Willfully Hers (The Dirty Business Series Book 2)

by Michelle Betham

“It is. Do you have an appointment?”

  “No, I’m sorry, I don’t. But this is really important, and reception suggested I come and talk to you. My name’s Alicia Anders, and I’m one of the senior partners at Fellman, Drake and Danson. And I really need to speak to Evan. Is there any way at all you could fit me in, at some point today, even if it’s just for a few minutes?”

  I look down at my laptop and scan Evan’s diary for the rest of the day. “He’s in a partners’ meeting at the moment, but…”

  “Alicia?”

  My head shoots up at the sound of Evan’s voice. The meeting must have finished, and I watch as he approaches the woman by my cubicle, his body language and the way he greets her telling me they obviously know each other.

  “Hey! It’s good to see you, it’s been… How long has it been now?”

  “A few years.”

  “You still at Fellman, Drake and Danson?”

  “Made senior partner two years ago… Look, Evan, I’m sorry to just turn up like this but I really need to talk to you.”

  He frowns, and I continue to watch this exchange closely. I can’t quite work out what their relationship is – was. I don’t know. But I think they’re more than just passing acquaintances.

  “This isn’t a social call?” He slides his hands into his pockets, and she shakes her head. And then Evan looks at me. “How long have I got, Lola?”

  “The Ellis Turner deposition’s at twelve. You’re okay for a while.”

  “Good. Thanks.” He turns his attention back to Alicia. Whoever she is. “Come on through.” He gestures to her to go into his office. “Can you fetch us a couple of coffees, Lola? Please?”

  “Yeah. Sure.”

  He closes the door behind him, and I watch as they exchange a few more words before sitting down on the couch by the window.

  “Who’s she?”

  I swing around in my chair to see Jess approach. “Alicia Anders. She’s a senior partner at Fellman, Drake and Danson, apparently. Whoever they are. Just turned up here saying she needed to see Evan about something.”

  “Okay. So, why do you look like that?”

  “Like what?”

  “Curious? Concerned…?”

  “They know each other.”

  “Evan knows a lot of lawyers.”

  “No, not like… I know he does. But the second he saw her… I need to get them coffee.”

  “I’ll come with you. I could do with one myself.”

  We head to the main kitchen, and I set about making the coffee.

  “Did she say what she needed to see him about?” Jess asks, leaning back against the counter.

  I shake my head. “She just said it was important. I mean, it isn’t a social call, apparently, so I’m assuming it’s something to do with a case, or something they want to refer to us. I don’t know. Who’re Fellman, Drake and Danson anyway? I don’t think I’ve come across them before.”

  “They’re a Los Angeles-based firm. We haven’t done any business with them to date, to my knowledge, anyway, but I know Daniel Fellman is one of the most respected lawyers on the west coast. I attended a guest lecture he gave at Columbia once. I even considered applying for an associates position with them, until Dana offered me a place here at Cavendish King.”

  “So, if this is related to a case… why didn’t she just contact our L.A. office?”

  “Maybe they’ve got offices here in New York now.”

  “Yeah. Maybe.”

  Jess narrows her eyes as she looks at me. “You all right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Are you?”

  I throw my head back and sigh quietly. “Why am I so insecure all of a sudden, Jess? I mean, he gets a young, pretty associate and what do I do? I give him a night of unforgettable sex just to make myself feel better. And now this woman turns up, it’s obvious they have some kind of history, and I’m verging on ‘Fatal Attraction’ territory? When did I become that woman?”

  “Shake it off, girl. He doesn’t want anyone but you, that’s so freakin’ obvious to everybody. Believe me, you have pissed off so many female associates, a couple of paralegals, a senior judge, and even one or two of the partners here who know they don’t stand a chance now you’ve snared him.”

  I smile slightly, and then I take a deep breath and suck it up. Whatever it is. I’m really not that insecure woman, I’m not. I’m not going to be her.

