Love Lessons (Brotherly Love Book 3) Read online

  I nodded. Fuck, yes, I was ready. He reached for a condom, and I widened my legs and hooked one over his shoulder. Condom in place, he began to nudge against my hole, rocking back and forth gently as I stretched wider. I ran a loose grip up and down my shaft and groaned as Rome rubbed against my prostate.

  He watched me stroking myself, and excitement fizzed through me at the idea I was arousing him further. I panted louder with each stroke and his rhythm faltered as I moved against my hand, as a familiar tension crept into my muscles and my toes curled. I closed my eyes, my breath lodged in my chest as I tried to hold back the inevitable.

  “Do you want to come, Gray?”

  I looked at him and he met my eyes as he asked the question.

  I nodded.

  “This much?” He pushed into me.

  “More.” I gasped the word.

  “This much?” He pushed a bit deeper.

  “More.”

  “This much?” He thrust deep inside me and my cock spurted with the intensity of an orgasm that almost took me by surprise.

  Rome watched my cock send cum across my chest and hand, and his thrusts increased until he arched his back and groaned my name. Then he fell against me and pressed kisses to my neck.

  “Was it okay?” My meekest voice emerged as I brushed some hair from his forehead. It had been great for me, but he made it sound as if he’d anticipated the moment for years, and I didn’t want to let him down.

  He chuckled. “Better than I ever imagined.”

  I felt strangely empty as he rolled away and slipped his condom off. “I hope you bought the biggest box,” I joked.

  He grinned. “We’re almost disappointingly well-stocked,” he assured me. “I’ll be right back with something to clean you up. Wait there.”

  I sighed and relaxed against the softness of Rome’s bed. My whole body tingled with the kind of awareness I’d never experienced before.

  As Rome walked back toward me, I grinned, suddenly shy. His cock still jutted from his body.

  “Do you still need a hand?” I nodded toward him.

  “I don’t know what you’ve done to me. One thought of you, and I’m hard.” He grinned. “But a cuddle sounds nice.”

  I nodded and shivered as he ran a warm washcloth across my skin.

  He stopped. “Too cold?”

  “No.” My face heated. “I think you just made everywhere more sensitive.”

  He pressed a kiss to my cheek. “Good.”

  When he’d cleaned my cum from my skin and taken the cloth back to his bathroom, he climbed into bed beside me and tucked the comforter around both of us as he held me against him.

  He kissed my hair, and I smiled as I pressed closer to his chest, inhaling the warmth of a satisfied man.

  “Rome?”

  He murmured sleepily.

  “You know when you talked about being proud of me for going what I want and achieving it? I got the feeling there’s something you wanted to go for.”

  He shifted. “You?”

  I grinned again. “Other than me. Like there’s something out there you think you need to do.”

  He was quiet for long enough that I thought he’d fallen asleep, but his breathing hadn’t slowed, and his heart still raced beneath my ear.

  “Rome?”

  He sighed. “It’s just work stuff.”

  “Share it with me? I want to be as proud of you as you are of me.” I traced across his chest with my forefinger as I spoke.

  He sighed again. “Coop’s dad says he’s ready to step down as chairman.”

  I paused in my interest in his smooth skin. “Okay.” I waited to hear what he really had to say about it.

  “You know I was supposed to be chairman after dad? I just wasn’t ready to fill his shoes, so Matthew stepped in, and Hayes Financial wouldn’t be where it is today without him. But now he’s going so…” He stopped speaking as if he’d gotten lost in his own thoughts.

  “But now?” I prompted gently.

  “I think it’s time,” he said.

  I lifted my head to look at him. “I approve of your decision, Chairman Hayes,” I monotoned, every inch the perfect impression of a stuffy board member.

  He gave a sudden laugh and tackled me, his hands tickling parts of me I didn’t know were ticklish, until I begged him for mercy. “Stop, Rome… Stop… I can’t… I can’t…” I gasped.

  He relented and pulled me close again, and I snuggled against his warm skin.

