My Guilty Pleasure

Jamie Denton

www.millsandboon.co.uk

Table of Contents

Cover

Title Page

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Copyright

1

“HEY THERE, BABE. You come here often?”

By the sheer grace of what remaining patience she had left after a particularly rotten day, Joey Winfield resisted the urge to flip the bird at the scruffy biker with the tired old pickup line. She was in no mood for flirtations, harmless or otherwise. She’d come to Rosalie’s, a roadhouse located on the outskirts of Boston, for one reason—to blow off some steam. She’d wanted a place where no one knew where she came from, that she was one of “the” Boston Winfields. A place where the whiskey wasn’t watered down and where she could get rowdy if she wanted to or just sit quietly and contemplate the bottom of several empty glasses of bourbon. At Rosalie’s, no one would judge her every move.

Maybe she’d even kick a little ass at the pool tables tonight. She was in that kind of mood.

She manufactured a saccharine sweet smile for the biker blocking her path. “Not as often as you comb your hair,” she said saucily as she sidestepped the bear of a man and continued toward the bar before he realized he’d just been insulted.

Sidling up to the long mahogany bar scarred with age, she signaled for Mitch, the bartender. Perched on an empty black vinyl bar stool, she hooked the heels of her scuffed cowboy boots on the chrome rung. “Jack. Neat,” she ordered when the bald-as-a-cue-ball bartender, who made the scruffy biker look puny in comparison, worked his way down the bar to her.

Mitch’s bushy unibrow winged upward at her request, but he didn’t offer comment as he set a glass in front of her and poured a generous two fingers’ worth of whiskey. Hard drinking was a staple of Rosalie’s and Joey had every intention of doing some herself.

She fingered a twenty from the front pocket of her figure-hugging jeans and slapped it on the bar. “Better make it a double.” She slid the bill toward Mitch. “And a pack of Marlboro Lights while you’re at it.”

That unibrow rose another fraction as he snagged a pack of cigarettes from the rack near the register. “Bad day?” he asked, tipping the bottle of JD again.

More like a bad year.

“You have no idea.” She took a swig of Jack Daniel’s, then tamped the pack on the bar before ripping it open and withdrawing a cigarette. Her throat would feel like seared meat come morning, but she didn’t much care. She had a serious edge in need of smoothing out and could use all the help she could get in that department.

“How’s your sister?” About a year ago she’d met Mitch through his sister, Lissa, who’d been a resident of the halfway house where Joey mentored troubled girls. The bald, tattooed bartender was capable of keeping the roughest customers in line but was a giant marshmallow where his little sister was concerned.

“Keeping her nose clean, last I heard,” he said, offering her a light. “Phoenix is a good place for her.”

“Glad to hear it,” she said. Lissa had been a mixed-up kid who’d gotten in with the wrong crowd and ended up in trouble, despite her big brother’s efforts to the contrary. She’d served three months in County on an accessory conviction to a B&E, then had been released to the halfway house for the first six months of a three-year probationary period. Joey had been the one to convince Lissa’s probation officer to allow the girl to relocate to Phoenix to live with an aunt for a fresh start. It pleased her to hear the situation was working out well for Lissa.

“Anything else?” Mitch asked.

She shook her head and drew on the cigarette. “Thanks, I’m good.”

Mitch nodded then took off to answer the call for more drinks from a pair of weary-looking men at the other end of the long bar. She took another sip of whiskey, then glanced around at the smattering of tables. She didn’t recognize any of the patrons, but then she wasn’t exactly a regular at Rosalie’s, either.

She supposed she could’ve gone to Chassy, the trendy bar on Boston’s south side that her half sister, Lindsay Beckham, owned, but she wasn’t in the mood to be sociable or hang with the girls. Conversation wasn’t high on her list of priorities tonight. In fact, the last thing she wanted tonight was to be Josephine Winfield, born with a silver spoon up her privileged ass. Tonight she wanted to just be Joey, a girl looking to raise a little hell.

Just once she wanted to be herself and not worry about the consequences.

A sardonic smile twisted her lips before she drew heavily on the Marlboro. What a concept, she thought, blowing out a plume of blue smoke. But who did she think she was kidding? She’d been so tied up in being what everyone else wanted her to be, or thought she should be, she’d forgotten what the real Joey was even like. Maybe she never really knew, but one thing she did know with absolute certainty—she was so sick to death of pretending to be the good girl she could scream.

But that didn’t mean she didn’t enjoy a few minor rebellions on occasion. Like Molly, the high-priced Bengal cat she’d bought because it kept her Great Aunt Josephine and her snooty daughter, Eve, who were both severely allergic, from dropping in on her unannounced. Or the sleek fire-engine red sports car she drove, which made her Grandmother Winfield frown with disapproval whenever she buzzed past the main house to the carriage house, located on the extensive grounds of the Winfield family home. But those were the only acts of defiance her family was aware of…of that she made certain. Her grandmother and great aunt’s blue hair would turn a shocking shade of purple if they knew that deep down, their little golden girl, little miss Harvard Law graduate, Josephine “Joey” Winfield was bad to the bone.

Maybe she should think about finding herself an apartment in the city. Despite the lack of real privacy she had by living on the family estate, the problem was, Joey actually liked living in the carriage house. She enjoyed the quiet, especially the view of the beautifully manicured grounds, particularly the English garden. During the warmer months, she often spent her weekend mornings outside on the little flagstone patio with her morning coffee, a toasted bagel slathered with cream cheese and the Times crossword puzzle. But Sunday mornings were her quiet time, something she looked forward to all week.

Later would be soon enough for quiet time. Tonight, loud was on her agenda. Rowdy, even. There was that crappy day to shake off, after all, and the sooner, the better.

Her day had started out like any other, until Molly had made her run late. Somehow her mischievous cat had managed to jump on top of the entertainment center. The stubborn feline had refused to come down, regardless of the fact she’d spent nearly ten minutes yowling in distress over her predicament.

A run in her nylons and a chipped nail later, she’d driven like a bat out of hell to get to the office in time for a meeting with one of the managing partners to discuss the status of an important case she had coming up for trial. She’d been stunned to learn that she wouldn’t be the lead trial attorney in the matter, but instead had been relegated to second chair, working with some new hotshot litigator the firm had spent weeks recruiting to head up their litigation department.

And what had she done about it? Not a damn thing. She’d very calmly expressed her disappointment, despite the fact she’d been seething inside. Not so much as a single forceful objection. Barely even a real protest, for that matter. She’d just sat there, saying nothing about the hours she’d spent preparing the case for trial, drafting motions and interviewing several witnesses, or the time she’d spent prepping her client for what promised to be a difficult cross-examination. She’d done what she’d been raised to do—be the good girl and not make any waves.

Well, she had once. An outrageous tsunami that she doubted she’d ever hear the end of, or stop feeling guilty about. She was a disgrace to bad girls everywhere.

Angrily, she stubbed out her cigarette and downed another swallow of her drink. What she should’ve done was told Lionel Kane III to take the case and shove it, along with her position at the firm. But she hadn’t. God help her, she knew she wouldn’t. Gilson v. Pierce was an important case and although she wasn’t thrilled to play second fiddle to the firm’s newest flavor of the month, at least she hadn’t been removed from the case. To make matters worse, the managing partner had rubbed salt into an already open wound. Since trial was starting in another week, she’d been told it was up to her to bring the new guy up-to-date.

