Lovers in law (7 page)

“Please, Radford.” Her breath came
in short, sharp gasps but she couldn’t stop staring at my mouth, as
if plucking up the courage to kiss me again. “You’ve got to
understand how impossible this is for me.”

To emphasise her words, her hand
circled my forearm, her skin invitingly cool against mine. Her
fingers pulled at the thick, dark hair, and traced the shape of my
watch before sliding way up under my shirt sleeve. The need to have
those hands all over my naked body suddenly intensified – as did my
desire to fuck her in every position ever invented.

“Let’s get out of here,” I begged.
“My apartment’s a short taxi ride away.”

“No!” Her reply was sharp and
emphatic. She snatched her hand away from my arm as if I were too
hot to touch suddenly. “I mean…”

For the first time since I’d met
her, she seemed at a loss. The bravado drained from her, leaving
her lost for words and unsure of herself.

A strange sensation flooded me that
I recognised as shame.

Here I was, forcing her to
jeopardise her entire career just because I couldn’t keep my dick
in my trousers. It was the one and only time I’d ever put a woman’s
feelings above my burning need to get laid.

Allie Lawless had to be someone
really special to change my habits of a lifetime. The realisation
brought me up short and I backed off.

“I’m sorry.” I said, even the
apology sounding strange on my lips. “You’re right. I’m pushing too
hard.”

“No,” she repeated. “It’s not
that.”

She reached under the table and lay
her hand on my thigh. The muscles tensed under her fingers and she
squeezed my leg slightly before she slid her hand closer to my
groin. I thought my cock was going to explode right there in the
bar and held my breath, but her fingers stopped maddeningly
short.

If she’d have reached up and
grabbed my balls she couldn’t have had more of my attention.

“You are gorgeous,” she said,
closing her eyes and letting out a long slow breath for emphasis.
“You push every button. And, if you were just some guy I’d met in a
bar, I’d be in that taxi with you right now on the way to your
apartment.”

“So what’s stopping you?”

“The fact that you and I are
working so closely together. This is a huge case. So much is
resting on it – for both of us.”

I wouldn’t be put off. “I’m sure
two holders of the Melton Prize can work out how to run an affair
and a court case,” I said, flashing her what I hoped was a winning
smile. “We can keep our affair strictly outside office hours. I’ll
be discreet. No one will ever know what happens between us. I
promise.”

To persuade her further, I ran my
hand up the outside of her thigh, feeling the unmistakeable shape
of suspenders under her skirt. I love stockings. Adore them with a
passion. And the thought of those endless legs in them almost sent
me over the edge.

“I doubt we’d make it work,” she
said, unconvinced. “After all, neither of us has a great track
record. Three dates in, one of us will move on and then there’ll be
the uncomfortable moments and awkward silences. We have the makings
of a winning team and I can’t compromise that.”

“Always assuming we break up.”

“What?” Allie did a double
take.

But then so did I after hearing the
words that had just come out of my mouth. Given my years of court
experience, I could make just about anything sound like the truth.
But I’d really meant this.

What if we got together and it
never actually ended?

“Perhaps we won’t break up,” I
repeated. “Usually after three dates I’ve run out of conversation
and I’m missing the thrill of the chase. That might not
happen.”

Allie closed her eyes and shook her
head in indecision. “I don’t know,” she said. “It isn’t that
simple. I need time to think.”

At least it wasn’t another
refusal.

“Okay. If that’s what you need,” I
said reluctantly.

I must have been losing my touch.
If Allie could resist an all out charm offensive from me, she was
built of sterner stuff than most juries.

“Are you prepared to wait
until the case is over?” she asked, looking at me hopefully.
“Concentrate on work for the next couple of months?”

How could I resist those big green
eyes and the promise of that incredible body in the future? I
swallowed hard and scrambled around for a decision.

On the one hand, I’m an instant
gratification kind of a guy when it comes to sex and women, but
Allie did something very strange to me. She actually made me
prepared to wait.

