Love Proof (Laws of Attraction) (24 page)

“I do.”  Sarah continued to stare furiously at Chapman.  He smirked
back at her.

“We’ll be back in a few minutes,” Joe said, then he escorted Mrs.
Barrett from the room.

Sarah forced herself to control her temper.  She had been in this
position many times before, under personal attack for one reason or another,
and she knew without a doubt that the best and only response was to win her
case and grind the other attorney into the ground.  To win so soundly and
unequivocally, her opponent would know he made a mistake underestimating her,
and especially made a mistake trying to bully her.

But it was so tempting to grind him into the ground right now, face
first, preferably against asphalt and broken glass—

Sarah took a very slow and deliberate breath.  And let a cold kind of
calm overtake her.  She felt the muscles in her shoulders and face relax.  A
few more breaths and her hands finally unclenched and opened again.

By the time Joe and his client returned to the room, Sarah had composed
herself, and could stare at Chapman blandly now, no longer visibly fuming at
his gloating, despicable face.

“Hello, Mrs. Barrett,” she said, offering the woman a genuine smile. 
“My name is Sarah Henley.  Thank you so much for your time today.  We really
appreciate it.”

And as Chapman once again scoffed at Sarah’s polite and unnecessary
introduction, Sarah thought,
That’s all right.  You enjoy yourself today.

Because the time is coming when I’m going to bury you.

***

Sarah rolled her bag toward her new room.  She still felt the stench of
Chapman on her, the slime leaking out of his pores, the grin on his face as he
so clearly relished trying to humiliate her in front of Joe and everyone else.

But she’d already begun her revenge.  The questions she asked Mrs.
Barrett continued to lay the foundation for the defense Sarah was mounting. 
And if Chapman was too stupid or arrogant to see that, then all the better for
her.

She unlocked her door, still feeling agitated and angry.  No matter how
calmly she had been able to conduct the rest of the deposition, the fact was
she still wanted to rip that man’s face off.  She’d already endured two months
of his insufferable, overconfident behavior.  She was happier than even Chapman
could be that they wouldn’t have to sit next to each other in a tight, closed
room anymore.

And she couldn’t believe she had had to waste even a minute of her
thirtieth birthday listening to that fat, drunken blowhard drone on about
himself, bragging about how clever he was.  She should have grabbed Joe by the
hand and pulled him out of the restaurant right away, and gotten straight to
the best part of the night.

Sarah stood just inside her room, tapping her finger against the handle
of her luggage.  What she needed was a hard workout.  Something to burn off all
that anger and irritation.  She should change into her exercise clothes right
away, and go sweat in the hotel gym.

She tapped her handle a few more times, then made a decision.  She
pulled out her phone.

And texted: 
Now.  Where?

The answer came back in less than a minute, naming the hotel and room
number.

As you are
,
Sarah texted back, hoping Joe would understand what she meant.

When she arrived and found him standing in the doorway still fully
dressed in his suit, Sarah smiled.

A wicked smile, just like the one he’d given her.

The door closed hard behind her and Sarah grabbed his tie to drag his
mouth down to hers.  She kissed him deeply, angrily, twisting his shirt inside
her fists and not minding if she wrenched some hair and skin in the process. 
Then she released him and shifted her hands down to his belt.

“You going to need all these clothes, Burke?”

“I doubt it.”  He undid the button on her jacket and yanked it from her
shoulders.  Then he pulled her shirt over her head and helped himself to the
breasts rising out of her bra.

“I like the black,” he said appreciatively, running a finger over the
lace before reaching behind her and undoing the clasp.  He needed both hands to
work the zipper on her pants, but as soon those fell Joe could bring his
attention back to her breasts while Sarah finished stripping them both of
everything below the waist.

“You’d better go get one,” she said, “because it’s happening right
now.”

Joe chuckled softly, then unzipped the luggage he hadn’t had a chance
to unpack.

“Burke, I mean it—”

It was on in a flash, and then Sarah pushed him to the ground,
straddled him, and swiftly took him inside.  She gave herself three or four hard,
vicious thrusts before she had to pause and tell him, “Stop laughing.”

“Can’t help it,” Joe said.  “You don’t know how much I love you like
this.”

“Say that again and I’m leaving,” Sarah said, but they both knew she
wasn’t going anywhere.  Instead she closed her eyes and flattened her palms on
his chest and rode him the way she’d been thinking about all day.  If he was
going to play with her, then fine, she would play with him back.

She leaned forward, teeth teasing his earlobe, the whisper hot against
his ear.  “I could stop now, you know.  Get up and walk away.”

Just like you did, you prick.

Joe’s eyes were dark and hungry with desire.  She liked that.  She
wanted that.

He grabbed her hips and anchored her down harder, then flipped and
rolled her onto her back.  He pinned her body with his as he slowed the rhythm,
angled more, made her take her time and let the sensation build.  When finally
her back arched and her lips parted and she bucked her hips up into his, he
gave her what she wanted and drover harder, steadier, until Sarah pulled him
down to her mouth and clenched him in her legs and the two of them exploded
together.  Then he kept on thrusting, even after he could have stopped, and
forced even more pleasure from her.

“Stop, you have to stop,” she gasped, her body trembling with the force
of it all.

He lowered his mouth to her breasts and continued to give her more.

“Joe, no you can’t—”  But then she was coming again, completely against
her intentions, and he helped her ride it as long as she could before finally
letting her go.

It was a long time before her breathing calmed and she could peel open
her eyelids to look at him.

