Reality slinks back in and I shake off these ridiculous notions.
I can’t marry Luka Zoric.
So why the hell are my panties wet just thinking about it?
Luka
Chapter 7
After my epic failure with Brooklyn, I decide I need to blow off some steam. I text my workout buddy Diego and then meet him at the gym to do a few hardcore weight circuits. But even benching three hundred pounds of iron with the latest Nas album blasting in my AirPods can’t distract me from replaying the dinner date over and over in my mind, trying to figure out where I made that fatal wrong turn.
If I had the conscience to feel guilty about things, I’d feel guilty about fucking her three years ago and then ghosting her. But of all the women in the world who could’ve shown up to my wife auditions, I never in a million years expected Brooklyn Moss to walk through that door.
It took all of my willpower not to react when I saw her. My cock remembered her before my brain did, a flash of heat and lust coursing through me—and then I remembered why. Those sultry, smoky eyes, those legs that go on for miles. That mouth wrapped around my dick. The dirty talk. How hard she came, as if I was some kind of sex god. I’ve never been the type to need an ego boost, but hearing her scream my name like that sure hadn’t hurt.
Diego and I trade off machines for an hour or so, and then I head back home, my muscles burning pleasantly as I drive through the nighttime lights of the city.
I’ve been with a lot of beautiful women, but Brooklyn is the kind that a man doesn’t forget. And I didn’t; I just pushed her out of my mind like I do all the others. No sense in hanging on to the old when I need to make room for the new.
That’s a lesson I learned the hard way, from a very young age. Every woman I got attached to left me, and it doesn’t take a shrink to figure out why I turned out how I did, jumping from each one-night stand to the next without a second thought. But I’ve enjoyed it every step of the way. Never looked back.
Until Brooklyn.
She was always hanging around in my memory, just lingering there as the first completely unforgettable piece of ass I’ve had in, well, ever.
I didn’t do right by her. I’ll admit that. I’d promised her a modeling gig three years ago, when honestly, seducing her was all I’d ever had on my mind.
I probably could have gotten her signed, but that would have required me to beg my brother Stefan for a favor. And to explain that that favor was for one of my conquests. I groan even thinking about the lecture on responsibility and self-respect that would have followed. After I’d come home from my MBA program and started making up for all the years of partying I’d missed while I was studying my ass off at college, my father and brother had perfected the same boring speech about “upholding the Zoric name” and loved to dictate it to me at every opportunity. I’m disgusted to think that my father was such a hypocrite all along.
So no, I wasn’t really involved in the business back then, and asking a favor for Brooklyn would have opened a can of worms with my family that I didn’t want to deal with. Besides, she was a one-nighter that I never intended to see again…signing her to KZM would have meant I’d have to see her often at the agency. That just wouldn’t have worked for me.
I park my car, take a quick shower, and then sit at my desk, reviewing the photos of the other candidates I met today. But it only frustrates me more. Brooklyn’s the only one I want.
Realizing how stressed I am, I roll my shoulders to release some tension. This damn image cleanup campaign my family tossed me into has completely messed up my lifestyle. I’m out of my element. No drinking. No one-nighters. Acting like a respectable executive and ambassador for the company. I might owe it to my family, but I don’t have to like it.
Holding bogus auditions for a wife was a dick move, admittedly, but what the hell was I supposed to do? I need a decent, respectable woman to be my wife and prove that I’ve changed—but I don’t know any respectable women. Thumbing through my list of contacts—hundreds of them—only left me empty-handed. Not one of those girls was wife material. And then Brooklyn walked in and she almost had me on my knees.
How the hell am I supposed to consider any other woman for my bride after seeing her again?
I want her for this fake marriage.
I want her. Period.
She didn’t seem to remember me, though. Which is probably for the best, considering what I did to her all those years ago. But it only took a few minutes into our interview before I texted the receptionist to clear all the other candidates from the waiting room. I’d already decided that no matter what, Brooklyn Moss was going to agree to be my wife.
I stretch again, but the tightness in my shoulders only gets worse. I’m in comfy sweatpants, leaned back in my desk chair, but I still feel wound up. Shirtless and barefoot, I carry my laptop into the den, settle onto the couch, and flip it open again. I haven’t been able to get Brooklyn’s image out of my mind, and the memory of our night together three years ago plays on repeat, heating my blood.
No wonder I’m so damn tense. I haven’t fucked in days, and the one woman I’ve never forgotten is back. Those wicked dimples, those high, firm breasts. My mouth waters just remembering the taste of her sweet pussy as I spread her open on my kitchen table.
I haven’t used that damn table since.
Sinking back into the couch cushions, I open my web browser and pull up a bookmark of Brooklyn’s Insta account. Her perfect images pop up and I scroll through them absently, one by one. Her life in California looks amazing. The photos are aesthetically pleasing and perfectly arranged. They don’t seem staged or fake like so many do, though. There’s a real, visceral aspect to her photography, as if she’s purposely trying to put you right there in the photo so you can be in the moment, too.
I have to admit, it burns me that she didn’t remember me. Just how many men have come and gone in her life that I was so easily forgotten? My nostrils flare as I think of her parade of men. But I shut it down. I’ve done the same with women. It’s no secret that I fuck as often as I can. I’m suddenly aggravated and edgy and I know it’s from thinking of her with other men.
Like this guy that she’s always with. I scroll through a few more photos. I see him again and again, in pic after pic, from social events to trips to the beach. But he’s always slightly turned away, just stepping out of frame, or wearing sunglasses, so I never get a clear look at his face. I’m sure he’s tagged somewhere, but I’m not going to dig. I’ve visited her social media pages enough in the last three years to know that whoever he is, he’s important to her somehow—but if they were a couple, I’m sure she never would have talked to me about marriage.
At least, I don’t think she would have.
Fuck.
I want her and it’s driving me mad. I close her social media and pull up my cloud account, then the unlabeled file I have buried there. Brooklyn’s image from that fashion show three years ago pops up, her lithe body wrapped in that strappy black designer dress, her heels tall and making her legs look killer. I’d nearly ripped the hem of that dress when I’d yanked it over her hips to devour her willing pussy.
My cock stirs at the memory.