by L. M. Reid
Dad usually doesn’t speak about the women he dates. I sure as hell don’t ask. Mostly because I don’t care, partly because the idea of the young women he fancies disgusts me. They’re half his age, if not more, and he treats every last one of them like a pawn in a game, which, of course, they usually are. Even more, none of them last more than a few days. A couple weeks, tops.
I can’t say any of that though. I can’t act like I don’t care. Not when I need him to give me this job, because destroying him depends on it.
“Young, huh?” I say, feeding into his ego.
“Young, firm, and gorgeous,” he says with a laugh that makes my skin crawl.
Through gritted teeth, I lie to him. “That’s great, Dad. I’m happy for you.”
“So, what do I owe the honor of this visit?” my father asks.
“I’m actually here on business,” I reply.
His eyes widen and he lets out a soft chuckle. “Business?”
Never before have I shown an interest in working for him. After I graduated law school, he offered me a position here at Cahill and Cahill. I turned the offer down flat. I couldn’t come here, couldn’t work for him. Seeing how he had been as a father, I didn’t even want to think about what he would be like as a boss.
Instead I took an opportunity from a man that taught me more about life in the few short years I knew him than my father ever did. Tanner Phillips was my professor and mentor. When I graduated he offered me a job at his firm, a job where I would have to start at the bottom, serving coffee and shit, and work my way up.
It astounded my father that I would do that, sink to that level when he was offering me, in his eyes, the opportunity of a lifetime. Maybe his lifetime or Brayden’s, but not mine. No, I went to work for Tanner and when Tanner was on his death bed a few short years later, he left me the firm.
As much as I know I need to be here, it kills me to have Hal doing what Tanner meant for me – running his business. I feel like I’m letting him down even though I know he hated my father almost as much as I do.
“I want to throw my hat in the ring for partner,” I say. Having finally said the words out loud is a relief. It feels like I ripped a Band-Aid off, the sting of having to say the words and now the relief that they’re out.
“You? You want to be a partner? In my law firm?” he asks incredulously. I nod in response. “What about your firm? You’re wanting to be independent?” The disdain in his voice when he asks the question is evident.
“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” I reply. “I wanted to succeed on my own. Is that so terrible?” The tone in my voice changes, anger rising. I’m no longer pretending to be a son who wants to rejoin the family and become a partner in his father’s firm. No, I’m acting like the angry, bitter son that I actually am. I take a breath and rein it in before I ruin my plan before it even gets started.
“You don’t think my expertise could have helped you succeed?”
Narcissistic asshole. Everything is always about him – how great he is, how successful he is. I keep my cool though. If I let him get to me, I’m going to jeopardize my one chance to finally take him down.
“That’s not what I said.”
To him that was me conceding, telling him he was right. While I didn’t mean it that way, I sure as hell am not going to correct him. Let him infer what he wants. It will only make this all that much easier.
“So why now? What made you change your mind? Don’t tell me, you ran the firm into the ground?”
Of course that’s what he would assume. I mean, how could I not have failed? He wasn’t involved; he didn’t have a hand in it.
I remind myself to breathe.
“I didn’t fail. The firm didn’t go under.” I stand up and begin to pace his office. “I chose to leave it to someone else while still reaping all the financial benefits. I came here because I need a challenge. And getting your approval… well, that’s always a challenge.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means that nothing I ever do is good enough for you. So here I am doing my damnedest to prove myself to you by earning that partner spot. Not just getting it handed to me like Brayden did.”
His stupid intercom goes off; Jessa telling him that his next meeting is here.
“Send her in,” replies. “I have a meeting. We’ll have to finish this later.”
“Dad,” I argue.
“Dad?” a female voice says behind me.
The voice is familiar, although rather than sounding sexy and sultry like it did last night, it sounds confused – and pissed. Fuck.
Her presence has my dad bolting out of his seat and straight to her side. I’m the one in shock now as I watch his arms go around her waist and worst of all his lips on hers.
“Ashlynn, honey, this is my son, Grayson,” he says.
Honey?
It can’t be.
Ashlynn, the woman I fucked on her desk last night, is the young woman my father is seeing?
Well, I’ll be damned. It certainly wasn’t my intention and not how I operate but I can’t help but feel satisfied that I’m getting back at him in more ways than one. The idea has the corner of my mouth pulling up in a lopsided grin.
“We met,” she replies, disdain evident in her voice.
“Oh? When was that?” my dad asks.
“Last night,” she supplies. Nothing in her tone gives evidence to it being anything more than just some random encounter in the hallway but the way she’s glaring at me sure as hell does.
She regains her composure and refocuses her attention on my father. “I can come back later if you’re busy...”
“I am never too busy for you,” he tells her before turning his head in my direction. “And you. How did you manage to get in here?”
“I have my ways,” I reply smugly as I shove my hands in my pockets.
“You sure do, Grayson,” Ashlynn retorts, eyes locked on mine.
My father clears his throat breaking the visual war Ashlynn is waging on me. “Grayson, will you excuse us please?”
“As soon as you say what I want to hear,” I tell him.
“You’re sure about this?” he asks.
