Legal Seduction

by Sharon C. Cooper

  “Sounds like you really like him.”

  “I do, and it doesn’t hurt that he’s easy on the eyes. Oh, and did I mention he can cook?” That last part had surprised Iris. The last thing she expected was for him to be a culinary genius.

  “So, how do you know he can cook?”

  She hesitated. “He prepared breakfast for me this morning.”

  “Iris, please tell me that you didn’t spend the night with that man,” her sister said. “You’ve only known him a couple of weeks.”

  “Come on, Macy, you know good and well I didn’t spend the night with him.” But I think I would’ve had he asked. Iris shook her head to free herself of the lustful thought.

  “He asked me out again,” she said, increasing the resistance on the elliptical. With all of the calories she took in this morning, it was going to take an extra thirty minutes of cardio to make them disappear.

  “Do you think it’s a good idea to date Nash?”

  Macy, always the voice of reason, was quick to pull her away from any idea until she evaluated the pros and cons. But this was one situation where Iris didn’t want to hear it, especially now that she had decided to live a little.

  “Macy, don’t make more out of this than it is. We’re just hanging out.”

  “That’s how it starts, Iris. He’s all charming and fun to hang out with now, but what about when you fall in love with him?”

  “What? Who said anything about falling in love? We assembled bookshelves yesterday and ate breakfast today. Love never came up in the conversation.”

  “Don’t get cute. You know what I mean. That man has the ability to break your heart, and from what I’ve heard, he’s been breaking a few hearts lately.”

  Iris knew Nash was no choirboy, but as far as she was concerned, he’d been nothing but a gentleman. The scene in the gym came to mind. But that was different, Iris told herself. Yesterday, she hadn’t wanted him to be a gentleman.

  “I understand you like him, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to go out with him.”

  “A couple of weeks ago when we saw him at the restaurant, you and Janna were the ones who suggested I go out with him.”

  Macy said nothing.

  “Now all of a sudden, he’s too much of a ladies’ man?” Iris lowered her voice when she noticed other gym members looking her way. “Macy, I’m a grown woman. Yes, there was a time I counted on you to fight my battles, but this is not one of them.”

  “Fine, do what you want.” Macy stepped off the machine and wiped it down. “When he breaks your heart, don’t come running to me.”

  “Mace...” Iris called after her and cursed under her breath when Macy kept walking. Luckily for Iris, her sister rarely stayed mad long. She’d catch up with her later and make things right.

  Chapter 9

  “Well, there’s the superstar,” Noelle said when Iris walked into her office and sat across from her at the small conference table. “Looks like you’ve been busy over the past five weeks.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Iris glanced at the interior page of the tabloid newspaper that Noelle slid across the table. “Who Is the Tall Beauty With Nash Dupree?” She read the big bold letters across the top of the page and her heart sank. The photo was great and she had to admit that she and Nash made a nice-looking couple. But the timing was all wrong.

  Iris wondered who else had seen the issue. She and Nash had gone on several dates in the weeks since their breakfast rendezvous. They had attended a movie premiere one night, where many photos had been taken. Never would she have guessed that a shot of them would end up in one of these publications.

  “Care to explain what’s going on?”

  Iris’s gaze went back to the newspaper in front of her. She knew enough to know that though Nash and Tania weren’t technically her clients anymore, it didn’t look good that she was spending so much time with Nash. Thankfully, the news about Tania’s arrest hadn’t gone public. If it had, then it would really look bad for the firm.

  “Hmm, you have nothing to say?” Noelle retrieved the paper, folded it and set it aside. “Tell me what’s going on. I didn’t hear from you during your vacation, and you’ve been back at work for two weeks and not once have you mentioned having an affair with Nash.”

  “Technically, we’re not having an affair. We hang out sometimes.” She shrugged. “That photo happened to be taken at a movie premiere a week or so ago. We went as friends.”

