Legally Bound (20 page)

Caitlyn wrinkled her nose as she flopped a white
linen napkin over her lap. “Just a salad?”

“Forgive me if I didn’t feel the need to order
half the menu.”

“I didn’t order half the menu,” Caitlyn argued. “I
should have, though. I’m having calorie withdrawals. We normally have lunch
together at least three times a week. This is the first time I’m seeing you in
two. You’re not still mad at me for opening my big mouth to Donavan, are you?”

At the mere sound of the name, Eve’s back
straightened and her lips tightened in a firm line. She hadn’t seen or spoken
to Donavan since the night he left her confused and devastated in their room at
Eden. Since then, she had buried herself in paperwork and avoided anything that
would remind her of him which included Caitlyn.

“I was never mad at you,” Eve finally answered
and Caitlyn frowned.

“Then why haven’t you been taking my calls? I’ve
been worried about you.”

“I’ve been busy,” she lied.

After winning the Langly case, Eve expected her
phone to be ringing off the hook with offers from competing firms. However,
there wasn’t any more ringing than usual and the only offer she received was
from Arthur Langly himself—an offer so filthy she wouldn’t dare repeat the
words in her head for fear of bursting into flames. Eve fought off a shiver.
So, here she was back at square one—struggling for clients in a small firm and
avoiding Donavan at all costs.

“You really don’t look well, Eve.”

“Thanks.” She raised her glass of wine and
inclined her head. “You always do know the right thing to say.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Caitlyn winced and
reached across the table for Eve’s hand. “You look tired.”

“Maybe that’s because I haven’t slept in days.”

“Have you spoken to him?”

“No, I haven’t,” she answered quickly. “And, I
don’t plan to—don’t look at me like that.” Eve arched a pointed stare when
Caitlyn shot her a disapproving glance. “Look, I’m not the bad guy here. I didn’t
do anything wrong. All I wanted was to keep things behind closed doors until we
both discovered whether we had anything real or not. He was the one who made it
all or nothing. It was his choice to leave.”

“God, do you even hear yourself?” Caitlyn
muttered.

Her harsh tone made Eve flinch. She reached for
her wine and took a contemplative sip while carefully studying her friend over
the rim of her glass. Caitlyn never lost her temper. As a psychiatrist, the
beaming blonde possessed the patience of a saint.

Thankfully, Caitlyn’s scowl didn’t linger long
before her pale pink lips contorted in another frown. “Listen to me. I’ve known
Donavan for years now. If he was willing to step into a committed relationship
with you, then what he was feeling had to be pretty damn real. It would have
taken a lot of balls to put his emotions out there. When he did, you basically
told him that his feelings were bullshit.”

“I did no such thing,” Eve argued.

Caitlyn sighed. “Think about what you said to
him, about what you just said to me.”

Rolling her eyes, Eve set down her wine and went
over what she’d said in her mind.
I want to keep things behind closed doors
until we both know whether we have anything real or not. Sometimes people
confuse sex and love…Oh God.

Eve shifted uncomfortably in her chair as her heart
sank. How could she have acted so cavalier toward him after what they’d shared
physically, emotionally? Like Caitlyn, Eve had also known Donavan for years and
not once, in all the time they’d been acquainted, had she ever witnessed him
willing to enter into a committed relationship.

Yet, this weekend, he was willing to enter into
one with her. Even after she had lied to him about being a Mistress. Even after
she had tried to trick him onto the end of her leash and make a fool of him.
And how did she repay him for so generously forgiving her? She tossed his
admission of feelings for her aside as if he were a school boy with a crush.

“Not only did you insinuate that what he was
feeling wasn’t real,” Caitlyn continued. “You no doubt stung his pride by not
wanting to be public about your relationship. With the average man, behind
closed doors might fly but with a Dom? Doms are naturally very prideful
individuals. Especially when it comes to their submissive not wanting to be
seen with them in public.”

If that was how Donavan took her comment, it
would have come off sounding quite insulting, Eve thought, proceeding to gnaw
on her fingernail.

“God,” Eve sighed. “I know it sounds horrible,
but you know how he is. The man hasn’t had a lasting relationship since the
Stone-Age.”

“And yet he was willing to take the leap with
you.”

She frowned. “So he said.”

“And you didn’t believe him?”

“It’s not that I didn’t want to, but I’ve been
around long enough to know some people can’t change no matter how much they
love you or want to change.”

“Donavan is not your mother, Eve.”

“I know that,” she snapped quietly.

“Do you really? Because I don’t think you do.”
Caitlyn braced her delicate forearms on the table and leaned forward. “For
someone who upholds the law and lives by the philosophy ‘innocent until proven
guilty,’ you’re certainly quick to judge. What evidence do you have leading you
to believe Donavan wasn’t telling you the truth, other than believing that
everyone is exactly like your mother?”

Eve chewed her bottom lip and thought about
Caitlyn’s question. Each time she opened her mouth to argue she found herself
snapping it closed again with no answers to give.

“Everyone has a past, Eve. In regards to
meaningless relationships, Donavan’s past might not be pretty, but he’s never
lied to the women he’s been intimate with. He’s always puts his cards on the
table and been straightforward about what he’s wanted. Can you say the same for
yourself?”

A tick started in Eve’s jaw, accompanied by a
wince. No, she couldn’t say the same for herself. From the very beginning, she
had lied to Donavan and to herself about who she really was and what she
wanted. Maybe because she hadn’t fully accepted that she was a submissive.

Deep down, she’d always had an inkling that she
was attracted to alpha males who possessed enough of an edge to keep up with
her sometimes snarky attitude, but instead of allowing herself to be with a man
like that, she had put her concerns about her career first and bided her time
with vanilla gentlemen who were the safe and boring choice that would not
affect her profession.

