Free Exposed by Jessica Love

Moore” this, and “Max Moore” that.
    Max Moore had apparently taken my Mark under his wing. They worked on cases together, Mark doing fieldwork while Max did strategy. Not too unlike what I had going with Sarah and Lily, but Max and Mark had a full platoon of Sarahs and Lilies, too.
    Mark was being schooled with an education no law school could provide. I may have been a little jealous, too.
    But there was also something else.
    A couple of weeks before all this, Claire had beeped me on the intercom.
    “There’s a guy with a three-ball voice on line one asking for you,” she said. “He won’t give me a name.”
    “A what?”
    “A three-ball voice. He’s got at least one extra, or the two he’s got are the size of lemons,” she said.
    “I’ll take it,” I said, curious.
    “This is Jessica Love,” I said into the phone.
    There was no doubt who the voice belonged to as soon as I heard “Good afternoon, Ms. Love. Would you consider having a drink with me after work? To discuss some business, of course.”
    God, Max Moore didn’t even have to announce his name; he knew that voice of his was enough of an introduction.
    “I really can’t, Mr. Moore. Mark and I have some plans. Would tomorrow work?”
    “Not as well,” said Max Moore, “and I think Mark may change the plans you had for this evening. He and I are on a deadline, and he is going to have to stay a little late. I’m sure he will let you know as soon as he has a chance.”
    As if on cue, my cell phone beeped and Mark’s picture appeared on the screen. I read the text and silently cursed the confidence of Max Moore to make things happen as if the world worked on a script written by him.
    “What would you like to discuss?” I asked.
    “Can you meet me at The Edgewater, say at 5:30? I’d rather go over it in person.”
    I agreed to meet Max Moore. Mark’s text confirmed that he would be working late, and maybe he and I could catch a bite downtown after he was done. I texted Mark back to give me a call or text when he was done. XO.
    Max Moore already had a table on the water at the bar in The Edgewater Hotel when I got there. He stood when I arrived and made pleasantries until the cocktail waitress took my order for a vodka rocks.
    “Not a martini?” he asked.
    “I really don’t care for vermouth,” I said. But then I wanted a martini.
    Despite telling myself on the walk from my office to The Edgewater that I would be immune to the man’s effect on me, it was amazing how his presence seemed to have an intimate conversation with every sexual organ in my body. Then there were his eyes that seemed to laugh, smile, comfort and seduce all at the same time.
    I knew my Mark was as straight a male as exists, but I could see why the sheer presence of this man in Mark’s life was intoxicating. He could be the ideal role model, father figure, and best friend all rolled into one.
    For each of us, Max Moore would be the essence of the dominant male.
    Eventually Max Moore looked at his watch.
    “I know you’re curious as to why I asked to meet with you,” he said. “I would like you to consider joining my firm. Mark has said wonderful things about you, and so have others in and around the community.”
    “Which community?” I asked.
    “The legal community,” he said.
    All of a sudden I got a feeling of danger, an intense version of the feeling I’d gotten when Tony told me that Max Moore might want me to join his firm. A sense of falling. A feeling that I would be known as Mark’s wife. That my little operation would disappear in that colossus. That somehow, I’d lose my identity, be subject to the will of people I didn’t know and who didn’t know me.
    “I don’t think so,” I said to Max Moore.
    “You haven’t heard the terms,” he said.
    “I have pretty good terms with Tony,” I said.
    “Tony is not known for being generous,” said Max Moore. “Maybe this will change your mind.”
    He pulled a gold Cross pen from his pocket