Indiscretion

Naomi huffed. “Can you please stop whistling?”

“I didn’t realize I was.”

She frowned. “You’ve been doing it all morning.”

“Sorry.”

“Whatever.”

I shook my head. She’d been off since I walked in today. Her responses were curt, and frown lines were etched at the corners of her mouth.

“Is everything okay, Naomi?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“I don’t know. You’ve given me nothing but one-word answers since you got here this morning.”

“Everything’s fine. There, that’s two.” She looked pointedly at the file in my hand. “Did you want something?”

“Oh. Yeah. After you’re done with the Hausman petition, do you think you can go through this trial transcript and mark all the places that Mr. Abrams talks about his son? Mr. Abrams was convicted, and his appeal starts next week. The DA just added his son to their list of witnesses, so I need to memorize everything my client said. I don’t have time to read a five-pound transcript, and the electronic file is missing, so I can’t do a name search.”

“Sure.”

I smiled. “There’s a one-word answer again…”

Naomi rolled her eyes. “I’m just busy.”

My gut told me it was more than that. “Is your sister okay?”

“You asked me that already this morning. She’s fine.”

“That time of the month?”

Naomi’s eyes flared. There was fire lurking behind her irises. “Inappropriate much?”

I shrugged. “There’s Motrin in my top drawer, if you need it.”

She scowled.

I held up my hands and took a backward step toward my door. “I’ll be in my office.”

“Great. Maybe you can turn down the music you have playing in there, too.”

“Is that what’s bothering you? I’m making too much noise? Whistling and music?”

“Nothing is bothering me. Just keep your happiness down, please.”

“Fine. I apologize if my good mood is disturbing you.”

She scoffed. “Wonder why you’re in such a good mood.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Just let me get my work done.”

“Fine,” I huffed. “I have shit to do, too.”

Women. I’ll never understand ’em. One minute they’re smiling, and the next they’re shooting daggers at me. It was just as well, because Naomi looked smoking hot in the turquoise dress she had on. Maybe that’s what it was. Maybe she’d caught me looking at her ass and I didn’t realize it.

A little while later, an email notification popped up on my screen. Naomi had sent me an electronic message to let me know she was going to pick up her sister and would be back in a few hours, rather than walking the ten steps to my office and telling me personally. I guessed her mood hadn’t changed.

At three, I was in the break room making a fresh pot of coffee when she walked in. She frowned upon seeing me, but held up a grocery bag. “I’m just going to eat something quickly.”

“Take your time. Everything go okay getting your sister home?”

“Yes, she’s fine.”

Her response was more than one word and slightly less chilly, but still nowhere near warm. The coffeepot beeped, so I turned and fixed a mug while Naomi unpacked the bag she’d carried in.

It didn’t look like she was much in the mood for conversation, so I figured I’d let her be. But while I was putting the sugar away, I noticed cleaning supplies on the table.

“Is that for here?”

“Yes.”

“Is something dirty? We have a cleaning crew that comes at night, you know?”

“I prefer to do it myself.”

I shrugged. There was a bottle of Lysol spray and a canister of bleach wipes—less cleaning supplies and more disinfectants.

“Are you worried about bringing germs home to your sister?”

“Maybe chlamydia or gonorrhea,” she mumbled under her breath.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

She huffed. “Lord knows what germs were left behind from the naked woman at my desk.”

Is that what had her all pissed off? The thought of Emily’s bare ass on her desk? “You know I’m a germaphobe. I wiped that shit down after Emily was finished.”

Naomi’s mouth twisted in what looked like disgust. “I’m glad she finished. But I think I’ll make sure it’s actually clean.” She picked up her plastic lunch container and stood abruptly. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

Huh? I blinked a few times and backtracked through our conversation. “Wait. I didn’t mean finished finished. Emily didn’t come on your desk, if that’s what you’re implying.”

My clarification didn’t relax her twisted mouth at all. She walked to the garbage and tossed in her untouched lunch. “Really? And here I thought you’d be better than that.”

“Better than tha…” I shook my head. “I didn’t fuck Emily. Is that what you’re implying?”

Without looking at me, she scooped up her disinfectants and hurried from the break room. I followed on her heels.

“Naomi, talk to me.”

She kept walking. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

“Nothing happened with Emily.”

At her desk, she popped the top off a can and proceeded to spray every inch of surface.

“Naomi, stop for a second. Talk to me.”

