Page 20 of Three Ties to Bind

“You love him. That doesn’t go away. I can’t compete with him. Or is whatever this is between us lust and nothing more?” If I didn’t ask, I’d drive myself crazy wondering about it. That was if this went further. “Don’t deny it either. Remember, I’m with you two day in and out. I see the way you look at him.”

“I don’t have the answers. I truly don’t. I love him, it’s true. Then there’s you. This man I didn’t know I could feel something for, passion I’d never experienced before.”

“Wait.” I held up my hand. “Are you a virgin? Not that it matters if you are. I’m just curious.”

He chuckled. “No. I didn’t feel with others what I do with you though.”

“How do you feel with me?” I purred. Apparently, it was a sound Peyton pulled out of me. I hadn’t made it before the night in the VIP room with him.

“Like I have no control over my dick. Like your sultry voice and that damn music you play make me hard as soon as I hear them.”

I nuzzled his cheek. Was it foolish to tempt fate and go after something, no matter how small, with Peyton when he was in love with another? Absolutely. And I was stupid enough to keep pushing him. “I want him too, you know?”

He froze. Muscles tight. Fingers flexing on my thighs. “Perry?”

“Yeah. There’s this charisma about him. I’ve had a crush on him for a while.”

“I didn’t know. Now what?”

“Now you take a seat in the audience and watch me dance for you.”

Dancing was easier than talking. Dancing didn’t need words when my body spoke loud and clear. Tonight, it wanted Peyton to desire me like he did before. Tonight, I pushed the doubts, fears, and errant thoughts aside, and found my peace again. The place where I thrived. Tonight, Peyton was part of the equation. He helped set me free.

8

PERRY

Greer had been chewing me out since I told him where I had to go and how I needed him with me.

“The fuck is wrong with you? He’s going to take advantage of you.” He slammed his palm against the steering wheel. “Goddammit, Perry.”

“I know, all right! Do you think if I had a way, any other way, I’d do this? I’ve been trying to find a solution, and nothing came to me. I can’t lose what Dad built.” The thought of it had my heart shattering in my chest.

Greer’s shoulders dropped. “You’re not going to. PJS is going through a rough patch, sure, but you’ll get out of it.”

“How? My R&D sucks. They haven’t created anything worthwhile since Dad was around. I can’t fire Stefen. He knows our business inside and out. I just wish he’d channel it into something I can use. If we don’t get our revenue up, I’m going to have to start laying people off and, fuck, I don’t want to do that.”

The company was where my dad made most of his wealth when he was younger. It wasn’t where it kept coming in from though. He diversified, branched out into real estate purchases, investments into other businesses. He was sharp as hell. PJS was his heart and soul though. I didn’t want to fail him on that end.

Would I be fine if I had to sell the company to someone who could put it back together again? I would because my dad made sure of it. I owned everything he did. I didn’t have to work if I chose not to.

And the company would sell if I put the word out that I would entertain serious buyers. I didn’t have a doubt about it. The technology we had alone would be worth a lot, the proprietary way we manufactured.

The thing was, tech was always advancing, always changing. I needed the new tech in the right development with my team. But Stefen was more interested in how to make his minivan fly. Not really, but I wouldn’t put it past him.

“What if we expanded the tech?” Greer asked. He had an uncanny way of seeing into my head. “Not for racing, but we could branch out. We could go into consumer auto security. Not only in making the vehicle less likely to get jacked, but also look into ways to create new features that haven’t been touched yet. I know you don’t want to go into the consumer side, but Stefen might not be wrong. Completely at least. I haven’t seen anything good come from him in a while.”

I groaned. “I don’t want to go into consumer. That’s a whole other ball game.”

“If we’re sinking…”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“You’re going to have to tell the rest of your ET too.”

I groaned. Again. I knew this. My executive team were the people I trusted most. I’d asked Pamela to keep it between us for now, but they did have to be told, especially if I had to make changes to prevent layoffs. Though layoffs might be inevitable.

“Now that it’s settled and I gave you a plan, what do you say we turn around and head home?” he asked.

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