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I looked up to find Kieran peering at me, wry amusement playing across her sharp features.
She pointed a pen at me as she spoke. “Usually before he even knows them very well.” She shrugged. “I always tell him that will make the good ones feel like prostitutes, but he never listens. He was planning to do it again last week.”
I gulped and set my file on the desk so I could face her. “Who’s that?”
“Something tells me you know,” she said, holding up the check.
I blinked, not entirely sure what to say. I liked Kieran, but I didn’t want her getting the wrong idea about Brandon and me.
She sat back in her chair and set the check on the table. “Relax, Skylar. He’s not your boss anymore. And FLS has never been too good for his money anyway.”
I found Kieran’s command difficult to obey. She was already intimidating, and I couldn’t tell if she approved or not that I was dating her friend. I still remembered her laser-like disdain at his house that first night; I had also seen her in action when she went after particularly nasty opponents in court. Kieran’s wrath was scary.
“Look, I really couldn’t care less about your personal life, Skylar. But Brandon is a different story. He’s like a brother to me. A good guy, but…complicated. And he doesn’t need anyone who will add to that in his life. So be careful.”
Her dark eyes pinned me to my chair. It was obvious why Kieran was so successful in court; I couldn’t imagine anyone lying to her under her interrogation.
“We clear?” she asked.
Wordlessly, I nodded, although I couldn’t be less clear. Was she warning me off him? Was she trying to help? She’s even more inscrutable than usual, red mouth set in an impassive line.
“Of…of course,” I finally managed to croak.
Her lips quirked up at the sides, but it wasn’t quite a smile. “Well, this was a good start,” she said, holding up the check again.
I smiled back, although I still wasn’t sure what she meant. Kieran turned back to her computer, and it was as if our awkward conversation hadn’t happened.
* * *
“What about this one?”
Jane held up a bright blue dress so short it looked more like a skirt. She held it up against her slim body and swished it playfully from side to side.
My face immediately torqued up in disgust. “Are you kidding? That’s not a dress. It’s lingerie.”
“It’s hot, and you’d look hot in it. Didn’t he tell you he liked your legs?”
“Yes, but—”
“Well, one look at you in this, and he’ll fuck you on the piano this time. Or maybe in the back seat of his car. Is his driver a perv? Do you think he’d watch?”
“I really need to stop telling you everything about my sex life.”
I blushed, glancing around the small boutique to see if anyone had heard her. Luckily it was almost closing time, so the small shop was nearly empty. If the girl at the register had heard us, she was doing a really good job of acting like she hadn’t.
I grabbed the dress—if you could even call it that—from Jane and put it back on the rack. “He promised nothing fancy. Less call girl, more girl next door.”
“Who are you, his kid sister? Why did you ask me here?” Jane grabbed back at the long gray cardigan currently hanging from my arm and tossed it over another rack of clothes.
“Hey, I liked that!”
“I don’t care if he’s taking you out to a taco truck, lady!” Jane said, blocking my reach. “It’s a date, not tea with my great-aunt Meg. If you want to go cazh, that’s fine, but I’m not letting you go on this date without sexing it up a little bit. No cardigans!”
“Fine, fine. No, not that. Jesus, Jane, this isn’t Vegas! It’s twenty-eight degrees outside.”
Before I could finish vetoing her next choice—an indecently low-cut halter-top littered with sequins—my handbag interrupted our sparring with a loud vibration. I answered my cell phone without checking who it was, shaking my head violently at Jane. “Hello?”
“Hey, Skylar. It’s Jared.”
