by B. T. Love
“It’s the perfect time.”
He leaned in and placed his lips to mine with a gentle kiss. His mouth was warm and inviting, the action so tender, so sensual. Everything stopped in that moment; time stood still. It was just me and Brad. And Kitty.
He pulled away, his breaths gently grazing me as his lips were still close to mine. “You’re amazing.”
I leaned in and kissed him again, needing to feel him more. His fingers found the back of my hair and spread through my strands, gently tilting my head to the side as his tongue found mine, kissing me deeper than the first time. It was exactly what I wanted, what I needed. My hands found the broadness of his chest and continued their journey up to his shoulders as I pulled myself closer to him. It was getting heated. And then his phone buzzed in his pocket.
Our union ended and he gave me a half-smile. “Sorry. It’s my alarm.” We took our hands away from each other and he pulled his phone out from his pocket, ending the reminder that was lit up on the screen. “It’s time for my dad’s medication.”
“Oh,” I nodded with understanding. “That’s definitely more important.”
“Yeah. But kissing you comes in at a close second.”
God he was sexy. He was a great kisser, for one. And secondly his supportive nature to his dad was a very attractive trait. Yes, once again, Bradley Hunter surprised me. I was really coming to respect the man that he was.
I composed myself and stood up, still feeling a bit woozy from our heated encounter. “I, uh, I really enjoyed that,” I said, my face turning red.
He stood up beside me. “I know.”
“Well now you’re just going to do your thing and ruin it, huh?” I said jokingly.
He brought his hand to my waist and pulled me against him. “I’m not ruining anything,” he told me with sureness. “And I thoroughly enjoyed it too.” The corner of his mouth lifted with a smile as he leaned in and placed another slow kiss against my lips, letting me taste him one more time. And let me tell you, his mouth was a delicacy.
I spent the rest of the day visiting with him and his dad, and Kitty, of course. We drank tea and laughed in the sun on the porch, our conversations filled with old memories and positive outlooks. By the time I left I had invisible strings pulling on my heart, begging me to stay with him there at his peaceful house in the country.
But I didn’t.
Instead I went home and climbed into bed with a glass of red wine and the Thompson file, going over the tactics I was going to use to destroy Brad once our case went to court.
Five
“So he was good, right?” Nancy said as she sat down across from me with her cup of coffee. “Please tell me he’s good. I need to know that he’s the complete package.”
My face brightened as I thought of the intense kiss we had shared. “Oh yeah, he was good.”
She leaned forward and slapped my desk. “I knew it! God, you’re lucky,” she sighed.
“Yeah,” I shrugged. “I guess I am.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “What do you mean, you guess you are?”
“Did you forget that he’s my competition? My enemy?”
“Ooh, that makes for some great heated sexual tension between you two . . .”
“You’re right,” I laughed. “It does. But it’s also very confusing. We haven’t really discussed it too much, actually.”
“Well you should. You wouldn’t want any of those feelings getting in the way of something great you two could have.”
I considered her words and then nodded. “Yeah. I guess it’s time we have that conversation.”
* * *
“Bradley Hunter’s office,” his secretary answered. I still hadn’t seen her—I hadn’t been to his office yet—but Brad had told me she was a nice older woman who was a very hard worker. Yeah, okay, of course I wondered if she was some young hot thing, sitting behind a desk in a short mini skirt. But Brad put those curiosities to rest early on. Thank heavens.
“Hi, yes, this is Roxanne Balkner. Is Bradley available?”
“He’s currently in a meeting. Would you like his voicemail?”
“Um, no, that’s okay. Maybe you can just inform him that I called.”
“I will tell him as soon as his meeting is finished, Ms. Balkner.”
“Thank you.” I hung up and opened Robert Stillman’s file that was sitting on my desk. I was at a complete standstill with gathering information about his ex-wife, and it was starting to bother me. Every once in a while I had a case that really kicked my butt, and this one was it.
After about an hour or so of digging for more evidence against Robert’s ex, Nancy’s line rang. “What’s up?” I answered.
“Hottie on line two.”
“You mean your dad?”
“Shut up.”
I laughed and clicked over to Brad’s line. “Roxanne Balkner.”
“Why do you insist on answering that way when you know it’s me?” His voice was warm and friendly, and I imagined his face looked the same.
“Because I’m a professional. Even you should understand that.”
“Oh believe me, I do.”
“I know.”
“I’m glad you called me,” he confessed. “Whether it’s business or personal.”
I leaned back in my chair and re-crossed my legs. “It’s personal.”
“I like personal.”
“Good,” I smiled into the phone. “I guess I just wanted to call and thank you for the nice day spent at your house.”
“Am I wearing you down?”
“Unfortunately,” I joked.
“The only thing that’s unfortunate is that we didn’t get to kiss some more.”
“Yeah, that’s kind of what I wanted to talk about.”
“Oh yeah? This could go one of both ways; I’m hoping it’s going to go in my favor.”
“Well I guess that just depends on you.”
“How so?”
