She carefully took off her boots then returned her attention to the full container of piping hot shrimp lo mein sitting on her desk.
Hunching over her desktop computer, Kennedy checked her online checking account balance for the millionth time. Unsurprisingly, her balance hadn’t increased by $75,000 dollars.
So much for wishful thinking.
After leaving the office Luke Simon, Inc., Kennedy tried to put the memory of the disastrous meeting behind her by catching up on her caseload at Briggs and Bancroft.
Kennedy tapped her fingers. He was supposed to be off-limits and yet she couldn’t the damn man off her mind. He looked scrumptious. Even better than their law school days.
Standing at what she guesstimated as six-foot two, his blonde hair was cut short nowadays, and his blue eyes were brighter than she remembered.
He projected an air of charming confidence without an ounce of arrogance. From his short blonde hair that he kept pushed back from to his chiseled jaw with the faintest bit of stubble, Luke was not your average boy-next-door.
And that damn dimple was just as tempting as it was almost a decade ago.
It was unnerving, but she couldn’t deny that she felt giddy too.
Giddy? Kennedy wasn’t giddy. She wasn’t a naïve young girl.
The thrill she’d had when she caught him staring at her was delicious. Of course, Luke found her desirable. His reaction should not have come as a surprise. He was a man after all.
That was beside the point. She did not need any sort of validation that came along with being wanted by one of the city’s most eligible bachelors. At least, that’s what Page Six had called him in one of their columns a few months ago.
He’s probably got a handful of women to keep him entertained. Or a girlfriend. Definitely not a wife though, she thought in a swirl of thoughts. Kennedy had inadvertently clocked his naked ring finger.
Just then her phone trilled from inside her purse. She fished through the contents of the massive bag before finally grabbing it. She broke into a grin when she saw who was calling. “Mi amor, como estas?”
“I don’t know why you refuse to greet to me in English. Don’t you remember that I flunked basic Spanish, right? Twice.”
Kennedy chuckled. “I still have hope that I’ll rub off on you.”
“If two decades of friendship hasn’t done the trick, I’m not sure there’s much hope.”
“You know what they say, third decade’s the charm. How’s it going Kai?”
Kai Alexander had been one of her closest friends since elementary school. They grew up together in New York but ended up on different paths once college came. While Kennedy was at University of Virginia, Kai choose Howard University, in Washington, DC. Though she was a New Yorker at heart, Washington, DC was where Kai called home nowadays.
“Everything is just peachy. I just got a new client.”
“Really? The matchmaking business is still going strong in D.C, even as the country goes to hell in a handbasket?”
“Hey, don’t knock it. One of the oldest professions,” Kai said.
“Speaking of the delusion that you call ‘love,’ guess what?”
Kennedy heard Kai clap her hands. “Oh, I love this game! Hm, let me see – you’re knocked up?”
“Huh?”
Kai guessed again. “Your eggo is preggo?”
“What?”
“Your taco was invaded by the sour cream army and now you’re having a little burrito?” Kai asked, confusing Kennedy even more.
Kennedy tried not to gag at the visual. “For the love of all that’s holy, I am not pregnant. What would make you even guess that?”
“You’re a twenty-nine-year-old woman. It’s the most logical conclusion for women of our age. Almost every time one of my friends asks me to ‘guess what’ it ends up with them telling me they’re knocked up.”
“Have no fear, I take my birth control regularly. Besides that, I haven’t had a good back-breaking session in months. Some warm dick and cookies by a fireplace would be lovely right now.” Kennedy wasn’t ashamed to let her freakflag wave with Kai.
“Warm dick and cookies, huh? That has a ring to it. I may have to use that for one of our Christmas marketing campaigns. Thanks for the idea, Kenn.”
She laughed.“Always a hornball.”
“I prefer ‘libido-inclined.’ Much more PC. Anyways, I should’ve known that the ‘barracuda in Balenciaga’ would be far too busy for the horizontal polka.”
“What I was trying to tell you, before we went way off track, was that I was offered the promotion to Junior Partner.”