She hadn’t thought her day could get any worse, but she’d been wrong as it continued to spiral downward. The judge had denied her request for bail for one of the girls she mentored from the halfway house who’d been arrested on a possession charge. Not only did Ginny Karnes have to spend the weekend in the county jail, but the nineteen-year-old now faced revocation of her probation, which could result in her serving out the remainder of a five-year suspended sentence behind bars.

Things became even more chaotic when her secretary had gone home sick, having been struck by a particularly nasty flu bug making the rounds of the office. A meeting with one of the firm’s clients had gone badly. Then, to top off the end of a really nasty day, an impromptu dinner with her sisters had resulted in the announcement that her younger sister, Katie, and Liam James, Boston’s most eligible bachelor, were now engaged.

She took a long drink of her whiskey. Not that she’d ever begrudge any of her sisters a chance at real happiness. She was thrilled for Katie, but her little sister’s engagement to Liam only served to remind her that she was still painfully single with no prospects in sight. She suspected Brooke and David weren’t far behind on the matrimonial trail, either, for as much time as the two had been spending together the past couple of months.

Tired of feeling sorry for herself, she grabbed a couple of ones from the change Mitch had left on the bar and wove her way through the increasingly growing Friday night crowd to the jukebox. A country ballad blared through the speakers, but she wasn’t in the mood for a cryin’-in-your-beer song. Tonight it had to be rock—the harder, the better.

She slid the bills into the slot, then scanned the choices before making her selections. She settled on the latest from Korn along with a few of her other favorite rock bands.

“Excuse me, but I think you dropped this,” a deep male voice said suddenly from beside her.

Joey let out a sigh and turned, a “buzz off” comment hovering on her lips, half expecting to find the burly biker again. Instead, she found a stranger with traffic-stopping looks holding up a five-dollar bill between his long, slender fingers.

Bedroom eyes, she thought instantly. Rich, like smooth, dark chocolate. The kind that promised lust and sin, two of her favorite pastimes. The “get lost, creep” she’d been about to deliver immediately evaporated from her vocabulary.

He had the kind of build she found impossible to resist, too. All wide shoulders and lean hips. The kind that held up to the promise of that lush, dark gaze. Better yet, the cocky half smile canting his mouth had her toes curling inside her cowboy boots.

One look at that mouth and her imagination took off like a shot. Despite her foul mood, she smiled.

Mentally, she attempted to calculate how long it’d been since she’d gotten laid. After counting back six months and not coming up with a single memorable experience, her answering smile faded slightly.

Six months? That had to be a record.

For her anyway.

Considering everything that had been going on in her life, both personally and professionally, it was no wonder she’d been lacking in male companionship lately. Her mother had passed away in July after a brutal battle with pancreatic cancer, followed by the discovery of a half sister given up for adoption that she, Brooke and Katie hadn’t known existed. Only last month they’d been delivered another shock when they’d learned Brooke, her older sister, was only her half sister biologically. Not that Brooke’s parentage made a lick of difference to her or Katie, but they’d still been stunned by the news, especially Brooke. The Winfields, her mother in particular, apparently had more skeletons lurking behind their closet doors than a centuries-old mausoleum had tucked behind its marble walls.

She shuddered to think what might fall out next.

“I don’t think it’s mine,” she finally said. She had a few folded twenties still tucked into the front pocket of her jeans, her AmEx card in her hip pocket just in case and her cell phone hidden in the inside pocket of her suede bomber-style jacket along with her keys. Her smile returned. “But nice try.”

His smile deepened, crinkling the corners of those drown-in-me-forever brown eyes. “Too bad it didn’t work.”

“Maybe you should’ve made it a hundred,” she replied sassily, then headed back to the bar with his laughter ringing in her ears. He had a nice laugh, she thought as she slid back onto the bar stool. Open. Free. Like he used it often.

God, was there anything sexier?

She signaled to Mitch for a refill. A stab of disappointment pierced her when the money-wielding stud didn’t follow her to make another attempt to pick her up. Probably for the best. Her plan to blow off steam didn’t include sex with an anonymous stranger, no matter how good-looking or intriguing. That reckless, she wasn’t.

Or was she?

Using the long mirror behind the bar, she searched for Hunky Warbucks. She finally found him, seated in the rear of the bar near the pool tables. A slow smile tugged her lips again. Lordy, but he was nice. Nice and hot.

Mitch arrived with her fresh drink and she downed half of the fiery liquid in one gulp. “Let me have some quarters for the pool table,” she said, tugging another twenty from her pocket.

Mitch obliged, albeit from the look of warning in his eyes, begrudgingly. “No trouble tonight, Joey.”

“What trouble?”

His unibrow hiked skyward again over a disbelieving expression. “Yeah, right. The last time you came in here and shot pool you caused a fight.”

“Oh, like it was my fault those two goons thought I was the prize?” she scoffed. “Just give me the quarters, Mitch.”

“Do me a favor and be specific this time if you want to make it interesting, okay?” His hazel eyes narrowed. “No hustling the customers or I’ll eighty-six you from the place.”

“I never hustle,” she said in her best blue-blooded tone as she hopped off the bar stool. She picked up her drink, tucked the cigarettes and a book of matches into her jacket pocket and winked at Mitch. “I just play to win, is all.”

2

HER ASS WAS the sweetest thing he’d seen in ages. After having lived for several years in Miami, Sebastian Stanhope considered himself an expert on the subject.

The blonde bent over the pool table and attempted to line up a difficult shot. Curvy, he thought, eyeing that luscious behind. And firm. He’d bet a month’s salary that her sweet and curvy and firm ass would fit his hands to perfection.

Sebastian tipped back the beer he’d been nursing for the better part of the night in an attempt to cool his climbing temperature. It proved to be an exercise in futility the minute the sassy blonde bent forward again to take aim and make the winning shot. Damn if she didn’t sink the eight ball into the corner pocket like a pro, and look mighty fine doing it, too.

“That’s another fifty you owe me, Bose,” she said to a rough-looking biker.

All night Sebastian had been watching her hustle anyone foolish enough to accept the challenge. The woman didn’t know how to lose. He liked that.

“Damn, Joey,” the big man complained good-naturedly. He slipped two twenties and a ten from the wallet chained to his dirty jeans. “How’d a babe like you get so good at pool?”

“I played a lot in college,” she said, pocketing her winnings. “But hey, don’t worry—” she chalked the tip of her cue stick “—I’ll give you a chance to win your money back.”

Bose shook his head and laid his cue over the table. “Nah,” he said, “you’re too rich for my blood.”

A concept Sebastian understood all too well. He might have the Stanhope name, but the family fortune never had been, and never would be, his. What money he’d accumulated, he’d done so the old-fashioned way. He’d worked his tail off, putting in twice the billable hours as most of the other associates in the Miami law firm he’d joined right out of law school, and had hired a damn good broker to build up his portfolio. He wasn’t rich by old money, Bostonian standards, but he no longer had to hustle pool games to survive, either.

He finished off his beer and stood. Sauntering over to the pool table, he laid a buck’s worth of quarters down on the polished edge of the table.

