Page 33 of Mad Rivals (The Bradley Legacy #1)

Falling Directly Onto My Lap

I didn’t come here tonight with high expectations.

I thought for sure he was going to let me down gently, that he was going to tell me that while it’s been fun, he’s got a football season he needs to start thinking about.

I was bracing myself for him to say something along the lines of how it’s better to cut our losses while it’s early days before we fall in too hard.

But I guess we’re there. We’ve both fallen in pretty damn hard.

And speaking of pretty damn hard, he let me bask in the afterglow of my first orgasm for a few glorious minutes before he pushed into me and granted my wish for him to rail me so hard I’d be thinking of him for the next week.

The truth is that I would’ve been doing that either way, but this way I’ll have that deliciously sore ache.

My father’s confrontation when I got back from California apparently had little effect on me. I’m not ready to give up what the two of us have started, least of all for someone who makes demands of my life, my time, and my future when I’m not even close to him .

My mother’s oblivious to everything, worrying instead about ridiculous things like gold facials and laser skin resurfacing, while my father continues to run VBC as he hands more and more responsibilities over to me.

I continue to prove myself, and the more involved I become, the more I wish I would’ve started here out of college instead of asserting the independence I wound up giving up anyway.

I might not have the same pressures on top of me if I would’ve just taken this position years ago.

Or I might have even more pressure. Who knows? I can’t change the past, so all I can really do is figure out how to navigate my current reality instead.

After the best sex of my life, we have dinner together at the small table by the window in our hotel room, and then he has to go.

“What time is your flight tomorrow morning?” I ask after I set my napkin on top of my plate.

“Seven.” He twists his lips, and I wish I could take that sadness away, but it’s hard since I feel it, too.

“Safe travels,” I say.

He presses his lips together. “When will I see you again?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve been looking into some projects in California that’ll allow me to travel there more often as an excuse, but after my dad confronted me about that photograph of us leaving your hotel together, I have a feeling he’ll start to get suspicious.

I keep thinking maybe we should just come clean. ”

He shakes his head. “Would it be easier to come clean? Absolutely. But with SCS splitting the work between us, it becomes a conflict of interest if we’re together.

We can’t have stakeholders wondering whether we’re making decisions based on what’s best for the project or what’s best for ourselves.

And on top of that, if other developers figure out we’re together, they may assume we’re collaborating, and we could be seen as a threat to fair competition.

Not to mention the threat of internal gossip with all the nepotism shit. ”

I twist my lips. They’re all very good, very valid points. But it also tosses another concern into the conversation. “So does that mean we just… never get to go public with this?”

He lifts a shoulder. “I don’t know, Ken,” he says, and it’s the first time he’s ever abbreviated my name.

It’s a whisper, and it’s sort of sexy coming out of his mouth when I’ve never really cared much for the nickname that’s a male name.

“It feels like things will fall into place at the right time just like they’re supposed to. ”

I wish I shared that same sentiment, but as we say our goodbyes and I head toward the door, a feeling of dread pervades. It feels like this is the beginning of the end, but at the same time, it’s almost like we never really got a chance to get started.

He kisses me goodbye, and it’s deep and intimate as he holds me close and pushes his feelings into this simple connection.

It should give me a sense of relief. He’s in this. He told me so. He wants me to basically live with him when I’m in California.

But he’s going to San Diego, and I’m staying here. We have no real plans for what comes next.

And that’s scary as hell given how deep my feelings already run for him.

I head home, have a good cry with Clem for a bit, and then I pull myself together.

I open my laptop and start researching development opportunities in California.

I reach out to Oliver, the head of the LA office, with some different ideas I generate in my simple search, and I hope I found something he hasn’t already been working on—something I can show my father from Oliver that says how he’d love for me to come help with a new opportunity.

And then I wait for a reply.

I don’t get a reply from Oliver, but I do wake up to a text from my father.

Walter Van Buren: Come to my office when you get in .

Yes, I have my dad in my phone by his name. Not by Dad . Not by Father or Pops or Daddy . By Walter .

It feels an awful lot like I’m getting called into the principal’s office, and I don’t like that sense of dread that accompanies it. I already had dread inside at the fact that Madden is currently on an airplane flying far away from me, but this just couples on top of all that.

Clem and I haven’t been carpooling since we leave the office at different times, but we do meet in the kitchen for breakfast each morning.

“What’s on today’s agenda?” she asks when she walks in. She grabs the box of Cheerios from the pantry and helps herself to a bowl while I pick at my yogurt and berries.

“My dad wants to see me in his office when I get in,” I mutter.

“And you’re feeling a certain way about that?”

“No,” I say, and I glance around the kitchen and lower my voice just in case my mom’s somewhere around, but it’s Friday morning, which is facial time, so I think I’m safe. “I’m feeling a certain way about Madden leaving.”

“That explains the crankiness,” she says lightly. She’s teasing, but I’m too cranky to give it a pass. Instead, she gets a glare.

“And you’re awfully chipper.”

