In Your Corner (16 page)

“Jesus fucking Christ. Did you sleep in the office?”

Blinking to clear my vision, I struggle to orient myself. Big comfy couch with hideous pattern of birds and flowers, boring blue corporate curtains, dull framed print of blue and gray lines, office reception, me in my work clothes. And Ray fuming above me.

“Morning, Ray. Sorry I’m in your space. I lay down…” I check my watch. “…three hours ago to rest my eyes after going through the tape of the new witness statement Penny and I got last night. Great stuff. And we have more leads to follow up so—”

“Go home and get some sleep.” He points to the door as I push myself into a sitting position.

“I believe I’m the boss.” I fix him with a sleepy glare. “And I have too much work to do to waste time sleeping.”

Lips pressed tight together, he fixes me with his best scowl. Pretty scary stuff. “Is that why you started your own firm? So you could work the way you were working before?”

Holding up my hand as if to ward Ray away, I shake my head. “I don’t have a choice. It’s me against Farnsworth and until my house sells I have to do it all myself.”

I don’t realize my slip until Ray’s eyes narrow. “You’re selling your house?”

My breath catches. “Uh…”

“Dammit, Amanda. Why didn’t you tell us you were in trouble?”

The door opens and I jump up as Penny walks in the door. “It isn’t that bad. And it’s too big for one person anyway.”

After freshening up and emailing Jake the contact details of a few attorney friends I know, I do a little prep and then head into the reception room. “I’m going to the courthouse. Back in a few hours.”

“Hold up.” Ray folds his newspaper and drops his feet to the floor. “I’m coming. Eugene is across the street. Idiot must think I wouldn’t recognize his piece of shit Volvo. Don’t like you going alone with him on your tail. I’ll send him a little warning first, let him know I’m with you. Maybe scare him away.”

He opens the front window and leans out over the sill to make a rude pointing motion at a beaten-up red Volvo parked across the street. Then he does the threatening, mafia, “I see you” gesture, stabbing at his chest, touching his eyes, and then pointing again at the vehicle. Seconds later the vehicle roars away.

“Well, that was effective.”

“Gotta look after my girls. But he’s probably just around the corner, so I’ll stay with you.” Ray ushers me out to his Jeep parked on the side of the road.

“I’m a woman, not a girl.” I wave my hand over my fitted black suit, white button-down shirt, and modestly heeled pumps.

Ray snorts a laugh. “You’re the girliest girl I ever met. Girl like you stirs a man’s most basic protective instincts. Man like me, more. Protection. Done. Ass. Jeep. Now.”

Once we are inside the courthouse, Ray goes commando for real. He literally sweeps people from my path as we walk to the courtroom and insists we only walk down hallways he has pronounced “clear.” No other attorney has a commando-cum-PI bodyguard, and we attract a lot of unwanted attention.

When we finally reach the courtroom, I spot Evil Reid in the hallway with an entourage of slaves…er, interns behind him. Oh God. Of all the people I did not want to accidentally meet. I briefly toy with the idea of telling Ray he has a grenade in his briefcase, but I don’t want to waste any time.

Ray offers to take my document boxes into the courtroom, and I try to fly under Evil Reid’s radar by hiding behind a potted palm on the pretense of looking out the window.

Unfortunately, the eagle-eyed Evil Reid sees through my palm fronds.

“Westwood! What a surprise. Don’t tell me you’ve come looking to settle our case already? Did our little delivery on Friday scare you? That was my idea, by the way. Go big or go home, like you always said. So I went big.”

Mouth dry, stomach churning at the thought of years of litigation with both Evil Reid and Farnsworth on the other side, I feign a laugh. “Didn’t you have enough work of your own? Did you have to ask Farnsworth to help you make up the billable hours?”

Evil Reid’s eyes narrow and he closes the distance between us until my personal space is filled with the foul odor of Drakkar Noir and bacon bits.

“Maybe you don’t realize what it means for me to be on the file. It means I now have access to all the documents. And that means I know everything about you, Westwood.
Everything
. And you know what I’m wondering after reading your file? I’m wondering…where’s mine?

I suck in a sharp breath and take an involuntary step back. He’s read the blue file. Evil Reid has read the file. But that’s not the worst of it. Stiffening my spine, I spit out, “Are you threatening me? Because if you’re threatening me, you’d better—”

“Back off, Cravath.” Ray steps between us, returning just in the nick of time to save Evil Reid from my new Redemption fight moves.

