by Anna Stone
Emma didn’t need Lillian to speak to know what it meant. She ran her hands down the front of Lillian’s chest, grazing Lillian’s stiff, pink nipples with her fingertips. Emma continued down Lillian’s stomach, her hips, and down to where her thighs met. She parted Lillian’s lips with a fingertip and ran it up and down her velvety folds.
Emma glanced at Lillian through the sheets of falling water. “I want to taste you.”
With a shuddering breath, Lillian closed her eyes and leaned back against the wall. “Yes.”
Before Emma knew it, she was on her knees. Water cascaded down the creases of Lillian’s hips and thighs as she spread her feet apart. Her pale pink lips glistened enticingly.
Emma leaned in and kissed the baby-soft skin of Lillian’s inner thighs. Lillian’s sweet scent flooded her head. She kissed her way upward and slid her tongue into Lillian’s slit, causing her to hiss softly.
Emma licked and sucked every inch of Lillian’s folds, savoring her taste. It was indescribably complex, somehow sweet, salty, and sour all at once. And it drove Emma wild.
Lillian dropped her hands to Emma’s head, her fingers twining through Emma’s damp hair, a silent command not to stop. Emma worked away, her knees aching from the hard tile floor, relishing the effect she was having on Lillian. Every sound Lillian made, every shudder that went through her body, sent heat shooting through her.
Lillian’s moans grew louder, and her hands pressed harder into the back of Emma’s head as she thrust desperately against Emma’s mouth. Then her thighs clamped around Emma and her whole body quaked, a string of curses flying from her lips.
Emma left the bathroom wrapped in a towel. They had spent the last hour in there, making up for lost time once again, until Lillian kicked Emma out because she wanted to have an actual shower. Apparently, she found Emma’s naked, soapy body too distracting. Or maybe it was because Emma refused to keep her hands to herself.
She sat down on the edge of the bed and began searching through her bag for something to wear. As she pulled out her oversized sweatshirt, she noticed her phone half-buried under all the clothes. She had thrown it in her bag on Friday night, and with everything going on, she hadn’t looked at it since.
Emma pressed the power button, but the battery was dead. She rooted around in her bag again until she found her charger, plugged it into the wall, then connected her phone. She grabbed a pair of jeans and threw them on with a T-shirt and the sweatshirt. By the time she was done getting dressed, her phone had enough power to turn itself on.
Emma unlocked the phone. She had a dozen missed calls from her mom, as well as a series of increasingly frantic texts. Crap. It was her sister’s birthday today. Emma had completely forgotten about it. She had told her mom that she would drop by in the morning. It was evening now.
Emma dialed her mom’s number. “Mom? Sorry I missed—”
“Emma? Are you all right?” her mom asked. “Where are you?”
“Mom, I’m fine.” Emma told her mom a very censored version of what had happened on Friday.
“Oh my God, Emma. And you’re up there all alone? I’m coming right now. I’ll have to find someone to keep an eye on the kids—”
“It’s okay, Mom. I’m okay. I’m not alone. I have Lillian. My girlfriend.”
“Right. I forgot about her. Is she taking care of you?” her mom asked.
“She is. I’m in good hands, I promise,” Emma replied.
“Okay. But I’m still coming up there to see you. I should be able to get some time off on Monday.”
Emma’s mom proceeded to fuss and worry over the phone. Emma could barely get a word in. After a while, the twins started yelling in the background, and her mom had to go.
“I’ll talk to you later, Mom,” Emma said.
“Rest up, okay honey?”
“Okay.”
As soon as Emma hung up the phone, Lillian walked out of the bathroom wearing a bathrobe, her hair wrapped up in a towel.
“Lillian?”
Lillian sat down on the bed next to her. “Yes?”
“I just talked to my mom. I told her what happened, and she’s insisting on coming to see me.” Emma gave Lillian her sweetest look. “How do you feel about meeting my mom?”
Lillian didn’t miss a beat. “I’d love to.”
“Great. She already knows about the two of us. But I haven’t mentioned that you’re my boss… well, soon-to-be-former boss. She might need some time to adjust.” Emma’s mom was also under the impression that her boss was a bit of a tyrant. Emma would have to talk to her mom beforehand. “She’s coming tomorrow.”
“That’s fine,” Lillian said. “But I have to take care of things in the morning first.”
The look on Lillian’s face was clear: She was on the warpath. And Emma didn’t envy whoever got in her way.
31
Lillian
Lillian marched into the AG&W offices. It was time to get to end this once and for all. Ignoring Bridget’s customary greeting, she made her way to Thomas’s office. She reached for the door handle, ready to charge in, then knocked instead. She had to be tactful if she wanted him to cooperate.
“Come in,” Thomas said.
She opened the door and walked inside.
“Lillian? You missed the partners’ meeting this morning.”
“I know.” She sat down in front of his desk. “I was with Emma.”
“What?” Thomas blinked rapidly. “Are you admitting that the two of you are together?”
“Someone broke into her apartment on Friday and knocked her unconscious.”
“Shit, is she okay?”
