Falling for My Beautiful Ward Read online

  But work has brought me back to New York now. Marks Holdings is in talks to buy PrettyGirl, a “gentleman’s magazine” of the best sort, the kind where girls go at it triple-X style, baring everything, pushing everything and anything into their cunnies. Naw, this wasn’t soft-core stuff, not like Playboy where you see breasts but no ass. This was no-holds-barred real shit, skimming the line of vulgarity, dicks out, tits out, cocks in cunny.

  And fuck, but sex sells, bringing in shitloads of moolah, far more than Sixteen or Moms and Tots, our current cash cows. It’s not PrettyGirl, the magazine itself, but rather the on-line website. People purchase subscriptions to PrettyGirl.com for fifty bucks a month and there were currently twenty million subscribers. That’s one hundred million in cash per month. Count it, folks. One hundred million dollars. Per month. And that didn’t even include the live streams, the on-air talk show, the “talent” that circled the world dancing at various clubs. We were talking some serious bucks, my empire would expand dramatically with the acquisition of this beauty.

  But PrettyGirl’s an odd one. It’s still owned by the original founder, Jerry Echo, a sleazy douchebag of a dude, seventy and constantly wandering around Hollywood with three blonde starlets on his arm. He’s fucking disgusting, there’s no way that guy can get it up without Viagra, but hey, to each his own and he’s built an empire on his image, living the life in a silk bathrobe and wheelchair.

  And Jerry wants to make sure his baby is sold to the right buyer. Old fuck Echo wants to make sure that Marks Holdings has a niche for the magazine, that we’re going to market it well, that we’re going to keep feeding his pet project, max out its value even after he hands over the reins. And so I’ve got to change my image. Gone are the days of Tristan Marks, alpha billionaire, model-dater, serial womanizer, the man with the Midas touch. Hell, that was the old shit, way too tame for Jerry’s tastes. He wants someone in his image, someone who’s just as nasty, dating girls decades younger, sweet and nubile, sassy and fun, and I know just how to get it. I’m re-branding myself as Tristan Marks, billionaire alpha … and the asshole who seduced his innocent ward.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  Daisy

  Life at school has been fun. Browning is in downtown Manhattan and there’s no campus per se. Instead, the administration refers to the city as our campus, all of New York at our fingertips, Lincoln Center, countless museums, heck even the High Line and Freedom Tower as outstanding examples of art and architecture, intellectual stimulation for the mind.

  And it’s been fun so far. I’m enrolled in a bunch writing classes, I figure I’ll need them if I become a lawyer, and I’ve started volunteering with Legal Aid at the Courthouse. It’s not much, I do intake for prospective clients, taking down names, scanning IDs, making sure that all the folders are organized, all the forms where they need to be. And I like it, it’s nice to work with folks who appreciate you, the clients happy to have someone to listen, a sympathetic ear even if I can’t do much else.

  More importantly, it helps me take my mind of Tristan. Can you believe it? It’s been a year since I’ve seen my guardian and I’m still thinking about the blasted man. My mind likes to wander and at the most inopportune times, I’ll start daydreaming again, how his big body blocked out the light, becoming my everything, my all. Working with clients at the clinic is the only way for me to push him out of my mind, even momentarily, so it’s become a safe haven of sorts, a place where I can get away.

  So on Thursday, just as usual, I slung my bag over my shoulder. Shit! I was a little late already, drop-in hours for the clinic started at 4 p.m. and it was already 3:45. I’d have to book it to get there in time, huffing and puffing, scrambling like mad. And when I arrived, it was business as usual. There was a huge room of people waiting to be seen, already filling out the requisite paperwork, hoping against hope that a pro bono lawyer would be able to help them today. I eyed the crowd, stomach sinking. The room was too packed, too filled, and I could already tell that some of these folks were going to leave disappointed, there simply wasn’t enough time.

  So I dropped my bag and scooped up a pile of fresh intake forms, ready to input them into the computer when suddenly a big hand covered mine. I shivered sensuously for a moment, hopes rising but then it turned into a shudder of disgust when I saw who it was.

