The Red Eye (The Red Eye Erotic Romance Series Book 2)

by Phillips, Avery

  Red Eye, Book 2

  Avery Phillips

  Copyright © 2015 Avery Phillips

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written consent from the publisher and author, except in the instance of quotes for reviews. No part of this book may be uploaded without the permission of the publisher and author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is originally published.

  This is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, actual events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters and names are products of the authors imagination and used fictitiously.

  The publisher and author acknowledge the trademark status and trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned in this book.

  www.averyphillipsromance.com

  One

  I opened my eyes to see Devon still asleep next to me. A soppy smile came over my face. I didn’t think I’d ever get tired of waking up next to him. Quite simply, he was the most attractive man I’d ever met, and every time I saw him, I got butterflies in my stomach.

  Reaching over, I gently brushed a lock of his jet-black hair out of his face so I could get a better look at him. Half asleep, he blinked his piercing blue eyes open.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

  Devon smiled. “Well, seeing as it’s you…” He reached out to put his arm around me, suddenly rolling me over so that he was lying on top of me, his face directly above mine. “I’ve got someone who’s happy to see you.”

  I giggled as I felt his cock tapping against the top of my thigh. Devon leaned forward and kissed me, his tongue probing my mouth. I could feel myself growing moist. There was something about being around Devon that kept me in a perpetual state of arousal. He just had that kind of effect on me.

  I ran my hand through his hair, grabbing a handful between my fingers, and pushed his head down the length of my body. He seemed to get the hint, and started raining kisses down on me as he worked toward my clit.

  I was on fire to be tongue-kissed in the most intimate of ways, and I knew from experience Devon would deliver. I moaned as he circled lazily around my clit with the pink spear of his tongue. The flick and tease of his weapon had me nearing the edge of climax. He backed away every time I got too close, and he stayed between my legs until I could no longer take the tantalizing sweep of his tongue.

  “Finish me off,” I begged.

  Gasping, he came up for air, his rigid cock thrusting into me. I let out a piercing cry of pleasure. I raised my hips to meet him, urging him to come harder. In and out, Devon pumped. There was a manic frenzy to the movement. I threw my hands up and dug my fingers into my hair, crying out for him to fuck me harder.

  My body was battered with lust, and I throbbed and pulsated to come. Devon groaned and powered into me, harder, harder. “Yes!” I gripped his shoulders, my fingernails digging into him. There was no holding back. I came explosively.

  “My turn,” he said breathlessly, yanking out of me.

  I gasped as his hot cum shot across my stomach to the edge of my breasts. He jerked his hand rapidly up and down, milking himself of every last drop.

  At last, Devon flopped onto the bed next to me, lifting his arm so I could nestle my head into his shoulder. “Every day should start like this.” He grinned.

  “Mmmmm.” I nestled my head into his shoulder, loving the feel of him against me. He was a treat for the senses. I adored every bit of him, the way he looked, tasted, smelled.

  There was no denying it. I’d fallen for him, and hard.

  “Come on, you.” He tapped me on the shoulder. “We better hit the shower. Being Grayson Caesar’s son might cut me a bit of slack, but I can’t make a habit of being late every day, no matter how seductive the reason.”

  I sighed, wishing we could stay in bed forever, as Devon threw back the covers and headed for the shower. “You joining me?”

  He didn’t need to ask twice before I grabbed my robe to follow him.

  Devon’s shower had more than enough space for both of us, and we’d had many a pleasant time in there because of it. He stepped in under the steaming hot water and started soaping himself down. “Are you coming in or are you just going to stand there?”

  “Can’t a girl take a moment to enjoy the view?” I grinned at him before walking in and pulling the shower door closed behind me.

  “Here. Let me do that for you.” I took the soap from his hands and quickly worked up a lather before running my hands over his chest, moving across his shoulders before going back down to his groin.

  “Rebecca…” He closed his eyes, and I could feel him getting hard again. “Much as I’d love to do this, we really don’t have time. We’ve got that meeting with Rick scheduled, remember?”

  I pouted, but stopped teasing him, passing him the soap so he could clean himself. Luckily, Devon didn’t notice the fact that every time Rick’s name came up, it sent shivers down my spine.

  Rick Neill was the newest member of our legal team and I’d known him since high school. What Devon didn’t know was that Rick was also my ex-husband, and we hadn’t parted on the best of terms, to say the least.

  Once were both showered and dressed, we were ready to take on whatever the day would bring us. I examined my reflection in the mirror as I put the finishing touches to my makeup. I’d put on my favorite formfitting blue suit to give my confidence a boost, which I would need to help me deal with Rick once I saw him. It made my legs look long, as though they might go on forever. Something Devon seemed to appreciate, going by the look on his face when he saw me.

  He came up behind me, putting his arms around my waist as he looked at my reflection in the mirror. “You look amazing, Rebecca,” he murmured. “I love that shade of lipstick on you. It makes me want to kiss it off.”

  “Well, you can. This evening after work.”

