Falling for the Lawyer - By Anna Clifton Page 0,4

him on every level possible.

“I can promise you I haven’t had any time on my hands in ages.” JP straightened again and shrugged his shoulders. “That means I haven’t had time to spend any money let alone have any fun. It will be worth every dollar that outfit costs me when I see Alex’s face in my office in about thirty minutes.”

“I wish I could be a fly on the wall.”

“I’ll tell you about it some time.”

“Well why don’t we grab a meal … some time,” Andrea shot back in immediate rejoinder, raising her eyebrows in a way that suggested she’d be happy to be dessert.

JP swallowed in instinctive response. One of his ex-girlfriend’s best pals was hitting on him and he hadn’t even seen it coming—clearly he’d been out of the dating game too long.

His eyes flickered over Andrea. He took in the snappy short hairdo and the figure that was impossibly slender and curvy all at once. There was no doubt about it, she was a seriously sexy woman and he was seriously contemplating the not unattractive prospect of taking up her offer.

But as a critical bonus Andrea had those qualities in a woman that always attracted him like a moth to a flame: hard as nails, independent and ambitious to the core—just like Caroline. And just like Caroline, Andrea would never ask for anything from him beyond the shallowest commitment—no protecting, no encouraging, no emotional props would be needed—in short, the polar opposite of his mother.

JP opened his mouth to accept Andrea’s offer but then quickly closed it again. Despite her perfection something he couldn’t put his finger on was holding him back and until he knew what it was he didn’t want to risk becoming tied up with another woman if his heart wasn’t in it.

“Thanks for the offer but I’m not going to have time to tie my shoe laces over the next few weeks let alone go out for dinner.”

Andrea shrugged easily and smiled. Thankfully she was unfazed by the knock-back. “So? Who’s talking weeks? I’m not going anywhere over the next few months and my calendar is very flexible.”

JP gave Andrea a bland smile in response to her suggestive one and was relieved to see out of the corner of his eye that Alex had reappeared in the shop. Nevertheless it took him a few moments to gather his thoughts and focus on Alex rather than the woman who’d just been offering herself up as a no-strings-attached date. Yet once the focus mechanism kicked in the rush of clarity took his breath away. For the second time in a minute he swallowed.

“Does it look that bad?” Alex blurted in horror as she read his shocked expression and began to fidget with the lapel of her new jacket.

JP gave out a snort of laughter. He rested back against the edge of the desk and folded his arms to continue his study of her. Andrea approached Alex with a satisfied smile and guided her latest model to an enormous mirror lining the wall to her left before leaving her there to answer a phone call.

Alex gasped visibly as she took in her reflection and JP guessed the sheer amazement of seeing herself in that extraordinarily beautiful suit was genuine. After all, the outfit she’d had on that morning was nothing short of a disaster on every level—even without the mud.

Alex’s mouth remained open a little as she took in her tall figure; her legs looked like they went on forever in those silk pants. And JP couldn’t help noticing the way the jacket tapered in at her tiny waist before blossoming open at the top of the silky black camisole she was wearing underneath. The whole outfit couldn’t have fitted her better if it had been tailor made.

“Well, Alex, what do you think?” JP approached her from behind and studied the reflection of her heart shaped face and the silky dark hair with the fringe cut a little shorter than usual above her exotic eyes. “It will get you through today, yeah?” he added with a grin.

“It’s the most sensational outfit I’ve ever worn,” she breathed, clearly still shocked at her transformation. “But I’ll feel totally like a fish out of water in this. Everyone will look at me.” She was fidgeting again—this time with the jacket buttons.

“Of course they’ll look at you—you look dead gorgeous. At least you will if you stop fidgeting.”

“But I don’t like people looking at me like that.”

“You mean you