Wrong (Breaking the Rules) (7 page)

Her hands slid up to the shoulders of my jacket and jerked it down. I shrugged out of it and yanked off my tie. My mouth found hers again, and I felt her hands go to the buttons on my shirt, quickly undoing each one. When she finished, I helped her pull it off of me. She pulled away to look at my bare, muscled chest. When her eyes met mine again, they were full of heat.

Her hands tentatively touched my chest. She was so innocent-looking and unsure. I put my hands around her and grabbed her ass, hauling her to me. Her hands instinctively snaked around to my back. When I lifted her up, she wrapped her legs around me. I walked us over to the wall and rested her against it. We continued kissing, and her body slid down, rubbing against my hard cock. She moaned at the touch, and I nearly came in my pants with need.

Before we continued, I needed to know what last night was about. I pulled away from her to look into her eyes.

“Pepper, what happened last night?”

Her innocent, sexy look transformed into a hard one.

“It was nothing, Jordan. Are you really choosing this moment to discuss it?”

“Pepper, you mean more to me than a casual fuck. I want to know what makes you tick. What excites you. What upsets you. What makes you
you
. Last night, you shut down emotionally. I need to know why.”

She glared at me. Her chin quivered for the briefest of moments but stopped when she bit her lip. Her face was a lot more expressive than she probably thought it to be. Finally, she dropped her legs and pushed me away.

“I need to get back to work.”

She stormed out of my office and left me half naked, with a hard-on, but most importantly, disappointed. Whatever it was she was holding back, I would make it my life’s duty to figure out. She was worth it.

“Daddy!” I exclaimed into the phone when I answered it.

“Princess, how are you?” his warm voice asked. Things had been so busy lately that I hadn’t gotten over to visit him and Mom much.

“Great. I’m working on getting things ready for the gala. Stan has been unusually stressed and taking it out on me.”

“I’m sorry, darling. I guess I’ll have to come up there and kick his ass,” he teased but continued. “When do you think you’ll be able to visit your ol’ dad again? I miss your sweet smile. Dealing with asshole clients all day means I really miss the sunshine in my life.”

I smiled through the phone. Daddy was my hero. He always had been, and when he rescued me from Cole, it had solidified it forever.

“Well, I might be able to come to dinner tomorrow night. I can see if Olive could come too.”

“Sounds good, honey. I’ll tell your mother to set an extra place for her. Let me know if that changes.”

After we hung up, the grin stayed plastered on my face. But when I saw Stan standing in my office doorway, it quickly slipped away. God, he was such an ass. Hadn’t I dealt with enough assholes today? I’d already dealt with Jordan, who’d thought drilling me about my past was a much better idea than getting hot and heavy with me.
Whatever.

“Can I help you?” I asked him in a clipped manner.

“Pepper, I’m sorry for being a jerk last night. You handled things well and even got a sizeable donation. I’m sorry I questioned your abilities. You’ve been nothing but a hard worker since you started here at the museum.”

Wow. That was unexpected.
“Uh, no problem. This museum is my life. Of course I’m going to do the best that I can. No worries.”

He smiled, flashing his perfect teeth, and left. My life was just too weird lately. It seemed to be unpredictable, and I was having a problem dealing with that aspect.

I stroked Andi’s hair as she snored softly in my lap. Olive had fallen asleep on the other side of the couch. These were my girls. Andi had been through hell and back, and Jackson still dicked her around. It really pissed me off. Bray could be the biggest ass on the planet, but even he was more likeable than Jackson. When Bray cheated on her and sent her into a spiraling depression that almost killed her, I nearly killed him. But at least he tried to be a nice guy—unlike Jackson the Jackass. I hoped that either Andi would get over Jackson or he would snap out of it and really love her like she deserved to be loved.

Olive’s long legs were stretched out over the coffee table. The girl was angelic-looking. Her light chocolate skin was perfect and unmarred. When Andi brought her to the apartment that night a while ago, I’d wanted to say no. I’d been happy with having Andi all to myself. She had been my only friend and I hadn’t needed some leggy goddess stealing her away from me. But when Olive looked at me with her doe-eyed, innocent expression that pleaded for human connection, something in my heart had acknowledged the kindred spirit. We’d brought her in under our wing, and it was the best decision we’d ever made.

Olive was such a fragile being. I’d always thought that Andi was the one who’d needed protecting and taking care of, but that was until I’d met Olive. Olive was almost childlike in her innocence. The problem was that her ex, Drake, had done something to steal that innocence away. I could see it in her eyes every time she looked at me. Sure, she hid it with smiles and jokes. But I knew the truth.

I thought that the reason the three of us had connected so well was because we all had been broken in some way. Andi had everything from her cold, distant family, the horrific breakup with Bray, and now the confusion that was Jackson to define the woman she had become. Olive had a prior abusive relationship—probably both physical and mental in nature—to define her as a woman. And me, I had to live with the fear of what Cole had almost done to me had Daddy not stopped it. It prevented me from being a normal person. Hell, I’d even embraced the shitty nickname he’d given me, preferring to use it over my own name. Every bit of what he’d managed to do to me in the span of such a short time defined me.

I just hoped we would all make it out on the other side. Happy, loved, and unscathed.
A girl can dream.

My phone chimed, alerting me to a text. It was late so I was worried who might be messaging me at this hour. Pulling it from my pocket, I frowned once I realized it was from Jordan.

Jordan
: Pepper, I’m sorry I upset you. I just want to know you. J

I wanted to say a lot of things back to him.
I overreacted. Or mind your own fucking business. Or find someone else to fix. Or I want you to know me too.
But instead, I just set my phone down and chose silence.

Walking into the conference room at Jennings’s Holdings, I nodded at Lou and his attorney before sitting beside Joel.

“Now that we’re all here, we need to discuss finalizing these negotiations,” Joel told everyone.

“I’m sorry about your father,” Lou’s attorney began, “but he began some deals with my client that must be honored. As you know, Mr. Jennings is a wealthy man. He’s made his money by making good investments. One of his investments was in a venture your father started. Their other partner, who wishes to remain unnamed, also has a vested interest in what happens with this deal. Unfortunately, your father passed away before he could distribute the earnings properly.”

I interrupted him because he was already pissing me off.

“Yes, it is really unfortunate that he passed away before Lou could get his money. So fucking unfortunate.” My jaw clenched. These people were unreal.