3
“Jesus!”
“Oh my God, honey . . . ,” leaves Sky’s lips on a breathy gasp.
“Get there,” I growl, powering into her with long, hard thrusts. I grit my teeth as desire ripples down my spine to pool at my lower back.
I suck a pink-tipped nipple into my mouth. Skyler arches into it, serving up her body on what must be pure instinct. Once I’ve swirled my tongue around the slippery, erect tip, I bite down on the sensitive flesh. That’s all it takes to have my girl crying out and her body tensing under mine.
“Fuck yes!” I slide my hands up her back, curl them around her shoulders from underneath, and clamp down, while her thighs press tighter against my rib cage.
“Parker, I’m coming!” She cries out again, her body giving me the lockdown at three points. Legs. Arms. Pussy. Pure heaven.
“Fuck yeah, you are.” I use my leverage on her shoulders to go to town, pounding deep and grinding down on her pelvis until she mewls with my efforts. Which sends a calling card straight to my dick that has me shooting off in pure fucking bliss. My mind is obliterated as I groan, “Yes!”
Once the aftershocks settle down to a dull simmer, I burrow my head against her neck, tasting her while the last of my arousal coats her insides.
“Mmm,” she murmurs, and sighs as I kiss every inch of skin I can put my mouth on.
“Love you, Peaches.”
She runs her fingers over my hair, holding me to her, heart to heart. “I love you, honey. Now that you’ve had a good night’s sleep and a raucous round of morning sex, are you going to tell me what’s wrong?”
I frown against her neck, then lift my upper body so that I can stare into her beautiful brown eyes. “You think something’s wrong after I slept the sleep of the dead with you in my arms and woke up with your sweet mouth all over my dick, for which I returned the favor by putting my mouth all over you. Tasting one of your orgasms, felt the second one even sweeter, and then got mine? Baby . . . you are looking at one happy fucking guy.”
Skyler chuckles, and I watch while her laughter spreads unbelievable beauty across her features. Christ, I’m a lucky man. And to think I could have lost her with the shit I pulled in Montreal. Fuck!
My girl runs her fingers through my hair and assesses me. “Honey, you were stressing about more than our stalker/superfan issue. What’s going on? Does it have anything to do with the meeting you had yesterday with the lawyer?”
Damn, she’s good.
I sigh, disconnect with her, and roll over onto my back. She cuddles into my side and waits patiently, content to hold out until I’m ready to tell her what’s on my mind.
“Turns out I know the lawyer personally.”
Sky runs her hand up and down my bare chest and abs. “Meaning this is someone you know intimately?”
“Well, not sexually. She was Royce’s ex-girlfriend back when we were in Harvard. Thought they’d go the distance too. He dated her for a full two years. Was totally into her. Then, when we were graduating, they ended it and she went off to law school in DC. He didn’t say much about the breakup, just that she wanted to focus on her career and he wanted to focus on International Guy. Why they couldn’t do both together, I don’t know.”
“Hmm, so you’re worried about hiring her?”
I nod. “Yeah, and I wasn’t sure I was going to, but then I spoke to Roy last night, and he’s done taking on the lion’s share of the legal shit for the company. It’s too much alongside what he’s doing, and we need a full-time person.”
Skyler shrugs. “Then find someone else.”
Again, I let out a long sigh. “Problem is, we don’t have a lot of time. This next case needs a corporate lawyer on point. It’s big money. Huge. Not to mention it’s a pharmaceutical company that wants us to get into their legislative dealings. Kendra has experience doing that. Lots of it, actually. She’d be a real asset on this project. Plus, Roy told me to hire her.”
Sky lifts her head up to pair her gaze with mine. “He did? Well, then there’s no issue. Apparently, they left things in a good place.”
I shake my head and run my hand through her messy golden locks. “Not exactly. I didn’t even get to tell him who the interviewee was before he told me to hire her. And even though I really want to hire her, I feel like I’m doing it for the wrong reason.”
She narrows her gaze. “She’s got all the skills and qualifications you need, plus she can do this big case right now?”
“Yeah.”
“You said there was another reason?”
I grin.
“Oh no. You’re sticking your nose somewhere it shouldn’t be, aren’t you?” She frowns.