  “Hi Darren,” I said, trying to pull my hand out from under his discreetly. Darren was the head attorney here, handsome with an aquiline profile, thick brown hair and heavy-framed hipster glasses. I should have been excited at his touch but instead only revulsion ran through me. Darren was an asshole through and through, the kind that was mean to poor people.

  “Hey Daisy, you wanna help me with this client?” he asked, breath hot on my face. “Millicent Chalmers is her name, I think you’ve met her before.”

  I stood still, trying not to look repulsed. I didn’t want to spend time with Darren, but I did want to see Millicent. I love working with people and Miss Millie is one of my favorite clients, an older lady who was being sued by her credit card company for unpaid charges. We were helping her fight the claims, arguing that she’d never been properly served, that the credit card company didn’t have sufficient documentation, using every legal maneuver in the book.

  So I jumped up and followed Darren into a private meeting room, greeting Miss Millie with a warm hello. The old lady was cute, her grey hair with the slightest tinge of purple, her housedress a faded blue floral accented by a pair of bright blue shoes.

  “Oh dear,” she began, “I’m afraid they came to my apartment demanding money again, pounding on my door at midnight.”

  I gasped.

  “They did? The credit card company’s not supposed to do that, that’s harassment!” I said outraged.

  And what followed was a litany of borderline stalking by the folks at the credit card company, they were so bent on shaking Miss Millie down for a measly fifty dollar overcharge.

  The meeting was productive, filled with real action steps to benefit Miss Millie, but everything about Darren turned me off. Sure, his legal advice was sound but he acted like he was working at a law firm instead of Legal Aid. For example, his shiny silver watch gleamed under the fluorescent lights of the courthouse, a fifteen thousand dollar stunner, and his briefcase made of the softest calf leather, so smooth that it almost sparkled, nary a scratch nor wrinkle marring the surface. And those glasses? Well I could see the logo “Prada” inscribed on the sides, the trappings of a rich man. Our fearless leader didn’t care to hide his wealth, not even from our impoverished clients.

  But even worse was Darren’s demeanor. Taking a job working with the destitute means that you have to be sensitive to their needs, to their outlook, their station in life. But unfortunately, instead of being kind, open and thoughtful, Darren was strangely abrupt, acting like he was too good to be there. For example, when the appointment was winding down, Miss Millicent wanted to reminisce about her long-dead husband, a fighter pilot from World War One. I listened, genuinely interested, a smile on my face, nodding softly, laughing as she regaled us with her tales. After all, Miss Millie probably didn’t have many people to talk to and I was happy to listen.

  But Darren wasn’t having it. Instead, he stood up abruptly and held out his hand.

  “Millicent, thank you for coming by today, I’m so happy we could help you,” he boomed. “Now if you don’t mind …”

  Miss Millie looked surprised, she’d been in the middle of describing how she and her husband met as teens in the Bronx.

  “But, but ...” she stuttered.

  “See you next time,” Darren dismissed her with a cold nod. I was about to intervene, to protest that I loved listening to Miss Millie’s stories but the elderly lady was already getting up, leaning on her walker and hobbling towards the door.

  “Of course, of course,” she wheezed, looking at us with gentle blue eyes. Oh gosh, her cataracts were really bad now and I hoped she’d be able to get them checked out. “You young folks take
care,” she said, shuffling slowly away.

  Darren plopped down with a huge sigh, exhaling pompously.

  “I swear Daisy, these people just want to prattle on and on and on. Can’t they tell that my time is precious? I’ve got two hours to see a million clients, I can’t be chit-chatting about random stuff that has nothing to do with the case,” he complained.

  And I tried to be understanding.

  “I get what you’re saying but Miss Millie is alone a lot, she doesn’t have much family. Surely five minutes wouldn’t make a difference,” I began hesitantly.

  But Darren wasn’t having it.

  “Five minutes!” he said scornfully. “In five minutes, I could see another client, my time’s too precious,” he snorted, adjusting his glasses.

