by Lisa Childs
She’d noticed the suspicion on their faces when she’d seen them all the week before. And they had barely utilized her services the past few months.
Something was going on...
And they blamed her for whatever it was.
All four men exchanged glances with each other as if silently communicating. Maybe, after living on the streets together, they could communicate silently. They probably wished they’d been doing that before she’d overheard their conversation.
“I have the right to know what I’m being accused of,” she pointed out.
Or how else was she going to defend herself?
But she wasn’t so certain that she wanted to. If they could think the worst of her.
If Trevor could.
Did she want anything to do with any of them anymore?
She sucked in a breath as she felt a sudden twinge of panic in her chest and a hollowness in her core. It had only been a week since she and Trev had started sleeping together. She should not be so attached to him yet.
Or at all.
She knew better than to let her emotions get involved. And this was why.
Ultimately, people let her down. They lied. They broke promises.
“What is it?” she persisted. And she stared at the other three partners now. She couldn’t look at Trevor anymore, not without that hollowness hurting inside her. “What do you think I did?”
“Sabotage,” Simon replied. “We think you’ve been sabotaging Street Legal.”
She laughed at the ridiculous accusation. “I’m the reason the practice has as high a profile as it does,” she reminded them. She was the one who’d composed the press releases to spin their pasts into something glamourous—into something that had everyone talking about them.
“I’m also the reason you’ve won as many cases as you have.” She’d helped them try their cases before they ever made it to court. She tried them where it counted—in the public.
Ronan Hall snorted. “Yeah, right. We’re the ones who’ve won. You’re not in court with us.”
“Yes, I am,” she reminded him. She’d attended court so that she could talk to the press after every session. She had spent more time with Street Legal than she had any other client she had.
For them to think she would purposely sabotage them...
For Trevor to think that...
She glanced at him now, but he was looking away as if he couldn’t face her, either. She couldn’t believe that he would think that.
“You do have access to all our cases,” Simon said as if that was significant.
She shrugged. “You gave me access.”
Now he flinched. “That was apparently a mistake.”
“Why?” she asked, her voice getting sharp as her impatience grew. “Just what the hell do you all think I’ve done? How have I sabotaged anything?”
“You’ve brought up the bad press,” Trevor began.
But she wasn’t ready to hear from him yet. “That had nothing to do with me. You all won’t even let me help mitigate that bad press.”
And then she realized why. “You think I’m behind it? Why?”
“That’s what we’d like to know,” Simon said. “Why would you do that?”
“Is it because you hate lawyers?” Stone asked.
And she hated herself for letting that slip.
“If you guys look bad, I look bad,” she pointed out. “Sabotaging your practice is like sabotaging my own firm. Why the hell would I do that?”
She had worked so hard to start it, to make it a success. She’d spent the past several years focused mostly on business. Until this past week with Trevor, she’d had very little pleasure.
Maybe that should have told her something, though. Maybe her business wasn’t making her happy. It damn well didn’t seem to be satisfying her client.
She’d heard them talk about firing her, about banning her from the building. Losing them as a client would hurt her business. Losing Trev...
But apparently, she had never really had him. Trevor had only been trying to get information out of her, evidence of her doing something wrong.
The only thing she’d done wrong was getting personally involved with him.
“Maybe you were looking for job security,” Ronan suggested. “You create a problem and then you fix it.”
“What problems do you think I created?” she asked.
“It started with Trev,” Simon said. “His last big class-action lawsuit.”
“He won it,” she reminded them. What the hell were they talking about?
“That’s just because he’s that good,” Simon said. “But information got leaked to opposing counsel.”
“And you think I did that?” She looked at Trevor now and his eyes were narrowed, suspicion in the green depths. And she shivered.
“You said your father defends corporations like that,” Trevor reminded her. “Was he defending that one?”
She shook her head. “But it wouldn’t have mattered if he was,” she said. “I wouldn’t have helped him.”
“Daddy issues,” Ronan murmured.
And she glared at him.
“Is that why you went after me?” the divorce lawyer asked. “You sent Muriel those forged documents she turned in to the bar association.”
“What?” She knew he’d been reported to the bar, but she’d tried to undo the damage. “I didn’t forge any documents.”
“What about the information that was given to the assistant district attorney in my last trial?” Stone Michaelsen asked. “She knew information, supposedly from my case files, before I even knew it.”
Each of their accusations struck Allison like a blow. They all really believed that she’d betrayed them. Even Trevor.
“And how do you think I got that information?” Allison asked.
“You have access to all our files, to our computers,” Simon said.
“So? I’m not the only one who does. It could have been anyone on your staff.”
Simon shook his head. “I’ve checked all of them out. It’s not.”
