Provoke

“Yeah, fuck,” he gasped. He bucked his hips, groaning as he released, pulling me down into his arms. “You always make me blow so fucking hard,” he muttered, kissing me on the neck. I giggled and lifted myself off him.

Curling up in his arms, barely awake as he tickled my back, I sighed. This was heaven. His touch against my bare skin was orgasmic. I almost couldn’t handle it.

“Love you, Leets,” he whispered as he nibbled on my ear lobe.

“Love you too,” I mumbled, drifting off.

Chapter Four

Leeta

I braced myself as I walked back into the office after hearing the verdict. They were going to go mental, and no doubt Tim had already told them everything. Pushing through the door, cheers erupted as I walked toward my desk.

“Good work, Leeta!”

I grinned and rolled my eyes, trying to pretend the praise didn’t faze me when in reality, I was fucking loving it. As a new member of the senior team at the office of public prosecutions, this was my first major win, and I had slammed it. The guilty decision had been unanimous, and had taken less than three hours for the jury to reach. Three fucking hours. That was unheard of!

“Very well done, Leeta.”

Donovan Peters, one of the head prosecutors, gave me a hug and handed me a bottle of wine with a fancy label. Ooh, expensive.

“There must have been something special in that closing argument of yours.”

I blushed, thinking back to the moments before in the room, on the phone with Mace. Maybe that had been my secret weapon. Well, having to work that into every trial was something I was more than willing to consider.

“Keep this up and you’ll be moving up the ranks in no time,” he added with a wink.

Wow. I loved the feeling of winning. Always had. Right back to my primary school debate days when I’d made a girl from the opposing team cry over what was the better ice cream flavour.

How could the answer have been anything other than chocolate?

My mind drifted back to the moment the jury had announced their verdict. I had rocked that courtroom like it was my bitch, and it felt great. I couldn’t wait to tell Mace.

Shit. I glanced at my watch. I was running late. I was supposed to be at the restaurant in fiv

e minutes. Peak hour in the city was a nightmare. It would take me at least twenty to get across the city.

“Shit, Tim, I gotta go.” I brushed my lips past his cheek and shimmied on my jacket. “Dinner with my parents and Mace,” I added with a smile.

“Good luck! Text me how it goes, honey.”

#

The damn elevator wouldn’t move fast enough. I stood there staring at the screen that displayed the floor it was on. Why the fuck was it still on level twenty? I reached over and pressed the button, as if it were going to suddenly give a shit that I was running late and hurry up.

Ugh, fuck this. I sprinted toward the stairwell and began my decent, two stairs at a time. Five minutes later, completely breathless I stumbled into the foyer. People glanced at me, taking a wide berth around me.

Yeah, you should see me running up ten flights of stairs. I was so unfit it wasn’t funny.

Smoothing out my suit, I ran out onto the sidewalk and headed in the direction of the station. On my way I texted Mace.

Sorry baby, running late. Be there ASAP xx

No sooner had I’d shoved it back into my jacket pocket than it began to ring. I answered right away, expecting it to be Mace, not my father.

“Where are you?” asked Dad. I rolled my eyes, clearly picking up the annoyance in his tone. God forbid I keep the Colonel waiting. Our relationship had shifted over the years into the strained, awkward one it now was.

There had been a time when I’d been such a daddy’s girl. He’d been my hero. Everything I’d done was with the intention of impressing him—until that became harder and harder to do. Eventually, I realized I needed to put myself first or I’d go insane.