Counselor Undone

by Lisa Rayne

  “You weren’t concerned about the women who might come after you?”

  She propped her chin on her hand and looked down at him. “Oh, that won’t be an issue.”

  She rubbed the fingers of her other hand against his chest, a smug look on her face. At his questioning look, she explained. “Apparently, Lowell’s computer had a two-way web cam.” She shrugged. “No one really knows how a guy who hardly ever used his computer ended up with such a sophisticated monitor.” She smiled. “Anyway, the web cam facing out into the office was left on during some inconvenient times. He was caught on camera receiving fellatio favors from a few staff members, several of them noticeably reluctant.”

  “Fellatio favors, huh?” He chuckled, amused by her choice of words.

  “Yep.” She continued her mischievous smile. “Somehow, a few weeks after I left the firm, video of Lowell’s sexual exploits got streamed one morning to every computer on the firm network. Shortly thereafter, Lowell decided to retire from active practice with the firm.”

  He laughed. “You didn’t?”

  She shrugged again then laughed with him. “Sometimes, it’s pretty darn cool to have a brother who can do anything and find anything with a computer.”

  “Why you wench. And after they gave you such a nice wad of cash.”

  She grinned up at him. “Actually, they sort of paid me twice.”

  “How so?”

  “That trademark case I’ve been working on?”

  He nodded.

  “The client was originally Lowell’s. In fact, it was the case we were working on when he tried to molest me. When I left, the client transferred their representation to come with me. Their engagement agreement includes a twenty percent bonus if I settle the case before trial. Which I just did.” She wiggled happily against him.

  “Hmm. Good job.” He rolled her beneath him. “I think this calls for a celebration.”

  “Say that in Italian.”

  His right brow peaked. Her pupils dilated.

  He leaned in and whispered something in Italian. The words had less to do with celebrating and more to do with what his hand was doing between her thighs. Continuing to speak in Italian, he kissed his way down her body. Breasts, stomach, hips all received his attention. When he moved lower and planted his lips for an intimate kiss, she bucked and reached for him.

  “Non questa volta, amore.” He grabbed her hips, held her in place, and refused to be denied this time.

  He ravished her thoroughly by mouth then flipped her and started over with a much harder part of his anatomy. Shortly after the third time she screamed his name, they fell asleep in front of the fire. Sometime in the night, he awoke and carried her to bed.

  * * *

  Jordis came awake the next morning warmer than usual. Her brain took a few moments to register the male body almost completely beneath her. She took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of him mixed with the magic of last night. She kissed his chest. He stirred but didn’t wake. She smiled. She could get used to waking up like this.

  Her eyes traveled down his body. The covers bunched below his waist with a long bulge in the center of their folds. She slid a hand down to unveil her morning present then stretched out on top of him. She reached a hand under the pillow he’d used last night to stash condoms, hoping to find at least one more.

  He released a deep sigh and turned his head to look at her through sleepy eyes. His raspy voice greeted her. “May I help you, Ms. Morgan?”

  She responded by sliding her tongue in his mouth and rubbing her pelvis against his engorged shaft.

  When she released his mouth, he said, “Oh, yeah. I can help you with that.”

  She laughed as she sheathed him then climbed on board. She rode him slowly, enjoying the feel of him inside her and wanting to savor the moment.

  Looking into her eyes, he grasped her waist and began to alter her tempo with his thrusts. Not willing to be rushed, Jordis removed his hands. She interlaced their fingers and leaned forward to stretch their arms above his head. She squeezed her pelvic muscles simultaneously.

  “Jordis . . . ,” he groaned.

  “It’s my turn to drive,” she whispered against his neck.

  She lifted her buttocks so his shaft rubbed against her pubic bone.

  He moaned.

  She repeated the move.

  He moaned again. “I’m not going to last if you keep doing that,” he managed through clenched teeth.

  “Hmm,” she responded before she slid her mouth back to his and kissed him with a sensuous fervor that corresponded seductively with the movement of her hips.

