Mrs R (Mrs R & Mr V #1) (32 page)

Arriving to the meeting dead on
1pm, the time Angela had set up, Rachel was kept waiting while Joe carried on
with his telephone conversation. He gestured for her to have a seat in front of
his desk and Rachel took the time to study the new layout of the room. It was
an entirely masculine space. Joe’s desk was glass topped with a cherry wood
base edged in shiny chrome. His chair was some complicated ergonomic structure
in soft black leather and his PC a state of the art, slim line Mac she’d never
seen before. Ironically, Nate would have loved it. The desk top was covered in
legal files and papers and where Nate’s had been littered with knick knacks and
family photos, Joe had only one picture frame. Rachel was itching to turn it
around so she could see who was in it, but of course she couldn’t.

The walls were plain save for
several certificates denoting Joe’s various different qualifications. Rachel
was suitably impressed. In the corner there was a seating area consisting of
two black leather sofas and a glass coffee table and a small wet bar. A door
led off to what she presumed was Joe’s own private bathroom, and the last
remaining wall was completely glass like hers. Due to his office being the
opposite side of the building the view looked out over the River Thames rather
than the City streets. It was an incredible sight made all the more pleasing to
her eye as Joe was standing in front of it. His back was to her. He wasn’t
wearing his suit jacket but he had a waistcoat on that fitted him perfectly
doing amazing things to his shoulders and waist. It sat just on the waistband
of his trousers that hugged his arse in the most divine way highlighting buns
of steel. His thick legs tested the seams of his suit pants, but the elegant
fabric stretched and relaxed with his movements. Rachel had no idea what
designer had bespoked Joe’s expensive looking suit but she imagined it cost a
great deal. He was no off the rack body type that was for sure.

Rachel had one leg crossed over
the other and was trying to remain patient, but Joe didn’t seem to be in a
hurry to end his call. She couldn’t really hear his conversation and was well
mannered enough not to overtly eavesdrop, but his tone seemed anxious. Not
something she would normally associate with what she’d learned of his personality
so far. Suddenly, as if he was remembering Rachel was still sitting there, he
turned towards her making eye contact.

“Sure baby girl.” She heard him
say to the person on the phone. “I miss you too.”

“Well that’s rich,” huffed Rachel
in her head, “chatting up some bird on the phone while she was sitting there
like an idiot. She tried to wipe the scowl from her face.

“Uh huh” he went on. “Me too
princess……no…….I have someone with me angel.”

Rachel smiled tightly at him as he
turned away from her. “Ok, ok. Daddy loves you. Bye.”

“Euwww, that’s nasty and creepy
talk” thought Rachel. He obviously liked them young.

“Apologies” he barked at her not
sounding sorry at all, “my teenage daughter apparently has no concept of the
time difference between New York & London and thought I’d be having
breakfast.”

Rachel was momentarily floored.
She’d thought the worst of him when he was in fact talking to his actual
daughter and he’d told her something personal by way of apology. Was Joe trying
to be nice?

“Right then you’d better skip to
it as time is short now.”

Apparently not.

“Can you click on to the shared
network and open up my Power Point?” Joe coughed slightly and raised an
eyebrow.

“Umm, sure. Bring your chair
around her so you can see the screen.” He fixed his attention to searching for
her presentation; Rachel liked the way the muscles moved under the skin of his
right arm as he clicked away at the mouse.

Seated next to Joe, she was
concentrating very hard not to let the smell of him distract her. She had no
clue what cologne he wore but suspected it was a madly expensive brand she’d
probably never heard of. It was a clean and fresh smell; musky with hints of
citrus, and very masculine. He radiated heat and being so close was making her
feel warm when she needed to be cool. His shirt sleeves had been rolled up to
expose his powerful forearms but the rest of him was formal with his tie
knotted at the hollow of his throat and his waistcoat fully done up.

“Presumably it’s the folder called
Genesis?”

“Yes; here let me…” Rachel
stretched her left arm across his right arm to take control of the mouse, but
he didn’t let go of it quick enough and she ended up placing her hand on top of
his. The feel of his warm skin made her own prickle in response and she drew
her hand back abruptly. “Sorry,” she mumbled fearing she had gotten off to a
bad start already.

Joe did not respond with words.
Instead he dropped the mouse and leaned back in his chair. Actually, he didn’t
trust himself to speak. Since the minute Rachel had entered his office it had
taken every last drop of will power not to lock the door and throw her on to
one of his couches and rip her clothes off. She was driving him fucking crazy.
On the phone to Olivia he had purposefully turned to the window in order to
maintain full focus on his daughter rather than be distracted by the creamy
skin of Rachel’s legs. Her shapely arse wiggling around in her chair did
nothing to dampen his arousal as memories of that spectacular piece of her
anatomy encased in lycra jiggling around in his face on the treadmill, came
flooding back.

She had decided to wear her hair
pulled back in a neat ponytail today just to torment him with clear and
unobstructed access to her throat and neck. An inviting expanse of skin just
begging to be nuzzled and licked and inhaled and nipped at. And oh god, what
was she doing now? Shrugging out of her jacket Rachel clearly had no idea the
material of her dress pulled agonisingly tight over her incredible tits. Joe
was dying, and being so close to the edge of his control was making him
antsy.
 
He wondered how old she was;
certainly a decade plus on the women he had been fucking recently. Ben had
mentioned Nate had kids older than his but she looked fantastic.

“How old are you?” he asked her.

