Banking the Billionaire (Bad Boy Billionaires Book 2) (27 page)

It was the reunion of a family who loved each other deeply but didn’t get together nearly enough. It made me feel like I needed to visit my parents more often. The Phillips still had Sean at home, at least for now, but the only thing my parents had was me. I needed to do a better job.

“We still going out tonight, little S?” Cassie asked her brother with a pat to his face.

“Sure. Are you going to be embarrassing?”

“Most definitely,” I answered for her with a smile, earning me a punch to the bicep from her and a laugh from Sean.

“I figured. We’ll go to a place where I won’t know anyone.”

“Whoop it up,” Cassie shouted over both of us as we laughed. “I’m going to get ready.” I pushed off the counter, and she turned to me with a stern finger. “Don’t even think about following me, Thatcher.”

Her eyes weren’t angry at all, so I knew she was just pushing my buttons the way I loved to push hers.

“I’ll be up in just a second, honey. I’ll help you with your zipper.”

“I don’t have a zipper,” she remarked just as Sean said, “Ew. Sister.”

Cassie turned toward the stairs with a smirk, and Sean just shook his head. “Make sure you’re both ready in an hour. Not an hour for screwing and an hour for getting ready. An hour total.”

“I—”

“I don’t need to know details,” he interrupted me.

I laughed and slapped a friendly hand on his shoulder. “See you in an hour.”

I walked calmly until I got to the stairs, and then took them two at a time and jogged down the hall until I found the room her mom had led me to to drop our stuff halfway through the family hellos.

I opened the door and scooted through before leaning against it when I caught sight of Cassie’s completely bare back. A bare back usually meant a bare front, and I couldn’t wait for the moment when she turned around.

“I know you’re back there, Thatcher,” she called without turning around as she lifted a foot up onto the bed and started smoothing lotion onto her thigh.

“I wasn’t trying to hide it, Cassie.”

I shoved off the door and moved forward when she didn’t say anything else, pressing my hips to her ass and squeezing the bare skin at the bottom of her stomach.

“You have the sexiest fucking body,” I breathed into the crook of her neck. She shivered.

“We don’t have time for sex right now,” she told me, pulling away from my lips and leaning forward. She pressed her ass into my dick, and her tits swung out in front of her just enough that I caught a peek of her nipples from above. I groaned.

“There’s always time for sex.”

“Nope.” She slapped my hand away as it sought the weight of her breast.

“Does that mean we’ll have time for sex later? I really like the sex time.”

“We’ll see.” She awarded me with a smile as she turned in my arms and pushed her tits to my stomach. “Maybe if you’re a real good
boyfriend.
”

I was wondering how long it would take for her to start exchanging that sentiment now that I had. I had a feeling she was tossing that out there to test me,
challenge
me, but it didn’t matter. I liked the sound of it no matter how it came, and I found myself wanting to set her up to use it even more.

“I can be good. Can you?”

She shook her head, pushed up on her toes, and nipped at the vein in my throat. “Not tonight, baby. I’m too good at being bad.”

“How many drinks has she had?” Sean shouted over the crowd noise and music.

I watched as Cassie climbed on the stage and pulled a man in his seventies up with her. Disco lights strobed, and the beat of the music made the floor shake under our feet.

“Five,” I answered with a smile before taking a sip of my water. I’d been watching out for her and soaking in all the entertainment she offered. I, myself, hadn’t had a drop, content to get to know Sean and be the designated driver.

A lot of men would be upset watching, but I didn’t get the point. She was enjoying herself, and I was here to make sure she did it safely. I certainly never thought she’d be grinding on some old guy, but I never wanted a woman I could predict.

I was also very rationally aware of the plethora of attention she’d been getting from young guys, guys she’d actually entertain the idea of dating, and she hadn’t paid a single one any attention. Even in the throes of her drunken good time, she respected me. That’s all I needed. A wild woman I could trust.

The rare combination had seemed damn near impossible to find until now.

Her phone buzzed in her purse on my shoulder, so I pulled it out and read the drunken text message thread she had going with an unsuspecting Kline.

And yes, I said on my shoulder. You should know by now I have very little shame.

Cassie: Get 25% off onesies this Sunday at Carter’s by subscribing now. Text NO to opt out of messages.

Kline: NO

Cassie: No baby? No problem! Text YES to subscribe to deals from our sister company, Trojan. Text NO to opt out of messages.

Kline: NO. Take my number off your list!

My eyes went back to my genius girlfriend. I knew Kline was too smart to let this go on forever without paying someone to hack Verizon, but I was enjoying it while it lasted.

Sean pulled my attention away from the sway of Cassie’s hips as she bumped and grinded into the older guy and back to him. “I like you for her.”

“Huh?” I asked as though I couldn’t hear him over the noise even though I’d heard him just fine. I wanted him to elaborate.

He knew I’d heard, but he smirked and humored me anyway.

