His Contract: Legally Bound, Book 1 (26 page)

Chapter Thirty-Five

The sky was waking up in a wash of yellows, pinks and purples when Lilly arrived downtown, the haze of night burning away. The early morning light glittered off the sides of buildings, everything warmed with gold.

Lilly squinted in the sun and smiled, her pace quick in the mild air. She couldn’t remember when she’d had so much energy. Maybe it was because of the exciting work she’d done in the past two weeks, helping to craft opening and closing statements, preparing direct and cross examinations, as well as creating a PowerPoint presentation of the evidence.

Or maybe it was because they’d kicked ass in court yesterday.

Lilly bought the morning paper from a vendor on the corner. It was the first time she’d been happy to see the case covered by the
Globe
. Now it was in the
Herald
too. There’d been dozens of reporters in the back of the courtroom, and it brought the firm the kind of press they could’ve only hoped for.

Lilly scanned the article while she waited for her coffee. There was a not-so-kind portrayal of Salvatore and Francesca Giordano. They hadn’t exactly kept their money on the down low in the courthouse, looking bored and dressed more like celebrities than members of organized crime. They hadn’t stayed as composed however, when their Uncle Antonio arrived.

Neither had Gabe. He’d practically asked the man for his autograph.

The article went on, naming Judge McCallister and all the counsel involved. Forrester had taken the lead, turning the trial into a face-off between him and Mahoney that felt like a showdown out of the Wild West. The article also named Jacqui Broussard as a witness, and Brady as the expert.

She felt a twinge of victory, remembering the alarm in Salvatore’s expression when they put Brady on the stand, the twitch of lips when they’d brought up the PowerPoint presentation of the database. Brady’s professional opinion that “M-O-D underscore d-t” stood for “modified date” had made Salvatore’s relaxed appearance vanish entirely. Mahoney had been furious.

Lilly paid for her coffee and went inside. She kept reading as the elevator took her skyward, the same apprehension she’d felt the day before returning. She scanned through the reporter’s account of the description of Unix timestamps, the slide showing the timestamp converter, then the gasps throughout the courtroom when they revealed the unmodified date. It all went perfectly, but what had finally clinched the case was when they called Jacqui to the stand. Lilly grinned, the article making her feel as if she were experiencing their victory all over again. Forrester’s cross-examination ended with Jacqui admitting the Giordanos had falsified their evidence. Then they’d hit home with the presentation Lilly had prepared, which included the subpoenaed original, un-tampered entry.

After that, it had been mayhem. McCallister nearly threw the Giordanos out of the courtroom, insisting they pay all of Simon’s legal costs, and at the firm’s regular, undiscounted price. Antonio stomped out, leveling his niece and nephew on the way with a glare that had them slumping down into their seats. The judge banged his gavel, and the case was dismissed.

Lilly grinned at the photo at the bottom of the page. The caption read:

William Forrester of Forrester, Schaeffer and Pierce and his team Gabriel Hartley, Cassandra Allbright and Lilly Sterling win their case against Giordano Diagnostics.

There it was, her name in print describing a win of her first real case. She was going to have to cut this article out and frame it. Maybe even mail it to her parents. And she’d have to make sure Jack—

No, she wouldn’t have to make sure Jack saw it. Sadness descended as she walked out of the elevator and down the hall. There’d been no communication from him at all over the past three weeks. She should’ve been thinking hateful things, purging all his texts and emails, but the truth was she wished she could’ve shared the thrill of victory with him. To feel his excitement, and bask in his pride.

“There’s our star!”

Lilly snapped to attention as Cassie came toward her and glanced at the paper in her hands. “You got an actual newspaper? How archaic. I read it online last night. There was even a snippet about it on the local news.”

“That’s crazy. And I’m not a star.”

“Like hell you’re not.” Gabe walked up to them, a bottle of champagne in one hand. Lilly pointed to it.

“Isn’t it a bit early for that?”

“Honey, we showed the mob who was boss yesterday. It’s never too early to drink when that’s the case.” Gabe looped his arm around hers. Cassie took the other. “Come on, Forrester’s waiting.”

“For what?”

“You’ll see.”

The two of them flanked her sides, her own personal Scarecrow and Tin Man leading her down the Yellow Brick Road. She’d felt like Dorothy months ago, so unsure of herself. Now she had her head held high, even though it felt as if she were the one whose heart was missing.

Inside the conference room, Forrester and Simon were waiting, along with the other managing partners, as well as the associates and staff. Everyone cheered their arrival.

Simon made a beeline for Lilly and hugged her, nearly knocking his glasses off in the process. “You saved everything I’ve worked for. Thank you so much.”

“I didn’t really do anything,” she insisted, seeing Forrester amble up behind him. “These guys argued the case. I just supplied the evidence.”

“But you figured it out. That was absolutely brilliant.”

