Hello guys! Seems like the issue with the views is still not sorted, I am hoping that you guys are still able to read this story. For all those who reviewed, thank you so much for your kind words they mean a lot. Now, that I can't see the views on the stories these reviews have become even more important so please keep them coming! Here is the next chapter.

P.S. I am really proud of how the last part of this chapter turned out. I could totally imagine them this way. This is the longest chapter i have written (yet).

Chapter 9- Intention

Things were going good; Donna had signed the documents as asked by Jessica and Harvey put up the 100,000$. For the initial one week, Donna was afraid being around Jessica, she would dodge her or simply turn around when she saw the name partner walking towards her direction until one day Harvey got them together to sort this out.

It was after Harvey and Jessica had a discussion about a case when Jessica was about to leave,
"Jessica a minute, Donna get in here".

"I just wanted to make sure, that we are good." He signals between the three of them.

"As far as I am concerned, Donna agreed to both the terms, I am good". She looked straight at Donna.

"Good…. because I don't want either of you to be at odds."

Jessica simply waved her hand to dismiss whatever Harvey was saying. She turns around to leave when Donna calls her out,

"Jessica, thank you".

"You're welcome, Donna" she gave her signature smile.

Harvey walks towards Donna, holds her by her arms, "Hey."

"Hey" she blushes slightly.

"What do you say I take you over to my place tonight. I have been meaning to show it to you, I can even offer to cook".

"You don't cook."

"Oh…I can cook, there are still things you don't know about me Ms. Paulsen".

She looks at him surprised.

"Seriously Donna I can whip up a good dish and I also got us an expensive bottle of wine that I was saving to celebrate our anniversary."

"Our anniversary is not until tomorrow Harvey".

"Well, we can start early, and I can continue the celebration all through the night" he winks at her.

She blushes and a small smile creep on her face, "Then what are you waiting for".

They head back together to Harvey's place. The penthouse was spectacularly built, a sprawling 2-bedroom house with a private lap pool that sits on the west side of the enormous terrace that gave the view of infamous Manhattan skyline.

"Harvey, the space looks amazing, although the apartment doesn't have any life around".

"What…. are you kidding me, this place is perfect".

"Yeah….it totally does, if you are trying to woo super models through your bachelor pad".

"Donna….I wanted the place to be elegant and minimalistic, and even if it does look like a bachelor pad I am not looking to bring any other girl home than you".

She just gets on her toes and pecks him; one peck turns into three and before you know they get away with it before Harvey pulls back a bit. "Let's save the dessert for later. Now, I need to impress you with my cooking".

"Can I help you with something".

"Do you know how to cook?" he cocks his eyebrows.

"Okay…. I can do anything and everything" …. she turns to move around to the cabinets where Harvey keeps the glassware and brings out 2 glasses of wine "but I cannot cook, so get to it mister ".

Harvey simply chuckles…. it's only Donna who can talk about her flaws with such confidence.

He makes his signature Spaghetti Bolognese pasta; they have dinner together talking about random things. Once done, he takes their dishes and Donna takes the bottle of wine and moves towards the lounge area. Harvey puts in a record and the apartment is filled with soft tunes of jazz.

Sitting together just enjoying each other's company and the peace when Donna randomly asks,

"Harvey…. can I ask you something".

"Anything"

"Why did Jessica say both terms".

Harvey squirms a bit and his face pales, "what do you mean".

"When you asked Jessica today if we were good, she said I agreed to both the terms, but as far as I remember I only signed the documents, what was the other term".

He gets up from the couch and walks towards the refrigerator.

"Don't walk away from me Harvey, tell me what the other condition was". She starts to get furious.

"Jessica asked that you put up an equity of 100,000$ as a retainer which will be used in case we broke up".

"You got to be kidding me….and you didn't think that to share with me? she shakes her head, waiting for him to say something.

"What did you do" she continues when he doesn't reply.

"What do you think I did…I took care of it. I didn't want you to feel burdened".

"God damnit Harvey". She shakes her head.

"Are you mad at me". He asks confused.

"Of course, I am mad at you…. you tried to buy me".

"I didn't try to buy you…. I brought us both time".

"You know that's a lawyer's response and its bullshit" she spat back.

"What do you want me to say."

"Harvey…. you paid on my behalf without talking to me, you did this so I can stay your secretary and continue sleeping with you….do you know how it makes me feel".

"I don't know…. Lucky".

"That's not funny."

"I paid so that you didn't have to worry about the money, and I felt it unfair that you had to put up for everything and I had to do nothing".

"Don't you get it…. do you even realize how this makes me feel".

"I don't know Donna…. I am not perfect, but you could consider this as a romantic gesture, or at least consider that I thought it was romantic".

