by Cynthia Eden
When he entered the elevator, she didn’t back up. “Why?”
“Because Lex is too involved with you, he can’t see you for what you are.”
I think he may see me for exactly who I am. He was the only person in a very long time to do that. “No,” Sophie said as the elevator descended. “I mean why does anyone need to come with me? I fired you guys.” Talk about not taking a hint.
Dev laughed. “You are an interesting woman. Very dangerous, I have no doubt of that, but interesting.”
Her head cocked. “If you think I’m so dangerous, then why get me ‘safely’ to my office? Surely I can handle myself.”
The doors opened. They were on the street level. She’d just planned to snag a cab, only now it looked as if she’d be sharing that ride.
He kept perfect pace at her side. “I have no doubt that you can handle yourself, but I want to keep Lex fairly sane today. He and Chance will go find Griffin and get him to talk, and I’ll make sure you’re okay.”
When had they come up with that plan? “I was with Lex, he didn’t mention any of this—”
“Chance and I worked it out while you and Lex were, um, talking.”
Was she supposed to blush? Stammer? Act embarrassed? She wasn’t that girl. “He was giving me a great orgasm,” Sophie said bluntly. “And thanks so much for asking.”
His jaw sagged in shock. Perfect. Seizing that shocked opportunity, Sophie jumped into the cab that was waiting by the curb. “There’s an extra twenty if you get me away from that jerk closing in,” she rushed out to her driver.
The driver shot away from the curb just as Dev was reaching for the door.
Sophie tossed a grim smile back his way. That’s for calling me dangerous. She had no doubt that he’d be tailing her in the next cab. Fair enough. She’d proven her point. Don’t piss me off. Sophie yanked her phone out of her bag and immediately dialed Ethan.
He answered on the second ring. “Sophie, what’s wrong?”
“We need to talk, but we have to do it alone.” She leaned forward and gave the driver her firm’s address. Then, settling back into her seat, Sophie whispered into the phone, “I don’t like being used…”
***
“Sophie!” Sophie had just walked into her office when Kurt Blayne rushed toward her. But the guy didn’t stop with an exuberant shout; he wrapped her up in a hug, holding her tightly. “I heard about what happened at the police station,” Kurt said as he gave her a reassuring squeeze. “I’m so glad you’re all right.”
She held herself stiffly in his embrace. “I’m just fine.” Since when was he into hugging her?
Kurt stiffened. He let her go, easing back. “Sorry, I was just worried.” He exhaled and ran a hand through his normally perfect hair. Kurt knew that jurors liked perfect. “First, I heard about the near accident at the courthouse, and then the shooting this morning…it’s just…” He exhaled roughly. “You gave me my break in this town. You took me on at the firm even though I had no fancy Ivy League diploma behind me.”
Her brows rose. “I don’t have one of those either.”
“Yeah, but you’re Sophie Fucking Sarantos. You make people notice you. You dominate in the courtroom. Getting to be second chair with you has been…” He straightened his shoulders. “A privilege.”
Wow. Okay. Someone needed to cut way down on the caffeine.
“If something happened to you, they’d probably fire me,” Kurt continued, his voice lowering. “You’re the one who wants me here.”
Ah, now that made more sense. She patted his shoulder. “You don’t need to worry about your job. You’re a great attorney. Trust me, the other partners here know that. If you weren’t working with me, then one of them would just snatch you up.” The guy would be going places.
“Really?” His shoulders straightened even more. And some of the worry eased from his face. “That’s good to know.”
If she hadn’t been so damn stressed, she might’ve smiled. Self-interest could be such a powerful motivator. “Is Julianna here yet? I need to talk with her.” Julianna Patrice McNall-Smith was the main client that Sophie needed to see that day. And seeing her, well, maybe it would take Sophie’s mind off the craziness that was her current life.
I’ll meet Ethan later. I’ll figure this out.
“Um, she is here, but…”
But?
“There’s a guy in waiting area one. He said it was urgent—that he had to talk only with you.”
