Lawmakers (7 page)

She wished he’d made some kind of grand declaration, admitting that he loved her and couldn’t live without her. His actions and words confused her. By his very nature, Santi worked to please her and to meet her every need, but that didn’t mean he really loved her. He might treat every woman that way, and why wouldn’t he when he enjoyed sex so much? Unless he said the words and meant them, she couldn’t be sure.

“We’re going to recess one hour and reconvene at one p.m.,” the judge announced and tapped his gavel on the base. At the “all rise” order, Della stumbled to her feet. The judge left the bench, and she blew out a breath. She held up a finger to Bob, and hurried for the exit.

Brent blocked her path at the door. “Where are you going, Della? Don’t you need to meet with the guys to go over your strategy?”

She frowned at him. “Give me a break, Brent. Bob hasn’t even begun to bring out his big guns. We have this in the bag, and I need to make a phone call.”

“To who?”

She blinked at him.

He took her hand and tugged her along the hall. She followed because it seemed easier than telling him to back off. Lack of sleep sapped mental energy, not just physical. Besides, guilt assaulted her for the lack of concentration all morning.

Brent stopped in a small alcove off the main courtroom. Various attorneys, staff, and visitors strode along the passage, but she and Brent had a modicum of privacy where they stood. “This is a great opportunity for you, Della. Don’t blow it.”

She gritted her teeth together a minute before speaking. “I know what this is. I didn’t get any promises from Bob when I started as a paralegal that he’d take me on as an attorney once I passed the bar. There aren’t any openings with the firm right now, but he’s doing this much because he likes me, and I need it for graduation.”

“Exactly.” Brent raised a hand as if he would touch her face but changed his mind. He glanced around and shifted from one foot to the other. “I want to see you get settled fast. I know you love the law.”

She hesitated. “What if I don’t love it the way I used to?”

His eyes widened. “What are you talking about?”

“I’ve never considered anything else all this time. I never
dreamed
of another path.”

Brent’s nostrils flared. “Is that you speaking or
him.
”

“Excuse me?”

“Him,” he repeated. “That…that…Spaniard.”

“Oh no you didn’t.”

He sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it like that. He’s exotic and rich, everything I’m not. For that reason, I don’t like him.” He chuckled, and she touched his arm.

“Oh, Brent.” She smiled. “You’re pretty special too.”

“Why doesn’t that sound like much?”

“I don’t know.” She gave him a quick hug. “You know I love you, Brent. You’re my best friend. You’ll always be special.”

“I hear a but coming.”

She hesitated. “I might want to be with Santi, and his place isn’t here.”

Brent looked like she had just punched him in the throat. “You’re not seriously thinking of moving to Spain! You can’t do that.”

“I can do whatever I choose to do.”

“He’s just using you. Don’t you see that? You’re a body to him. He doesn’t even care about your career. Just look at you. I can tell you haven’t slept all night, and you had this important case. Who were you going to call when you should be with Bob and the rest going over your next move? Is he more important than your career?”

Shame washed over her. “I can have both.”

“Yeah, you’re handling both really well.”

Pissed, she balled her hand into a fist but kept it at her side. This wasn’t Brent’s fault. He was right. She was putting Santi before her whole life, but he never once came to see her when his work interfered with it. At least, not from what she’d seen. She waited around for him to call, and when he did, it was at the last minute. He wanted to see her the same night or the next day. To be fair, when she had mentioned to him she had court today, he suggested she not see him. Still, he must know after so long being apart, she couldn’t resist. This was too much.

She clenched her cell phone in her hand and stared down at the display. The phone call she had wanted to make was to Santi.
Be strong, Della. Talk to him later.

“Okay, fine. You win,” she said to Brent. “I’ll go back in.”

“We’re not in a contest.”

She rolled her eyes at him as she moved past. “Please, ‘he’s exotic and rich.’ Remember that?”

Brent groaned as he fell into step beside her. “You’re going to throw that in my face every time?”

“Sure, why not?” she teased. “Thanks for getting my feet back on the ground, and for being here.”