  “I think it’s the perfect position for you, Rome. And your dad would be so proud to see you living out the exact life he saw you living. He knew all of your capabilities. Even when I think you didn’t…still don’t, maybe.”

  His breathing caught. “Do you really think that?”

  “Sure. I mean, the few times I met your dad, I could see how much he loved you. It was clear to anyone who cared to see it. The sun rose and set with you for him.”

  Rome sniffed a little, but I wasn’t done.

  “It wasn’t a weekly family dinner, overinvested in everyone’s lives, lovey-dovey thing like with my parents, but he loved you, Rome. The pride on his face the day you graduated was immense.”

  Rome cleared his throat, but his voice was thicker than usual when he spoke, and he tightened his arms around me, pressing his cheek to my hair. “Thank you, Gray. I think I needed to hear that.”

  We didn’t move from Rome’s bed the rest of the evening, sometimes talking, sometimes kissing, sometimes just enjoying each other in silence.

  “Gray?”

  I shifted so I could see him. His quiet tone suggested he had something serious on his mind. “Yeah?”

  He glanced at me then away, although his hold tightened like he needed to keep me close. “Would you leave me if Eli and Benji ever broke up?”

  “No.” My answer flew from my mouth before I even thought it because my heart got there first. “No,” I confirmed. “I wouldn’t leave you if Eli and Benji broke up. I wouldn’t leave you if Eli and Benji broke up and Eli paid me a million dollars. I wouldn’t even leave you if Eli and Benji broke up and Eli became ruler of the universe and commanded me to do it.”

  Rome chuckled, the sound relieved. “Good.”

  “I mean it,” I said. “I can see now what I should have been able to see all along. You’re it for me, Rome.”

  16

  Rome

  I knocked on Matthew’s office door.

  “Rome, come in.” He looked up and smiled. He always did, like he was always pleased to see me, and my chest tightened.

  This man was the closest thing I had to a father since Dad died and having him leave the company was hitting me like a fresh bereavement.

  “What can I do for you? Take a seat. Do you want a coffee?”

  Matthew had one of the most welcoming offices in the building—he always had time and a coffee for everybody—but I chuckled and shook my head. “No coffee, thanks. This shouldn’t take too long. I just wanted to run something by you.”

  “Oh?” He leaned forward, resting his elbows on the desk. “Sounds intriguing. Are you sure I can’t tempt you on the coffee?”

  I shook my head again. If I had any more caffeine, I’d be bouncing off the walls and Matthew wouldn’t get a moment of sense out of me. I needed to keep a clear head for this talk. It was too important to have while hopped up on coffee.

  I sat in the comfortable chair opposite him, a sneaky admiration filling me that Matthew had managed to make his office cozier and more welcoming than any other space in the building. That was a very clever trick for a chairman to pull, because who wouldn’t want to visit a boss who made them feel so at home?

  We’d had many chats and debates in this office, but few of them heated. We both had the best interests of Hayes Financial in mind, and I’d miss Matthew’s firm guiding hand. As I sat there, looking at him and remembering all of the years that had passed, I decided.

  “I’ve made the decision that I should take over as chairman when you re
tire.”

  He closed his eyes briefly and his hand trembled as he reached across his desk for a pen then his eyes shone as he rested his gaze back on me. “You know,” he began in the slow contemplative way he used when he was talking about something important. “Your father left it in his will that you weren’t to be pushed into the position of chairman, and that you should be allowed to follow your heart—”

  “What?” Disbelief flooded me. Even I knew that I’d been groomed to head up the company when the time came. “Dad said that? My Dad?”

  A gentle smile turned Matthew’s lips up at the corners. “Your father loved you very much, Rome. He valued you above anything else in his life—above his nosiness, above his wealth, above success, and he would have done anything for you. And according to the wishes expressed in his will, that’s a trait still guiding his business today, don’t you think?”

  I sat back in my chair, my heart beating a little faster. For so many years, the fear of disappointing Dad had lingered in the back of my mind, but now it seemed his focus had been on what I wanted rather than what I should achieve, even after his death.

