Five Exotic Fantasies: Love in Reverse, Book 3 (30 page)

Chapter Thirty-Six

Coco smiled.
Mr. Idealistic.
“That explains a lot,” she said. He shrugged.

She stirred her coffee and took a sip. “So you’ve never defended someone in court you’re sure is guilty?”

“I’m a family lawyer, not a defence lawyer.”

“Don’t be picky, you know what I’m saying. You stand up in court and defend your clients. Are they ever guilty?”

He took a long breath and let it out slowly. “The defence lawyer doesn’t make a case. The prosecutor makes cases. The role of a defence lawyer is to sow doubt.”

“That doesn’t answer my question.”

He shifted in his seat. “If defence lawyers only defend people they think are innocent, then they’re substituting their own judgment for that of the judge and jury.”

“That still doesn’t answer my question.”

“Coco…”

“A yes or no will suffice.” She didn’t want to make him squirm, but suddenly it was important for her to know.

He leaned forward. “Ideally, the answer would be that yes, I had defended someone I knew to be guilty. Like I said, the defence lawyer shouldn’t make decisions of guilt or innocence, but rather assist the judge and jury in making that determination. However, you’re asking what does a lawyer do when asked to defend, say, a rapist who has already committed an offence in the past and who is almost certainly guilty? Or especially who admits his guilt to his lawyer? The law demands he have a defence, but it must be down to each individual lawyer to say whether he or she can stand up in court and defend that man, knowing him to be guilty.”

Coco took his hand. “And what would your decision be?”

He looked into his mug. “I couldn’t do it.”

Suddenly she understood—he was ashamed of his answer. In spite of what had happened in his youth, he wanted to be professional—the sort of lawyer who believed that the job was separate from the powers of light and dark, the kind who fought for their client, even if the client privately admitted he or she was guilty. But poor kind-hearted Felix was too ethical, too honourable to do that. He really was a defender of the innocent, a knight in shining armour, whose principles and integrity meant he had to believe in the person standing before him, who threw his heart into every case, and that was why he was having such trouble with this one.

He was an optimist and a romantic, and Coco loved him for it.

Shit.
Loved him?

Felix raised his eyes and looked into hers. She was too shocked at her revelation to do anything but stare at him.

She couldn’t possibly love him. She’d known him less than a week. It didn’t make sense. She wasn’t in love, she was in lust. They’d purposely settled on a physical relationship because they didn’t have the time for an emotional one. Sure, they’d been attracted to each other from the beginning, but he was in Wellington temporarily, and he obviously wouldn’t want anything more than a brief fling.

He looked at her with tender affection, a smile gradually spreading over his face as she continued to study him. His hand was warm beneath hers, and his eyes were warm.

“Meet me again tonight,” he said.

She released a slow breath. “I can’t. Frances is visiting her daughter and I don’t have anyone to look after Mum.”

“Then tomorrow.” His eyes twinkled. “I’ll work on exotic fantasy number four.”

I shouldn’t. I mustn’t.

“Okay.” Jeez, she was weak.

He reached across the table, slipped a hand behind her head and leaned forward, pulling her toward him. Their lips met briefly in a sweet kiss before they parted to sit back in their seats.

“What was that for?” she asked, amused.

His fingers stroked hers where they lay next to their coffee mugs. “I can’t stop thinking about you. I miss you when I’m not near you.”

She caught her breath. “Felix…”

“I know.” He looked down at her left hand, his fingers stroking hers. He brushed lightly over her empty ring finger, lingering for a moment. Or was it her imagination?

“We have to be careful,” she said softly.

“I know—it’s so difficult working together.”

That wasn’t actually what she’d meant, but she decided not to correct him. “Exactly. Especially with the nature of the case. I can’t imagine what Dell would say if he knew about us.”

Felix shifted in his seat. “I know.”

“Or Sasha, for that matter.”

His wry look told her he knew exactly what she meant. “I did
not
expect her little revelation,” he said, withdrawing his hand to lift the mug and take a mouthful of his coffee.

“Me neither.” She sat back, relieved and disappointed at the same time at the turn of the conversation. “I guess it simplifies things for you, though?”

“Maybe.” His face went carefully blank, and he looked out of the window.

She puzzled over that. Surely it was an open and shut case now? How could Peter possibly be in the right if he’d declared Sasha had been the one who’d made the move on him, when in fact she was gay? Coco couldn’t believe that Sasha was the one at fault. It just didn’t make sense.

She wanted to ask him what he thought about the case, but that wasn’t fair, not when she was a witness. Still, she wished she could talk to him about it. It would be interesting to see what he really thought of Peter Dell and the whole situation.

“So what’s your next step?” she asked.

“I need to talk to the other secretaries. Establish whether they picked up anything strange about Sasha’s behaviour, and of course whether Dell has ever acted inappropriately to them as well. I’d like you there, if possible—I think a woman needs to be present during the interviews.”

“Yes, of course.”

He cleared his throat. “I need to interview you, too.”

She’d expected that. “I know.”

“I’m sorry.”

“It’s all right—of course you have to. I’m the office manager.”

Clearly, though, it made him uneasy. He played with the sugar container again. “I may have to ask some…searching questions. It may make you feel awkward. But I want you to know it’s purely professional.”

“I understand.”

He raised his gaze to hers then and looked pained. “I don’t want to upset you.”

“Felix, it’s okay. I don’t have anything to hide.” Guilt swept over her.
Only a secret that would put the record straight and solve the entire case for him once and for all.
But she was going to pretend that had never happened. It didn’t matter anyway—Dell was hardly innocent, and he’d sign his own death warrant by the end of Felix’s investigation. She was sure of that.