Evil Reid frowns. “Ray? What are you doing here? I heard you’d quit the firm and…” He cuts himself short and looks from Ray to me and back to Ray. “You’re working for her?” His voice rises and his lips curl. “You’re fucking working for her now? Talk about a breach of confidentiality. You are so going down. I’ll have your ass hauled up—”

Ray growls low in his chest. “I do not break my word. I signed the confidentiality agreement; I abide by the terms. But if you plan on doing what I think you’re planning on doing, you will have me breathing down your neck for the rest of your miserable life.”

“Call off your dog, Westwood,” Evil Reid snarls. “We’re in a courthouse. Maybe you’ve forgotten basic court decorum since you started slumming it in Hippie Land.”

My hand curls into a fist. I imagine I am Shilla the Killa and Evil Reid has just landed a hard right to my jaw.
Bam. Bam.
I hit him in the stomach and when he doubles over, I go for a knee to the nose. I imagine a slow motion clip of blood flying across the hallway and splattering on the canvas print of the Golden Gate Bridge as he staggers into his stable of minions. Jake would be proud.

“Not worth it,” Ray says quietly, as if he knows what I’m thinking. But then, he’s Ray, so I expect he does.

Shaking off the daydream, I turn my back on Evil Reid and walk away.

“You’re going down, Westwood,” Evil Reid calls after me and then he chuckles and lowers his voice, “and not just in court.”

***

The hearing goes smoothly, and two hours later, I am back in my office and poring through Farnsworth’s documents again when Penny interrupts me.

“You’re due down at the community legal aid clinic in an hour.”

My heart sinks as I look over the pile of paper on my desk. “Ahhh…maybe you should call and cancel.”

A pained expression crosses Penny’s face and she shakes her head. “Too late. The cab is waiting outside. You missed one session. I won’t let you miss another. You love going there and the clients love you. Not only that, they’re depending on you. They don’t have anyone else. Don’t let them down.”

I drop my pen and push back my chair. “Penny?”

She grimaces and lifts a questioning eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

At seven p.m., I am at the Bay Area Community Center where I share legal aid duties with five other attorneys. Although I know I should find some paying clients, over the next three hours, I take on five new pro bono cases for people in desperate need of legal assistance. As the clinic winds to a close, the clinic coordinator, a social worker and an old friend, shakes his head and tells me my heart is too soft. I tell him if my heart were soft, I would be at the airport right now, waiting for a hard-bodied, blue-eyed fighter with unkempt blond hair. He tells me I don’t have to worry about going to the airport, because my fighter is waiting at my table.

My heart thuds wildly against my ribs and I slowly turn around.

There he is.

Damn, he looks good. The slight sheen of his tailored gray suit subtly reflects the light giving him an almost ethereal glow. His shirt is crisp white, his tie red silk. And yet the civilized veneer cannot hide the strength and power of his muscular body.

“So…what can I do for you this evening?” I take a seat on the other side of the table I use as a desk and fold my hands on my notepad so he doesn’t see them tremble.

“Caught an earlier flight ’cause I wanted to see my girl.”

“Here she is.” Like a love-struck teenager, I can’t stop staring at him and smiling a goofy smile. He came back early. For me. And he’s here. HE’S HERE!

Jake places a cooler on the table and shoves it toward me. “Since you have a habit of forgetting to eat, I assumed you didn’t have dinner, so I brought us a snack.”

“Us?”

“Us.” He reaches around the cooler and gives my hand a squeeze. “We’re having dinner together. You aren’t working tonight.”

“Um…”

Jake shakes his head. “Not an option.”

I vacillate for all of ten seconds. “’kay.”

“I made it myself,” he says proudly, tapping the top of the cooler. “Whipped it up after I got home from the airport.”

Curiosity gets the better of me and I stand and tug off the lid. Inside, I find two large plastic containers, two forks, two napkins, and two protein shakes. “What’s in the containers?”

Jake beams. “A gourmet feast. Mac ’n’ cheese with hot dogs! Carbs, Amanda. We’re having carbs.”

Never have I been so torn between laughter and tears. Oh God. So sweet. But seriously, who considers mac ’n’ cheese a gourmet feast?

“I’m sure it will be delicious. And protein shakes…you really know how to treat a girl.”

Completely missing the irony, Jake nods. “I do. They have twenty-five grams of satiating protein to help maintain lean body mass, no added sugars, and I got chocolate because it’s better at masking the taste of whey.”

“Mmmmm.”

