Free Never to Love by Aimie Grey

stupidity didn’t sink in until my front door was securely locked behind me.

CHAPTER NINE
    Thomas
    My second visit to Juliland was even more magical than the first. If you were to ask my dick, the playground between her soft thighs was the happiest place on Earth.
    Based on the conversation I’d had with my brother, walking in on the live-action version of my recurring wet dream wasn’t completely unexpected. However, the reality was way hotter than anything I could have ever imagined. At first, I wanted to throw the asshole watching them out on his ass, but when he stepped aside, making it clear he wasn’t going to fight me for what was rightfully mine, I let him stick around for the show. I’m sure he learned a lot from watching the master at work.
    After a long day of meetings, clubbing, and fucking, I was too tired to go home. Since Alissa was back in her original room with Carter, I fell asleep on the clean sheets housekeeping put on the bed shortly after Juli left.
    As much as it pained me to admit, Julianne Griffith was the best fuck of my life, and I’d had way more than my fair share of fucks. Did that mean I wanted to fuck her exclusively forever? Hell no. I wouldn’t say no to fucking her until this project wrapped up, though. It would require another addendum to my rules. Perhaps a personal exemption in regards to duration for one specific person would be the easiest to maintain. Once I filled in a name, I would never be able to use it again. I’d have to chew on it for a while. I still had one more fuck before I had to worry about that.
    Now that I’d had her on two separate occasions, it shouldn’t be too difficult to get her to agree to at least one more. She’d already broken her rule once, so what harm would it cause to do it again?
    Glancing at my phone, I noticed the first meeting on my calendar was with Juli and Finn to begin planning the broad strokes of our part of the project. Any residual exhaustion from my late night vanished, and I could’ve kissed whoever decided it was a good idea to have this meeting so soon after the last. With a stupid smile on my face, I dressed for the day in the nicest suit I had on the premises.
    Thanks to my incredibly short commute, I had no need to rush. Before heading down to the office, I took a few extra minutes to make sure my hair was neat and tidy. Hopefully, reminding Juli of our first night together would incite her urge to mess it up again.
    Between the extra thirty minutes of sleep I was able to get since I didn’t have to sit in LA traffic and knowing my woman was on her way to see me, I didn’t think my day could get much better. Wait a minute. My woman? When my phone buzzed in my front pocket, I filed the disturbing slip-up away for later analysis.
    Illuminating the screen, I read the three short sentences that made my day fucking perfect.
    Finn: Running late. Get started without me. Kristy is being Kristy.
    Which loosely translated to something like, “Kristy is a controlling bitch who threw a fit because I tried to leave the house before she approved my departure.” Or, my personal favorite, “Kristy is making me change my entire suit because I accidentally put on the tie my ex-girlfriend gave me for my birthday, even though I have no clue how she knows where it came from, before leaving the house instead of waiting until I got to work to put it on and then had to wait until she wasn’t looking to dumpster-dive for my favorite article of neckwear.” I wish I could say I’d made that up.
    Saying “I told you so” got old after the sixty-third time, which occurred only a couple of weeks after they returned from their shittymoon. I felt sorry for my brother having to deal with the bitch, but it was out of my control. He knew I’d help him flee the country in an instant to get away from her, but for some reason, the stubborn bastard kept putting up with her bad behavior because he’s “in love.” Gag me. Every day of his life was a