by Diana Nixon
She sat down on a small couch at smiled back. “Worse than you think.”
She wasn’t here for a happy reason, so I wasn’t surprised to hear that.
“How long have you been married?” I took a small porcelain cup and put it on a saucer.
“Almost fifteen years.”
“Why did you decide to divorce?” I pushed one of the buttons on our coffee machine and waited for the cup to top up.
“Craig didn’t like the carpet I bought.”
“Oh…It must be really crappy if he decided to get a divorce because of it.”
“I know it sounds weird. But the damn carpet ruined our family.”
“Couldn’t you buy a different one?”
“I could. But it was too late. He started a fight and one thing led to another; we said so many ugly things to each other… There was no turning back after it.”
“I’m sorry.” I really was. I knew she was sorry too. I could see guilt written all over her face.
“Who called Mr. Cohen?” I asked.
“I did.” Again, I felt like her voice was full of guilt.
“Are you sure you want this?” I gave her a cup of coffee, but she knew I wasn’t talking about the drink.
“Thanks. I’m not sure about anything anymore. A few weeks ago, I was sure I was happily married. Now it feels like a far-away memory.”
Yeah, I could hear her there. A few weeks ago, I was sure I would do my best to destroy Leonel Cohen. Now I wasn’t sure I wanted it anymore.
Because there were other things I wanted to do with him. And they had nothing to do with revenge…
Just then, Mr. Lorring entered the waiting room. It was the first time I saw him, but I knew it was him by the look he gave his wife.
They didn’t say a word to each other.
“How long shall we wait?” He asked, turning to me.
“About fifteen minutes.”
He nodded, looked at his watch, and left the waiting room.
She breathed out and gave me a meaningful look. “He hates me.”
Obviously, it didn’t go both ways.
“I think it’s because you told him something that he didn’t like much.”
She nodded. “You’re right. I told him many things I was never going to tell.”
“Like what?”
“I called him selfish and careless because I always felt like I was lacking his attention. I would have never decided to change the damn carpet if he spent more time with me, and not in the office. I knew he hated purple. That’s why I bought the biggest purple carpet I could find. So he finally paid attention to something other than his laptop. Well, I guess I got what I deserved in the end.”
The more she talked, the more sorry I felt for her. She loved her husband, I could see it.
“Do you have kids?”
“We don’t. And it’s my fault.” She paused for a moment. “When Craig and I started dating, I got pregnant. But we were not married, and my parents were against everything that went against the rules they always made me believe in. So…” Her voice became very quiet. “I got rid of the baby. And I’m still paying for it. Because despite all the attempts to get pregnant again, I can’t make it happen.” Tears glistened in her crystal blue eyes. “I’m getting older, and my time to become a mom is running out.”
I wanted to say something to make her feel better, but I knew none of my words would help her.
“Was it one of those things that came up before you decided to call Mr. Cohen?”
“Yes.”
Now I knew the carpet had nothing to do with their divorce.
“Have you…ever thought about adoption?”
“I did. But Craig said he would never raise someone else’s child.”
“I see…”
“What would you do if you were me?” She asked.
“Honestly, I have no idea. I’m not married and I don’t have kids. But I’m taking care of my niece whose parents are…unable to do it themselves.”
“Why?”
But I didn’t get a chance to answer her question.
Leonel and the client he’d been in a meeting with, walked out of his office, and my boss invited Mrs. Lorring in. Her husband joined us a few moments later.
“Have you decided on the lake house?” Leonel asked Mr. Lorring.
“Yes. I’m leaving it to Susan. As well as the Persian carpet that cost me a fortune.” He gave his wife a murderous look.
“Okay.” Leonel made a few notes and proceeded. “What about the conservatorship for your son?”
“Your son?” I asked, surprised. “I thought you didn’t have kids.”
Susan hurried to explain this to me. “Steven isn’t mine. He’s the son of…”
“He’s my son. His mother died in childbirth.”
Now that was a turn in the story. Something inside me protested against being all polite and nice right now.
“And you dared to make your wife feel guilty for not being able to conceive a child with you?” I asked Mr. Lorring with as much poison as I could put in my question. “How old is your son?” I took a folder with their divorce papers from Leonel, looking for the needed information. “He’s…twelve, right? Which means he was born after you and Susan got married.”
“Olivia!” Leonel warned me to stop this emotional speech, but I wasn’t going to.
“You cheated on her and made her take care of your disabled child, no doubt telling her all the time that it was her responsibility because she couldn’t get pregnant and give birth to a healthy child.” My eyes switched between terrified Susan and her pissed like a bull husband.
“You don’t have a right to nose into our family business!” He said, jumping from his chair.
Leonel copied his move. “Let’s calm down everyone.”
I slammed a file with the documents against the table. “I’m really sorry your wife didn’t ask for divorce earlier. It would save her years of being a wife of a monster like you are. You never wanted her to get pregnant!”