“It’s Friday, but…” She glances around, too, and lowers her voice as well. “I finally broke Lance in. He asked me out via text last night, and we’re grabbing drinks after work tonight.”

She’s blushing and giddy, and I do my best to meet her with the enthusiasm she deserves.

“Oh my God, Clem! That’s amazing!”

“Thank you.”

I narrow my eyes at her. “So that is why you’re looking extra cute today.”

She wrinkles her nose. “Cute? All this effort and I just get a cute ?”

“You look fab, babe. Sexy, hot, fuck-a-licious. All the best things. He’s a lucky guy. ”

“It felt forced, but I’ll take it.” She shoves a spoonful of her cereal into her mouth. “Are you doing okay with all of this?”

“I don’t have a choice. Time marches on, and he’ll be back in nine months or so. Maybe we can resume then.” I shrug half-heartedly.

“Or maybe you’re writing the end when it’s really just the start of a new chapter.”

“A hard chapter,” I mutter.

“Maybe. Probably. But the best things in life don’t come easy, so stop sulking and start fighting.”

I sit with those words and wonder whether she’s right. I’m not giving up. It’s just the first morning he’s gone, and truthfully, it hasn’t affected us yet. I wouldn’t have seen him this morning anyway. It just feels different, and I need a minute to get over that.

I’ll get there.

I’m allowed to be cranky. I’m allowed to miss him. I’m allowed to want to fly to San Diego tonight to see him.

I blow out a breath, finish my yogurt, give Clem a hug, and head into the office.

I walk straight toward my dad’s office when I arrive, and he glances up when he hears my light knock on the doorframe.

He raises his brows. “Shut the door.”

Fuck. I feel like I’m in trouble. Like I’m twelve all over again and he’s yelling at me for stealing eyeshadow from Target when it was Lynne Morris who did it. Like I’m fifteen all over again and he’s yelling at me for sneaking vodka from the liquor cabinet.

Okay, fine. That one was me.

I’m not sure what I’m being scolded for this time, though—unless he knows about Madden and me.

I slip into the chair across from him, and he fixes a glare on me. Or he’s studying me. It’s hard to tell the difference.

“I got an interesting email from Oliver out of the Aliso Viejo office.”

I raise my brows and play dumb. “Oh? ”

He nods. “He said he has several ideas for new projects in the area, but he’s already overbooked.

He said he’d like to hire a new developer.

He has several bid walks lined up in the coming months, and I thought it over and came up with you.

Not as a new employee, but as someone already versed in bids and bid walks.

You won half the work from SCS as we worked together, and since that’s the main project you’re heading up here, I can afford to have you commuting between here and LA if that’s something you’d be interested in. ”

Is he kidding me right now?

Is this seriously falling directly onto my lap as if my prayers are being answered?

I just went from not being sure when the hell I’d see Madden again to being offered the chance to work out of the office a mere hour away from him.

The light that fills me from the inside is surely shining brightly in my expression, but I’m careful to school it so my father doesn’t catch it and figure out why I’m so eager to get to the LA office.

“I have several other projects here, too,” I say, trying my best to sound defensive but already knowing what he’ll say. “I’m not sure I could afford the travel commitments.”

“I’ve considered that, and I think Sara could likely take on your additional projects here.

I don’t want you to give up SCS, but we’re on permitting now anyway, so it’ll be a bit before you have more to do there.

You could probably get away with spending the next week or so in LA if it’s something you’d be interested in. ”

I twist my lips as I pretend to think it over. “What about accommodations?”

“I don’t love the idea of you living out of a hotel, but Oliver has some resources for home rentals if it comes to that.

My initial thought was getting you a hotel at first, allowing you to get your feet under you, and then you can decide how much time you think you’ll need.

We could rent a place for a month or for the year, and then you’ll have a home base for when you’re going back and forth. VBC would pick up the cost, obviously.”

I refrain from mentioning that I in fact already have accommodations in town. Instead, I say, “That’s fine. Let’s start with a hotel and go from there.”

“So you’ll do it?” he asks.

Fuck yeah I’ll do it. I think about adding Clem to my list of demands, but she’s happy here.

I don’t know how happy she’ll be staying with my parents while I’m not there, but she’s going on a date with Lance tonight, and I’ll be commuting back and forth anyway.

We’ll still see each other plenty.

Instead of saying any of that, I say, “If it’s what you need me to do, then that’s what I’ll do.”

He tilts his head as he studies me, and then he nods. “Fine. I’ll need you to work out details today for what your schedule will look like based on your SCS timelines, and I’ll need you in California by Tuesday.”

Hell, I can be there tonight if that’s what he wants. I nod. “I’ll get started on it now.” I move to stand, but his voice stills me.

“One more thing, Kennedy.”

I glance up at my father.

“The Bradley boy,” he says, and my heart stutters in my chest. “Stay away from him. He’s nothing but trouble.”

I press my lips together and nod. I can’t find it in me to reply with words because I don’t want to tell a lie.

But the very last thing I plan to do is stay away from the Bradley boy.