“Thank you. You didn’t have to go to such trouble. We could have talked without dinner. I’m available to you anytime,” she said, but her mind continued, in any way.
Her body tensed, her insides tightened, especially between her thighs, actually pulsing, as he spoke.
“No trouble. I told my secretary to order dinner,” he said. “I needed to speak to you alone about a serious matter, and I find the food a buffer. Besides, if I didn’t call dinner meetings some days work would not allow me time to eat.”
“I get that,” she said. “Dinner can often be an apple I threw in my purse some days. Anyway, you didn’t call me here to talk about our eating habits. So, please, tell me what you did call me here for.”
“Well, I got a call from an upset client today that you called,” he started, making her shoulders raise and the hair bristle on the back of her neck, not just from the words spoken, but from the harsh tone they were delivered with. “We need you to know that any and all information about our clients must be obtained through us.”
“Understood, but I was only confirming your clients. I find it strange that would upset anyone. Seems to me that if the client hadn’t anything to hide, they wouldn’t be upset would they. If you had been honest with me about what you do, I would not have had done so. The innocent don’t get upset about a call confirming a connection, which was all it was, a less than a minute question I asked a secretary to see if business was current.”
“You could have asked my secretary that,” he rebutted.
“Yes I could have,” she said with a coy smile, finding her confidence.
“Fine. You have made your point. Don’t do it again.”
She knew her words were bold, a calculated risk, but she wanted to prove her point early, that honesty would get them both further easier. The call had been planned to get a rise out of the Faust’s and their clients, to prove they were all guilty of something, and that she knew this fact whether they shared it with her or not. She hadn’t planned on the rise getting her a dinner invitation, a phone call at least, and then hopefully a confession so they could get down to business.
She’d not been unprofessional when calling the Munick’s, just asked a basic question confirming they indeed did business currently with Faust Financial. Regardless, she knew it would get a rise from the brothers that had tried to treat her like an idiot in hiding the truth behind what they did.
She couldn’t do her best for them that way, and she had found in her short career that precise, bold steps, often served a great purpose. She could hold her own with alphas like Alex, it was this man, the sexy one sitting next to her with his jaw in a tight line that she wished would kiss her that she was having trouble with.
When he said nothing further, she picked up her fork, a distraction, a show she wasn’t as flustered by him as she actually was, and maybe to give her the security of having some sort of weapon. She stabbed a green leafy thing on her plate, the click of metal to china distinct, serving a purpose. Then, the food lifted to her mouth she looked at him, gave him an opportunity to speak, though he just sat there, his stare steely, his glare unnerving on a deeper level than pissing off a client.
“I get the distinct impression that you don’t like me,” he ventured, going for broke now. “From the minute that you stepped into my office earlier you seemed tense. Is it the fact that I am a woman? I have more than proven myself in the court room. I can do this job, and do it well, Mr. Faust. You just need to give me what I need so that I can do it to the best of my abilities. If you are not honest with me, then poor results will be your fault not mine.”
“Don’t like you?” he practically roared, though his voice had been low and steady.
She cocked her head when he didn’t continue on, just sat there. The silence, the neglect to truly answer her, or confess anything sent a shiver down her spine even as his unending glare that swept over her face and then down her body sent a warmth to brewing in her stomach. Her breath came out jagged, moving the arugula on her fork that hovered near her mouth. She laid it down with another clink to her plate hoping she hadn’t chipped the fragile thing, a thin white dish with a gold trim.
In the moments that passed, though time had seemed to stop, she took to watching his massive chest rise and fall, unable to continue looking into that face of his, his full lips poised into a sneer. All she wanted was them on her, and that wouldn’t do. The thoughts running through her head unsettled her in a way she’d never known before.
Desire, a swift rush of lust centering on rather depraved thoughts, had her begging for him to grab her, roughly. In her mind, he snatched her up out of her chair and kissed her, taking her with the same fierce demand he possessed in everything he did. That passion though gave way to wayward flitters of fear that the man just may shift into a lion right there in the room and rip her limb from limb.
“You’ve not answered any of my questions. Do you dislike me for some reason? Do you want another lawyer to handle your case? Are you being truthful with me? Answer any one of them,” she said, her voice surprisingly flat, stable, though she was far from any of those things.
Still, she was a damn good lawyer, standing up under the worst of pressure in a court room, handling unruly criminals she represented, and taking risks that always paid off in her favor. She would be damned if she let some savage and relentless appetite for rough sex with an untamable man rock her so that she could not do her job. She rallied, sat up straighter, looked him right in his stupidly gorgeous eyes that burned with some sort of rage all their own, as she waited for him to say something.
“It is not that I don’t like you, though my feelings are irrelevant to this work relationship. I need you to do a job and I have told you all I can. You will have to live with those answers. The purpose of this dinner is to say that you will not contact any of our clients. Now, eat,” he demanded, shoving his salad to the side.
