Desire_A Romance Collection

by Mia Ford

  He pauses thoughtfully for much too long, only stirring up my dislike for him. If he dares to make any derogatory comments because I’m female and I will flip. I’m just as capable, damn it! I stare at him, glancing over his piercing green eyes, his high cheekbones, his strong shoulders… I suppose he would be very good looking if he wasn’t such as ass.

  “Fine,” he finally agrees. “I don’t see that I have any choice, so yeah, let’s do this.”

  I part my lips, ready to say something else, when his cell phone blasts out. Without any consideration for me being in the room he grabs it from his pocket and he pulls it out. I can instantly tell from the way that his cheeks pale that it isn’t going to be good news, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s anything to do with the financial mess. I need all the details if I’m going to make this work. I’ve had people hide stuff from me before and it always comes out in the most embarrassing way possible.

  “I just need to take this in private,” he tells me quietly. “I’ll be right back.”

  As he goes from the room I try to assess how I feel about him, and it isn’t good. He’s arrogant, secretive, and potentially a sleaze. On top of all of that, he’s got his business into a royal mess as well. I don’t know how I’m going to make this work, but somehow, I need to do my best. My future career depends on it.

  Chapter Five – Evan

  As I end my call, I sigh loudly and I flop my head back against the wall in dismay. When Ally came to me and she told me that it was some female lawyer sent in Grant’s place, I lost it. I went mad and almost ended up ringing Harrison and Associates in temper. It’s just a good thing that Ally calmed me down and told me to just speak with the lawyer before I do anything rash. She doesn’t even know what’s going on, and she spoke wisely. I must thank her later.

  Now, I might not be keen on working with someone who isn’t Grant, but I’ll just have to get on with it. There’s nothing I can do about, the time restraints restrict me. I’ll just need to make the best of a bad situation. Apparently, she’s won more cases than Grant anyway, so maybe this will turn out to be a good thing. Who knows, I have to find out anyway, so I might as well be positive.

  I gather myself up and I make my way back to my office, preparing myself to face the music as I go, but as I make my way back through the door I’m struck by something else, something I didn’t expect. I was so busy stressing when Katy Atwater walked into my office that I didn’t notice something very important… I didn’t notice how striking beautiful she is. Sure, she tries to hide it under the pant suit that covers up far too much of her body, leaving everything to the imagination, and her natural, make up free face and her scraped back auburn hair, but I can see it. It’s there. She’s gorgeous.

  I remain where I am for a moment with the breath stripped from my body. I’m shocked because I’ve never noticed the underneath beauty in someone before, I’m always more fixated on the obvious sexiness in front of me, like with Ally. Even with past relationships, it’s always been the outer beauty that captivated me before anything else had a chance to slip into my focus.

  I don’t know what it is about Katy, but I can already tell that for some reason she’s different.

  Eventually she senses me behind her and she turns to face me. Katy doesn’t seem to sense the new change in my attitude towards her because she looks just as furious as before. I’ve obviously hurt her with my instant dismissal, which is fair enough. I wouldn’t like that either.

  “Who was that?” she demands, almost knocking me sideways with her icy coldness. “If that’s something to do with the case then I need to know. If that was anything to do with money…”

  “It isn’t,” I reassure her as I move to the other side of my desk to sit in front of her. “It’s personal life stuff. Nothing to do with work at all.” I don’t say nothing I want to get into, but I think the meaning is very clear. The last thing I need right now is to get stuck into personal details with Katy.

  “Right,” she drawls slowly. “Because you know that I need total honesty from you, don’t you? I cannot work with you if you don’t give me everything. The only cases that I’ve lost have been because of people lying to me. That’s why I only work with truthful people.”

  I gulp, not liking the wart and all look we’re going to have to take over this, but I know it’s what needs to be done if I want to stand a chance in hell of saving my dad’s legacy. I already told myself that I’m not going to be stubborn and that I’ll embrace this. Now I just need to keep myself on the right track by sticking to this promise. “Yes, of course.”

