Legal Heirs - Box Set Edition: Books 5-8 (Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles) Read online

  Legal Heirs

  Box Set Edition

  Surrendering Charlotte Chronicles

  Books 5-8

  By Kimball Lee

  Copyright 2013 Kimball Lee

  Kindle Edition

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Chapter One

  “There’s something disturbingly wrong with this situation,” Finn said, he stood in the doorway of JP’s office looking back into the reception area of their small law firm.

  JP had hired three women as office staff and they weren’t great choices as far as Finn could see. The most undesirable of the three was Nina Chandler, she had gone through Navy basic training with Finn and JP and she’d been a thorn in Finn’s side for years afterwards. The other two women were hardly more than girls, one looked about sixteen and was extremely pregnant, and Finn was certain the third girl had a second job as a stripper.

  “Your lip is bleeding,” JP said, and Finn nervously wiped his mouth, “the law firm of Thomas and Hale is an equal opportunity employer, Finnegan. We help people resolve their personal issues, so our staff should be able to relate.” JP was kicked back in his desk chair, feet on the desk, smiling at Finn.

  “It looks like we’re running a branch office of ‘Sluts R Us’ in here, and Nina Chandler, where the hell did you dig her up?” Finn asked.

  JP laughed and motioned for Finn to shut the door and take a seat, “man, she is a fucking blast-from-the-past, right? I found her waiting on the sidewalk the day I opened the office, she heard you and I quit Special Ops and that we were both practicing law. She was sure if I opened an office you would eventually join me, and hey, she has great references as a paralegal. Nina the nympho, Chandler the handler, fuck, she was easy like Sunday morning! You gotta admit, she could suck like a fucking vacuum cleaner, that mouth of hers got us through boot-camp.”

  “We were eighteen, and some things are better left in the past. She used to stalk me, if you recall. At least she’s married now,” Finn said, but he had a bad feeling about Nina. She was a huge risk taker; during basic training she’d compromised herself and Finn by sneaking into his barracks at night on more than one occasion.

  “Sorry dude, she’s not married anymore, husband number three is history. I don’t think any of them were able to satisfy her quite as well as you did,” JP said, and he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.

  “What the fuck are you thinking, JP? I’m sure she has some good qualities, but I’m not working with her. Do you remember the day we finished boot-camp? While everyone else was celebrating with their families, she was doing both of us in a cheap motel room.”

  “I remember she was a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree freak, and she liked to ride you like a fucking mechanical bull. Come on Finnegan, just because we’re married doesn’t mean we’re dead men,” JP said.

  “I don’t know about you and Amanda, but my marriage and my sex life are a long way from dead. Nina goes or I do, John Paul, I’m not working with her. Either I tell her or you can do it, take your pick,” Finn said, just as Cassandra-the-probable-stripper opened the door without knocking, and set two Starbucks coffees on the desk.

  “Anything else I can do for you, Mr. Thomas? How about you, Mr. Hale?” she asked, leaning against JP’s desk so that her panties were visible beneath her microscopically short dress.

  “Mr. Hale was just asking about your work credentials, he’s not sure you fit the legal definition of a law clerk. In fact he thinks you might be working afterhours, as well,” JP said, sipping his coffee and enjoying Finn’s irritation.

  “Well, I am an escort on the weekends, but other than that, I’m free anytime,” she said, her eyes burned into Finn, taking in his handsome face and the fine muscles his button-down shirt couldn’t hide. “I’d be happy to help you arrange the files in your office, Mr. Hale. I can even help you hang pictures on the walls, if you have a hammer, I’m really great at pounding the nail,” she said, as she played with her long, dark hair and spreading her legs slightly.