But she kept on spraying.

“Naomi.” I touched her arm. She pulled it away like my hand was hot. But at least she was looking at me now.

“What do you want from me, Dawson?” Tears welled in her eyes, causing a giant ache in my chest. She quickly looked away, so I slipped two fingers under her chin and nudged until her eyes met mine.

“I swear, nothing happened.”

Rebecca, the new receptionist, walked back at that moment. Her gait faltered when she saw Naomi and me. “Uhh…Mr. Langone is on the phone. He says it’s urgent. I tried to get you on the intercom, but you didn’t answer. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

My eyes never budged from Naomi’s. “Tell him I’ll call him back.”

“He said it was urgent.”

“I don’t give a shit.”

“Ohhhhkay. Whatever you say.”

A fat tear spilled down Naomi’s cheek. I grabbed her elbow and started us walking. “Let’s go into my office so we can talk in private.”

“I don’t want to talk.”

“Well, then you can listen.”

I was surprised as shit that she didn’t fight me as I guided her into my office and closed the door. Maybe I should’ve been scared she was going to give me another black eye once we were alone. But I didn’t give a fuck. I only gave a shit that she didn’t think the worst of me.

I motioned to the seating area. “Do you want to sit?”

She folded her arms across her chest. “No.”

My hands found my hips. “Fine. We’ll talk right here. I have no idea what you think happened with Emily that’s got you pissed off, but nothing happened.”

She looked away yet again.

“Damn it, Naomi, look at me.”

This time, her eyes roamed my face, gauging my sincerity. “But you said things heated up?”

I thought back to our text exchange last night. “I said things got heated, as in we had a huge blowout.”

“Oh.” Her face thawed a bit, though not entirely.

“Do you believe me?”

She looked away. “It’s not important.”

“Clearly it is.”

“Just forget it. It doesn’t matter.”

“It matters to me.” The tears in her eyes meant she wasn’t as much pissed off as she was hurt. And if she was hurt, that meant it mattered to her, too. And if it mattered that much to her, then… “Were you jealous, Naomi?”

Her cheeks pinked. “No.”

But I knew in my bones, that was it. I took a step closer, and the scent of coconut hit me. I had the strongest impulse to run my nose all over her skin, take in every last delicious smell on her body. Instead, I caught her eyes. “You smell good enough to eat.”

She swallowed. My office was pretty big by New York standards, yet suddenly it felt very small.

“Do you believe me that nothing happened?”

Naomi looked deep into my eyes for a long time before nodding.

I smiled. “Good. Because the idea of touching another woman is laughable, really. I don’t even look anymore, which is insane to me. But I have no interest. You know why?”

She hesitated, but eventually shook her head.

I took another step closer. The coconut was all around me now, and it was mixed with the best scent—her. Naomi’s tongue ran the length of her bottom lip, leaving it glistening. It was totally and completely mesmerizing, yet I didn’t think she had a clue she was doing it. She didn’t have a clue what she’d been doing to me since the first night I laid eyes on her.

Naomi leaned in ever so slightly, and the tiny movement was enough to tell me so much. I stopped debating what I was going to say and just spoke.

“Because you’re the only woman I’m interested in.”

Her eyes bounced between mine. “What part of me are you interested in, Dawson?”

I’m usually censored around women, especially women I’m interested in, because I don’t want to give them the wrong impression of my intentions. But I got lost in her beautiful green eyes. “Twenty-two.”

Her adorable nose wrinkled. “Twenty-two?”

I smiled. “That’s how many freckles are on your nose. I counted them on about the tenth time I stalked your Facebook page two weeks after the wedding. I’m interested in every part of you, sweetheart.”

She smiled, and it felt like my chest swelled. Maybe some other parts grew swollen too. I closed the distance between us, cupped both her cheeks, and fused our lips together. She tasted even better than I remembered. I’d never been into drugs, but I’d seen plenty of movies where the addict slips a needle into his arm and his world stops spinning, euphoria coming over his tense face. I was addicted in two seconds flat. And that’s also how long it took for slow and sweet to go out the window.

Our tongues collided, arms wrapped around each other, and hands grabbed everywhere. It felt desperate, like I needed her to breathe instead of air. Yet there was also something else going on—something more. But for the first time in my life, I didn’t want to run from whatever it was, I wanted to grab it and keep it safe.