  And I was silent because what Darren was saying was true to an extent. We were horribly understaffed, there were far too few pro bono lawyers available, and yes, if one more person could be helped, that would be ideal. But I still valued a personal connection. We’re humans who care about others, not just robots in a corporate setting, and a little chitchat helps the clients see us as people and not machines.

  But what could I do? As a volunteer intern, I could hardly tell the head honcho that I disagreed with his approach to the job, that I thought he was a mean mofo. So in the interest of self-preservation, my words remained unsaid. Despite my boss’s crass tactics and bad attitude, the position was a good one and I could still make a difference in my own small way.

  But Darren evidently had other thoughts for me that night. As I packed up my book bag, the last of the clients gone, the smarmy man strode over to me, looking me up and down. His eyes crawled over my figure and self-consciously I pulled my sweater down, only to have the move back-fire. The gesture highlighted my huge tits, the way the Double D’s swelled beautifully under the soft pink wool.

  “Need a ride?” he asked casually, eyes glued to my chest

  I shook my head.

  “No, no thanks, I’ll get back on my own,” I said with a fake smile. “See you next week!”

  But Darren wasn’t taking no for an answer.

  “We’re in the Bronx right now, it’s not safe for a girl to take the train all the way back to Lower Manhattan by herself. I’ll give you a ride,” he said peremptorily, “It’s not a big deal, lighten up.”

  And I hesitated for a moment, torn. It’s true the Bronx isn’t exactly the safest area. I needed to walk through a couple semi-sketchy blocks to the subway, and it was already getting dark. But if I accepted the ride, I’d have to be in a small space with Darren, the tiny confines of his Miata. Could I handle it? I shook my head, scolding myself. Even if I hated his personality, it was only ten minutes. Better than potentially being mugged.

  So I hopped in the car, holding my backpack over my lap protectively, making idle chitchat as we whizzed down the freeway. And when we pulled up to my building I was about to jump out with nothing more than a nice smile and “thank you,” but to my horror, there was a parking spot right in front of my building and Darren swung the tiny car in.

  “Wha-what are you doing?” I asked, trying to sound casual, hiding my horror.

  “I thought I’d come up, maybe talk over some clients with you,” he said smoothly, face impassive. “I think you have a lot of potential as an attorney, a sharp legal mind, a thirst for knowledge.”

  Bullshit. Darren was joshing me, he wanted to come up and steal a quick kiss, maybe do some necking, which roiled my stomach. I wanted no part of this guy. But how could I refuse? Here was my boss offering to talk with me about career development, I’d look like an idiot if I didn’t agree.

  “How about a café instead?” I suggested quickly. “There’s a really great one around the corner.” In fact, there were several great ones, NYC is chock-filled with wonderful cafes, you could literally start walking in any direction and bump into an artisanal roasting company.

  But Darren wouldn’t budge.

  “Naw, there’s a bunch of files to go over and the tables at these joints are always so tiny. It’s better to go up to your apartment,” he said smoothly. And I looked around the sidewalk, taking a deep breath. Everything seemed normal, people walking by in the dusk, the twilight of evening descending, the pavement glimmering. Plus, Darren looked so normal, tall and handsome with his wavy brown hair and strong jaw. Don’t be an idiot, Daisy, I scolded myself. Let your boss upstairs for five minutes, you’re going to be fine, there’s nothing you can’t handle.

  And it seemed like it was going to be okay at first. We really did get out the case files and started talking about Mr. Jones, an elderly man who needed immigration help in addition to consumer debt advice. But with a sinking sensation, there was a flutter under the table. I ignored it, pulling my knee away, pretending like nothing had happened.

  But the flutter came again, and then the sleazy dude leaned close to me so that our faces were inches apart and slowly ran his tongue up my earlobe, tracing the delicate curve. Ick, it felt clammy and wet, like a doggy kiss.

  “Darren, please,” I said, my eyes begging for understanding.

  “Please what?” he smiled sleazily, “please this?”

  And frozen with fear, I watched as his hand trailed over my breast, squeezing the softness through my sweater, even stroking the nipple with a finger. It was like I was having an out-of-body experience, observing this happen to someone else from five feet away, curiously neutral and detached. But to my shame, my tit immediately responded, the tip growing hard under his touch, causing Darren to chuckle evilly.

