Yours Book 1: Losing My Innocence Read online

  I of course blush like an idiot. Craig happens to be nice looking in that playboy way that all of Lucian’s friends are. Not as tall as Luke, Andrew or him, in my four inch heels I am an inch or two taller than he is. Craig has a nice smile that is welcoming.

  “I didn’t see that as being your business,” Luke deadpanned.

  “Well, I have to agree with Craig you are very lovely,” George laughs, “but having a sister your age I will agree with Luke as well, it is none of Craig’s business.”

  “I like that guy,” Mark snorts and grumbles under his breath. It is the first time I have noticed how tense Luke and Mark have become, yet I still have no reaction for either of them other than an out of control blush that I hope no one can notice.

  “Well, I for one feel left out. I’m Kimmie, Sophi’s equally beautiful and awesome best friend,” Kimmie chimes in to fill in for my awkwardness.

  “Yes, I would have to agree with that one myself,” Craig chuckles.

  “Once again wrong,” Luke almost growls. I am totally thrown off by that one. Luke just glares at Kimmie as his posture becomes more ridged.

  “I’m Mark, Sophi’s… well, I guess her other best friend. Luke, I think you would agree that I’m quite the looker,” Mark adds to ease the tension.

  That gets every one’s attention as we all fall into relaxed laughter. “I’m not touching that one,” Luke chuckles. Two more friends of Luke’s join our little group and we start to discuss Mark, Kimmie, and my college experience. Being that most of Luke’s friends are entrepreneurs, they were very interested in our majors. The technology and web encoding fields are hot right now and we are all looking at great futures.

  I could talk coding all day so I have no problem fitting into this conversation. Luke seems to be really proud of me, despite the sharp looks I am still sending his way when I think no one is paying attention.

  “Hey, there you are, I thought you weren’t going to make it,” Luke cheers as he raised his glass to someone coming up behind me. I am in the middle of helping Mark explain a great program design we created for our final project.

  “Wouldn’t have missed this for the world,” I hear the deep, rich, sexy voice say from behind me. Suddenly, I hear nothing anyone else is saying. I can feel the moment he stops just a foot behind me. There is no mistaking it, this is him. My body knows him somehow; Nicholas Lincoln is here. “Sorry, I had to leave the ceremony in such a rush.”

  “No problem, I understand,” Luke smiles to his friend standing behind me.

  “Well, where is our star? I want to congratulate her,” Nick croons in that silky smooth voice.

  Luke laughs as I stand here frozen in my spot. Nicholas Lincoln is here for me, looking for me. I have to remind myself to breathe. Oh God, Ettie did wonders on the outside, but they forgot to makeover my social malfunction. This is bad, very bad.

  Luke laughs as his eyes meet mine and he smiles warmly. “She is standing right in front of you,” Luke nods in my direction. I groan inwardly and turn slowly to face the man of my dreams.

  I turn to find his warm smile and amazing jade green eyes framed by the thickest, longest lashes I’ve ever seen. So not fair on a guy. Oh for crying out loud, how can he possibly look more mouthwatering than I remember. All six feet and more of him are just delicious to look at. He is clad in a perfectly tailored black suit that tells an amazing tale about the broad shoulders and tight muscles underneath. His hair is much longer than it had been when I met him four years ago, in one of those hot I just got out of bed, but it looks sexy as sin on me faux hawk hair styles.

  But that is not what gets my attention. It is his sharp intake of air as his eyes meet my face and then his eyes slowly travel down my body to my blue heels and back up playing a slow game at my hips and once again at my breasts. I am so grateful to Ettie. This little dress is now my favorite of all time.

  The pale blue sheath dress is tight in all the right places, cut across my collarbone without drawing the wrong type of attention to my breasts. At the last minute Kimmie found the belt to accent my slim waist and overly shapely hips. As Nick shifts on his feet, I silently thanked Ettie and Kimmie. Only that is short lived because his smile turns to almost a look of pain when his eyes meet mine again.

  He clears his throat and lets the smile slap back into place so quickly I thought I may have imagined the other look. He closes half of the distance between us and looks over my shoulder to Luke, then shakes his head at whatever he was going to say to my brother. Instead, he addresses me.