“You done here?” He looks behind him, but the last client is with one of the other attorneys and everyone else is packing up.

“Yeah.”

Jake frowns. “Baby?”

I raise my eyebrows.

“Not used to you being so quiet.”

“To be honest, I’m feeling a little overwhelmed.” I shove my papers into my briefcase and pretend not to see the clinic coordinator watching us with avid interest.

Jake grabs the cooler and leans over to kiss my cheek. “I promise by the end of the night, you’ll be feeling something else.”

My body heats in an instant. “Jake Donovan, I hope you didn’t make dinner just to lure me into your bed, because I might be tempted to skip a meal and move straight to dessert.”

He gives me a wicked smile. “You are dessert.”

SLOW AND GENTLE

Fun and happy times end once we hit the parking lot. Jake has an agenda, and he is adamant that we follow it to the letter.

First, kissing in the parking lot. The minute we clear the front door, he pushes me up against the brick wall and kisses me so long and deep I forget we’re outside. In a frenzy of lust, I try to tear off his clothes. Jake gives me an admonishing “tsk tsk” and gently disengages my hands from his shirt. Clothes tearing is further down the agenda. Definitely after we reach my house.

Second, Jake removes Amanda’s panties. Also in the parking lot. This is accomplished with him on his knees in front of me while I try not to moan too loudly.

Third, a quick check to see how much Amanda enjoys exhibitionism. Jake’s finger glistens under the streetlamp. Apparently Amanda enjoys it a lot.

Fourth, Jake drives Amanda’s car since he planned ahead and arrived in a taxi. This allows Amanda to recline the passenger seat while Jake tests his driving-with-one-hand-and-finger-fucking-Amanda-with-the-other skills. He passes with flying colors.

Not on the agenda is the traffic jam of epic proportions on the bridge that prevents a very aroused Amanda and an equally aroused Jake, as evident from the erection straining against his fly, from getting home quickly. The agenda is quickly rearranged. Jake and Amanda dine on lukewarm mac ’n’ cheese with hot dogs, washed down with chocolate protein shakes.

Fifth, the agenda once again in place, Amanda and Jake finally arrive at Amanda’s house. Time for dessert.

Door closed. Lights off. I press my hands against Jake’s chest and back him slowly up against the wall. “No more teasing. I want my sexy times.”

“Mmmmm. He nips my ear and tickles kisses along my earlobe. “I love it when you talk dirty.”

“Well, you’re in luck because I’m a very dirty girl who has spent the last hour and a half having very dirty thoughts.” I yank on his belt, freeing it from the buckle before he grabs my hand.

“Slow down, baby.”

But I don’t want to slow down. First, Farnsworth; then my house, Reid and his threats, Jake showing up unexpectedly. Too much. Too many things spinning out of control. I need to get off the merry-go-round. I need to regain control in just one aspect of my life. And this way I can lose myself, making Jake feel as good as he makes me feel.

Dropping to my knees, I unzip his pants. “You were very sweet to show up with dinner. I want to say thank you, but in an impolite, talking-with-the-mouth-full kind of way.”

Jake growls low in his throat and fists my hair, tugging my head back. “There’s a reward I’d like better because it involves both of us enjoying it.”

My fists clench on his thighs and I meet his gaze. “Please.”

He studies me for a long time and a pained expression crosses his face, so fleeting I wonder if I imagined it and then so quickly replaced with raw desire I’m almost sure I did. “I want your mouth on me so fucking bad, baby. I’ve wanted it since that day we were fixing up the house and you were all cute and mussed, with dirt on your face and those plump lips wet and glistening. Fuck. You were talking and I was wiping your face, all I was thinking about was watching those lips slide down my cock.”

My cheeks heat. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

Jake shrugs off his jacket and loosens his tie. “Hell yes.”

I ease his clothing down and his cock springs free, already hard and erect. It bounces gently in my direction and I wrap my hand around the base then slowly glide it toward the piercing, barely visible in the shadows. My stomach cartwheels. God. Oh God. I have fantasized about tasting his piercing since I first touched it in the cage.

Jake’s hand drops to the back of my head and for a moment I think he’s going to push me away, but instead he pulls me forward and I run my lips along his hot, silky skin.

“Wasn’t so hard to twist your arm.”

Jake chuckles. “Oh I’m still gonna follow my agenda, baby. But gentleman that I am, I’ll let you go first.” He hisses in a breath as I lean over and flick my tongue across his head, soft and slick. Then I lick slowly over the piercing and explore the two steel knobs with tentative flicks, the metallic tang deliciously naughty on my tongue. Jake’s cock swells and pulses, and I pump my fist along his length in counterpoint to my licks.

