His Contract: Legally Bound, Book 1

Lawyers know when to play by the rules…and when to break them.

Legally Bound
, Book 1

Harvard law professor Jack Archer once balanced his professional life with the private world of dominance, surrender and trust he shared with his wife. Since cancer stole her a year ago, finding love again—her final wish for him—is the furthest thing from his mind.

From his empty house to the classroom, grief follows his every move. Until he meets a young woman with shadows in her eyes even darker than his own.

Once a shining star at law school, Lilly Sterling’s dreams died when the Dom she trusted left her heartbroken and lost. She’s starting fresh in a new city as a paralegal, but meeting Jack reawakens all her old demons—and her lingering desires.

Jack offers to become Lilly’s mentor for both the courtroom and the playroom, but tells himself it’s not a relationship. Their carefully worded agreement guarantees that. But when their trial agreement starts heating up, both Jack and Lilly must decide what will tip the scales: the letter of the law...or love?

Warning: All rise for a book that contains a wounded submissive and a Dominant who wants to retrain her while retaining control of his heart. Discovery phase may involve spankings, bondage, edging, and blindfolds. Is it hot? You be the judge.

His Contract

Rebecca Grace Allen

Dedication

Alex, Anne, Betsy, Kim, Kris and Jess: thank you for every hysterical Sunday Skype session, for your brilliant feedback and constant cheerleading. You will always be my favorite fiery kaleidoscopes.

Tara Sue Me, thank you for being there for me, from the first version to the last.

A huge thank you to Eden Bradley for lending me her wisdom, as well as her lovely words for the cover quote.

To my editor Christa—thank you so much for whipping this book into shape. Your insight, as always, was spot on, and it made all five revisions totally worth it.

A million thanks to my husband and family for never letting me give up.

And finally, to Matt B., without whose unflagging support and encouragement I’d never have gotten through the last three years. Thanks for making me a fighter.

Prologue

Jack Archer counted the seconds between his wife’s shallow breaths. The rented hospital cot cradled her wasted form, but to Jack, it felt more like a casket than a bed. He ground a fist against his palm, a reminder to stay strong. Being Eve’s rock had been his job since her diagnosis—the only way he’d survived as the happy life they shared melted into chaos. That strength had begun to falter during the vigil he’d kept by her side the last few days. Her organs had shut down, every cell riddled with cancer, the purple shadows under her eyes as dark as the wintry Massachusetts sky at dusk.

Another breath. Jack counted again. The silence before her next inhale lasted too long.

“Joshua,” the hospice nurse said.

Jack’s son looked up from the sofa. Tears stained his cheeks, angry splotches left behind from where his hands had been holding up his head.

“It’s time to say good-bye now.”

Although he was already a man, Josh’s face crumpled like a child’s.

He stood and advanced toward his mother. Sitting on the ottoman a few feet away, Jack felt the same agony he saw in his son’s face, the same force of will that was keeping his own muscles rigid. Josh crouched down as Eve’s eyes opened and twin pairs of bright blue eyes found one another. Josh was a duplicate of his mother, inheriting her eye color instead of Jack’s blue-gray. Matching golden hair framed their faces, although Eve’s had dulled to flaxen wisps before falling out altogether.

“You apply to that PhD program now,” she said, her words coming out with a wheeze. “Or I swear I’ll haunt you until you do.”

Jack let out a pained laugh. Even in the face of death, Eve found a way to joke. She beckoned Josh closer and tenderly kissed his forehead.

“I love you, Mom.” Josh’s voice broke. The sound was a knife to Jack’s heart.

“Me too.”

Another difficult breath was followed by a pause. Jack caught the nurse’s gaze. Her sad but rapid nod signaled it was time to do the impossible. She wrapped an arm around Josh and led him out of the room.

Jack worked to control his breathing as he started toward the cot, but had to stop and brace a hand against the wall. There was no way to prepare for this moment. He’d have pleaded with Eve to stay with him, but he refused to fill her final moments with sadness. It wasn’t a request she could grant him now, anyway.

