“Him giving you a list of things he likes about Emily isn’t going to change things,” Andy replied, snatching the paper and pen from Ruben and shoving it away. “He wants a divorce, and you need to deal with it quickly and efficiently, not get him doing some bloody quiz.”

  “Why the need for expediency?” I asked, poising my pen to make a note on my yellow legal pad.

  Ruben shifted in his seat and when Andy didn’t answer, he sighed. “I’m going on a world tour in six weeks.”

  “With that and a new album he needs to be focused. He doesn’t need a divorce hanging over him.”

  More like he didn’t want to have to split Ruben’s profits with Emily in the divorce, was my thought.

  I turned to Ruben. “Are you sure that you want this done quickly?” I asked. “You and Emily have been together a long time. I find that in marriages like yours, where divorce is a sudden decision, it’s much better to take time. Consider all your options and how best to move forward.”

  “Hang on a minute,” Andy protested, holding his hand up. “Aren’t you supposed to be a divorce lawyer. Or did we walk into Relate by mistake?”

  Placing my pen down, I gave him a tight smile. “In my experience, Mr Jackson, a lot of people think their only choice is divorce when a relationship hits problems. It wouldn’t be morally ethical of me to move ahead without questioning whether this is the right thing for Mr Alexander.”

  “Please call me Ruben.” He gave me a tight smile and brushed his dark hair from his sad eyes. “And thank you, but I’ve thought about this a lot.”

  The way his eyes darted towards Andy, I had a feeling that he’d been the one to think about it a lot, not Ruben.

  “Listen, sweetheart,” Andy said, stretching his legs out like he owned the place. “Miles said you were the best, so just do your job.”

  Every hair on my body bristled at his words and how dismissive he was. I wasn’t anyone’s sweetheart, least of all his.

  “I am the best.” I stood and as I smoothed down my skirt I noticed him look me up and down. When his lip curled it was clear what he thought about my body. Like I cared, the odious little man. I might have been plump but at least I washed my hair regularly and used deodorant. And my moustache was better than his, and I only had it waxed once every three months.

  “Maybe we should have gone to the other guy,” Andy muttered. “But now it’s too bloody late.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re perfectly within your rights to find an alternative solicitor, Mr Jackson.”

  “Well, the guy I’d have gone with, Caulfield, he,”—he pointed at Ruben— “has let Emily use.”

  I grinned, relishing the idea of being up against Lucas again. It tended to happen a lot, seeing as we were worked for the two best firms in the city, and we were the two best divorce solicitors in those firms.

  “Mr Caulfield is very good,” I offered and flashed an insincere smile. “But I’m better.” I turned back to Ruben. “I really would like you to compile that list for me, Ruben. While you do, Mr Jackson and I will go and get some coffee.”

  “Hang on a minute.” Andy slammed his hand on the table. “I’ve just said he’s not doing it. You can’t make him. He’s not putting anything on paper that could jeopardise his assets.”

  “I’m not forcing him to do anything,” I assured him. “It’s just a… quiz, I think you called it. And besides, I’m on your side, remember.”

  “You wouldn’t think so,” Andy muttered. “Never heard anything like it.”

  “It’s something that I think is important.” I pushed the paper and a pen back in front of Ruben, ignoring Andy’s huffing and puffing. “Just write down twelve reasons why you shouldn’t be getting divorced.”

  Okay, I know I usually made them write ten, but I had a feeling about this one.

  “Why he shouldn’t get divorced. At least make it should.”

  “Okay.” Ruben looked down at the blank piece of paper and murmured, “Why I shouldn’t get divorced?”

  I placed a hand on his shoulder. “Yes. It just gives me extra information to work with. Helps me to get to know you better.”

  His brow furrowed and he was clearly thinking about it. Finally, he nodded and picked up the pen.

  “Coffee, Mr Jackson?”

  When he grumbled and shoved past me, I wondered whether it would be possible to slip some laxative in his coffee.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “My client doesn’t agree to that… that… that… hah, and definitely not that… or that.”

