Persuading Perfection Read online

  His filthy mouth always turns me on. The way he loses himself in the heat of the moment, taking on a naughty primal persona, is erotic as hell.

  I’m not as daring as he is, but I do know what drives him up the wall.

  “Zach…” It’s all I breathe and it provokes a gluttonous appetite in him.

  He thrusts diligently and the slow burn transforms into a wild fire. “I need you,” I whimper as my orgasm ceases my body.

  “I’ve got you,” he grunts. “I’ve got you, baby.”

  He becomes ravenous, gripping the insides of my thigh and raising my legs while drilling into me. I cry out, my body exploding with euphoria. Glorious seconds before he comes, his dick thickens and I can feel it pulsing. He shatters, careening into his release, and hauls me down, rooting deeply. In a frenzy, he pushes and pulls my hips, shifting me to take every inch of him. It hurts, jolting pain and I hiss.

  I’ve never been able to take all of him. Ever. Normally, he’s thoughtful, but when he’s coming, he’s selfish and as painful as it is, I love it.

  His breath is erratic as I drop my head back to his shoulder allowing our bodies to slow.

  Winding his arms around my stomach, he kisses my skin. “I love how you fuck my name.”

  I hum my pleasure and then head to the bathroom to clean up. When I return, he’s standing by the window, looking out onto the city with his hands in his pockets. His silhouette is strong and sexy, and it causes my chest to cramp.

  Tell him. Right now. Tell him.

  “I…” am chicken shit.

  He glances over his shoulder with that sated grin before pulling me to him and smoothing my hair. “I’ve got to go. I’ve got a meeting in thirty minutes across town.”

  Sadness deflates my lungs, but I offer a smile anyway. “Business as usual.”

  He presses his lips to my forehead. “If it were up to me, I’d take you back to the bed and have my way with you all day.”

  “We keep this up…” I spread my arms and look around to Max’s open apartment. “We’ll be caught.”

  Amusement flickers in his gaze. “Nah. We’re pros at this.” He lowers his lips to mine and kisses me tenderly. “I’ll text you later.”

  As he starts toward the foyer, I’m overwhelmed with courage. Strength bombards me. Love trickles. This is it. I’m going to tell him. “Zach?” I call out after him with a sense of urgency. He pivots back on his heel and that damn devastating sexy satisfied smile knocks me off-kilter and steals my bravery. “Have a good day.”

  Chicken shit…

  “Can’t get any better than this.” He winks and is gone.

  I’m pregnant—Two words have a power over me that I’m unfamiliar with. I’ve never been scared to say what’s on my mind, yet here I am speechless even with the words right here.

  Jade

  After Zach left, I took a shower and went back to bed, completely exhausted. My phone rings waking me up. Max’s name brightens the display.

  “You got any plans for dinner?” he asks.

  I roll on my back and wipe the hair from my face. “No.”

  “Good. Come to the winery. I’ll have Ward cook us up something. I want to show you the expansion, and before you think about protesting, I’m begging with my lip out.” He chuckles.

  I groan with humor. “You’re pulling out all the guns.”

  “Is it working? I’m giving you the look.”

  “You remember I got sick of you persuading me with that stupid puppy dog face of yours?”

  He laughs. “Yeah, but you can’t punch me through the phone.”

  “I can when I get there,” I say.

  “I see it still works. I’ll see you when you get here.”

  I jerk to my elbow. “Hey! You tricked me.”

  He’s cackling. “I’ll see you soon,” he sings as he hangs up.

  I hate having an older brother…Okay that was said with sarcasm. I love him. He’s my hero, my brother, my best friend, but he’s still annoying, and right now I want to knock that puckered lip right off his face.

  Changing out of my pjs and into a pair of jeans with a loose gray shirt and my black ballerina flats, I’m becoming a human again. I put on some makeup, brush my hair into a ponytail, and call it done. When Zach and I first started messing around, I used to take extra measures thinking everyone could tell we were screwing. I was drowning in paranoia. But over the years, I learned to relax. I mean, unless we’re caught in the act then it’s just assumptions, right?

