My Guilty Pleasure

by Denton, Jamie

  She understood Reba’s misplaced words were merely an attempt to soften the blow she’d just dealt. Yet, Joey couldn’t get past the fact that her mother was a professional escort.

  Good God, how was she supposed to tell her sisters something like this? Brooke was having enough trouble coming to terms with her parentage and still hadn’t reconciled with their grandparents. And what about Lindsay? Although Linz had never said a word, Joey suspected her newly discovered sister felt the difference in their economic backgrounds. But to find out their mother was a professional escort? It was too much.

  Suddenly Joey looked up from the invitation. “What did you just say?”

  Reba looked confused. “What part?”

  “My grandmother.” She felt physically ill. “What did you say about my grandmother?”

  Reba looked stricken. “Forget I said anything.”

  Joey shook her head. “It’s too late,” she said. “Reba? Was Daisy’s mother a prostitute?”

  Reba tipped her head back and looked at the ceiling. There were no answers there. Joey knew.

  A dozen heartbeats later, Reba looked her in the eye and said, “Yes, Chicken. She was.”

  Chapter 11

  By Thursday afternoon, Sebastian had made a decision in the Gilson matter. Nothing he’d seen in the file had him leaning toward taking the case to trial, but he did have a better understanding of their client’s refusal to settle. Patricia Gilson had no case.

  What she did have, however, was a good lawyer, one with a reputation for winning difficult cases. Gilson was suing for $2.5 million in damages and thus far, had refused to consider a settlement offer for a penny less. Even if she prevailed, all she’d receive would be an award the equivalent of the defendant’s policy limits. And with it being a bullshit case, one worth no more than nuisance value—a nominal sum usually paid out to make a case go away—Mass Home and Life’s refusal to offer the policy limits made sense.

  He scribbled a few more notes on the legal pad at his elbow. Joey would not be happy with his decision, but it wasn’t his job to make her happy—at least not when it came to the business of practicing law. Off campus, as she’d called it, was another matter entirely.

  They hadn’t been able to spend any time together since Tuesday. Last night he’d stayed late in the office until his dinner appointment with the three senior partners. The meeting had gone well, and the partners had been suitably impressed when he’d informed them he had plans for bringing in new business to the firm. In addition, he’d advised them that the firm had been added to the list of counsel representing Mass General, which meant he’d be responsible for medical malpractice actions where the hospital was being sued for negligence.

  All in all, it’d been a productive meeting. But when he’d gotten home close to midnight, he was struck by how quiet and empty his apartment had felt without Joey’s presence.

  Pumped up from the meeting, he’d rattled uselessly around the apartment for a while. He’d thought about calling her, but seeing as it was after midnight, he opted to unpack the last of the moving cartons that had been stacked in the dining room instead. By the time he’d wound down enough to go to bed, he’d ended up tossing and turning for half the night.

  As ridiculous as it seemed, after just two nights, he realized he’d grown used to having Joey beside him when he slept. He missed her burrowing under the covers, her slender curves pressed against him. No one had been there to steal his pillow, or tuck her feet near his for warmth. He’d even felt mildly lost when there’d been no one to beat him to the shower in the morning. Not that it mattered since he’d join her anyway.

  Man, he was losing his grip. He didn’t need the distractions of a relationship, not now when he was supposed to be making an impression to reassure the partners they’d made the right choice in bringing him on board. But damn if he wasn’t counting the hours until he and Joey could be together again.

  Which wouldn’t be until tomorrow night, he realized with a stab of disappointment. She had plans for tonight, but she refused to discuss exactly what, other than to say it was a girls’ night out with her sisters.

  Never in a million years would he have dreamed he’d be embroiled in a hot and heavy affair with someone like Joey. She was everything he wasn’t, and everything he’d resented growing up. She represented what he and his mother had been denied because they hadn’t been deemed good enough by the almighty Stanhopes. Joey was old money Beacon Hill, he was working-class Southie. She was Harvard Law, he was Florida State with a good six years left to pay on his student loans.

