CHAPTER ONE
Alisa
I’d never experienced anything more nerve wracking than I did sitting across from Zek Kellington again. The financial mogul who had brought himself up from nothing to become a shining star in the vast sky of investments was still the boy I’d fallen in love with as a girl. His deep voice and piercing gaze undid me in a matter of minutes and escaping was all I could think to do.
I knew him well enough to know that he wouldn’t let bygones be bygones. He would get up from the quaint table in the middle of La Terange and follow me outside. Taking a sharp left down the alley wasn’t the most brilliant idea I’d had in a while, but it saved me from having to stand in front of him again.
“It’s fine. Let it go,” I mumbled to myself before picking my walk up to a jog. My car was parked a few lots over, due to the demand for space in the popular downtown area. The jog would do me good. I needed something to bleed my desire into anyway.
Seeing him left me overwhelmed and diving into the many visions I’d had of the future while growing up. It was a future where he and I were together and love was a commodity that never failed to surround us both. How things have changed.
Not only had I not seen him in eighteen years, but to have to reacquaint ourselves under his current situation left me at an unfair disadvantage. He was being charged with rape of a young intern at his firm, and to my understanding, he was soon to face charges of insider trading. Whether he was involved in the trading scandal was beyond me, but the rape had to be a lie.
How many times had I tried to get him to take our make-out sessions beyond something soft and caring to hot and carnal when I was younger? He wouldn’t think of taking advantage of me or anyone else back then. Something told me that he was very much that same guy. His standards couldn’t have changed much, but his judgment was certainly skewed.
After getting into my BMW and buckling up, I started the car and hit the button on the dash to call my brother. He wouldn’t be surprised about me seeing Zek, but maybe it was time to open up a little. Time to tell him about the torrent of emotion threatening to strangle me now that the meeting was over.
“Carl Beeler. What can I do ya for?” His warm, friendly voice never failed to force a smile onto my face.
“Why do you answer the phone like that when you know it’s me?” I chuckled and pulled out into the busy side street ahead of me.
“Consistency, Sis. You gotta maintain consistency, no matter who’s in front of you.” He snorted, laughing at himself, which was very much his style. He was anything but consistent.
“Are you and Cathy free tonight? I need to talk to you guys and just hang out with someone who loves me.” I ran my fingers through my hair, destroying the professional look I’d worked hard to create.
“Yeah. Get your ass over here. I’m already home and Cat will be here any minute. We’re having hamburgers, so no fancy-pants food, but you need to get away from that stuff from time to time anyway.” He snorted again and I rolled my eyes.
“I’m stopping by my apartment and then I’ll be there. Need me to bring anything?”
“Nope, just yourself.” There was a brief pause. “Okay, well, see you soon, and Sis… you okay?”
“I’m okay. I think.” I let out a sigh and pulled the car onto the freeway, pressing the gas and letting the acceleration tug at the part of me that didn’t want to behave at all. I kept that part locked up tight. It just seemed better for everyone involved that I did.
“Alright. I love you.” He hung up, leaving me to the silence of my car.
“I love you too,” I mumbled to the empty space around me and pursed my lips. I wanted Zek’s case so fucking bad, and yet I knew it would lead to far more than a few more accolades for my career. He seemed to be struggling with recognizing me when I first walked in, but I knew who he was without question. I’d followed bits and pieces of his career over the years, hating myself for wanting to know, but needing to nevertheless.
The phone buzzed under my bag in the passenger’s side seat, and I hit the button to pull the call through the car’s console.
“Alisa Manning.”
“Alisa. It’s Lizzy. How did the meeting with Zek go?” The older woman, who’d been part of my hiring process at Dellup and Brown, was not only assured to be a great ally to me in the future, but was Zek’s sister-in-law. I had to tread carefully.
“It was okay. I’m not sure that taking either of his cases will be a positive move for us as a firm though. I know you’re not taking them on because of your familial ties, but we grew up together, and after seeing him...” I had no words that could accurately describe just how taken aback I was by him.
