Forbidden Sins

by J. Margot Critch

  “Why were you sitting in on that meeting?”

  “I wasn’t. I told Gabe the news about the Hong Kong acquisition. He introduced me to his friends.”

  “I don’t want you associating with those people,” her father commanded.

  Excuse me? “And why not?”

  “They’re a group of degenerates,” he said dismissively. “You have no idea what sorts of business they do.”

  “They’re nice. Gabe was just introducing me.”

  “They’re his clients. But I don’t care for the association with them. Gabe’s a hell of a lawyer, and he brings in a lot of money. Money from them. But I don’t have to like it. I’ve worked to shut them down for years, without success. They have a lot of powerful connections. But they’re smut peddlers.”

  Ellie shook her head at the unfairness of her father’s tirade. “Their money is good enough for you, but you think they’re degenerates and want to shut them down?”

  “Don’t be smart, Ellie. I don’t want you to be seen with them—especially not here. Are we clear?”

  “You can’t tell me who I will or will not associate with.” She paused. “Are we clear?”

  Charles looked like his head might explode. Anger turned his complexion a bright red, and she was willing to bet that no one had spoken to Charles Burnham like that. “I want to have a relationship with you, but I’m a grown woman, and you don’t get to dictate my life to me.” Holding her head high, she brushed past him and headed out of the office.

  Ellie could barely breathe as she walked away. The scene with Charles reminded her that even though she was his daughter, that Gabe was one of his favorite associates, it didn’t matter. If he found out about what had happened between her and Gabe, they would both be ruined.

  She didn’t get far before Gabe stopped her farther down the hallway. He must have seen the emotion on her face, because he frowned. “Ellie, what’s wrong? What happened with your father?”

  “Nothing,” she told him, unsure of how to tell him what her father had said.

  “I’m fine,” she said, trying to move past him.

  “Where are you going?”

  “I have work to do.”

  Gabe moved in close to her, blocking her way. “Ellie, tell me. What happened? If he said something to you—”

  “It’s nothing,” she insisted. “I have to go. I still have to look up those property deeds for you, and that’s on top of a dozen other things. I’ll bet you have the same.”

  Gabe nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s time to work.”

  * * *

  The dust in the oldest section of the Burnham law library made Ellie sneeze. She had been sent down there by Gabe to look up some old property deeds for land on Las Vegas Boulevard, but she hadn’t realized that no one had been down there in probably fifteen years, or she might have taken some allergy medication. For the first time in the whole afternoon, she heard the heavy oak door open and close, and footsteps got closer to where she was seated. Some other poor sap had been sent down to do some research, she assumed.

  “Thought you could use some coffee.” She was surprised to hear Gabe come up behind her, startling her. He placed a coffee cup on the table.

  “Thanks.”

  “I also wanted to make sure everything is okay. You were acting a little strange earlier.”

  “Yeah, it’s just the conversation I had with my father.”

  “It was about my friends, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I know he doesn’t like them, and he’s led campaigns against the businesses.”

  “Why do you work for him, especially since he has a vendetta against your businesses?”

  “As a group we decided it was still best for me to work here, especially on my partner track.” Gabe sipped his coffee. “But enough about me. How is the workload? I haven’t been too hard on you with this task, have I?”

  “No, not at all. This is what I want. I don’t want to be seen as someone who’s here because of her father. I want to be treated like everyone else.”

  He took a seat across the table from her. “Want some help?” he asked. The golden halo of light surrounded him and he looked devastatingly sexy. She felt her desire rise. God, Ellie couldn’t control her hormones around the man at all.

  “I’ve got the work under control. But there’s something else I could use your help with.”

  “Yeah? And what’s that.”

  “I think I’m in need of a little stress reduction.”

  He smiled, but knew exactly where she was going with it. He laughed and pushed the books aside, and stood, moving around the table to sit her on it in front of him and hike her skirt up. She spread her legs. “How about you put that smart-ass mouth of yours to some good use.”

  “What? Right here?” he asked.

  “Scared?”

  “Of you?”

  “Of losing control. Doing something wild.”

  “Never.”

  He kissed her, standing between her spread knees. She could tell he was game, but something made her pull back.

  “Are there any cameras or anything down here?”

  “No, nobody comes down here, as you can probably tell.”

  She hadn’t seen another soul come down in all of the time she’d spent there. “Are you sure?”

  “If I didn’t know better, Ellie, I’d say you were all talk.” He put his hand under her skirt and stroked her through her panties. She leaned against him and moaned. “How’s this?” he asked.

  “I don’t want you to stop, but I need you right now. Hurry.”

  “You got it.” His grin was cocky and satisfied, and he moved in and kissed her with a fierceness that she’d come to associate with Gabe and the passion with which he did everything.

