“I’m gonna take a shower. Finish up. I’ll get the ice cream and pretzels. Then we’ll watch the Rangers kick your pansy team’s ass. I DVR’d the game.” He ran his hand over the top of her head, mussing her hair.
“In your dreams, buddy. The Flyers are taking the Blue Shirts down,” she said, laughing, as the warm thing they shared filled the space between them.
Sex wasn’t everything. What she and Kellan had was good. They were simpatico. Both quirky and ambitious with a passion for hockey and coffee ice cream with pretzels. Kellan supported her career and let’s face it. She didn’t have a whole lot of free time. Their Tuesday/Saturday thing worked even if it didn’t make her see God and the guy only had one other flaw: As a native New Yorker, his taste in hockey teams sucked.
The Rangers, man, I hate those guys. “I’m really glad I have you, Kellan.”
He leaned over and kissed the crest of her forehead. “Couldn’t make it without you either, Doll,” he said and left her to her work.
Alessandra opened the case file on her computer and looked at the picture on the screen. Now that was a smile. Sabin Timonen’s smile screamed, Trust me, I’m the bad guy.
It would be too easy to be seduced by a smile like that, but she knew better. Sabin may be one good-looking cowboy, but he was a thief. Stealing another scientist’s research, that was low. And illegal. The guy was obviously as cocky as they come, but he was the enemy and he was going down.
“Your ass is grass, Mr. Sabin Timonen, and tomorrow, you meet the lawnmower.”
So uncool, Alex. She cringed at herself.
Closing the picture, Alessandra opened her notes and dug in.
*****
“You know you’re welcome to join us,” Aeron invited, his voice thick with arousal.
“Yes, come play, Sabin,” Lily added without taking her eyes off Aeron.
Sabin walked to the bed, taking Lily’s hand as he sat. Without moving his lips away from her torso, Aeron raised an arm to rest his hand on Sabin’s knee as Sabin’s eyes followed the feather trail of Aeron’s kisses. Around her navel. Along her ribs. Beneath her small breasts. Lily twisted her delicate wrist in the cuff holding her arm down and, with a pleasured moan, squeezed Sabin’s hand.
She’d come so far since being sent to live with him. Lily belonged to the Order just like he and Aeron did, and the Order took care of its own. Consensual power exchange, yes; abuse, absolutely no. Sabin had been charged with protecting Lily from an abusive lover she didn’t have the strength to leave on her own. Six months ago, she arrived at his ranch, a broken flower, unable to look him in the eye or refer to herself in the first person. Now, under his care, she’d regained her peace, even naked and bound in the presence of two dominant men. Her trust was an honor and he was grateful for this brief moment to savor it.
Leaning in to kiss the crest of Lily’s forehead, Sabin whispered, “Have fun, love birds,” and stood to leave.
Neither love bird replied. Aeron’s lips had slipped lower, rendering them both mute.
He chuckled to himself as he shut the door.
They made a beautiful couple. Another beautiful couple. Another pair of lovers who found their home in each other’s embrace. Another bitter reminder of what he lacked in his life.
But he’d chosen his solitary path.
Sabin poured himself a bourbon and stared down at the headlights moving along Park Avenue. He didn’t mind New York City, but he didn’t like it much either. Despite all the time he spent in the Big Apple, it wasn’t home. He was a Texan, born and raised, and you may take the cowboy out of Texas, but you never take Texas out of the cowboy. He took a sip of his drink, alone with his thoughts.
Did he want to fall in love? Sure. Didn’t everybody? But what was love anyway? It wasn’t as simple as sex. As a leader in the Order, he of all people knew that. No, there was something more to it. The hand of fate, Cupid’s arrow, thunderbolts, call it what you will, love is beyond human control. He’d seen the lives of his brothers upended in an instant by it.
Would that happen to him? Maybe. Someday. But not today. What fueled him today was revenge. The heat of the whiskey burned as he held it on his tongue.
Sweet revenge.
Sabin spoke into the silence, “No one hurts the ones I love. I swear to you, Lily, Blake Hartnell will rue the day that he hurt you to get to me.”