“How dare you…”
“You never wanted her to get pregnant because you were scared the story would repeat, and you would have to raise two disabled kids instead of one. Am I right, Mr. Lorring?”
The man’s face turned red. I almost laughed at how funny he looked right now. No doubt, if he were a balloon, he would pop.
“I’m not going to listen to this crap. We’ll find a different lawyer. Come on, Susan.”
“No.” She didn’t move an inch.
He stared at her as if it was the first time that he saw her.
“She’s right, isn’t she? You didn’t want us to have another baby.” Now she stood up too and walked up to her husband. “I went through all the circles of hell to get pregnant, but you… You always knew I would fail. Because every time I told you I failed, you were not a little bit surprised to hear it. How is that possible that you could foresee my every next fail?”
“Susan, please, let’s talk about it somewhere else.”
It wasn’t that hard to put two and two together.
“He got snipped,” I summarized all of the above. “Son of a bitch…”
“Olivia!” Leonel stood by my side, probably ready to stop me from attacking Mr. Lorring.
His wife chuckled evilly. “You are right, Craig. We will talk about it somewhere else. Or to be exact – in court. Because there’s no way in hell I will forgive you for what you have done to me. Be ready to pay. Bastard!” She walked to the door, but then she stopped and turned to look and Leonel and me. “I want you two to represent me in court. And he,” she pointed to her one excuse for a husband. “Better find a good lawyer. Because I’m going to take away everything the jackass has.”
Chapter 10
“That was rude,” Leonel said right after Mr. Lorring left his office, calling me every name in the book.
“If you mean him calling me a bitch, don’t worry – I’ll survive.”
“No, I mean you being rude with th
e client.”
“He’ll survive too.”
Leonel shook his head. “In any other situation, I would fire you immediately.”
“But not in this particular case, right?”
He smiled. “Not in this case. Because I think you’ve done the right thing by revealing the true lights of that idiot.”
“I can’t but agree, Mr. Cohen.”
He stepped closer, and I saw his eyes darken. “Too bad you are not always that compliant, Miss Lambert.”
“If I were as compliant as you always wanted me to be, you wouldn’t be that interested in shushing me with your mouth.”
I took my notebooks and headed for the door when all of a sudden, Leonel’s hand was in my hair and he pulled me back, turning my face to his. I bumped into his chest and dropped my notebook. It landed at my feet with a flat sound. Leone’s hand slid to the back of my neck, holding my face in place. Without a further warning, his lips crashed on mine.
Soft and smooth…
Slow and delicious…
Playful…
Teasing…
Burning…
Dominant, but with enough time and space to stop it.
On the second thought – who wanted to stop?
Correct – no one.
I leaned into him, with every fiber of my body trembling in response to the dance of our lips and tongues. It was an unexpected connection, but no doubt wanted. There was passion in it and a little bit of shame that was supposed to make me tell him we shouldn’t do it.
But…
He bit my lower lip and held it for a few seconds. His palm cupped my cheek, with his other hand pressing me tightly to his chest. There was no running away from it, from him.
I melted in our kiss, feeling a river of emotions spill out of my heart, and then run all over me, washing away every small doubt standing in its way.
Euphoric bliss enveloped me and held me tight. I didn’t want to let it go, feeling it might never happen again. The moment felt so fragile; I was scared to step back, afraid everything that we just shared would shatter right there and then.
But time was such a cruel thing. We couldn’t make our kiss last forever. Sooner or later, one of us needed to stop it to take a breath. Or to remember about the existence of common sense.
And the someone turned out to be me.
“Leo, wait…”
His lips stayed closed to mine as if he couldn’t believe I decided to break the kiss.
“This is insane.” My breathing was heavy and no air seemed to be enough to restore it to normal.
“I love insane.”
“Said a lawyer who never lost a single case.”
“Wrong answer. I did lose one – for you. Remember?” His fingers tangled in my hair and he tried to capture my lips with his again.
But I pulled back.
“We are still at work. And we have another client in about ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes… Sounds like enough time for at least one more kiss.” He pushed me back until I was entrapped between the table and his body. “I’ve been waiting for it too long to let you out of my arms so soon.” He lifted me up and sat me down on the wooden surface behind me. His palms slid up my hips, pushing up the hem of my skirt. His eyes never left mine.
I think I forgot to breathe, dying in that moment of anticipation and fear.
A part of me knew I was supposed to stop him. When the other part wanted nothing else but for him to proceed with whatever it was that he wanted to do with me.
As he stepped closer and his lower body pressed to mine, I knew I was lost.
His warm breath feathered my face; lips searched for mine. One more glance into his deep, dark eyes, and the fire inside me started burning with a new force.
Damn it, I was screwed. As well as everything that was about to follow this play.
Because I knew for sure there would be no easy way out of this.
For a single moment, time stopped, and I could hear nothing but his rapid breathing mirroring mine. There was so much intimacy in that unspoken connection, with our bodies pressed to each other and our lips millimeters away.
I wanted to say something, anything to save myself from the pain that I knew would kill me right after everything was over. But like a psycho, I went for it, desperate to die in his arms and in his kiss.
