CHAPTER 15
Ford
From the day I first met Viv, chained to a longleaf pine, I knew she was different than any other woman I have met before. From that first kiss, I was pretty sure I would not be bored with her within a few months.
From that first time I sank inside her body, I realized nothing had ever felt better.
These were all truths I immediately recognized and accepted. In some way, I knew deep in my gut that Viveka Jones would have a major impact on my life.
Which makes this all very confusing that I’m feeling the greatest doubt in my life when it comes to her.
As I sit here in my car across the street from her office—the front window crudely covered with a piece of plywood—I realize I am at a crossroads with her. Now would be the perfect time to walk away. We’ve had a great time together, although I sure as shit would miss fucking her. But she wasn’t wrong in my office yesterday when she was outraged over the fact I had essentially funded her case. It was a stupid-as-fuck thing to do because I could have killed my entire career had I been caught.
But the truth is, I would do it again if I thought she would let me. Career be damned. This is what is confusing to me because even though I knew Viv was special in so many ways from the other women that inhabited this planet, I am utterly confounded I would be willing to risk the thing I probably hold most dear in my life next to my family.
My law career.
I stare at that plywood covering her office window, and I acknowledge the burning fury within my chest that it was most likely done by my client, Drake Powell.
Oh, he denied it when I went to his office yesterday. Even acted all offended when I confronted him. I made sure to do it in a concerned, professional way—just an attorney looking out for his client’s best interest. He insisted he had nothing to do with it.
I don’t believe him for a second. He either did it, directed someone to do it, or one of his buddies did it and he knew about it.
I know this mostly because he made a comment to me the other day on the phone when I was telling him how much the expert witnesses were going to cost. He was not happy about the figure I quoted him and after he ranted about how the legal system was designed to screw over people like him, he also added on, “Someone should do something about that uppity cunt.”
That choice of words has me convinced.
Drake Powell had everything to do with that brick going through her window.
And that knowledge has caused a burning need within me to look after Viveka. That, in turn, causes me to open my car door and step out. I lock it up, wait for traffic to pass and then trot across the street.
When I try to pull her door open, it doesn’t budge because it’s locked up tight. I press my face closer to the glass and put my hands up to shield the sun, peering inside. I don’t see Viv, and the lights are off.
I twist toward Do or Dye. Maybe Frannie knows where she is.
When I open the salon door, I immediately see Viveka even though she’s sitting the farthest from the door, clear on the other side of the space. She’s wearing what I have come to learn is her standard attorney outfit for the type of law she practices. Jeans and a casual yet frilly blouse so she retains an air of femininity. Today, she’s sporting black rubber rainboots that are streaked with mud across the top of the foot, but the soles appear to be clean.
She’s sitting sideways in one of the salon chairs, one leg cocked over the armrest and the other on the floor. She’s using it to push herself around in circles. I watch her for a moment as she spins around while surfing on her iPhone.
So gorgeous. Free spirited. Quirky.
Christ, it’s such an attractive combination I could stare at her all day.
I tear my eyes away and glance around the salon, seeing three stylists along with their clients in salon chairs all staring at me.
A woman about my age with purple and blue hair gives a loud cough. Without taking her eyes off me, she calls, “Veka… I think you have a visitor.”
My eyes slice over to Viveka just in time to see her plant a foot hard onto the tile floor to stop her spinning. Her eyes go wide as she takes me in, before they cloud over with a certain aloofness. She and I have not talked since she showed up at my office yesterday morning. I have no clue what she’s thinking but I have to consider she might be surprised to see me here thinking my lack of contact with her was sort of a kiss off.
In all actuality, I was letting her cool off. She was really pissed at me yesterday, and rightly so.
Besides… absence makes the heart grow fonder, right?
Viveka doesn’t say a word but just continues to stare at me. I, in turn, stare right back at her.
This goes on for so long it starts to get uncomfortable, and the women watching us start fidgeting.
Frannie mutters under her breath but we can all hear her. “Well, this is awkward.”
This makes me turn to the left, and I give Frannie a short smile. I step forward and hold my hand out to her to shake. “Hi. I’m Ford Daniels. And you must be Frannie.”
Her eyebrows rise, and she darts a glance at Viveka. She holds up a gloved hand smeared with something she had been putting in her client’s hair. “Sorry. Can’t shake hands. But nice to meet you.”
I nod at Frannie and turn back to Viv. She stares at me, and I can’t read a thing on her face.
“Can we talk privately?” I ask from across the salon.
She doesn’t even twitch, but instead asks me, “Did you cash my check?”
I give her a curt nod, and it causes her to propel herself out of the chair. Her face is awash with relief, and it’s a testament to how concerned she was for me. Her anger was born out of worry, and that causes a funny feeling to well up inside of me.