*****
“You look hot.” Kyle took one look at her face and backtracked. “I mean intimidating, very professional. No messing with a woman like you, Alex. Is that a new suit?” he asked with a sheepish grin.
“It is,” Alessandra grumbled, feeling suddenly unsure about the black Armani number she was sporting. The suit was conservative enough, but it was tailored. Very tailored.
For today’s meet and greet, she wanted to look confident and edgy. Every guy in the room would know she was a girl anyway. To her mind, the boxy uniform most of the other lady lawyers wore in the office only made them look insecure. But maybe she should have foregone the spike toe Louboutin pumps.
“I put copies of all the docs in the conference room. Coffee and cookies arrive at nine-thirty and heads up. The Hartnells are in Simmons’s office. Guess they decided to show up early. Anything else you need?”
“No. Thanks, Kyle.”
Her paralegal gave her a mock salute and left her office.
Uh-huh. Definitely should have canned the shoes.
The Hartnells are here? This morning was only supposed to be a dry run to review technical testimony before the main event later this afternoon.
Alessandra hit the intercom on her desk. “Maria, can you come in for a sec.”
As soon as her secretary stepped into her office, Maria’s face lit up. “Wow, girl, you look fierce. Gonna kick some boy butt with that ensemble.”
“Can I borrow your scarf?” Alessandra asked, feeling less confident than ever.
“Crap, Alex. Don’t go there. You look great, very powerful. This is no time to let the sexism in this place hold you back. God gave you brains and beauty, and He didn’t do that so you could hide in the corner. You’ve got it, flaunt it.”
Maria always knew the right button to push. Female attorneys were few and far between in the New York office of Snider & Simmons. There were none in the main office in Dallas. Guess the good ole boys missed women’s lib, but they paid well. Really well. As a premier litigation firm, a stint with them was a great launch for her career and the firm’s pool of female support staff was hell-bent on seeing a sister succeed so Alessandra could deal.
And it wasn’t as if the firm’s environment was holding her back. In fact, they had handed her the career opportunity of a lifetime. Only four years of practice and she was the lead associate in her first major case, Hartnell v. Timonen. Talk about a clash of the Titans. Joe Lee Hartnell, the CEO of JLH Oil Company, was suing Sabin Timonen, the CEO of World Energy Corporation, claiming that World Energy had stolen a critical component of JLH’s groundbreaking intellectual property. Timonen denied the claim, of course, but whatever the outcome, the subject of this case promised to revolutionize the American oil industry. And cement her reputation as a top flight attorney.
I'll show those good ole boys what a Yankee girl from Philadelphia can do.
Still, what she was walking into was a little more than intimidating. Buddy Rae Simmons, as in the eponymous Simmons, had chosen her personally and the top dog made no bones about the importance of the Hartnells to the firm’s finances. He also laid out his expectations, his very high expectations, of her performance today. Losing this case was NOT an option and if anything went wrong, her career was on the line.
Woof!
Alessandra shook off the last of her insecurities and put on her battle face. She had this one. After countless hours spent toiling over piles of technical data and several mind-boggling sessions with her team of experts, she was ready. She squared her shoulders and headed into the conference room.
“There’s our killer, looking v
ery nice, I might add,” Buddy Rae said with a not-so-subtle scan of her chest.
Ew. Should have taken that scarf. What makes men think women enjoy that kind of look?
Lewd attitude aside, the chance to work side by side with such an esteemed attorney was a hard-earned honor. Buddy Rae must have confidence in her talent to have chosen her for such a critical role so she smiled begrudgingly at his compliment.
Alessandra scanned the room taking in the details. She couldn’t help it; it was automatic. Growing up in South Philly with a cop as a father taught her to be aware of her surroundings. Always. She was never relaxed in a room full of men even though that was her normal most days.
Men were unpredictable and far too often, dangerous. Sometimes she wished she could be naïve like most of the women she knew, but her father never sheltered her from the harsher realities of the world he lived in. “Never trust a man, Alex. Vigilance is your best defense,” he always said. So vigilant she was. As far as trusting men, she didn’t. Hadn’t since she was sixteen. But this wasn’t the time to take that trip down memory lane.
