Free Coercion (The Cassano Series Book 3) by Scarlet Wolfe Page A

be. I just—”
    “I know. You’re my boss, and I smacked you and then kissed you. You’re handsome, and—.”
    Zev grabs my cheeks and pulls me close, shutting me up. His gaze plays ping pong between my eyes and my lips.
    “Fuck, you need to go.”
    My forehead wrinkles. “Am I fired?”
    “Lord, no. I mean, no. I’m not kissing you is all.”
    “Right, sorry.”

Zev
     
    Tara is stalling, staring at me intently and waiting for me to give her what she wants. And for the first time since high school, I wish I could. I want to kiss her on the mouth, but that’s only asking for trouble when I have enough stress in my life.
    Before she can rise, there is a pounding on my door, so I slide my chair away from her. “Who is it?”
    “It’s Jersey.”
    “Come in.” I clear my throat as Simon enters my office.

Simon
     
    If guilt was a middle name, its first would be Xavier. I don’t know what my brother is up to, but he looks like he did when we were kids and got caught cussing into the air vents.
    My eyes flash to Tara, who used to serve clients in Elite. She’s now working under Zev and is wearing the same guilty look. She’s the exact person I need to speak to him about, so it’s odd that she’s in here.
    “Hey, I need to talk to you in private.”
    “OK,” he says as he clears his throat. His face is red, and he might even be sweating.
    “Tara, you should go home,” he says to her.
    “OK, um, I will be here tomorrow night for my shift, and I’m sorry about earlier. Good night. I mean bye.” Her eyes are all over the place as she gnaws on her lip and stands. “Bye, Simon.”
    “Have a good evening, Tara.”
    She’s passing me in a flash, and I grin at my brother.
    “You breaking the employee rule now, too?”
    He rolls his eyes. “No, what did you need?”
    “I actually came to talk to you about Tara. I no sooner got into the lounge, and Noah was cornering me. Seems we’re having a role reversal.
    “He told you to get him a date with Sadie. Now, he’s telling me to have you hand over Tara. What gives?”
    “That dick.”
    “We’ve already established he’s that, among several other vulgar words. Is this why she was in your office?”
    “Yeah, that’s why. I was telling her to stay away from Noah. He had her out to dinner tonight.”
    “Why do you care if he takes her out? He has spent time with other women in the lounge.”
    Zev shifts back toward his computer. “She’s different. She’s … I don’t know, more naïve than the other girls. He might hurt her. She reminds me of Blanca.”
    “The woman you’re not banging any longer. Are you sure you’re not looking for a replacement?”
    He glances over and glares at me. “I can find all the pussy I want. I don’t need Tara’s.”
    “Hmm … I didn’t say need.”
    “Look, I’m not letting her near him, so send him my way if he gives you more shit about it.”
    “Will do.” I grin at him. “Surprisingly, one women isn’t such a bad thing, bro. I get amazing sex and earth-shattering blow jobs before I curl up against a warm body. I sleep like a baby after. It’s awesome.”
    “Good for you.”
    I sigh. Zev needs to lighten up. “I gotta run and check on things at D/s, but if you’re not interested in Tara, you should encourage her to take a date with Noah.
    “He’s getting majorly pissed at us and losing trust. I’m worried he’s going to take a walk. I don’t believe he would do anything stupid the first time out with her.”
    “If I recall correctly, you didn’t want him near Sadie.”
    “Yeah, and that was mainly because I liked her. You don’t like Tara, so no big deal, right?”
    I leave my brother alone with that to think about. I saw the look on his face when I interrupted whatever they had going on between them. He so likes Tara.

Victoria
     
    Sitting by Adrian at the dining room table, I take a sip of my wine. We’ve been back home for over a week, and there are things we have to talk about. After