The Hot Lawyer (A Romance Love Story) (Hargrave Brothers - Book #4)

by Alexa Davis

  The kiss intensified as our need for each other grew stronger, and she gripped my back with her fingers as she tangled her tongue with mine. I could feel her desire and I knew if we went any further, I wasn't going to be able to control my own.

  "Brooke," I moaned into her lips. "Stop..."

  "Shhh," she said as she grabbed the hem of my shirt and pulled it up, lifting my arms away from her body as she pulled it over my head. Her lips traced a path of fire across my chest as she tossed the shirt aside and ran her fingers down my sides. I shivered at her touch and tried to stop her, but she was insistent as she undid my pants and pulled them down.

  "Brooke..." I moaned as she brought her hand to her mouth and licked her palm before wrapping her fingers around my rock hard erection and stroking it. I groaned, unable to protest again.

  "I need to," she whispered. "Let me."

  She sunk to her knees and looked up at me as she pulled her shirt off and sat half naked at my feet. The image of this powerful woman kneeling for me was almost more than I could bear. I wanted to pull her up off of her knees and take her to the bedroom, but she read my thoughts and shook her head.

  "No, don't," she whispered as she leaned forward and ran her tongue up the length of my now aching shaft. The sensation forced a groan from my lips and I reached down and buried my fingers in her hair, pulling it up away from her face as she sat before me, making my cock wet and slippery.

  When she'd teased me enough to satisfy her, she leaned forward and took just the tip between her lips and began sucking and licking in a way that drove one continuous moan from deep inside me out of my mouth. She moved lower as she took more and more into her mouth and I fought to maintain control.

  When she turned her eyes upward and looked at me, I groaned and felt the blood surging away from my brain. I was afraid I was going to pass out if she continued her ministrations.

  "Brooke, Brooke, Brooke," I exhaled, trying not to lose control. Her eyes had a questioning look in them as she continued sliding lower and lower until I felt the tip hit the back of her throat and then I let out a low deep growl as I gripped her hair tightly and began pumping my hips slowly. I couldn't stop. The feeling of her lips wrapped tightly around my shaft drove me to the edge, but it was the knowing grin and one raised eyebrow that drove me over the edge. For a moment, I lost control and thrust my hips forward as I felt the surge of release rush through my body. She held me in her mouth as I let go and felt the orgasm overtake me.

  I felt the heat of desire leaving my body as I came back to her, and I looked down to see her still kneeling in front of me. She had pulled back and was gently cradling the tip of my shaft between her lips as she watched me return to earth. She pulled back and let it go as she smiled up at me.

  "Better now?" she asked.

  "What the hell was that?" I exhaled.

  "I don't know," she shrugged. "I've never done that before, but something made me want to try."

  "You've never done that before?" I said. "I don't believe it."

  "Nope, never," she shook her head as I reached down and lifted her off of the floor, electing a grimace as she tried to stand on legs that had fallen asleep.

  "Lady, you're a natural born talent," I said as I pulled her to me and kissed her deeply. I knew in that moment that there wasn't anything I wouldn't do to keep this woman safe.

  "Well, thanks," she grinned. "I'm glad to know I can do something right, for a change."

  "Brooke," I said seriously as I looked down into her beautiful blue eyes. "You do a lot of things right. Don't ever doubt that for a minute."

  She nodded and then rested her cheek against my chest as she wrapped her arms around my waist. I held her for a moment before she said, "Uh oh, isn't this what got us in trouble in the first place?"

  I laughed lightly as I kissed her head.

  #

  Once we were dressed again, we sat down at the table and talked about what we needed to do to flush out Lydia's killer. Brooke said she wanted to do a little investigating, but I nixed that immediately. I didn't want her out there alone, looking for a killer who had threatened to make her his next victim.

  "Don't be such a worrier," she told me as she sipped her coffee. "I mean, bad things happen all the time. You can't put me in a box and wrap me in tissue paper."

