Shattered (25 page)

"Remember, I'm a lawyer. I work in a very conservative office."

"Hey, the stuff I brought you is classic. Timeless. It can go anywhere." Nola's eyes twinkled at her. "Which is why I'm giving it to you. They're basically my mistakes. Who wants to be boring?"

"Oh, thanks a lot."

"You know I mean it lovingly. Oh, wow, look who's here!"

She was staring over Lisa's shoulder. Lisa, who had her back to the door, turned to look. At first, scanning the crowd gathered behind the hostess's stand, she didn't think she saw anyone she knew.

"I don't . . ." she began.

"They're on their way to a table." Nola was already waving. "Oh my God, he is so hot. Tell me you don't think so."

"Who are we . . . ?" Lisa's voice trailed off as she spotted Scott. In that single glance she saw that he was wearing a medium-blue suit, that he was with some people from the office, and that the whole group was following one of the black-clad hostesses toward the private back room that was mostly kept for VIPs, which, as the local DA, Scott now was.

And he was, indeed, looking hot.

Having seen them, Scott acknowledged Nola's newest wave with an uplifted hand, said something to the group around him, and headed toward them. Lisa recognized some of the people he was with--Pratchett, Ellis, and Kane, who shot her a dirty look--and lifted a halfhearted hand toward them in greeting. Everybody except Kane waved back.

Well, screw Kane.

"Don't forget he's my boss now," Lisa turned back to hiss.

"How hot is that?" Nola's grin was wicked. "Have you jumped him in the office yet?"

"No!"

"Don't tell me you haven't thought about it."

"No, I actually haven't."

"I bet the sex would be phenomenal. He is such a stud. All those muscles--"

"Nola." Lisa was acutely aware of Scott approaching. The last thing she wanted was for him to overhear. "Hush."

She of the tawny complexion who never blushed could feel her face heating as Scott neared the table. It was all because of Nola's nonsense, of course, and she shot her friend a killer look that she hoped would be sufficient to keep the coming conversation at least approximately G-rated. She hadn't seen Scott since Wednesday night. He'd called her yesterday to tell her that he had a copy of the Garcia file in front of him, that she did indeed bear a marked resemblance to the woman in the picture, and that he was, as he had said he would, having someone look into the case further. When she'd made a sound of alarm, he'd promised that he'd kept her out of it, and would continue to keep her out of it, until they had some idea of where any leads that might turn up were going to take them. Then he'd once again told her to leave the case alone. When she had demurred--actually, what she'd said was "Yeah, right"--he'd told her it wasn't a request, it was an order. This she had considered a piece of typical Scott arrogance, and told him so. His reply was something along the lines that this was work-related, not personal, and she had damned well better do as he said. The upshot had been that she'd hung up on him. Last night he'd stopped by the hospital briefly, but she'd been downstairs in the cafeteria grabbing a late dinner with Andy and had missed him. This morning she'd gone back to work, where she'd been so snowed under that she hadn't resurfaced until lunch, which she would have worked through if she hadn't had plans with Nola. But even if she had hoped to see Scott at the office--which she hadn't--it wouldn't have mattered, because he'd spent the morning somewhere else.

Now, despite their recent quarrel, despite everything, she discovered that she was too glad to see him for her own peace of mind.

"Scott!" Nola shot up to give him a big hug as he reached their table. She was her usual sexy self in a hot-pink sleeveless blouse with a black mid-thigh-length skirt that bloomed with pink hibiscus, along with tons of jewelry and sky-high heels. With her curves pressed against Scott's powerful frame, she looked as impossibly feminine as a Barbie.

"Nola." Scott suffered the hug more than returned it. He'd always been a little standoffish where Nola, who was nothing if not predatory toward the men she was attracted to, was concerned. His eyes met Lisa's over Nola's shoulder. "Hello, Lisa."

"Hello, Scott." She narrowed her eyes at him. He smiled at her, a slow, intimate smile that made her heart start to beat a little faster.

Good God, I'm as bad as Nola.

At the thought, her brows snapped together. Maddeningly, his smile widened.

"I hear you're quite the hero." Nola released him to slide, with obvious reluctance, back into her seat.

"How so?"

