by Q. B. Tyler
“This is horseshit,” Matt growls.
“It’s the law,” Cromack states calmly. “Mr. Wells, frankly you’re wasting all of our time with your antics. This is all fairly standard.” He turns to Matt’s lawyer. “Honestly, Stein, I thought you prepped your client better than this.”
“Your client is wanting to take half of everything which everyone in this room knows she didn’t rightfully earn. I think my client is well within his rights to be angry.”
“And that’s our problem…how? Oh wait, it’s not! Jesus, Stein, maybe we need to go over how the law works again, to refresh your memory?” He leans back in his chair like the smug bastard he is. Smug or not, he’s one hell of a lawyer. “We have been more than fair, your house in the Hamptons, which was a gift to my client. The timeshare in Cape Cod, and Hilton Head…frankly he’s getting off easy.”
“Except the house that’s worth the most!” Stein roars.
“I don’t even want the house,” I perk up. “We can sell it for all I care.” There’s another house across town where I would rather be anyway.
“Of course, you don’t care,” Matt spits.
“I think what Ms. Pierce is saying,” Cromack says looking at me with a look to pipe down, “is that she isn’t going to take your house if you have such strong ties to staying there. But maybe it would be a good idea to sell. The market is doing better, and it’s in a prime location. It could be sold by the spring. You could probably make double what you paid, due to the renovations and updates that Ms. Pierce did.”
“With my money,” Matt adds.
“Semantics, Mr. Wells, if that is your only argument here, then we have nothing more to talk about. As far as the state of Georgia is concerned, every dime that you earned during your marriage is just as much hers as it is yours. Now if I were you, I would not continue down this path of insinuating that you won’t be coming up off of some significant money. Though my client doesn’t want it, she IS entitled to it whether you like it or not. So, your best course of action, is to get on board. The longer we drag this out, the more you’ll be paying.”
“This is bullshit,” Matt says leaning back in his chair and shooting me an angry look.
“Matt,” I plead, “please, I don’t want all of this. I just…I just want a divorce. You can have everything.”
“Except the fifty grand you took?”
“A drop in the bucket and you know it,” I say, wondering when on earth Matthew became so stingy. Frankly, before this started, he spent money like it was nothing. “The only reason you’re so up in arms about fifty thousand is because you know that’s all I need to start over and get my life together. I’m not a frivolous spender, and I never needed all of that shit. Sure, I grew accustomed to the lifestyle when you started shoving it down my throat, and while I appreciate everything, you and I both know I didn’t need that. You cut me off because you thought I would panic not having anything and come running back to you. I’m stronger than that, and you know it. Honestly, if you get out of this marriage fifty thousand less, I say you’re getting off easy, but you’re making this so difficult. Why? You don’t love me. You don’t want to be married to me.”
“Says who?!”
“Your actions. Your words. In the past week, I’ve been vindictive, spiteful, a whore, a bitch…and that’s just what you’ve said to my face. Who knows what you’ve said behind my back, and you want me to just say, ‘okay, never mind, let’s stay together’? Please!” I shake my head. “You dragging this on is just ridiculous. Fighting me over our gym membership? When I’m the only one that uses it because you work out in your office gym? Fighting me over the artwork in our bedroom in the house in the Hamptons?”
“You know that piece is worth at least two hundred thousand dollars now,” he argues.
“I’M AWARE! I stalked it for months. I did the research, I bought it!” I put my hand up. “And I swear to God, if you say with your money, I’ll scream. Matthew, I’m trying to be civil and patient and understanding because I know you’re hurt, but you are testing my limits and testing how far my patience and understanding will go. If you want a fight, and a messy sticky divorce, we can do that. I promise it won’t work out well for you,” I finish, crossing my arms.
“I’m not giving you anything without a fight.” He stands and buttons his suit jacket. He looks at his lawyer. “You know what I want. Don’t settle until we are all on that page. I don’t want to see her again until then.”
I nod my head. “Mature, Matt.”