I uncrossed my legs and scooted up to my desk, grabbing a pen. “I, uh, how am I going to say this . . .” My subconscious trait set in and I tapped away as I searched for my words. “I’m not the kind of girl who, you know, sleeps around.”
“Neither am I; I’ve never been that kind of girl.”
I laughed into the phone. “Shut up.”
“I’m being honest. I don’t sleep around either.”
“Baloney,” I countered with a puff of air.
“Hey, do I lie? I mean tell me, do . . . I . . . lie?”
“No, at least, I haven’t caught you in a lie yet.”
His end of the line went quiet. “You can at least give me some credit, Roxy,” he said softly.
I felt a twinge of guilt. “I’m sorry,” I replied honestly. “This is a hard conversation for me to have.”
“I know; I can hear your pen.”
I stopped the pen in mid-air, right before it was about to slam down again. “Oh yeah, sorry about that.”
“Don’t be. I like you and that means I like what comes with you, even if that means an incredibly annoying anxious habit.”
“Hey,” I chuckled. “Don’t be mean.”
“I’m sorry,” he chuckled lightly. “I was just trying to make you laugh. But continue with what you were saying.”
“Ugh, what I was saying . . . Okay, well, I’m not a woman who sleeps with men just for pleasure. I want a relationship.”
“So do I.”
“You do?” I perked up.
“Yeah, of course I do. I told you from the beginning I wanted you; I want all of you. And when I say that I don’t just mean sexually. I want your mind as well. You’ve been handed a good one.”
“Thanks?” I questioned his compliment.
He laughed, embarrassment coming through in his tone. “What I mean is that I think you’re very smart and I’m attracted to that. See, I’m not always smooth . . .”
“Ah, finally a flaw . . .”
“It was about time I showed you an imperfection I guess.”
“Don’t say that,” he said gently, as if what I had said bothered him. “Give yourself more credit.”
I smiled and let out a sigh. “Okay, well, what does all this mean? What exactly are we doing?”
“Well, we’ve been talking for a while, and we shared a very nice kiss recently, so I would say we’re a couple. At least I would like to be.”
A grin consumed my face. “I would like that.”
“I know.”
* * *
“Hello Robert. How are you?”
“Not so great. My son just said that my ex wants to move him out of state. I’m panicking here, Roxanne. Can you give me a timeframe on when we can pin down a court date?”
I brought my hand to my temple and rubbed away the headache that was beginning to form. “I’ve been working hard on it. I want you to know that I hired a private investigator to find out some things to help our case. It was hard to gather stuff on my own—”
“I hope you hired a good one,” he raised his voice, cutting me off. “Because if she skips town with my son then I don’t know if I’ll be able to find him again.”
“I completely understand, Robert. Just give me time to—”
“I don’t have time, Roxanne. Just do your job and get me back my son.” With that he hung up the phone, leaving me with the sound of the dial tone.
* * *
Brad took my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing it sweetly. “You look beautiful tonight. I love it when you wear your hair down like that.”
“Thanks,” I smiled. We entered the movie theater and sat down in the back row. “I have to admit I feel much sexier with it down like this.”
“You’re sexy no matter what.” He sat his soda in the drink holder next to him. “I notice you always wear it up when you’re working.”
“Yeah, I just feel like I look more professional that way.”
“I can see that. You wearing it like you are now is very distracting, too. Just like my cologne.”
“Oh here we go . . .”
He leaned into me with a smile. “You know I’m right.”
“Of course you’re right; you’re always right.”
“Don’t try and stroke my ego.”
His ego wasn’t what I wanted to stroke. “So, are we gonna make-out in this theater tonight?” I asked lightheartedly, although it was most definitely my wish.
“Why do you think I led us into the back row?” he grinned. He put his arm around me and leaned in, kissing me slowly, parting my lips with his tongue.
God I wanted him, right then and there. I wanted to rip his clothes off and pull him against me, feel the hardness of his body against mine.
My phone rang out from my purse, but I continued kissing him. He smiled against my mouth. “You want to answer that?”
“No,” I moaned, pulling him back in to kiss me some more. The ringing stopped, but started in again a minute later.
“That might be an important call,” he said, settling back into his seat.
“You might be right.” I leaned down and took my phone out of my purse, noticing that it was Nancy. “Hello?” I answered.
“Where the hell are you? Suzie’s in labor!”
“Oh no!” I said, springing up from my seat.
Brad joined me. “What’s wrong?”
“My friend Suzie’s in labor.”
“Come to the hospital now!” Nancy ordered.
“Okay okay. I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
I hung up and pulled my purse onto my arm. “I gotta go to the hospital.”
“Yeah, I’ll take you.”
“Thanks,” I said, spinning around and hurrying out of the theater. Once we were outside we got into Brad’s BMW. “She wasn’t due for another couple of weeks.”
Brad drove as quickly as he could while being as safe as he could. When we got to the hospital he stopped at the front entrance. “You have an exciting night ahead of you.”