She looked down the table to her clients, the ones who weren’t supposed to arrive for another five hours. Joe Lee Hartnell sat at the end, in the power seat of course. His son, Blake, sat to his left.
A woman didn’t have to share Alessandra’s world view to have the hair on the back of her neck stand on end in Joe Lee’s presence. He may be all smiles and southern charm, but the man was dangerous in the worst way, the kind of man who believed any means justified his ends. She may be his lawyer, but she would never, ever, allow herself to be caught alone with the likes of him. Rich, powerful and constantly surrounded by a posse of sycophants, his sense of entitlement radiated off him in waves.
In a word, the man was ugly.
Getting a read on his son was more difficult. Blake was handsome - tall, wavy light brown hair, pale blue eyes - and soft spoken, but she didn’t trust him either. Not with his reputation. Born with a silver spoon in his mouth, Blake was known for his wild side. Nothing was denied a man like him and he felt no compunction about indulging. Good looks, charm and trouble with a capital “T,” a guy like him may be appealing to many, but she preferred something a bit more tame.
“Good morning, gentlemen.”
Blake smiled. Joe Lee shifted his eyes without expression.
“You can proceed as planned, Alex. Joe Lee, Blake and I had another matter to discuss earlier and they decided to stay rather than go back to the hotel before our afternoon session.” Buddy Rae gave her a pointed stare as if to say, Don’t ask.
She didn’t.
“That’s right, just ignore lil’ ole me. I dare ya,” Blake chimed in with playful mirth.
“I never lose a dare, Mr. Hartnell,” she replied with a touch a coy and turned her eyes deliberately away from him.
Was she above using feminine wiles? With a guy like Blake Hartnell? Can y’all say, “hell no.”
“We will be going over Dr. Raffle’s testimony, but please feel free to lend your thoughts as we go.” Alessandra laid her files on the table and turned to Dr. Raffle, JLH’s top petroleum engineer and the inventor of the intellectual property that was central to this case. “Dr. Raffle, if you wouldn’t mind running through your opening presentation for us.”
Dr. Raffle shifted forward and eased his glasses off his face before launching into the speech Alessandra had written for him. A brilliant man with mind for science and not law, he recited her words robotically and she mouthed them along with him.
When he finished, Alessandra said, “Thank you, Doctor,” and scanned Buddy Rae’s face for a reaction. He seemed to approve so she moved on. “I apologize in advance, Dr. Raffle, but I want you to treat me as you would opposing counsel and I will treat you as I expect they will.”
“I understand, Ms. Girardi. Give me your worst, killer.”
Despite his attempt at humor, Dr. Raffle was clearly intimidated by the entire process, but it would do no good to coddle him. Opposing counsel certainly wouldn’t. Alessandra leaned forward and looked at him with skeptical eyes.
“You claim your research was stolen, Dr. Raffle. When did you first reach this opinion?”
“Opinion? Oh yes, opposing counsel doesn’t believe…” Dr. Raffle cleared his throat. “I suspected foul play after the government approvals for World Energy’s facility in New Mexico became public. When I reviewed the documents presented in response to our first interrogatories, I knew for sure.”
“For sure. That’s a strong statement, Doctor.”
“Not really. The documents are exact copies of my research reports, right down to the typos. My electronic notes are gone, of course, but the pages are identical.” Dr. Raffle shook his head as if bewildered and reached for his glasses. “I always kept the electronic files on a drive in my office safe. Never on the corporate hard drives. I still don’t understand how World Energy obtained the data. I am the only one with the combination.”
Alessandra didn’t miss the fact that Dr. Raffle’s hands shook as he put his glasses back on and folded them on top of the table. Despite Joe Lee’s assurances that Dr. Raffle wouldn’t be blamed for the theft of his research, the man was scared.