  “Listen, Lola, now Kat and Eric have moved to New Jersey… Look, you know I’m always around, don’t you?”

  I throw Jess another smile. “Yeah. I know. And thanks, Jess.”

  “You miss her, though, don’t you? Kat?”

  “Yeah. I do. More than I thought I was going to. But, you know, I guess both our lives have changed a little – okay, a lot – over the past few months, so, I just don’t get to see her as often as I used to, that’s all.”

  “Still, you’ve got Evan now, huh?”

  “I’ve got Evan… You know, Jess, sometimes I feel like I married a myth. And I don’t know if that even makes sense, but, he had this huge reputation, this image, this persona… and he says I’ve changed him, but… I don’t even know if that’s a good thing.”

  “It’s a good thing. He seems happier now. I mean, he was always happy doing this, fighting cases, bringing in clients, but he never really looked genuinely happy, until you arrived.”

  “It feels like a lot of pressure sometimes, that’s all.”

  “Do you love him?”

  “Like crazy.”

  “Then shut up and get on with your fabulous life.”

  She throws me a wink and a smile and I vow to stop over-analyzing everything.

  “I’d better get these coffees back to the office before they go cold.”

  “Lola?”

  I turn around and look at Jess. “Yeah?”

  “Unforgettable sex? We need to talk, girl.”

  She raises an eyebrow and I just throw her a knowing smirk and head back to Evan’s office.

  They’re deep in conversation when I get there, my husband and this mystery woman. And it seems serious. He has his head down, his hands clasped together between his knees and there are a multitude of papers spread over the table in front of them. It all looks very official. And I’d feel so much better about that if it wasn’t for Evan’s body language.

  I tap on the door and he looks up, and he smiles slightly, so I go in and place the coffees down on the table before I turn to go. But his voice stops me from leaving straightaway.

  “Lola… hang on a second.”

  I turn back around but I stay where I am.

  “Alicia, this is Lola. Lola King.”

  Alicia’s expression changes from initial confusion to an almost bemused realization. “Lola King…?”

  “My wife.”

  She says nothing for a second, and then she smiles at me but I’m finding it an almost forced smile. I don’t think for one second she was expecting to hear that Evan was married. But then, in all honesty, I don’t think Evan expected Evan to be married either, but he is. To me.

  “You married your secretary?”

  The way she says that makes my hackles rise slightly, I don’t appreciate her almost condescending tone.

  “I mean, is that how you two met? At work?”

  He looks at me again, and he throws me a knowing smile. “Kind of.”

  But I’m still pissed at this woman’s attitude, the way she’s quite obviously looking down on me. “I’ve got work to do, so, I’ll leave you both to it.” I head out of the office, but this time Evan jumps up and follows me outside. “Everything okay in there?” I ask, folding my arms, my expression hard because she’s put me on the defensive, and I don’t even know why.

  He rests a hand in the small of my back and I let him leave it there. “My father’s dead, Lola.”

  “I… oh, Jesus, Evan. Baby, I’m so sorry.”

  I reach out and cup his cheek, gently stroking his face with my thumb, and he cov
ers my hand with his, our fingers sliding together. “It’s okay. Really, it is. Me and my dad, y’know…” He briefly drops his gaze before he looks back up, his eyes meeting mine. “We weren’t close, Lola. I mean, you know how I feel about my family, so…”

  He trails off, and I look over his shoulder at Alicia, whose head is down as she checks over some of those papers spread out on the coffee table.

  “And Alicia? She’s a lawyer, so, what’s this got to do with her? The firm she works for is based in L.A., isn’t it?”

  “My family moved to California, Lola. A few years ago now, when my father fell ill. And Alicia, she’s handling my dad’s estate. She’s a family friend. We kind of grew up together. She’s been their lawyer for a number of years now, so... Look, baby, I’ve gotta get back in there, I just wanted you to know what was going on, okay?”

  “Okay… Do you want me to put back the Turner deposition? I can have a word with Dana…”

  “It’s business as usual, Lola. Nothing changes.” He leans in and gives me the briefest of kisses before he heads back into his office.