Lillian’s stomach sank. His surprise seemed genuine. It would have been much easier if Thomas were behind everything. “She’s fine. But I have reason to believe that someone in this office was responsible for it. Among other things, like breaking into my apartment.”
Thomas crossed his arms. “Let me guess? You think it was me?”
“No. I don’t think you did this.”
“You don’t?”
“You’re not stupid enough to break the law over a petty workplace feud.” Lillian had concluded that the culprit was someone who had something to gain from her losing her job. But she suspected that they were acting out of desperation rather than maliciousness. If whoever was doing this wanted her to suffer, they could have triggered the virus on her laptop and had her arrested.
“Then why are you telling me this?” Thomas asked.
“Because I need you to know how serious this is,” Lillian said. “Because I’m going to ask you a question, and you’re going to answer it honestly.”
“Sure, anything.”
Lillian was surprised by how cooperative Thomas was being. Maybe he wasn’t as much of an asshole as she thought. “Who did you tell about Emma and me?”
“No one,” Thomas said.
“Are you sure? Not Bridget? Not your drinking buddies?”
“Yes, I’m sure. Wait.” Thomas furrowed his brows. “Avery. We had a few drinks together a couple of weeks ago. I wasn’t planning on telling him; it just slipped out.”
Lillian’s blood ran cold.
“Hold on. You don’t think he did this, do you?”
“Where is Avery now?” Lillian asked.
“He’s in a meeting with the guys from Hammond Industries,” Thomas replied. “Lillian? This is crazy. Why would Avery do something like that?”
Lillian got up from her chair. “Thank you, Thomas.”
Ignoring Thomas’s protests, Lillian left his office and made her way to the meeting room. Avery. He’d always been unscrupulous, despite the image he projected to the world. But Lillian never thought he’d turn on her.
Lillian stormed into the meeting room. “Avery. I need to speak with you. Now.”
Avery turned to her. “Lillian? Can’t you see that I’m in the middle of a meeting?”
“I don’t give a damn.”
The men sitting around the table shifted in the
ir seats.
Avery placated them with a half-smile. “Excuse me for a moment, gentlemen.” He joined Lillian in the hallway, shutting the door carefully behind him. “Have you gone insane?”
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Lillian said.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“We should talk in my office.”
“Lillian. I have the Hammond from Hammond Industries in there. Whatever it is, it can wait.”
“No, it can’t,” Lillian said. “You’re going to come with me right now. Or I’m going to go into that meeting room and announce to Hammond that AG&W is so far in the red that his money is the only thing keeping us from going bankrupt.”
Avery blanched. “You’re serious?”
“Do I look like I’m joking?”
Avery pinched the bridge of his nose. “Give me a moment.” He opened the meeting room door and stuck his head inside. “There’s a small emergency that I need to go deal with. I’ll be right back.”
Hammond did not look impressed. Nevertheless, Avery followed Lillian to her office. She shut the door behind him and sat behind her desk.
“You have one minute to tell me what the hell this is about,” Avery said.
“You’re not in a position to make demands, Avery,” Lillian said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I know that you’re behind the break-in at my apartment, as well as Emma’s. I know that you’re having me followed. And I know that you hacked my laptop.”
“What are you talking about?” Avery asked.
“Don’t play dumb with me. You know damn well what I’m talking about.”
“No, I don’t.”
For a moment, Lillian wondered whether she’d gotten it all wrong. Avery’s surprise seemed just as genuine as Thomas’s. But then she remembered how good Avery was at bending the truth. After all, he’d taught Lillian everything he knew.
“Avery. If you don’t start talking, not only will I tell Hammond about our finances, I’ll tell every single one of our other clients.”
“You’re talking about sinking this firm because, what, you think I broke into your apartment? Do you have any idea how crazy you sound right now, Lillian?” Avery’s expression transformed into one of concern. “You’ve been under a lot of pressure lately. It sounds like the stress might be getting to you. Maybe you should see someone.”
“Cut the shit, Avery. The woman I love was hurt because of you. I’m not playing games. I will sink this firm if I have to.” Lillian had only meant the words as a threat. But as she said them, she realized they were true.
Avery stared at her, his face slowly darkening. “You’re bluffing. That would be career suicide.”
“Do I look like I’m bluffing?” Lillian held his gaze. “Start talking. Now.”
“Fine. Fine!” Avery held up his hands in resignation. “I was trying to figure out a way to force you to resign. Are you happy?”
Lillian’s heart sank. “Why, Avery? After all these years. Why?”
“Because the firm is in trouble. It’s not going to survive much longer. I’ve looked into every option. And the only one left is a merger with Browne & Associates.”
“Let me guess. The merger means that someone will have to step down as partner?”
“Yes,” Avery replied. “There isn’t enough room for all three of us at the top.”
“But why me? Thomas is one of the worst attorneys to ever work at AG&W. And he’s barely been a partner for a year.”
“It isn’t me who wants you to step down,” Avery said. “It’s Browne. You’ve met him, haven’t you?”
“Yes.” Lillian had disliked him from the start. But she would have sucked it up to work with him like she always did. At least, the old Lillian would have.
