Page 29 of The Lawyer
“I wouldn't know.”
“Is there a lake? All these types of places have lakes.”
“There is. I used to swim in it.” I stand fully, gaze catching hold of hers because letting go is something I'm currently contemplating far too readily. “Naked.”
She looks over my body and smiles. “Naked?”
“Completely. What are you up to?”
“Me? I'm not up to anything. Just talking.” Her frame turns, herback now leaning on the wall to show off that cleavage to full effect. “Making conversation with my boss is just part of my job.”
“I think you know exactly what you're doing. Andthisis far from sensible, Willow. Stop tempting something you're not ready for. I am not available for anything remotely … pleasant.” Especially not tonight.
She smirks and lifts her champagne to those fucking lips, giggling. “I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
She damn well does.
“There you are, Landon.” My shoulders straighten instantly, body swinging around to face my father. “Asquith has been looking for you.” Roger Asquith, head of media for Her Majesty’s government, can fuck off tonight.
He glances at Willow, clear disapproval in his gaze. “If you’ve finished with whatever this is, perhaps you could take some time to deal with business.” I’d really rather not, and the smile on my face after I’ve drained my champagne should tell him that.
“Father, this is a party. I’m apparently supposed to be having fun. As should you.”
“Fun?”
“Fun. Go and dance with Mother. I might go swimming.”
Willow giggles. She really shouldn't. I'm entirely serious, and that is in no way useful to her career at my company.
A waitress walks past with another tray full of champagne, which makes me snatch three glasses off it. One gets passed to Willow, another to my father, and I start sipping again. Work? No. Not tonight. I’ve done nothing but work for months, most of which has been at his order and under his direction. As of this evening, and the official announcement that I am now in control, he can go screw himself with orders and direction.
“Landon?” he asks.
“Yes?”
“Are you drunk already?”
“Nowhere near enough.”
My hand goes behind Willow before I’ve thought the move through, my body ushering us away from him without actually touching her. She stays quiet the entire way through the corridors and hallways, her frame seeming poised and controlled as we go. “I think I was eleven the last time I danced in the ballroom,” I remark, nodding at some other guests as they offer congratulations.
“Cute,” she says.
“Not a word I have ever been, nor will ever be.”
“Oh, I don't know. Even brutes have their charms. Swimming naked in your own lake has just become one of your better ones.”
I half chuckle and keep her moving until we eventually arrive in the vast room filled with chandeliers and opulence. It makes me smile and watch the other guests, partly absorbed in the frivolities and partly disturbed by them. Most of these people are just like me, just as manipulative and calculating. This pretence, while amusing, is nothing but that. They're just here to make sure we're on side. I'm probably not.
With any of them.
“What do you think?” she asks beside me.
“Of what?”
“Of this?”
“The dancing?”