I made the last move and touched his lips with mine, softly, tenderly. As if it was his time to stop me. But he didn’t.
He accepted the invitation, with his knowing tongue sending shivers down my spine. At that very moment, I was all his, and he knew it. I was so weak against everything that he was offering, and he felt it.
His lips were gentle, but firm, both giving and taking. I was about to tell him I couldn’t give him as much as he wanted to get. Then again, I already gave him what he wanted, and even more.
I didn’t know what it was that he used to spellbind me, but the intoxicating bliss that came from his lips went to every small corner of my body and mind, and I accepted it. As if I knew there were no things to say to deny the obvious…
I was into Leonel Cohen. And just like my sister, I had no idea how to fight it.
I didn’t know how long our kiss lasted, but when I heard the footsteps in the waiting room, I pushed him away and jumped from the table, readjusting my skirt and hair.
He rolled his eyes and took away a lock of my hair behind my ear. “Still too messed up.”
“Where?”
He chuckled and leaned closer to steal a quick kiss from me. “Everywhere. And I love it.”
“God, you are not helping.”
“Nothing will help you, Liv. You have a crush on me. And it’s obvious.”
“You…”
“And I have a crush on you. And it’s even more obvious, considering I will need to spend the upcoming meeting with the client in a sitting position. Otherwise, he will see how much I want to be inside you now.”
“Shut up!” I looked carefully at the closed door, afraid the client would hear him say naughty things to me. Every time I thought he couldn’t make me blush even harder, he proved me wrong.
Laughing, he went to his chair and said, “Something’s telling me I’m not alone in this passionate agony, Olivia. And I can’t wait for the moment you show me just how much you want to feel me inside you, deep and hard,” he repeated the words the heroine from the movie we watched together said.
I stormed out of the office, as pissed as ever.
The asshole had a nerve. And he was obviously so much better at hiding his emotions than I was. Because Mr. Shand, who’d been waiting for his meeting with Leonel, knew something was wrong with me the moment I slammed the office door shut behind me.
“Is everything all right?” He asked. He was here for a marriage contract, and I knew my boss did his best to make it as terrible for the man’s wife as possible.
“Never been better,” I lied, plastering a fake smile on my face. “Mr. Cohen needs a few minutes to finish working on your contract. I’ll let you know when he’s ready to see you.”
Not that I cared about my boss meeting his client with an obvious hard-on in his pants, but I didn’t want anyone to think low of me, or believe that I was the reason for it. No matter how close it was to the truth.
I excused myself and left the waiting room, dying to have a change of surroundings.
I went to the restroom, and to my great relief, there was no one there to bother me. I sat down on a couch and kicked off my shoes.
God, what have I done?
I should have thought twice before I let Leonel kiss me, but my rational thinking seemed to jump out of the window the moment his tongue slipped in between my parted lips.
Great, just great.
I sighed and closed my eyes, leaning against the back of the couch.
How was I supposed to tell Winter I kissed the man she was hopelessly in love with?
I wasn’t just a terrible sister; I was a traitor to the bone. I put my physical
instincts first and forgot about my revenge.
I wasn’t sure I wanted that revenge anymore. I wasn’t sure about anything, except for one thing – I needed to talk to my sister. And I needed to do it today.
***
Leo
“Is there a way for me to keep both of our houses in case of a divorce?”
I smirked. “Sure. If you want your wife to become a stripper.”
“Excuse me?”
“Well, if you keep all the property for yourself, she’ll need to take off her clothes to find a new place to live. It’s what she was doing before she married you, remember?”
Mr. Shand’s face turned into a stone. “How do you know that?” He asked with the funniest face I had ever seen.
“Rumors.”
“Melissa is a decent woman now. What happened in the past has nothing to do with our future. I love her and she loves me.”
“Of course. Then why do you want to protect yourself in case she decides her love for you is not as strong anymore?”
“It’s obvious – I’m a wealthy man and she’s…”
“A stripper. No, let me correct myself - a former stripper.”
He didn’t like my comments, but he knew I was one of the best family lawyers in the city and probably the only one who would agree to make the stupidest marriage contract for him.
“It’s better to be ready for everything,” he said.
“True.” But I was sure as hell not ready for what happened between Liv and me less than half an hour ago.
She was hot and fucking tempting. And I knew at some point, I might try to use it against her. But what happened when my lips pressed to hers, was something I never expected to feel.
I wanted more of her. I wanted all of her, all for myself. Right there and then, right on my desk, with her legs locked behind my back; with her sweet moans flying all around the office.
Fuck, I wanted her so bad, I was seconds away from sending Mr. Shand and his contract to hell and running for Olivia. She was in the waiting room; I could hear her talk to someone. I missed a good part of what my client was saying, just because I couldn’t stop thinking about kissing her again. Over and over again, everywhere she would let me.
Double fuck. I felt like a maniac, waiting for his prey to stay alone in the dark room.