by J. L. Perry
The building was so stylish and modern inside. The walls were a light grey with a dark grey accent wall behind the reception desk, and there was also a large sign which read, “Cavanagh and Associates”. It was a smaller version of the one outside the building. The letters looked like they had been cut out from some kind of metal and were mounted on glass with lights behind it to make the letters stand out.
All the furniture in the lobby matched. There was a long, black leather lounge by one wall and black chairs along the other. The floors were a black polished marble, and so was the moon-shaped reception desk. It made a great first impression.
We made a way over to the elevator and Logan took my hand in his. He pressed the button for the top floor, which was where his office was. The building had ten floors in total, and he told me that it was divided into different sections. Each floor had lawyers who specialised in certain types of law. It was very impressive but, again, it reminded me of how different our lives were.
The whole top floor of the building was just for him, which didn’t surprise me. Logan was beaming as he introduced me to his Rose. Claire was there, as well. It was like he was proud to show me off, and it warmed my heart. “Well, Brooke, it’s nice to finally meet you,” Rose said. It made me wonder if it was Logan or Claire that had told her all about me.
I noticed the sign on the door to my right said, “Logan Cavanagh, CEO”. I followed him into his office and was surprised by the sheer size of it. The view was amazing, and it had floor-to-ceiling windows around three of the walls. His furniture was all mahogany, and the one wall in his office where the door was situated was painted a rich deep burgundy colour. There were large colourful paintings on that wall, and a wooden bookcase full of law books. The chairs were large and looked comfortable, and were covered in a dark brown leather. On the other side of the room was a large conference table. It looked like it sat at least twenty people.
As soon as the door was closed, he pulled me to him. “Logan, this office is beautiful.”
“Not as beautiful as you,” he whispered into my neck. “I’ve been missing you all day, baby.”
I put my arms around his neck and smiled up at him, brushing his lips with a kiss. I ran my tongue along his bottom lip because I had been thinking about his beautiful lips all morning. He grabbed my arse and pulled me against him. He was already hard. He growled into my mouth, “I can’t wait until I get home tonight because I want to be inside you so bad right now.” He started walking backwards while still kissing me and sat on his chair, pulling me down onto his lap so I was straddling him.
“I want you, too,” I replied. Our kiss became wild and I started grinding myself against him.
Logan lifted up my dress, pulling my underwear to one side. He then slipped a finger inside me. “Oh, fuck. You are so wet,” he groaned. “I can’t wait another fucking minute.” He lifted me off him, unbuttoned his pants, and stood up so they could fall to the floor. I quickly removed my underwear, and he pulled me back down onto his lap, thrusting into me.
“Oh fuck, baby,” he groaned as he threw his head back. “You feel so good. Being inside you is heaven.”
We couldn’t get enough of each other, and our kissing became desperate. Logan held my hips and guided me up and down as I rode him. As soon as he started kissing his way down my neck, I whispered that I was going to come. He put his mouth back over mine, and swallowed my moans as I tightened around him. Sex with him was mind-blowing! A few seconds later, I swallowed his moans as he spilled himself into me.
Logan
That was not my intention when I brought her up here. When she started kissing me and grinding her sexy body against mine, something inside of me snapped. I just had to have her.
She was still straddling me as we stared into each other’s eyes with smiles on our faces. I gently ran the back of my hand down the side of face. “I’m sorry, baby,” I said. “I didn’t bring you up here for that.”
She looked at me and smiled. “Don’t be sorry. That was wonderful. I think I will have to come here and visit you more often.” I couldn’t help but laugh.
I lifted her off me and told her to go into the bathroom in my office so she could clean herself up. I picked up her underwear, pulled up my pants, and followed her in there.
Before we left my office, I pulled her in for one more kiss. “I will never be able to look at this office the same way again.”
I introduced her to a few more people on the way down, and intertwined my fingers through hers as we walked down the street to the restaurant. It was great having her here with me.
When Chris came back to take her home, I didn’t want her to go. I reluctantly kissed her goodbye and told her I loved her, then headed back up to my office. I couldn’t help but smile when I sat down on my chair. It had just become my favourite chair!
I called Chris about 4:00 p.m. and asked him to pick me up in a half-hour. I was going to finish early today because I wanted to get home. When I asked him if Brooke had gotten home alright earlier, I was surprised when he told me that she had asked him to drop her off at her old place.
“How come you dropped her off there?” I snapped.
“She told that she wanted to start cleaning up the place,” he replied. “I offered to give her a hand, but she said she didn’t want one.” I told him to come and get me immediately.
On the way to Brooke’s old place, I told Chris that if Brooke asked him to take her places from now on, he was to let me know immediately. He apologised for taking her there. She could be so stubborn sometimes, and I knew if Chris had refused to take her, she would’ve just found another way. What worried more than anything was why she was even there? Was she preparing to move back in? Fuck, that’s the last thing I wanted! I know I asked her to move in with me, but she had never given me an answer.