He was an enormous personality who was only outdone by his wickedly sinful good looks. If it wasn’t his thick, broad shoulders that promised impeccable protection from any storm, it was his kissable pink lips that tugged at every part of me. I coveted them. Wanted them all over me.
“You still there?” She must have said something more, but I was lost in the image of Zek making up for lost time.
“Yes. Sorry. Traffic is heinous.” I turned on the air conditioner and pointed the vent directly toward my face, hoping to force my attention span to stay awake.
“It’s okay. We can talk when you get home tonight, but I want you to consider taking at least one of these cases with Zek. I know you have some history with him, but it’s twenty years back. Surely nothing still exists between you after that long, right?” She wasn’t asking, though she posed her enquiry very much like a question might sound.
“No. There’s really nothing to remember either. He was a good friend to my older brother. I might have had a childhood crush on him, but it was nothing. You’re right.” I let out a quick puff of air. “I guess I’m just overly sensitive to the idea of bending my ethics in any way, shape or form.” I had to get myself off the radar for Zek’s cases. Diving in deep to save him just sounded far too much like something I would spend my last dime to do. That feeling alone left me with full awareness that I should walk away.
“Good. There’s no bending of ethics then. I understand if both cases are too much of a caseload for you. Let’s talk soon about which one you’d like to engage.” She paused, then added, “Thanks for meeting with him. I know he’s innocent. Now, we just need to gather the evidence to prove it.”
“Right. Thanks for the opportunity.” I dropped the call and growled as I pulled off the freeway and took the long way to my brother’s house. Now I just needed to pray like hell that Zek wouldn’t inform Lizzy of me denying him and walking out. Or, maybe that was the best way to handle it. Perhaps I’d hurt his feelings or defamed him enough with my subtle denial that he wouldn’t want me as his attorney.
“Please let that be the case.” I pulled up to Clark’s house and sat in the driveway for a few minutes, trying to still my racing heart. Thinking about Zek put me into a place I never wanted to be in again. Desperation could belong to someone else. I was over needing or wanting anything a man could provide.
Least of all Zek Kellington.
***
“Hey, girl.” Cathy opened the door and pulled me into a warm hug, not letting go for a few seconds longer than I might reasonably find comfortable.
“That my baby sister at the door?” Clark walked into the foyer and smiled. “Kids! Aunt Alisa is here.”
“Hey, Cat.” I moved back from her hug and walked into the tiny entryway before breathing in deeply. The smell of grilled meats filled my senses and my stomach growled as if on cue.
Two little munchkins raced around the corner, my brother’s twin boys almost knocking each other over to get to me. I dropped to my knees and laughed as they plowed into me and knocked me back onto my butt.
“Boys! She’s wearing her church clothes.” Cat reached for them, but I swatted her off.
“Go help Clark. This is the best part of my week.” I glanced down at them as they chattered a million miles a minute. They were almost four and as rambunctious as boys could get. It was good though. My brother very much deserved wild children, seeing that he gave our parents most of the gray hairs on their heads.
“Move back and let me help Aunt Alisa up.” My brother moved up beside us and offered me a hand.
I took it and smiled as he pulled me from the beginning of what was sure to be a long wrestling session. “We’ll finish this up after dinner. You guys are going down.”
“No we’re not!” Markie yelled, bouncing on his toes as he glanced up at me with a wide toothy grin.
“You’re going down. You’re just a girl anyway!” Paul teased me.
“Oh hell.” My brother rolled his eyes and turned toward the kitchen. “You guys better run for your lives. She hates it when you make girls sound weak.”
“Yep. Better run before I tickle you to death.” I reached for them as they raced down the hall away from me, laughing echoing off the walls. “Don’t you know that girls rule, boys drool?”
“It’s the other way, but good try.” My brother jogged away from me as I moved after him too.
“Hey... no scaring him. He’s getting old and his bladder is weak.” Cat stuck her head out of the open kitchen door and we both laughed at the look on Clark’s face.
“To hell with both of you.” He winked and walked out the back door toward the grill.
Cat turned her attention to me. “Come in here and update me on everything. I know Clark doesn’t like to bring up Ben, but I want to know what’s going on with the divorce and how you’re holding up.”
