Hotter Than Ever

Chris.

Chris had gone to her boss.

He’d told Barb that Claire was sleeping with two men.

The sheer audacity of his actions left her speechless. Was he insane? How could he do something like that? This was her goddamn career he was messing with!

God, and to think, she’d been biting her tongue for the past two weeks, urging Dylan to consider making things right with his brother. She’d assured him all this would blow over, that Chris would eventually calm down and realize as unorthodox as the situation was, the three of them were happy, and weren’t doing anything wrong. Aidan had concurred, speculating that Chris would come to accept it sooner or later.

But she and Aidan had been wrong.

Dead f**king wrong.

“I can see from your expression that it’s true.”

Barb’s voice, which had grown considerably cooler, penetrated Claire’s incensed thoughts.

Taking a breath, she curled both hands over her coffee cup. Not just because they were shaking, but because she feared she might accidentally mistake Barb for Chris and strangle the life out of her.

“I have been seeing two men, yes,” she answered in a careful tone. “However, I don’t see how my personal life has any bearing on my professional relationship with you, or my position at this firm.”

Barb’s cheeks hollowed as she tightly pursed her lips. “But I’m afraid it does. In fact, your personal life directly affects your professional one.”

“I disagree. And I have to be honest, Barb, but I don’t feel comfortable discussing this with you. Who I date is none of your concern and—”

“Actually, it is my concern,” her boss interjected. “I hate to do this, but I must refer you to the contract you signed when I hired you five years ago.”

Barb bent over and snapped her briefcase open, then extracted several sheets of paper stapled together. She set the stack on the table and slid it over to Claire, who immediately recognized the standard contract every consultant at Smart Solutions was asked to sign.

“Turn to page five.”

Clenching her teeth, she flipped through the contract and found page five.

“Paragraph three,” Barb prompted, tapping a red-manicured fingernail on the tabletop.

Claire felt all the blood drain from her face as she read over the morality clause imbedded into the contract. She remembered reading it five years ago, and every subsequent year when her contract had been renewed, but she’d never in a million years dreamed she’d be accused of breaching that clause.

“As you can see, you agreed to conduct yourself in a certain manner, and that any behavior reflecting negatively on the company would be grounds for termination.” Barb paused. “I’m afraid that openly living and engaging in a sexual relationship with two men reflects negatively on the company. We have an image to maintain, Claire. The clients who hire us expect qualified, upstanding professionals to assess their business needs.”

She felt numb. And nauseous. And her f**king tongue still throbbed from that burning-hot coffee.

Swallowing hard, she met her boss’s eyes and spoke in a dull tone. “What exactly are you saying, Barb?”

“What I’m saying, darling, is that I’m going to have to let you go.”

When Aidan got home from the base that evening and saw Claire’s face, he immediately knew something bad had gone down. Even from across the room, Aidan could see the tears clinging to her thick eyelashes.

“What’s wrong?” he demanded.

Since Dylan was behind him and had yet to glimpse Claire’s expression, the SEAL thought Aidan was talking to him and replied in a bewildered tone. “What are you talking about, man? Everything’s fi—” He halted when he spotted Claire, then said, “What’s wrong?”

“I just got fired,” she said flatly.

They were at her side in an instant, sandwiching her on the couch, bodies angled so they could both see her face.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Dylan asked.

She opened her mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again and a whole lotta words poured out. Aidan listened in stupefied silence as she told them everything her boss had said. He wasn’t prone to violent thoughts, but at that moment, he wanted to rip Chris Wade’s head right off his shoulders and punt it into a tar pit.

Too far. Dylan’s brother had gone too f**king far by speaking to Claire’s boss, and Aidan’s vision turned into a red mist of fury as he listened to her soft sobs.

“My brother told your boss you were engaged in an inappropriate sexual relationship?” Dylan’s voice was harder than steel, green eyes glittering with the same rage boiling in Aidan’s gut.

She nodded wordlessly.

Raking both hands through his hair, Dylan released a string of curses that finally ended with, “I don’t even know who he is anymore. I never dreamed he would stoop this low.”

“God, what am I going to do? I can’t believe I lost my job,” Claire moaned.

As she buried her face in her hands, Aidan’s heart cracked in two. He wasted no time drawing her close, while Dylan stroked Claire’s back in reassurance.

“It’ll be okay,” Dylan murmured. “Everything will be okay.”

Aidan’s heart splintered a little bit more each time Claire let out another quiet sob. He tightened his grip and held her against his chest, and in the back of his mind he wondered why it was so damn easy to show her physical affection when he kept everyone else at arm’s length. Including Dylan. Especially Dylan.