The Perfect Fit: A stand-alone why choose romance(24)
“That was reckless, West. She could have been lying about her birth control.”
It was reckless, which is unlike me. But for some reason, Lily makes me want to take risks. “She had an implant in her arm. I felt it. I didn’t let my dick completely take over.”
His only response is a grunt. I look up at the ceiling and blow out a breath. The sooner he gets out of his head about the whole Lily situation, the better for all of us. “You should have joined us.”
He shakes his head. “Not yet.”
I narrow my eyes. “Why? I know you like her.”
He shifts in his seat and picks an invisible piece of lint from his sweatpants. “I do, huh?”
“Correct me if I’m wrong, but wasn’t it you who invited her to our booth the other night?”
He grunts, refusing to make eye contact with me. “So?”
“When was the last time you did that, Zeke? I can’t remember. Can you?”
“So, I think she’s hot. I’m not avoiding her, West. I’m just …” He sighs, and I wait for him to continue. “I’ve been looking into her.”
“Okay.” Zeke does background checks on all the women we allow into our lives, so I’m not surprised. “And?”
“She checks out. Graduated from Columbia eighteen months ago. Came third in her class.”
Impressed, I whistle through my teeth.
Zeke nods, running a hand through his hair. “On a full academic scholarship. Like she told us, she now works in the mail room at Grayson.”
“So she got a full scholarship and graduated third in her class. So why the fuck is she a bike messenger?”
He shrugs. “Everyone I spoke to at Grayson says she loves her job there. And she’s had a couple of articles published. I guess she’s trying to break into publishing but hasn’t made it yet.”
“Anything else?”
“She lives with her friend, Jen Broughton, whose father is managing partner at a law firm here in Manhattan. And you might be interested to hear that Lily had a clear STD screening three weeks ago,” he says with a frown of disapproval. I know what he’s thinking—I should have checked that for myself before I fucked her without protection. And he’s right, but I was too damn pussy drunk. “Nothing else of note.”
“So we have nothing to worry about.”
He runs his tongue over his teeth but doesn’t say anything.
“Zeke?”
He clicks his tongue as though he’s thinking. “She does have a connection to one of our previous house guests.”
“Who?”
“Bree Reid.”
“Bree?” I groan. She came highly recommended from a friend who owns an exclusive sex club. He told us she was into multiple partners, and she worked out okay for a few weeks. Until she became obsessed with Xander and would get crazy pissed if Zeke or I so much as touched him. It wasn’t the smoothest of endings. Of all the people connected to Lily, it had to be her. “Really?”
He nods.
“Isn’t Bree way older than Lily though?”
“Four years older, but she took a few years off between high school and college, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. To travel.” I roll my eyes, recalling how she spun that particular line. She had no idea that Zeke would do a background check and find out she was in and out of rehab for eighteen months, treating her raging coke addiction. But we didn’t hold that against her. “Were they friends?”
“Not as far as I can tell. They were in the same sorority, but from all accounts, they didn’t really get along.”
I scrub my hand over my face. “So, it’s not an issue then?”
He shrugs. “Probably not.”
A knock on my office door stops the conversation from going any further. We both know it’s Lily because Xander doesn’t knock. Zeke takes his protein shake and stands. “I’ll leave you to it.”
“You really don’t have to.”
“Maybe later.” He opens the door to Lily’s smiling face, offers her a curt good morning, then maneuvers around her and disappears down the hallway.
She glances over her shoulder. “Is he okay?”
“He’ll be fine.”
She wanders into the room, Xander’s T-shirt skimming the middle of her thighs. “He seems so different from how he was at the club the other night. Are you sure he’s okay with me being here?”
“Yes, I’m sure.” I watch her with curiosity, expecting her to take a seat on the edge of my desk or on the chair opposite, but she does neither. Instead she walks to me and looks down at my lap.
“You want to sit?”
She bites the inside of her cheek, the way I’ve discovered she does when she’s trying to hide her nerves. “Yeah.”
“So sit, princess.”
She perches herself on me, her sweet round ass nestled against my cock. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. You’re also aware there’s a perfectly good chair over there?”
She sighs. “I know, but I figured you’d be way comfier than an old chair.”
I nip at her shoulder through the T-shirt. “That chair is a priceless antique.”
She giggles. “That’s what I said. Old.”