Bose inclined his head in Sebastian’s direction. “Looks like you’ve got a new pigeon waiting to be plucked.”

The blonde looked over her shoulder at him, no doubt to size up the competition. Her blue eyes sparkled with excitement as a slow, easy smile spread across her pretty face.

“You play?” she asked.

He was no pigeon, which she’d find out soon enough. “A little.” Not exactly a lie, but hardly the truth. He just hadn’t played much lately, in part because it hadn’t been necessary to his survival. There’d been a time, not all that long ago, when a wager at the tables had been the difference between sleeping in his car or making the rent.

A definite gleam entered her gaze. “Care to make it interesting?”

He’d expected no less. The woman was a shark at the tables and had to be a good two to three hundred bucks richer in the time he’d watched her play. Not that he suspected she needed the cash. The woman smelled like money, from the expensive cut of her hair down to a pair of high-quality, albeit scruffy, boots. And he’d spent enough time with his nose pressed to the glass to know the difference.

“What did you have in mind?” he asked her.

She reached into her hip pocket and peeled off five twenties. “Interesting enough for you?” She tossed the bills onto the black circled mark on the green felt of the pool table.

He picked up the cue her previous challenger had left behind and tested the weight in his hand. “Not exactly what I had in mind.” He circled the table to her side.

She slipped a hank of honey-blond hair behind her ear. “I don’t know you well enough for that kind of wager.”

He set the base of the cue on the floor between his feet. With his hands wrapped around the stick, he leaned slightly forward, breathing in her scent. Amid the acrid odors of spilled beer and stale smoke that permeated the air, he caught her subtle fragrance, a light floral mixture. Expensive, too. Funny, but he’d pegged her for something more spicy and exotic. “No, but I’d bet you’d like to,” he said.

The blue of her eyes darkened, giving him all the answer he needed.

“Arrogant, aren’t you?” She angled her cue against the table while she dropped the quarters into the slot and waited for the balls to tumble into the tray.

He plucked the rack from the other side of the table and set it on the felt near the stack of twenties. “See? You’re getting to know me already.”

She chuckled softly, then started loading the balls into the rack. “Time to put up or shut up.”

He slipped his wallet from his hip pocket and pulled out a crisp hundred-dollar bill to match her bet. “Satisfied?”

Her smile was positively wicked, red-lining his libido. She scooped up the cash and set it on the side of the pool table, then removed the wooden triangular rack before retrieving her pool stick. “Your break,” she said, as was customary.

He lined up the shot and sent the cue ball soaring across the table. “So you come here often?” he asked above the loud crack. He kept his attention on the scattering balls and watched the four ball roll into the corner pocket.

“Boy, if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard that line.” She stepped out of his way when he circled the table looking for his next shot.

He took aim on the two ball and missed, distracted by the subtle scent of her perfume. “Better than ‘what’s your sign?’” But if he were guessing, he’d say a Taurus, or maybe a Scorpio. The tilt of her chin and the glint in her eye indicated a stubborn streak. Not that he was seriously in to astrology, but when he was growing up, his mother had never left the house without first consulting the obituaries and the astrology section of the Boston Globe.

“I’ll give you that.” She took aim and easily sank the eleven ball. “And, no. I don’t come here all that much. You?”

She didn’t strike him as the barfly type, but he couldn’t help wondering what someone like her was doing in a place like Rosalie’s. The place was a roadhouse in the truest sense of the word.

“New in town,” he said as she set up her next shot. Another half truth. He was full of them tonight.

“From where?” She sank the nine ball with a difficult bank shot.

“Miami.” He inclined his head toward the table. “Nice one.”

“Thanks.”

She slowly walked toward him, holding his gaze with every step. Damn if he didn’t have trouble remembering how to breathe. She bent forward to line up her next shot. Her slender fingers wrapped around the cue and she slowly slid the stick back and forth. His imagination headed south.

He cleared his throat.

She took aim, then missed. “So you get a sudden hankering for a long cold winter?”

He shrugged. “All that sunshine can wear on a guy after a while.” He hadn’t planned on returning to Boston, but when the offer from Samuel, Cyrus and Kane had come his way, he never once considered declining. Come Monday morning, he’d be the youngest partner on the letterhead of one of the city’s oldest and most prestigious firms, and heading up their litigation department. Not a bad gig for a guy like himself.

She made a sound that almost seemed like laughter. “Boston won’t disappoint you then.”

He leaned forward to line up his shot, then looked up at her. “So far it hasn’t.”

That wicked smile of hers returned. He shot and scratched.

She laughed again then effortlessly cleared the table, making one difficult play after the other until only two of his solid-colored balls and the eight ball remained. “In the side pocket.” She grazed the eight ball and sank it exactly where she’d called it.

“Thanks.” She scooped up her winnings and tucked the wad of cash into her back pocket. “Hello, Manolo,” she said, her grin widening. “Worthington is having a sale.”

“Play again?” he asked.

“Thanks, but no.” Her grin wavered slightly. “I really should be getting home. Maybe next time.”

She turned and walked away, heading toward the bar. He stared at the gentle sway of her hips in tight denim until his common sense took hold. What was wrong with him? He couldn’t let her get away just yet. He didn’t even know her name.

He caught up with her by the time she reached the bar. “You think you should be driving?” She hadn’t had a drink in at least ninety minutes. Her eyes weren’t glassy and her stride had been steady when she’d walked away from him. Honestly, he didn’t think driving under the influence was an issue at this point, but it was the best excuse he could come up with under pressure.

“Excuse me?”

He gave her his best winning smile. “Why don’t you let me buy you breakfast?”

“Thanks,” she said with a shake of her head, “but no. I’m fine.”

Yes, she was. Which was exactly his point. “There’s an all-night diner across the road. Just breakfast.”

She hesitated. He took that as a good sign in his favor.

“Coffee?” he offered.

“Maybe I could use some coffee.”

He smiled. “Good idea.”

“Hey, Mitch,” she called out to the bartender. “You want anything from the diner?”

Smart girl, Sebastian thought.

“No, I’m good,” the bartender answered, then looked him over and gave him a hard stare, leaving Sebastian with the distinct impression he’d suffer a severe pounding should anything happen to the blonde under his watch.

“TWO EGGS OVER EASY. Bacon, crisp. Rye toast,” Joey told the waitress.

“Pancakes and eggs for me,” her breakfast companion ordered. “With a side of sausage links.” He handed the waitress the menus.

Joey admired his long slender fingers and took a sip of hot coffee. “So, you have a name?”

He stirred cream and sugar into his own mug. “Sebastian.”

“First or last?”

“First. You?”

“Joey,” she said. Just Joey.

He set his spoon on the saucer. “I gotta ask. What’s a nice girl like you doing hanging out at a roadhouse like Rosalie’s?”

She hid a smile behind her mug. “What makes you think I’m a nice girl?”

“You made sure the bartender knew you were leaving with me,” he said, then took a sip of his coffee.

“Caution does not necessarily equate to being a nice girl.”

“You trying to convince me you’re a bad girl?”

She shrugged. “Maybe.” Maybe she’d take him home and screw his brains out. That ought to convince him.