"How many times have I told you this Harvey…. I am not with you for your money. You may have slept around with girls showing off, but I am with you for the man I see you to be, for your values, not for such gestures".

"You were ready to consider the other option of working for someone else and I was not ready to have that…. can't you see what this means to me".

"You bulldozed me into signing that agreement, I asked you if that was all Jessica wanted and you admitted, so you lie to me and then you give money on my behalf without informing me….and you want me to consider this as romantic".

"Donna…. if you don't consider this romantic at least don't consider it as something wrong".

"If you don't see the wrong in this Harvey then I don't think there is a point of discussing it at all" She picks up her purse and heads towards the door.

"Where the hell are you going". He shouts.

"Right now…. somewhere far away from you." She shuts the door out; the loud thud of the door is all that reverberates in the apartment.

"Fuck" he squeezes his eyes shut and pinches his nose of his bridge.

Next morning, Harvey reaches his office to find Donna's seat empty, he places the bouquet of flowers with a note scribbled.

"Happy anniversary. I am sorry"
-H ❤

He sees Donna coming to her desk, she seemed okay and was talking with Kelly. They say each other goodbye, and Donna puts her bag down and spots the beautiful bouquet. She smiles looking at the flowers and pulls out the small card attached to it to read the note. She looks up at Harvey and sees him watching her, she simply grabs the bouquet and throws it in the trash can next to her desk.

Harvey purses his lips, makes a straight faced and sighs. He needs to try something else to make it up to her.

He tried to talk with Donna, but she all but kept the entire conversation professional. It was during lunch, and he went out to get some coffee and bagel when he decided to get Donna her favorite pistachio cream cheesecake from the artisan bakery nearby. He heads back to the firm, grabbing the dessert in his hand, he walks back to her desk and drop the package, before they could talk, Jessica walks towards him furiously.

"I can't believe you shit the bed".

"Shit the bed…. what are you talking about".

"The Griffinson file I asked you to complete the due diligence, so that we could have them settled but instead you hit them with a defamation suit".

"Jessica…. hitting them with defamation suit will give us more ammunition to get them to give better settlement offer".

"Now that you have hit them with suit…. this thing is not going to get settled instead its moving to trial, everyday this trial stretches our client loses millions".

"Jessica…. I will take care of it".

"Save it Harvey…. You have done enough".

Shoulders slumped he was disheartened; he pursed his lips and head back to the office.

It was later in the evening when he came out of his office, ready to head back home when he spots Donna at her desk. He reaches out to her, trying one more time to make things right with her.

"Here" he hands over a gift packed in a draw string linen bag.

"What is it?"

"I got you a gift for our anniversary…. I wanted to give it to you after we celebrated but I don't think that's gonna happen."

She just cocks her head to the side.

"Open it" he urges her.

Donna pulls out the drawstrings to reveal a book. She gasps "Shakespeare Sonnet. Harvey this is a limited-edition version, how did you know."

"I heard you talking with Louis about this a few weeks back, so I reached out to one of my clients whose wife is a publisher, pulled some strings and got this early copy" he looked at her sheepishly.

"Thank you, Harvey…...this is precious" a genuine smile creeping her face.

He sighs taking a moment before he speaks up,

"Donna, I know you are still upset with me, and I know I screwed up, but it's our anniversary and I don't want you to be mad at me. I still have a reservation at Del Posto would you like to have dinner with me tonight?"

"I am still pissed at you Harvey".

"I know" he nods his head. With his arms stretched out on Donna's desk, head bowed down, resentment clear in his demeanor.

"But I would like to go out for dinner with you".

He looks up at her, smile creeping on his face.

"Seriously" he couldn't believe it.

"Yeah…. but it's not because I forgave you, I saw what happened with Jessica and considering the little effort that you have been trying to put through the day, I think you deserve my pity" she smirks at him.

"I will take it…. let's go". They head out together. Dinner was great, they talked a bit about family and Harvey talked about how Marcus and his wife are juggling between a toddler and a baby. They talked about Gordon's upcoming performance. They share a dessert, Donna eating most of it and Harvey was more than happy to share it with her. Harvey insisted to walk her down to her apartment which is just 2 blocks away, they reach her building and Donna turns around to face him,

"Thank you for the dinner, it was lovely".

He simply grabs both her palms and smiles at her. They look at each other, neither saying anything, until Harvey takes a step forward and kisses her. He let go of her hands and cups her face and Donna hold onto his lapels tightly as the kiss makes her dizzy. They separate only when the need to breathe again arises. He presses his forehead against hers, "I am sorry I lied to you Donna, but I am not gonna apologize for what I did".

She stares back at him, taking time to comprehend what he just said, she pulls back from him, clasping his palms she says, "I know you are sorry Harvey, but I still need time and some space to get past what happened". Harvey all but gasps, mind blaring with thoughts and Donna immediately reads his mind.

