“But I have to warn you, one of the other partners has put forward Ian Smith for the position.”
Gabe frowned and leaned forward. “Is that right?” Ian was an asshole, a suck-up, a bootlicker, with a face that just begged to be punched. Gabe was damned if Ian Smith was going to deter any of his plans.
“I don’t think you have to worry about him, though,” Charles assured him. “It’s basically your position.”
Gabe had woken up that morning knowing that he would be the newest partner, the goal he’d worked for his entire career. He was a better lawyer, and was more well liked, than Ian, but he would prefer if the promotion was a sure thing. He didn’t know what sorts of sneaky tricks and manipulation Ian had up his sleeve.
Charles moved on as if he hadn’t just dropped a bomb on Gabe. “But the reason I wanted to meet with you this morning was to tell you about my daughter, who has just joined the firm.”
That made Gabe start. He’d known Charles his entire life. How had the fact he had a daughter been hidden from him? “I didn’t realize you had a daughter.”
Charles looked sheepish. “She’s illegitimate. The result of an irresponsible affair with an actress years ago. I wasn’t involved with her upbringing, but I should have been.” He shook his head. “The child was a mess. Always getting into trouble. I didn’t approve of her lifestyle, while her mother applauded it—whatever kept her name in the headlines. And when my daughter ended up in some trouble, I helped her out and offered her a way to turn her life around. But I was careful to keep her under wraps.”
Men like Charles Burnham were experts at portraying a clean, conservative image, while covering up the scandals and indiscretions of their buddies. Gabe figured he was much the same. He, himself, had several secrets he wouldn’t want to get out.
Big secrets.
“Is that right?” he asked.
“I bailed her out, literally. But we made a deal—she had to clean up her act, and I would put her through law school and offer her a job.”
“Great motivation to turn her life around,” Gabe said.
“I think you’d be a good fit for her. For the mentorship program.”
The Burnham & Associates mentorship program paired junior associates with those more senior, to show the new attorneys the way the firm worked. It had been a while since Gabe had been paired with anyone, and he wasn’t especially sold on the idea. “It sounds like you want me to babysit your daughter and make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble.”
Charles’s head tilted. “Huh. I never thought of that. But I suppose you might be right. At least meet her before you discount her. I was as surprised as anyone that she’d done a complete one-eighty turnaround. Despite her trouble, she’s just like you. She’s young, sharp and she just might impress you.”
Gabe was skeptical. In his years at the firm, he’d met every type of clerk and newly minted lawyer—the lazy ones, the super-ambitious ones, the ass-kissers, the spoiled ones—and he wondered which category Charles’s daughter would fall into. “Fine. I’ll meet her. But I’m not promising anything.”
“That’s as good as any response I was expecting from you.”
“I haven’t made my career being nice, Charles.”
“No, you made it by being a smart-ass,” he said with an indulgent, avuncular smile. He continued, “I believe Ellie will find herself on a similar career track as yours.”
Gabe’s head whipped upward at the mention of Ellie’s name. No, it can’t be.
“...If she performs as well as I believe she will, we expect her to make partner also. Maybe in the future you’ll both be running Burnham & Associates—maybe it’ll even be renamed Foster & Carrington, by then,” he finished with a chuckle.
Carrington? His worst fears confirmed, Gabe blinked and finished his scotch in one swallow. An image of Ellie flashed again in his mind. Carrington. The lawyer, who was new in town. Just out of law school. The memory of her flushed his cheeks, the image of her full breasts, luscious curves making his breath catch. He shook his head. It couldn’t have been Ellie. Not his Ellie. That would be too much of a coincidence. And Gabe didn’t believe in coincidence.
Charles continued speaking, and Gabe tried to follow, but again part of his mind kept drifting back to Ellie.
He looked up and saw that Charles had his expectant eyes on him. Shit. “I’m sorry?” he asked, trying to recover, prove he was paying attention. His world had just imploded. He’d put a wedding band on the finger of his mentor’s daughter.
“I was just telling you some more about Ellie.”
“It’s nice that you’re reconnecting,” Gabe said, not sure what he could add. Needing to straighten his legs, he stood. He could feel the scotch warm his blood, bypass his twisty stomach and go straight to his head. He felt just a little wobbly as he made his way across Charles’s office and looked out the window to the desert and the mountains in the distance. He turned his head, and saw the woman on the other side of the glass wall of Charles’s office. The fair brunette, who stood next to Rosa’s desk, smiling broadly, was the woman who’d completely rocked him. The woman he barely remembered marrying. The woman he’d fucked on his kitchen table. It was his Ellie.
“And there she is!” Charles announced, turning and seeing her, as well.
Gabe’s breath halted in his throat. He didn’t need to look far to find his new bride. He’d drunkenly married his boss’s daughter. He turned back to the window, unable to face the situation in front of him. He took deep, careful breaths in an attempt to steady himself. It didn’t work. In only five seconds, his life had gone from just merely complicated to catastrophic. There was no way he’d find his way out of this. He was 100 percent royally fucked—personally, but even more professionally. There was no way Charles would make him partner, or even keep him at the firm, knowing what he’d done with the man’s estranged daughter.
