Lovers's Enemy_An Older Man Younger Woman Romance Read online

Do I detect a little jealousy? A little possessiveness from my own brother? I know men aren’t usually as good at hiding their desires as women, but he’s pretty much telegraphing what he’s thinking right now whether he knows it or not. Isn’t part of being a good lawyer mastering the art of hiding your true intentions when need be? And my brother is a good lawyer, but right now his cards seem to be very much on the table and the deal is he wants me at another firm than the one his best friend runs.

  “Yeah, I’m a fan of loyalty, like the way the two of you have been loyal to each other all these years.”

  “You’re probably right,” he says after a long pause. “If only everyone in this city thought that way.”

  “If only,” I say.

  Silence.

  “Okay, I better let you go,” I say. “I’m almost there.”

  “Almost where?”

  “At his office.”

  “His office?”

  “Yeah, I start today.”

  “Wow, that was fast,” my brother says.

  “I had an offer and I took it,” I say. “Okay, pretend you’re surprised when mom gives you the news.”

  “Will do.” He pauses. “And Paisley?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Be careful.”

  “Always,” I say instead of getting into it with him about how I’m an adult now. I hang up the phone but my brother’s words ring in my ears.

  Because he’s right. I need to be very careful around the guy who easily has the ability to break my heart, absolutely crush it more accurately.

  And the guy I’ve agreed to work for day in and day out for what’s likely the next year, with a ninety-day probationary period.

  Ninety days to see if the employee is on good behavior is how these things work out. But in this case I’m not sure who will be bad first.

  CHAPTER 4

  Lucas

  “Two years?” Paisley says reading over the contract.

  “It’s not that long and you know…I didn’t want to put myself in a position like the one I’m in now,” I say. But damn are there a whole lotta positions I’d like to put her in right now and the first one starts with bending her over this desk and making her mine before the ink even dries on the signature line…assuming she agrees to the terms.

  “This contract is pretty basic.”

  “I didn’t see the point in a bunch of legal mumbo jumbo.”

  “You’re a lawyer. You should be addicted to that stuff. Non-disclosure agreements. Early termination clauses. Non-competes. I mean you deal with family law for Pete’s sake. You spend every day of the year seeing what happens when the lack of legal mumbo jumbo turns into legal and courtroom drama.”

  “Yeah, but those are people who don’t know how to get along.”

  “Oh really? And we…get along?”

  Her eyes move from the page up to mine and my need for her deepens and my cock hardens.

  “We better. We work together now.”

  “Not until I sign this contract,” she says.

  And she’s right. Right now she’s got all the power. All those years of teasing Paul’s little sister can come back and bite me in the ass if she gets the last laugh and just walks out.

  But I’m the one who’s supposed to be biting her ass, and grabbing it, and slapping it hard showing her who’s in control.

  I’ve never had a woman talk to me this way. Never. And I would never tolerate it…if it wasn’t her. The girl I want. The girl who was right under my nose all these years, but I was too juvenile to admit it.

  Instead I did what any inexperienced boy would do. I made jokes. I hid my true intentions.

  But not anymore.

  I’m not a boy anymore and she’s no girl. We’re both adults. I’m thirty freaking years old and I know what I want and all that I want.

  A family with her.

  “Is this a good idea?” she asks her eyes drifting from mine down my face and across my lips. Then down the length of my jacket and to my groin, where my navy blue slacks are doing their best attempt to hide my desire for her…but they’re failing miserably.

  “This will be the best decision you ever make. Trust me.”

  Her eyes wander back up to meet mine. “That’s what I’m worried about,” she says and then scribbles her signature on the dotted line without removing her eyes from mine.

  She straightens herself back up and I realize just how close we are. I can feel the heat from her arm, even though she’s also got on a suit jacket. And she’s wearing a cream colored top this time, showing just as much cleavage as before and damn do I want to look. To stare. To take what’s mine.

  I move closer to her and feel my finger brush against her jacket. I expect her to jump, but instead she moves in closer causing my cock to twitch and I can already feel the wetness of its tip drag across the inside of my boxer briefs.

  How I wish I was inside her now, making this contract official in another way. Celebrating in a way that will cause us to celebrate in another nine months.

  “Mr. Lovers?”

  My head jerks toward the door and I see Chastity standing there. How in the hell did she get in here?

  “Sorry, I just wanted to come by and get my final paycheck.”

  “I better be going,” Paisley says and I’m so angry I could slam my fist on the desk harder than any judge has ever slammed a gavel, but I stay cool…at least for now.

  “I’ll show you out,” I say as I walk Paisley to the elevator and she gets in without another word.

  I watch her from behind as she enters and then turns to face me. The doors quickly shut with only a shared stare from one to the other and suddenly she’s gone.

  “Mr. Lovers. My final check?” Chastity says.

  I turn and move back toward my desk wondering why she didn’t just wait another couple days for the direct deposit, but I’m not in any mood to argue.

