Page 17 of Undeniably Corrupt (Boston’s Irresistible Billionaires #7)

I n the two days since I put my mouth on Liora’s fantastic pussy, I’ve done my due diligence not to see her more than necessary.

Which, in my case, isn’t much. I can be an asshole, and no one blinks twice at it.

The weird and reclusive CEO. The wild genius introvert who spends more time with his computers and drums than people.

No one cares as long as I keep their systems safe and their paychecks coming. Not even Alesha, who likes to find me and chat my ear off and flirt in her veiled way for half an hour in the morning with little to nothing in return.

But there’s the flip side of the coin. The one where you’re alone in a room surrounded by monitors or at your desk, and people stop trying to direct your actions or morals because they know better by this point.

And you go unchecked.

I tell myself on the occasions that I track her down in my building that I’m simply making sure she’s here and she’s safe and not actively, blatantly sabotaging me.

After all, facial recognition didn’t come up with anything, and as suspected, there’s no Agent Vega in the FBI.

When he left my building, he didn’t get into a car as you’d expect.

He got on the T and rode it who knows where.

I lost him after a certain point on the city cameras.

Which is calculated. It has to be. He knew I was going to track him, and he evaded me. So who is he working for? And why was he asking about Liora and my past relationship with her?

Is Vega’s showing up in my office about me? Or Liora? Is she in danger, or am I?

Legit, none of it makes sense. I haven’t had time to do more digging, but now I need to know who else he’s involved with.

And yes, I will dig. At this point, I believe I’m entitled.

The guy showed up on my doorstep, but right now it’s one blocked end after another.

Which means someone is treating this like their Super Bowl and, no matter what, is determined to win at all costs.

Liora: I’m done for the day. Do you need anything else?

Yes. You.

Me: Nope. See you tomorrow.

I watch Liora leave from my phone, telling myself it’s simple distrust and doing my due diligence. Maybe part of it is. I don’t trust her. I follow after, but as she heads for the daycare and then the T, I force myself to get in my car and go home.

And with that, I can’t lie to myself. I’m not fucking stupid, and I’m not one to play games. She’s corrupt. She’s a liability. A massive one. And part of me can’t help but think all of this, from the very start, was a setup.

But…

My mind drifts as I drive home.

Our eyes met across the grassy embankment of the lake, and as always, with any time I looked at her, I felt that hiccup in my heart. She gave me a private smile, and I couldn’t help but return it. Last night I kissed her for the first time. I also made her my girl.

“What are you looking at, brother?” Cass asked, snapping me away from his sister.

My gaze shot over to him at the speed of light. A guilty unease crept up my neck, and I attempted to rub it away.

“Huh?” was my brilliant response.

“You checking out that Megan girl?”

“Huh? Oh. Um.” I let it go from there. I didn’t know who he was talking about. There was no one hitting my radar other than Liora.

“Yeah,” he agreed even though I hadn’t said anything. “She’s pretty hot.” He jutted his chin over toward where Liora was, and I followed his gaze until I saw the blonde she was talking to. That must be Megan. “You should go for her.”

“Nah, I’m good. That’s all you.”

He laughed and nudged me with his shoulder as he took a sip of his beer. It was hot as hell out here, and with my parents in Boston that weekend, we’d taken over our private part of our lake.

“You still with that girl in Boston?”

I made a noncommittal noise as I sipped my own beer.

The truth was, there was no girl in Boston.

The girl was Liora, and I’d had a thing for her for the last couple of months.

I’d simply told him there was someone in Boston so he’d stop asking why I wasn’t fooling around with anyone.

I didn’t want anyone but her. Other girls held no appeal.

I wanted to tell him. I wanted him to know that my girl was his sister and that he didn’t have to kill me because it wasn’t just a hookup or a summer thing.

I really, truly, genuinely liked her. A fucking lot.

More than I’d ever liked any other girl.

I realized it was complicated. But I’d be good to her.

Even if I wasn’t always known for being so with girls in the past.

But Liora begged me not to tell him. In fact, she begged to keep us a secret from everyone. Her parents especially. I didn’t fully understand it, but she was more adamant about keeping the secret than I was about telling it, so I told her I would.

“You don’t know how lucky you are, man.”

