Twin Babies with the Billionaire for Christmas

18. Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Eighteen

Tristan

I update my calendar at the office and then lean back in my chair. Last night had been…unexpected, but not unwelcome.

I had been so comfortable with Rachel’s company in front of the fireplace, that I had almost slipped up and asked her to come to bed with me.

It honestly seemed like the most natural thing in the world to have her share my bed, but I knew that she was still too angry at me to entertain such a thing.

And frankly, after the whole thing with Denise, and being forced to think about the situation with Amy again, I hadn’t wanted anything but a cuddle.

Amy had been looking for success in all the wrong places, using all the wrong methods, and Denise had been all too willing to cause trouble for me.

It hurt a little, to think that someone who had worked for me for so long would clearly wish me so ill. But there was no way to let her go without legal trouble after the Amy mess.

I had tried not to think about Denise’s innate dislike of me ever since the whole Amy debacle, but having Rachel accuse me of things I never did just brought everything up all over again.

Does Rachel really think I am a bad guy? That I would come on to my employees, or ask them for favors?

I grimace as I realize that her relationship with me isn’t very professional. To be fair to me though, we both had wanted that first night together and neither of us could have known we would end up being so…compatible.

Not that I regret it, but I can see why she might assume I would try to sleep with all of my female employees.

I lean my head back against my chair and close my eyes. We had been up late and I was more tired than I wanted to admit.

I am getting old enough that being short on sleep is sometimes a big distraction. It makes me a little sad to think that I might one day not have the energy to run this company without help.

I have always been a go-getter, always burning the midnight oil, always working too hard.

That’s probably why you’re always alone, too , I think bitterly to myself.

I have met precious few women over the years who were willing to try and find time to date someone who was as busy as me. Not that I could really blame them, but I loved my job. It is a huge part of me.

I have always hoped that someone someday would understand that and love me in spite of my passion for my work.

Rachel is passionate about what she does, I know that much. It’s actually been nice to spend time talking with someone else who really loves the work that they do.

It’s one of the things that I had been attracted to first if I was being honest. I love her drive and her willingness to work as hard as she needs to work to meet her own goals.

I allow myself to slip into a little half-doze, my mind combing through memories of my evening eating in front of the fire with Rachel last night.

She had put on some cute little sweats and an oversized T-shirt, but that had not stopped me from being able to see the delicious shape of her breasts under the shirt as she plopped down on the sofa and grabbed her takeout box.

She had wadded her hair up into a messy bun, but it looked beautiful anyway, catching the light from the fire with a warm glow. Her cheeks had still been a little pink from her bath, and she hadn’t had any makeup on.

She had still been the most beautiful woman I had ever seen, and my heart had squeezed in my chest at the same time as my cock twitched in my joggers at the sight of her.

She looked like she belonged on the sofa near me. She looked at home there. Our conversation had flowed readily from topic to topic, and I had loved finally getting to talk with her about the things that she liked.

I hadn’t really realized how little I knew about her.

She had been giggling and telling me a story about this time when she snuck a boy into her bedroom by having him climb the gutter and slip in through her window. She had said that he had fallen off the roof and broken his wrist and she had been forced to call his parents to let them know.

I had watched her laughing and blushing. And I had thought about what I would have done to her if she had helped me climb in through her window. I imagined it as I stared at her sitting a respectable distance away on my white sofa.

I had imagined reaching out and pulling the hair tie out of her hair so that the blonde shining mass fell in silky waves around her shoulders.

I would have brought her close to me, kissed her, and slipped my hand under that big T-shirt to squeeze the fullness of her breast.

She would have made that soft little surrendering sound that she always made when I touched her breasts, and I would have switched to squeezing harder, pinching her nipple while I used my tongue in her mouth to show her what I wanted to do with my dick.

I had imagined tugging her into my lap and helping her to get rid of her sweats. I would have tugged down the waistband of my joggers and plunged into her welcoming heat without warning, just to hear her cry out with pleasure.

I had imagined her breasts bouncing with each of my thrusts, her head tilted back as her hair shimmered and moved along with her. I could even feel the silky tendrils sliding over my wrists and fingers, as I helped her to move faster, driving us both toward our release.

She would have started arching her back, sweeping in closer to me, taking me deeper as she made the delicious sounds that let me know she was close. I already knew her body so well that it was easy to find the perfect angle to help her come with shattering relief.

I could imagine her practically sobbing my name as she clutched my shoulders and flew apart, her pussy clenching my dick as she shuddered and gasped. I would have thrust into her a few more times and then allowed myself to let go as well, breathing her name as her pussy fluttered around me, milking my cock, wringing the pleasure from me.

We would have stayed like that afterward, breathing as one, her hair tumbled all around us, the scent of sex in the air, the fire crackling in the background.

“Umm…hey there.”

I snap awake, completely confused about where I am or what is going on. I almost expect to be at home or to find that Rachel is here, but then I remember that I am at the office. I must have dozed off. I blink rapidly and realize that it was Jay who spoke to me.