“Congrats babe, you deserve it all. This is the promotion you’ve been hoping for, right?”
“Yup, but get this, it came with strings attached.”
“That sounds ominous. What kind of strings?”
Kennedy launched into an abbreviated explanation.“One of the name partners wants me to represent her friend in their divorce settlement proceedings. If I do a satisfactory job, the promotion is mine. If I don’t deliver, then…”
Kai caught on quick. “Isn’t that a bit out of your wheelhouse?”
“Yes, but I’ll be fine. So, there’s one more teeny, tiny, smidge of a complication.”
“I know that voice.”
“What voice?” Kennedy asked.
“You voice gets ridiculously high when you’re talking about a man. Is that it? Is that the complication? Or should I say, compli-dick-tion?”
Kennedy questioned if Kai was really a twelve-year-old boy. Why did she even open her mouth? Kai, as immature as she seemed, was much too insightful.
“It turns out that the opposing attorney is Lu.”
Kai’s voice raised at least two octaves. “Lu? As in Luke Simon? That Lu?”
“That’s him,” Kennedy said calmly.
“Oh wow. The study buddy turned stud. I remember you obsessing about him briefly.”
She scoffed at her friend. “I was never obsessed. He was a friend. We hooked up once. He caught feelings, so I put the kibosh on things. The end.”
“Clearly, not because surprise, surprise – you’re working with him. If the situation was so simple, you wouldn’t have said complidicktion.”
“I hate that word.” Okay, that wasn’t entirely true. She hated that Kai knew her so damn well.
“It’s quite appropriate though, isn’t it?”
“Fine. You win. We met with our clients this afternoon and all I thought about was how hot my new Balenciaga boots would look riding his shoulders.”
“He looked that good, huh?”
Kennedy paused. He looked better than good. Delicious was a more appropriate way to describe him in his custom suit. She could only guess about the hard, chiseled body that lay underneath.
Licking her lips at the thought, she said, “Devastatingly handsome. I may have even flirted a bit – if you call thinly-veiled insults, flirtation.”
She heard a gasp on the other line. “You? Flirting? Shocking. Ya know, I always thought you two would find your way back to each other. Glad to see it’s a possibility.”
Her friend’s remark triggered too much vulnerability. End up together with Luke? That wasn’t a possibility now that they worked together.
And even if they weren’t, Kennedy wasn’t looking for a serious relationship. She had too much on her plate as it was. Between her grandmother, drowning in bills and debt, and sticking to her well-crafted career trajectory, there simply wasn’t time for romance.
“It’s not a possibility. We had a thing a long time ago, and now we have to work together. The man gets under my skin, but I have a job to do. My career depends on it.”
Kennedy’s brain instantly flashed to a memory of his skin sliding against hers. Electric heat snaked up her body, starting from the base of her spine. “I know you’re used to putting on your matchmaking hat but it’s not like that, Kai.”
“All I’m saying is, why not try being nice to him? You two were pretty clo
se in law school. He was a good dude. He could be, like, the one. The highlighter to your index card.”
Kennedy smacked her forehead on her desk. “Oh, God. That’s enough of that. We’re changing the subject now.”
Kai didn’t ask any more questions about Luke. It helped that she knew full well when Kennedy was one hundred percent serious.
“Always ruining the fun. Fine. How’s abuelita?” Kai asked.
Kennedy hesitated. “Abuelita is a tough old bird, still hanging in there. She has her good days but they’re starting to become less frequent. I went to see her earlier today.”
“Oh?”
“Everything was going fine for about twenty minutes. She seemed back to her frisky, funny self again. She even asked me to give her a great-grandbaby.”
“There’s nothing like familial guilt to motivate you to procreate.”
“I think it must’ve triggered a memory from when my mother was pregnant with me. One second she was there in the present talking to me, the next… gone.”
“I’m so sorry, sweets. I know this has to be tough on you.”
“It’s fucking brutal, but I can handle it. Is it horrible to wish that I didn’t have to handle it all by myself? I’m all alone except for the one person who only remembers my name once every ten days.”
