Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
“You liked working with me?” In the silence of my office, my voice boomed out at a level not appropriate for the words I was about to utter.
And I. Did. Not. Care.
“You tied up my cock with my belt. That goes beyond chapter ten in the employee handbook. Goddammit.”
I punctuated that statement with a kick against my desk. Then when that didn’t have the desired effect, I swept my arm across the tabletop, sending papers, pens and even the phone flying.
Satisfying crunches and cracks filled my head, but it wasn’t enough. I lifted my arm and was about to dispatch the computer as well when my door flew open and my brother sailed across the room, catching the computer like a firefighter swooping in to save a flailing baby.
“I was breaking that,” I muttered before turning away to brace my hands against the floor-to-ceiling glass windows that fronted my prison.
But for a few days, it had felt like less of one.
And I’d felt like more.
I’d seen only possibilities. Options. Walking away from the firm was letting my father down, but I fully intended to find someone capable to take over for me. Maybe Bishop.
Maybe even Dex.
Now it seemed futile. I didn’t want to be a divorce attorney any longer, but had I just quit my job only to have more time to consider what exactly I’d done?
More time to spend alone with my new cat, who much preferred she who would not be named.
My brother placed the computer back on my desk and quietly closed my office door.
It was late afternoon, and I’d spent a chunk of it making phone calls so I could pace a tread in the carpet beside my desk.
I’d been too keyed up, wondering where the hell Ryan was. What she was doing. If she was okay.
If we were okay, as lowering as that was to admit.
“I’m getting married to a stripper I met in Southampton. Will you be my best man?”
I gave him a dismissive glance over my shoulder. “Yes, as soon as I draw up your prenup.”
“Is that how you view true love? I thought you were running off to embrace your inner love child or some such bullshit.” He sat across from my desk, shaking his head of sun-bleached hair. All he needed was a large golden dog beside him and a surfboard to complete the look.
“Wanting to do something different has nothing to do with embracing my inner child. And get your feet off my desk, you heathen.”
He didn’t move a muscle. “Stop watching me in the glass and face me.”
“Make me.”
“You know, this whole exchange is fascinating. I’d given up hope of you engaging in baser emotions like rage and lust like the rest of us mere mortals. And here you are, in the grips of both.”
I dragged my gaze away from the relentlessly sunny day to focus on Dex. He appeared positively delighted.
“I’m not enraged.”
“Oh, just got a sudden yen to redecorate?” He kicked my gold pen across the floor, and it rolled over the mirrored tiles. “Gotta say, I never did like that blotter. It screams yuppy.”
“Shut up.” But I laughed as I picked up said blotter and stuck it standing up out of the trash. The stupid thing had cracked in half.
I dropped into my chair. “I think I got dumped.”
“Your assistant quit early too.” He widened his eyes with false surprise. “Oh, are those events related?”
I flipped him off.
“I got the general drift when I walked in on you screaming about her doing questionable things to a part of your body that should only be treated with love and respect. I should’ve guessed she was kinky.” He shook his head. “You lucky bastard.”
“I was.” I rose to make coffee, even if it currently tasted like dirt.
I had to assume that was the direct result of heartbreak, since I knew the coffee was perfectly fine and had tasted superb yesterday when I was fresh off an orgasm high with the promise of more to come.
Now I faced an orgasm desert of indeterminate length, and even coconut-caramel coffee could not placate me.
“What did you do?”
“Hell if I know.” I pointed at the K-cups I’d so lovingly arranged in the basket. “Want?”
“You know I don’t drink your caramel shit. You don’t know what you did?”
“Other than we were closer than we’ve ever been, nope.” I banged the lid down on my Keurig.
He snorted. “Um, you barely know her. Closer than you’ve ever been in several days?”
“I don’t expect you to understand.”
“Do you?”
“No.” I watched the coffee pour into my mug. “But I know it’s real, because nothing else has ever felt like this.”
“Dude, we’ve all had one of those. Or a couple of them if we’re really lucky. The sex twists you all up into a pretzel and you’re ready to shave your head and take up residence in a hut somewhere if it means you can live on sweet, sweet love.”
I arched a brow as I tossed the spent K-cup and returned to my desk with my coffee. “I’m curious about your sex life, brother.”
“As you should be. I’m just saying, the haze clears. Those first few days or weeks, you’re ready to do whatever it takes to live in blissful harmony forever. Then you wake up some morning and you realize you hate how she chews. And that’s that.”
