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Thanks to years of prior mismanagement, the city coffers were in trouble. If Nora and her husband wanted to drag the city through a messy legal battle, Whispering Bay wouldn’t have the funds to fight them. They had Pilar, and she was top notch, but she was right. They would need more than one already overworked attorney to fight a firm like Martinez and Martinez.
“I went to college with someone named Ben Harrison,” Jenna said before she could stop herself. “We were both freshmen, although he was a few years older than me, but we, uh, lost track
of one another.”
“How well did you know him?” Mimi asked.
“Hardly at all,” Jenna lied.
“Did your Ben go to law school?” Pilar asked.
He’s not my Ben!
“He talked about going to law school, but like I said, we didn’t keep in touch.”
“Let’s check out the Martinez and Martinez website and see if this is the same guy you knew in college.” Pilar pulled out her laptop. “Those firms always have these big bios on their lead attorneys. If he’s an old college friend, maybe we can work that to our advantage and—” She sat back in her chair and blinked. “Oh my.”
“What?” Mimi snatched the laptop to take a look. Her brows nearly hit her hairline. “Mmm… Yeah. I see what you mean.”
Jenna was almost afraid to ask. “What? Does this guy have horns or something?”
“Look for yourself.” Mimi handed her the laptop where the image of a man in a crisply tailored blue suit with dark hair and achingly familiar brown eyes stared back at her. Broad shouldered, with his arms crossed over his chest, the look on his face said he ate little children for breakfast. And he liked it.
Jenna fought the urge to run into the bathroom and scream. She’d secretly been hoping that there were two Ben Harrisons in the legal world. But no. This was her (not her) Ben, all right. What were the odds that the two of them would be involved in a case together? Thank God his firm was located eight hours away in Miami. In this day of emails and Skype, they’d almost certainly never have to come face-to-face.
This immediately cheered her up.
“He’s kind of good-looking, I suppose,” Jenna conceded coolly. “If you like that corporate pirate look.”
“Kind of good-looking?” Mimi muttered. “I love Zeke to death but I wouldn’t mind seeing this guy in his boxer shorts.”
Pilar giggled. “Don’t tell Nick,” she said, referring to her husband, “but I wouldn’t mind seeing him without them. Let’s read his bio.” She cleared her throat in a dramatic fashion. “Ben Harrison, a north Florida native, graduated high school and immediately enlisted in the US Army. He served two tours in Afghanistan and was awarded the Silver Star for bravery in combat. With the aid of the GI Bill and a full academic scholarship, he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from the University of Miami, going on to earn his J.D. at Harvard University. He is a member of the Florida Bar, blah, blah, blah. The rest is the usual flowery accolades.”
“He’s an army hero and he went to Harvard? This guy is impressive,” Mimi said.
Jenna had known that Ben had served in the army, but he’d never told her about earning a Silver Star. She wondered… She really didn’t want to know, but she asked anyway. “Does it say anything about his marital status?”
Pilar glanced back at the screen. “Nope.” Her eyes got a mischievous gleam in them. “But I did hear some gossip in the legal circles about him and Tiffany hooking up. After he won her case, because it would be totally unethical of him to be boinking her while he was her attorney.”
“Let’s Google him and Tiffany and see what we get,” Mimi said.
Jenna really really wanted to squelch this idea, but reminding the two other women that they were supposed to be discussing city business, especially when they seemed to be enjoying themselves so much, would only make her sound like a spoilsport. Besides, yes, she could admit it. A part of her (the weak, undisciplined part) wanted to see the pictures, too.
Pilar typed Ben and Tiffany’s names into the Google search bar and hit Images. “Bin-go!” All three women crowded around the laptop.
The screen was filled with dozens of photos of Ben and a beautiful woman with platinum blonde hair and a killer body (partially fake, because no one’s boobs were that perky). There was a photo of Ben in a black tux and Tiffany in a red designer gown attending some kind of charity event. Another photo showed them wearing jeans and T-shirts and eating ice-cream cones while laughing and walking down a sidewalk in South Beach, oblivious to the admiring stares of the people around them.
Mimi sighed. “This is one seriously gorgeous couple. It’s like they’re People magazine’s new answer to Brad and Angelina.”
“Oh, yeah, he’s totally doing her. Look at the way she looks at him in this picture.” Pilar pointed to an image of Tiffany looking up adoringly at Ben. “She is one smitten kitten. So does any of this ring a bell?” she asked Jenna. “Is this the Ben Harrison you knew in college?”
“It certainly appears to be him,” Jenna admitted.
“That’s great!” Pilar said. “Maybe we can use this to our advantage.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I barely remember him and I’m sure he wouldn’t remember me at all, so I don’t really see how this can help us.”
“Oh.” Pilar went back to looking at the pictures.
