Chapter 15

Zach

This was going to be the toughest deal I’d ever brokered, but I was confident I was up for the challenge.

That was how I was approaching this thing with Jessibelle. I knew that throwing myself head-first into it was just asking for trouble. She didn’t seem to want to embrace whatever was between us outright, and I knew after everything that had happened in my life, the last thing I needed was another rejection to send me back into my pit of depression. No, I needed to play this very carefully. But I was sure I could convince her I was an option worth investing in.

I still didn’t know what had happened between her and the other lawyer to draw out the venom between them I’d seen in the courtroom. I knew how to read people, though, and I had a pretty good feeling the two of them had some kind of history together, some kind of past that bound them in ways I didn’t understand. Whatever it was, it seemed like it had ended badly, judging by the callous way the two of them brushed each other off. Still, I didn’t like it. It wasn’t good for my case, and maybe she was taking it out on me. At any rate, I was going to find out what the hell was going on there. Because if that asshole was the reason she was edgy, then we had some business together, and it wasn’t going to be resolved in the courtroom.

Of course, I couldn’t help but think that they’d fucked before, but he couldn’t have been the only guy she’d ever been with. She was too good in bed for that, not to mention too much of a catch for that many guys to overlook. I wondered if it was someone else who’d left her so nervous about jumping into a relationship with me or if it was just me that was scaring her off.

Was I that bad?

Whenever we were in a room together, our chemistry was so . . . out of this world. I couldn’t think of any other words for it. It was all I could do not to order everyone else out of the room and take her right there. Sometimes in meetings if she sat across from me, I’d remember how she’d looked on top of me or thought about how sweet she’d tasted in the back of the limo or recall the little noises she made as she came around my dick and I was lost for the rest of the discussion. She had me hooked on her, but did she feel the same when she looked at me? If she did, she was doing a damn good job of hiding it.

***

It’d been about a week and a half since we’d had sex, and I’d completely checked out of the meeting I had called as I thought about bending her over the table and banging her from behind.

“Mr. Rose?” She waved her hand in front of my face, pulling me out of my little fantasy session. I shifted in my seat, blinking and ignoring the stirring in my pants as she looked at me.

“Call me Zach,” I implored her, for at least the tenth time since we’d started working together in earnest on this case. She flushed slightly but nodded.

“Zach,” she replied. “Anyway, what do you think? About going after Frank Redford for the marketing stuff?”

“I think we should hold off on that for now. Keep it in our back pocket in case we need to pull it out later,” I suggested. “Really, I think a lot of this is going to be a waiting game to see who turns against who with regard to the competency hearing.”

“You think my plan will work?” She cocked an eyebrow. “Seems like a hell of an assumption to make if you turn out to be wrong.”

“I’ve already dug myself in this deep,” I said. “A few assumptions here and there aren’t going to ruin me. And trust me, this isn’t that much of a leap. I know these kinds of people, and I know they’d be the first to throw the people they work with under the bus if it benefits them.”

“No honor amongst thieves, huh?” she remarked, deadpan, and I grinned.

“Damn straight,” I replied. They were thieves. That was how I saw them, anyway. There was stepping in to help with the business, and then there was steamrolling over everything I’d put in place and attempting to wrestle control of the business away from me while I was out.

I had thrown myself into studying everything that had happened at the business while I was away. It was so much to catch up on, but I was always up for a daunting task, especially when it meant holding on to the company my father had passed down to Johnny and me.

I hadn’t heard a lot from Johnny since I’d returned to work beyond a couple of phone calls that seemed more like niceties than attempts to figure out how I was doing. He was probably just as focused as I was on keeping everything together. He’d worked his ass off to keep things ticking in my absence, and I trusted him completely. It was just a shame we hadn’t had more time to spend together now that I was doing better.

Reading all the dozens of files Jessibelle had left at my place the first day we’d met had kept me plenty busy. And there was something there, some common thread between them, a pattern I was having trouble recognizing but knew was running through everything. If I could just put my finger on it. It felt good to do some work related to the business again, and I had the double incentive of knowing that the more I had to say about this case, the more time I’d get to spend with Jessibelle. I organized a number of meetings in the office, which had the double effect of reminding the shareholders that I was still very much a part of proceedings around here, and also gave me time with the woman I was falling in love with.

We’d grown closer over the past few weeks and seeing her hard at work had proven to me that she was more than some rich-kid-straight-from-college lawyer with a chip on her shoulder.

Those were a dime a dozen in this city. No, she was something special, something different. I found in her an obvious passion for the game, for winning, the same passion I saw in myself. Maybe that was why I was still interested in her, even after we’d had sex a couple of times. Or maybe I found my attraction as strong as ever because she didn’t act the way I’d expected her to. After so long with the people around me hitting every mark I predicted they would, it was hard not to find myself growing a little bored of their predictability. Jessibelle kept me on my toes, but I still couldn’t figure out how she felt about me.

One day, I brought in coffee for both of us, from the same shop we’d gone to at the start of that fateful night we’d first ended up in bed together. She took the cup and glanced at the logo printed on the side, and I saw her mouth twitch. Whether it was with amusement or disapproval, I couldn’t quite tell, but it was a reaction, and I’d take that for the time being.

“Thanks for the coffee.” She pulled the top off and took a long whiff. “Mmm, that’s just what I need.”

“Glad to hear it,” I held my cardboard cup up to hers, and she tapped her coffee against mine like we were clinking champagne glasses. She smiled at me, her face briefly lighting up with amusement, and I had to smile back. Something about seeing her happy never failed to put me in the best mood.

I’d fallen in love before. I was in love with Alana before she dumped me. But usually, falling for someone felt like a controlled descent. I could decide how far, how fast, how deep I’d go with them. I could hold myself back. It sounded cynical, and maybe it was, maybe I’d never fallen for someone the way I’d fallen for Jessibelle. Because being with her made me feel as though something had knocked me off-guard, taken me straight off my feet, part of me hated it and part of me loved it and couldn’t get enough of her.

Without sex hanging over us, she started to relax, and soon enough, I actively looked forward to our meetings, not just for the chance to hit on one of the sexiest women I’d ever met, but also to spend time with her. She had a great sense of humor and was smarter than a lot of people working in that office. And she knew when to call me on my shit, which was a feature I valued and yet didn’t seem to come across a lot. Now that we were just working together professionally—or, at least, it seemed we were—I was getting to see the real her and falling for her harder and faster than I was sure I was ready for. It was an unsettling feeling, but one I didn’t want to put a stop to.

“When do you think we’ll end up in court again?” I asked casually. She shrugged, glancing at the papers in front of her.

“Why do you ask?” She looked up at me, distracted.

“I want to see you in action again.” I grinned at her, and she rolled her eyes at me playfully.

“Yeah, well, I really think you should get someone with more experience this time.”

“And miss out on you beating those assholes again? Not a chance,” I protested. She returned my smile, a flush moving up her cheeks.

“Noted.” She returned her gaze to the papers, but the smile didn’t leave her face. And finally, finally, it felt like I might be getting somewhere with the sexy lawyer I couldn’t get out of my head.