“If that’s what it takes,” I
confirmed, trying to smile and praying my cock would accept my
head’s decision. “But don’t be surprised if I drop the occasional
hint in the meantime.”

“I wouldn’t expect anything less
from a flirt like you.” She grinned wickedly and fed me a forkful
of her pasta.

“Shh,” I said, motioning for her to
keep her voice down. “Everyone else in here thinks I’m a
high-priced barrister at the top of his game.”

“Well obviously you’ve never kissed
them. Or stared at their arse.”

“For the record, you kissed me. And
as for the arse-staring, that’s privileged information. You’re not
allowed to hold it against me.”

Allie looked at me over the rim of
her wine glass, her eyes containing a dangerous glint I really
liked the look of.

“Trust me,” she said. “If you
and I ever get together, it won’t be information I’ll be holding
against you.”

I don’t know how I stopped myself
leaning across the table and snogging Radford right there and then.
His smile was so sexy he should have had a licence for it and the
gloss of good wine on his lips made him even more kissable than
normal.

In case you’re wondering, I’d
noticed how expensive the wine was. I’d had a bar job during my
university holidays and I could tell you the price of just about
every vintage you care to name. And believe you me, someone who
spends that much money on a bottle of wine for a midweek drink with
a colleague is up to no good.

Not that I minded.

I liked that Radford was making the
effort and trying all his best moves on me. Luckily, I was still
two steps ahead of him, although I did trip myself up slightly by
asking him to wait for a date until after the case has
finished.

That’s two whole months! Possibly
even three! How on earth am I supposed to keep my hands to myself
for that long?

Yes, I can hear you quoting my
golden rule back at me, never to sleep with clients or colleagues.
But we’ve already established that Radford is neither.

The sensible half of my brain was
telling me that this case could make or break my career, and that I
should give romantic entanglements a wide berth until we’d gone to
judgement.

But every rule is meant to be
broken and what kind of lawyer would I be if I couldn’t find a
loophole somewhere? It would be a very dull job indeed if I only
used my considerable brain power on concrete stress fracture
reports.

At ten o’clock we gathered up our
jackets and left the wine bar, Radford promising to walk me as far
as the tube station. I wondered whether his apartment was somewhere
along the way and that he might suggest a detour. I admit to being
slightly disappointed when he didn’t.

The Temple area of London,
where Radford had his chambers, is a traffic-free oasis of gardens
and ancient courtyards between two major roads. Its alleyways were
deserted at that time of night, most of the lawyers having left,
and I was glad to have Radford with me on some of the darker
corners. He led me along a narrow passageway between two high
buildings that I’d never used before and I wondered whether it was
a shortcut to the Tube.

I should have known better.

Before I knew what was happening,
Radford took hold of my arm and manoeuvred me into a doorway. He
pushed me back into the shadows, out of sight of anyone passing and
I guessed he hadn’t stopped me to discuss a point of law.

I know. I should have fought him
off. I should have resisted. But he’d already put my briefcase down
and his body was holding me still against the heavy oak door.

Sometimes you’ve just got to go
with the flow and let someone else take charge.

Radford’s lips brushed across mine
in the darkness, his breath warm against my face in the cool night
air. My mouth parted expectantly, ready to receive his kiss as his
tongue teased my top lip, but he pulled away and I gave a little
sigh of disappointment. Instead, his hand came up under my hair and
he tangled his fingers in it to pull my head back.

A soft moan escaped my unkissed
lips when Radford’s hot mouth came down upon my exposed neck. His
lips gently pinched my skin, raising goosebumps down my spine and
sending a wash of warm sensation out across my shoulders

I shivered in anticipation, despite
the heat of his body, and his arm tightened around my waist. He
crushed me so fiercely against him I was forced onto tiptoes and
arched my back, pushing my breasts into his unyielding chest and
tilting my chin up further to receive another shower of kisses
across my neck.

Every ounce of resistance left my
body.

