Chapter Twenty-Five
When another week passed without so much as one sighting of Ruslan and his men, Lori shooed off the bodyguard.
“Neil isn’t going to be pleased,” Cooper told her as he tried to talk her into changing her mind.
“Good thing Neil’s opinion isn’t needed here. I might feel a little guilty if I thought you’d be out of work, but I know that isn’t the case.”
“The Harrisons will be back in a week. I can hang until then.”
Lori felt the need to pack Cooper a lunch to send him on his way. “And I’ll talk to Sam in a week. Sooner if I need to. Now c’mon . . . you’re a young guy. I’m sure there’s some hottie out there waiting to spend time with you.”
Lori stood behind her desk and checked the time. Her next client was in five minutes. She’d scheduled the time to buzz Cooper off between clients to avoid argument.
It wasn’t working.
“Just because everything is silent doesn’t mean there aren’t things in play.”
“That may be, but my life has been interrupted enough because of one man’s weak threats.”
The intercom on her phone buzzed. “Your nine o’clock is here.”
“Thank you.”
“Lori—”
“No. I appreciate your concern, but the truth is, you’re not needed. I’m either here or at home, or with Reed. I don’t need a driver or someone hovering over me like I’m some kind of head of state. I’m a divorce attorney with a few high profile clients. That’s it. Ruslan Petrov has no real beef with me.” Or so she’d been telling herself for the past week. The last straw was when she went to the nail salon to have her fingers and toes painted and her regular girl kept eyeing Cooper at the door.
Lori could never be one to marry one of these rich men with all their rich problems and security.
“Call Neil, do what you have to, but no more.”
Cooper held his hands up. “Fine. But if anything changes. You feel the hair on your neck stand up, you call me!”
Lori grinned. “You’re a good guy, Cooper. Now go find your hottie you’ve been neglecting and make it up to her.”
The slight gleam in his eye told her she’d hit a nerve.
He walked out of her office, his cell phone already to his ear.
She pressed the intercom on her desk. “Okay, Liana, send Mrs. Maghakian in.”
Lori opened a legal pad and waited for her new client.
Wearing a dark blue pantsuit and a simple pair of pumps that complemented the Prada purse, the woman walked in with dark sunglasses hiding most of her face, her hair disguising the rest.
Lori walked around her desk, extended her hand.
The closer she got to the woman, the more makeup Lori noticed. “Mrs. Maghakian, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Thank you for seeing me on such short notice.” The woman’s voice was as weak as her handshake.
“Can we get you something to drink, coffee? Water?”
“No, your secretary already offered. I’m fine.”
With that, Liana left the office.
“Please, sit. Or if you’d like, we can talk over here.” Lori indicated a couch and chair setup she’d placed in her office to help her clients relax. She’d learned long ago that half her job was being a therapist to her clients. Many, like the skittish one in front of her, often needed time to open up about their marital problems. Even if they’d spent time on a marriage counselor’s couch, things took a turn when you were sitting across from an attorney to discuss ending your failed marriage.
Mrs. Maghakian turned toward the couch and sat.
Lori gave her the minutes she needed before taking a seat across from her.
Back rod-straight, the woman looked everywhere in the office except toward Lori. For a moment, Lori wondered if she’d say anything at all before bolting out the door.
Then, with a lift of her chin, Mrs. Maghakian removed her sunglasses, revealing the reason for all the cosmetics. Makeup might have covered up the color of the bruise, but the swelling and broken capillaries in her left eye required more than powder and paste.
“I need to leave him before he kills me.”
Lori’s blood chilled.
“Or I kill him.” Mrs. Maghakian leveled her gaze to Lori’s.
Lori took her work home with her all the time. It was part of the job. There were only so many hours in the day, and then you had face-to-face meetings and days spent in court. The paperwork she needed to go over alone was more time-consuming than any typical day job. Her paralegal secretary was one of the best, and flagged what needed her attention first and what could wait. When a case like Ana Maghakian’s walked through the door, Lori was reminded why she chose the law as her profession.
