He stopped Brooke before she hit the elevator call button to go upstairs. “I’m sorry.”
She turned to him, her eyes narrowed. “For what?”
“That? Whatever that was.” He’d thought Kristi would stay away after she left her engagement ring and walked out. He should have known better. She seemed to always come back after doing her dramatic exits.
“She’s angry and embarrassed. It’s not your fault.” She tilted her head and stared up at him. “Is her father trying to get you kicked off the board?”
“No.”
Brooke eyed him, looking for what he wasn’t saying. “Cody?”
“Just leave it alone, Brooke.”
She took a step closer to him.
He breathed in her familiar scent and all he wanted to do was pull her into his arms and kiss her. “It’s nothing.”
She took another step, her breasts an inch away from brushing his chest. Her eyes were all-knowing and filled with determination to get him to talk.
So he did. “Her father is very good friends with Beecham.”
“As in the founding partner at your law firm?”
“His son, who has a lot of pull because of his family connection.”
“And what is Kristi’s father asking his friend Beecham to do?”
“What do you think?”
She gaped. “He wants you fired.”
“Oh, it won’t be that simple. I bring in too much revenue. I win a higher percentage of cases than my counterparts.”
“Is he pulling cases from you?”
He leaned in and rubbed his nose against hers because he needed to touch her. “You’re so fucking smart.”
“Cody! You can’t let him get away with this.”
“What do you want me to do? Go to Beecham and plead my case? He knows I’m a valuable asset and is still doing what his friend asked. There’s a rumor that Beecham owed Kirk a favor. He’s called in his marker. Sometimes this is the way the world works. Sometimes, a guy does you a favor because you’re dating his daughter. Sometimes that same guy uses another favor to fuck you because you dumped his daughter.”
She put her hands on his chest. “How can you be so calm about this?”
“Because it doesn’t matter. Nothing matters but you.”
“You can’t mean that. This is your career we’re talking about. You’ve worked so hard to get to where you are right now.”
“And I’ll keep working hard for my clients. I’ll find another law firm if I have to. But be clear, Brooke, after nearly losing you…nothing, not my job, not any fucking thing is more important than you.” He cupped her face. “Can I please kiss you? I need you so fucking bad.”
She went up on tiptoe and kissed him.
He tried to keep it tame, to just get a taste of her, but she had wonderfully amazing other ideas and swept her tongue along hisbottom lip, then deep into his mouth when he opened up. He took the kiss deeper, sliding his tongue along hers, pouring every bit of the love he had for her into the kiss, even as he told the rest of his body—mostly his achingly hard dick—to calm the fuck down, because this was all he could have right now.
He’d take it, whatever she was willing to give, and be happy and grateful for it.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened.
Cody didn’t pay it any mind, until Brooke broke their kiss and her eyes went wide with terror as he shifted his weight to protect her from whatever threat she saw coming.
