Bradford Sullivan loved to hear the sound of his own voice.

I’d heard it my whole life, heard it in my sleep and waking hours.

Heard it when he was mad at me, definitely mad at me. Annoyed, furious, had enough of my ass making him look bad, had enough of my ass outsmarting him, had enough of me being me.

I got it.

Even I knew that I was an acquired taste. The only person to truly get me was my mom, my mediator, but since she would be away for nearly two months teaching art in France, I had to deal with him.

Him, my father, the great Bradford Sullivan of Sullivan’s, one of the top ten law firms in the country and a global empire eager to make its mark.

The firm began with my great, great, grandfather, and had been handed down to the Sullivan men ever since who lived up to the renowned name everyone knew.

My father always started his lectures with a reminder of that, as if I didn’t know. Then he followed by highlighting how much hard work he and my two uncles put in to the company, and since we ran the flagship branch the onus was on us to set a high example.

I was growing tired of being treated like a child, or like some reckless teenager who didn’t have his head screwed on.

My father was nearly sixty-five and looking to retire soon. He should have done so already, according to his previous plans but hadn’t because of me.

It was my fault.

One hour and a half.

That was how long I’d sat in his office listening to this. With him behind his grand desk, and me on the opposite side doing my best not to wither away.

Jesus. I didn’t know what I’d done to deserve this.

I worked so hard.

My older brother, Preston was the apple of his eye. The favorite, the perfect one. The man my father wanted to run the place. It was why he’d made Preston one of the senior partners, right there alongside him, and not me.

However, Preston couldn’t run the place by himself and dad didn’t trust that I was ready to join the partnership.

I had to jump through hoops, but I still displeased him. Nothing was ever good enough.

It didn’t matter what I did or how well I did it.

It didn’t matter that I came with more areas of specialty than my brother. Or, that a lot of those areas were niche, opening up more business opportunities for us as a firm.

My knowledge, talents, and skills surpassed both of them. Both my father and my brother. Neither of them could hold a fucking candle to me.

So why was I just a mere senior associate, while my father had given my brother all the power?

Apparently dad thought that I, a man of thirty two years old, had no regard for authority, showed lack of professionalism, and had this don’t care attitude that didn’t fit the firm’s ethos.

I’d sat here in the four grand walls of his office for an hour listening to him blow off all his fury at me.

“Are you even listening?” He balked, looking more flustered. His bright blue eyes bore into me.

“I’m looking at you aren’t I?” I shot back.

“I don’t understand why you would do such a good job on the case and then ruin it by making us look bad.”

I sat up straighter and pulled in a breath.

“Dad, I don’t know what the problem is, we won the case.”

The damn Cartwright bankruptcy case took up nearly ten months of my life. It was the longest case I’d ever worked on because it was so complex with its cross border components. My team and I did a fucking great job on the case, and actually made sure all sides got a fair outcome.

We were the complete opposites to that asshole Quin Bailey, the prosecuting attorney, who was going in to clean Cartwright out. Their way would have caused all manner of unwanted loss.

“Judge Pederson, Alex. Don’t act like what you did is something to be excused.” Dad yelled.

I shook my head at him. “You don’t know what happened or even care about that man’s unsavory habits.”

Judge Pederson, asshole number two, would have sided with Bailey if I hadn’t put him in his place and show him that I knew all about his dirty little secrets.

“You’re right. I don’t care. What I care about is that you chose to bring it up in court. It wasn’t the place Alex, he almost held you in contempt.”

“And why didn’t he?” I raised my brows questioningly. “Oh could it be because I’m right. And guess what? Had I not pointed out knowledge of what he gets up to in his spare time months of work could have gone down the drain.”

I’d had months of the idiot trying to undermine my intelligence and I just lost my patience.

Bailey tried to intimidate one of the accountants who was there to give her testimony. He outrightly accused the woman of stealing and fiddling the records so she could pay for her cancer treatment. His behavior embarrassed me as an attorney, and his lack of compassion disgusted me to no end.

