Feels Like Forever

I froze for a moment as I stared back at those dark brown eyes. What the hell was he doing here? No, this had to be some kind of sick joke. The man I had a one-night stand with weeks ago could not be one of my new clients!

“Gentlemen, this is Melody Macallan, the lead attorney on your case,” Michael said with a kind smile and a reproachful look in his eyes.

I knew Mr. Douglas was upset at me for being late, but now was not the time to worry about it. I quickly plastered a professional smile on my face as I entered the room and took a seat at the head of the table.

“Melody, this is Matthew Sanders,” Michael continued, pointing to the large muscular man to my right with a dimpled grin.

“Actually Matt is fine,” he corrected, shaking my hand before I moved onto the dark-hair gentlemen to his left.

“Zack Baker,” Michael continued, the dark-hair man shooting me a wink. He had the most stunning green eyes I had ever seen, not to mention the beautiful tattoo work that was peaking out from underneath his suit jacket. Hell, all of these guys were stunning!

“I’m Jimmy Sullivan and this short shit over here is Johnny Seward,” the tall gangly man with piercing blue eyes shouted out just as Michael opened his mouth for the introduction. Much to my surprise and horror, Jimmy suddenly reached out and pulling the shorter guy into a headlock. What the hell was going on here? This was an office of law, not a playground!

My jaw dropped slightly as I watched the two wrestle back and forth without. They were like children with no remorse about their actions. I mean, in what world would wrestling in law office be acceptable? Though, I guess shouldn’t have expected anything less. The whole group looked out of place and uncomfortable in this environment, yet at the same time they exuded the charm and charisma of rock stars, even when dressed in a suit and tie. Well, all except for Jimmy and Johnny. I just hoped they would hold it together long enough to get the necessary information about their case.

“Rev, enough,” the familiar voice chuckled across the table from me. I swallowed thickly as I met Brian’s eyes, feeling the butterflies explode in my stomach. I wanted more than anything to run from the room, but I knew it wasn’t an option. I had to suck it up and be professional. I just hoped he wouldn’t say anything that could get me pulled from the case. I needed this!

“And Mr. Brian Haner Jr.,” Michael concluded as I reached across the table to shake Brian’s hand.

When our hands touched and I recoiled slightly, afraid of the shock that I felt. Brian held my hand tight and when I looked up, his gorgeous brown eyes were watching me with an amused smirk. “Nice to meet you, Melody,” he said, holding my hand a little longer than necessary.

In that instant, everything in room seemed to fade into the distance as I looked back into Brian’s eyes, my heart racing in my chest. I couldn’t believe he was standing here in front of me after all this time. I mean, I had spent countless restless nights rolling around in bed, just thinking about our night together. God, he made me feel so alive and I couldn’t help crave his touch all over again.

No! Get that thought out of your head right now, Melody! You have a job to do! I chided myself before finding my voice.

“Yes. Nice you meet you all as well,” I said, hastily pulling my hand away from Brian and stumbling back toward my chair. I quickly regained my composure and took a seat, hearing a small chuckled from the seat behind me. Crap! I forgot to introduce Hollie!

“And this… this is my paralegal, Hollie Lawson,” I stammered, feeling her gaze burning a hole in the side of my face. I didn’t have to look at her to know she was putting the pieces together with my strange behavior and a very handsome stranger named Brian sitting across from me. Oh, I’d never hear the end of this! “You’ll be seeing a great deal of her as well.”

“Nice to meet you,” she nodded, her gaze lingering on the green-eyed rock star named Zack. I smiled lightly to myself as winked at her and a star-struck expression spread over my best friend’s face. I coughed lightly to get her attention as Michael stepped forward into the breach.

“What?” she mouthed at me like she wasn’t drooling over our new client. I shot her a pointed look before I turned my attention back toward my boss.

“Shall we get started?” he asked, looking at me and sounding a little annoyed. I quickly nodded and he opened the case file in front of him. “Okay. A brief history so we are all up to speed. Avenged Sevenfold is a heavy metal band out of Huntington Beach, California. Their complaint is against their record label, Warner Brothers Records. Do you want to explain in your own words the basis of the suit?” he asked, and the group exchanged glances around the table before nodding. “Okay, why do you want to pursue action against Warner Brother’s Records?”

The muscular brute with the handsome dimples nodded and leaned forward with his elbows on the table, his kind eyes looking around at his band mates. “When we originally signed with Warner Brothers back in 2004, we had a great rapport with the label, management, artists, and recording team. But over the years, they’ve had multiple regime changes that have led to dramatic turnover at every level of the company. We don’t no longer know any of the current artist and recording staff—”

“Not to mention those bastards took away all of our artistic freedom. Every time we set up a meeting, they are trying to shove some promotion and pre-recorded shit down our throats,” Zack interrupted, his frustration evident in his tone. “They want us to fit into a cookie cutter and that’s not what we want to do anymore,” he explained and I nodded with a sympathetic smile.

“So you are not suing for damages? Just for release of contract?” I asked, frantically taking notes and trying to avoid Brian’s gaze.

“Correct,” Matt said, earning a nod from his band mates. “But the problem is, we are locked into our contract for five studio albums, but we have only completed four.”

“And we don’t want to be forced into recording a record that isn’t us,” Brian added and swallowed thickly. “We want to be able to produce something we like, not what they think will ‘sell’.”

“I understand that,” I sympathized, hearing the passion in his tone. “You just want to be happy doing what you love to do.”