  His father’s dead.

  And he doesn’t seem to care.

  Alicia Anders is a family friend. A friend of Evan’s. How much of a friend?

  It shouldn’t really bother me.

  It’s just that, it does…

  Evan

  I close the door and Alicia looks up at me, her face still sporting a somewhat surprised expression. “Seriously? You’re married?”

  I hold up my left hand and her eyes go straight to my wedding band.

  “Jesus… how did I miss that?”

  She raises her gaze and her eyes meet mine.

  “You always said, after you and Dana divorced, that you were never gonna get married again.”

  “I changed my mind.”

  “She must really be something, huh?”

  “She is. You have no idea…” I glance quickly over my shoulder. Lola’s talking to Hayden, my new associate, and I watch as the younger woman seems to hang onto my wife’s every word. She’s making Hayden feel comfortable, helping her settle in, and I love that she’s doing that. “She saved me.”

  “From what? Commitment-hungry women like me?”

  I frown as I look back at Alicia, but she’s got her head down over those papers. “You knew what you were getting into, Alicia.”

  “Yeah. I did.” She raises her gaze. “Your mother wants you at the funeral, Evan.”

  “I’m not going.” I walk over to the window and look outside. Like I just said to Lola, nothing changes just ‘cause my father went and died. It wasn’t unexpected. We all knew it was coming, at some point. “And you can tell her that.”

  “What the hell went on between you guys, huh? To still make you this bitter?”

  I swing around and my eyes are blazing now. Yeah, that just fucked me off, big time. “I’m not bitter, Alicia, I’m still angry. And I think I have every right to be. You know the history, you know what my family was, how they thought; the secrets they kept. And if it hadn’t been for my father’s condition…” I drop my head and take a long, deep breath. Secrets. Like the ones I’m keeping from Lola? No. I’m not keeping any secrets. There are just some things she doesn’t need to know, that’s all. I raise my gaze but Alicia’s eyes have never left me. “I’d never have known, would I?”

  “You don’t know that, Evan.”

  “I do. I know that. So you can tell my mother I won’t be at the funeral. I’ll send flowers, money, a card, whatever shit I’m supposed to send at a time like this, but I’m not going to the funeral. Besides, I haven’t got the time to drop everything and fly to the other side of the country.”

  I turn around and lean back against the window ledge.

  “You’ll regret it. If you don’t go.”

  “I’m really glad you came today, Alicia, that was good of you, to come all this way, to do this in person when you really didn’t need to. But you have no right guilt tripping me into doing something I really don’t want to do.”

  She gathers the papers together and slides them back into her briefcase. “Your mother, she’s sorry, Evan. For everything.” Alicia stands up and crosses the room. “And this funeral, it could be the chance all of you need to put all that shit right.”

  “Like I said, Alicia, you have no right guilt tripping me into anything.”

  “I’m not guilt tripping anyone, Evan.”

  “You are.”

  “Then maybe your wife can try and make you see sense.”

  “My wife doesn’t need to know about any of it. And it isn’t up to you or anyone else to tell her.”

  “No, Evan. That’s your job.” She starts to walk away, but then she stops and turns around. “You didn’t tell them you were getting married?”

  “There was no reason to. I don’t want them involved in my life, and I certainly don’t want them in Lola’s.”

  “How long ago was it? The wedding?”

  “This has gone way past having anything to do with you, Alicia. And I’m not telling you shit that you might think you have a right to tell my family, when you don’t. You might have stayed close to them due to your ties with Heath, but that still doesn’t give you any kind of right to tell them anything about me or my life. You tell them nothing. Okay?”

  “You really are one stubborn bastard, do you know that?”

  “Do you have any idea what it did to me? Finding out everything they’d kept hidden from me for all those years? I deserved to know the truth, and they kept that from me, because they wanted to keep that control, keep that hold they thought they had over me, and you know – you know, Alicia, that if it hadn’t been for my father’s condition they never would have told me anything. You know that.”