It was evil. Low and below the belt.

What happened to the Cartwrights was one of those terrible occurrences where their stationary chain simply just ran out of business. It was literally a case of inexperienced management and unfortunate circumstances that happened over time. Probably with the rise of all these online companies who could offer everyone a better deal.

We’d all seen it happen over the last few years with the recession. Their biggest problem was they were already in debt so there were a number of parties involved.

Baily tried to turn it into something more sinister by implying some type of embezzlement had occurred. That was why the case had dragged on for so long because I had to prove that nothing like that had happened.

As he badgered the accountant, Judge Pederson did nothing. When I objected he overruled me four times and insisted that the questions were irrelevant.

They weren’t because we were at the end of the case, we, Sullivan’s, had it in the bag and they were just tying up loose ends because that accountant hadn’t been able to make it to court before due to being bedridden from her illness and treatment.

I hated injustice, and hated watching others take advantage of vulnerable people so I had to do something to stop it.

Judge Pederson only changed his tune when I asked if he would allow Bailey to take out his whip and flog the woman in public. It was the way I said it that got his attention. I made sure I said it like I was implying I knew something. Then when I asked if he’d prefer Bailey go to a private dungeon and wear a leather suit and mask the man knew a hundred percent what I was trying to say, and that I knew the idiot spent his Friday evenings at a sex club. A full on machoism sex club known to cater for every fetish under the sun. The place where he was known as Master D.

It was one of my private investigator sources who found that out.

Dear old Judge Pederson kept that part of his life private, what with his wife and two teenage daughters.

He must have shit himself when he realized I knew what he got up to.

“Alex, there’s a time and place for everything. What you did was unprofessional.”

“Dad, for what I said anyone could have taken it to mean anything. He knew I knew what I know, and got pissed about it.”

“It doesn’t change things.”

Of course he would never take my side. “Okay… fine. Whatever.”

“I’m not finished with you. Next topic , the college girls.”

Oh Jesus. I’d already listened to this on the phone last night, and this morning. Except he’d screamed more last night. That was what sent me to the club because I know he’d use it as an excuse to not consider me for the partnership.

“What about college girls?” I feigned innocence.

“No more of this shit behavior, Alex. You’re a grown man you can’t be running around town with college girls embarrassing the family name.”

“I was with Emily. You know Emily. We went to Princeton together.” She was the only woman I had for a friend, and she was getting married. We were never bed buddies either, despite everyone’s beliefs. “We were with her sister who is in college.”

“And what were you doing with Emily and her sister?” My father scowled heavily.

I knew exactly what he thought we were doing but since I was done with this one on one I decided to give him a cheeky smile and allow him to believe what he wanted.

“What do you think I was doing dad? I’ll give you a clue, we weren’t playing with her dog.” I taunted.

He gave me that look he used to when I was a child. A look that told me he actually didn’t know what to do with me.

It was one of frustration, and of being completely fed up.

Good, that was how I felt when the angel escaped this morning because I had to answer the fucking phone. It was how I felt now because instead of being here being told off like a child I should have been searching the city to find her.

Instead I had to deal with this shit.

“You don’t take anything seriously do you?” He folded his arms and glared at me.

“Well you wouldn’t believe me if I told you we were rescuing her sister’s cat from a tree so why would I bother to say that?” I smirked.

His nostrils flared and eyes blazed but he just looked at me.

The cat story was the truth.

The paparazzi had on this occasion managed to make me look like the playboy I was trying to step away from.

The other truth was, until last night I hadn’t hooked up with anyone for over ten months. The reason for that was the damn case, and me trying to put on my best self and presentation for the public so that it could be known by the one person who mattered that I too was ready to join the senior partnership at Sullivan’s.

Everything went to hell yesterday when dad called me completely enraged. He’d gotten the complaint from Judge Pederson after the case closed off–the man was probably scared I was going to spread the news of his fetish.