  “Well, as your friend, I say, get yours, girl! But as the attorney for Tania, who happens to be living with you because the courts think her uncle is unfit, I have to tell you that I don’t know if your seeing Nash on a social level is a good idea. He and Tania are going through court-ordered therapy, trying to get their lives together. You don’t want to stand in the way of his regaining custody of her. He might just come off as an even bigger playboy who snared his niece’s former lawyer. Now I’m not saying that can’t be done with you in the picture—no pun intended—but do you want to take that risk?”

  In the back of Iris’s mind, she knew her involvement with Nash wasn’t a good idea, but she couldn’t help herself when it came to him. Over the past month, she, Tania and Nash had attended events as a family, and Iris had fit well into their dynamic. And the times Iris spent with Nash alone were priceless. The intimate dinners, the toe-curling kisses and those sexually charged moments that made her want to throw all caution to the wind were hard to ignore.

  “Pretend I was in your shoes. What would you tell me to do?” Noelle asked.

  Iris put her elbows on the table and rested her head in her hands. “I would probably tell you to lay low from Nash until all of this is cleared up,” Iris mumbled, hating that she knew she’d have to put the brakes on seeing him.

  “Iris, honey, I’d be the first to admit that I’m glad to see you so happy. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen this side of you. Lately, on most days, you’re out of here by six.” She unfolded the newspaper. “I think you and Mr. Dupree make a striking couple.”

  Iris gave her friend a weak smile, knowing it wasn’t going to be easy to stop seeing Nash, but she didn’t have a choice. She didn’t want anything to keep him from getting Tania back.

  “I’m going to do my best to wrap up Tania’s case, and then appeal to the presiding judge. Hopefully, that’ll mean that you and Nash won’t have to be apart for too long.”

  * * *

  Nash needed to get up.

  The pitter-patter of rain tapped against his bedroom windows and lulled him into an unmotivated state, making him want to lounge around awhile longer. But he didn’t have that luxury. There was work to do.

  He eased out of bed and headed to the shower. The notion that he could take a nap in the middle of the afternoon and not be inundated with thoughts of Iris had turned out to be a joke. For a man who wasn’t looking for a serious relationship, he sure was craving some time with her. The last time he saw her was the day the photo of them showed up in the tabloids. Since then, missing her had affected every aspect of his life, which was a first for him. Never had he been as enthralled by a woman as he was with Iris. Everything about her intrigued him, from her shyness to the way she responded to his kisses and his touch. He swallowed hard, thinking about the night of the movie premiere. He wanted to make love to her so badly that night he physically ached, but it was too soon. Her body’s responses to him had said she was ready, but he could feel her emotionally holding back.

  “How was your siesta?” Ms. Dalton asked Nash half an hour later when he walked into the kitchen.

  “It was all right.” He grabbed a mug from the cabinet and poured a cup of coffee from the carafe. “It started as a great idea, but I didn’t get much sleep.”

  “No? Why not? Is something bothering you?”

  “Nothing I can’t ha
ndle.” Or so he kept telling himself. His focus should be on getting Tania back home and getting Platinum Pieces–Buckhead open, but instead he was dwelling on his last conversation with Iris.

  I really like you, Nash, but it doesn’t look good for us to be spending so much time together. You should be keeping a low profile until this situation with you and Tania is settled in the courts.

  The conversation should have made him happy, since he wasn’t looking to get romantically involved with anyone. Instead, he was frustrated, mainly with himself. Sure, he didn’t want anything serious with Iris, but there was just something about her that made him want to explore the startling connection they had. It didn’t help that the three of them spending so much time together had felt like a family. Something he hadn’t really thought much about having.

  Nash glanced at his watch. He had thirty minutes before he had to pick Tania up from school.

  “Oh, I forgot to tell you, Tania called and said Iris’s sister Macy is picking her up today. Something about a science project.”

