Author's Note:
This story idea came from a reader who prefers to remain anonymous (you know who you are!). I modified it based on what I felt would make it a good story, and after a few hours of pondering it, the story took on a life of its own. This story has been a great challenge, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did writing it.
WARNING: This story is
NOT
a flash tale, so if you don't like long and detailed stories, you might want to pass on this one and find another to read. I have split it into separate chapters, and will be submitting them all a day apart. As a reader, I hate waiting a month for the next chapter just like everyone else...
Thank you to Guinahart and Blackrandl1958, for taking the time to edit these for me. I think I have done more revisions of this story than any other before. Also thanks to SBrooks103x for his pre-read comments. I owe you each for your guidance, and of course, if you find anything wrong with it now, blame me.
All characters in this story are fictional and any that engage in sexual activity are over the age of 18. I hope you enjoy reading it!
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Title: Temptations
Anna and Garrison Thomson were your average, everyday American couple. They met by chance at a Starbucks, no less. Garrison Thomson ('just call me Gary') was an associate attorney for a firm that his brother had started, right out of law school. His older brother had promised him that after some more experience, he would make him full partner. Thomson Brothers Law sounded good to them both.
These two met while waiting in line for some coffee. Gary had been stopping here almost every day for the last year. It was conveniently in between his brother's office and the county courthouse. Every other day was ordinary, but not the day he caught sight of Anna Daye. Naturally, she didn't see him right away, and it wasn't until the next day that he made a move to talk to her.
Anna was also a lawyer, one year behind Gary when she graduated from college. Her motivation wasn't money. Lord knows she had plenty of that from a trust fund that had been established after her parents were killed in an auto accident. Their death happened when she only ten years old, at an age when she really needed them the most.
They had been carpooling home from work and were hit broadside by large semi-truck. The truck's brakes failed due to poor maintenance, and they never even knew what hit them. Thankfully their daughters had been at their neighbors' in-house daycare.
The truck company was fined and forced to pay a settlement to Anna's family. Her older sister Denise was eighteen at the time and took over as guardian of her younger siblings. Anna was ten, and her younger brother was eight. Denise was planning to go to college to be a veterinarian, but with her parents gone, she stepped up and put her family before her own goals.
They had a lot of problems, but thankfully, money wasn't one of them. Thanks to the huge settlement, they all had plenty of money. Denise was given her own sum, and the two younger kids were given their share in the form of a trust, managed by Denise until they reached the age of 21. It didn't matter to the three of them. No amount of money could bring back their parents. Denise did end up going to pursue her dream, but had to wait several years.
Her younger brother, Nathan, ended up joining the U.S. Marines and was currently spending his time aboard a ship in the Mediterranean. Her parents would have been very proud of the young man he had become.
Anna chose to be a lawyer because her parents had both been lawyers and it made her feel somewhat closer to them. She also wanted nothing more than to help other people. Anna was the kind of person that would do anything to help a person in need.
To be honest, Anna was a beautiful woman. She had a classic beauty to her, with long flowing light brown hair, and deep blue eyes. She stood at about 5' 7", and had a curvy figure that no one would ever call fat. Her best feature was her legs, and she knew it. They were long, tanned to perfection, and looked as smooth as silk. She topped off the package with near-perfect C-cup breasts.
The day they met, Gary and Anna talked for over an hour and almost made him late for court. She was heading for an interview later that morning with a very respectable firm. Henkle, Mitchell and Donaldson wasn't the largest firm in the city but they had a lot of clout in the community. The main reason she was interviewing with them was due to their rather large pro-bono caseload. They were well known for doing a lot of charity work for clients that needed good representation, but couldn't afford to pay. Obviously, they also had several very lucrative clients, handling things like corporate and tax law, as well as personal injury and even family law. They rarely took on criminal cases, but there was one or two that had made headlines. She was excited at the possibility of working for such an elite group.
Anna met Gary for coffee nearly every morning after that day. It took nearly two weeks until he finally worked up the nerve to ask her out on a real date.
"Fancy meeting you here again," Anna teased.
Gary rolled his eyes at the obvious cliché, "Yeah, as if there is another Coffee shop with you in it!"
Now it was Anna's turn to roll her eyes. "I bet you use that line on all the women, huh?"
"Not really, just beautiful women like you." After waiting in line for their coffee, they sat at a table. "So, I was thinking, would you like to go to dinner with me tonight?"
"I would love to, but aren't you still seeing someone?"
"No, we weren't as compatible as I thought, so I ended it. Originally we both talked about having kids someday, but she changed her mind and told me that she never wanted any."
"I love kids, and hope to have several," Anna replied, with a big grin. "I would love to join you for dinner."
It was like magic from that night on. They were inseparable and got married about ten months later. Their whirlwind romance inspired everyone, but her older sister demanded that he sign a prenuptial agreement, since the trust wasn't fully released to her yet. They married with a pre-nup, and three years later, they had a baby girl. Anna wanted to name her Lilia, after her mother.
Anna spent about two years taking care of their daughter until Gary encouraged Anna to go back to work. Anna wanted to be bonding with her child, but really needed the adult interaction. Besides that, she was going stir crazy.
She was able to start back up at her old firm, and started off with a light case load. She could still spend time with the baby, which she felt she had to do in addition to her job. At first she had severe anxiety, about being separated from her daughter, but after a few weeks, she got used to it. In fact, she really began to enjoy being back to work. After two months, she resumed a full case load without any issues.
The office she worked in was pleasant and the people were nice, well most of them. There were a few bad apples, but that wasn't unusual. She had an office next to Kendra Simpson, another junior associate with the firm that had joined them right after Anna had taken maternity leave. There were a few assistants to the partners, as well as an office pool of legal aides. One of them was a new man named Jake Michaels.
Jake was one of the shared office aides, and did a lot of the paralegal work for the attorneys. There were two other paralegals that worked with him, Thomas and Melinda, who did all the paperwork required by the firm. The three of them together were quite a team. The problem was that Jake was a very handsome man and regularly flirted openly with all the women of the office. She was fairly certain that he had nailed most of them, including Melinda who was married.