That news perked her up a bit more. “A new client?”
Kurt shook his head. “Not new. He said you’d handled his case before.”
Her palms got a little sweaty. She felt less perky.
“His name is Finn Scott.”
Sophie made herself smile. “I’ll talk with Finn first. It won’t take long. We just have a loose end or two that needs to be tied up.” She pointed down the hallway. “Please make sure Julianna has some coffee and tell her that I’ll be there soon.”
Footsteps rushed behind her. She glanced over her shoulder, not really surprised to see Dev huffing and puffing as he rushed into her office. The receptionist, though, he looked plenty surprised when he saw Dev charging in on the scene, and Matt rose to his feet in alarm.
“It’s all right, Matt,” Sophie said quickly. “He’s with me.” For the moment. “Uh, Kurt, would you take Dev back for some coffee, in waiting room two? I’ll deal with him in a moment.” After she got Finn out of her office. One crisis at a time.
And if Dev saw Finn…
One at a time.
Dev tossed her a furious glare. “Don’t ditch me again.”
Seriously? Did he think she’d respond well to that one or those words? “Don’t piss me off again or I’ll have Matt toss you out.”
Matt immediately nodded. He was their receptionist and a part-time bodybuilder. If she said toss, he’d eagerly toss.
Now, for the first crisis. She turned to the left, heading toward waiting room one. Dev didn’t follow her. Good news for the moment. And, even better, Finn was the only person in waiting room one. As soon as he saw her, he jumped to her feet. Sophie put her finger over her lips when he started to speak. “Let’s go to my office.”
Why was it that all of the secrets from her past seemed so determined to burst into her present?
***
“Are you a client of Sophie’s?” The annoyingly GQ-looking fellow asked Dev. The guy led Dev through a winding hallway. “Because if so, let me assure you that Sophie will give you the best possible representation. She’s the most talented lawyer I’ve ever met, and I consider it a privilege to work by her side.”
Whoa. Someone was putting it on pretty thick. Barely controlling an eye roll, Dev brushed by the guy—he already knew the fellow’s name was Kurt Blayne—because he’d done his research. He knew everyone in Sophie’s life. He knew the woman far better than Lex did. And that’s the problem. Lex is lust blind. He needs to see Sophie for who she is.
Kurt opened the door for him. “Just wait in here. I’ll have fresh coffee brought in for you both.”
Both?
Then he saw the woman. He recognized her instantly, mostly because Julianna Patrice McNall-Smith had been in the news so much recently. Her face had been splashed across every news show and put in every paper. When a woman that gorgeous was found in a blood-soaked room with her too rich husband’s dead body a few feet away, well, that story was a reporter’s wet dream.
Julianna glanced up when he entered the room. She gave him a quick, nervous smile.
The smile took him back. It didn’t look like the smile of a femme fatale. And the fear in her eyes wasn’t femme fatale material, either.
GQ must have thought so, too, because he inched closer to Julianna. “Got any special requests for your coffee?” His voice was low, gentle. “I can bring you anything you want.”
Julianna’s pale hands slid over the strap of her purse. “Nothing for me, Kurt, thanks. I’ll just feel better when I see Sophie.�
�
Right. Sophie was her attorney. If anyone could get the blonde off the hook for murder, it would be Sophie.
Even though the evidence against Julianna was supposed to be incredibly strong.
“She’ll be right with you, Julianna,” Kurt promised, and then he slipped from the room.
Silence. Julianna was on the couch. Her shoulders were hunched, her head down. She looked beaten.
He stepped toward her. She flinched.
What the hell? She hardly seemed like the spoiled beauty that the papers had made her out to be. Instead, she struck him as wounded.
A victim.
She was small, close to Sophie’s build. Sleek and beautiful, no doubt, but…
Why do I feel like she’s been hurt too much?
“You must be one of Sophie’s clients, too,” Julianna said, her voice breaking a little bit as if just speaking to him had been hard for her. “She’s good. She makes you feel like you aren’t the devil.” Her shoulders hunched even more. “Even if the rest of the world swears you are.”
