INDISPENSABLE: Part 1: A Billionaire Romance
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Authors: Maryann Barnett
INDISPENSABLE
Part One
MARYANN BARNETT
Published by: Rascal Hearts
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Sarah resisted the urge to wipe her palms down the front of her knee-length black pencil skirt. Today was the day she’d waited for and the skin prickles and racing heart only increased when she entered the immense building that was the courthouse.
This would be her first day in the courtroom as a lawyer defending a client. The legal team was the best in the city, and Sarah had been told to prepare well because a female was who they needed in this sexual harassment case.
The company supported the young lady and was bringing one of their longest CEOs to task over this. Sarah had worked hard to ensure this sexual harassment case was upheld. No need to be nervous. She held her shoulders back and took confident steps towards the legal team that she was now a part of.
Doubts circled inside her head. Less makeup may’ve been better. Would they think she was trying too hard? Should she have worn her hair up?
Focus. Forget all that crap.
The very long, wide hallway seemed to stretch for an eternity, and people stood outside each one of the six courtrooms in the building, three on each side divided by a wide expanse of marble flooring. Everyone turned to watch Sarah.
Great. No pressure, no pressure at all
.
Sarah jutted her chin higher in the air and gripped her briefcase tighter.
Today means everything. Do not stuff it up
. All she really wanted to do was hide under a table until everyone stopped looking at her. But her crippling shyness and lack of desire to share anything personal with anyone wasn’t going to win this case for them. She had to stay in shark mode.
For some reason, when it came to being a lawyer, she put up a convincing front and her normal anxiety didn’t trigger.
Apparently, her con artist parents did leave her some skills.
This is it; make Grammy proud.
If she was going to fall back on any family traits, it would be the ruthless business skills of her father’s parents who’d made sure she’d had the education she needed, and the love. They gave her the opportunities to make something of herself and finish her education—even after she’d stuffed up. Now to make the most of those opportunities.
A deep breath to stay calm. She was halfway to her team, who was standing outside their courtroom waiting to go in. Sarah eyeballed every male colleague as she approached—just to show that none of them intimidated her. The head legal eagle smiled. Rick. He made her skin crawl, but he fascinated her. He was deadly in full flight as a lawyer.
He used every loophole he could find to win a case or get a deal. He wasn’t beyond making things very personal to get his way, and he was a long-standing friend of the man being accused of the harassment, which was part of the reason they wanted Sarah standing up there for the young woman, she was sure. After a second or so, Rick nodded his acknowledgement to her and turned back to his conversation.
Her nerves were under control. The stomach churning had stopped, and her heart rate returned to normal. Nice. She was ready. The closer she got to her team, the harder it was not to get lost in that the stranger’s magnetic vibe.
Her eyes now locked with the dark—almost black—stare, and her step slowed.
Who is that?
He studied her face, and Sarah dropped eye contact for a second, but when she glanced back up, she was held fast, falling into some sort of silent communication that went straight to her loins. She scolded herself because a vow of abstinence shouldn’t include fantasies of a mysterious hot man in a designer suit.
Sarah’s heart ramped up once more. Who the hell was he? He looked familiar, but he wasn’t part of the legal team. She’d never met him, but she knew the face for some reason. She dragged her eyes away from his.
Don’t wipe your hands. Keep cool. Think about the case. Don’t look at him again.
The stream of orders inside her head helped her cope with potential anxiety-causing situations. He was just another man looking in on the case. A fellow lawyer, not a threat.
All the men wore black suits, but this man stood out. The way he’d made a full appraisal of her from head to toe in a less than half a second made Sarah want to jump under anything to avoid his scrutiny.
She wouldn’t look at him again, but he was willing her to. The pull taunted her to just take a quick peek. But if she did, she felt sure her big act would unravel.
Deal with the facts you have. Bring this case home. Start as you mean to finish.
Her inner pep talk worked to get her panic back under control, but she couldn’t avoid getting closer to him.
The other six male lawyers in her team, all of varying experience, gave her a nod and a smile, but none of them moved to invite her into the circle. Smug assholes. How could the tall chick with mousy brown hair possibly have anything over on them? Next week they’d see that she was a real contender because she had set herself a goal. Head of the legal team within ten years.
Every single person who had headed the legal team before her had taken at least fifteen years, as a minimum job requirement. But Sarah wanted to test that rule and break it. It wasn’t enough to be the first female in this company to make head of legal, she had to do it faster, as well. Maybe then she would be seen as an equal.
Then, she locked eyes again with the brooding man who stood a good foot taller than the others, and the jolt of sexual awareness took her by surprise. Closer to him was not a place she needed to be right now, but she couldn’t run away.
Despite all her vows to herself and her arguments in her head, she pictured his strong body under hers, with him buried deep inside, bringing the hidden essence of woman out of her, as she rode him hard. Her face burned.
Shit.