“It was,” Forrester agreed. His usual irritated stare was absent, replaced by something that looked like admiration.

Simon pushed his glasses up his nose. “Why exactly aren’t you a lawyer here yet?”

“She will be,” Forrester answered for her. “As soon as she takes the bar.”

Lilly took a breath and nodded. Losing one part of her life hurt like hell, but the path to the other one was finally laid out in front of her.

“Yes,” she said. “I will be.”

Gabe popped the champagne, and everyone toasted to the firm’s success. A breakfast spread had been put out, and an hour passed full of handshakes with colleagues and a conversation with the senior partners that had Lilly buzzing more than the sparkling wine.

After everyone cleared out, Gabe came up by her side. “Did you enjoy that, Counselor?”

“You can’t call me that yet. But yes.”

“Well, we’re going out to celebrate for real tonight. Someplace nice, like that new lounge Neon Bar, with Nick and everyone else.”

Lilly went cold, wondering if “everyone else” would include Jack anymore.

Probably not.

“Sure,” she said, hoping he didn’t notice how sad she sounded. “That’ll be great.”

The conference room phone buzzed. Gabe hit the intercom button.

“Flowers for Lilly in the lobby,” the receptionist said.

Jack.

Lilly’s pulse went on overdrive. He must’ve read about the outcome of the trial and had come to congratulate her. Maybe he’d changed his mind. Maybe he’d figured out he really did love her, and this would just be a blip they’d laugh about someday.

“I’ll be right back.”

The ride to the ground floor was torturous. Lilly paced inside the elevator, ready to race through the lobby, throw herself into Jack’s arms and tell him how much she’d missed him. But when she got to the front desk, it wasn’t Jack standing there with a large bouquet of flowers.

It was Damien.

Chapter Thirty-Six

It was like something out of her nightmares, the way he was standing there so casually. She’d forgotten how cruelly handsome he was. Her dreams had edited that fact out, but it was screaming at her now. With dark hair, piercing eyes and a faint hint of stubble lining his angular jaw, he was sex in a sleek black suit.

Her heartbeat kicked up a notch when he swept an appreciative gaze over her. It was infuriating. He didn’t belong here, in the world she’d taken so long to build.

Lilly set her hands on her hips and stalked toward him. “What are you doing here?”

Damien tilted his head to the side, that look that said what a silly child she was for asking such a question. “I came to see you, of course.”

“You knew I was in Boston?”

“Not until recently.”

“How did you find me?”

He smirked and lifted an eyebrow. “Since when did you get so feisty?”

“How?” she demanded.

Damien sighed and gave a little shake of his head, as if he was only answering to humor her.

“When you didn’t answer my email on your birthday, and I discovered you’d not only blocked me on Facebook but changed your number too, I needed to know that you were okay. That wasn’t very nice of you, cutting me off like that.”

Lilly narrowed her eyes. Condescending prick. A lecture from him on what wasn’t considered nice was the last thing she wanted to hear. Only she couldn’t make the words come out. She dug her fingers into her waist, hoping the move hid how hard she was shaking.

Damien shrugged, nonchalance and sex and power all rolled up into one. “I did a few online searches for your name, but nothing new came up for the longest time. Then a case out here caught my interest. One with some interesting ties to organized crime. The news articles were very entertaining.”

He grinned, that charming smile that used to derail her. She didn’t smile back.

“My interest was piqued, so I looked up the counsel, and then there was your name on the roster for this firm.” He waved a hand, gesturing around the lobby, obviously impressed. His approval was something Lilly once would’ve given anything for. Something that would’ve made her stand tall, and then get down on her knees in gratitude.

Her traitorous body responded, even as her stomach churned.

“I followed the case, all the way up to yesterday’s win,” he continued. “When I saw your picture, I had to congratulate you.”

“You flew here to congratulate me?” Lilly laughed, shook her head and tried to imitate his smirk. “You could’ve saved yourself a trip with a phone call.”

“Would you have answered me?” he asked. “I tried to reach you here once, but you didn’t pick up.”

So that call had been him. Lilly didn’t respond.

“A voicemail would’ve sufficed, but I wanted to do it in person. I wanted to see you.”

Damien’s voice went lower. Huskier. Lilly recognized the pitch—he’d used it on her a thousand times. It was like a secret weapon.

“I’m proud of you, you know,” he said, taking a step toward her. “Of how far you’ve come. I always knew you had it in you.” His gaze dipped to her breasts, then to her hips before drifting upward again. “I taught you well.”

She crossed her arms against the heat of his perusal. “You talk like you still know me.” Her voice came out small, her shell cracking.

“Don’t I?” He moved in close. “Aren’t you the same Lilly Sterling I used to know?”

She stepped away, feint to his parry. “Aren’t you still engaged?”