  "That's a dumb analogy," I said as I chewed the last of the bread and cheese that Brooke had brought out as part of an afternoon spread. "You're not china, I know that, but then, no one goes out looking to actively destroy china. It generally sits in a box until it's needed."

  "My point exactly," she said. "I'm not going to be packed away in a box until I'm needed. I want to be working on this case and figuring out how to get this killer behind bars!"

  "Brooke, need I remind you that you are a lawyer, not a super detective?" I asked.

  "No, you do not, Mr. Malone," she said as she got up and began to clear away the dishes.

  "Then, let the police do the detective work and you do the legal work when we're ready to go to court," I said.

  "Dax, does it make any sense to you why someone would threaten me?" she turned the conversation back toward the case.

  "Not really, why?"

  "It just seems weird that someone would specifically target your lawyers, doesn't it?" she asked.

  "Maybe," I shrugged.

  "It seems pretty personal," she mused as she put the plates in the sink. "They killed Lydia and now they're saying I'm next."

  "But we don't know why they killed Lydia," I said.

  "That's true, but we can start to narrow it down," she said.

  "How do you suggest we do that?" I asked. "I don't want you getting involved in the investigation, Brooke."

  "Oh hush," she smiled. "I think we've determined that I'm a big girl who can take care of herself."

  "Indeed," I grinned. "But only if you're going to give the killer a stellar blow job, and I'm not sure I'd be on board with that."

  "Not even in the interests of justice, Mr. Malone?" she grinned back at me.

  "Nope, not even in the interests of justice." I shook my head.

  "Jealous, are you?"

  "Oh yes," I nodded. "Oh yes, indeed, I am."

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  Brooke

  "What about Beck?" I asked as Dax brought the last of the dishes into the kitchen and set them in the sink. "Where is he?"

  "I have no idea," he said as his shoulders sank a little. I could tell he was far more worried than he was letting on, but I also knew that sometimes in order to remain hopeful, a person had to shove worry to the side. For this reason, I didn't want to tell him about the phone call I'd received. If I told him, he'd get even more protective than he already was and I was afraid that if he did, then I wouldn’t be able to do my job well enough to keep him out of prison.

  "Have you talked to his friends?" I said, steering my thoughts back to the issue of Beck's disappearance.

  "He doesn't have any friends aside from me and Riza," Dax said. "He's a loner and a junkie."

  "Where does he get his drugs?" I asked.

  "That's what we've never been able to figure out," he replied. "I've had Ri following him for a long time, but she can't figure out where he hooks up with his connection."

  "That's weird, it seems like that would be something easy to figure out," I mused.

  "Don't go getting any ideas," he warned as he pulled me to him and ran his fingers through my hair. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling for a few moments before pulling back and reminding him that we had business to do.

  "Dax, we need to figure out where Beck is before the killer does," I said.

  "Don't remind me," he sighed. "I've got people out looking for him all over the city, but I have to be careful not to let word get out too far."

  "Who would want to kill Lydia?" I said knowing that I'd started to sound like a broken record. "Wait, you said she had a new love interest, right?"

  "Yeah, why?"

  "Well, Captain Obvi
ous, who was he? Maybe he's got information we could use," I teased.

  "Very funny, I have no idea who she was seeing," he admitted. "She was pretty tight lipped about it."

  "That's weird," I murmured thinking that I needed to ask Jordie and Roger if they'd heard any rumors about Lydia floating around the places they hung out.

  "Brooke, I need to get back to the club," he said. "I've got business to take care of this evening. The police cleared us in the OD case, so we're opening as usual tonight for the weekly EDM DJ contest."

  "Sounds like a blast," I said as I moved out of his arms and back toward the table.

  "Aw, c'mon, it's fun!" he laughed. "You sound like my grandmother or something."

  "Are you accusing me of being old?" I faked an indignant look and that made him laugh harder.

  "No, I'm just saying, you should come by the club and check it out some night," he said.

  "Alright, well, let me get back to the office and consult with the guys about how we're going to handle the case, and then I'll drop by the club," I said. "I want to see what you do for a living."

