check from her purse and left some bills on the table. “Good. Well, I guess I’ll get going, then.”
He grabbed her hand to keep her from standing. He wasn’t ready to go up to his room and deal with Dev’s troubles. That was all that awaited him tonight, worry for a friend that he didn’t know how to rescue from himself.
He did have a strategy meeting with Marcus, Jason’s publicist. But that wasn’t until later. He wanted to spend more time with Sophia, which he didn’t examine too closely. “What’s the hurry?”
“I’ve got work to do.” She watched him with those wide blue eyes of hers, guarding her words.
“You work too much.”
“How do you know?”
“You’ve got circles under your eyes,” he said, tracing the fine purple shadows. Her skin was porcelain smooth and softer than the down pillows on his bed. He hadn’t taken the time to notice earlier.
“You sure know the way to a girl’s heart.”
Her heart. Damned if he was going after that again. He’d learned the hard way that Sophia’s heart was kept under lock and key and only a masochist would even try to get at it. And as kinky as he liked his sex, he’d never liked physical pleasure and emotional pain together. “I’m not interested in your heart.”
She blanched and looked down at her purse. “No, you aren’t.”
What a bastard he could be. “Don’t try to make me feel bad about that. I wanted your heart once upon a time.”
She sighed and tilted her head to the side. Her careful gaze moved over his face and he knew she wasn’t seeing him but the younger man he’d been. “But I was afraid to give it to you.”
“Was it fear that stopped you? Funny, I thought it was greed.” As arousal was dying down in his veins, anger was rising. Why were they talking about the past? It might be what brought them together tonight, but beyond that he didn’t want to delve into it.
“Greed? Is that what you’ve thought of me all these years?”
“Babe, I respect you too much to tell you what I really thought of you.”
“I don’t blame you. I never should have lied to you,” she said.
She’d never been a woman to try to manipulate a man and he’d trusted that sweet innocent face and of course that sexy body that he knew as well as his own.
“Why did you?” he asked before he could think better of it.
She twisted the valet claim check in her hands. He watched her try to find the words to answer him.
“I was losing myself, Mitch.”
Never in a million years would he comprehend what she’d just said. She’d been in the top five at Harvard Law. Her mentor was one of the most powerful women in the law community and had in the intervening years become a Supreme Court Judge. Sophia had been a woman on the cusp of becoming very capable and powerful in her own right. For her to say she had feared losing herself sounded like a cop-out to him.
“I don’t understand.”
“You can’t. You’ve always known who you were. Even when life shakes you up, you land on your feet.”
She was the second person to say as much in less than three hours. He didn’t like the sound of it. Sure he had a plan and nothing was going to stop him from achieving his goals. That didn’t mean that life was any easier for him than it was for others.
“You had some pretty strong supporters at Harvard. And I’ve stumbled plenty of times.”
“You look like you made it back to your feet.”
“Of course I did. And I didn’t have to shove anyone out of my way to do it.” He had to get out of here before he did something really foolish like let her see how badly that had affected him.
He stood, tossed some bills on the table. “See you around, babe.”
He walked out of the bar without a backward glance. The lobby was opulent and crowded. Mitch blended in with the businessmen returning from a day of meetings heading toward the elevator.
“Mitch?”
He stopped, but didn’t turn around. He was still angry. More than angry—he was pissed and he’d never been one of those people who could be polite when he was mad. He knew he’d say something he’d regret especially if he turned around.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Maybe we should call the bet off.”
He pivoted and walked over to her. “Babe, there’s no way in hell we’re calling that wager off. You’re going to be mine for a weekend and when I leave you’re going to miss me for a long, long time.”
The elevator car arrived and he walked away from the woman who’d given him the greatest joy in life, and the sharpest pain.
4
SOPHIA’S FIRST INSTINCT was to run away but she knew better than to start giving ground. So she did the only thing she could think of and went on the offensive. Mitch Hollaran wasn’t going to make her doubt herself or the course she’d put them both on. And if she knew one thing about the woman she’d become it was that the scared emotional woman deep inside wasn’t going to start having any say in any decision now.
She pivoted on her heel, intent on reaching her car and tormenting her old lover on the phone. He knew what buttons to push to make her respond and she knew likewise. This time with Mitch she wasn’t a girl discovering fire in a man’s arms for the first time. This time she was a woman in full control of her life and her body. She wasn’t taking the passive role with any man.
She bumped into a man and paused to apologize. But found herself face-to-face with one of her coworkers, Joseph O’Neill. O’Neill had recently joined the office, moving to Orlando from Miami where he’d had an impressive record of wins. They were lucky to have him on their staff. Sophia had hired him and liked the fact that Joseph, though a family man, worked as hard as any other attorney in the office.
“O’Neill, sorry about that.”
Joseph wasn’t particularly tall but he was well built and he had thick mane of midnight-black hair that he kept closely trimmed. He was of Hispanic descent on his mother’s side and looked like a young Andy Garcia.
“No problem, Deltonio. I should know to get out of your way when I see you coming.”
She wasn’t sure what he meant by that. Had she become too ruthless at work? And could a district attorney ever be too ruthless? “Having drinks with friends?”
“Not tonight. I’m meeting with Mueller. Want to join us?”
Sophia knew she had work to do…on her cases and with Mitch. But saying no to meeting with their boss wasn’t something she could do. Her career plans were the most important in her life. “Sure.”
Sophia reentered the Bösendorfer Lounge and wondered
