She shrugged and sipped her wine. “Nothing. It’s just that I’ve never seen you in anything but complete control. You’re in quite a bind over this woman.”
He wanted to tell her that she was wrong, but he couldn’t. Already he was seeing that he didn’t pull the strings when it came to Ellie. It scared him. “So, what do I do?”
Alana narrowed her eyes at him, as if considering her response. “Honestly? I think you might be going through a typical late quarter-life crisis. Seeing all your friends settled down and married off has got your own biological clock ticking. You should be careful. But just remember, Gabe, you’ve worked too damn hard to screw up your career. Don’t throw everything away because of a pretty face.”
He nodded. “Maybe you’re right.” Had his desire to have what his friends had driven him to marry Ellie, and then ask her to stay in his bed until the annulment? And that was why he’d gone to Alana. He could count on her to give him a straight, practical answer that wasn’t governed by matters of the heart. “Thanks. I knew that’s what you would say.”
“And that’s why you came to me instead of one of the guys?”
He smiled. The rest of their friends seemed to have fallen in love with amazing women. Good for them. Any one of the guys would have probably advised him to stay married to the woman, to have babies and live happily ever after. He was grateful that Alana understood that not everything was about that dreaded four-letter word—love. “You know me too well.”
“And don’t you forget it.”
“Thanks, Lana. But there’s something else, though,” he started, not looking at her. There was one very big piece of information he’d left out.
Her eyes narrowed. “What?”
“Her father assigned me as her mentor.”
Alana blinked. “Christ, are you serious?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s messed up. Forget for a second that she’s Burnham’s daughter. Forget even that you married her. You’re responsible for this woman’s career, and you took her down to the playroom last night?”
Gabe had no excuse. “Yeah.”
“That’s not okay—”
“Everything between us has been consensual,” Gabe told her. He’d made sure of that.
“The problem is with the imbalance of power. She’s young, just out of school. You’re supposed to guide her. Help her. You can’t do that if you’re unzipping your pants.”
“I know,” Gabe admitted and put his head in his hands. “You’re right.”
“You have to quit being her mentor, or quit sleeping with her. Which is it going to be?”
Which indeed?
“I’ll find her a new mentor.”
Alana’s lips pursed in a way that annoyed him. “Interesting.”
In any other life, he could see being with Alana, and while they’d fooled around a little in the past, they’d thankfully decided that they were much better as friends.
“So, in the meantime, what do I do?”
She shrugged. “I find it hard to believe that you don’t have more self-control than that. But, in the same breath, I can’t believe that you’re here looking for advice about women. This is new territory. I think you should avoid her until a judge signs off on the annulment, instead of playing the happy honeymooners. There’s no sense in prolonging the inevitable.” She paused. “Unless you see a future with her.”
Gabe looked into his beer, saying nothing.
“Do you see a future with her?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I know I like being with her. We have fun. I think that’s why I wanted to see her again—getting to know each other, see if there’s something worth salvaging between us.”
Alana hummed, and took a sip of her wine. He couldn’t tell what was happening behind her eyes.
“What?”
“Nothing. You hungry?”
“Starving.” Gabe picked up his menu, ignoring her knowing gaze. He’d told her his problem, and she’d given him some good advice—not that he was sure he’d be following it. He was done with the conversation. “How’s the tuna today?”
“It’s amazing, as usual,” she told him, still watching him carefully. “I’ll drop the subject if you want to drop it.”
“I want to drop it.”
“Another round?” she asked, gesturing to her empty glass.
Another round? His life was a complete mess. He needed at least another six rounds. He could always take a car back to the office. “Yes, please.”
CHAPTER NINE
ELLIE SIPPED HER coffee and looked around the large conference room at the assembled associates and staff of the law firm. She scanned the faces—most somewhat familiar—trying to tell herself that she wasn’t looking for Gabe. With the exception of a few emails back and forth, she hadn’t seen him all day. But really, she hadn’t seen anyone. She’d sequestered herself in her tiny office on the first floor, barely breaking to eat a sandwich at her desk, one by one ticking each item off the list of things Gabe had asked her to do.
She wasn’t about to complain about the work. She didn’t want to be accused of skating by just because she was the firm founder’s daughter. She was willing to do more, stay later than anyone just to prove that she deserved to be there. She drank from her mug again. Just coffee. Not wine or spirits like everyone else. There was no way she was going to let her father catch her with a drink in her hand at a work party.
She looked around at all the people gathered, their rigid postures jovial, but there was no way they were having fun. It didn’t take a keen observer to see the discomfort, the stilted smiles, the awkward interactions. Everyone on their best behavior. It wasn’t the type of party she was used to. “I used to be so good at this,” she muttered to herself in her corner, away from what might be called the action.
Ellie heard Gabe before she saw him. She looked to the doorway, where she watched him enter the room, laughing with another one of the senior associates. He slapped his colleague on the back, and looked up to search the room—his eyes finding hers immediately—and in several long strides, he crossed the room to her.
“Ellie, I’m glad you made it up this evening.”
“Yeah, I just finished up.”
“Sorry if I piled on too much.”