  His tongue traced her lips, before diving inside her mouth and brushing against her tongue, in a dance more like a duel. Her panties now gone, Gabe dropped his hand to her center and circled her clit with his fingertips. He inserted two fingers and continued his work. And Ellie shuddered against him, her body completely sensitized. Helpless to anything but climbing higher, she braced her hands behind her on the table, leaned back farther, as his fingers brought her closer and closer to heaven. She was close, her breathing became short, and she squeezed her eyes shut, but still saw the blinding white light as she came, her screams echoing against empty stacks of the library. She fell back on the table, and she was barely able to catch her breath, watching him through hooded eyes, as he unzipped his pants and withdrew his dick. She couldn’t take her now alert eyes off him as he handled himself, giving himself a few lazy pumps, as he leaned over her.

  “Ready for more?” he whispered, leaning over her, before placing a kiss on her lips with a grin. He reached into his back pocket for his wallet, and took out a condom. He quickly covered himself.

  She shrieked when he gripped the backs of her thighs and yanked them, lining her up with the edge of the table, and entering her with a loud groan. He pulled back and then thrust back into her again. Several more thrusts, and she could feel the desire inside her coil tighter once again, as he stoked another fiery bout of passion within her. She reached for him, but she was too far away from where he stood, so she sat up and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, unable to concentrate on anything but kissing him.

  The position, and the public nature of the encounter, reminded her of their first night together, the night they’d met. In the Ferris wheel, overlooking Las Vegas Boulevard. It had been only a short time since then, but how things had changed. They’d been strangers that night. They’d gotten drunk, and then married. Gabe was now more to her than a sexy stranger. She’d learned many of his intimate secrets, and she wanted to know more. She wanted to know everything about Gabe.

  Their eyes connected, and something passed between them. A flash of close
ness. She knew Gabe felt it, too, but he buried his face in the crook between her neck and shoulder, as he pumped into her several more times before she felt his body stiffen in her arms, and he came with a harsh grunt against her skin. She felt a clutch in her chest as Gabe held her close. If she wasn’t careful, she could see herself falling in love with Gabe.

  It’s already too late. The thought scared her, especially when it was followed by his words from just a short time ago. It’s only temporary. With their hearing date quickly approaching, she felt a small hollow grow in her chest. Each time with Gabe was more outrageous and more exciting than the last, and she wasn’t sure how she could go to just being colleagues once the ink dried on their annulment.

  When their breaths quieted, she was certain she could hear the pounding of their hearts echoing off the dusty stacks of the law library, and she was brought back to where they were—the very public basement floor of their law office. The heavy slam of the door made them both jump.

  “Oh my God.” Ellie scrambled down from the table, straightening her skirt. “Did someone see us?”

  “No, it must have been something else,” he said. But his worried frown told her that he didn’t think that. “We would have heard them come in.”

  “Would we? I’m going to be honest, I was only paying attention to you.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” he told her, rubbing her back. “It’s fine. No one saw us.”

  Ellie wished that she could believe that.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  GABE WAS EXHAUSTED when he took a seat at the one empty chair left for him at the table at Thalia. He was meeting the rest of the Brotherhood for dinner. He’d spent most of the night up with Ellie, and then after she drifted off, sprawled across his chest, sleep had eluded him.

  He’d discovered that day that the board would be voting tomorrow for either he or Ian to be the new partner at Burnham & Associates. He’d be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous. Only a stupidly cocky man would consider it a sure thing. He’d been a ball of tension all day.

  “Where’s Ellie?” Alana asked, when Gabe took his seat. He could hear the annoyance in her tone. What was her problem with Ellie?

  “Working.”

  “Typical,” Alex said with a laugh. “You go out for dinner and get the juniors to do your work.”

  “So, the annulment papers must be close to being signed?”

  “We have our hearing in a week.”

  “That’s a long time,” she muttered into her glass, before taking a drink.

  “What’s your problem, Lana? I’m getting really sick of your attitude about all of this. What’s your problem with Ellie?”

  “I don’t have a problem with Ellie. But do you want to talk about what I’m sick of? You—all of you—risking everything we’ve built here. You married a stranger without thinking about the businesses, or any of us, or how much we could have lost.”

  “Ellie isn’t after our money.”

  “How do you know that? You don’t even know her. You drank a couple of bottles of champagne and then took her to the chapel.”

  “Alana, hold on—”

  “No. I’m not done.” She slapped her hand down on the table. “For the past few years, I’ve watched you all do it. Brett almost ruined Collins/Fisher initiating a takeover to get Rebecca to notice him.”

  “Hey!” Brett protested.

  “Raf scuttled the election because of Jessica, and Alex almost destroyed the group to be with Maria. Don’t get me wrong, I love those women like sisters,” she said. “But pardon me, Gabe, for worrying that you’re thinking with your dick here.”

  Gabe fumed. “I’m not thinking with my dick, Lana. I made a mistake, and I’ve dealt with it.”

  The rest of the group stayed silent, knowing it was better to let them work out whatever was going on between them. “You’re still sleeping with her! You call that dealing with it? You should have just cut and run.”

