Off Limits Read online

  ‘Life. Together. You—me. For as long as we have. Never wasting a day or taking it for granted.’ He pulls me into a bear hug. ‘I want this. I want you—so much.’

  I expel the breath I’ve probably been holding, in part, since I stormed out of my office three days earlier.

  ‘Let’s do this,’ I agree, my smile stretching my face.

  I have known happiness and sadness, but I have never known such perfect, utter rightness before. It settles into my heart and brings me peace and pleasure.

  I am Gemma, he is Jack, and we have found each other at last.

  Epilogue

  ‘GEMMA? ARE YOU in here?’

  Strange that in all the time I worked for Jack I never came to this side of his home. The mysterious ‘Private Wing’ of his mansion. And now I am here almost all the time—in his bedroom, his kitchen, his living room. We have barely been apart since that afternoon three weeks ago, when he came to my home and broke down all my defences.

  ‘Yeah?’

  I set down my laptop and stand, butterflies bouncing about in my stomach as though it is a forest and they its sole occupants.

  He sweeps in and I hold my breath—as always, bowled over by his physical perfection. In dark jeans and a simple white T-shirt he is hypermasculine and edibly delicious. The idea fans my stomach and I’m walking towards him before I realise it, itching to touch him, to taste him.

  He sees the intent in my eyes and chuckles. ‘Wait until you’ve heard me out!’

  But he pulls me to him, his hands seeking the hem of my shirt and lifting it so that he can hold my bare hips. He makes a small sound of relief at the contact and I echo it in my heart.

  I understand.

  This—being naked, touching—this is how we need to be.

  ‘Remember my hunch about Ryan?’

  It takes me a few seconds to remember the guy in Australia he didn’t think would work out. ‘Yes?’

  His eyes are sparkling with something I don’t understand. ‘Well, it occurs to me that you would be an excellent candidate for his job.’

  I blink, confusion and excitement at war within me. ‘He’s left?’

  ‘Yeah. Just wasn’t up to it. The job is difficult. I need someone I can trust.’

  Of course the idea is instantly appealing. Building the Australian office from scratch would be a challenge to relish. And yet...

  ‘It’s a long way away,’ I point out, as though perhaps my sexy, brilliant lover doesn’t comprehend the logistics of geography.

  ‘From London, yes. But we’d come back whenever you wanted.’

  I freeze, my eyes flying to his face. ‘We?’

  A smile cracks over his face and I hold my breath.

  ‘Why not?’ He pulls at my top, lifting it over my head so that his hands can roam my bare back. ‘Do you really think I’d let you move to Sydney without me?’

  I stare at him and wonder if perhaps he’s lost his mind a little bit. ‘Jack...your business is here.’

  ‘I am my business,’ he says with a shrug. ‘I can fly here whenever I need to. Fly people out to us. But I have it on good authority, my beautiful, distracting, brilliant Gemma, that you need to spread your wings before you settle down.’

  ‘What?’ I blink my eyes, realisation settling. ‘Grandma?’

  ‘Mmm...’

  He drops his mouth, dragging his lips along my collarbone. I dig my fingers into his shirt front, a feeling of bliss spreading through me.

  ‘She called me when she heard about our “developments”.’

  I laugh. ‘That sounds about right.’

  ‘She’s given me a list of her requirements for when she comes to visit.’

  ‘Oh, God.’ I groan and laugh at the same time.

  ‘I’ve told her she’s welcome to come for as long as she wants. I think she’s fancying a year or two in our guest room.’

  I laugh and shake my head, but Jack leans closer, whispering, ‘I’ve got an apartment downstairs. I think we’ll set her up there so we can continue to enjoy our...privacy.’

  I nod, grateful for his understanding. ‘But, Jack, it’s such a big move. Are you sure...?’

  ‘Life’s too short, Gem. You want to travel? To see the world? Let’s do it. If we don’t like it we’ll come back.’

  He lifts me up around the waist, carrying me easily to his bedroom.

