Simply Beautiful Read online

  “You were not summoned; you were asked.”

  Alisha arched her brow and scowled at him. “Semantics…it’s the same thing when it’s coming from your boss.”

  Tristan had to smile at her gutsiness. Ms. Carrington was one hell of a woman.

  “Stop smirking, and tell me what I am supposed to do now.”

  “I’ll handle it,” Tristan said.

  “And again…how? I was supposed to meet him in his office over a half hour ago.”

  She was so busy pacing back and forth and throwing her hands up in the air that she didn’t see how much her actions were turning him on. Her shirt was still hanging free of her skirt and she hadn’t pulled her bra down over her breast, and each time she lifted her arms he could see the outline of her pointed nipples through the thin ivory silk shirt she was wearing. Each move caused his erection to get stiffer. If his dick got any harder he wouldn’t be able to stand, let alone sit down. If that wasn’t bad enough, as she paced around, she turned her back to him, giving him a nice view of her full ass. Damn! Her ass alone was enough to make a grown man cry. It wasn’t big, nor was it small, but it was round and firm with a softness to it. Tristan began to shift from one foot to the other while reaching down trying to unobtrusively adjust his erection, without success. A desire so potent surged throughout his body that he found himself saying, “Come here, Alisha.”

  Alisha, picking up on the desire in Tristan husky voice, found herself walking towards him, stopping just in front of him. He looked into her hazel eyes and whispered. “Closer.”

  Apparently she wasn’t moving fast enough for Tristan, because the next thing she knew he was pulling her closer to him and taking her mouth with a fierceness that aroused her all over again. Alisha lifted her arms, encircling them around Tristan’s neck and running her fingers through his hair.

  Tristan’s hands roamed slowly over the globes of Alisha’s ass, squeezing its firmness. Pulling her lower body into his, grinding his erection into her pelvis caused the friction of panties to rub against her clit and send sensation after sensation throughout her body. It was Alisha’s turn to moan then. Tristan knew that he had to stop before he had her spread out on that leather sofa underneath him and stuffed with nine inches of rock-hard cock. Besides, he would disrespect his lady by taking her in his brother’s office—his office maybe, but not his brother’s. “Mmmm,” Tristan was moaning, drawing his mouth from hers, nipping her bottom lip with little love bites in the process. “Babe, we have to stop. If we don’t stop now, I’ll do something we’ll both regret by taking you right here in my brother’s office.” He took hold of one of her stray curls and placed it behind her ear, kissing her softly on the forehead. “Besides, Brandon will be back soon, and as much as I love my brother, I don’t want to have to put his eyes out for daring to look at my woman in the buff. I don’t think our momma and daddy would appreciate me blinding their son.”

  Alisha reluctantly unwound her arms from around his neck, her chest still rising and her breath coming out in spurts she was so turned on. After taking a couple of deep breaths, she looked up at Tristan, embarrassed that she had gotten so out of control. She was dry humping the man in his brother’s office. “Oh my God!” she said covering her face with her hands. “I can’t believe this!”

  Tristan removed her hands from covering her face, took her chin and lifted her head so that they were looking into each other’s eyes “Don’t ever be embarrassed about what we shared. From this day forward, you are my woman. Got it?”

  Nodding her head in agreement, she surprised herself by her ready compliance. Alisha released a breath that she wasn’t aware that she had been holding and went to move out of his embrace, but he stopped her by pulling her closer to him and tucking her head underneath his chin. “I have a feeling that this is the beginning of something special for the both of us, Beauty, and I won’t let you or anyone else cheapen what we’re feeling. I know it’s sudden—on your part, at least, but I noticed you a while ago.” He continued on, ignoring her gasp. “Yes. I noticed that you would always go in the opposite direction when I approached. And although I admired you, I never imagined that our connection would be as instantaneous or as potent as it is. And I can tell you’re as attracted to me as I am to you…you just need to come to grips with it. Now, we need to fix you up and get this discussion on the way before my brother returns. You can use the bathroom in here to fix your clothes if you want.” At her nod, he took her hand and directed her to the bathroom on the other side of the office.