“You're a scientist, Dr. Raffle. You cannot be expected to have expertise in corporate espionage. You took reasonable precautions. Don’t give opposing counsel the opportunity to second-guess you and don’t offer anything about security measures unless they specifically ask,” she said feeling compelled to defend, more than advise, the scientist. “Did you bring an electronic copy with your notes today?”
“I did.”
“May I have the drive?”
Buddy Rae cut her off. “I have it, Alex, locked in my desk. No need to circulate Dr. Raffle’s files. You have a printed copy.”
But not a copy with Dr. Raffle’s notes and that isn’t good enough. “Of course, Buddy, but Timonen’s lawyers are going to require us to provide the electronic data, including Dr. Raffle’s notes, and I should review it before they do,” she said, pointing out the obvious.
Buddy’s cold eyes glared across the table. “Don’t presume, Alex. They haven’t asked and until they do, those files remain locked away. Even if they do ask, we’re going to contest. No one will be given anything today,” he declared, shutting down any further discussion of the matter.
“Understood.” Ouch.
Probably not the brightest idea to challenge the boss in front of his biggest clients. She cleared her throat and returned to the list of technical questions she had prepared for Dr. Raffle. The next two hours consisted of a textbook discussion of petroleum engineering and Dr. Raffle’s advancements in the area of clean fuels.
When they finished, Alessandra turned to the other men. “Opposing counsel will start the meeting this afternoon with Dr. Raffle’s testimony, which you have just heard. I have prepared a similar list of technical questions for their expert, Dr. Rinaldo. Each of you has a copy of the questions in your folder. At the end, we will question Mr. Timonen about the alleged theft.”
“Nothing alleged about it,” Blake cut in.
“Agreed, but we have to indulge their position, at least for now,” she answered.
“Afraid to poke the hornets’ nest?” he asked.
“No,” she replied stiffly.
“Didn’t think so. I know your reputation, Alex. Watch out. Timonen and his lawyers should be shakin’ in their boots.” Blake sat back with a decisive nod.
Alessandra could tell Blake didn’t really doubt her, only wanted to have a little fun at her expense. If she were a guy, he wouldn’t have done that, but she wasn’t a guy and Blake was a flirt. Playing to her professional prowess was a shrewd approach to a woman like her and the boyish charm was sort of cute. She wondered if it meant something or whether finding inroads with women was just his habit.
“We will get to poking the hornets’ nest after the doctors finish. I am more than anxious to see Mr. Timonen’s reaction to being questioned.�
�
“And what do you expect to see, Ms. Girardi?”
Despite the long table between them, Joe Lee’s slow drawl seemed to crawl across her skin. These were the first words he’d ever spoken to her and the importance of his opinion was not lost on her.
“I would prefer to answer your question after our meeting, Mr. Hartnell.”
“Why?”
“I was raised by a cop and studied psychology at Penn before law school. It would be foolish to let expectations cloud an open mind.”
“Then answer this. Can you spot a liar when you see one, Ms. Girardi?”
Yeah, I’m looking at one right now. “Yes, I believe I can.”
“Am I a liar?”
“An honest answer to that question, Mr. Hartnell, may well cost me my job,” she quipped, pulling out a bit of her coy again to avoid having to say anything more.
Joe Lee barked a laugh. “Right answer, little lady. Timonen is a shifty bastard. You watch him close and then we’ll talk.” Turning to Buddy, he said, “We can proceed with this one. She’ll do just fine.”
This one didn’t realize today was a test.
Good thing she always aced her tests.
*****
“What do you mean we aren’t going to file criminal charges? They stole our damn property. It’s our quickest route to ending this fiasco of a lawsuit,” Jacques sneered. “Dragging things out is costing us dearly.”
“Money, honey, is that all ya think about?” Sabin drawled, knowing full well the southern charm would get him nowhere. His partner was the money guy and he was not on board with Sabin’s plan.
“Call me ‘honey’ again, cowboy, and it’s going to cost you,” Jacques snapped. “Nobody benefits from this lawsuit. With the exception of those bloodsuckers who call themselves our lawyers. I say we just lay our cards on the table and end it.”
Paradise: The Masters of The Order Novel Two Page 38