“Well, it’s not me,” she said. But she was sick of defending herself, especially with them all looking at her like they were, like she was a criminal. “But please, block my access to your computers. Ban me from the building. I have no intention of ever coming back here.” She turned on her heel then and stalked out of the room.
“Allison!” It was Trevor’s deep voice that called out to her.
She didn’t even look back, though. She just said over her shoulder, “Go to hell!”
She had no intention of ever seeing him again, either.
CHAPTER TEN
TREV HAD A sick feeling that he’d made a terrible, terrible mistake. As he’d told his partners, everything she’d said had made sense. Why would she sabotage them when it would also reflect poorly on her firm?
Sure, maybe he’d come up against her father on a case before. He couldn’t know for certain when she didn’t use her last name. But he had a feeling that if he had, she would have worked doubly hard to help Trev win just so her father would lose.
And if she’d had any real daddy issues, she probably wouldn’t have taken on Street Legal as a client in the first place.
His partners were not as convinced of her innocence as he was, but he’d left them mulling it over to chase after her. Of course, she’d already left the building before he’d been able to break away from that business meeting.
But he’d rushed right over to her office the minute he’d been free. Of course, Edward stood guard in the reception area, staring resentfully at Trevor over his desk.
“What are you doing here?” her assistant asked. “I thought you all fired her.”
Trev shook his head. “She told us to go to hell.” Or had it just been him?
Edward smirked. “Can you blame her?”
Had the little weasel been with her at the office? Trev couldn’t imagine her telling her assistant everything that had transpired. His suspicion must have showed because Edward added, “I’ve never seen her as upset as she was when she came back from Street Legal. She was just about ranting and raving about your accusations.”
Trev flinched. While the others had piled on their suspicions, they had all been his accusations. He was the one who’d accused her first—to them. Maybe he should have waited more than that weekend before sharing his suspicions. Maybe he should have waited until he’d actually found evidence against her.
Because now he had a feeling that evidence didn’t exist...
She wasn’t the mole.
“I need to talk to her,” Trev said.
Edward snorted. “Are you crazy? She will kill us both if I let you back there.”
Trev didn’t doubt what the man said. She had been furious when she’d left Street Legal.
“I’ll calm her down,” he assured her anxious assistant.
Edward snorted again. “I don’t think that’s possible.”
“Neither is you keeping me from seeing her,” Trev pointed out as his patience wore thin. He’d already wasted time talking to his partners when he should have stopped her from leaving before he’d talked to her.
Before he’d apologized...
No wonder she was so furious.
And if she tried to kill him, he wouldn’t blame her. It was a chance he was willing to take—for her. He walked past Edward’s desk and headed down the hall that led to her office. Edward jumped up and called after him, loudly, “Don’t go back there! I’ll call security. I’ll call the police!”
But Trevor didn’t have to look back to know that he wasn’t picking up the phone. He wouldn’t want to miss a minute of Trevor’s confrontation with his boss.
Trevor reached the end of the hall and the door to her office. He hesitated for a long moment before turning the handle. Then he drew in a deep breath and opened the door, releasing the breath with relief when he found it unlocked. Not that a lock would have stopped him.
He would have kicked it down to talk to her—after he’d seen that look on her face. Her ice queen mask had slipped. She’d looked devastated and outraged. She had not looked guilty. Even his partners had remarked on that. Of course, none of them were trusting enough to believe that proved her innocence. Until Trev found the real mole, they would all still suspect it was her. And they wanted the practice and him to have nothing to do with her.
But just as he hadn’t wanted her telling him with whom he could be friends, he hadn’t wanted them to do the same. Not that he was friends with Allison.
Hell, he wasn’t sure what they were.
Lovers.
Enemies?
She looked up as he entered, and he saw the anger and resentment in her beautiful pale blue eyes. “Get out!” she shouted, but her voice cracked with the command.
She’d yelled at him before to get out—of her apartment.
He’d ignored her those times, just like he intended to ignore her now. But he didn’t think he’d be able to change her mind as easily as he’d told Edward he would. Instead of stepping back through the door, he closed it behind him.
Allison jumped up from her desk and stalked toward him. Her finger pressing into his chest, she said again, “Get out! Get the hell out of my office!”
He caught her hand in his and held it against his chest. His hand encircled her wrist where he could feel her pulse pounding madly. “Please let me explain,” he implored her.
“You did,” she said. “You and your partners said everything you needed to back at Street Legal. I don’t have to hear any more.”
“I don’t think it’s you,” he said.
She snorted and struggled to free her hand from his grasp. But he pulled her closer, so her long, willowy body pressed against his. He felt the tension in her but he also felt the heat.
She was so damn hot...
How had any of them ever considered her an ice queen?
“I did think it was you,” he admitted.
“That’s why you wanted to get close to me,” she said. “To get evidence against me. I heard it all. I heard everything!”