“Exactly! Finally someone who understands!” Jimmy shrieked as I took down some more notes on my pad.

“Hmm…” Michael mused, running his hand over his goatee. “What if we can use the ‘Seven Year’ rule?”

I raised a brow as I considered my boss’ idea. “That might work… we would need to see the contract though.”

“I’m sorry, but what is the seven year rule?” Matt asked, leading Michael into a long explanation about how the law allows parties to leave personal service contracts under certain circumstances after seven years have passed.

As Michael spoke, Brian watched me with a small smirk, causing me to shift uncomfortably and swallow thickly. I didn’t like that look in his eyes and I didn’t even want to know what was going on in that head of his. He was my client now. There was no way we could do anything now, though I still craved his lips against mine. I shook my head, knowing I shouldn’t have those thoughts, but that didn’t stop my mind from wandering.

I just couldn’t get the feeling of those soft lips against mine and don’t even get me started on that tongue. Shivers covered my arms at the mere thought. I shook my head to push the thoughts away, knowing that I couldn’t have those feelings for this rock star. Oh, but he tasted so good and I was literally craving his lips against mine.

I had to keep my distance and make sure I didn’t give into what I assumed to be a schoolgirl crush. Why did he have to be so damn attractive? I mean that look he was giving me right now made it hard to concentrate on whatever the lead singer and Michael rambling about now. No, Melody, get your shit together. This is your job!

“Did you get that Melody?” Michael asked and I nodded, quickly glancing at Hollie to see her shoot me a wink. Well, at least one of us was doing our job.

“We just need a copy of your current contract so that Miss Macallan can get started on your case,” Hollie said, saving my ass as usual. I just hoped that my speechlessness wasn’t too obvious, but judging by the sideways glances I was receiving from my best friend, I wasn’t doing a good job.

“I’ve got a copy of our contract back at the hotel,” Zack said, throwing me a small smile before I averted my gaze from him. At least his eyes were friendly and not undressing me like Brian. “I can drop it off later today.”

“Perfect,” Michael said, standing up and smoothing out his suit coat. “Once we have that then we can start looking up some clauses and making phone calls, as well as notify Warner Brother’s legal council of you suit. Melody will schedule a meeting with each of you individually to get more information and Hollie will give you a list of documents that you’ll need to produce.”

“Thank you,” Matt said and we all stood up, following Michael toward the door. However, I still needed to have word with the man who was undressing me with his eyes across the table.

"What are you doing here?!" I hissed incredulously, pulling him toward the corner of the room as everyone else exited.

"It's good to see you again, Melody," he smirked, his eyes wandering down my body before moving back to mine. "But why do I get the feeling you're not too happy to see me?" Was this guy for real?

"Should I be?" I snapped back. "You took advantage of me... when I was drunk on that awful Laphroaig of yours!" I couldn't control the rising pitch of my voice as I tried to even out my emotions. If anyone saw me talking to a client like this, I would never make partner. I needed to calm down and get this situation under control.

"We had a one night stand and nothing more. And now I'm your band's attorney! We should put this behind us. It's not going to do any good for your case if anyone knows what happened between us."

"I didn't take advantage of anything that wasn't offered to me."

I gapped at him and crossed my arms over my chest, our stare not breaking. “What are you talking about?” I hissed, feeling my heart start to race. I could smell his sweet cologne from here and it was sending my senses into a frenzy. This might be harder than I thought.

Oh that smirk was killing me right now. I had to lick my lips and swallow thickly to keep my wits about me. He raised a brow and shook his head. “Please you wanted me just as much as I wanted you. You might have been a little hazy around the edges, but you were absolutely there with me… screaming my name and all…”

I shook my head and tried to pull myself out of my one-night stand reverie and back into the conversation. When I came back into the land of the sane, I found my gaze still locked on those oh-so kissable lips. Shit, move your eyes before he notices—to fucking late. Damn it!

Brian took a small step toward me, the smell of his intoxicating cologne washing over me. “Don’t tell you wouldn’t do it again…” he purred, his warm breath on my ear, sending shivers down my spine.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to push away the erotic thoughts that were going through my mind. It would be so easy to run off with Brian again, letting him run his calloused fingers over my body while moaned in ecstasy. But I couldn’t, not when he was my client.

“We cant do this…” I sighed, putting my hands on his chest and gently pulling away. “You are my client now and if anyone found out that we—” I motioned between us, nervously glancing around to make sure no one was watching. “You know… I could lose the case or even worse, my job,” I hissed, trying to get him to see reason. “So for now we need to keep our distance… ”

“For now?” Brian smirked, closing the distance between us that I just created. “I like the sounds of that.” I couldn’t help but smile as I shook my head at him. As much as I wanted to push him away and tell him no, I couldn’t. There was just something about Brian that drew me toward him like a magnet. “What if we—”

“Yo, Gates, let’s go!” the muscular guy named Matt called, dragging Zack away from Hollie’s desk. What was going on there? And who the hell was Gates?

Brian looked over his shoulder and then turned back around to face me, smiling even wider when he saw me nervously chewing on my bottom lip. What kind of effect did he have over me? He was my client so this couldn’t happen.

“See you soon, beautiful,” he threw a wink at me before turning around and following the group. I took in a shaky breath as I watched him leave, trying to compose myself.

How the hell was I going to do this?

Notes

What is going to happen with Melody and Brian when he has his private interview? Will he win her over or will he keep shutting her down! Thank you for your comments!