  Finn smiled and his hand went to his chin, he’d shaved his closely cropped beard that morning, and his jaw line felt uncharacteristically smooth. Charlotte loved his hair long and wild, in fact she loved everything long and wild about him. His hair hung just past his chin and on weekends he pulled it back into a short ponytail. Charlotte loved to kiss the stubble on his chin as well, but with her raging pregnancy hormones, her own chin was red and whisker-burned all the time. The thought of Charlotte, tall and lean, with her normally flat belly beginning to soften into a perfect little mound, made him weak in the knees. She was always in a constant state of readiness for him, and when she was pregnant she was insatiable. Her blue eyes stayed so full of need when she looked at him, that she and Finn had reverted back to their law school days of ducking into public restrooms to fuck. He adjusted the erection that had begun to grow just thinking about her, and JP laughed.

  “We won’t be needing your services any longer, Cassandra,” Finn said, “Mr. Thomas will write you a check for two weeks’ severance pay. Collect your belongings and good luck to you in the future.”

  She looked shocked for a moment, then she glanced at JP who was already writing the check, “uptight asshole,” she said, glaring at Finn and jerking the check from JP’s hand before she stomped out the door.

  “Is this how it’s going to be from now on?” Finn asked, standing to leave, “You’re going to hire hot girls who have no legal or office experience at all, and I’ll spend most of my time firing them and giving them two weeks’ pay for doing nothing? Are you having a fucking midlife crisis at twenty-nine, JP? You’ve been married for a few months, your wife is pregnant, and you’re bored? It’s not like you haven’t fucked everything but a gunshot wound every spare minute since I’ve known you. What’s going on? I cleaned up your messes in the past, and you’re the best friend I’ve ever had, but seriously, roll around in the gutter if you like, I’m not going there with you.”

  “Calm down, I’m dealing with some deep shit at home. You know how it is, the wife’s pregnant and her sex drive is nonexistent. I love Amanda, don’t get me wrong, but she is one demanding little princess. She’s tired, she’s bloated, she’s bossy as a motherfucker, and now she wants her brother to buy us a house I’d be embarrassed to live in. Fuck, this is Char’s second pregnancy, how the hell do you stand it?” JP asked, and he and Finn walked into the front office and stared at the young pregnant girl answering the phone at the reception desk.

  “Lizzie, this is Finnegan Hale, my law partner. Finn, meet Lizzie James.” JP said, and the look on his love-struck face said it all.

  Lizzie was young, probably eighteen or nineteen and she was a teenager’s wet dream. She wore a short, tight skirt and a man’s white shirt tied above her little basketball-sized belly. Her hair was the palest color of blonde and sun streaked and hung nearly to her waist. She had a small, upturned nose sprinkled with freckles, enormous green eyes and a bow shaped mouth. There wasn’t an ounce of fat on her, just long legs, high, full breasts and when she turned away; Finn realized what had sealed the deal for JP. John Paul was a man who appreciated a woman’s ass, and Lizzie had the kind of high, tight, round ass that made a grown man cry. JP thought he was in love, it was plain to see.

  “Are you married, Lizzie?” Finn asked.

  “Wow, I love your accent, it’s like, so foreign! No, no, I’m gonna be a single mom,” she said, cradling her taut belly.

  “Lizzie and I met at the surf tournament in Malibu a couple of weeks ago, she won the women’s division. Quite
a woman, huh? Pregnant as hell and still surfing,” JP said, reaching across the desk to run his fingers through her long hair.

  “So JP’s your baby’s father?” Finn asked, and his voice was tight and angry.

  “Oh gosh no. My baby-daddy’s long gone, it’s no biggie, I get by just fine on my own. JP gave me this job and let me live in the loft upstairs, he’s so sweet,” she practically purred as she walked around the desk and faced Finn with her fine little ass pressed against JP.

  “Yes, he is sweet, isn’t he?” Finn said, raising an eyebrow, “He’s becoming a one man women’s shelter.”

  “Finn, could you take a look at this deposition before your eleven o’clock appointment comes in,” Nina was suddenly standing next to him, and she ran her hand over his well-muscled arm. Finn lifted her hand away, he wanted to find out why the young girl was living in JP’s loft, but he saved it for later.

