"Before we get started, I would like to introduce our new attorney, Mr. Parker Williams. He will officially start on Monday, but Mr. VanBuren thought it would be beneficial to have him in this meeting so he could familiarize himself with the New York expansion, especially since his internship was in the state. Feel free to ask him any questions afterward," I said. I glanced around the room, until my eyes fell on Parker. The moment only lasted a few seconds, but in my mind, time stood still.

Parker"s voice interrupted my thoughts and the discussion continued. Carl, a senior attorney, seemed very pleased with the results of the meeting and how we had progressed with the project. "I"ll have my team draw up some paperwork by the end of next week, Ms. VanBuren," he said.

"Thanks, Carl." I gave him a firm handshake. "I really appreciate your hard work with this expansion. Dad is really excited to open a firm in New York."

"Are you?" he asked. The man had known me since I was a pre-teen, many people here had. The older crowd could see right through my thoughts and feelings.

"I"m looking forward to it," I said, not lying. I knew it meant more traveling, but New York was beautiful, and the city seemed to draw me to it. Construction was going on in downtown New York as we spoke; a full renovation of an old building, but with that meant lots of paperwork. Before I left the meeting, I interrupted a group of a.s.sociate attorneys, who were chatting away about law school and bar exams with Parker.

"Mr. Williams, I"d like to see you in my office once you"ve finished, please."

When I walked away, I could hear the group of them go, "Ooooh. What did you do?"

I never heard his response.

As soon as I walked into my office and sat at my desk, Parker entered. Before he could even fully enter from the doorway, I spoke. "I think we should start over. We got off to a bad start, and it has been continuous," I said, firmly.

Parker leaned against my door with a s.h.i.t-eating grin. His blue eyes sparkled with intent, and his closed lips held unspoken words. I waited for him to say something, to even mention the night when we got lost in a kiss, acknowledge it in some way, so I would know that it was as real for him as it was for me. I intertwined my fingers and waited for him to speak, but he never did. His silence was worse than any words. This was becoming all too complicated.

Parker knew my secrets. He knew them all, and he would somehow use them to his advantage.

"So much for starting over," I mumbled after he exited.

f.u.c.king lawyers.

f.u.c.king men.

After a few minutes, my phone buzzed, and I picked it up to read the text message.

Bartender: I"d still like that coffee.

I didn"t reply, and promptly changed his name from Bartender to Don"t Reply.

SINGLE: VOLUME 1 BY LYRA PARISH.

12.

The next two weeks pa.s.sed by so quickly that I didn"t even realize it was Thursday until someone asked me what my plans were for the weekend. Odd how that happened. How we work so hard on Monday, then before we knew it, another week was gone. I supposed that was how someone worked forty years at a place and talked about how it felt like just yesterday when they started.

I hadn"t spoken to Parker since I pulled him into my office after the meeting two weeks ago. Apparently, he"d settled into his office just fine and was the talk of the floor for the first week. The interns loved him, and so did marketing, procurement, special projects, purchasing, and the economists. The whole f.u.c.king building loved him. There were several times when I thought about texting him for that coffee, but what was the point? We worked together. It couldn"t happen. Immediately, he was on my off-limits list, next to the married men and gay guys. I was the b.u.t.t of cupid"s joke right now.

I needed a refill of coffee, and while I poured creamer into the bottom of my cup, a warm body reached into the fridge for a bottle of water. For the first time in weeks, he was next to me. My heart raced, and little flutters filled me. Instantly, I turned my head to focus on my coffee.

His gravelly voice was no louder than a whisper as he stood beside me in the break room. "Have you always been like this outside of the lifestyle?"

My body tensed, and cold fear rushed over me. Why would he bring this up here, in the open, and at f.u.c.king work?

I whipped my face around and looked into his blue eyes, "Like what, Mr. Williams?" I said between gritted teeth.

"Wound so tight that you cut off the circulation in every man"s pants. Look around you, Rox. Look at all their faces. You"re wearing stilettos, calling the shots, while you steal everyone"s happiness . . . even your own. You"re in control here, in every aspect."

