of wisdom and turned to face her. Calm, cool, confident. Cordial. At least on the outside. He wished Jack had given her the same advice.
She stormed up, chin raised for a fight.
“Colleen,” he said in a mild tone, trying not to notice her smooth, touchable skin. Trying desperately not to inhale her signature powdery scent. “Good to see you after all these years. How have you been?”
“Are you out of your mind?” she asked, her blue eyes molten.
Deep breath in, slow release. Apparently being susceptible to nostalgia wasn’t one of her faults. “Nice greeting.”
She flicked away his attempts at semipolite conversation as if his words were a mosquito swarm. So much for Jack’s plan. “Make your clients take Axelrod off the new hotel project until this case is settled. I mean it.”
Oh, she meant it. Good to know. “I’m not talking to you about this here, Colleen. Not when you’re tossing off demands without so much as a hello.”
He turned and casually walked away.
After a stunned moment, she followed.
“How can you defend those corporate monsters, Eric? That’s not your style.”
“You know nothing about my style. We haven’t spoken in almost a decade.”
“Do you have any idea how many lives are potentially at stake thanks to their shoddy construction?”
“Yep.” A beat passed. “Exactly…none.”
“None?”
Her hand closed around his forearm, a tiny viselike grip of self-righteousness. Resisting the urge to yank away, ignoring the tingles a simple touch sent through his body, he stilled. Stared down at her hand on his arm in relaxed silence until she got the hint and pulled back.
As he looked into her zealous, heart-shaped face, a pang of compassion struck him for how clueless she seemed to be. She had a pit-bull grip on a fight she would lose, and she didn’t seem to have a clue about her client or the big picture. Hard to believe she’d let her lack of research into the case show through her porcupine quills of ire, but as far as he knew, she’d only recently been assigned to it. Maybe she hadn’t had adequate time to delve in. Still. No excuse. She needed to do her research and find out what she was dealing with.
Harsh, Nelson.
Eric’s overactive conscience kicked in, his emotional pull toward this woman. He didn’t want to embarrass her; he simply wanted to exonerate his clients. Sharing what he’d dug up about a possible connection between her client and his client’s key rival before she humiliated herself in front of the entire Chicago legal community felt like the right move. He wasn’t violating privilege; Jack Hanson didn’t even know Drake Thatcher might be involved yet. Contrary to the reputation of most attorneys, he wasn’t about putting on the best show in the courtroom. He was about truth and balance and justice.
Fairness.
That meant bringing Colleen up to speed, like it or not. He sighed. “Listen. Join me for lunch. We can discuss this like reasonable professionals.”
She blinked in surprise. “You…you’re asking me to lunch? Are you crazy?”
He tapped the face of his watch. “Strangely, no. Lunch is what people do around this time of day. It’s one of the three widely recognized meals.”
“But—”
“Colleen,” he said, weary of knocking heads already, “I’ve been in court all morning. I’ve got a full slate of work this afternoon. I’m hungry. Is that so hard for you to understand?”
She crossed her arms over her torso. “No. What’s hard to understand is why you’d invite me.”
“Why wouldn’t I? Years ago, we used to be friends.” He imbued the last word with a meaning only she’d understand.
Her face pinkened. “Years ago, like you said. Those days are long over.”
So she wanted to play it that way. “Look, as much as you hate the fact, I do know you. Either I invite you, or I miss lunch altogether because you’ll keep me standing here in the hallway arguing ridiculous points of law. I’d like to avoid that if at all possible.” He held up his free hand. “Nothing more than that.”
She studied him, seeming to search for an ulterior motive. Typical Colleen. After a moment, she tossed her sleek black hair and tried for casual. She didn’t quite pull it off. “Fine. Where do you want to go?”
“Let’s just hit The Chambers. It’s close and easy.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
“We can ride togefh—”
“I said I’ll meet you there.”
Eric watched her stalk off, shoulders back, spine stiff. Astonishing how she managed to walk so straight with that monumental chip weighing down her shoulder. It had to be one hell of a heavy burden after all these years.
Not his problem.
He shook his head and started toward the parking lot, his brain reluctantly flooded with memories of a different Colleen. Sure, there’d been only one night in their history that the chip had fallen off her shoulder…a night he absolutely had to put out of his mind during this case. Sleeping with Colleen had been one hell of a beautiful mistake, one they’d never spoken about again, despite his repeated attempts shortly thereafter. Initially, he’d been bewildered by her icecold attitude, but she wouldn’t discuss it. Eventually, he just wrote the woman off as a loose cannon, and his life had been more pleasant since that decision.
That’s what he told himself at least.
But he’d never forgotten….
Would never forget.
Couldn’t.
Despite the fact she was back in his life, he aimed to keep everything strictly professional. Sadly, when it came to Colleen Delaney, that was the only choice she’d given him.
Of all the attorneys in Chicago, why Eric Nelson?
Stupid Murphy’s Law.
Colleen sat in her Audi A6 for several minutes trying to still her nerves, regain her composure. If any guy could break her resolve to stay smart, sane and selectively celibate, that guy was Eric. One look at him in that courtroom—broad-shouldered and confident in his charcoal-gray suit, dark blond hair sexily uncooperative as usual—and Colossal Mistake Night flooded back into her body with a vengeance. The sex had been as explosive and exciting as their debates. It had nearly knocked her off her goal path. Or…it could’ve, had she not freaked out and gone completely cold on the guy, purely by necessity. The whole thing had shaken her to the core, and she hadn’t known any other way to handle it.
She’d run scared then, and she’d run scared today.
Thank goodness, Eric had given up the pursuit both times. And while their estrangement hurt, it
