by Jamie Pope
Heat shot right through him as the kiss continued and he grew hard instantly. She turned him on like no one else could. And all she had to do was be in the same room with him. He was unable to go more than a few minutes without touching her. That wasn’t him. No PDA. No taking time off work to be with a woman. No wanting to be with a woman more than he wanted air to fill his lungs. He was losing himself in her.
Sunny noticed his arousal. She reacted by moving her bottom against him. Her hands came up to his throat to loosen his tie and then his top buttons.
“Lock the door. I need you, Julian. I can’t wait anymore.”
He broke the kiss and looked at her. He was tempted to do what she asked. “We can’t have sex here.” Not for their first time. If it were anyone else he might have risked it, but he wanted more for her. For them.
“Then come home with me.” She gave him a kiss that was slow and deep and sexy. No woman had ever kissed him like that. No woman ever made him unsure he was going to be able to recover after going to bed with her.
She was dangerous to him.
“I have so much work to do here.” It was true. The more time he spent with her, the less he cared about his work. He had to care about his work. He needed to make partner.
“You want me. I can feel it. Why do you keep pushing me away?”
“I’m not pushing you away. I’m just trying to keep my head above water. But it’s too hard to stop this.”
She ran her hand over his erection. “Yes, it’s much too hard.”
Her dirty joke surprised him, made him laugh aloud. This was one of the thousand reasons he wanted her. “Sunny, I can’t promise you a serious relationship right now. I can’t promise you much time at all. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Okay. I won’t get hurt. I’m not asking you for a relationship. Just come home with me.”
He couldn’t say no. He had no more fight left in him. He had to have her. He wouldn’t feel at peace until he did. “Give me an hour and then meet me at my place. I have to finish up a couple of things.”
“An hour.” She kissed him again. “Don’t keep me waiting.”
“Don’t expect to get any sleep tonight.”
* * *
Sunny walked out of Julian’s office feeling as if the ground was moving beneath her. She couldn’t catch her breath. She was going to make love to the man she loved tonight. She couldn’t wait to feel his weight on top of her. His hands all over her. Him inside of her. She wanted to get closer to him. He was the only man she had ever wanted.
“Um, Sunny, is it?” She paused for a moment, looking over her shoulder to see Julian’s other boss, Mr. Bruno, coming out of his corner office. She was surprised to see him here so late. He didn’t seem like the type of man who actually still worked. He looked perfectly groomed, unlike Mr. Cleese who had his sleeves rolled up and a tiredness in his eyes when she walked in. She wanted to tell Julian why she was meeting with him. Why she had gone on a home visit. Why she was so happy to have met him because he was about to change someone else’s life. There was goodness in Mr. Cleese.
Mr. Bruno, however, was another story. She turned around to face him, holding her head up. She didn’t like him, but she didn’t want him to know how uncomfortable he made her.
“Yes?”
He looked her up and down taking in every inch of her. She kept her hands at her side but it was a struggle. She immediately felt like she needed to smooth her skirt. Fix her hair. Anything so the intensity of his stare would lose some of its potency.
“You’re here late on business.”
“I have a heavy caseload. I have to do some things after hours.”
“Yes.” He took a step closer, but she didn’t back away. “To get what you want you have to do certain things after hours and behind closed doors.”
“Excuse me?”
“First you were holed up in Cleese’s office for an hour and then you go in to see King. Davis is too much of a stuffy bastard to ever consider cheating on his wife, but it makes me wonder why he’s been spending so much time with you. I walked into his office and he was on the phone with you. He hung up quickly, which means it must be personal.”
“You should ask your partner. It’s not my place to divulge.”
“Discrete, are you?”
“I shouldn’t have to say this because it’s none of your business, but there is nothing unprofessional going on between Mr. Cleese and myself.” She turned around to leave, but she felt a hand wrap around her shoulder.
“Of course not. I’m sorry for suggesting it. He wouldn’t know what to do with a girl like you. Your body alone probably has him confounded.”
“This conversation is done.”
“Nothing is done until I say it’s done.” His grip on her shoulder increased. For one horrible moment she felt trapped. She had been placed in this situation before. Some man tried to use his power over her, tried to put his hands on her. Try to take something she didn’t want to give. “You can’t tell me that nothing is going on with King. He broke up with his girlfriend. He’s taking off from work. He defended you to me like you mattered to him. You must be giving it to him real good. You should see your lips. Puffy and kiss swollen or were you doing something else with them?”
Sunny’s hand flew out and cracked Bruno across the face. “You’re disgusting.”
“You must like it rough.” He used his bulk to push her body against a wall. His hand sliding beneath her skirt to cup her behind. He had an erection and he was pressing it into her, making sure she knew what he was after. “Whatever King is doing for you, I can do more. Why would you want to be with him when you could have the top of the food chain? I can set you up. You would never have to work again.”