“Cassie is a certain kind of girl. She gets bored easily, needs the thrill of a dance with some fucking grandpa and the freedom to drink however much she wants. But I usually worry about her while she’s doing it, wondering who’s got her back. I like that I won’t have to wonder anymore.”

I liked it too.

“You won’t,” I promised, and he nodded.

Somehow I’d passed Cassie’s twenty-one-year-old brother’s test. It wasn’t exactly the entrance exam to NASA, but right then, to me, it felt even better.

M
y eyes fluttered open as the Oregon sun filtered in through the windowpanes of my childhood bedroom. The warmth of a large body enveloping mine had me peeking out of one eye to survey my surroundings. Thatch was curled around me—one hand holding my boob, while his head used my chest as a pillow.

His handsome face looked so young, blissfully unaware and deep in sleep. His dark lashes rested softly against his cheeks as soft breaths puffed out from his lips. I ran my fingers through the messy strands of his jet-black hair as I tried to recount last night’s events.

One thing was certain; I had definitely danced and drunk my ass off. It had been an all-in kind of night, and I had forced Sean and Thatch to close the bar down with me, even demanding Taco Bell on the drive home.
Good thinking, Cassie.
That fast food had probably saved me from a morning of praying to the porcelain gods.

Thatch stirred in his sleep. His foggy, dark eyes met mine.

“Good morning,” I said with a soft smile.

“Morning, honey,” he said in a raspy voice, but he didn’t move his head from my chest. Both of his hands were now holding on to my boobs and squeezing them playfully. “Mmm,” he moaned. “I need to add a new rule. Number fifty-one. These tits are
my
pillows.”

I laughed and flicked his forehead with my index finger.

“Ow, fuck,” he responded through a laugh. “What was that for?”

“I’m about to revoke your rule-making rights. You’ve made over twelve rules in the past forty-eight hours.”

He peeked up at me through sleepy eyes. “Rule number fifty-two. You can never revoke my rule-making rights.”

I grinned and decided to add a rule of my own. “Rule number fifty-three. If one of us has to be the designated driver, it will always be you.”

He chuckled. “I’ll actually agree to that one.”

I quirked a brow in surprise. “Really?”

“I think I have more fun watching you get drunk and wild than I actually do getting blitzed myself.”

“That’s crazy talk,” I refuted. “No one likes being the sober person dealing with a drunken idiot.”

“Yeah, but you’re an exception. You’re my favorite drunken idiot.”

A few giggles slipped past my lips, and his smile turned wide and blinding in response. He rested his chin on my chest and gazed up at me. His eyes were so endearing—full of zero pretense or judgment—and their dark depths revealed that every word coming out of his mouth was the truth.

“You took care of me last night, didn’t you?”

He shrugged. “I kept an eye on things, but I mostly just sat back, chatted with Sean, and let you do your thing. Did you have fun last night?”

I was with you. Of course, I had fun.

“I did,” I answered with a nod. “What about you?”

“Besides worrying about that old guy having a heart attack, I had a fantastic night.”

I tilted my head to the side. “What old guy?”

“Your dance partner for most of the night.”

“I danced with an old guy?”

He nodded as a slow, amused grin consumed his face.

The wheels started to turn, and my brain caught up with the hazy memories. “
Oh…
the old guy
in the blue blazer? The one who kept pelvic thrusting his geriatric crotch into my ass?”

Thatch’s face turned up with hilarity. “In his defense, you were encouraging his senior citizen dance moves.”

I cracked up at that. “Oh, man. I bet Sean was thrilled. How bad did I embarrass him last night?”

“Like on a scale of zero to ten?”

I nodded.

One of his hands left my boobs and slid a lock of hair behind my ear. “I’d say a twelve, maybe? Twelve and a half, tops?”

“Fantastic.” I fist-pumped the air. “The night was a success, then.”

He chuckled.

“What about you? How bad did I embarrass you?”

He tilted his head in amusement. “You didn’t embarrass me.”

“Oh, come on.” I raised a knowing brow. “Be honest, Thatcher.”

“Honey, you didn’t embarrass me,” he responded in an even tone. “I thoroughly enjoyed watching you have a good time.”

“Even when I was grinding on the old dude?”

He grinned. “Especially when you were grinding on the old dude.”

My sleepy brain buzzed at the abnormality overload. That was
never
a guy’s reaction.

This man. What was I going to do with him?

He never failed to amaze me with his abnormal yet refreshing responses to my behavior. Thatch had become someone in my life that I could always rely on. Someone I could trust to have my back no matter what. Those kinds of people were so rare in a world filled with selfish motives and one-track minds. I felt lucky I had found someone like that in him.

Yeah, but how long will it last?

Anxiety clawed at my chest at that train of thought. We had started our relationship on a joke, constantly trying to one-up and out-prank each other, but somewhere along the way, things had changed. Sure, I was highly skilled at avoiding anything related to commitment or giving someone else any form of control over me, but I also wasn’t blind to what was happening with us. Somewhere along the way we had hopped on this path of something that resembled an actual relationship.