Gabe felt the walls close in on him as Ellie stood before him, locked in an embrace with Charles Burnham. When she turned away from her father, she finally looked up and saw him. He caught the brief falter of her smile, and her eyes widened momentarily, but then returned to normal, covering her apparent surprise, before her lips turned upward in a gracious smile.
She was beautiful, sexy and, even though he had intimate knowledge that she was anything but, she looked absolutely demure in her conservative black suit. He could still see the lush curves she attempted to conceal in the heavy material. She couldn’t fool him. She took several steps toward him and extended her hand. He shook it. He had to restrain himself from pulling her to him and kissing her to make up for the time they’d lost when she’d left him on Saturday, but instead, he released her hand. “Mr. Foster. Nice to meet you,” she said, not letting on that they’d met before.
“Call me Gabe,” he corrected. “I hear we’ll be working closely together.” He was unable to remove any hint of innuendo, directed only at her, from his voice.
Charles explained to her what he’d just told Gabe—that he’d be working with her as her mentor. Her eyes widened again at the news—it was unexpected to her, as well—and even though Gabe knew it would be a bad idea to be her mentor, he was just so goddamn grateful to be in her presence again.
They exchanged pleasantries, but Gabe couldn’t take his eyes off Ellie. He could tell that she was trying to make her escape. Gabe caught how expertly Ellie disengaged from the conversation as she took a step back. “It’s been great meeting you, and I can’t wait to start working under you.” Gabe almost laughed out loud at her words, as unintended as he knew they were. He could sense her discomfort; it matched his own. “I should go. I’ve really got to get back to work, anyway. I’ve got lots to do today.”
Charles beamed at her. “That’s my girl. Nose to the grindstone. Maybe you are like your old man, after all.”
Without responding, she nodded, turned quickly on her heel and all b
ut ran from the room. Gabe watched the door she’d vacated, unable to take his eyes from it.
He put his glass on the table in front of him. “Thanks for the breakfast scotch, Charles. It’s quite a substitute for coffee,” he said. “And thanks for everything, but I should be going. I’ve got a lot of work to catch up on, as well.”
Charles nodded. If he suspected there was anything going on between Gabe and Ellie, he didn’t let on. “I’ll let you know when the partners are planning to vote.”
“Please do,” Gabe said, shaking his boss’s hand, before turning and all but sprinting from the room after Ellie.
* * *
For what was probably the tenth time, Ellie pushed the elevator button. “Come on, come on,” she muttered, willing it to come. How was it taking so long? Her heart was still pounding in her chest, and her breath wheezed out of her lungs. She had almost choked on her tongue when she walked into her father’s office and saw Gabe standing there.
She was currently living in her nightmare. Why did she think that having a one-night stand would be a fun little distraction before she could get on with turning her life around? It was one of the stupidest things she’d ever done. But as she considered Gabe, and the time she’d spent with him, nothing about how Gabe had made her feel was stupid.
She thought she’d covered her reaction to Gabe well enough. Her father didn’t seem to have any idea that she’d met Gabe previously. That’s good. Having a relationship with her father was new to both of them. But despite the rough start they’d had, his absence and the trouble she’d caused as a teenager, she knew they could be close, if they both tried. Ellie couldn’t screw it up, though. Even though she was a grown adult—with a job, her own bills—she couldn’t help but crave his approval.
But tell that to the lust that curled up from her core at just being in the same room as Gabe. The passion she’d felt two days before had been reignited. She’d run away from his house on Saturday, not wanting to deal with the reality of wanting him, but little did she know that fate had other plans, and played a cruel hand by putting him in front of her as her father’s associate—her new mentor.
Ellie hit the elevator call button again. “Goddammit, come on.” She needed to get off that floor, and get back to the safe confines of her small office. Away from Gabe, until the time came for them to actually work together.
Someone joined her in waiting. “This one is always slow,” he said, his voice low and so familiar that it was imprinted on her brain. She turned her head and saw that it was Gabe.
He said nothing for a while, but as they watched the light indicating the approaching elevator, he cleared his throat.
“I’m surprised to see you here.”
Her short, curt laugh was humorless. “Likewise.”
“I’m chalking it up to coincidence. Am I correct in doing so?” He still didn’t look at her. “Or did you plan this?” He paused and looked at her, his eyebrows pinched together skeptically. “Or did someone put you up to it?”
She turned her head to look at him, incredulous that he would accuse her of—what, exactly? “What are you talking about? Who could have put me up to it?”
“Never mind. Forget I said anything.”
“What is taking this elevator so long?” she asked, just wanting to hide back in her small office on the bottom floor.
“It’s an older building. And this elevator is slower than the rest.”
The bell chimed, finally announcing the elevator’s arrival. The doors parted and they both stepped inside. She let them close before she turned to face him. “I assure you, Gabe, this is a totally unfortunate coincidence. How could I have ever planned this? Why would I? What would be the benefit?”
He pushed the emergency button, halting the elevator’s course downward. “I don’t know why you might have. Remember, I don’t know you at all. But if you’re playing some kind of game here, or working with someone else, you can forget about it. I’ve worked too goddamn hard to get where I am. I need to know that I can count on your discretion. No one can know what happened between us—that we got married.”