“Suck me, baby. Don’t tease.” Jake fists my hair, holding my head still as he thrusts into my mouth. He fills me, thick and hot, and I close my eyes and lose myself in the sensual scrape of his piercing over my tongue, the scent of his soap, and the musk of his arousal.

“Take it all.” He groans and thrusts deeper. “You know how to do it.”

My clit throbs and pressure builds fast in my center. I release his cock and slide one hand between my legs. Thank God he took off my panties.

“That’s it, baby,” Jake whispers. “You get off with me.”

Moaning against his cock, I spread my wetness up and over my clit while Jake surges in and out of my mouth, following the slide of my lips. With each thrust, the piercing drives farther into my throat, the sensation both frightening and deliciously arousing.

Suddenly his hand tightens on my neck and he thrusts hard and deep. “Fuck, baby. Oh fuck.” A low guttural groan tears from his throat as his cock thickens and swells.

And then he pulls away.

“Jake…what’s wrong?”

Jaw tight, body tensed, he takes a deep breath and then another. “Gotta stop. I love your sweet mouth, but something’s eating you, and I’m gonna find out what it is. And to do that, I need to love you, not take you. I’m gonna love you until you break and let me in.”

Nononononononono
. I don’t want loving. I want Jake coming in my mouth. I want hard, fast, furious fucking. I want my body slamming into the wall, his piercing dragging over my G-spot, freezing my brain with exquisite pleasure until I can’t take any more.

But Jake has other ideas. Suddenly I’m in his arms and his lips are pressed against mine and he’s kissing me the way I imagined he would kiss me every night after we broke up. Lips soft and teasing, teeth nibbling, questing tongues and heavy breathing. My body sags, melts into him. He groans softly, curls his hand around my neck, and draws me in to feast on my lips until I am panting and breathless, ready to offer him anything for another taste of the steel that throbs between us.

“That’s it,” he whispers. “Slow and gentle. The way we should have done it the first time. The way I wanted to do it the day we met again.” He undoes the buttons on my shirt one by one, his fingers lingering on my bare skin as he exposes me ever so slowly to the heat of his gaze. He takes similar care with my skirt, following it over my hips and down my legs with the smooth caress of his fingers until he is kneeling in front of me.

“There is not an inch of your beautiful body I don’t want to touch.”

He jumps easily to his feet and leads me to my living room, then spreads his suit jacket over the center of the area rug, a soft, thick French Provençal–inspired cottage floral with pastel tones to set off the white shabby-chic covered sofas and faux-chipped light green tables.

“Down you go, baby.”

Moments later I am surrounded by Jake, the silky slide of his suit jacket under me, the scent of his cologne around me, and his body, hot and heavy, on top of me. His lips slide down my neck, and he peppers tiny kisses over the crescents of my breasts. I arch my back and he reaches behind me to unclasp my bra, and then flings it on the rapidly growing pile of clothing beside us. Without another word, he proceeds to ravish my breasts like he’s never seen them before, kissing and licking, nipping and sucking, until they are sore and swollen and my nipples peak, reaching for the ceiling.

With a quiet moan, I slide my hands through his soft curls and hold him tight against me as my body trembles beneath him.

“Shhhhh. Let it go.”

Then his lips are back, skimming over my heated skin, my abdomen, and brushing gently over my mound, but never going where I want them to be. My body throbs and pulses with need, and even the cool, silk lining of his jacket gives me no respite.

“Do you know why I like you bare?” he whispers.

My clit pulses under the heat of his breath and I moan. “Why?”

“Because I can give you more pleasure.” His fingertip slides through my folds and, when I least expect it, brushes right over my throbbing clit.

My back arches at the exquisite sensation and a whimper escapes my lips.

“Oh yes. You’re gonna give it all up for me. All that fear. All that stress. You’re going to let go because that’s what you need and that’s what I want.”

A violent shudder wracks my body and fear twists icy tendrils around my spine. I can’t give myself to him. What if he sees me, all of me, and finds me lacking? What if I give myself to him and he lets me down? What if I open up and he walks away? “Jake…”

“Let me take care of you.”

My brain fuzzes with lust and I tug on his shirt, trying to pull it off. I want to smooth my hands over his warm skin, feel his muscles ripple under my touch. But more than that, I want to feel him hot and hard and heavy in my hand.

I get nothing.