  I park in the back and climb the stairs, entering through the employees’ entrance. Max’s office is down a long masonry hallway with windows showing off the vines with the mountains in the background. He’s sitting behind his desk and smiles up to me when I enter.

  “Took you long enough,” he teases.

  I purse my lips. “I went back to sleep because you were being a butthead.”

  He rounds his desks and jerks his head for me to follow. “Let me show you something incredible.”

  The room is unfinished, plastic covering the dark wooden shelves. The white ceiling is miles high with dark wood beams, the same color as the shelves, distanced apart. Most of the floor is complete with natural colored stone tiles. A ginormous fireplace dominates the room from the back. The wooden mantle surrounding it is as large as a tree trunk. Several tall shelves with silver hooks line the side walls.

  “The original tasting room is too small and cramped. It needed a serious overhaul. Zach got a crew out here and they tore down the walls and expanded it.” He points to the middle of the room. “There will be six tasting bars individually placed, each able to seat twelve people. And they will all have a smaller wine shelf like the one there.” He nods toward the large shelving lining the back wall. “They will be stocked full of wine. Each bar will have a fridge tucked underneath and out of view so we can keep unopened bottles cool and ready. And sitting on top of each bar will be an open wine cooler so we can keep everything to perfect tasting temperature.”

  I spin around taking the entire room in. “Max. This is…This is beautiful. And it’s not even complete yet. I can’t wait to see it when it is. Who came up with the design?”

  “Mostly Zach. He took my ideas and made them into reality. But I had to do something. Ever since Kathie Lee Gifford came last year and tweeted about experiencing superb wine here, we started busting out of the seams.”

  “I remember that. You were so starstruck.” I snicker at the memory.

  He chuckles too and holds his fingers apart slightly. “Just a little. But I never would have thought we’d blow up like we did. The tasting room got so busy it held an hour long wait and the private party rooms were booked out two weeks.”

  “Are you going to expand those too?”

  “In due time.”

  “I’m so proud of you.” I give his shoulder a gentle nudge. “What’s Dad say about it?”

  “He’s proud to see it growing and he’s excited to come visit.”

  Marcy, Max’s best waitress, sticks her head in and informs us our food is ready. As Max ushers us through the main dining room, he wears a polished and professional smile. I watched him grow from a clumsy kid into my hero, and right into the man he is now. And that makes me smile.

  Outside on the balcony, Max slides my chair out and then takes a seat across from me. A glass of blush wine already sits on the table. “I’d like to have a Sprite today, please,” I tell Marcy. “I wasn’t feeling the best yesterday,” I add because paranoia and all.

  Quickly, she takes the wine away from the table.

  “Are you still not feeling well?” Max asks looking concerned.

  “I feel much better today. I just don’t want to take any chances. That’s all.”

  Marcy comes back with my drink and Isabella, Max’s dining room manager, is right behind her with our food. Isabella has worked with Max for five years or more, and I absolutely adore her. She’s the sweetest and most caring human being on the face of the planet. We need more Is
abellas in the world.

  She sets Max’s plate, loaded with steak covered with sautéed mushrooms with mashed potatoes and a steaming pile of broccoli on the side. My plate on the other hand, is polar opposite.

  “Umm…I think my plate is broken,” I jest “Or you’re insinuating I’m fat.” I nod toward the chicken wrap.

  Isabella warms me with a smile as she pats my shoulder. “I told him he did a shoddy job at ordering for you. But you know how stubborn he is.”

  “Wait. You’ve ordered that the past three times you’ve been here,” he proclaims.

  “But what if I didn’t want it this time? What if I was hungry?”

  He narrows his eyes. “Then order something different, but I’m not waiting on you to eat. I’m starving.”

  Isabella snickers under her breath. “I’ll be sure to tell your father you said that.”

  Max’s grin falters and his mouth falls open. “How is it you have my employees on your side?”

  I grin and shrug. “Guess that just shows you who the better Lauder is.”

