by Vivian Ward
Luckily, they all nod their heads in agreement.
“Yep, no problem,” Meagan says, taking charge. “So ladies, everyone get up and come over here to grab your gift.”
Reluctant, my group of friends who are still a bit surprised comply with her request and slowly go over to retrieve their presents.
It doesn’t take long before they’re all opening their gifts, laughing and talking as they do it.
This has got to be the best idea in the history of bridal showers because it’s saving me a ton of time. Instead of me opening each gift in front of them and cooing over their crystal vases and napkin sets, I can just watch them proudly display their gift in front of me while Meagan and Deb organize everything for me.
After 20 minutes, all of the gifts have been opened, the presents are all sorted, and now we can move onto wrapping things up. Within the next half an hour, everything’s over, and I can start getting ready for the party tonight at Mr. Ford’s.
“Are you sure you’ve got all this?” I ask Deb. “I feel kind of bad that you flew in and are helping Meagan do all of this work while I ditch you.”
I feel awful leaving her and Meagan to clean up the hall that they rented, but I don’t really have much of a choice. It has to be cleaned, and I have to make enough time to get ready for the party.
“Babe,” she says, taking my hands in hers. “Don’t worry about it. I’m your best friend, and I was your friend before you asked me to do anything for you. I’m happy to help. Now, go. Get yourself ready and enjoy the rest of your night. We’ve got this,” she squeezes my fingertips.
“You’re the best,” I hug her. “Thank you so much.”
Before I leave them to get ready for the party, I give Meagan a hug and thank her one last time. I couldn’t have pulled off any of this without the help of her and Deb. It reminds me just how lucky I am.
Chapter Thirteen
Logan
Checking my watch again, the minutes and seconds are ticking by, and it’s making me grow anxious. All I can do is hope that she finishes getting dressed in time before we’re late for the party.
I’m not sure how Ford will like us waltzing in late, but it’s not something that I want to find out. Making this man happy is my number one priority so if that means bowing down and kissing his ass for one night, then I’ll gladly do it.
Normally, I’m not a pushover, but this partnership with his firm has so much riding on it that it’s not even funny. Sure, I could become a partner at another firm, but this is the firm to work with, and there’s not another one in the St. Louis area that can compare to it.
Ford and Associates are the difference between us living comfortably or living in the lap of luxury. And as cliché, as it might sound, I want to give my little princess a lap of luxury to live in.
Piper deserves the world, and I fully intend on giving it to her. Nothing but the best is good enough for her. Diamonds, silk, lace, pearls, expensive vacations, you name it. I want her to have it, and the fastest, most efficient way to ensuring she has it all is by becoming a partner of Ford and Associates.
I don’t want to work for some dinky law firm. I’ve worked too hard and put in too many hours to do that. My dad always said go big or go home, and that’s exactly what I intend on doing.
And maybe that’s why Piper is so insistent on showing her support for me tonight. She doesn’t care about expensive jewelry or going to fancy resorts; she just wants to be by my side. She’d be happy living in a cardboard box as long as we were together.
There’s not a doubt in my mind that if I said I wanted to stop practicing law and do mindless work for a lower working wage, she’d be fine as with that as long as it made me happy. My happiness is her happiness and vice versa.
“I’m coming,” she calls from the bedroom as I check my watch for the twentieth time.
We have to be at Ford’s house in just over a half hour, and it takes about 25 minutes to make the drive, so we’re really pressed for time.
“I hope so. You’ve only taken the last—,” I stop dead in my tracks as she makes her way out of our room and shuts off the light.
She looks like a runway model walking down our narrow hallway, and as she gets closer, I can feel my heart beginning to race.
To say that she looks hot would be an understatement. A clean floral scent with a hint of warm vanilla swirls around her as she approaches me.
Piper looks amazing. I’ve never seen her wearing the dress that she has on but fuck, she looks sexy as hell. It has a thin black strap that holds up the cups of the dress which features shiny black sequins, showcasing her perky breasts.
I’ve always heard of every woman owning a little black dress, but if this is what they’re referring to, then every woman should wear her little black dress every damn day. She looks so beautiful and could easily put any model to shame.
“Piper,” I say, staring at her.
I can’t take my eyes off of her. She’s a hot mess, but she’s all mine.
“Yes?” she answers.
“Wow,” I suck in a deep breath and blow out a low whistle. “With the way you look, I don’t know if I want to take you to the party.”
I scoop her up into my arms and begin running my hands down her back and around her waist until I reach her perfectly round ass.
“Uh-uh,” she shakes her head no. “Be good. You’re on your best behavior, at least until the night is over. Let’s go do this.”
“Oh, I want to do it all right. Let’s go to the bedroom first.”
“Not right now,” she says.
“What? You dirty girl,” I lean down and let my breath tickle her neck. “You want me right here? I can bend you over and give it to you now if that’s what you want.”