“You know how conservative he is. Thomas comes from an established family of attorneys going back generations. The Gordon name holds weight. And Brown thought he’d be a better fit for the culture of the firm.”
“The culture?” Lillian scoffed. “Do you mean the fact that the entire firm is made up of wealthy white men?”
“Those were his words, not mine,” Avery said. “Given the choice between the two of you, he’s insisting that Thomas take the remaining senior partner position. But I knew you’d never agree to step down.”
“You’re damn right I wouldn’t.”
“That’s why I had to take matters into my own hands,” Avery said. “I built this firm up from nothing. I’ve poured decades of my life into it. I just couldn’t let it go under. It’s nothing personal.”
The room fell silent. There was a thin sheen of sweat on Avery’s forehead.
“Start from the beginning,” Lillian said. “Tell me everything you did. I want the truth. Unless you want me to start calling clients?”
“No.” Avery sighed. “I hired a private investigator to look into you. I was trying to find dirt that I could use to invoke the ‘inappropriate conduct’ clause of your contract. Everyone has dirt, Lillian. Except for you, apparently. Then, when Thomas told me there was something going on between you and Emma, I knew it was true. He was spot on about your behavior toward her being unusual. So I had the PI look into Emma as well.”
“You went digging through Emma’s life too? You had her followed?”
“Yes. I thought that she was far more likely to slip up than you.”
Lillian’s blood boiled. Emma hadn’t even noticed. Hell, Lillian had only noticed she was being followed because everything else that was happening had made her paranoid. They were lucky that Thomas didn’t tell Avery about the two of them before they went to San Francisco together. They had been so brazen about their relationship while they were there. She had no doubt he would have sent someone to watch them if he’d known.
“But neither of you gave anything away, and it became clear to the PI that you were starting to catch on. That’s when I got desperate.” Avery averted his eyes. “I had him to break into your apartment to see if he could find anything. He was mostly looking for evidence that you were having a relationship with Emma.”
“Private investigators don’t break into private properties,” Lillian said. “They have to follow the law, just like everyone else.”
“Some of them will do anything for a price. He didn’t find anything in the end. You were too careful. So I had him look through Emma’s apartment. She wasn’t meant to be there, Lillian. Someone else was supposed to watch her and make sure she didn’t leave work. My guy got spooked—”
“Your guy got spooked by a 110-pound woman, so he knocked her out and left her alone and unconscious on the fucking floor?” Lillian asked.
“That’s not how it happened.”
“Did he even check to see if she was still breathing? Or did he simply leave her there, not caring whether she was even alive or not?”
“It was an accident, Lillian, I swear,” Avery said. “She was never meant to get hurt.”
“What the hell did you think would happen when you hired a criminal to do your dirty work?”
“I know, okay!” Avery put his head in his hands. “I never meant for any of this to happen. But she’s fine, isn’t she?”
“You already know that Emma is fine,” Lillian said. “I’m sure you have someone keeping an eye on things.”
“Only because I had to know if she was okay. I feel terrible.”
“What about the virus on my laptop? The program to download illegal files? Were you going to activate it, then call the police on me so that I get thrown into jail?”
“No, I was never planning to use it. It was a last resort. I never triggered it, and I never would have, I swear. I didn’t want you in jail. I just wanted you gone from AG&W. That’s all. I didn’t want to do any real damage. I didn’t want anyone to actually get hurt,” he said again.
Lillian let the silence stretch out. Avery’s guilt was genuine. He was too proud to fake any vulnerability. She didn’t give a damn about his feelings. Not a
fter what he did to Emma. But she could use this.
Lillian got up from her desk and began to pace behind it. “You’ve just confessed to a number of felonies,” she said. “Conspiracy, accessory to burglary, assault, not to mention various cybercrimes.”
Avery lifted his head from his hands and opened his mouth to protest.
Lillian held up a finger. “On the other hand, I’ve just admitted to a relationship with Emma. I won’t deny it any longer. Which means that you and Thomas have every right to push me out. But you’re not going to do that.” Lillian placed her hands on the desk and leaned toward him. “Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to give me two weeks to get everything in order. When those two weeks are up, I’ll resign. With a generous severance package, of course. And then you’ll have your merger.”
Avery frowned. “That’s it? You’re not going to go to the police?”
“Not if you keep to our agreement.” Lillian hoped that Avery was too shaken to notice all the holes in her logic. “We both know the police won’t find anything to connect you to this. I’m sure you’ve covered your tracks well, this time at least. But you said it yourself. Everyone has dirt. What will I find if I start digging through yours? Something the police will be interested in hearing about? The IRS? The FBI maybe?”
Avery paled. This time, Lillian was bluffing. But clearly, she’d hit a nerve.
“All right,” he said. “We have a deal.”
Lillian smiled. “You’d better get back to your meeting.”
“Shit.” Avery stood up and headed for the door. “Look, Lillian, I’m really sorry. About Emma especially.”
“If you ever do anything to hurt Emma again,” Lillian said, “if you ever go near her again, I will bring this entire fucking firm crashing down on your head.”
“I won’t. I promise.”
Lillian watched Avery leave her office. She was going to bring him down anyway. All in due time.
32
Emma