showing that he’d kept himself in shape.
Really good shape. Erin’s mouth got wet.
Oh, she wanted it to be true. She wanted to see him, to get a chance for at least one date where he saw her as a woman, not as Dustin’s little sister.
Only he looked as surprised as she felt, but a lot less happy.
‘A client,’ he repeated, this time with his look boring into her. The words came out in rapid-fire shots, but she didn’t know what they meant.
Erin stood rooted to the spot, feeling helpless. Was he that put off by her? Was he that loyal to her parents?
A perfect match.
Nina had said that, and she had heard it.
She’d heard almost nothing else.
With a low curse, Colton turned away. Lacing his fingers behind his neck, he walked over to the window to look out at the DC evening skyline. This late into fall, darkness was coming earlier and earlier. The colours of traffic lights glinted, along with the halos of streetlights all in a row.
‘Is there a problem?’ Nina asked.
As tense as Erin felt, the woman seemed calm and composed. Did she not feel the raw emotion snapping around the room, bouncing off the walls and even the furniture?
‘We know each other,’ Colton bit out, his voice like ice.
‘Would you like to cancel?’ The woman wasn’t rattled in the slightest. She turned to Erin. ‘I could find someone else for you.’
‘No!’ He crossed the room as if he was approaching the bench, argument in hand. Squaring off across from Nina, he jabbed a finger against her desk. ‘You aren’t going to set her up with anyone else.’
‘Else?’ Nina repeated.
Erin’s weight rocked forward to the tips of her toes.
For just a split second, Colt looked uncharacteristically off-kilter. ‘I mean, you aren’t going to set her up with anyone.’
‘Well, since I already have –’ Nina leaned forward and braced both hands on her desk ‘– I wish you a good evening together.’
Erin was standing on the brink of a major precipice. She could tilt into happiness like she’d never known or be in for a world of hurt. If he told her family, she’d get a long lecture from her father about the dangers of going out with strangers. Her brother would go into protective overdrive, and her mother would talk about the nice men from the Capitol Hill Club. But if he agreed?
‘Don’t send me to Daddy,’ she whispered. ‘Please.’
A stern expression settled on his face, but she didn’t waver. She lifted her chin and met his dark gaze. She savoured the opportunity to just look at him. He was so handsome, and it had been so long. She knew he was a busy, important man now. He didn’t drop by her parents’ house any more. If Dustin was having a barbecue and she went, he rarely showed.
Time strung out on a razor wire.
At last, he grimaced and dipped his head. ‘Aw, Sunny, what have you got yourself into?’
She melted inside. Nobody called her that any more. ‘Please, Colt? Take me out. Just the two of us. Just once?’
He ran a hand through his hair. It was shorter than it had been the last time she’d seen him, but still long enough for her to want to touch. ‘I’ll take you to dinner,’ he finally said, ‘but only because we need to talk about this.’
The circular gesture he made with his hand was jerky.
‘Then I’m taking you home.’
She beamed at him. Absolutely felt like she’d sprouted wings. She’d dreamed about him taking her home for ever. ‘Great,’ she said, her voice thick. ‘Then I can show you my new apartment.’
He frowned. ‘You didn’t move back in with your parents?’
So he’d heard about her break-up.
‘No.’ Summoning the confidence Nina insisted she should have, Erin crossed the room and looped her arm through his. He stiffened but didn’t pull away. Her breast ached where his arm touched her, and she leaned into him more heavily. He felt warm and hard and thoroughly male. ‘I’m not a little girl any more. I’m all grown up.’
In every sense of the word.
‘Take me on a date, Colt.’ Show her what she’d been missing.
The mean, tough trial attorney looked fit to be tied as he led Erin out of the room. Nina folded her arms across her chest and nodded her goodbye. It wasn’t two minutes later when Rielle snuck back into the room.
‘He didn’t look happy.’
‘But Erin does.’ Nina unlocked her knees and felt them waver once again. That had been too close. She’d known she was running a risk choosing him. If he came after her, she’d have a fight on her hands. She had connections in the legal system, but they didn’t climb much higher than Colton King. The guy was a shark in the courtroom. She didn’t want him swimming around her company, looking for weak spots.
But little Erin had out-manoeuvred him.
Nina ran her fingers along the blue glass paperweight that held down both her clients’ files. She was good at seeking out weak spots too, and she already knew what King’s was.
‘He had me worried,’ Rielle admitted.
‘Listening at the door?’
Her employee looked guilty, but then flipped her hair over her shoulder. ‘I was ready to ride to the rescue.’
‘I don’t believe that will be needed,’ Nina said. ‘I think we just did a very good thing.’
Or so she hoped.
Rielle sat down and let out a shaky breath. ‘Did I hear right? Did he call her “Sunny”?’
‘It’s a family nickname, I believe. For her hair.’
‘It didn’t sound that way when he said it.’
No. No, it hadn’t.
But the stern lawyer had a spine made of titanium. If he couldn’t bend or give in to the sweetness being so innocently offered to him, they could have problems.
‘What do we do now?’ Rielle asked.
‘We sit back and see what happens.’
Nina had a feeling she’d be watching with both hands covering her eyes, because they’d either just fixed things or got themselves into one hell of a fix.
Erin got onto the elevator and stood close to Colton’s side. She barely heard the floors ticking off over the pounding of her heart. She couldn’t believe this was happening. Her biggest secret wish.
Had Sienna known?
Oh, who cared? Her roommate was going to get the biggest hug when she saw her.
Erin snuggled closer to Colt’s arm, but his muscles were tense. He hadn’t said a word to her since they’d left Luxxor’s offices.
‘Why are you upset?’ she asked softly. She knew when he was in a temper. It was when he was at his quietest.
‘Not here,’ he said, jerking his chin at the security camera in the upper corner of the lift.
Erin frowned. She hadn’t even known it was there.
Rubbing his arm uncertainly, she waited until they were on the first floor, heading for the door. ‘Well, I’m happy to see you,’ she whispered.
‘I’m happy to see you, too,’ he said, jaw tight. ‘Just not like this.’
‘Like what?’
He