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Hearing Claudia admit that she didn’t hate me was surprising. She said her mother was a bitch, which was even more satisfying, though I wouldn’t officially agree. Life took turns and spins that we weren’t prepared for. I hated it, but there was no way to change it.

“Who’s the guy?” I asked, pointing to the sentinel standing three feet away and interrupting a couple’s date by glaring at them.

Claudia grinned. “CJ insisted I hire him to come with me. He’s a trained bodyguard. CJ said you might try to kill me.” I laughed my ass off at that.

We ate our dinner, talking about stupid shit that didn’t matter and laughing about some of the things that happened when they came to visit us. Midway through our meal, she dismissed the goon, and we split a dessert. We actually closed down the restaurant.

When I walked Claudia out to the waiting sedan at the curb after she paid for our dinner—she insisted, seeing as I had no job to speak of, and she was really sweet about it—I opened the car door for her. “You’re okay to get home?”

Claudea giggled. “I am but thank you for caring. Can we do this again, West? I had no idea you were so great. We were both taught to hate each other. I don’t want to continue down that path. We’re siblings. We should be in each other’s corners.”

She kissed my cheek before dropping into her car. I hoped she wasn’t gaslighting me. I wanted to have a familial connection of some kind, and if Claudia was it, I’d do everything I could to support her.

When I got home that night, Bridges was still watching television. “How’d it go?” he asked.

I went into the living room and sat down. “It actually went well. She’s not the horrible person I thought she’d be.”

He stood from the couch, kissed me, and led me to the bedroom. “So, what do you think?”

I sighed. “It could have been an act, but it didn’t feel like it. If it was, she should be on Broadway.”

I took off my suit jacket—leftover from my days of attending parties with Mom and Dad—and Bridges hung it up for me. As I was unbuttoning my shirt, something occurred to me. “The new bike is going to have the same kind of seat as the practice bike, right?”

“Actually, I found a wider seat that I think will be more comfortable for you. How’s the shoulder?”

“My shoulder is good. No pain relievers were needed today. I think, Mr. Eaton, that we should make love. Now, before you start protesting and give me a lot of stupid reasons to wait, let me toss this out for your consideration. One, I’m not a virgin and I actually enjoy the burn. Two, we’re in a loving, committed relationship and neither of us are cheaters. And three, I walked to the bodega today and bought these.” I went to the nightstand drawer and pulled out a box of condoms and a new bottle of lube.

Bridges stared at me before he laughed and held up his arms in surrender. “You win, baby boy. I’m too weak to say no to such a well-thought argument.”

Yesss! Hopefully, my powers of persuasion would work on the Board of Directors as well as they worked on Bridges.

Chapter Twenty-four

Bridges

When West asked if we could make love, my answer was a resounding and immediate yes, but I wanted to hear the rest of his argument. He was like a seasoned litigator as he laid out his reasons, and I fell more in love with him as he went on.

When he pulled out the lube and condoms, I laughed and held up my hands. “You win, baby boy. I’m too weak to say no to such a well-thought argument.”

I moved to where he stood and slid his dress shirt off his shoulders. I reached for his belt, unbuckling it and pulling the leather from the loops as he slid off his shoes. After I put his things away in our shared closet, I pulled off my T-shirt and tossed it into the laundry basket before returning to where he was removing his socks. “You looked very handsome in your suit. When was the last time you wore one?”

“Uh, probably Dad’s funeral. I actually put that one in the giveaway bag Mom always had in the laundry room. Never planned to wear it again, but it was a nice suit. How about you? You only have two suits. Don’t you need them for business meetings?”

“No. Nothing about my business requires a suit, thank goodness. That’s why I was late for the reading of your father’s will. I had put on a suit, only to find there was a hole in the pants. The other one was at the cleaners from a charity thing I went to with my parents. Finally, I just gave up and wore a sweater and khakis.”

I reached for the button on his suit pants and flipped it open, lowering the zipper slowly and grazing my index finger over his hard cock through his briefs. Apparently, he was ready to go.

“Are you going this slowly with everything? I might shoot off before I even get my pants down.” West’s adorable button nose scrunched up like a little bunny’s.

“You wanna fuck me this time?” Hell, I was down for anything.

“Next time. I want you inside me, claiming me as your very own.”

I could definitely go for that. I helped him out of his pants and briefs, pulling off my lounge pants to expose my weeping dick that was hungry for him. I pulled the bedspread and top sheet back, patting his sexy ass to get into bed.

West grabbed the lube and jumped into bed while I struggled to remove the cellophane from the box of condoms. Once I destroyed the box, I grabbed a strip of them and tossed them on the bed, climbing in beside him.

“On your belly, baby boy. Ass up and head down.”