“Get a fucking grip on yourself, Walker. You’ve got this. It’s just another case, that’s all.”
Placing my hands on the table, I took in another deep breath. “That’s it. Just another client with a dickhead husband. That’s all this is.”
“Mr. Walker, I’ve brought the water into Mrs. Jackson. She asked where you were, sir.”
Glancing over my shoulder at Karen, I nodded. “Thank you. I’ll be right there.”
I needed a few moments to get my head in the right place. I wanted to take Sierra in my arms and kiss her senseless, then go pound her ex-husband’s face into the ground. Sighing, I headed back into the conference room.
Sierra was standing at the end of the conference table looking out the window.
Shutting the door, I walked back to the table and sat down. “I need to ask you a few questions, Sierra,” I said as I took a long drink of water.
Sierra wrapped her arms around her body. “Can you win this case, Dodge?”
Swallowing hard, I looked at her file and said, “Yes. I’m going to do everything in my power, Sierra, to bring this motherfucker down.”
“That’s all I needed to know. What did you want to ask me?”
Closing my eyes, I pushed my personal feelings for Sierra down. I needed to focus on the case and that meant I needed to not look at how incredibly beautiful she looked today. Or the fact her perfume was driving me insane.
Opening my eyes, I looked at Sierra. “Why didn’t you press charges against him?”
Her posture sunk and she shook her head. “He was drunk. I was the one who let him into the house and—”
“Don’t you dare say it was your fault. Do not utter those words from your lips, Sierra. No one deserves to be hit.”
Sierra turned around and my world came to a stop when I saw the tears rolling down her face. I’d never in a million years thought I’d see Sierra with her guard down. “I knew he was drunk when I let him in, Dodge. He was upset and kept going on and on about how he had messed things up so bad.” Looking down, Sierra took in a deep breath. “I told him I didn’t care and he had to leave. He made the choices he did and I didn’t care anymore.”
“Then what happened?”
Sierra’s blue eyes met mine. “He told me he wanted me and I laughed at him. It made him mad and he hit me. He’s never once touched me before, Dodge. Something in his eyes changed and I knew he regretted it the moment it happened.” Closing her eyes she whispered, “Dodge, I don’t want to talk about this. I get what he did was wrong; believe me I get it. I thought long and hard about this. I’m not pressing charges.”
Turning away from me she stared out the window. Standing, I walked over to her. I wanted nothing more than to pull her into my arms and hold her. “Did he threaten you and tell you not to press charges?”
“No. He cried and begged me to forgive him. Said it would never happen again.”
Placing my hands on her shoulders, I turned her to me. Placing my finger on her chin, I forced her eyes to mine. “Sierra, I know you well enough to know you wouldn’t let him get away with this if you didn’t have a reason.”
“Please, Dodge, please just let it go.”
“Sierra, I swear to you, I will protect you with everything I have in me if you want to go after this fucker for doing that to you.”
A single tear rolled down her cheek as I wiped it away with my thumb. Sierra’s body instantly came alive, but she quickly put up a mask. “If you’re trying to be my hero, Dodge, you can stop. It may work on the girls you served at the bar . . . but it won’t work on me.”
Dropping my hands to my side, I walked back to the table as I cursed under my breath. Fighting down the incredible urge I had to tell her off and kiss her, I said, “Fine. I’m dropping this . . . for now.”
Going through the notes, I continued on. “This affair he is accusing you of. Is it true?”
Dropping down in her seat, Sierra glared at me. “Excuse me?”
Gesturing to the file, I asked, “Is it true? The affair?”
Sierra’s mouth dropped open as she shook her head. “Really? You’re asking me if I cheated on my husband?”
“Yes, Sierra. I am.”
“No, Aaron. I did not cheat on my husband. I’ve never cheated on anyone, ever.”
Pulling out my notepad, I made some notes. “Why hasn’t this Jeremy been called in to give a deposition?”
Shrugging her shoulders, Sierra said, “You’d have to ask my old lawyer. Robert just threw this latest twist at us two days ago. Maybe he didn’t have time to follow up.”
“Hmm. Probably. The first thing we are going to need to do is bring this guy in. Coworker of yours?”
Shaking her head, she said, “Nope. Friend from college, and Robert was always jealous of our friendship.”
Looking at her, I asked, “Have you ever slept with him?”
Shaking her head, Sierra smirked as she said, “No. He’s gay. Robert doesn’t know that though.”
