Perfect Partners (10 page)

“Thank you for admitting that.”

He shrugged. “Alix needs the attention you’re giving her but I can see by the last two weeks, alone, that this addition to your schedule has been rough.”

“Like I said, it’ll pass.”

“Maybe it doesn’t have to. We can help each other here. This isn’t just a selfish thing, though that’s what this arrangement has been from the start.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself,” she chided. “But what did you have in mind?”

“You’ve already said you’re referring more cases than you’d like. I need to build a client base. Working together, you no longer dole out cases to other attorneys and I start a solid practice.”

“Sounds like you’ve thought this through.”

“Truthfully, I haven’t. But talking this out is as good a means as any for finding flaws.”

“What if we don’t get along all that well? I’d call that a major flaw.”

He glanced down at their hands, still intertwined. His thumb created circles on her soft skin. “After what just happened, I’d have to dispute that statement, counselor.” He reached out and brushed a strand of hair off her cheek. He let the slight tremor that shook her, pass without comment.

“Do you make it a practice to mix business with pleasure?” she asked, slowly removing her hand from his.

He chuckled aloud. “No, but I am glad to know you’d label that kiss pleasure.”

She groaned.

“Look, Chelsie, I work out of the house. I’m always around for Alix. This way, you would be, too.”

“Low, counselor. Even for you.” She jumped out of the chair, nearly knocking him over in the process. “I’m not that child’s mother. Installing me in this house as if I were is unfair to her.”

“And to you?” he asked in a low voice.

She didn’t answer.

He stood, ignoring the cramping in his legs from remaining in a crouched position for so long. When he turned, she stood facing the fireplace. He reached out a hand to grasp her upper arm. “Turn around and look at me.”

She pivoted slowly, her reluctance evident in her stiffened muscles and the way she kept a definite distance between them.

He met her solemn brown eyes with a serious stare of his own. “I would never do anything to intentionally hurt you or your relationship with Alix.”

She sighed. “I know that.”

He released his hold, but she didn’t move away. “I’ll admit things between us are strained sometimes. But I’m also willing to admit something’s brewing.”

“Okay.”

“It has to be easier to share ideas with someone than talking to the walls.”

“Okay.”

“And you’ve got the experience dealing with real people. Mine is with institutional clients. I could learn from you.”

She tried, unsuccessfully, to suppress a grin. “Cut the humble act. From what I’ve heard around family court, you talk circles around the most seasoned pros. So you can dispense with the I-need-you routine.”

“How about a plain I want you?”

Heat rose to her face, causing a pink flush to tinge her cheeks. But instead of backing off, her soft hands grasped his chin and turned him to face her. “
I said okay
. If you’d stop rambling long enough to hear me, you’d realize I gave in a long time ago.” She laughed. “And to think you called
me
long-winded.”

He laughed. But he wasn’t foolish enough to think all his problems had been solved. An uphill battle awaited him. His roller-coaster emotions were not going to be easy to deal with. Neither, he suspected, was his new partner. “You won’t be sorry,” he said.

“That, counselor, remains to be seen.”

SIX

“D
id you weight these damned things with rocks?” Ryan dropped the large box onto the floor with a grunt.

Chelsie laughed. “You should have seen me in law school. My bookbag outweighed me.”

“That I can believe. Is that the last of them?”

“Yes, and I can’t tell you how much I appreciate the help.” She glanced at Ryan, wondering more about the man Griff chose as his closest friend. Dark hair ended the similarities between the men. Ryan had harder planes and angles to his face than Griff, but his loyalty to those he cared for appeared to run just as deep.

“Anytime. Griff always volunteers me for the jobs he can’t handle.”

“I was wondering…”

“Excuse me.” The sound of another voice in the room startled her and ended her chance to learn more about the Stuart family. Just as well, she thought. Curiosity could only lead to more intimate knowledge and even stronger feelings.

She turned to see Griff watching them, a scowl etching his handsome face. Though he’d offered to help her move things from her office, Alix had come down with a cold and he didn’t want to leave her. Ryan had shown up in his place.

“Like I said, he’s the brains, I’m the muscle,” Ryan said.

“I did go to law school, remember? I know what those books weigh. And,” Griff said, looking his friend over, “you could use the workout.”

Chelsie tried and failed to suppress a grin. “Oh, shut up, both of you.” She shook her head. “Men.”

“I’m out of here. Next time another job’s too much for you, remember to call me.” Ryan bounded down the stairs.

“He’s a good friend,” Chelsie said as she pushed up her sleeves so she could begin the arduous task of unpacking.

“Like a brother.” Griff leaned against the wall and stared into the empty room. Chelsie winced at the word brother. But Griff seemed lost in thought, so she doubted he’d even noticed. “Ryan grew up next door to us. We’ve always been close. Even when Jared was alive, it was always the three of us.”

She nodded. She and her sister had grown up much the same way. With two fairly disinterested parents, they’d had no one to rely on but each other. Maybe that was what made the break in their relationship so difficult to bear. Chelsie had looked out for her sister in her own way, but phone calls and occasional lunches were pathetic, in retrospect, and provided little consolation now. In seeking to protect herself from further loss, Chelsie had deprived herself of even more.

With such a close bond between the brothers, Griff’s feelings of loss had to surpass her own.

“The day my mother ran off, Ryan told my Dad that we’d take care of Jared,” Griff said at last.

Chelsie held her surprise in check. If she disturbed his train of thought, he might not reveal any more. Despite her earlier admonitions to herself about satisfying her curiosity, she wanted to know this man in all the ways that counted.

When he remained silent, she spoke softly. “How old were you?” she asked.

“Twelve.”