  It causes us all to laugh. After assuring Marcy and Isabella the wrap is fine, Max and I eat over small talk. Every bite I take, I thank my lucky stars I’m able to eat without feeling the queasy truck backing over me. I don’t feel well, but I don’t feel as horrible as I did last night.

  Max takes his last bite and tosses his napkin on his plate. He takes a swallow of his wine and rests back into his seat with curiosity flaring in his gaze. Oh, god. This only means one thing—he wants to talk about something important.

  “I need a manager for the new tasting room and I want you to take it. Your hours would be flexible except the weekends. Your pay would be more than enough. You’d be in charge of everything.”

  I frown dolefully. “Max, I’m not working for you. I’m a wine-ron. I don’t know the first thing about wine and I’d end up embarrassing us both.”

  His eyes squint slightly, indicating the squeaky wheels in his mind are turning. “You could stay with me for as long as you want. You’ll be making more money than you’ve ever made. I’ll teach you everything you need to know. You’re a Lauder. It’s in your blood. You’ll catch on fast.”

  “You’re bargaining a good deal, but the answer is still no.”

  “You’re infuriating. You know that?”

  “You’ve only told me that a time or two throughout my life,” I quip with a cheesy, toothy grin.

  Frustrated, he exhales. “At least promise you’ll give it some thought. The expansion won’t be complete for a while. You have some time to ponder it.”

  I taste my Sprite with his intense stare, full of hope, on me. It sucks that I really can’t do the job. Wine is completely foreign to me. I don’t have a palate like he does. I have no idea how to tell if its tinny, smoky, balanced, and whatever else I’ve heard him describe wine. I wouldn’t know good wine even if the label told me so.

  “Please, Jade. Just think about it,” he says with inflection.

  “Fine.” I give in just so he’ll lay off me. “I’ll think about it. But I’m not going to promise you anything. None of this appeals to me.”

  He nods, pleased, and I’m thankful he drops the damn subject. I’m over it. Every time I’m around, he brings it up and it’s starting to exasperate me.

  Zach

  Three glorious days in a row I’ve been blessed with sinking my dick into Jade. Yesterday, I knew Max was stuck with one of the designers overlooking the expansion, so I made my way back to his place and fucked Jade over the edge of her bed. She’s downright intoxicating, from her sexy slender frame to her damn moans. She’s always been a fun and fantastic fuck. A perfect fit for my aching cock. I crave to feel her, to hear her mewl for me, to see her writhe.

  She’s my absolute completeness. She’s my perfection.

  Which is why I need her to leave. It’s urgent that I get the hell away from her. Even after all these years of sneaking around, I can only handle so much before I need distance. It’s when she immerses my thoughts becoming the only thing I can think of. From the moment my eyes open to the time they close. An ache settles in my chest knowing I must walk away and detach myself emotionally. My senses need to recalibrate and once I do, these feelings will lie dormant, unrustled until she stirs them up again. That’s normally when other women play a handy role, but even then, it renders futile.

  There’s no denying how I feel about her. Hell, I’ve told her before. After so long, I begin craving to feel her. I covet her mouth. Yearn for the looks in her eyes. Pine to see a glimpse of her quirky personality. It’s a vicious cycle, and no matter how long we’ve done this, it’s torture—a pleasurable torture. I know nothing will or could ever come from this, that no matter how much I feel for her, the ending is always right around the corner. And that thought always wrecks me. We’ll always remain a secret paramour because she’s my best friend’s little sister…

  All day I’ve fought not to text her or call her to hear her voice. I’ve battled not to contact Max and nonchalantly find out where he is so I can sneak back over and have another rendezvous with her. I’ve kept myself busy—elbow fucking deep—in work with blueprints, prospects, and designs. I’ve even tucked my cell phone in the drawer of my desk just so I wouldn’t be tempted.

  Papers are strewn across my desk. I’ve busted my ass since taking the CEO position of Calloway Developers. I’ve grown the business substantially with my appetite for success. My dad was a damn good businessman. He would come up with shit and improvise like no one’s business. He laid the foundation of the company, grew it, and made a reputation for it. And I built it from there. When he scooted over and let me in, the company exploded. I got my design niche and my smooth talking from my pops. Hell, I grew up watching the man handle things while he kept his shit collected. I never saw him mad, only intense. He wouldn’t raise his voice, only darkened his glare.