There was a tic in his jaw. “No. I’m not.”

“You’re not,” she repeated.

“I broke it off. My heart wasn’t in it.” Damien’s lashes lowered in the same hypnotic stare that once had the power to cripple her. The effect it had on her was muted, but still there, a fire flickering to life in cold coals. “Have dinner with me tonight so we can talk.”

“We’re talking now.”

“Not like this. I’d like to take you out. Somewhere nice.”

He closed the distance between them, but even as she took another small step back, evading his nearness, her heart leaped, the Lilly from a year ago taking over. Blind, foolish, lovestruck Lilly who would’ve grasped at any meager breadcrumb he threw her way. Dinner, in public, just the two of them, was something the old Lilly had always wanted.

It was something Jack never offered her, either.

“Please?” he added, holding out the flowers like a peace offering.

Lilly’s hand rose in a reflex, his sudden charm catching her off guard. “Please” was a word she couldn’t ever recall him using. As her fingers wrapped around the ornate bouquet, the twisted attraction she suddenly felt for him made her hate herself. The logical part of her head was waving her arms and screaming, but this Damien’s behavior was so different from the man she knew.

“I have plans at nine, but I can meet you for a little while before then.”

“Where will your plans be?”

“Back Bay area.”

“Excellent. I’ll find someplace nice nearby. I’d like to pick you up, but I don’t know where you live.”

“I’d rather meet you there.”

His grin turned smug. “Fine. I’ll call your office with an address in an hour.”

He leaned in close. Too close. As if he was about to kiss her. She wanted to pull back but her body wouldn’t cooperate. His lips hovered by her ear, and Lilly held her breath, a shiver slinking down her spine.

“I’m looking forward to it,” he murmured, then stepped back and walked away.

She stood there completely frozen, her heart pounding as she watched him disappear outside. Air rushed back into her lungs, too fast for her to catch up with. Whipping around, she punched the elevator button, the bouquet tight by her side. She rushed through the halls to Cassie’s office, closed the door behind her and pressed her back against it.

Cassie looked up from her desk. “Why do you look like you’re about to puke? Was it the champagne? I told Gabe it was too early.”

“Damien.” Lilly stumbled and held out the flowers. “Damien is here.”

“He’s what?”

“Take these? I don’t know what to do with them.” She dumped the bouquet on Cassie’s desk and started pacing. “He flew to Boston to congratulate me. He wants to take me to dinner.”

“Holy shit.” Cassie looked over the bouquet. “These are really nice.”

“Cassie!”

“Right. Sorry. So he wants to take you out? Are you going to go?”

“Yeah. He wants to talk. He’s not engaged anymore. He said his heart wasn’t in it.”

Cassie snorted. “I wasn’t aware he had one.”

Neither was she. And if his heart wasn’t in getting married, where was it now?

“Lilly, you’re not exactly in a great place right now. Is this a good idea?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Lilly sighed. “Okay, it’s a terrible idea.”

She gazed out past the river, its deep blue depths gone pale gold where the sun hit it, toward Cambridge and Jack. The man she wanted didn’t want her anymore, and the one she no longer wanted suddenly did. None of it made any sense.

“He’s a prick and I hate him, but I need to go anyway. To hear what he has to say.” She turned back to Cassie. “I need to get out of here and think. Cover for me?”

“Fine, but I’m expecting you to still meet up with us for drinks afterward. No letting him talk you into going back to his hotel. Understand?”

“Yes.” She went to the door, stopping to glance back over her shoulder. “If anyone asks, say the front desk was wrong and the flowers were for you.”

“It’s been a millennia since anyone’s sent me flowers, but okay. I’ll say they’re from my dad. That’s not pathetic at all.”

With a grateful smile, Lilly slipped out the door. She tiptoed down the hall as quietly as she could and fled home.

Jack poured himself a cup of coffee and unfolded his newspaper across the island. The
Globe
was delivered to his house every day, but had been going straight from the concrete to his recycling bin for over a year. For a while, he hadn’t had the energy to unwrap it from the plastic. The last few months, he simply didn’t have the time.

Now he had too much time on his hands.

Without work to distract him, his days stretched out, his plans sparse, giving him little excuse for avoiding the one thing he had to do before Josh’s arrival.

Jack glanced at the clock. He had time before he had to go to the airport. What was another hour?

He sipped his coffee and flattened the paper out, freezing when he saw a photo of Lilly beneath an article on the front page.

He put his mug down and started reading. From the journalist’s description, it sounded like their victory had been incredible, even though he could already tell as much from the expression on Lilly’s face. She looked so happy. If only he could’ve been there to congratulate her.

A knifelike pain cut through him. The last few weeks had been hard, her absence in his life a gaping hole. He’d told himself it was natural. That with time, he would readjust. Seeing her like this, however, served as a deep reminder of how her life had veered off and surged ahead on a path he wouldn’t ever be able to follow.