  Dax shot me a "get real" look and then laughed as he grabbed me and kissed me deeply before heading toward the door.

  "Be careful, Brooke," he said seriously.

  "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be fine," I laughed and waved him off. "I'll see you later tonight."

  #

  When I got back to the office, I found Jordie at his desk, but no sign of Roger.

  "Have you seen Roger this afternoon?" I asked as I moved a pile of papers off the one other chair in Jordie's office and sat down.

  "No, come to think of it, I haven't heard from him since last night," Jordie replied. "Why? What's going on?"

  "He said he was heading over to the marina to check things out," I said making a mental note to call the marina after we were through talking. "What have you got on Lydia?"

  "Nothing earth shattering," he said. "She had just completed a deal that would have given her firm the backing it needed to move it into the realm of a legitimate law firm, so it looks like she was shedding her less savory clients at the time of her murder."

  "That's interesting," I said not wanting to give away what I already knew. "Who were her clients? Besides Malone."

  "It looks like she defended a few small time dealers on the Northside, but nothing that suggests she was in bed with the big players," Jordie sad. "Brooke, none of this makes any sense."

  "I know, right?" I replied. "It's like someone wanted people to think that she was killed because of business, but then the business dealings don't seem to warrant that kind of violence or retaliation."

  "Yeah, it's weird," he said. And then as an afterthought, he added, "Oh, I found the contract work that you were talking about."

  "You did? Where?"

  "It was in Roger's office in a stack of other contracts," he said. I didn't say anything about how he'd violated our agreement about none of us digging through the others' papers. "It looks like a standard contract drawn up at Lydia's request. Nothing fishy about it. She needed some outside legal work done and Roger did it."

  "Huh, I wonder why he didn't tell us about it," I mused.

  "This is the weird thing about it, though," Jordie said. "I looked up the billing for the contract he drew up, and it was billed and then paid at three times the normal hourly rate."

  "Huh?"

  "Yeah, that's what I said when I saw it," he nodded. "But there are no notes on the account, nor is there an attempt to hide the money or anything. It's not like he was trying to keep it secret. He billed the firm, they wrote the check, and he deposited it. End of story."

  "This just keeps getting weirder and weirder," I said. "Can you get Roger on the phone so we can ask him about it?"

  "Tried already, he's not picking up," Jordie said.

  "Dammit, we need some answers!" I said fidgeting in the chair. I knew what I was going to do, but I didn't want to tell Jordie.

  "You're going out to the marina, aren't you?" he said with his back turned.

  "How'd you know that?"

  "C'mon, Brooke, we've been friends for years, I know you better than almost anyone," he smiled as he turned around and pulled a document out of the printer next to his computer.

  "What's this?"

  "A copy of the contract that Roger wrote for Lydia," he said. "I figured you'd want to ask him about it as soon as you saw him, and if you have this, then he has no wiggle room to avoid it."

  I looked at Jordie and smiled.

  "I know you both way better than I should," he said with a shrug.

  "Great, then I'm going to grab a few things and head out to the marina," I said.

  "Brooke, do you really think that's a good idea?" he asked.

  "Yeah, why?"

  "The fax that came in this morning was a little scary," he said. I realized that I hadn't told Jordie about the phone call or the photos delivered to my apartment. I'd wanted to ask him about the call, but now that he was expressing worry, I didn't want him trying to talk me out of tracking Roger down. The threats were most likely designed to simply scare me off rather than actually threaten me with any real violence. Or at least, that's what I wanted to believe.

  "Look, I think it's just a scare tactic that's being used to try and get me off the case," I said as nonchalantly as I could. "I'm not worried about it, so you shouldn't be, either."

  "Brooke..." he trailed off and then shrugged and said, "Okay, if you say so."

  I knew there was a lot he wasn't saying, but right now, I didn't have time to try and ferret it out and soothe his fears. I needed to find Roger and ask him about Lydia's contact.