She tried to lift her head as he neared.

“Don’t—” he whispered sharply, then winced. Regretting his tone, he bent down to kneel beside her. It wasn’t a position he was accustomed to, but he didn’t care about the role reversal now.

He gathered one of Eve’s cold hands in his and ran his thumb over the finger that used to bear his ring. It slipped off the month before, when the last cruel waves of the disease took hold. She’d asked Jack to link it onto the silver chain she wore around her neck, the meaning of which only they knew. It represented the secret intimacy in their marriage, the cherished bond they’d always kept private.

Eve lifted her free hand and began tracing her fingers along the chain. “Do something for me?”

Her voice was thin and reedy. She sounded so far away already.

“What is it, love?”

That made her grin—the use of her pet name, only spoken during their play. Jack smiled, the moment a brief respite from the bleak reality in front of him.

She tapped her finger against the chain. “Don’t bury me in this.”

“What?” he sputtered. “Why?”

“Because,” she said slowly. “It will keep you bound to me for the rest of your life. I don’t want that for you.”

Jack was stunned into silence. Tears threatened to brim over. He had to clench his jaw to force them back. Refusing to let her see him fall apart, he bowed his head, his forehead meeting the bony knuckles of her hand. She tried to soothe him, a quiet
shhh
coming out on a ragged exhale, and then Jack was crying. He hated himself for breaking down, for being so terrified of losing her that he was gripping her fingers tightly enough to break them, while she was setting him free.

He dragged his head up. “I can’t, love. I can’t.”

“You have to.” She paused as she tried to swallow. “Promise me something?”

“Anything.”

She looked at him with the same eyes that had seen through him since he was a teenager. “Promise me that someday, you’ll fall in love again.”

The last shreds of Jack’s composure unraveled.

He shook his head, his heart caving in, everything inside him locking down. He couldn’t promise her that. It would be impossible to love anyone again, to care for another woman the way he’d cared about her for the last twenty-five years. But then Jack saw the hope shining from Eve’s tired eyes, suddenly filled with more life than he’d seen in weeks. It was as if she’d summoned all the strength she had left for this one last request, and he couldn’t let her go without saying something to ease her pain.

“Okay. I’ll try.”

She smiled, and her eyes drifted closed. Her muscles went slack, relief seeming to settle through her.

“Love you,” she whispered.

“I love you too,” Jack rasped, but she was already gone.

Chapter One

“Lilly, why don’t you take the bar exam already?”

Lilly Sterling winced and looked out the windows lining the associate bullpen. Boston’s jagged skyline glittered against the murky purple horizon. It was late. Ten thirty on a Tuesday night and the hallways were dark. Even the Ivy League graduates hoping to make junior partner had left for the day. There was nothing to distract Gabe from his favorite line of questioning.

He leaned over the partition separating her desk from the other cubicles. “Hello?”

“I told you. I’m not sure this is what I want to do with my life.”

“That’s what you said when you blew off taking it after law school, and I got you this job for some—” he made air quotes with his fingers, “—real life experience.”

Lilly cringed at the reminder. Gabe was acting like her request had been an excuse. A stay of execution, so she could decide if being a lawyer was what she really wanted.

As if that had ever been the case. “I remember, Mr. Hartley.”

Gabe rolled his eyes. He hated it when their boss called them by their last names, which was precisely why Lilly did it. “So I call bullshit, since it’s glaringly obvious you love working in law.”

“Exactly how is it glaringly obvious?” Lilly began rearranging the files on her desk, but had to stop when Gabe held out his hand in front of her.

“A bachelors in pre-law. File clerk for the district attorney,” he said, ticking reasons off his fingers. Each one felt like a tiny stab wound. “A note in the Northwestern Law Review, a summer internship, then a JD. And now the hardest working paralegal on staff. Come on, Lilly. Bite the bullet and take the damn bar!”