The possibility intrigued her more than it should. Not that a tumble in the sack with him would be a hardship. Far from it. There wasn’t much about the man she didn’t find appealing. Even his arrogance was sexy.

He chuckled. “I think maybe not.”

She tried not to feel insulted. “You don’t know me.”

“I’d like to,” he said, then took another sip of his coffee. “Get to know you, I mean.”

And she’d like to get to know him. But then what?

The waitress returned with their meal, saving her from having to conjure up an answer. Still, she couldn’t help wondering how long she’d hold his interest. Until he discovered where she came from and became so intimidated by the Winfield name, and all that it implied, that he’d ditch her cold? He wouldn’t be the first guy scared off by her family’s wealth and reputation. The Winfield name was as old and prestigious as Massachusetts itself. Rumor had it they had roots as far back as the Mayflower. Thanks to her ancestors, and a ridiculous fortune made in the shipping business, she had more money in her trust fund than her grandchildren’s children would ever be able to spend.

Or maybe until he realized she wasn’t the clingy type and was perfectly content living alone? Or maybe until he learned that aside from her family, her career ranked at the top of her list of priorities?

“Are you allergic to cats?” she asked suddenly.

He slathered butter on his pancakes. “No. Do you like dogs?”

“Very much,” she said. Brooke was allergic, but Katie had recently acquired a cocker spaniel, which she’d taken to spoiling whenever she visited her sister.

“I know you like hard rock,” he said, pouring a generous amount of syrup over his pancakes.

She salted and peppered her eggs, then mixed them with her hash browns. “My tastes vary,” she admitted. She liked everything from hard rock to hip-hop to the stuff from the sixties and seventies her mother used to play so often, in addition to classical and opera. In fact, she was supposed to accompany her grandmother to a chamber music performance Sunday afternoon. “Let me guess, you’re a country boy at heart.”

He shook his head and his grin turned sheepish. “Motown. None of those CD remakes or compilations, either. Vinyl or nothing at all.”

She’d like to see him in nothing at all. “Temptations or Four Tops?” she asked, reining in those baser thoughts that could lead her straight to a broken heart.

“Temptations. Especially the earlier stuff before they cut David Ruffin loose.” He cut into a sausage link, then dragged it through the syrup pooling on his plate. “And before you ask, Smokey Robinson is a songwriting genius.”

“If we’re talking old school, I prefer Lennon and McCartney. Or Elton John and Bernie Taupin. But a man who knows his Motown…?” She plucked a strip of bacon from her plate. “Impressive. So what brings you to Boston, Sebastian? Escaping an ex-wife? Girlfriend, maybe?”

His crooked smile had her pulse thumping pleasantly. Among other, more intimate places.

“Is that your way of wanting to know if I’m single?”

She took a bite of her bacon, smiled and nodded.

“Single. Never been married. You?”

“Same,” she said. Although, she’d been close once. Dangerously so. Two and a half years ago she’d been twenty-four hours away from walking down the aisle at the perfect society wedding when she’d discovered her fiancé hadn’t stopped dating. The jerk.

“And you’re in Boston because…?”

“Work,” he said, cutting into his pancakes.

“Work? What kind of work?”

“I’m a lawyer.”

She couldn’t help herself. She laughed.

He smiled. “Don’t start,” he said, his tone laced with humor. “There probably isn’t a lawyer joke I haven’t heard.”

“It’s not that,” she said, then burst out laughing again. So much for her wanting to be just Joey tonight. Well, she thought, at least he’d understand the demands of her job. Not that it really made any difference. Beyond tonight, anyway.

“What’s so funny?”

“I’m a lawyer,” she admitted. “A litigator, actually.”

His smile slowly faded. “Yeah?”

Uh-oh. So much for all those intriguing possibilities. She wondered how long it’d take him to get to the door.

“What firm?”

Her own smile waned and she frowned. Wait a minute. Didn’t he say he was from Miami? Wasn’t the new head of…

Oh no. It couldn’t be the same…it just couldn’t be him.

This was more than a coincidence, it was insane. And unfair! The first time in months she’d actually been attracted to a man and he was off-limits? So totally not fair!

“Samuel, Cyrus and Kane,” she said.

He pushed his plate aside as if he’d just lost his appetite. She could relate. Hers had already evaporated.

Over the table, he thrust his hand toward her, which she automatically took. “Sebastian Stanhope,” he said, and gave her hand a brisk, impersonal shake. “Samuel, Cyrus and Kane’s new—”

“Head of litigation,” she finished, and dropped his hand. “And my new boss.”

3

“DID YOU SAY BOSS?”

Joey reached for her leather jacket and jammed her hand into the pocket for the small wad of bills. “That I did.” She peeled off a twenty and dropped it on the table. “It’s been a pleasure, Mr. Stanhope. See you Monday.”

She scooted from the booth, her movements jerky as she shrugged into her jacket. A mixture of disappointment and deep frustration, which she couldn’t entirely discount as sexual in nature, collided inside her.

“Joey, wait.”

“Some other time,” she said, knowing it was a lie. Then she hightailed it out the front door.

A blast of cold January air bit at her exposed skin and whipped her hair into her face. A bone-deep chill instantly settled over her. Shivering, she shoved her hair from her face before tugging up the collar of her jacket, looking for warmth. With her hands tucked inside her pockets, she hunkered down and hurried to her car, which was sitting across the street at Rosalie’s.

The lot was deserted with the exception of her sporty red BMW parked under the hazy glow of a security light. A silver SUV with a Florida license plate sat a few yards away. Stanhope’s.

Still shivering, she pulled out her keys and pressed the button for the keyless entry to unlock her car. Just her rotten luck. Finally, she meets a guy who doesn’t have jerkwad written all over him, one who would actually understand the concept of billable hours and the demands of being a career-hungry associate attorney in a large firm, and he was as off-limits as they came. No way could she allow anything interesting to happen now—not with the revelation of Sebastian Stanhope being her new boss.

“Shit,” she muttered and yanked open the door. She climbed into the driver’s seat and fired the engine before tugging the door closed with a hard slam. And things had been going so well, too, she thought. Well enough that she’d been seriously considering that a brief affair might not be such a bad idea after all.

She cranked up the heater and sat trembling in the cold, cursing and giving the engine time to warm. Sometimes, life just wasn’t fair. Maybe she should’ve gone to Chassy tonight and hung out with her half sister, after all. But no, tonight she’d wanted to be just Joey and what had it gotten her? A whole lot of nothing except an ache between her legs she so wanted Sebastian to ease.

His shadow, cast from the light above, appeared seconds before she heard his gentle rap against the driver’s side window. For the space of a heartbeat she considered telling him to get lost. Instead she hefted a weighty sigh and motioned for him to join her inside the slowly growing warmth of her car.

He opened the door and slid that long, gorgeous body into the passenger seat beside her. The luscious scent of him did crazy things to her senses…like obliterate every last one of them.

“Was it something I said?”

“Yeah,” she answered and looked over at him. Her stomach took a tumble at the crooked smile curving that very kissable mouth. There should be a law in the books somewhere declaring it illegal for a man to be so incredibly sexy when he was seriously off-limits. “Samuel, Cyrus and Kane.”

“Look, I didn’t know.” Regret tinged his deep, velvety voice. “I am sorry.”

