Legal Heat (24 page)

He grabbed at it with both hands.

“I’m going to have to hand the case over to someone else. I won’t even consider crossing that line. If you’ve been honest with me, it’s a simple case, and Gordon can handle it for you, but if you want it to stay in the firm, Tony—”

Steele cut him off. “Unacceptable.”

Mark shrugged. “Your only other option is to let me run the case in the normal way. No threats. No warnings.”

“Also unacceptable. She seems to have forgotten what kind of case she’s supposed to be running. And you seem to have forgotten just how reliant your firm is on Hi-Tech’s legal work. I have the means to save your firm from becoming another casualty of the recession. All I ask is that you get the little kitty off the case. I don’t care how.”

Mark folded his arms. “I won’t do it. I’m sorry. I’m afraid I have to step down.”

Steele studied him for a long moment. “What about the deposition tomorrow?”

“I won’t prejudice your case. I’ll lodge my withdrawal documents with the court this afternoon, but if you can’t find new counsel, or Ms. Sinclair refuses an adjournment, then I’ll attend at court tomorrow morning to make an emergency application to have the deposition delayed.” He stiffened and prepared himself for Steele’s explosive temper.

But Steele didn’t react as he expected.

“I’m disappointed but not surprised,” Steele said bitterly. “I always knew it would come to this. You’ve never had the balls to take the risks that separate the men from the boys. I won’t forget your betrayal.” His low voice sent chills down Mark’s spine. He had never seen this side of Steele. His quiet menace had every hair on Mark’s neck standing on end and his fists clenched and ready to strike.

Steele slammed his briefcase closed and pulled open the door. “I’ll have to handle Kowalski and that naughty kitty myself.”

“You need to calm down.”

Katy paced up and down the small meeting room at Richards & Moretti. “Don’t tell me what I need, Tony. If I was calm, I would already have called the Law Society.” She glared. “Where is he? If he isn’t here in the next five minutes…”

The door opened and Mark stepped inside, his face grim. “What’s going on? I could hear you from my office, as could our staff and clients. Steele was here. You’re lucky he didn’t recognize your voice.”

“What’s going on?” she shrieked. “You tampered with my witness.”

“I did no such thing.” Mark walked around the table to stand beside Tony.

“You did. Patricia Cunningham was willing to talk to me, but when I stopped by her house this afternoon, she sent me away. She said you’d been to see her this morning. I don’t think there could be any clearer case of tampering.”

She felt no relief once the words were out. Her anger had been building since Patricia had suddenly gone tight lipped and sent her home. Fuming in rush hour traffic hadn’t helped. She hadn’t even gone back to her office. She had come straight to see Mark. She wanted answers. She wanted to know how she had been so naïve as to trust him.

“I didn’t know you had planned to interview her. It was a coincidence.” He spoke with a calm even rhythm as if he was explaining something complicated to a child. “You know there is no property in a witness.”

“Bullshit. I don’t believe it. I told you about the interview. I trusted you and you turned around and stabbed me in the back.” She clenched her fists by her sides. “We can both interview the witness, but one of us can’t coerce the witness into refusing to talk.”

“Stop right there.” Mark’s rejoinder echoed in the small space. “You told me you were going to interview a witness in Burnaby. You didn’t say who it was.”

Tony held up his hands. “I’ve known Mark a long time. I’ve worked with him in two businesses. I trust him implicitly. If he says he didn’t know, then he didn’t know. He doesn’t play games in his practice. He is always totally above board. Sometimes too much.”

Katy clenched her teeth and focused on taking deep breaths. Of course Tony would back him up. He stood to benefit from any profit Mark made in the case. “I don’t believe you either. You’re probably in this together.”

Mark’s face tightened. “You’re overreacting. Why don’t you sit down and we can discuss this without all the hysterics?”

