Page 24 of Alex (Men of Forbidden Temptation #4)

ALEX

I square my shoulders and crack my knuckles as I get closer to Dad’s office. I can’t keep putting this off.

Elise deserves better.

When I get to his office, his door is closed. I ball my hand into a fist and knock on the wood.

His deep voice sounds a few seconds later. “Yeah? Come in.”

I crack the door open and peek my head just inside his office. “Hey, Dad, I was wondering.”

He stops typing on his computer to look up at me.

Ripping the proverbial bandage off, I ask, “Do you have a few minutes to talk?”

His brows narrow as his gaze searches my face for what the problem is. He knows me too well, but today, I’m prepared. I have my mask up, not letting him see the worry swirling in my mind .

“Uh, sure. Come sit. I just have to finish sending this email.”

His fingers make quick work of the keyboard before his finger slams down on the enter key.

He leans back in his chair. “Alright, I’m all yours. What’s up?”

His casual attitude should clue me in that something is up, but I take a deep breath and mentally go over the speech I prepared earlier.

“I need to confess to everything that has happened over the past several years.”

Dad’s jaw tics, but he doesn’t interrupt.

“I’m not sure if you know this, but Adam and I never got along. We were cordial at business events and functions, but we were never as close as you thought we were. We were more like frenemies. We challenged one another to be the best.”

“That isn’t a bad thing. Look at the two of you now. You’re both mature, successful, and have bright futures ahead.”

I wouldn’t say mature, but I don’t refute his claims.

“When I was eighteen, right after Mom left us, Adam invited me to one of his notorious high stakes poker games where betting is anything and everything. You know the types where the sky’s the limit.”

Dad sighs. “Yeah, I know those rules all too well. That’s usually where back door business deals happen.”

I nod, getting back to my story .

“Right. Well, that night I bought some cocaine and gave it to him. He didn’t use it. He gave it to a waitress that ended up overdosing on it later that evening after we left. That’s not important. What’s important is that I ended up getting Bianca from him.”

Dad leans forward, propping his elbows up on his desk and resting his chin in his hands. “I thought the two of you met at her father’s club and dated like normal people.”

I shake my head, no longer able to look Dad in his eyes. “Just a tiny detail I omitted. We dated for a while, and I even fell in love with her, but as soon as I said those words to her, she dumped my ass and went back to Adam.”

“Was that her plan all along?” Dad doesn’t seem upset or angry. If anything, he sounds concerned about me.

“Probably, but I’m over it.” I look up so he can see the truth in my eyes.

Dad grins. “Because you are falling for Elise?”

I return his smile as I think about Elise. I just left her a few minutes ago, naked and spread eagle on my bed after having her scream my name.

“I think so. It’s way too soon to tell, but she’s different. She makes me happy.”

“Well, I’m happy for you, son.” His smile is genuine, and he looks proud.

“That’s not all that I need to tell you.”

Dad’s smile disappears as he leans back and waits for me to fill him in .

“When we were in the city, I took Elise to Bianca’s father’s club. There was a small verbal altercation, but nothing too serious. Elise met Adam and Bianca and found out about my past.”

I skip over the intimate details of fucking Elise on the desk. No one but the two of us needs to know what happened there.

“Adam also said he plans to interfere with your upcoming merger and take over the company. I think it’s all talk, but I wouldn’t put anything past him.”

Dad’s face is the definition of calculated. “What is his motive for all this? How does he expect to accomplish this?”

I take a deep breath, not really wanting to tell Dad the truth, but I need to. “He says he has video footage of the poker game and me holding the bag of cocaine.”

“Damn it, Alex.” Dad rubs his temples. “If he has footage, there’s no way we can dispute the allegations.”

“I know that, and I can’t tell you how sorry I am for my past mistakes. I was hurt by Mom and wasn’t thinking about the consequences or the future.”

Dad blows out a breath. “I’ll call Bill and see if there’s anything we can do to stay ahead of this. Was this everything, or is there more?”

“There’s more.” My voice is low, barely above a whisper.

“Fuck, son. ”

“When I went to drive her home today, her apartment was on fire. She lost everything, but the silver lining is that she was looking for a way out of her lease.”

“This isn’t the time for jokes.”

I shrug. “Right. The other silver lining is that her apartment fire and the office incident could be linked.”

“Do you have anything to confidently tie them together?” Dad resumes his cool, calm, and collected facade, but his jaw tics and he raises his eyebrow slightly.

“Well, no, but Adam left a poker chip in her mailbox, so I can confidently say I suspect Bianca and Adam were the culprits of today’s incident. Maybe we can get the security footage from the office or a statement from Peter and see if they were responsible for that incident.”

The beginning of a smirk forms on his face. “Do you have the poker chip?”

I reach into my pocket and pull out the yellow chip before tossing it on his desk.