I don’t know if that’s what she wants or not, but I sure as hell do. The last thing I want to do is leave. I want to be inside of her, filling her with my seed.
All I can think about is how she looks with those stockings on and that dress. Her stilettos accentuate her already long legs look like they’re a mile long. She looks like a goddess.
“Logan, no. Come on,” she pushes me away. “Let’s get to your party. I went through a LOT of trouble to make sure we get there on time. Now, let’s get out of here.”
I love it when she’s feisty. It makes me want her that much more, but I know that she’s right and we need to get a move on. I’ll have to bend her over later when there’s more time.
Maybe then, I can strip her down to her lacy stockings and take advantage of her. The thought of it makes my cock jerk in my pants.
“You’re mine later,” I warn her.
“Later, you can do whatever you want to me, but right now we have to get to the party on time,” she says as we leave the house.
Admiring her from behind, I let her lead the way as I continue thinking about bending her over in that tight little black dress of hers and fucking her with those heels and stockings on.
If anyone knows how to drive a man crazy, it’s definitely her.
“Here, let me,” I say, rushing in front of her to open her car door.
“Thank you,” she kisses me. “I know it must be near impossible for you to behave but I promise, I’ll heavily reward you later.”
As she slips into the car, her hand cups the bulge in my pants and she gives it a squeeze, feeling how hard I already am for her and all we’re doing is getting in the car. Nothing has even started, but I can’t wait until it does. When it comes to her, I’m always ready to fuck.
“Oh, you tease,” I say, swallowing the lump in my throat.
If I wasn’t already slightly hard, I am now. Completely hard.
Fuck. How does she have that type of effect on me?
It’s crazy how a slight brush of her hand can make me go stiff or how just thinking about being with her can make me feel like a teenage boy with an erection that he can’t get rid of, but I love it. She’s hot, and her heart and body belong to me.
I’m a very
lucky man.
“You like it, baby,” she smiles up at me as she gets herself buckled. “And if you’re good tonight, I’ll give you some sweet sugar when we get back home.”
I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait until then, but I’ll have to try.
Chapter Fourteen
Logan
Standing on the front porch of Mr. Ford’s house, I can’t believe that my fantasy of being a partner is becoming a reality.
The doorbell chimes a long, beautiful tone before Ford opens the door and greets us with the party already in full swing even though we’ve arrived right on time.
“Logan,” he says and then turns his glance to Piper. “And Piper, come in.”
As soon as we step inside, he shakes my hand and gives Piper a hug and kisses her on the cheek.
It doesn’t quite settle right with me and strikes me as being a little too friendly and a bit odd.
I focus my attention on Piper who doesn’t seem to mind it one bit. A light shade of crimson flushed across her cheeks before she notices me watching her.
She quickly wipes the doting smile off her face and steps away from Ford.
I possessively wrap my arm around her and pull her close to me. He might be the managing partner, but she’s mine.
“Come on in and make yourself comfortable,” he says, holding his arm open. “Help yourself to cocktails and appetizers.”
We spend the next 20 minutes or so chatting with Ford, who is the center of attention. It doesn’t take long until several of the partners join us, and we’re all circled around him, much like children do with a teacher during story time.
Ford is very animated while telling us about a case that he handled that ended up making him the success that he is today. It’s an interesting enough story that keeps everyone thoroughly entertained even though he’s probably told it several dozen times during his career as an attorney.
He goes into great detail to talk about how he put the bite on the prosecuting attorney and got his client out of murder charges. If it weren’t for who the client was, it would’ve been just another case. The client he got off was the owner of a prestigious nightclub over in East St. Louis; the Larry Flynt Hustler’s Club.
It should’ve been an open and shut case because the guy was guilty as hell; but money can sometimes twist things and turn them into your favor, which is exactly what the guy did.
The owner was banging one of the dancers. She was a pretty little number; a strawberry blonde with cherry red lips. Everything between the two of them was supposed to be on the down-low because it was against company policy for employees to have sexual relationships, especially when it came to the owner poking one of his strippers.
There was this customer, a wealthy middle-aged man who had plenty of green to flash around inside the club for the right ladies. Apparently, as soon as this guy would waltz into the place, the girls flocked to him because he spared nothing for a good dance from one of his favorites.
As things would turn out, the little strawberry blonde who was banging the owner became one of his favorites, and he would pay for private dances in their enclosed area where nobody else could see what was going on.
This guy had a reputation of fucking many of the girls that worked there, but nobody would ever admit that they were sleeping with the guy because it would cost them their job, but it was well known that it frequently happened during these private sessions that he paid for.
The owner found out that he’d been paying for private dances with his little strawberry blonde and became enraged. He hired a man to sit at the club seven days a week to keep an eye on what was happening and report back to him.
Everything was done in secret, so nobody else knew what was going on. The guy upheld his end of the deal and watched every night for about two weeks.
