I showed him how up to it I felt. After a few minutes of kissing, I slid my hands between us, unbuttoned his shirt, and ran my hands down his bare chest.
“You know, Carlos got me thinking,” I said. “If I’m going to be become a CEO wife—”
“Co-CEO, wasn’t it?”
“Sorry. Co-CEO. It’s going to cost me a lot of blow jobs, isn’t it?”
Lucas laughed. “Yes, a lot, I’m afraid.”
“Then these few days in the hospital have put me behind on my quota. I have some serious catching up to do.” I traced a finger down his chest and slipped it under his waistband. “The doctor said no bending, but he didn’t say anything about kneeling.”
Lucas’s breath caught.
I grinned up at him. “Well?”
“As loath as I am to refuse, you are still recovering.” He reached down and hiked my skirt up to my hips, lips going to my ear. “May I suggest something less taxing for now?”
I pushed my skirt down. “Uh-uh. It’s a blow job or nothing.” I stepped backward toward the door. “Of course if you’re not interested…”
He pulled me to him, then pressed my hand to his crotch. “Interested enough?”
“I’m not sure,” I said, tracing my fingertips across the bulge in his pants. “It’s a bit hard—”
“A bit?”
“—a bit difficult to tell.” I undid his belt, then his slacks, and slid my hand inside. “Umm, let’s see. Yes, I’d say that’s interested enough.”
I lowered myself to my knees and set about distracting him.
Afterward, we talked quietly, delaying our exit from the room. At 7:45, I pulled away.
“Fifteen minutes,” I said. “We should get inside.”
“In a moment.” He kissed me. “I love you.”
“Of course you do. You have to. It’s the law.”
A smile. “Law?”
“Any girl who gives a guy a blow job in a broom closet is entitled to at least one ‘I love you.’ Whether you mean it or not, you’re morally and legally obligated to say it.”
He laughed, then kissed the top of my head. “Well, I do mean it. You know that.”
“I do. And I also know that if we don’t get into that courtroom before the session starts, they’ll have an excuse to not let us in at all.”
Signed, Sealed, Delivered
AS LUCAS PUSHED OPEN THE DOOR INTO THE WAITING area, a wave of appropriately somber conversation rolled out. Then it stopped and every head turned to watch us enter. There were at least a dozen men, ranging in age from mid-teens to postretirement, all in suits that would have paid our rent for three months, and all of them sorcerers. It reminded me of the day I’d joined the previously all-male computer club in high school. One step through that door and the icy stares nearly froze me in my tracks.
Lucas, now feeling more himself, simply gazed about the room, nodded once or twice, then put his hand against the small of my back and propelled me through the crowd.
A straight-backed, silver-haired man in his seventies stepped into our path. My gaze snagged on the black band around his suit jacket arm.
“What do you think you’re doing?” he hissed. “How dare you bring her here?”
“Paige, this is Thomas Nast, CEO of the Nast Cabal. Thomas, this is Paige Winterbourne.”
Thomas Nast. My eyes returned to the black band on his arm. For his son, Kristof. This was Savannah’s grandfather.
“I know perfectly well who she is, you—” He bit the word off with an audible click of his teeth. “This is a slap in the face to my family and I won’t stand for it.”
Lucas met the old man’s glare with a level gaze. “If you are referring to the events leading to your son’s demise, may I point out that your family was the instigator in the matter. By pursuing custody in such an unconventional manner, Kristof contravened intra-Cabal policy.”
“My son is dead. Don’t you dare imply—”
“I’m not implying anything. I’m stating fact. The escalation of events leading to Kristof’s death was entirely of his own devising. As for his death itself, Paige played no role in it. If there had been any evidence to the contrary, you would have brought it forward at the inquiry this summer. Now, if you’ll excuse us…”
“She is not going to sit in our courtroom—”
“If it weren’t for her, none of us would be sitting in that courtroom. Good day, sir.”
Lucas led me around Nast and through the next set of doors.
The courtroom seated maybe fifty people, tops, and