"I told her how you rescued me from my burning house." Lisa flicked a glance up at him. "Scooped me up in your arms and all that. She practically drooled."

"Yeah, well, every now and then I have to get my knight-in-shining-armor fix in. You know how it is."

Nola giggled.

Lisa didn't. "What does that make me, the damsel in distress?" she asked tartly.

"More like the princess in the tower." Their eyes met.

Before she could reply, Nola turned her best high-wattage smile on him. "I haven't seen you in forever. Why don't you join us?"

"He's with some people." Lisa barely resisted the urge to kick Nola under the table. "Besides, we're almost finished."

"I was just thinking about ordering dessert."

That was news to Lisa, as Nola, who was perpetually on a diet, never ate dessert, and she knew perfectly well that Lisa, who sometimes did, didn't have time. Pretending not to see Lisa's look of surprise and smiling for all she was worth at Scott, Nola did a subtle wriggle and back arch that made the most of her curves. It was one of her trademark come-hither moves. Lisa reckoned she must have seen it a thousand times over the years. Scott's eyes dipped just as they were supposed to, and Lisa realized he was doing exactly what countless other males before him had done: taking in the view. Nola's neckline plunged to a deep vee that Lisa had little doubt provided Scott, from his vantage point above them, with a bird's-eye view of a copious amount of grade-A cleavage. Which was just what Nola wanted, of course. She was a shameless flirt, always had been, always would be, and used her ample assets to maximum advantage. She'd been after Scott since she'd first hit puberty, so far without success. Until this moment, Lisa had always rather admired Nola's aggressiveness toward the men she set her sights on. In private moments, Nola would wickedly sing "What Nola wants, Nola gets" about the men she was after, and Lisa would always laugh along, because it was pretty much true.

But this time she wasn't quite so amused. Not when Nola's sights were turned on Scott.

Though why it should bother her so she refused to let herself even begin to think about.

He must have felt the weight of Lisa's gaze, because his eyes lifted suddenly to meet hers. She couldn't help it: The look she gave him was downright frosty.

"Anyway, I guarantee we're much more fun than the people he's with," Nola added. "They don't look exciting at all."

"Not polite," Lisa warned her through a smile that she devoutly hoped didn't look as stiff as it felt.

Nola ignored her.

"I wish I could." Scott was once again looking at Nola--in the face this time--while the slightest of smiles touched his mouth. Lisa found she didn't much like that smile. It was, she suspected, a reaction to her own cold glare. "But unfortunately it's a business lunch. Much as I might like to, I can't skip out on it. Not even to join two such beautiful ladies."

At that piece of blatant, un-Scott-like flattery, Lisa's smile turned into more of a sneer. Not that anyone noticed.

"That's too bad." Nola made a charming little moue. Then her eyes brightened. "You know, come to think of it, I am
so
glad we ran into you. Mark Thomas--you remember Mark Thomas?--and I were supposed to go with Lisa and Joel and some other friends to the Fourth of July party at the country club tomorrow night, but, um, I just broke up with him, so that's out. But I still want to go. Which means I need a date." Her smile beamed brighter than ever. "You could take me. If you wanted to."

Lisa heard that with something very close to horror. Like Nola's, her eyes fastened on Scott's face. She had a feeling that the expression in hers was quite different, however.
Appalled
probably would come closest to describing it.

Scott's smile widened. "Definitely I want to."

For an instant Lisa couldn't believe what she was hearing. She was sure her jaw dropped. Fortunately, Scott was smiling at Nola, and neither of them was looking at her at all.

"Really?" Nola's tone was suddenly that of a thrilled little girl. But she made a quick recovery. "That's wonderful. We'll have such a good time, I know. The country club puts on the most amazing bashes."

Lisa remembered that Scott had never, to her knowledge, been to one. The country club was very exclusive, and unless you were a member or the guest of a member, you didn't get in, period. As a girl, she'd swum there, played tennis there, gone to dances and parties and Fourth of July celebrations there, year in and year out, without even thinking about it. It was part of the fabric of her life. But not Scott's. Never Scott's.

"How about I call you later and we work out the details?" He was still smiling at Nola. To her own annoyance, Lisa found herself suddenly feeling very much like a third wheel, and she didn't like the sensation. And what she really didn't like was the fact that she didn't like it.