  “I always knew you wanted it,” he ground out. “You’re such a little slut,” he chuckled before seizing my mouth in a deep kiss, practically touching my tonsils with his tongue, slobbering all over my chin.

  The action shook me to the core, so much that I sat frozen for a moment, thoughts roiling. What was wrong? I should have been entranced to have an opportunity with this handsome man, the lead attorney of our group, someone who’d gone to a stellar law school and worked for the poor. And yet instead I was completely grossed out, my body dying for only one man, available for only one male’s touch.

  And as if out of a movie, suddenly he was there. Tristan literally ripped Darren off of me, roaring ferociously like a lion tossing away a piece of garbage.

  “Get the FUCK away from her!” he snarled, face a mask of rage, his massive form tense with anger. “Get the FUCK away!”

  Darren stumbled back, suit jacket askew, the brown fabric crumpled and torn.

  “Who the fuck are you?” he shot back, wiping at his jaw, trying to straighten his clothes. “Who the fuck are you, and what are you doing in Daisy’s apartment?”

  “Darren,” I quickly interjected, “this is Tristan.”

  “Who the fuck is Tristan?” he sneered. “Seriously ‘Tristan,’ you need to take a chill pill.”

  Mr. Marks almost attacked the smaller man once more but I pressed my hands against his suit jacket, throwing myself against him, my eyes pleading with him not to do more.

  “No,” I whispered, “please, please, just let it go.”

  But Darren was in a combative mood, gathering himself together, straightening his tie.

  “Who the fuck is this Tristan dude?” he spat. “I swear, do we need to call 9-1-1 or something? You’re a fucking intruder, get the fuck out.”

  “Tristan’s … um Tristan’s …,” I stuttered. I didn’t know what to say. Should I refer to him as my friend? An acquaintance? Someone that I used to know? But Tristan took care of it for me.

  “I’m her guardian,” he ground out, pulling me into his arms. “And her lover.”

  At that I stood stock still, barely breathing, staring at the big man. Had he really said that? In front of a stranger who happened my boss, an attorney, someone who might be professionally obligated to turn us in for … what exactly?

  Darren began laughing, almost bent over double in his tweed suit, brown hair flopping over his brow.

  “You … yo
u must be shitting me!” he gasped, lungs heaving. “I always knew you were a slut, Daisy, but this? This takes the cake! You’re a fucking fucked-up slut!”

  I screamed then, leaping into action.

  “It’s not wrong, we’re not related, my mom’s dead!” I shrieked, running at him, ready to do some serious damage, small fists ready to pound, grab hair, my feet ready to kick.

  But I was no match for Darren, he was at least ten inches taller than me, holding my wrists away from him even as I lunged.

  “Please,” he said panting, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “You are some fucked up chick, I just wanted to bang you because you’re hot, but shit, you’re one fucked up piece of trash. I’m not touching that pussy if it’s been banged already by your dad.”

  And I screamed again, furious, my hair flying, my rage palpable.

  “He’s not my dad, he’s my guardian!” I shrieked. If only I could reach this asshole with my nails, claw his eyes out, shit claw all his features off, I’d leave him in a bloody mess on the floor.

  But Tristan got to him first. So fast that he was a blur, the alpha pulled apart Darren and I and then grabbed the younger man by the scruff of the neck, like he was a puppy.

  “Listen fuckwad,” he threatened, voice low, so mild it was scary. “Get the fuck out of here and don’t ever touch Daisy again. Fuck off, asshole,” he said before literally throwing my boss out into the hallway with such force that Darren cracked his neck audibly, his body almost boomeranging back in from the speed.

  But I was on top of it and slammed the door with a thunk. We could hear the other man moaning and groaning through the wood, wailing, “It hurts! It hurts!”

  Oh shit! Did he need a doctor? But Tristan just grunted.

  “Naw, he’s a sissy. Get lost sissy-freak!” he shouted through the door, and sure enough, Darren got up, moaning through his pain, managing to whisper, “I’ll get you, I’ll get you,” before stumbling down the stairs of my walk-up.