The Train, Sarah Bourne [dark books to read .txt] 📗

he commented on her poise but told him nothing more about herself. She was a mystery he often found himself puzzling over. She spoke well, but her CV told him she’d been to a state school. She’d topped her year at university but taken a year out to work in an orphanage in Africa somewhere. He would have thought she would have gone in for humanitarian law after something like that but here she was, a pupil of criminal law under his supervision.

‘Sit.’ He gestured to the sofa against the back wall of his office, away from the window.

Paula sat with her knees together, hands clasped in her lap. She couldn’t know what a turn-on Lawrence found the demure maiden posture. He felt his cock stir.

‘How was court this morning?’ he asked.

Paula gave him a detailed rundown of the case they were working on. It was at a stage of the proceedings where he wasn’t required to be there – Alasdair, one of his juniors, was well enough equipped to deal with the mundane stuff and Paula, as a pupil, was lucky to be able to shadow him in court. Still, he thought, he would have preferred to be there next to her than in that bloody case conference.

Paula shifted her position and Lawrence realised he’d been staring at her.

‘Sorry,’ he said. ‘Lot on my mind today.’

‘Anything I can help with?’

Lawrence turned the question over in his mind. If only his son would choose a girl like her – not that she’d give him a second look, of course. But if Liam aimed higher perhaps he’d start making something of himself. But then he wouldn’t be able to have her himself. And he wanted her.

‘What are your ambitions?’ he asked.

Paula looked taken aback at the abrupt change of topic.

‘I want to take silk, eventually.’

Lawrence nodded, rubbed his chin. ‘Takes a long time, a few showcase trials and a lot of help from your superiors.’ He shook his head as if he was sad to have to impart this information to her. As if, if he had his way, things would be different.

‘I’m prepared to work hard, you know that.’ Paula looked him in the eye.

‘Oh, I have no doubt about that but it takes more than just hard work. I don’t admit this to many people, but there is an element of luck in it too.’ He held his hands up in front of him to stop her from interrupting. ‘I know what you’re going to say – it should be based purely on merit and I agree, it should. It really should. But that’s not how it is.’

He glanced at his pupil who was looking at him from her place on the sofa. He unbuttoned his jacket and sat beside her.

‘I can help you, Paula. I’m willing to help you.’

She edged away from him so she was sitting right against the arm of the sofa. ‘Thank you.’ She smoothed her skirt over her knees. ‘I should get on – unless you wanted to go through the court documents I brought?’ She indicated the pile of files on the desk.

Lawrence didn’t even look at them. ‘Another time.’ He placed his hand on her thigh. ‘I want to help you, Paula.’

She stood abruptly. ‘Thank you, but I’m not going to have sex with you to get ahead. If that’s the kind of help you’re offering, I’m not interested.’

Lawrence also stood, facing her, too close. ‘No, you’ve got the wrong end of the stick.’ He stroked her arm, looked into her eyes. ‘I just want to give you every opportunity, that’s all.’

‘I’m going now. I propose we forget this conversation ever happened.’ She took her files and left.

Fuck, thought Lawrence. Fuck her. None of his pupils had turned him down before. What made her think she was so bloody special? Trashy little bitch. And now what was he going to do? He hated to admit it, but being rejected by her had given him a massive hard-on. He sat behind his desk and buzzed Dyson again. ‘Send Margot in, would you?’

‘Of course.’

Margot didn’t have the intelligence of Paula, nor the looks, but she was savvy. She knew how to get on in the world. She’d practically launched herself at him from the first day she arrived in his chambers.

She smiled as she entered. ‘What can I do for you, Lawrence?’

‘I’ve had a bloody awful morning and I need to take my mind off it somehow.’

She walked round behind him and started massaging his shoulders. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. She wore a heavy, musky scent that sent him into a fantasy about a voluptuous whore lying amongst silk cushions, legs spread wide, begging him to fuck her. He turned and lifted her skirt. Margot tensed but didn’t stop him as he pulled her tights and knickers down, still with his eyes closed, still enjoying the image of the whore. He slid a hand between her thighs. She gasped and moved round to straddle him but he took her arm and stopped her. Nodding towards the couch on the other side of the room, he said, ‘On your knees. Please.’

She looked momentarily surprised and then did as he said, her forearms resting on the sofa. He knelt behind her, stroking her buttocks, enjoying the smooth roundness of them, then unzipped himself.

He thought of Paula as he reached round and under her shirt to fondle her breasts, as he kissed her neck, as he thrust deep inside her. She braced herself against the sofa as he plunged deeper and deeper and then she started rolling her hips and moaning. With a grunt, he came and eased back onto his heels, pulling her with him, so she was sitting on him. He was still inside her but he’d lost interest already. Margot leant back against him momentarily, but it felt too intimate a gesture and Lawrence pushed her upright again.

‘How’s the case?’ he asked.

‘Going well, I think. We weren’t in court today, but