“Mr. Wells,” his lawyer says trying to stop him, “you have to be here for negotiations.”
“Well, we’re finished for the day. I need to get back to work.”
“Of course, you do,” I murmur under my breath.
“What was that?”
“You can’t even block out enough time to take me to dinner on my birthday, why should I be surprised? You couldn’t care less when it comes to me.”
“I’m sorry, should I have cleared my schedule to come here to argue with you? Charlotte, I’m sorry I have shit to do, but hey, why are you complaining? As long as I keep making money, it’s more for you in the end, right?” he snarls before he’s out the door slamming it behind him.
His lawyer grabs his papers and heads for the door as well.
“Stein, don’t waste our time again. Get your client in line, and tell him to watch his mouth around mine,” Cromack barks before Matt’s lawyer is gone as well.
Cromack spins toward me and smiles. “This is going to be like taking candy from a baby.”
“I don’t want any of Matt’s candy, Mr. Cromack.”
“I know, Charley. You’re a good kid…you don’t strike me as the gold digger type. Your husband’s kind of a dick, huh?”
“He wasn’t always like this. He changed…hell, I changed too,” I say, rubbing my head.
“Look, I know you don’t want to take money you don’t think you’ve earned but think of it this way. All the time you’ve spent unhappy in this marriage? Think of it as a job. All the cooking and cleaning…consider it back pay. The children he didn’t want to give you? That comes at a price when you get divorced. So, stop thinking of it as taking something from Matt that you don’t deserve, and start thinking about what you’ve earned throughout this marriage. You and Matt both have stated on record that it was Matt that pushed you to quit your job when you entered this marriage. Ms. Pierce, that alone is cause for the salary you would have earned times the years you were married. You were an events coordinator for a large hotel chain? That job starts roughly at about sixty thousand dollars, and that’s if you weren’t promoted, and received no bonuses or raises. Multiply that by five years and that’s three hundred thousand dollars. So, even if he were just to pay you that, after he forced you not to work…that’s still more than what you’re originally asking for.”
I guess that does make sense. Damn, three hundred thousand? Wow.
My thoughts are interrupted when I hear Mr. Cromack’s phone ring. I tune out his talking, still stuck in my head, when I hear his voice next to me. “Did you hear me?”
“Oh sorry, what?”
“Another senior lawyer wants to meet with you.”
“Oh?”
“Yes, apparently your case is the buzz amongst the partners, that and when husbands storm out during negotiations, it draws attention. He’s one of the nicer ones; probably just wants to make sure you’re okay,” he chuckles and I smile. Cromack’s a shark, but he’s also one giant teddy bear. “I’m going to go to my office. You come see me before you leave.”
“Okay.”
He exits the conference room and I hear him greet whoever is taking his place. I stand up when the man, who I assume to be the senior lawyer, moves through the room and toward the table.
“Charlotte Pierce,” I say, holding my hand out.
“I know who you are.” He smiles before taking my hand. “J.R. Montgomery.” My heart sinks. Shit. “You are certainly prettier than your pic
tures.”
I’m having a hard time reading him and it’s stressing me the fuck out. “Mr. Montgomery…”
“Call me J.R.”
“J.R.…” I’m not sure what he knows about me or my involvement with his son, so I’m at a loss for words not wanting to share more than he knows.
“You are certainly the talk of the office. Cromack has had wonderful things to say about you. Says your husband is an asshole. And here I thought my son was biased because he’s been sleeping with you for the past five months.”
Fuck!
My cheeks turn bright red hearing his words and I reach for the glass of water that is in front of me as my mouth has gone dry. “I know how this looks but…I love your son very much.”
“Hmm.” He draws a finger over his lips. “The first time I meet my son’s girlfriend is during her divorce proceeding. You’re not starting off very well, young lady.”
I swallow and look down at the ground, the tears welling in my eyes. “I know,” I say.
“Do you think I should trust you?”
“Yes.”
“And why is that?”