Blushing, flushing, or any other way her body could betray her was not welcome. Perhaps thinking of his penis as being tiny might help.
No.
Thinking of his penis in
any
way was a very bad idea. He smirked as he rejected the slightest notion that his cock could be anything but magnificent.
God
. She was going to lose it in a minute if she didn’t get her head back on track.
Why was he here anyway, and why did he just keep staring at her? Distraction was her enemy right now. He wasn’t just handsome or hot, he was a ruggedly perfect male specimen, but his good looks weren’t the only reason every woman in the room tried to get his attention, and why every man around him definitely tried to look taller and stand a little straighter. She wasn’t the only one caught up in his presence.
This man owned the room. He owned every person in it. If she could only place him. The familiarity of the squareness of his jaw, his impossible good looks, and the close-cropped hair confused her. Should she know him? He wasn’t someone from her drug-hazed lost year was he?
God no, don’t let it be that.
She’d never used her body to get a fix, not that she could remember.
Now, she was just being paranoid and ridiculous. As if anyone like him would be hanging around the seedy side of the tracks. He probably farted money, he was that rich. You could just pick them—smug, entitled, arrogant, and snobbish.
This one didn’t exactly look smug or entitled, he exuded confidence, superiority, and dominance. His dark eyes glittered back at her, as if daring her to stand tall and prove herself superior—like he wanted her to be the one person to smash everyone else in her wake.
God. I’m losing it. Now I’m making a complete stranger into a super hero
. A little further.
Don’t stumble. Holy shit.
I’ve been staring back way too long.
She looked down and realized her shoulders had gone back so far that the voluminous breasts she tried hard to minimize now strained the buttons on her shirt.
Her nipples had peaked, and she thanked someone somewhere for stiff suit material. A hint of a smile played at the corner of his mouth. Wait, he couldn’t know his effect on her, could he? The dark eyes narrowed, flicked to her breasts, and slowly back up her neck, lingering on her mouth and then locking back to her eyes again.
Sarah wanted to drag her gaze away, but he mesmerized her. He licked his lips drawing her attention to his firm mouth and pink tongue. That mouth knew its way around a woman’s body she guaranteed.
A mouth that knew how to roll a nipple between lips and teeth just enough to graze. How hard to suck enough to be begged for more. Knew just where to kiss in her center to bring a crashing orgasm at lightning speed. Sarah closed her eyes for a split second to try and shake the image of him and his mouth buried between her thighs.
When she opened them, she knew he’d picked up what she was putting down, and his predatory stare told her he’d be making her orgasms his number one priority. Now, she just had to convince herself why that was a bad idea because, right now, desperate sex in the toilet stall with a stranger seemed like the best idea in the world. That wouldn’t help her bid for abstinence or sanity.
She needed to concentrate on the client, Cara Brown. This could be a career defining case for her today, and she chased all her demons into a box so she could get the job done. She took a deep breath and joined the circle her team had formed. This was it, and she had to shut out everything else including a dark-haired, muscle-bodied, richer-than-sin man staring at her with a glint of curiosity.
“Sarah. Good morning. How you feeling?” Rick, the head lawyer on the legal team and her immediate boss stepped forward and shook her hand. He was tall as well, but his eyes bordered on being beady, and he always had a leer when females were around.
She’d managed to keep Rick and the other ‘joking around’ suggestive comments from him and his entourage at bay. She knew Cara Brown had a case. The surprising thing was the company was backing Cara and not the old-school attitudes of a minority group, and not all of them were male. It was a strange situation indeed. One Sarah enjoyed very much.
“I’m fabulous, thanks Rick. Yourself?”
“I think we have this in the bag. We’ve had a quick round up of what tactics we’ll take. I’ve decided to do the talking in the court room. If you could just take some notes. Cara is on the witness stand this morning, so things could get messy with—”
“I’m ready for him.” Sarah had worked all week on her line of questioning for the accused.
Rick smiled. Not a friendly smile, it didn’t reach his shifty eyes. “You won’t be needed today, Sarah. Plans have changed, but I’m sure you have some valuable evidence I can use.”
What had happened while she wasn’t here?
Sarah stemmed the anger rising inside her. “I thought—”
“Next time, I promise. But take some notes would you?”
Notes
? She’d aced every one of these condescending assholes with her results. She’d been up till after midnight every night this week following up leads, looking for something to give them an edge.
She believed the client was telling the truth about the level of sexual harassment she’d been subjected to, and she had at least one witness lined up that would testify that the same thing had been happening to her.
“I have someone who’ll testify—”
“I’ll let you know, Sarah. For now, the client is happy to go with our plan.”
“You’ve met with the client already?”
“We all happened to be early, so we thought we’d save some time and speak to Cara.”
“I’m early.”
“Not early enough, it seems.”
