Sophie Oak: Back in Bliss

Seth’s lips quirked up. “You make me feel that way.”

She kind of sort of loved him. But she still couldn’t get freaking Logan Green out of her head. Why was she stuck on a small-town deputy when she had a sweet-as-pie, brilliant billionaire in front of her? Not that Seth was really interested.

It was her damn brothers’ fault. They’d just gotten married. To the same woman. Natalie Buchanan-Dawson hadn’t had to choose between super-brilliant Chase and sweet, stable Ben. She had the best of both worlds. Georgia was starting to think she wanted the same.

Georgia winked at Seth as his name was announced on stage. The crowd went crazy, applauding and shouting. Seth had made everyone there a ton of money. He was smart and had a business head that blew her away, but still he needed her.

Yet even as he walked away, she felt another type of power. Logan Green looking down at her.

You will never pull that shit again, Georgia. I’ll put you over my knee. Do you have any idea what I’ll do to your ass?

God, she could still hear his voice, see that handsome face looking down at her. She’d been working for Seth for six months, living in absolutely no sin with him for five and a half, and she wondered if she could make it happen between the two of them.

She watched him as he started to talk. He was confident and strong, like Logan. He’d built a whole company, a ridiculously successful business. Seth Stark was brilliant. He didn’t really need her. If she walked away, he could find another admin.

Had Logan found another sub?

“Hey, baby sister,” a deep voice said.

Georgia gasped and turned, her whole heart coming to life. “Win!”

Winter Dawson stood in front of her, perfect in his ridiculously expensive suit. He was like all of her brothers—gorgeous and confident, completely alpha in every way. Win Dawson had never sat up at night wondering if there was a place for him in the world. He just made one. “Hello, sweetheart. How are you doing?”

She winced inwardly. He was asking that because he knew she’d lost pretty much everything. Their distant and unloving father had finally decided to cut her off financially, and she’d been left with nothing. She gave her oldest brother what she hoped was a winning smile. “I’m great. I love New York.”

She loved parts of it. She loved the city and the rhythm she felt when she walked the streets of Manhattan. There was a pulse to the city that invigorated her. It started in her toes, and after a while, she was filled with an energy she’d never known in LA.

So why did she miss small-town Willow Fork? It was the ass end of the world, but just for a moment, she’d been necessary for more than filing paperwork and keeping an appointment book. She’d helped her brothers Ben and Chase track down a crazy, psychotic asshole who liked to sell women into slavery. Oh, sure she’d gotten shot and nearly sold to the highest bidder herself, but she’d felt necessary for about two minutes.

“I’m glad to hear it,” Win said, holding his arms open. Georgia didn’t hesitate. She walked into her oldest brother’s arms and gave him a bear hug. “I missed you, brat.”

She squeezed him tight. “You know, I know what you mean by that.”

Her brother was a Dom. He was into all things BDSM, and he meant something a little different by the word “brat.”

I will slap that ass silly, brat. Do you know what I want to do to you?

Logan Green had been a Dom, too. There was no way to mistake his domineering nature, the way he oozed authority. He’d been the one to pull her out of the fire, to hold her close when the going had gotten really tough. And he’d been the one to walk away.

“That is totally disturbing.” Win frowned down at her. “Look, you need to tell me what Ben and Chase let you do because I totally didn’t beat the shit out of either one of them in deference to the whole ‘finding someone crazy enough to marry them both’ thing. Don’t get me wrong. I like Natalie a lot. She’s a great girl, but I question the sanity of anyone who willingly marries Chase. Seriously, I sent in a shrink.”

“Nat is perfectly sane.” Nat was so awesome it hurt.

“That’s what the shrink said, but I think Ben and Chase paid her.” Win was six foot forever and towered over her. His normally hard expression softened a little as he stared down at her. “I’m worried about you, baby sister. Why don’t you come back to LA with me? You can be my assistant.”

And not be with Seth? The very idea made her stomach turn. God, eventually Seth was going to get his head out of business and he would find a girlfriend, and Georgia would have to watch them. The girlfriend would almost certainly make her move out, and then she wouldn’t be able to sit on the terrace with Seth and have her coffee in the mornings, and they wouldn’t sit together at night and have a cocktail.

“Georgia? Are you all right?” Win stared down at her. “You just went pale. Have you been eating properly? We can leave right now if you like. I can have you at my place in Malibu in a couple of hours. You don’t have to work at all. You can go back to your acting classes. I’ll take care of everything.”

That was Win. He walked in and took care of things. And the problem with Georgia Ophelia Dawson was that she’d been allowing it to happen all of her life. She’d always had someone to take care of her. It was nice to take care of someone else for a change. Yes, she lived in Seth’s house and cashed his checks, but she had a job and responsibilities. It was a lovely thing. “I like it here.”

“Then why did you just go pale? Is it the Stark kid? Because I can handle him.”

That was the last thing she needed. She wasn’t about to make sweet Seth get into a confrontation with her claws-and-fangs eldest brother. “Seth is great, and he’s not a kid.”

Cool gray eyes rolled. “He’s twenty-six, Georgie. Trust me, he’s a kid. I’m thirty-seven. Everyone looks like a kid to me.”

She wasn’t sure Win had ever been a kid. He’d been forced to watch out for them all at a very young age. Still, she felt the need to defend her boss. “Well, at twenty-six you weren’t in charge of a multibillion-dollar business.”

“No. It was sad. Mine was only multimillion,” he replied with the patented Dawson sarcasm. “It took me another ten years to get to a billion.”

Georgia shrugged. “Well, I guess Seth is just smarter.”

His face fell. “Shit. You like him.”

“Of course I like him. He’s my boss,” she said as quickly as she could. She had to throw him off the scent right freaking now.

But Win was a wolf who rarely lost his prey. “No, sweetheart, this isn’t about a boss. You think I don’t hear that little sigh in your voice? I’ve been your big brother for a very long time. That was the sigh you used when Brad Pitt came on screen or that idiot high school boyfriend picked you up. That sigh isn’t about how much he pays you or how he treats you on Secretaries’ Day. How did he treat you on Secretaries’ Day?”

“God, Win. You’re like back in the fifties, you know. I’m his assistant. It’s Administrative Professionals’ Day, and he was very nice. He took me to lunch at Le Cirque and then we saw a show.” She didn’t mention the pashmina he bought for her or the way he’d brought her breakfast in bed. It wasn’t like he cooked it or anything, which was good because he couldn’t cook to save his life, but he’d placed it all on a very nice tray.

Those icy eyes of his grew grim. “So he wants you, too.”

Georgia sighed. At least she could be totally honest, and it would save Seth so much trouble. “I like him a lot, Win, but it’s not like that. I…god, this is so stupid. I like him. He doesn’t like me. I tried to kiss him one night and he said no.” She’d had too much champagne at a gathering, and she’d kissed him in the back of the limo three days before. He’d been a perfect gentleman, hugging her and saying all the right things, but she’d been in her own bed the next morning and they hadn’t talked about it since.