Page 44 of The Lawyer
“That’s a sweet offer, Landon, but—”
“Cute and now sweet? Honestly, you really should learn who you’re working for. I don’t think either of those words are relative to me in the slightest.”
She folds her arms and looks over her wine glass at me. “And yet here you are being both at the same time.”
Thankfully, the food lands on the table before I get too absorbed in the look on her face or the feel of those words around her lips. I wait for her to start and then get on with eating in silence. Unfortunately, both words seem to echo in my thoughts the entire time I’m trying to ignore them. Ivy used to call me sweet. She’d say it when we’d run and she’d fall and I’d carry her back to the house.
What a long time ago that seems now.
I frown and try to remember those images in my mind, somehow looking back through the years of courtrooms and bitter manipulation that's made me the aggressor I am. Sweet is so far from me I can barely imagine ever being so these days, certainly not when it comes to this business I’m now running.
“So, how was America?”What?I look up, still chewing on a particularly good piece of steak. “When you lived there? I’ve never been,” she says, closing her cutlery. “Where were you based?”
“Chicago.”
“Nice?”
“No. Not really. Adequate, I suppose.”
“What did you do there?”
“I kept people with a lot of money out of prison. It was relatively amusing. I suppose I also learnt how to be an arsehole extremely successfully. Both in and out of the courtroom.”
“I guess I have the Americans to thank then.”
“Not all of them, just the Cane family.”
Having cleared my plate, I pick up my wine and drain the last of it. She should go home now. Leave. I look at the door and then back at her, absolutely sure the next words coming out of my mouth shouldn't. “How would you like to see some more of my sweet side?”
“Excuse me?”
“Dessert. Back at my place. Now.”
“Oh.” She checks her watch.
“Or not if you’ve got a prior engagement.” I wish the thought didn’t infuriate the fuck out of me, but it does. As does the fact that jealousy just reared its head regarding something I shouldn’t want in the slightest. Again.
“No, it’s just that it’s nearly nine and I was thinking about Ash,” she says.
“Well, if that’s all that’s stopping you.” I get out my phone and send him a text to make sure he’s checked in with the police and he’s home. The message comes back instantly, and I hold the screen up so she can see it. “He’s fine. At home like a good little boy.”
Her eyes widen. “Right. Okay then. As you're suddenly best friends with my brother and know his every move, yes, I’d like dessert.”
“You do realise there isn't any dessert at my place.”
A wry smile tips her lips as she stands and gets back in her jacket. “I'm sure we can find something to sweeten my tongue.”
I nod and get up with her, looking for the waiter. There’s plenty sweet enough about her tongue already. But either way, this bill needs paying, and I need to fuck this jealousy out of me.
~
Walking into the kitchen, I open the cooler and grab another bottle of wine. Two glasses are poured as I look out of the windows, and then I head out to the balcony while I wait for her to join me. Fuck knows what she’s doing, but she ducked into the bathroom the moment we got here and hasn’t returned yet.
The light noise of late evening traffic filters up from the streets, and I stare out into the distance. Last time a woman was here, she danced for me, all her skin on display as she taunted and teased. And now I’ve got my PA here rather than a woman I could actually settle with. I know what I’m doing. I’m attempting to avoid any possible connection to something that might distract me past this business. The relatively sad part of that is that I am already distracted—by both of them.
More so by the reality of my PA, if I’m honest.
“Hey,” she says, coming up behind me.