I tug my girl over and onto my chest so that I can not only feel her warmth skin to skin, but I can hold her the way I want to. “Back when we were in college, there was nothing separating those two. She was it.”
“It?” Sky sets her hands on my chest and then places her chin on top of them.
“It. The one. His one and only.”
Sky’s lips flatten. “Then what happened? Why didn’t she just go to law school at Harvard and stay in the area, so she could be with her man?”
I shake my head. “See, that’s the thing. I don’t know. Roy was super tight-lipped about it. I think Bo knows, because when it all went down, both of them were surly about it. Me, I was dealing with my own shit with Kayla and her fucking Greg. I was in no place to handle the breakup between Roy and Kendra when I was dealing with my own breakup and betrayal by a best friend and my fiancée. During that time, the guys and I barely got our shit together enough to start the business after graduation. The three of us just pushed all the personal baggage to the side and focused all of our attention on building the business and making a real go of it. Thank God it worked out, but . . .” I let my words fall off.
“You feel bad you didn’t dig into it more?” Sky surmises.
“Yeah, baby. I feel like a shit friend. And when I saw Kendra today, I realized how much I missed her. She was a true friend. Like a sister I never had. I loved her. Trusted her to take care of my boy. Something happened, and out of nowhere, she was gone. The timing was just after Kayla’s shit. As in within a couple of weeks. I was still sucking back the booze to wash away my sorrow. Bo and Roy were taking care of me. Then Bo was taking care of both of us.”
“And Roy never told you what happened?”
I think back to a night of shit whiskey shots between the three of us while playing pool at Lucky’s. My father didn’t own the business yet, but we were regulars. “I remember asking him, and he said something about wanting different things. When I pushed the issue, he said she cut things off with him and told him she was leaving.”
“Poor Roy.”
“Yeah, I knew he’d already bought her the engagement ring and was waiting for the perfect time. He’d said he was going to pop the question on graduation night. Make it the best night of his life. She broke things off a week before. Then we all walked, and she left the state for DC. Far as I know, she’s been there ever since.”
Skyler’s expression is so sad, I lift my head and kiss her pouty frown.
“That sucks. She was his one and she bailed. I don’t think I’m going to like her.” My girl, loyal to her core.
“I’m certain you will like her, though she has this edge to her now. A bit of armor. Like she’s hiding her true self behind a wall where her emotions are guarded. She is still beautiful, maybe even more so now that she’s filled in from a twenty-two-year-old to an almost thirty-year-old. Roy’s gonna shit when he sees her, and after the crap that went down with Rochelle Renner in San Francisco, he admitted he’s ready to settle down. Even made a comment about how lucky we are because we’ve found each other and are moving forward with our lives. He wants that, and I don’t know, seeing her again—maybe the reason he hasn’t found it is because he’s supposed to be with Kendra.”
Skyler’s eyebrows rise up into her hairline. “Are you playing matchmaker . . . with Royce?” Her mouth drops open, and she smiles huge. “I want in.”
I move to deny her claim, but she presses two fingers over my lips.
“Honey, I want in. If this is the woman for him, his long-lost love, we have to get them together!” She sits up on me, and her center makes contact with the beast.
The beast perks up, ready to go for round two. She must feel the hardness between her thighs because one eyebrow cocks and she rubs her hips back and forth teasingly. “You gonna let me in?” She smiles, puts two fingers into her mouth, licks them seductively, and then presses them on the small landing strip at the apex of her legs.
“Fuck.” I stare at those two digits twirling around that hot bundle of nerves, wishing they were my tongue instead.
“You gonna let me in?” She sighs and circles her hips along with her fingers, then moans.
“You gonna let me in?” I grab for her hips, wanting to lift her up and place her on my now rock-hard cock.
She grins salaciously but is no less beautiful for it. Her other hand comes up to my lips, and I suck two fingers into my mouth, running my tongue between them the way I want to between her legs. She removes those fingers and then brings them to her nipple, where she swirls them on the pink tip before pinching it until it turns a berry red.
“Jesus!” I grind my teeth. “Let. Me. In.” I attempt to move her hips again, but she locks on to my hips with her thighs. I could overpower her if I really wanted to, but this game is fuckhot, and I want to see where it goes.
“You let me in on the matchmaking and you can do whatever you want to me,” she taunts, her hands still a busy blur between her thighs and on her breast.
