Legal Affairs - Violation: Legal Affairs Serial Romance (5 page)

“I was just
thinking about what a fuss you’re going to make later when you
try to buy me clothes, and I stop you from doing so.”

Macy snickers and
pulls a Nanette Lepore dress from the rack to hold up in front of my
body. “Here, try this on.”

I take the dress
from her and roll my eyes, but I’ll try it on because it will
make her happy and will give me something to do while she
relentlessly tries on clothes.

“So what’s
going on with you and Matt? I could hear you two going at it all
weekend in your bedroom. I was getting damn horny just listening to
you two.”

“Eww, Macy.
Don’t listen to us. That’s just intrusive and gross.”

Her jaw drops, and
Macy just stares at me. “Seriously? Do you have any idea how
loud you two got? I mean… I’m a screamer but you damn
take the cake, Mac. I was kind of proud of you and jealous at the
same time.”

Flipping through a
rack of blouses, I say, “Sorry. We’ll be quieter next
time.”

“You think
there will be a next time?”

Shrugging my
shoulders, I say, “I suppose so. I mean… we can’t
seem to get enough of each other.”

“Then why are
you so down in the dumps about it?”

Sighing, I grab Macy
by the elbow and lead her over to a sitting area outside of the
dressing rooms. “Okay… here’s the deal and tell me
what you think. Matt has been clear from the get-go that this is just
sex, and he doesn’t do relationships.”

“Sounds like a
man after my own heart,” Macy muses.

“I know,
right? You two would be perfect for each other.”

“Which doesn’t
make him perfect for you,” she concludes, because she knows
where I’m going with this.

She and I are polar
opposites when it comes to the male persuasion. Macy sees them as
nothing but a good time and only wants them around if she can get an
orgasm out of the deal. I’m the type that really doesn’t
do one-night stands, and I love being in a relationship.

So, if Matt is the
perfect type of guy for her, that means he’s really not the
type of guy for me.

“Yet, I still
keep looking for him to want something else with me. I keep hoping
he’ll change.”

Macy grasps my hand
and holds it up to her heart. She does that when she’s getting
ready to lay a truth that will hurt on me. “Babe… you
know men don’t change unless they want to. Doesn’t matter
how much you want them to change… they have to want it.”

Standing up from the
bench, I pull my hand from Macy’s. “I know. So how much
longer do I let this go on?”

“You’re
having phenomenal sex with a gorgeous man. I don’t see where
the downside is to this.”

“The longer I
stay involved, the more I want from him. I can feel myself getting
sucked in deeper and deeper,” I grumble, kicking my foot out in
frustration. The tip of my shoe catches a stand that has a mannequin
decked out in Prada, and the whole thing wobbles precariously. Just
when I think disaster is averted, the head of the mannequin pitches
off the side and cracks hard against the floor, causing her nose to
chip off and go scuttling across the marble.

I just stare at it
dumbly as a sales associate comes over to us with a disapproving look
on her face.

“Can I help
you ladies with something?” she asks.

“Yeah, my
friend just beheaded your mannequin,” Macy says with a smirk.
“I think it needs CPR or something.”

I bring my hand up
to my mouth to hide my giggle, but the saleslady just shoots us an
annoyed look, and then reattaches the head sans nose. When she
leaves, bending over to scoop up the nose, Macy turns to me. “Look,
Mac. You know I love you, right? I only want the best for you, and
most friends would probably tell you to run as fast as you can from
this guy. But not me. I’m going to tell you to stick with it,
because even if you will eventually be miserable, you are at least
happy right now. Even if it is only just sex… at least you are
doing something that is out of your comfort zone.”

“Just like
when you first signed me up with
One Night Only
,” I add.

“Just like
that. So I say take the bull by the horns… Or, in your case,
by his incredibly talented dick, and enjoy the ride.”

“So your
advice is just keep doing what I’m doing?”

“Stay the
course.”

“Enjoy the
ride?”

“Yes, Mac…
enjoy the ride.”

After a few texts
and an email from Cal checking up on my ‘stomach’
problem, I finally break down and meet him for lunch. He chose a
little Italian place about halfway between our two offices, and I see
him as soon as I walk in.

He looks superbly
handsome, and I’m not blind to the fact that a few women are
checking him out. I sigh. I wish I wanted to check him out that way.
But my feelings are so conflicted. First, there’s the fact that
I’m completely in lust with my boss, and we spent all weekend
doing the nastiest of things to each other. I mean, things that could
get us locked up in certain states.

But more
importantly, and something I have only recently discovered, is that
Cal had allegedly slept with Matt’s wife. I say ‘allegedly’
because I don’t know the truth of the matter. I only know the
very brief bit of information that Matt told me and since he refused
to talk about it any further, I just didn’t know what to
believe.

I intend to find out
more today.

Cal stands when I
reach the table and gives me a hug. He looks me over and says, “You
look much better. I take it you’re feeling fine now?”

God, if only he knew
how fine I felt. After the amount of orgasms I had this weekend, I
was feeling loose and relaxed in a way that no professional masseuse
could ever make me feel.

“I’m
fine,” I assure him. “I’m really sorry for bailing
on you last week.”

Cal shoots me a
winsome smile. “No worries. Shit happens… no pun
intended.”

I laugh and pick up
the menu to peruse it. As I’m weighing my options, Cal says,
“So, I was hoping I could talk you into dinner one night this
week.”