“How…
efficient
of you.” Sarah wanted to punch him in the face. And every single one of her other so-called colleagues. They’d blind-sided her under Rick’s direction no doubt. The lot of them smiling assassins. She was stupid not to see that coming. She gripped her briefcase tight and clenched her other hand into a fist. “You asshat.”
Rick gave her a hostile look. “Watch your attitude. We’re a team.”
Sarah scoffed. “Yeah, a male team. Too bad you can’t get rid of me so easy…” She leaned in closer and hissed the words at Rick. Was she angry? Only a lot. Her frustration took over. “Game. On.”
Sarah didn’t miss the flicker of intimidation in Rick’s eyes, as she stared hard at him.
“Oh, before I forget. Sarah Beaumont. This is the man we work for, Mr. Brock Devlin. I’m not sure if you’ve met him before.” Rick moved to the side, and Brock Devlin stepped into her personal space.
Her lungs were starved for air. She’d been holding her breath. He’d gone out of her head the second Rick and his underhanded plan became obvious.
Rick kept talking. “He has a personal interest in this case. Cara is from the youth business training program Mr. Devlin runs every year.” Rick stepped back with a cagey smile. He’d dropped Sarah in the deep end and effectively changed the subject.
Nice work, but I’ll recover
.
Sarah swallowed.
God
.
Brock Devlin
. He was right at the top of the food chain in this country. He owned this company and paid the legal team an absolute mint to get his way in court. No wonder he looked familiar. He was all over the tabloids, the business news, voted number one most eligible bachelor…She could understand why.
And she’d been imagining herself on top of him? Beyond embarrassing and a fantasy in every sense of the word. As. If. Brock Devlin moved with the A-Listers, the red carpet darlings, the unattainable billionaire crowd. Could this day get worse? She hoped not.
She set her posture and turned slowly to look at Brock Devlin.
Stay cool. Just stay cool
. Might be a bit late seeing as
Billionaire Brock
, as he was known in the news, had just witnessed her flashing temper first hand. Another thing she could thank her deadbeat father for. Can’t say he didn’t give her anything.
Thanks, Dad
. Not.
“Mister Devlin.” Sarah held out her hand. “A pleasure to meet you.”
He took her hand in his and shook it lightly. Something zapped between them. A definite energy, and it was very sexual. What the hell, she hadn’t been interested in a man that way since forever. Why now? Why him? Why today? Sarah wished she was sitting down. Or laying down, on a bed…
No.
His eyes were beautiful and dangerous shadows she wanted to explore forever.
Pull it together
. He still held her hand. His skin burned against hers.
Pull your hand out of his. Now.
“Miss Beaumont…The pleasure is all mine, I can assure you.” He moved his hand back and, for a split second, Sarah still didn’t let go. “Please, call me Brock.”
“You’ll have to excuse my apparent lateness and, it seems, my temper.” Sarah wasn’t going to crawl to the big boss with a sob story.
For all she knew, he’d asked Rick to be the front man because he didn’t think anyone else could handle going up against the experience of Duvall’s lawyers. The dark space under a desk was getting more and more attractive.
Brock Devlin smiled at her, and something happened inside that was close to losing her shit.
“I’ve always found if one prepared for something enough, there’s never a need to second guess and arrive too early.” His voice strong and sure.
Boom! Take that Rick
. “Indeed.” She smiled at Brock. Not a huge cheesy grin but close-lipped and half-raised eyebrows, communicating her appreciation of how simply he’d put these chauvinists in their place. Now, Sarah never needed help, never wanted it, but when back-up came in this sexy package, she wouldn’t knock it back.
Brock gave Rick the death stare for a second and addressed them all as a group. “This case is personal for me, you’re right. It’s not just another employee over-reaction or employer needing stress leave.” He moved around the group.
“These are serious allegations. I simply cannot allow my company to be seen to be complacent over harassment of any kind. I will not see this young lady’s reputation ruined because I know she isn’t lying.” He stopped in front of Rick and stared hard at him.
“With due respect, sir, Roger Duvall has been a valuable CEO with your company for twenty years. He has an exceptional record. He has the best lawyers, and a cast of personal and business people to vouch for him. It’s going to be tough to prove,” Rick answered.
“
He
has the best lawyers, has he? Here I was thinking I did. I may need to look over my team a little more closely.” Brock didn’t move. He crossed his arms and smiled. “I know this young lady personally. I don’t believe she is making any of this up, neither do the experts. If Duvall is in the wrong, he will be dealt with according to company policy. He will not be protected by some inner boys club.”
“Mr. Duvall will lose his position in the company if he’s proven guilty.”
Brock got right in Rick’s face. “Trust me, it’s already gone. I won’t stand for women being treated as anything but equals here. I also won’t stand for bullying in any form. Understand?”
Rick looked down to the floor. He stepped back a little, a sure sign of submission, but he said nothing.
“
Do you understand
?”
“Yes, Mr. Devlin.”
“Good. This girl needs to come out of this happy. Make it happen.”