“Positive,” I reply.
“Good. No guarantees. You’re going to have to earn it,” he tells me.
As if I didn’t know that already. “I will.”
“Good. Tell Jessa to show you to the open office. It’s yours,” he says with a smile.
“Thanks, Dad. It was good to see you again, Ashlynn,” I say as I head out the door to my new office. The one I moved my things into last night before I got acquainted with my competition.
***
I stride into my office and kick up my feet on my new desk. Christ I couldn’t have planned this better. Not only did I get amazing sex out of it – it was with my father’s girlfriend. The only downside is that she knows who I am now and I’m pretty sure that is going to put a damper on any plans I had for another rendezvous.
Brayden enters the office clapping his hands.
“What?” I ask with a laugh.
“I don’t know how, but you did it.”
I shake my head at my brother. “You doubted me?”
“He wants you to fail.” He says this as if it’s news to me. The man has always wanted me to fail. Thing is, I never have. I have always accomplished everything I set out to do. My goals may not have been up to his standards, they may not have been what he wanted out of me, but they were my goals and I accomplished them. All with my soul still intact.
“I know, that’s part of the fun,” I tell him.
“You do have some pretty stiff competition for the spot, you know.”
More like said competition makes me pretty damn stiff. “Already working on it.”
“What the hell does that mean?” he asks.
“I’d like to know the answer to that, too.” Her voice comes from the doorway and it has every part of my body standing at attention. I look up a
t her. She’s standing there; short skirt, long legs, and a look of defiance on her face that makes me want her even more. Usually, I hate dramatic women. But this? Her? Fuck if it doesn’t turn me on.
“Well, hello Ashlynn. Or, should I call you Mommy?” I say to her.
“Answer the question,” she demands. She stalks toward me, clearly pissed.
“Don’t look so angry, Sweetheart. It’s not becoming of you,” I tell her.
“Quit calling me that,” she orders.
Little does she know, I don’t take orders from anyone, her especially.
I don’t respond, I just stare at her. This visual war we’re waging only intensifying as time slowly passes. We wait each other out all while Brayden stands by, a shit-eating grin on his face and curiosity in his eyes.
“Mess with me, Grayson West, and both your little heads will be rolling,” she replies before storming out of my office.
“You’ve been here five minutes. How the hell did you manage to piss her off already?” Brayden laughs.
As much as I love my brother, the reasons that I don’t tell him about Ashlynn are twofold. One, I promised her that I don’t kiss and tell. And, two, I know he got me here, I’m just not sure how much I can trust him.
“The real question is, how the hell did Dad end up with her?” I ask him.
“Ashlynn has goals; dating Dad is a means to an end. He knows it, she knows it, but they both seem okay with it.”
She may be okay dating him, but she sure as hell isn’t satisfied. If she was, she wouldn’t have been so hot and bothered the minute that I stepped into her office last night. Not that I’m complaining. Last night was amazing, so much that I was literally speechless when I left her office. Her, the sex, and the way she responded to my touch – none of it was like anything I had experienced before and fuck if I didn’t enjoy every single minute of it.
“So, what exactly do you plan on doing about your competition?” he asks.
I know what I want to do to her – what I’m going to do about her? That’s another story. “Don’t worry about it. I’ve got it under control.”
“I assure you brother, when it comes to Ashlynn; you’ve got nothing under control.”
He’s not wrong about that.
Fucking Ashlynn was certainly not part of my plan when I arrived here. The minute I laid eyes on her, something changed though. I was drawn to her, to her body, to her smile, to eyes that are filled with something that I can’t quite read yet. It’s that same something that made me need to have her immediately. Thank God she let me.
While I may have had her, once was not enough. I want more of her. I want to touch and explore every inch of her. I want so much more from her that I don’t understand.
I pace my office floor as I contemplate what to do about Ashlynn, the woman who inadvertently walked into my little revenge plot against my father. Sure, I could use her as a means to an end to help destroy my father. As much as I am enjoying the fact that I just stuck it to his girlfriend, using another person like that really isn’t my style. She has no place in this war I am waging against my father. No place other than my bed.
10
Ashlynn
I slam the door behind me.
Damn you Grayson West.
Taking in a deep breath I try desperately to calm my nerves and wrap my brain around the fact that the extremely hot man that I had amazing sex with last night is my boss’s son. Correction, my ‘boyfriend’s’ son.
I think back to the familiarity in his voice when he said my name. Did he know who I was when he approached me? Did he know that he was having sex with his father’s girlfriend? The smug smile on his face when he saw me walk into Elliott’s office tells me he did. Son-of-a-bitch, he knew alright and like an undersexed idiot, I fell right into his little trap.
My heart begins to race thinking about the fallout of what would happen if Elliott found out about what happened between Grayson and me. Not only would I lose my chance at becoming partner, he would destroy me. Elliott would leak to the world my dirty little secret and that take away everything that I worked so hard to build. The more I think about it, the more I’m certain that Elliott would release those photos, take me down, and destroy me without batting an eyelash.
