I withdrew my fingers and she groaned with frustration.
“Lay down,” I demanded. “Get rid of the bra.”
She obeyed and I watched her, overcome with how unbelievably fucking hot my woman was. Spread out on my desk, her chest moving up and down in anticipation, nipples hard and pink, eyes locked on me as I undressed.
“You want me, babe?” I asked as I pulled a condom from the pocket of my jeans and rolled it on.
“Mmm, yes.”
I slid her ass down to the edge of the desk and took hold of her ankles, keeping them in the air as I thrust my cock deep inside her. It was perfect. I took her hard and fast just like that and she held onto the sides of my desk for support.
I wanted more, but I could feel her pussy starting to spasm around me. She was about to come hard, and I couldn’t make her wait for it. I gave it to her faster, my balls slapping her ass with every thrust, and her eyes never left mine as she moaned through sealed lips, trying not to be too loud.
As soon as she was done, I squeezed her ankles and came myself, holding back a hard groan. She gave me a half-smile, her eyes sleepy with satisfaction.
I never got enough of her. It was the way I’d felt about coke before prison. Much of life was spent just waiting for my next fix.
The desperation and willingness to do violence weren’t there, but then, I’d never been subjected to withdrawal from Viv. If anyone ever tried to take her from me, I’d do whatever I had to do to stop them.
Viv
A FEW DAYS LATER, I was laying eyes on Kane for the first time since our dinner in his office, but it wasn’t making me as happy as I’d expected it to.
Oh, hell no. I wasn’t having any of this.
Samantha, one of the paralegals at my office, was giving Kane a coy smile. He stood near Charlene’s desk, right on time for our meeting. But he couldn’t get to my office since Samantha had her hooks in him.
“You must lift weights,” she said, her eyes wide as she squeezed his bicep. “Oh my gosh, it’s so hard.”
I picked up my pace and covered the rest of the distance between me and Kane.
“Samantha,” I said sternly.
“Oh. Sorry.”
“You ought to be. Keep your hands to yourself.” I glared at her. “Get back to work.”
Amusement flickered across Kane’s face, but he cleared his throat to cover it. I cocked my head in the direction of my office and he followed.
He walked in behind me and closed the door. “You’ve got a possessive streak, babe.”
“She was grabbing you. Acting like a bitch in heat.”
I grabbed a handful of his t-shirt and led him to a corner of my office that couldn’t be seen through the glass door. As soon as I slid my hands around the back of his neck¸ he cupped my backside and squeezed, giving me a hungry look.
“I’ve missed you,” he said, kissing me softly and tugging my lower lip between his teeth.
My body warmed in response to him, which felt forbidden in my office.
“Sorry I’ve been so tired,” I said.
“You’ve been working long hours. It’s understandable.”
“You work long hours, too.”
He pulled back a little and looked at me. “Yeah, but if I don’t come over til after midnight, I expect you’ll be tired.”
I sighed and nodded. I’d been coming in early and staying late every day, catching up on the workload I’d already had when I took on the Cartwright case and also working on that one. Marcus had apparently taken me onto the case so I could do most of the work and he could take the credit. But such was life for a young attorney.
“We’ve got five minutes til the meeting,” Kane said in a low tone.
I smiled and ran a hand up from his neck into his short hair. “I think Cara’s ready for us now, actually.”
His body stiffened and I realized how nervous he must be.
“Is this gonna be good or bad?” he asked. “I can handle it, just tell me.”
“I honestly don’t know. Let’s go find out together.”
Nodding somberly, he pulled away and we left my office, making the short walk to Cara’s three doors down the hall. I knocked once and opened the door.
“Ready?”
She looked up from her computer and took her reading glasses off. “Yeah. Come on in.”
We went in and I closed the door. Cara had the blinds inside her glass office door drawn, so we had privacy. Kane and I both took a chair in front of Cara’s desk and she looked between us.
“I’ve had a couple conversations with Corinne Martindale’s counsel,” Cara said. I tried to read her expression, because I could usually tell whether it was good or bad news. But I was getting nothing.
“Miss Martindale was surprised by our request,” Cara said, focusing on Kane. “She was shook up at first. I think her initial reaction was fear that you want to seek joint custody.”
“No.” Kane looked pained. “I didn’t mean to—”
“I know. And I had explained your intentions clearly. But she was still upset by it. I explained to her counsel again that this is nothing more than what it appears to be. That you’d like a meeting with your daughter, but you don’t want to upset Miss Martindale or your daughter.”
I took Kane’s hand and he squeezed mine back, hard.
“She said a visit isn’t a good idea,” Cara said softly.
I heard Kane’s deep, disappointed exhale. It was all I could do not to jump Cara. She was more tenacious than this. It was one of the reasons I’d asked her to take the case.
Cara continued. “I reminded her counsel that you’re paid to date on child support, Mr. Kane. You’ve actually paid more than you were court ordered to pay. And you’ve been a law-abiding citizen with no legal issues since your release from prison. Your parole officer vouched for you. I pretty much told her counsel they will be seeing us in court if she makes no concessions.”
“I really don’t want it to come to that,” Kane said, shaking his head. “Cori’s just looking out for Brooklyn.”
“Well, Miss Martindale came back with an offer to allow the meeting as long as she can also be present.”
Kane went still. I held my breath as I processed Cara’s words.
“That’s good,” I said softly. “That means he gets to meet her. How do you feel about Cori being there?”
I turned to Kane. He took his hand away from mine and buried his face in his hands, his elbows resting on his knees. All he could do was nod.
I smiled at Cara, tears blurring my vision. “That’s it then? Any more strings?”
She shook her head. “No. I have her phone number and we’ve agreed that a neutral location is best.”
“Got it.”
Kane’s wide shoulders were shaking now. I met Cara’s gaze and she got up from her desk and slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her.
I blinked and let my tears escape, brushing them away with my fingers. Kane was breathing deeply when I got to my knees in front of him, his chest rising and falling with each inhale and exhale. I put my hands on his forearms, needing to touch him.
“It’s happening,” I said. “You get to meet her.”
His big body shook with the effort of holding back a sob. I pulled his hands away from his face and kissed the tears on his cheeks that hadn’t disappeared into his beard yet. He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him, holding me fiercely close. I rubbed a hand over his back as he buried his face in my neck and cried.
I was in love with him. The realization hit me hard and sure. This was one of the best moments of my life, sharing something so deep and emotional with him.
“Fuck.” His voice was muffled by my hair. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize for this. It’s a huge thing, Kane. You’re meeting Brooklyn.”
He tightened his grip on me again. “I can’t believe it. I never expected this. I wanted to be able to say I tried, like you said, but . . . I can’t believe this is real.”