For You I Will Read online

  Hell, he’d place bets her legs went on forever and damned if he didn’t want to get a map and find out just how far. He picked up his coffee mug and scalded his mouth sipping on it. He had to stop thinking about her like this. She wasn’t interested in him at all. In fact, he was pretty damn sure she couldn’t stand him. She’d been pretty pissed off when Paul made him acting Managing Attorney in his absence. She wouldn’t even look him in the eye when he spoke to her. She’d ignored all his communications the last week, and today she actually told him no when he asked to speak to her. If that wasn’t a blatant, piss off response to his attraction, he didn’t know what was. He wished like hell he could trade places with that file she held close to her breasts. Those pillowy mounds of temptation had been his undoing more than once in office meetings and he’d go home at night and stroke himself nearly raw imagining how responsive her nipples would be to his mouth.

  He felt the tugging in his pants again just thinking about her ample endowment. Damn it.

  She would be here any minute. He couldn’t let her find him like this. He stood to readjust himself, but quickly sat down again when she tapped lightly on his door. She didn’t await permission to enter, since he was expecting her after all, but slid into his office, eyes averted, closing the door behind her. He got a healthy look at her ass and legs from the back of mid-thigh down, covered with black panty hose, before she turned to face him. He generally would stand to greet her, it was the gentlemanly thing to do, but he couldn’t risk her catching the tent his dick made of his pants. Shit.

  She wasn’t looking at him anyway, per usual. Instead she looked around his office and out of the picture windows.

  Do I repulse her that bad? If he could just get her to let go of that cold exterior. He could only imagine how she would feel, hot and ready underneath him. He shook the image from his head. Completely inappropriate and not helping his current dick situation. Not. One. Bit.

  He cleared his throat. There was a reason he needed to talk to her; the reason he’d been contacting her all this week. He needed to keep his mind on the issue at hand and not the issue in his pants.

  Chapter 2

  When she walked into his spacious office, he looked distracted by whatever work he had on his desk. She looked at him briefly before averting her gaze. Ugh, what would this meeting be about this time? Budgets and office management my ass. This would be another argument. He always questioned her about things in the office when that was her job to manage. You worry about the legal side. I have the business side.

  She rolled her eyes, shut the door and turned her back to him, allowing herself time to calm her nerves and take a deep breath before she turned to face him again. She clutched her notebook in front of her, bracing herself and awaiting his response.

  “Please, Callie, sit,” he said holding a hand out to the seat directly across from him. She peered up at him briefly. His tone had changed a bit, and he seemed more… calm; more unlike himself and she didn’t know how to take that. He must have noticed the expression on her face, but he still smiled a bit. It was something he didn’t do often. It was fleeting, quick before it fell again. “Please… have a seat,” he said again motioning to the chair.

  She sat down, crossed her legs and positioned the notebook on her lap. He watched her settle in. She noticed his gaze pause over her legs before he turned his head, clearing his throat before he spoke. “Can I ask you something before we start with the business at hand?”

  She gulped as her response slowly passed her lips. “Sure.”

  He looked at her. “I’ve been trying for almost a week to meet with you...”

  She let out a huffed sigh and rolled her eyes. God, here it comes.

  “I know I haven’t been here as long as you, Callie. You were running this place smoothly and efficiently long before I got here with Paul as named partner. Now, that I’m Managing Partner, I realize we are equals.”

  She raised an eyebrow at him and sat back in her chair. This was news to her. The way he’d been acting didn’t indicate he knew at all.

  He noticed her reaction and dropped his pen on his desk and sat back eyeing her before he spoke. “Look, I’m not denying we should work together and not against each other.” His voice was like velvet, deep, rich, mesmerizing. How would he sound whispering in my ear, moving inside of me? The thought triggered a reaction deep in her body causing her skin to warm.

  He sighed when she didn’t respond. “I don’t want to argue about anything, okay?” he continued.

  “Mm-hmm,” she murmured.

  “Callie?”

  “Yes?” she managed.

  “Is it too much to ask you to look at me? I’m trying here.” His stern tone was back.

  Ugh, shit. He noticed she wasn’t looking at him. “Of course, not too much to ask.” She finally looked at him, but with the same bite in her tone. Okay, maybe it is hard for me to look at you, you cocky son-of-a-bitch. I mean REALLY look at you; because when I do, I get flustered.

  But she did, she looked at his handsome face this time, refusing to divert her eyes in the least from his dark hair, green eyes, tanned skin, plump, irresistible lips… the stupid list went on and on… and her panties dampened, like she knew they would. Damnity damn him! She inadvertently bit her bottom lip.

  He watched her, his eyes glazed over and darkened again, before he cleared his throat and broke eye contact.

  What was that she saw in his eyes? Could that possibly be a fraction of what she felt for him? No, not when he had made her life a living hell the last year he had been at the firm.

  “I’ll admit, I’ve been keeping my distance,” she finally said.

  “Why?” His gaze darted back to her.

