Friends Without Benefits

"Little Callie Montgomery," Ryan said as he watched the beautiful woman approach in her navy blue cotton dress.

Her nude stilettos clicked against the floor, but it abruptly stopped when she met the gaze of the sex god in front of her.

Holy hell. Ryan Worthington had beautiful biceps that bulged beneath his black button up. His sleeves were only rolled up so far, and every muscle was exposed to her. She could only imagine how sexy he looked with that shirt ripped off.

"I'm not little anymore."

"Of course not," he said, his lips lifting into a smirk. "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting my brother in his new office," she replied curtly. She stepped around him to get to Clyde's office, but Ryan grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. "What do you want, Ryan?"

"Have lunch with me."

She quirked a brow, unamused. "I haven't even had breakfast yet."

"Then have breakfast with me now and then lunch later. We have so much to catch up on."

"Really?" she asked skeptically.

"Yes, love." He took a step closer to her and glanced around at the staff, searching for Clyde among the many faces. When he came up empty, he pressed a kiss into Callie's hair. "Your arse looks sexy in that dress."

She gasped when he cupped it in his hand and squeezed. "Jesus," she rasped, palming his chest.

"Ryan," he said with a smirk. "Dinner then?"

"You don't give up, do you?"

He shook his head.

"I have a date tonight with Ethan."

Ryan's demeanor completely changed, but he quickly masked it with a smile. "Give me a ring if you change your mind then, love."

Something in her chest stirred when he turned to his office, but she quickly shook the feeling away and walked in the direction of her brother's office.

She knocked once on the opened door and frowned when he held up his finger, indicating that he needed just another moment alone.

She nodded, patiently waited for him as he continued with his phone call and sighed when she felt a looming presence behind her.

"I change my mind," she whispered so her occupied brother wouldn't hear her. "I'll meet you downtown at the new Greek place. You'll figure it out the second you get there."

As if he could sense the disappointment she carried, he said, "Clyde has always put you before his job. If you ever called in the middle of meeting, he would abruptly leave just to answer to you."

"It's different now," she murmured before dejectedly making her way to the lift. She knew Ryan was following her, and in all honesty, she wanted his company.

"I haven't heard you speak this much since ever," he said to her as they rode downstairs together. "For the two years you've lived with us in London, you never even looked my way. What changed that?"

She could tell him his God given body and the dimple in his chin changed the way she saw him. She could be honest and say his sexy voice in the morning had become the only thing she looked forward to when she woke up. She could have also said she had slowly fell for the sentimental part of him.

But she just wasn't that bold.

So she said, "I wanted to be prepared to be on my own."

He frowned at her response and opened his mouth to ask her what she had meant, but the lift had come to a stop.

Callie quickly stepped off and pulled her heels off, dropping them beside her on the floor as she held on to the information desk.

"Callie," he started, cautiously approaching, "I wish you'd talk to me. If not to your brother then at least to me." He dropped down on the balls of his feet and rubbed her red foot. "You're in pain."

She knew he wasn't referring to her swollen foot, but she couldn't find the words to agree with him.

"Your boyfriend doesn't treat you right, and you need someone to lean on," he whispered, pressing a lingering kiss to her calf.

It was an idiotic thing to do, considering the number of eyes that could see them and the mouths that would report what they witnessed to the top floor where Ryan and Clyde ran the whole show. Clyde would know his best mate had a soft spot for his sister, and he would never approve of it.

"Wear something comfortable tonight," he said, standing up to lift her chin with his finger. "Besides, I don't want to be thinking about your heels over my shoulders as I fuck you."

She blushed and stumbled against the desk, but she recovered in time to give him a kiss on the cheek. "I'll be seeing you, Ryan."

• • • • •

"Where did you say you were going again?" Ethan asked over his dinner as he watched another episode of some architectural show.

"Out to dinner with an old friend," Callie replied, glancing over her reflection in the mirror. She wasn't wearing any makeup, and her hair was tamed better than most days, but she still felt something was missing. "And then I'm spending the night at my apartment."

