Envy (Seven Deadly Sins) (3 page)

As I read the information on the screen in front of me I leaned back in my desk chair with wide eyes.  I wondered what the chances were that my first real assignment involved the Port of Charleston.  Oh sure, it made sense that if you have a Charleston attorney on your staff, you should utilize them in this instance.  Still, it unnerved me that the law firm I would be dealing with was Frazier, Rice, Rutledge and Calhoun.  I stared at the screen in front of me as the shiver pulsed through my veins.  No matter how hard I’d tried, the image of Benton Frazier hadn’t totally vanished from my memory.

I still ached for his strong, sensual control which had allowed me release from the burdens of responsibility during the most stressful times of my life.  It struck me as humorous that the rest of the world deemed dominant/subordinate relationships as fresh and new.  Books by the billions were out there depicting some poor virgin who’d fallen head over heels for a millionaire only to find herself chained up in his dungeon.  Southern women know all about dom/sub relationships; they were bred to be subs.  It’d been that way for centuries, and they chuckled innocently each time a new best seller hit the charts.  “Such frivolous trash these women read!” they’d declare as they put another batch of homemade biscuits into their ovens.  I’d been raised differently; my parents had convinced me that I would never need to depend on a man.  But I had depended on Benton.  I depended on him to help me escape from the onslaught of unpleasantries that had landed on my shoulders when my parents died.

Rehashing old memories wasn’t getting me anywhere.  I stood up and smoothed my too short skirt and headed for Paul Standish’s office.  I tapped on the door jam, “Paul, I just got your email.  What time have they scheduled the meeting with the Charleston firm?”

Paul’s bald head lifted from the stack of files on his desk in front of him, “Ah, Liz.  Thanks for coming.  It looks like the rednecks will be here in an hour.”

I stepped into his office as he motioned for me to take a seat across from him.  “Heads up on that, most Charlestonians prefer not to be called rednecks,” I smiled teasingly.

Paul scoured me from his desk with a laugh, “I guess not.  Anyway, thanks for assisting me with this.  I think it’s fairly cut and dry, but Webster Shipping is one of our largest clients.  If they want us to mediate, then something is going on.”  He slid the stack of files across his desk in my direction, “Well, here’s the information.  You have an hour to study it and figure out what the fuck they’re up to.  Then meet me at the elevators at ten.  Any questions?”

I hesitated, tempted to ask the names of the Charleston attorney’s who’d come up to meet with us, but instead shook my head to indicate no.  Frazier, Rice, Rutledge and Calhoun was a huge firm, and chances of them sending Benton Frazier were slim.  I headed back to my desk to read the files.  By ten minutes of ten, I had a firm grasp of the problems and some fairly good solutions.  I stood in front of the bank of elevators clutching the files and waited for Paul.

“Alrighty then, let’s head up and do this thing,” Paul announced as he waddled towards me.  I wasn’t sure how well he was going to be received by Charleston lawyers.  He had that grungy, lazy look about him, as though he didn’t own an iron and was defiantly resisting just shaving off the few strands of hair that grew long on his head.  Top that with my skirt suddenly shortening by three inches this morning, and I was sure we were headed for disaster.

We reached the top floor in a matter of seconds.  The receptionist smiled and waved us down the hall to the conference room.  Paul stepped ahead of me and pushed one of the double doors open to allow me to step into the silent room.  My breath left my chest as my eyes landed on Benton Frazier, engaged in conversation with Carlton.

I pulled the stack of files closer to my chest for security.  My nipples stood at attention at the sight of the two men so casually chatting.  Benton’s blue eyes met mine in a flurry of passion.  I saw him devour each and every inch of me from my shoes to my tightly bound hair; he paused noticeably at my thighs.  Already I was shaking; he immediately stood and rounded the table towards me sure he was going to bend down and yank the hem out of my skirt.  I was sure he was appalled by its shortness in the office.  “Good morning Liz!  I was going to give you a call this afternoon.  See if you wanted to meet up for dinner?  But, here you are!”  He stepped close to me and pulled me into his arms.  Outwardly it would seem like two old schoolmates meeting up after a long absence; an innocent hug.  But Benton maneuvered his hand behind the files I clutched to my chest and pinched my nipple sharply.  Water formed in the corner of my eyes as he pulled away.  I struggled for quick composure, but it was useless.  All parts of me were now on full alert; I was starved for more.  My brain flung a plethora of curse words at me silently as my pussy responded to Benton’s presence with a purr.  I hated myself.