  She levered back up, their clasped hands pressed atop her thighs. He watched her intently. After a while, he released one of her hands to press his thumb where their bodies joined. The exquisite pressure pushed her closer and closer to the edge. She could tell by the sounds from his throat that he, too, was near the edge. His noises fueled her excitement, pushing her to a faster and faster tempo. They held each other’s gaze, coaxing one another higher with loud, wordless sounds of pleasure until the internal damn burst and shoved them simultaneously off an orgasmic cliff into a psychedelic free fall.

  Sweat-soaked, Jordis collapsed against Michael’s perspiration-damp chest as the sound of her front door opening drew their attention.

  “Was that the front door?” he asked.

  Her look of horror alarmed him, and he made to move. She stopped him with a shake of her head and a palm against his chest. Only one other person had a key to her apartment.

  “Jo? You here?” a deep voice called from the living room.

  “Crap.” She dropped her head against his chest.

  “Who’s that?”

  She looked up. “My brother! Quick, into the bathroom.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” He linked his hands casually behind his head, looking as if he were settling in for the long haul.

  The sound of footsteps coming down the hall made her curse. She pulled the covers up around her and disengaged from their coupling. “No! Michael, get up,” she ordered in a whisper.

  Michael watched her with an amused look on his face, but didn’t move.

  “Brandt, give me a minute,” she yelled. “I’m not dressed. I’ll be right out.”

  The footsteps stopped immediately. “Okay. I brought you something. So make it quick.”

  She jumped up and shut the door as the footsteps retreated. She collapsed against the door and made an evil face at Michael. “Really?”

  “Didn’t you tell me your brother lives over an hour away?” She nodded her head. “Then he’s not here for a quick visit. He’s planning to stay a while. You really don’t expect me to hide out in the bathroom all day do you?”

  “Of course not. I just needed a moment to regroup.”

  “Well, you got it. Chop chop, sweetheart. He brought you something, remember?”

  She stuck her tongue out at him, and he laughed. On her way to the bathroom, she paused. “How would you feel if you showed up at Raina’s apartment and caught her in flagrante with some guy you’d never met before?”

  The disturbed look on his face said it all.

  “Well, Mr. Remington, this morning, you’re that guy.” She took warped pleasure in his change of expression and headed into the bathroom.

  Jordis took the quickest shower of her life, threw on sweats, and rushed out to greet her brother. While she took her color from their light-skinned father, her brother had their mother’s coloring. His medium brown skin made him a few shades darker than her, and his eyes were a light whiskey brown instead of hazel, but there was no mistaking the family resemblance. If he hadn’t shorn his hair close to his scalp, it would be the same wavy mass with a tendency towards curl that she had, although in a deeper brown than her chestnut locks. The shape of his eyes and the nose perched beneath them mirrored hers exactly, and the trim goatee that framed his mouth did little to hide the identical slant of his lips when he smiled.

  She gave him
a hug and a kiss. He immediately chastised her. Apparently, he’d been trying to reach her since Thursday night when the snow started, but she hadn’t responded to any of his calls. She realized she had no clue where she’d left her mobile phone or whether it still had any battery life.

  “Where’s your car?” Her brother moved to pull Lamar’s donuts from the oven warmer. “I didn’t see it outside. Did you drive that thing in the blizzard that hit Thursday night?” He grabbed two plates, setting one in front of her on the kitchen island where she sat with her back to the kitchen doorway.

  “No. Of course not.”

  “What do you mean ‘of course not’? You finally get another ride?”

  “Not exactly,” she hedged.

  “Not exactly? What does that mean?”

  Michael Remington strode into the kitchen. “It means I brought her home Thursday night.” He was fully dressed, hair damp from a recent shower.

  Brandt’s eyes widened. Jordis closed her eyes at the sound of Michael’s voice. When she opened them, Brandt was staring at her.

  Brandt leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms. “I see,” he said to Michael. He shifted his gaze back to hers. “I guess that explains why you haven’t been answering your phone.”

