Perfect Partners(10)
Author: Carly Phillips

Chelsie simply stared, her moist lips mocking his current attempt at restraint. He’d been a damned fool, responding to a woman who angered him beyond belief, who made flippant offers to help and reneged when faced with the reality of her words, who toyed with a child’s life. With that reminder, he backed as far away as the small hallway would allow.

“Well?” he asked, letting impatience spark in his voice. Better than the sparks that had flown just seconds earlier. Their physical attraction was an inconsequential but annoying fact, one he could ignore with enough willpower. After her easy rejection of his niece and her problems, that shouldn’t be too hard. Or so he told himself, knowing he’d spend a ridiculous amount of time trying to convince himself of that fact.

“Well what?” she asked in a none-too-steady voice.

“I was on my way out. You followed. I assume you wanted something?”

She flushed a deep crimson at his choice of words. To her credit, though, she ignored his sarcasm.

“Come back and sit down,” she said. “We aren’t finished yet.” She folded her arms across her chest and met his steady gaze.

“I have my answer.”

“But not my reasons. I intend to give them to you, so sit down and listen for once.” She brushed past him, shaking her head as she walked. Her decidedly feminine scent lingered in the air, hitting him like a blow to his midsection. Lilacs? He suppressed a groan. Chelsie Russell gave new meaning to this concept of self-control.

She cleared her throat, and he met her gaze. From the center of the living room, she motioned for him to join her. “How do you practice law if you haven’t learned to listen?” she asked.

He listened—to everyone except Chelsie. With her, he reacted without thinking. That included leaping to unflattering conclusions without regard to the facts. Even when he heard what she had to say, he dismissed her words as meaningless.

Yet he had gone so far as to ask for her help. He had passed the contemplation stage and had actually wanted to have her around his niece, so he must have sensed some thread of decency in her nature. Despite what had just passed between them, she was right. He did owe her the chance to explain.

He groaned and followed her back inside to reclaim his position on the couch. “I’m listening.”

“Okay.” She leaned forward in her seat. “There’s a lot more involved with your request than you realize. Asking me to give you a regimented schedule wouldn’t work for any of us.”

All business. She’d obviously put their encounter aside with ease. Just as he intended to do. So why did he find his gaze drawn to her still flushed face?

“My life is… let’s just say it’s complicated,” she said.

“How so?”

“My career. I work twelve-, sometimes fifteen-hour days, weekends included. Even then, my desk backs up.”

That she’d put her practice before her own niece shouldn’t surprise him. She’d hardly spent much time with the little girl before now. But he could overcome this objection with ease. “You could come by for supper. You’d have to eat anyway.”

“At my desk, or on the run. As it is, I have to refer more clients than I like. Long dinners would put me even further behind.” Sound reasoning, but for some reason, she couldn’t meet his gaze. Perhaps she wasn’t as confident in rejecting him as she’d like him to believe.

Sure as Alix would suffer from another restless night, Griff knew he would regret this. But the words escaped before he could think them through. “I could take on some of your work, lighten your caseload.”

She stared. “I couldn’t ask you…”

“You didn’t. I’m offering.”

“Why?”

Beats the hell out of me. From the day he’d faced off against Chelsie Russell in the courtroom until the moment he’d kissed her tonight, nothing in his life had made sense. Why should it start now?

“For Alix,” he said. “Your niece.” If Chelsie’s excuses were sincere and he solved every one, she’d have no reason to turn him down. Suddenly, her acquiescence became important to him for reasons other than Alix. Reasons he wouldn’t put into words.

“I don’t know.”

“Think about it.”

“Work aside, I have other obligations to consider. Not more important, but they do exist.”

Obligations, he thought with a strange mixture of dismay and frustration. And a tinge of jealousy? “Couldn’t you explain to your boyfriend or significant other that you were doing a favor for a friend?”

She grinned, a teasing glint replacing the serious shadow in her eyes. “So you’ve elevated me to the status of friend? I’m flattered.”

“I meant Alix.”

“She’s family.” Her lips lifted again and a light chuckle escaped.

“Well?” he asked.

“Unlike you, some of us have obligations other than the social kind.”

“What kind of remark is that?” Since the day of his brother’s accident, his life had revolved around a two-year-old sprite, her whims and tantrums. Social obligations didn’t factor into the equation.

“Your reputation precedes you.”

“Do you always believe what you hear?”

“No, but coupled with my parents’ information…”

“And because they’re your parents, of course you believe them.” Since their lies had been exposed in court, he grunted at the notion. “Haven’t you learned your lesson?”

“You’re right” She sighed.

Something in her voice told him she understood her parents better than he’d realized. Coupled with the fact that she didn’t lead their wealthy, self-centered lifestyle, but had made her way on her own, he believed her.

He leaned forward in his seat.

“I’m sorry for prying,” she said. “But you did begin this inquiry into personal matters. Can’t blame me for playing the same game.”

“A little girl’s life isn’t a game.”

“That isn’t what I meant and you know it.”

Truth be told, he did. “Look, I was engaged and it didn’t work out. Last I heard, a monogamous relationship couldn’t be classified as having an active social life.” When had this turned into a foray into his personal life? And why had he chosen to confide even a sparse summary to Chelsie Russell?

He shook his head. “Back to you. Couldn’t you put whatever it is on hold for a while?”