If she’d been angry before, his condescending tone tipped her over the edge. “Don’t you dare patronize me,” she yelled. She yanked out the heavy tortoiseshell clip holding back her hair. “You push and you push and when finally I give in and trust you, you betray me. Just. Like. Steven.”

Mark ducked as the clip skimmed past his head and smacked against the glass window behind him. Katy’s hair spilled out across her shoulders in a glorious chestnut wave. The fire of her fury drew him like nothing else. Her eyes glittered, her cheeks flushed and her breasts heaved under her tight shirt. She looked as delectable as she had on the judge’s desk in the courtroom. Maybe more.

But first, he had to sort out this mess. What the hell had she been doing at the Cunninghams’ house? Even he had trouble believing his own explanation about a coincidence, but he still didn’t know why she needed to speak with Patricia.

With a quick nod, he sent Tony away and walked around the boardroom table, stopping just inches away from her. She trembled but didn’t back down. Instead, she held his gaze, her anger clear in the taut lines of her face.

He cupped her cheek and stared into the raging blue sea. “I didn’t betray your trust and I did not purposely tamper with the witness.”

Purposely
. He had to say it because if Patricia Cunningham had truly changed her mind about talking to Katy, then in some way he had influenced her. Maybe he should have said knowingly.

Her breath hitched and she pulled away. “I’m done here. We’re done. I’m going to speak to Ted about getting removed from the case so I never have to see you again.”

She turned to go but Mark snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her toward him. “I won’t let you leave until we clear this up.”

“You can’t keep me here.” Her voice rose to a high pitch. She twisted around and tried to push him away, but she was no match for his strength.

He locked his arm and pulled her tightly against him. “Calm down, sugar. You’re overreacting.”

Wrong thing to say. She shrieked and wiggled as she tried to escape. The soft, sweet curve of her breasts rubbed against his chest, her pelvis ground into his shaft, and when he slid his hand over the curve of her ass to hold her still, he realized she was wearing that damn garter belt.

“Be still.” His heart raced and blood roared through his veins, fuzzing his brain with carnal passion until there was nothing but the scent of her arousal, the heat of her anger and the tormenting rub of her body against his. His control began to slip, disappearing too fast for him to catch it, until he had nothing to go on but primal instinct.

“Fuck.” He grabbed her, shoved up her skirt and slammed her against the wall, cupping her sweet ass in his hands. She moaned and wrapped her legs around him, pressing her mound firmly against his erection, barely restrained by the thin layers of clothing between them.

“Even when I hate you I want you,” she spat out.

“Listen to me.” He raised his voice above the rasp of her labored breathing. “I didn’t tamper with your witness, and as of this afternoon, I’m off the case. As promised. No more conflict.”

He slanted his head and pressed his mouth firmly against hers, forcing her lips open. His tongue invaded her, thrusting and demanding until she shuddered and met him stroke for stroke. Her legs tightened around him as he plundered her mouth, taking what she gave, demanding more.

“You’re off the case?” she murmured against his lips.

“Yes.”

“Nothing to come between us?”

“Nothing.” He choked out the word barely able to speak with the effort of containing weeks of pent up sexual frustration.

She licked his bottom lip. “You didn’t tamper with my witness?”

“No.”

“Kiss me again.” Her throaty demand was all the encouragement he needed.

With a low groan, he dove back into the sweet honey of her mouth and their lips fused in a kiss that sent a wave of heat scorching through him. Her teeth slid across his lip and the metallic tang of blood rolled over his tongue. The primal taste stripped away the last thread of his control. He pulled away and yanked her head back, exposing her throat to his lips, his tongue and the sharp nip of his teeth. He breathed in her scent, sultry and sensual, and his cock throbbed in response.

“I want you, sugar.” He nipped the delicate skin at the base of her throat and laved his way down to the cleft of her breasts. He wanted to live out every fantasy of her he had ever had.

Here.

Now.

Without waiting for her answer, he tore open her shirt. Buttons pattered across the carpet like raindrops. She moaned and kissed him harder, a clashing of lips and teeth, stoking the fire of his hunger for her.