  Chapter Four

  After Alisha closed the door to the bathroom Tristan made his way over to the sofa and sat down with a thud, running his hand down his face and sighing. Man, he had to get himself together, he thought. If his erection didn’t go down soon he would have to take his shirt out of his pants to cover himself. Maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea, anyway. He pulled his shirt free of his trousers. Tristan was so caught up in his musing that he didn’t realize Alisha had come out of the bathroom until she appeared before him.

  “How do I look?” she asked, not making eye contact with him.

  Tristan looked up at her flustered face and her kiss-swollen lips, smiling inside. He didn’t think it would go well for him if he told her she looked as though she had been well and truly kissed. So he said instead, “Simply beautiful.” Tristan reached out to take her hand into his, bringing her down beside him on the sofa.

  Blushing, Alisha asked, “Okay, where do you want to start?”

  “First, let me make myself clear. You will not be working with James on the appeal or anything else for that matter. Got it?”

  With a deep sigh, she responded, “Okay, I got it. If you and Brandon don’t want him finding out that you are onto him, you are going to have to stall him. I think I know how, if Brandon is agreeable.”

  “I have to agree first,” Tristan said, “and if you have any ideas of using yourself as bait, you can forget about it.”

  “No. Believe it or not, Tristan, I never trusted the man. I am not stupid. I know he’s a leech. I just didn’t know how much of a leech he was. It wasn’t until my secretary warned me this morning and then you pulling the he-man stunt that it finally hit home. I’m simply saying that I know a way to stall him while you get the evidence you need to put him out of the firm and hopefully brought up on charges. If he’s done this to office personnel, there’s no telling what the man has done to others outside of the office. He makes me uncomfortable, and I’ve never allowed myself to be put in a position where I would have to be in his company for any extended lengths of time, never mind behind closed doors. So you have no worries there. I would’ve explained it all to you, had you given me a chance.”

  Tristan was seeing red, his eyes darkening with every word that came out of Alisha’s mouth. She didn’t realize it but she was revealing a lot to him. In fact, he was pretty sure that the man had tried something with her before and that made him want to walk down the hall and beat the hell of him. “Alisha, if James made you uncomfortable, then why the hell were you going to his office? And when did the little shit make a pass at you?”

  She looked at him as if he were crazy. “Wh—when?”

  “Don’t insult my intelligence by even trying to deny it. So now let’s start again. When did he try something with you?”

  “Tristan, that is not the point—”

  “WHEN!?”

  “A few times… nothing serious—just standing too close to me, and I can feel his eyes on my butt when I walk past him.”

  “That’s enough, Alisha. I don’t want you alone with him for any reason. Understood?” He was about to say something else when there was a brief knock on the door. It opened and Brandon stuck his head into the office.

  “Am I allowed in my office now?”

  Alisha smiled and Tristan lifted a brow. “Hmph. Either you forgot how to tell time, or you never left. What happened to the hour or two you promised?”

  “Yeah, well I like Alisha, and Mom
and Dad love you, so I figured I’d better stick around to make sure you both were unharmed.”

  Tristan frowned. “I would never intentionally hurt Alisha. What the hell are you talking about?”

  “I know you wouldn’t, but she looked as though she was about to brain you when I left, so I wanted to come to her defense if anyone saw fit to call the police. But it looks like things have taken a turn for the better,” Brandon said, with a huge grin on his face, looking from one to the other. “Uh huh.”

  Alisha, with haughtiness only she could pull off, sniffed and held her head up high, like she didn’t have a care in the world.

  That had Brandon bending over laughing and Tristan smiling at his woman and bending down to plant a kiss on her lips—which she gladly received and was about to return when Brandon coughed loudly, drawing both of their attention to him.

  “Save it, you two,” he said and went to sit behind his desk, since Tristan and Alisha had his sofa. “Have you two decided on a course of action for this James situation?”

  “Yes,” Alisha said.