  Their socioeconomic differences didn’t seem to faze her, but he couldn’t stop thinking about them. Even more so now that there was a possibility she could be pregnant. There wasn’t a snowball’s chance that he’d allow any child of his to go through one iota of what he had.

  Not that his kid would want for anything if he could help it, but he’d be damned if he’d allow the Winfields to make his child feel as if he or she wasn’t good enough. Although he had yet to meet them, from some of the things Joey had said about her family, with the exception of her sisters, the Winfields were just a little too reminiscent of the Stanhopes in his opinion.

  The thought of having a baby with Joey didn’t frighten him. He knew he’d make a good father, and her a good mother. But he had been stunned when she’d admitted she wasn’t on any form of birth control. When she’d told him she hadn’t had a serious relationship in over a year, and didn’t see any reason to put her body through the hell of synthetic hormones, he’d understood. And damn if some part of him wasn’t thrilled that she hadn’t been seriously involved with anyone else for a while.

  He picked up the phone and dialed Joey’s extension, but was bumped directly to her voice mail, so he went in search of her. Her office was empty, and her secretary, Mary, wasn’t at her desk, either. Tapping the legal pad impatiently against his leg, he walked the short distance back to Laura’s desk, positioned outside his own office.

  She looked up from the document she was typing and smiled. “I should have these interrogatories done soon,” she said.

  “I’m not worried,” he said, and he wasn’t. In the few days he’d worked with Laura, he’d learned she was more than competent, and twice as knowledgeable as half the paralegals the firm employed when it came to civil procedure.

  “Any idea where Joey might be?” he asked Laura. Good thing Joey wasn’t around. She’d give him one of those I-told-you-not-to-do-that looks for calling her Joey in the office. He didn’t get it, but it was her quirk and she was entitled to it.

  “Let me check.” She switched screens to the master calendar with a few mouse clicks. “She has no appearances this afternoon. She’s probably at lunch. Do you want me to let her know to see you when she gets in?”

  “No,” he said, then changed his mind. “Yeah. Tell her it’s about Gilson v. Pierce.”

  Laura nodded, then pulled a message book from one of the trays stacked on the corner of her desk.

  “Anything else?”

  “Could you try to get the adjuster on the phone for me?” he asked, then turned and walked back inside his office.

  No matter which way he looked at the case, he just didn’t see a reason to go to trial. If all the plaintiff would be awarded were the policy limits, what was the point? Trial was expensive, and with the billable hourly rate Samuel, Cyrus and Kane charged, two or three weeks of trial could end up costing the insurance carrier twice as much. Insurance companies thought in terms of dollars and cents, not groundbreaking, precedent-setting case law. If he appealed to their bottom line, he was confident they’d authorize him to make a settlement offer to the plaintiff, and hopefully, the case would go away. Of course, getting the plaintiff to accept a reasonable offer was another matter entirely.

  Laura buzzed him to let him know the adjuster wasn’t in the office, but she’d left a message for him to return Sebastian’s call. He thanked her, then ended up taking a few more telephone calls on his own
cases. He dictated a status letter to the client on another matter and was in the process of dictating a list of discovery documents he wanted prepared on yet another case when Laura buzzed him again, advising him Joey had finally returned to the office close to ninety minutes later.

  He finished his instructions on the file he’d been working on, then went to talk with Joey. He found her bent over her secretary’s desk, scribbling something on a notepad. Inappropriate or not, he swept the length of her with his gaze. She wore a navy pinstripe suit that flattered her figure to perfection. The skirt wasn’t too short, but offered just enough length to give him more than a glimpse of her spectacular legs, which were made even more appetizing by the flame-red pumps she wore. Her suit jacket hung open, giving him a glimpse of a silky top in the same bold shade as her shoes.

  Her hand visibly trembled as she slipped her hair behind her ear, revealing a simple gold hoop earring. She must have sensed him near, because she looked up suddenly, obviously startled.

  His heart lurched in his chest at the pained expression on her face. She didn’t say anything, but shook her head then walked, a bit unsteadily he noticed, into her office and closed the door.