He reached for another set of plates, these ones larger, setting one beside her salad, and the other in front of him. As she bristled being told what to do, she tried to calm herself. These shifters, true alpha males, they always demanded and expected to get what they wanted. She’d learned to not take it personally. So, she lectured herself on this fact as he removed the silver coverings from the last two plates.
Steaks, larger than any she’d eaten before were revealed, and he went right at his leaving her to push her salad around more than eat it. They chewed in awkward silence for a while. She cut into her steak just not to offend, then tried not to groan out the pleasure as the perfectly cooked meat hit her taste buds. There was some sort of reduction over the mushrooms and onions that were over the top that tasted of maybe bourbon. The man knew his food. She could only imagine what was under the last covered plates still on the tray.
She dared to glance over at him again, wishing for some stupid small talk, but wanting to try to get a gage on if that would literally send him over some edge. He’d said it wasn’t that he disliked her, so what was it then? She didn’t know quite how to phrase such a question. Yet, she wanted an answer.
She had completely forgotten about the fact that he had all but said that he was not going to tell her the truth about his business. He’d said he couldn’t. Maybe the brothers had decided, and she would need to speak to them all to talk them into being honest with her. She wasn’t going to lose this case, put a strain on her position in the firm, because these criminals couldn’t fess up.
They were going to have to man up. Sure she hated the fact that she had to get the guilty off, but she was still going to be the best damn lawyer she could no matter what cases were handed to her. She knew how to manipulate the law, and sadly she’d proven herself an asset on the wrong side of it.
She could hope that these men were not actually doing anything wrong, and this would be her chance to show herself as one that fought for the good guys, but she just couldn’t imagine that was going to be the case. The fact was that the Munick’s and who knew who else had got
ten immediately upset about her calls was all but solid proof that she was fighting for the bad guys again.
She just wished she didn’t want this one in particular. She’d never had a thing for the bad boys before, and was mystified how she could so strongly want this virtual stranger of one now.
Not able to take it anymore, she asked, “So if it isn’t that you don’t like me, then what is it then? I can’t fix a problem I’m not aware of. Same with the case. I don’t want dinner, not to sound ungrateful, I want answers. I am a straight shooter, Mr. Faust. It makes me good at what I do.”
He threw his fork down on the table, making her jump. Swallowing hard, so she could see his neck working, he pushed back his chair and stood up. In the seconds it took the man to stealthily grab her up by her arms, she’d basically stopped breathing. Finding herself face to face with him, up on her tiptoes, her chest, soft and full, now smashed against his that was as hard as steel, her vision blurred a second.
Thoughts of business drained from her mind as his lips pressed against hers. Hard, insistent, demanding, his kiss immediately deepened. He took her mouth like he did everything else. She gave in though, let herself be possessed.
While this should have scared the shit out of her, so uncharacteristic, she gave herself over fully to the feeling of being taken, wanted, and thus out of control. His hands came to her lower back with one sliding down to her ass, grabbing to the point of pain her left butt cheek as his tongue invaded her mouth.
His erection made itself known as he pulled her body against it, lifting her off of her feet now so that he had control of her entirely. Her hands reached up, ran through his hair. She found her hips pushing forward, wanting more as her thighs opened more. When his mouth scrapped down over her chin to her neck and he started to bite her flesh, she grabbed his hair, but he pulled her away from him so fast that when her feet hit the floor she had no balance.
As she teetered, he caught her, but placed her back in her chair so hard that with wheels it rolled until it hit the table. While she felt lost to the motion, he finally stopped it, leaving her go and grabbing the chair.
“Shit,” he grumbled. “I’m sorry. This is not how I imagined this going. My dislike of you, my tension, is my denial of attraction. I can’t want you like I do. We need you, Ms. Walton. I will talk to my brothers about disclosing more information. But, for now, for your safety, you better go. I don’t know how much longer I can control myself from taking you.”
He didn’t touch her, only stood, moving away from the chair she sat on as if she had the plague rather than a body he claimed to want. Stunned, mystified, sitting so un-lady like in her suit in the chair, not actually trusting herself or the throb between her legs, the mounting tightness in her stomach, she got to her feet not sure her legs would hold her. Concentrating on each step, she walked to the door of the office not looking back.
This wasn’t her taking an order but her fleeing for a safe haven, one where this man didn’t exist, didn’t do things to her that were upsetting, unsettling, and damaging to her job, maybe her life. She felt in his arms that he could have broken her into pieces and she wouldn’t have complained.
If that didn’t bring about fear, nothing would. In a moment of being honest with herself, she’d have let this suspected criminal tie her up and do whatever the hell he wanted with her body just to have him touch her one moment more.