I gave him a quick kiss and then opened the door. “Yes, I do. Sorry to cut our date short.”
“Are you kidding? This is a very important event.”
“Yeah, but a date with you comes in at a close second.”
He smiled and I got out of the car, closing the door and leaving him with a wave as I ran inside.
* * *
Suzie’s baby was beautiful. A flawless little boy; a perfect mix of his parents. Holding him in my arms was heaven.
“We named him Marshall,” Suzie beamed from her hospital bed. “We don’t personally know anyone who has it, we just like it.”
Marshall. Suzie didn’t know it, but my grandfather was named Marshall. He was kind and loving, a softhearted man who took care of his family. I had very fond memories of him.
I looked up with misty eyes, picturing her son growing up to be the incredible person my grandfather was. “You couldn’t have picked a better name.”
Six
Brad entered the conference room at my office wearing one of his favorite suits. His game face was on and so was mine. We were ready to argue.
I couldn’t deny how hot the situation was. The man of my dreams who trailed his hands along my neck and slid his tongue into my mouth was also the man of my nightmares, ready to fight and destroy me wherever he could. He was my heaven and he was my hell. It was pleasurable torture.
He pulled out the seat for Claire and cut his eyes over at me to gauge my reaction; I could tell he was hiding a satisfied smile behind his straight face. His eyes always gave it away.
Steve was sitting next to me, his nervousness apparent as he took out his glasses and mildly shook while putting them on. I caught his gaze and gave him a reassuring smile.
Brad was the last one to sit down. He sat his briefcase on the table and opened it in his usual manner, taking out a stack of papers and neatly placing them in front of him, exerting his professionalism. God he was hot, with his chiseled jaw line and smooth lips that meshed so perfectly with mine. He was satisfying to look at.
He looked up from his papers and stared straight into my eyes. “Are you ready, Ms. Balkner?”
Yes, I was ready, in more ways than one. I laced my fingers together and placed them on the Thompson file in front of me. “Yes, Mr. Hunter. I am very ready.”
His face was solid as stone as he dropped his head to his stack of papers. “I’ve come to the understanding that you and your client have reached a decision as to what you would like to offer my client in this divorce.”
“Yes, we have.” I opened the file and took out the first sheet of paper, and then closed the file back and placed the paper on top. “My client is willing to provide a considerable amount of his monthly earnings toward alimony for Mrs. Thompson.”
“And what amount would that be?”
“Three thousand dollars per month.”
Brad looked up and gave me a so-so shrug. “We’ll have to discuss that.”
“And why is that?”
“Because she deserves more than that.”
“Does she?” I asked flatly.
“I definitely deserve more than that,” she answered. “I have a lifestyle I have to keep up with.”
I looked at Claire and took in the sight of the pathetic gold-digging woman, with her platinum blonde hair and tanned skin. Her jewelry appeared to be real gold and diamonds, including the giant wedding ring that was still on her finger. I wondered how much that had cost Steve. I was positive she had picked it out herself; she had to make sure it lived up to her expectations, of course.
“That just confirms why you married me,” Steve argued. “For my money.”
“I told you that wasn’t true!”
“Enough,” I cut in. They both silenced as I looked back at my paper. “The judge will decide if that amount is justified enough. But in the meantime that is our offer.”
“Okay,” Brad said. “What about the car?”
�
��The Ferrari,” Claire specified.
“She can have the Ferrari,” Steve said.
I raised my hand to silence him. “That wasn’t what we discussed earlier.”
“I know,” he shrugged. “I just want to get this all over with.”
“We’ll reconsider it, but for now we’re sticking to what we originally agreed upon.” I twisted my lips with irritation and looked ahead at Brad. “The Ferrari’s off the table for now.”
Brad’s lip twitched to hide his smile; he was most likely happy that my client was getting emotional and agreeing to terms we hadn’t decided on. He took his pen and wrote something down on his paper before looking back up at me. “She wants the beach house in Maui.”
“I know she does. And she’s not getting it.”
Now I got a smile out of him. “The evidence shows that my client is the only one who uses it. It only makes sense that she gets it.”
I didn’t smile back at Brad. I was angry, angry that he would push the beach house when he knew it wasn’t right to take it. “Evidence also shows that it was given to my client by his mother who passed away. It was inherited, not paid for by my client’s money or by your client’s money, or your client’s lack of money, I should say. She has no right to it.”
Claire leaned across the table and looked at Steve with the biggest doe eyes she could muster. “Please, Steve. You know how much I love that house.”
Steve squirmed in his seat. “Yeah, I know. But—”
“Do you remember the fun I had there? Don’t you remember that picture I took for you wearing my hot pink string bikini? I was on the beach, relaxing in the sun, thinking of you.”
Steve’s lips turned up with a reminiscent smile. “Yeah, yeah I remember that. Those were good times.”
She smiled sweetly at him. “Yeah they were.”
I cringed at her deceptiveness. “Steve,” I said, shifting in my seat to face him, “you need to remember what we discussed. We had a plan that we agreed to stick with.”