I collapse into my chair and sigh. Grayson wouldn’t tell Elliott though, would he? I can’t imagine that his father would be any happier with him than he would be with me. And since this is the first time I have ever met Elliott’s son in all the years I’ve worked here that tells me he’s here for a reason. I may not know what that reason is yet, but I know there is one. And Elliott knowing the truth – that would surely destroy whatever it is he is after. Right?
There is a soft knock on the door, and then I hear Brayden’s voice. “So, you’ve met my brother.”
“Unfortunately,” I reply. I glance at Brayden across the desk, also known as the scene of the crime. And what a very hot, sweaty, and nipple tightening crime it was. “You could have warned me.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” he laughs as he takes a seat across from me.
“I thought you said he had his own firm, that he didn’t want anything to do with your father?”
“He hasn’t – until now.”
“Okay, but why now?”
Brayden shrugs.
I scrub my hand over my face. “Don’t give me that B, you know as well as I do that he has some ulterior motive for being here. Just tell me what it is.”
Brayden raises his hands in surrender. “You know I love you Ash, but Gray is my brother. I am not getting in the middle of this.”
I get up from my chair, walk in front of Brayden and place my hands on the armrests of the chair. “If you don’t want me to become your mommy and get your ass cut out of daddy’s will, I suggest you take my side.”
Brayden lets out a low chuckle. “Relax Ash, Gray isn’t that bad. Whatever he’s up to – he’ll get bored and move on. Trust me.” But, I don’t. Not in the slightest. Brayden is right about one thing, though – Grayson isn’t that bad. In fact, he’s damn good, especially when it comes to using his head, the lower one at least. But, if he thinks he’s going to distract me with that or use our one night against me, he’s sadly mistaken.
Whatever Grayson is doing here, it isn’t good. I don’t know whether he really wants the partner spot or not and frankly I don’t care. No way in hell am I going to let him have it.
“What happened between you two, anyway?” Brayden’s question snaps me out of my thoughts.
“What? Huh?” I ask.
I glance back at my desk, visions of Gray flooding my mind causing me to run my hand on the back of my neck where he kissed me.
“What do you mean?” I ask shocked by his question.
“What did he do to piss you off? I mean, he’s only been here one day.”
“Nothing, it doesn’t matter. He’s just a smug jerk…” my voice trails off, thoughts of last night flooding me again. Shit.
“Are you sure about that?” Brayden pries with a knowing smile on his face.
But he can’t know. Grayson wouldn’t…
Really? Like I have a fucking clue what Grayson would actually do. He sure as hell didn’t tell me who he really was. What makes me think that his line about not kissing and telling is the truth? Worry instantly fills me as I visualize my whole world crumbling around me.
“Fine, don’t tell me. I’ll just conjure up my own ideas in my head.”
“Brayden.” His name is a warning and a plea.
Brayden laughs and stands up from the chair. “I’ll see you later.”
Even if Brayden knows, it’s unlikely that he will rat me out to his father. He may have his head up his father’s ass most of the time, but I don’t think he would intentionally do anything to hurt me. He needs me too much. Who else would cover for his sorry ass? No, Brayden isn’t the issue. Grayson is. If there is one thing that I am certain of it’s that he is up to something. And I am going to figure out what the
hell it is. First, I need to figure out who exactly Grayson West is and what makes him tick. Then I will be able to figure out what his agenda is.
I pull up the internet browser on my laptop and type in Grayson West. Rather than click on the news articles or the Facespace page, I find myself looking under images. A plethora of images, each one with him looking more handsome than the last. I squeeze my legs together, the thought of knowing exactly what he can do with that body making the space between my thighs ache with desire.
The part that really intrigues me though is that in many of them he is with a woman. Not just any woman though, the same woman, Reagan Bates. Jealousy courses through me, a feeling I don’t want, nor do I understand. I mean, even if he is with her, I’ve had him in the only way I want him, what does it matter to me? Still curiosity gets the best of me and I find myself typing her name into the search browser. I scroll through the information that is flying at me – she’s stunning, she’s a doctor, and clearly, they are happy and in love. It’s such a far stretch from what I expect from a man like Grayson. He doesn’t seem like the relationship type. But every damn picture of them says otherwise.
I continue down the rabbit hole of pictures, each one better than the last. Especially this one, it’s one of him in a suit, his dress shirt unbuttoned exposing his bare chest and sculpted muscles. My eyes are so focused on the screen and the visual smorgasbord before me they actually begin to hurt.
“If you wanted to see me, all you had to do was call,” a voice that is way too close for comfort says to me.
I turn to see Grayson’s face looking over my shoulder at the computer screen. Shit. I slam the laptop shut nearly jumping out of my seat.
“Damn you,” I shout completely startled and flustered. “Who the hell do you think you are?”
He taps his finger on his chin. “I think I’m the man that made you scream out his name last night,” he replies.
“It was a mistake. One that will stay between us,” I advise him. I stand from my seat and move to the opposite side of my desk trying to put some distance between us. If looking at the pictures of him hadn’t already caused my panties to dampen, looking at him right now sure as hell does, especially when he glances down at the desk, then back up to me with an unquantifiable heat in his eyes.