Old enough to hurt, too young to comprehend. Her heart broke for the little boy who’d lost his mother and, to this day, probably didn’t understand why. She doubted even an adult could understand that kind of desertion. Many people prayed for the gift of bearing a child. This woman had thrown that away. “What happened?”

“She wanted more of some things, fewer of others.”

Chelsie’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“More expensive trinkets. More money. More men.” His bitter, harsh laugh told her what he thought of that. “And fewer responsibilities. Fewer children, to be exact.”

If Griff was cynical, she now had an inkling why. “Why are you telling me this now?” Even as she asked, she feared she already knew.

Did he regret their change of status? Perhaps he’d decided the woman who’d sued him for custody at the behest of her wealthy parents was not to be trusted. Maybe he realized he’d had a lapse in judgment, but no more.

If so, she’d let him out gracefully, no matter how much it hurt. She’d had more than her own share of doubts about the partnership. In this case, grasping what little life offered might turn out to be a huge mistake. She braced herself for his excuses, promised herself she wouldn’t react, and mentally calculated whether she could get her office back from the tenant she had sublet it to.

“Today’s Jared’s birthday.”

“Oh.” She hadn’t been prepared for the admission. Without thinking, she walked over and took his hand, hoping to convey her feelings and her strength. “I’m sorry. You should have told me. We could have done this another time.”

He shrugged. “It’ll keep my mind off things,” he said in a gruff voice.

He didn’t want her gone. Relief warred with hurt over his pain, but she’d give him the distraction he desired. “Okay, then. Let’s get started.”

She headed for the first box, but he didn’t release his grasp and she found herself pulled against him. His arms came around her waist and she sucked in a deep breath of air. She tilted her head backwards to look at him.

Raw emotion etched his features. In his eyes, she saw pain so deep only someone who had been there could comprehend. But she also saw something more, something his body wouldn’t let her mistake. He held her flush against him, his erection pressing intimately against her.

“Griff. We have to work together. This is a mistake.”

He loosened his hold on her waist. “Then walk away.”

She ought to. He didn’t need her. He needed someone, anyone to chase away the pain and help him get through this day. She could be here for him now and he’d still leave her when he discovered the truth.
So, go
. But her feet wouldn’t move.

Her hand rose, seemingly of its own free will, to trace the tiny scar at the corner of his left eye. Once she touched him, it became too late to turn back.

His lips brushed hers. Without warning, he groaned and deepened the kiss, thrusting his tongue into her eager mouth. When he pulled her waist against him, she backed into the wall. The movement anchored her, enabling her pelvis to rock in synchronization with the expert movement of his tongue.

She thought she heard herself whimper under the assault. If he ground himself against her again, she might do just that. He pried her shirt loose from her jeans and ran his hands along her midriff. His thumbs brushed her nipples, causing them to harden into tight peaks.

And then she heard it again. The small whimper that could have easily come from her, but hadn’t.

“Griff,” she murmured against his lips.

He groaned in protest. “Don’t stop now.” But he raised his head to gaze at her.

“Alix, I think,” she said, glancing in the direction of the sound.

The slight whimper turned into an angry cry.

“Oh, hell.” Griff ran his fingers through his hair, looking about as pleased with the interruption as she felt.

“Mrs. Baxter…?” Chelsie asked.

“Has taken a week off to be with her son. I told her I could handle it.”

When her mind began to function, she might be grateful for the intrusion. Right now, all she noticed was a keen sense of frustration, a sensation as alien to her as desire.

“I’ll go,” she offered.

“No,” he said brusquely, taking two steps back. “You start working up here. I’ve got it.”

She nodded. Her tongue swiped over her lips. She still tasted Griff. Hugging herself, she watched as he bounded down the stairs two at a time. His reluctance to end the kiss had resulted in his eagerness to get away.

She turned to unpack, ignoring her still throbbing body. She reached for another book. Griff shouted so loud she would have heard him yell without the monitor. She vaulted down the stairs and dashed towards Alix’s bedroom.

“What is it?” Only grabbing onto the molding on the doorframe slowed her run.

His eyes met hers. “She’s burning up. Should we give her aspirin?”

“No!”

Griff looked startled at her sharp tone.

“Never give a child aspirin,” she said in a calmer voice. Chelsie leaned over the crib where the little girl laid shaking and shivering, and pressed her hand against the child’s forehead. Her skin felt hot as an iron. Glancing over her shoulder, Chelsie saw Griff pacing behind her. “Call her doctor and ask him whether we should meet him at his office or the hospital,” she said.

He bolted out of the room. Chelsie quickly stripped off the child’s clothes and lifted Alix into her arms. “It’ll be okay, sweetie,” Chelsie crooned in her ear during the short walk down the hall to the bathroom. “I’m here, and Uncle Griff’s here. We’ll take good care of you, I promise.”

Alix whimpered and tried to thrash around, but Chelsie held her fast.

While waiting for Griff to return, she held Alix over one shoulder and reached for the still damp bath towel with the other. After laying the towel in the sink, she opened the medicine cabinet and hoped she’d find what she was looking for without having to search. Once she located the rubbing alcohol, she propped Alix up on the counter while saturating the towel in a combination of alcohol and cold water. She wrung out the rag and sat on the toilet, wiping the little girl down with the cool compress.

She would have liked to repeat the process, but knew she had little time. Instead, she returned to Alix’s room and had her dressed by the time Griff returned.

“What did the doctor say?”

“He’ll meet us at the hospital.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

He wrinkled his nose. “What’s that smell?”

“Rubbing alcohol. Reduces fever.”

Within minutes, they had Alix in her car seat and were headed for the hospital. “Where did all this knowledge about children come from, anyway?” Griff asked, keeping his eye on the road.