  “Because of this,” she said, throwing her arms out in front of her. “This awkward exchange we have every time we have a meeting or a conversation. I’m tired of backing down every time I have a suggestion, and you don’t agree, Daniel. I may not be an attorney, but I’ve been working with Paul a long time. There are things I know need to be done in this office and you never hear me out about what I want to do. Because, heaven forbid, a woman open her mouth regarding something intelligent and not for... well...” She flicked a glance below, where his endowment was hidden behind his large desk before her gaze crashed back into his.

  He leaned forward in his chair, narrowing his gaze at her. Great, here it comes.

  “I never, not once, said I don’t want to hear what you have to say. You can open your mouth around me anytime you want, Miss Johnson… intelligent… or otherwise.”

  Her mouth fell open at that one. He’d left her speechless. Now, that I didn't see coming.

  “Hell, speak, for the love of God. Should I take notes?” He pulled out his own notebook. He had to notice the look of bewilderment clearly visible on her face. He held up a hand. “Miss Johnson, I promise there will be no arguments; just you and me talking like two adults, and business partners.”

  She cocked a brow and smirked knowing this could go one of two ways. Either he was being sincere, and was taking a stab at being civilized, or he was being the cocky bastard she’d known for the last year and this would turn around and bite her in the ass. She couldn’t for the life of her read his poker face. And she couldn’t quite get past the mouth comment. That would be some private under the sheets material for her tonight with her vibrator for sure.

  She leaned forward and pointed a manicured finger at him not caring her mother was probably somewhere thinking that girl is pointing and I raised her better than this. Yea yea, Ma, I know it’s rude to point, Mom. May you rest in peace...

  “Say Bible,” she said, using the term her and her friends used to say, ‘tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you God’.

  He chuckled, obviously familiar with the term. “I give you my word, Callie. I’m not a bad guy. I promise.”

  She looked up at him. You aren’t a bad looking guy either. “Ok, then.” She scooted closer to his desk. “We
have more to discuss than just closed files and budget proposals.”

  “We do?” he asked arching a brow at her. “Do tell.”

  “Yes and I’m afraid it won’t be a pleasant conversation.”

  He sat back in his seat, slowly resting his hands in a steepled position in front of his face, never taking his eyes from her. Callie watched him watch her. His defensive shields had lifted for only a minute, but dropped back into place like a steel trap and she could see it. She braced herself for him to go right back on the word he’d just promised.

  “Ok, Miss Johnson, what do you have for me?” he asked, his tone low and calculated.

  Oh, I have more than you could handle, Mr. Morrow, but we'll save that for another time... She cleared her throat, thinking in her head how she would address this. There was nothing but to do it at this point. She was damned if she did or didn’t either way. Daniel wasn’t going to like what she had to say. “I’ve had several complaints from the support staff and attorneys—”

  “Regarding?” He cut her off.

  She huffed out a sigh and shook her head. She pointed at him again, not giving a damn what her mom would think. “That, that right there… Daniel. This is the problem. The complaints are about you.”

  He scoffed, shaking his head and opening the file in front of him like they weren’t having the conversation. “About me, eh? What did I do?”

  “My support staff thinks you are… harsh with the way you speak to them.” Their exact words were ‘he was an overpowering asshole’, but she’d edit that out for the sake of this conversation.

  “The way you handled the file review yesterday with Sandra was uncalled for, Daniel.”

  It was more than uncalled for. It was a downright lack of respect for the employees and the attorneys at the firm. He’d made a spectacle of Sandra’s “incompetence” in front of quite a few people and Callie was sure she’d see a resignation letter soon, if not a call from Human Resources with a complaint, though she’d tried to handle the situation in her office the best she could.

  “We should have a meeting with them about what I tried to convey then. I didn’t know I had to cater to sensitive, adult children here.” He loosened his tie, and she watched his lower, muscled arm covered with fine, dark hair bunch and pull as he yanked at the yoke at his neck.

  She gulped and looked away from the sexiness in front of her to get back to her much needed point. “First of all, you aren’t going to get across to anyone by calling them sensitive or a child. Secondly, they don’t want to hear from you. You aren’t the support staff’s boss, Daniel; I am. Anything you feel needs to be conveyed needs to go through me.”

  He raised a brow. “I suspect that won’t be easy since you won’t return a simple email.” His tone was full of snark and she wanted to jump across the damn desk and yank him by that tie and do… things. You son-of-a-bitch. I can give just as good as I get.

  “Oh, Daniel, I’m not a bad person.” Her tone dripped sarcasm, mocking what he’d said earlier in their conversation. She could swear the corners of his mouth twitched with amusement.

  “Ok, Miss Johnson, fair enough. Please give my apologies to Sandra—”

  She held up a hand. “No, no, Mr. Morrow. Your apologies, you can give yourself. It’s the work related topics I’ll handle and address with my staff.”

  “Again, fair enough.” He nodded at her, steepling long, lithe fingers in front of his handsome face yet again. His eyes twinkled with humor.