  I cleared my throat and raised an eyebrow as Lucas continued to scratch through things on the first draft of the settlement. We were in the cooling off period, but Andy had insisted we forge ahead with the divorce process so that, in his words, ‘Ruben will be ready to be rid of the deadwood.’. In my opinion, all that Ruben and Emily needed was some mediation to get over the fact that Andy was clearly muddying the waters.

  “Lucas.” I sighed and he paused his pen.

  “What?”

  “You can’t stop him from seeing his daughters.” I pointed at the paper where there was a thick black line. “He’s asking for weekends when he’s home and when he isn’t fifty-fifty on school holidays. That’s not unreasonable.”

  He shoved the paperwork and pen away. “We’re not just going to roll over at the first pass, Claud. First rule of divorce, you know that.”

  “I do and it’s not a case of rolling over. You know that’s a more than generous settlement and reasonable custody request.”

  “Generous if you’re not an international best-selling artist.” He raised a brow, sitting back in his chair, watching and waiting for my response.

  After glaring at him for a few seconds, I gave it. “That’s rubbish and you know it. She’ll never have to work again with that much money. Plus, she gets two homes, both worth millions. I’d say that’s definitely generous.”

  I saw the glint in his eye, it was clear he agreed, but this was what we did. Argued, counter offered, argued, counter offered and then agreed.

  “You went in low, Claudia, you know you did.” He licked his lips and the way his tongue caressed them made my nipples hard and I longed for the day to be over. “Come back with a share of the royalties of his current catalogue and we might have some agreement.”

  “Just the royalties?” I doubted that.

  He smirked and the twinkle in his eye glinted a little brighter. “We’ll have to see, Miss Davenport.”

  “You do know that Andy Jackson is behind all this,” I stated.

  Lucas exhaled slowly and nodded. “Off the record, I’m not sure that Emily wants this. She won’t admit it because Jackson has scared her half to death.”

  “What do you mean?” I pulled my chair closer, all my concerns about Andy Jackson seeming to be confirmed.

  “I think he’s told her she’ll end up with nothing if she disputes the divorce. The poor girl comes from nothing. She has no immediate family, apart from Ruben’s mother and sister, and the thought that she could end up alone has scared her half to death. That and the fact I think he’s threatened her with taking the children away.”

  My pulse increased and heat covered my body as my heart practically thudded through my chest. I hated bullies. I’d suffered from them enough in my life. Kids at school, my peers, and my parents, all because I wasn’t perfect enough. Getting older, I realised that they were weak and simply scared that if they ever let me fly, I’d rise way above them. Then they’d know exactly how small and insignificant they were. Andy Jackson clearly felt the same way about Emily Andrews. He was petrified that Ruben would realise he didn’t need an egotistical, blood sucking piece of shit who was using him for his own benefit. If I was putting a bet on it, my money would be on Emily actually standing up to Andy on occasion.

  “You know what we have to do, Lucas, don’t you?”

  He grinned. “What the hell do you have planned now?”

  “No plan.” I smacked my hand down on my desk. “All I know is we have to do what we can to stop this divorce happening.”

  “We’re in the divorce business, Claud. We’ve been hired to make sure it happens.”

  He paused and I knew he was thinking hard about what I’d said. He could be deadly when it came to getting what he wanted for his clients, but he wasn’t without ethics or morals.

  “Lucas, they love each other. You know I asked him for twelve reasons why he shouldn’t get divorced—”

  He laughed. “Are you still doing that?”

  “Yes, and it works because he gave me fourteen reasons, Lucas. Don’t you see, I asked for twelve, Lucas, and he gave me fourteen. I’m betting if you asked Emily to do the same she’d come in with more than twice that amount.”

  Lucas narrowed his eyes on me.

  “Lucas, he filled it in. He doesn’t want the divorce. He isn’t apathetic about saving his marriage. He has fourteen bloody reasons as to why they shouldn’t be getting divorced and I’m sure he’d have carried on if I hadn’t asked him for the paper.”