  I listened intently and I learned. I grew into a man who could design Superman a new fucking cape.

  Calloway Developers has been going strong for years, and I’m damn proud of it. I employ hundreds of people, responsible for sourcing and structuring anything from small houses to multimillion-dollar businesses. I’m sought out from across the country, working with counterparts from city planners to high-end engineers.

  Smile, because I sure as hell am.

  Valorie knocks on the door and I call her in. She’s a petite woman with the darkest black hair I’ve ever seen and the brightest brown eyes. She’s an older woman with the heart of a saint, keeps me straight, and takes no shit. She’s a perfect asset.

  “Mr. Maliza called and had to cancel the meeting this afternoon. He had a family emergency.”

  Sure…

  “Did he reschedule?”

  She frowns, shaking her head. “No.”

  “I bet you that asshole, Bren, shoved his cockroach foot in the door after hearing we were discussing the project.”

  “If it accounts for anything, he sounded sincere when he called.”

  “Only time will tell,” I say.

  “Max is on the phone for you now.”

  I give her a smile. “Thank you.”

  She disappears back out the door. Did I mention she’s a quiet woman? She keeps to herself, but trust me, you do not want to piss that woman off. She’s got a wicked side hidden underneath all that innocent look.

  “Yes, sir?” I call out, answering the phone.

  “I’ve been invited to Abbot’s Fundraiser in Pennsylvania this weekend. Feel like an all exclusive trip filled with elegant beauties and an endless pick of fine wine?”

  I chuckle. “Easton’s taken. Jade must’ve turned down the invite. So I’m assuming I’m the last resort?”

  “Nailed it,” he quips. “Jade took off earlier. Her work called needing her to go in tomorrow. I tried talking her into coming to work for me, but she declined it…again.”

  The ache in my chest strangles my heart. Part of me wants to celebrate her departure. Do a little dan
cing jig that my mind can finally take a break and get my shit back straight. The other part of me…well, I’m pissed she didn’t bid me farewell and give me one last taste of her because who the hell knows when I’ll see her again. It could be six more months.

  “The infamous Lauder hardheadedness strikes again.” I laugh. “You know she wants to do whatever it is she wants to do. Is she still claiming ignorance as the hiccup?”

  “Wine-ron is her term. And yes. I offered her a hell of a salary with a free place to stay for however long she wants and I’d teach her everything. She said she’d think about it, but man, I know she’s already turned me down in her mind.”

  Yeah. That’s Jade. Trying to make a path in life, one that she’s going to make on her own. “Maybe she will think about it this time. You never know with her.”

  “One can only hope.”

  Not this “one.” But if she takes the job, that plants her sexy ass right in my arm’s reach and I’m certain all hell will break loose. My feelings won’t have any time to lie dormant then.

  “When’s the flight?” I ask, changing the subject before my mind twists it into something it shouldn’t.

  “Friday morning.”

  I pull my phone from the drawer and check my calendar. I have nothing scheduled except a meeting with Easton and it’s only for shits and giggles. “Count me in. I’ll be ready.”

  I’ve always given back to the community. I’m not a selfish idiot—without them, yeah, I’d still have a job, but it wouldn’t be nearly what it is now. I’m a conceited sonofabitch, but I’m extremely grateful that I’m sought out and trusted.

  Elegant beauties was a damn understatement. These women are staggering, gracefully shining confidence. I can smell their sexual insufficiencies lacing the air and this is where I come into play. My pockets are deep enough, my dick long and thick enough, and my expertise is just damn perfect. Upscale luxurious classy women are fabulous fucks. Confident in their own skin, they know what they want and have no problem demanding it. They beg to be manhandled during their one-night sexcapades. I’m one hundred percent down for that. I need to release my mind anyway. Incredible sex with no strings attached? I’d be a damned idiot to deny that.