  “Right…” As she delves into the introductory speech, the one where she tells me what she knows about me and my issue and what she’s thinking that we should do right now. I can’t resist tuning out her words and focusing only on the movement of her lips. Partly because I don’t want to be reminded again of my short comings and partly because there’s something incredibly beautiful about the way that she moves her mouth. Especially as she’s saying such smart things.

  I lean in closer, propping myself onto my elbow, inadvertently flirting with her without even meaning to. I know I probably shouldn’t, this isn’t a woman that’s here in my office for me to fool around with, she’s here on serious business and I need her, but I can’t help myself. It doesn’t seem to matter anyway, because right at the moment where most women would already be leaning back in, getting close enough for me to kiss them if I should so want, Katy seems completely unparsed by me. It’s almost as if I’m not magnetically pulling her in at all which is very strange. I’m not used to it at all. I have to admit that for most of my life, I’ve had women falling at my feet.

  Katy doesn’t seem interested in me at all, which only pulls on me harder.

  “Yeah, that all sounds great,” I interject in a way that might just be a little bit rude. If it is I don’t mean it to be. “So, that sounds like we’re going to be spending a lot of time together then.”

  “Erm, yes.” She gives me an odd look. “I suppose so. Especially in the beginning, until we get all the details together and we draw up all the plans. Why, will that be a problem?”

  “No,” I smirk. “No problem at all. Just interested, that’s all.”

  In my mind I start imagining dinners, drinks, late nights alone in the room with me, her, the view, and my bottle of Brandy… it’s all very sexy and maybe even a little romantic. Not where I should be letting my mind go at all. I need to reel myself in.

  “Good. Right, so I assume that you’ve thought about all your options?”

  ***

  Katy is still on my mind long after she’s left. I keep alternating between the ideas that we’ve discussed when it comes to moving forward and all the work that’s going to entail… and her. It’s not just when she’s sitting in front of me that I’m intrigued by her, it’s now as well. I can’t get her face out of my mind which isn’t like me at all. It isn’t like I’m pining after Ally when I’m not in the office, it’s just when she’s near and it’s convenient.

  “Hey, boss.” Speaking of the Devil, Ally wanders into my office. “Have you finished with the boring lawyer woman now?” She rolls her eyes dramatically. “What was all that about?”

  I narrow my eyes, a little annoyed that she’s speaking about Katy like that. She doesn’t know her, who is she to say that she’s boring? Then again, I don’t know her either. Maybe she is boring. All I really know is that she’s super clever and very switched on. She knows more about what I need to do than I do, and I’ve been living in this for years. “Business,” I tell her bluntly.

  Ally perches on the edge of my desk and she flicks her hair at me. “Is that all I get, business?”

  I stiffen my spine as I think about telling Ally anything. She’s great with confidentiality, obviously, that’s a key part to the job and to being a hook up, but I’m sure that’ll fly out the window the moment she learns that she might well lose her job. I don’t think she’ll be so keen to keep my secrets if it means she
might be jobless soon enough, I can’t guarantee that. “Yes, that is all you get.”

  She rolls her eyes and snorts as if I’ve said something highly amusing. “Well, she doesn’t seem to be your type so I think I can safely assume that you aren’t hooking up with her...”

  “What do you mean, type?” I feel a bit incredulous by the accusation. I don’t think I’m like that. I’ve never seen myself as the sort of person who’s callous enough to have a type.

  “Oh, come on.” Ally indicates to herself by running her hands up and down her body. “Like me. Sexy, fun, the sort of woman who makes an effort with herself.” She moves closer to me, swaying her hips in a way that actually seems a bit crass today. A bit designed in a way that doesn’t appeal. “So, if I can assume that you aren’t all worn out from your time with Miss Boring Lawyer then maybe you and I should have some fun?”

  She moves onto my lap and straddles me, so I slide my eyes closed to try and get into the heat of the moment. Maybe this is exactly what I need, something to take my mind off of Katy. Maybe once we’ve got into the swing of things, I won’t think about Katy again until I can see her… but I can’t drag her from my thoughts at all, and now that Ally is on top of me the thoughts are far more sexy than they are romantic. My cock stands to attention, but it doesn’t have anything to do with Ally, it’s all about the fantasy in my mind. The lawyer who is anything but boring.