  “Hold my calls,” he instructed Laura, then headed for Joey’s office. He walked in without knocking and quietly closed the door behind him.

  He found her seated behind her desk, looking pale and…lost. Concern rippled through him. “What’s wrong?” It couldn’t be about their possibly pregnancy issue. As far as he knew, it was too soon, seeing as they’d had unprotected sex only two days ago.

  “Not now, Sebastian.” She spun her chair around to face the window. “I can’t talk to you right now.”

  Her voice sounded thick, as if she were on the verge of tears. Something had upset her and he was determined to find out what.

  “Is it one of your sisters?” Considering how close she and her sisters were, it was a natural assumption. Plus, he doubted work would evoke such an emotional reaction from her.

  She laughed, but the sound was hollow, not filled with her usual exuberance. “In a manner of speaking, but not like you’re thinking. As far as I know, they’re all fine.”

  Since she wouldn’t turn back to face him, he moved around the desk to crouch down in front of her. “What happened, Joey? Talk to me, sweetheart.”

  She looked at him with anguish-filled eyes. “I can’t.”

  The tremor in her voice squeezed his heart. “You’re sure no one is hurt?”

  “Not yet,” she said wryly, then shook her head again. “No. It’s nothing like that.” She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I just need a little time, okay?”

  He settled his hands on her knees. “Whatever it is, you can tell me. I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere.”

  The hint of a wistful smile touched her still pale lips. “Thank you.” She lightly traced her fingers over his hand that still rested on her knee. “I’ll be fine. I promise.” She drew in another deep, shuddering breath. “Eventually,” she added. “I just need some time to wrap my head around something.”

  He really wanted to push her, wanted her to open up to him and get whatever was troubling her off her chest. He wanted to see her smile, a real one that made her blue eyes sparkle. The kind that had the power to reach deep inside him and brighten his world.

  But this wasn’t about him, so he backed off, sensing she really did need time to assimilate whatever it was that had her so shaken. He considered pulling her into his arms to hold her close, letting her know she wasn’t alone with whatever she was facing, but they were at the office and he knew she wouldn’t appreciate such inappropriate behavior here. He might not like the restrictions, but he would respect her wishes.

  “Whenever you’re ready.” He gave her knee a gentle squeeze and stood. “Why don’t you come by my place tonight?”

  “I can’t,” she said and spun her chair back around. “I have this thing with my sisters tonight. I promised.”

  “Afterward,” he suggested, hoping he didn’t sound too desperate.

  She slid a file closer and flipped it open. “It could be late.”

  He offered up a careless shrug. “I’ll wait up.”

  That smile barely teased her lips again, giving him a shred of hope. “I’ll call you when I’m ready to leave.”

  “Good enough.” It wasn’t. Not really, but he had no choice but to settle for less because that was all she was willing to give him.

  * * *

  “What’s this?” “An Amorétini,” Denver, the assistant manager at Chassy said of the martini he’d set in front of her. “It’s the January M and B drink special.”

  “Thanks.” Joey took a tentative sip. “Oh,” she said. “It’s a French Silk Martini.” One of her favorites, too, a combination of vodka, Chambord raspberry liqueur with a splash of pineapple juice.

  As much as it pained her to do so, she reluctantly set the drink back on the bar. “How about a ginger ale tonight, Denver? On the rocks.”

  “You don’t like it?”

  “Oh, no. It’s perfect.” She offered him a smile she was nowhere near feeling. She really could use a drink, too. Probably two or three, four for that matter. But she didn’t want to—just in case. In two weeks though, provided she got her period, she had every intention of getting ripped. Until then, she was doing the right thing and playing it safe.

  “I’ve got to be in court first thing in the morning,” she lied easily.

  “Suit yourself,” he said with a shrug. He took the drink away and returned with a glass filled with ginger ale on ice.

  Joey smiled her thanks then took a sip. The bubbles of the ginger ale tickled her nose. She considered pulling out her cell phone and calling Sebastian, but she didn’t know what to say to him any more than she did her sisters. Would he care about her mother’s notorious past, she wondered? Would it make a difference to him that their possible baby was the descendant of a lady of the evening and a professional escort who didn’t have the sense not to fall victim to a smooth-talking cad, not once but twice?