She walks across the salon in her jeans and rubber boots, and I know she could sell them on the catwalk. I drink in her long legs and swaying hips as she comes closer.
She doesn’t slow down but instead crashes right into me. Her hands dive into my hair, and her mouth slams onto mine. I catch her body weight easily, pulling her in tight as we engage in probably the deepest, hottest kiss we have ever had.
I vaguely hear a woman murmur, “Oh my.”
Viveka’s tongue practically wraps around mine, and I groan deep into her throat.
The same woman says in a much more purring kind of way, “Oh my…”
This seems to knock some sense into us because we pull apart, grinning stupidly at each other. Her hands slide to my cheeks, and her thumbs rub along my jaw. Her eyes are swirling with both desire and gratitude. She merely says, “Thank you for cashing it.”
“Well, I wasn’t about to give up that hot body of yours.”
Viv tosses her head back and laughs. I have the insane urge to lean forward and bite her neck.
Instead, I wait for her eyes to come back to mine. “I wasn’t ready to give you up. And so if I had to cash the check, I was going to cash the check. I mean, I want to win this case, but fuck it all… I want you to as well. I just went about handling it the wrong way.”
“I understand,” she replies softly. “But we have to keep the case separated from us.”
I lean forward and touch my forehead to hers.
My voice goes low so none of the women straining to hear can. “I just want you to be on an even playing field. It’s not fair you’re not because of money. I don’t like the thought of you struggling even if it is in a case against me. But I know it’s wrong and how dangerous it was to do that. My only excuse is you drive me crazy, and I wasn’t thinking straight.”
I can feel Viv’s body melt into mine. She pulls her head back, so she can look me in the eye. “I get it. And I’m not going to lie, it’s kind of swoony that you would do that for me. But please don’t worry about me, Ford. I am a scrappy lawyer. I’ve never been able to afford the best, so I make sure to bust my ass and use the full extent of my brains on every case. Sometimes I win, and sometimes I don’t. Sometimes I win when I shouldn’t, and sometimes I lose when I’ve done everything right. It all balances out for me. If I do my best, I can never be truly disappointed with the results. Because of that, I am okay with whichever way this case turns out, and you need to trust in that.”
I bring my hands up to the side of her neck and slide my thumbs under her jaw to hold her in place. It’s a domineering move, but I can tell by the flicker of heat in her eyes that she likes it.
“Is everything good between us?” I ask, making sure there is no misunderstanding my level of concern over her answer.
Her eyes soften. “We’re okay. More than okay.”
I lean in and my mouth finds hers, needing to cement everything we said with a kiss. When I pull back, I ask, “Want to go out and grab some dinner?”
Viv glances down at her watch and then at me with a smirk. “It’s only four o’clock.”
Shrugging, I drop my hands to lace my fingers through hers. I give her a slight tug toward the door, and she easily follows. “Let’s go find something else to do.”
There’s enough innuendo in my voice that I hear that same woman say once again, “Oh my…”
♦
Viveka bouncing up and down on my cock, my hands squeezing her tits, and her fingers at her clit.
The most goddamn beautiful thing ever. The hottest thing ever. I want this on video at some point.
There’s no surprise when Viv’s body tightens and her back arches with an orgasm. I buck my hips upward and start to come violently.
My body sags back down into the mattress, and Viveka collapses on top of me. For several long moments, we are nothing but a sweaty tangle of limbs and hard breathing.
After several more long moments of cuddling and regaining body function, I make my way to her master bathroom to ditch the condom and get cleaned up. She pushes in right behind me and goes over to the shower, leaning in to turn it on.
“Let’s go out to eat,” she says.
“Okay,” I agree easily as I study her ass in the bathroom mirror. It’s a fantastic ass. Rounded and toned with ivory skin as soft as rose petals. My hands spend a lot of time there. After peeling the condom off, I chuck it into her trash can.
“Did you go talk to Drake yesterday?” she asks over her shoulder to me. Our eyes lock in the mirror.
“I did.”
“And?” she prompts.
“He says he had nothing to do with the brick through your window,” I say through gritted teeth.
Lying bastard.
“He probably didn’t,” she says softly, and that makes me turn around to face her directly rather than talk through the mirror. “Trust me… I’ve pissed off lots of people in my practice.”
I just bet she has. I bet she’s induced a lot of men with lust, too. Probably amused a lot of people with her charm and humor. Caused envy and jealousy among women because she’s so beautiful, and probably reduced them to embarrassed lumps of apology when they realize how genuine and nice she is.
Viveka, I’m sure, has a strong effect on most people she meets.
But time for a change of subject. “Can I ask you something?”
She tilts her head and smiles. “What’s up?”
