Lovers in law (14 page)

“Not if I step down from the
case.”

“What?” The thought of losing her
sent me into a panic, both professionally and personally. “You
can’t!”

Allie felt me tense against
her and sat up. “I’ve been thinking that me giving up is the most
sensible way out,” she said although she’d never convince me of it.
“Mike can back you in court and I’ll do any extra research from my
office. That way, I don’t have to see Daniel again and we won’t
give ourselves away.”

“But having you in court with me
doubles our chances of success.” This wasn’t an exaggeration. The
case had become watertight since Allie’s involvement and her
leaving would pull the plug.

She was adamant, however. “I was a
big enough distraction before we ended up in bed together. It’ll be
even worse after this. We can’t possibly work together.”

Disappointment rushed in on me,
quickly followed by guilt. “I can’t let you do it. This was your
way into a partnership. You have everything resting on it.”

“Which is exactly why I said I
didn’t want to get involved with you,” she reminded me. “Business
and pleasure never mix.” Seeing my stricken expression she rushed
to reassure me. “I’m not blaming you,” she said. “It’s as much my
fault.”

This was one thing I couldn’t
disagree with. “It was completely your fault. You started it. You
kissed me first.”

“Only because you’re so insanely
good looking.” She feigned anger. “You didn’t play fair.”

“Neither did you. How was I
supposed to resist a sexy woman who went to dinner without her
underwear?”

“Serves you right for looking at my
bum.”

“Would you mind if I did it
again?”

Without waiting for an answer, I
flipped a laughing Allie over and held her down on the bed while I
kissed every bone down her spine. She struggled half heartedly,
giggling too much to make a proper attempt at escape, while I
licked and bit my way around that perfect arse of hers.

Who needed pasta when peaches were
on the menu?

“Don’t stop,” she sighed,
eventually surrendering and stretching out languorously. “Even if
we don’t see each other during the day, I give you my full
permission to do this every single night.”

“If that’s an offer of settlement,
I think I could recommend it to my client,” I said.

Her thighs parted automatically so
I could slide my fingers down and into her pussy. I groaned when I
found it ripe and ready for sex again. She’d tasted so good on the
stool in her kitchen and there hadn’t been chance since to give her
succulent sex the attention it deserved.

Perhaps it was time for her to find
out exactly what my silver tongue was capable of.

“I might need to attach some
conditions to the settlement though,” I went on, turning her onto
her back and spreading her legs wide so I could admire the
sex-glossed outlines of her pussy. She lay there without
embarrassment, displaying herself to me, well aware that I was
already a willing slave to that part of her anatomy and loving the
power it gave her over me. “If I agree to only seeing you in the
evenings, I shall expect to find you naked in my bed every time I
come home.”

“That’s reasonable, in the
circumstances,” she conceded.

“And, at weekends, I’ll expect a
full forty-eight hours of nudity, including complete compliance
with all of my sexual demands.”

As my mouth drew closer to her
pussy she put her hand in the way, denying me access. “That, I’m
afraid, is still open for negotiation,” she said. “I can’t possibly
agree unless I know exactly what those demands involve.”

“Then why not give me the next
twenty-four more hours to make full disclosure?”

Allie’s hand slid back up across
her sex, her finger lingering very deliberately on her clit and
driving me insane. “I’m expecting in-depth oral testimony,” she
warned.

What else could I do?

My tongue washed up through her
luscious groove and circled her clit. Allie cried out in rapture
and put her hands either side of my face, drawing me in closer.

And like the well-trained lawyer I
am, I began explaining everything to her in minute detail.

The next twenty-four hours passed
in a blur of hot mouths on even hotter bodies, colossal orgasms and
sex in every position the suite allowed.

We drank another three bottles of
champagne. Allie ate pasta with one hand wanking my cock. I spread
tiramisu across her belly and breasts and made her come when I
licked it off.

By the time we finally got dressed
on Sunday evening, even we were exhausted and ready to collapse
into our own beds alone.