  Nash wondered if Iris was behind this little change in plans. Was this her way of continuing to avoid him? If he didn’t pick Tania up from school and take her home, then there would be no chance of him running into Iris. This should have pleased him, but it didn’t.

  “Do you know if Tania called Iris?”

  “I believe so.” Ms. Dalton reached into the refrigerator and removed all items within her reach. It was time for her to scrub down the interior of the refrigerator. “I told Tania I would wake you, but she said she would call you later.”

  “I’m calling Iris.” Nash glanced around the kitchen, looking for the cordless phone, sure it was lying on a counter nearby. “I want to know why Macy is picking up Tania when I always pick Tania up from school.” A slow boil brewed within Nash. Just because Iris didn’t want to see him didn’t give her the right to keep him from Tania. Or at least that was the argument he was going with.

  Ms. Dalton glanced over her shoulder. “I told you.”

  “Told me what?”

  “That Macy is helping Tania with a science project.” Wearing yellow latex gloves and holding a sponge, she backed away from the refrigerator. “What is going on with you? What happened between you and Iris?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You know what I mean. Up until recently, Iris was the only thing you talked about. It was Iris this and Iris that. I’ve never heard you go on and on about a woman for as long as I can remember. So what changed?”

  Nash grabbed an orange from the fruit basket on the counter and dropped into a seat at the breakfast bar. He rolled the fruit around in his hands for a few seconds, then peeled it while he debated on how much to tell Ms. Dalton.

  “I don’t know,” he mumbled. “Apparently, it’s best that I keep a low profile until this whole thing with the courts blows over.” Nash popped a slice of orange into his mouth, savoring the sweet, juicy fruit. “In other words, no dating, and that includes not hanging out with Iris.”

  Ms. Dalton tossed the sponge into a small bucket and removed her gloves. “That’s too bad. You two really seemed to hit it off. Why not just hang out, as you say, in less public places? Don’t go to all of those fancy shindigs that you usually attend. I would hate for you to miss out on the best woman who has ever stepped into your life.”

  “I don’t know.” Nash finished off the orange and tossed the rind into the trash.

  He thought about what Ms. Dalton said. Iris was like no other woman he’d ever met, but did he really want to pursue anything more with her? A small voice in the back of his mind said no, but then there was a louder voice that said yes.

  He glanced at his watch again as he wiped down the counter. Since he didn’t have to pick up Tania, he would head to Dupree Enterprises, the headquarters for his corporation. As an entrepreneur and investor, he owned numerous businesses and was always looking for his next big deal. Today, he and Nigel were planning to crunch some numbers. Nash had an opportunity to invest in a mid-level software company that was looking for an investor.

  “Oh, and before you go to your office, can you stop by Iris’s house and drop this basket off for Tania?” She gestured toward a large container sitting on the counter closest to the garage door.

  Nash felt as if he’d just been given a gift. Now he didn’t have to come up with an excuse to go by Iris’s house.

  “Sure, I can drop it off. What’s in it?” He grabbed his car keys from the top of the refrigerator and made a move to lift the basket lid, but Ms. Dalton swatted his hand.

  “Don’t open that. It’s for Tania.”

  “Well, what’s in it?” Whatever it was smelled good enough for him to sneak a taste once he got in the car. He leaned a hip against the kitchen counter and folded his arms across his chest. “Why is it in a basket instead of a bag?”

  Ms. Dalton sighed and furrowed her brow. “It’s a picnic basket, boy, and it has some of Tania’s favorite things in it. Since I’ll be in L.A. for the next couple of weeks looking after my sister, I prepared a few treats for Tania.”

  “What about me? What am I supposed to eat while you’re away?”

  She patted his cheek the way she used to do when he was a kid. “You know I can’t forget about my boy. You’ll have lasagna, fried chicken, some cabbage and collard greens, and a few more dishes that I’ll have left in the freezer. All you have to do is pop them into the microwave.”