“You’re not alone, never alone. You know that. You have me for always, sweets. Still no word from mommy dearest?”
She rolled her eyes and blew out a sigh. “My mother is doing what she does best – being invisible except when she needs money. Can you explain to me why I make six figures and still can’t manage to put a dent into my bills? Between the rent for my closet of an apartment, my law school loans, and paying for abuelita’s care, I’m barely holding it all together.”
“What can I do to help? If you need some pesos, just say the word.”
“You have an extra seventy-five thousand laying around?”
Kennedy thought she heard Kai choke. “That much?”
“Yup, the facility kindly let me know that I’m behind on payments. I wonder if I can sell my body parts on the black market for some extra cash. I mean, do I really need two thumbs?”
“Hold on there, nubby. Let’s think this through, I’m sure the going rate of thumbs is not worth the hassle. Now, if we were talking about your whole hand, I might know some people.”
Kennedy sighed. “I really thought I had this promotion in the bag. A divorce settlement can lasts months, maybe a year. I don’t have that kind of time. I need money now.”
“Wait a second,” Kennedy heard some shuffling on the other end of the phone. “There it is. I think I have a solution to your money problems. But you have to promise to hear me out first.”
Kennedy considered Kai’s words and quickly interjected. “The last time you had a solution, it involved peanut butter, feathers, and a mysterious dildo.”
“C’mon we were barely adults and I’ve grown up a lot since then. Just trust me.”
She paused her chopsticks in midair, carefully balancing the lo mein. “Kai, that was last year…”
“Do you want to hear what I have to say or not?”
“Fine. I’m listening,” Kennedy grumbled.
“The Northeastern division of my company is running a contest, the Winer Cabin Experience. Two participants, one woman and one man, stay in a decked out cabin for a full week. The cabin is in upstate New York, and from the photos, it’s hella picturesque. The idea is that without distractions, the two strangers will overcome their tech addiction. To be honest, the scenario is perfect for a little pleasure pump, or a good sweep of the womb broom.”
“Does your horniness have an ‘off’ switch?” Kennedy asked.
Kai paused as in deep in thought. “I don’t think that was part of my factory settings. Besides, that sounds horrible.”
“What type of cabin are we talking here? Because becoming serial killer bait doesn’t bode well for a romantic encounter.”
“Come on, cut it out. Who knows? It might do you some good.”
Kennedy started listing off scary movies that took place near an isolated cabin. “Friday the Thirteenth. The Cabin in the Woods. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The Secret Window. Know what all those movies have in common?”
“Wait, I think I saw that last one. Or was that Secret Bimbo? Maybe Secret Dildo?”
Kennedy let out an exasperated sigh. “Cabins! Cabins were the common factor, Kai. I hate Christmas, but death in a cabin is too dark for even me.”
“Slow down, debbie-downer. It’s a exactly the opposite of camping, more like glamping. You’ll have a private chef and butler. Plus, you only have one other competitor.”
“Only one?” Kennedy asked. This Winter Cabin Experience could have some promise.
“Only one. You’ll share the cabin, in separate rooms of course. Whoever can stick it out for a week gets prize.”
“Sounds too easy. There’s got to be a catch.” She twirled her chopsticks wondering why this Experience seemed to good to be true.
“Well,” Kai paused dramatically, “there’s one itty-bitty, teeny-tiny, almost non-existent catch.”
“Tell me.”
“There’s no technology allowed. No television. Laptops and tablets are not allowed. No iPods or radios. And –”
“Please don’t say it. Please, please, don’t say–” Kennedy begged.
“– no cell phones. Hell, very positive there’s not even a house phone either.”
Kennedy gulped. “Shit. No cell phones? I think I’m hyperventilating just thinking about it.”
“Hence, why it’s a competition. Two heavily technology-connected workaholics in a remote cabin for a week? With only themselves as entertainment? I’m not even sure I could do it.”