"Why aren't you spending the night here instead?"

"Because I honestly don't want to."

Ethan frowned, dragged a hand through his hair then shut off the television. "I knew you were still pissed that I fucked some bitch. Just admit it, Callie."

She sighed and walked to the door before opening it, but it was roughly pushed closed again with a loud slam. "Let's not do this tonight."

"When then, huh?" he asked, pressing himself against her ass. He unzipped his jeans and tugged at her skirt, desperately lifting it over her waist. "Let's do it now, baby. Talk while we fuck. You like that kind of shit, yeah?"

"Ethan," she moaned. Only a whimper escaped her when he slapped her ass. She didn't want him to touch her, but she couldn't find the words to ask him to stop.

"That's right, baby," he growled into her ear. "Your punishment is a spanking for not wearing panties to fucking dinner. My come will drip from your pussy all night."

She took both of his hands, bent them back and shoved him in the knee before turning to him with a glare. "Don't ever fucking do that again."

"Baby-"

"And stop fucking calling me that." She grabbed her clutch from the table and stormed out of his apartment, hoping to forget that her boyfriend tried to fuck her when she couldn't even stomach the thought of being touched by him.

She drove downtown to the restaurant that she specifically chose and spotted Ryan in the back immediately. She could remember the first time they met when she was just fourteen.

Clyde had ordered from the Russian shop down the street from their place, but because Callie didn't have the appetite to eat after her parents' death, she refused dinner that night.

Ryan stayed up with her, and when Clyde had gone to bed, he forced her to go to her room to change into something warmer. Then he walked her down to the Greek restaurant and practically begged her to eat because he claimed it would make him smile for a good week. And he did smile for the entire first week she spent in London even though she never spoke to him and slowly disappeared from his presence.

"I remember the day we met," he said, as if he could read the memories in her head as she approached. "I thought I was doing you a favor by playing a big brother, but it only benefitted me."

She took a seat across from him and frowned. "How so?"

"That Greek place was my favorite back in London," he explained to her. "I wouldn't just take anyone there."

"But you took me."

"You weren't just anyone. You aren't just anyone."

She giggled. She hadn't meant to, but she did. "I was a kid, Ryan. You were twenty years old."

"So what?" He leaned over to kiss her forehead and smiled. "Did I tell you you're beautiful? Not just tonight but all the time. You're absolutely breathtaking."

She blushed, turned away as she tried to fight a grin and bit into her lip. But his hand was on her chin, forcing her to meet his crystal blue eyes. Goodness, he was the breathtaking one.

It was wrong to see Ryan that way, considering she was in a relationship and that this man in front of her was her brother's best friend. But she couldn't fight the attraction.

And neither could Ryan. He knew what Clyde would do to him. Every scenario in his head that involved Ryan confessing his attraction and secret night with Callie always resulted in death. Ryan wouldn't fight back because he was in the wrong. He'd let his best mate kill him if it ever came down to it.

He looked up meet the hazel eyes across from him and frowned when he noticed that the innocent spark in them was gone. "What's wrong, love?"

"Nothing," she said, shaking her head. "It's been a long time since I've seen you. You've been good?"

"I finished school, didn't I?"

She laughed, nodded her head.

"I love when you're laughing," he confessed in a whisper. "It's good to know you can even when you're hurting."

"I don't feel anything but happiness when I'm with you." She took his hand across the table and squeezed it, smiling. "I wish you'd open up to me, too. Maybe then I would start talking."

"Okay then," he said, amused by her admittance. "I'll open up. How about this, love? I spent two years wondering if you were a virgin, and I pretended you were until me for the eight years we've been apart."

"I was until you."

He sucked in a sharp breath, shook his head to gather his thoughts and stole a quick kiss on the lips before leaning back in his chair with a heavy sigh. "You kill me, Callie Montgomery.