“More.” Her moan vibrated against his chest, inflaming him.

He shoved the fabric aside and flicked the front closure of her bra, freeing her soft mounds for his pleasure. He took one rosy nipple between his teeth and bit and suckled until she whimpered and writhed against him, grinding her pussy against his throbbing shaft. The barrier between them became unbearable. He wanted to feel her. Everywhere.

“I need you,” she groaned. “Can’t wait.”

Spurred by the ferocity of his need and her arousal, he pinned her to the wall with his hip and pulled a condom from his wallet, tearing the packet open with his teeth. “I’m going to take you, sugar. Hard and fast. If you want me to stop, tell me now.” He barely recognized his own voice, dark and husky with need. He ripped her panties away with a quick jerk then undid his belt and slid his clothing down his thighs.

She placed a hand on his chest and lifted her eyes, half lidded with desire.
So beautiful
. He could feel the warmth of her palm through his shirt. For a long second, anxiety ratcheted through him. Would she push him away? If she did, would he be able to go?

With a sudden movement, she tore open his shirt and raked her nails down his chest. Buttons shot across the room like bullets. Blood beaded on his skin.

“Christ.” The need to possess her obliterated his rational mind. In one swift motion, he sheathed his cock and then plunged into her hot, slick entrance.
So fucking wet.
The urge to drive further into her became unbearable. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her down until he was buried deep. Her sex closed around him like a hot velvet sheath and he set up a steady rhythm, one he knew he couldn’t keep up for long.

“Don’t stop.” She rocked her hips against him seeking the friction of his body against her clit. He slid one hand between them and rubbed her moisture up and around her swollen nub until her groans became whimpers and his fingers were slick with her wetness.

“God, I love the sounds you make,” he rasped.

He rubbed one finger over her clit and changed to a hammering pace. Her body tightened and she arched her back, digging her nails into his shoulders. When she stiffened and gasped, he covered her mouth with his own, swallowing her scream as her pussy convulsed around him in heated waves.

Exquisitely tight. Unbearably wet.

His cock, denied for so long, pulsed inside her throbbing sex. He pulled almost all the way out, and then slammed into her, yanking her against him. Two strokes were all it took before he came in a violent rush. A groan ripped out of his throat, drowning the hammering of blood in his ears.

When her tremors had finally slowed, he pulled back and studied her for a long moment, drinking in her dazed eyes and swollen lips. “You’re beautiful when you come, sugar,” he whispered.

He withdrew, smiling at her unhappy moan after he let her down to dispose of the condom and adjust his clothing. But when she reached to pull down her skirt, he grabbed her hand.

“I’m not done with you yet.”

She gave him a wicked grin. “Good. Because I’m not done with you.”

He lifted her and placed her on the table in front of him, positioning her near the edge, legs bent, and heels planted. “Lie back,” he commanded.

She bit her lip but did as he asked. “What about my plans for you?” she whispered as he gently pressed her thighs apart and settled down between her legs.

A smile curled his lips. “Don’t worry, sugar. The night is still young.”

Katy wiggled off Mark’s lap and straightened her clothes. She wasn’t in the mood to be cuddled. Despite the mind-blowing orgasm on his boardroom table, the beat of desire still pulsed through her veins. Unleashed. Out of control.

She didn’t know this Katy Sinclair—half undressed, lips swollen, hair tangled, nipples aching, core throbbing—the woman who had just fucked opposing counsel in his boardroom.

Fucked
. A harsh word. A forbidden word. A word that had earned Justin a week long electronics ban.

But apt. The last hour had been nothing but hard, dirty, desperate fucking.

It was what she had dreamed of in her bed at night and imagined during their phone call. It was what she thought about every time she saw him. So why wasn’t it enough? Why did she hunger for more? What if this was all he wanted—the thrill of the chase, the satisfaction of conquest, and no strings when he walked away?