So was she. More than he realized. And a hell of a lot more than she’d expected, for that matter. “It’s just one of those weird coincidences,” she said with a shrug. “No need to apologize.”

Most of the time, she was a realist. And the reality of the situation was that she was wildly attracted to Sebastian Stanhope, even though he practically came with a “do not touch” brand burned into what she’d been fantasizing were hard, lean abs.

She muttered another curse.

“Would it help if I said I wish things had turned out differently?” he asked.

The sincerity in his eyes irritated her. God, why couldn’t he have been a jerk? Then she wouldn’t give a rat’s ass that her sexual fantasies had come to a screeching halt. Of course, that was her problem, wasn’t it? Because she couldn’t stop imagining him hot and hard and naked.

“Not really,” she countered dryly.

A full smile curved his lips now. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

She narrowed her gaze. “Don’t tease me, Stanhope. I’m a frustrated woman. That makes me dangerous and highly irrational.”

He had the audacity to chuckle. “I like you, Joey.”

Yeah, well, the feeling was definitely mutual. “Guess that’ll make for a good working relationship, now, won’t it?”

She slumped down in her seat. What was she saying? Working with him would be nothing short of torture. Long hours. Late nights. That incredible scent of his lingering in her office long after he’d gone, driving her to distraction. Those intoxicating eyes.

Oh, God. She was toast. A walking hormonal disaster. A ticking sexual time bomb. It wouldn’t take much for him to light her fuse, either. And he was just arrogant enough to realize it, too.

She looked over at him. “Too bad Rosalie’s is closed. I could use a drink.”

“Yeah, me, too.”

At least he agreed with her. That was something, right? Not that they could do anything about it. Dammit.

He tugged his key ring from his pocket and aimed the big black key at the Jeep Commander. He pressed the button and electronically started the vehicle.

Or could they?

Pulling herself up, she smiled at him. “You know, Sebastian, you really aren’t my boss—” she glanced at the digital display on the Beemer’s stereo system “—for another fifty-five hours.”

He made a sound that could’ve been a laugh. Or maybe a short bark of surprise. She couldn’t be sure. The smile on his handsome face had faded. Too bad. Feminine instinct told her they could’ve made good use of those hours.

“You realize we’re a sexual harassment claim waiting to happen.”

“Not for another fifty-five hours,” she argued.

“But what about intent?”

A weak legal argument if she ever heard one. “Are you questioning my intentions, counselor?” she asked, her tone going all husky.

In the soft glow of the dashboard lights, his eyes darkened. “Should I?”

She settled her hand on his arm. “It would be in your best interest. Yes.”

The air around them sizzled, crackling with energy. His gaze dipped to her mouth, then he shifted in the seat next to her. That he wasn’t immune to her spoke volumes, at least on her radar.

Life was filled with choices. Good ones, and not-so-good ones. Then there were the plain stupid ones. She wasn’t exactly certain where she’d classify coming on to Sebastian after his disappointing revelation. Come Monday morning, plain stupid would most assuredly apply.

But it wasn’t Monday morning. Yet.

“You’re a difficult woman to resist,” he said.

She didn’t detect so much as an ounce of regret in his admission. So did that mean he was buying her paper-thin argument? Oh, but she hoped so.

She gave his arm a gentle squeeze. “Then don’t.”

He blew out a stream of breath. “You realize we’re on the verge of complicating our professional relationship.”

“Probably,” she admitted. “But we won’t have a professional relationship for—”

He smiled again. “Yes, I know. For another fifty-five hours.”

“Exactly.”

He pulled his arm from her grasp, but grabbed hold of her hand and laced their fingers together. Her heart rate took off like a rocket when he brought their joined hands to his mouth. His lips brushed lightly over her knuckles and she forgot to breathe.

“Your argument is weak.” Turning her wrist, he lightly pressed his lips against her rapidly beating pulse. Heat shot through her and settled low in her tummy.

The first genuine tug of desire pulled at her. “So is my willpower,” she said, her voice a strained, breathless whisper.

He shifted in his seat and reached for her, sliding his fingers behind her neck and gently pulling her toward him. “I think I left mine in Miami.”

Thank God.

His lips brushed hers in a feathery kiss, but it was nowhere near enough. She leaned into him, as far as the bucket seat would allow, and opened her mouth beneath his. His answering groan as he slipped his tongue into her mouth was all the encouragement she needed.

Heat pooled in her belly, filling her with languid warmth. Was it so wrong to have what promised to be a very satisfying one-night stand? They were mature adults. Consenting adults. Why the hell not?

Okay, sure. So maybe he did have a point. They could very well end up complicating their professional relationship, but professional was the only relationship they would ever have as far as she was concerned.

He kissed her slow and deep, snapping that final thread of common sense she’d managed to hang on to thus far. A one-night stand was hardly happily-ever-after. She wasn’t even looking at a short-term fling beyond tonight. Heaven forbid they should embark upon a torrid office romance. Those always ended badly, anyway. Usually with someone in tears. And she’d bet her overinflated trust fund, Sebastian wouldn’t be the one reaching for the tissues.

Using his thumbs, he tipped her head back as his mouth left hers to nuzzle her throat. The delightful little dance his tongue made against her heated flesh was almost too much for her to bear. She wanted more. And she wanted it now.

Inviting him back to her place was out of the question, but…

“Sebastian,” she breathed, “let’s go where we can be more comfortable.”

He lifted his head, but kept his hand cupping her neck. His thumb drew lazy circles along her jaw and she trembled. “Are you sure?”

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.”

“Okay, but just for a nightcap.”

Sure, she believed that. Not.

“By the way,” she said, giving him a sly, but deliberate smile. “Did I mention the beachfront property I have for sale in Arizona?”

IN THE DARKNESS OF his newly rented third-floor apartment, they tripped over a moving carton partially blocking the doorway to his bedroom. Sebastian cursed and Joey giggled, but he caught them both before they went tumbling and landed on the hardwood floor. His place was hardly the ideal scene for romance with a beautiful woman, but when Joey had insisted her place was too far away from Rosalie’s to be the practical choice, he hadn’t had enough sense left to argue with her.

They landed up against the door with a loud thud. He caught her weight with his body, but the door swung hard against the wall, then jerked again, slamming the knob through the drywall. With Joey’s slender curves pressed against him, he didn’t much care if the damn thing came off the hinges.

Joey tugged his shirt from his jeans and shoved her hands beneath the fabric to splay her hands over his stomach. Her fingertips teased the waistband of his jeans.

“Your skin is so warm,” she murmured. She shoved the shirt up and placed her wet, moist lips on his chest. “Hot.”

His skin wasn’t all that was on fire. His dick throbbed almost painfully within the strict confines of his jeans. He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had him so hard—and all they’d done so far was kiss. Hell, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d let his guard down long enough to just be himself with any woman. All work and no play. His own personal motto, one he’d chosen to ignore for the first time in what suddenly felt like an eternity.

She smoothed her hands upward, brushing her palms over his nipples. A rush of breath left him, and he grabbed hold of her hips, pulling her tighter against him. The door creaked, protesting against their weight, but he was beyond caring about anything except having Joey naked and wanting him.