My cell phone rang in the distant background, but it could’ve been Jesus Christ himself calling and I wasn’t going to pick up. I couldn’t stop touching her if my life depended on it. Grabbing a handful of ass, I gave it a good, firm squeeze and hoisted her up into the air. Naomi’s legs wrapped around my waist as I walked until her back hit the wall. She dug her nails into my hair and yanked, letting me know she was right there with me.

My head dipped down to her neck, the smell of coconut making me even hungrier, if that was possible. I wanted to feast on her—taste and bite, savor and suck—before swallowing her whole. I have no damn idea how long we stayed that way, glued together and dry humping like two horny teenagers, but when I ground down and felt her wetness through my pants, I thought I might actually turn into a fourteen-year-old boy and come right here.

But then Naomi wrenched her mouth from mine. “Dawson, maybe it’s important.”

“Of course it’s important,” I said, gulping air.

She smirked. “I meant the phone. It’s the third time it’s rung in the last two minutes.”

Huh? I blinked myself back to reality, and sure enough, my office phone was ringing. I’d vaguely heard my cell making noise when we started, but that was it.

“Maybe you should answer?”

I groaned. “Seriously?”

She wiped her swollen mouth with the back of her hand. “We’re also in the office.”

I gave no fucks. I wouldn’t have stopped if we were in the middle of Times Square with an audience watching. But Naomi unlocked her feet from behind my back and lowered them to the floor. Meanwhile, my desk phone stopped ringing, and two seconds later, my cell started again.

“Why don’t you get that?” she whispered.

I was still trying to catch my breath and had a steel pipe straining from my slacks. I looked down. “I need a minute before I can move.”

She giggled and covered her mouth. “Okay. I’ll get your cell phone for you.”

I stayed rooted in place. It was going to take a hell of a lot longer than sixty seconds to calm myself. The damn phone was still ringing when she came back and extended it to me. I took it and brought my finger to the screen to swipe and answer, but then stopped. “Wait.”

Naomi’s eyes met mine. “What?”

“I feel like when I answer this thing, all hell is going to break loose, and I’m going to wind up having to put out a fire.”

“Okay…”

“Tell me you’ll have dinner with me tonight. A date.”

Her hooded eyes went soft. “It’s the first night my sister’s home, so I should probably keep her company and make sure she’s doing alright. Her sister-in-law is heading back to Staten Island when I get home from work. She has small children.”

I felt deflated, but I nodded. “Of course. I wasn’t thinking.”

She smiled. “How about Saturday night?”

I smiled back. “Yeah?”

She nodded. “As long as everything goes okay tonight, I think that would be good.”

There must’ve been a shit-eating grin on my face because Naomi laughed and shook her head. “Stop being cocky and answer your damn phone already.”

My grin widened. “Yes, ma’am.”

I’d been right to think the phone call was going to turn my day into a shit show. It was Mr. Langone, an attorney client of mine who was out on bail after being charged with money laundering. The feds had just raided his office and were in the process of taking all of his computers and files. It was complicated because of attorney-client privilege. So I had to head uptown right away.

I walked out of my office only a few minutes after having had Naomi in my arms. Her cheeks were still flushed, hair a wild mess, and lips beautifully swollen. My cell was still in my hand, and without giving it any thought, I lifted it and snapped a picture.

She flashed a lopsided smile. “What are you doing?”

“Taking a picture of how gorgeous you look.”

Naomi patted her blond hair. “I’m sure I’m a mess.”

“A beautiful mess. But I have to go. Mr. Langone’s office is getting looted by the feds.”

“With a warrant, I hope?”

I nodded. “But he’s a lawyer, so I may need to get the judge who signed it on the phone and argue privilege.”

“Cairo vs. U.S.,” she said. “It’s a two-year-old case. I lost a shit ton of evidence on a bad search because of it. I’ll text you a link to the summary.”

“Great. Thanks.”

Naomi’s eyes dropped down. She covered her mouth. “Oh my God. You can’t take the subway like that. If you wind up having to stand, that thing will be right in someone’s face.”

I looked down. When the adrenaline rush had changed from sucking her face to saving a client, I’d forgotten all about my needy dick. But apparently it needed more than a few minutes to catch up. It looked like a small arm was trying to escape from my pants.

“Shit, let me get my suit jacket to hold and cover it up.”

“You should probably drive or call an Uber so you have a little privacy while that thing calms down.”

“Sweetheart, this thing isn’t calming down until after it’s inside you.”