  Jordis blushed.

  Michael stepped over to Brandt and introduced himself.

  “Michael, it’s good to finally meet you in person . . . I think.” Brandt got another plate from the cupboard and set it in front of the empty chair next to Jordis. “Would you like a glazed or a chocolate donut?” Looking back at his sister, he added with a smirk, “I’m guessing chocolate.”

  The glazed donut Jordis had half way to her mouth stopped in mid-air as she glared her disbelief at her brother. She looked quickly up at Michael when he passed behind her and fingered the waves of her ponytail. He was trying to hide his amusement, but the corners of his mouth gave him away.

  He looked down into her eyes. “Works for me,” he said then strolled over to help himself to a cup of coffee from the disposable carafe of gourmet brew Brandt had brought with him.

  Jordis rolled her eyes at them before refocusing on her glazed ring of carbohydrates. Surviving the morning with these two was going to be more than interesting.

  Chapter 17

  Michael enjoyed watching the interplay between the siblings. Jordis was clearly chagrined at the timing of her brother’s arrival, and Brandt was flabbergasted to catch his sister entertaining a man. He planned to stick around awhile to see how the dynamics played out.

  After breakfast, the three chatted a bit then talked about the computer forensics work Brandt was doing on their case. Eventually, Jordis decided she’d gone long enough without checking her email and went to the back room to get on the computer.

  She’d been gone only a few minutes when Brandt said, “Well, this is a surprise.”

  “Is it?” Michael rose to refill his coffee mug then leaned against the counter facing Brandt.

  “So, you decided to use my sister’s transportation issue to extort a little weekend entertainment?”

  Michael’s eyes narrowed. “It’s not like that.”

  “Isn’t it?” Brandt gave him a dubious smile. “So, you’re telling me you just happened to show up this morning before I got here?”

  Michael stared at him for a few seconds, holding back the smart-ass reply on the edge of his lips. He thought about Jordis’s reference to how he’d feel if this situation were reversed. He’d be conducting just such an interrogation. An odd sense of irony shrouded the moment. This is what it felt like to be on the receiving end of a protective brother.

  “Uh, no.” He raised his mug to hide his amusement at the turnabout.

  “So, what did you promise my sister to earn your extended visit?”

  A muscle jumped in Michael’s jaw. “Nothing. Your sister’s smart enough not to let herself be used like that.”

  “You think so?”

  “You don’t?”

  “Well, I’d think my sister would be smart enough not to sleep with her boss, but here you are. So, I’m wondering what’s the deal. You make a habit of sleeping with your associates, Remington?”

  Michael sat his coffee mug on the counter then turned back to Brandt, keeping a tight lid on his rising ire. “As a matter of fact, no. Never, in fact. This is a first.”

  Brandt leaned back in his chair. “What made my sister so lucky?”

  Michael gave him an incredulous look. “You really have to ask me that?”

  Brandt sighed. “Look, I know my sister is a beautiful woman, and I realize the effect she tends to have on men. I also realize they tend to focus so much on the outer package they fail to appreciate the inner one. You wouldn’t be the first colleague who thought his position could be used to manipulate special privileges.”

  Michael rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t usually feel the need to explain himself, but he understood Brandt’s position. “I know what happened between me and Jordis this weekend crossed a serious line. It’s not something I take lightly. In all honesty, I tried with everything in me at first to avoid this situation. Nothing worked. I’m not here on a whim, Brandt. I respect your sister a great deal. I’d never do anything to hurt her. You’re going to have to trust I’ll do everything in my power to manage our relationship in a way that has no negative repercussions for your sister.”

  Brandt rose to get more coffee and a second donut. “I’m going to have to take you at your word, counselor. For now. But know this, Remington.” Brandt turned to look at him. “You fail and your ass is mine.”

  They silently took each other’s measure. They were the same height and stood a few feet apart meeting each other’s gazes directly.

  Finally, Michael nodded. “Understood.”