  “No,” Tristan said, at the same time.

  Brandon looked at them. “Which is it? No or yes?”

  “Yes,” Alisha said before Tristan could say anything, and got up from the sofa and walked over to stand in front of Brandon’s desk. “I was saying to Tristan before you came in that I think I have a plan for how to stall James so Tristan can do whatever it is that he does.”

  “Go on,” Brandon said, looking at his brother.

  Tristan came to stand next her. “Don’t even try it,” Alisha said, eyeing him suspiciously.

  “What?” Tristan asked innocently, moving to stand directly in back of her.

  “You know what…Anyway, Brandon, I have a—”

  Tristan began to blow in her hair, causing a wisp of air to touch her neck. Alisha looked back at him. “Stop it, Tristan. You are not going to sidetrack me.” She then moved to stand by Brandon, which caused Tristan to let out an exasperated sigh.

  He threw up his hands. “Okay, let’s hear this famous plan you have.”

  Chuckling, Brandon put his head down and waited for Alisha to begin.

  “Thank you,” she said, turning back to Brandon. “Okay, since we only have until Tuesday to get this appeal out to all parties involved…we can do a motion to extend our time. We can do it by stipulation or by cause, dependent upon how much time we would need. If we do it by stipulation, we have up to 60 days to perfect the appeal. I suggest we do it by cause. That will give us enough time to perfect. Since we can establish reasonable grounds as to why we can’t reply within the allotted time limit, I can’t see a judge not allowing it. With what’s going on here, I say we have cause. What do you think?”

  Both Brandon and Tristan were looking at her with renewed respect.

  Brandon spoke first. “I think it’s perfect. I’ll have Julius work on the enlargement on Monday. Alisha, I might need you to cover a few things for me next week. Can you clear your calendar?”

  “No problem.”

  “You can leave early today and I’ll tell everyone that you have a family emergency. We need it to look legit. Meanwhile, Tristan and I will meet with James to inform him of the change in plans, amongst other things.

  “I’ll have what I need by the end of the day.”

  With a nod, Brandon continued, “Alisha, you won’t have to do the appeal. Julius Bracchard is very capable of doing the appeal—he’s done them before. Julius is a good man and a great attorney. He’s also licensed in several different states. He’s an asset to the firm, and it’s about time we started using him to his full capabilities. I don’t want this fallout to interrupt the office. I can’t have the entire firm falling apart because of that fool. As it is, I hate to leave Tristan here to handle this mess by himself.”

  “You just go handle your business down there. As far as I’m concerned, James is already handled. By the time I’m finished with him he’ll wish he wasn’t born, let alone have pulled the shit he pulled here. And by the way, that fool in HR is gone, correct?”

  “I have his replacement already in place for Monday morning. David hired someone yesterday. No one in the firm knows about the new hire. So far, everything is covered. I would’ve taken care of this situation too, had it not been for Sinjin needing my help and David having to be with his wife. I hated to have to call you in, Tris, man… but thanks all the same for coming. I know how much you hate New York,” Brandon said, and then winced once he realized he’d voiced Tristan’s hatred of New York in front of Alisha.

  Tristan looked over at Alisha, trying to gauge her reaction to his brother’s outburst. Not being able to read her, he looked at Brandon.

  “I’ll do anything for the people I love. Like I said, James is already handled.”

  “Good enough,” Brandon said. “Alisha, are you okay with everything?”

  “I’m good. I’m going back to my office and pack up my things if I’m to leave early,” she said, making her way towards the door.

  As she was leaving, who was standing at the door about to knock, none other than the man himself, James Langston. Before she could make a comment, Tristan was there in between her and James like lightning.

  “How can we help you, James?” Tristan asked, barely able to control his anger as he noticed James eyeballing Alisha’s breasts. If this dick-head looked at his woman one more time with those beady little eyes, he would waste his ass. Evidence or not, when he got finished with the little shit, there wouldn’t be a body to take to trial.

