His Challenging Lover Read Online Free PDF

her, or why she’d even reacted to his kiss. She’d seen the women who paraded into the office to meet him. The man escorted a different woman every month around town to the fabulous, glamorous parties and social functions. The lucky ones lasted maybe five weeks, the boring ones perhaps only three. One lucky woman had been able to hang onto his interest for a record six weeks.
    Not that she noticed how long each of them was able to last in Xander’s arms. It wasn’t that she was trying to measure how long each of them lasted, but it was hard not to when they were so frequent.
    Besides, the other people in the office had bets going on how long each would last so it was hard to miss the office talk or the office pool that was taped to the freezer door in the office kitchen.
    She shivered involuntarily at the thought of her co-workers betting on how long she could keep his interest. Not that she would even try. The man was an absolute jerk!
    She couldn’t blame him though. He saw the worst in relationships. In a very basic sense, his job was to tear up a marriage, dissect it to pieces and get the most from the relationship for one or the other person. He saw not only the worst part of a marriage; he saw the evilness and maliciousness of each person. Not only his client, either the wife or the husband, but sitting across the table, he also witnessed the worst in the opposite party. The fights that erupted occasionally were vicious as the hurt feelings poured out in every way possible.
    Perhaps she should be nicer to him, more considerate. The man saw the bad in so many people; he shouldn’t have to see it in the people he worked with.
    Maybe she should move her office to another floor. She didn’t need to be on his floor, she thought as she mentally reviewed the four floors and their layouts. Whenever they’d expanded their presence in the building, it was her job to assign office space to all the lawyers and support personnel. She’d always, for some inexplicable reason, kept her own office on the same floor as Xander.
    Well, one time after a particularly frustrating week, she’d shuffled things around and was going to move her office to Ryker’s area. But that move had been vetoed. She didn’t understand all the details, but she hadn’t fought the change at the time.
    Maybe it was now time to move to a new area, get away from him a bit more. The man could probably use her office to hire another lawyer. He had more than seventy divorce attorneys under his domain across the country with more than thirty of them here in the Chicago office. It always amazed her how many people were dissolving their marriage but his business was thriving.
    She turned off the water, reveling in the silence as the ache in her ribs slowly receded even more. Xander had been right. A hot bath was exactly what she’d needed. And she probably would have ignored the idea if she’d gone home. She most likely would have pulled out her computer and worked on the millions of issues that required her attention every day.
    Yes, this was perfect, she thought with a thrill. Autumn had to keep reminding herself that she wasn’t excited because it was Xander’s bathroom. It was simply because she was relaxed for the first time in….months.
    Not really relaxed. No, what she was feeling wasn’t in any way relaxed. Rejuvenated. Yes, that was the word. She felt rejuvenated by the water and the bubbles. It was probably the lavender scented bubbles he’d provided for her.
    It suddenly occurred to her – why did Xander have lavender scented bath bubbles? He hadn’t even needed to search for them. That feeling of happiness quickly dissipated and something new and angry emerged within her even as the bubbles popped and deflated.
    Suddenly, the door to the bathroom opened up and Xander stood there, his indigo blue eyes glared at her. “You kissed me back!” he growled.
    Gone were the thoughts about who had brought the bubbles into his place and her mouth