“Hey, go easy on her.”

Lilly glanced up as Gabe’s junior associate Cassie came down the hallway in her coat, a hat tugged over her short brown hair. She elbowed Gabe and threw Lilly a grin.

“Be happy Lilly’s such a diligent researcher instead of the last moron Forrester hired.”

Gabe snorted. “Don’t remind me. That idiot couldn’t even find the file room.”

The sound of his phone beeping stopped Gabe from what was sure to be a bitter diatribe about the incompetency of the latest new hires. He pulled it from his pocket and frowned.

“Is my stupid big brother freaking out again?” Lilly asked. Only a panicked text from Nick could make Gabe’s face look like that.

“He’s having another
I-can’t-do-this, they’re-all-going-to-hate-me
meltdown. Maybe if you tell him the opening won’t be a total flop, he’ll actually believe it.”

“I thought talking him down from ledges became your responsibility when you married him.”

“I suppose so, but he listens to you. And since you moved here, I’ve considered ledge-talking a joint responsibility.”

They shared a smile. Lilly really did adore Gabe, had ever since Nick met him, even though she never suspected her brother was gay. He’d been the small-town football hero with expectations of going pro, so his coming out had been quite a shock to her parents, her mother especially. But it never mattered to Lilly who Nick loved, as long as he found it with someone. Especially considering the price he’d paid for it.

Gabe’s phone beeped again. He looked at the screen and grimaced. “Oh Lord, he won’t stop.”

Lilly laughed. “Tell him to call me later.”

“Fine.” Gabe picked up his briefcase and started down the hall. “But you’re going to have to become a lawyer so I can sue your brother for driving me crazy.”

“I think that’s a conflict of interest.”

“You could always represent yourself,” Cassie added. When Gabe was out of earshot, she turned to Lilly with an apologetic smile. “Sorry he was giving you a hard time again. It’s only because he cares.”

“I know.” Lilly closed the file she was working on. “I think it’s time to call it a night.”

They walked out together, and Lilly recoiled from the harsh blast of wind that greeted them outside the doors. They parted ways at the corner, heading to their separate T lines. A runner jogged past and Lilly looked away, searching through her bag for her headphones. After finding them stuck inside a folder of briefs she’d been drafting, she plugged them into her phone and blasted the same music that used to propel her through her own daily runs. When she reached Downtown Crossing, she double-checked the signs before boarding her train. She still felt out of her element in Boston—a little like Dorothy in Oz.

Head down, music on, she kept her arms tight around her middle until the train pulled to a halt at her stop. Her boots left prints in the snow as she walked toward the aging building where she rented her small one-bedroom apartment. Boston wasn’t cheap. Even with a decent salary, the only place she could afford on her own had nothing more than a galley kitchen off a combined living and dining area. But it was hers, and far away from the life she’d left behind.

Her cat greeted her when she stepped inside, winding his way around her feet and purring loudly enough to remind her of how she’d come up with his name.

“Hey, Rumbles.”

She poured his food, switched her suit for sweats and pulled her long, blonde hair free from the tight braid it had been woven into all day. Too exhausted to cook, she chose from one of the many microwave dinners she’d stashed in her freezer. It had just finished cooking when her cell phone lit up, Nick’s name on the screen.

She ran a thumb over it to accept the call and tucked the phone between her ear and shoulder.

“So I hear I have a ledge to talk you down from. Again.”

“But there’s an actual reason this time,” Nick insisted. “The gallery owner has connections at
Framed
magazine. Reviewers will be there, and some big buyers too. They say it sucks, and then poof! There goes my career.”

“I don’t think that’s going to happen.”

“It could. I’m freaked and it’s making Gabe crazy. I wouldn’t be surprised if he leaves me. I’m living in the darkroom lately.”

“Dahkroom,” she said, mimicking his accent. “You don’t even sound like you’re from Illinois anymore.”

