Page 41 of Forbidden Sins
“And you bring her to a sex club? I wonder what Charles would have to say about that? Or what it would do to your chances of making partner.”
Gabe chuckled. “You son of a bitch. You wouldn’t dare.”
“Wouldn’t I?”
Gabe chuckled. “You go right ahead, if you think you aren’t talented enough to beat me in a fair fight? I knew it. You were always jealous of me.”
“Is that so? Well now you can be jealous when Charles makes me partner.”
“You’d better get the fuck out of here, Ian.”
“Or what?”
“Or you won’t make it to see partner.” Blocking Ellie from his view, Gabe stood tall and faced him. He wasn’t afraid of Ian, or what he would do to him. Gabe was a better lawyer, he brought in more money, people liked him. He wasn’t afraid for himself, but the man could cripple Ellie’s career before it even got started.
“Sounds like a threat, Foster.”
“It’s more than a threat. It’s a promise.”
The plainclothes security officers that Gabe recognized must have sensed the brewing trouble and converged on their small group without interrupting or becoming obvious to the rest of the patrons.
“Everything okay, Mr. Foster?” one asked.
“Yeah, it’s fine. I was just telling Mr. Smith where the exit is.”
“I’m leaving. But wouldn’t Charles be interested to know his darling daughter is here with his associate.”
“Get the fuck out of here.” Gabe shoved Ian’s shoulder. Security swarmed them, and covertly pulled Ian away.
“Ellie, I’ll be in touch,” he said.
“You’ll stay the fuck away from her.”
Ellie grabbed Gabe’s hand. “Oh my God. He’s going to tell everyone that we were together.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Gabe assured her. “I’ll deal with it.”
He turned back to Ellie, giving her his full attention. But she looked distracted, worried. “You okay?”
“Can you just take me home?”
“Yours?” he asked.
“No. Yours.”
Home.More and more, he liked the idea of it being their home. Their annulment hadn’t yet been finalized, and even though he knew the day was quickly approaching, part of him didn’t want it to come. Their arrangement would end and they would just go back to being colleagues. He’d be her mentor, and that would be it. They’d given themselves this grace period to have sex—it was supposed to be purely physical, but now that it was nearing the end, Gabe wasn’t looking forward to it. He didn’t know if he could go back to life before Ellie.
Gabe unlocked the door to his house, and moved aside so Ellie could enter ahead of him. They walked in, and Ellie dropped her purse on the mostly decorative table by the door—just as was becoming her habit. The simple act smacked of domesticity, as the more he looked around he could see signs of her. Her things had begun to clutter his space. He’d never had a woman stay at his home. It warmed him, but also scared him a little.
He’d never imagined himself getting married, but whether it was traditional or not, Ellie was his wife. At least for now.
“Are you worried about Ian?” she asked, uttering his name for the first time since leaving the club.
“No,” Gabe lied. Whether he wanted to admit it or not, Ian now held a power over Gabe. Gave him leverage. “I don’t want to talk about him now.”
Ellie turned on her heel to face him. “What do you want to do?”
Gabe all but growled, and went to her, shucking his suit jacket and his shoes, phone, glasses on the way, caring not how or where they landed, or about the crunch that followed his phone hitting the tile floor, the glass and plastic splintering into pieces.