“You don’t have to worry, Gabe. I won’t say anything. This looks just as badly on me.”
“Aw fuck,” he murmured. “I just need to make sure I lock it down, and get the votes before word gets out that we’ll be in court. But listen to me. It won’t get out. I’m used to keeping things under wraps. This is no different.”
Ellie wasn’t sure why, but because of the way he looked at her, spoke to her, she believed him. She nodded.
“Sounds good to me.”
Ellie reached out and pushed the emergency button again, restarting the elevator. It jolted to life, but stuttered to a halt, as the lights dimmed.
Flattening her palms against the wall, she looked to Gabe. “What just happened?”
“Shit,” Gabe muttered. “This happens sometimes. It’s stuck.”
“Stuck?” Ellie tried to calm the hysteria that edged her voice. “I can’t be stuck in an elevator.”
“It’s okay,” he said, putting a hand on her arm, attempting to placate her. “It’s fine,” he told her in a calming tone. She pushed the emergency call button, but Gabe shook his head. “The button doesn’t work. It hasn’t for years.”
Ellie tried to get her breath, but the panic won out, and she leaned against the wall to stop the small box from spinning around her. “We’re going to die in here.”
He laughed, his deep chuckle both soothing and irritating. “We aren’t going to die in here. Claustrophobic?”
She shook her head. “Just afraid of plummeting to my death in a small, metal box. Or, best-case scenario, getting chopped in half during a rescue.”
“I think we’re a way off from either of those outcomes.” He laughed again.
“Did you plan this?” she asked, mimicking his earlier words.
“I guarantee I did not,” he insisted before laughing again.
“This isn’t funny,” she repeated, slapping him on the chest.
“It’s a little funny.”
She looked around. “Okay, we’re stuck, and the call button doesn’t work. How do we get out of here?” Looking up, she saw the ceiling tiles, and briefly considered climbing onto the top of the elevator and scaling the wall to safety.
“We call the front desk. They’ll get the service people in.” Gabe took out his cell phone. His frown wasn’t encouraging. “Dammit. No signal.” He shrugged. “We’ll just have to chill out here until they realize we’re in here.”
“Are you kidding?”
“Afraid not. But it won’t take long. There are only two other elevators. They’ll soon realize this one is out of commission.”
“Okay, fine. What do we do in the meantime?”
Gabe faced her, and a moment passed between them, where a flicker of heat ignited. “I’m sure we can find something to pass the time,” he said, his voice smooth as silk. When she looked up at him, his eyes connected with hers. He was just as sexy as he’d been the night she’d met him when he’d taken her on the Ferris wheel, and the night after that when they’d had sex in his kitchen. Before Ellie could stop herself, she reached out and grabbed his tie, pulling him to her, kissing him. He seemed surprised at first, but then his arms wrapped around her waist. The kiss was hot, all-encompassing, and when she pushed her hips against him, she could feel his rock-hard length against her stomach. He groaned and pressed her against the wall of the elevator, and his hands landed on her thighs, just above her knees. He slid them underneath the material of her dark skirt and cupped her ass in his large, strong hands, and squeezed. But it was the movement of the elevator finally kicking in that separated them, reminding them of where exactly they were.
They pushed apart, and Ellie fought to catch her breath.
“Jesus,” she heard him whisper, as he brushed back his wavy, golden hair
from his forehead.
She straightened her skirt and clenched her shaking hands into fists in an effort to regain control, just as the doors parted on his floor. He stepped out, but she stopped him from walking away. “Just so we’re clear, I’m just as much at risk here as you are. And I’m not playing any game. This is my life, and I’m not going to fuck up my career, or any relationship I could have with my father, for anything. So, let’s just forget anything ever happened between us, okay?”
He looked her up and down. His body was tense. “Fine by me.” But then his expression changed. “I’ll still see you tonight?”
She held the door open with her hand and nodded. “Yeah, I’ll meet you at the address you gave me. I don’t think I’ll get out of here until later. Can I meet you at nine?”
“I’ll be there.”
She smiled. “Thanks.” She stepped past him, out of the elevator, and into the hallway.
“Where are you going?”
She walked away from him. “I’m taking the stairs the rest of the way down.”
CHAPTER SIX
GABE TAPPED HIS fingers repeatedly on the manila envelope. He looked over the balcony from his spot at the Brotherhood’s table at Di Terrestres, watching for Ellie. He couldn’t sit still, and a restless energy made him fidget in his seat. He wasn’t nervous, but he wasn’t completely sure why he couldn’t sit still. Maybe it was leftover sexual tension from their kiss earlier. Maybe it was because knowing that she was his boss’s daughter, and he her new mentor, meant that he couldn’t touch her again.
He checked his watch again—it was a little past nine. She was late, and as his friends started arriving, and taking seats next to him at the table, he wished that he’d asked her to meet him anywhere else.
Alex got there first, holding the hand of his fiancée, Maria. Gabe stood to greet Maria with a light kiss on her cheek. “So, where’s your old lady?” Alex asked Gabe, as he held out a chair for Maria.
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