“Grayson.”
He turns and looks at me and when this man looks at me, his eyes soften and warmth radiates between us. “Yeah, baby?”
I close the space between us and wrap my arms around him. “I’m really glad to be back here with you.”
His hand comes down on the back of my head and his forehead presses to mine. “You have no idea how happy I am that you’re back.”
His voice is low, rough, affected again, and it’s a powerful feeling to know that you affect a man like Grayson Bennett. Despite how far we have come, I’m still trembling with the knowledge that I have that power, with the knowledge that together we have that power. He strokes my hair. “I’ll show you how happy tonight.” He leans in and kisses my neck and then burns me alive with the heat in his stare.
He starts to turn and I catch his arm, wiping my lipstick off his mouth. “You never choose the right shade for your coloring.”
He smiles and winks before he exits my office, leaving me with his words: just be careful. He trusts me. He trusts me fully and guilt spikes in me over the past. I should have trusted him that fully. I’m not going to let him down again and I know he knows that, but I wonder if Eric and Davis, his closest friends, really know. Eric did suggest I’d be a target because our breakup makes us look weak. But we are not weak and no one will hurt Grayson through me again.
I hope they do target me.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Mia
The past…
I’m trembling as I follow my new boss, Kevin Murphy, into his office. The trembling is ridiculous and the idea of going to work for Ri is killing me, but my father and his gambling debt really left me with no option. I need the signing bonus and I’m not going to go to Grayson for money. He might have turned his back on me for another woman, but I will not be the money-grabber who goes to my billionaire ex for money. I won’t do it.
“Have a seat,” he says, shutting his door and motioning me toward a small round conference table, which is a bit surprising. I’d expect him to sit behind his desk in his big corner office and act above me like Ri.
I claim my seat and set my briefcase on the floor beside me. He sits down across from me. He’s a good-looking man with artistic features and dark wavy hair. Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome really, but I notice in almost a sterile way—an attorney sizing up someone she’s about to face off with, not a woman sizing up a man. He’s not Grayson. I don’t know if I will ever react to anyone again. Right now, it feels as if I will not.
“I’m going to be frank. I’m trying to understand what to do with Grayson Bennett’s ex-fiancée.”
“I’m passionate about my job and if there was ever a time I needed to prove myself, it’s now. Give me a caseload and let me prove I exist outside of that relationship.”
He narrows his eyes on me. “You still love him.”
There’s a stab in my heart. “And I always will.”
“Then why are you here?”
“Sometimes love isn’t enough, but be clear on one thing: I’m not going to be distracted by a new man, or a man at all. I need to do me right now. I need to work and win my cases.”
He studies me a long beat before he says, “What’s between you and Ri?”
“He’s jealous of Grayson and hates him.”
“But you don’t hate Grayson?”
“No. No, I do not.”
“Then why are you here?”
I’m no longer trembling. I’m starting to get angry. I lean forward, my hands pressed to the table, acutely aware of my newly naked ring finger. “To do a job.”
“If you love him, working for his enemy hurts him. You must not love him.”
I’m on my feet in an instant. He’s right. God, he’s right. I reach down and grab my bag. “I need to leave.” I push my chair back. I walk to the door and just when I’m about to open the door he says, “Was this about revenge?”
I whirl on him. “Never. That’s not who I am.”
“Then why are you here?”
“My father has a gambling debt. Ri offered me a bonus.”
“Why not go to Grayson? He’s a billionaire.”
“Because I would never diminish him to a payday. Ever.”
I start to turn again and he says, “Stay. I have the perfect case for you.”
I turn to look at him. “What perfect case?”
“A woman who set her husband on fire. She says he abused her daily and it was self-defense. The DA says it’s calculated, cold blooded murder.”
I won that case for that woman, who’d been horribly abused by her husband, I recall as I approach the HR offices. And so, I’d become the voice of abused women. I peek my head into Sandy Miller’s office to find Kevin sitting in front of her desk and today he’s in a sharp blue suit with a blue tie. Sandy is presently fumbling with paperwork, nervously navigating Kevin’s good looks.
“Hello,” I greet.
Kevin turns and the minute he spots me, stands up. “Good to see you,” he says, and he means that literally. He and I are friends, just friends, and in that there is safety. There is never any hidden agenda and there certainly is not even an ounce of sexual tension.
Sandy, who’s a pretty brunette, stands herself. “We were just about to go to his new office.”
“I’ll take him,” I offer and motion with my head for him to follow. “Where are we going?”
“Corner blue.”
Corner blue meaning the office with the blue furniture, which I know because this was my world once before. “Got it.”
Meanwhile, Kevin wastes no time grabbing his briefcase and joining me in the hallway. “Thanks for the rescue.”
I laugh. “Yes. You really needed a rescue from the beautiful woman fumbling all over herself. I think she was the one who needed rescuing.”
He laughs now. “Is that right?”
“Yes. It’s right. How are you feeling about being with Bennett?”
“Damn good. I’m grateful for this opportunity.”
“I do owe you,” I say.
“No,” he counters quickly. “You do not owe me. You were good at your job. If you hadn’t been, I’d have fired you.”
I pause at his new office door. “Thank you.”
“Thank you?”
“Why would I want to be anywhere I wasn’t wanted?” I open the door and motion him forward.
He doesn’t move. “About that.”
“About what?”
“On second thought.” Now he motions to the office and enters ahead of me. By the time I join him, he’s set his bag on a chair, barely glanced at his gorgeous office and he’s facing me expectantly. I shut the door. “What’s up?”
“Grayson can’t feel good about me. Not after I worked for Ri for a decade of my life.”
“He trusts me. You decide if he trusts you.”
“How?”
“By doing your job.”
“When can I meet him?”
I have no idea why this bothers me, but I can feel myself recoil and alarm bells are going off in my head. “Focus on winning cases. As you already know from your raise, Grayson’s generous with his bank account.” I don’t give him time to say more. “I’ll meet you in the conference room down the hall to the right in half an hour. I’m handing you all but one of my case files.” I turn but he halts me.