style="font-size:15px;"> She hadn’t directly contacted her parents until three weeks after that. She’d called and told them she was okay, that she hoped the wedding went well without her, and that she would be in touch. Nothing more. Because she knew if she had told them where she was, her brothers would have promptly been sent to drag her back home.
No, she hadn’t shared her apartment address until she was sure her parents had gotten the picture. Either butt out of her personal life or she was going to butt out of their lives…permanently.
Of course, that really hadn’t been her first real revolt. The first one had involved sexy neighbor Ian Kilborn, a lifetime of suppressed hormones, and a boatload of rebellion aimed toward her controlling family. But only she, Ian and the pantry walls knew about that one incident—a steamy, heat-filled white-hot flash in time when she was eighteen and had unleashed the wild woman that lurked just below her good-girl surface. And, oh, what a time she and naughty Ian had had. And if now, eight years later, she thought about reliving the event every now and again, it was only because, instead of living down the street from each other, she and Ian now spent most of their time in the same courthouse as attorneys.
Marie self-consciously cleared her throat as she climbed from the car, then closed the door after her. January in Albuquerque, New Mexico, was a world away from the weather L.A. was experiencing right now. And she’d still be there enjoying the sun and her freedom if Dulcy and Jena hadn’t contacted her nearly a year ago and held her to the promise they’d made when they were young. They’d convinced her to sign on with well-known attorney Bartholomew Lomax and establish the partnership they’d always planned on.
And now her mother was resorting to her old behavior.
A hot guy exited the seven-story brand-spanking-new courthouse as she neared. Marie smiled at him but he seemed to see right through her. He passed and she slowed her step. Was she really that desperate that she had to rely on her family to fix her up to land a man? She glanced at her plain navy-blue suit. Okay, so maybe she wasn’t Nicole Kidman, and she was on the short side, but she’d never thought she was unattractive.
Was she?
A man opened the courthouse door in front of her. She moved to step around him only he entered before her, nearly causing her to slam into his back. She frowned then caught the door before it could slam against her back.
Okay…
So maybe she was having a bad day. Everyone had them every now and again, didn’t they?
If only it didn’t look like she was having a bad decade.
She hurried down the hall, trying to forget the state of her personal life and concentrate on her professional—something she usually did very well.
“Marie!”
She was halfway down the hall before she realized someone was calling her name. She turned to find her friend and partner Jena McCade rushing after her.
“God, woman, where is your head? I must have called you three times before you heard me.”
Marie made a face. Jena looked great. As usual. With her shiny straight black hair, her sexy figure, her confident posture, Marie was sure no one ever let a door close on Jena.
Of course, now that Jena was married to ex-hockey hunk Tommy “Wild Man” Brodie, her attractiveness seemed to have merely increased. Her skin always seemed flushed and her eyes always had a faraway dreamy look in them. Jena had told Marie and Dulcy that it was the properly laid look. Marie preferred to think it was love.
Jena twisted her lips. “I’d ask if it was a man messing with your head, but I’m guessing it’s probably your mother.”
“Right.” Marie made a face. “She wants me to come to dinner again tonight.” She looked down at the hall. “What are you doing down here so early?”
“Judge Bullock wanted to talk to me in chambers. Seems there have been some problems with the district attorney’s office and all cases are being put on hold.”
“Oh?”
Jena waved her hand and continued walking down the hall, forcing Marie to turn to face her. “Shouldn’t impact your big corporate case. Something to do with new DNA procedures.”
“Good. I’d just as soon have this case over with as not.”
“Difficult run?”
“No. Just boring.”
Jena laughed. “That’s the first time I’ve heard you say that.”
“This is the first time I’ve ever felt this way.”
“You know, your mother wouldn’t get to you so much if you weren’t so picky about men yourself,” Jena said.
Marie made a strangled sound.
“What?”
“I can’t believe you just said that.” Marie glanced around the hall. Another attorney she was vaguely familiar with grinned as he moved past them. “And in front of so many other people.”
Jena crossed to stand in front of her. “I can’t believe you haven’t gotten laid in over a year.” She poked her perfectly manicured finger against Marie’s blue suit jacket. “And you pay entirely too much attention to what other people think.”
“I’m not picky.”
Jena smiled. “Yes, you are. Why else aren’t you dating anyone?”
“Because I’ve been busy helping get a law practice going.”
“So have Dulcy and I, but that hasn’t stopped us.”
If Marie thought her day was bad before, it had very definitely just taken a deep nosedive.
Jena started walking backward toward the door. “Take my advice, Marie. The next guy you see? Grab him and don’t let him go until he wipes that ever-present grimace from your face.”
“I don’t grimace.”
Jena began to turn around, the distance between them lengthening. “I’ll see you back at the office later then?”
“Office. Yeah.”
Marie stood for long a moment staring after her friend’s retreating back. Oh, sure, to be Jena’s friend was to be in a perpetual state of mortification. If Jena wasn’t sharing details on her orgasms and the frequency of them, she was commenting in a very open way about others’ sex lives.
Marie just wished Jena hadn’t picked that moment to aim a very sharp arrow at Marie’s sex life.
She absently raised her fingers to her lips. Did she grimace? She suddenly realized that, yes, she did. Quite frequently. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d smiled. Really smiled. Was it a week ago? A month?
What was she thinking? Of course she smiled. She smiled all the time. Just this morning she’d smiled at the guy at the coffee shop. Hadn’t she?
She directed a frustrated wave down the hall
