Page 41 of Legal Seduction
She could not disappoint them or herself. She couldn’t sacrifice her dream for a man. She had too many friends who had. Her mother and sister had done that and now lived dull lives of quiet resentment. She had no intention of ever winding up like them.
She didn’t need a man.
But she wanted one...
An emptiness stretched inside her, an emptiness she was never aware of until she had started having sex with Simon, until he’d filled her.
Completed her.
She shook her head and laughed at herself. While she loved designing lingerie, she was not some hopeless romantic. She didn’t need a man to complete her. She didn’t need Simon.
She needed to focus on her designs. So she returned her attention to the sketch pad lying across her bed. Tightening her fingers around her pen, she swept it across the page as she designed a corset with, of course, her signature bow. Bette’s Beguiling Bows—that was the name of her line. She put the bow at the bottom, though, so it would sit atop her ass, where Simon loved her bows. Even when she had her clothes on, he skimmed his fingers over her skirt until he found it.
What would he think of this design?
She couldn’t wait to sew up a prototype to get his opinion. But that would take a couple of days and...she only had four before she left Street Legal. That didn’t necessarily mean that their relationship would have to end. But then it wasn’t really a relationship.
She wasn’t sure what the hell it was.
And she didn’t think he knew, either.
Her doorbell rang, and her pen shot across the page as her heart leaped. It could have been a friend. She’d shared her new address, with the ones who hadn’t already known it, when they’d called to complain about being MIA the past week. She’d explained that she needed to finish up things at work before she could leave. But what she needed to finish the most at work was whatever this thing with Simon was.
No. They could not continue seeing each other once she left. She would be too busy. And he was too...Simon. He would grow bored soon, if he hadn’t already.
The doorbell rang again, as if someone was leaning against the button. And she knew that he hadn’t grown bored yet. Smiling, she headed toward the door. A quick glance out the peephole confirmed her suspicions regarding the identity of her visitor.
It wasn’t one of her girlfriends.
Her pulse quickened, and her skin tingled. As she opened the door, she asked the question she’d wondered the last time he’d shown up at her apartment, “How do you keep getting past security?”
“I know the doorman,” he said, his face flushing slightly as he looked away.
“You dated someone in the building,” she guessed.
He nodded.
“A model?”
A model had recommended the building to her. Her friend Muriel also had an apartment in it.
He nodded again. And his face grew a little redder. But she realized he wasn’t embarrassed when he held out a crumpled-up piece of paper to her. He was mad.
She sighed and stepped back as he strode into her apartment. “I already know you crumpled up my resignation,” she reminded him. “It still doesn’t change the fact that I’m leaving.”
“You made that clear when you left this on my desk,” he said.
And she saw what the paper was. “Ah, my job description,” she said. “I figured that would help you when you post the job, which you should have done last week.”
“Bette...”
“Unless you intend to just hire someone through a temp agency,” she continued. “That’s your prerogative.”
“Yes, it is,” he said. “It’s my business. Isn’t that what you keep saying to me?”
She smiled at his grumpiness.
“This isn’t funny,” he said.
