Charity Case - The Complete Series - Piper Rayne Page 0,207

outside patio…all the décor inside could be white, silver and blue. It’d be beautiful.”

She paints a breathtaking picture and I might have been on board before Gwen’s call. But speaking with her reminded me of all the speakers who have committed, booked out time from their busy schedules to come. I’m not going to screw them over when they agreed to help me out of the goodness of their hearts. Chelsea’s cousin and her friends are flying in from training in New Zealand to give away a silent auction package of a weekend in Park City with them as tour guides.

“Stop looking like I just told you Reed has a secret wife. I’m not going to sell my body, Victoria.” I google Roarke Baldwin, bastard-at-law and scribble his phone number down, sliding the note to Victoria. “Here. Call over and say I need to have a word with the snake.”

“I don’t like this. I’m just saying,” she says before rising from her chair.

There’s no sense responding because there’s nothing else to say.

Through the frosted glass, I watch her movements. She picks up the phone and I hear the murmur of her voice as she talks, but she hangs up before sending a call through to me.

He’s probably in court screwing someone else over.

My throat contracts when she rises from her desk. I can’t remember the last time I was nervous and it only makes my resentment for Mr. Baldwin grow.

She enters my office and places a colored sticky note on my desk. “He told his assistant you’re to use his cell phone only. The office phone is for clients and you’re not a client.”

I crinkle the piece of paper, balling it in my fist.

“What a son of a bitch!” I throw the coral piece of paper across the room.

“I don’t like this. I think we should reschedule the gala.”

I slide my chair out, press my palms on the edge of my desk and push up, heading over to retrieve the note I just flung. “No. Mr. Baldwin wants to play, I can fucking play. The most arrogant predators always underestimate their prey. Roarke Baldwin is the biggest pompous ass I’ve ever met, and I guarantee he underestimates every woman he comes into contact with, including me.”

“You’re kind of scary right now,” Victoria says, backing away from the desk. “Can I leave the door open a sliver so I can eavesdrop?” She grins.

I laugh and shoo her out of the office with my hand. Chelsea must arrive because a moment later I spot two shadows with their ears pressed against my door.

Chapter Five

I press the numbers on my phone with shaky fingers, bringing the receiver up to my ear and release a deep breath.

He picks up after one ring. “I thought we were friends? Having your assistant call my assistant. Tsk. Tsk, Ms. Crowley.”

Aggravation fuses together every cell in my body until I become an impenetrable wall.

“First, we are not friends. Second, I would prefer to talk to you via our office phones.”

There’s a brief second of silence where he’s probably realizing I called him through my office line.

“Ahh… so now you have my number and I don’t have yours? That seems terribly unfair.”

“I didn’t realize you cared about fairness?” I lean back in my chair and cross my legs.

“You don’t know that much about me. It’s not like you know me intimately.” He lowers his voice on the last word and drags it out.

I roll my eyes, happy we’re not face-to-face so he can’t see the flush in my cheeks.

“You may have witnessed how I own the courtroom, but you know nothing about my private life. For instance, you don’t know if I like thrillers or comedies. Whether I prefer sorbet to ice cream or if I wear boxers or briefs.”

“I don’t need to know those things,” I say with frustration, shutting my eyes to rid the vision from my head of him in tight black boxer briefs—since that’s my preference.

“You want to know though.” A sexual innuendo pours out of his mouth and hits its mark between my thighs.

“There you go making assumptions about my wants.” I pick up my pen, shuffling through paperwork. Anything to distract me from this ache.

“I not only know what you want, I know what you need, Ms. Crowley.”

I smack my hand down on my desk. “Okay Rico Suave, let’s talk about this venue you have access to and keep the discussion of undergarments for another time.”

A beeping sound interrupts us.

“Hold all my calls