Look to His Like

Chapter Sixteen

I probably needed a good twelve hours sleep to make up for my dire four days of insomnia. Unlike on previous recent occasions when my head had hit the pillow, I sensed this time I'd have no difficulty in claiming it. And I did allow myself to sleep - although only for brief periods; with Drake in my bed, I had far better things to do with my time than wallow in unconscious inactivity. I didn't surrender completely to oblivion until close to the dawn hour.

When I woke after that, bright morning light bathed my bedroom and the bed beside me was empty.

I sat up groggily, the pleasant ache between my legs, the tingling of my skin and the satiated state of my body indicating the previous afternoon and night had been no dream. I glanced at my clock: 9am. I lay back down with a groan, throwing my arm across my eyes. I had to go to work today as I had an important client meeting at 11am, but all I wanted to do was lie in bed, relive the last twelve hours or so, assess their significance - and hopefully help myself to several more Adam Drake-induced orgasms.

What had I got myself in for, with agreeing to live with Drake? Perhaps a shoe boxed sized unit in some seedy suburb in the west as my next home? Or a tumbledown cottage in Redfern? That's all a struggling stage actor would be able to afford in Sydney, and even then he would probably be mortgaged to the hilt. Needless to say, there were personal compensations for living with him even in a dive; perhaps I wouldn't notice my abode so much, if Drake was going to be more or less permanently installed between my thighs. I smiled with reluctant delight at that thought. As for what the partners of Gilden Hawke would think of my new address - well, I would just have to think about that later.

I would also not think about Steve's reaction to my being married to - and crazily bonking - a sexy piece like Drake. And if I had to think about it - well, as Drake had said himself once, Steve was more than likely having sex with his gorgeous wife. Fair's fair!

I was given no opportunity to dwell further on the ramifications of my new association with Drake, as I heard footsteps ascending the stairs and approaching. I lifted my arm from my face just as Drake entered the bedroom.

He looked vibrant and crackling with energy - and very, very sexy, dressed only in his jeans, which were unbuttoned and half unzipped. My groin recommencing its moist lustful coiling, I sat up again, only making a half-hearted effort at holding the sheet beneath my arms.

"Good morning," he said, coming around to my side of the bed. I made some sort of grunt in response, admiring how his thin line of sub navel hair drew the eyes inexorably downwards to the delicious bulge at his crotch. I threw myself back and pulled him on top of me.

"One thing you have to remember when we're married," I said after another delightful snogging session, "is I don’t like waking up alone. I'm usually quite frisky first thing in the morning."

"That's obvious," Drake said with a sharply drawn breath as one of my hands slid into his pants. "I would have stayed only I have a few things to do this morning - have to pick up the keys to my house, buy a few items of furniture." He drew the sheet away and trailed his mouth down to one breast and swirling his tongue around its aroused peak. "That reminds me," he said, looking up. "Do you have any objections to getting married in your lunch hour today? Or are you the big white wedding type?"

"Oh, goodness, no!" I shuddered. "But - get married today? I know I wanted to get married within the month, but - seriously, this isn't Las Vegas you know. There are laws against hasty marriages here."

"Yeah, I know - but there are also ways around it." He touched the side of his nose and winked in the time-honoured indication of keeping mum. "Trust me. So, do you want to?"

I looked at him suspiciously. "As long as it's legal, I suppose it's all right" I said. "But what's the big rush?"

"Oh, it's all perfectly legal," Drake assured me, wide-eyed. "And I just thought you were keen to get this thing settled, that's all."

I thought about it and shrugged. "I guess there's no reason why we shouldn't do it today."

"Great!" Drake clambered off the bed, and enthusiastically bound over to where his t-shirt lay on the floor, intent on action. Bemused, I sat up again.

"Hey, hang on a sec," I said. "You turn me on and then leave me high and dry?"

He shot me a wicked glance over his shoulder. "I doubt that you're dry," he remarked.

"Why don't you come over here and be sure of it," I said, lying back down and throwing the sheet off me.

Drake paused and turned around. "Cripes, Jo," he said, "after seven marathon sex sessions last night and I don’t know how many orgasms on your part, you still want more? My poor boys are protesting." However, he approached eagerly, dropping the t-shirt and fumbling with his jeans.

I sat up and swung my legs over the side of the bed.

"Your boys are protesting, eh?" I mused. "Let's have a look." I pulled him closer, drew down his jeans and boxers. "Mmm, I'm thinking they just need a bit of tender loving care," I said. I slid my hands around to his buttocks and leaned forward to nuzzle him.

"Shit, Jo," came the ragged mutter above me. I looked up.

"I'll be gentle, I promise." I grinned at him before lowering my head and, slowly and inexorably, engulfing him in my mouth.

-----

I was late getting into work.

