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“That’s overstating things a bit,” Cory said, his chest still a little too full at the stud comment. Rare praise indeed for a man who hadn’t made time for anything approximating a relationship or sex in an entire year.
Simulated versions notwithstanding.
“They’re hot pictures.?
? Dillon flipped the paper around to face him. “Seriously, Vicky looks so—”
“Can it. You have a woman. Stop poaching on mine.” Hearing himself, Cory moved back even farther. Twice in two days he’d said or done things that made no sense. She wasn’t his, and he’d never had designs on her as such. Other than the occasional fantasy when she wore thigh-high boots, which was to be expected. She rarely wore those now but he remembered when she had. Vividly.
“Ah ha! I figured as much. You must have fucking Spidey sense, because the hammer was about to come down on you.”
“Speak English. Please.”
Dillon shook his head as if he were daft. “Mom and Dad are serious about you finding a balance between work and your personal life. They were even discussing delaying their move to Arizona to help you find someone.”
Back to their supposed mandate, something else he’d had on his mind since the charity event. “Absolutely not.” Cory lurched to his feet, taking the paper with him. He’d buy up every copy in the city and put them in his safe. And maybe save one for the ceiling of his bedroom. “They aren’t delaying anything. Dad needs to be in a different climate and everything is just fine here. I’m fine.” No one had ever died from frustration. He didn’t think.
“They know that now. You dirty dog, you.” He shook his head, grinning, but Cory didn’t miss the flare of admiration in his brother’s eyes. Dillon, the king of inappropriate sexual encounters, was impressed with him, the same person he’d made fun of just days before at the bar for not getting laid since the last president was in office. A slight exaggeration, but still. “Vicky’s your secret, illicit girlfriend.”
For a moment Cory stared at his brother. Then he nodded slowly. “Yes. Victoria’s my secret, illicit girlfriend.” At least until the excitement died down, and their cloaks of respectability had been restored.
Now he just had to convince Victoria to go along with it.
…
Vicky squinted at the man standing on her stoop, his nearly black hair dotted with rain. In the weak porch light he looked drained and harried—and sexy as hell.
Since high school, Cory had frayed her nerves on an ongoing basis. Even when he wasn’t actively in her life, just the smallest interaction at some society event was enough for him to set her off again. And Saturday night’s events had definitely set her off, in every possible way. He was a distracting combination of megalomaniac and man candy, covered in geektastic frosting that wreaked hell on her hormones. She’d be damned if he knew she felt that way though.
Early on she’d seen the handwriting on the wall. Cory was too busy to be dating material. Too crunched for time to spend more than a few minutes loving a woman. Absolutely devoid of the emotional gene for anything deeper than a five-minute fuck.
With her, his five-minute fuck had even been through clothes.
Even when he did make time for a woman, it was a classy, polished one like her older sister. He’d asked out Melinda more than once and she’d always rebuffed his advances. Melly liked bad boys, and Cory definitely didn’t rank as one.
Though after their gazebo make-out session, Vicky was beginning to wonder if there was a lot more to Cory than met the eye.
She made a show of looking at her watch. “Do you realize it’s almost 10:00 p.m.?”
“Yes, the timing is unfortunate but I had to talk to you tonight. I called you several times this afternoon. And texted.” He cleared his throat. “I’m guessing you haven’t seen the paper or else I would’ve heard from you earlier. You never miss an opportunity to ream me out.”
She blinked. What was he on about? Something about Simply Home maybe? Did they have competition? Another magazine in the marketplace? “I haven’t read the paper yet.”
“You haven’t been online?”
Okay, this was getting bizarre. “I had my phone off all day. I was visiting—” She swallowed, not wanting to go there. Cory didn’t know about her mother’s situation, and she had no desire to change that fact. “I visited family out of town.”
She’d just gotten back a short while ago. All she’d had time to do since was take a shower. Luckily she’d pulled on an oversize football jersey and bikini panties before she’d hurried to answer the door. Her first thought had been a crisis of some sort. Not…this. Not him.
“Without your pants? Why doesn’t this surprise me?”
She glanced down and noted the amount of leg she was showing. Yeah, maybe she needed to go grab her yoga leggings. “I had clothes on when I visited family, smart-ass. These are my pajamas.”
More derision. The guy could’ve taught a senior-level course on it. If she hadn’t noticed the way his gaze lingered below her waist, she might’ve even summoned her usual annoyance. “Thanks for the clarification.”
She eyed him speculatively, noting that he wore khakis and a button-down shirt, his idea of casual clothes. “What about you, CEO?”
“I’ve been working.” His jaw ticked. “While you’ve been—”
