Page 27 of Charmed By Destiny

Even if Richard broke his rule of avoiding sex forever, Lucas was a coworker. Business and pleasure needed to remain separate. It didn’t matter if the man in question was the most gorgeous person to ever draw breath.

“Surely you can squeeze that in some other time?” Maribeth asked hopefully.

“Yeah, I think I can manage that,” Lucas replied, tearing his gaze free to smile at Maribeth.

“Perfect, Richard can text you the details. Right, Richard?”

Richard held in his sigh. He’d worried about his mother’s matchmaking efforts when he should’ve been concerned about Maribeth and her machinations.

“Yeah, I’ll talk to Gabriel and text you everything, Lucas.”

“Thanks, I’m looking forward to it.”

Maribeth looped her arm through Douglas’s and steered him to the main office door. “See you tomorrow, Lucas.”

“Thanks for the invitation. It was a pleasure to meet you, Maribeth.”

“Oh, trust me, the pleasure was all mine. Come along, Richard, we mustn’t keep Gabriel waiting.”

“Talk to you later, I guess,” Richard said to Lucas.

“Enjoy your evening,” Lucas commented.

“You too.”

“Richard, let’s go,” Maribeth called out from outside the conference services entrance.

“She’s really annoying. I can’t believe I missed her,” Richard grumbled, making Lucas laugh as he stalked after his demanding cousin. He supposed he needed to get home anyway. Tomorrow night’s outfit needed careful consideration, and Richard wished he had more than twenty-four hours to plan everything.

Why it was so important for his clothes to coordinate with his makeup was no mystery to Richard. He wasn’t inclined to start an office romance, but that didn’t mean he was opposed to knocking Lucas’s socks off with his ensemble.

???

“He’s going to spend the rest of the night in there touching up his face if we don’t intervene immediately,” Richard heard Maribeth say a second before the door to his bathroom was pulled open to reveal his cousin and brother.

“It’s been a while since I put my full face on. Of course it’s going to take time,” Richard argued.

“Bullshit, you and I have been playing with cosmetics since we were kids. You could probably put your face on with your eyes closed,” Maribeth argued.

Eric dropped a hand on Richard’s shoulder and squeezed affectionately. “You look beautiful.”

But am I the most beautiful version of myself possible?Richard wondered. He hated pangs of insecurity. They didn’t happen often any longer. He’d gracefully entered his thirtieth year of life, and he’d developed a thick hide—though it hadn’t helped during his rare forays into bedrooms with selfish assholes who’d ripped his ego apart. But he supposed no one was immune to self-doubt.

Still, it annoyed him that another gorgeous male specimen was tying him into knots. Richard needed to tuck Lucas into a firm corner of his mind labeledcoworker. Lucas’s pretty lips would be kissed by another, and someone else would peel his clothes off.

It shouldn’t have pissed Richard off, but it did.

“Stop frowning,” Maribeth chided. “We’re going to have a fun night, and if we’re all lucky, someone else will pull off our thongs later.”

“Gabriel already told me he has plans for mine,” Eric supplied.

With a last glance in the mirror, Richard handed his lipstick to Maribeth so she could put it in her tiny purse.

“My thong is going straight from my ass to the laundry hamper once I get home,” Richard told his closest friends.

“It’s kinkier if you keep it on during sex,” Maribeth mused.

“I’m not having sex tonight. Or any other night.”

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