Counselor Undone (22 page)

“Thus your concern last night about your last condom.”

“Yeah.” His head bobbed as he spoke. “I wish I could say
Monica was the last time I had a run in with a woman at the firm, but she
wasn’t.”

Her head popped up.

He chuckled. “Wait. Wait.” His hands flipped up. “Don’t
judge. Under no circumstance did I ever date another woman at my father’s firm
during my college years. But my second year as an associate, I dated another
lawyer in my class for a few months. After I broke it off with her, she went to
my father and accused me of pressuring her into a sexual relationship.”

“Geesh.”

He leaned back, straightening his legs and crossing them at
the ankles. “It gets worse. A few years ago, I got engaged to a junior partner
in the Business and Finance division. I’d learned my lesson about dating
associates, but I allowed myself to be lured into a relationship with another
partner. I figured since she’d already made partner, she’d have no ulterior
motives. I was wrong.” He went into detail about the exploits of his ex and her
attempted paternity con with the help of a man she was dating on the side.

“No wonder you now avoid office romances like the plague.”

He said nothing for a while. “Not
all
office
romances.” He moved to sit next to her, placing his arm along the couch behind
her. “At least, not anymore.” He held her gaze, shifted in and waited.

She hesitated—a nanosecond—before she leaned in
and met him half way. Releasing her knees, her hands found his chest, and she
balanced against him.

They kissed slowly, finding truce within the unhurried press
of lips and tongue.

When they parted, he leaned his forehead against hers. “I
know you’re nothing like those other women. Old habits die hard. I wanted to
know something, and my natural instincts took over. I found a way to get the information
myself.” He lifted his head. “It won’t happen again.”

“It better not.”

He flinched at her harsh tone then relaxed when he saw the
softness in her eyes. He nodded. “Enough talking.” He grabbed her around the
waist without warning and pulled her down.

Jordis shrieked then started laughing.

He adjusted her against his chest. “How about we get back to
where we were?”

Trying to get her laughter under control, Jordis stretched
out on top of him. Once comfortable, she turned the conversation back to his
initial question. “Why do you think I accepted the payout?”

He shrugged.

“Me against a senior partner at one of the largest firms in
LA. Talk about an uphill battle, even without his partner backing him up. I was
reassigned to a case of equal prominence and promised I would never have to
work directly with Lowell again. I’d only recently switched firms. I had no
desire to have to start over again.”

He rubbed her back. “A man who was bold enough to set that
kind of trap at the office has probably pulled that ambush before.”

“I agree, but proving that in a court of law could have
taken years. You know how the legal community is. No one would have had the
guts to hire me while the case was pending. Too much potential backlash from a
firm with the clout and connections of my prior employer.

“I thought the incident would blow over. Unfortunately, I
didn’t get that lucky. I was branded as calculatingly promiscuous and the
environment got pretty oppressive in short order. After I complained to the
firm ombudsman about the hostile work environment, the firm came up with a
quick settlement offer disguised as severance pay. I squeezed them for every
dime I could and walked away without a second thought.”

“You weren’t concerned about the women who might come after
you?”

She propped her chin on her hand and looked down at him.
“Oh, that won’t be an issue.”

She rubbed the fingers of her other hand against his chest,
a smug look on her face. At his questioning look, she explained. “Apparently,
Lowell’s computer had a two-way web cam.” She shrugged. “No one really knows
how a guy who hardly ever used his computer ended up with such a sophisticated
monitor.” She smiled. “Anyway, the web cam facing out into the office was left
on during some inconvenient times. He was caught on camera receiving fellatio
favors from a few staff members, several of them noticeably reluctant.”

“Fellatio favors, huh?” He chuckled, amused by her choice of
words.

“Yep.” She continued her mischievous smile. “Somehow, a few
weeks after I left the firm, video of Lowell’s sexual exploits got streamed one
morning to every computer on the firm network. Shortly thereafter, Lowell
decided to retire from active practice with the firm.”

He laughed. “You didn’t?”

She shrugged again then laughed with him. “Sometimes, it’s
pretty darn cool to have a brother who can do anything and find anything with a
computer.”

“Why you wench. And after they gave you such a nice wad of
cash.”

She grinned up at him. “Actually, they sort of paid me
twice.”

“How so?”

“That trademark case I’ve been working on?”

He nodded.

“The client was originally Lowell’s. In fact, it was the
case we were working on when he tried to molest me. When I left, the client
transferred their representation to come with me. Their engagement agreement includes
a twenty percent bonus if I settle the case before trial. Which I just did.”
She wiggled happily against him.

“Hmm. Good job.” He rolled her beneath him. “I think this
calls for a celebration.”

“Say that in Italian.”

His right brow peaked. Her pupils dilated.

He leaned in and whispered something in Italian. The words
had less to do with celebrating and more to do with what his hand was doing between
her thighs. Continuing to speak in Italian, he kissed his way down her body.
Breasts, stomach, hips all received his attention. When he moved lower and
planted his lips for an intimate kiss, she bucked and reached for him.

“
Non questa volta, amore
.” He grabbed her hips, held
her in place, and refused to be denied this time.

He ravished her thoroughly by mouth then flipped her and
started over with a much harder part of his anatomy. Shortly after the third
time she screamed his name, they fell asleep in front of the fire. Sometime in
the night, he awoke and carried her to bed.

* * *

Jordis came awake the next morning warmer than usual. Her
brain took a few moments to register the male body almost completely beneath
her. She took a deep breath, enjoying the scent of him mixed with the magic of
last night. She kissed his chest. He stirred but didn’t wake. She smiled. She
could get used to waking up like this.