  I went back to my office and gathered a few things that I thought I'd need, checked to make sure my phone was charged and then realized that I needed a car.

  "Hey, Jordie?" I called as I walked down the hall. "Can I borrow your car?"

  "Are you kidding me?" he said.

  "Nope, not in the least," I shook my head and held out my hand.

  "Brooke, you have to be careful with this car," he warned. "You can't put regular gas in it and you can't drive like a bat out of hell."

  "Jordie, I promise, I will put only high octane fuel in your precious little baby, and I will drive the speed limit the whole way there and back," I said with my right hand raised.

  "I don't believe you," he grumbled as he reached into his pocket, pulled out the keys, and handed them over. "If there's even one scratch on it, I swear!"

  "If there's even one scratch on it, I'll buy you a whole new car," I promised.

  "With what?" he asked. "Your goodwill and best intentions?"

  "No, it won't come to that, I do solemnly swear," I said as I took the keys from him and headed for the door.

  "Brooke, be careful!" Jordie shouted.

  "I'll take care of the car!" I shouted back.

  "That's not what I mean," he said as he walked out into the hallway and watched me walk toward the front door.

  I turned and winked as I held up the keys. I was scared, but I sure as hell wasn't going to let it show.

  CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE

  Dax

  An hour later, I was sitting at my desk going over the week's books when I heard Kesha screaming at the top of her lungs down on the club floor.

  "DAX! DAX! GET DOWN HERE!"

  I turned toward the window overlooking the club floor and saw Kesha with her arms wrapped around a small, thin person who was limping. When the person looked up, I realized it was Beck! I ran out of the office, taking the stairs two at a time, and was down on the club floor in moments.

  "Beck!" I yelled. "Where the hell have you been?"

  "I didn't do it," he mumbled as I scooped him up and ran to the back where Javi kept the medical supplies.

  "What'd you take, Beck?" I prodded him as I set him on a cot in the back and told Kesha to call Javi. She ran to the front of the house to make the call while I searched the boxes for something that might help Beck. I quickly realized that
if I didn't know what he'd taken, then I might possibly do more harm than good, so I sat down next to him and started peppering him with questions.

  "Why did you run away from rehab? Where have you been? What did you take, Beck?" my voice grew more panicked as I watched his head loll sideways for a moment before he snapped it back and looked at me.

  "Didn't do it, Dax," he mumbled in a drugged stupor. "Didn't do it."

  "What didn't you do?" I asked. "What, Beck? What didn't you do?"

  "She told me you said to do it," he mumbled. "She said...was supposed to help."

  "Beck, what are you talking about?" I tapped his cheeks, trying to keep him awake and talking while I looked at the door and waited for Kesha to come back with Javi. "Beck! Talk to me! Keep talking, buddy!""

  "Didn't do it, Dax," he kept repeating as he shook his head in what looked like an attempt to clear his mind of some memory. "Didn't do it."

  "What didn't you do, Beck?" I shook him a little harder and tried to sit him up.

  "Dax, I'm sorry," he mumbled and then started crying. I looked at him bewildered and wondered what it was he was sorry for.

  "It's okay, Beck," I said as I pulled him to me and held him like a child, rocking back and forth as he repeated over and over that he didn't do it. I whispered all of the comforting things I could think of as I held my brother and rocked him. "It's okay, Beck, you're gonna be okay. There's nothing to be sorry for. I'm sorry I didn't get you help sooner."

  "Not your fault," he murmured as he brought a hand up and patted my arm before it became too difficult and he let it fall back into his lap. I wanted to know what drug he had taken. If we didn't know, then whatever Javi might give him could cause a negative reaction, and if it was bad enough, it might kill him.

  "What did you take, Beck?" I asked over and over. "What did you shoot?"

  "Didn't take drugs," he mumbled. "Didn't do it. One day at a time."

  "What are you talking about, Beck?" I asked. "You're high as a kite, buddy."

  "Didn't do it," he repeated. "Didn't do it. She said it would help, but I didn't want to."