  “Alisha, you can go do what you need to do before you leave. I will meet you at your office to get the information that I need,” Tristan said, hoping she would catch on.

  Alisha looked up at Tristan and then back at Brandon, “Yes, I’ll see you later Tristan.” “Bye, Brandon. Thanks for the help with my personal problem. I’ll let my sister know what you said,” she replied as she stepped around James to walk out the door.

  “Good girl,” Tristan mouthed with a wink when James had looked over at Brandon.

  “I needed to see her. It was Alisha I was actually looking for. Betty told me she was in here. Thought it must have been important—but we really need to get started on the appeal, as it’s due on Tuesday,” James said to no one in particular as he watched Alisha leave the room.

  Tristan looked James in the eye, not giving anything away in his facial features. “Yes, and apparently you only advised her of this just before she left for the day yesterday. If it was so important, why did you hold onto it until the last minute?”

  “Well, that was an oversight,” James said walking further into the room and closing the door behind him. “I got distracted by the Wilson trial and forgot that it was due. My fault,” James said holding up his hands as a sign of surrender. “Won’t happen again.” Looking at Brandon, he said, “In case you didn’t hear yet, Brandon, the jury came back in our favor on the Wilson matter.”

  Observing Tristan’s I will fuck you up look at James’ flippancy, Brandon answered with little enthusiasm, “Yes, I’ve heard. Congratulations.”

  “All in a day’s work,” James replied, then looked at Tristan with a smirk on his face. “So, Tristan, are you planning on staying in the Big Apple long?”

  “As long as I have to. Why?”

  “Just asking. I seem to remember that you don’t care for New York City.”

  “I like the city well enough; it’s some of the people in the city that I can’t tolerate.”

  “Being a native New Yorker, I would have to agree with you to some extent. We do have some beautiful women though. Real classy. Speaking of classy, I better go and catch Alisha. It sounded like she was leaving. I need to get—”

  “I don’t think so,” Tristan said, stepping closer to James.

  Brandon, gauging his brother’s intent by the stiffening of his body, quickly jumped in front of Tristan. “Ah, James, I’ll have Betty help you with anything you may need from Alisha. She has an emergency and
will be leaving early. I would appreciate it if you didn’t bother her at the moment. She has enough to deal with at this time.”

  “Is everything okay? I mean…there isn’t something wrong with her sister, is there? I know she mentioned you helping her with something with her sister. Is it something I can help with?”

  “As far as I am concerned, it’s personal and not up for discussion. It’s Alisha’s story to tell. Anything that she discusses with me is confidential unless she states otherwise. All I can say is that she should be back in the office by Monday. If not, she has it on my authority to take all the time she needs. As a matter of fact, I was going to seek you out before I left. I too have an emergency and will be going out of town for a few days; hence, Tristan’s appearance in New York and in the office. As you are probably aware, David had to leave and will be on leave for a few weeks with Nadia. She went into labor earlier today—”

  “Isn’t she early? Is everything okay?” The man’s concern lacked sincerity.

  “Not sure yet. We’re waiting on a call from David. I’m sure that if anything was wrong he would’ve called by now. Anyway, as I was saying, Tristan will be here until my return. If any problems should arise, Tristan will be the go-to man while I’m gone. If Alisha is not back by Monday, get Julius to work the appeal. Julius can help with it. He is more than capable. In fact, I’m surprised you didn’t seek his assistance from the beginning. He has quite a bit of experience with appeals.”

  “Uhhh, yes. I thought of Julius but as he was…involved in a trial. He wouldn’t have been able to meet the time constraints. I asked Alisha because although she doesn’t have any experience with appeals, her research abilities are impeccable.”

  Brandon had to give it to James; he had all the right answers. Brandon was even more convinced that Tristan had to pull up something on James that they could use. He knew James would not go down without a fight. The man wasn’t called a shark in the courtroom for no reason. Not only did James know the law, but he knew how to manipulate it to work in his favor. The man was brilliant; unfortunately he was also a slime—and stupid. Since he decided to use his firm to get his rocks off, he was going down hard.