And in the same day Celebrity Gossip magazine chose to put me on their front page with Emily’s sister climbing up my body while Emily was squatted in front of me, looking like she was giving me a blowjob.

The picture was made to look that way and cut out the fact that I’d lifted her sister into the tree to retrieve her cat, and Emily was squatting to get a better look up the damn tree. Emily and I met up on Monday. While we caught up on her upcoming wedding, her sister called panicked that her cat had gone missing.

That was the honest truth.

This kind of shit always happened to me when Marc was away. If he was around I would have at least gotten a heads up on the picture before my father saw it. Marc and I had been friends since high school and he always seemed to stop things like that from getting out. Like my mother, he too would be away for months. Marc was in Hong Kong setting up the training program for the Sullivan’s branch there.

The two people I had to back me up would be out of the picture for what I knew would feel like forever.

“I don’t know what to do with you.” Finally he said it.

“You do know what to do with me, you just don’t want to.”

“You think I don’t want to make you senior partner? Really?” He balked. “Alex you’re a talented lawyer, better than me. You just don’t know how to be professional.”

“Dad, you’re just looking for any excuse.”

He shook his head. “I’m not. You’re my son Alex and this is business. I’ve turned the blind eye for far too long and allowed you to get up to all manner of shit. People aren’t receptive to your blasé, bootleg ways of doing things. So you leave me no alternative but to lay down some terms.”

I pressed my lips together and glowered at him. “Terms?”

The way he looked, tense with his eyes dead set on me told me this was something I wasn’t going to like.

“Terms. I have three. You get one more big case to work on. I checked your work in progress and you currently have ten run of the mill clients, so you can work around it.”

“And what case is this?”

“Devon’s company is being sued for mismanagement. We’re taking the case and you’re going to represent him. You do good and I’ll consider making you senior partner.”

All I could do was stare. Not only was he throwing another case on me but he was making me represent the devil himself.

I called myself the devil in a playful, sexual manner, but Devon Langdon really was the damn devil. He also happened to be my father’s best friend. I hated that guy and thought he was dirty, although I’d never had any proof of it.

It was just the things I’d heard happen over the years that gave me a bad feeling about him. Mom didn’t like him either, and always found some excuse to be away whenever he and his family arranged get-togethers.

“No,” I answered flat out.

I didn’t want to represent him. I couldn’t imagine anything worse.

Dad frowned. “It’s non-negotiable Alex. Of everyone here you have the skills to deal with these sorts of investment disputes. This is a chance to show me that you can contribute to the team.”

“Dad, do you hear yourself. You just said of everyone here I have the skills. That alone should qualify me. I’ve never expected to get by just because I’m your son. In fact I’ve worked hard to prove myself, and that I was deserving on my position. I’m not going to represent someone I think is dirty.”

“Devon is fine. I know him, and he’s clean. Alex I’m on the board of directors for Langdon Inc. I wouldn’t take on anyone I thought would cause trouble.”

Deluded.

That was what my father was. He had that wool over his eyes that made him blind to see what his friend could be.

Something to do with Devon or a member of his family was always popping up.

Early last year the man laid off twenty people from his company in one week. Then he replaced them the following week with cheaper, agency, staff. By the end of the year his wife was rumored to have had an affair with the states attorney. Then the son began the year with a driving under the influence charge. I couldn’t even get started on the daughter, Celeste, the bitch hell spawn.

“He’s guilty as fuck dad.”

Dad’s face turned red. “Alex, you haven’t even seen the paperwork yet. This is what I’m talking about. You can’t go around saying things like that.”

“Have I ever been wrong?” I snapped back and that stopped his next words.

Sure, I knew I could cut people with my abrasive manner sometimes because I said what was on my mind but when I said things like that I was never wrong.

“Alex, you’re doing this or…” his voice trailed off and he shook his head.

“Or, what?”

“I’ll have to make a business decision and choose Johnson to join the senior partnership.”

