Frost in December - My Brother's Best Friend

Chapter 7: Soft

Kaden

I hadn't seen Vivian all day, and her absence was like a persistent itch in the back of my mind. She usually barged into my office, all smiles and chatter, disrupting my peace and work ethic with her endless energy. But today, the silence felt deafening, and I couldn't deny the prickling sense of unease creeping up on me.

Grumpiness was my default setting, and I stubbornly clung to it like a security blanket. Any miscalculated display of emotion gives your opponent a chance to bring you down. Usually, I had no problem controlling my emotions. But something about Vivian made me lose control. Want to lose control, just so I could see her crumble beneath me.

I told myself I wasn't bothered by her absence, that she probably had better things to do than bother me. Thank God. But the truth was, her absence left a gaping hole in my routine, a void I wasn't quite sure how to handle.

Yesterday had been...unexpected. Vivian and I had a brief and intimate moment that caught me off guard as much as it did her. It was like someone had lit a match in the middle of a dark room, illuminating everything I'd been trying to keep hidden.

Had my assistant not interrupted and reminded me of the, unfortunately, important board meeting, I would have loved to pull her over my lap, yank up her pretty skirt and see just how wet I can make her.

I groaned at the thought of her curvy body over my lap. Her whines sounded so sweet, her whimpers could only sound heavenly. I ran a hand across my face. I desperately need a splash of cold water.

I could not think this way about Justin's little sister.

I begrudgingly admitted that there was something about her that got under my skin, something I couldn't quite shake off. She was like a puzzle I couldn't solve, a mystery I couldn't unravel, and it irritated me to no end.

In that heated moment, with her so close I could practically feel her breath on my skin, I almost let my guard down. Almost. But then reality came crashing back in, reminding me of all the reasons why getting involved with her was a bad idea.

If we hadn't been interrupted, I might have let things escalate, let myself get carried away by the heat of the moment. But fate, or maybe just dumb luck, intervened, sparing me from making a colossal mistake.

So here I was, sitting in my office, pretending to be engrossed in whatever meaningless task was on my desk. Work piled up on my desk but my mind kept drifting back to Vivian, her presence, or lack thereof, like a constant itch I couldn't scratch.

I scowled at my computer screen, berating myself for letting her get to me. I wasn't supposed to care, wasn't supposed to let anyone get close enough to mess with my carefully constructed walls. I was supposed to look over her for Justin. Not jump her like a deprived animal.

But try as I might, I couldn't shake the feeling that she had dug her way under my skin, leaving me feeling exposed and vulnerable in a way I wasn't comfortable with.

I grumbled under my breath, resigning myself to another day of pretending I didn't give a damn, even as every fiber of my being screamed otherwise. Because admitting that Vivian had gotten to me? Never in a million years.

She was too bright. Too happy. While she saw the best in people, I saw the ugly truth. I had blood all over my hands. Figuratively and literally. She would never agree with my...methods of dealing with anyone who dared to hurt her while she's under my care.

The idea of reaching out to Vivian hovered in my mind like a persistent mosquito, buzzing annoyingly and refusing to be swatted away. I argued with myself internally, weighing the pros and cons of making that call.