Possessive Lawyer: An Instalove Possessive Alpha Romance (A Man Who Knows What He Wants Book 183) Read online

  “Thank you,” she says after a few moments, her voice shaking, and my own breathing getting harder.

  “I-I’m Beth,” she stammers. “I came to…”

  “Beth,” I growl softly. Squeezing her hand, I fight the urge to bring it to my mouth, to press it against my aching cock.

  Finally, a name to match this feeling. And she’s right here in my damned office!

  Beth.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Beth

  As soon as he touches my hand, as soon as I see that bulge in his pants, I’m done.

  I don’t know what comes over me, but it feels like something comes loose inside me, like all my wits and reason leave me as soon as our fingers touch.

  Like I need his fingers someplace else right now, but it’s too late. I melt like a snowflake in his grip, sinking sideways into complete blackness, feeling like I’m being lifted up into the air by a god.

  Coming to, I can’t believe I fainted. But I do believe the power the man has once I reach out for him again and he takes my hand, proving the sensation all over again. Almost making me faint again.

  He’s sitting in a chair, towering over me and his whole upper body is naked, tense.

  I can see each fiber of his muscles under his perfectly smooth, tanned skin. They move in time with his breathing, which is almost as fast as mine. My heart is still pounding in my ears, it only makes sense once I see the look in his eyes.

  The intense look of someone who’s found what they’ve been looking for.

  The look of someone who wants me.

  I’ve never experienced it, and I’m by no means an expert. Maybe I hit my head when I fainted?

  But no. It’s the look alright, and I only hope I’m broadcasting the same wanting desire that I feel deep inside.

  I don’t just need Jarrett Sharkey, attorney at law to help my dad. I need him for a dozen other things, starting with the exploding chemistry between us.

  The sudden and pained memory of his secretary flashes to the front of my mind, making me hesitate.

  Surely that’s his girlfriend, wife or at least, the piece of tail he uses from time to time? A man like this, he’d have command over whichever woman he chooses and I’m guessing he probably has a string of them.

  “What happened to...?” I ask, confused a little. But his finger presses against my lips as he leans in closer as he reads my thoughts, I can tell he doesn’t even want me to say her name.

  “She’s gone,” he says in a deep voice, the same deep voice that soothed me all afternoon through his office door.

  “For good,” he adds, but I still feel unsure.

  How could, why would an older man like this go for someone like me?

  “Forget about her,” he says firmly. “Tell me about you. I want you…” he says, his tone softening as he reddens a little.

  “I want you to tell me what’s brought you here. Why you fainted in my waiting room?” he asks, stumbling with a grin to correct himself but making sure I catch his double meaning.

  “Do you always rescue damsels in distress, half dressed?” I ask, giving him my own coy look as my eyes scan his torso once again, which he flexes unconsciously.

  “This? Ugh. No! And I don’t think you’re in distress, are you?” he asks, still leaning in close enough for me to feel giddy from his scent. Masculine but fresh. He’s like the sea air mixed with something else.

  Something dangerous that I can’t pinpoint, but know I want more than anything.

  “I can put a shirt on,” he muses, letting his eyes travel across my body, halting at my nipples, which I know are thick and poking through.

  “I don’t mind,” I whisper. Feeling another wave of my own arousal pulse through me, hotter than ever under his intense stare.

  I’d normally be dying of embarrassment, worrying about what somebody else might think looking at me up close. But with Jarrett, it feels natural. His low sound of approval telling me he likes what he sees.

  “I’m sorry you waited so long, Bernice is-, wasn’t the best secretary. I was actually fishing for a replacement for her all day. Do you type by any chance?” he asks hopefully, trying to change the subject.

  The thick line in his pants tells me he’s having trouble getting off the subject that’s screaming out between us.

  I shake my head in a silent no.

  “I work at a diner,” I tell him softly, still lying back, feeling like this is the best therapy in the world.