  “I’ll try the same thing with Emily,” he said on a sigh. “But I think it’s Ruben that needs persuading and I’m not sure Andy Jackson will allow that.”

  I nodded, knowing he was right.

  “I’ll speak to him.”

  “Okay. Now, the important stuff. Dinner and a shag later?”

  I smirked, not sure whether to smack him or kiss him, but either way it would most definitely come with a shag.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Lucas Caulfield was a bloody god, no doubt about it. I’d already had one orgasm and while he pounded into me from behind, slapping my arse, I was well on the way to another.

  “So wet for me.” He gripped my hips and pumped harder. “This beautiful arse.”

  I gripped the duvet cover and moaned loudly, enjoying every single moment as his dick hit exactly the right spot.

  “I’m going to come,” he growled against my ear.

  Lucas sped up and the headboard slammed against the wall, banging incessantly with a thud, thud, thud. When he yelled out his release, his back arched and his fingertips pushed into the flesh at my thighs. One of his hands moved to my clit and with just two strokes I was falling apart. As he fell against my back, his sweat-slicked skin warmed mine and my whole body melted against the bed. I was totally relaxed and jelly-like, and the only thing I could hear was our exhausted breaths and the banging of the headboard… hang on, the headboard?

  “Can you hear that banging?” I asked over my shoulder.

  There was a moment of silence and then he muttered, “It’s your front door.” He pushed my hair over one of my shoulders and then kissed my neck. “Ignore it.”

  “Maybe if you think you can pull another orgasm from me, I might.”

  He chuckled. “Don’t dare me, gorgeous.”

  I shifted my hips, daring him, and when he gave a little thrust, I sighed with delight. Then the banging started again.

  “Who the fuck is that?” Lucas complained.

  “How am I supposed to know? I happen to have a cock inside of me if you hadn’t realised.”

  “Oh, I have realised,” he whispered against my ear, giving his hips another wiggle.

  Bang, bang, bang.

  “They’re not going to go away,” I hissed.

  “Ignore them.”

  A hand came to my breast and began fondling it, and my nipples hardened even more.

  Bang, bang, bang.

  I wriggled underneath Lucas and sighed. “I can’t concentrate. I need to see who it is.”

  “Fucking hell, Claud.” He pulled out of me and gave another quick slap to my arse. “I was looking forward to getting that third orgasm from you.”

  Reaching for my dressing gown, I pushed away from Lucas towards the bedroom door. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

  “I’ll be here.” He flopped onto the bed. “Ready and waiting.”

  With a frustrated sigh, I rushed down the stairs, along the hall, and practically ripped the front door off its hinges.

  “What?”

  As soon as my eyes landed on the person who’d been knocking my door down, I took a step back.

  “No way,” I yelled and moved to push the door closed. I wasn’t quick enough, because he shoved his foot in the doorway.

  “Hello, sweetheart. Not got a kiss for Daddy?”

  My stomach turn as I looked at him. Prison had not been kind to Aaron Davenport. His hair was receding, and not in a sexy Jason Statham buzz-cut kind of way. He had one or two teeth missing, and those still there looked like they were hanging on for dear life. As for his clothes, they were hanging off him and were clearly the ones he’d gone into prison wearing. In fact, I was sure I recognised the egg stain on his t-shirt. To top it all off he was wearing a bloody necklace! All he needed was to not indicate at a roundabout and he’d have my piss boiled in record time.

  “Without wanting to sound rude, Aaron, fuck off.”

  His eyes darkened and his nostrils flared. “Watch your mouth.”

  I shook my head. “No. I have no respect for you, so why should I?” I looked down and kicked his foot. “Move.”

  “Can’t I just come in and talk?”

  “No. I don’t want you here. I don’t want to talk to you. I don’t want to see you, so again, fuck off.”