“I’ve lived here for years. Don’t worry. Soon you’ll sound like a New Englander too.”

She hoped so. Starting fresh was why she moved here.

“You need to relax,” Lilly said as she retrieved the plastic tray from the microwave and carried it to the table. “The show is going to be great. And Gabe loves you.”

“If I promise to stop having meltdowns, will you come to the pub with us on Friday? Brady was there last week by the way. He says hi.”

“Bonding with Brady. That must’ve been fun. And loud.” Nick’s college football teammate could really fill a room, but Lilly didn’t think badly of him. He did save Nick’s life, after all. “I still think about what could’ve happened if he hadn’t shown up in time.”

“Well, he did. And it was over a decade ago. So stop thinking about it.”

It didn’t matter how much time had passed. Nick’s assault had been the defining moment of her teenage years. He’d made the mistake of coming out to Brady within earshot of his teammates. All he remembered after that was getting slammed into a wall as he tried to leave the locker room, the words
faggot
and
queer
accompanying blows to his head. He’d woken up in an ambulance with Brady beside him, half beaten too for trying to defend him.

It was the first time he’d told Lilly he was gay.

“I think you’d have fun, Lil,” he added, jolting her into the present. “I miss you. You’ve been here six months, and I never see you.”

She chewed dryly, swallowing over the lump that guilt formed in her throat. She’d moved to the East Coast to join him, but she’d spent nearly every day since then in the same monotonous cycle, working herself to exhaustion so there was no room left for anything else, even thinking.

Especially thinking.

“Sorry,” she said. “I wanted to go last week, but it was late.”

“I’ve been with Gabe long enough to know that nine isn’t late. For a lawyer, it’s early.”

“Good thing I’m not a lawyer, then.”

“You should be.”

“I like being a paralegal,” she said. “You talked to Mom and Dad lately?” A subject change was definitely necessary. Hearing it from Gabe had been enough for one day.

“Just Dad.”

Lilly frowned at her dinner. Their father had accepted that Nick was gay, but Mom had become more distant with each passing year, especially after Nick met Gabe. She’d only been to visit Boston once in the last decade, begrudgingly attending their marriage with a polite yet restrained smile. They hadn’t spoken much since.

“Mom will come around,” she said, hoping it was true.

“I’m not holding my breath. Anyway, I really want you to come with us. The pub has a pool table, and I need a rematch from last time.”

She didn’t answer.

“It’s a sports bar near Fenway,” he continued. “With lots of single, straight guys.”

“You going straight now? Mom will be thrilled.”

“I’m talking about you, doofus.”

“I don’t have time to date.”

“That’s what you always say. You should be out meeting people. Not staying home every night with your cat.”

“I’m working on it.”

Nick let out a frustrated sigh. “I’m not buying this ‘it was just a bad breakup’ crap, Lilly.”

Lilly dropped her fork into the tray, her appetite gone. She wasn’t talking about this with Nick now. Or ever. If she confessed the real reason why she never took the bar and left Illinois, she was sure all she’d see in his eyes would be disappointment.

“Can we drop this, please?”

He sighed again, this one short and clipped. “Fine. But you’re coming with us. If nothing else, just to spend some time with me.”

“Fine,” she said, stretching out the “i”, hoping the teasing sound would placate him. “I’ll go.”

When they hung up, Lilly trashed the contents of her dinner, flopped onto the couch and turned on the television. Rest didn’t come easy for her lately, and she hoped a mindless sitcom would lull her to sleep. Eventually her eyes closed and she drifted off.

“Right here, Lilly. This is why you can’t walk away. This is why you’re mine.”

She bolted up at the familiar voice in her head, the words that crept into her mind like tendrils of ivy, dark and poisonous. She’d moved twelve hundred miles to get away from those memories, but they’d followed her here, taunting her every night in her dreams.

Lilly squeezed her eyes shut and burrowed deeper under the blanket, wishing her demons would leave her the hell alone.