Eyes narrowing, Dev took a step closer to her. She inched back against the couch cushions. There was room to sit next to her, but he didn’t. Instead, he took the chair to her right.
Her shoulders relaxed some.
Why are you so afraid?
“This is my first meeting with Sophie,” he said, feeling his way along. But maybe Julianna could give him some intel he could use.
Or maybe I like talking to her.
“So I’m not sure what to expect,” Dev added.
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. She had deep, dark brown eyes, with flecks of gold near her pupils. “She’ll make you feel like everything will be all right.”
Is that what she did?
“You won’t feel like a freak anymore when she’s there. You’ll feel like…” Julianna swallowed. “There’s hope.”
Chapter Nine
“Finn, what in the hell are you doing here?” Sophie asked as she shut her office door. “If you need to talk with me, just call.”
“Your new lover came to my place, Soph. He came there…” Finn was pacing, fast, moving back and forth in a near blur. “And he accused me of trying to hurt you! He thinks I broke into your house, that I came at you with a knife!”
Tension gathered at the base of her neck. “He’s investigating, nothing more. Looking at people who had access to my house.”
Finn whirled toward her. In the rugged face of the man that he was now, she saw the boy he’d been. The boy she’d known so long ago.
“I gave him a list of all the men on my team. I know he’s digging into their lives, trying to see if one of them did it, but I check those guys, Sophie! I always check. I would never hire someone…” Finn exhaled. “After what happened, I have to make sure my team is clean. If one of them did this and word gets out, I’ll be ruined. Two strikes. My business won’t come back.”
“If one of those men did this, I’ll handle it,” Sophie assured him. “And I’ll protect you.” The way she’d done before.
Finn pressed his lips together. He seemed to hesitate, then he said, “If I find out one of them tried to hurt you…” His voice dropped. “I’ll hurt him.”
“No.” She shook her head. “Absolutely not.” Finn was a strong guy. And, when pushed too far, she knew he could be dangerous. Finn was an ex-boxer, a man with a lethal punch. Finn always tried so hard to control his temper, she knew that. He’s always been afraid of what he’d do if he was pushed too far. She didn’t want to be the person who made him cross that line. “I’m handling this situation.”
He closed in on her. “But are you in danger? What can I do, Soph?”
What can I do, Soph? He’d said those same words to her when she’d been at her parents’ funeral. Everyone else had been whispering and pointing at her. But Ethan had stood to her right, glaring at them all. And Finn had snuck up on her left. He’d taken her cold hand in his—her fingers had felt like ice that day—and he’d stood with her. Against the stares. The whispers. They’d grown closer after that. When she hadn’t been able to stand the darkness any longer, he’d been her first lover.
But being with him hadn’t changed the emptiness she felt.
“You don’t have to do anything.” She pushed back her hair. “I told Lex you weren’t involved. He was just being thorough.”
“Lex…the new lover.” Finn gave a low whistle. “Be careful with him. The guy was possessive as all hell, acting as if he had some kind of claim on you.”
If you break your one night rule with me, I won’t let you go. If I have you again, you’re mine.
“Doesn’t he get that you’re not in for some kind of forever haul?” Finn shook his head and the faint lines near his mouth deepened. “Or maybe you just weren’t with me.”
There was pain in his voice. She’d never meant to hurt him, but she had known that he cared, more than she did. “Finn, that was a long time ago. We were kids.” She’d learned, after Finn, not to mix sex and emotions. She’d hooked up with men that she wouldn’t be tempted to stay with past the night. Men she couldn’t trust. Men she would never want to love.
Look what love did to my mother. She stayed with a bastard for years. She always professed her love, even when she just stood there and watched him hurt me. Her mother’s voice rang in Sophie’s head, “I love him. I can’t leave him, oh, no. You just have to be better. You have to be a good girl.”
Maybe she hadn’t wanted to be good.
