Page 15 of My Dear Mr. Corporate

CHAPTER 7

Bryan

Arms snaked around my waist and tugged me into a warm embrace, waking me from sleep. I smiled and shifted closer to Tate’s hard body but the stench of liquor emanating from him was strong enough to make me gag. I pulled away from him, wondering just how much he had to drink with his friend. I’d given up waiting on him to slip into bed with me, after I had lain awake for almost an hour expecting him.

“Bry, what’s wrong?” he asked and reached for me again.

“It’s probably best not to cuddle tonight,” I told him on a yawn. “I may get drunk just lying next to you. How much did you drink anyway?”

“Not sure.” He chuckled. “I’m not drunk. Just a little tipsy maybe but not drunk.”

I snorted and remained on the other side of the bed. “Good for you. Did your friend finally leave?”

“Uh not really. He’s sleeping in one of the guestrooms. I couldn’t let him drive after having so much to drink.”

“How generous of you.”

He leaned forward and kissed my cheek and I damned near had to stop my breath. He did smell that bad from the alcohol. I never did like the stuff and smelling its strong fumes did nothing to change my opinion.

“I’ll take a quick shower then,” he said and rolled off the bed. “Stay up till I get back, will you?”

“Hmm.” I gave a noncommittal response to him and wished I could fall asleep, but it was hopeless. I didn’t want to wait up for him, but there was no way I was falling back asleep so quickly. I turned on the lamp on my side of the bed and checked the time on my phone, a little annoyed that it was well past midnight. I had less than four hours left to sleep before I had to wake up for my first day of work. I didn’t intend to show up with red-rimmed eyes from a lack of sleep.

Tate walked out of the shower a few minutes later smelling clean and fresh. I watched him pad naked to his walk-in closet, my cock stirring at the sight of his hard buns. His body was the envy of a 3rd-century Roman soldier, displaying strength and muscles. When he stepped out of the closet he was wearing only a pair of tight boxers. He slipped into bed behind me and I turned out the lights. This time when he reached for me I had no excuse not to go.

“Hmm, you feel so good,” he murmured.

“I was expecting you in bed hours ago.” I hated the little whine in my voice, but I couldn’t help myself commenting. I was uneasy about this guy who wanted to wedge himself between us. Tate didn’t even notice.

“Sorry, we got a little carried away.”

“With?” I wedged my leg between his.

“Just talking about old times. We’ve a lot of memories.”

“Hmm.”

I remained silent and tried not to think of what exactly his memories with Gio consisted of. I squashed the urge to ask if they had ever done anything intimately together. Even if they had, it had no bearings on my relationship with him. Plus, I wouldn’t doubt him if he hadn’t given me a reason to.

“Bry?”

“Yeah?”

“I know he said some pretty awful shit to you. It won’t happen again.”

All the tension I didn’t even know was there eased from my body. I turned in his arms and planted my lips onto his. He kissed me back briefly before releasing my lips.

“Go to sleep. You have an early day tomorrow.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. With him snuggled against me exactly where he belonged at night, I soon fell asleep once more. The next time I woke up we had separated during the night and he was lying on his belly snoring lightly. I wished I could stick around with him, but I had to get dressed for work, so I carefully vacated the bed and headed for the bathroom.

I showered then dressed and he still slept. He had promised to drop me off at work but given the time he had wandered into bed last night I figured he wouldn’t be surfacing any time soon. He hadn’t resumed regular working hours as yet, as he went over his company’s accounts, so I didn’t have to wake him. I decided to call a cab and descended the stairs, forgetting that we had a guest.

My memory was jogged at the delicious aroma of breakfast wafting from the kitchen. I entered cautiously, wondering what Gio had up his sleeves this time. I wasn’t used to being in a relationship with someone else wanting me out of the picture, but it felt good to know Tate had spoken to him about his behavior last night. I didn’t grudge him his friendship with Tate nor did I want to come between them, but I wasn’t positive if he shared the same opinion.

“Good morning,” I greeted him. I didn’t comment on the spread of breakfast he had made. He sipped from a steaming cup of coffee.

“Hey, hope I didn’t disturb you,” he said with a lazy smile. “I thought I would make up for my rudeness yesterday by making everyone breakfast.”

---