“This has been the most incredible
weekend I’ve ever spent,” I told her, zipping up her dress,
devastated at having to cover up that gorgeous body. “Thank
you.”

Allie began fastening the
buttons of my crumpled shirt. “Believe me, the pleasure’s been all
mine. Give me your card and I might send you a brief sometime soon.
What did you say your name was again?”

“Witch! If I remember
rightly, all this started because you turned up to dinner without
any briefs. Determined to lead me astray and have your wicked way
with me.” She slid her arms around my neck and stroked my cheek. “I
need a shave,” I apologised.

“No you don’t. A shaved pussy and
an unshaven chin are the best combination in the world. If we’re
still adding conditions to that settlement, I don’t want you
shaving at weekends.”

“Hopefully I won’t have the time.”
I kissed her, wanting to hang on to the fantasy we’d created in the
hotel room that weekend, imprinting the memory of her lips upon my
mouth. An hour from now, I was sure my arms would ache for the
shape of her and I grasped onto every last second together.

“We should go,” she said, her voice
shot through with reluctance. “I’m exhausted and I need a good
night’s sleep.”

“I want to see you home. For all we
know, Daniel Greene could be waiting for you.”

I could see she wanted to argue but
common sense took hold and she agreed. We walked outside to find a
taxi but I didn’t let her hand go for a second. As long as I was
touching her, I felt calm and knew she was safe.

The taxi dropped us outside her
flat and I told it to wait, following her upstairs and seeing her
safely inside. She hadn’t picked up her messages all weekend
because her phone battery had died and she plugged her mobile in to
charge. Message alerts came up immediately.

“Check them while I’m here,” I told
her. “Just in case there’s a problem.”

“A couple from girlfriends,” she
said, reading each one in turn. “And one from Mike letting me know
he’s back at work tomorrow.”

She sent him a quick text, saying
she’d catch up with him over coffee the next day. Then her
beautiful features clouded over as she read the last message.

“It’s from the senior partner.” She
checked the details. “He sent it on Saturday morning. He wants to
see me at eight o’clock tomorrow.”

It didn’t sound good but I couldn’t
worry her any more than she was already. “They only want to get
your side of the story,” I told her. “I bet Greene’s been on to
them already. Don’t give it a second thought.”

When she looked up at me for
reassurance I tried to pull my features into a confident
expression. “Trust me,” I said. “I’m a lawyer. Everything will be
fine.”

I opened my arms to her and she
came to me willingly, inhaling the scent of me and absorbing my
heat. She was trembling slightly but I put it down to exhaustion.
It felt strange to hold her and have clothes in the way. I was
wishing already that I could wrap her in my arms again while she
went to sleep.

“We should agree on a story,” I
said. “It’s best that people don’t know what we’ve been doing this
weekend.”

“I wouldn’t tell my closest friends
what we’ve been doing this weekend,” Allie said, laughing. “I’d get
arrested for lewd behaviour.”

I had to agree she had a
point. “Where will you say you were?” I asked. “You can’t admit to
being naked at Claridges for two whole days.”

She thought for a moment. “I was at
my brother’s for a party. I forgot to take my phone charger.”

“Okay. I was with friends on the
south coast.”

“Do you even have friends on the
south coast?”

“Come to my flat tomorrow night and
you’ll find out,” I promised, scribbling down my address. “And call
me as soon as you get out of your meeting tomorrow. I want to know
you’re okay.”

“I will.” Allie reached up and
kissed me lightly. “The bed will seem far too big without you
tonight.”

“I could always stay…” I felt I had
to do the gentlemanly thing and offer.

“No way.” She pushed me away from
her and held me at a distance. “I’m going to take a shower and then
sleep. I have an early start tomorrow.”

“I suppose phone sex is out of the
question.”

She pointed at her mobile,
sitting on the kitchen worktop, charging. “Sorry. Nothing doing. My
battery’s dead – and so is yours.” Her lips twitched with a
suppressed smile while she tried to look cross. “You have a taxi
waiting. You’d better go.”