Nola beamed back at him. "Do you have my number?"

"If I don't, I'll find it." He threw Lisa a smiling glance that made her think that he might have some small inkling of the depth of her displeasure. Immediately, she schooled her expression. The last thing she wanted to do was glare at him. "You don't mind me horning in on your date, do you, Princess?"

Lisa was spared having to answer as the waitress came up to their table.

"Anything else, ladies?" she asked.

Lisa shook her head. "Just the check, please." Her voice was probably crisper than it needed to be, and she vowed to work on that, too, before she said anything else.

"What about dessert?" Scott asked.

"I guess not today." Nola should have been an actress: She sounded genuinely regretful. It was all Lisa could do not to roll her eyes.

"I hate to eat and run, but I have to go." As the waitress left the check, Lisa pulled out a twenty--she knew exactly how much her share was, because she almost always got the tuna plate--and put it down on the table. "I have to be in court at one, and I don't dare be late."

"Yeah, I hear your boss is a real hard-ass," Scott drawled, making Nola giggle again. The sound grated on Lisa like fingernails on a blackboard. Sliding from the booth, she shot Scott a withering look. He was the one she was finding excruciatingly annoying. Nola, bless her man-eating little soul, was just being Nola.

"Lisa, wait! Don't leave without letting me give you those boxes," Nola called after her as Lisa, with a nonchalant "Bye" and a wave for the pair of them, started to weave her way between the tables and toward the door. A glance back told her that Nola, following, was just a couple of yards behind her. Scott still stood beside the booth they had just vacated, saying something to the waitress. Realizing where her eyes were resting, she jerked her gaze forward again. Then, with Nola catching up, she did her best to eradicate the grim look from her face. As she pushed through the door and into the wall of bright, blazing humidity that was the parking lot, Nola was right behind her.

"Sweetie, I'm not stepping on your toes or anything, am I?" Nola sounded faintly breathless. Lisa realized she was walking too fast for a woman calmly exiting a friendly lunch, and slowed down. "If I'd thought you wanted him, I never would have asked him out. You know that."

Clearly, Lisa realized with chagrin, her displeasure had been visible, and knowing Scott, she doubted he had missed it, either.
Damn.
Pinning a smile on her face, working hard to recover her equilibrium, she glanced sideways at Nola, who had fallen in beside her as they walked across the crowded parking lot toward where their cars were parked side by side.

"I'm not interested in him."

"Are you sure? 'Cause I have to tell you, you're putting out some pretty strong vibes that say otherwise."

A sharp blast from a car horn somewhere nearby made Lisa jump, an overreaction that wouldn't have happened if her nerves hadn't been so on edge. Almost immediately identifying the sound, she was annoyed at herself. Fortuni's was located on a corner, and the intersection in front of them teemed with midday traffic. The swoosh of tires and the stop-and-go sounds of vehicles braking for the light served as background noise for the click of their heels on the asphalt. The smell of gasoline-tinged exhaust hung heavy in the air. The new, twenty-story bank building across the street was fronted with mirrored glass that gave off a glare so blinding that Lisa had to shade her eyes with her hand. Was it any wonder that she was getting back the headache she thought she had controlled with regular doses of Tylenol?

"Lisa?"

Okay, be cool.

Lisa made a face. "It 's just that he irritates the bejesus out of me sometimes. Did you hear those 'Princess' cracks? He 's been calling me that for at least a dozen years, it ticks me off every time, and he knows it. Which is why he does it, of course."

"Oh." Nola didn't sound totally convinced. "I'd forgotten how you two always used to snipe at each other. Um, but if it is a problem, just tell me. I'll call Mr. Hunky District Attorney and tell him it's a no-go so fast it'll leave a vapor trail. Bro's before ho's, or whatever the female equivalent is, that's my motto."

Lisa had to laugh. Nola would, she knew. All she had to do was say the word.

Not in this lifetime.

"No, it's fine. Though I have to say, when you were asking
my boss
out, did it never occur to you that it might be a little awkward for me to go on a double date with him?"

Nola gave her a mischievous look. "You know, when I asked him out, I was thinking more about the
hunky
and less about the
district attorney.
And I definitely was not thinking anything about
my best friend's boss.
"