Page 36 of His Secret Betrayal (Cedarwood Valley Duology #2)

Luke

“ L ook at that. I knew hiring you was the right move,” Alek mutters over my shoulder, the husky praise sending a flush across my cheeks.

His chest is brushing against my back, those massive arms caging me in as he stands behind me at my desk—still in his office—and looks over my latest project.

It’s a book cover for a debut author, two men embracing under the glow of a full moon.

There’s even a massive, gray-coated wolf in the background.

“I was taught by the best,” I murmur.

“Hmm, I think you just have natural talent,” he whispers, his breath fanning down my neck and making me shiver.

“Why is my desk still in your office?” I blurt out, unable to hold back my curiosity any longer. At this point, I’ve been here a month and my training is complete. I’ve been working on my own projects for a few weeks now, spending most of my day in his office and my nights his bed.

Honestly, I’m not complaining. I can’t get enough of him, and he seems to feel the same way, based on the number of times I’ve now been woken up to his tongue on my cock.

After we tried it the first time, it’s something we both quickly realized we enjoy.

And now that Caleb is back at his own apartment—thankfully, the repairs didn’t take too long—I’ve moved back into Alek’s bedroom.

Still, it is kind of odd and the other employees are beginning to give me weird looks.

Alek spins my chair around, kneeling on the floor with his hands resting on my knees as he searches my face. “You don’t like being in here?” he asks.

“No!” I say immediately. When his face falls, I quickly amend, “I mean, yes, I love it. I like…” My skin heats as I nibble on my bottom lip.

“You like it when I bend you over my desk and have you for lunch?” he asks, his lips quirking into a smug grin.

I huff. “You know I like that.”

His eyes heat, dipping down to gaze over my body. And like a Pavlovian response, my cock twitches. I swear, the damn thing is trained to perk up every time he looks at me. “You know, I think I’m feeling a little hungry right now,” he whispers.

Yuppp, there goes my cock.

Alek rumbles his approval, his hand palming the back of my neck and pulling me forward.

It quickly delves into a heated make out session, him pulling me onto his lap on the floor where I grind our cocks together.

Our kiss turns frantic and heated, rushed because we never want to get caught at the office.

“Take your clothes off and bend that pretty ass over my desk so I can lick it,” he demands.

“Can I blow you after?” I ask, nipping along his jaw, my hands cupping his erection through his trousers and squeezing.

“God, I—”

“What in the ever-loving fuck are you two doing?”

I tumble off Alek’s lap as we both jump apart, our heads snapping toward the intrusion, my stomach plummeting when I spot Caleb’s appalled face from where he now stands in the doorway.

Shit, we were so caught up in each other we didn’t even hear the door open.

I sort of just remain where I am, frozen, with my ass on the floor because my best friend is standing there looking horrified. He’s looking at me like I’m a stranger, and it feels like someone just kicked me in the ribs.

“Let me explain.” Alek jumps up, pulling me into a standing position with him. His voice is surprisingly calm, albeit a bit stern.

How the hell is he not panicking right now?

“Oh my God, are you two fucking ?” Caleb asks, his voice going high-pitched in alarm.

“Caleb, for the love of—calm the fuck down, son.”

Spoiler alert: Caleb does not calm down.

He begins to pace back and forth, his fingers rubbing at his temples while shooting us accusatory glances. “Is my best friend fucking my dad, or is my dad fucking my best friend? Holy shit balls, this is insane.”

“Caleb,” I begin, advancing toward him.

He holds up a hand. “No, nope. I’ve seen enough. You were on his lap and…” He makes a gagging noise, and for a moment, I really think he’s going to be sick. “Dude, that’s my dad,” he grits out.

“Caleb,” Alek warns.

Caleb scowls, pointing a finger at him. “You’re not supposed to have a sex life, and definitely not with my best friend!”

Alek narrows his eyes. “How do you think I had you? Did we not have the birds and bees talk?”

“Excuse me while I go to the parking lot and barf ,” Caleb says, clamping his lips together. Two seconds later, he spins around and practically sprints out of the office.

I start to go after him, panic swirling in my gut. Maybe I can make this right somehow. There has to be something I can do or say, right?

“Wait.” Alek’s hand clasps my elbow, spinning me back around until I’m facing him. Then his hands are cupping my cheeks, and he’s pulling my face to his. He kisses me softly once, twice. “Just breathe, baby.”

