by Liz Peters
“I don’t know. I don’t know if you know what I deserve.”
Jamie took a step closer to her as she spoke, closing the distance between them to almost nothing, but he froze in place before their bodies came into contact, almost like he’d put the brakes on whatever he was about to do.
“You deserve a whole hell of a lot, Debbie. You work hard for everything. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone work as hard as you do. You’re smart. You’re fucking gorgeous. You have everything going for you, and you don’t deserve to have some jackass like Brennan try to use you when you were just being yourself.”
Debbie looked up at him, biting her lip.
“And what do you deserve, Jamie?”
“Not a damned thing.” She frowned, knitting her brows together as she moved in closer.
“What did you do?” Debbie wanted to reach out and touch him. She wanted to bury her head in his chest and trust that he’d taken care of all of this for her, but something was holding her back. She had no idea how he was going to respond to her being this close to him.
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, showing her the screen which was open to an audio recording app and hit play. What Debbie heard made her heart pound heavy in her chest. Anyone with half a brain would realize that she wasn’t the only person he was doing this to, and when she heard the names that he’d rattled off as soon as Jamie started questioning him she felt almost sick. She’d recognized the first, not the second, but something told her it would have led her straight to the door of the young blonde woman she’d seen leaving the office before she’d walked in. Debbie wasn’t the first one he’d done this to, and she was pretty damned sure she wouldn’t be the last. There was really no telling how far back all of this went.
“He knows I have this recording now, and he knows not to try his bullshit with you. I’ve also insisted he cut ties with the other young women he referred to in the recording. If I hear he’s done otherwise then I’ll be releasing this to the proper authorities, but for now, you can go to class and finish out the semester without worrying about him. There are only a few more weeks to go, and you don’t ever have to take one of his classes again to graduate. I checked with the registrar before I left campus. I didn’t bring up your name, but I got the course catalog along with a list of which professor taught each course. You should be home free after this semester.”
Debbie just blinked for a moment while she tried to process what Jamie was trying to tell her. She was free of Professor Brennan as soon as this semester was over. Those words had sounded like music to her ears. She half wanted to cheer, but she had to make sure. Grabbing her phone off the table behind her, Debbie went straight to the app where she could check her grades for all her courses, opening up the constitutional law class straight away and seeing an A in place of the F that had existed there earlier in the day. She had no idea why Jamie had done this for her, but he had. She just needed to figure out his motivations.
“Why?” That was all she could come up with at the moment. It wasn’t eloquent or well spoken, but it was exactly what she needed to know. “Why me?”
Jamie took a breath, looking away from her as he began to study his fingernails intently.
“Because you’re probably the most amazing woman I’ve ever met, Debbie. And I know you’re going to protest and try to disagree, but this is a matter of opinion. You can’t tell me I’ve ever met anyone like you in my life, because I’ll tell you-you're wrong until the day I die. I didn’t know when I walked into that office that I was going to walk into someone like you, and I didn’t know how to respond when you kissed me on that first day. I was too fresh off my divorce to think I deserved anything like that from anyone like you. I still don’t think I deserve anything, but I can’t sit there in that office day in and day out with you and not say anything. If it means I have to leave the office because you don’t want anything to do with me, then so be it, but I needed you to know. That’s all.”
He took a step back, moving as if he wanted to leave the kitchen and head straight out of the house when she didn’t answer right away, but Debbie was too surprised and shocked to even try to come up with an answer. All she could manage was to grab his shirt and pull him back down into a kiss, almost identical to the one she’d given him on their first day together in the office. It felt right, so much more right than anything that had happened to her since she’d come to Colleston, and he returned it with equal emotion. This time, he didn’t pull away when she stopped for air. He kept his arms wrapped around her body and crushed her into his chest.
This was exactly the place she wanted to be. It was where she’d wanted to be since he’d walked into her life, and she wasn’t certain why she’d avoided this before. Was it going to make work awkward? Who knew? But if it did it was going to be worth it as long as she had a man like this in her life.
“I still think you’re wrong, Jamie, but I’m not going to argue anymore.” He laughed and stole another kiss. This one was short before she pulled away and asked him one more question. “Are you sure about all of this?”
“More sure than I’ve ever been about anything else in my life.”
Debbie reached down and took his hand, threading her fingers between his and pulled him into her living room.
“Come on, we’ve got a lot to talk about.”
He grinned and followed her, keeping his hand interlocked with hers. The two of them stayed up until the early hours of the morning just sitting and talking on her couch about everything and nothing until Debbie fell asleep with her head resting on Jamie’s chest and he carried her off to her room to tuck her into bed before going back to sleep for the rest of the night on her couch.