When I walked into her place, she was trying to scrub the spray paint off the walls, and my anger instantly rose to the surface. “What are you doing, Brooke?!” I snapped.
“What does it look like?” she replied sarcastically. “I am trying to clean this place up.”
“Why?”
“Well, I can’t afford to keep paying rent if I’m not living here. I need to pack up my stuff and clean this mess up so I can hand the keys back to the real estate agent.”
Thank god. She isn’t moving back in here!
“You should have told me, baby. I could have hired someone to do it,” I said, trying not to snap at her again. I looked around the room, surprised by how much she had done in a few short hours. “Did you move all that heavy furniture by yourself?”
“Of course I did,” she replied. “It wasn’t going to move itself.”
“Why didn’t you ask me to help you?”
“Because you were working.”
Now I was starting to lose my fucking patience. “You are so fucking stubborn, Brooke. Put that down now!” I screamed. “I am taking you home. I will get Claire to organise someone to come over tomorrow to clean this place up.”
She looked at me with a cute little frown on her face. “You will not call Claire,” she snapped. “And I am not leaving until it is done.”
Exasperated, I started to run my hands through my hair. I removed my jacket and tie and put them over the back of the chair with a sigh. “What do you want me to do?” I asked, defeated. There was no point arguing with her because when she made up her mind, there was no changing it.
“You don’t have to help me, Logan, but you need to understand that I need to do this.”
I could tell that she was angry and upset with me so I walked over to her and pulled her into my arms. “Don’t be mad at me, baby,” I pleaded. “I just don’t want you doing things like this. It’s too much.”
“Stop treating me like a baby, Logan. I survived fine on my own before you came along,” she snapped.
“I’m not treating you like a baby, Brooke. I just care about you. There’s a difference.”
She put her head down. “I k
now you do,” she said. “I’m sorry.”
I put my finger under her chin, and pulled her face up towards mine. I kissed her cute little nose. It was impossible to stay mad at her. “Please tell me what you want me to do.”
She sighed. “There are some garbage bags in my room full of the clothes that Jake ruined. Can you take them out to the bin for me?”
Once that was done, I grabbed a box full of glass and some of the other things that Jake had smashed, and took that outside, as well. Seeing all this destruction again had my blood boiling.
Crazy fucker!
Next, Brooke asked me if I would dismantle the bed that was in her bedroom. I got Chris to come in and give me a hand. Once we were finished, I asked her what she was going to do with all of her furniture.
“I can’t really afford to put it into storage,” she said. “So I might just give it to charity.” I could tell that she was sad about giving her furniture away. I walked up to her and hugged her.
“There is some storage space downstairs in the basement at the penthouse,” I said. “If you want to store your furniture in there for now, you can.”
She smiled at me. “That would be great,” she replied. “When I first bought this furniture, it was the start of my new life and my independence. I’m not ready to let go of it yet.”
When everything was done, I asked her if I could organise for a removalist to bring all her stuff over to the penthouse, and she nodded. I was going to do it anyway, but I needed to ask her first. She didn’t like me dictating to her, and I hated when she was angry with me. Brooke’s independence was important to her so I needed to respect that.
Once we were back home, we headed upstairs to shower before dinner. While I was washing her, she said, “Sorry for being a bitch before. I know you were just trying to take care of me. I do appreciate everything you do.”
“You weren’t being a bitch.”
“I was being bossy.”
“I’ve had girlfriends in the past, Brooke,” I said. “But I have never cared for anyone like I care for you. I know you need your independence so I will try harder next time not to be so overbearing. Just try to remember that I love you, and all I want is what’s best for you. All I wanted was to be there with you because I hate the fact that you had to face all that mess on your own. I thought we were a team, baby.”
“Oh, babe, we are a team, but I just want you to understand that sometimes there will be things in life that I will need to do,” she replied, as she wrapped her arms around my waist. “Even if you don’t like it, you need to let me do it. If I am ever in your situation, I will extend you the same courtesy. Okay?” Then she pressed her lips against mine. “Apart from that, don’t ever change because I love you just the way you are.”
Brooke
I slept well that night. Moving all that furniture and packing all those boxes had worn me out. I was blessed to have someone like Logan in my life. He truly cared for me as much as I did for him, and it warmed my heart.
Before he left for the office this morning, he reminded me that he was taking me out tonight, and told me that I needed to be ready by six. I tried to get him to tell me where we were going, but he just said it was a surprise. When I asked him what dress I should wear, he told me to wear whichever one I wanted.
“You looked beautiful in all of them,” he said with a smile.
Later that afternoon, I took a shower and dried my hair before setting it in some rollers. I was going to wear it down tonight, with some soft curls in it. I thought about wearing the red dress, but decided on the black one. It was tight-fitting black silk covered with a shimmery back lace, and had thick straps with a plunging neck line, which showed off a little too much cleavage. The dress was long and straight with two slits up both sides that ended just above my knees.
I was going to wear the black stiletto heels I’d purchased when we went shopping. They had an open toe so I decided to paint my fingernails and toenails red.
