Page 104 of Tempting All The Way

“My will to quit is wavering,” she huffs out, trying to catch her breath.

I pick her up and tug her skirt back over her legs. Walking over to the bar fridge, I pull out two bottles of water and hand her one.

“Water? That’s what I get for dessert?” she pouts.

“What were you expecting?” I ask her, taking a gulp from my own bottle.

“Cake, cookies, cock. Any of the three Cs would suffice,” she says, causing me to spit out a mouthful of water.

“The three Cs?”

“Three things I can’t live without, all starting with C.”

“Do you have one of these lists for every letter of the alphabet?”

“I do. Doesn’t everyone?” she counters.

“No, Bentley. Not everyone is insane.” I laugh. “So what’s on your list for the letter N?” I ask, curious as to what she has to say.

“That’s easy. Netflix, Nutella, and Nathan.” She smiles.

Can’t say I’m not fucking glad I made the list.

“Well, if I did have a list, my favourite Bs would be Bentley, baby girl, and Bentley’s breasts,” I say.

“Good to know.” She laughs.

Three hours later, I walk into the conference room. Bentley is already there waiting. I had no doubt she’d be the first to arrive. “How you feeling?” I ask her.

“Fine. You?”

“Good.” I sit down next to her. “You know, you don’t have to do this. If it gets to be too much, you can walk out,” I tell her.

“I’ll be fine. I’ve been waiting for this moment for a really long time, Nathan. I’m not going to fuck it up.”

“I don’t think you will. I just want to make sure you know that you can leave if you want to.”

“Thank you.”

Tracey knocks at the door. “Your appointment has arrived, Mr Miller,” she says.

“Great. Send them in,” I say.

“Nathan Miller, George Pecker.” Kemp’s lawyer holds his hand out as he introduces himself.

I stand to return the gesture. “This is my associate… Miss Johnson.” I introduce Bentley to the attorney while staring down Kemp, who pales a little when he sees her.

“Miss Johnson.” Pecker nods before sitting down. “My associate, William Jackson, and my client, Mark Kemp.” He continues before glancing from me to Bentley. “I don’t see your client here, Mr Miller. Are we expecting him?”

“We are not. Let’s get started.” I open the manilla folder.

The meeting dragged on for over an hour. Bentley held her own throughout the entire thing. Asking questions where they needed to be asked and taking notes like the diligent student she is. She didn’t miss a beat at all. I couldn’t be any fucking prouder.

Pushing to my feet while signalling the conclusion of our initial arbitration, I shake Pecker’s hand before moving on to his associate. I don’t offer the same courtesy to Kemp. I’ll never shake that man’s hand.

“You know your father couldn’t beat me. You won’t be able to either, Bentley. But kudos to you for trying, sweetheart.” The fucker grins in her direction.

“It’s Miss Johnson. And I won’t need to try very hard. This is an open-and-shut case, Mr Kemp,” Bentley fires back.

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