  Nash could easily cook for himself, but he knew how much Ms. Dalton liked taking care of him and Tania. He couldn’t imagine their lives without her.

  “So, how long are you going to be gone again?”

  “Two weeks.”

  “What time do you need me to take you to the airport in the morning?”

  “My plane leaves at ten, but you know you don’t have to drop me off. I can get a driver. That way you don’t have to deal with that traffic.”

  “So you’ll be ready around seven-thirty in the morning?” Nash asked as if she hadn’t said anything about getting a car service. He grabbed the picnic basket and headed for the door. They had the same conversation every time she left town.

  “Make it seven,” she said, and went back to cleaning the refrigerator.

  * * *

  Iris sat in traffic along Peachtree Road, hating that there wasn’t a better route to her penthouse. It didn’t matter what time of day she traveled this stretch of road; traffic was always backed up.

  “Come on, people! Why do we have to go through this every day?” she grumbled, exhausted from a long day at work. Her three-week vacation seemed like a distant memory. She’d been back at work for three weeks, but she had yet to fully catch up on everything, even after working at home late into the night. It didn’t help matters that she was missing Nash.

  Before Noelle had confronted her about her so-called affair, she and Nash had fallen into a nice routine, and the tag-team parenting was working with Tania. She’d drop Tania off at school most days and Nash picked her up. Iris was starting to enjoy their numerous impromptu family outings until she had to bring everything to a screeching halt. Still, there was one positive. Tania’s grades had improved and there hadn’t been any more complaints from her teachers regarding her behavior.

  Iris inched her car forward as traffic crawled at a snail’s pace in front of Lenox Mall. Though she liked living in Buckhead, and it was not too far from work, the area definitely had its disadvantages for evening commuters.

  Her cell phone rang and Alicia Keys’s voice permeated the interior of the car. Tania had set the ringtone to Keys’s “Girl on Fire.” Iris pushed the Bluetooth button on her steering wheel.

  “Hi, Tania, what’s up? Are you home yet?”

  “Yes, I got here over an hour ago and was wondering when you’ll be here.”

  Iris frowned. This was the t
hird call in the past hour and a half asking about her whereabouts or when Iris would be home. These repeated messages had caused Iris to leave work at 6:00 p.m., instead of eight as she’d planned.

  “What’s going on, Tania?” Iris asked cautiously. “Is everything okay?”

  “Oh, yeah, everything is cool,” she answered, her tone a little too bubbly in Iris’s opinion. She’s up to something, but what?

  “Have you started your homework?”

  “Yes, except I have to work on my science project. Aunt Macy is coming over soon to help me with it.”

  Aunt Macy, Iris thought. When did her sister and Tania get so friendly? After Iris and Macy’s little disagreement at the gym, Macy had made a 180-degree turn in her attitude toward Nash. She claimed he didn’t seem as bad as the media had made him out to be. It didn’t matter now since there was no Iris and Nash.

  “Do you need me to pick up any supplies on my way home?”

  “No, I’m good. Uncle Nash bought everything I need. Oh, and Ms. Dalton sent over dinner for us. It smells so good, but I’m trying to wait for you before I dive into it.”

  Iris laughed. In a few weeks when their living arrangement went back to normal, she didn’t know who she would miss more Tania, Ms. Dalton...or Nash. It was unlikely Nash would be interested in dating her. Considering his history with women, he probably would have moved on to someone else by then. She wouldn’t think about that right now. Besides, before Janna left to return to New York, she had made Iris promise that she would live in the moment and not overthink everything.

  “I should be there in about five or ten minutes. I can’t wait to see what Ms. D. sent us for dinner.”

  “Yeah, I can’t wait until you see what she sent either,” Tania said excitedly.

  Once Iris arrived home, instead of going to pick up her mail first, Iris took the elevator to her penthouse suite. Too exhausted to do more than eat and talk with Tania, she planned to take a shower and be in bed no later than eight o’clock.