Page 1 of Dripping Pearls

Chapter One

Braxton

"JesusChrist,Braxton.She'sdoing it again."

Liam Goodson's deep growl cuts through the room like the crack of a whip. I lift my gaze, only to find him out of his chair, peering into the outer office at our intern. His arms bracket the closed door, his nose centimeters from the glass. Tension tightens the muscles in his broad back and powerful thighs. I don't even have to see his face to know he's watching her as a starving wolf looks at an innocent lamb, piercing hunger in his ocean eyes, his teeth caught between his lip… his cheeks flushed with desire.

I bet he'd look at her the same way if she were on her knees before him.

My cock throbs behind my zipper at the thought.

I grit my teeth against the instinctive reaction, trying to force it away.

He's your best friend, asshole, I remind myself. Not that it helps. It hasn't helped in precisely eleven days, three hours, and—I glance at the time—twenty-six minutes. That's the precise moment Lola Knight stepped off the elevator into our office and turned my entire world upside down.

I took one look at her generous curves in her flirty white dress with the big black flowers and knew we had to have her. Her dark hair danced around her round face like a halo, framing her cobalt blue eyes. Her plump red lips were wrapped around a straw, her cheeks hollowed as she suckedmysoul out of her iced macchiato with extra foam.

Watching her drink coffee is a carnal experience, one that'd break a lesser man. I know from experience. We fired the fucking copier repairman a week ago for leering at her with his hand on his cock. Liam and I both wanted to go for his throat. He left the building in a dead sprint, fleeing for his miserable life. No one disrespects Lola. No one covets what belongs to us.

And make no mistake about it, she belongs to us.

We were two stars plummeting at her feet from the moment we set eyes on her. We both ached to claim her, to plant our kid in her, and give her our name. So Liam decided we'd do the gentlemanly thing, follow the Bro Code, and neither of us would pursue her. For anyone else, this wouldn't be a problem. But I'm not anyone else, and it's not just Lola I want.

To put it quite frankly, I want to teach our little lamb exactly how to unravel my best friend. And then I want to watch him do the same to her. I'm dying to claim them both and put an end to the torturous dance we've locked ourselves into. Until Lola, Liam and I were best friends and business partners, and nothing more. But I look at the two of them, and Iacheto watch them unravel for an entirely different reason. BecauseIcommanded it. Because sweet Lola did exactly what I told her to do and vice versa. Because, goddammit all, they'rebothmine.

At least in my mind.

In reality, neither has a clue what dark things I think. Neither has a clue that I jerk my cock raw, fantasizing about the three of us. It's turning me into a raging asshole. I snap and snarl at everyone. My mood is perpetually black. My balls are permanently blue. And we have five weeks to go before Lola's internship ends.

Five weeks of heaven. Five weeks of hell.

She's going to rip both of our hearts out when she goes.

Anyone else in my shoes would be a raging asshole too.

"Stop eye-fucking her through the door," I snap at Liam. "You're supposed to be helping me run this projection."

"Tell that to my cock," he mutters, turning wild blue eyes on me. The desperation burning in his gaze sears me. Liam is cracking. He's always been hotheaded and a little wild. He acts before he thinks and doesn't give a shit what anyone has to say. He leads with his heart and is rarely wrong, but he's always been a little unsettled in his soul, as if he's been missing something. He finally found it the day Lola walked into our lives. Now that she's close, he can't rest.

I know the feeling well. There's a storm brewing in my soul, continually gathering energy. Sooner or later, the buildup of electricity will reach critical mass, and all hell will break loose. If I don't do something about it before then, we'll all suffer. And if I do show my hand, I may lose everything—my best friend and the woman who sets my soul on fire.

I'm balanced on razor-wire, one misstep from plummeting to the ground.

But guilt plagues me when Liam groans and shoves a hand through his riotous hair. For as long as I've known him, he's looked to me to steady him. Lola does too. She turns those pretty eyes on me as if to ask when I'm going todo something. Our lamb wants us both. Her gaze constantly bounces from one to the other as if she can't decide where she needs to look more. As if she's split down the middle. She practically squirms in her chair in want of us.

Our lamb needs us…and Liam needs me to be the one to just fucking admit it already.

They're both suffering. And still, I'm frozen, afraid to admit what I really want. Afraid to let them see how fucking bad I want it. But if I have to fall to spare them, then so be it. I'll fall. One of us has to before we all crack apart.

"We can't do this anymore," I growl, pushing my laptop away. "It isn't working."

"No shit," Liam says. "We're banning fucking straws in the office. And dresses." He scowls, his eyes narrowing to mere slits. "Can we require parkas if we blast the air?"

"That's not what I meant."

"If you're talking about firing her, I may hit you."

As I said, he's hotheaded. He's also fiercely protective. We hired Lola as a favor to his cousin, Arwen. She needed intern hours to finish her graduate degree, and we needed someone around here who knows marketing and business management. Even if she were a disaster in the office, which she isn't, he wouldn't fire her. Neither would I. She can take the company as far as I'm concerned.

---