Hell, I don’t know what I want to do first. Suck that ripe titty, make the other one just as dark by teasing the fuck out of it, plunge three fingers deep into her wet heat, or thrust home and watch while she bounces on my cock.
So many choices.
“Hmm . . . deal,” I tell her, already planning to give in because, if I’m going to get Kendra and Royce back together, or at the very least see if the two of them are still compatible in a forever capacity, I’m going to need all the help I can get.
Her grin is huge. I return it. “Now give me that hand.” I grab for the wrist that’s attached to the hand working her sex and bring those fingers between my lips. Her sweet-and-salty taste hits my tongue, and suddenly I’m ravenous. I lick her fingers clean, grip her around the waist, and push my legs hard into the mattress until I’m taking the two of us back to the headboard with her in my lap. I lift her up and thrust her down on my now raging cock.
“Oh my!” she calls out, but I cover her mouth with my own until we’re a mess of gyrating bodies, throaty moans, and rutting, animal-like cries. We take one another to the peak of ecstasy, our orgasms rushing through our bodies like freight trains.
We settle back down in a sweaty heap of limbs, Sky still in my lap, the beast firmly wedged inside of her, and her face in my neck. I pet her back, enjoying the heaving of her body as, with each breath, her breasts tickle my chest.
“You good?” I smile into the empty room, appreciating our hearts beating in a synchronized rhythm in our chests.
“So good.” She sighs into my neck, her breath hot against my skin. “I love making deals with you.”
I grin and wrap my arms around her bare body. “Especially when they involve naked compensation.”
She nods and weakly taps my chest. “Yes. Especially then. Everyone wins.”
“Yeah, baby, everyone wins.”
“You did what?” Bo stands in front of my desk, one hand on a denim-clad hip, his motorcycle jacket still on, the other arm curled around his bike helmet.
“I hired Kendra Banks, Esquire, as our new in-house counsel.”
Bo’s face pinches into an expression of disgust. “I heard what you said; I’m not quite believing my ears. Tell me what you meant to say was that you hired another lawyer who happens to have the same exact name as Roy’s ex from eight years ago?”
I shake my head and place the file of docs I’ve just signed back into the tray for Annie to pick up. “You heard me right. I met with Andre. Kendra was the best candidate for the job.”
“Doesn’t the bitch live in DC?” he growls.
Bitch? Whoa. Did not expect that level of anger to come from Bo’s lips.
“No, she’s moved back to Boston. I didn’t ask why, only confirmed that she would be here for the foreseeable future because we didn’t want to hire someone only to get used to them and have them bail on us.”
Bo starts to pace. “I cannot believe this. And Roy approved this shit?”
“He told me to hire the best candidate. Andre did a thorough search. She’s the only one who has not only corporate law experience, but legislative experience. Meaning, she will be on point for the Pure Beauty Pharmaceuticals case. Which, may I remind you, is a half-million-dollar case for us!”
Bo clenches his teeth and locks his jaw. “I don’t give one flying fuck how much money they’re paying us. That bitch cannot work here!”
“It’s too late, I’ve already hired her. She’ll be here within the hour.”
His brown eyes practically bug out of his head. “You’ve gone too far with this shit, Park. Too fuckin’ far. Do you remember what it was like when she left him?”
I shake my head and stand up, a tingle of dread putting pressure against my temples. “No. I was dealing with my shit over Kayla. Roy didn’t tell me jack shit. Made it sound like it ended amicably.”
Bo flaps his free hand in the air. “Who the hell breaks up a two-year relationship—one in which one of them bought a diamond ring—with nothing but sweet goodbyes? Are you kidding me? You are not that dumb.”
I let out a long, bloated breath and rub at the back of my neck. “Roy was losing his shit about the legal stuff. I tried to tell him who the candidate was. He didn’t care. He told me to hire her. I hired her. You told me you didn’t care. So. I. Hired. Her! Fuckin’ A!” Irritation mixed with a hint of regret pushes its way to the top of my psyche.
Bo shakes his head, goes over to the door, and grabs the handle. As he turns it, he pierces me with a deadly gaze. “You are going to regret this.”
When he opens the door, Kendra and Annie are standing in front of him, blocking his way.