All day Lori thought about Ana’s side of the story. The story that manifested in bruises on her face, arms, and thighs.
Vivi poked her head through the door at five. “I’m outta here.”
“I’m right behind you.”
“I left the files for the Charleston case on top. You have court in Van Nuys at eight in the morning.”
“I got it.” Lori grabbed the files, which measured two inches thick but would end up thick enough to be dragged in using a small handcart by the time the Charlestons were officially divorced. “I’ll see you in the afternoon.”
Vivi left with a wave and Lori moved around her office gathering the files needed for the morning as well as the one she’d started on Maghakian vs. Maghakian. As far as everything else was concerned, it could wait.
She turned off the light in her office, closed the door, and then paused when she saw Reed sitting in her lobby with a magazine in his hands, one ankle crossed over one knee.
“What are you doing here?”
Reed dropped the magazine and smiled. “Hello, Counselor.”
“Reed?” She looked around.
He stood, took two steps, and took her briefcase from her hand. “Cooper called me.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “He shouldn’t have.”
“He said you fired him.”
“I told him I didn’t need him anymore.”
“Because Ruslan Petrov has been silent, yeah, I heard.”
“You don’t agree.”
“Did it ever occur to you that Ruslan is just waiting for you to tire of the bodyguards and surveillance to make his move?”
Lori grabbed her briefcase from him. “Not you, too.” She started for the door.
“You know I’m right.”
“No, I know I’m right. Trina is closing up the New York house this week and moving to Texas. Ruslan is in Germany, according to my resources.”
“And do you think he would be the one to come after you? The man is smarter than that.”
“Is he?” Lori was more than a little irritated. “And how would you know that?”
Reed opened his mouth and promptly closed it.
“Exactly. I’m fine, Reed.”
“You’re upset.”
“Of course I’m upset. I don’t like people telling me how I need to live my life.”
“Even those people that care about you?”
Reed took her briefcase from her a second time and stepped into her personal space. “I care, Lori. And unless you want to fire me, too, I’m going to make sure you get home safely.”
“In separate cars?”
He kissed her lips in the briefest peck. “I dropped my car at your place and Ubered over.”
It was hard to be mad at him when he’d gone through so much effort just to drive her home.
He nodded toward the door to the office. “C’mon. I’ll drive so you can relax.”
“I am relaxed!” she snapped.
Reed tossed both hands in the air. “If you insist. I’ll drive because I value my—”
She glared at him.
“Because you have work to do, and you can do it on the five-mile drive home,” he teased.
Her glare softened.
“Fine,” she said as she marched by him and waited at the door to lock it. Once she did, she handed him her keys and kept pace until she reached the elevators.
Reed brushed against her as other people in the building piled into the small space, but he didn’t say any more.
She was a mixture of ticked, touched, and strangely turned on.
He cared. Said it out loud as if it was a dedication of some sort. Those words, along with the fact that he hadn’t asked permission but just showed up to stand in for the bodyguard she’d told to go home, said something more than any man before him.
They walked through the parking lot in silence.
Reed unlocked the doors to her Mercedes.
Lori climbed into the passenger seat, put her belt on, and stared out the window.
She needed to start taking some control back in her life. The morning had started out with that in mind. Let Cooper go, find out what Petrov was looking for, and turn the tables by finding out where he was. She’d learned he was in Germany an hour before Reed showed up.
Reed climbed behind the wheel and pulled out of the parking spot.
He took her lead and kept quiet.
Lori found herself staring at his hands on the wheel of her car. Large hands, capable hands. She shifted in her seat and sucked in a breath through her nose.
Aftershave. Something unique to him that had her licking her lips.
He concentrated on driving, not at all realizing she was tapping her toes against the floor of the car and wishing he’d drive just a little faster.
Did he really think she was incapable of taking care of herself? Was it a macho thing, or was it some kind of you silly girl thing?
I care, Lori.
It wasn’t an admission of love or promise for tomorrow, but it was more than she’d had an hour before.
The final light and around the corner they pulled into the parking garage and got out.