I balled my fists, and before I could retort, he turned and walked away. Parker Williams had b.a.l.l.s, but I was willing to bet mine were bigger. He didn"t know who he was messing with. Immediately, I went back to my office and grabbed a huge stack of contracts, then walked over to his.

"Mr. Williams," I said placing the stack on his desk. "I"ll need you to go through these contracts and do a comparison of the verbiage to make sure nothing has changed."

He looked down at the contracts and then glared back at me. I looked at him with my arms crossed and waited for him to say one word, but he didn"t. Eventually, he would resent me, and that was exactly what I wanted.

At seven p.m., I walked into Parker"s office, and he was busy going through the contracts. I added another stack to the already large one.

"Why are you doing this?" he asked.

"You tell me why you"re doing this? Hmm. Maybe because you are a corporate attorney for VanBuren Investments? Maybe because you are one of the top-picked, upcoming lawyers in the U.S.? So why not have the best eyes double check the proposals that could make or break our budget?"

Parker stood, walked to the door, and shut it. He turned and looked at me, then stood inches from my mouth. "I"ll ask you again. Why are you doing this?"

I held on to each word. "Because. I"m. The. f.u.c.king. Boss," I said, not backing down. He moved away from me and sat on the other side of his desk, then continued going through the stacks of paper. I had to give it to him; he was quick and well practiced from his internship.

"Anything else, Ms. VanBuren? Are you finished flaunting yourself in my office?"

I leaned over the desk until I was eye to eye with him. For a moment, I forgot that I was mad, and forgot what I was going to say. His eyelashes brushed the tops of his cheeks as he looked down at the words on the pages.

"Are you going to stand there gawking? Why not pull up a chair and watch me work? Maybe you can even micro-manage me for the rest of the week because you"re the boss."

The sarcasm wasn"t lost on me. I rolled my eyes and slammed the door behind me. There was no one left in the office, except for a few people on the other side of the building. I went into my office, grabbed my keys and purse, and left. I couldn"t be there for one more minute. During the drive home, my mind was flooded with Parker. f.u.c.king Parker, who had a mouth on him.

After I got home, Stacey called me and asked if I wanted to go out again this weekend. Orleans was having a costume party every weekend until Halloween, but I didn"t feel like it, and didn"t understand the d.a.m.n point. For s.e.x? s.e.x was great, but really? I wasn"t desperate, and Parker proved just how easy it was to see straight through those pathetic masks. No f.u.c.king thanks.

When I got home, I went straight to the tub, turned on the hot water, and filled it to the top. Sometimes when I was aggravated, a hot bath would help calm my nerves. I let the water sit for a few minutes as the steam rose, floating around the bathroom. When I stepped in, it was so hot that it burned my skin, but I didn"t care. I needed to feel something other than the crazy emotions that were streaming through my body. When I closed my eyes, all I could see was his face, and for a moment, I felt horrible for making him do that work. Menial tasks such as those really should be a.s.signed to an intern.

I shouldn"t have let my emotions get the best of me.

When I got out of the tub, I crawled into bed and fell asleep almost instantly, something that hadn"t happened all week.

Parker pushed me against the wall and kissed me, and I melted in his hands. The next thing I knew, we were in my bedroom, and he was laying me down on the bed. Everything about him and that moment was perfect. Then we were instantly naked. He was kissing me all over.

"This can"t be real," I whispered.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because I don"t bring people home with me."

"I"m not just people, Katie. We are more than that."

"My name isn"t Katie."

"Shhhhh," he said as I straddled him.

Everything about the moment was perfect, except for the constant buzzing in the background.

I woke up gasping for air as my alarm screamed at me. What the h.e.l.l!

I showed up to work at six. Parker"s light was on, and when I pa.s.sed by, he looked up at me, then looked back at his computer. I kept walking toward my office, trying to forget the images of him seared into my brain from that dream. When I walked inside, the large stack of contracts was neatly placed on my desk with a note that read "Finished." I couldn"t believe that he had compared that many in so little time.

