Page 26 of Legal Attraction
After what they’d done in the bedroom, she wouldn’t have been able to sleep there, not on the tangled sheets that had smelled of Ronan and sex. She wouldn’t have been able to sleep there because she would have just lain awake, wanting more. But she must have been the only one who’d wanted more, because Ronan had taken off in a hurry.
Had he been late for a date with another woman?
Not that their dinner together had been a date. He hadn’t asked Muriel out; he’d just shown up with take-out. And, embarrassingly enough, she had been home alone on a Friday night. But it had been a Friday night, so of course, he’d had plans. No wonder he’d left in such a hurry.
But she’d been certain he would come back, that he had been as affected by the attraction between them as she was. But he hadn’t returned.
Unless that was him at the door, persistently ringing the bell. Maybe he’d brought her breakfast.
Her stomach rumbling at the thought of food, Muriel rolled off the couch and hurried down the short hall to the door. When she pulled it open and found her friend standing in the hall, disappointment flashed through her.
Feeling guilty, she pushed it aside and gave Bette a bright smile. The pretty brunette held a beverage carrier and a bag that was already getting soggy from whatever greasy bounty she’d brought with her. Muriel stepped back, but her friend remained standing in the hall.
“Ishehere?” she asked.
Muriel tensed. She hadn’t told Bette that she’d run into Ronan—a couple of times—lately. No doubt Bette would think she was a fool for even talking to him, let alone letting him get as close as he’d been to her.
Inside her...
She shivered despite the fact that she’d pulled on her yoga pants and a sweatshirt after he left. “Is who here?” she asked, stalling for time.
Could Bette think she’d been hooking up with someone else? Maybe some magazine had printed some more lies about her. But Bette knew better than to believe what she read about Muriel.
“Ronan Hall,” Bette said.
The heat of embarrassment rushed to Muriel’s face.
“He’s playing you,” her friend warned. “He’s trying to seduce you into dropping your complaint with the bar association.”
A pang struck Muriel’s heart. Not that she was hurt or anything...
She’d suspected Ronan was up to something, that he’d had a reason for seeking her out in the elevator and at her photo shoot.
She plucked a cup of coffee from the beverage carrier Bette held in one hand. “At least let me have some caffeine before we start this conversation.”
She was exhausted. Not just because of the marathon sex she’d had with Ronan but because she hadn’t been able to sleep after he’d left.
She’d wanted him again. Hell, she wanted him now.
Bette held up the grease-stained bag. “I brought doughnuts, too.”
“I love you,” Muriel said as she ushered Bette into the apartment and closed the door behind her.
“You love too easily,” Bette said.
Feeling like her friend had struck her, Muriel gasped. “I am not in love with Ronan.”
“I should hope not,” Bette said.
“I hate his guts,” Muriel reminded her.
“Then why are you even talking to him, let alone sleeping with him?” Bette asked.
Muriel silently cursed him for being a tool and herself for being a fool. She should have known that he would brag to his friends, and Bette was seeing one of those friends. Simon Kramer wasn’t much better than Ronan. All of the partners of the Street Legal law practice were notorious for being ruthless lawyers and lovers.
“I could say the same about you and Simon,” Muriel reminded her.
“You could have in the beginning,” Bette admitted. “But I am in love with him now. And he loves me.”