Nodding my head, I wrote some more notes. “That works in our favor. Don’t say anything to him. As a matter of fact, I don’t want you even communicating with Robert from this point on. Any emails or text messages you receive from him I want you to forward them to me immediately.”
Sierra’s eyes lit up and she smiled a breathtaking smile. “What?” I asked.
“Nothing. It’s just nice to actually feel like I might have a chance to win this thing. My last lawyer was a pussy. I was actually scared he was going to crawl into a corner and pull his knees up to his chest and bury his face as he chanted how scared he was.”
Letting out a chuckle, I shook my head. “Ed is a good guy. He’s just doesn’t realize it was time to retire . . . ten years ago.”
Sierra let out a giggle as she flashed me a smile that had me catching my breath.
My heart hurt for Sierra. I knew it was going to be hard as hell to keep my hands to myself with her, but I had to. I would not let my father down on this, nor was I going to let Sierra down. I needed to keep my feelings in check.
“I’m sorry you didn’t feel like you had a chance before. That’s all about to change, Sierra. Your ex is going down.”
Sierra licked her lips and my dick jumped. Glancing back down at the paperwork, I cleared my throat and said, “Okay. Well, let me start going over all of this and I’ll be back in touch with you either tomorrow or the next day. This is my only case, so I will be able to devote one hundred percent of my time to you.”
Wiggling her eyebrows, Sierra stood. “I bet you say that to all the girls.”
Rolling my eyes, I let out a sigh as I looked her over. Fuck she had a nice body. She was wearing a beige skirt that hugged her hips perfectly, beige high heels and a white sleeveless shirt.
Her blonde hair was down and flowed freely below her shoulders. I imagined it in a ponytail and me holding it tight while I fucked her from behind. Shaking my head, I let out a quick breath. Shit. I need to stop this.
“Perfect. I’m going to be heading down to south Texas in about a week, so if you need me for anything before I go, you’ll let me know right?”
Panic began to set it. Why was she going to south Texas? Was it to see Ryn and Tristan? Or was she going to see Chris, Tristan’s best friend from high school? We had met him on South Padre when Tristan invited us all down. He wanted their close friends there for when he asked Ryn to marry him.
Clearing my throat, I stood and gathered up the file. Anger started building as I thought about the night Sierra and Chris had been all over each other on the dance floor at a club. I wasn’t sure if she ended up sleeping with him or not. My best guess was she had. No matter how hard I tried to be nice to Sierra, she always came back with smart-ass responses. I knew it was her way to guard her heart, but the fact that she had been with Chris boiled my blood.
Starting to the door, I said, “It’s probably best to keep your relationship with Chris on the down low, Sierra. Robert might try and use it against you.”
Sierra stopped dead in her tracks and looked at me. “What?”
Opening the door, I said, “I’ll be in touch after I look through your file. Do you need me to show you out?”
Sierra’s mouth dropped open as she stood there. I thought I saw hurt move across her face before she looked away and walked past me. “No, I know my way out, thank you.”
Watching her walk down the hallway, I couldn’t help but notice how nice her ass moved as she walked.
Jesus, I need to stay focused.
“So, Aaron, what did you think of the lovely Mrs. Jackson?” my father asked from behind me.
Glancing over my shoulder at him, I smiled. “I think she has an asshole husband who will stop at nothing to get his hands on the trust fund she inherited and make her life miserable. He seems to be a bit pissed his wife actually had the nerve to leave him.”
Walking up, my father stood next to me as Sierra turned the corner and headed out of the office. “Did you talk her into pressing charges against the husband for the night he decided to use her as a punching bag?”
Shaking my head, I whispered, “Not yet. But I intend on getting to the bottom of why she hasn’t pressed charges.”
Slapping me on the back, my father said, “That’s what I wanted to hear. Get to it, son.”
My father walked away, leaving me alone in my thoughts. Making a vow to myself right there that I would push away any feelings I might have toward Sierra so I could concentrate on this case. I’d work her divorce case with everything I had and the last thing I needed was Sierra as a distraction. Besides, it was clear she was in a relationship with Chris. She was going to south Texas to be with him for fuck’s sake.
Blowing out a sharp breath, I headed back to my office. Walking past the break room, I glanced in and saw Karen making a cup of coffee. Walking in, I shut the door and made my way over to her.
When she turned around, she bit down on her lower lip and smiled. I’d yet to make a move on her and now was the perfect time. Anything to get my mind off of the sweet little piece of ass that just walked away from me. The moment I met Sierra, a spark flew between us but we continued to push each other away.