“How much longer will we be here?” Allison asked, her attention still on her screen. “I have plans tonight.”
Irritation rippled through Blair. “Perhaps if you would act like a grownup instead of a spoiled child, we could be done by now.”
Her mouth dropped open. “What?”
“The purpose of this meeting is not to air every single grievance from your two years of marriage. It’s to go through the list of your joint property and come up with an agreement on the division of your assets.”
Allison gave Blair a full pout. “Like my ass, which is one of my better assets.”
“I would hope it would be your brain.”
The woman blinked.
“Allison,” Blair said with an exaggerated sigh. “Let’s just stick to the list of things you haven’t agreed upon yet and try to come to a resolution for each one. And remember, this is supposed to be a fair distribution.” This was so outside the realm of Blair’s usual cases. Most of the time she was fighting tooth and nail for everything she could get for her client. This was the first time she felt obligated to encourage a client to not insist on everything. Now she knew how most of the attorneys she faced felt.
“Fine,” Allison said in a huff. “I need to go to the restroom.”
“You know where it is. I’m going to go check my messages.” Blair left the irritated woman and went down the short hall and around the corner at a fast clip.
Melissa was sitting at her desk, staring at her computer screen. She glanced up as Blair approached, giving her boss a sympathetic look.
“How’s it going in there?”
“It’s a freaking disaster,” Blair whispered. “She’s the poster child for entitlement.”
Melissa tilted her head with a smirk. “She is a product of the country club.”
“Don’t remind me. We’re taking a short break, and then we’ll try again. I’m going to call Garrett. Did you check on poor Mr. Albright and Mr. DeSanto?”
“Not yet.” Melissa’s face puckered. “And poor Mr. Albright, my ass. Dane Albright irritates the crap out of me. His head is so big I have no idea how he carries it around. He must do some impressive neck exercises at the gym.”
Blair grinned and lifted an eyebrow. “You think he goes to the gym?”
Her assistant’s face flushed. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“Not to me,” Blair said. “I guess I’m too busy looking at Garrett.”
Melissa stood. “You might be married, but you’re not dead—and you don’t have to pretend like you are for Garrett’s sake. Since when does your world revolve entirely around anyone else’s?” Then she stomped off toward the client lounge.
Blair watched her for a moment, wondering why Melissa had gotten so irritated. Was she insinuating that Blair had changed since she’d gotten married? Just because she chose to focus on her own husband and didn’t drool over other men’s sculpted bodies didn’t mean she’d gone all soft…did it?
The question nagged her. Before Garrett, she’d been known for her tenacity and her ferociousness. She’d seen fear in men’s eyes when she’d met them in the conference room or in the courtroom. But marriage had softened her. Garrett had softened her. She’d dismissed it in the beginning, but six months after their honeymoon, she knew it to be true.
Blair had lost her edge.
And that scared the crap out of her.
She entered her office and sat at her desk, pulling up her emails as she called Garrett.
“Hello, beautiful,” he answered in that husky voice that sent her pulse racing.
“Why aren’t you boarding a plane?” she asked, trying to focus on her computer screen. All she could think about were the promises contained in his sexy voice.
“My plane’s not in yet. It’s still stuck in Chicago. Something about a snow delay.”
“But you’re in San Diego.”
“I know, but I hear Chicago got six inches last night.” He laughed when he heard her snicker. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Blazer. I know what you’re thinking with my six inches remark.”
She grinned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m never impressed until we’re talking nine.”
“I miss you.” His voice was low and seductive, but his tone changed, no longer light and honeyed but suddenly heavy and deep with mournful longing.
She found herself struggling to respond. “I miss you too.”
“I never want to be gone this long from you again.”
“It’s only been four days,” she protested, more to appease her own anxiety. She’d missed him more than she’d expected—more than felt safe—and it scared her.
“Four days too long,” he said, his tone blunt. He knew her too well.
She cleared her throat, sensing the need to change the topic before her emotional security crumbled. “I take it your early morning meeting went well.”
“It did. Barton changed his mind and agreed to all the terms,” he said.
She could hear the pride in his voice. He’d quit his practice in San Diego and moved to Kansas City to open a practice with Blair, but he’d agreed to handle a few open cases he’d been working on before he moved. “How’s the settlement meeting going?”
“Allison DeSanto is a disgrace to womankind. She’s the opposite of every other client I choose to represent.”
“Then dump her, Blair. You don’t have to retain her. I know the money looks good, but we’re doing pretty well, considering our law practice is so new. You’ll find other cases.”
“It’s not about the money,” she snapped. She instantly regretted it. For one, it was partially about the money—Allison’s mother was writing large checks to pay for her legal fees—but more importantly, lashing out was her go-to defense when she felt uncomfortable, and poor Garrett had seen more than his fair share of it lately. She’d never been happier, yet she still held him at arm’s length. And the closer they grew, the crankier she got. “I’m sorry. I haven’t slept well since…”
“Since I left?” he asked quietly, without gloating. “There’s no shame in admitting that you love and miss me, Blair. We’re married. It’s kind of expected.” He hesitated. “You’ll never guess what happened after my meeting. When I called my old boss and told him the good news about settling, he offered me an insane amount of money to come back to work in San Diego.”
Her heart seized. Did he want to go? He never would have left San Diego if it weren’t for her.
“And what did you tell him?” Blair asked, keeping her voice as even as possible.
“What do you think I told him?” he asked, sounding surprised. “I told him no. Our practice is in Kansas City.”
This discussion caught her so completely off-guard she didn’t know how to react. She refused to stand in his way if that’s what he wanted. “You don’t have to stay here, you know. We could have a long-distance relationship. People do it all the time.”
He was quiet so long she was sure he’d hung up, until he said, “I would like to believe you didn’t mean that.”