Legal Action - Box Set Read Free Page B

actually married him. The other was what she liked to think of as her ‘favorite mistake.’
                  A waiter brought champagne, Veuve Cliquot, her favorite, and they toasted her victory.
                  Billy raised his glass a second time and said, “And that Charlotte can give Bly International exactly what they need.”
                  “I’m certain she will,” Bly said calmly and they all touched their glasses together. 
                  Jack and Billy were studying their menus, she didn’t need to, she knew the menu by heart.
                  Bly didn’t look at his menu either, he looked at her and she saw what she’d seen in his eyes years back. Lust, plain and simple, sexual need.
                  “So you’re dating our future governor?” he asked, out of the blue, and quickly drained his champagne glass.
                  “Witt? No, we attend events together. He hasn’t decided to run for governor yet.”
                  “I see, you’re not dating him but he tells you his political plans? How about his personal hopes and dreams?” His voice had an edge to it, as if he were annoyed. 
                  She didn’t answer, just sipped her champagne and stared out the window at the blue of the ocean in the distance.
                  The waiter appeared and Bly said, “You haven’t looked at the menu.”
                  She ordered the prawns, then looked at Bly and said, “I don’t need to, I always know what I want.”
                  “At least you think you do,” he said, looking into her eyes, holding her gaze in his. He handed the menu to the waiter without looking up and ordered the trout with asparagus.
                  Jack and Billy were busy ordering, unaware of the tension between the two.
                  “Where are you meeting him tonight?” He refilled his glass and sounded more than irritated.
                  “The Mayor’s Gala at the museum in Balboa Park,” she said, twisting her long hair into a make-do chignon. She absent-mindedly pinned her hair and wanted to add, not that it’s any of your business .
                    “Good,” he said, his eyes studying her pale, graceful neck, “then I’ll be sure to see you there.”
    *
                  She looked through her closet that evening for the perfect dress to wear. Funny, she wouldn’t have cared if she’d been dressing just for Witt, but she wasn’t. The thought made her mad, she absolutely hated feeling that she was not in control , and she wasn’t. Her body had already betrayed her today. She heard the locker room banter as Finn and JP burst through her front door and beer bottles being grabbed from the fridge and opened. She threw the dress she was holding on the bed, leaned over the railing of her loft bedroom and shouted at them to go away and never come back.
                  They stared up at her for a minute, then both started up the stairs talking about her as if she weren’t there.
                  “Probably that time of the month, you know how she gets,” JP said.
                  “Yeah, right bitchy she gets, it’s a shame. Is that it, old girl, PMS?” Finn asked, and he and JP laughed, stood drinking their beers, stared at the pile of gowns on her bed.
                  “Shut up, both of you and stay out of my apartment unless you’re invited, which you never will be again!” She sank to the floor on top of a pile of lingerie and started to cry.
                  “Just look what you’ve done, JP, you insensitive bastard. You’ve made her weep and I can’t bear to see her unhappy.” Finn sat down beside her and hugged her to him, JP offered her his beer.
                  “I hate beer,” she said, “and I have