“No!” She lashed out at him, everything going black. Her hands connected with his face. Her knees came up, anything she could do to keep him away. But then a flash of man came at them and Julian was there shoving his boss into the wall so hard that the plaster crumbled.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing to my girl?” Julian’s hand went around Bruno’s neck, lifting him slightly off the floor. “You think you can touch her? You think I won’t kill you?”
Sunny had never heard Julian’s voice sound so deadly. She believed him in that moment. Bruno’s face had gone purple. “Julian.” She grabbed his arm. “Let him go. I’m okay now.”
“He had his hands on you. You were struggling beneath him. I should snap his neck.”
“And then I would lose you to prison. I don’t want to lose you.”
He let Bruno go and Bruno slid down the wall gasping for air. “You tried to kill me. You’re fired. Get your shit and get out.”
“Fine. I don’t want to work for a scummy piece of shit like you anyway.”
“Not so fast, King.” Mr. Cleese had appeared from his office. He was furious. “You are not fired. My partner has spoken far too quickly.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Davis? He tried to crush my windpipe. I’m one of the most powerful attorneys in the country. His career is done.”
“Your career is the one that should be done. You committed sexual assault on Ms. Gibson when you put your hands on her. I heard her scream. I walked out and saw you touching her. Julian made it across the room far faster than I did, but you weren’t going to get away with it. Not this time. You have taken far too many liberties with women in your time here. I have turned my back because they seemed to have wanted your attention, but this woman didn’t and you crossed the line. If she goes to the police, which she’s within her rights to do, I will back her.”
“I’ve known you since law school,” he sputtered. “I helped make you relevant in this industry.”
“And I kept this place from imploding more times than I can count due to your bad behavior. You’ve slept with clients and judges and opposing counsel. You’ve had shady dealings with mobsters and CEOs who have done despicable things in the name of profit, and I stood by you as your partner
because we needed each other, but we don’t need each other anymore. You are far too risky to the firm.”
“You think I can’t leave this place and take all the clients with me? You don’t think I’ll ruin King in the process? If he was stupid enough to let some pussy get in the way of his career, then he deserves to go down.”
“What did you just say?” He lunged forward but Sunny stepped in front of him and Cleese grabbed his arm. Sunny wasn’t sure even the two of them could stop him.
“You think your attempted rape trial won’t be all over the media? You may have friends in high places, but so do I. Especially in the DA’s office. I’m sure they are looking for a reason to watch you burn.”
“I won’t press charges if you make Julian partner,” Sunny blurted. He had worked so hard for it. It was all he had ever wanted and he was going to lose it all for her. All because she couldn’t get away from Bruno fast enough.
“Are you crazy?” Julian turned to her. “If you want to press charges, I will go down to the police station with you. He can’t get away with this.”
Sunny stood firm. “Julian makes partner right now or I’ll press charges. It will affect the integrity of the entire firm.”
“No. I refuse to let you do this. I don’t want it this way.”
“He deserves it. You see how hard he works. You know his record. He’s the best lawyer here.”
“Come in tomorrow morning at seven and we’ll discuss it,” Mr. Cleese said. “Bruno, you and I are going to discuss your retirement and how you are going to completely turn over the day to day operations to me.”
“But I . . .” Bruno sputtered, red faced.
“That’s it. Ms. Gibson. I’m sorry. The situation will be remedied immediately. Mr. King, please escort her home.”
They left Julian’s office that night but they barely spoke another word and when they got to their building, Julian went to his apartment and Sunny returned to hers, thinking that what happened was a sign. They were never going to be together.
* * *
Julian didn’t sleep at all last night. He didn’t feel good about what Sunny had done for him. Bruno needed to rot in hell, but he had almost killed him. He saw his eyes bulge out of his head. He saw him gasping for breath. Julian had never been that angry before, yet he could have killed last night, without a thought to anything else he had worked for. He would have killed for her and she had made a crazy side deal for him—what the hell did that say about them? Who else in his life would make that kind of sacrifice for him? He didn’t want to think about it. The possibility of what it meant was overwhelming.
He had to think about the next step for his career because he sure as hell couldn’t take a partnership this way. His coworkers already doubted that he belonged there. They might never find out about what took place that night but he would know. Walking in the office every day and knowing how he had achieved it would make him feel dirty.
He dressed in a suit and headed straight for Mr. Cleese’s office, prepared to listen to whatever unearned offer he was about to receive.
“Can I get you something, King? Some coffee. You look like you haven’t slept in a year.”
“Something like that, sir.”
“What has Sunny told you about our meetings?”
Julian was surprised that he had brought it up. “Not much. She said you are a good man and that she had been to your house, but that was it. She told me it was a private matter.”
He nodded. “She kept her word. I’ve known a lot of people in my time on this earth and Sunny is probably the most generous and kind person I’ve ever met. It’s not hard to see why you’re taken with her.”