Carlton cleared his throat from his seat at the conference table, “Mr. Standish, Ms. Martin, have a seat.”  His voice was stern and disapproving.

We took our seats, my body still reeling from Benton’s touch.  Carlton forced a smile, “I’m glad to see that you and Mr. Frazier know one another, Ms. Martin.  That’ll make this go smoothly I’m sure.  I take it you went to law school together?”

I knew he was perusing for information.  Benton’s eyes hadn’t left me since I’d walked into the room and the tension I felt surely translated to the rest of them.  After a calculated pause for effect, he gazed at Carlton, “Liz and I have known one another since high school, Mr. Michaud.  We’re old friends.”  His smile was near sinister as he caught the scent of my relationship with Carlton like a wolf after a trail of fresh blood.  Benton was the master at human signals; it made him a dangerous foe in the courtroom as well as the bedroom.  My nipple still ached from his pinch, yet I knew he’d done it to check my level of interest.  If my body hadn’t betrayed me, I wouldn’t be near tears now.  Even sitting next to Carlton Michaud, Benton still had power over me.  I cursed under my breath;
this was no way to start a new case
. 
Where was my fucking professionalism?

But Carlton studied Benton with a tight smile, “That’s great.  Now let’s get down to business because I’m on a tight schedule.”

 *-*-*-*-*-*-*

The meeting lasted an hour; which was exactly an hour longer than I’d ever wanted to spend in a room with Benton Frazier again.  He unsettled me.  Since the morning I’d discovered the blond paralegal tied to the bed in his downtown apartment, I’d promised myself that I was done with him.  Now here he was, dressed in the finest suit Berlin’s Men’s Store on King Street could offer.  The epitome of the species known as the Charleston lawyer; his hair was tousled as though he’d only just stepped off his boat after fishing in the harbor.  His lackadaisical attitude would come across to Carlton as disrespectful, but at home it exuded confidence, as though he didn’t have a care in the world.  With shock I found myself nearly defending his Charleston ways throughout the meeting.  Carlton seemed ready to eat him up and spit him out at any second, and I was surprised.  I didn’t take Carlton for a man who so easily discounted other attorney’s.  I wanted to warn him somehow that pissing off Benton Frazier wasn’t as harmless as one would expect.  Benton was downright dangerous as hell behind all that boyish charm.  I was all too aware of his capabilities.

“Since we’re all settled here I hope you all will forgive me.  I have another appointment waiting.  Ms. Martin?  I’d hoped to take Mr. Frazier to dinner this evening, why don’t you join us?”

My first instinct was to shake my head violently and definitely NO, but a warning flash in Carlton’s eyes told me that it wasn’t so much of an invitation to dinner as an order.  “Yes sir.  What time shall I expect you?”  I was sure my lips were blue and trembling.

Benton was still sitting at the conference table where he’d been watching my reaction to Carlton intently.  Carlton’s eyes narrowed on me, calculating my fear level, “I’ll send the car for you at nine.  Is that alright with you, Mr. Frazier?”  His face turned back to the table with absolute resolve.

Benton barely moved his eyes from me to Carlton.  “Sounds great.  I was hoping for a little New York nightlife!”  I could tell his smooth ‘devil may care’ expressions were already wearing on Carlton.  For a millisecond I almost thought that his eyes were going to roll, but he grinned, “Fine.  My driver will pick you up from your hotel at eight thirty, Mr. Frazier.  I look forward to it.”

“Yep!”  Benton’s face told me he already viewed this as some sort of competition, he’d cheerfully accepted Carlton’s challenge.  Carlton may not know the look on his face, but I knew it.  It was the same look he wore playing football in high school, the same look he had when he hunted wild boar, and the same look he had when he mastered me.  Benton wasn’t one to lose; he’d never lost a game in his life until I walked out the door and left him.  Now he was here, and I could see in his eyes that he still considered me his property.  That Carlton Michaud and I seemed to have some sort of relationship would be a fair game for him, and I was the prize.  The thought that perhaps I no longer wanted to be his ‘prize’ wouldn’t occur to him.  What I wanted was far away in his mind because he was too intent on his wants.  He had planned our lives to the ultimate detail.  We’d marry right out of law school, join his father’s firm, and I’d take needed breaks to give him two, possibly three children.  His mistress on the side was a mere necessity, much like a household appliance.  I’d been okay with most of it until I found the mistress already tied to his headboard just before his Graduation party.  To me it’d been a sneak peek into a future life with Benton, and it disgusted me.