He dove a hand into her short blond hair and tugged gently, pulling her head back so he could kiss her again. She opened for him, inviting him inside. Her taste was sweet and wildly exotic, like a fine brandy. The kind he’d promised himself he’d one day be able to afford.

That thought nearly had him calling a halt to their nocturnal activities…until she arched her body, rubbing her slender curves up against him like a cat.

“Touch me,” she murmured against his mouth. “Touch me now, Sebastian.”

“Where would you like me to start?” He had a few ideas of his own, but he liked a woman who knew what she wanted and wasn’t shy about telling him.

“How about I let you decide?”

He wasn’t picky. He liked the sound of that, too.

She backed away, and he instantly regretted the loss of her body heat. In the moonlight streaming through the window, he watched her smile turn positively wicked as she shrugged out of her suede jacket. The heavy material landed on the floor at his feet.

He took a step toward her, but she backed up, keeping him a fraction beyond arm’s length away. This time she peeled off her blouse, slowly revealing inch after delicious inch of silky-looking skin. The top went somewhere—to the floor, he assumed—but he didn’t happen to notice where because his gaze was held prisoner by the sight of a red satin-and-lace bra cupping her firm, lush breasts.

His fingers itched to fulfill her demand to touch her, to test the weight of her full breasts in his hands. He wanted to taste her skin, longed to discover her secrets. Couldn’t wait to make her his in the most elemental way possible. For as long as it lasted, which according to her, would only be until they reported for work Monday morning.

With a flick of her wrist, she unbuttoned her jeans then slowly tugged the zipper down. He caught a glimpse of more red lace. Thong, he wondered? Or a sexy pair of those boy shorts he easily imagined hugging that adorable ass of hers?

A frown suddenly puckered her smooth forehead. “Boots,” she said, then plopped down on the edge of the bed.

“Here.” He bent and lifted her foot, resting it on his thigh. “Let me.”

Gently, he tugged the boot from one foot, then the other. The leather was supple and expensive, as he’d suspected earlier. His curiosity about her climbed another notch. She hustled pool, yet drove a BMW he doubted was more than a year old, yet she was only a junior associate. He’d lived the pay scale, and while he’d had no trouble making ends meet, no way could he have afforded anything as slick as Joey’s Beemer. His ten-year-old Honda Civic had been on its last leg when he’d bought the Jeep Commander, and he’d only been able to afford that with the bonus the partners had paid him after he’d won a multimillion-dollar products liability case.

Joey was full of secrets. Too bad he didn’t have time to unravel more of her mysteries.

Before she could object or slip away, he took advantage of her position on the bed and leaned in, urging her back on the mattress. He slid his hands to her waist and hooked his fingers into the waistband. She lifted her hips and he slowly eased her jeans down her legs, and smiled. “Boy shorts.”

“I’ve shown you mine,” she said with a teasing smile on her lips. “Now show me yours.”

He yanked off his shirt and tossed it aside. “I suppose it’s only fair.” He moved to join her on the bed.

She held up her hand to stop him. “Uh-uh, counselor. Not so fast.” She reached for the waistband of his jeans and easily popped the button. “Full disclosure.”

He toed off his shoes and kicked them aside, then shrugged out of his jeans. His boxer briefs were next.

Acute awareness powered Joey’s senses as she looked her fill of Sebastian’s powerful, athletic body. The man was nothing short of a work of art.

The dullness of winter faded and the dark colors seemingly turned brighter, as if springtime had entered the sparse bedroom with them. She was assaulted with a delicious vibrancy to her senses. The warmth of Sebastian’s skin as he joined her on the bed. The tickle of soft chest hair against her breasts as he leaned over her. The heat of his body as he kissed her deeply, thoroughly.

She felt as if she’d been struck by a bolt of lightning. A rushing surge of intensity increased the sexual energy that had been haunting them since he’d approached her at the jukebox.

His lips and tongue tasted sweet, like the wine they’d shared from a single paper cup upon arriving at his apartment, until his mouth became hotter and more demanding as his tongue mated with hers. The gentle glide of his hands as he swept them over her breasts turned into an insistent quest to bring them both pleasure.

The need to touch him, to fully explore the tempting landscape, drove her. She smoothed her palm over his belly, loving the way the taut muscle danced in response to her touch. His low moan of pleasure encouraged her to continue her exploration. She slid her hand lower and sifted her way through the rough furring of curls to slide her fingers over his long, hard length.

Her blood fired and a hushed gasp of delight escaped her at the feel of him hot and heavy and pulsing in her hand. Oh how she wanted him inside her, but it was too soon. She summoned her patience because she knew without a doubt, she’d be rewarded.

Breaking the kiss, he reached for her hand and held it above her head on the bed. She murmured a protest, but he merely chuckled, then nipped and soothed, tasted and laved a fiery path to her breasts. His mouth settled over her nipple through the lace of her bra, sending a spiral of heat shooting through her veins like wildfire.

He released her hand and with a move she hadn’t even seen coming, freed her breasts from her bra. Her breath quickened when he took her nipple fully into the heat of his mouth and sucked.

Sparks of pleasure assailed her and she let out a low purr of encouragement as he wound a path with his tongue down her torso. She felt the press of his fingers in the waistband of her panties, his fingertips teasing her by dipping beneath the lacy edge.

“I want to taste you.”

His hot breath against her tummy drove her crazy. The tips of his fingers teased her moist curls, drawing closer to where she wanted him to touch her the most, making her nuts. She rolled her hips in response, because if he didn’t fulfill his promise, if she didn’t feel the heat of his mouth against her sex soon, she’d surely go certifiably insane.

He rolled her panties past her hips and down her legs.

“Open for me, Joey,” he whispered, then placed a kiss just below her belly button.

An elusive sensation she couldn’t name curled inside her. She didn’t think, doubted she could muster more than a fleeting thought, as the anticipation heightened. She merely obeyed and opened her legs for him.

He settled to his knees on the floor and carefully scooted her to the edge of the bed. He pressed her thighs even wider, opening her to him completely.

He lightly brushed his knuckles over her folds. “Hmmm,” he murmured softly. He circled her opening with the tip of his finger. “So wet.”

Her breath momentarily stilled at the awe in his voice. Desire burned volcanic hot, making her a willing casualty to his demand for control.

She wasn’t accustomed to being so exposed, regardless of the situation. In her world, she was the one in control. Always. Sebastian obviously had other plans.

She felt that mysterious sensation curling inside her again, but before she could name it, she felt the first feathery brush of his tongue against her sex. Her heart nearly stopped beating. When he gently suckled her clit, and his fingers dipped inside her, gently thrusting and withdrawing, she knew she’d just died and landed right into heaven.

The intensity of the pressure building inside her was nothing short of exquisite torture. Little else mattered except the moist warmth of his mouth and fingers making love to her, pushing her that much closer to what promised to be a mind-blowing orgasm.

He grazed her clit with his teeth and her body tensed from the intensity of sensations. She closed her eyes and the world exploded. Blood pounded in her ears and rushed through her veins. Nothing mattered except the primal need for satisfaction.

Sebastian struggled to rein in the need clawing at his belly with knife-like sharpness at the sexy sound of Joey’s cries of pleasure. He wanted to be inside her, to feel her body tense and clench when she came.