The papers had colorful flags sticking out of the sides, and under my keyboard lay a sheet of paper with the differences typed neatly, along with references and page numbers. My mouth fell open. It must have taken him all night to get through this, and I felt like a b.i.t.c.h who let her emotions get in the way.

My morning routine started the same way it did every other day. Emails and meetings. I was on a conference call that ran over, and arrived late for the morning meeting.

Parker was speaking, and when I walked in, he looked at me, and then addressed the room. "As I was saying. In the report that I sent late last night, an amendment to this contract needs to be made as soon as possible. There are millions of dollars on the table, and because someone didn"t change the verbiage of one clause, the budget of the project could double, and no one . . . let me repeat, no one, wants that to happen," he said.

Maybe I did make the right decision in having him look over everything. A smile lingered on my face as the law team looked at each other. They had read the terms Parker had pulled, the ones that VanBuren had agreed to. I made detailed notes, and would bring these issues up to the board of directors during my ten o" clock meeting.

"Look at section 2.3. This is poor wording. It needs to be changed," Parker said.

Carl spoke up. "Good work, son. I will get on this immediately. Thank you for bringing it to my attention. After I create the amendment, I"d like you to take a look at it, then we will bring it to Roxane."

"So, what exactly does this mean?" I asked.

"This means you need to contact the project manager of the job in New York and tell them you are sending an amendment to the contract that they need to have their attorneys look over," Parker said.

I made a note. "I"m going to New York next week. I"ll schedule a meeting with him, but will call and explain what"s going on. I"m sure it will be no problem."

Parker hadn"t even been here a month, and he was already catching mistakes that our team made. Not just that, he possibly saved us millions of dollars, as long as the project manager agreed to sign. That was the tricky part. But I had my ways of getting people to do the right thing. Most didn"t walk all over me because I had learned to wear the pants early on. Some men hated a woman who took control the way I did. I thrived on it. He would do whatever I needed him to.

When the meeting finished, I stood and walked out. I stopped by the kitchen where Parker was talking closely with Sara, a girl from the accounting department. I walked in and grabbed a bottle of water. I had learned my lesson about the cups. He stared at me the entire time, but I didn"t acknowledge he even existed. Sara was smiling and being flirty with Parker, talking to him about how she had wanted to go to law school but didn"t. Everything he said, she laughed at, even things that weren"t funny. Though I was only five years older than her, I felt like we were from two totally different generations. The act, G.o.d, so overplayed.

"Ms. Hines," I said. "How"s the forecast coming?"

"It"s going good. I should get back to work," she said, then glanced up at Parker and walked out of the break room.

He leaned against the counter and shook his head at me as he sipped his coffee. I smiled knowing exactly what I had done. Romance at work made everything complicated, and should be avoided at all times.

"I did you a favor, Mr. Williams," I said, then stormed back to my office. After I met with the board, everyone agreed that traveling to New York to oversee the progress was the right decision. I would find a condo, because when the office opened, I would be traveling back and forth quite often. When I left the board meeting, I knew that I would have to call travel and book the jetliner that several companies had purchased together. It was kind of like a timeshare, we each had a piece of it, but could only use it when it was available.

I stopped by Jane"s desk and gave her my travel dates, and she promised to take care of the arrangements. Before I walked away, she called my name.

I looked at her.

"Can I meet with you about the new girl that you hired? I"m having issues with her, and I"m not sure she understands the concept of being a secretary."

"Yeah, sure. Add a time to my calendar for tomorrow, since the day is almost over."

As soon as I walked back to my office, Parker barged in and shut the door behind him. "So what angers you the most about me? That you kissed me at that house party and liked it, or that I know your dirty little secrets?"

"Get out, Parker." My voice traveled through my office loudly. What if my employees heard me yelling at him? h.e.l.l hath no fury like my anger. Just the thought of him walking in here, talking to me like that, p.i.s.sed me off.

"Your problem is that you have no respect. My advice for you is to know your place in this organization, Mr. Williams."