Radford’s hot lips trailed up my
throat, along my jaw line and eventually found my impatient, hungry
mouth. I held my breath, straining upwards for his kiss but he
continued to tease, pulling away as his mouth brushed mine and
holding himself just out of my reach. I heard his soft laugh.

“Kiss me, “ I begged, my words no
more than a sigh on the night air. “Please, Radford.”

His lips smiled triumphantly
against mine. And then they parted for a kiss. Tentative at first.
Soft, warm, delicious and full of promise. A taste of sweet
pleasures still to come. Gradually deepening as I responded in
relief at finally having his lips on mine.

With Radford giving me
the kind of kiss I’d been desperate for all
evening, my knees buckled and I tightened my arms around his neck
to stop myself from falling. He kissed me like I’d never been
kissed before; possessing me and driving every sane thought out of
my head until I knew I’d never get my fill of him.

Golden rule or not, I melted.

When we’d kissed in chambers, I’d
been in control, but my common sense now lost all restraint. My
hunger matched Radford’s as he surrendered himself completely to
desire; our bodies catching fire simultaneously; our movements
mirrored and instinctive. His hands swept down across my bum and
yanked me against him so the outline of his gargantuan cock
imprinted itself on my belly.

His kiss was hot and intoxicating.
Imagine what the rest of his body could do to me.

And at that thought, I was
lost.

The need to touch, feel and drink
Radford in overpowered me. His mouth wasn’t enough. I wanted him
naked, exposed and breathless underneath me while I tasted every
inch of that hard, sexy body of his.

Slipping my hands inside his
jacket, I tugged his shirt free and slid my hands up inside. His
skin burned my palms as I traced the unfamiliar shapes of his spine
and muscles with my fingertips, liking what I found.

This man was built of steel
and fire – huge and broad, dwarfing me and making me feel
vulnerable and dainty in his arms. My nails scraped down his sides
and he squirmed against me, dipping down slightly so his cock
pushed hard against my pubic bone, sending shivers down into my
clit. I cried out and my nails dug further into Radford’s
back

At my touch, Radford moaned
and pulled my body tighter against his, blurring the line between
us until we merged into one. My hands on his naked skin inflamed
him and his mouth left mine to ravage my throat again, greedy for
me. He pulled my blouse aside to lay a trail of kisses along each
collar bone, his day’s stubble scratching my tender skin to the
point of ignition until I was gasping and pulling his head down
harder against me.

My fingers fumbled with his shirt
buttons, clumsy in the darkness and shaking with longing. I got
them undone and pulled his shirt wide open so I could spread my
fingers across that dark hair I’d been fantasising about for
days.

He was gorgeous – absolutely,
unimaginably gorgeous – and I whimpered with desire. Radford was
hot to the point of meltdown and I wanted him more than I’d ever
wanted any man. What’s more, I couldn’t wait a moment longer.

But I was past the age of having
sex in draughty doorways.

“Let’s go back to chambers,” I
gasped, knowing the building would be deserted and we’d have the
place to ourselves.

But Radford shook his head and
pulled away, leaving glacial trails where his lips had been. “I
can’t,” he sighed close to my ear as he buried his face in my
hair.

Not willing to take no for an
answer, I reached down between his legs where my hand cupped his
heavy balls and the base of that huge, hard cock. “I think you
can,” I argued, increasing the pressure on his cock and starting to
move my hand up and down it.

Radford gave a deep, throaty moan
and yielded to my fingers, his hips picking up their rhythm. both
hands now clutching my bum and pulling me against him.

My pussy swelled and ached with the
need to have that gorgeous cock inside me and I begged once more to
go back to chambers. Our desire might not survive a sterile taxi
ride across the city to his apartment but the short walk to his
office wouldn’t be a problem.

“No,” he repeated, but more
forcefully this time as he grabbed my wrist and stilled my hand.
“It’s a bad idea.”

“No it isn’t.”

I began to wonder whether he’d
kissed me just to prove how much I wanted to break my golden rule.
But I sensed it wasn’t a game to him either.