Without giving her a chance to cool, he reached for the bedside table and snagged a condom from the drawer. He quickly sheathed himself, then moved them to the center of the bed.

She welcomed him inside her, lifting her hips to meet his initial thrust. Coherent thought escaped him. His concentration centered on the ebb and flow of their bodies coming together in an explosion of heat and fulfillment.

There was nothing gentle or slow about the way they made love. She met him, thrust for thrust. Her breath came in short, hard pants. He struggled for his own breath when her body tightened around his thick shaft as another orgasm rocked her body.

He felt wild and primal as he stroked her body with his. He drove into her again and again. Deeper. Harder. Tension climbed. His body burned from the strain of muscle as he lost himself in the power of his own release.

Eventually his senses began a slow return. The first thing he became aware of was the leisurely sensation of her fingertips gliding lightly over his back. He moved off her, but pulled her close and dragged the bedclothes over their cooling bodies.

She snuggled closer and he draped his leg over her hers. With her head nestled in the crook of his arm, he closed his eyes and breathed in the sweet, musky scent of their lovemaking.

“Joey?”

“Hmm?” she murmured drowsily. She wiggled closer, her backside rubbing enticingly against his groin.

“I think it’s safe to say we just trashed our professional relationship.”

4

JOEY ZIPPED UP her jeans and winced, certain the sound echoed so loudly throughout the sparsely furnished room it could be heard in the next apartment. She knew she was being silly, but she was hoping to escape without waking Sebastian. Or more honestly, hoping to avoid an awkward situation.

Only hours ago, just before she’d eventually fallen asleep sprawled across Sebastian’s chest, the pinkish gray fingers of dawn had been creeping across the city’s winter skyline. Without a clock handy, she’d guessed the hour now to be somewhere in the vicinity of noon. She snagged her watch from the nightstand for confirmation. Twelve-twenty.

God, why had she slept with him? Not that she hadn’t enjoyed every perfect second, but that was beside the point. In two days she’d have to face him again, fully clothed this time, and she had every intention of pretending last night never happened. A feat she imagined would be next to impossible. Especially now. They’d made love again and again, taking their time to fully explore each other’s bodies. It’d been beautiful, sweet, and had caused something to stir deep inside her—something other than her libido.

Oh, yeah. She was so out of there, if only to distance herself from the memory of their lovemaking and that strange little flutter she couldn’t, or wouldn’t, explain.

She crept around the bed in search of her bra and found it dangling from the edge of a tall moving carton near the closet. After slipping into it, she scooped up her top a few feet away and pulled it on as well. Her boots lay on the floor near Sebastian’s side of the bed. As quietly as possible, she stooped to pick them up, but couldn’t find her socks.

Full sunlight streamed through the windows, which made it easy for her to see them peeking out from under the bed, but she practically had to crawl beneath it to snag them. Her breathing stilled when she heard Sebastian stir.

Please don’t wake up.

Slowly, she lifted her head, peeked over the edge of the mattress and let out a startled gasp. Sebastian lay on his side, his head propped in his hand, staring down at her…and wearing nothing but a lazy smile.

Damn. So much for escaping unnoticed.

“Going somewhere?” he asked, his voice thick from sleep.

“I didn’t want to disturb you.”

He chuckled. “Sure you didn’t.” His thick hair was mussed and his smile went from lazy to cocky. The man looked way too sexy and far too tempting for a woman filled with morning-after regret.

“Um…I have to water my plants.” The excuse was beyond lame, and from the skeptical light that entered those dark, bedroom eyes, they both knew it. But dammit, he seriously rocked her composure. What did he expect? A Rhodes scholar?

She dropped onto the edge of the bed to slip on her socks. He shifted beside her and brought his body closer to hers. Warning bells went off in her head. Lordy, but the temptation to crawl beneath the covers with him again was tough to resist.

He smoothed his hand down her back. She thought about the pleasure those hands could bring her and her resolve nearly crumbled.

She stiffened her spine.

“We have a problem, Joey.”

“Great deduction, Watson.”

He ignored her sass. “I want to see you again.”

A different kind of regret filled her. In all honesty, she’d love nothing more than to spend more time with Sebastian, in and out of bed, but it was out of the question. Forget that he was technically her supervisor, he was smart, sexy and dangerous. The kind of guy that could easily break her heart. The kind she could easily fall for…hard.

She shoved her foot into her boot and tugged. “Sorry,” she said with a shrug as she glanced down at him. “It’s pumpkin time, Cinderella.”

He frowned. “It’s only Saturday.”

“Can’t,” she said brusquely, then pulled on her other boot. “I’m busy.”

She wasn’t. She had no plans whatsoever until tomorrow afternoon, but he didn’t need to know that. Although Molly would more than likely have worked herself into a feline snit by the time she did get home. Her persnickety cat didn’t appreciate being left to her own devices all night and half the day, but a treat and some cuddle time would smooth her leopardlike fur to some degree.

She cast a quick glance in his direction. If his narrow-eyed stare was any indication, he wasn’t buying her line of BS. Too bad. She needed time to distance herself from him, to regain her composure before she faced him in the office Monday morning.

Good luck.

She let out a sigh and stood. “I think it’s best if we just pretend last night never happened.” She located her leather jacket near the bedroom door and shrugged into it.

He swung his feet to the floor and came off the bed in one easy movement. Heaven help her, she stared. She just couldn’t help herself. In the light of day, Sebastian Stanhope was even more glorious.

The erection he was sporting wasn’t half-bad, either.

Heat rushed to her face and she lifted her gaze to his. “I had a lovely time,” she said in a nervous rush, “but I really do have to go home.” To take a cold shower.

Her throat constricted when he crossed the room. Those pleasure-giving hands settled on her upper arms, sending tiny tremors of delight chasing over her skin.

“Stay with me today.”

She bit her lip. The man was temptation personified. And trouble, with a big fat T.

She shook her head and looked away. “I can’t,” she said, hating that she had no choice but to deny him. Hating even more the regret so blatantly evident in her voice.

He tucked his fingers under her chin and gently turned her to face him. “Another time, another place?”

No truer words, she thought sadly. “Yeah,” she whispered in agreement. “Another time.”

He dipped his head and kissed her. Deeply, tenderly. Fool that she was, she kissed him back, enjoying this last parting moment even though her heart suddenly ached. Because there’d be no more kisses for them? Ever? Or because she’d already started falling for him?

She refused to even consider the answer. Regretfully, she ended the kiss. “Goodbye, Sebastian.”

She spun on her heel and left. By the time she hit the pavement, her hopes that the next two days would be long enough for her to convince herself that making love to Sebastian hadn’t been a monumental and earth-shattering experience were practically nonexistent.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? I’ve been calling you all morning.”

Joey didn’t appreciate the accusation in Brooke’s tone, but figured it was her guilty conscience making her feel mildly agitated. “I turned off my cell.”

“Since when don’t you check for messages?”

“Gee,” she said, standing back to let her older sister inside the small foyer of the carriage house, “nice to see you, too.”

Brooke set a large shopping bag with the Worthington logo on the front on the antique bench. She worked at the department store as a window dresser. “These are for Reba,” she said, unwinding a wool scarf from her neck. “I thought she might like them.”

