Between Commitment and Betrayal (Hardy Billionaire Brothers, #1)

by Shain Rose

My off-limits boss I hated and wanted all at the same time.

“I don’t really give a fuck what scene I cause. And if that’s embarrassing, don’t go to a dumbass’s house and expect I’m not going to come for you. I’ll come every fucking time, Drop.”

I sighed. “You should learn to not let things bother you so much.” He leaned in. “What’s bothersome to you? Because I’d really like you to feel exactly how you make me feel.”

I was hooked. Trapped. Captured by the way she bit her bottom lip waiting for my answer.

“It feels like I have my business partner’s daughter sitting in front of me, riling me up, driving me near madness, and still my adrenaline is pumping, my cock is rock solid, and I’m scrambling to find any reason I shouldn’t be tasting those lips. Why I shouldn’t demand that you come sit on my lap for a minute.”

“And that’s the reason why this can’t happen.” She pointed between us. “Boss and employee. Partner’s daughter. Lavish lifestyle … and mine not so much.” “You underestimate how easy it is for me to plow through obstacles.”

“I don’t even like you,” she breathed. I chuckled. “Oh, but your pussy loves me.” She gasped at my words, but I kept going. “It’s begging for me, babe. And you don’t really know me. I could make you like me.”

I wanted her every worry to be chased away by me this time. She was too composed all the goddamn time; too fucking perfect and pure, and she needed an outlet. I was the best fucking one. Not a party. Not Wes. Me.

“I want that damn jersey off you now. It shouldn’t ever be his name on your back,” I growled in her ear. “Take. It. Off.”

She appreciated the thought? I’d appreciate bending her over my knee and spanking her ass for defying me every chance she got. Could I send her that?

Everly was an employee. She was my partner’s daughter. She should have been completely off-limits and not at all mine. Yet, my dick responded every time she was in the room.

“If you intend to fuck someone in my gym, babe, you can bet your ass it’s going to be me.”

It was like he was giving a solid fuck you from the grave, proving his boisterous personality stood the test of mortality. He was still getting what he wanted, even in death. I hated him for it. But loved him for it too.

“Rainwater can be dangerous. It can flood … take a life, wash away cars, it can move mountains. A raindrop is small but together, with others, they’re a force.”

“Dom, you know how ridiculous this is,” Evie said to my brother. Seeing how they'd become friends, how he could calm her in this moment pissed me off. It pissed me off because it wasn't me.

“No. You don’t want to be saved from this. From me. You want it, Everly. All of it.”

“Jesus, you taste good when you want something so bad, Drop. You always this sweet when you lose your composure? And that pussy tightening around my fingers like they’ll give you life. You want life, Everly? You’d better say my name then.”

Fuck, I couldn’t stop. I’d known the second I saw her I wanted her, but this was raw, feral, fucking unhinged desire that I hadn’t tapped into in, quite frankly, maybe ever.

“Such a pretty fuck you are. My wife, trying so hard to ride my cock.”

I went back to working her between her legs, watching what brought her close to the edge again. I was taking notes, filing it away for next time. Because I wanted a next time. I was going to die trying for a next time.

“That’s it. Nice and loud. Give me every one of those screams and come for me. The world is going to know you’re my wife even if you don’t want them to.”

“Changes can save you, but they can also destroy you.”

“What should I call you then? My late business partner’s daughter?” I glared. “Probably better.” “Probably not since even knowing that, the first time I saw you, I pictured fucking you on the conference table.”

“Everly, my wife gets what she wants, and if I don’t know what that is, I just get everything.”

“Those babies are going to be hell but Cade’s the devil, so he’ll keep them in line,”

it was a new type of sanctuary. I’d found a new religion, a new mantra.

Everly was the beauty of a gathering storm over the ocean, so quiet and composed until the lightning struck and you saw the clouds and the rain and the waves of emotion creating brilliance. Seeing what I caused in her, the lightning over what I thought was a calm sea, it made me feel godlike.

I needed her to want me just as much as I wanted her. I hadn’t wanted anything so bad in a long damn time. It made her dangerous and a challenge, but that made her mine all the same. I’d never backed away from that. Even if I wasn’t sure how to keep her yet.