  *

  Charlotte’s office at Sheppard and Sheridan was small, which was what she’d insisted on, but it had an astounding view. It was a corner office on the twenty-seventh floor of the five hundred foot tall One American Plaza Building. Two floor to ceiling walls of glass looked out past the buildings of downtown San Diego to the restless ocean beyond.

  Zack, Charlotte’s assistant, poked his head in and cleared his throat. Charlotte turned away from the entrancing view and from her thoughts of Finn. She wondered if she’d ever get tired of his rough and ready style of lovemaking. That morning as she had thrown a load of clothes in the dryer wearing nothing but a skirt and bra, he’d appeared behind her and unfastened her bra. She turned toward him to say she had a case in court, but he stood there looking too hot to handle in his suit and tie, and he told her not to make a sound.

  “The baby’s asleep on the sofa, don’t wake him,” he said, as he lifted her onto the vibrating dryer. He pushed her skirt up and ripped her panties away, “I thought we agreed panties just get in the way,” he said, and before she could say anything, he unzipped his pants and pulled her onto his straining cock. He leaned her little ass back against the pulsing dryer and moved her legs to his shoulders and pumped into her hard. As she began to moan he covered her mouth with scalding kisses, and her hands moved beneath the smooth fabric of his suit and began to loosen his tie.

  “No,” he said, “there’s no time for that, cum for me, my love, so I can keep your smell with me the rest of the day.”

  Charlotte had fallen over the edge then, pulling his beautiful mouth back down to hers and biting his bottom lip as the power of the orgasm gripped her. A drop of blood fell from his lip onto her breasts and he laughed and licked it away.

  “The photographer is here with your pictures,” Zack said, snapping Charlotte out of her reverie, “I can’t wait to see them, I know they’ll be gorgeous. Then you’re due in court at two.”

  “These are amazing,” Charlotte told the young woman who’d taken the portraits of Atticus just after his first birthday.

  “Well, he’s an uncommonly beautiful child, and believe me, I photograph a lot of kids. Listen, Mrs. Hale, Pacifica Maternity Center has agreed to display some of my work. With your permission I’d like to use this photograph of Atticus as the center of the exhibit. I’ll enlarge it to thirty-six by forty-eight inches and mount it on canvas,” the young woman began, but Charlotte stopped her.

  “I appreciate the sentiment, but I’d rather you didn’t. In fact, I have to say “no” emphatically. We’re a very private family… my husband was in a certain branch of the military, I’m sure you understand,” Charlotte said, and walked with her to the elevator. “I love the pictures, they’re absolutely wonderful. My husband and I will look them over and pick our favorites, and I’ll have Zack call you to place the order.”

  As the young woman stepped into the elevator, a tall man stepped out. Charlotte glanced at him quickly and the look in his eyes made her need Finn. She turned away and he said, “Ms. Christiansen?”

  “Hale,” she said, as she looked up at him, “Charlotte Hale.”

  He was tall and handsome, with dark-blonde hair and wide-set eyes that were nearly the same color as Bly’s. His smile made his eyes sparkle, and that made his entire face captivating, but there was something else in his demeanor, something slightly sinister.

  “Of course, I only know you from… well, do you have a minute?” he asked. “I’m seeking legal counsel and I read an article about you in San Diego Scene.”

  Charlotte looked at her watch and said, “Alright, come into my office, but I only have about ten minutes before I go to court. What can I do for you, Mr.?”

  “Sommerfeld, Bennet Sommerfeld. I’m losing a large stake in a shipping business to my stepfather’s heirs. He didn’t include me in his will, and he left very little to my mother. The company is Del Toro Shipping; I was a corporate officer for the last five years, now I’m being tossed out with nothing. I feel I have a strong case to sue, and I’d like for you to represent me,” he said. He was kicked back in an upholstered chair across from Charlotte’s desk. He was devastatingly handsome and as he looked Charlotte in the eye, he adjusted his engorged cock in his pants.

  Charlotte looked away quickly, embarrassed by her burning face, and shocked at the boldness of this man who seemed so comfortable in her office.