“I don’t want to.” I sounded like
some love-struck teenage boy, not a cynical serial dater, and
cringed.

“I’ll see you again in less than
twenty-four hours.”

“Lock up and sweet dreams.”

Allie gave me a wicked smile
and one last lingering kiss that made me want to overrule all her
objections and stay. “If you stray into my dreams I can guarantee
they’ll be anything but sweet. They’ll be very, very naughty
indeed.”

“What do you mean, I’m sacked?” I
demanded, unable to believe what I was hearing. “You can’t do
this.”

“We can and we have, Miss Lawless,”
the senior partner said, speaking on behalf of the other five men
around the table. “We need you to clear your desk right now and
leave. Security will escort you out of the building.”

“But this is ridiculous,” I
argued. “You have no grounds for dismissal. Daniel Greene attacked
me and I fought him off. Where am I at fault? Should I have let him
rape me?” I was on my feet, fighting back the tears, desperate not
to let them know how much I was panicking.

“His version of events is that you
lead him on all night and then invited him back to your flat.”

“Rubbish. I had to tip a glass of
wine over him to get him off me. Even the police realised there was
no case to answer.”

The senior partner shook his
head, obviously not prepared to listen to a word in my own defence.
“Criminal charges and gross professional misconduct are very
different things. You have not acted in a manner befitting a member
of this firm.”

Manner befitting. Who were they
trying to kid? I knew at least three of them had had affairs and
another had lost his licence for drink-driving last year.
Hypocrites.

I pulled out my mobile. “Call
Radford Byrne. He was there. He’ll tell you exactly what
happened.”

“I doubt it. The clients are
also lodging a complaint against him with the Bar Standards Board
alleging professional misconduct. He’ll be too tied up in his own
case to ride to your rescue.”

“I’ll sue,” I warned. “This is
unlawful dismissal.”

“Be our guest.” The threat
apparently didn’t worry the partners. “We’re a major law firm with
unlimited funds. If I were you, I’d think twice before issuing
proceedings.”

“Are you trying to intimidate
me?”

“No. Simply reminding you that
you’ve lost this firm hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of
business. Not only have the Greenes taken away the Zeus
Developments case, they’ve withdrawn all of their business from the
firm. Property transactions, commercial law, employment issues,
private trusts for the family. All gone. Every department’s going
to suffer.” He stood up, signalling the meeting was at an end. “I
should imagine it will be far less embarrassing for you to leave
before the rest of the staff arrive.”

Dread solidified the pit of my
stomach. They really meant to do this and there wasn’t a thing I
could do about it. “You haven’t heard the last of this,” I
warned.

“For your sake, I hope we
have. The legal community’s a very incestuous one. Nobody wants to
employ a troublemaker, and bad news travels fast.”

I glared at him, knowing the firm
held all the cards and I was basically out in the cold. What could
an assistant solicitor do against the collected might of a huge
City law partnership? Again I fought back tears of anger and
frustration, and marched out of the conference room while my
dignity remained intact.

I grabbed storage boxes on my way
back up to my office and began throwing my books and papers into
them, conscious of the security guard standing out in the corridor
watching me. As if being sacked weren’t bad enough, I was being
made to feel like some kind of criminal too.

Mike hobbled into my office, took
one look at the security guard and slammed the door in his face.
“Is it true?” he asked. “Have they really sacked you?”

The glint of tears in my eyes told
him everything he needed to know. He put down his crutches and held
out his arms to me. I went to him, grateful for the comfort, my
mind scrambling to take in what had just happened.

“Why?” Mike asked. “What have you
done?”

“Apparently, because of me, Zeus
Developments have withdrawn all their business from the firm,” I
said, still fuming. “And they’ve reported Radford Byrne to the Bar
Standards Board.”

“Oh my God.” He couldn’t hide his
shock. “What did you do to make them that angry? The case hasn’t
even come to trial yet.”