Jake grasps my wrists and gently lifts my hands up and over my head. Then, balancing on one knee, he loosens his tie and dangles it in front of me. “Are you okay if I restrain you with this?”

Pulse quickens, lungs tighten, skin tingles. Trembling as arousal rockets through my body, I moan, “I thought you were going to love me.”

He gives me a half smile. “I am loving you. But you need to think about only my touch and you can’t do that if your hands are in the way. Plus, you’re so damn sexy, I don’t think I could take your hands on me. Not if we’re going to take it slow.”

My head falls back and I groan. “No slow. Bad slow. Let me up and fuck me hard.”

Jake’s jaw tightens and he growls, his hands tightening on my wrists. “You got that in the cage. Now we’re doing it my way.”

Swallowing the ache of desire, I lift an eyebrow. “Your way or the highway?”

Jake chuckles. “My way. Period.”

“Okay. Tie away.”

He wraps the cool silk around my wrists, tying them firmly together. I test the bond and it gives slightly, enough that I know if I really needed to get free, I could.

Jake watches me experiment and winks. “Didn’t want to scare you the first time.”

“I’m not scared with you.”

He gives a satisfied grunt, and then slides his hand through the planes and valleys of my body, his touch so light, I strain toward him, unable to think of anything but where his hand might go next.

“What do you feel?” His breath is warm and moist in my ear, demanding, insistent.

“Hot.”

“You are so fucking hot, lying here, available for my pleasure. I could tease you all evening. Or I could fuck you. Or maybe I’ll just bring you close and walk away.” With easy grace, he rolls up and kneels between my legs to position my feet, knees bent up and out, heels planted in the soft, thick carpet. Then he traces lazy circles along my inner thighs.

“Legs do not move,” he says. “Not an inch.”

My sex clenches as his light caresses come closer and closer to my very wet center. Have I ever been so wet from just a touch?

Jake reaches over to the clothing pile and pulls a tissue from the packet in his jacket pocket. With a wicked grin, he brushes the tissue lightly over my clit. Despite the barely there flutter, I am so swollen, so needy, my body jumps as if he had pinched me and moisture floods my sex.

“Oh God.”

With a soft laugh, he places the tissue over my mound and sits back, away from my body. The tissue rocks gently in the air current, a whisper of a touch, an exquisite torture. I rock my hips seeking friction from something so light a breath could take it from me at any moment.

Carnal satisfaction flickers through his eyes as he watches me undulate my hips only the barest inch, enough for a touch but not too much that I would lose my only path to release.

“Do you need something, baby?”

“I need to come.”

He slides one finger along my folds and then dips into my swollen center. My body stiffens. When he crooks his finger and gently pumps my G-spot, I whimper.

“Yes, you do.” He withdraws his finger and flicks the tissue away, leaving me bereft.

“You are so damn wet, baby. Your body is on board. Let the rest go.” He leans over and kisses me. Soft, sweet, gentle kisses that make me ache inside. My body is awash with sensation: the erotic ache in my nipples, the exquisite throb of my sex and the smooth silk under my back. The familiar scents of oak and furniture polish mix with the heady scent of Jake’s cologne and the musk of his arousal. His face is framed by the soft track lights above us and I taste chocolate on his lips as the bone-melting rumble of his voice coaxes, assures, but above all, demands.

Too much. My senses overload. I squeeze my eyes shut and a groan rips from my throat.

The tear of a foil packet. The snap of a condom. Oh happy sounds! When I open my eyes, Jake is kneeling between my legs. “Open.”

Instantly, my legs fall apart.

For a moment I expect him to crawl over me. Lie on top. Missionary style. But this is Jake and in that, he hasn’t changed. He is so
not
a missionary man.

He hooks one arm under my thigh at the back of my knee, drawing my leg up and out, opening me wider. And then his cock is at my entrance and I am almost hyperventilating with need.

“This might be intense, baby,” he says softly. “The piercing is most effective when you’re at the peak of arousal. For some women it’s the ultimate pleasure, but for others it’s a pleasure that borders on pain. That’s why I wanted to get you ready. Tell me if you need me to slow down.”

Dark desires awaken inside me with a roar. A deep, long-hidden need claws at my belly. The thought he planned this from the start, with this goal as the ultimate end, sends a rush of molten heat through my body. I close my eyes and give myself over to him with a raw, guttural groan. Utterly and completely.

“There we are,” he whispers. And then he breaches my entrance, stretching me, filling me. My body trembles in fearful anticipation.