  Well, that seemed to go over easier than I thought… maybe a little too easy… Though, the way his eyes continued to drift to the opening of her jacket was not so easy on her. Why was he staring like that? He made it hard to concentrate as they continued their conversation regarding office business with his damnable, subtle glances.

  But she would power through this, regardless.

  She continued. “So, moving forward with the business topics, as a compromise, I thought we would each write a proposed budget. Then we can meet again, review both our plans, and figure out what ideas will work best for this office, before we send it to Paul to approve,” she ventured, hoping he would agree.

  “That is a great idea.” He smiled.

  She let out an inaudible sigh, happy he finally agreed with her on something for a change. The last time they talked about budget, he damn near had a fit at some of the cuts and suggestions she had. But don’t just give an opinion without some ideas. For the love of God, man, write your own damn budget for your lawyers if you think you are so good at it.

  She uncrossed her legs and balanced the notebook on her stocking covered legs. “Ok, now that the budget is settled, everyone is asking about the office picnic. We really should start planning. It’s already April. We usually have this in July. If we want a good location, we should—”

  He shook his head. “Let me just stop you there. I am no good at planning picnics, Callie. I know you took care of the office and social events when Paul was here. I’ll leave the planning up to you. Let’s just make sure the figures are in our plans for the budget.”

  It was her turn to smile. “Okay then, that works for me. When would you like to complete budget proposals?” She asked.

  “I already have a rough draft of a few ideas. One week will be fine for me.”

  “Agreed. One week works for me, too.” The truth was she already had a budget plan from the many years working here with Paul. He trusted her to do this, and it was Daniel who decided he wanted to stick his nose in with his ideas. She was merely trying to play nice in the sandbox and see what he could come up with, partly because it would cause peace in the office and the other part was because Paul told her she had to or else.

  She looked at the time on her business cell. “It is five o’clock. If that is all we have to discuss, I have plans and would like to head out for the evening.” She stood, looking to see if he had any more to add to their conversation.

  “No, please, don’t let me hold you. I don’t have anything else tonight.” He stood from behind his desk. She nodded and turned to leave before his voice halted her retreat. “Callie?”

  She turned back to him. “Yes?”

  “It was nice having a civilized conversation for a change.” A slow smirk made its way back across his face.

  A light chuckle rose in her. She nodded. “Yes, it was.”

  “Have a great weekend, Callie.”

  “You too.” She opened the door to his office and retreated as quickly as she could, without being obvious.

  Chapter 3

  By 8:00 p.m. Daniel was sure most everyone had left for the day. He was safe to partake in an end-of-the week indulgence. He walked over to a mini-wet bar he had hidden amongst law books and trophies. He chose a thirty-year bottle of expensive ass, fine oak scotch. He’d received the gift from Paul once he’d passed the Bar some odd years ago and only poured a glass every so often.

  The older man had always been like a father compared to Daniel’s barely there sperm donor. Paul had been a mentor while Daniel was just a newbie at law. Paul encouraged him and shaped him into the cut-throat, hot-shot corporate lawyer he was today. He never even got angry when Daniel decided to practice law at his competitor instead of coming to his firm.

  It wasn’t until Paul started getting sick that he reached out to Daniel and asked him to come over as Senior Partner. When Paul decided the symptoms of his illness were too much and the doctor said he needed time from the stress, he named Daniel as the managing partner of the firm. Paul still oversaw and approved the big decisions like the budgets and the large client settlements, but he depended on Daniel for the day-to-day legal management. Ultimately, he depended on Callie for the management of the office. They had to find a way to work together. This wasn’t good the way they’d been carrying on; ignoring each other and bickering when they did actually speak. If Paul was here, this would not be what he’d want for the business he poured his heart and soul into. Daniel knew that and it broke his heart thinking he was letting the
man he thought of like a father down.

  He poured the glass of dark liquid, threw it back, shook off the burn and poured another. This one he’d nurse a bit more. He turned to eye his door, still opened, from when she’d left. The smell of her perfume lingered in his office, long after she left. Roses and honey, he thought. She smelled like roses and honey every damn day. Ugh. He sipped from the glass of scotch before corking it and placing the glass decanter back in its sacred spot.

  He organized a few papers and files he had to review from his staff attorneys in his briefcase and snapped it shut. He needed to get out of here. The intoxicating scent of her and the smooth scotch sliding down his throat left him a bit out of sorts. He slid his hand over his close-cut hair and let out a soft groan. He needed to get some dinner. He turned off his light and shut his door.

  A movement to his right caught his attention, and he turned, noticing her walking quickly across the office in the opposite direction from him. She didn’t see him, but of course, he saw her. The dark hair she usually had pulled up into a neat roll during the work day was now coming undone. Her jet black hair, always silky and shiny, was loosely cascading down her back and he would give anything to run his hands through it. He wanted to know how it would feel tangled around his fingers as he drove into her from the back. He imaged she’d like it doggy-style. As feisty as she was, she’d make him stay still as she moved those ample hips back in a circle around him, thrusting into him, milking him for all he was worth, while he stood under her complete control.