As I sauntered through the central hub of Gilden Hawke towards my office, I felt carefree and intensely satisfied. I had the fleeting revelation that I had experienced my Force of Nature and that Chaos had been forced back into the crevices of Natural Order, before the sight of Lisa hovering in the open doorway of my office, nervously twisting a lock of her curly brown hair, drove all such reflections away.

As I came closer, I also noticed, through the glass walls, David Sleezak lounging in one of my guest chairs. I frowned in annoyance, my pace growing swifter.

Lisa looked around on either hearing me or sensing my presence. She jumped and blushed.

"Oh, hi, Jo," she said rather too loudly, her smile of greeting not meeting her eyes. She scuttled off to her cubicle, eager to escape. In my office, Sleezak looked up from whatever he had been reading and turned his head. He smirked as I came to the door, making no effort to hide the file he read, or to rise to his feet.

With a jolt, I saw Harry's open box at his feet; he held a manila folder of Doolan's notes, on top of which I knew were my own notes taken at our weekend meeting.

Pretending a cool I didn't feel, I strolled around to my chair and swung my case into a side cupboard. "What can I do for you, David?" I said, picking up my pile of phone message slips.

Sleezak closed the file and waved it at me.

"What's this then?" he asked.

I looked at it as if I had never seen it before.

"That would be a file, wouldn't it?" I said in conjured misunderstanding.

He blushed in anger.

"No, I mean - what case is it? Looks like a native title matter - I haven't heard any mention of us taking something like this on."

"It's not a Gilden Hawke matter," I said. I added with courage borne of my renewed self-confidence, "Not yet, anyway! I hope to bring it into the firm, it's a brilliant opportunity for us."

"Opportunity for what, exactly?" Sleezak said, sarcasm lacing his voice. "To advertise ourselves as a firm with a such a fine social conscience that we are willing to work for the abos for nothing?"

I glared at him, my temper simmering. "And what is wrong with that? And please use a more respectful term when referring to our indigenous people, or I won't be responsible for what I say to you!"

Sleezak jerked in astonishment, staring at me.

"What's with you?" he sneered. "Gone all highbrow! Since when have you been a bleeding heart?"

I had to grit my teeth to stop a verbal explosion, although I was rather surprised at myself - not that I felt the emotions behind the words, but that I had had the courage to utter them. "Please leave my office, David," I grated out. "I have a client meeting to prepare for."

He stood up slowly.

"All right - but let me tell you something, Jo. There's no way the partners will take on this case!" He tossed the file onto my desk in front of me. "It's a fucking minefield."

I calmly picked up the file and placed it into my tray, unable to suppress a confident smile. As I turned my attention back to my message slips, I sensed him studying me intently.

"Fucking unbelievable!" he breathed in astonishment after a few seconds. I looked up. Sleezak stared at me in shock. "You intend to take on this file if you're made partner!"

I realised my mistake at once. I steeled my expression into impassiveness.

"The thought never occurred to me," I said making a supreme effort to insert reassurance into my tone. "Of course, I have the interests of the firm always in mind. Now, David - please! I really must prepare for this meeting."

He narrowed his eyes. Uncertainty in his carriage, he turned and walked slowly from my office. I prayed he would not have the acumen to see how much I had lied.

-----

Although I found that encounter quite unedifying, I was so distracted by various subsequent tasks that I had no time to give it - or anything else - any thought. After the conclusion of my client meeting in the conference room, I was back in my office heeding the next demand for my attention, when the phone rang. I picked it up and Lisa transferred another client through who was eager for a chat on the progress of his company's litigation.

While I dealt with the call, I also drafted a letter to an opponent's solicitor and read my mail - impressive time management on my part. At one point, I looked up - just in time to see Drake strolling past cubicles, heading to my office.

I nearly dropped the phone. I know I didn't hear my client's next words, and had to ask him to repeat himself, while I gaped at Drake. He wore a black suit, the single-breasted jacket emphasising the tapering shape of his torso, and black silver buttoned shirt with no tie. He wore his sunglasses on top of his head, his hair looked tousled as if he hadn't bothered combing it, and he sported raffish fine stubble - clearly he also hadn't shaved. I swear I gave a little moan of desire on seeing him.

"Jo? Jo, are you there? Are you okay?" said my client in my ear.

"Oh, sorry." I waved Drake into my office, unable to take my eyes off him while I tried to concentrate on my call, sexual arousal shooting time management to smithereens.

Drake threw himself into one of my guest chairs and looked around him curiously. Outside my office, Lisa and a few other girls appeared from their cubicles to peek through the wall of my office, avid curiosity and feminine interest on their faces - clearly, the word had gone around of my hunky visitor, probably instigated by the receptionist on Drake's arrival, and no doubt the internal phone lines were running hot out there.

