Page 4 of Bang Buddies With Benefits
“But,” he continued as if I’d interrupted some grand speech, “if you’d like to work off some of this crazy sexual tension, feel free to text, day or night.”
Zac’s long fingers wrapped around my hips, and he lifted me off the counter, pivoted, and lowered me to my high-heeled feet.
For all my talk about being brazen and adept at intimidation, I just blinked up at him.
“How about a precursor? A little extra motivation to call?” With every word, Zac’s mouth got closer and closer to mine. He stopped an inch short, giving me a chance to stop him if I wanted to.
I fisted the front of his shirt, yanking him to me to show him that he wasn’t the only one driving this ship.
Our mouths met in the middle, a deliciously violent crashing of lips, tongue, and teeth. The kiss was urgent and improper, and enough moisture pooled between my thighs that I soaked clean through my panties.
His erection pushed into my lower belly, and while I threw myself more fully into the kiss, I gave an internal fist pump that I wasn’t the only one so affected.
Reality forced its way through my dazedness, along with the fact that my friends would start worrying and come searching for me if I didn’t return soon. I stepped back, wobbling and then snagging Zac’s arm to steady myself, and naturally, the cocky jerk noticed and smirked over it. “Goodbye, Zac.”
“Until later tonight. My shift ends at one.”
1
Catalina
Four years later…
I’ll show all you old-school white men an actual risk, and it’s going to involve my foot lodged up your ass.
Except I only had two feet, and there were five asses in need of a reckoning.
The lead ass from the Law Offices of Smith, Johnson, and Jones, where I worked, tugged on the lapels of his suit coat, his attention already drifting to the flashy decorations of the party put on by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. “Don’t take it the wrong way, Catali—”
“There’s not a right way to take it, Bill.”
“We have to think about our clients.”
The lid on my temper rocked. “As if I’m not thinking about our clients? My clients sing my praises, and several of your personal ones do, too, as I’ve been helping out with more and more of the high-profile cases.”
Begrudgingly, five sets of eyes turned to me. My goal was to make partner in five years, and there was an opening. The senior partners were rarely in the office at the same time, what with their busy golfing schedules, so I’d taken advantage of the chance to talk to all of them at once and officially throw my hat in the ring.
“My track record speaks for itself, and being a vocal, independent woman doesn’t make me a risk.” Of the myriad of excuses, my single status never once crossed my mind as something that could—and definitely was—being held against me.
“You’re temper certainly does.” Obviously, Roger was still salty over how often I called out his mansplaining and misogyny. “It’s why Mark might very well make partner over you.”
If I gave in to the urge to retort that his penis would likely be what won him position as junior partner, they’d only claim it validated their point. Here I’d been congratulating myself on how quickly the partners amended their sexist statements at the clearing of my throat or quirking of an eyebrow. I’d foolishly thought it meant they’d rather fight with me than against me in court, when in reality, they’d tallied each of those instances up as reasons not to promote me.
Anger rose at the unfairness of it all, and I clenched my fists, digging my nails into my palms to direct my rage there instead.
“We wouldn’t express our concerns about you if you didn’t have a shot.” Gary shoved his glasses higher up his bulbous nose with one finger, one of his signature quirks. “We’d like you to prove to us that you’re committed to more than pissing off your opponents in court. We’ve seen the shark; we’d like to see the dolphin.
Dolphins were horny sex freaks, notorious for humping boats and humans alike. They’d closed beaches in France, and terrorized waters in the UK. A Florida man—where else?—claimed a dolphin had seduced him into a year-long sexual relationship. All facts that I wanted to spout off and follow up with how that was the very culture I’d been fighting against in our company.
But they had me by the balls, which was slightly ironic considering I was the only one in the group without them. Physically anyway. I propped my mouth into a plastic smile and forced out the words required for me to remain in the running for the position. “I’ll take that into consideration.”
With a sharp nod, I spun, my smile turning brittle and cracking as I walked away. Naturally the first person I’d bump into after that convo was the Ivy League prepster that’d recently become my competition.
“Looks like the firecracker’s coming out tonight,” Mark prodded, jabbing finger guns my way, although he knew better than to make contact.
“Didn’t your nanny tell you to keep a safe distance once the firecracker was lit? It’s a good way to get burned.”
“Wait. How did you know I had a nanny?”
