Friction

I stand up, smoothing down my polyester skirt and having an insane urge to run to the mall right now and spend my meager savings on a new wardrobe. “Thank you,” I say, feeling a little bit lost.

“Great things,” Midge reminds me with a hard look. “It’s what I expect.”

I stare at her a moment, not sure whether I can truly subscribe to her philosophy. Whether or not I can meet those expectations. She’s asking me to completely change my way of thinking, and I need just a moment to see which direction my logic will tell me to take.

My logic doesn’t wait around, apparently knowing what I need to do.

Steel courses up my spine, and determination and excitement fill me.

“It’s what you’ll get,” I tell her as I turn away from her and walk out of her office.

CHAPTER 1

LEARY

An orgasm crashes through my body, causing my back to arch in my chair and my fingers to pull hard at the hair of the man who’s working his tongue between my legs. A groan pours out of me, and he lashes his tongue against me harder yet.

“Enough,” I command, because I don’t beg well, and I push his head away. Ford sits back on his haunches, gri

“Feel better?” he asks with a grin, because I was having a craptastic day, which he’d keenly picked up on. But then again, Ford knows all of my moods, and yes, I do feel better, so apparently he knows how to bring me out of a funk. A shattering orgasm does the trick.

“Much better,” I say with a grin and pull my legs off my desk, setting my four-inch heels on the hardwood floor on either side of Ford’s hips. I vaguely notice figures moving around out in the Pit, just outside my glass-paned office wall, which is now grayed out with smoke so no one can see the nasty things Ford and I are doing. My door is unlocked but I’m not worried. No one but Midge would dare walk in here without a knock, and Midge has never once stepped foot in my office since I moved in here almost two years ago when I made junior partner at Knight & Payne.

Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, Ford asks, “Wa

“You know I do,” I say as I stare at the massive bulge behind the zipper of his Hugo Boss pants. Ford is as serious about fashion as I am, and we’re well suited to each other in other respects, too. We’re pretty much in line with our tastes and proclivities, and he’s the closest friend I have in the world.

He reaches in his pocket and pulls out a condom, handing it to me. I tear it open with my teeth as he unzips his pants and pulls out eight gorgeous inches of “wa

I sink down slowly onto him while his hands help to guide my hips. When I’m fully seated, we both give a moan of appreciation, and then I start to rock.

Using my hands on his shoulders for balance, I pull myself up . . . push back down. Over and over again, I fuck the man who used to be my boss when I first started here but is now my good friend, close legal confidant when I need to strategize on a case, and occasional lover when I’ve had a bad day.

Like today.

Because some asshole attorney thinks he can try to screw me over on one of my cases, but he has another thing coming. Right after I come again, and get Ford off as well, I’m going to come up with a stellar plan to mop the floor with this douche. I’ll make him regret crossing me, that’s for sure. Midge would be proud of my moxie.

“Where’d you go?” Ford pants as he nuzzles his face into my neck and tilts his hips upward as I push down.

“Nowhere,” I assure him and pick up the pace.

He seems to accept my word, because he murmurs, “Feels good, baby.”

It does . . . feel good.

Damn good, but then again, Ford has always been able to push all my buttons. Ever since my first day on the job here at Knight & Payne, when Da

The man was Ford Daniels, and he was to be my supervising attorney.

He glanced up and saw Da

I couldn’t deny my attraction to Ford. At thirty-four, he was ten years older than I was. Light-brown hair, maybe dark blond in the right light, that was slightly wavy with natural curl. He had dark-brown eyes and a strong jawline, was tall, and wore his suit in a way that told me he was built underneath.

Ford was very professional those first weeks of our working relationship, and by professional I mean he never made an untoward move. He looked plenty, particularly when by the third day of employment I’d ditched my conservative polyester suits for a chic, casual office wardrobe, convincing myself it was a wise use of my money. I traded in Walmart for Burberry and Elie Tahari, making sure my clothes showed off my assets, as Midge had instructed me to do.

I cut three inches off my dark-brown hair to just below my shoulder blades and wore it long, loose, and layered with softly curled waves. I learned how to put on makeup to accentuate my golden-brown eyes and full lips, and I walked the Pit with confidence.

By my third week of employment, Ford and I were sleeping together, and I never had a moment’s regret. I didn’t have sex with him for any gain within the firm. I made it clear to him that sex had nothing to do with work. It did, however, have everything to do with the fact that I wanted to explore my sexuality, which was something I’d never had need of prior to my employment at Knight & Payne. I’d lost my virginity my senior year of high school, and I’d had sex with a few men since then, but I never viewed sex as all that important in my life. Maybe because it never rocked my world. Maybe because they never told us in law school that it could be a tool.

After Ford, I needed it. Not only did he teach me that sex felt damn good and was a great tension breaker but that I had power, and it had everything to do with the fact that I had boobs and a vagina. Ford taught me how to be sensual, which I used in small doses when the time called for it. My sensuality has served me well the last five years.

“I’ve lost you again,” Ford growls before biting at my ear.

“Ouch,” I whine as I jerk against him, which causes him to go in deeper and then fuels him to pump into me faster.