  “Are you interested, Charlotte? Will you help me with this? I don’t want anyone else, I’m only interested in you” he asked, leaning forward and taking her hand. Before she could react he lifted it to his mouth and sucked two of her fingers into his mouth then closed his eyes and moaned.

  Charlotte jerked her hand away and called Zack into her office, “call security, Zack, I’d like this man escorted out of the building immediately. If he resists, notify the police that he attempted to molest me.”

  “You’re overreacting, Charlotte,” he said, standing to leave, “no need for hysterics,” and he left her office and disappeared into a waiting elevator.

  “What was that about, should I notify security, have someone follow him?” Zack asked.

  “No,” she said, scribbling his name on a piece of paper, “here’s his name and the name of the company he worked for. Make note of it just in case, I’ve got to run, I’m late for court as it is.”

  “Your court date has been postponed, you’re free for the rest of the day, the court clerk called a few minutes ago.”

  “Oh, okay. Good, fine… I’ll pop in and see the best looking man in town, that should make me feel better,” she said.

  “Your husband or your son?” he asked, and she winked at him and said, “Husband first, then my little angel!”

  *

  “I’m looking for Finn,” Charlotte told the pregnant girl sitting at the reception desk in JP and Finn’s office.

  “He’s in his office with Nina, want me to buzz him?” the girl asked, barely looking up from her magazine.

  “Well I’m not sure, is Nina a client?”

  “No, she works here, paralegal or something,” the girl said, still reading the magazine.

  Charlotte walked to the door of Finn’s office and knocked and then opened it.

  He was bending over a stack of papers on his desk and a pretty woman was standing very close to him doing the same thing.

  “Come in, my love,” he said when he looked up and saw Charlotte. He moved past Nina as if she wasn’t there and hugged his wife to him. “I thought you had court this afternoon, but I’m glad if you have time for me instead,” he said, and bent to kiss her.

  Nina shuffled the papers and Finn turned to her, he stood behind Charlotte with his arms around her as if he were showing her off. It made Nina uncomfortable to see Finn in love, he’d been uncatchable, and she had tried very hard to catch him in the past.

  “Charlotte Hale, pleased to meet you,” Charlotte said, and the two shook hands.

  “My love, this is Nina Chandler, she’s helping out until we find a permanent legal assistant,” Finn said, and Nina looked at him as if he’d slapped her, then she left
the room with a flourish.

  “So Finnegan, who hired ‘little miss broken heart’?” Charlotte asked, and pressed her lips against the hot skin of his neck.

  “What’s that supposed to mean? JP hired her, and I just gave her two weeks’ notice,” he said.

  “Why, because she has a massive hard-on for you?” Charlotte said, and they both laughed so hard that JP yelled from his office for them to shut up.

  “Can women have hard-ons?” Finn asked, when JP gave Charlotte a peck on the cheek and they all sat together.

  “I just meant she’s hot for you, it’s plain to see,” Charlotte said. “What temp-agency in hell’s waiting room did you pluck her out of, John Paul?”

  “She found us, she’s an old friend. We met her in basic training, way back when,” JP said.

  “Ugh, not one of those girls who serviced both of you at the same time. That’s just disgustingly gross!” Charlotte said, kicking off her shoes. She curled her feet under her body in the chair and from the amused look on Finn’s face she realized she wasn’t wearing panties.

  “Serviced sounds like it was a chore,” JP said, “I can promise you, that girl warmed to her work, she was something of a prodigy.”

  “A cock prodigy?” Charlotte asked, “how charming, and it makes me feel so comfortable having her working so closely with my husband.”

  “Enough reminiscing,” Finn said, and he walked around his desk and pulled Charlotte up and against him. “Get out of my office, JP, I need my wife.”

  “Good luck,” JP said as he left, “I need mine, too, but she doesn’t need me anymore.”

  “You went to work without your panties?” Finn asked, moving his hand under her skirt and between her legs.

  “Yes,” she breathed against hot mouth, “you told me not to wear them anymore.”

  “Were you in court this morning?” he asked, moving his fingers over the silky wet folds of her sex as she pressed against him.