“I loved you.”
Oh, damn. “Finn…”
His smile was bittersweet. “You didn’t love me. I knew that. But back then, I stayed by your side because I loved you. I’d been mooning over you for years, but you only seemed to notice me at your parents’ funeral.”
That had been because he’d faced the storm with her. “You stood by me,” Sophie said.
There was a frantic knock at her door.
She didn’t move. “You didn’t have to stand at my side. You could have turned your back on me, too.”
His smile was sad. “Of course I couldn’t. I knew you hadn’t killed them.”
How? How did you know?
The knock came again. Even more demanding. “I’m sorry, excuse me for just a moment.” She hurried toward the door. Sophie yanked it open. “I am with a client,” she hissed.
“Yeah, I know,” Dev threw back. “I want in on the little chat.”
“Not happening.” She drew herself up to her full height and really wished she had a few more inches. “And you are supposed to be in waiting room two. Why didn’t Kurt keep you there?”
“He’s out getting coffee.” Dev stared her down. “And when I came looking for you, I happened to glance through your blinds…” He pointed to the blinds right near the door.
She should have closed those blinds.
“And I saw Finn Scott.”
She heard Finn’s footsteps heading closer.
“Such a coincidence to see you again, Finn,” Dev said, raising his voice. “What happened? Could you just not stay away from her? I’ve heard she has that kind of effect on men.”
“You have no idea what she does,” Finn said, his voice cold. “And a man like you never will.” His fingers curled around Sophie’s shoulder. Squeezed. “I was there for you before, and I’ll always be there for you. If you need me, come to me.” Then he nodded toward Dev. “Get the fuck out of my way.”
Dev lifted his brows, but stepped back.
Finn hurried away, his body tense.
“We cleared his workers,” Dev said after a moment. “The four men on his team, the ones who had access to your house all alibied out. But guess what?”
She knew he was keeping his voice deliberately loud so Finn would catch his words. Sophie didn’t bother to guess.
“Finn doesn’t have an alibi. Turns out he was alone at his place, no lovers to see him. No neighbors who could confirm his alibi. So maybe your ex decided to catch up with you, in the mi
ddle of the night.”
Finn kept walking.
She grabbed Dev and yanked him into her office. Then Sophie slammed the door shut and jabbed her index finger into his chest. “Make up your mind,” she snapped at him. “Am I the victim—with some crazy stalker terrorizing me? Or am I a scammer? A criminal? Because you are about to drive me insane, and trust me, that is not a place you want me to be.”
His brows shot up. His lips quirked.
She jabbed her finger a bit harder. “You really don’t want to be on my bad side. I’ve put up with you so far. Dealt with your insulting accusations—”
“Why? Why did you put up with me?”
“Because you’re Lex’s friend.” Her hand dropped. “And I figure if he bothers to be friends with you, then you can’t possibly be the dick that you seem to be.”
He laughed. The sound was warm. Not annoying. “Don’t be too sure.”
Her gaze raked over him. “How did you meet Lex?”
“I was in foster care with him,” he said easily. “Me, Lex, and Chance…we all wound up in the same group home at the same time. We clicked.”
She waited.
“Family isn’t always blood.”
She knew that. “Is that why you’re going for my throat? Because you’re worried I’m going to hurt your family? Don’t you think Lex is a big boy who can protect himself?”
“I think Lex lights up like the fucking Fourth of July when he’s with you.”
She shook her head, an automatic denial.
“I’ve seen it.” Dev’s voice was flat. “He can’t keep his eyes—or his hands—off you. He fell for you, and I’m worried about the lengths he’d go to in order to make you happy.”
“I-I have another client to see.” She smoothed her hands over her skirt. “If you want to play guard all day, fine, do it. But I have someone else who needs me.”
He tilted his head to study her. “Finn Scott loved you.”
Yes.
“You walked away from him. That’s why he’s on my suspect list. Provided, of course, that you and Ethan Barclay aren’t just scamming us all.”