  “Listen, Claudia, I’m your father. If it wasn’t for me you wouldn’t be in this damn world.”

  Here we went with his usual argument, if it wasn’t for him…

  “And don’t I wish that the stars had aligned that night to give me to a different set of people. To be honest, if I didn’t love my life as much as I do, I’d rather Coral had got down on her knees that night instead of lying on her back.”

  “You don’t mean that.” He lifted his hand as though he was going to place it on my shoulder, so I moved back a step.

  “Don’t touch me. Just leave my house before I call the police and you get thrown back inside.”

  “Please, Claudia, I have nowhere to go. Your mum got out last week and—”

  “Well, thank god she didn’t decide to visit too.”

  “No, and that would be because she’s shacked up with her bloody cellmate. Some woman called Tricia.”

  I wasn’t surprised that my mother had left him, or that it was for a woman. My mother would shack up with anyone who she thought would be of use to her. What did surprise me was that she hadn’t left him a long time ago.

  “Good for her.” I wrapped my arms around my middle and took a step closer to him. “Now, do as I’ve asked and get off my doorstep.”

  “Are you angry because you’ve got my mother’s thighs?” He took a step back and looked me up and down. “Not sure where the belly fat comes from though.” He patted his almost emaciated stomach and grinned.

  “Claude, what the hell is going on?”

  I swung around to see Lucas halfway down the stairs. He was in jeans and nothing else and the sight of him was another reason for getting rid of my dad as quickly as possible.

  “Who are you?” Dad asked. “Who’s this? Is he your boyfriend?”

  “No,” Lucas and I both replied simultaneously.

  Dad peered around me and towards Lucas. “Is he your husband then, or something?”

  “No.” In unison again.

  Lucas padded down the remaining stairs and came to stand next to me. “Everything okay?”

  Sighing, and knowing I couldn’t avoid the inevitable, I aimed a nod in my dad’s direction. “This is Aaron, my dad. He just got out of prison and wants to scrounge off me. Looking at the state of him, he clearly has nothing. Oh, and my mother, Coral, has left him for her cellmate, Tracy.”

  “Tricia,” Dad corrected.

  “Whatever her name is, I don’t care,” I directed back to him. “I don’t want you here.”

  “But I have nowhere to go.”

  “But I don’t care.” I shrugged. “So, get away from my door, Aaron.”

  He didn’t budge, but Lucas moved closer to my side, placing a hand on my shoulder.

  “I think you should go, Mr Davenport,” he said, his tone low and commanding.

  “I don’t thi—”

  “And I don’t care what you think.” Lucas leaned into Dad’s airspace. “I care what Claudia thinks and she wants you gone.”

  My dad opened his mouth as if to protest but when Lucas growled, he quickly turned and started back down the driveway.

  “I told you he was a piece of work,” I said to Lucas with my eyes pinned to my dad’s back.

  His fingers linked with mine and he gave my hand a tug. “I’ll stay, tonight. Just in case he comes back.”

  I looked up at him and saw the muscles in his jaw jump as he watched my dad disappear. Finally, with his fingers tensed around mine, Lucas exhaled but remained looking out into the night.

  “You don’t need to stay,” I said into the quietness. “He won’t hurt me.”

  “Even so, I’d rather.”

  I was right, my dad wouldn’t hurt me, but it still felt better having Lucas stay.

  “I don’t expect you to. It’s not like you’re my boyfriend and people will talk if you don’t protect me.”

  He turned to me and grinned. “Yes, I know that, but don’t forget that I owe you another orgasm.”

  When his hand went inside my dressing gown and the other slammed the door closed, I wondered if maybe I finally had something to thank my dad for.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Waking up with Lucas was getting to be a habit. A habit that I could easily get used to, that and going to dinner with him, or visiting markets with him. If that was what we both wanted. We didn’t, though, we were just casual. We had great sex and no commitment, just how we both liked it. Yet watching him eating toast, while leaning against my kitchen island, made me happy and warm inside.