Reed reversed his earlier movements and brought out her briefcase and rode up to her condo in silence.
It was quiet, and dark.
Danny must be out.
“Do you want me to leave?” he asked after dropping her case on the foyer table.
She turned on him, pushed him against the closed door, and latched on to his lips.
A few stunned seconds went by before Reed clued in and kissed her back.
Those capable hands reached into her hair and pulled enough to make her break off the kiss. Her reward was his lips on her neck and the grazing of his teeth on her collarbone.
“I want you.”
He filled his hand with her breast and squeezed hard. “I couldn’t tell.”
Lori filled her hand with his cock through his pants. “Liar.”
Reed turned them around, shoved her against the door, and pushed his hips into hers.
She lifted one leg until he grabbed a hold of her thigh, then she tightened every muscle she had, used the door as leverage, and wrapped her legs around his hips.
Reed repositioned himself, her skirt rode high, exposing her panties to the cool air.
Their tongues fought for dominance, her hips grinding against the bulge in his pants.
One hand around his neck to help hold her in place, Lori reached for him. “Now.”
“Here?”
She couldn’t talk, instead she tugged at the zipper of his pants.
“The cameras,” he reminded her.
“Don’t care.” And she didn’t. Only one thought ran through her head. Reed, inside her, right then, right now.
“Okay, baby. I’m setting you down.”
She held tighter.
“Just for a second.”
He placed her legs on the floor, her head buried in his neck, her teeth marking him behind his ear.
Reed kicked his pants away and lifted her skirt until it was on her hips. Instead of removing her thong, he moved it aside and buried a finger in her slick center. “Jesus, Lori.”
She bucked against him. “Please, Reed.”
He chuckled and lifted one of her legs to his hip again, his erection already teasing her. “I hope we can do this without a trip to the ER.”
With her grip on his shoulders, she wrapped her other leg around his waist, forcing his cock deep inside her. “Yes.”
“Hold on, Lori.”
She did, and he did all the work. The depth, the angle, the fact he was taking her with her clothes still on against the door. All of it hit several sexual fantasies all at once. Even the thought of someone possibly watching on the other end of those cameras all over her home added to the excitement.
Everything contracted inside her, and Reed cussed.
She pulled his lips back to hers and he thrust harder, faster, until she couldn’t breathe. So close, so very close.
“Come for me,” he breathed in her ear.
Her head fell back, her body arched. “Now, let go, Reed.”
He did, right then, and together they reached that place they fought hard to find. As they floated down, Lori’s body spasmed and took more than Reed willingly gave the first time.
Lori wilted. One leg dropped before Reed recovered enough to capture the other.
He swung her into his arms and walked her to her bedroom, followed her down as he laid her on the bed.
“I feel so much better,” she muttered.
He collapsed to her side. “I think you killed me.”
Something in her back hurt more than a little. The molding on the door probably left a mark. It didn’t matter, she’d do it again if given the chance. “That was fabulous.”
“Outside your wheelhouse?” he asked, teasing.
“So far outside I don’t recognize me.”
“I like this version of you.”
She opened her eyes to find him staring at her. “I like it, too.”
“Next time I’ll make it last longer. Maybe I’ll take you against that big glass window of yours.”
“At night, with the lights below.”
Reed shook his head. “Broad daylight, for everyone to see.”
God help her.
“Ohhh, Lori likes that.”
She ran her hand down his hip, dragged her fingernails along his thigh, felt him twitch. “You like it, too.”
“I can be convinced.”
“Convinced? And what kind of prodding am I going to have to do to achieve that?”
He turned away, lay on his back. “I’m sure you can come up with something.”
Leaning up on her forearms, she unbuttoned the rest of her shirt and tossed it away.
His eyes watched and his cock swelled as she pulled her skirt down and off . . . panties, along with her bra, were next.
One leg over his hips and she straddled him, taking the lead and doing all the work.
Three mind-numbing orgasms and they hadn’t had dinner. It was like Lori was on a sexual high and he was a vessel for her pleasure. Not that he was complaining. If this was what picking her up from work was going to result in, he’d happily play chauffeur.