Her eyes traveled down his body. The covers bunched below
his waist with a long bulge in the center of their folds. She slid a hand down
to unveil her morning present then stretched out on top of him. She reached a
hand under the pillow he’d used last night to stash condoms, hoping to find at
least one more.

He released a deep sigh and turned his head to look at her
through sleepy eyes. His raspy voice greeted her. “May I help you, Ms. Morgan?”

She responded by sliding her tongue in his mouth and rubbing
her pelvis against his engorged shaft.

When she released his mouth, he said, “Oh, yeah. I can help
you with that.”

She laughed as she sheathed him then climbed on board. She
rode him slowly, enjoying the feel of him inside her and wanting to savor the
moment.

Looking into her eyes, he grasped her waist and began to
alter her tempo with his thrusts. Not willing to be rushed, Jordis removed his
hands. She interlaced their fingers and leaned forward to stretch their arms
above his head. She squeezed her pelvic muscles simultaneously.

“Jordis . . . ,” he groaned.

“It’s my turn to drive,” she whispered against his neck.

She lifted her buttocks so his shaft rubbed against her
pubic bone.

He moaned.

She repeated the move.

He moaned again. “I’m not going to last if you keep doing
that,” he managed through clenched teeth.

“Hmm,” she responded before she slid her mouth back to his
and kissed him with a sensuous fervor that corresponded seductively with the
movement of her hips.

She levered back up, their clasped hands pressed atop her
thighs. He watched her intently. After a while, he released one of her hands to
press his thumb where their bodies joined. The exquisite pressure pushed her
closer and closer to the edge. She could tell by the sounds from his throat
that he, too, was near the edge. His noises fueled her excitement, pushing her
to a faster and faster tempo. They held each other’s gaze, coaxing one another
higher with loud, wordless sounds of pleasure until the internal damn burst and
shoved them simultaneously off an orgasmic cliff into a psychedelic free fall.

Sweat-soaked, Jordis collapsed against Michael’s perspiration-damp
chest as the sound of her front door opening drew their attention.

“Was that the front door?” he asked.

Her look of horror alarmed him, and he made to move. She
stopped him with a shake of her head and a palm against his chest. Only one
other person had a key to her apartment.

“Jo? You here?” a deep voice called from the living room.

“Crap.” She dropped her head against his chest.

“Who’s that?”

She looked up. “My brother! Quick, into the bathroom.”

“You’re kidding, right?” He linked his hands casually behind
his head, looking as if he were settling in for the long haul.

The sound of footsteps coming down the hall made her curse.
She pulled the covers up around her and disengaged from their coupling. “No! Michael,
get up,” she ordered in a whisper.

Michael watched her with an amused look on his face, but
didn’t move.

“Brandt, give me a minute,” she yelled. “I’m not dressed.
I’ll be right out.”

The footsteps stopped immediately. “Okay. I brought you
something. So make it quick.”

She jumped up and shut the door as the footsteps retreated.
She collapsed against the door and made an evil face at Michael. “Really?”

“Didn’t you tell me your brother lives over an hour away?”
She nodded her head. “Then he’s not here for a quick visit. He’s planning to
stay a while. You really don’t expect me to hide out in the bathroom all day do
you?”

“Of course not. I just needed a moment to regroup.”

“Well, you got it. Chop chop, sweetheart. He brought you
something, remember?”

She stuck her tongue out at him, and he laughed. On her way
to the bathroom, she paused. “How would you feel if you showed up at Raina’s
apartment and caught her
in flagrante
with some guy you’d never met
before?”

The disturbed look on his face said it all.

“Well, Mr. Remington, this morning,
you’re
that guy.”
She took warped pleasure in his change of expression and headed into the
bathroom.

Jordis took the quickest shower of her life, threw on
sweats, and rushed out to greet her brother. While she took her color from
their light-skinned father, her brother had their mother’s coloring. His medium
brown skin made him a few shades darker than her, and his eyes were a light
whiskey brown instead of hazel, but there was no mistaking the family resemblance.
If he hadn’t shorn his hair close to his scalp, it would be the same wavy mass
with a tendency towards curl that she had, although in a deeper brown than her
chestnut locks. The shape of his eyes and the nose perched beneath them
mirrored hers exactly, and the trim goatee that framed his mouth did little to
hide the identical slant of his lips when he smiled.

She gave him a hug and a kiss. He immediately chastised her.
Apparently, he’d been trying to reach her since Thursday night when the snow
started, but she hadn’t responded to any of his calls. She realized she had no
clue where she’d left her mobile phone or whether it still had any battery
life.

“Where’s your car?” Her brother moved to pull
Lamar’s
donuts from the oven warmer. “I didn’t see it outside. Did you drive that thing
in the blizzard that hit Thursday night?” He grabbed two plates, setting one in
front of her on the kitchen island where she sat with her back to the kitchen
doorway.

“No. Of course not.”

“What do you mean ‘of course not’? You finally get another
ride?”

“Not exactly,” she hedged.

“Not exactly? What does that mean?”

Michael Remington strode into the kitchen. “It means I
brought her home Thursday night.” He was fully dressed, hair damp from a recent
shower.

Brandt’s eyes widened. Jordis closed her eyes at the sound
of Michael’s voice. When she opened them, Brandt was staring at her.

Brandt leaned back against the counter and crossed his arms.
“I see,” he said to Michael. He shifted his gaze back to hers. “I guess that
explains why you haven’t been answering your phone.”