the couch on the opposite side of the room next to the empty fireplace. “How long have you been there?”

  The other man chuckled. “Long enough to know you’re looking to get wasted and forget about something. Am I right?”

  “Maybe. Why didn’t you say something?”

  Wyatt shrugged. “You seemed like you wanted to be alone, so I was going to wait until you left. But you didn’t go.”

  “Yeah. I was thinking…out loud.”

  “I noticed,” Wyatt said drily. “Bring your glass over here. I have some excellent bourbon on this side of the room, and I’m a good listener sometimes.”

  “All right.” Brett picked up his cup and walked slowly toward the couch. “How long have you been down here?”