Page 43 of Friends With Benefits

“No, not a problem. Not at all. I’d like to see Liam again. It’s just…”

“What?”

“Well, Mitch is coming.”

Kerri was silent. Her body tensed but she said, “So? He knows Liam. He introduced us, remember?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” Hailey said brightly. “Okay, we’re meeting at eight o’clock. I’m going to get tickets ahead of time so we’ll all meet in the lobby.”

So Mitch would be there. Fine. She shivered, remembering how angry he’d been when she’d mentioned going out with Liam. Mitch would not likely be overjoyed to see him there with her. Was she pushing his buttons too far? Or was she just living her life?

***

Friday was not one of Mitch’s better days.

He had a number of extremely adversarial divorce cases going on, and he found himself even more disgusted by some of the behavior, not just of the opposing counsel and their clients, but of his own clients.

Then he got a call that rocked his world.

It was Garth Layton. “Bob Sinclair died yesterday,” he told Mitch, his voice determinedly steady. “Just thought I’d let you know. So you can tell his b—sorry, his ex-wife, there won’t be any more custody issues.”

Jesus Christ. Mitch covered his eyes. “Health issues?” he asked wearily.

“Yeah. He had terminal cancer. They actually gave him six months, but obviously…they were wrong.” His voice was a touch bitter now.

“Shit.”

“Yeah. Well. Just so you know.”

“I’m sorry, Garth.” He didn’t know what else to say.

“Yeah. Me too.”

“If I’d known…I would have tried harder…why didn’t he ask to see his daughter sooner?”

Garth snorted. “She’s your client. You know better than I do why.”

He sighed. “Yeah. Jesus.” He shook his head.

“Can’t take it too personally,” Garth said, although he clearly was. Mitch was too.

When he hung up, he slid down in his chair and covered his face with his hands. His chest actually hurt. He couldn’t be having a heart attack, he was too young. Wasn’t he?

He gave himself a few moments. Nah, it wasn’t a heart attack, just stress. Christ, this work was going to kill him. He’d never thought that. He loved a good fight. He loved taking on worthy opponents, coming up with stunning, convincing arguments, getting people to do things his way…shit.

He needed a drink. No, he needed Kerri. He picked up the phone.

But his day was not destined to get better.

Chapter Seventeen

Both Liam and Mitch had offered to pick her up, but it was probably better just to meet them at the hotel. So Kerri was standing in the lobby of the elegant Biltmore Hotel with Hailey waiting for the others when Mitch arrived. He greeted Hailey warmly, Kerri not so much. In fact he was downright cool.

Her heart sank. When he’d called that afternoon to talk about picking her up tonight, it was the first time she’d heard from him since he left her place Monday night, apparently pissed off about her date with Liam. She’d wanted so badly to say yes, but how could she do that when she’d already turned down Liam’s offer of a ride? God, things were complicated.

The silence had vibrated with tension after she’d told Mitch she planned to meet everyone there. She didn’t tell him why she was saying no. Two men had offered to take her and she didn’t think she could show up with one or the other. And Mitch had sounded kind of down to start with, which made her feel even worse.

She stood there, smiling, listening to Hailey and Miguel and Mitch talk as they were joined by a few other couples. Then Liam arrived. Kerri waved to him across the lobby and he joined the group.

---