“Okay.” I kicked off my shoes, hating the subject matter we were approaching, but knowing they loved me and simply wanted to be kept in the loop. With our parents having moved to Seattle, it was just the three of us. Cat’s parents died when she was younger and she had no siblings to help fill the void. I owed her my time, my attention, and a piece of my heart.
After snagging a fry and burning my tongue on it, I dropped down into one of the wooden chairs at the kitchen table and let out a long sigh. “The divorce is final and I gave Ben the house. I don’t want it. Too many memories.”
“What? Alisa. You should have told us. We could have helped you move.” She put her hands on her hips and tilted her head, her toe tapping on the floor. Her warm brown eyes moved across my face as concerned touched her expression. “Clark’s not going to like that.”
“That’s half the reason I did it.” I chuckled and wagged my eyebrows as he walked in.
“What did I miss?” He stopped beside his wife and wrapped his arm around her shoulders.
“Your sister moved herself to an apartment.” She glanced up at him as if expecting him to get upset. She shouldn’t have bothered. My brother was a sloth with little if any drive.
“Good for her.” He glanced at me. “It’s about time you grew up.”
I nodded and got up to get another fry. Hot or not, they were delicious. “Yep, and speaking of growing up... I met with a potential client just before coming here and decided not to take the case because he was part of our childhood. Too many memories.”
That caught my brother’s attention. He jerked around and pinned me with a hard stare. “You were with Zek?”
“How… how did you know?” Excitement ran through me as I popped another fry into my mouth before getting shooed away by Cat.
“I’ve seen him all over the news, Alisa. Who doesn’t know that he’s in deep shit? They’re making him sound like the villain of the century.” He brushed his fingers over his mouth as he got a faraway look in his eye. “I hate it for him. He didn’t do that shit. I know he didn’t.”
“Do you still talk to him?” Cat asked as she pushed Clark out of the kitchen too.
“Not for a few years. We had lunch a while back, but our lives are just so damn different now. He’s a rich guy who doesn’t want a family or a woman, and I’m a family guy who very much loves my woman.” He shrugged. “There’s not enough in common to keep us seeing each other more than every once in a while.”
“Did you know that I had a massive crush on him when we were kids?” I grabbed a beer from the refrigerator and moved back to the table. “I thought we would end up married and have two and a half kids and a white picket fence around our modest house.”
“I figured you liked him. Why didn’t you just tell me?” My brother snatched the beer from my fingers and dropped down in the chair next to me, drinking half the damn thing before I could get it back from him.
“Are you kidding me? You beat up half of the guys I liked just for looking at me sideways. There was no way I was watching you go after Zek. He was your best friend.” I shrugged. “I’m not taking the case. I can’t.”
“Sounds like it was a little more than a silly crush.” Cat walked toward us, stopping by me and rubbing the top of my shoulders firmly.
“Maybe. Nothing ever happened between us, but I wanted it to so badly. He’s so damn hot. It’s even worse now.”
My brother got up and covered his ears. “Not interested in hearing this. I’ll kill him the next time I see him.”
“You need to kill Ben. Asshole.” Cat took Clark’s chair and reached out for my hand, squeezing it softly and looking up into my face. “Do you need us to do anything? We want to be involved. To help with anything you need. Being married for ten years is a long ass time.”
“Yeah, but it’s just part of life, I guess. You love, and sometimes the investment turns belly-up and you lose.” I turned and ran my fingers along the table top as pain laced my chest. Ben had wanted the divorce, but I’d begged him not to go through with it. It was all about my career being more important than anything else, including him. I guess it had been.
“Well, you know as well as I do that a better day is coming.” Cat smiled and released my hand. “Besides, he was too shrimpy for you. I always imagined you with a big football player type. I don’t know. I guess because you look like a cheerleader to me.”
I laughed, but the sound fell flat. I wasn’t completely over Ben leaving me, and something told me that getting involved with Zek would just lead me straight into his arms. I wanted to believe that serenity and love were part of my future, but in the midst of the storm I called life, it was too much to ask of anyone, me included.