I felt the blood drain from my body. I narrowed my eyes at him unable to really believe what he was telling me.

“Johnson?” I asked in disbelief. There was a distinct quiver in my voice I was unable to hide.

“He works really hard, he’s been here for eleven years, and is exactly the kind of person I want to lead this firm. I’m planning to retire next year. I want to appoint someone to the senior partnership in the next six months. I hope that will be you. Of course you’ll get the opportunity when I go, but it will be down to Preston and Johnson to make that choice.”

It sounded to me like he’d already made up his mind.

I wouldn’t have cared normally, but this was something I’d spent my whole life working for.

“You’d pick Johnson over me?” I had to ask because I couldn’t believe that was even an option.

“It wouldn’t be about that Alex.” He rested his hands on the table and leaned forward. “I need you to be a certain way, and this is me giving you a chance. Take the case if you want the chance and show me that you can be the man I need you to be.”

I closed my eyes for a few brief seconds to absorb this.

What were my choices?

This was part of my birthright, my heritage and legacy.

I’d always, always seen myself being a senior partner here.

Neither Preston nor Johnson could stand me. If I didn’t up my game now, and allowed my father to choose Johnson that would be it. They wouldn’t pick me when my father retired. Being a senior associate would be the furthest I’d get here.

I opened my eyes again and focused on him.

“I’ll do it.” I answered but with reluctance.

“Good. You have a month to prep an answer for a mediation meeting. Devon wants to meet with you in two weeks to go over the suit.”

I groaned inwardly, hating this already.

“What were the other terms.”

“No more loose women, party girls or college girls. I was thinking that working on Devon’s case would give you a chance to possibly get to know Celeste a little more.”

Well if this wasn’t the day from hell I didn’t know what was.

The sound of the woman’s name made my skin crawl and my balls shrink.

“Why would I need to get to know Celeste a little more?”

“You two have a lot in common. She travels in our circles, you two know each other, you two together would make sense.” My father said that like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Me on the other hand, well…

My mouth dropped when I realized what he was saying. “Dad what the fuck are you saying to me?”

“Alex, I hate your vulgar language.” He hissed looking well and truly annoyed.

Since I was the only one of the two of us who deserved to be annoyed I was going to show him how vulgar I could be. “Dad, please clarify what the fuck it is you mean for me to do with Celeste.” I demanded. I wanted to hear him say it to me. Confirm my thoughts, my horrors.

“You’re thirty two years old Alex, you can’t play around anymore. It’s time for you to think about settling down.”

“Jesus, God in heaven. You want me to settle down with Celeste!” I shrieked.

“It’s not a bad idea. You should consider it.”

“Dad, the woman sleeps around like she breathes oxygen.”

“Son, you do the same thing.” He pointed out.

“No. I do not.” I couldn’t have been more offended that he thought that. I didn’t care what anyone thought of me, but this would be the exception. I cared that my old man thought I was like her. “I don’t cheat, ever. My woman knows I’m with her a hundred percent and I’m loyal.”

I’d had a few long term relationships, nothing really to shout about or miss. I preferred being free and untied because it was less drama, but I was no cheater.

“And I don’t split up families,” I added.

“That was speculation and rumors.” Dad had the audacity to say.

“It wasn’t, the maid caught her live in action. You know Celeste was sleeping with Will Bryn, and worse while his wife was in hospital in labor. Damn it, dad, and damn you. How could you want me to be with a woman like that? My dick’s not going anywhere near her.”

“Alex.” He looked furious.

“No.” I held up my hands. “The case is work related. I accept that but you don’t get to pick any sort of woman for me, and definitely not a woman like that. No.” No way in hell would he do this to me. And, especially not since the one woman I had on my mind had managed to slip through my fingers.

I didn’t have a way of finding the angel, but it didn’t stop me from trying, and the more time I spent here listening to this bullshit, the less chance I had of seeing her again.