  “Congratulations, Sephora. You more than kept your promise. Your academic career has been quite impressive to say the least,” Nick says.

  He remembers, he remembers my promise. I smile to myself as I look down to studying my shoes. I love these shoes and my feet surprisingly aren’t hurting the way I thought they would. It is all I could do to hide the blush that for some reason I believe he can see.

  That is until I feel him close the distance and reach to lift my chin. “I’ve just offered you a position as an executive at my company. I’ll have to insist you gain control of this charming little habit, Sephora.”

  I feel his words warm the bottom of my tummy. His fingers are sending a fierce hum through my body. Nothing like the touch from Mark, this is a storm waiting to happen.

  “Oh, sorry, Mr. Lincoln,” I murmur. “I won’t be able to take that offer.”

  I watch the smile fade from his eyes and his face. “And why is that Sephora? Was the offer not to your liking? I informed my staff to make sure it was more than comfortable for you. Is there something more we can offer?”

  “No, it was a very generous offer, Sir. I just want to find my own way. Luke should not have interfered in my finding a job. I wanted to do it on my own and he knows this.”

  The confidence in my voice at the end of my words surprises me. I’m not sure where it came from, but standing here in front of Nicholas Lincoln makes me want to demand what I want for a change, the way I imagine he would. Luke needs to know I can take care of myself.

  “Is that what you thought,” Luke grumbles from beside me now. “This is why you have been behaving like this today?”

  “Yes, you knew what I wanted –,” I start.

  “You think Luke asked me to hire you,” Nick asks sounding amused. “Actually, it was the exact opposite. Luke and I had quite the fall out over my decision, but I will have you.”

  I know we are talking about a job, but the way he says those words sounds so much like he is referring to more. I shift uneasily as the fire that was just a warm glow in my tummy starts to drop lower and breaks into a brush fire. I’ve never felt anything like it, but I know it is something only Nicholas Lincoln could cause.

  “Idiot,” Luke murmurs half teasing, but also with a clear disapproval in his voice and pasture. “She wants to do this for herself, I thought we agreed you’d give her the month I promised her.”

  Nicholas laughs and pats Luke on the shoulder as he places a hand on the small of my back, as if it is the most natural thing to do. I feel my pulse hammering in my ears. As if he can read my body’s reaction, Nick splays his fingers on my back and applies more pressure. I melt into his touch arching into the feel of the contact.

  “I promised nothing my friend. This is strictly a business decision. I am not interested in handing over such potential to another firm. I plan to be very aggressive in closing this deal,” Nick replies and tightens his fingers ever so slightly before relaxing his hand again.

  “I’ll side with Lincoln here Emilsson. Just listening to Sephora has made me interested in hiring her and her friends here if they can produce half of what they explained,” George replies.

  “Giving away secrets already,” Nick beams as he looks down at me.

  “We were just explaining a basic –,” I choke.

  “Relax Sephora, it was a joke and you have signed nothing yet. However, please introduce me to your friends that it seems I should get to know,” Nicholas interrupts as h
e smiles and slides his hand around my waist to turn us toward Mark and Kimmie.

  “This is Kimmie, my best friend and a great forensic coder, she can find a problem blindfolded after a week of partying nonstop,” I beam at my friend.

  Nick laughs, “Nice description.”

  “And nice to finally meet you in person. I feel like I know you,” Kimmie purrs.

  “Kim,” I snap.

  Nick gives me a questioning look, but I avert my gaze. “And this guy is the greatest hacker I know, Mark,” I chime.

  “Once again she is not giving herself credit. I’m a proud close second to her at best, but she won’t openly admit to hacking,” Mark teases and winks at me.

  All open playfulness disappears from Nick’s face as his hand on my waist tightens possessively. I watch him scowl as he sizes Mark up. I am not sure what is happening, but it is clear that things have changed. “I’m sorry, but your introduction failed to give Mark’s status in your life,” Nick states firmly.

  “Oh, sorry, Mr. Lincoln, Sir, Mark has been my study partner and is my other best friend I guess you could say.”