  “What is this about? Are you jealous? Are you afraid that I’ll end up staying married to Ellie, and we’ll live happily ever after, and then you’ll be left out in the cold alone?”

  She gasped, and the stunned silence at the table told Gabe that he’d gone too far. “I’m sorry, Lana—”

  “Don’t,” she said, slamming her glass down on the table. “You know what? I’m going to go. I’ve got work to do at the club tonight. Somebody has to.”

  They all watched her leave. It was more than thirty seconds—that felt like minutes—before anyone spoke.

  “What the hell was that?” Gabe asked. He and Alana had never fought like that.

  “Something she’s been holding on to for a while, I guess,” Brett said.

  “She’s wrong,” Rafael told him.

  “No, she’s right,” Alex announced. “But not for the reason she thinks.”

  “What?” Gabe asked.

  “Do you love Ellie?” he asked outright.

  Gabe didn’t answer. Didn’t know how to answer.

  “Your silence speaks volumes, man.”

  “We all took huge risks when it came to the women we loved. Could have lost everything. But we didn’t.”

  “Love is about taking risks, being stupid,” Brett said.

  “That’s ridiculous,” Gabe said.

  “Exactly.”

  “I think Alana’s just upset that for so long you two have served as the coalition of reason in this group when the rest of us fucked up. Don’t worry about it. She’ll get over it eventually.”

  Gabe nodded, but he watched the door Alana had vacated. He hoped so. But he wasn’t so sure.

  * * *

  With one hand on the wheel, and the other drumming impatiently on the console—a habit she knew she’d picked up from Gabe—Ellie pulled up the driveway to her father’s house.

  The more time she spent with Charles Burnham, the more she wondered if building a relationship was even worth it. They hadn’t had a conversation since the day he’d caught her chatting with Gabe’s friends. He’d been rude, controlling, and she’d walked out on him. He hadn’t spoken to her at work the day before. She wondered why he would call her to meet him for dinner. What could they possibly have to talk about? But she wanted to try, if only to say she made the attempt.

  She parked her car and walked to the front door of her father’s house. She knocked on the door, and he opened it quickly, as if he’d been waiting for her on the other side. “Ellie,” he said with a smile, drawing her in for a hug. “Thanks for coming.”

  “Hi, Dad. Thanks for having me over.”

  He led her through his home, bringing her to the formal dining room. “Please have a seat. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Want a drink?”

  “Water is fine.”

  He poured her a glass from the crystal pitcher on the table and handed it to her. “Ellie, I would like to apologize for the way I spoke to you in my office the other day. It was uncalled for.”

  She nodded, surprised that he’d even apologized. She had a feeling that it didn’t happen very often. “Thank you. It was inappropriate. Why did you not want me to meet Gabe’s friends?”

  “The entire city might have been won over by that group. But I’m not so easily swayed. They make their money in lascivious ways—even by Las Vegas standards.”

  “You’re talking about Di Terrestres?”

  “And that hotel they own, and God knows what else they’re into.”

  “They’re clients of your law firm,” Ellie reminded him.

  “I know. But if they didn’t bring in so much money, they wouldn’t be.”

  “They were very nice to me, more welcoming than almost anyone else has been since I’ve arrived in Vegas.”

  Her father’s cook chose that moment to come into the room with their dinner. They sat back and she placed their plates in front of them. When
they were alone, he took a bite of his steak and turned back to her. “I just don’t want you falling in with a bad crowd again, like before.”

  “Like before? Goddammit, I was a teenager. I’m an adult now. I’m not the same person I was back then.”

  “A leopard can’t always change their spots that easily.”

  She gaped at her father. “Unbelievable. Sure, I was a mess. I made a lot of stupid mistakes and you helped me out. I cleaned up my act, I went to college, I pay my bills, I got a job.”

  “At my law firm,” he needlessly reminded her. “And I don’t need any more of the embarrassment that you caused me when you were younger. I’ll ask you to not get involved with those people, not while you’re representing me or my firm.”

  Something in her father’s words rubbed her the wrong way. Her skin crawled, and she wanted nothing more than to leave and go to Gabe, fall into his bed, his arms, and spend the rest of her life wrapped up in him. “Is this why you invited me here today?”

  “No, I thought we could have a nice meal together without you acting like a child.”

  “And you think this is a nice meal?” she asked. She couldn’t stand to look the man. She didn’t know why she bothered. Sure, he had paid for her education, had given her a job. But that didn’t mean the old asshole owned her. She stood. “You know, thanks for the invite, but I’m leaving.”

  “Ellie, stop being so dramatic. Sit down and eat your food.”

  “Pardon me if I don’t feel so hungry anymore,” she said, throwing her napkin on the table and walking out of the room, leaving her food untouched.

  * * *

  Back in her car, Ellie blinked back tears of frustration and disappointment. If Charles thought that she was such an embarrassment, then why did he invite her back into his life? Why had he given her the impression that he was at all interested in starting over with her? Was it all just so he could control her?