Page 32 of Between Never and Forever

I hummed. I’d used those words to hurt her, and I guess they had. Her saying them back at me years later stung badly.

“So, then, I won’t affect you when you call that fiancé of yours. Go on.” I egged her on. “Dial the number. Tell your fiancé you’re done with him so I can fuck you into oblivion.”

“Not gonna happen, Dex.”

I sighed. “Kee, I think you misinterpreted what this is. I will rip your contract apart and throw your ass out on the street if you don’t listen to me. Do you understand? We’re not kids anymore. You won’t walk all over me like—” I stopped. Fuck, I was still mad at her, and I wanted to punish her for it, make her feel it, make her suffer like I did.

“Dex—” Her voice was soft as she started to say something and set her phone down beside her. Maybe it was an apology. A reason. An excuse. But it was nothing I wanted.

I pointed to the phone. “Call that asshole if you want this deal. Right. Now.”

She picked up the phone, her eyes holding a challenge now too. “You might control this whole city—they might be scared and listen to you—but you don’t affect me at all. Go on and try to prove otherwise.”

With that, she pressed Ethan’s number, and I ripped her dress up her hips so I could see the thong she had on underneath. I leaned close to whisper in her ear, “Bend over the counter and face the window. Look out at the city I rule and feel how I’m going to rule you too.”

ChapterTwelve

KEELANI

I could only keepup this facade for so long because he was about to find me soaked through my panties. Dex Hardy against me wasn’t something I could ignore. His length alone caused my body to quake in anticipation. And his signature smell of warm spice and cedar was all around me. The vibration of his growl weakened me as his hands squeezed the globes of my ass. And the way he kneaded them so close to my pussy, well, I almost whimpered.

He knew how to tease a woman better now than he had before. Practice made perfect, I guess. And the thought of him with others curdled in my stomach as I tried to hold my ground. I may have loved him once, but we were adults now. He had turned into a colossal dick, one who wanted to seek some sort of revenge on me through this contract and get me out of his system. I had to remember that.

He’d left our hometown, I’d moved on, and we weren’t really going to revisit what we could have been.

His hands smoothed over my ass cheeks and traced my panty line as I hit the call button. “Put it on speaker.”

I glared over my shoulder, but he simply lifted a brow. The man was a masochist, I swear. Still, I did as I was told and placed the phone on the counter.

“Hello?” Ethan’s voice was groggy over the line. “Babe? It’s late as hell.”

“He’s answering pretty fast for a fake fiancé,” Dex grumbled.

I shushed him. “Yeah, hi, Ethan.” I cleared my throat because I sounded much too breathy for the call. Yet, as I did, Dex’s finger hooked around the string of my thong. He then dragged it down into my pussy where I knew he felt how wet I was. He chuckled but I spoke loudly over him. “Did the record label happen to call you?”

“Now?” he grumbled. “What time is it?”

“Sorry. It’s extremely late.” Dex’s finger curled up and into my core slowly, and my hands slammed down on the counter.

“Kee, have you been drinking?”

“No. Well, yes.” I shut my eyes as he thrust in another and curled them up against my G-spot. “That’s not why—”

“Babe, you okay? Give me a sec. I’m with someone.”

There was rustling on the other line as Dex whispered in my ear, “Seems your fiancé is fooling around on you too.”

The comment was ridiculous. “Youknowwe’re not really together,” I seethed for the millionth time.

“What was that, babe?” Ethan asked now. “Sorry. I’ve got Janey in the other room.”

I narrowed my eyes at Dex, ready to put this ridiculous narrative to bed. “Right. Ethan, I have Dex here.” As I said it, the man had the audacity to brush a finger over my ass, and I gasped but kept talking, my voice strained. “He’s convinced we’re in a real relationship.”

“Are you two together right now?” Ethan hesitated and then chuckled. “You finally making up over there?”

“Ethan,” I ground out as Dex pumped his fingers faster in and out of me. My tone was breathless. “Can you just tell him that’s not true?”

“Hm.” My friend always had a knack for causing drama and now was no exception. “Well, we are engaged, Keelani.”