Love Proof (Laws of Attraction) by Elizabeth Ruston Read Free Book Online Page B

herself to Joe’s client. 
“Thank you for coming in today.  I just have a few questions.”  She asked her
eight best ones, then the deposition was over.
    The traffic that time of day from Pasadena back to Los Angeles was
going to be horrendous.  But her flight—and, she assumed, the others’—was less
than three hours away, so she knew she had better get to it.
    Her new best friend Paul Chapman took it upon himself to walk with her to
the parking garage near the hotel.  Sarah remembered where she’d parked, but
pretended she didn’t.
    “You go ahead,” she told Chapman.  “I’ll see you later.”
    He lumbered off toward an enormous black SUV that looked almost new.
    Sarah forced back the bitterness in her mouth.
    Then she saw Joe, walking at the opposite side of her row, clicking the
remote for his shiny silver Audi and throwing his luggage and briefcase in the
back.
    He must have slept in his own bed the night before, too, Sarah
thought.  The driver who met him at the airport had taken him home, then Joe drove
to the deposition that morning just like she did.
    She wondered where he lived.  Someplace expensive, no doubt, from the
look of his car.  He always had more money than she did.  His parents were a
lot better off than hers.
    Joe looked up just then and saw her watching him.  Sarah quickly
pretended to search for her keys.  Lunch with him had been all right, but she
wasn’t in the mood for any more interaction.  Especially since now she needed
him to drive away before he saw the twenty-year-old Saturn she was about to
climb into.
    She moved against the concrete wall of the garage and waited for him to
swing past her.  When he did, he gave her a nod of acknowledgment.
    It wasn’t fair, Sarah thought, none of it was fair.
    But she knew she could tell herself that as much as she wanted, and it
wouldn’t change a thing.  Better to swallow whatever last little bit of pride
she still had, and be grateful she had a car at all.  Be grateful she had
work.  Be grateful Mickey had recommended her for the job.
    Although she couldn’t help wondering now if the fact that Burke was on
the other side of it might have been the reason why Mickey had suggested her in
the first place.  Did he think that would make Sarah more effective, more
aggressive?
    Or was it just one more move in the long-running game the three of them
had been playing since that night in Illinois?

 
     
    Eight
    Mickey Hughes had sought her out.
    He made no attempt to hide why.
    “I want you on my team.  You’re beautiful and you smell good, and you
know we’ll kick their asses.  Which one do you want to go to?”
    The Moot Court meeting had only just ended, and Sarah was looking over
the list of national competitions taking place that fall.  There were ones all
over the country, each focusing on different areas of the law.  The one that
caught her eye was a patient confidentiality issue in a health law case.  The
competition would take place at Southern Illinois University School of Law at the
beginning of November.
    “That’s the one I’m doing,” she said, pointing to the description.
    Mickey gave it a quick read.  “Fine.  Great.  Whatever.  Let’s go grab
a beer.”
    Sarah glanced around the room at the other potential partners she might
have asked to work with her.  She knew Mickey from their first year Torts
class, and had been in Trial Prep with him their second year, so she had seen
enough to know he wasn’t stupid.  Maybe not the best choice out of everyone in
the room, but not an awful one, either.
    “You sure you’re up for it?” Sarah asked him.  “I’m not just doing this
for the credit—I’m doing it to win.”
    Mickey flashed her a smile.  “Counting on it, Henley.  Why do you think
I picked you?”
    While Mickey bought their beers, Sarah looked over the paperwork she
picked up at the meeting.  It included a longer description of what the case
was about.
    She passed it across to