“They won’t let you in the room,” said Charlotte.“The CMC is between counsel and the court.It’s just to set the schedule for discovery, any expert witnesses, and a trial date.”
When she said trial date, the ringing started in my ears again.I must not have done a very good job of hiding my fear, because she reached for my hand.
“It’s okay, Alex.I promise.It’ll be okay,” she said, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze.“You can come if you want to, but you’ll have to wait outside the room.”
“I can do that.”I nodded, wondering how I was supposed to sit in the hallway and wait for someone else to decide what was going to happen to the business I’d worked so hard to build.
––––––––
IGLANCED AT my watchand told myself for the tenth time to get a grip on my fucking emotions.Thinking and feeling rarely went hand-in-hand, and thinking was what I needed for this case.Letting my emotions drive wasn’t normally a problem for me.In the eight years I’d been practicing law, I hadn’t come across a case that yanked my chain as badly as this one.Back Door Cinema versus Alexandra Smithson hit a little too close to home.
After the debacle at Bacchus, I’d gone looking for the Lexi the asshole wannabe saidtrainedhim.I might have embellished my role at the club to convince him I held his fate in my hands, but I had no problem getting him to turn over the contact information for the Gentleman’s Submissive.Hell, by the time I finished, he’d have turned over his mother to avoid having what happened at the club go public.
A bit of digging online led me to Back Door Cinema and their Gentleman’s Submissive film collection.Once they realized I was going to get them money and it wouldn’t cost them anything upfront, they jumped at the chance to become my new client.By the time I finished talking, the film company owner actually seemed to believe a professional submissive on the other side of the state had wronged the adult entertainment company he ran out of his garage.It took some legal massaging to justify the cease-and-desist, but I managed it.
The Gentleman’s Submissive website was fairly vague.Given the nature of the business, I hadn’t expected to find much information online and under normal circumstances, it probably wouldn’t be enough to prevail in this kind of suit.I was motivated.I was tired of seeing people playing pretend at something that was part of who I am.I doubted that Lexi, as her clients called her, had ever been to a dungeon or submitted to a real Dom.I pictured her as a spoiled girl wearing leather and playing around with something she didn’t understand.
Even that wouldn’t have mattered.Everyone should get to explore their sexuality the way they wanted, even if it meant making an ass of themselves.I was a huge proponent of self-expression.The problem I had was that she thought she could train people to do something she obviously didn’t understand, and that was fraud.Her fraud led to someone getting hurt, which was intolerable.
The chamber door opened, and I glanced over my shoulder to see Charlotte Ellis enter.I’d never gone up against the petite blonde before.I hadn’t even heard of her until I saw her name on the court papers and did a little research.She usually handled divorce cases, and she had a well-earned reputation for taking powerful men to the cleaners.She looked more like a China doll than a cutthroat attorney, and I didn’t doubt many men had made the mistake of underestimating her.I wouldn’t, but I still wasn’t sure what she was doing handling an intellectual property case.Unless the defendant was a friend of hers, or given her penchant for eating powerful men for lunch and her client’s patronizing business model, more likely they were both part of some women’s club that hated men.
“Ms.Ellis?”I said, offering her my hand.I knew from the picture on her firm’s website who she was, but it never hurt to ask an easy question, and it certainly never hurt to get someone used to saying yes before you asked for what you really wanted.
“Mr.Jensen.”She took my hand without so much as a nod of agreement, and there was steel in her clear blue eyes.No, it wouldn’t do to underestimate her.
I nodded, grinning in spite of myself as a side door opened and the judge and clerk entered the chambers.It was Judge Black, and I clenched my jaw to hide my grimace.The Honorable Judge Black was notorious for pushing for a settlement in civil cases.Regardless of what my client wanted, settling wouldn’t suit my purpose this time.I shouldn’t even be thinking like that.Again with the emotions.Lawyers were supposed to get the best deal he could for their clients and keep their own crap out of it.I couldn’t help it.I wasn’t going to be satisfied until the Gentleman’s Submissive was out of business.I wasn’t looking for just a punitive settlement; I wanted her gone.
