Page 51 of Big Daddy

No more teasing after this moment, because there is no more anything after this moment.

“No,” he says simply, working on his cufflinks. Once they’re free, he tosses them onto his desk and gets to work on his tie.

“No?” I question. “I’m saying it’s over. You can’t say no.”

The tie joins the cufflinks. “It’s not over.”

A sigh escapes me, and I pinch the bridge of my nose in exasperation. “If you make this a thing, I can’t even work here anymore.” I lean forward, placing my hands on his knees. He looks down at the touch as I continue trying to reason with him. “You wanted to help me, and that’s a good thing. Let me keep working here. We’ll tell Brielle that I bumped into you somewhere or something and you got me the job. When I graduate, I’ll be done, she won’t have to know, and I’ll start paying you back. We can still get out of this unscathed but… it’s gotta end now.”

His eyes rake over every inch of me until they meet my gaze. “Brielle can understand that we are two consenting adults.”

I scoff. “Two consenting adults who lied to her and snuck around behind her back. Whether we consent to each other or not has no bearing.” I shake my head, bringing my hands to my neck, pulling at the stress, but it doesn’t budge. “She’s got enough going on right now, she’s?—”

“Aside from the apprenticeship?” Quincey’s brows pull together.

Fuck. He doesn’t know because Brielle hasn’t shared that much yet. I lick my lips, choosing my words as carefully as possible. I don’t want to do more damage than I already have. “The apprenticeship and stuff with her bosses,” I say, telling the truth in the most masked way I can.

His eyes narrow on me and he edges closer, sliding his ass nearer to the edge of the desk. “Is she seeing one of them?”

I shake my head, controlling my tone. “What? No. No, she’s not dating one of her bosses. Why would you even—what would make you ask that?”

“Don’t lie to me,” he warns, and the hairs on my neck stick up. My nipples get hard, too. Am I a bratty authority slut? I think maybe I am.

“Hey,” I say, my voice husky, matching his alpha energy. “I said no.”

“You’re lying.”

Technically I’m not, because no one is officially dating yet. And it’s not one of her bosses, it’s both. I fold my arms over my chest and lean back, trying a different approach. “Yeah? Am I?”

He leans back too, files lifting under the weight of his ass. I bet his ass looks so good naked. I bet it’s all shapely and sexy. I mean, if it’s anything like his cock and balls…

“Last week I called Brielle to plan dinner. I called her at nine in the evening. She said she was at her apartment, but I could hear a man in the background.” Big Daddy cocks one eyebrow. “Unless you’re fucking your boss, you don’t have him at your house and you don’t go to his house. Would you agree?”

My throat goes Sahara dry and yet sweat glides down my back. “You could have heard the TV. Music. Or anyone else from work.”

He levels his glare at me. “Is she dating her boss?”

The egg on the skillet in my brain fries. I can’t out my best friend to her dad. No fucking way. “Quincey, I?—”

“She is,” he states, staring off into the distance, processing what seems to be one of his greatest fears. “I’ve given up my life to be this man,” he starts, getting to his feet, speaking at the room around him more than me. “To work so hard that she has every goddamn advantage, every privilege, everything. And what does she do? She ends up working in porn, sleeping with her boss.”

I get to my feet and catch him by the arm. “She didn’t choose Crave, and you know that. And you also know that if she was dating her boss—which she isn’t—that they areconsenting adults.” I don’t mean to use his words against him, but it just happens. “You can relate to not expecting or even wanting something to happen, can’t you?” My heart races as I edge around the subtextual definition of us. “But sometimes things happen, and as much as you hate it, you can’t fight it.”

His nostrils flare. “You and I are not the same as that.”

Now it’s my turn to cock an eyebrow. “Aren’t we?”

I glance at my watch. “I’m taking an Uber to my apartment. I appreciate you loaning me the car but I think it’s a bad idea.” I look down at the patent heels glittering on my feet. “I will be here tomorrow, as your secretary, and only your secretary.”

I don’t give Big Daddy another glance.

I can’t.

I’ll break.

Instead, I gather my things from my desk and walk toward the elevator, bewildered by how sad I am ending it.

We aren’t in love. We just love arguing and fucking.

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