I was already dressed and ready at 5:30 p.m. when Logan arrived home from work. He came into the bathroom as I was applying my lipstick. I spun around when I noticed him in the mirror and smiled at him. As he took the few steps separating us, the smile on his face widened.
“Oh, baby, you look breathtaking,” he whispered as he wrapped his arms around me.
I slid my arms around his waist. “I really love all the dresses you bought for me, even though they were far too expensive,” I replied.
“Just looking at you now, Brooke,” he said breathlessly, “they were worth every fucking cent. You look beautiful. It’s going to be hard keeping my hands off you tonight, though.”
He kissed the top of my head. “I’m going to take a quick shower and shave because we need to leave soon.”
I was in the bedroom putting on some perfume when Logan came out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. As I looked him up and down, I smiled. “Now that is breathtaking,” I said. “You are so hot, Mr. Cavanagh. How about we skip going out tonight and stay home?”
He laughed as he walked past me and into the walk-in closet. “No way, as tempting as that sounds,” he said. “There is plenty of time for that later. I am taking you out tonight and that’s final.”
As he came back out, tuxedo in hand, I pulled off his towel as he walked past me, smacking his arse. “Your body is amazing. I just want to lick you all over.” I’m sure I heard him growl.
I leaned against the wall and watched him get dressed. He was so yummy and looked so handsome in his tux. It reminded me of the first time I saw him back in Melbourne. I helped him with the bow tie and cufflinks. Once I was finished, he put his arms around me and kissed me before asking if I was ready to go. As I picked up my black clutch purse, I remembered the bracelet he had bought me so I asked him if he would help me put on.
“That reminds me,” he said, walking over to the suit jacket he had thrown over the back of the chair. He pulled a long black velvet box out of the pocket. “I bought you this today,” he said. My hands shook as he passed me the box.
As I opened it, I felt the tears fill my eyes. It was a diamond heart-shaped necklace that matched my bracelet.
I looked up at him. “It is beautiful, but you spoil me.”
He brushed his lips softly against mine. “I like spoiling you,” he whispered.
I kissed his cheek. Then turned around and held up my hair so he could put it on for me. “Now you look perfect,” he said, kissing a trail down my neck. He laced his fingers through mine before leading me downstairs.
Jill came out of the kitchen. “You both look so nice. You make a perfect couple,” she said with a smile. I noticed a tear in her eye.
Logan took me to this beautiful restaurant for dinner. Once we had finished eating, he looked at his watch. “We need to go because if we don’t leave now, we will be late.”
“Late for what?” I asked. He just winked and held his hand out to me.
We were sitting in the back of the limo and Logan still wouldn’t tell me where we were going. Chris pulled up at the Opera House and I wondered why we were here. Logan helped me out of the car and we walked inside. We were ushered upstairs into a private balcony in the Joan Sutherland Theatre.
I had never been inside the Opera House before, and I was in awe of its beauty. As I looked down over the balcony, I could see all the people below us and I could see the stage. I knew we must have been here to see some kind of performance, but I still had no idea what. We had the best seats in the house, but that didn’t really surprise me. When Logan did something, he did it all the way.
The lights dimmed, and Logan reached over and grabbed hold of my hand. The music started. When the curtains were drawn, revealing the ballet dancers on stage, I was speechless. I looked over at Logan and he was smiling at me.
The fact that he had brought me to the ballet made me want to cry. I’d always wanted to come to the Opera House and watch the ballet. It was a dream of mine since I was a little girl, but I never got the
chance. I leaned over and whispered thank you in his ear and kissed his cheek. This man of mine was special and so thoughtful. I was lucky to have him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Logan
The ballet has never interested me. Only a few short months ago, I would have considered it a form of fucking torture, but I had brought Brooke here because I knew she would love it. When the dancers came on stage, the look on her face said it all. Fuck, I would do anything to see her happy. She was sitting forward in her seat, watching the performance with the biggest smile on her face. It actually made me smile as I watched her.
I didn’t watch any of the ballet because I couldn’t take my eyes off her. A few times, she even wiped a tear that had fallen down her cheek. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, and I would never get tired of looking at her.
When the performance was finished, she leaped from her seat and threw her arms around me. “This has been the best night of my life,” she said, raining kisses all over my face. “Thank you. I will never forget this for as long as I live.” I was touched by her reaction. I knew she would love it, but was surprised by just how much. Looks like I will be bringing her back here again. Dancing really was her life, and watching her tonight showed me just how much.
On the way back to the penthouse, you couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. When she told me she’d never been to the Opera House and that seeing a performance had been a dream of hers, it saddened me. I was glad that I had been able to do this for her, but wondered how much she had missed out on growing up.
Tonight had helped me to understand why she was finding it hard to forgive her father. Brooke and her mother must have suffered a lot over the years. Things would have been completely different for her if she had been able to grow with the kind of money he had. I suddenly felt guilty. I’d taken my upbringing for granted because that was all I knew. I had wanted for nothing.