“Not going to turn around?” “Why would I? People pay millions to have masterpieces in their homes, to stare at them displayed for their eyes only. You naked in front of me is a masterpiece, and I don’t intend to ever miss an opportunity to stare, babe.”

“Makeup won’t change that your eyes rival the color of the sea, Drop. Or that your lips were made to be kissed by mine.”

“Well, since you guys are leaving, it was good to meet you,” Izzy yelled as she got into the car. “And Declan, be nice to your wife.” My jaw dropped as Cade murmured “That’s my girl” right as Declan growled “Oh, fuck me” and Clara barked out “What?” So much for keeping our marriage a secret.

“Without me, Declan.” “Without you,” he muttered and then he was toe-to-toe with me, looking down at me as I looked up at him. “You realize that for the past couple days, I haven’t had a thought without you in it. My mind doesn’t work without you in it. My dreams, my nightmares, my subconscious, my conscious … none of them operate lately without you.”

“He moved viciously on instinct. Most people say he played with heart … I say he wasn’t playing at all. He was dominating like a damn animal. When he’s pushed and not getting what he wants, you’d better be ready for it. Remember that.”

“I’m starting to understand why people get married. I should get to go to bed fucking you and wake up with you riding my cock every damn day, Drop.”

“But, baby, you’re so much more. Don’t you get it? You’re the drive to keep going when someone took everything from you. You’re the will to survive when most of us would have given up by now. You’re all the raindrops in a tsunami of courage and strength.”

I wanted to experience everything with my wife of convenience. Babies, weddings, happily ever afters. The inconvenient part of it was, I wasn’t sure she wanted the same.

“Declan isn’t obsessed with me.” “Oh, he is.” She tsked. “When I saw him following you in his car on that viral video, that’s when I knew. He wouldn’t have done that with any other woman. You’d broken him. And you only break someone when they’re obsessed with you.”

Didn’t she see the effect she had on everyone? Men wanted to be around her, women wanted to be her, and I wanted her all to myself.

I lost myself to her. I realized she didn’t belong to me, I belonged to her. I fucked her hard, wanting to own her but realizing I couldn’t. She held my sanity, my control, my power, my heart in her hands. She owned me.

I’d fallen so beyond in love with her that I was willing to do the one thing that would make her hate me. Betray her.

“It means everything because I can’t live without you. I’m so far in love with you that I can’t see straight. You know I go to bed touching this?” I held up my hand and pointed to the string on my ring finger. “And I wake up, still touching it like it can bring me closer to you. I’ve suffered days with seeing the hurt in your eyes and wanting to make it better, with seeing you pulling away, and wanting to pull you back. I. Love. You.”

“I can’t fucking quit you even when I try. You’ve broken me like I’ve broken you. I need you. Need you at breakfast, at dinner, here, everywhere. I can’t fucking breathe without you, will never be able to live without you.”

I hope when you read this, you’ll tell me my heart is safe too. It belongs to you now.

He should have fought to give you everything before, and I’m fighting to give you everything now. I need you to know that’s what families do. I’m going to do that every single day. I fought for the yoga studio, and it broke my damn heart to tell you I didn’t love you because I love you more than I’ve ever loved anything.

I wanted to go on a date with him, I wanted to learn every single thing about him. I just wanted him. I wanted to hope. And hope was scary, but Declan was worth it.

“I’m staying in the guest room, and you’re going to have to earn anything more, Declan Hardy.” “I’ll earn whatever the hell you want me to as long as you’re here, as long as we’re in this together, as long as you know I love you.”

“Did it ever matter? You still would have gotten the shares.” He was confident in that statement. He definitely knew something I didn’t. “I own half of StoneArm. The Stonewoods own the other half. I would have just given them to you had you asked.” “You motherfucker—” “You’re welcome for the baby and wife, dumbass.”

“Because I can’t worry about you down there every fucking day. I take care of what’s mine, Everly. You’re mine. The baby is mine. And what’s mine stays in my bed next to me where I know they’re safe.”

“I won’t be the same but I’ll be better. I’ll carry my past with me and I’ll build a better future because of it. Stronger, smarter, and full of love from a man that deserves me.”

He loved the game. He loved his family. He loved his empire. And he loved me. Probably about as much as I loved him.