  “Nick, Sephora,” he turns to me and replies sharply. The look in his eyes has me baffled, they are almost black with no green to be found. “This is not the place for such a formal address.”

  “I think it’s sexy as hell,” Craig chuckles under his breath.

  In that insistent both Nick and Luke react in a way I don’t understand. I’m not sure why what Craig said has drawn such a reaction, but it is clear neither my brother nor Nick approves of his words.

  Luke has a tight hold on Craig’s shoulder leading him from the group while Nick now shields me with his own body. I try to peek around his large frame to understand what just went over my head, but I have no clue.

  “O-kayyy,” Kimmie whistles. “TMI.” She looks at Nick with a knowing smile, then peeks around him at me and winks.

  Obliviously she knows something I don’t know, as usual. I am starting to become impatient with it all. I step from around Nick to Kimmie’s side and nudge her. She just looks up at the ceiling and starts to whistle.

  “Uh, Sophi, would you like another drink?” Mark asks as he nervously rubs at the back of his neck while looking between Nick and me.

  I can feel Nick’s eyes on me, but I am too nervous to look back at him. I hesitate in thought for a moment looking around at the rest of the group. In a split second, I decide to run.

  “Sure, I’ll come with you,” I reply and slip my arm through his.

  As we start to walk I feel a hand on my elbow and turn to find Nick looking down at my arm locked with Mark’s. He shifts his gaze to mine. “I was hoping I could give you your gift,” Nick says softly.

  Before I can reply my mother’s voice fills the room. Nick grimaces and releases my arm, looking pointedly again at my arm wrapped around Mark’s. I pull my arm from Mark’s hold and take a slight step away from him.

  “Sephora, darling please … everyone, can you gather around the pool outside,” my mother orders.

  We all began to file outside to the infinity pool that is adorned with candles on three sides as water runs off the fourth infinity edge. Nick finds his way to my side and places his hand on the small of my back once again. Does this man know he is driving me crazy? I hope he never stops. I wish.

  “I loved your natural hair color, we’ll have to do something about that,” Nick whispers into my ear and gives my hair a little tug. I release a low moan from somewhere foreign to me and have to bite my lip to suppress the end of it. Nick’s hand slips under my waves of hair to the nape, gently fisting the hair there, as he leans in to whisper again. “What am I going to do with you, my little butterfly,” he growls.

  What? I must have blacked out somewhere. This is not happening; I must be dreaming. Why are my panties so wet? He’s got to keep his hands off of me. I think I am about to explode right here before the almost one hundred smiling faces around my mother’s pool. In Sephora’s world there is never such luck. His fingers start to massage my neck and I want badly to moan again.

  I know my mother is talking. Saying something about toasting and celebrating her baby. It is lost to me as Nick starts to run his fingertips up and down my bare spine beneath my hair. Up and down and back up again to massage my nape and repeat. I’m positive my mother is talking, but to me it sounds more like; “Thank you all for coming this evening,” shiver, “Sephora is my baby and I am so proud of her,” shiver, “I want,” shiver, shiver, “us all,” shiver, “to go around,” shiver, shiver, shiver, “the pool to say something,” shiver, “as a toast,” shiver, shiver, “to celebrate,” shiver, “my,” shiver, “darling,” Shiver, shiver, shiver, SNAP.

  OH.MY.GOD. I just had my first orgasm in front of a crowd of people and all he did was massage my neck and run his fingers down my back. He is so smooth about slipping his jacket off and placing it around my shoulders as if my shivers are from the cool night air and not my reaction to him.

  As I come down out of the clouds he slowly drags his fingers down my back to place them in that place he has claimed as his. I lean into him to keep from falling face first into the pool as my legs threaten to give out.

  “Cold?” I hear Luke whisper as he puts an arm around my shoulders and pulls me from Nick’s embrace. Not now with the overprotective and possessive brother routine Lucian, Ugh.