  “Mmmm. Maybe so…”

  “Maybe?” Devon’s less-than-enthusiastic response set off alarm bells in my head, but I didn’t have time to ask him to elaborate, because the buzzer went to announce the arrival of his car to take us to the office.

  He gave me a peck on the cheek before going out to the lounge to grab his briefcase. “Come on, Rebecca. Your carriage awaits!”

  #

  We pulled up outside Caesar and Krause, one of New York’s leading law firms, which Devon’s father, Grayson Caesar, had helped found. I’d been working there for the past eight months, ever since I had won a major contract for a client that Grayson and Devon had been competing for. They’d made me an offer that was too good to refuse, and now I had my own team working underneath me. I was one of the youngest in the firm to hold a senior position.

  Still, I had to answer to Devon, and although I had asked him to tell me what he wanted to meet with me and Rick about, he had remained tight-lipped. It had been hard enough to work alongside my ex, but at least as head of the team I’d been able to sideline him into working on cases that didn’t need as much of my attention. If Devon put us on a case together, it would be difficult to keep my distance from him.

  I consoled myself with the thought that it was Devon I went home to at the end of the day.

  “Okay, I’ll see you in about twenty minutes for our meeting.” Devon kissed me on top of the head before he exited the car. Once we were in the offices, we both maintained a professional front, difficult as it
was for me to keep my hands to myself, so usually we made the most of it with our last few moments in the car, but still something seemed to be off. The minute the feeling hit me, I tried to shake it away. Whatever was going on with him, he’d tell me when we were ready.

  The reception of Caesar and Krause never ceased to amaze me. Back when I was struggling through law school, I figured that my future may lie in small, local firms, but once I got a taste for the work, I realized that my goals were more ambitious, and I’d fought hard to get where I was. Now I worked for a company that had a water fountain in the middle of reception, and my heels click-clacked on the marble floor as I strode to the elevators.

  My office was on the eighth floor, and my secretary, Clare, had her desk just outside.

  “Morning, Clare. Any messages?”

  “Hi, Rebecca. Douglas Leeson called. He said it was nothing urgent, just checking in, but if you could give him a call when you’ve got a moment, he’d appreciate it. Michael McPherson also rang about the Smithson libel case. He didn’t go into details, but he suggested that they had a counteroffer for you that you’d want to hear.”

  “Great. Thanks.”

  I headed into my office and started working through my mail, but I was too stressed about my meeting with Devon and Rick to focus on anything else. I kept looking at the clock on the wall, urging the next twenty minutes to hurry up.

  After what seemed like forever, it was time to go, and I picked up my pad to go out there and see what it was that Devon needed to say that he couldn’t tell me in private. Something told me I wasn’t going to like it all.

  Two

  I was the first one in the conference room, so I helped myself to a fresh cup of coffee from the pot to prepare myself for the tense showdown I anticipated. Of course, the caffeine probably wasn’t the best thing for my nerves, but I took it nonetheless because it was comforting to have something in my fidgety hands.

  “Typical Rebecca. You never could function without at least three cups of coffee in the morning.”

  I spun round to see Rick coming through the door. He was around the same height as Devon, but that was where any resemblance between the two of them ended. His hair was sandy, his eyes green, and he always seemed to have a smug grin plastered on his face.

  When I was younger, I loved his confidence, but when I wised up, I saw it for the arrogance it really was. Rick might have claimed to love me, but he could never love anyone as much as he loved himself. The end of our marriage was messy, and if I’d never seen Rick again, it would have been too soon, yet here he was… in my face like a pesky fly.

  It had been hard to forgive Devon for putting him on my team without talking to me about it first, but if I’d made too much of a fuss about it, Devon would have wanted to know why I was so upset, and I wasn’t ready to tell him, not yet. The truth is that maybe I never would be, but in the meantime, I had to put up with Rick and get my revenge by giving him as many of the shitty jobs as I could get away with.

  “So any idea what our illustrious leader wants to see us about?” Rick crossed over to get himself some coffee, standing a little too close to me. He turned around to lounge with his hand braced against the cabinet near me, looking at me in a way that made me want to slap the lecherous look off his face.

  “No idea.” It killed me to have to admit it. “But I guess we’ll find out soon enough.”

  Rick opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could, Devon came into the room.

  “Ah, you’re both here already. Good, good.” Devon put his notes down on the table before walking next to me to get coffee. “If you both could take a seat, we can get started.”

  I sat down opposite to where Devon had put his things, and tried not to be exasperated when Rick sat down next to me. His knee “accidentally” brushed against mine. I jerked my legs away in a hurry.

  This was going to be a long meeting.

  “Andrew Clifton.” Devon tossed two dossiers across the table, one for each of us. “As you know, the media company is one of our biggest clients and we’ve been taking care of their legal affairs for many years now.

