Page 36 of Legal Desire
CHAPTER EIGHT
PANICRUSHEDOVERALLISON, leaving her trembling and clammy. She had never been as afraid as she was now. She wasn’t worried that Trevor would physically hurt her.
But she was worried about emotionally.
She’d broken her own rule. She was starting to feel.
And she hated it.
“Get out!” she shouted at him again.
He flinched as if she’d struck him. She was tempted. She’d balled her hand into a fist when he’d tried to hold it earlier. She nearly swung it at him now.
But she already felt too out of control. She should have refused to tell him anything. It wasn’t as if she’d been called to testify and had had to answer any of his questions—truthfully or otherwise.
“I’m sorry,” Trev said again, his deep voice calming as if he was trying to soothe a child. “I’m sorry I brought up a sore subject.”
She shook her head. “That’s not it.”
And it wasn’t. The past couldn’t hurt her anymore. But the present and the future could. She was worried about that, about letting him get too close.
“You’re not upset that your mother no longer speaks to you?” he asked.
She laughed. “You obviously don’t know my mother. It’s much better when she doesn’t speak to you than when she does.” That was probably why her grandfather had done what he had—to protect Allison.
She studied his face. “What about you? Have you ever heard from your mother since she left?”
“She called a few times,” he said, “when Wally was still alive. But she felt so guilty about leaving me that I assured her I would be fine and she didn’t need to keep calling.”
That fear gripped Allison again. She could not fall for Trevor Sinclair. Sure, maybe he wasn’t like her father had been. Maybe he didn’t lie and make promises he had no intention of keeping.
But she couldn’t be certain of that. She’d already caught him in a couple of lies—about snooping into her past. Why was that so important to him?
“What are you really up to?” she asked.
His green eyes widened in innocence. Feigned innocence? “What do you mean?” he asked.
“You love Street Legal and your friends.”
He nodded. “That’s true.”
“Then why would you consider leaving them?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I may not have to if I win something here in the city. And who’s to say I would even win...”
“I do,” she said. “I know you would.” He was that viable a candidate. Voters would love him. Just voters.
Not her. She could not fall for a man like him, one her mother would have loved.
He snorted. “Why are you so sure?”
“If you did everything I told you to,” she said, “if you distanced yourself from Street Legal’s bad press now, you would definitely win.”
But that was clearly something he wasn’t willing to do.
“I’ll think about it,” he murmured. “But we’ve talked enough about business. Let’s get back to pleasure.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s late. You need to leave.”