God, he’s lawyering me! “Because your son does.”
“My son is blinded by…well…” he waves his hand over me, “you’re a very attractive young woman, Ms. Pierce. Who wouldn’t be?”
“I—”
“I am giving you one chance, Ms. Pierce,” he interrupts. “If you screw my son over, I will ruin you. You won’t be able to talk your way out of it like you are with your moronic husband that didn’t make you sign a prenuptial agreement.”
I nod, knowing that I’ve made my bed and now I have to lie in it. “I understand.” I mean if I were J.R. or Will’s mother I would be skeptical too. They’re just looking out for their son. Gotta have thicker skin, Charley.
“Good. That being said, there is someone here to see you.”
“Me?” I ask, my eyes widening, praying that it’s not another surprise like Will’s mother, for instance.
“Consider your lawyer’s office, a…free space,” he says. “Attorney-client privilege, remember?”
My eyes dart to the door as I see Will walk through it and my eyes widen. Tears fill them as the feeling of not seeing him for the past four days comes crashing down on me. Damn, Charley, four days? You have got to get it together.
“Dammit, J.R., what did you do to my girl?” He shoots his father a glare as I stand up and let Will pull me into his arms. He calls his father J.R. as well? Not Dad?
“We just had a little talk, right, Ms. Pierce?”
I nod. “Yes, sir.”
“Good, now don’t be in here all day, and open a window when you leave,” he says, turning on his heel and closing the door behind him.
* * *
THE SOUND OF THE DOOR slamming shut echoes off the conference room walls. “You’re here,” I gasp, taking a small step forward. Four days, and it has felt like four months. My body responds as it always does when he’s near. Fire and heat and want. “I can’t believe you’re here.”
“Of course, I’m here. I will always show up for you, Charley, always.” He closes the space between us, lifting me onto the long cedar wood table with ease.
I’m lying flat on my back as the warmest sensation takes over my body. I feel like I’m floating in and out of consciousness, pleasured into oblivion. The love of my life’s head hasn’t left the space between my legs in what feels like close to an hour, his mouth giving me multiple orgasms. I let my eyes flutter closed, letting the feeling of Will’s mouth on me lull me to the edge of sleep. His movements speed up, and I feel his tongue moving rapidly over my clit, as two fingers slide inside of me. I faintly hear him ask—demand—me to come but he sounds so far away. My body tenses as I feel my orgasm hit me hard and I bite down on my bottom lip as a moan escapes me. I open my eyes again and Will is staring up at me from his chair positioned between my legs, my arousal spread all over the bottom half of his face. I sit up from lying flat on the cool, wooden conference table and I move into his lap to straddle him.
He rubs his hand over his jaw effectively removing my orgasm from his face but the aroma of my wet sex still lingers in the air. “I’ve missed your pretty pussy,” he whispers sinfully into my ear.
“Mmm,” I moan as my lips find the area behind his ear that I know drives him wild. “It’s missed your mouth.” I graze his ear with my teeth and I feel his cock pulse underneath my naked mound. He had long since removed his pants, knowing that it would be a dead giveaway if the evidence of my arousal were all over the crotch of his slacks.
He pulls me back, his face serious despite our state. “What did my father say to you?”
I shake my head not wanting to get into this now. “Nothing I didn’t expect.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
“Will, it’s okay…I can handle it.”
“I didn’t ask what you can handle. I asked you what he said. Don’t make me ask you again, Charlotte.” Despite his gruff tone, I can’t help but be turned on by his demands. Maybe because he’s so fiercely protective of me—from everyone?
“Just that he was going to be watching me, that’s all… I mean, Will, this is the first time he’s met me. I wasn’t really expecting a ‘welcome to the family.’” I see his nostrils flare and I rub my knuckles down his cheek causing his shoulders to sag, alerting me that the tension is slowly leaving his body. “I’ll gain their trust. Them being skeptical of me just means they love you and want to protect you.”
