Chapter 1
Dylan
The hard push of his cock against me made me ache. I groaned, shifting my body closer to his in the narrow bed.
“Are you sure about this princess?” Cameron looked down at me with a worried gaze.
“I’m positive,” I breathed. I was nervous, but I’d never felt more sure about anything in my entire life. I was in love with him – Cameron Richmond, my older brother’s best friend, and my secret crush for as long as I could remember. I was giving him the best gift I could offer. My virginity. In the dewy summer air, my hair clung to my skin and I felt hot all over, but I doubted that was from the temperature.
His deep blue eyes locked onto mine, he swallowed, and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “Tell me if it hurts, and I’ll stop.”
I nodded tightly, vowing to obey. There was no way I’d want him to stop. This was all I’d dreamed about for years.
I could see just enough of him with the moonlight filtering in through his bedroom window. He was perfect. Muscled where a man should be, and firm, yet gentle. He curled his fist around his thick cock, and stroked. Then he pressed his hips closer, aligning himself with my entrance and thrust, shattering through every barrier I had. I cried out – from pleasure – from pain – from the knowledge that the man I was deeply in love with was finally making me his. Pushing in slowly, he continued pressing into me until he was buried all the way, and I felt his balls press against my ass. My breathing hitched, then stopped. Holy shit.
“Fuck, you’re tight. Princess, breathe for me, okay?”
* * *
Ten Years Later
“I’m talented, I’m in control, and I’m not going to throw up.”
I scowled at myself in the bathroom mirror. The blue tiles of the bathroom made my skin look pale and washed out. Or maybe that was just what I looked like when I was nervous.
After sneaking into the office bathroom to touch up my makeup before the big meeting, I’d been thrilled to find out it was a private bathroom and had locked the door behind me. But now I was just standing there, trying to work up some courage. Gusto. Sass.
I hated being in New York City instead of my home office of Dallas; I preferred playing on my own turf. Home field advantage, or whatever. But this bathroom was a nice perk. It made for an excellent hiding place. Not that I was hiding. I was fixing my make-up, that was all.
My lip gloss was now pink and refreshed, my mascara was freshly blackened, and I was still standing in place trying to convince my feet to move.
This meeting wouldn’t just be huge, it would be the defining moment of my career. If I nailed this meeting, I would be promoted. This one meeting could absolutely make me. Then again, there was always the option that it destroyed me instead.
The problem was, I didn’t know which it was going to be yet and I hated not knowing. I liked to be in control of everything. My mom called me a control freak, and she wasn’t wrong. I liked my job of negotiating deals because it let me feel like I was in control of the situation. My goal in a meeting was to control the actions of the people on the other side of the table.
Normally, I loved meetings. This one was stressing me out. Too much hinged on it. I’d put nearly a decade’s worth of work into this company. If this one meeting didn’t go right, all that time would be wasted.
I needed my time to not have been wasted.
My stomach twisted. Okay, new plan. If I could just convince myself this meeting wasn’t important after all, I wouldn’t blow it in a fit of nerves. I smiled at myself. My brown hair and eyes looked too dark in the mirror. If I were blond no one would have noticed how pale I was. While I was wishing for things, I might as well wish to be skinny instead of curvy so that no one would ever call me fat again.
Someone knocked on the door.
“Occupied,” I called. I was so glad the bathrooms in this office were private. I don’t know what I would have done if I were in Dallas with rows of bathroom stalls and no privacy. Someone might have caught me in here looking like a lunatic.
I took a deep breath and let it back out. “This meeting doesn’t matter. It’s only the senior partners who care about the outcome, and what do they matter?”
Dammit. I drummed my fingers on the white porcelain sink. Whoever designed this bathroom had terrible taste. I would have chosen a glass sink that would have drawn the eye and… I was rambling in my own thoughts.
I wished there was a bathtub in here so I could sink into some bubbles and calm my thoughts. Not that I had time for a bath. I promised myself that I would take one after the meeting, no matter how it turned out.
I checked my outfit one last time. The dark blue jacket was Armani and tailored to fit my curvy frame. Everyone looked good in Armani, right? I even thought I looked good in the jacket.