He moved one hand to her hip and pressed her against his erection. “That’s why I wanted to get close to you,” he said. “Because I want you!”
As furious as she was with him, he wanted her. He could see the desire in her eyes, too. Her breath escaped in a soft gasp. But she shook her head as if trying to deny the desire. Then she murmured, “No...” She narrowed her eyes as she stared up at him. “You started this whole seduction as a way to get information out of me.”
Seducing her had never been his plan until that kiss. But at the moment he didn’t dare tell her that his political aspirations were a lie. She was already furious with him for not telling her the truth about the mole.
“I had sex with you because you’re beautiful and exciting and sexy as hell,” he said. And he pushed his erection against her again. His cock ached to be inside her. He ached for her. “Did I want information, too? Yes. Wouldn’t you if someone had been sabotaging your firm?”
“My firm was sabotaged, too,” she pointed out. “When a client is made to look bad, I do, too.”
“I get that,” he said. And he shook his head with self-disgust. “I should have never suspected you.”
“Why did you?”
“Access,” he said. “You were the only one with access to every case that was involved in the sabotage.”
Her brow furrowed. “The only one?”
“We checked out everyone else,” he insisted.
“Like you’ve been checking me out?” she asked.
And he smiled as he heard a trace of jealousy in her voice. “Not me,” he said. “Simon checked out Bette. And Ronan, Muriel.”
And Hillary Bellows had never been a suspect. But that hadn’t stopped Stone from checking her out.
“It’s not me,” she said, and she lifted her chin with pride. Then she blinked hard as if fighting back tears. “I am not the mole.”
“I know,” he assured her. “I know it’s not you.” And to comfort her, he lowered his head and brushed a gentle kiss across her lips.
At least he’d intended for it to be gentle. But then she parted her lips, and he deepened the kiss. And passion ignited even faster and hotter than it usually did between them. As he’d imagined doing earlier, he reached for that long row of buttons on the front of her dress.
Then he’d thought it would be fun to undo them all, that it would draw out the anticipation of seeing her naked. But now he was too impatient. He undid only a few, his fingers fumbling, before he lifted the dress from the bottom and pulled it over her head.
And then he saw what she wore beneath. The underwear was purple, too, like the dress. And it had those damn beguiling bows on it. One held the underwear together at the front. And another held the bra together between the cups.
His fingers twitched, anxious to pull those bows loose. But Allison stepped back—out of his reach. Had she only let him undress her to tease him? To let him see what he would be missing?
Trev had a bad feeling that for the first time in his life he might be compelled to beg. He reached out to her, his hand shaking slightly, and implored her, “Please...”
* * *
His plea struck Allison harder than any of his accusations had. He wasn’t just using sex as a way to manipulate her or get information out of her. It was clear from the desire on his face, and the tension in his muscular body, that he wanted her every bit as much as she wanted him.
And she did want him.
Too much to deny herself or him the sexual satisfaction they always found together. She reached up and tugged loose that bow
between the cups of her bra until it fell away from her breasts. Then she lowered her hand to the bow on her panties.
And Trevor groaned.
His face was flushed, his nostrils flaring. He was as overcome with passion as she was. And they had barely touched.
She touched now, sliding her fingers beneath her panties instead of undoing that bow. She gasped as she felt the wetness of her curls. She was already nearly coming, just from the way he looked at her.
He stared at her so hotly. “Allison...”
She needed him. Needed to feel him inside her, filling that hollowness that had hurt so much earlier. She attacked his buttons now, undoing his shirt before pushing it from his broad shoulders. Then she reached for the snap of his jeans. But his hands were already there, pushing his pants and boxers aside to free his cock.
He must have already torn open the condom because he rolled one on before he tugged loose that bow on her panties. Then he lifted her, guiding her down onto his sheathed shaft.
She arched and stretched, taking him deep. Then she moved—frantically—wanting to release the unbearable tension inside her.
He lowered his head, kissing her lips, then her throat. Then he arched his back and moved his head lower, to her breasts. She leaned back to give him better access. As he tugged at one nipple with his lips, she came. Instead of crying out, as she always did, she bit his shoulder.
He wasn’t quite as quiet as he released a low groan, thrusting deeper as he came. His body shuddered, his legs staggering a bit beneath their combined weights, before he released her.
She staggered a little, too, her muscles lax from the powerful release.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured.
And she had no idea for what he was apologizing...until he added, “That was too fast.”
She shook her head. She’d been ready for him. She was always ready for him. Was that desire she felt for him clouding her judgment, though?
Should she forgive him for not being completely honest with her? He slipped away into the bathroom off her office, and while he was gone, she hurriedly dressed.
She wasn’t certain if they’d locked the door, and if they hadn’t, Edward might be so bold as to just walk right in. She really needed to fire him. He was even nosier than Trevor had been about her life, about her past.