As she opened the door, feeling his stare on her backside like a permanent brand, she didn’t bother to check her hair, tug straight her suit, she just made a beeline for the elevator not daring to look at his secretary.
Once she found herself safely inside, the most bizarre thing yet occurred. For a lawyer who stood up straight and looked the most dangerous men in the eyes and argued for or against them, she leaned against the wall and felt the burn of tears in her eyes.
She grabbed her phone out of her purse, and with trembling fingers, she poked the poor screen until the thing dialed her best friend’s number.
When Stacey’s cheery voice came on the line berating her for being a stranger, she cried out into the phone, “I’m in trouble. Can I come over?”
Chapter Four
Alex sat with his arms resting heavy on his thighs, hunched over with his head between his knees like he was trying to stop himself from passing out. It wasn’t far from the truth with all of the emotions racing through him. He’d ordered his secretary, Sandra to go home in no uncertain terms after she came to check on him once Katrina left. He didn’t have time for the guilt though as he fought his lion from emerging, his rage at himself for touching the lawyer as powerful as the lust coursing through his veins, consuming every inch of him.
He was still hard and throbbing, each sniff of her rose-scented perfume a tease, a taunt, by life, that he couldn’t have her. Damn though, when he had finally gotten his hands on those curves that drove him nuts, the way her body had conformed to his had thrown him further over the edge rather than stopped him. It wasn’t until her hips had pushed forward, her body surrounding his erection that warning sirens had gone off in his brain.
He’d wanted to be buried deep inside of her so badly that his lion had roared a mating call. It couldn’t happen. To mate with a human was a death sentence, or might as well be. He would only pine for a woman he was forbidden to have for his entire life. Yet, sitting here, the scent of her skin still strong on his, the taste of her still lingering on his tongue, he felt doomed anyway. He may just suffer anyway, always wanting to bite her, to taste her blood and make her his.
It wouldn’t be fair if she didn’t feel the same way. The enzymes in his saliva would drive her mad, make her want him too. He couldn’t do that to her, and the idea that he cared so much about her happiness scared him even more, to the point of paralysis. She had wanted him though, and that thought alone sucked more than any other at this point.
Before he could get himself together at all, his door flew open. If he had had a momentary hope of it being her coming back, claiming she wanted him no matter what, not that it would matter, that momentary ray of light was extinguished as all three of his brothers stormed into the room.
“Shit, Alex. Look at you,” Kris started in on him, towering over him still sitting in the chair.
“Looks like Sandra was right,” Jackson added. “Want to fill us in on your day bro?”
“Not really,” Alex said with a sigh, hanging his head.
The four of them were always honest with each other. They had seen each other through the best and worst of their lives. They had each other’s backs no matter what, and were there with a strong arm if needed, ready to fight to defend you whether you were right or wrong.
Or, they were there to kick your ass for you if you needed it too. That was where they were tonight. Alex had screwed up big time, and yet, his irritation at not being able to have what he wanted was at an all-time high. He shook not only to have her, but at the injustice of not being able to.
“Try,” Ben said, the most compassionate of the four of them.
Their mother had pegged each one of them from an early age. Alex, the oldest, had a head for numbers even as a child, and so when he had started this business out of a true need for the packs to earn and do what they had to with their money to protect themselves if the worst happened, his brothers had supported him one hundred percent.
Benjamin, the second born, always had a heart for the underdog, bringing stray dogs home all the time. So, he was the peacemaker of the group, a necessary role when four alpha brothers who not only looked like quadruplets, but had a bond like them too, went into business together. Oddly, Ben was also the wildest of them, so no stray had been left behind.
Kristopher, the third born, he had always wanted to be the center of attention, so his current political aspirations were no surprise to anyone either. Only, it made him a stickler for the rules, and Alex could see with one glance at his scrunched expression how pissed he was right now.
Jackson, on the other hand, the b
aby of the family, he served as an all-around friend. He was a bit wild in spirit, but good natured, and he did whatever was asked of him, just happy to be along for the ride, included in anything his big brothers did. He usually ended up the true peacemaker in the end, if Ben failed.
He looked to Jack, hoping to get at least a smile, a small kindness before they all raked him over the coals. He needed to change, to run, as his animal, to express his dominating, king of all nature.
“I screwed up, but I’m not taking all of the heat for it,” Alex began. “You guys didn’t want to tell her the truth, even though it wouldn’t have mattered, she couldn’t have told anyone if she wanted to keep practicing law. And, I think she wants to keep practicing law. She’s smart, savvy, a hound dog in the court room just like we heard. She doesn’t pull any punches, and I believe she is pissed we lied to her. She knows.”
“So, she called the packs we work with? I mean she didn’t do anything wrong, she just confirmed them as clients, but still, it made then nervous. Many are pissed,” Jack said.
Curves & Alphas: A Paranormal Box Set: (BBW Paranormal Shape Shifter Romance) Page 34