“But—”

“Everything is going to be okay,” Alek reassures me. “I will make him come around and see reason. Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” the whispered confession comes without hesitation.

Alek smiles softly, his thumb brushing across my cheek. The gentle caress soothes some of my frayed nerves. “Then trust that I’m going to fix this.”

I nod, swallowing thickly. “Okay, I can do that. ”

Alek pecks me on the cheek one last time, telling me to take the rest of the day off, and he’ll meet me back at home once things are settled with Caleb.

But after he takes his comforting presence with him, I cringe.

God, I hope the entire office didn’t overhear Caleb’s outburst. Then some of my worries start to creep back in.

I can’t help but think how eerily similar this situation is to what I put my own brother through.

When I walked in on him in Maddie’s arms, I let my anger get the best of me and said some hurtful things I’ll never be able to take back.

Then I made him pick between me and the woman he loves, prompting her to leave.

It was not my finest moment, and if Caleb wanted to make his dad pick between us, then that’s exactly what I deserve.

The thought makes me sick to my stomach, the rolling sensation making me grimace.

Fuck, I need to see my brother.

When I get to Jax’s house, I make a point of knocking .

While I wait for a response, I step back and study the exterior of the home where I spent a large chunk of my childhood.

It’s a spacious, creamy white building with slate-gray shutters and a wooden, wraparound porch.

Behind me is the long, gravel driveway I used to pedal up and down on my bike.

The door swings open, only I’m not greeted by my brother.

Maddison is on the other side, her doe-brown eyes widening as surprise flashes across her features.

Her brown hair flows around her shoulders, and she’s wearing her worn, gray Crestwood Heights University shirt paired with black leggings.

An errant beam of sunlight gives the small engagement ring my brother gave her a sparkling effect.

“Luke!”

“Hey, Madds,” I say, unable to keep the affection out of my tone. No matter what happened between us, I’m always happy to see her. Pulling her in for a hug, I squeeze until she lets out a protesting grunt. “Is Jax home?” I ask.

“Yup, he’s in the backyard building a pergola.”

“Um, okay. Why?”

“He says it’s for me, but it’s really for him.

” She snorts, her eyes sparkle as she grins, motioning for me to follow her to the backyard where we step onto a wide, stone patio with a clear view of the peaks of Cedarwood Mountains in the distance.

Thankfully, since it’s early March now, temperatures are beginning to rise and winter is slowly transitioning into spring.

There’s still a bit of chill in the air, but it’s no longer hurt-your-face cold.

“Be nice,” Maddie warns me in a whisper.

I tilt my head as we approach Jax, who is indeed building…something. It’s an ugly, brown monstrosity leaning precariously to the left. “You should stick to putting out fires,” I mutter, grunting when Maddie jabs her elbow into my side.

God, I forgot how pointy that thing is.

My brother climbs down a rickety, old ladder, all the while giving me the stink eye. “It’s not finished, asshole.”

I huff.

Jax wipes his hands on the bottom of his black shirt, his eyebrows pulling down as he studies me. “What’s up?”

A sigh escapes me, because I know that look. He has this uncanny knack of reading straight through people’s bullshit, always seeming to sense when something is off . And the look he’s giving me now means he’s fighting the urge to go all big brother on me.

“I can’t drop by because I want to see my bro?”

He gives me a knowing look, tipping his chin toward the patio table. “Let’s sit down.”

Jax leads me toward the table, and I pull a chair out, the legs screeching across the patio. As we sit, I’m vaguely aware of Maddie striding away in my peripheral vision. Jax’s eyes heat as his emerald irises land on the swell of her ass.

I kick him under the table and rumble, “We get it, dipshit. You’re in love, and you want to marry her and give her babies. Now, can you please stop eye-fucking your fiancée and focus on me?” My eyes narrow. “Did you eye-fuck her like that when we were dating?”

Seriously, how did I never realize the way my brother looks at her when Maddie and I were together?

Jax coughs, his face turning red as he averts his eyes. The answer doesn’t really matter at this point, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t get some sick sort of amusement out of the way it makes him squirm with guilt.

Maddie’s voice filters in from somewhere behind us, her shoes shuffling along the patio as she returns. “Didn’t he ever tell you about the time he watched—”

Jax’s head whips toward her, his eyes going round. “Baby, some things should be left to his imagination, don’t you think?” he asks quietly, a thread of alarm in his voice.

Maddie blushes, the corner of her lips pulling into a coy smile.