He looked at her photo again. Was she truly as happy as she seemed? He wasn’t.

God, he never thought he’d miss her this badly.

With the coffee and the paper no longer appealing, Jack stood and headed upstairs to Josh’s room. He’d avoided cleaning it, unwilling to face the fact that Lilly would never sleep there again. The room felt like a minefield—everywhere he looked, a memory was waiting, ready to explode.

But as he stepped inside, he realized she’d left nothing behind, not even so much as a tube of toothpaste. It seemed like no one else had slept here at all.

He started to strip the bed but stopped as he picked up a pillow, his throat going uncomfortably tight with the scent he’d sworn he’d just caught. It wasn’t possible. There was no way after so many weeks that the bed could smell like her. But if there was any chance it did…

He brought the pillow to his face. Closing his eyes, he breathed in slowly, then dropped it. There wasn’t a trace of her scent there, only his imagination playing tricks on him.

Feeling like an idiot, he ripped off the pillowcase, then the sheets, chucking them to the floor in disgust. After remaking the bed, he mashed the linens into a ball, went downstairs and threw them into the laundry room basket.

Needing to escape the prison of memories, he left earlier than he needed to for Logan and sat on the edge of a chair in baggage claim, staring up at the board as he waited for Josh. The flight number was announced, and Jack stood, scanning the crowd coming down the escalator. His son finally appeared, smiling and tan, his curls bleached nearly white from the California sun.

Jack wrapped him in a tight hug. “It’s so good to see you,” he said, his voice gruff.

“You too, Dad.”

He pulled back and held his son by the shoulders. Josh seemed taller. Older. More like a man. And more like Eve than ever.

The guilt of unfulfilled promises pricked at his heart.

“What, did you forget who I am or something?” Josh asked. “I’m Josh.” He said it slowly, pointing to himself with a goofy grin.

“Smartass.” Jack relaxed his grip and rumpled his son’s hair. “You hungry? We could stop somewhere.”

“Nah. I ate on the plane. Besides, Uncle Brady is waiting at the house.”

That was new information. “And you know this, how?”

“Because he texted us. Didn’t you see it?”

Jack checked his phone. Sure enough, he’d missed a text from Brady, asking if they’d be game for going out tonight.

“You’ve been home for twenty minutes. Can’t I have you to myself for a night?”

“You’ll have me all weekend, Dad. I promise, by Sunday, you’ll be sick of me.”

When they pulled up in front of the house, Brady was on the driveway with the girls. He’d positioned Allegra in front of the basketball hoop and was trying to teach her a lay-up.

Josh got out of the car and called out, “Don’t listen to anything your dad says, Allegra. He stinks at basketball.”

“Josh!” Allegra dropped the ball and ran down the driveway. He bent down to hug her, and Hope rushed in too. When the girls had their fill, Brady pulled Josh into a one-armed embrace, knuckles dug against his head.

“That a spray tan you’ve got going on there?”

Laughing, Josh shoved him off. “It’s the real deal. Got some good color at the Dodgers game last weekend.”

“Traitor,” Brady muttered and pushed back an inch. They ducked blows, playing like bull calves as they went inside the house. Josh dropped his bags in the back corner of the kitchen.

“Things going okay with school?” Brady asked Josh as he plopped down on a stool. “I heard you had a meltdown last month. Is my brilliant nephew crumbling under the pressure?”

Josh cocked his head, confused. “What meltdown?”

Jack’s stomach lurched. Leave it to Brady to remember the lie Patrick had crafted the night Lilly was sick and ask about it.

“Oh,” Jack floundered, trying to think of something. “That was a misunderstanding on my part. Protective father overreacting, you know the drill.” He turned to Allegra and Hope. “You girls want some ice cream?”

They shouted with glee and ran toward the fridge. Brady glared at Jack. “Thanks. Now they’ll have sugar highs the rest of the night.”

Jack shrugged and smiled innocently as he opened the freezer.

“Well, you won’t be the one who has to deal with it, right?” Josh asked. “I thought you said we were going out tonight.”

“Hell yeah, we are.”

Allegra gasped. “Daddy, you said a bad word again.”

Brady grabbed the ice cream from Jack. Spooning out their portions, he said, “Don’t tell Mommy, and you each can have an extra scoop. Deal?”

They mimed zipping their lips and happily dug into their bowls. Brady turned back to Josh.

“Yes, we’re going out, and to someplace nice, I’ve been told, so first round is on you, Mister Big Shot PhD.”

“I’m not a PhD yet. Who will I be buying for, anyway?”

“You remember my buddy Nick? His husband won a big case yesterday.” Brady puffed his chest up. “I was the expert witness.”

“What on earth could you be an expert at?”

“IT, asshole.”