Counselor Undone (18 page)

“Okay. I’ll take care of it.”

Ten minutes later, Lana walked into his office and dropped
the folder on his desk. “I hope there’s not a problem with that young lady. I
like her.”

Lana’s comment surprised him. “Really? Why?”

Lana wasn’t the type to be easily swayed by people. A bit of
a pillar at the firm, Lana had started out as his father’s secretary when the
firm first opened. She was practical, super efficient and no-nonsense. If
Jordis had impressed her, that was saying something.

“It’s refreshing to meet a young female attorney who doesn’t
think she has to dress and act like a man to be taken seriously at her job.
Plus, after the way she handled
Studly
,
she’s becoming a bit of a legend around here.”

“You heard about that?”

“Of course.” Lana headed for the door. “You know you can’t
keep anything from the staff around here.”

After she closed the door, Michael stared at the file she’d
left on his desk. His pulse raced. He sat quietly for several seconds before he
forced himself to flip the file open to the sheet containing Jordis’s personal
information.

He flopped back in his chair. The address
wasn’t
the
same.

How could he have been wrong?

His jovial mood of earlier dissipated. He picked up his stylus
and twirled.

If he’d been off base about Juliet, what else had his overactive
libido blinded him to?

He wanted to believe the prior rumors about Jordis were
false, but maybe she’d been playing with him this whole time.

Logically, he recognized she hadn’t come on to him. He’d
been the one to make the first move, and he hadn’t backed off even when she’d
asked him to. But, maybe she was better at playing hard-to-get than her
predecessors. She was certainly more intelligent than any of them.

He didn’t want to consider the possibility another schemer
had pulled him in, but old hangups died hard. Women invariably disappointed
him. He couldn’t keep the doubts completely silent. He needed to talk to
Jordis.

The time had come to end their stalemate.

* * *

Michael found Jordis in the part of the firm gym that contained
the basketball half court. She had a rack of basketballs beside her from which
she repeatedly snatched balls then took outside shots. Even sporting a casual
ponytail, she looked beautiful. She’d dressed in athletic pants and a lycra
Under Armour long-sleeved t-shirt. The form-fitting shirt accentuated her
defined arm muscles and hugged all her upper curves.

Her body moved with an athletic grace he admired and which
turned him on.

So many levels existed to this attraction he nursed. The
more he learned about her, the more he wanted her.

He stood out of her line of sight and watched in awe as she
hit six shots in rapid-fire succession. Something, even in his college days, he
would have been hard pressed to duplicate.

The seventh shot hit the back of the rim and bounced off.
Jordis put her hands on her hips and dropped her head forward. Her chest rose
and fell with a huge breath. A few seconds later, her voice carried to him.
“What do you want?”

She’d sensed his presence.

He wondered if she would have made that last shot if she
hadn’t. The betting man in him said she would have.

Jacketless and tieless, he strolled onto the court, the top
two buttons of his dress shirt undone. “I just talked to my investigator. His
preliminary research into the issue you raised about the expert witnesses shows
there might be something there. He’ll start his official investigation
tomorrow.”

“Great.” She picked up a ball from the floor. “You didn’t
have to track me down to tell me that.” Her voice was stiff.

“No, I didn’t.” His hands slid into the pockets of his
slacks. “Jordis, we have to talk. We need to address this tension between us.”

She propped the basketball against her hip and sighed heavily.
“Okay, Michael. Talk.”

She still had her defenses up.

“What are you afraid of?” That wasn’t what he’d intended to
ask, but once it was out, he sensed he’d asked exactly the right question.

“I’m not afraid of anything.” She dribbled the ball she had
in her hand and looked up at the goal. She took a shot. It hit its target.

Michael walked beneath the goal and retrieved the ball. He
drilled her a chest pass, which she caught without thought. He maintained his
position. “Come on, Jordis. It’s time we’re straight with each other. Tell me
what you’re afraid of.”

She held the basketball in front of her balanced between her
two hands. She gazed at it while she turned it a few times. When she looked up
at him, the shield had lowered from her eyes. “Setting off a chain reaction of
events that will cost me my career. This is my third firm, Michael. If I have
to leave RHM before I make partner, my marketability will suffer and my
reputation as a top-rate lawyer will be in serious question.”

Michael weighed his words, understanding the significance of
her revelation. “It doesn’t have to come to that.”

“It
shouldn’t
have to come to that. That doesn’t mean
it won’t.”

He started towards her. “Jordis, your career here is in no
way contingent upon what happens—or doesn’t happen—between us.” He
stopped in front of her. “If that’s what this is about, know I wouldn’t do that
to you.”

“Can I get that in writing?”

He gave an amused grunt, but replied seriously. “If that’s
what it takes.”

“What if I’m the one to break it off?”

He all but rolled his eyes, dismissing her comment as if insulted.
“I’m a big boy. I think I can handle it.”

“Unfortunately, it’s not just about you, Michael. If we
cross this line, the moment it gets out we’re having an affair—and it
would get out—my credibility at RHM will be destroyed. It’s hard enough
making it in this environment without having to live in the shadow of vicious
gossip and slanderous epithets. I should know. I’ve been there before.”

Michael stiffened.
Was she admitting she’d had an affair
with that partner?
“What do you mean?”

Jordis studied him. He wondered if his apprehension showed
on his face. She looked to be considering her words carefully.

Her eyes closed.

Michael waited patiently for her to open them.