  His face clouds when he hears this, and his mouth tightens.

  “Is that why you’re here? Something happened? If somebody…” he starts to say, pounding his fist into his hand, but I cover my hands over his as I tell him no.

  He takes my elbows and helps me to sit up. “Then what is it?” he asks me tenderly, reaching out his hand to brush my hair back but stopping himself.

  He leans back, crossing one leg over the other. I should feel hurt, but I know he has a job to do, he’s reigning in himself and bringing his professional self out.

  “It’s my dad,” I start. I had it all mapped out in my mind, everything I wanted to say but I hear my voice cracking as soon as I start and before I can get any further, I’m bawling like a baby.

  I’m not lifted up in his arms this time, but Jarrett guides me by the arm to a soft chair in front of his desk, and through bleary eyes I can see him taking his seat on the other side, slipping on a tank top before putting a box of tissues in front of me.

  I cry for a few minutes and I can see the effect it’s having on him, but he’s not budging. He's just waiting for me to finish so he can do his job.

  I want to be hurt, mad or upset, but I also feel better sooner because he’s being so strong. Wanting to help me by just being here. Waiting for me to tell him my problems so he can help.

  And once I dry my eyes, I can see his face is set with a determined look, and he tells me so himself.

  “Whatever it is, Beth. I’m going to help you. We’ll get through this, I promise. Now, from the top, tell me what’s happened.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Jarrett

  It takes everything I have, all my control not to touch her, not to reach out and just hold her in my arms.

  Seeing her cry is killing me inside, but I need her to be clear, to be strong before she tells me how I can help.

  I know that if I held her right now, I wouldn’t be able to focus on helping her. I would only focus on pleasuring her. And I’m not a hundred percent sure that’s what she wants, despite what both our bodies are telling each other.

  I have to be her lawyer first. After that? Well… I’m just itching to find out.

  Stupid Bernice. Wasted hours with Beth sitting out there, just feet from me, when she could’ve been in here… we could’ve been…

  Focus Jarrett. Lawyer first, remember? For all you know she could have a boyfriend, or worse… ah shit, what if she’s…?

  “First things first, Beth,” I hear myself ask her in a commanding tone.

  “Is there anyone else? Err… anyone I should call. Husband, boyfriend? Seeing as you fainted,” I add, but it’s clear what I’m really asking.

  She smiles ironically through her tears. “No, Jarrett. There’s nobody. Just me.”

  My relief isn’t supposed to be so obvious, but she sniffles a laugh through her subsiding emotions.

  “You look surprised.”

  I open my mouth to tell her I’m relieved, but stop myself. We’ll have plenty of time to talk if I have anything to do with it. For now, I need to help her legally. The rest, my own vow to protect her will follow suit.

  Creasing a smile, I urge her to tell me her problem. I’ve heard it all. Nothing she can tell me will shock me.

  “My dad… He rents our house and his workshop, he’s a mechanic… from a man,” she says tentatively.

  I have a lot of questions, but I know from experience to let the client have their go first, plus she’s already had those waterworks, so I know it’s probably gonna be an ugly
case.

  I encourage her to go on, leaning back and listening as I watch her.

  God! I could look at her all day, listen to her speak forever. As long as she’s not crying though, or in any danger. Whatever it is, I promise myself I’ll make it right. I’ll fix it for her. Oh yeah, and for her dad of course.

  The thought of her in danger makes my jaw clench and my hands become fists again, which I force myself to relax so she can go on with her story.

  “The lease was up for renewal, and the owner let it slip, but we kept paying rent and the owner even repaired the hot water service at the workshop, so dad forgot about the lease too in time. Three months passed before the owner swung by… he had dad sign some papers, telling him it was the lease renewal.” Beth’s face grows pale as she remembers.

  “What happened Beth?” I demand, not able to take much more suspense. I need to know who’s troubling her, so I can take care of them.

  Legally or otherwise.