“Counselors,” said the judge.“I assume you have proposed schedules for discovery and some requests for me.”
“Yes, Your Honor,” said Ms.Ellis.“I have our list of potential witnesses.Because of the nature of Ms.Smithson’s business, it would be irreparably damaging to her reputation should her client list be made public, not to mention the potential damage to many others’ reputations.Because the names of clients are not directly relevant to this case, I would urge Your Honor to deny any request made by the opposing counsel to subpoena the records.”
On the wordurge, Judge Black arched an eyebrow and gave Ms.Ellis a look that said she’d overplayed her hand.She’d also jumped the gun, and I couldn’t help but grin at her obvious discomfort.
“The prosecution will not be asking to subpoena client records.There is no reason for the people who’ve already paid for Ms.Smithson’strainingto be subjected to even more trouble as a result of Ms.Smithson’s questionable business practices.”
I was sure I’d caught Ms.Ellis off guard by not requesting a subpoena for the client list, but I wouldn’t be part of contributing to an invasion of the so-called clients’ privacy if I could help it.
“My client is obviously anxious to move things along as quickly as possible,” I said.“Every day the Gentleman’s Submissive is allowed to remain in business, it’s infringing on the rights of my client.”
“I understand your concern, Counselor,” said the judge.“But I will not be pushed for a trial date.Iurge,” the judge glanced over at Ms.Ellis, “both parties to make every effort to come to a solution before going to trial.”
We bantered back and forth a bit about dates.Since neither party seemed interested in dragging out the process, there was surprisingly little disagreement about the schedule, and in less than half an hour, I was nodding to the judge as he left the chamber and snapping my briefcase closed.I tipped my head to Ms.Ellis, who was still tucking papers away as I made my way out the door.I barely managed to hide the break in my stride when I saw the beautiful young woman waiting on the bench in the hallway.
It was the woman from the bar.The one who’d almost fallen in front of me.The same woman who’d managed to rattle my concentration at the benefit.I’d gotten used to her invading my dreams, but I didn’t have any idea what she was doing here, looking like Gal Gadot when Steve Trevor tried to hide her under layers of tweed.The woman in front of me was all wide-eyed innocent and buttoned-up sex in her demure gray suit.Her soft-pink blouse was the only hint at the lush woman underneath the severely cut suit.I knew exactly how fantastic her body was hidden under all that gray.I’d felt it when I held her in my arms.
She stood as if she was there for me, and her gaze met mine.For a moment, it was as if there was some invisible thread tying us together.Some kind of current moving between us, which was fucking rubbish.She was a woman.I wanted her.If the look in her eyes was any indication, she wanted me too.Simple chemistry.It was not some kind of crazy fates colliding situation.The fact that I could still remember how she felt in my arms and that she pulled on every possessive urge I had was incidental.
As I watched, her gaze slid past me and over my shoulder.When I glanced back, Ms.Ellis was hurrying toward us.
“How did it go?”asked the woman I desperately needed to get to know better.Like naked tied to my bed better.
I gave my head a shake to clear away the image of peeling off that gray suit and sliding pink silk over warm flesh until I uncovered the soft, warm woman underneath.What the fuck was I thinking?At the very least, she was a close friend of the opposing counsel.Or she might be...Fuck me.Hard.
Ms.Ellis shook her head almost imperceptibly and the other woman’s eyes went wide, glancing from me to her attorney and back again, obviously coming to the same conclusion that just smacked me in the head.
“Alexandra Smithson,” I said, not bothering to phrase the words as a question when I already knew the answer.Unfucking believable.The woman who’d been playing a starring role in my dreams at night was the same woman I planned to ruin.
I watched the slender column of her throat—a throat I’d pictured with my hand wrapped gently around it as I surged inside her—move as she swallowed hard.
