Undisclosed Desires (2 page)

“No comment,” she mumbled, examining the
floor.

“You need to stand up to him, Grace,”
Antonio said, his expression serious. “You fight like hell for your clients,
but you won’t fight for yourself. You let people get away with too much. You’re
a people pleaser.”

“If by people, you mean my employers, then
yes.” Grace took a sip of beer. “I need this job.”

“You’re a fantastic attorney.” Antonio
gazed at her in the eyes. “You could get a job anywhere.”

“Says the golden boy. Brackman loves you.”

“He’s a good old boy.” Antonio waved his
hand in disregard. “He thinks the women should clean up all the messes.” He
frowned and circled the lip of his beer with a finger. “You had the bad luck of
being assigned to him when you joined the firm.”

“Yeah, me and Carson. Blech,” she said
with an open-mouth yucky sound.

“Brackman might be trying to leverage you
into a sexual relationship with him. You know…give you some decent cases if
you’ll play ball.”

“Or play with his balls.”

The joke didn’t make him laugh.
“Seriously, I think he has a thing for you.”

“Oh right.” Grace laughed and rolled her
eyes. “I’m such an irresistible siren.”

“You’re beautiful and sexy.” Antonio
stared at his beer for a minute and then continued. “You could have any man.”

Grace blushed, thrilled by his words, and
gulped down a beer to cover her fluster. Obviously, he was just being a good
friend and lying to her, but still. Besides, she obviously couldn’t have any
man. Not Antonio…and not her fiancé Brad, who had broken things off less than a
month before the wedding. Grace could see by the expression on his face,
Antonio knew she’d just thought about Brad.

“Let’s not talk about Nelson,” she moaned.
“We’re here because you need cheering up. I can’t believe Susie broke up with
you.”

“I broke up with her,” he admitted. “She’s
too jealous. And even if she wasn’t, I just didn’t see it going anywhere
long-term. It seemed unfair to both of us to keep up a pretense. It was the
right thing to do.” He gave a wry smile. “Susie, however, does not agree.”

“I bet,” Grace said. “Well, if you broke
up with her, why do you need cheering up?”

“I can still feel bad even though I
instigated it, you know.”

And she did know. That was the thing about
Antonio. He came off as a playboy “Romeo” as Larry would have said. But she
knew a lot of his playing around came from a real fear of being hurt. Probably
something that had come from being abandoned by his mother when he was five.

Just then, something drew Grace’s
attention to the entrance. The door opened and in walked Larry Carson. Speak of
the devil, wasn’t that the saying? Larry smirked and then waved before heading
their way. She cringed.

“Aha. I caught you,” Larry jeered when
he’d reached them.

“What do you mean you caught us?” Antonio
asked. “If we were trying to hide, we wouldn’t go to a bar on the same block as
the office.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to offend you.” Larry
tossed them a lascivious grin. “I know everybody from the firm comes here. I
didn’t mean to imply you were doing anything indecent.” His expression belied
his words. “How about I buy you two a round to make up for rudeness?” he asked.

“No thanks,” Grace said.

The entrance door opened again and Brad,
her ex, entered, accompanied by a hot girl.

“Great,” she snapped, spinning around on
her seat.

“What is it?” Antonio asked, glancing at
the door. “The asshole,” he whispered in her ear.

“Yeah,” she whispered in reply. “The gang
of tools is all here tonight.”

“Let’s get a table at the back.” He rose,
picked up his beer and then hers.

Before they could avoid him, Brad spotted
her and, dragging his girl along after him, rushed over.

“Hello, Grace.” Brad’s lips curled in a
derisive smile. “Meet my new fiancée Christina. We just got engaged tonight.”
Then he turned to his girl. He inclined his head toward Grace. “This is my
former fiancée. And this is the guy she cheated on me with. Antonio something
or other.”

Larry Carson grinned gleefully as he
looked on. “Romero,” he said. “His last name is Romero.”

