Corrupting Cinderella (30 page)

Even though it’s indirectly my fault she has to go, I’m not ready for Hope to leave. It’s ridiculous because after she got me so worked up Friday night, we spent a large portion of the weekend in bed.

No matter how many times we fuck, I can’t seem to get enough of her. Probably because what we have is so much more than fucking.

If she doesn’t need to go upstairs, the champagne room is my next best option. It will definitely be empty this early on a Monday morning. Picking Hope up, I pin her to the wall just inside the door.

“What are you doing?” she asks breathlessly against my mouth.

I lean into her neck, inhaling her sweet scent before answering. “Well, I’m not giving you a lap dance.” I was aiming for light and teasing, but it comes out tense and strangled.

Hope’s eyes go wide, but her mouth curves in a sexy smile. “What if someone walks in?”

“Doll, no one is coming in here.” But to make her feel better, I reach over and flip the lock. To do it, I need to pin her to the wall with my hips. Her head falls back against the wall with a soft thump from the extra friction. I take a second to let my eyes travel over her body. Flushed cheeks, erect nipples—visible even through the heavy fabric of her sweatshirt every time she takes a heaving breath.

Damn.

The sight of how turned on she is already has me harder than steel-reinforced concrete and aching with an almost violent need to fuck her.

First, I need to set her down and strip her pants off.

As I release her, she slides down the wall and her eyes flare in surprise. Gripping her hips, I walk/push her to the couch lining one side of the room. I’m almost frantic trying to figure out which way I want to take her first. Finally, I sit down and pull her to me. My hands go straight for her jeans and begin working them down her legs. She gives me a soft sigh of anticipation and kicks her pants off after I work them past her knees.

“Shirt, baby,” I tell her.

It drops to the floor in a soft whoosh of fabric. Her hands immediately go to my shirt next, and my dick jumps. I love that she’s just as crazed to see me as I am to see her.

I crook a finger at her and free my aching dick from my jeans. Without a word, she plants one knee next to me and steadies herself on my shoulders. Looking into my eyes, she centers herself. “Rochlan?”

“Yes, doll?” I manage to choke out.

“I love you.”

For some reason, her voice breaks and she seems close to tears. Stroking my hands over her back, I guide her to my cock. “Baby, I love you too. So much.”

Once she’s perfectly lined up, she sinks down slowly. Hot breath hisses out between her clenched teeth and over my cheek. My hand grips her hip, kneading her soft flesh.

Across the way, the mirror gives me a fantastic view. The graceful lines of her back, the cute little dimples above her perfect ass, her long hair swishing against her pale skin.

“You’re fucking beautiful.” My hand threads into her hair, pulling her down for a kiss. Wrapping my arms around her tight, I slam my cock up into her. A groan tears out of my throat. “I can see you in the mirror, Hope. See everything. Beautiful.”

She whimpers against my neck and struggles to turn, but I hold her tight. Now’s not the time for my girl to get shy.

Our skin slaps together, quick and furious. Hope’s gone. Writhing above me, moaning, squeezing me so fucking tight. She’s making little mindless noises as I keep drilling up into her. She stills, a soundless scream on her lips, and I feel my own orgasm boiling through me.

My lips find hers, and her fingers tunnel through my hair, sending shivers up and down my spine.

I’m not thrilled as I watch her dress a few minutes later. She catches the look on my face, and the corner of her mouth kicks up.

“See, if you hadn’t interfered in my business and made me take their case, I could spend the day with you.”

It’s clear she’s only teasing, but her words still make me pause.

I may be a lot of things, but I’m not some backwards asshole who’s going to take a smart, driven woman like Hope and attempt to turn her into my mindless sex slave—as appealing as that might sound. So no, it’s off to work for her.

“I’ve kept you long enough, doll.”

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Filling out the Order to Show Cause, getting it signed by a judge and filed with the court, takes up most of my morning. I’m feeling very accomplished by the time everything is in place. Teller calls to let me know they are not releasing his grandmother any time soon, so it’s a good thing I’ve gotten the ball rolling.

Adam bounds into my office a little before noon.

“Hey. I got called into court this afternoon. Want to take my place at a CLE?”

I’m woefully short on credits, but the thought of sitting through some boring legal education class all afternoon is very unappealing.

“Come on, your buddy, Judge Oak is one of the lecturers. It’s already paid for.”

“Oh, okay. I need the credits. How much do I owe you?”

He waves his hand in the air. “I just don’t want it to go to waste. Starts at one, so you might want to head down now.”

Dammit.

Packing up my stuff, I grab a granola bar and head downtown. Miraculously, I find a parking spot right in front of the building where the class is. The woman in charge of checking us in hassles me a bit as I try to explain I’m taking Adam’s place. Judge Oak comes over to say hello and smooths things over for me.

“Thank you, Damon.”

“No problem. Good to see you.”

“Is Mara coming?” It would be nice to be able to sit with someone I know.

He chuckles and shakes his head. “No. She refuses to come to my lectures any more.”

Crap.