“What?” he said, obviously picking up on her unease.

“Nothing.”

He frowned. “Is something bothering you about Dell?”

She hesitated for a moment, wishing she could confide in him. She’d never told anybody about what had happened to her when she was seventeen, not her mother, not a counsellor or doctor, certainly not Michael. She’d pretended she was a virgin when she first slept with Michael, and he’d believed her.

But she couldn’t confide in Felix, because she knew he wouldn’t understand why she’d given in to Peter, nor why she’d kept it to herself. He’d see it as a weakness, and she didn’t want him to think she was weak.

She shrugged. “The whole case makes me uneasy. Peter’s my boss—he represents the firm I’ve worked at for ten years. It’s very unsettling.”

“I understand.” He picked up her hand again. “You know you can tell me anything, right?”

He knew she was hiding something. She reminded herself that he was a skilled lawyer. They often had a strange sixth sense regarding whether a witness was telling the truth, and something she’d said—or done—had made him suspicious. But she had to remember that even though they were sleeping together, and they’d done the most intimate things a man and woman could do with each other, she didn’t
know
him. Her gut instinct told her she could trust him, but she couldn’t be a hundred percent certain he wasn’t trying to use her.

“I’m not,” he said.

She blinked. “Pardon?”

“Using you for information.”

It so mirrored what she was thinking that her jaw dropped.

“I wouldn’t do that,” he said. Was that hurt flickering in his eyes?

She looked into her mug. “I didn’t mean to imply you were. It’s just…I don’t really know you. I hardly know anything about you.”

He sighed. “I know.”

“I want to trust you, especially after what we’ve shared.” She could feel her cheeks reddening, and looked up to see the beginnings of a smile curving his lips. “But we’ve gone about this all wrong, working together and having a relationship. It’s not surprising we’re both wary.”

“I guess.” He reached out and took her hand again. “I wish it had happened differently. I wish we could have met without the shadow of McAllister Dell hanging over us.”

“Yeah.” But it was pointless to discuss it, wasn’t it? She couldn’t unravel the past, wave a wand and make the case disappear, turn back the years to before she turned seventeen, before she met Peter and he met Lindsey, and make her and Felix each other’s first love. Life didn’t happen like that. She just had to play the hand she’d been dealt and live with the consequences of the decisions she’d made.

She sat back, suddenly depressed about the whole situation. Why couldn’t things have been different?

“Okay, so we’ll say Friday for your interview,” he said.

She shrugged. “Sure.”

“I have something else to ask you.” His gaze softened and took on a mischievous look.

“Oh?”

“Friday is actually my birthday.”

“Oh!” She smiled.

“Yeah. I had a call this morning from a good friend of mine, Jean.”

Coco’s heart missed a beat. A female friend?

“He’s coming to Wellington on Friday,” Felix continued.

Now she was confused. “Sorry, he?”

Felix stared, then grinned. “Ah. That’s G-E-N-E, not J-E-A-N.”

“Oh.” Relief swept over her. “I see.”

“Yeah, he gets that all the time. Anyway, he’ll be here Friday with his girlfriend, and he’s organised for my brother, Toby, and his wife to be here, and also you remember me saying I was friends with Faith Hillman and Rusty?”

“The Seven Sexy Sins couple?”

“Yes—they’re going to be here too. We’re going to meet up for dinner and…” A smile curved his lips. “I wondered whether you’d like to come along?”

She frowned. “Do they know about me?”

He looked shifty. “Maybe.”

“How on earth have you described me?”

“Blonde,” he said, and grinned.

She glared at him. “You know what I mean. How have you described our…?” She tried to think of a word and failed.

“I haven’t.” He smiled. “I said there’s a girl I might bring along.”

“And now they’re curious,” she said, reading between the lines.

“Sort of.”

She couldn’t squash the little thrill that rose in her at the thought that he wanted her to meet his friends and family. It probably wasn’t sensible, but she might as well make the most of his time in Wellington until he had to go. “Okay, I’ll come.”

“Good.” He ran a hand through his hair. He’d been nervous about asking her.
Aw
.

“We’d better get back,” she said to cover her shyness.

“I suppose.” He finished off his coffee and they stood and left the coffee shop.

They walked across to the building. He hesitated outside and she turned to face him.

“Thanks,” he said, although for what she wasn’t sure. For not resenting the fact that he had to interview her? Or for agreeing to go out with him?

“You’re welcome.”

“I’m looking forward to tomorrow night.” His warm brown eyes caressed her, the sudden, hungry desire in them taking her breath away.

“You only had me last night,” she scolded, bold under his hot gaze.

“It wasn’t enough.”

They stared at each other for a moment. Longing and regret, desire and wistfulness for more twisted inside her so that for a moment she could barely swallow.

Without another word, she turned and walked into the building.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Felix spent the rest of Wednesday and most of Thursday interviewing the secretarial staff. The majority of the time, Coco sat with him and Rob, introducing the secretaries to Felix when they came in, putting them at ease and taking notes as the interviews progressed.

Felix began by informing them that although their statements would be kept within the circle of partners at the firm, he could not guarantee to keep them confidential if they contained information important to the case. He asked whether they were aware of the situation between Sasha and Peter Dell—had they been in the office when it happened or had they already gone home? He asked what Sasha’s behaviour had been like the few days after—had she seemed upset, stressed or angry? Had she talked to any of them about what had happened? He questioned them about Sasha’s behaviour in general—what did they think of her as a person, did they like her? What did they know about her social life? And then he asked them about Dell—did the senior partner flirt with them? Had he ever made advances—acceptable or unacceptable—toward them? Did they believe Sasha’s claim was true?