I stood up from the conference table feeling suddenly nauseated.  “I will have the updated files ready this evening then.  If you’ll excuse me now, I have a ton of work to do.”  I bristled past Carlton without looking at him.  He set me up for this!  Damn his nosiness into my life!  I would’ve preferred to strangle him on my way out the conference room; instead I shut the door behind me and bolted for the elevator.

“Hold that door!”  Carlton yelled as he headed towards me.  I quickly reached for the elevator controls and repeatedly pushed the close door button.  His hand slid deftly in between the closing metal doors and he squeezed inside.

As the doors closed he glared down at me.  I bolstered, “Don’t even look at me that way, Carlton!  I’m not afraid of you like everyone else, remember?”

He softened, and his fingers reached out to trace the line of my neck.  I pulled away from his touch, “No you don’t!  What are you playing at, bringing that asshole up here?”

His rejected fingers reached out and pushed the stop button on the elevator, “Liz, honestly, he’s who they sent.  I didn’t pick him at all.  What went on with you two?”

I shook my head, “Oh no you don’t!  This is another of your efforts to dig into my personal business, like reading my personnel file the night we met.  Carlton I’m not kidding, you’ve got to stop this!  Promise me you won’t pry again?  Normal relationships don’t entail spying on one another!”  Of course my own indiscretions regarding spying were still a secret.

He stared down at me perplexed, “Liz, I don’t know what it is with you and Frazier, but trust me, this wasn’t me prying into your life.  Although, now I’m fairly intrigued.  Should I be concerned he might steal you from me?”

I studied his expression; he was telling the truth.  I resigned with a deep breath, “No, you don’t need to be concerned.”  I pushed the start button on the elevator and the car began to lower to my floor.  “I’m warning you, Carlton, on a business
and
personal level, Benton Frazier is a snake in the grass.  Don’t underestimate him.  I promise you’ll come out looking like a fool every time.”

Carlton grinned, “Oh my dear Liz, did it occur to you that perhaps I’m the one being underestimated here?”  The stern look in his eyes reminded me that I had a lot to learn about the way Carlton Michaud’s mind ticked.

I nodded and raised my eyebrows, “I hope you’re right.”  With that the doors opened and I walked deliberately into my office without glancing back.  My blood was near boiling with fury that now I had to attend my first ‘public’ dinner with Carlton, and my ex was coming with us.

Carlton absolutely hated anything relating to life beneath the public’s scrutiny.  Our walks in the park with the dogs were enough of a risk for him, and I knew it.  If this wasn’t considered a business dinner, I wouldn’t have been invited at all.  I plopped down into my office chair and laid my head on my desk, banging it against the wood in an effort to rid my mind of the stressful evening ahead.

“Well I was going to say I thought that went great, but from the looks of you, I guess that’s a one sided view!  Want to tell this old man what’s up?”  Paul leaned against the door jamb to my office with arms folded and a curious grin.

I peered up at him with my cheek still against my desk, “I dated Benton Frazier for eleven years.”

A whistle escaped Paul’s lips and he stepped into my office, closing the door behind him.  “That’s a long time girlfriend!  Now he shows up in New York and you’re assigned to work with him!  Damn, I thought I had shitty luck with my ex’s!”  He sat down across from me and studied my pitiful look.

With a chuckle I put my hands on my desk and forcibly lifted my head, “No kidding!”

“So how long have you been sleeping with, Michaud?”  Paul scrutinized me.

I knew my face was burning red now, “What do you mean, Paul?”  I put on my best innocent expression.

But Paul only laughed and shook his head, “Darlin,’ I’ve been a lawyer since you were in diapers.  I’ve learned a few things about the mannerisms of people over the years.  Up till now I thought Michaud was a robot, all work and no play, but when his eyes land on you they shine.  I think the man’s in love.”

I looked up at him hopefully, “Do you really think so?”

He stood up and stepped to my office door, his hand resting on the door handle, “I really do.  Now get to work!”  He closed the door behind him with a laugh.