Page 26 of Legal Seduction
Chapter Seven
WHOTHEHELLwas Bette Monroe? The shy woman with the glasses and her hair in a bun? Or the sexy siren in naughty lingerie?
He studied her across the small space between their seats in the back of the town car. She was wearing the glasses again, and her hair was all bound up. He suspected that was just a disguise—an act, like her worry that she was going to fall for him.
Just a few nights ago she had laughed when he’d asked if she loved him. So what had changed since then?
They’d had sex a couple of times. He was good. But he wasn’t that good, not good enough to make her fall for him just because he’d given her some pleasure. While other women had professed as much, Bette was different. Those women had already been half in love with him because of who he was and what he had: a hell of a reputation and bank account.
Bette had never seemed very impressed with either. But then she claimed money didn’t matter to her. That even if he gave her a raise, she wouldn’t stay working for Street Legal. He knew why now that he’d gotten a look at her checkbook. She’d made some recent deposits. Some pretty damn good ones.
She had to be the mole.
A pressure settled heavily on his chest with disappointment—which was weird. He should be relieved that he’d found the mole. Now he would be able to stop any more information leaks. He would be able to stop her.
All he had to do was fire her and block her access to Street Legal. Delete her passwords, change the locks.
She wouldn’t be able to sell any more of their information. But somehow it didn’t feel right. Maybe she’d received that money another way.
An inheritance...
“What?” she asked as she lifted her hand to her mouth like she had the night before. “Do I have something on my teeth? Lipstick smeared?”
“Not yet,” he said. But he wanted to smear it. Hell, he wanted it smeared on his cock as she sucked him off.
Her lips curved slightly. “Then what is it?” she asked. “Why are you staring at me?”
She really had no idea how beautiful she was. “I’m trying to figure you out,” he admitted.
She tilted her head and studied him as intently as he’d been studying her. “You wonder how I could fall for you when I laughed the other night when you asked if I was in love with you?”
He laughed now. “That’s the least of my questions about you, Bette.”
She sighed. “Are you still wondering why I’m quitting?”
“Wondering...” He laughed again. “That’s putting it a little mildly.” He was more than curious. He was desperate to know her reason.
“I don’t know why you care,” she said.
“I want to know what your better offer is,” he said. “To see if I can match it.”
“I already told you it’s not about money.”
“Why?” he asked. “Do you have family money? A trust fund or inheritance you just got access to?”
She laughed. “My father is the minister of a very small church in a very small town in Michigan. If he and my mom didn’t have housing provided by the parish, they wouldn’t be able to afford groceries.”
“Your mom doesn’t work?” he asked.
She shook her head, and her lips curled slightly with disgust. “Being his wife is her full-time job.”
So those deposits in her bank account hadn’t come from her parents. Bette Monroe was no trust fund baby. Where the hell had she gotten that money?
He could think of one place. Their opposition in court.
“She’s a loyal wife,” he murmured. As far as he knew, his parents hadn’t been married. He didn’t even remember his mother. According to his father, she’d abandoned them. But that didn’t mean it was true. His father hadn’t had any idea how to be honest. It had always been easier for him to lie than tell the truth. “That’s commendable.”
Bette sighed. “It’s sad.”