He continues, “Thank you for telling me all of that. It would have been nice to know about things when they occurred, but we can’t change the past. I’ll handle everything.”

He stands and walks toward his door. Raising his voice so it can travel down the hallway, he says, “Elise, can you come to my office, please?”

His tone is unusually light, almost friendly, but the hair on the back of my neck raises in suspicion .

What is he planning?

Why does he need Elise in here? Is he going to ask her for her side of the story?

This doesn’t concern her- well, most of it doesn’t concern her. I promised her she’d keep her job, and I intend on making good with that promise.

“Dad, this isn’t her fault. It’s mine, and I take full responsibility for it.”

He glares at me, but I keep talking. “Elise is a hard worker. She puts in way more hours than anyone ever has for you, and she’s a good person who really needs this job.”

Elise knocks on the office door. Her lips are in a tight line, having heard my pleading for Dad to let her keep her job.

“Do you need something, sir?” Her voice is quiet, barely above a whisper.

Dad turns toward her and gives her a friendly smile. “Yes, come in and have a seat, please.”

He turns toward me with a scowl on his face. “We will talk more about this later.”

I get up and walk past Elise, who is still standing in the doorway. She’s wearing the leather leggings from the club and an oversized sweater.

My cock jumps as I remember the night at the club. The way she moved her ass against me. The way she came around my cock on the desk.

I shake those thoughts away. Now’s not the time. I turn my gaze on her as she walks past me and takes the seat that I was previously occupying .

She must be running out of clothes since she hasn’t been to the store yet, or washed her clothes.

Maybe I can make a shopping trip to surprise her. Would she even like that?

I grab my car keys from my bedroom and jog to the garage to head to the nearest clothing store that’s only a twenty-minute drive from the house.

I roughly know her size, so once I’m inside the store, I go crazy picking her out an entirely new wardrobe.

Turning my attention to the worker that is folding a stack of jeans, I ask, “If the clothes don’t fit, or if she doesn’t like them, can she return them?”

The woman looks at me like I’m new at shopping. Besides the club outfit, I’ve never bought a woman some clothes before.

“Of course. Our return policy is thirty days.”

“That’s perfect.”

Elise should be able to try the clothes on and see if she likes them well within the thirty day return period.

I walk around the store checking out all the racks before pulling clothes I think she will like.

I grab jeans, leggings, shorts, and skirts before dropping them on the counter. Making my way to the dress racks, I grab several in all sorts of lengths.

After I choose several tank tops, t-shirts, and blouses, I glance at the bra and panty shelves.

Not knowing what she likes or her size, I decide to skip it. I can always bring her back another day.

The thought of her walking around without wearing any panties gets the blood flowing. I can picture her wearing a dress or skirt and being bare underneath.

My dick hardens as I imagine bending her over her desk and taking her from behind.

Fuck me.

I need to stop thinking about Elise and her bare ass. Her perfectly round, plump ass.

Great. Now I’m hard and standing here at the register like a weirdo.

The cashier’s voice brings me out of my thoughts. “Do you need help finding anything else, or is this everything?”

I look at the giant pile of clothes on the counter. “Uh, nope. I think I found more than enough.”

And if Elise needs more, we will come back.

She takes her time scanning each piece of clothing, occasionally glancing up at me before scanning the next item.

I’m not sure if she is looking at me because she thinks I’m going to be wearing these clothes later, or if I did a horrible job of picking out clothes that match, and she feels sorry for Elise.

Either way, everything is returnable and if Elise doesn’t like the clothes, she can get ones she loves.

After the cashier scans and folds all the clothes and puts them in the shopping bags, she looks at me with wide eyes. “That will be six eighty and forty-two cents.”

I hand her my card and sign the paper when she places it on the counter .

She hands me the very long receipt, and says, “I hope you have a great rest of your day.”

I carry the bags to my car with a grin on my face. Seeing Elise try on these outfits will be great.

After throwing all the bags in the trunk, I drive to my next stop- the beauty shop for makeup and toiletries.

When I park, my phone pings with a text. Looking at the screen, I see it’s from dad.

Get Elise some stuff to make her feel at home. She’s going to be staying here for a while.

My fingers type out a short reply.

Already on it.

I don’t know what type of makeup Elise wears, but I can get her face cleaner, body wash, shampoo, and conditioner.

As soon as I walk through the doors to the store, I’m overwhelmed. Hundreds of lights illuminate the shop and reflect off the many mirrors.

“Can I help you?” A woman holding makeup brushes asks from one of the makeup counters.

“Um, yes, please. I’m looking for some stuff for my girlfriend. She needs all new products since hers are gone.”

Technically, I never asked Elise to be my girlfriend, but she’s mine.

The woman grins, like I just signed a blank check and told her to go on a shopping spree.

I have a feeling this trip is going to be more exhausting than an all nighter with Elise.