The trouble really began between Grace and
her fiancé a year before, at the same time Antonio had come to work at the
firm. For some reason, she and Antonio had immediately clicked as friends. He
kidded that they could not only finish each other’s sentences but each other’s
paragraphs. Brad just couldn’t deal. Fights broke out for no reason that always
seemed to come back to some objection to her friendship with Antonio. Soon the
sex that had been mediocre at best between Grace and her fiancé turned
dreadful.

Grace had to admit she probably shared the
greater part of the blame. The first time she’d seen Antonio, her jaw had
literally dropped and her heart had pounded so hard she’d thought it would
split her ribs. For the first time in her life, Grace understood what she was
supposed to feel when she looked at the man she loved. She had known her body
was capable of being thrilled, but Antonio made her tingle from head to foot.
Just watching Antonio move had her inner walls pulsing. The weakness tormented
her.

She should have called off the wedding,
but her logical and reasonable self had taken control. Although they were fast
friends and best buddies, Antonio hadn’t given any indication of attraction. He
was beyond her reach, whether she was engaged or not. Plus, she owed loyalty to
Brad. He was a moderately attractive guy with a good job and who wanted a
family. Someone to be happy with. No wide, roller coaster rides of lust and
love. Instead, a nice, steady warmth.

The blow up came the night of her
bachelorette party. She’d insisted on making it unisex so she could include
Antonio. Just as she’d been ready to leave for the party, Brad had cornered her
at her apartment.

“Why do you need Antonio there?” Brad had
asked.

“I don’t
need
him there,” she’d replied, rummaging in her purse for lipstick.
“But why shouldn’t he be there? He’s my friend.” Grace found the tube and
extracted it.

“A friendship I don’t understand,” Brad
stated, pacing angrily. “Can’t you give this guy up?”

“Why?” She turned to the mirror in the
hall.

“Because I’m asking you to!” Brad shouted,
and then stopped behind her.

“Why are you yelling at me? You’re being
ridiculous.” Grace made eye contact with him in the mirror. “There’s no sexual
relationship between us. Besides, Antonio works with me. What do you want me to
do? Quit my job?” She applied the ruby blush color to her lips.

“You would quit, if you really loved me.”
He raked a hand through his hair. “But Antonio seems more important to you than
I am. More important to you than our marriage.”

“Because I won’t quit my job to avoid
someone and appease your unreasonable jealousy?” She whirled to face him.

“Unreasonable?” Brad demanded, his
eyebrows converging. “You’re having an emotional affair with the guy, at the
very least.” He slammed a palm into the wall behind her head and he loomed over
her. “The wedding is off.” His eyes locked with hers. “I’m not marrying you. I
want my ring back.”

“What? You can’t. What about all the money
we’ve already spent?”

“Listen to yourself,” he mocked. “The
first concern is the money?”

She hesitated. Why had her first thought
been the money and not about losing Brad? Realization dawned and an apology
hovered on her lips, but Brad interrupted before she could even open her mouth.

“You’re a lousy fuck anyway,” he flung at
her. “My friends all told me to dump you. That you’d never get over being
frigid. That you were a bitch…They were right.”

“Take your lousy ring!” Grace screamed,
pulling it off her finger before throwing it at Brad. “And get the hell out.”

She’d gone to Finnegan’s anyway. No sense
in delaying. She’d have to let everyone know Brad had called off the wedding.
When she’d arrived and announced it, all her friends had quickly gone from a
happy party mood to somber and apologetic. Then one by one they’d all made a
quick departure, all except Antonio. He told her what she needed was a drink
and not to be alone. They’d snagged a table in the corner and ordered one drink
then two, and then she lost track.

“I’ll have to notify everyone on the guest
list. And of course there’s all of the arrangements to cancel.” Shame filled
Grace’s voice. She rubbed at her temples. “The worst thing about this is the
humiliation. Everyone will know Brad thought I wasn’t good enough.”

“Asshole scumbag,” Antonio tossed out as
he finished off his fourth beer. “If I see Brad, I’ll beat him to a bloody
quarter-sized pulp and leave him to bake on the sidewalk.”