“You’re a strange one.”
He jerked a shoulder and kicked aside the mess on the floor I wasn’t inclined to clean up on his way over to the mini bar.
He splashed some scotch into a short glass and leaned back against the bar, sipping slowly as he regarded me.
“You’re sure it’s not just the ‘any pussy is awesome after an endless drought’ syndrome? ”
I shook my head. “That is only a syndrome in your shriveled little brain.”
“I can assure you it is not.”
“And it had not been that long for me. A while, yes, but I dated now and then. I’m just particular.”
“Must be a woman with cat’s eyes and possess mystical leanings. Gotcha.”
“In any case, this isn’t about sex.”
Dex gave me a thumbs up. “Sure, bro.”
“It isn’t,” I insisted. “If need be, I could go without for a very long time. Not easily,” I acknowledged as my brother laughed hard enough to splash scotch on his custom navy blue suit. “But I have before.”
“Yeah, but you found your brand of catnip. Now you’re in trouble. Much harder to resist when you’ve had a faceful of the good stuff.”
“If you only knew.” Before he could expound upon that subject, I forged ahead. “You told Dad what I said to you in confidence.”
“You said a whole lot of nothing, as usual.”
“Yet you told him I wanted to quit.” I drank half my coffee in one throat-searing swallow. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Look, it’s your own fault for—huh?”
“You broke the ice with him for me. I appreciate it.”
Dex stared at me for a long moment, his expression puzzled.
Then he set down his glass and walked over to flatten his hands on top of my desk.
“I take it all back. You need to get this woman back. I have her number. I’ll call her.
I’m not above offering her a cash payment to put up with your annoying ass. ”
Only one part of that statement stood out to me. “Why do you have her number?”
He stepped back as if he was weighing his personal safety. “Company records?”
“You asked her for it.”
“Maybe?”
I sighed. “She’s allowed to give you her number. It’s a free country.”
“That it is, but when I asked for it, I didn’t realize you’d had your first boner in half a decade in her direction. I haven’t used it.”
“Your free pass for insults is almost used up. Get your last few in before I kick you out of my office.”
“Ah, yes, but it won’t be yours for much longer. I’m glad you told Dad you were done with his crap.”
“It depends how long it takes for me to wrap up my cases—and to convince Bishop he wants to throw his lot in with you.” I pointed at him. “Use that cash payment you were going to give Ryan to wine and dine him. Unless you want to helm this ship all on your own.”
He returned to the mini bar to retrieve his drink. “I’m okay with stepping up to shoulder more of the load, but I’m not prepared to carry it all on my shoulders. I enjoy divorce law for the sport it is. I also enjoy my very active personal life.”
“Rub it in.” I drank more coffee and debated getting another, liberally laced with scotch.
Or perhaps a scotch laced with coffee.
“She’s into you, man. I saw it myself. You were all sparky.”
I laughed. And kept right on laughing while my brother gazed at me questioningly and probably wondered if it was too soon to call for medical help.
A knock sounded at the door before our mom popped in her coiffed head. “There is literally no sound I love more than my boys laughing together. I hope I’m not interrupting.”
“Of course not.” I rose and waved her over, kissing her cheek and accepting her hug.
Was I imagining things or was her embrace a little tighter than normal? Could’ve been mother’s intuition or maybe she wasn’t as happy with her arrangement with my father as he claimed.
Frowning at the assorted desk paraphernalia scattered on the floor, she went over to hug Dex as well. He held onto her as he gestured to me. “Your eldest son is in love. You should start planning the wedding.”
I’d picked that unfortunate moment to take my last sip of coffee—and ended up spitting it out over the vest that Ryan had chosen for me that morning.
Our mother let out a tinkling laugh. “So, your pretty assistant sealed the deal already? Is she out selecting her bouquet? I was hoping to see her today. There’s a tarot festival in Turnbull in a few weeks, and I was wondering if she’d like to attend with me.
Maybe we could make it a threeway.” She tapped her chin.
Dex shook his head. “Don’t use that word with other people, Mom. It doesn’t mean what you think it does.”
“Like you know what I think, you big oaf.” She reached up to twist his ear while he laughed.
I sank into my chair and rolled over to the garbage can to unbutton my jacket and squeeze out my tie. At least I hadn’t made too much of a mess. “I thought I moved fast. You two have me married, for God’s sake.”
“Oh, you’re moving fast? You admit it?”
“I’m not moving at all right now. She’s gone.”