Grimacing at the thought, Kennedy put the chopsticks away and grabbed her cell phone off her desk. She clutched it in her hand and rubbed the screen with her thumb.
The little electronic box was her lifeline. For everything. She shuddered as she thought about the amount of work emails that would mount up if she didn’t check her inbox at least twenty times a day.
How would the nursing staff contact her if abuelita took a turn for the worse? How would she hate-watch all of the new Netflix holiday romcoms?
Why are you even considering this?
I’m not, she told herself. Hell, who am I kidding? Asking a few more questions can’t hurt.
She tried to hide her eager curiosity. “You mentioned there was a cash prize. How much is it? I won’t give up access to my Netflix for a week for a few pennies.”
“Get this, one-hundred smackeroos.”
A piece of lo mein went down the wrong pipe. “Are you serious?” she croaked, barely able to talk because of the noodle lodged in her throat. “I’m in.”
“Fantabulous. I’ll draw up the paperwork for you. Just sign the contract and confidentiality agreements so we can make it official.”
“When does the competition start?”
“Um, let me check.” Then she heard the rustling of paper. “Eight days before Christmas. So, if you completed it, you’d be done by Christmas Eve. Think you can swing it?”
Kennedy nodded slowly to herself, slurping up the last bit of shrimp lo mein.
Chapter 7
Luke slapped a folder down on his desk.
He had attempted to escape his office for happy hour, but his plans stalled when Mr. Jones had insisted on a follow-up phone call.
“That was a disaster. Madeleine and that exotic beauty attorney of hers have me by the balls,” Rex stated.
Resisting the urge to respond to his client’s thinly veiled racist comment, Luke took a deep breath. “Well, you didn’t quite stick to our plan, did you?”
“I can tell you right now–my feelings aren’t going to change just because of the holidays.”
Luke groaned. “The negotiations will go smoother, and faster, if you’re absolutely sure of the things that you want, things that you need, and thi
ngs that you’re willing to concede.”
“I already told you what I want: my money and my property. Make Shrimp Daddy Longlegs a priority and don’t you dare let Madeleine get those damn rocks.” Rex was being complicated for no damn reason.
Luke opened his mouth then shut it. If he didn’t watch himself, he’d lose his biggest client. “I understand, sir. Please allow Ms. Notyce and I to take the lead. The less emotions involved, the better.”
Rex didn’t let up. “I came to you because I heard you were the best in the business.”
“I am,” Luke assured him.
“Do your damn job, Mr. Simon. Keep my money in my pockets, my flamingo in my house and the damn rocks in the yard. My assistant will send you good dates in January for the next session.”
“I’ll…” Luke looked started to speak but was met with the dial tone, “be in touch,” he muttered to himself.
After his call with Rex, he’d ducked out of the office to his favorite downtown bar with two of his best friends.
“There’s my favorite preppy lawyer,” he heard his cousin, Cade Simon, call out as soon as he entered the noisy bar.
Luke made his way over to their usual table in the back corner. They had a standing ‘Brats and Brew’ night every other week at Can’t Believe It’s Not Gutter, an upscale bowling alley that somehow attracted all the local sports fans.
Probably because the bartenders made it their mission to refill every glass before it got to the halfway mark. Good service and perfectly charred brats kept the bowling-alley-turned-sports-bar full of loyal customers.
He threw his coat down in the booth. A tall, muscular man with buzz-cut brown hair, eyed him curiously. “Christ, this man needs a drink asap. You look horrible,” he said, thumping him on the shoulder in jest. Leave it to his other best friend, Jordy Reynolds, to not sugarcoat the situation.
Luke smirked and responded with a requisite, “Fuck you, Reynolds.” Cade and Jordy laughed.
“Just being honest,” Jordy said, clapping him on the back.
The trio had been friends since high school. All had attended Robinson Prep, one of the elite schools for Connecticut’s wealthy families. Luke knew full well that many of his classmates had grown into entitled douchebags. Douche lapides sacculi may as well have been the damn school motto.
Snow and Seduction (A Holiday Romance) Page 6