Glancing up, I see
the earnestness in Cal’s face. He likes me… he wants to
get to know me. He’s asking me out on a freaking date because
he wants to build something with me. It’s written all over his
face.

I should be whooping
with joy, crawling on his lap, and smothering him with kisses just
before I say ‘yes’. He is everything that I lost when
Pete dumped me, and everything I thought I was looking for.

But he’s not
Matt.

Placing the menu
down, I hope to hell I have the right words. “Cal… um…
I don’t know how to really say this, but… I don’t
think I can go out with you. Not on a date.”

Cal’s lips
turn downward from the rejection. “Because you’re
interested in someone else.”

He says it as a
statement, not as question. I hesitantly nod at him.

“And that
someone is Matt Fucking Connover, right?” His voice isn’t
mocking or even angry. He says Matt’s voice with a sort of
reverence.

My mouth hangs
slightly open in disbelief. “What? What makes you say that?”

Leaning back in his
chair, Cal gives me an indulgent smile. “For lots of reasons.
First, it was the way you looked at him when he arrived at the ball…
like someone that was starving and he was the buffet. Second, the way
you glared at Melody. I thought there might be a catfight. Third, the
way Matt watched you while you were dancing with me. He hated it.”

“I can’t
believe it’s that obvious,” I whisper, my eyes cast
downward.

The waiter comes up
to the table, and Cal shoos him away. “It’s not really.
What really brought it all together was the phone call I received as
I was walking you back to the table. It was my co-counsel on a case
we have against Matt, which we’ve been desperately trying to
settle with him. He told me Matt had just called him and made an
offer. Said we had fifteen minutes to accept it or not.”

I stare at him
dumbfounded, and my mind flashes back to the memory of Matt stepping
away from the table to make a phone call while I danced with Cal.
“Why didn’t Matt just tell you that while we were all
sitting there?”

“Why indeed?”
Cal says with a chuckle. “But isn’t it obvious? He knew
my co-counsel would call me, and he knew he’d call me right
that very moment, which happened to coincide with the time I was
leading you back from the dance floor. He knew I’d then have to
scramble to get up with my clients and get their permission to pay
the money. He also knew my clients are in London, five hours ahead of
us, and it would be extremely difficult to do so. He knew that would
give him time to get you alone, and I’m assuming enough time to
convince you to leave with him.”

“Son of a
bitch,” I say, although not in a way that I’m mad about.
It’s more of an ‘I’m totally fucking in awe of Matt
Connover and his wicked ways right at this very moment’ sort of
saying.

“That he can
be,” Cal agrees.

“Did you
settle the case?”

Cal’s eyes
flash with anger. “Of course not. It took me longer than
fifteen minutes to get the permission to settle. Took me about an
hour in fact. I texted Matt that we accepted, but he texted me back
the next day and said too late… wasn’t within the
fifteen minutes.”

“Holy shit,
he’s like scary smart,” I say.

“More like
scary devious,” he adds.

I look Cal in the
eyes. “I’m really sorry. I tried to deny the feelings I
have for him. I wish I could.”

Cal gazes at me in
sympathy but gives me a reassuring smile. “I get it, Mac. The
heart wants what the heart wants. But… please be careful. Matt
is just… hard to get close to. He has the ability to really
hurt you.”

“Matt told me
that you two used to be best friends.”

Cal nods, and I
don’t fail to notice that his face goes slightly red. “Did
he tell you the rest of the story?”

“Not much. He
only said that you slept with his wife. But he refused to say
anything more. Is it true?”

It’s a pair of
very sad eyes that meet mine. “It’s true. I betrayed him
in a moment of drunken weakness, and it cost me my best friend.”

The air comes out of
me in a rush, because I guess, deep down, I couldn’t believe
Cal would do something like that. He seems broken up by it though…
completely remorseful.

“And you’ve
regretted it ever since,” I say, because I can hear it in his
voice.

“Every fucking
day,” Cal says.

Lunch with Cal
turned out to be quite informative. He unburdened the entire story to
me, but there really wasn’t much to it. Apparently, Matt’s
ex-wife came on to him after a party she held while Matt was out of
state on a case. Cal was really drunk, but he also takes
responsibility. He insists he should have known better, no matter how
drunk he was. It’s sort of my belief that when a man is faced
with a beautiful woman that has disrobed in front of him, he’s
probably going to fuck her, no matter how wrong it is.

I left lunch feeling
weird. Oh, it was all good between Cal and me, and I believe we have
started what may be a really good friendship. I don’t judge him
for what he did. Plus, he’s paid the price. He lost Matt, and
that tears him up.

But I felt weird
because Cal gave me some insight to Matt. He told me that Matt
changed after he found out they’d slept together. He said the
divorce was really bitter, and there was a huge and ugly fight over
custody of their son.

Yes… Matt had
a son, and I didn’t even know about it.

So, yeah… I
have some weird feelings right now.

As far as Matt and I
are concerned, we settle into a weird sort of routine.

At work, we hardly
see each other but when we do, there always seems to be some sort of
secret smile that we manage to pass on to each other. The two times
we actually had to meet in his office to go over cases, he was
extremely professional, although once he slid his pinky finger over
the back of my hand. When I glanced at him, he gave me a look filled
with heat and desire, and I felt lit up from within over just that
slight touch.