Tangled in Tulle: Tulle and Tulips, Book 1 Read Free Page B

his wedding.
    Her belly bottomed out at the idea of Trevor marrying another woman. Images of standing mid-ceremony, listing the reasons he shouldn’t get married swam in her head in a dizzying swirl.
    “Anytime.” His voice dropped to an intimate level.
    “What?” She shook her head and looked at Damien.
    “Anytime.”
    Again she thought he’d like to see their relationship travel a less professional path. Even with Trevor off the market she wasn’t interested. Damien was a nice man, but he did nothing for her. Even if he did, a merger he thought would look good on paper for the sake of his political goals wasn’t for her. Hell, the reporters would rip into her past and Damien’s dreams would shatter. Some of her skeletons could never be cremated.
    She waved as he stepped into the waiting elevator and headed back to Trevor’s office. He sat at the small conference table where he’d been throughout their afternoon-long meeting. The table where he’d once spread her out like his buffet. And then they’d switched places.
    “Are you satisfied?”
    “Excuse me?” He’d asked the same back then, in the same tone. Could he know where her mind had traveled?
    “Are you satisfied?” he repeated with a quizzical tilt to an eyebrow. “With the contract?”
    “Of course.” She moved back to the chair she’d vacated and picked up her copy of the contract left by Gina. The papers bound at the top with a heavy blue cover, with initials, signatures and notary seals on the pertinent pages rested between her fingers with a heavy freedom. It was real. Her dream was real. “Do I want to know how you knew who represented me? I might have liked to call my attorney myself.”
    “It’s nothing as underhanded as you think. You and Bill spoke about him. I took a chance and called to see if he still represented you.”
    “Which could have put me in an awkward spot if he didn’t.”
    “But he does so there’s no problem.”
    “You’re arrogant and take too much for granted.”
    “And you were eager to get this contract finalized.”
    “Apparently so were you, but that doesn’t mean I appreciate the liberties you take. It makes me wonder if I’ve made a mistake taking you on as a partner.” If perhaps he wasn’t primarily driven by his wedding plans, because the sooner she was set up for clients the faster she could work on his special day. And meet his fiancée—an inevitable event she dreaded.
    “You won’t regret me, Lori.”
    “Mr. Masters.” Gina stepped just inside the office and folded her hands in front of her, not quite demure so much as proper. Lori much preferred her to Trevor’s last, and very pompous, assistant Edwin. “Randy is ready for you.”
    Taking the announcement of Trevor’s next appointment as a dismissal, Lori began gathering her things. She almost missed the pleased grin flirting with the corners of his mouth, and damn if it didn’t have her pulse pumping harder for a beat and her heart wishing she was the cause.
    “Lori, leave that.” He moved around the table and pulled her from her chair. “I’d like to show you…something.”
    Something slid off his tongue like a secret she shouldn’t trust. Surprises had never been friendly to her but operative work had taught her how many insights could be gained by following without argument. “What are you up to?”
    “Business.”
    “We agreed—”
    “That I could pass on contacts to you. I’m only going to introduce you to someone.”
    “Then why say you had some thing to show me?” He was leaving out details.
    “Poor word choice.”
    A harsh laugh almost burst free. Trevor always had the right words for any situation. It was a skill that had irritated her even while attracting her. It was the attractive part which intrigued her, and had her being led to the elevator with his hand flattened at the small of her back.
    Her heart leapt. Maybe from his touch or from the idea he still felt something for her. The latter, whispered