Of course she hadn’t told him the details
of the fight leading up to the break. “It’s not necessarily just his fault,”
Grace admitted, still sipping on her drink. “I can be a bitch.”

“Nonsense,” he declared, slurring the “s”
a bit. “He’s a douche. You’re perfect.”

She laughed. “You must be drunk.” Grace
grabbed his beer bottle. “No more for you tonight.” He must have begun drinking
before she’d arrived. She’d never seen him this inebriated.

“Really,” Antonio started, grabbing her
hand. At his touch, a buzz stirred her core and incited lecherous, yearning
thoughts. Grace involuntarily licked her lips and then blushed. She shouldn’t
have had even one drink. It had made her wanton. Then he took the beer back and
chugged down the rest. “Don’t let this jerk make you think you’re not good
enough.” Antonio’s eyes were bleary but sincere. “He’s the loser, not you.”

“Thanks, buddy.” Grace offered him a
slight smile before sliding out of the chair. “Come on. I’m gonna drive you
home.”

“It’s early,” Antonio protested. “I
shouldn’t leave you alone. You’re devastated.”

Not really…Which was weird, wasn’t it?

“You’re not leaving me alone. I’m coming
with you.” Grace retrieved her purse and slung it over her shoulder.
“Remember?”

After a few seconds of mulling over that
reasoning, he nodded. “Oh…okay,” he said, standing. Then he swayed a little as
he took a step. Grace put an arm around him and the two of them walked out.

Once they were in her car, Antonio passed
out and snored loudly throughout the twenty-minute ride. Grace managed to
awaken him just enough to pull him out of the car. Throwing his arm around her
shoulder, she supported him, and the two of them staggered up the sidewalk to
his house. Then began the production of rummaging in his pocket for his house
key. Her questing fingers encountered rock-hard thighs and something else that
had surged in hardness level.

“Oh baby,” he said with a suggestive laugh
and a drunken head wag. “A little to the left, please.”

“Real funny,” she said, extracting the key
and unlocking his front door. Inside, she dumped him on the sofa. Kneeling, she
took one foot in her hand and began to untie his dress shoe.

“You are so sexy, kneeling down there,”
Antonio said, lying back against the cushions. He reached out a hand and ran
the tips of his fingers through her hair.

“Yeah,” she said dryly. “Getting these
shoes off would be even sexier. Can you help me a little here, buddy?”

Grace managed to get one off and was just
about to begin on the other one when he toed it off. Then Antonio leaned
forward and tried to get his suit jacket off but couldn’t seem to pull his arm
out of the sleeve.

“Let me do it,” she offered, standing up.
Then she leaned over him and tugged at the garment until it came off. “Okay,
why don’t you lie down?”

“What about the pants?” he asked, wiggling
his eyebrows. “Are you going to unzip me?”

“Lie down,” she ordered with more
harshness than she intended. Oh, how she wanted to unzip those pants. The
anticipation incited more shameless greed in her than when she’d opened
Christmas presents as a child. But no, she couldn’t open that particular
present. He was drunk. It wouldn’t be fair to take advantage of him. “You can
sleep in the pants,” she said finally. “Lie down.”

“Only if you lie down here with me,” he
countered, seizing her wrist and tugging at her until she fell backward onto
his lap. As she struggled to scoot off him, Grace felt the long length of his
erection jutting against her buttocks.

His arms locked around her with his hands
covering her breasts. One hand wandered into the opening of her shirt and then
into the top cup of her bra to caress her the now-hard nub. A buzz of
exquisitely painful ecstasy coursed through her. Her breath caught in her
throat. Grace inhaled a shaky breath then exhaled, fighting to bring herself
under control.

“Come on.” She swallowed hard. “Let me
up.”

His answering chuckle released a breath
against her nape that sent shivers through her, and a melting wetness invaded
her core. Grace squeezed her legs together, but there was no relief from the
exquisite ache building there. She glanced over her shoulder for a glimpse of
his face. Antonio’s expression could only be described as contented. His eyes
were closed and his mouth was set in a blissful smile as he continued to knead
and caress her breast.