  “It was horrible, some men came by the house when I was home alone, about a week later. The owner, he said the rent’s gone up. Double, and the first installment was due that week, he’s said we were overdue ever since. Now he’s threatened us with seizure of dad’s workshop if we don’t pay, the shop is his only income.”

  I can see her lips tremble and I have to fight hard not to pound my fist on the table.

  “Has he commenced legal action?” I ask her flatly, nodding when she shakes her head in the negative.

  “No. At least, I don’t think so,” she murmurs, but I can see the fear building in her eyes again and I can’t stand it.

  “Who is it, Beth? Who’s the man doing all this? Tell me his name,” I demand, hearing my own growling voice becoming a snarl at the thought of anyone threatening her. Siding with her before I even know both sides of the facts, breaking every rule of my training but I don’t care.

  I know I’d give anything right now, whatever I have, to help her and keep her safe. “Paul Camberwell,” she sighs, wringing her hands and then covering her face with a tissue as she sobs silently.

  I feel all the tension in my body drain. My only reply is a dry croak, then an exhalation of disbelief.

  I give a low, ironic and dry laugh, making Beth look up hurtfully.

  “Something funny?” she asks, and I shake my head before puffing the air out of my cheeks.

  I wish I could tell her, but it wouldn’t help her any to know.

  I represented Paul Camberwell only last month, got him off a string of complaints for doing what Beth’s just described.

  I thought it was a once off, that Camberwell was just a thug trying it on but it looks like he’s a wannabe player. A few of my other less respectable clients have told me so. His name’s familiar and for all the wrong reasons.

  He’s been making waves in their business and if he’s not careful, he’ll have more than a defense lawyer up his ass.

  I won the defense case easily last time, the last client hadn’t read the new lease either.

  But the last client wasn’t Beth. And although her dad’s no genius for not reading fine print, he doesn’t deserve this either. Nobody does.

  Least of all my Beth.

  I growl in satisfaction at the thought.

  My Beth.

  And that settles it.

  I clap my hands loudly, making her jump and dispelling my own dark mood. The AC even chugs to life behind me, making us both feel better straight away.

  The waves of cool air hitting her chest and giving me another prime view of those nipples I long to taste.

  “I’ll take the case, Beth!” I announce, but not wanting to stand up. My now permanent hard on making it impossible for me to move from the spot.

  She smiles, but then frowns again.

  “About your fee,” she murmurs.

  I wave my hand, dismissing the idea as if it’s nothing, which it is.

  “I have one case per year that’s on me, Pro Bono,” I assure her.

  “I don’t know how to thank you, Mr. Sharkey,” she blushes.

  “Call me Jarrett,” I instruct her. “And I’m sure we’ll find some way of achieving… mutual benefit,” I tell her in a low voice, making her flush deeper, harder as my own hardness becomes unbearably underneath my desk.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Beth

  Even with cool air blowing on us both now, even knowing he’ll take my dad’s case and everything will work out, I still feel hot. I still feel faint.

  The longer we sit there, just staring at each other again, the more this feeling starts to well up inside me.

  Making me want to give myself to him without even knowing why. But I can’t get past his body… that perfect form and his obvious experience in years over me. I feel like I’m out of my depth but it’s a delicious feeling I’d be quite happy to drown in.

  “I’ll need to speak with your father, of course. I’ll need copies of those contracts,” he finally says, swinging from what I sense is his want versus his need ‘todo list’ in his own mind.

  I nod absently, suddenly hoping he’s not going to send me away. I’ve only just met him and I feel like staying longer.

  Like, forever longer.

  “My dad’s upstate, just until tomorrow. He’s dropping off a truck he repaired and will catch the train back overnight,” I inform him, instantly hoping dad might get held up with more work on that end, which sometimes happens when he delivers trucks back to their depots.

  “So, you’re home alone?” Jarrett asks, his brow cocking in a question but his lip curling with a satisfied look of a man who’s zeroing in on his prize.