  “Is that my replacement?” she asks as I write out the amount and her name on the payee line. I can’t remember the last time I wrote one of these things.

  “To answer your question,” I begin and Chastity gives me a strange look. I’m sure she was expecting a yes or no answer. “You did a good job while you were here and I’m thankful for your help. But the girl you just saw…she’s no one’s replacement. She’s one of a kind and she’s mine forever.”

  Chastity backs up a step from my desk taken aback and frightened at my words. I tear off the check and hand it to her. She can’t get to the elevator fast enough.

  But I don’t follow her or see her out. I’m happy to see her go, because her resignation made bringing Paisley in that much easier. I would have created a spot for Paisley if I had to. I wanted her here…needed her here. Chastity was just a convenient excuse and now it won’t look so obvious to her brother.

  He’s my best friend and I want it to remain that way, but I’m willing to risk it all for his sister. But if I can just let this play out for a few days before I make my move on Paisley it might make things easier with Paul.

  But when I say, “make my move,” it’s like I’m in control of the situation, when clearly I’m not. I just proved my lack of control right now.

  First I got hard when I was so close to Paisley and then I snapped at Chastity.

  Control? I lost it the minute I saw that graduation picture.

  Or more accurately since I first started teasing her when we were kids.

  So the thought of me figuring out how to handle this is a pipe dream.

  My thoughts are primal and my hunger feral and there’s no amount of rhyme or reason that will stop either of those things when she’s around.

  And that means there’s no stopping me when it comes to her.

  CHAPTER 5

  Paisley

  The next morning

  “This is your keycard for the front doors. You just tap it here like this,” Butch the security guard to the building says. I don’t know if Butch is his given name or not, but it sure suits him. The only guy with br
oader shoulders and who I’d rather have with me if I found myself in a dark alley at night …is standing right behind me.

  Suddenly big Butch who was so easy-going and nice a second ago has gone from standing in the low rising morning sun to being completely covered by a shadow. And the smile on his face has been replaced with a fear in his eye and an audible gulp that echoes off the side of the building.

  “You were to call me when Miss Parsons arrived.”

  “I’m sorry, sir. I meant to ring your office, but I…”

  “I’ll take it from here,” Lucas says as he rips the keycard from Butch’s hand and I feel his other take me by the waist as he leads me to the elevator.

  All those years Lucas spent making a fool out of me and now he practically goes and makes a fool out of himself. He used to tease me like a schoolboy, but now he’s practically getting into a fight with the local bully…over me.

  But I’m not sure if Butch is the local bully around here. He’s definitely big and strong enough, but I think he’s probably a gentle giant. And seeing the rage on Lucas’ face after he caught Butch smiling at me and chatting with me I can see there’s really only one true alpha in this building.

  The one I work for.

  The one who’s got me in the elevator and is personally escorting me up to his office right now. Correction…our offices.

  “Not a Butch fan?” I ask, throwing a little salt on the wound and trying to gauge Lucas’ true interest level in me.

  “He has a job to do. So do I. He didn’t do his job properly. I will.”

  “Show me how to use the keycard? What is there that’s improper about the way he did it?”

  “Well, for starters he was to call me when you arrived. And secondly you’re not going to use that entrance.”

  “What am I going to use the helipad on the roof?”

  “Not yet.”

  “There’s a helipad on the roof?” I ask. It was just a joke, but apparently not.

  “Yes, but it’s not for our office. But what is for our office is the back elevator. We deal with family law. These cases can be very emotional and people can get crazy. You need to be safe at all times. That’s why you’ll drive a company car, and park in the garage. There’s a special spot for you right by the elevator. You can take the parking garage elevator all the way up or you can come to the lobby and take the other elevator up, not the main one.”

  “Is this really necessary?”

  “What does a bad guy look like?”

  “Come again?”

  “Can you point out a bad guy on the street to me?”

  “Probably some. Yeah.”

  “How about all of them?”

  “How in the world could I do that?”

  “Exactly. And until you can you don’t take the front entrance. Your safety is paramount.”

  Is this the same guy who teased me when I fell from the swing at recess when I was five and he was thirteen? Our school combined grades kindergarten through eight so we actually went to the same school for a brief time. And when he went off to high school he was just in another building so I’d see him from time to time during the day or when he stayed after school for practice with his sports teams.

  Not just me. All the girls saw him. I think he was the entire school’s first crush. All the girls definitely and even some of the guys. Talk about mass appeal.

  But massive was more like it. How in the world did he make Butch look so small? Butch is easily six foot four and two hundred forty pounds and he cowered at the sight of Lucas.

  But something is strange about that. While Butch was actually afraid of him this morning, all those years he teased me I never was. I was just a bit annoyed by him…okay a lot annoyed, but never scared. I always knew he would never do anything to actually hurt me and I found out years later that the real reason he got kicked out of school for an entire week his sophomore year was that some of the boys were joking about me in the locker room. Paul tried to stand up to them, but he wasn’t big enough…especially on his own. But when Lucas threw his helmet down and then threw them down, there wasn’t another word spoken about me…even when he graduated and went off to college.

