Page 47 of Teasing Her Grumpy Boss

‘I’m quite sure he will, Lucy. But you wouldn’t want his options limited because his wife wasn’t able to hold her own.’

Wife?

Lucy held back the laugh with a mental vice. The woman was way off-key. But frankly she was so horrible, Lucy didn’t want to make her feel any better. Wife? She and Daniel were having a no-holds-barred sex-a-thon for no apparent reason other than that it felt good. So good. And they got more sleep as a result.

She already knew she was way out of Daniel’s league. She didn’t need lawyer-lady ramming it even further down her gagging throat. But there was nothing more to it, not for him anyway. They’d fully admitted they were totally wrong for each other. He’d be bored soon enough and she’d hit the road and mend her heart in private. But she certainly wasn’t going to leave him for this calculating monster to try to get her hands on. They lived in New Zealand in the twenty-first century. There wasn’t supposed to be a class system. Snobbery of that sort wasn’t supposed to happen here. Although, she grimaced, remembering the shocked-looking stares of the other lawyers outside the courthouse when Daniel had kissed her, maybe the legal fraternity was a little more conservative than most.

He’d even admitted he’d liked using her to shock. It was all just a bit of fun for him. Crossing the wire, doing something a little different or unexpected—for a while. He’d laugh about it in years to come—I once had this flaming affair with this drifter muso—she was a flake but good in the sack. I spent more time in bed with her than I ever did usually. She was a convenience—that’s all.

She knew she wasn’t being fair, but she couldn’t help it.

She wasn’t even a musician—not any more. When was the last time she’d opened her violin case? Not once since bumping into Daniel in the agency that afternoon.

And Daniel a judge? If he were appointed his life would be different. He’d be a pillar of society—scrupulous. A little reserved, distanced from the general population—not too far from how he was now. So, no, he couldn’t be married to a girl who served up pints for the local clubbers. Not good enough.

Married. Ha.

She’d take what she could get from him—until she decided it was time to move on. Until they heard from Lara. When Lara came back she’d hit the road. Until then she could keep a handle on it, couldn’t she? Not lose her heart in the process.

Meantime she was not going to let this woman make her feel inferior with a stab here and a twist of a knife there. She was not going to let it bother her at all. Quickly she sifted through the files on the MP3 player, selecting the track. As Sarah left the bar, her wine untouched, the strains of Tammy Wynette’s classic sang out—‘Stand By Your Man.’

The minute Sarah had gone Lucy called to Corey that he was on his own for a couple of hours. She needed to get out and think. She had the itch and was starting to wish she could skip out. Things were getting just that little bit too complicated.

* * *

She got back to the bar just after four p.m., having almost walked the heels off her boots, and was amazed when she saw Daniel there. In casual—well, as casual as Daniel got—navy linen shirt, sleeves rolled back, bending over the pool cue apparently in a duel with Corey. His bottom half was clad in jeans.Jeans. In the middle of the afternoon.

Lucy walked straight over to him. ‘Where’s your white shirt?’

‘I gave a lunchtime lecture at the university today. Figured I didn’t need it.’

‘And now you’re following through on the student thing and bunking the afternoon to go to a bar?’

‘I’ve taken the afternoon off.’

‘You’re kidding.’

He grinned. ‘Four jury members are down with food poisoning and everyone’s excused until tomorrow. So I made it to the lecture in time. I’ve done enough for today.’

She looked him over. ‘Lecture popular?’

‘Good crowd, yeah.’

Full house, she bet. ‘Lots of girls? Front row? Looking gorgeous?’

A small smile. She gave him the once-over again. He did the ‘handsome young professor’ look well. Too well.

‘What—you think they weren’t there to hear me talk?’

‘Oh, I’m quite sure they were hanging on your every word.’ Lucy leaned against a table nearby and watched as Daniel played the shots. The final shots—he sank the black in style.

Corey groaned. ‘Aw, man, I thought you said you didn’t play much.’

Daniel grinned, putting the pool cue aside. ‘Just lucky, I guess.’

Yeah, right. ‘Are you good at everything you do?’ Man, it irritated her. That he could turn his hand to anything and master it—excel, in fact, just like that. Why wasn’t talent shared around normal people?

He smiled at her snap. ‘You tell me. Am I good?’

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