The smile washed from his face, and he stood unwavering in front of my desk with his arms crossed. I gritted my teeth, and my annoyance was almost too much. Instead of continuing with the email to the board, I stopped what I was doing and looked at him. Really looked at him. It was something that I had avoided at all costs over the past few weeks. It was hard for me to admit what he said to be true. I hated the way my heart raced and slowed down, or how I got a little nervous around him. But my reaction wasn"t lost on him. He knew how I responded to him.

"Get. Out. Now. Mr. Williams," I said more harshly.

"No." His voice wasn"t loud or even cruel. It was monotonous more than anything.

"Do not make me say something I will regret," I said.

He shook his head, again. Every second he stood in my office, he tested my patience, and I could feel the spikes of adrenaline rushing through my veins. I stood and walked around my desk until I was in front of him, face to face. After a pause, I demanded he get out one last time. I knew my nostrils were flared, but he didn"t back down. The smell of his skin, his soap, his shampoo lingered, and I hated that I even noticed.

"I know that I p.i.s.s you off more than anyone else here. I know that I drive you f.u.c.king crazy, almost to the point of you hating me, and maybe you do hate me a little. Truth be known, I want you to hate me, because it would be easier for us both. I"m willing to bet when you"re lying in your bed at night, you"re thinking about me, thinking about f.u.c.king me. You"re probably asking yourself how I know, or you"re completely denying it. Well, babe, I know because of the way your body tenses when you"re around me, and how your eyes always seem to wander up and down my body when you think I"m not looking. You even try to pretend you"re not paying attention to what I say in all those meetings, but you are. I know you are holding onto every f.u.c.king word.

"That night, at Orleans, I knew there was something about you that was special. When we danced in front of the fire, it was like fate had knocked on my door and told me that I had another chance with you. But then you left and I didn"t know if I would ever see you again. When you walked into my interview as the late, wet, President of VanBuren Investments, I recognized you instantly. Your two different colored eyes gave you away. I secretly wished I wouldn"t get the job, and when I did, I knew this would be complicated. You think you"re a closed book, Rox, but I am reading all of your f.u.c.king pages, and already have most of them memorized. It would be stupid for me to deny what I"m feeling, and I"m not trying to be some hopeless romantic here with hopes of sweeping you off your feet. I know there is something between us. I don"t know what, but I refuse to pretend that feeling isn"t there. Now, if you completely disagree with everything I"ve just said, then demand me to get out, and I promise to learn my place in the organization real quick."

I didn"t know it was possible to swallow my voice, but I somehow did when his lips brushed against mine.

SINGLE: VOLUME 1 BY LYRA PARISH.

13.

I was everything. I was nothing. I was weak, crumbling, melting into little pieces each time his tongue touched mine. We didn"t rush. My world crashed down around me one touch at a time. This was my own personal doomsday, with an attack on my emotions, but I didn"t prep. I wasn"t ready to feel like, this but somehow I did.

He pulled me closer, so close, and his kiss deepened.

Parker.

His name was on my lips, but his lips were stealing my words, only allowing my thoughts to burn within me. I couldn"t focus. I was losing everything that I was, that I stood for, and that I believed in. Relationships and Roxane didn"t go together. What the h.e.l.l was I doing?

We stopped for a moment, and his smile lingered against my mouth. He enjoyed this, and if I said I didn"t, I would be lying.

I wanted and needed him. It was a desire so powerful that it almost hurt. I pressed my body against his and felt his length; hard and longing. Just the thought of him inside me stirred emotions that I thought were lost long ago.

We both knew where this was leading, and I didn"t want it to stop. I knew how dangerous opening Pandora"s box was, because once it was done, there was no going back. It was like trying to take back words that were already spoken. Impossible.

I couldn"t concentrate as he slid his warm hands up my shirt. Every last ounce of control I had left was melting away. Parker Williams was toxic; a poison that was slowly filling my veins, my body, and my soul. As I slowly shattered inside, I understood my rules were being broken.

Don"t mix business with pleasure.

These rules were made to protect me. They were one of the only constants in my life.