“Don’t worry about it. It’s nothing I can’t handle.”
“You did excellent work,” he told her.
Ellie lowered her voice. “I even took care of that other matter we discussed last night.” Her answer to their annulment.
He blinked quickly. “Good.” His voice lowered. “Now it’s in the judge’s hands until we get a court date, and it’ll all be behind us.” She nodded, and he shifted closer to her. “Now that that’s taken care of, there’s something else I wanted to discuss with you.”
She noted the way his voice lowered, his eyes hooded.
“And what’s that?”
Covertly, he looked over his shoulder. “I want you to come home with me tonight.”
“And then what?”
He leaned in. “I’m going to rip that dress right off you later, my darling wife,” he whispered in her ear before pulling back.
“Is that right?” she asked, when she found her voice, shocked by Gabe’s quiet, but bold declaration. She looked over Gabe’s shoulder and saw another man approach them.
Gabe turned, and she saw the briefest flicker of a frown before he covered it with a polite smile. “Ian.”
“Gabe,” Ian said. “Who is this lovely young lady? Is this Charles’s daughter?”
“Yes. Ellie, this is Ian. Ian, Ellie,” Gabe introduced them.
She offered her hand to him, and he gripped it almost too hard, as if exerting his dominance, and Ellie watched him give her a once-over. She instinctively backed up a little. But he didn’t release her hand, and she knew at th
at moment that she didn’t like Ian. And even though she was standing next to Gabe, she didn’t feel safe with this other man anywhere near her. She cast a look at Gabe, who was also watching the interaction, his eyes narrowed and trained on Ian.
“Ian, how are you doing?” Gabe physically put himself between her and the other man, and offered his own hand, knowing that, per the social contract, Ian would have to release her and shake it. Jarred from the interaction, Ellie stood back farther from the conversation and drank her coffee, completely rattled from the seemingly innocent interaction. Ian ignored her, but Gabe kept his eyes on her until he saw that her cup was empty, and then he reached out to her. “Why don’t we get you another coffee, and I can introduce you to some people you haven’t met.”
With Gabe’s broad, warm palm spanning the width of her lower back, she finally felt safe. His touch wasn’t cold, threatening, like Ian’s. “I saw the way he looked at you,” he whispered, his voice tinged by anger. “Are you okay?”
Ellie nodded. “Thanks for getting me out of there, though. That guy really creeped me out.”
“Yeah. Your instincts were correct. I’ve heard some of the stories, and he isn’t a good guy. A real asshole.” He grimaced, but then turned on a charming smile to greet his colleagues as they walked by.
“Can we get out of here?” she asked.
“Yeah. I can’t wait to make good on my promise to you.”
“Gabe!” she heard someone shout. It was her father; he was quickly approaching and didn’t look happy. Gabe quickly removed his hand from Ellie’s lower back. She was already humming with anticipation of another night with Gabe. Desire pooled between her thighs. They were almost out—so close to the door to freedom, and more than likely, more orgasms than she could count.
“Sir,” Gabe greeted him. “Great turnout this time.”
“Yes, everyone’s been working so hard lately. Which is why I’m sorry to have to do this to you tonight. I just got off the phone. There’s a problem with the Hong Kong takeover you’ve been working on.”
“What is it?”
Charles went into a long, drawn-out explanation about a spooked board of directors, and dissension among their ranks. He needed Gabe to assist them and provide counsel to help them come up with a better deal, and renegotiate the terms of their acquisition. Ellie knew those sorts of things could go on for days, weeks, and from the many details she knew about the deal already, Ellie knew that Gabe had already worked his ass off on it.
“They know you, and trust you. You need to take care of it. Ellie, you know some of what is going on. Give Gabe a hand. Help him with anything he needs.”
“I can do that,” she promised. So much for the sex-filled night she’d planned on. Her hopes were now deflated as she knew that she would be spending the night not in Gabe’s bed, with her ripped-up dress on the floor, but in the office. She would still be with Gabe, but he had turned back immediately into the diligent, serious partner-to-be. Gabe was already on his cell phone. She smiled at her father, but he was already turning around and moving on to the next cluster of people.
“There’s an empty conference room down the hall,” Gabe told her. “It might be better for us to spread out over there. Go get what you need from your office.” He blew out a heavy breath, and she knew that he was just as frustrated as she was. “It’s going to be a long night.”
Ellie nodded, and left the conference room to head to her office. If she and Gabe weren’t able to sneak away for a night at his place, maybe the night wouldn’t be a complete bust. Maybe Gabe was on to something when he said they could spread out in the conference room.
And as she promised her father, she would give Gabe a hand with anything he needed...
* * *
A few hours later, Ellie found herself sequestered with Gabe in one of the firm’s conference rooms to deal with the problems happening in Hong Kong. Ellie watched in awe as Gabe spoke in Cantonese with his client—the CEO of the tech company that was embroiled in the takeover drama. They’d spent their time making international calls, and researching and brainstorming with people around the globe. Normally, a company like that would have in-house counsel but Gabe had explained that he’d known the CEO and founder, now one of the world’s richest men, since he started out. That was why the task of smoothing out the takeover fell to two young Americans half a world away.