  Somehow, she didn’t think so, she thought with a small smile. But was she willing to take the risk of finding out? Sebastian was a Stanhope, but in name only, she reminded herself. There wasn’t a pretentious bone in the man’s magnificent body.

  Today when he’d come into her office, he’d been so concerned about her, she’d almost told him the truth. Her heart stuttered at the memory of how tender, how caring he’d been. It was in that very moment that she’d felt herself falling hard for him, too. Was it love? She honestly couldn’t state with any degree of certainty. She figured time would eventually tell the truth on the matter.

  She frowned. The truth. Boy, did it ever have a way of eventually revealing itself.

  Tired of her own company, Joey took another sip of her drink and set the soda back on the black granite bar. Since she couldn’t drink away her sorrows, maybe she could drop a few quarters in the jukebox, fire up a few sad country songs and cry in her ginger ale. But she didn’t think the effect would be quite the same without massive quantities of alcohol.

  She spun around on the leather-and-chrome bar stool and looked around Chassy. She’d left the office a little later than expected tonight and, as she’d suspected, the happy hour crowd was in full swing, the Beaumont Street bar buzzing and filling up fast.

  Lindsay had turned the once run-down, little neighborhood bar into quite the elegant little night spot. Japanese lanterns added a quiet ambiance that was belied by the raucous laughter coming from a table of women near the jukebox. Joey recognized the women as club members from the meeting she’d attended when Brooke officially joined Martinis and Bikinis.

  She looked away, but not before Tanya, a plump, giggly and perky redhead, caught

  her eye and waved her over with her usual exuberance. Joey hesitated for a split second, considering pretending she hadn’t seen Tanya. But when one of the other women—Sherry, she thought her name was—stood and bellowed h
er name followed by a demand for her to move her skinny ass, she didn’t have much choice in the matter without appearing rude.

  “Don’t worry, they won’t bite,” came a soft, yet steely voice behind her. “Too hard, anyway.”

  Joey gave Tanya the “just a sec” sign and turned to find her half sister standing behind her. Once again, Joey was taken aback by how much Lindsay looked like Brooke. Or vice versa she supposed, since Lindsay was officially the firstborn.

  “You sure about that?” Joey took a sip of her ginger ale. “Sherry could cause a lot of damage with those nails if they grow much longer.”

  “I wasn’t sure you were going to make it,” Lindsay said. “Katie thought you might back out at the last minute.”

  She would’ve liked nothing more. “Me? Back down from a challenge? Never.” Joey tried to appear offended, but from the curious expression in Lindsay’s eyes—that were so much like Brooke’s it was scary—she knew she was doing a lousy job of pulling it off. She’d taken quite a blow today and was having a hell of a time

  recovering.

  How did one recover from the news her lineage included a ten-dollar hooker and a professional escort? No wonder she was doomed. At least she came by her own bad-girl tendencies honestly.

  Lindsay looked pointedly at the glass of soda in Joey’s hand. “You’re not drinking?”

  Joey offered up a wan smile. “I had a little something at lunch that didn’t agree with me.” Boy, was that ever an understatement.

  Lindsay grinned suddenly. “Not nervous about tonight are you?”

  Joey attempted a laugh. “Not in a million, sister.”

  A brief shadow fell across Lindsay’s eyes, making Joey immediately regret her word choice. She understood. They were sisters, but they weren’t. They might share a biological bond, but no matter how welcome the three of them tried to make Lindsay feel, there would always be something separating them. History.

  Some history, she thought as Lindsay made an excuse and went behind the bar. The one they did share, Joey wasn’t sure she should even reveal. What good could possibly come from letting Lindsay, Brooke and Katie know about her mother’s colorful past? What would she even tell them? Mama came by her disreputable career choice naturally? Or how about, did you know our granny was a whore? Yeah, that would be an icebreaker, all right.