  His real bedroom. Our bedroom, I suppose, seeing as I have been with him here nonstop since the day he came to my house.

  ‘Of course, if you need some extra convincing...’

  I don’t, but his lips around my nipple make speech impossible. I nod and murmur something incoherent, and as he kisses me until my body is vibrating and my insides are heated with need I see our future.

  I see our home in Sydney, our love, and I fall apart in his arms, knowing that wherever we live happiness will surround us.

  For as long as we both shall live.

  * * * * *

  Read on for an extract from LEGAL SEDUCTION by Lisa Childs.

  Legal Seduction

  by Lisa Childs

  Chapter One

  FOUR GLASSES, LIFTED HIGH, clinked against each other. Champagne bubbles foamed over the rims and streaked down the stems of the flutes.

  “Cheers to Street Legal,” Simon Kramer said, pride for the firm overwhelming him. Sixteen years ago, as a teenage runaway, he’d never thought he would go from living on the streets to owning them.

  “Cheers to us,” Ronan, one of Simon’s law partners, said with a grin as he clinked his glass against theirs again.

  “Cheers to you, Trev,” Stone said to Trevor, who’d just won the biggest case their practice had ever had. And the four of them had had some damn big cases since graduating law school and starting their practice eight years ago.

  After this win, they could close the doors of Street Legal and live off the settlement. But Simon knew that the others were like him: too young and too ambitious to stop achieving. And yet Simon wanted to make sure they took the time to enjoy their victories. So he’d talked his partners into leaving the office to celebrate at the new bar around the corner, The Meet Market.

  This victory was especially sweet because Trev had won despite the opposing counsel getting their hands on information from the case files. Simon, as the managing partner, had put a plan in place so that would not happen again. If the mole was in their office, he would find it and crush it.

  Trevor murmured, “I still want to know how the hell Anderson got his hands on that scientist’s report.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Simon said. He’d also set up this celebration because they all needed to blow off some steam. Or get blown...

  Ronan glanced away from the women he’d been ogling to agree. “Don’t give it another thought. It’s not like we have a leak in our office, not with Simon doing all the hiring. Nobody can sniff out a con like a con. And our managing partner is the ultimate con.”

  Instead of being offended, Simon grinned. He wouldn’t have survived had he not come up with money-making schemes for himself and for these guys. His friends had once been runaways, too. Simon had been running cons long before he’d met them.

  “No, it’s more likely Trev brought home some hottie who, after he rolled over and fell asleep, copied the case files he brought home,” Ronan said.

  Simon laughed. “You guys fall asleep?”

  He couldn’t sleep with anyone else around. He wouldn’t have survived on the streets if he’d trusted just anyone. Only these guys passed his test. They’d survived the streets together. Hell, they’d thrived. They had more money, fancier homes, faster cars and hotter women than any of them could have imagined having.

  “I wish that’s what happened,” Trev said. “But this damn case put a hell of a crimp in my love life.”

  “That’s why I thought we should check out this new bar,” Simon admitted. Trying to figure out who was the mole had put a crimp in his sex life, too.

  The Meet Market was exa
ctly what it boldly claimed to be: the hookup hub of Midtown Manhattan. All the beautiful people were here: models, actors and actresses, designers...

  And them. The most successful and notorious lawyers in the whole damn city.

  Simon clinked his glass against Trevor’s. “You won the case, so forget about it. Have some fun.”

  Trevor grinned. “I plan on it. But Ronan’s right. We need to be careful about who we bring home or at least around our files.”

  Stone nodded in agreement. “Yes, because if word gets out that anything got leaked to the opposing counsel, we’ll need to hire that damn PR firm to help with our image.”

  Since the age of social media, most cases were tried before they ever made it to court, which was why they routinely used a PR firm to help sway the public the way they wanted them swayed. To their side, of course.

  Ronan chuckled. “Like there’s any helping our image...”

  They were known for being ruthless—in the courtroom and the bedroom. They all had a reputation for winning, by whatever means necessary. But in Simon’s opinion, that was a cause for pride, not damage control.