  Taking a bite of a caramel Long John, Brandt chewed then said out the side of his mouth, “Just one more question.” He swallowed, took a sip of coffee. “Two weeks ago, you were persona non grata. Exactly how did you go from arrogant, domineering jerk to sleeping with my sister?”

  Michael grinned. “I didn’t.”

  Brandt raised a quizzical eyebrow.

  “She still thinks I’m an arrogant, domineering jerk. She’s just stopped fighting the fact that she finds that irresistible.”

  Gut-deep laughter shot from Brandt, eradicating the tension in the room. From that moment on, he and Brandt were at ease with each other.

  Jordis rejoined them later, and the three ate leftover pasta for lunch. Late that afternoon, Michael headed out to take care of some business of his own and leave the siblings time to visit. On his way out, he asked for Jordis’s car keys, promising to have her car delivered by Monday morning when she needed to leave for work.

  Jordis walked him to the door. He reached for her after she opened it, but she hesitated, looking over her shoulder at her brother. She turned back and touched her hand briefly to Michael’s chest. She whispered, “I’ll see you at the office on Monday.”

  Michael looked past her at Brandt who had parked himself across from them on the arm of the couch, making no pretense of giving them any privacy. Michael leaned in and gave her a long, slow kiss that said so much more than goodbye. When he pulled back, he whispered, “You didn’t seriously expect me to leave here without a kiss did you?”

  “Uhm . . .”

  He tapped her nose with his index finger. Keeping his voice low, his tone turned serious. “We’re going to have to talk about this, you know? About what this means . . .” He pointed his finger from her chest to his. “. . . you and me.”

  “I know.” Resignation laced her voice.

  “Okay, then.” He gave her a peck on the lips. “Back to your brother.”

  Jordis sighed. Michael laughed as he walked away. He could tell she wasn’t looking forward to what was coming now that her brother had her alone.

  * * *

  The minute Jordis shut the door, Brandt asked, “Do you know what you’re doing?”

  “No.�
� She turned to face her brother.

  Her honesty surprised Brandt. “Jo, this goes against everything you’ve ever said about the inadvisability of an office romance.”

  “Don’t you think I know that, Brandt?”

  “Then what’s going on?”

  “I don’t know. I just needed . . .”

  “You just needed what?” Brandt watched her face closely. “Don’t you dare try to tell me you needed to get laid. That’s not you, and I know it. There’s more to it than that.”

  “Maybe there is. Don’t worry about it.”

  “Come on, Jo. Talk to me.”

  She pushed off the door and took a seat in the living room across from him. “Really, Brandt, it was an impulse kind of thing. It’s not as if this is a long-term deal.”

  “Does he know that?”

  She stayed silent.

  Brandt rose from his chair. “I need to get some shut-eye. I didn’t sleep well the last two nights waiting for someone to call me back.”

  “Sorry, bro.”

  “It’s okay. I’m just glad you’re all right.” He kissed the top of her head as he passed by. Before he entered the hallway, he stopped. “I did tell you you needed to get a man. Maybe I should have been more specific.”

  She grabbed a pillow from the couch and threw it at him.

  Listening to Brandt’s chuckles fade down the hallway, Jordis grabbed another pillow off the couch and clutched it to her chest. Despite her resolve only a few days ago, she’d had sex with her supervising attorney—marathon sex . . . over several days. To make matters worse, she’d done something stupid. She’d fallen for him. She’d fallen head over heels for a man she couldn’t have. For a smart woman, she really wasn’t acting too bright.

  She’d told Brandt this wasn’t a long-term deal. It wasn’t because it couldn’t be. She couldn’t have Michael and maintain her current position at the firm. At this point in her career, another lateral move would reflect negatively on her. It would appear she didn’t have what it takes to make it at a firm regardless of the extenuating circumstances that had nothing to do with her legal skills. Even if she stayed at RHM, if it took her too long to make partner, the same negative implications would apply. Her years of seniority would become a red flag.