Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

I t’s been a week of absolute bliss. That whole ‘never going to happen again’ thing Dani likes to spew out after every orgasm I give her holds no weight. As much as she might think she should stay away from me, I know she craves me just as much as I crave her.

Danielle Hutchinson is my latest fixation. I can’t go ten minutes without her popping into my head. No matter where I am or what I’m meant to be doing, I can’t not think of her. Which is a problem, because every time I think of her, my fucking cock hardens. Ever had a boner almost 24/7?

It’s not as fun as it might seem.

I’ve managed to convince Dani to come to my place three out of the past four nights. There was one night her will to not give in so easily won out. I spent the whole night tossing and turning because I didn’t have her next to me.

I still wake up alone every fucking morning. She never stays. I need to figure out a way to change that. I just don’t want to push her too much, too quickly. It’s Friday and I plan to take Dani home and spend every waking minute inside her. I’ll handcuff her to my wrist if I have to, to make sure she’s still fucking there the next day.

My intercom buzzes and Terri’s voice flits through the speaker. “Mr Warner, your client is waiting in conference room three.”

“Thanks, Terri, can you call through to Dani? Make sure she’s sitting in on this one?” I ask her.

“She’s already there.”

I roll my eyes. Of course Dani is more punctual than I am. “Thank you.”

Terri has been my secretary for the past few years. I don’t know what I’d do without her and I don’t plan to find out. She doesn’t know it, but that woman could negotiate one hell of a salary increase out of me if she wanted to.

Standing, I pick up the case files and walk towards the conference room. As I enter, I see Dani already sitting across the table from Mr Peterson, a middle-aged billionaire who’s divorcing his wife of twenty years.

“Mr Peterson, sorry to keep you waiting,” I say, shaking his hand.

“No worries. Miss Hutchinson here was great company for all of the three minutes I’ve actually been waiting,” he jokes.

“Great.” I walk around the table and claim the empty seat next to Dani. “I’ve gone over all of Mrs Peterson’s requests, and I have counteroffers for you to review.” I open the file and hand my client a few redlined documents.

“She wants the Bondi house? She hasn’t been there for over ten years. It was me who took the kids there during summer holidays,” he seethes.

“I know,” I tell him.

He continues reading through the papers until he gets to the end. “She has to be fucking kidding me.” He tosses the documents onto the table. “I’m not giving her a dime.”

Dani stiffens next to me but doesn’t say a word.

“She cheated on me. I was loyal, faithful. I gave that woman everything she ever asked for. But this…? I won’t give her this,” Mr Peterson says.

“I know, but there was no prenuptial agreement in place. We can negotiate, but you’re going to have to give her something. This doesn’t end with her walking away with nothing, unfortunately.”

“She was fucking her trainer for six months before I caught them,” he says.

“I’m aware, and if this goes to court, that will work to your advantage. However, these things are always best to settle amongst ourselves,” I remind him.

This is the exact reason I’ll never commit to one woman. After twenty years of what Mr Peterson thought was a blissful marriage, he’s about to lose half of his fortune to a cheating fucking soon-to-be ex-wife. I watched my own mother do it to my father. She used us kids as leverage, sucked every penny out of him. Left him depressed and half the man he was. I refuse to let that happen to me.

That’s precisely why I need to start putting distance between myself and Dani. I won’t take her home tonight. I won’t call her and beg for her to come and warm my bed this weekend.

Maybe I need to go out and fuck someone else, prove that my infatuation with the woman is all in my head. That there isn’t anything special about her. I’ve never spent this much time obsessing over anyone before. I don’t want to start making it a habit now. It needs to stop. It doesn’t matter if the thought of never having her again makes me physically sick. I need to build those barriers back up to prevent her from making a fool out of me. To make sure I don’t end up like my father.

I’ve worked too fucking hard for everything I have, to lose it to anyone.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to offer…” I go through each asset the Petersons have acquired and divide them between the two parties.

“I don’t like it,” Mr Peterson says.

“I can go back to her lawyers with a flat-out refusal, then we’ll end up in court, and you may lose more than just a few assets.”

“I’ve already lost my wife. My family. These are just things. I know that, but I don’t like the idea of her and her trainer living a life of luxury supported by years of my hard work. Offer them half of what you have written down there,” he says.

“Okay, I’ll draw up the paperwork and send it over.”

“Thank you.” Mr Peterson stands, we shake hands, and he exits the conference room.

I pack up the documents and return them to the file. I can feel Dani’s gaze burning into the side of my neck. I can’t look at her. If I do, I’m going to say fuck it to everything and just take her home.

Again.

So, instead, I grab the files and walk out of the conference room without giving her a second look.

“What do you mean you want to go out?” Nathan squints his eyes at me.

We’re at Xavier’s house drinking whiskey on his back porch. I never thought I’d witness my two best friends become so domesticated. Watching them with their girlfriends, I get a pang of envy. But I know better. I don’t want that. I want the idea of it, not the actual relationship. I’m dreading the day either of them comes to me to file for a divorce. They’re not married yet, but they’re both heading in that direction.

My money is on Nathan to tie the knot first. He’s insistent that he’s already engaged. Don’t get me wrong, Bentley is a great chick. But they all start off great. It’s when they get that ring on their finger that they change.

“I mean I want to go out. Not all of us are tied down in domestic hell,” I tell them.

“It’s not hell, more like heaven. What happened with Dani?” Xavier asks.

“Nothing happened. We’ve had our fun. It’s time for me to move on. Either you two are going to come and be the wingman I need, or I’ll go out on my own.” I shrug like I don’t care either way. In all honesty, if neither of them comes out with me, I’ll probably just find myself going home alone and fantasizing about a certain little paralegal.

“Fine, I’ll come,” Nathan says.

“Me too. I gotta see this with my own eyes.” Xavier laughs.

“What?” I ask him.

“You thinking it’s going to be easy to pick up where you left off when you’re still hung up on your paralegal,” he says.

“I’m not hung up on anyone.” I set my drink on the porch and stand. “Let’s go. You drive.” I point to Xavier.

“Fine with me,” he says.

Twenty minutes later, we’re walking up to the VIP section of Unhinged. An upscale nightclub that recently opened up in Melbourne. Xavier is friends with the owner and his little sister frequents the place, which is usually why we end up here too.

We sit down and it’s not long before a waitress comes over with a bottle of whiskey and three glasses. Placing them in the middle of the table, she asks, “Can I get you boys anything else?”

I glance up at her. She’s attractive, nice face, great tits, and legs that go on for miles. This is the type of woman who would usually get my dick hard. Right now, it’s not doing anything. Not even a slight budge.

“No, we’re good,” I tell her.

“Okay, what about her?” Xavier nods towards a tall redhead sitting at the bar.

“No,” I answer after a brief look at the girl.

“Okay, her,” Nathan says, gesturing to the opposite side of the bar, where a curvy brunette with bright-red lips sips on a glass of wine.

I shake my head. “No,” I tell him.

There’s nothing wrong with any of these women. I just don’t have that urge to fuck them like I usually would. I look around the room, my eyes landing on every female in proximity, whether they’re with another guy or not. None of them are doing anything for me.

“I think she’s fucking broken my cock,” I blurt out to my friends, who laugh at me in return.

“Told you so. Can we go now?” Xavier asks.

“Fine, you can drop me home and send me the details for a good psychologist,” I tell him.

“First, what makes you think I know a good psychologist? And second, why the fuck do you want one?” Xavier asks.

“You’re rich kid. All rich kids go through therapy at some point or another. And I need one to fix my dick. This isn’t going to work for me,” I tell him.