Figuring that I would be of little use to my client if I kept staring at Drake, I dragged my eyes away and started to doodle on my notepad while I tried to talk strategy into the phone. When I found myself drawing something that looked distinctly like a heart with an arrow through it, in agitation I tore off the piece of paper from the tablet, screwed it up and tossed it in the bin.

Drake rose to his feet and I looked up at once, afraid he was going to leave. He made a gesture of drinking a cup of coffee at me. I nodded, and pointed back in the direction he had come, indicating the location of the tearoom.

I wasn't the only one to drool at his back view as he languidly retraced his steps through the office. Chairs were rolled back, faces peered around cubicle walls, and female heads followed his progress. If I weren't so senseless with lust myself, I would have found it funny.

My client seemed intent on keeping me on the line; fortunately, I was able to concentrate better now Drake had gone, and eventually, I was able to terminate the call. I bound from my chair and fled from my office, smoothing invisible creases from my white pants suit with palms damp with excitement, and registering that most of the support staff's cubicles were now empty.

I soon discovered why. The corridor outside the tearoom was packed with secretaries, paralegals, and lawyers, most of them female, all of them with their attention focused on the tearoom's interior. From inside the tearoom, I heard loud male laughter and talk.

I weaved my way through the throng and stopped short in the doorway.

Drake was there, leaning against the bench, one ankle crossed in front of the other in that way guaranteed to get my loins seething, one hand holding a steaming cup of coffee. He had a keen audience of the Gilden Hawke's partners and senior male associates. The managing partner, Guy Gilden, turned and grinned at me.

"Ah, there you are, Jo!" he said heartily. "Adam was just telling us you're getting married in half an hour!"

Guy Gilden is probably the ugliest man you'd ever want to see. He has a fringe of curly black hair around a baldpate, buckteeth beneath a thick moustache, an acne-scarred face and lifeless brown eyes behind thick glasses. He was also exceedingly asinine in nature - there had been many a professional staff meeting when I had squirmed in discomfort at his sexist or crude comments about some of the firm's female clients. One look at Drake and I could tell he had sized him up perfectly - something intangible passed between us, akin to a spoken "What a dork" remark. I smiled at Drake and moved to his side, murmuring my affirmative answer to Gilden's comment.

"You're a dark horse!" said Gilden barring his large teeth in a smile that was meant to be friendly but came across as a leer. "We never knew anything about you getting married!" Or that you were even heterosexual, was the tacit subsequent comment, as Drake put his lips on mine in greeting and I sank into him, my hands sliding of their own accord over his flat belly.

"Oh, I told David," I said innocently after reluctantly dragging my mouth away from a heady kiss. Drake threw an arm around my shoulder and drew me to his side. I looked at Sleezak who at once appeared uncomfortable.

"Well, seeing as we were given no opportunity to buy you both a gift," said Gilden, cutting a cross look in Sleezak's direction, "why don't you let me give you the rest of the afternoon off? Hell, take a few days!"

I opened my mouth to say it wasn't necessary, when Drake interrupted with a smooth, "She won't say 'no' to that, will you, Jo? We have better things to do than work after we tie the knot." He forestalled further comment from me with another kiss that left me weak at the knees and speechless.

Gilden laughed and waggled his eyebrows suggestively, while the other audience members snickered.

"And talking of work," said Gilden seizing on the segue and staring at Drake in admiration, "Adam was telling us about his own! What a fascinating career you've had, Adam, I must say!"

It appeared everyone else shared his appreciation. Somehow Drake had won them over on that dodgy issue, I realised with relief.

"I've been lucky to have been constantly in work since I left college," said Drake with a dismissive shrug. He looked at me. "You ready to go, honey?"

I had to take a second to absorb the term of endearment that rolled so easily off his lips; of course, his usage of it was all part of the game we played, but I found myself relishing it nonetheless. I murmured something about fetching my case and to chorused well wishes and congratulations, Drake and I left the tearoom, Drake's hand resting on the small of my back.

In the empty elevator that zoomed us to the ground floor, Drake drew me into his arms and claimed my mouth with another erotic snog. My head swam with the intermingling of our tongues and I sagged against him as if it had been our first kiss and as if we hadn't spent most of the last twenty-four hours having uncontained sex. After several stimulating seconds, he lifted his head to regard me with a deep sigh and glinting eyes.

"Mission accomplished upstairs, eh?" he murmured. "You're quite the favoured employee now, I think."

"Thanks to you - whatever the hell you said to them," I said. I lifted myself onto my tiptoes, kissed his cheek and wound my arms around his neck in a hug. Well, it's quite easy to be affectionate to someone whose entire person can deliver such exquisite sensual pleasure - that's what I told myself anyway. "Actually, mission almost accomplished," I qualified. "I just have to get that promotion now."

"Piece of cake," said Drake, returning the embrace just as the elevator doors yawned open. "C'mon, let's go get married."