  “You probably don’t remember him, but your grandfather was a fearsome businessman and hard as nails. After growing up with him as an example, your dad wasn’t always very good with the emotional side of love and showing his affection freely, but he really did love you. Very much. Please don’t ever doubt that.”

  I looked away from Matthew’s earnest gaze and blinked back the tears I hadn’t expected to form during this chat.

  He cleared his throat and continued. “Losing your mom wasn’t easy for your dad, and I’m not sure he ever really recovered.” He shook his head. “No, I know he didn’t ever recover. But somehow—for you, I think—he carried on.”

  I blinked and drew a long exhale. I’d known Mom’s death had a massive effect on Dad, but I didn’t remember Mom because she died when I was three. She’d been all over the house where I’d grown up, though, in pictures and images, touches and furnishings. And every time I returned from Elsdon House, her perfume had lingered in the air like she’d only just run out the door on errands.

  “And I know he would be incredibly, incredibly proud of his decision. I just wish he was here to see you make it. You’ve come a long way, Rome, and I agree with your judgment that you’re ready.”

  I chuckled. “Or have you just started your internal countdown to retirement?”

  Matthew grinned. “Oh, that’s been ticking for a while now.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said as regret filled me. “I didn’t mean to keep you trapped in a position when you were ready to go.”

  He stood and approached the coffee machine he kept in the corner of his office. “Oh, now I didn’t say that. In fact, it’s been an honor to work alongside you and for you to allow me to guide and advise you. I truly wouldn’t have wanted anything else from my life. I have my family, my own children, and I have you, Rome, the son I borrow from another man.” He turned away and busied himself opening a coffee pod. “Now are you sure I can’t make you a coffee?”

  “Actually, yes, please, I will take one.” It was a more emotional conversation than I’d anticipated, and it was deserving of caffeine. I was pretty sure I’d metabolize it fast enough that I wouldn’t spend the afternoon a twitchy mess.

  The sound of the coffee trickling into a cup soon filled the space, then the aroma of the bitter liquid warmed me.

  Matthew brought my cup over and set it on the desk in front of me. “So, we just need to decide when to make the change. How about when the current quarter ends?”

  “Hm?” I’d been about to sip my coffee, but I clattered the mug back down. “So soon?”

  He shrugged. “Rome, the entire board is already prepared for this. We’ve been waiting for your decision.”

  “What do you mean?” I almost couldn’t believe what I was hearing. It was a decision I’d wrestled with, and Matthew was behaving like I’d announced I wanted a new desk.

  “I mean—” He broke off and chuckled, his eyes twinkling. “That we all have faith in you. We all know how competent you are, and we’ve been pretty much just sitting around and waiting for you to realize it, too.” He sobered. “I was only ever a caretaker chairman, Rome. The position was never truly mine. I simply borrowed it.”

  Coop sat opposite me in the busy bistro and fiddled with his napkin. He looked out of place on one of the dainty chairs, but it had been a diner long before the present owner revamped it, and it was still the most convenient location for a quick lunch outside the office. I looked around at the ladies who lunched and guessed we both looked out of place these days.

  “So, I spoke to Dad.” Coop’s eyes sparkled as he spoke. “How do you feel?”

  I sighed and picked up my fork, twisting it through my fingers. “In two minds, I guess. It’s a big thing, but I feel like I’m ready.” I chuckled. “Trouble is, I feel like I’m ready while your Dad’s still there. No telling how I’ll really feel when he’s retired.”

  “You’ll do great. I know you will.”

  “Yeah.” I looked up and met Coop’s eyes. “Everything’s changing, though.”

  “Oh?” Coop shifted back as the server placed his food in front of him.

  “It’s like my life has done a complete one-eighty.” I shook my head, still disbelieving so much could have happened in so little time.

  Coop just watched me, and I continued to speak into the inviting silence.

  “I’m happy, Coop. I mean, I’m genuinely happy, and I almost can’t grasp that concept. For a long time, I think Hayes Financial was enough but then—” I hesitated, unsure how to word the next part. “Grady. I have Gray in my life now, and it’s different because I think he finally sees me like I’ve seen him for so long. I think we can finally be more than friends.”