Chapter Sixteen
Six weeks later…
Jamie was pacing the floor of the office while he waited on Debbie to come back from the last of her final exams. It was almost Christmas, time for classes to end for the semester, and of course, the worst final had been saved for last — Constitutional Law, Brennan’s class.
So far, the douchebag had been good for his word, and Debbie’s grades had been purely based on the merit of her work, but he could still try to pull a fast one with the final. He was nervous every time she had to go into that class, much less now when she had to take such a huge test for that jack ass. She was almost done with him, and the grade she made on this test made such a little difference in her final grade for the course that maybe it didn’t matter, but it was still Brennan’s last chance to mess with her, so Jamie felt justified in being nervous.
Things between the two of them had been progressing slowly. Jamie was intent on being a gentleman and planned on taking things between the two of them slowly. He’d promised himself that nothing was really going to happen between the two of them until she was free of that bastard and didn’t owe him a thing because he wanted things between them to be based on what she wanted not on feeling like she owed him something.
Tonight, he had a huge date for the two of them planned, a sort of celebration that she was done with her classes for the semester and finally free of the shadow of the blackmail that had plagued her earlier in the semester. Jamie still had that file saved on his phone and laptop just in case Brennan decided to get cocky. He wasn’t planning on deleting it any time soon either, even if he wasn’t a fan of the content or thinking about the whole situation.
He felt instantly protective of Debbie and had since he’d walked into this office. She didn’t need him to take care of her, but he was sure as hell going to do it anyway.
Jamie glanced out the window just in time to see Debbie’s car pull up in the lot just outside and went straight for the door to wait for her to come in. He wanted to hear everything about how her last exam had gone, and he was fighting the urge to ask her about it straight away as soon as she walked in the door.
She came in and he opened his mouth to ask her how her day had been, and she interrupted him by planting a kiss square on his lips and cutting off anything he was abo
ut to say. Everything he’d been worried about went straight out of his head as soon as her lips met his.
“Hello there, Jamie.” She murmured against his lips. “It all went fine. I’m sure I passed. It’s all over, and I love you.”
He froze. That was the first time either of them had been brave enough to say those three words to each other, and he was in shock that she was the first one of the pair to say it. She didn’t move out of his arms, and he refused to loosen his grip on her slender form for even a moment, even if he was processing his surprise at her admission of love.
Eventually, his surprised expression broke into a huge grin.
“I love you too, Debbie.”
She laughed and stole another kiss from his lips before draping her arms over his shoulders and toying with his hair.
“What do you say we get out of here and get the rest of our lives started since we don’t have to worry about any of this anymore, Handsome?” Those last words of Debbie’s were all he needed to hear. Her telling him she loved him was the surprise of his life, but he could have heard it every day for the rest of his days and it wouldn’t have gotten old in the slightest. They might have just been getting started, but he already knew he was in this one for the long haul as long as she was in it with him. That was all he was going to need no matter what came.
* * *
Chapter Seventeen
Sam knew that life would never be the same now that her little one was growing inside her. She had so many conflicting emotions; more in fact than she’d ever thought possible. It felt strange to be so far out of her element. As a lawyer, facts, information, data, and statistics were all her go-to ways of dealing with life. She found herself constantly hitting the internet for as much information as she could find.
After a few weeks, she realized that this was far more personal than anything she could learn online. It was rapidly becoming apparent that the best way to deal with her ongoing rollercoaster of emotions and questions was going to be to share them with her husband. Surely he had many concerns of his own, and now it was coming time to face them together.
On a beautiful Friday afternoon, she decided to call Reid to tell him she was taking the entire weekend off from work. No last-minute meetings with clients, no loose ends to tie up at the office, and absolutely no bringing files home to work on.
He seemed genuinely surprised and quite happy to hear her plans. He even promised to make a special dinner for the two of them to start the weekend off right. Sam knew she could count on her husband to be happy to spend time with her, and it brought a warm feeling of comfort that she felt way down in the bottom of her soul.
By the end of the afternoon, however, her enthusiasm seemed to have lost its momentum. The heartburn that started earlier had totally kicked in, along with having to pee every ten minutes and now the tiredness she’d been fighting all day turned into a full-blown case of exhaustion. All she wanted to do was get home to her husband and relax for the next few days.
At 5:00 she was alone in the office. She slowly started to pack up for the weekend. Grabbing her briefcase, she absentmindedly grabbed a few client files to take home. Realizing the promise she’d made to Reid, she stacked them tidily on her desk to be dealt with Monday morning when she returned. She felt good about her decision. She smiled to herself, grabbed her keys and headed home.