Lying to his side, her arm thrown over her head, Lori was working on catching her breath.
“Good God, I needed that.”
“You might have killed me,” he teased. He looked down. “Yep, it’s dead.”
Lori started chuckling. “He died happy.”
He liked her like this, carefree and lax. After two months of dating, he’d learned that it wasn’t her normal. She carried the weight of too many people for a single woman without kids.
“Why were you so stressed?”
She sighed. “I don’t know. Everything just built up inside. Ya know?”
Reed rolled to his side and pulled the sheet over the top of them before resting his hand on her flat stomach. “Same buildup or new buildup?”
“Both. I had this new client come in. What a shit storm this is going to be.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, she’s thirty-six, stunning . . . under all the makeup and bruises.”
A muscle in his arm twitched. “Her husband is hitting her.”
Lori glanced at him, blew out another long breath. “Hitting? No, beating the crap out of her. Who does that?”
“Not a real man.”
She rolled on her side, tucked the sheet higher over her breasts. “It’s hard. I wanted to grab her hand and run her to the nearest police station.”
“She doesn’t want to press charges?”
“He’s a very powerful man. I’ve learned that powerful men have a way of getting away with everything. She’s right in being careful about who she tells what.”
“But she came to you.”
A tiny, satisfied smile crossed her lips. “I do know people. People that can protect her while she severs herself from his life.”
He couldn’t imagine.
“She doesn’t even want his money. She just wants to get out.” Lori shook her head. “How can someone be an eight-year punching bag for someone else and not want them to pay?”
“If she were my sister, I’d kill him.”
Kindness swam in Lori’s eyes. “You’re a good man.”
“Not always,” he confessed.
She took his words as nothing more than humility and patted his hand over her waist. “How did she not see it before they were married? If she’d come to us before saying I do, we would have flushed this out before the wedding.”
“What do you mean?”
She ignored his question as she finished her broken thoughts. “What am I saying? There is no guarantee. Look at Trina. None of us had a clue about Fedor’s instability.”
He knew all those thoughts linked inside her head, but he was lost. “Back up, babe. What are you saying? It’s your job to determine if someone is suicidal?”
“With Alliance, it is.”
“Am I supposed to know what Alliance is?”
“Alliance is Sam’s service. She matches eligible clients with a wife, or a husband, but those aren’t as common.”
“Like a dating service?”
Lori looked directly at him. “This stays between you and me.”
For a second he considered telling her to keep her secrets, but then he’d have to confess his. That halo she’d placed over his head was slipping way below the waist. “Of course.”
“There are men out there who need a wife . . . temporarily.”
The pictures in his home and all the lines he’d drawn between Lori’s friends and her . . . and Samantha Harrison. “Like Trina’s husband?”
“Right. Fedor wanted to reassure his mother. He knew she was dying and didn’t see the harm in marrying just to make the woman’s last days happy.”
Like snow falling in exactly the right place, everything started to come into focus. “And what did Trina get out of this?”
“A paycheck for a year of her life. The relationship is on paper. That’s understood. Nothing physical.”
“And that works?”
“Most of the time. There is the occasion where the marriage works.”
He rolled on his back. “Shannon . . .”
Lori huffed. “You didn’t hear that from me.”
“Jesus . . . Avery?”
“Everyone got out of their marriages everything they wanted.”
“Except Trina.”
Lori pushed a strand of his hair out of his eyes.
“Fedor wasn’t supposed to take himself out. And Alice certainly wasn’t expected to leave everything to her daughter-in-law. So, yeah . . . I’ve been a little more stressed than normal.”
His heart started to pound. “If Ruslan Petrov found out about this, he could really screw up everything.”
“Yeah, which is why Sam wants all this security. But I don’t think for a minute he’s on to anything. He’s a bully.”
What an utter cluster fuck this was.
Noise from beyond her bedroom caught their attention. “Well, hello . . . did someone lose their pants out here?”
Lori cracked a smile and buried her head in his shoulder. “Danny.”