Ellie released the pins and elastic that had been holding her bun in place. She shook her head, and her dark hair fell to her shoulders. Gabe watched her, then disconnected the call, put down his phone and rubbed his eyes with his fingertips. “What a clusterfuck,” he said.
“No luck changing the board’s minds?”
“Not yet. They don’t believe the takeover is in the best interest of the firm, nothing that we’ve presented is changing their minds and Tsai is ready to go ahead with it anyway, the opinions of others and consequences be damned.”
Ellie rolled her chair closer to him. “You did your best. We both did. You provided counsel, guidance. And we’ll go ahead and file whatever papers your client needs us to.” She put her hand on his thigh. “I didn’t know you spoke Cantonese.”
He turned his head and looked at her. His golden, wavy hair was tousled and fell over his forehead. He’d long abandoned his tie and jacket, and his sleeves were rolled up over his corded, tanned forearms. He was a gorgeous man. “Are you impressed?” he asked, flashing his white teeth.
“A little, yeah.” She crawled her fingers up his firm thigh, and she felt him stiffen underneath her touch. He blew out a breath.
She squeezed her fingers into the hard muscle. He tensed again, but he made no movement to remove her hand. So, emboldened, she moved her hand upward, toward his fly, and found his dick, already hard and warm in her palm behind the fine material of his pants. She smoothed her palm over him. His lips were pressed together, and he moaned under her touch.
Ellie looked up. Through the frosted glass walls of the conference room, she could see their colleagues milling about in the hallway on the other side of the glass. She assumed that the mixer had finally cleared out, but there were still a few stragglers.
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. “Ellie,” his voice was a low, dangerous grumble. “What are you doing?”
She shrugged her shoulders, still palming, stroking his rigid length through his pants. “You look tense. My father told me to give you a hand.”
There was a giggle in the hallway, and they could see someone’s form lean against the clouded glass. Ellie gasped, but she didn’t move her hand.
Gabe chuckled, and put his hand on top of hers. Instead of moving her hand away from him, he squeezed it and flexed his hips forward in his chair, the minute movement putting him more fully into her hand. He was hard, thick and hot. She squeezed him before finding and pulling down his zipper. She felt his abdomen twitch, and he covered a moan with another cough, which was enough to catch the attention of the people in the hallway. The glass was definitely not soundproof.
The person in the hallway turned toward the glass, but instead of leaving, he reached for the doorknob and opened it. Ellie let out a startled gasp, as one of the guys from family law—Ted, she thought his name was—poked his head in. Ellie and Gabe both straightened, Ellie pulled her hand away from Gabe’s crotch. “Hey, guys. Sorry, we didn’t know you were in here.”
“It’s all good,” Gabe told him through clenched teeth.
“See you guys tomorrow,” Maybe Ted told them with a jovial smile and a finger gun.
Ellie nodded. “Yeah, tomorrow,” she agreed.
“I’ll let you get back to work, I guess.”
“That’d be great,” Gabe told him.
“You okay, Gabe? You look a little tense.”
“I’m fine. We’re just trying to finish up here.” Gabe’s body was so rigid that Ellie was certain he might snap in half.
“You know, you’ll work yourself to an early grave.”
When Ted closed the door, Gabe straightened and removed her hand from him. “Jesus, Ellie,” she heard him mutter under his breath. “You know I’m about to make partner. This is too important for me to screw up. I can’t be embroiled in a scandal any more than I already am.”
He was right, but that didn’t mean she had to like it, or that she was even done. Ellie released him, stood and walked deliberately to the door, making sure to put a swivel in her hips, knowing he was watching. “You don’t think that my job is important to me? I’ve got a lot on the line right now, as well.” She watched him over her shoulder from across the room and saw that he was still in the chair, his legs spread. He’d made no attempt to stuff himself back inside his pants. Watching her with lust-darkened eyes.
She smiled and flipped the lock on the door, ensuring they wouldn’t be interrupted again. She turned to face him. The large table separated them, and they watched each other.
Slowly, Ellie reached back behind her and found the zipper of her dress and lowered it. The material loosened, and she pushed it past her shoulders and down her hips, until it fell to the floor. Gabe stood straight.
“What are you doing?” he asked, almost breathless. “We have a lot of work to do.”
“You’re the one who still has your dick out,” she pointed out. “Want me to take care of that for you?”
His response was a low grunt, as he settled into the chair.
In her matching bra and panties set, stockings and high heels, she took several deliberate steps toward the table. “I’m not sure there’s much more we can do tonight. Plus, the way I feel, I’m not sure if I could concentrate on it right now. You won’t believe how wet I am, right now, just thinking about you.”
She came to the edge of the table, and instead of walking around it, she used more grace than she knew she had, and climbed on top of it. Half crawling, half sliding, she made her way across the table until she came to meet Gabe at his end, and she knelt upright, above him, her thighs spread at his eye level. Their mingled breaths were the only sounds in the room as they watched each other. More conversation filled the hallway and captured both of their attention, and they both looked to the glass.
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