As soon as Sam walked in the door she smelled the familiar aroma of Reid’s home cooking. This had become a habit for them, and it was the part of the day that she looked forward to the most. He greeted her with his usual “Hey there, Legs! How was your day?” He took her into his arms and Sam felt that familiar stirring of heat between her legs that she‘d experienced from the day they’d met. The physical need for him would have to take a backseat to her need for food though, so she put her stirrings aside and sat down to the amazing chicken stew he’d prepared. It satisfied more than just hunger in Sam. It made her feel loved and cared for to the point that she started to cry and had no idea why she was overwhelmed with so much emotion brought on by a pot of chicken stew.
Reid seemed startled by her sudden outburst of emotion but kept his thoughts to himself. He smiled at her tenderly, then said “Stay here. I’ve got a surprise for you.” He headed out to the backyard, then returned carrying a warm blanket and a citronella candle. “Follow me,” he said, so Sam obeyed and let him lead her by the hand outdoors. As she walked beside him she smelled then saw the bonfire burning and had amazing flashback styled memories wash over her of their first night together. She looked up, and right on cue, the sky was clear and perfect with a thousand stars shining brightly. Reid pulled her down onto his lap, wrapped the blanket around them and kissed her like he did on that first night.
He pulled back away from the kiss to look deep into her eyes and said: “So what’s on your mind tonight, Baby girl?” That was all it took for Samantha to let it all pour out. “I’ve been thinking about the baby and how difficult it will be for me to maintain the pace of keeping a brand-new practice going. I’ve checked into daycare facilities all over town and haven’t seen anything I’d be comfortable with. I’m worried about the new mortgage on the house. I have clients depending on me to be fully involved in their cases, and it’s getting more and more difficult for me to concentrate with these changes going on. I hate to burden you with all of this so I’ve been trying to manage on my own, and I’m just feeling so overwhelmed.” As much as she hated being an emotional female, the tears started to flow as the words came tumbling out of her mouth.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about the same things myself, Sam. In fact, I may have an idea that could be right for all three of us.” It sounded strange to hear him voice it that way as if they were already a family of three. She tried to prepare her heart for whatever he was about to offer. “My job at the ranch has never been a great source of income, and although I love it there, I think I could be much better at being a stay-at-home Dad than a ranch hand. I’m already used to maintaining things around the house while you’ve been working long hours, and I cook some awesome homemade dinners if I do say so myself.” Sam wanted to protect his pride, with all the “buts” that came to mind. Instead, she just said, “I have to admit, if we could get past the traditional roles and think about what’s best for our little family, this could really be a great solution.”
Reid started to lift her in his arms and carry her inside. “The baby and I could come to the office to bring your lunch and see you. We can set up a home office for you here to do a lot of your research and online work at home. Debbie is going to be great at helping you with your cases and we know the office is in good hands now that Jamie’s on board.”
Sam felt herself relaxing and sinking into his arms with thoughts of how amazing their new life would be together. Reid carried her up into their room and laid her gently on the bed.
*
Samantha seemed to forget about her fatigue as she let the stress about the future roll off her. She peeled her clothes off slowly and with them, the cares of the day.
Reid crawled onto the bed and began messaging her aching back. She moaned softly and arched her back to meet his strokes. It seemed good she thought, to be certain in an uncertain world, to be comfortable in this strange body.
He gently rolled her over and supported himself above her. It was almost too much for her, her need was so great. She wrapped her legs around him and buried her face in his neck, lost in the sensations and emotions of the moment.
He stroked her hair back off her face, forcing her to look directly into his eyes. He paused, waiting for her to say that famous line from their first night together. She took her cue and moaned, “Please…. “
“Please what, Baby Girl?” He had his cock pressed tight against her pussy, and teased her, waiting for the magic words. “Please fuck me.”
She barely had the words out of her mouth as he plunged deep inside her. It thrilled her as much as it did that very first time, and she gasped and called out his name.
The heat and wetness of her welcome set Reid on fire. He wanted to take it slow and be gentle but his excitement took over and he began thrusting faster and faster. Sam’s body responded to his pace and she bucked wildly with him.
She immediately felt the familiar spasms and then her own juices erupted in a hot molten volcano of release. That set Reid off and he started to cum so powerfully it almost took his breath away. They both groaned simultaneously and he slid gently off, rolling her onto her side.
He pulled her tightly to him, spoon style. Sam smiled to herself and drifted off to sleep thinking that despite whatever the two of them might go through, they would always get through it together.
THE END
Under the Law is the final book of the three-part series,
“Fanning the Flames.”
If you would like to read the first two books, check them out here!
“COUNTRY MILE”
“CITY MINUTE”
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