  Nick looks annoyed for a split second before training his attention on Kimmie’s mother who is toasting Kimmie, Mark and myself. I pull Nick’s jacket around me to replace the sense of loss I feel now that I am out of his embrace. As the fog clears, I try to understand what just happened. I am almost positive he knows what he just did to me. Yet he is standing here in such control and focus, laughing at Kimmie and her mother like all the other smiling faces here right now.

  What does this mean? I want Nicholas Lincoln so bad, but does this mean he wants me too? One thing is for sure, I am not taking that job now, no matter what.

  Chapter Three

  The Dream Job

  Ugh, I punched the pillow for the 99th time. Stupid Nicholas Lincoln, stupid dreams about Nicholas Lincoln, stupid job I can’t have because of Nicholas Lincoln. It has been two weeks since graduation and I’m still confused, jobless, and totally in heat. I have nothing, but hot dreams of Nicholas and his huge hands all over me. I would love to say that the scene at the pool was the only reason I have been confused, but it’s not.

  Once all the toasts were done stupid romantic Nicholas Lincoln pulled me aside to give me my graduation gift. I cried like an idiot when I opened the little jewelry box with the butterfly pendant covered in white and black diamond, with blue sapphires inside. I would have kissed him if there weren’t people moving around.

  Then there was that look, the soft, tender look he gave me as he pulled it from the box and commanded me to turn around and lift my hair. I did as he asked of course. Once he had the necklace securely in place he trailed his fingers down my neck, my back then pulled me flush against him by my hips. I could feel that I was not the only one being affected by our contact that night. The evidence was pressing into my back.

  “You’re my little butterfly Sephora, don’t forget,” his voice was gruff in my ear as his lips brushed it. One tight squeeze and he released me and walked away, leaving me breathless.

  Then the rest of the night it was like I didn’t exist. He wouldn’t stay in the same space as me, wouldn’t look at me, not one word was thrown in my direction until he called good night to everyone and left with a tall redhead. I hadn’t really paid her much attention throughout the night. I just thought she was a friend of Luke’s or Ettie’s.

  My heart broke to see him leave with her. I know it was silly, he could leave with anyone he wanted to. I am just his best friend’s baby sister. Doesn’t mean I don’t hate every redhead I have seen since.

  The first thing the following Monday, First Lincoln Industries, was in hot pursuit. They had tried everything short of having Nicholas himself
call me. Expensive dinner invitations, they increase the offer at least once a week, calls from executives promising great opportunities if I join the ranks. It is driving me crazy. I want the job so badly, but I can never look Nicholas in the eyes after how I behaved. I feel so stupid. I know I totally misread everything that night.

  The worst part is Kimmie has been driving me insane because she can’t understand why I won’t take the job. It doesn’t help that First Lincoln offered her and Mark positions a week after I introduced them to Nick at the party. Not as outrageous as the one offered to me, but great entry level positions with great potential to move up in the future.

  I could never explain that I can’t take the job because my potential boss gave me my first orgasm in public with just his touch. That sounds insane just thinking it. Ugh, and just thinking it has me squirming in my bed punching my poor pillow again.

  Kimmie has been coming home every day for three days now gushing over how great the job is. She and Mark have lunch together and work on the same team. It came as no surprise yesterday that they were given tickets to one of my favorite shows in New York City. Private jet and all, yes, there is a catch, they have to get me to use the third ticket provided. First Lincoln is using my own best friends against me. I think I officially hate Nicholas Lincoln!

  It’s not like I haven’t tried to apply for other jobs, it’s just they have all turned me down. Worse part in all this is that if I don’t find a job in two weeks Lucian is going to insist I work for him. I don’t understand.

  I have the skills, I have been doing really well in the interviews, using the advice Ettie gave me and remembering what a certain CEO said about my habit of looking down and blushing. I have given a hundred percent, I even applied to some freelance jobs and I’ve heard nothing back.

  I release a huge puff of air and reach for the butterfly resting in the hollow of my neck. I thought about taking it off a million times, but I just haven’t talked myself into it yet. It reminds me of that night before it all went wrong, before I found out about his girlfriend. So much for sleeping, I can hear Kimmie’s alarm going off in the other room. I promised her I would have breakfast with her and Mark this morning.