  I feel Ally slide to the ground on her knees and she unzips me, but I don’t open my eyes for even a second. I don’t want to see her, I just want to imagine that my meeting with Katy took a very different turn. I picture her, pulling out her hair and letting it cascade around her beautiful, natural face, I envision her hand around my cock, although the Katy in my mind has much less confidence in her grip than the real Ally has, and then she takes me in her mouth, sucking me hard, taking me to Heaven and back in just a few dips of her head.

  I explode hard in Ally’s mouth rapidly, shooting my load to the back of her throat, but still in my mind it isn’t her in the picture. It’s Katy. Sweet, pretty Katy who probably doesn’t really need to be corrupted by a pig like me. A man with no desire to ever be serious.

  Maybe this is the best way to get all my weird feelings for her out of my system. I can continue to screw Ally in the way that we always have done, and I can think about Katy so it never gets weird. It can all just be a crazy little game inside my mind. Never anything to worry about.

  “Wow, that was quick,” Ally declares smugly. “Seems like you’ve been wanting me all afternoon.”

  I laugh thinly, not wanting to admit the truth. I can’t admit to Ally that she has nothing to do with it. She’s never been jealous before, but this might be the one thing to make her feel that way. Especially if she learns that she’s just been used in a way that I wouldn’t normally consider.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” I reply awkwardly as I zip my trousers back up.

  “That’s what will happen if you spend so much time with someone so stuffy.” Ally shoots an exaggerated wink my way. “Just remember that I’m always here for you when she’s gone.”

  I nod, hating how that statement makes me feel. I know I don’t commit and I haven’t always done my best in business, but I’ve always tried to be a good person. This is the first time in my life that I don’t feel like I am. It’s the first time I’ve ever felt like I might need to make some changes in my life… and it isn’t a nice feeling at all.

  Chapter Six – Katy

  The music is too loud, I can feel it radiating through my entire system. It’s actually pulsing so deeply that it’s making my ear drums ache. I don’t want to be in a night club tonight, I want to be in bed. Tucked up under warm duvet covers, reading a book or drifting in and out of sleep… somewhere quiet and peaceful so I can actually hear on my birthday. If I have to be out, I’d much prefer to be somewhere quiet where me and Robyn can share some drinks and conversation, but somehow, I’ve lost complete control of the night and here we are. In a sticky club, listening to awful music.

  “I’m headed out for a smoke,” Jon mouths to Robyn, while pointing to his friend, Bear or Baz or something. Some oaf anyway that I’m already sick of. “I’ll be right back.”

  Becca, Hetty, and some other girl who’s name I’m not sure of are on the dance floor, so I suppose I’m at least alone with Robyn for the moment. We can’t talk much, but it’s better than being surrounded by shrieking giggles. The other girls are nice but I don’t really know them very well.

  “Are you okay?” Robyn leans in to speak into my ear. “Are you having a good night?”

  I suppose I could tell her the truth, I could admit that I don’t like it here and that I want to leave, but I don’t want to hurt her feelings. She’s planned all of this night for me, she thinks this is what I need, to ‘blow off some steam’ I think her exact words were. I don’t want to upset her now.

  “Yeah it’s great,” I yell back, with a fake bright smile on my face. “Really awesome.”

  “We should go and dance in a moment. Join in with the other girls, you know?”

  As she points towards the dance floor, a wave of exhaustion hits me once more. I nod then indicate towards my nearly empty glass as if I want to finish that first.

  “So, how are things at work?” I can tell that she’s just trying to engage me in a conversation that she thinks I’ll actually want to discuss, but tonight is the one night that I really don’t want to talk shop at all. I just want to forget about it completely. It makes me clutch my glass in anger at the mere mention of the word. “All going well? When do you have your partner meeting?”

