CHAPTER 4
Reagan
Istood at the head of the conference table, stuffing papers back into the case file as the parties mingled and made small talk.
When I’d walked into this room over an hour ago I’d expected a simple, short proceeding that would fade into memory as soon as I sat down at my desk and started drafting my next brief. What had actually happened was about as far from that as I could imagine.
I’d witnessed a surprise family reunion between long-lost siblings, who even now were chatting warmly with one another. Well, warmly might be an exaggerated description. But they were all being pleasant, if not a little bit reserved and wary.
Except for one. The middle brother. William…no, Billy. That’s what his family had called him.
Apparently none of the Comfort men used their given names. Henry was Hank. James was Jimmy. And William was Billy.
The one that I’d thought was so rude and disrespectful when he’d disappeared without explanation before the reading, and so hot and sexy when he’d finally walked in the room. He alone, out of all of the siblings, looked purely joyful to see his little sister. There was no wariness at all in his eyes.
They drifted toward the door as a group and paused near me to say their goodbyes. I shook hands with Hank and Jimmy as they each took their leave. Then Billy wrapped his arms around Cheyenne and squeezed tight. “You sure you don’t want to come to lunch, Shadow? We got twenty years of catchin’ up to do.”
“Um,” Cheyenne tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “No, I…um…I have some things I need to do.”
“Okay, but I will see you at the bar tonight, right?”
“Yes.” She nodded and I noticed her shoulders relax.
The next thing I knew Billy turned to face me. Seeing this man from across a long table was one thing. Having him mere inches away, with his attention focused on me, was an entirely different proposition.
I put out my hand, struggling to keep it from trembling with all the hormones rushing through me. He grasped it, and it was all I could do to keep from gasping. The sensation of his warm, large, calloused fingers enveloping mine had my knees going all wobbly and my head spinning with dizzying desire.
Instead of shaking my hand like his brothers had done, he turned it until it was palm down and lifted it for a gallant kiss. His firm, soft lips pressed to my skin and my entire body exploded with tingling awareness.
I stood, speechless. The slow, easy kiss seemed to last for an eternity. Finally, he straightened and gave me a wink. “Will I see you there, tonight, too, lady lawyer?”
Lady lawyer. Normally, I’d be offended at the female distinction. I was a lawyer, not a lady lawyer. Just like women were bosses, not girl bosses. But somehow coming from Billy Comfort it sounded like audible foreplay. Or at least that’s how my lust-ridden brain was interpreting it.
What was happening to me? It wasn’t like me to be swayed by pretty words, not that they were particularly pretty. If anything, they fell on the side of condescending, but that was not how my body was taking them.
Maybe I actually was having a nervous breakdown triggered by an infusion of arousal.
I cleared my throat and reluctantly tugged my hand out of his. “My name is Reagan. Reagan York.”
“Reagan,” he repeated as his lips curled in the half-grin that I was already looking forward to seeing again. “Sorry, ’bout that, darlin’. I hadn’t caught your name. Will I see I see you there tonight, Reagan? Reagan York.”
I opened my mouth to say, “No, but thank you for the invitation,” and was as shocked as I could be to hear the word, “Maybe,” come out in a breathless sigh.
Maybe?
Okay, now I knew something was wrong. I was decisive. If I didn’t want to do something, I didn’t, and I never made apologies for it. On the flipside, if I wanted to do something, I did it.
And I didn’t want to do this…did I?
“Maybe, huh?” His grin widened and he winked. “I’ll take it.”
There were a million reasons why I shouldn’t go. This was a small town, and Nadia had made it clear that there were unwritten rules and that I needed to be careful, working for Jennings Abernathy.
She hadn’t gone into detail about what those rules were, but I certainly didn’t want to step in it on my first day. I still had small-town PTSD from living in a tiny Alabama town until I was eight. I remembered all too well just how ruthless and devastating the gossip could be.
I was new to this firm, and since I’d spent the past five years working for partners that I knew I’d never get any sort of recommendation from—because one of them was supposed to be my future father-in-law—the last thing I needed to do was mess this up. That alone was a good enough reason to stay away.
When I took into account the way this man affected me on a visceral level, though… Well, then I knew I should stay away.