Glenda was saying something about the length of time until dinner was ready, and he nodded while he continued to watch Kate’s exit. She pocketed a business card squeezed in the doorjamb and turned her key in the door. From out of nowhere an orange tabby cat shot up the porch steps and wrapped itself around her feet. She took a moment to disentangle her heels from the feline and they both disappeared inside.
He nodded toward the place. “Does it still look like it did when the bank had the house up for sale this past summer?”
Back in June, he’d stopped by out of curiosity when he saw the for sale sign planted in the law. The house was beautiful, with the low-pitched tile roof and overhanging boxed eaves, all of which he placed as turn of the century. It certainly had lots of potential, but it had been too small for his taste. He wanted something with a lot more space. Something for a family.
“I only caught a peek last week, mind you, but it looked close to the same. Poor dear still doesn’t even have her window coverings up.”
He nodded. She had her work cut out for her, then. Ordinarily, he’d be more than happy to get inside the place, see what he could do. But it was probably better this way. No sense working around someone—someone as pretty as her—knowing that nothing could ever come of it. It’d be like dangling a carrot in front of a horse. Torture.
Mentally he wished her luck and followed his aunt inside.
Chapter Two
“Hey, Kate.”
Hearing the familiar voice, Kate’s chest tightened. She glanced at the time and paused to write it down on the yellow legal pad in front of her, earning herself a few extra seconds to try and collect herself. She pulled a few slow breaths into her lungs.
And looked up into his face.
Michael was smiling fondly down at her. Kate knew what he was thinking. She’d always been a bit of a hard-liner when it came to tracking billable hours, not comfortable with rounding up to two-tenths of an hour when a call might be closer to a tenth. But she was well aware that to the average person working forty-plus hours just to put food on the table, one hour of her billable time could cost as much as their weekly income. Not that money was an issue for any of Strauss and Fletcher’s clients, but for Kate, old habits died hard and she insisted on being meticulous.
Whereas Michael, whose family’s money traced back to the earliest settlers, had no idea what it was like to live hand to mouth. He’d always thought she was a bit of a lark when it came to her diligence at keeping track of her time. Or so he used to say when he tucked a strand of hair from her eyes and kissed her soundly. The memory caused another twinge in Kate’s fragile heart.
Stop it, damn it. Pull it together.
“What case are you working on? Finnegars?” Michael asked and glanced down at the files strewn across her desk. Judging from the way his brown hair arched evenly above his ears, she guessed he’d had a haircut recently.
Without waiting for an invitation, he took a seat across from her, throwing his right leg over his knee, and sat back comfortably, almost like things had never changed. So much like…before. Except he wore a blue-striped tie Kate wasn’t familiar with. He must have come from a client meeting, because he hadn’t taken the time to shed his tie and jacket or unbutton the top two buttons of his shirt as he usually did.
He was, in her estimation, perfect. The picture of confidence, sophistication, and power. A picture that had always made Kate’s heart skip before. It just ached now.
Michael’s brows furrowed, and he pressed his hands together in front of him. He spoke slowly and deliberately. “I understand from Nicole the cat may be out of the bag about our recent…development.”
He could say that. She pinched the inside of her hand, willing herself not to tear up.
Michael, fortunately, didn’t seem to notice her distress. “I wanted to come and see you myself. Make sure you’re okay with everything.”
“Me?” She forced herself to laugh and gave him a perplexed expression. “Why wouldn’t I be all right? I’m happy for you. Really.”
Her assistant, Trish, arrived in the doorway with a notebook in hand, ready for their meeting. She froze when she saw Michael, and her face drew into a grimace. Shooting Kate a brief, sympathetic smile, she scurried out.
Momentarily distracted from the conversation, Kate tried to remember what she had been about to say, aware Michael was looking at her expectantly. Yes. That’s right. About being completely happy for him. “Besides, you and I have been over for ages. It’s not like I didn’t expect you were seeing someone. We’ve both moved on, after all.”
He raised his right brow. “Oh? So you’re seeing someone, then? I hadn’t realized.”
Crap. It had sounded like that. How had that happened? But she sure as Hades wasn’t going to take it back and look like a liar, or worse—like she was single and still pining for him.
Because she wasn’t. Much.
Certain her face was as flaming red as her hair, she smiled wide to cover her mortification. She might as well go with it, make it appear like embarrassment in talking about her guy. She glanced down at her hands twisted together in her lap, unable to meet his gaze. She’d never been any good at lying to him. “Oh. For a little while. Nothing too serious, yet.”
She was so burning in hell for this.
“Good for you. Good for you,” he said, perhaps a tad overexuberantly. “I’ve been worried how this would affect you. Especially since we all work at the same firm. Nicole told me I was being ridiculous. We’re all professionals, she said. Looks like she was right.”
“Absolutely. No need to concern yourself on my account. I’m happy for the two of you. Nicole is so, so…” Bitchy? Snotty? Somehow, she didn’t think either of those descriptions would be appropriate here.
“She is, isn’t she?” Michael answered and a smile tugged at his mouth as his brown eyes lost focus for a moment before continuing. “With the two of you working together on the McKenna case, it’s probably best to get it out in the open. And with the firm’s fall retreat coming up and then Payton’s engagement party, it was only a matter of time before you’d see us together.”