  I roll my eyes. “I’m not too sure yet. I think next week, but you know what the seniors are like. They are always too busy to actually do anything in house when they say that they’re going to.” I breathe out deeply. “And work sucks. I’m having a terrible time at the moment. I have this new client that I can now see Grant dumped on me for a very good reason…”

  “Grant passed a client off to you?” Robyn widens her eyes in shock. “That’s not like him.”

  “I know, right? Especially just before a partner meeting. I thought that it was strange too, but now I can understand it fully. He’s trying to stitch me up.” I speak so rapidly and angrily that I don’t think Robyn gets every single word which I can tell from her blank nodding at me. “Anyway, now I’m stuck working for Evan Debroils and he’s an asshole.” I shake my head. “An utter asshole.”

  “So, you’re working for someone who you don’t like?” Oh, it seems Robyn picked up on some of it. “Why don’t you just tell him where to go? That’s what I would do?”

  “Well, it just doesn’t work like that. I can’t just turn him away, not so close to a partner meeting. I have to somehow just make it work. Even if he’s infuriating, and he makes me seriously mad.”

  “How come?” Robyn sucks on the straw and gives me a curious look before leaning back in to hear me properly. “What’s he like? This Evan guy…?”

  “Arrogant, annoying, he doesn’t want to hear anything that I have to say.” I feel like I’m letting out the tension bit by bit as I rant. “He even got annoyed when I turned up instead of Grant and I’m sure it’s because I’m a woman.”

  “Yeah, I get all of that. Rich asshole. What I’m asking is what does he look like?”

  “Oh.” I purse my lips and shrug. “I guess he’s the typical tall, dark, and handsome type. He certainly seems to have all the women in his office fluttering around him like bees near honey.”

  “Ooh, he sounds hot. I like the sound of him.” Robyn shifts playfully in her seat. “Do you think that maybe you might like him?”

  “Huh?” My cheeks flame as I even consider the possibility. “Do I like him? No way, I don’t like him at all. He’s horrible. One of the worst people that I’ve ever had to work with.”

  “But you just said that he was good looking?”

  Much as I really didn’t say that at all, I don’t bother to argue. Not on th
at point anyway because I know that he is good looking if you don’t consider his personality. If I hadn’t ever spoken to him and I saw him in a place like this, then maybe I would think him handsome. But I do know him and I don’t like him at all. Plus, I don’t think he would ever come to a place like this anyway. He’s the sort of man that would be more comfortable in a high class joint with expensive champagne behind the bar and supermodels dotted around, looking for men to hook up with.

  He will probably take one of those supermodels home with him as well. Of course, he will. I mean he is a good looking rich guy, and girls who like that sort of thing don’t care about personality. They just want someone gorgeous with a fit body who knows what they’re doing in the bedroom. He’ll have his hands all over the woman in a second, touching her flushed skin, brushing over her breasts, pushing his firm abs and his thick cock up against her…

  God damn it what is wrong with me? I need to get a grip. Maybe it’s because I haven’t been laid in a long time, I haven’t had time to get with anyone so I’m a little bit needy. That’s why there’s a buzzing in my underwear that hasn’t got anything to do with the music, it has nothing to do with the arrogant Evan. I don’t care about him at all.

  “I don’t know,” I finally say to Robyn, needing to say something. “I don’t know what I think about him, I’ll just keep my head down and continue going until the partner meeting comes up.”

  “But…” Robyn bites down on her bottom lip as if she’s uncomfortable with whatever she’s about to say next. “But what happens if you don’t get it?”

  My stomach drops out. I feel a sickness swirling. I keep trying my hardest not to think about that possibility but it’s there all the time. Robyn reminding me on my damn birthday is just a killer move. I know she isn’t trying to be cruel, but that’s the effect that it’s had on me all the same. I just want to shrivel up into a ball and weep like a baby. The thought of my life without that partnership title will be awful. I know I’ve been all brave and tried to consider what it’ll be like if Grant gets the job, but the reality… I don’t know if I can handle it. Can I go back to taking on all the shitty bits of work knowing that I could have been the one dealing it out?