Chapter 36
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Dylan
I cup my hands over my mouth, inhaling the sweet fragrance of Eden.
This was a treat that I didn’t see coming. By treat, I mean her coming on my face on the couch here in my office.
I look over to where she’s adjusting the front of her dress.
No one would suspect that she just had an orgasm unless they noticed the thin sheen of sweat that dots the skin above her top lip or the pink hue of her cheeks.
“I didn’t come here for that.” She points out. “I came to talk about business.”
“I don’t know of a better way to start a business meeting.”
She shakes her head. “How many business meetings have you started that way?”
Her expression shifts. The playfulness that was in her eyes is replaced with concern.
“Do you really want me to answer that?” I ask.
Her eyes flit over my face. “Actually, yes. I’m curious.”
I slip my suit jacket back on. I tossed it onto my desk when I crawled between her legs.
“Today was the first time,” I answer honestly.
I had a brief fling with one of our former receptionists months ago. I recognized it as a mistake right away. It was the first and only time I mixed business with pleasure until now.
“You haven’t slept with other attorneys?” she scoffs. “I find that hard to believe.”
I close my eyes briefly, wondering how the fuck this came up right after the encounter we just had.
“You didn’t ask me about other attorneys. You asked me whether I had fucked anyone I was working with.”
Realization drops her gaze to the floor.
New York is a big town, but my time is limited. If I’m not at a club looking for a woman to spend the night with, I fall back on women I’ve already slept with.
It’s rare, but it does happen.
Two of the women I met in law school kept in touch. I fucked one for a month years ago. We mutually agreed it wasn’t working. I haven’t heard from her since.
The other woman stepped back into my life three years after we both passed the bar. She was looking for a job. I was out for a good time.
I got what I wanted. She did too, but not in terms of employment.
That lasted all of two weeks before she ran back to her ex.
“Do you still see them?” Hesitation edges her words. “It’s not that it matters. I’m just curious.”
She’s not innocent. She mentioned in passing that she slept with a colleague.
“I don’t.” I round my desk. “You told me that you’ve mixed business with pleasure. That was with someone you work with? A lawyer?”
She nods in silence.
“I take it that’s over now?”
Confirmation never hurt anyone, especially someone who is in love with the person he’s questioning.
“Over?”
I search her face, trying to determine if she’s serious. “O.V.E.R. Over. It’s a straightforward word. Is your relationship with your colleague over?”
“Our sexual relationship is over for now.”
What the actual fuck?
I lean forward, bracing both palms on the top of my desk. “And that means?”
“We still work together.”
I’m a master of masking surprise, so I slip on my best stoic expression and carry forward, as I do every fucking day in court.
Except, I’m not in court.
I’m in my office with the woman I’m crazy about; the same woman I just ate to an orgasm.
“Do you still fuck each other?”
Her hands drop to her hips. “Only when we’re on. When we’re off, it’s hands-off each other.”
“On and off?” I question because I’m looking for some clarity here.
“We dated on and off.” She explains with a tilt of her finger in the air. “We are off right now. Obviously.”
Which leaves the door open for them to be on again?
“Did you see him when you went back to Buffalo?”
She pushes a hand through her long hair, making it even messier. “Of course. We work together.”
Whoever the fuck this guy is I hate him, almost as much as I hate Clark Dodson.
I’m a man who needs all available information to process things, so I ask the one question I’m not sure I want an answer to. “How long has this on and off thing been going on?”
She levels her chin to look me straight in the eye. “Three years.”
It feels like a punch to my gut.
There’s history there. There’s enough of something that they feel the pull to get back together over and over again.
“Chet and I haven’t been together in months.”
“Chet?” I cock a brow. “His name is Chet?”
“Chet Richmond.”
I know what I’ll be doing the second she’s out the door.
Google is almost always a cure-all for curiosity.
Her gaze drops to her wrist and the watch she left at my place the first night we fucked. That was before I realized who she was or that some jerk named Chet Richmond has been in and out of her bed for the past three years.
“I have a meeting I need to get to.” She moves to pick up her tote bag.
I nod. I won’t try and keep her. I’m going to seek out a beer and the life history of Chet Richmond, Esquire.
“Oh.” She flips her hair over her shoulder and fuck me, she’s so goddamn beautiful.
“Oh?” I repeat back.
“I came here for a reason.” She sighs. “It’s about the Alcester case. We don’t have time to get into it now, but since I’m here, I do have a question for you.”
“Ask away.”
“Have you seen my earring?” She tugs on her right ear lobe.
I glance at the diamond studs in her ears. I point at the one she’s touching. “There it is.”
A smile parts her lips. “It’s a silver hoop. I left my watch at your place, so I was hoping I did the same with my earring.”
I didn’t notice it when I was getting ready for work this morning, but I wasn’t on the look-out for it either.
“I’ll check around.”
“I have something to negotiate for it.” Her tongue drags over her lower lip.
My cock hardens because there’s no way in hell that it can’t when she’s tempting me.
“I have something from high school that I think you’ll be happy to see.”
That’s impossible. She’s the only memory of my past that I want to see.
I play along because she’s enjoying the hell out of this. “What is it?”
“You find the earring, and I’ll give you a clue.”
A smile ghosts my mouth. “I’ll do my best.”
My office phone rings, even though I told Gunner to hold all calls.
“That’s my cue to go.” She takes a step toward me but stops herself before she takes another.
“I’ll walk you to the elevator.”
She glances at my phone. “Answer that. I know the way out.”
I ignore the phone, so I can watch her walk away.
As curious as I am about what she’s holding onto from my past, I’m focused on something else.
I want to know who the hell Chet Richmond is and when he was last “on” the woman I love.