  Coop grinned. “I’ve never known a man I have so much faith in, Rome. You can do anything you put your mind to. You always have.”

  I shook my head, disbelief rippling through my head. “I don’t know. It’s like I’m living a dream, and it’s a dream I don’t want to wake up from.”

  I sat at the Caldwell family dinner table in a slight daze of amazement. I’d already gotten a sense of how legendary they were from everything Gray had said, but nothing could have prepared me for the force and volume of the constant chatter and noise. I sat as close to Gray as I could get away with, avoiding his mother as much as possible.

  I’d picked up my invitation from my voicemail, and it was far less an invitation and more a summons. The only thing she’d missed off her very cordial speech was the or else, which I heard ringing in the silence at the end of her last sentence.

  Across from Gray and me sat Eli and Benji. I’d swallowed my groan when I arrived and found them already ensconced in a corner of the ample Caldwell family living room, but Gray had been quick to assure me his mother didn’t know we weren’t on the friendliest terms. He just hadn’t been able to warn her quick enough. She seemed to be on a fact-finding mission about Grady’s life, and it looked like inviting everyone he knew to her house was her preferred fast track to the truth.

  “Sorry about this, Rome.” Grady looked up at me and rested his hand on mine.

  “It’s no problem.” I grinned down at him. Spending time with him was enough for me, no matter who else tagged along. “And I had to meet all of your family at some point. Why not do it alongside your other friends?”

  He stretched his mouth out, making a face, and I got the impression he and Eli still weren’t fixed after Eli’s reaction over Gray’s new job. It’d probably be easier if Gray knew the truth about everything, including Eli and Benji.

  I glanced at Eli. I could help him out there, and maybe that was why he’d told me. But then I looked at Gray. Helping Eli out might mean losing him, and I didn’t know if I could put myself in that position. If I even held out the hope that Grady could get with Eli, would he still choose me?

  I didn’t know.

  I
didn’t know how he felt about Eli these days. I didn’t doubt his love for me, but what if he loved Eli more? I’d certainly listened to enough angst over his unrequited love over the years.

  I gripped Gray’s hand. Losing him wasn’t a risk I was willing to take.

  As the family chatter continued, I glanced at Eli. He was staring at Gray. Not just glancing at but really staring, like he could read his mind, or maybe change it, from his position across the table.

  I looked at Grady, and he grinned at me, his eyes soft. I checked Eli again… Yep, still fixated on Gray. Then I glanced at Benji, and he was glaring at Eli, his eyes narrow, anger simmering in their depths.

  I ran my gaze along the table and met Adrian’s wide eyes. He looked between me and Grady, then to Eli and Benji, and confusion furrowed his brow. Then I saw him nudge Leo and gesture toward us. One by one the others noticed the strange stalemate at our end of the table.

  Mr. Caldwell glanced at us. “Gray, is everything okay?”

  Grady looked at his dad. “Huh?”

  Adrian stood up, the movement abrupt. “Uh, guys, I have some exciting news,” he said.

  “Uh-oh,” Saint interrupted. “I’d like to remind all of you that nothing good has ever come from Adrian’s exciting news.”

  “Pipe down, Saint.” Mrs. Caldwell shushed him and waved her hand. “We all get to share our news at this table. It’s what family dinners are for.” She leaned back in her chair and rested against Mr. Caldwell. “Go ahead, Adrian, honey.”

  “Well.” A big grin took up at least half of his face. “I wasn’t going to share this tonight, but it feels like… I don’t know, like the time is right for my news.”

  Mrs. Caldwell clapped her hands together. “Do you have a boyfriend to introduce to us?”

  Adrian snorted. “God, no. Life’s too short to be tied down, Mother.”

  “A test result, then?” Jamie guessed.

  “Close, but no cigar,” Adrian replied.

  “This isn’t twenty questions,” Leo groaned. “Just tell us your news.”