  “They’re having a little… trouble with a former employee of theirs. The company’s been accused of plagiarism, and although he’s since been fired, the firm is still being sued as the company responsible for producing the work. To add insult to injury, the former employee is claiming that he was acting under instructions from his superiors and is threatening to release a considerable amount of damaging information to the press—unless Andrew Clifton pays him off. As you can imagine, the firm doesn’t want to fold to this threat, so it’s your job to work through this clusterfuck and minimize the damage.

  “Rebecca, you’re the miracle worker for the firm. I’ve seen your work firsthand and I know you’re the best person for this job.”

  “Glad to have your vote of confidence.” I flicked through the dossier to get a sense for the case. “It looks like this is going to be complicated, all right.”

  “And that’s why I want my best people on it.”

  I looked at Devon, narrowing my eyes. “Don’t you think it would be better to have Rupert with me?” I glanced at Rick. “No offense, but Rupert’s got extensive experience in plagiarism cases and his history speaks for itself.”

  “None taken.” Rick shrugged, never losing the smirk from his face.

  “Rupert’s got too much on him right now,” said Devon. “And I’ve been watching Rick. He’s good at what he does and he knows Andrew Clifton very well.”

  “That’s right, Rebecca. I’ve done litigation for them before and I know how they like to work.”

  I smiled through gritted teeth. “I’m sure you do, Rick, but I still think that Rupert would be better.”

  “And as I’ve said, he’s not available right now.” Devon looked from me to Rick. “I thought you two worked well together. Are you telling me that’s not the case?”

  “Yes,” Rick said.

  “No,” I countered.

  Devon looked confused. “So what is it, guys? Come on. This is a major case. We need to show Andrew Clifton that we’ve got their backs. If there’s going to be any trouble between you two, then I’m going to have to rethink this whole thing, and I don’t just mean who takes on this case, either. There’s no room in this firm for someone who can’t work in a team.”

  “Don’t worry, Devon. We’ll be fine.” Rick smiled.

  For once, I was glad that Rick did the talking for me, because I was too annoyed with Devon to appease him right then. How dare he spring something on me as heavy as this without consulting with me first?

  “Great. Well, you’ve got everything you need in the dossiers, so I’ll expect you on the red eye tonight so that you can be at their head office first thing tomorrow morning.”

  “Tonight?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Devon, if you don’t mind, could I have a word with you in private?”

  I looked at Devon pointedly, and from that Rick started to laugh. “Ooh, you want to watch yourself, Devon. Rebecca’s got a temper on her.”

  Devon looked at him wryly. “Don’t I know it? Go on, Rick. Take the rest of the day off. You’ll need the time to pack and familiarize yourself with the details of the case.”

  “Thanks, Devon.” He walked around the table and shook Devon’s hand. “And thanks for your confidence in me. I won’t let you down.”

  “I know you won’t.”

  If looks could kill, Rick would be six feet under with the daggers in his back. I didn’t trust the way he was sucking up to Devon.

  I waited until Rick shut the door, because I didn’t want him to overhear what was bound to be a nasty argument. “So do you want to tell me what’s going on here, Devon? What the hell do you think you’re doing sending me across the country with that… with Rick?”

  “Calm down, Rebecca.” I felt like he was patronizing me.

  “Calm down? Jesus, Devon. Not only were you acting so weird this morning that I’
ve been thinking that you had second thoughts about being with me, but then I come to work and discover that you’ve been plotting to get me as far away from you as possible. Are you trying to get me out of the way, Devon? Do you want to start seeing someone else?”

  “Whoa, Rebecca.” He put his hands up in front of his chest. “You need to take it down a few notches and back up. Remember that I’m still your boss.”

  I was fuming, but I bit my tongue. I had to calm down. I hated it when he pulled rank, but we were at work and he was still the senior partner’s son.

  “Are you calm now?”

  “Yes.” I took a deep breath, clenching my hand into a fist and releasing it again to get rid of some of the tension.

  “Right. So let me explain a few things to you. I’ve been watching you, and although your team has been getting great results, I’ve noticed that you’ve been relegating Rick to menial tasks that really don’t take advantage of his abilities. I know that you knew him before he started working for us, and I’m guessing that there’s some kind of history between you two.”

  “You have no idea,” I said under my breath so as not to be heard.

  “But whatever it is, you need to get over it. I didn’t warn you about what I was going to tell you in the meeting because I knew that you’d come up with an excuse not to go, and I didn’t want to give you the chance to back out.”

  He got up and walked round the table to stand behind me, and he massaged my shoulders. “Look, Rebecca, you know that I think you’re amazing, but my dad still hasn’t got over you winning the Leeson account over him. He’s looking for any reason to get rid of you, and Rick’s been looking for ways to get close to him. I’m worried that if Rick starts complaining to him about you, my dad will take that as a sign that you need to go.

  “I’m serious about how important this case is. You’re our best, and we need the board at Andrew Clifton to feel that we’re giving them the best possible support. Whatever it is that’s bugging you about Rick, this case will give you the time you need to sort it out between you two.” He sighed. “I know you’re more professional than this. I need it so you can at least be civil with one another. Don’t think I didn’t see the look you gave him when he left the room.”