“Taken with her isn’t how I would describe it. It’s like I was hit by a freight train. But we’re not together. I’ve been trying to keep a professional distance but it’s impossible when she’s all I think about.” He didn’t know why he was admitting that to his boss. It may have been exhaustion or insanity, but he couldn’t stop himself.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about her lately as well, but maybe not in the same way you have. That night at the party I had shared with her that my wife and I never had any children but we always wanted some. We had tried to go through the adoption process but at the last moment it had fallen through when the birth mother wanted to keep the baby. We were devastated and so we haven’t tried again. I don’t share that story with many people, but somehow I found myself telling her about it. We parted ways that night and I was surprised when she called me the next day if I would still like the chance to impact a child’s life.” Cleese smiled, which Julian wasn’t sure he had ever seen before. “She told me she had a pair of siblings on her caseload, a little boy and a little girl who needed a good home. The boy had been in foster care for nearly his entire life and at ten his chances of getting adopted were getting slimmer by the moment. But there were a few families that said they would only take the girl. Sunny asked me if we would just meet them. So we met them, not sure what to expect. We knew the kind of lives lifelong foster kids had, the kind of baggage they carried.”
“Sunny was a foster kid. No one ever adopted her.”
“I know. She told us. She had everything stacked against her, yet she made it to where she is. She’s remarkable and so were the kids we met that day. The boy is so smart. I felt like I was speaking to someone much older than ten. The little girl is sensitive and shy and sweet and she clings to her brother. She told us that she refused to go anywhere without him and I told them that we would take them both. I surprised everyone in the room. Most of all myself. But my wife was feeling the same way. We’ve had quite a few visits with them and they are coming to live with us next week. We are going to adopt them. Sunny has been incredible throughout the process. She has answered every question we’ve had. She’s checked in with us daily. She’s reassured us when we were afraid but ultimately, she’s made our dream come true. She’s going to give us the opportunity to have a family. I’m fifty-five years old. I’m going to be a new father and I couldn’t be more excited.”
“That’s incredible, sir. I’m very happy for you.”
“Thank you. I know the path my life is about to take. The question is what path is yours going to take? The partnership is yours. But not because of what happened last night. It was always yours. We were going to announce at the end of the quarter. But I’m not sure that’s what you want. You work incredibly hard and your work is impeccable, but I’m not sure that what we do here fills you up. You’re the type of man who won’t be happy unless he finds value in what he does. I know you don’t love defending reality stars and athletes when they throw fits.”
“No,” he admitted. “I thought maybe if I made partner that I would be able to do more important work.”
“You can, but I want you to think about it. I want you to really think about your career. You have ten weeks of personal time. I’m making you take some of it. At least a month. You are not to come back until you are sure about the path you’re going to take.”
* * *
Sunny heard a knock at her door around six-thirty that night. She hadn’t lingered at work that day. She was exhausted, bone tired from not having gotten any sleep the night before. She had been worried about Julian, about his career, about how it was so close to ending last night. She knew that Bruno trying to force himself on her wasn’t her fault. Just like the last time someone trying to force themselves it wasn’t her fault, but there was still that guilt. Because each time a man tried to take something from her that she had never wanted to give, her life changed drastically. The last time it had caused her to lose her mother for good.
She opened the door to find Julian there looking just as exhausted as she felt. “You’re home early.”
“I’ve been banned from work.” He walked inside and dropped into a chair at the kitchen table. “Please tell me there is some sort of alcohol in here.”
She nodded and rushed to the fully stocked bar his brother-in-law kept. “Is bourbon ok
ay?”
“Paint thinner would be fine with me at the moment.” Her hands shook as she poured his drink. She wanted to question him, to blurt out an apology, to say something, but she kept her mouth shut because it seemed like the most sensible thing to do.
She dropped a couple of ice cubes in his drink and sat down across from him. “What did Mr. Cleese say?”
“That you’re the reason he’s going to be a father and he couldn’t be more grateful to you.”
“I’m grateful to him and his wife. I knew Jack and Brenna needed someone special and the Cleeses are kind and patient and giving. They could give them the kind of experiences most people will never have. Now what did he say about you?”
“That the partnership is mine if I want it. That it was going to be mine at the end of the quarter regardless of what happened.”
“That’s incredible, but why are you banned from work? Did they suspend you for what happened last night? It’s not fair if they did. You could fight it.”
“I’m not suspended. Mr. Cleese ordered me to take some vacation time. I’m not to come back until I know what I want to do with my life. He thinks that the partnership might not be what I really want.”
“Oh.” Sunny had thought the same thing. She didn’t think it would make him happy in the long run, but she couldn’t convey that to him. “What are you going to do?”
“It depends. How much unused vacation time do you have?”
“A lot.”
“You want to follow the trail of the letters and go to the beach?”
Her breath caught. “Yes. There isn’t anything I would like more.”
Chapter 14
Julian looked over at Sunny as they drove down the long, quiet road that would lead them to the small town in Maryland from where Soren’s mother sent her letters. She hadn’t said much to him on the trip down. He could tell she was nervous and excited and maybe a little bit sad. But he still found her so pretty. She wore the barrette he had given her on the side of her head and let the rest of her ringlets flow free. She looked like a throwback to another era, and he was having a hard time keeping his eyes on the road.