“You got it.” He hugged her shoulders and then moved away. “Any time.”

While Della had given in and recognized the truth in most of what Brent said, she knew the problem still existed. The fact was she loved Santi, and the thought of separating from him tore at her heart. She couldn’t be sure if she loved law the way she always had after going through so much with school and work and being broke. Maybe with time, everything would become clear. That didn’t change the here and now. Santi would leave at some point. What would she do if he offered flat out for her to come with him?

I already know. I’ll go with him anywhere.

* * * *

“We’re taking the deal, Della.”

She blinked at Bob, not registering what he said. “Wait, what? We had all the evidence, Bob. You were going to nail it to them after the break. In fact, you had Mrs. Campbell on the fence. A little prodding, and she would have caved. You can’t tell me you didn’t see that!”

As she spoke, she came up out of her chair. Della put her hands on her hips and dared Bob to deny what she’d just said.

“Please tell me why in the hell would we lose this case?”

Bob’s lips tightened, and his cheeks pinked. Too late, Della realized she’d dressed her boss down, who was doing her a favor, in front of his colleagues. She snapped her teeth together and sank into her chair.

“Uh…” She scrambled for words to take back the insult, but it didn’t change how she felt. Frustration tied her tongue.

“Does anyone else want to spew their thoughts?” Bob asked.

Della ducked her head. “Sorry,” she muttered.

“Contrary to what we would like to think,” he said, “the law isn’t always cut and dried. We don’t always go by what’s there in black and white.”

She couldn’t help glaring at him, and for an instant his good-natured attitude disappeared. A glimpse of the shark surfaced. Bob did what benefited his dad’s firm, and aside from that, if the order came down to let one slip through the cracks, none of them had any recourse but to accept it.

“We made the deal,” he repeated. “This case is done. Now, next on the agenda…”

For the rest of the day, they went over cases—ones the firm would accept, others they would reject. She listened as attentively as she could, making notes, asking questions. With supreme effort, she didn’t allow her personal feelings to get in the way or for a judgmental attitude to come through. At the conclusion of the meeting, Bob pulled her aside and let everyone else leave the room before he spoke.

“Della, you’re an intelligent young woman who I’ve admired for a few years now,” he said. “I see great potential in you.”

“But watch my mouth?” she guessed, kicking herself again.

“No.” He chuckled. “You’ve been a life-saver for me many times.”

She dismissed his old standby.

“I personally don’t have a problem with you speaking your mind.”

Della blinked at him. “For real?”

“For real,” he agreed and laughed again. “You never disrespect me, and I’m not my dad, even if I do have to keep caving to what he wants. This is his firm until he lets go of the reins.”

When Bob winked, she grinned. So he played nice until dear old dad retired. That might be years down the line, but she admired Bob’s patience and his understanding of his situation. Everyone had something that defined them and maybe even checked their actions for a little while. The time for breaking out would come. She liked to think that time for her would come too. Just maybe it wasn’t too far down the line.

Della left the office at the end of the day and stepped out onto the street. She stopped cold at seeing Santi leaning against his rental. Her heart skipped a few beats as she approached him. “What are you doing out here?”

“A little birdie told me you were free soon.”

She luxuriated in his accent for a minute and then enjoyed his hard body. Surrendering her lips, she let him kiss her dizzy. “Are you keeping tabs on me, Mr. Varela?”

“Always,
cariño.
My eyes are never far from you.”

“Hm, I like that.”

He tucked her into his car and hurried around to the other side. When he slid behind the wheel, he started the engine and then reached for her hand. Santi focused on the road, but he kept glancing at her.

“What?”

He kissed her hand. “You have some time off?”

“You
were
listening to me the other day. Yes, I have four days off, then it’s back to the grind.” She groaned and tried not to think about work or school.

“I want to take you somewhere.”

She looked him in curiousity. “Where?”

“On my boat.”

“Um, I don’t do motorboats, Santi. We can do anything else, but those things so close to the water scare me and—”

“
El
Ángel Azul
is not a motorboat. Well, she does have an engine.”