  “We’re fine, guys,” Simon assured his partners. “I got this.” He gestured at the women around them. “Now, let’s get one of them...”

  “Just one?” Ronan asked with a grin as he watched a blonde walk past him, tossing her long, curly mane over her shoulder. Before heading after her, he slapped Trevor on the back. “Want me to see if she has a friend for you? Si’s right. You need to relieve some stress after winning that case.”

  Trevor glanced across the room at a redhead. “I don’t need your help.” He blew out a ragged breath. “But I do need to relieve some stress.”

  Stone bumped Simon’s shoulder with his. “Looks like Si here could use some help.”

  Ronan snorted. “Si needs no one’s help when it comes to women. He’s the worst womanizer of the four of us.”

  Simon didn’t know whether that was a compliment or insult. Coming from the notorious divorce lawyer, it was probably a compliment. But before he could ask, Ronan hurried after the blonde who’d paused in the doorway, waiting for him to follow her.

  “You know, I haven’t seen you with anyone for a while,” Stone said to him.

  Simon shrugged. “I’ve been busy.” Setting up trusts, drawing up contracts, setting his trap. But he was worried those were just excuses, not the real reasons.

  He glanced around the bar and recognized some of the models from the billboards in Times Square and some of the actresses from plays. But nobody had his pulse quickening. He knew he could bring any one of them home with him or, as Ronan suggested, two. And maybe that was it. There was no challenge. No thrill of the hunt...

  Just easy prey.

  Like the redhead waving at Trevor from across the bar.

  “Go,” Simon urged him.

  “Yeah,” Stone agreed. “She’s a hell of a lot prettier to celebrate your victory with than we are.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Simon said, feigning offense.

  With his thick blond hair and bright blue eyes, he’d been told he was better-looking than the hottest male movie stars—which was why he knew he could get anybody in the place to go home with him, even if he were still the broke runaway he’d once been.

  Stone laughed, then said, “I may need to have you sit at the table with me for some of my upcoming trial—to sway the jurors like you did for Trev.”

  “Hey, guys, you’re going to have to start working out, so you can be your own jury eye candy,” Simon said, his lips tugging up into a teasing grin. “I’ve got work of my own to do. So damn much money to manage.”

  Now it wasn’t just his clients’ but theirs, too. That probably mattered more to Simon than it did the others. But they hadn’t grown up like he had—when the only money he’d known had always really belonged to other people.

  “Hey, we sway most of the women jurors ourselves,” Trevor stated with pride and a trace of defensiveness. “We just need you to sway the ones who like pretty boys.”

  Simon suppressed a laugh of amusement. He didn’t want Trevor to know how funny he was, so he acted offended and replied, “Fuck you.”

  Trevor shook his head. “Sorry, man, you’re not my type. Now, that redhead...” He sauntered off toward the woman.

  Stone peered around the bar. “I better find someone, too, or I might wind up going home with you.”

  “You wouldn’t get so lucky,” Simon said as Stone headed off. Simon glanced around the bar now, too. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to be the only one going home alone. Or it wasn’t just that. He needed a diversion, something to get his mind off the mole in their office.

  He couldn’t have been conned into hiring someone who would betray them. No. Like Ronan said, there was no conning a con. His trap wasn’t going to catch anyone because the leak couldn’t be in their office.

  So he wouldn’t let it get to him. Not anymore. He’d find someone else to focus all his attention on for a little while. He wasn’t into blondes like Ronan was. And he’d learned the hard way that redheads were nothing but drama. He needed to find a classy brunette, someone who would actually pose a worthwhile challenge to his charm.

  Before he could even look, his cell began to vibrate in his suit pocket. It wasn’t a call but the telltale buzz of a 911 text. Did any of the guys need his help? He visually located them all in the crowded bar, but they were totally engaged on the women they’d found. Not one seemed in need of a wingman.

