I pressed my lips into a thin line. “Yes. And no.”
“You’re still mad about what she said.”
I frowned. “It’s not the words anymore that are the problem.”
He nodded in understanding. “You don’t know if you can trust her.”
“We both got burned. Wasn’t a whole lot of fun, and I’d like to avoid it happening again.”
Joseph’s gaze went beyond me, as if he was considering, and then his attention snapped back like he’d pulled an idea from the air. “You could arrange a way to build trust.” His expression was cryptic. “It’s unconventional, and she may not go for it, but from what you’ve said, sex doesn’t seem to be an issue.”
Was he serious? “No, it’s not an issue.”
“Good. Then use it. Make it clear you can’t have anything more than a sexual arrangement until you’ve both forgiven each other and the trust is there.”
I stared at him like he was insane, but perhaps I was, since I considered his suggestion. “Okay, how the hell do I work that into conversation?”
“You don’t. Something like that needs to be spelled out with exact language.” Joseph’s mouth lifted into a half-smile. “I think that’d be easy for a man who writes contracts for a living.”
Chapter
FOURTEEN
RUBY
Morgan’s dress was twelve hundred dollars. She’d worn it as a presenter at some broadcaster awards ceremony last year. Since she wasn’t going to use the dress again, she was surprisingly cool about it. I delivered the silk gown to a dry cleaner and tried to explain what happened. The Korean woman didn’t appear to understand a word of it, but she nodded enthusiastically and announced, “Thursday, you pick up.”
Kyle had cleaned me out of almond flour and egg whites. I’d set down the box containing my last batch of macarons in the office break room this morning, and my associates swarmed. It got me to crack a smile. At least my misery brought happiness to others.
Since my macaron making supplies were depleted, I told myself that was enough. I was done thinking about Kyle McCreary. I was successful for the majority of the day, until an email arrived in my inbox from ‘k.mccreary’ followed by his firm’s domain name.
Ms. Carter,
There is business my client needs to discuss, but due to its sensitive nature, I would prefer not to document it. Please call my assistant at the number listed below and arrange a meeting at your earliest convenience.
Thank you for your time,
Kyle McCreary
I fought back the rising anger. The email was professional, but so very him. I drafted and deleted three nasty responses before composing the right one.
Mr. McCreary,
I am no longer involved in the Crawford divorce as it is a conflict of interest. In the future, you should contact Henry Reed directly. I will forward your request to him.
Sincerely,
Ruby Carter
I fired off the email, and was stunned when his response was immediate.
This is unrelated to the Crawford case.
A strange tickle developed in the back of my throat, which I tried to swallow away.
What is it regarding?
This time either his response was slower, or the clock ground to a halt. I held my breath when the new message popped in.