I also realize that I have a raging hard-on, and I quickly yank my chair in closer to my desk to try and hide it. The way that Jay is looking at me from the doorway makes me think that maybe I didn’t do such a good job of hiding it, though.

“You’ve been working too hard lately,” Jay says to me, coming to sit in the chair in front of my desk.

I sigh. “I always work too hard. It’s who I am.”

“Are you sure that there isn’t something else that’s causing you to fall asleep at work?”

I look over at Jay, noting the speculative glint in his eye. He knows me well. He knows I never fall asleep at work. He probably also knows that I’m never this distracted heading into the Christmas season.

We always have things to take care of, like marketing for the holidays, seasonal gifts for vendors and business partners, and a variety of other year-end tasks.

I war with myself. Should I be honest, or should I deflect? I wish I knew how Rachel actually feels about all of this. Wet dreams aside, she’s starting to become a big part of my life, and I’m finding that it’s hard to imagine her moving out once the book is complete or her apartment is inhabitable, whichever comes first.

“It’s Rachel,” I say finally, scrubbing a hand down my face. “I don’t know what to do about her.”

“As far as the book goes?” Jay asks. “Or is there something else going on?”

My mouth pulls into a little smirk. “The second thing,” I admit.

Jay whistles a little and leans back. “I could tell that you guys were having fun, but is this a…serious thing to you now?”

I nod. “Yeah,” I say, surprised to hear myself saying the word. “Yeah, I really think it is.”

“No wonder she was so upset about the nonsense that Denise told her,” Jay says thoughtfully.

“I would have told her about all of that if I thought it was relevant, you know?” I grit my teeth together with frustration. “You don’t think I treat the women who work here poorly, do you?” I look at my hands.

I’m scared of the truth, but what if I have been a total dick all these years, and no one has been brave enough to tell me?

Jay chuckles. “Look, you enjoy female company, and you are a great listener, but treating the women who work here the wrong way is not something I would accuse you of. I have always hoped that you might settle down with someone, if only so that you don’t make such a pathetic third wheel when Janet and I take you with us on trips.”

I flip him off with a smile, before crossing my arms over my chest. “I just…I feel like there’s something else going on with Rachel all of a sudden. She was always really clear about wanting to just have fun and that she didn’t want anything serious, but then all of that stuff happened with Denise and she got so…worried.”

“I imagine she’s trying to decide what to do about the book,” Jay says astutely. “She can’t write your biography if everyone knows you two are sleeping together. It would discredit her and her work.”

My mouth forms an “O” as I soak that in. Oh, I had been so stupid! No wonder she had been so scared of sleeping with me more than once.

I still didn’t know if it fully explained the undercurrent of fear that I felt in her whenever we were alone together, but it did make things a bit clearer overall.

“Maybe she doesn’t even need to write that book, now,” Jay goes on. “After all, if you guys care about one another, then the book shouldn’t stand in your way.”

I nod, but I realize that this isn’t a decision that I can make for Rachel. If I back out of the contract, she will be hurt, and she will lose a lot of money, both for the completion of the project and for the sales profits once the book has been published.

I also know that she won’t want to give up on the book because that’s not who she is.

“It’s up to her,” I tell Jay. “I won’t take the book away from her.”

Jay blows out a breath. “Well, try not to get caught in any kind of compromising position with her until the book is out. Not sure you two are capable of being that circumspect, but you should try.” He winks at me.

“That obvious?” I ask, feeling a little heat creep into my cheeks in spite of my desire to remain cool as a cucumber.

“More than obvious…blatant,” Jay says back. He grins at me. “It’s nice to see you in love. It’s a good look on you.”

I think about my own realization that I loved Rachel and how crazy and impossible it had seemed that I might feel that way.

However, now that Jay has said my love for Rachel was obvious, it feels less like a figment of my imagination and more like a real thing.

“Is this how you felt when you decided to marry Janet?” I ask with a little smile.

Jay shrugs. “How should I know? She proposed to me.”

I laugh out loud at that. I had known that, but it had never occurred to me just how much my friend allowed his wife to call the shots in their shared life until now.

I wondered if I could manage to allow someone else to make such big decisions for the both of us.

Could I relinquish that much control? It seemed like something that would be nearly impossible to do, but maybe it was why Jay was so happily married.

“Commitment,” Jay says to me, leaning forward to pat me on the shoulder before rising to his feet. “You should try it sometime.”

I nod in silence. I know he’s right. I try to imagine Rachel proposing to me, but it just feels like something that would never happen to me.

Although, knowing Rachel it’s not impossible.

“What did you want to ask me?” I say to Jay as my friend walks toward the door to my office.

He turns back and waves a hand. “I just popped in to wake you up before someone came in here and saw you napping and having an…exciting dream.”

I can feel the rush of heat reach all the way to the roots of my hair as I look at my friend.

“You’d better head back to your place. I saw you wanted to be out of here by two-thirty,” Jay reminds me.

I glance at my watch and curse, bolting to my feet. “Thanks. See you next week.”

“Consider taking the holidays off!” Jay calls after me, but I don’t reply as I jog down the hall toward the elevator.