  Simon pulled out the cell and cursed when he read the screen. Damn it. His trap had been sprung. Someone was entering the office after hours, and there was probably only one reason for that. Shoving the cell back into his pocket, he hurried toward the exit.

  But before he could leave, Trevor blocked his escape. “What is it? Everything okay?”

  It sure the hell wasn’t, but he forced a grin. “Just got a sext.” From the security system. “I have to go.”

  Trevor chuckled. “Of course you wouldn’t even have to work for it.” With an envious sigh, he stepped aside to let Simon past.

  He hurried out, aware that Trev wasn’t the only one watching him. Let the guys think he was anxious to get naked. He would explain later. Right now he hoped to catch their mole in the act of copying active case files. The office was just around the corner.

  The person had the security code, so no alarm had gone off, and no warning was sent to building security or the police station. Within moments he stepped off the elevator onto their floor, which was eerily silent and dark. The only light spilled from under the door of an office—his office.

  He silently crossed the lobby, which had glass interior walls with hardwood floors. The exterior walls were the exposed brick of the old building. The ceilings were open to the ductwork and the rafters, the wood painted black while the copper pipes and steel ductwork gleamed in the dark.

  Why the hell was the mole in his office? Had they graduated from selling secrets to stealing money? The door was ajar, the crack wide enough that he was able to peer through it.

  Someone leaned over his desk, lush curves pressed against the black fabric of a tight skirt. His pulse quickened as he recognized that remarkable ass. He’d been discreetly admiring it for the past two years. He couldn’t have afforded to be obvious about it, not with what a sexual harassment case could have cost the firm. And she had certainly never returned his interest. Now he knew why. She hadn’t wanted sex. She wanted money.

  Anger coursed through him, making his pulse race even faster. In addition to being incredibly sexy, Bette Monroe was cunning. She’d conned the ultimate con.

  * * *

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  Bette jumped and the pen she’d been holding slipped from her grasp, rolled across the oak desktop and dropped onto the hardwood floor. She pressed her hand over her madly pounding heart before turning toward the door. When she saw her boss standing there, her heart beat even faster and not just because he�
��d startled her.

  Seeing Simon Kramer was always a shock to a woman’s system. With his golden-blond hair and piercing blue eyes, chiseled features and a muscular body, he was so beyond handsome that it wasn’t even fair—to women or to other men. The other lawyers in the Street Legal law practice were good-looking but nowhere near as attractive as Simon. And not one of them wore a suit as well as he did even though they all had them tailor-made. Simon’s was a silvery gray with a faint sheen of blue that brought out that startling blue of his eyes.

  His voice a deep rumble, Simon asked, “What are you doing here?”

  Realizing it was the second time he’d asked, albeit nicer this time, heat rushed to her face. She must have been staring at him like a fool. That was why she always made a point of never looking directly at him. His good looks were like a solar eclipse, staring too closely could cause blindness.

  Maybe that was why her eyesight had gotten poorer in the two years she’d worked for Street Legal as Simon Kramer’s executive assistant. She’d been standing too close to the sun. Her hand trembling, she shoved her thick frames farther up her nose. Since she only needed the glasses for reading, her distance vision blurred, and she couldn’t see him as clearly now.

  Until he stepped away from the door and strode across his expansive office to her. He leaned down so his face was close to hers. His eyes usually sparkled with amusement because he was always teasing his partners, his clients or other office employees. Never her, though. He only talked to her to give her orders. But when he did that, his eyes had never appeared like they did now—cold and hard like shards of blue ice.

  She shivered.

  “This is the last time I’m going to ask you,” he said, “what the hell you’re doing in my office.”

  More heat rushed to her face, and she stammered, “I—I was—”

  “Looking for me?” he asked with one golden brow arching with skepticism.

  “No,” she admitted. She hadn’t wanted to see him—not again—not since catching a glimpse of him in that new bar around the corner. Seeing him there—in that meat market—had confirmed she was doing the right thing. Just like her friends had been encouraging her, she needed to leave Street Legal.