  “Like I said, Evan. Stubborn. I’ll be in touch.”

  “When are you heading back to L.A.?”

  “I’m here for a few more days. Daniel’s looking at opening up offices here in New York, so…”

  “Cavendish King might have some upcoming competition, huh?”

  She smiles and raises an eyebrow. “Maybe.”

  “Does that mean you might be coming back to New York?”

  “My life’s in L.A. now. I’m happy there. But, seeing as I’m in New York for a few days, Daniel asked me to check out a few buildings that might be suitable, if he does decide to open offices here. Look, Evan, just think about what I said, okay? I’ll talk to you soon.”

  She heads for the door, but I stop her this time. “Alicia?”

  “What?” she sighs as she slowly turns around to face me.

  “It really was good to see you again.”

  She smiles slightly, walks over to me and kisses me quickly on the cheek. “Yeah. You too. I just wish it could have been under better circumstances.”

  I watch her leave, watch as she says a brief goodbye to Lola. And I lean back against the window ledge and close my eyes.

  Nothing changes because my father died.

  Nothing changes, because he wasn’t my father.

  Four

  Lola

  We didn’t leave the office together tonight. I left alone, at around seven-thirty, Evan told me to go, to leave without him. He said he had things to do. And I didn’t question him. He’s had a strange kind of day. He finds out his father’s died, and yet he carried on for the rest of the day as though nothing had happened. Was that just his way of dealing with the grief? I haven’t really had time to talk to him about it, not yet, but I’m hoping, once he’s home, that we can do that; talk.

  He’s never really spoken all that much about his family. The only time I remember him saying anything was when he explained to me the reasons why he and Dana just couldn’t work, as a couple. That’s the only time I’ve ever heard him mention them, and I’ve never really asked about them because it always seemed like something he didn’t want to talk about. And I didn’t want to push it. But I think we should talk about it now.

  I step out of the shower and
grab a towel, quickly drying myself before I go back into the bedroom. And as I check the clock on the nightstand I see it’s almost nine-thirty. And he still isn’t home.

  Grabbing an over-sized T-shirt from the drawer I pull it on and go out into the kitchen. I’m hungry, and as I have no idea when Evan’s coming home I decide to raid the fridge and see what I can make for a quick supper. We have eggs. A couple of peppers. Some onions. We really need to stop eating out or ordering in so much, it can’t be good for us.

  I grab the onions, peppers and eggs and start preparing everything I need for an omelet, and as I switch on some music and quietly sing along to a Bonnie Raitt track I start to relax. I’m home, and hopefully it won’t be too long before Evan’s home, too. Then we’ll open some wine, we’ll sit down, and we can talk.

  And then I hear the door open and close; hear him stride through the hall into the living room, and as he slides his arms around me from behind I smile and lean back against him as he holds me.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey, beautiful. It’s so good to finally be home!”

  He kisses my neck and I stop what I’m doing, reaching back to touch him, sliding my fingers in his hair as his hands grasp my hips.

  “Evan…”

  “I don’t want to talk, Lola. I just need this, okay? I need you.”

  I turn around and I look at him. He looks tired. But I’m his wife, and like he told me, it’s my job to keep him happy; a job I’m more than willing to undertake. So I pull off my T-shirt and he scans my naked body, pulls me into his arms and he kisses me, gently at first, but then the kisses become more urgent; harder, faster, and he lifts me up and sits me down on the counter, pulling my legs up and spreading them wide. And for a second he just looks at me, but I know what he wants. And he’s going to take it, and it’s my job, to give it to him. To let him have whatever he needs. So when he pulls me back into his arms; when he holds me and picks me up and I wrap my legs around him as he pushes me back against the wall, I know it’s going to be fast, it’s going to be quick, and I’m probably going to get nothing out of this, but if it makes him feel better then that’s okay. Right now, that’s all that matters.