B008KQO31S EBOK Read Online Free Page A

reminder that I didn’t need.
    “Hey, yourself.” Oh, nice business crisp voice. Well done. He actually flinched. I fit the key into the lock, though not as neatly as I might have liked. “What are you doing here?”
    “I needed to see you.”
    Once upon a time, I would have thrown myself at Nick’s feet for a bone-melting claim like that. I tried to resist temptation, but couldn’t help taking another look. I had to see whether he was serious or not.
    A smile touched his lips. Just a little crooked smile, the one I remembered, the one that made any woman with a pulse notice how firm his lips were, how sexy his smile was, how it made his eyes gleam. My knees threatened to give out on me, though for the sake of my pride, I blamed the champagne for that.
    I gripped the door frame with all the insouciance I could muster. He looked at me, really looked at me, and his smile broadened slightly. I knew my resolve could quickly be in very serious trouble.
    “Ever heard of the phone?” The deadbolt punctuated my question with a satisfying, decisive roll of brass.
    It was perfectly simple. I was going inside.
    He wasn’t.
    I was not running away, though it sure felt like it.
    “That’s how I found you.” Nick eased to his feet, evidently coming to a different conclusion than I had. “Not too many Philippa Coxwells in town, fortunately for me.”
    Fortunately? Why fortunately?
    My heart skipped a beat—hope is one impulse that refuses to learn from experience. It was in the air that night and I suspect it runs in my blood. I stomped on hope hard and knew damn well it didn’t surrender.
    I could feel Nick drawing closer and knew that if he touched me all those barricades against him would come tumbling down. I blocked the door with my body and briefcase, and eyed him the way I imagine a rabbit eyes a hungry fox. “What do you want, Nick?”
    He frowned quickly, then pushed one hand through his hair, leaving the dark waves in a tangle. “I need your help, Phil.” Before I could go crazy speculating about that, he looked me square in the eye. Something quivered deep inside me.
    “I need some legal advice and I didn’t know who else to ask.”
    Well, romance is alive and well, but has left the galaxy in search of greener pastures.
    Every champagne bubble simultaneously went flat.
    See ? crowed the know-all voice deep inside me, a voice which sounds a whole lot like my mother’s.
    And that, even more than his words, made me mad.
    “You need what ?” I flung my briefcase inside the door, too divested of inhibitions to hold back. I flung out my hands and he took a step back. “You think you can just show up, after fifteen years, and ask for free legal advice in the middle of the night?” I poked him in the chest to make my point. “Ever heard of business hours?” Another jab. “Ever heard of Legal Aid? Haven’t I done you enough favors for a lifetime?”
    “Phil, take it easy.” He spoke quickly, soothingly, as though I was unpredictable. He caught my jabbing finger and folded it into the warmth of his palm. His expression was so earnest that my mouth went dry. “I know this is a surprise. If you don’t want to help, I’ll walk away and never bother you again. Five minutes of your time, counselor, tops.”
    Counselor . There’s one word I would love to never hear again.
    I glared to the best of my abilities, ignoring the SOS signal my captured hand was telegraphing back to mission control. “You need a lawyer so you just show up on my doorstep in the middle of the night and expect a hearing?”
    “Phil, this is different.”
    I caught a glimpse of the vulnerability that lit his eyes. Maybe it had been there all along, but he looked suddenly so battered and uncertain that my heart went out to him.
    My hand was already there.
    Now, I am the greatest sucker in the world. Elaine keeps saying she’ll get me a trophy. I fall prey to more cons than my pride will let me admit—most involving pictures of starving