“Fine, but I stand by my terms. The case isn’t negotiable. You are to stop this loose behavior with these random women you’re with and no more beautiful PA’s.”

I loved the way he snuck in that last part, as if I had anything to do with choosing my PA’s.

Tracey, my last PA left last month because she was going back to college to finish her studies. The fact that she was beautiful was nothing to do with me. I’d had two other PA’s, both beautiful, but again their appearance was nothing to do with me.

“Dad you’re HR manager picked them, not me.”

“Well to help you along, and lessen the temptation I’ll be using Tracey’s departure as an opportunity to select a great PA for you. This one is coming from Eilesh’s agency, so we know she’s very experienced and should be able to accommodate everything you need her to do.”

Eilesh had a good name in the recruitment world. You knew the people she sent were the best. That didn’t mean though that my father had selected the best person for me.

He reached into the folder that he’d rested on the table earlier and slid a photo over to me, confirming my suspicions.

A woman who looked to be in her mid to late sixties stared back at me, actually looking like she was trapped in the sixties. She sported a beehive up-do and dark rimmed glasses. Wrinkles covered her face as she smiled.

The women looked more like she belonged in a library than in a firm.

“This is Maureen, your new PA.” Dad proudly declared.

What a damn mess, and a joke. Only last night I’d been with an angel, and today I was being hooked up with the devil’s daughter and getting this Maureen for a PA.

Why did I answer my phone?

If this senior partnership wasn’t so important to me I would have ignored it’s ass and took my angel back to bed.

It wasn’t often that I brought a woman to my apartment. In fact, I actually couldn’t remember the last time I did that. We’d usually end up in a hotel.

For some reason it was different with her. I went to the club to blow off steam after I got the call from my dad. I had no intent on hooking up with anyone. I just needed a drink and a place to escape from my troubled mind. Then I saw her dancing by herself on the floor.

Summer Daniels. Pretty name, for a beautiful woman who took me to heaven with her sweetness and left me wanting to consume her.

I’d imagined the beauty in my bed as I watched her dance, and my hands running over that white blonde hair and golden skin.

I had to have her.

I loved a woman who knew what to do in the bedroom, but it was a rarity to find a sweet woman who I could shock, and mesmerize.

The door opened and Kayla, my father’s PA, came in. Her long curly hair bouncing vibrantly against her gorgeous brown skin.

“Does the PA rule go for you too?” I asked under my breath. Kayla was very beautiful, the woman always looked like she was ready to step on the runway.

Dad cut me a sharp glance.

“Mr. Sullivan I have Alex’s new PA here. Shall I show her in?” She asked.

She gave me a curt nod. I smiled back. They all called my father Mr. Sullivan, and Preston and I by our first names.

“Yes, that would be great,” Dad replied.

“Okay, I’ll go get her.” Kayla went back outside.

“I want you to work together with this woman, get to know her and allow her to do her work. She is for keeps as long as she wants to be here. You’ll be spending a lot of time together so make her feel comfortable, and no wise cracks about anything.”

I listened but I’d given up paying attention.

Kayla returned coming in first.

I prepared myself for Maureen, expecting her to be dressed in one of those flared skirts the women wore in the nineteen sixties, and maybe a striped scarf around her neck. Something that would match the hair.

But the woman who walked through the door behind Kayla was not Maureen.

I didn’t think I’d ever had my heart soar before, but I had the pleasure and memory of feeling that today, along with several other memorable memories this woman had given me last night.

At first I thought I was imagining things. I had to be because coincidences like this didn’t happen.

My eyes widened with surprise and delight at about the same time that my father growled with complete displeasure.

I quickly realized that I couldn’t have been imagining anything when I saw the peeved look on his face. I could have laughed at the situation, as I didn’t know who amused me more.

The look of utter shock on the beautiful face of Summer Daniels, my angel, or my father.

Since I shocked and displeased him ninety percent of the time I was going to go with the angel.

Summer.

She was my new PA.