The Naked Truth

“Where are you now?” Eve asked.

“Sitting outside his condo complex. I—I agreed to come back here with him—to discuss the case further, mind—but he must have stopped somewhere because he’s not here yet. I need you to talk me out of going in.”

Eve had to laugh. “He probably stopped at the drugstore for a box of condoms. If you want to do this, we’ll just ask Andersen Nadeau for a different attorney for the lawsuit, and you keep the station’s business as usual.”

“You’re not helping.”

“You don’t need my help. You’re what, thirty-one? Two? You didn’t put in all those years in law school to let someone else make your decisions for you.”

“I know,” Jenna moaned. “But I tell you what, Eve, that man is hot. And what’s more, he thinks I’m hot. I’ve been sitting here weighing my caseload against the fact that I haven’t been in bed with a real man in months, and the caseload is losing.”

Eve could certainly relate to that. “If we have to get another attorney assigned to the suit, we can. But I have to say, I really respect that brain of yours. If anyone can pull this off with sympathy and grace, it’s you.”

“Now you tell me.”

“I’m not trying to argue for either side. Just telling you how I feel.”

“I’ll never be able to explain the switch to Marv Andersen.” Jenna sounded as if she were trying to talk herself out of going into that condo. “I’d have to make something up, and I’m a terrible liar.”

“If you don’t go, it’s not like it’s forever,” Eve reasoned. “Mr. Wade must be as aware of the ethics as you are. Maybe he’ll wait until the case is over.”

“We had such a good time at dinner, Eve,” Jenna said in a rush. “He’s so interesting to talk to, and then the whole will-we-or-won’t-we thing just added this zing to the evening. I’m only supposed to be staying for a drink and another look at the brief, but I know as well as he does it won’t end there.”

Eve glanced again at Mitch, but he just grinned at her. Their situation wasn’t that much different, was it? She was consorting with the enemy, too, though it wasn’t likely she’d get into as much of a legal tangle over it as Jenna.

Men. They could really mess with a girl, couldn’t they? Since when had sex and a career become so complicated?

Hmm. That might make a good segment for—

“Eve? Are you there?”

She dragged her gaze off Mitch’s fly, where it had inexplicably landed, and gave her attention back to her attorney. “I’m here. I was just thinking.”

“I have to go,” Jenna said urgently. “Before he comes back. If I see him again I’ll give in, and I don’t want to do that. I want to see this case through.”

“Good girl.”

“I really appreciate you letting me talk through this.”

“No problem. I know you’d do the same for me.”

“So, where are you, anyway?” In the background, Eve heard keys jingle and an engine fire up.

“On my way home from the Atlanta Reads benefit at the Ashmere place.” Well, it wasn’t a lie. Technically she was between the benefit and home, which meant she was on her way there, right?

“Oh, yeah. I hope it was fun. Look, I’ve got to go. This is a stick shift and I need both hands.”

“Take care.”

“Bye, and thanks again.”

Eve snapped the phone shut and tucked it into her bag. “Thanks for being patient,” she said to Mitch.

The ghost of a smile was still playing around the corners of his mouth. “No problem. Sounds like we’re not the only ones with a hot date.”

“Isn’t that the truth. Only I managed to talk her out of it.”

One eyebrow rose. “Bit of a buzzkill, are you?”

Her body temperature was back to normal now. In fact, the skin on her bare arms and shoulders felt downright cool from the air-conditioning, which he’d considerately kept running. “It was the right thing to do. If she’d stayed, it would have compromised her ethics in a business matter.”

“Can’t have that.” He turned off the air, and silence fell. “Shall we go up?”

The moment of truth. Eve forced herself to relax her grip on her beaded handbag before she did some damage to it.

“I don’t think so, Mitch. Up until five minutes ago, my answer would have been completely different, but—”

“But your friend’s ethics problem might be yours, too?”

“I think you have to admit that it is,” she said quietly, and paused. After leading him on all night, she owed him honesty after changing her mind. “If I go with you, it might change the way I look at CWB’s proposal. And that wouldn’t be fair. I have to think about what’s best for the program, not only myself.”

“Is that likely to happen?” he asked. “The one has nothing to do with the other.”

The phrase triggered a memory of one of their shows from last year. They’d focused on the differences in the ways men and women process information. How much mileage had she and Nicole and Jane got from that? They’d all learned how much men tended to compartmentalize. Men—or at least the ones who had been guests on the show—seemed to have two boxes in their brains, one labeled Sex and one labeled Everything Else.

Clearly, for Mitch, this evening fell into the first box.

It had for her, too, for a couple of delirious, wonderful hours. But how long could she keep it there, particularly if, as he’d said, she’d be seeing him in her office on Monday, as determined as ever to buy her away from her friends? She couldn’t just put a dividing line between “fantasy weekend” and “real life” and expect everything to stay neatly on either side of the line.

“We might not see it that way right now,” she admitted, “but on Monday we will. And we’ll probably be sorry.” She felt the bullet shape of her cell phone under her fingers, through her bag. “Do you mind walking me to the lobby? There’s a cab line out front.”

“You’re not taking a cab.” He fired up the engine and fastened his seat belt once more. “I’ll take you home.”

She put a hand on his arm. “No, Mitch, a cab’s fine. Really. I’m not far from here.”

“In that case, it won’t take us long.” He backed out of the parking stall and she gave in.

“You don’t plan on stalking me once you know where I live, do you?” she asked, directing him to turn left at the intersection.

“It’s not a bad idea,” he said, “but I believe we have a date for tomorrow. This way, I can pick you up. Turn here?”

“The second right, then the first left. Were you serious about tomorrow?”

“Certainly.” His sidelong glance tracked lazily down her body, reminding her vividly that he hadn’t wanted her to wear underwear. “Breakfast, lunch, whatever you want. You could show me around. If you don’t have plans, that is.”

She couldn’t have told him what her calendar said if her life depended on it. That hungry gaze sent a ripple of desire through her belly. And it reminded her of how very dangerous it was to spend any more time with this man than it took to say no and show him the door.

“The white bungalow, there,” she managed to say. “Number 954.”