Joey peered into the bag, but the clothing items were all carefully wrapped in delicate tissue paper. That was so Brooke, she thought. “Didn’t we go through all of Mom’s things a couple of months ago?”

“We did.” Brooke hung her scarf on the hook by the door, then shrugged out of her wool coat. “I found those in the back of Mom’s closet.”

“And you brought them here because…?”

“Because you said you were taking Reba to lunch next week.”

Since their mother’s passing, she, Brooke and Katie had taken to looking in on Reba, their mother’s oldest and closest friend. Joey managed a weak smile. “Ah, yes,” she murmured. She’d forgotten, primarily because her mind had been elsewhere. Like on Sebastian.

“I was about to make some tea. Want some?”

Brooke rubbed her hands over her upper arms. “Perfect. It’s freezing out there today.”

“Amazing how that happens every January.” Joey flashed her sister a saucy grin, then took off for the kitchen. She had the kettle filled and on the stove by the time Brooke joined her.

Joey reached into the cabinet for a teak serving tray, then carefully brought down a pair of delicate china cups and the matching teapot. “Are you coming to dinner next week?”

Brooke shrugged and looked away. “I’m not sure.”

Joey let out a sigh, although she understood her sister’s reluctance to walk inside the lion’s den. “The Admiral keeps asking about you.”

Ever since Brooke had dropped the bomb on her grandparents that she wasn’t a Winfield by birth, her relationship with their grandmother had been strained at best. Joey suspected the tension in their relationship stemmed not so much because of Brooke’s parentage, but because of the scandalous photos of a topless Brooke and Boston’s bad boy, David Carrera, that had shown up in the tabloids. Heaven forbid a Winfield should cause tongues to wag.

“I’ll think about it,” Brooke said, but Joey doubted the subject was usually far from Brooke’s mind. Familial duty had always been high on her elder sister’s list of priorities.

Brooke crossed her arms and leaned back against the ceramic-tiled counter. “So, where were you?”

It was Joey’s turn to shrug. “Nowhere important.” She aimed for nonchalance but ended up closer to high-pitched and guilt-ridden. What was she supposed to say? That she’d spent the night boffing her new boss’s brains out? And enjoying every glorious second of it?

She added tea leaves to the strainer before sliding a quick glance in Brooke’s direction. Her sister gave her one of those looks, the kind only an older sister had the secret password to. The kind that said she knew Joey was full of crap.

Brooke offered one of her more irritating smiles. “So? Who is he?”

Joey concentrated on cutting into the leftover crumb coffee cake she’d pilfered from her grandmother’s cook. “It really doesn’t matter.”

“Are you going to see him again?”

“That all depends on how you might define ‘seeing him again,’” Joey answered cryptically. Technically, she’d be spending a great deal of time with Sebastian, but not in the way Brooke meant.

The teakettle started to whistle. “Saved by the whistle.”

“Bell,” Brooke corrected.

“Whatever. A distraction is a distraction as far as I’m concerned. I’ll take what I can get.”

“You’re not getting off that easy,” Brooke said with a laugh as Joey poured the steaming water into the teapot. “Now I really want details. Who is this guy?”

She refused to make a big deal out of her one-time-only, never-gonna-happen-again night of sexual bliss with Sebastian. What was the point?

“Joey?”

Joey popped the crumb cake slices into the microwave and pressed the reheat button. “You’re not going to let up until I tell you, are you?”

Brooke’s irritating smile widened. “Nope.”

The microwave dinged. Joey arranged the dessert plates on the tray along with the items for tea.

“He’s my boss,” she said in a rush. She picked up the tray and hurried into the cozy living room, as if that would be the end of the conversation. With her sisters, not gonna happen.

A fire burned in the stone fireplace. Molly lay curled on the arm of the chintz chair near the leaded glass window overlooking the winter dormant garden.

Brooke joined her, concern evident in her soft brown eyes. “Define ‘boss.’”

“Oh, no, not any of them.” Joey shuddered, knowing Brooke was thinking of one of the three middle-aged senior partners of the firm. “The new guy they hired to head up the litigation division.” Last night when she’d met her sisters for dinner, she’d mentioned the new guy the partners had recruited from a Miami firm, and how she’d been relegated to second chair in Gilson v. Pierce. One thing sleeping with Sebastian hadn’t changed—her disappointment and irritation over having the lead counsel position on the Gilson matter taken away from her.

Joey shooed Molly from the chair, while Brooke poured tea. “My new boss,” she admitted, taking the teacup Brooke held out for her. “Sebastian Stanhope.”

“Stanhope?” At Joey’s nod, Brooke asked, “Is he any relation to Emerson Stanhope?”

The Stanhopes were one of Boston’s oldest and most prominent families. In fact she was fairly certain Emerson and her father had once had some sort of business dealings. “Uh…” Joey hedged, “I don’t know. That’s a subject that never came up.”

Brooke set her cup on the table. “Joey—”

“Don’t say it.” Joey dropped a sugar cube into her cup and stirred. “It was a one-time thing and trust me, one that won’t be happening again.”

“Did you know who he was before you slept with him?” Brooke asked, adding a splash of cream to her Earl Grey.

Joey scrunched up her nose and nodded. “Not one of my smarter decisions.” But one she wouldn’t apologize for, either. Regardless of the ethics involved, and no matter how plain stupid her choice had been, she simply could not regret making love to Sebastian. Not completely.

“Joey, how did this happen?” There was no accusation or even judgment in Brooke’s tone, only concern.

Joey leaned back and pulled her feet up onto the chair. She recounted how she’d gone to Rosalie’s last night and had been rendered temporarily insane by the instantaneous attraction between her and Sebastian. When she finished, she set her empty teacup on the rosewood side table and let out a sigh. “I plead hormones,” she said. “It’s a valid affirmative defense.”

“I doubt that.” Brooke tapped her fingernail against the side of her cup. “So what happens now?”

“Nothing,” Joey said adamantly. Molly hopped into her lap and rubbed her head against Joey’s hand, demanding affection. She smoothed her hand over the cat’s thick fur. “Monday morning I go into the office and pretend Friday night never happened.”

“For your sake,” Brooke said, “I really do hope you know what you’re doing.”

“I do,” Joey said firmly. She dropped her head against the back of the chair, hoping she was right.

“SO HOW DOES IT feel being back in the old neighborhood?” Hunter McAllister asked around a mouthful of pepperoni pizza.

Sebastian twisted the cap off the bottle of beer and chucked it halfway across the living room into the cardboard box pulling temporary duty as a trash bin. “Cold,” he said to his childhood friend. “I’d forgotten how freaking cold it can get up here.”

He didn’t bother to remind Hunter that the revitalized North End of Boston was hardly the rough South Boston neighborhood where they’d spent their youth. Even though Sebastian had decided to live in the North End, in his heart, they would always be Southies.

Hunter balanced his beer bottle on his knee. “Why you’d give up year-round bathing beauties for Beacon Hill snobs is beyond me.”

“Right,” Sebastian said. “If a woman has a pulse, you’re interested.”

“Hey, is it my fault women have a thing for a man in uniform?”

Sebastian seriously doubted Hunter’s Boston P.D. uniform had anything to do with it. His friend had been a chick magnet for as long as Sebastian could remember.

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