  I guess it was an unwritten rule after that. I’m not sure, but I’m sure that’s what happened. I have it on record from multiple sources. It came out at our graduation parties. And all those years I heard it was because he had failed a class and then got angry because he was suspended for one game and then punched the crap out of the locker room.

  Well, the locker room got dented all right, not from his fists… but from the bodies of the guys who were saying bad things about me.

  But standing next to him here in this elevator I can see how those guys must have felt in that locker room. Being trapped with this massive mound of muscles in a small space with nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. And humans can sense fear just as animals do. Maybe not nearly as acutely, but we can still tell when someone’s scared.

  But I’m not scared of what he might do to me before we reach our floor, but what I want him to do to me in that time.

  I’m so tempted to hit the red stop button and throw myself at him and see just how aggressive he can get.

  But I’ve told myself over and over again that I want my first time to be drawn out and romantic building up to a sort of fireworks ending.

  But I’m so hot and ready for him I’d happily take my first time any way I can get it…as long as it’s with him.

  “Thank you for thinking about my…safety,” I say.

  He just looks down at me and then back at the doors as we reach our floor.

  “Isn’t that what your…a…man is supposed to do?”

  I catch his possessive slip and say nothing.

  “And I wasn’t trying to bring it to your attention, but now you know.”

  “Do I know?” I ask.

  “Yes, I just told you.”

  “You just told me about my security or about what my man is supposed to do?”

  I wait and he says nothing.

  The doors which had opened start to close and his arm jets out and the palm of his hand catches the door freezing its horizontal movement and the elevator doesn’t move.

  He just stares at me holding the elevator open like he’s Superman and I’m Lois Lane. Like those big metal doors are nothing to him and his comments about my security only seem all the more real knowing this is the man who could protect me from anything.

  “Both,” he says.

  His bicep flexes and the doors reopen. He moves his hand holding the elevator doors open and I pass through.

  I can feel his eyes on my behind and I give it a little extra shake, just for him.

  If he’s gonna watch out for me then his prize is he gets to watch out for all of me.

  And all I can think of is watching the expression on his face as for the first time I slip out of my business suit and into my birthday suit…but that will have to wait.

  I may be a younger woman, but I’m wise enough not to fall for any of his older man tricks. He’s way more experienced at relationships than I am and when it comes to relationships I only want one.

  Him. But I want the commitment that comes with it.

  And he’s yet to prove he’s nothing more than a sweet talker looking to taste my sweetness and then pull the wool over my eyes like he did so many times before.

  I’m too old for his tricks, and I could be wrong, and I sure hope I am, but it seems like he’s outgrown them too.

  But is he grown up enough for a real relationship…and one that leads to us watching kids of our own grow up right before our eyes?

  CHAPTER 6

  Lucas

  I get Paisley set up at her desk and then bring her into my office to show her the first case she’ll be working on. As much as I want to work my way into her life, I need to stay focused with this backlog of cases or my life’s going to hit a rough patch in the form of unsatisfied clients. Unfortunately with so many divorces these days it’s to
ugh to keep up.

  I give Paisley a second to read over the brief.

  “So what does this tell you?” I ask.

  “This is a case of age and infidelity.”

  “Exactly. They weren’t mature enough to get married and then when eyes started to wander their immaturity and lack of commitment to the promises they made to each other came to the forefront.”

  “You said, ‘Exactly,’ so that’s how you see it too?”

  “How else would you see it?” I ask.

  She looks at me like this is more about something else than just the case.

  “That they were too young to get married, right?” I ask.

  “So people can’t get married when they’re young? Fall in love for life when they’re young? Know what they want when they’re young?”

  “I’m not saying that at all. It’s just that they were too young. There are certain patterns you see repeated in this line of work, such as people who get married young tend to be more likely to divorce, but that’s just a pattern. It doesn’t mean that fate becomes everyone.”

  She looks at me as if she’s still trying to decide if her question has been answered in a way she finds acceptable or not. It’s not hard to see right through her question though. I know what she’s referring to. Her and us.

  And I’m not giving her some answer just to appease her, just to say what I think she wants to hear. It’s the truth, and being a lawyer involves getting down to the truth. And a lot of times neither party really wants to give it to you…only their version of certain events…events that they carefully select to make their narrative sound more real and more appealing.

  That’s not me. I’m a straight shooter and I’m being straight with her.

  “But you make it sound like their age lead to his infidelity,” she says

  “Their immaturity led to their infidelity.”

  “Their infidelity?”

  “She cheated too, and technically she cheated first.”

  “It didn’t say that in the brief.”

  “It’s buried deeper in the document and the way the evidence was gathered makes it harder to use in court, not to mention she’s the one filing for divorce so we have to look at the facts we’ve been given.”