This weekend was the first time in her life when
she had ever actually put her cards on the table. With patience and
understanding, Donavan helped her accept who she really was, sexually and as a
woman.

“Just because Donavan and I had great sex
together doesn’t mean it makes a relationship, Cait. I admit, he’s everything I
want sexually. I won’t deny that. I’ve been searching a long time for someone
who makes me feel the way he does, but what about the rest? You can’t build a
long term relationship on good sex.”

“Then put the sex aside,” Caitlyn suggested. “You’ve
known Donavan even longer than I have. Look back on the years you’ve known him.
I think when you do, you’ll realize what type of man he really is. Then ask yourself
if he honestly deserves to be persecuted for the sins of someone else.”

Reluctantly, Eve fixed her eyes on the table as
she recalled the past ten years. Over the last decade, she had seen him
interact in different settings—professional, public, and private. In all of
them, he carried himself with poise and confidence. He was honest and kind and
unmotivated by money. Eve recalled numerous pro-bono cases he’d taken on over
the years.

The most recent case was young Charlotte Sweeney—a
twenty-five year old woman with two small boys and a husband who liked to win
arguments using his fists. Eve remembered trying a separate case at the time
and seeing the young family at the courthouse. She also remembered seeing
Donavan digging into his pockets and giving the boys change for the vending
machine. In two weeks, she was sure he’d spent a small fortune filling those
boys with candy and soda. Though he wasn’t earning a paycheck from their case,
he approached the litigations with the same, if not a more determined and driven
manner than he did when there was millions of dollars on the line.

Eve’s chest tightened. Donavan was driven by
ethics, morals, and emotion. He wasn’t the type of man to stand by and watch
people be mistreated or taken advantage of, especially when those people could
not protect themselves. He would make a wonderful father someday. She thought
back to what he had told her about his own father and frowned. He was nothing
like his overbearing and cruel father. He was the exact opposite.

Still, she retained her belief that people were
products of their environments. Only now she realized that Donavan’s
environment made him a man who people respected. A man she respected. A man who
she could picture living out the rest of her life with….

Eve bolted up from her chair, nearly knocking
over the waiter, who had just approached with their order.

“I’m sorry,” she quickly apologized to waiter
then to Caitlyn and swiped up her purse. “I have to go. Um…here,” she tossed a
twenty dollar bill on the table, “I’ll call you later.”

****

Charleston and Associates was located in the
South East corner of downtown Los Angeles. The shimmering glass,
multi-functional, twenty-two floor high rise boasted twelve hundred offices and
Donavan’s personal headquarters just had to be on the top floor.

Eve gnawed on a fingernail as she stood in the
far back of the elevator car and watched the fluorescent numbers above the
stainless steel doors climb. There was a chance Donavan wouldn’t be in the
office today but Eve hoped he was. She needed to set the record straight.

During the cab ride over her mind went back and
forth about what she could possibly say to make things right between them. In
the midst of contemplation, her conversation with Caitlyn resonated in the back
of her head.
What evidence do you have leading you to believe Donavan wasn’t
telling you the truth, other than believing that everyone is exactly like your
mother?

None. She had none. In fact, she had evidence
proving the exact opposite. Her stomach churned at how badly she had treated
him. She felt horrible. When Eve left her mother’s home to become her own woman
and rule her own life, she promised herself she would never be powerless again.
She accomplished this through controlling every aspect of her life down to
arranging her socks in their drawer by color, brand, and style. Only now, she
realized that those little quirks and attempts to control everything were
meaningless when it was really the past forcing her to do it.
I’m still
letting my mother control my life.

Her heart pounded harder as the elevator ascended
past the fifteenth floor.

Caitlyn was right. Donavan didn’t deserve to be
persecuted for her mother’s transgressions and it was high time she put the
past where it belonged. Behind her.

Her high-heel clad foot tapped nervously as the
elevator approached the twenty-second floor. He wouldn’t want to see her, she
was sure. Not after belittling his feelings and stinging his pride and
basically telling him that her career was more important to her than what they’d
shared. Perhaps he would slam the door in her face before she could get a
single word out. If he did, she would force her way back in. She would demand a
moment of his time if not only to let him know how she really felt. Like it or
not, Donavan was going to hear what she had to say.

The elevator doors opened.

Eve quickly but coolly rushed past the three
suits leisurely stepping off the elevator. Her legs carried her swiftly down
the hall toward Donavan’s office. If she didn’t move fast, she might lose her
nerve and do something stupid like send her apology via text message. No. If
there was any chance of repairing the hurt feelings between them and having any
kind of relationship, she needed to make her apology face to face.

****

“It’s not like you to put your ass on the line
like this, Carver.” A whiskey-rough voice boomed from the telephone speaker on
Donavan’s desk. “She must be one hell of a lawyer.”

Donavan rocked back and forth in his chair, his
fingers steepled thoughtfully against his lips as he mulled over what Ambrose
Charleston just said. “She is one hell of a lawyer, sir. A bit rough around the
edges, but there’s not a doubt in my mind she’d be an invaluable asset to the
firm.”

“Yeah well, we don’t usually hand out junior
partnerships to just anyone off the street, son.”

“I’m well aware of that, sir, but that’s what it’s
going to take to get her here. We could sit on the fence about it, maybe try to
shake her down to a paid internship, but that would be a mistake. I’ve caught
wind of several different offers from a number of competing firms—Kiniki and
Bosely are at the top of the list,” Donavan lied. Then, he sat back and waited
for the sparks to fly.

“Bah! Kiniki and Bosely! Those bastards have been
a pain in my ass since the day they opened shop. Did you know when they were
starting out, I even tried to…”