“Fuck me!” he roars, looking Kendra up and down not once, but twice, from her pristine white tailored suit with red piping to her sexy red slingback heels. She looks like a fierce, expensive, take-no-prisoners professional. “Couldn’t you be fat . . . and as ugly as your soul?”
Kendra’s lips compress into a flat, emotionless line. “It’s nice to see you too, Bogart. I see that not a lot has changed with your fiery temper.”
He points a finger in her face. “I’m watching you. I don’t know what this is, or why you chose now to come back when everything is aces, but I got your number, woman. I got your fuckin’ number.”
“How comforting. I’ll consider myself warned by that thinly veiled threat.” Her gaze comes to mine. “Good morning, Parker.”
“‘Good morning, Parker.’ Unbelievable!” Bo growls and then pushes his way past Kendra and Annie and out the door.
“That will be all, Annie, thank you. Kendra, please come in.”
Kendra enters my office, shuts the door, and takes a seat in front of my desk.
“That did not go as planned. I’m sorry,” I state with a note of frustration.
She shakes her head. “No need to apologize. I anticipated backlash from one or both of your partners. Though I knew Bo would be unhappy at my presence, I didn’t think he’d be livid. I’ll have to work on that. And I will.”
“Just give it time. Really. He’s not much different than when you knew him in school. Smarter, more notches on his bedpost . . . a lot of notches.” I grin and am finally gifted with one of Kendra’s big white smiles. “He’s protective.”
“I’ll say.” She winces.
“He’s that way with all of us. Including Wendy.”
“Wendy?”
“Our personal assistant.”
She frowns. “I thought your assistant’s name was Annie?”
“Uh, she is. Technically. Wendy was before her. She’s coming back this week. She’ll help keep Bo and Royce in check.”
“She out on leave?”
“Yeah.”
“Maternity?”
My heart sinks. I hate talking about what happened, but if Kendra’s going to be our attorney, she’s going to be in the know about everything within this company.
“No. She’s been out for the past two months, healing after getting shot on one of our cases.”
A dark-brown eyebrow cocks up on Kendra’s forehead. “Shot?”
I lick my lips and sit back in my chair. “Yeah. It was touch and go for a little while there. We dealt with a case in Montreal—”
“This happened on an international case? Parker, there are so many legal ramifications that can come back to haunt you if this employee sues International Guy . . . which is within her legal right, by the way.”
I wave my hand. “There probably are. Except we have nothing to worry about with Wendy. She’s all about IG and has become very much a member of the team and our family. She has as much vested interest in IG as we have. Plus, her fiancé is wealthy. Oprah Winfrey wealthy. She doesn’t need to sue us.”
Her lips tighten, and she pulls out a legal pad. “I’ll trust you on your word for now until I’ve met and assessed her myself. I think you need to provide me with the files for your last six months’ worth of cases. I may need to do some serious follow-up paperwork to ensure the company’s holdings are not at risk.”
I grin wide. “Well, the good news is, Royce has been keeping on top of those things, so he can provide you with the files and the information about what he’s done to date.”
She closes her eyes at the mention of Royce’s name. I can see her body tensing, but she’s trying damn hard not to let it show. She opens her eyes and smiles placatingly. “Great.”
“Regardless of whatever happened between you and Roy in the past, Kendra, he’s a professional. Plus, what happened between you two was years ago. Water under the bridge, right?”
She licks her lips and nods but doesn’t respond verbally. To me, that is telling. Basically telling me that she’s not as confident in Roy’s response to her working here as I am.
Before I can get into the work side of things, my door opens, and Roy enters smiling, with a pep in his step. “Sorry I’m a bit late. Got caught on the phone with a client and was held up . . .” His words just stop when he sees Kendra, as does his forward movement. His entire face goes blank as she stands up.
“Hello, Royce. It’s been a long time.” She holds out her hand to shake his.
Roy blinks at her hand, then looks to me and back at her. “What are you doing here?”
She drops her hand and stiffens her spine, looking a solid inch taller than before. “I’m your new lawyer.”
Roy’s coal-black eyes widen, and his lips purse tight enough to make the skin turn white. “This must be a joke.” He turns to me. “Park. Brother. Did you hire my ex to work with us?”
I stand up, button my suit jacket, and swallow in an attempt to relieve the instant dryness coating my throat. “You told me to. You wouldn’t listen to me when I tried to explain who she was. And you’ve been working your ass off . . .”