I turned away from watching Liora as she sipped on a lemonade wearing her cute hot-pink bikini top that matched her nails and toes and her cut-off jean shorts that showed off her long legs, back to my friend. “How’s that?”

He shrugged. “Just that you get to go to Boston. You get straight A’s without even trying. I’ll be here for life.”

My brows scrunched at the almost despondent way he said that. “But you’ll work for your dad, right? You’ll get to take over his company one day.”

He chugged down the last of his beer and chucked his empty bottle toward the trash, just missing it, but it was the heft of his throw and the slightly bitter line of his mouth that had me twisting to him. He was lucky it didn’t break, or I’d be fucking pissed.

“What? What am I missing?”

He plastered on a smile as he went to the cooler for another beer. “Nothing. Yeah. I’ll work for my dad. It’ll be awesome. Just saying it must be nice to have Boston. College. Life outside of this small town.”

“You could come with me,” I offered in that idealistic way teenagers do when they don’t think things through and the world feels limitless.

“If not MIT, then somewhere else. Boston is full of colleges.” MIT was my endgame, and I was going to make damn sure I got in.

Outside of Cass, who had been my best friend since we were in diapers, and now Liora, there was nothing holding me here.

My best friends, who were my other family, were in Boston, and other than Mason, who would likely go to Alabama for school since that was where his father went for football, everyone else would likely stay local.

But the thought of leaving Cass, of leaving Liora, didn’t sit well with me.

He didn’t say anything, and I felt like shit for offering something I knew would likely never happen. “Whatever. I’ll be back plenty. My parents are here, and you’re my best friend. My brother. That shit is for life.”

He glanced at me over the end of the brown bottle he was tipping up to his lips.

“For sure.” He gave me a fist pound. “I’m just saying, sometimes I wish it could be different. That I could have your parents instead of mine and get out of this town. The same for Liora.”

I looked back at her and found she was heading our way.

A stupid smile hit my lips before I could get it checked.

“Hey,” I said. She was with that Megan girl who immediately latched onto Cass.

They started talking—flirting—and all mention of swapping families and life after graduation came to a halt as he engaged with the blonde.

Good thing too, because I had my own.

“Hi,” she said in an almost shy whisper.

I angled my body and stood close, reaching for her in a way where I could latch onto her pinky with mine. I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to drape my arm around her shoulders and hold her against me. But I settled for her pinky and the fluttering high I got with it.

“Having fun?” she asked.

“I am now.”

“Do I get a beer?”

I grinned. “Nope. You’re fourteen.”

“So?” she cried indignantly. “You’re only sixteen.”

I shrugged and looked around, and when I was positive Cass wasn’t paying us any attention, I leaned into her ear. “I want you sober when I kiss you later, Angel.”

“Is that your plan?” she retorted, trying for sass, but the glaze to her eyes told me it was what she wanted too.

“If you’ll let me. Can you say you’re sleeping at a friend’s?”

Her eyes narrowed, and I couldn’t help my small chuckle.

I squeezed her pinky. “It’s not like that. I swear. I’ll wait for that forever or until you promise you’re ready, which I know you’re not. I just want to spend time alone with you. Watch a movie together. Sleep next to you. Kiss you a lot. That’s all.”

“That’s not how you’ve done it before,” she challenged.

“You’re different. You’re the one I want for more than just the physical stuff.” I stared deeply into the blue eyes I could get lost in and never wanted to be found and told her a truth I’d hardly begun to swallow for myself. “Liora, you’re just the one I want.”

My mind clears as I pull into my driveway and park. For a moment, I simply sit here, staring at the unattached garage at the back of my driveway. I was only a teenager, but in thinking back on things now… there’s a lot that I missed. A lot Cass never told me.

I had tunnel vision. Liora, Liora, Liora . MIT too, but while I was in Lavender Lake, it was all her. There’s been no point in my life when I’ve been able to hold back or resist her.

It’s as she said. I’m obsessed. Addicted.

I always have been. I crave her. She’s every good and bad thought I have, and with that, I’m in danger.

I know it. It’s not just my life on the line anymore.

She’s thrown my heart back into the game as well.

And what happens if I allow myself to fall for her again?

I’m a mess with it. I don’t know which end is up. Instead of going inside, I turn in the opposite way and go for a run. My neighborhood is quiet, dark, and peaceful. A rare thing to find this close to the city and not one I take for granted.