Feeling supremely awkward and out of place, I grab a seat near the back of the small classroom. Too late, I realize it’s a panel of four lecturers. They’ve got Judge Oak, a public defender, a district attorney from Empire County, and a criminal defense attorney who is in private practice. My eyes almost bug out of my head when I see who the defense attorney is. Tony Cain. Former Slater County District Attorney. The guy I went up against when I represented Rock in his last drug possession case. The case where he humiliated me in court by asking to have another lawyer represent him.

Before we were together.

Before my husband died.

Horrible, sickening sensations slither through my belly as I remember that day. All of my thoughts and emotions are tangled together with my feelings of grief over Clay’s death. My guilt over my inappropriate feelings toward Rock at the time.

I end up not hearing much of the two-hour class.

In a hurry to leave afterward, I don’t bother to say goodbye to Damon. He’s surrounded by sycophant attorneys peppering him with questions, and I don’t have the patience to get in line.

I want to go home and crawl into bed.

To my utter confusion, I find Rock waiting outside for me, casually leaning up against my car. His gaze flicks up and down the street, keeping an eye out for me, I assume.

Is this a coincidence?

Whatever it is, I’m already so rattled from the Tony Cain sighting that the first thing I do is snap at Rock. “What the hell are you doing here?”

A frown settles over his face as he turns to look at me.

“What’s wrong, Hope?”

No, I’m not going to be dissuaded by his handsome face or his sexy damn mouth. “Why are you here?”

He cocks his head as if it’s an absurd question. “I wanted to see you.”

“How did you know I was here?”

He pauses. Something flashes in his eyes, but I can’t fathom what it is.

Finally, he reaches out and pulls me to him. “Your calendar,” he answers.

My head is aware this can’t be true, but my body is distracted by his lips on mine. Before I can question him further, I’m wrapped in his arms, snuggled against him. The lingering bad feelings from the lecture melt away as I take shelter in his arms.

“Rock?”

We’re rudely interrupted, and I jump back. It finally dawns on me how embarrassing it is to be making out with my boyfriend when about forty of my colleagues are about to empty out of the building behind me.

Why do I have so little self-control around him?

The unease on Rock’s face surprises me. I’ve never seen him look uneasy in any situation.

I turn to see who interrupted us, and almost fall down when I realize it’s Tony Cain. His eyes skip right over me as his mouth breaks into a grin. They perform a manly handshake ritual that suggests a certain familiarity. The kind of handshake people who know each other in a personal, friendly way do, immediately setting off alarm bells in my head.

“Hey, Tony. How are you?” Rock asks evenly.

“Good, man, just got done teaching a class. What the hell are you doing down here?”

Rock jerks his chin in my direction, and Tony finally glances over. He’s having trouble placing me. I haven’t seen the guy in at least two years, so that’s not surprising. The Capital Region is, after all, crawling with attorneys.

Finding some glimmer of professionalism, I stick out my hand. “Hope Kendall. I just took your class, Mr. Cain.”

Now he seems to recognize me, and his gaze darts back to Rock.

“Nice to see you again, Ms. Kendall. I hope you got a lot out of the class.”

“Oh, absolutely,” I answer with a straight face. “It’s been quite an education.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Tony motherfucking Cain.

Fuck me.

Of all the times to run into my childhood friend, now is the least appropriate. Hope seems ready to murder my ass, and I am not looking forward to the questions she’s going to fire at me the second we’re alone.

He slaps me on the shoulder. “Call me so we can catch up. Things are good?”

I nod. “Yeah, things are good.” Or they
were
good until this whole situation happened.

We wrap up our conversation, and as he walks away, Hope starts edging toward her car. Away from me. From where I’m standing, I see she’s shaking.

This time, it’s not from desire. Not even fear.

It’s rage. I see it in her wide green eyes that are drilling into me with a million accusations.

“Hope—”

“Don’t,” she spits out.

I didn’t have the good sense to park my bike in front of her car this time. She’s inside and gunning the engine within seconds. Deciding this isn’t the best place for a scene, I let her go.

But I’m not far behind.

I track her down at her office. Thankfully, it looks like Adam is gone for the day. I don’t have a key for the back entrance, so I jog down the front steps and ring the bell. I end up leaning on it for quite a while before Hope’s furious face appears on the other side of the glass.

The door swings open, and she lets me in.

Well, really, I push my way in. “Let me explain.”

She folds her arms over her chest and takes a step back. “How do you know Tony?” She shoots at me.

“We grew up together. He lived down the street from me.”

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Her voice zips up a few octaves. “
Why
was he prosecuting your case?”

I shrug, not quite sure how to explain. I’ve given her a vague outline, that I fired her as my attorney publicly so the Vipers would lose interest in her. I never got into the fact that Tony rigged the case at my request. After everything we’ve gone through since then, it seemed pointless to go into the whole mess.

“Hope—”

“Tell me something. Did Tony renege on the deal because you asked him to?”

“Yes.”

She blows out an irritated breath. “Do you know how many times I used to go over that whole horrible day in my head? Wondering what I did wrong? How I fucked it up so royally bad that you had an excuse to fire me on the spot in front of everyone? You know I stopped practicing criminal law because of that day?”

Shit. “I know, honey. I’m sorry. I told you—”