“I beg your pardon? How is that
relevant to anything?” she shot him a bewildered look.

“It’s not – I’m just
curious.”

“I’m sure you can look it up in my
personnel records if you’re really that interested. Can we please just focus on
my project, I thought you were short on time.” She sounded irritated.

Joe buzzed reception. “Angela;
cancel my 2 o’clock, I’m running late.” Rachel’s jaw dropped. May be he was
going to take her seriously after all, but why ask her age? She couldn’t figure
him out.

“So, now you have my undivided
attention for the next couple of hours convince me why you have such a hard on
for these pro bono cases.”

Rachel cleared her throat and
clicked on to her presentation. Nervous to begin with she soon shook them off
as her passion and drive for Genesis kicked in. Joe sat stoically focused on
her narrative with his thick arms crossed over his chest. Once or twice she was
momentarily side lined by his fiddling with his beard – she wasn’t sure
why she found that wildly sexy but she did but was inordinately pleased to
notice his grey eyes were neither dark or sparkly but a nice steady shade of
graphite.

“And your first case?” his only
enquiry as the last slide disappeared from his screen.

Rachel launched into the case
history of the Women’s Home Free Shelter she was determined to save from the
council’s plan to close them down.

“Do you have a specific reason for
choosing this case first?”

Rachel looked at Joe quizzically,
cocking her head at him. “Oh not from personal experience thank god. No, please
don’t get the wrong idea. I just hate the injustice of the whole situation. The
thought that these women and children won’t have a place to go because some
jobs worth thinks pounds are more important than basic human rights. It’s nonsense
and so indicative of today’s money driven society. I just can’t stand the
thought of it.”

Joe placed his palms flat on his
massive thighs. “Whilst I commend your sentiment; we are not a charity Rachel.”

Rachel stopped breathing. This was
it; he was shutting her down. She was so disappointed in him she felt like
beating her fists against his chest in protest. A futile gesture she knew but
the thought of it was tempting. Instead she used her words to hit out at him.

“Wait a fucking minute Joe.” His eyes
turned dark, but she soldiered on. “I’m not suggesting you fund this project
because you think this is some little hobby I’ve latched on to. And nor am I on
some crusade to glorify Nate’s memory. I am trying to carve myself a career; a
future. But I have always been motivated by cause and not profit – not
everyone has the means to afford the best legal representation but that’s
doesn’t mean they don’t deserve it.”

“Says she clad head to toe in
Armani” he drawled at her pointing at her dress.

“What the fuck!” she snarled at
him through gritted teeth. “All those fucking qualifications from Harvard, Yale
or some other pretentious Ivy League school and that’s what you come out with?
I’ve had it with you – you don’t seem to have any respect for anything
other than the bottom line. You may be sitting in my husband’s office but you
are not half the man he was. You don’t deserve to be here.” She tore her jacket
off the back of the chair and stormed towards the door.

“If you leave now, I’m pulling the
plug on Genesis for sure.” Joe’s sure and steady words halted her on the spot.
Dubiously turning to face him her chest heaving in anger, she tilted her head
questioningly. God he looked mad – she could see the tension in his
shoulders and a pulse beat in his neck visible under his skin. He was breath
takingly gorgeous even in her pissed off state he made her heart race.

“Tell me how you intend to win
this case Mrs Renton. If you succeed I will give you a 12 month contract to
work on Genesis cases approved by me; if you lose it’s over.”

Rachel’s shoulders slumped in
relief; however, her pain was far from over, as Joe hadn’t finished.

‘But first I need to know two
things. One; what’s a ‘jobs worth’ and secondly, how you intend to curb your
temper and clean up your filthy mouth before you step into court.”

Rachel stood there red faced; her
shoulders heaving from her passionate outburst. Her emotions were raw and
threatening to overwhelm her. She was so out of her league with this man on
every level; where she was driven by compassion and justice it seemed his goal
for winning was based on money. She supposed that this was the gauge used by
successful businessmen but she couldn’t understand it from a man who was
essentially a lawyer like herself. Why go into law if you weren’t interested in
the plight of others? The corporate world was way out of her comfort zone and
she wondered fleetingly how a soft natured man like Nate had survived it so
well.

“I’m not sorry for what I said
– just so as you know. But thank you for giving me a chance. I’m working
on the swearing thing but it would help if you didn’t stress me out so much.”

Joe looked at her with a half grin
on his face. He had no intention of making this easy for her; in fact he was
thoroughly enjoying himself. It was a long time since anyone had spoken to him
with no holds barred charged with such passion and belief in what they were
doing. Much of his own passion for the workings of the law had been lost in
corporate warfare and he had a yearning to get back to the grass roots of
actually winning for the good of the person he was defending rather than his
company’s bank balance. However, he wasn’t sharing that with Rachel just yet
– he had to make that Genesis was actually viable first. Plus she looked
so damn adorable all hot and bothered; raging and ranting like her life
depended on it; he’d find any excuse to see that again.

For the next hour or so Rachel
went through her strategy with Joe. When he got over himself and focussed on
the work rather than winding her up, it was easy to see how he was such a whizz
in the courtroom. His attention to detail was incredible and he made several
useful suggestions relevant to her case indicating he had truly taken an
interest in it. However, being in such close proximity to such a glorious hunk
of manhood with a scent that literally got up her nose and invaded her head,
was exhausting. Rachel was severely lacking in experience on how to cope with
this off the scale physical attraction and it was eating away at her reserves.