  I pump my head in a nod, and totally forgetting about work, forgetting about everything that isn’t Jarrett. I shrug and sigh, doing my best to look a little helpless.

  “Yep, all alone,” I tell him, but I also register his look of concern, which concerns me when I think about how those men just turned up the last time I was at home by myself.

  The memory makes me shudder.

  “Well, that settles that!” he exclaims, slapping his hand down on his desk and making me jump again.

  “You’ll stay with me… or I can watch over you at your place? Either way, I won’t take no for an answer. My client’s protection is paramount.”

  Even though technically, my dad’s his client. But I’m not arguing that point. Not tonight anyway.

  I have no problem with either, and instantly feel the hot slickness between my legs returning at the thought of having Jarrett watch over me for a whole night.

  “So… My dad has a strong case?” I ask Jarrett, trying to focus on the business at hand, needing to tell myself we’ll be able to put all this behind us.

  But Jarrett’s face falters for a moment before he once again tries to set my mind at ease.

  “I won’t lie to you, Beth. It really could go either way. If your dad signed a legally binding contract…” he says gravely, drifting off.

  “But I will tell you this,” he continues, leaning forward with determination and I feel us both wanting to take each other’s hands again.

  “I’ll do everything in my power to get you and your dad out of this. I swear.”

  I don’t like the first part, it sounds like we might not have a chance, but as soon as Jarrett gives me his word he’ll help, that he’ll fix this… I feel like I can breathe again for the first time in months.

  “What about any other family?” Jarrett asks, starting to make some notes in between his approving glances of me.

  If it were anyone else, I’d be telling them to keep their eyes up top. But with Jarrett it makes me feel special when he looks at me like that.

  I like it.

  “It’s just my dad and me. He’s my adoptive father if that’s important,” I mention, thinking nothing of it until Jarrett nearly drops his pen.

  “Problem?” I ask, hoping it has no bearing on the case.

  No bearing on what he thinks of me.

  “No, no problem at all,” he
says, suddenly softening his look, and I get lost in the darkness of his eyes as they bore into mine. I want to be closer to him more than ever now, this desk. This room. He’s too far away.

  “What’s the matter?” I ask him, feeling like I might faint again if he doesn’t touch me, if something doesn’t shift inside me. I feel like I’m about to burst still.

  “Nothing,” he assures me. “Nothing at all.” He looks past me, back to the couch, then leans over a little more, looking at me over his desk.

  “Didn’t you have something? When you came in?” he asks, and I remember my secret weapon.

  “I baked brownies,” I tell him sheepishly and as if on cue, I hear my stomach growling, which makes me go red with embarrassment, but Jarrett only smiles.

  “I’d love one,” he tells me, and at his suggestion I get up to go get them, feeling his eyes moving over me again, a low sound of his own echoing out into the waiting room as the phone on his desk rings.

  I stop short before I come back in, almost skipping as I can’t wait for him to try what I baked. I don’t want to interrupt his call and I’m no eavesdropper either, so I gently close the door and wait outside.

  Fishing my own phone from my pocket, I quickly text dad, telling him I’ve got us some legal help.

  I also reply to Tiffany’s text, but don’t say too much.

  Something tells me I might need more than today’s shift covered too, if things go the way I hope.

  Stifling a little squeal of delight, I find a coffee pot keeping hot in a small kitchenette off the waiting room behind a curtain and plate up some of my brownies and pour what looks like days old coffee. But, I remind myself, most people don’t even notice. Some people even prefer it that way.

  Before I can get back to Jarrett’s office, he’s standing in the doorway, his look brightening once he sees me.

  “I’m done for today. We won’t be disturbed again, I promise,” he says. He holds the door open as I totter through with a tray of coffee and brownies.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Jarrett

  Watching her fine ass as she moves out of my office, I’m at odds with so many things.