She gaped. “El angel…”

“The Blue Angel. She is a yacht.” A look of pride transformed his handsome face in the dim lighting of the car. “She is a masterfully crafted Spanish vessel, and I admit it was vane of me to have my captain bring her rather than to charter a boat here, but I wanted you to see her.”

A sense of wonder came over Della. “Your captain? Wow, I don’t even know what to say.”

“Say you will come for a short trip with me.” He stroked a thumb over her hand where he held it.

“What if it gets chilly at night or storms?” She knew she made excuses because she was used to struggling, and she’d never had a real vacation anywhere.

“I will keep you warm.
El
Ángel
has enclosed cabins and bedrooms, and a dining room where we can eat and view the water in comfort. If that is not enough,
cariño,
I will make it my duty to wrap you in my arms so you will not get cold.”

The stats of his yacht jumbled in her mind, and she found herself giving in to his offer. “I would love that, but are you sure it won’t interfere with the work you came here to do?”

He pulled to a stop at a light and leaned across the seats to cup her face and kiss her lips. “I have made room for you.”

Her heart threatened to stop. “Room?”

“
Si,
we will enjoy four days just you and me, no work, no one else. Will that please you?”

“Yes, it would.” She pressed a hand to her chest, breathed in deep, and blew it out. “I’d love to. Thanks for doing this, Santi.”

“No thanks needed. You please me by joining me with so little notice. I know you don’t like my timing. I wanted to get better.”

She laughed. “Don’t even worry about it. This is very good.
You
did good, Santi.”

Della let him whisk her home to pack a bag, and they were off to the marina where he’d had his captain park the yacht. She couldn’t get over the fact that he’d said he had a small crew, including a chef, who would cook for them the entire four days. The man was just too damn rich, bringing his yacht all the way to America just to impress her. One could only imagine the issues with customs and visas he’d had to work out and such. She had no idea of the details. How could she be mad at his short timing? She hadn’t missed the important information that he had cleared his schedule. That was one of the things she’d worried about, Santi not respecting her schedule and never inconveniencing himself. He had cleared his for her, and her love for him exploded to new levels.

When Santi drew up to the marina and helped her out of the car, she was glad to see that the rental agency had a man there waiting to take the vehicle. Santi led her down toward the pier, and the sound of sails clinking against metal poles met her ears, along with the gentle lap of the water. Della paid none of it any mind because Santi led her past all the nice but smaller sailboats and farther down a ridiculously long part of the pier. Della’s mouth fell open at the massive yacht. Santi had said it was over one hundred feet long. She didn’t remember the exact number, but the thing looked like it was three stories, not including the top. She blinked at it and almost missed the captain standing just ahead of them on the gangplank.

Santi extended his hand to the salt and pepper-haired man, and the two spoke in rapid Spanish to each other. Her lover turned to her and rested a hand at her lower back. “
Capitán Del Rosario, este es Della Hayes.
Della, Captain Del Rosario will take care of us while we are on the water. Please, do not hesitate to ask him anything.”

Della shook the captain’s hand, and he said something to her in heavily accented English she didn’t catch. Assuming it was welcome or whatever, she nodded and offered her thanks and walked ahead of Santi onto the boat. As Santi showed her about the luxurious vessel, they stopped in the grand room with a large table and chairs all around it. Deep, rich brown wood that shone as if just waxed, pristine white tablecloths with nary a wrinkle, and off to the side, a serving area, china and crystal waiting for them took Della’s breath away. A young Spanish woman appeared from around a corner, dressed in a simple uniform of white blouse and plain skirt. She greeted Santi first and then smiled at Della.

“Della, this is our solo stew,” he said. “She assists the chef and with anything you need. However, her English is very limited. I have tried to think of everything, but if there is anything, Maria will be able to help.”

Della didn’t know how Maria could possibly help if Della had to resort to hand signals to make herself understood, but she figured there couldn’t be anything she would require. As long as Santi fed her, she was good.