Chapter 4

DREW

This was crazy.

'Insane,' I thought to myself as I stood in the en suite of my office. Lucas had hidden in a cubicle and allowed me to slip out first and I had to assure Camille that my disheveled and flushed appearance was due to the shrimp that I ate last night-it made me sick. She bought the story. That’s what I deduced anyway.

Sending her back to the meeting room, I went back to my office to change into another pant-suit. I was convinced that I reeked of-you know…

I can’t believe I almost had sex with my client’s husband, while said client was standing right outside the door. Why couldn’t I resist this man? Yes, he was hotter than an active volcano and a very skilled lover, but was that reason enough to risk everything I had worked so hard for?

“What is wrong with you?” I asked my reflection and splashed more water on it to try and bring me to my senses. “Why? Why? Why?”

“That’s what I’d like to know,” my colleague and close friend Octavia Campbell said, leaning on the door frame. African-American, she stood tall with caramel colored skin and curly jet-black hair that fell to the middle of her back. “Are you ok, hun?” concerned hazel eyes peered at me.

“I’m fine, Tavi,” I replied, pouting my lips to apply my nude lipstick to match with my outfit. “Just reacted badly to something I ate last night.”

“Uh huh…” she was too perceptive but was too civil to call me out on the blatant lie.

I breathed deep, throwing my head back and fluffing my hair with my fingers. “Up or down I asked?”

“Up.” Walking over to take the brush, she swept it through my long ebony hair in swift strokes, she secured it with the clip that was lying on the granite counter... “Guess that explains your just-sexed hair and flushed face.”

“Can we talk about this later?” I creased my brows and exhaled.

“Oh, you bet your pretty behind we’re going to talk about this later,” she stated matter-of-factly. “And maybe you can explain why there’s a gold star on your neck..?”

Not another one, I frowned and stared at the star that my friend pressed into my palm. When I was in the shower, I found another one in my lady garden yesterday as well.

“Campbell. Ellington!” My boss William Belding, who closely resembled Larry King, wrapped his knuckles on the inside door of my office door. “What’s keeping you?! Everyone is waiting! Move! Now!”

“Coming boss!” We chorused in a sing-song voice and filed out after him. Belding’s bark was worse than his bite.

“Now go in there and kick some high-profile butt,” he pronounced before we strode into the boardroom.

Lucas had a bored look on his face as he stared out the window. Drumming his long fingers lazily on his crossed knee. While Camille, who was sitting directly opposite him, was staring daggers at his turned profile.

His mouth curved temptingly as he turned to look at me. “Are you feeling better, Miss Ellington? I heard you were feeling a bit under the weather.”

“Yes,” I grabbed my MacBook and got busy preparing for my opening line. “Thank you for your concern, Mr Mancini.”

“The pleasure is all mine, cara mia,” he drew out the word, the meaning not lost on me.

“Shall we begin?” His leading man Gabriel took control of the meeting, placing himself at the head of the table. “We’ve wasted enough time with these delaying tactics, don’t you agree?” A pointed stare was directed at me.

“The floor is yours Mr Lombardo,” Octavia responded. “Knock yourself out.”

“Thank you Miss Campbell,” he cleared his throat and started reading his clients terms and conditions for the impending divorce.

“He is so hot,” my friend leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “I wouldn’t mind a round or two with him.”

“Tavi, stop...” I giggled and that earned me a glare from Gabriel and a wink from Lucas.

My phone vibrated on the glass-top and I swiped it off to put it on silent. I read the message from an unknown number before doing that.

‘Your giggle is so sexy. PS: I love the way my afterglow looks on you.’ I read it and put my phone on flight mode and stuffed it under a pile of files.

“Absolutely not!” Camille’s shot up and slammed her palms on the desk.

Did I miss something?? Looks like I missed the whole thing.

“My client’s terms are very simple Mrs Mancini,” Gabriel’s tone was flat and uninterested. “You walk away with nothing. You signed a pre-nup so I don’t understand why we’re even here.”

“Mrs Mancini is contesting the divorce settlement,” I reminded the smug attorney. “She feels she’s being cheated. She deserves more after five years of marriage.”

“Contrariamente, Miss Ellington,” Lucas' cold voice sliced through the air. “I think your client is getting exactly what she deserves. Which is nothing. Niente.”

“I beg to differ, Mr Mancini,” I countered his statement.

“Beg all you want but it won’t get you anywhere,” he challenged, his dimpled chin sticking out with determination. “She was nothing when I met her. She’ll be nothing when I leave her.”

“That didn’t stop you from marrying me!” the elegant Mrs Mancini lost her composure. “You fell in love with the girl who was beneath you and you hate yourself for it don’t you Lucas?!”

“On that, we agree la Strega,” he responded with deliberate calm.

“How dare you call me a witch?!!”

“Do you deny it?” he lazily quirked an eyebrow, like she was a small yapping puppy that was annoying him. “I think I used the wrong term. Allow me to correct that, si? You are a whore. Puttana. Prostitute. Serpente!” he spat out with distaste.

“Bastardo!” she screamed like a war cry before diving over the table and attacking him.