“You need to get out more. You’re spending too long in the hospital. What about a hookup with someone I don’t work with?” The guy in the Porsche was too busy admiring himself in the rearview to notice he had a sure thing right beside him.
“I hook up every day.” Her grin flashed. “I see a good-looking resident or intern. Five minutes later we’re doing it in the storage closet. Ten minutes later I’m back on the floor—seven if they paid attention in gynecology. I don’t even ask for a name.” She hit the accelerator and Zara’s head slammed into the seat.
“Maybe you could introduce me to one the next time I’m in the hospital.”
“Are you kidding me?” Parvati snorted. “You just had dinner with Jay’s mom. A guy doesn’t invite you to have dinner with his mom unless it’s serious. And a woman doesn’t go to dinner with a guy’s mom unless she likes the guy. A lot. I’m not going to help you sabotage your relationship by introducing you to a meaningless hookup when you’ve got a man who is still the talk of the ER.”
Zara’s stomach twisted in a knot. “It’s not a relationship. It was an arrangement that we put on a temporary pause. But this morning Tony told me that the firm is struggling financially. My job is at risk unless I find new clients. I need the arrangement to be on again. Jay has access to clients who, if injured and suffer a significant loss of earnings, could secure my future at the firm.”
“You just want to meet celebrities.” Parvati slammed on the brakes at a red light and grabbed her lipstick from the cupholder.
Zara gave an affronted sniff. “I want to meet people who may or may not work in the entertainment industry and whose lives may get destroyed by a freak accident that renders them unable to realize their earnings potential.”
“Are you reading the small print from one of your ads?” Sarcasm laced Parvati’s tone. “Don’t try to change the topic. It won’t work with me. You have feelings for Jay and now you’re running scared.”
“Definitely not.” Zara folded her arms across her chest. “I promised to find him a match and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Parvati ran the lipstick around her lips, turning them from pink into a bright glossy red. “Does that mean you aren’t going to sleep with him again?”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” Zara protested. “It was casual. We’re casual. We had a fun night together, and that’s all it was. Neither of us has time to get involved. He said so himself in front of his mom, which is why I really need to get busy finding his special someone.”
“Never seen you run this hard, babe.” Parvati rounded a corner with a screech.
Ridiculous. When had she ever become emotionally attached to a man after one night together? Usually she hustled them out the door before dawn, and by the time the sun came up she’d forgotten they’d ever been in her bed. Granted, she and Jay had spent a lot of time together, but that didn’t mean anything when she was getting to know him for the sole purpose of handing him over to somebody else.
So what that he was the first person she’d thought of after the emotionally distressing dinner with her mom? He was especially good at hugs, so it was only natural she’d want to find comfort in his arms.
Still, something had to be done. In some silly, secret part of her heart, she wanted Jay to care about her as much as she cared about him, which was far too much for a woman who was simply not girlfriend material. Jay was calm and steady. He needed a woman who didn’t attract chaos wherever she went. Someone who wouldn’t be expecting the relationship to fail because she’d learned at a young age that love stops and marriages don’t last forever.
It was time to get back to business. She had to find Jay a match.
• 20 •
“Are you planning to spend your entire evening working?”
Jay looked up when Elias walked into his office, a set of golf clubs slung across his back. “I get the most work done in the evening. No phones. No meetings. No distractions.” No one to interrupt when his thoughts drifted to a beautiful lawyer with a sunny smile and an infectious laugh.
“No fun.” Elias put the clubs down in front of him. “We need a fourth for our twilight game at the Ocean Course at Half Moon Bay.”
“I can’t,” Jay said. “Thomas just sent over the final package for the board review. I want to get a start on it. We’re almost there. I don’t want to mess it up now.”
Elias put down his clubs. “You’re making me feel guilty.”
“Just promise to keep Brittany entertained at the charity event tomorrow. She has a lot of pull with Thomas. I don’t want her to feel left out. I’m planning to bring Zara if she’s free so I won’t be able to give them my full attention.” He hadn’t told Elias about the hallway incident. Better if he hooked up with Brittany thinking he was the one she wanted all along.
“I’m not even going to pretend I’m looking forward to it.” Elias heaved a sigh. “You know I’m not good at high-society events. I’m a beer-and-hamburger kind of guy. She’s going to take one look at me waddling around in a penguin suit and run in the other direction.”
“It’s not that fancy,” he assured his friend. “You’ll be fine. Zara is great at putting people at ease. I’m going to call her after I’m done to see if she can make it.” He was counting on her love of celebrities to override any reticence to spend the evening with him at a social function. They hadn’t talked about their relationship since the awkward dinner with his mom. He’d sensed she needed some space, and although it had killed him, he’d left her alone.
Elias had been gone only half an hour when Jay heard the rattle of a door, the creak of a hinge, a slam, and then footsteps. Had Elias left something behind? “You’re going to miss your tee time,” Jay called out. “What did you forget that’s so important?”
“He forgot to lock the door.” Zara walked into his office wearing one of her brightly colored dresses, this one with a blue skirt that swayed gently around her hips.
Words failed him. Not just because he’d missed her, but also because she had somehow managed to get into the office of a security company that had built its reputation on keeping buildings secure.
“How did you get in here?” he asked when he could finally formulate a sentence.
“I told the guard at the door that I was your attorney. I gave him my card to show I was legit. It isn’t wholly untrue. I am an attorney and in a way I’m yours because we have an arrangement.”
“Spoken like a true lawyer.”
Zara gave him a curtsy. “At your service.”