"No…. I am not breaking up with you Harvey, I just need time to get through with everything".

He nods…. "Okay Donna, I understand".

She sees him turn around, although she was this close to give up on her restrain and do nothing but grab hold of him and kiss him pouring all her love, she says nothing and let him walk away.

She goes back home…but something in her felt un-settled, she knew what Harvey did was with good intention and he really did care about her, and he did apologize for lying to her. This relationship as hard as it was, she genuinely felt that she had a partner she could see a future with, and she hadn't felt like this for a long time. She never said it out loud, but she was falling in love with Harvey…to tell the truth she fell in love with him the first time they got together, but she was so afraid after having broken her heart before that to be this invested and affected by someone was scary. But something she has learnt in the past is to forgive and not give up, and if she is not going to end their relationship there was no point in dragging this issue. She instantly decides to go back to Harvey and talk this thing out.

Changing into a pair of jeans and a knitted jumper she hailed a cab and ended up being at Harvey's, knocking on his door she waits for him to open up.

The moment he opens the door, she takes him in, disheveled hair, white shirt sleeves folded showcasing his strong forearms, top 3 buttons open, black slacks from the same suit he was wearing today except now the tie and jacket were gone.

Seeing her at this time of the hour, he immediately gets concerned "Donna are you okay? What are you doing here?"

She doesn't reply…. just simply walks inside the apartment, he shuts the door behind and before he could fully face her to ask again what she is doing here, she presses her lips against his in a fierce kiss, for a second Harvey loses his balance and holds her tight before he could respond to her kiss. They stay together like this kissing hard before Donna steps back…looking at him shyly.

"You have been drinking" she says to him after having tasted the remnant of the Macallan.

Furrowing his brows together he looks at her confused, "That's what you tell me after coming to my apartment in the middle of night and kissing me like that".

He starts to walk back in the living room towards his bar cart to pick up his drink and she follows him taking the glass from his hand, he looks at her again "Sure help yourself".

Folding her leg, she settles down on the couch, having taken a sip of the single malt and letting the amber liquid fuel some of her courage, she looks back at him,

"I didn't want the memories of our 1st anniversary to be about a fight, I am still annoyed at what you did, but I don't want to fight with you".

He smirks at her, happy to see that she was ready to sort this out.

"What" she looks at him.

"Nothing I am happy you came. I know I told you this before and I am saying it again I am sorry, I lied to you, but I don't regret what I did. I still feel it was the right thing to do."

"I get it."

"You do?" he looked at her surprised.

"Yeah, I know you had the right intentions at heart, but I don't want you to lie to me and I don't want you to hide things from me. You need to trust me, trust us to get past whatever it is as long as we are honest with each other".

He nods, taking her hand in his. He takes the glass from her hand taking a sip of the drink, raising his eyebrows he looks at her with a naughty smile on his face.

"What is that face".

"Nothing I just realized you have one more reason to be here that you conveniently left out."

She looked at him confused, taking the glass from his hand to take a sip of the drink she asks, "What reason".

"You miss having sex with me", he looked at her seductively.

She almost chokes on her drink, "What".

"You shouldn't shy away from saying it Donna…. I won't be surprised…. I have this unique ability when it comes to sex and its one of my many USP's".

Skin flushed with embarrassment and desire; she says "Harvey…. I didn't come here for sex."

She musters the strength to negate what her whole body had been screaming at since the time she looked at him. He takes the glass for her hand setting it on the cart, he starts to move her so that he could get her under him, he looks at her seductively,

"Oh I know" he smirks.

They continue making out on the couch, until they couldn't hold it anymore, taking her hand, he gets her to his bed where they make love…this time it was fast, a bit rough something they haven't explored much before. Donna rode him hard, trying to let go of the annoyance she still had, and Harvey was more than happy to comply. He rolls them over so that he is on top of her again, plunging harder and flicking her clit, both of them end up peaking their high together.

Harvey tumbles down over her…crushing her with all his weight…. panting he gets back on his elbow lifting some weight off and looks at Donna…

"So"

"So" she repeats.

"You said we need to be honest with each other….so now tell me honestly wasn't this your intention the entire time" he smirks at her, moving slightly to be in a more comfortable position while still buried inside her.

She looked at him shyly…. biting her lips, she pulls him close for a kiss and mumbles against his lips "Yes".

# Writing Angst is difficult for me….and even when I do, I am not able to prolong it for long. I really wanted this fight to be a bit longer, but the timeline of the story couldn't accommodate it. Lots of upcoming drama planned. But the next chapter would take some time. Also, I want to setup a bit of strong foundation of their before Mike comes in, but he will play a very crucial role in their relationship. Keep reading and I will keep entertaining.