When she did, she spoke softly. “At my prior firm, I was
assigned a case with a senior partner named Lowell Bruner. After we’d worked
together awhile, he began to get a little touchy-feely.” Jordis clamped tightly
on the ball she held between her palms.

Michael reached out and removed the ball from her grasp.

She dropped her hands. “I rebuffed his advances. Politely.
At first. I was naïve enough to believe a man of his position and reputation
would accept my disinterest and move on. I was wrong.” Her hands tightened into
fists. “One night, we were working on deadline in his office and it got late. I
didn’t realize he’d told the staff not to disturb us. As a result, neither his
secretary nor mine came by to indicate they were leaving for the day, but he
knew exactly when everyone had left.”

She paused.

Sensing her hesitancy, Michael encouraged, “Go on.”

“He decided to force the issue. One minute, we were
discussing the case. The next, he was pinning me down on his office sofa
assuring me it would be to my advantage to give in and my disadvantage not to.
I tried to reason with him. I failed. When he started trying to unfasten my
clothes, I fought him. I had just managed to knock him to the floor when another
partner walked in. There I was with my blouse open, my skirt pushed up against
my hips and Lowell on his knees in front of me with his pants unzipped. You can
imagine the picture it made.”

“Jordis, I assure you that other partner knew exactly what
was going on.”

“That’s what I thought, but that’s not the position the
other partner took.” She sighed, dropped her head and ran both hands over the
gel-shelacked hair leading into her ponytail. After only a few seconds her head
sprang up. “Wait. You believe me?”

This time, Michael spun the basketball. “Why wouldn’t I?”

“Just like that? No questions?”

“What am I missing?” He stared at her through her silence
then clarity dawned. “Keith didn’t believe you.”

“No. He didn’t. He asked me a million questions about the
encounter, and then he still doubted my word. He was in the middle of a deal
with the partner who walked in on Lowell and me. Closing the deal turned out to
be more important to him than putting his trust in me.”

She looked into Michael’s eyes. “How can you be so sure?”

“
Cara
, I’ve seen your fighting spirit on the basketball
court over a few points. If you tell me you had to fight that man off, I have
no doubt you both looked like you’d been in a fight.”

“For all the good it did me. That didn’t stop the funny
looks or the talk around the firm or the constant sexual innuendos from male
colleagues who openly propositioned me. I was considered easy and fair game.”

“That wouldn’t happen here.” Knowing the partners at her
prior firm had allowed that to go on angered him. They’d intentional shirked
their leadership responsibilities and left her vulnerable to hazing because
they’d wanted her gone.

“Of course, it would. You can’t control what people think.”

No way he’d allow bullying like that to happen at his firm.
“No, but I can make damn sure they keep those thoughts to themselves if they
want to continue working at RHM.”

She gave him an incredulous look. “You can’t be serious?”

“Of course, I am.”

“
Riiight
.” She
stepped away from him. “I keep forgetting your name is in giant letters on the
side of the building. It must be good to be the king.”

The classic Mel Brooks movie line sent his lips into a smirk
and his thoughts into sinfully inappropriate territory.

“Okay, conjuring up that particular image probably was not
wise on my part.” She couldn’t stop her own grin.

“Probably not.” He was relieved she’d volunteered what had
happened at her prior firm. Now was probably a good time to tell her he’d found
out about the scandal on his own, but she hadn’t let her guard down like this
around him in over a week.

Being this close to her made him want to touch her, to pull
her into his arms, to press his mouth to hers until her lips were swollen from
his kisses. If she found out he’d had her investigated, he’d never get the
chance.

His decision made, he captured her hand and tugged her until
she settled against him. He pressed the basketball into his side while his free
hand found her ponytail and stroked. When she finally relaxed him, he dropped
his head and pressed his lips to hers.

Her mouth stayed closed initially, but it didn’t take long
for her to open to him. He deepened the kiss.

They got lost in each other, and she moaned.

He grew aroused.

As soon as she felt him rise, she pushed away. “Dammit,
Michael. After what I just told you, how can you possibly still think this is a
good idea? Don’t you understand the word no?”

“You’ve never actually told me ‘no’, Jordis. Why is that
it?”

She started to protest, but he cut her off. “You’ve told me
you can’t. You’ve asked me to back off. You’ve consistently reminded me I’m
your supervising attorney. But, you’ve never once told me no or to stop. Not
even now.”

Her eyes lost focus. He could see her mentally running
through each of their encounters, trying to determine if what he’d said was
true. Her brow creased, and her gaze focused back on him. Her mouth opened then
closed immediately.

He had her. “I understand you’re conflicted. And now, I have
a better understanding as to why. But I’m not Lowell Bruner.”

She opened her mouth to interrupt him.

He held up a hand. “Wait. Let me finish.”

She closed her eyes again. Her shoulders rose and fell, and
she dropped her head.

The bent index finger of his left hand slid under her chin
and tilted her head back up. He waited for her to open her eyes before he
continued. “I don’t appreciate you lumping me together with some lecherous lawyer
who uses his partnership position to extort sexual favors from associates. I
would hope you think more of me than that.”

“Michael, I—”

He crowded further into her personal space. “I can’t deny I
think about stripping you naked just about every minute of every day, but
here’s the thing. I think I’ve gotten to know you pretty well. So, there’s one
thing I’m certain of. If you didn’t want me as much as I want you, you’d have
absolutely no problem telling me no.”

Her eyes flickered. The tapestry of hazel shrunk as her
pupils dilated. He snaked a hand around her neck and planted a soft kiss on her
lips. When he pulled back, the tight pressure around his heart had lessened.