Page 23 of Weathering the Storm of the Century

I laughed. “Okay, you got me. I don’t feel sorry for them at all.”

His blue eyes twinkled. “How about we catch lunch afterwards? A celebration of sorts?”

I arched a brow. “That confident?”

He shrugged a shoulder. “I know arrogance is an unattractive trait, but you know just as well as I do that we’ve got this one in the bag, Aelix.”

He wasn’t wrong.

“Where were you thinking?”

“Rouche is good for fast service,” he said, suggesting one of the restaurants that were close enough to the offices of Walter & Kramer.

“Sounds good,” I replied, not against a celebratory lunch. “But if we lose, then we’re skipping lunch, so that I can head out early to drown my arrogant sorrows at the nearest bar.”

Kent stood up. “As long as you save the empty barstool next to you for me, I’m game.”

“Deal.”

I smiled as he left my office, and I really hoped that we would be celebrating at lunch tomorrow versus getting drunk at the bar after work. Now, while I’d lost cases before, it wasn’t anything that I wanted to get used to. I didn’t like letting myself down, and since I tried my best at everything that I did, it felt like failure every time that I lost a case, even knowing that it was a loser when I took it on.

Letting out a sigh, I knew that I was going to have to let Cotter know that I was only going to be good for one round tonight, two at the most. I needed to be up early to meet Kent, and I wanted to be ready when we reached the courthouse.

Okay…three at the most.

Chapter 3

Cotter~

While I normally didn’t mind dining business meetings, I was having a hard time concentrating on what Holden Britton was saying. A feminine laugh that I would recognize anywhere kept pulling at my attention, and it didn’t help that the source of that laughter was having lunch with another man.

When Holden had arrived, it’d been business as usual. Holden was CEO of Britton Resources, and he’d been in business with my father for years. All in all, he wasn’t a bad guy, and I could appreciate how he wasn’t ready to let go of the reins just yet. Nevertheless, his son kept trying to re-negotiate their contract with us, and that was something that I refused to do. I had no problem opening Moore Industries’ wallet for new ventures or even trial leaps of faith, but that’s not what this was. Lewis Britton wanted a bigger piece of the profits to finance his playboy lifestyle, and I’d be goddamned before I’d let something like that happen under my watch.

So, this meeting with Holden was more of a reassurance on his part that Lewis’ scheme was not something that Holden approved of. However, after recognizing the error for what it was, Lewis Britton now held more shares of their family company than Holden did, so Holden was going to have a fight on his hands if he couldn’t talk some sense into his son soon.

At any rate, Holden was going on and on about how he was afraid that Lewis was going to bankrupt him, but all I could think about was the stunning brunette that was sitting near the window in front of the restaurant, eating lunch with a motherfucker that wasn’t me.

When Aelix had agreed to my proposal two years ago, I had honestly expected to get bored with her after a few months. After all, I’d been thirty-two at the time, and I’d yet to meet a woman that could hold my interest for longer than a couple of weeks. However, I also hadn’t known that I’d been about to have the best sex of my life that night, either. When I had escorted Aelix from the charity event, we had ended up at the nearest hotel, and she’d taken all her anger, frustration, and heartbreak out on my dick, and to this day, Aelix fucked like it might be her last time ever. The woman was the hottest thing between the sheets, and it didn’t hurt that she was fucking beautiful, either.

At only five-foot-two, Aelix had dark brown hair, amber-colored eyes, one of those doll’s faces with a complexion that most women would kill for. Though she did wear makeup, she didn’t need to. The first time that I had ever fucked her in the shower, I’d been blown away by how stunning she’d been with a fresh face. Without makeup, her eyes still glowed, her cheeks were still rosy, and her lips were still plump, pink, and soft.

Her body was also something else. Aelix was thirty-three with no children, so her figure was still an hourglass of perfection. The woman had big tits, a small waist, wide hips, and thighs thick enough to keep my ears warm when I was eating her pussy. Luckily, she also didn’t care about any of those minor imperfections that women tortured themselves with, so that helped with her confidence in the bedroom. Some people might call her voluptuous, but there was no word in the English language that could describe the feminine beauty that I saw in the woman.

There was also the fact that she was a corporate attorney, and a damn good one. She worked for Walter & Kramer, and the woman was as sharp as a tack. Aelix knew her shit, and she wasn’t afraid of hard work, something that I could appreciate. She worked long hours and could juggle multiple cases at once, almost always coming out on top. Walter & Kramer had a reputation for hiring only the best, and she’d been working for them for a few years now.

So, because Aelix truly was one-of-a-kind, two years later, we were still screwing each other, and you really couldn’t beat the convenience of it all. The waters had never been muddied, and to my knowledge, no feelings had ever been hurt. It really was the perfect arrangement, except for one thing…

Why did it bother me that she was having lunch with another guy?

“I really just want you to know that I’m doing my best to get Lewis under control.” Holden’s words snapped me out of my thoughts as I went back to focus on our meeting. “However, I’m not sure how successful I’ll be.”

I felt for the guy. Nothing was worse than a horrible, ungrateful, spoiled child. Hell, I ought to know; that’d been me and Cutter years ago. A part of me wondered if Lewis Britton’s douchebag ways had come from his mother, because Holden really didn’t seem like a bad guy.

“You might want to look up Marion Tarter,” I suggested. “She’s a shark of an attorney, and she specializes in corporate family dynamics.” I straightened in my seat, ready to end this meeting. “While I can’t guarantee that she can help you, she’s your best bet.”

“Marion Tarter, you say,” he muttered. “I’ve never heard of her.”

“That’s because she doesn’t grandstand, and most of her clients prefer discretion to airing dirty family laundry,” I replied.

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