His hand slices the air. “Did you hire the woman I asked to marry me, the same one who turned me down, packed her ass up from our shared apartment, and left me high and dry so she could move to Washington, DC?”
“Fuck me,” I whisper, not realizing the ramifications of the decision I made. Shit. “I think I made a mistake.”
“You fuckin’ think?” Royce growls.
This is when Kendra, the smart-as-hell attorney, pipes up. “Be that as it may, we have an ironclad contract, which you signed, giving me six months’ employment as long as I don’t do something that does not meet the terms of the contract. If you end the contract, you pay me six months’ salary in full, except doubled for my inconvenience. Since six months’ salary is a hundred thousand dollars, you will owe me two hundred thousand for receiving absolutely no service.”
“Damn, you’re good,” I whisper, shocked at how lethal this woman is.
“The best. Which, I will remind you, is why you hired me and I came so highly recommended by Andre. You will not find a person more qualified or committed for this position.”
“I don’t care. Two hundred thousand be damned . . . ,” Royce states.
I move over to him and place my hand on his shoulder. “Roy, I’m sorry. I didn’t know the severity of the break. I wouldn’t have . . .” I lose my ability to continue because my heart is hammering in my chest and my throat feels like it’s being squeezed by a vise.
“What, Royce? You’re still so hung up on me eight years later you can’t stand the possibility of working with me? It’s work. Business. There’s nothing the two of us are better at than business,” she attempts.
He steps up close to her, their faces now not two inches from one another. “I can think of at least one thing we were even better at together,” he snarls.
Her chest rises and falls, but they stay at a standoff, a stalemate.
“Maybe we can work something out . . .” I try to smooth over my royal fuckup.
Royce grins, his eyes still on Kendra’s. “No need. If she can be professional, so can I. We’ll give you your six months, but one screwup, Kendra, and you’re out on your ass.”
She smiles with a bit of a snide edge. “I look forward to the day you find something I messed up. I do exceptional work. You’ll see.”
“I’m looking forward to being wrong.”
“So am I.” Her voice shakes at that parting shot before she turns away from him. What she said almost seems to have a double meaning. Is there something she feels she was wrong about too?
Kendra picks up her legal pad and steps away from all things badass alpha Royce. “Parker, I understand you have an office for me?”
I nod.
“Great. No time like the present to get started. Royce, Parker says you have the files for the last six months’ worth of cases. I’d like to review them, get myself up to date over the next few days, and then discuss any issue I might find or actions we need to take.”
“Fine. I’ll have Annie bring them to you.” His voice is a deep, rumbling, low, thunderous storm, brewing without breaking.
She nods curtly. “Also, I want to review the employee files, make sure all required documents are up to snuff.”
“Not a problem. I have those here.” I dig my keys out of my pocket, unlock my bottom-right drawer, and pull out the employee files on me, Bo, Royce, Wendy, and Annie and hand them over to her. “Those are confidential.”
“I’m sure my office has locking cabinets?” she replies to my statement.
“Yeah, keys are in the top desk drawer.”
“I’ll get started now.”
“Later in the week, we need to discuss the Pure Beauty Pharmaceuticals case.”
She frowns. “You’re working with them?” Her voice takes on a testy note. This could be because of the confrontation with Royce and Bo or from something else. I’ll have to spend time getting on her level when things calm down a little.
“Yeah, they’re our next client. We’re going to DC next week. And when I say we, I mean you, me, and Royce. The contract needs to be reviewed, anything not in our favor changed, signed, and sent off. I was waiting for our new lawyer before signing.”
She closes her eyes for a moment as if she’s centering herself before opening them. “Then I better get to work.”
“Annie will show you where your office is.”
“Thank you, Parker.” She turns to head to the door, but when she reaches it she stops. Her shoulders rise and then fall before she spins around. “Royce, I’m sorry this is a shock. It was not my intention. I’m actually very much looking forward to working with you. We always did work well together. At least in our studies and, um, in other ways.” Unconcealed hurt flashes across her face before she covers it up.
Roy licks his lips and crosses his massive arms over one another. “Once upon a time, we did work well together, but a lot has changed.”
“I understand. I’ll be waiting for those files.”
“And you’ll have them soon,” he promises.
She nods and walks out the door.