“You can’t keep doing that.”

“Why not?” he asked.

“You know why.”  Although at that moment, Sarah was having a hard time explaining
why to herself.

Because it’s too good
, was the truth, but that didn’t seem like a very
persuasive argument.

Joe traced the outline of her breasts with his fingers, then leaned
forward and warmed the tips of each with his mouth.  Then he scooped her up
from where they had been lying on the floor, and carried her to the bed.  He
pulled back the covers and pretended he was going to softly lay her down, but
at the last minute jolted her upward again and then dropped her onto the
mattress.

Sarah cracked half a smile.  “Does that make you feel like a man?”

“Sure does.”

He braced both arms on either side of her and pushed her back with the
force of his kiss.  She wrapped her legs around him and trapped him against her
to remind him who, exactly, was in charge.  They wrestled and rolled and teased
for several long, energetic minutes before Sarah finally pushed him away so she
could breathe.

They each lay flat on their backs, still linked by intertwined hands.

“I was promised takeout,” Sarah said.

“You’ll get it.”

“I want pizza.”

“You’ll get it.”

“All veggies, no cheese.”

“What other way is there?”

Sarah smiled to herself and let her fingers play against his palm. 
Then she rolled toward him and draped her body half on his.  She looked into
his face and kissed him.  Then she rolled away again.

“Burke?”

“Hm?”  He rolled toward her this time, pulled her closer to him, and
lightly stroked his hand across her belly, just the way she liked it.

“We shouldn’t do this anymore,” she said.

“I disagree.”

His hand strayed upward toward one of her breasts, and he seemed
content to play there for a while.

“What if anyone finds out?” Sarah asked.

“They won’t.”

“They might, and then what?”

Burke propped himself up on an elbow and looked into her eyes.  “Then we’ll
deal with it.”

“You really don’t care that this is completely wrong.”

“I don’t think it is wrong.”

“Burke, read rule three-three-twenty.”

“I already have.”

“And?”

“We’ll deal with it,” he repeated.  “But I’m not giving this up,
Sarah.  Not if you and I both want it.  That’s how it is.”

She shook her head in disbelief.

“You’d risk your career for sex?”

“No.”

He got up and went to the pile of discarded clothes.  He found his cell
phone in the pocket of his suit jacket and brought it back to the bed.

He scrolled through it for several minutes before finding the closest
pizza place that delivered.  Then he handed the phone to Sarah to complete the
call.  She ordered only the toppings she wanted, without consulting Joe: 
sauce, no cheese, artichokes, red onions, garlic, tomatoes, and mushrooms.  Joe
kept busy the entire time continuing to stroke her body.

“If you’re going to touch me like that,” she said once she disconnected,
“you’d better be prepared to back it up.”

“In a while,” he said.

“No, now.  You have thirty minutes before pizza is here.  See what you
can get done before then.”

Twenty-seven

Sarah ate pizza wearing only Joe’s dress shirt, loose and unbuttoned. 
She didn’t mind the splash of sauce she left on the pocket, any more than she
minded that the shirt didn’t smell clean, but smelled of Joe’s perspiration
from the day.

She liked the scent of him.

He reached out and pulled one of her feet onto his lap.  “When you said
that in the deposition the other day about painting your toenails pink . . . ” 
He got a lustful, faraway look in his eye that made Sarah laugh.

“You like that, huh?”  She wriggled her toes until he closed his warm
hand around them.  With his free hand he reached for another slice of pizza.

“Could you get used to this?” Sarah asked.

“I already am.”

“No, the pizza,” she said, resisting the urge to answer
Me, too
. 
“I mean without pepperoni or sausage.  Would you ever order it that way?”

“No, too healthy.  But I know better than to cross you today, Henley.  Why
do you think I hustled my client out of there before you unleashed Armageddon
on Chapman?”

“Armageddon’s too easy,” she said.  “He’s just going to have to wait
for it.  He’ll forget about me, then one day it will become absolutely clear to
him that he messed with the wrong person.”

“Does that go for me, too?” Joe asked, looking her in the eye.

Sarah shifted her gaze away and shrugged.

“I didn’t forget,” Joe said.

“We’re not talking about this.”

Sarah pretended to be very interested in the pizza.  She lifted out
another slice, even though she was already full.

Joe stroked a hand along her calf, then ended again at her toes.  Sarah
let his hand rest there.  She liked the strange comfort of it.  She had always
liked all the various ways he came up with for touching her.

“Just out of curiosity,” she said, unable to stop herself from taking the
conversation one step further, even though she knew she was treading into
dangerous territory,  “do you have a strategy here, Joe?”

“Somewhat.”

Land mines all around, she thought, but she took another step.

“What’s it involve?” she asked.

“Being nice to you.”

Sarah swallowed her surprise, then tried to cover it with another bite
of pizza.

“Good luck,” she said, hoping to sound unaffected and tough.

“Thanks.  Turns out it’s quite a project.”

She narrowed her eyes at him.  Joe smiled.

“Good thing I enjoy my work,” he added, pushing the pizza aside and tasting
her instead.

***

This time when the alarm rang, Sarah settled back into the cradle of
Joe’s arms and gave herself a few minutes more.  She didn’t have to run out of
there so early the way she had the other morning, because this time she brought
her luggage with her and left it in the car until she was sure she was staying.

By midnight, when she was too tired to do anything but hand Joe her
keys and ask him to please go get her bag, she knew she was staying.