I step into her, my hands going to her waist. “Is there any reason we have to use a condom?”
She blinks in surprise. “Um… well, I’m not sure. I mean… we can talk about it.”
“Let me clarify,” I say in a low voice. “I’m safe, and I’ll give you the paperwork to back that up.”
“I’m safe,” she blurts out quickly and a little too loudly, as if perhaps I was doubting that about her.
I wasn’t. She hasn’t been with anyone in two years since her husband, so I suspected as much. Her experience is so limited, I just didn’t think that was the big issue.
“Are you on the pill?” I ask.
She bites her lip and shakes her head. “Wasn’t any reason to be.”
“Then we’ll stick with condoms,” I reply easily, and then give her a quick kiss on the corner of her mouth. “We’ll buy in bulk.”
I start to pull away, but she latches onto my wrist. “I can get on the pill.”
While I’d love nothing but to feel my bare cock slide against her wet flesh, I give her a gentle smile. “You don’t have to.”
“I don’t mind,” she says with no doubt in her voice. “I’ve been on them before… when I was married to Adam.”
“You didn’t want kids?” I ask curiously.
“He didn’t. At least not right away,” she admits hesitantly. “And then… well, years sort of went by. He concentrated on his career. And by the time I realized the marriage was over, I also realized he probably never wanted them to begin with.”
“Do you?” And it occurs to me I’ve never discussed this subject with another woman other than Leary, and with Leary, it had only been since she got pregnant. I never knew before—in all the years of our friendship or when we were lovers—how she felt about them.
“Yeah,” Viveka says in a dreamy voice laced with a bit of sadness. “I do. One day.”
I could see Viveka as a mother. She’s a nurturer for sure, and I bet we would make beautiful babies—
What. The. Fuck?
I shake my head and take a step back from Viveka. She turns toward the shower, sticking her hand inside to test the water temperature. My expression must not have given away those inane thoughts I had, because her voice is light and teasing. “Want to come soap me down, Mr. Daniels?”
Yes… I want that very much.
I step into the shower behind her. We spend an enjoyable fifteen minutes getting cleaned up, which I feel is a waste since we’re going to get dirty again right after dinner.
While Viveka does her hair and makeup, I step back into the bedroom to slip my clothes back on. I’d been in a dress suit when I showed up at Do or Dye earlier, so I put it all back on except the tie.
“Would you mind feeding the dogs?” she asks as she brushes on some mascara. Her blonde hair is slicked back and still so very pale even when wet. She looks like a fairy or something.
“Sure.” I sit on the edge of her bed to put on my shoes and socks. It takes me what seems like forever, because while I’m fully clothed, Viveka does her hair and makeup while naked and it’s hard to keep my eyes off her.
After I tie my Oxfords, I push from the bed and take one more shameless gander at Viv’s beautiful body. She ignores me as she sweeps on some blush.
When I open the bedroom door, I find Butch and Daisy patiently waiting in the hallway. They don’t like being shut out, but they’ve at least stopped howling and barking when we do so.
“Let’s get some grub,” I tell them both, and their tails start wagging furiously. That’s Viveka’s word to them for a meal, so they know they’re bellies are about to be happy. It’s also what I’ve learned to use to get them to come inside when they’re being stubborn.
For example, I just have to call out, “Come get some grub,” and they dash inside. Of course, then I’m forced to give them a treat.
It’s funny in hindsight how easily I’ve acclimated to her dogs, and only I know I’ve made an overly diligent effort in order to impress Viveka. Still, it turns out her mutts are cute and well behaved—for the most part—so it hasn’t been all that trying to develop a relationship with them.
One night we were watching a movie, and Viveka had gotten up from the couch to make some popcorn. Butch jumped right up on my lap as soon as she left. I didn’t think twice about it, but when Viveka walked back in and saw me unconsciously rubbing his belly while he snoozed on my lap, she became so overwhelmed with the way I’d warmed up to her beasts that she gave me a blow job that fucking almost permanently crossed my eyes.
Of course Butch wasn’t happy. He had to get off my lap for that.
I snicker over that memory as we cut through the living room toward the kitchen when there’s a knock on the front door.
I don’t even think twice, treating this space as my own since I just fucked Viveka thoroughly and had her calling out my name along with God’s. Veering toward the door, I pull it open.
And standing on the porch is… Viveka.
Well, an older version of Viveka. The woman’s blue eyes—the same pale Nordic shade—sweep up and down my body. When they land back on me, they’re sparkling with keen interest.
Her voice is silky smooth when she purrs, “Well, hello there.”
The accent is stronger than Viveka’s but given the uncanny resemblance, I don’t need anything more to tell me that this is her mother standing on her doorstep.