“If they try to come between us, I swear,” he mumbles before he looks away from me. I shake my head and pull his face back to mine and plant a kiss on his lips, tasting myself.
“They won’t,” I whisper as I find his cock between us and slip him out of his underwear. I slide down onto him inch by delicious inch until he’s fully sheathed in me. “It’s just you and me.”
He nods as I start to move up and down on him, his hands grasping my hips and finding a rhythm. “I can’t wait to have this every day.”
“Anytime you want it, baby, it’s yours,” he groans in response as he leans his head back and looks up at the ceiling. His eyes flutter closed and I know his body is taking him to new heights as my inner walls begin to massage his cock. My hands grip his shoulders as I slide up and down on him, my legs already falling asleep and I know the second we are together in the open, I’ll never take for granted being able to fuck my man in a bed.
I’ve fucked him on more tables, in more chairs, and standing up more times—and I’m ready for the days of lazily making love on our couch, our bed, and the lounger on our porch. I’m craving the days of just…being still. Not hurried kisses and touches and fucks but caresses and lovemaking that lasts well until dawn. I’m ready for a love past the forbidden romance.
“I love you so much,” he tells me, his eyes staring straight into me as if he can see my soul. I wonder if he’s feeling the same things I’m feeling because he stops thrusting and crushes me to his chest. “I can’t take it another second.”
“Take what?”
“Being away from you. It’s making me fucking insane.” He runs his fingers through my hair, gently massaging my scalp before his fingertips dance down my spine, and I shudder at the gentleness of it all. “I’m starting to feel out of control, and Matt is becoming too much of a liability where you’re concerned.”
I sit back in my chair and look at him confused, completely aware that he’s still throbbing inside of me. “What do you mean?”
“He’s cruel to you and hurtful. I don’t like how he speaks to you,” he says as he leans back in his chair. “I know he’s pissed but you were together so long, for him to say these things to you is ridiculous. I know that you think he would never lay a hand on you, but I’m just not so sure.”
I feel my heart skip a beat at his words. I still don’t think he ever would but I hate that Will is so uncomfortable.
“Promise me you won’t be alone with him,” he whispers low.
“Promise me you’ll keep yourself safe until I can do it properly.”
I nod, not knowing what else to say. “I promise.” I rub my nose against his to get his attention back on me as he’s been looking down for the majority of this heavy conversation. He looks at me, the worry and apprehension written all over his beautiful face. “I wish you wouldn’t worry so much. It’s going to cause wrinkles in that pretty little forehead of yours,” I say, drawing my index finger over his frown lines.
“Don’t make light of this,” he says softly and I nod.
“I’ll be safe,” I say, “and soon enough you can do it for me.”
He clears his throat and I wonder if the fact that he’s inside of me coupled with the intensity of the moment has him out of his element. “Thank you, for trusting me.”
“Of course, I do,” I say pressing my hands to his chest. “You’re the only person I completely trust, Will. Wholeheartedly.” I smile, hoping he will feel better about all of this, when he returns my grin, warming me all over.
I know that I’ve only known him for such a short time, but there’s something inside of me that tells me that I can trust him. That he loves me unconditionally, and he’s in this with me. The way he looks at me…hell, the way he’s looking at me now tells me that this is all real for him. Maybe it’s a leap of faith, throwing away years of marriage for what started out as a fling, but I’ve never been surer that there is someone waiting at the bottom to catch me.
“I mean do you blame them?” Lauren asks as she plops down on her plush, white sofa next to me. She hands me a glass of wine filled practically to the brim. I had left my lawyer’s office completely sated, but with Will’s father’s words still ringing in my head. “I mean come on, Charley, Will’s father—a lawyer nonetheless—is meeting you for the first time as you take your husband to the cleaners after cheating with his son? You kind of look like a man-eater and their son is just too blinded by your pussy to see it.” Lauren’s words wash over me. Amazing. At twenty-eight years of age, I’ve had sex with two men, and I’m a man-eater.