The man that the owner hired reported everything that he witnessed back to the owner and confirmed that the man was, in fact, sleeping with the dancer. In fact, he was sleeping with more than just the strawberry blonde; he was having sex with almost all of them. This infuriated the owner, so they concocted a plan to kill the wealthy, middle-aged man.
Story has it that the owner started wiring money into an off-shore bank account where his informant would withdraw the payments until he received the all of the money in full. Once that happened, he carried out the hit and killed the guy.
Of course, when it was all said and done, everything was set up to look like an accident, and since the prosecuting attorney couldn’t prove the money exchange and the murder was executed so perfectly, Ford was able to get the owner off of all charges.
But karma has a funny way of making things right, and the owner ended up dying a few years later in a fiery car crash on his way home from the club one night.
No one has ever been able to prove it, but it’s said that the cute little blonde was out for revenge against the owner for killing her lover and ran him off the road.
The whole story had so much media attention that Ford was constantly in the headlines, so when he opened his own practice, every defense attorney in the area flocked to him because he was the best in the business and because of his influences, he was able to pick and choose who he made partner.
Ford’s one tough son-of-a-bitch, which is why so many bend and bow down to him and kiss his ass. I wish I could say that I’m different, but tonight, I’m not.
Piper and I make our way through the party and bump into a few different partners, making small talk along the way. Mingling like a couple of pros, I busy myself with talking to some of the other associates in the firm while Piper socializes with some of the other wives.
“How’s it going?” Ford approaches me, draping his arm over my shoulder. “Having fun yet?”
“Great party,” I say to him as I raise my glass.
We clink the rims of our glasses and drink to it.
“Well, this could be a regular thing, you know? You and that cute little lady of yours. I’m glad that she made it to the party. I thought I was going to have to offer your invitation to someone else.”
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I say.
Having her by my side tonight has helped relieve some of the stress and eased my nerves, or it could be the alcohol. It’s hard to tell.
The waitress keeps passing by with a tray of champagne glasses, and I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t helped myself multiple times. She’s been quick—a little too quick—with refills, but I’m sure she’s being paid very nicely to do her job, and if she’s like the rest of us, she wants to make Ford happy.
“I’ve got to hand it to you,” Ford says. “If that were my lady, I’d be tempted to keep her under lock and key. She’s a beauty.”
“Thank you, sir.”
He laughs and pats me on the back as I look around for her, but she’s nowhere to be found. Come to think of it; I haven’t seen her for the last half an hour or so. Knowing her, she’s probably with Diane. Mingling is what she does best. She’s like a social butterfly, so it doesn’t surprise me that I’ve not seen or heard from her.
“Don’t call me sir, Logan. If you’re going to become a partner in my firm, call me by my first name.”
I eye him suspiciously, not sure if he’s being serious or not.
“Call you by your first name? I didn’t know you had one of those,” I joke with him.
The two of us laugh for a moment, and then he motions for the waitress to bring us another drink.
“Yes, call me Oliver,” he says, taking a flute off the tray and passing one to me before grabbing a second one for himself. “And since we’re getting to know each other better, why don’t you join us for a game of cards. We’re going to start playing soon since the crowd is dwindling.”
I’ve heard of him having poker nights with the other partners, but I didn’t know that they played at this type of party.
“Tonight?” I question.
“Yes, tonight. The party seems to be dull so I figured we could make thi
ngs a bit more interesting and perhaps play some poker,” he studies my face. “You do know how to play, don’t you?”
“Of course,” I nod. “I play with Piper’s brothers all the time. We usually get together a few times a year for poker nights. They’re pretty good.”
Ford smiles at me and places his hand on my back as he walks us to the game room and invites a few others along the way.
“Good, pull up a seat and get ready to play while we set things up.”
If today could get any stranger, I’d think it was all a dream, but the reality is that Ford and the other partners are more accepting of me than I could ever hope for which excites me.
I’m actually going to make partner, but what makes it even better is that I’ll do it before we get married. Maybe Piper’s mother was onto something when she said that her daughter is a good luck charm. I think she’s right.
Chapter Fifteen
Logan
It’s nearly 11 PM, and most of the guys have taken off rather quickly. I never really had Ford pegged for much of a poker player, but he’s pretty good. He’s more than good; he plays like a pro.
With only a few of us left, the stakes are getting higher as the cards in the deck have more value since there are less of us playing. So far, he’s been pretty good at pushing people out because they’re afraid to call him.
Maybe he’s an expert bluffer, or maybe they’ve known him long enough to know that he’s got a good hand. Either way, I can’t quite figure out his game. We’ve been playing Texas Hold’em for nearly an hour now, but he never shows his cards unless he absolutely has to, which is rare.
My lovely Piper has been patiently chatting with Diane, who thank God, is still here. If it weren’t for their friendship, she’d probably be bored out of her mind, but I have noticed that she’s intently watching our card game.
