LITMIR.BIZ

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earlier. He’d wanted marriage and Sophia hadn’t been able to commit herself to him. She hadn’t analyzed it and didn’t want to. She just knew Robert wasn’t as important as her career and never would be.

      That’s probably why Mitch’s reappearance in her life was making her hot inside by dredging up memories of the most erotic time in her life.

      But instead of focusing on that, she reached for the tin and pulled open the cellophane. Inside were six Coronas and a bag of limes. Next to the limes was a Stevie Ray Vaughan CD. She shivered hearing the raspy sound of Vaughan’s blues in her head and remembering Mitch’s fingers on her neck. Cool and wet with the juice of the lime, stroking down her back.

      Her phone rang and she jumped. She put a hand to her neck and took a deep breath before answering the call.

      “This is Deltonio.”

      “Joan wants to see you in her office,” Alice said.

      “Now?”

      “As soon as you can make it. It involves the Spinder case.”

      “Thanks, Alice. Tell her I’ll be right down.”

      Sophia hung up the phone. She slipped the note and black velvet ribbon from Mitch into her briefcase. She took the Corona bucket and put it on the credenza behind the panty basket. Though hidden from view, the washtub continued to taunt her with memories.

      The blues riffs of Stevie’s guitar echoed through her mind as she remembered the thrill of Mitch’s touch. This wasn’t good.

      She had to focus. The Spinder case involved a Hollywood hotshot and a seventeen-year-old girl, Holly McBride. The charge against Jason Spinder was having sex with a minor. The alleged act had taken place last fall when Holly was only sixteen. Jason had been shooting his latest blockbuster—this summer’s Maximum Exposure in Orlando.

      Sophia ran the facts of the case through her head, pushing Mitch back into the past. She was meeting with her boss and couldn’t—wouldn’t—let a man from her past interfere with her career. Damn. She needed a date a hell of a lot more than she’d thought if one basket could whip her into a frenzy like this.

      She took a tube of Bobbi Brown lipstick from her purse and carefully touched up her lips. She fluffed her shoulder-length hair, then smoothed it into place. She banished Stevie Ray Vaughan from her mind and instead focused on ACDC’s “Back In Black.” The song she always played before entering the courtroom. The raucous rock ’n’ roll never failed to pump up her blood and make her feel invincible.

      She grabbed the file and notes she’d made on the Spinder case. Already the D.A.’s office had more press than normal and she wasn’t looking forward to the media circus a high-profile defendant would bring.

      That explained the basket of Coronas. From the news clippings and alumni newsletters she’d scanned guiltily for news about Mitch, she knew he’d developed a reputation for winning that anyone would envy. In fact, he was fast becoming the preeminent lawyer to the stars. Mitch had to be Spinder’s lawyer.

      Of course, he’d have to reenter her life now when things were finally on track. When she wasn’t scraping to make a career and she’d finally found a place where she was comfortable being alone.

      Damn, after ten years it shouldn’t matter that he was coming back. Except she knew it wasn’t going to be a happy reunion. She knew that she’d done him wrong in the worst way a woman could. She knew that he hadn’t forgotten or forgiven her. The Coronas and the CD guaranteed he was coming out here for more than courtroom victory.

      He was coming for revenge.

      JOAN MUELLER WATCHED her protégé nervously chew on her lower lip. Sophia usually brimmed with energy—ready to take on any challenge. But there was something different about her today.

      “What took you so long to get here?” Joan asked. It had been fifteen minutes since her initial call. It wasn’t the first time that Sophia had taken her time arriving so that didn’t bother her. But there was something off about Sophia today.

      “I had to find the file,” Sophia said.

      That made sense. Sophia was the most organized attorney she had on staff and also the busiest. “Congratulations on your win.”

      “Thanks. I can safely say that prosecuting a man called the panty-raider is something I never expected to do.”

      “That’s what I love about this office. We see some really different cases.”

      “That’s one way to put it,” Sophia said.

      “Are you ready for this afternoon?” Normally, she wouldn’t have mentioned the arraignment phase of the case but with all the press interest she wanted to make sure every detail was smooth as silk.

      “Um…about that. My caseload is really heavy. I was wondering if…?”

      Joan sat back in her chair. Where was Sophia going with this? Sophia needed a high-profile win to add to her already impressive résumé to make her a definite shoo-in for the Deputy position. Joan had mentored the younger woman since she’d come on staff nearly seven years ago.

      “Sophia, what’s wrong? You’re the only one I considered for this case. You need the practice with the press.” She’d been grooming Sophia for the Deputy D.A. position and until this moment hadn’t had any doubts that Sophia was the right attorney for the job.

      She mentally went through the other candidates. Joseph O’Neill was a possibility. He was young and hungry. But Joan had wanted to see another woman succeed her when she retired.

      “You’re right,” Sophia said.

      “When this case is over you can take some time off,” Joan said. Sophia hadn’t taken a vacation since starting with the D.A.’s office. She’d never wanted one before.

      “I do need a vacation,” Sophia admitted.

      This case was important to the District Attorney’s office because it was high-profile.

      Joan remembered her fifth year in the office and the decisions she’d had to make. At that time Maurice Hanner was still asking her out. And after a brief affair she’d thought about marrying him. But in the end no man could hold a candle to the law for her.

      She hoped Sophia made the same choice. But just in case, Joan decided to start keeping a closer eye on Joseph.

      REVENGE WAS BEST SERVED cold, Mitch Hollaran had heard. He didn’t care what temperature it was now that the end was in sight. For ten years he’d lived by a vow he’d made as a young man of twenty-four. When he’d followed his gonads instead of his head and had his ass served to him by a black-haired witch who still haunted his dreams.

      He’d like to think he was a smarter man at thirty-four but there were days when he doubted it. Today wasn’t one of them. Everything was going his way. His flight had landed early. The exotic rental car service had a black Porsche waiting for him. He’d gotten a call from his office that the package he’d ordered had been delivered to Sophia.

      He’d have loved to see Sophia’s face when she’d received his calling card, letting her know he was back in town. And back in her life.

      Just the thought of seeing Sophia Deltonio again was enough to make him hard. It wasn’t just that she’d put him in an untenable position with the law firm he’d hoped to work for. It was that she’d ravaged his nice, neat plans for the future.

      All of the Hollaran men had married their college sweethearts. Four generations of men had set the expectation for Mitch that women met in that phase of life were the ones to make a family with. Sophia had embodied everything he’d wanted in a woman and then she’d ripped that image to shreds with one coldly calculated move.

      Though he was content with his life, he wouldn’t rest until he came out of an encounter with her the winner. And to think he was going to have to thank his pain-in-the-ass client Jason Spinder for the pleasure.

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