Friends With Benefits (7 page)

“Bob is requesting that we alter the agreement. I believe it’s a one-time thing,” Mitch explained. “He knows this year is not his year to have Cassandra for her birthday or Christmas, but he’s making a special request to alter the agreement.”

She stared at him coldly. “No.”

He sighed inwardly. “I know there’s no reason that you have to do this.” He leaned forward. “But I believe he does have reasons for making the request. I’m not privy to the details, but I’ve been asked to take the request to you for consideration. I just ask that you do consider it.”

“No,” she said again. Her eyes were hard. “That asshole has no right to ask this now. After what he did. And what we went through.” She closed her eyes briefly. “I can’t believe he’s doing this, actually. He’s probably just trying to torment me. Well, it won’t work. I’m saying no, and that’s it.”

Mitch looked at her. “They’ll probably take it to court if he wants it badly enough. Do you want to go through that again?”

She returned his look. “Of course not. But you know what to do. Cassandra’s birthday is only a month away. You can easily stall things longer than that.”

Mitch’s gut tightened. He knew what she was asking him to do. He swallowed, his mouth suddenly dry, but he nodded. “I’ll let you know the outcome of my discussion with Bob’s counsel,” he said, his voice a bit rough, and the meeting was over.

As the door closed behind her, he sank back into his chair and closed his eyes. Damn. He had a really bad feeling about this. And these bad feelings seemed to be happening more and more often. The adrenaline rush he used to get from arguing, from pitting his intelligence and skill against a challenging adversary, and winning, wasn’t there very often any more.

He needed a drink. He glanced at his watch. Almost time to meet Kerri and Liam. Not that that was going to be a real fun time, but at least there was alcohol involved.

“So, Mitch said you’ve been working in the Middle East.” She dipped her straw in and out of her drink. Liam smiled faintly. “That must have been a life-altering experience.”

“Yeah.” The corners of his mouth dipped down. “Most definitely.”

He talked about some of the places he’d been and the things he’d covered—fascinating, if a little depressing. The world was really a mess in some ways.

“So why’d you come back?”

“I need some normalcy in my life. I think I just burned out. So I’m doing some freelance work for now. Staying at my parents’.”

Hmm. A thirty-one-year-old guy living at home. Probably just temporary until he figured out what to do next. She hoped.

“You should come to one of my yoga classes,” she told him. “You might find it helps. The goal of yoga is to unify mind, body and spirit, to create a balance in the body, open and purify the energy centers. It might improve your health, emotional well-being, mental clarity…your joy in living.”

He just looked at her for a long moment. She smiled. Mitch hated all that spiritual stuff, but what the heck, maybe it would help this guy who had clearly seen a lot of suffering.

“Yeah,” he said slowly. “Maybe I should try that.”

Mitch rolled his eyes but Kerri ignored him. She smiled again. “Here’s my card. You can call me or the studio to find out class times. We just moved into a great new space.”

He took the card and smiled back at her.

“Time for me to go.” Mitch pushed his chair back abruptly. He’d been awfully quiet during the whole conversation.

“Where are you off to?” Kerri asked, not minding that he was going. She’d felt strangely self-conscious while he was sitting there watching her. And he
had
been watching her. His eyes had barely left her the entire time.

“Meeting up with the guys at Good Sports to watch the game.”

“Okay, have fun.”

“You two aren’t…together, are you?” Liam asked after Mitch had left.

“Oh, no! No, we’re just friends. We’ve been friends for years.”

“Ah. Then it would be okay if I asked you out sometime?”

Kerri grinned. “It would be more than okay. I would like that.”

“Tomorrow night?”

“Oh, I’m so sorry, but my sister and I are hosting a big grand opening party for the new spa tomorrow night.”

“How about Sunday night? We could have dinner. Do you like seafood?”

“I love seafood. That sounds great. You have my number.” She nodded at the card on the table, then glanced at her watch. “I guess I should get going. I’m meeting some friends in a little while and I still need to go home and change.”

She got out her purse, but Liam held up a hand. “Let me get it,” he said. “Although, I think Mitch left enough money to cover everything.”

Trust Mitch. He was always generous with his money. Good thing he had lots. She didn’t know how much he made exactly but she knew it was a lot. She shrugged and held out her hand to Liam.

“Nice seeing you again. We’ll talk next week.”

“Everyone looks so young!” Kerri looked around at people who barely seemed old enough to legally be in the bar. The bass of the music vibrated through her body. She and her friends hadn’t been to Ventana’s for a long time.

“Oh come on, we’re not that old,” Hailey said. They found a table in the back with room for four and settled in.

In no time, guys were hitting on all of them.

“I can’t believe this!” Hailed wailed. “I’m getting married in two weeks!
Now
the guys notice me!”

Kerri, too, was surprised. Maybe a bar wasn’t the best place to meet guys, but it was definitely effective. She loved dancing so she took advantage of the male interest a few times to dance with different guys. But yet…it seemed hollow. She wasn’t sure why. Maybe she really was too old for this kind of scene.

She returned to the table and her glass of wine, feeling empty and a bit let down.

“Oh man,” Hailey said suddenly. “I can’t believe this.”

“What?”

“Miguel’s here. Over there! With the guys! This was supposed to be a girls’ night out!”

Kerri searched the room and spotted Miguel with his posse of friends, including, yes, Mitch. The guys hadn’t spotted them yet. They stood at the bar, attracting considerable female interest, especially Mitch. He was the tallest, so he stood out, but he was also completely unaware of the interest in him. Kerri watched as he accepted the beer from the female bartender with a smile and tipped it up to his lips, turning to survey the room. Unerringly, like a heat-seeking missile, his eyes immediately met hers across the room. Her body tightened.

It was as if he’d reached out and touched her. For a long moment they just looked at each other. Then she lifted a hand.

While Mitch spoke to the others and gestured to the girls, Kerri put her hands to her hot cheeks. “Why did they come here of all places?”

Hailey glanced at her. “Hey, it’s okay. I don’t mind that much.” They all shifted around the table to make room for more chairs so the guys could join them.

Mitch ended up sitting beside Kerri.

“Hey,” he said. “How was your date?”

“It wasn’t a date,” she answered shortly. “What are you guys doing here? I thought you were going to watch the game.”

“We did.” He shrugged. “Dodgers lost. Nothing was going on there so we came here.”

“But why did you come
here
? It’s supposed to be Hailey’s night out.”

He raised his brows and looked at her.

“How is she supposed to have fun with her fiancé here?” Kerri continued heatedly.

“What exactly was she planning to do?” He lifted one brow, giving him that goddamn devilish charming look. Damn him.

Kerri scowled. “Nothing, of course. I’m just saying.”

He smiled, then deliberately turned away from her to talk to Hailey.

Kerri fumed sulkily. Although she’d protested on Hailey’s behalf, she was the one who didn’t want Mitch there tonight. Damn him again.

She finished her wine and searched the bar for a waiter so she could order another drink. While she waited, she gazed around the room and tapped her fingers on the table. Then, one of the guys she’d danced with earlier appeared and asked her to dance again.

She jumped to her feet and shot Mitch a glance as she took the man’s hand and followed him onto the dance floor. Mitch was busy talking to Hailey but she knew he’d noticed her leave.

The guy, whose name she’d forgotten, was okay-looking and pleasant and thankfully a good dancer, and he seemed surprised that this time Kerri was so much more animated. She laughed and flirted her way through that song and another one, tossing her hair back and smiling into his eyes. Oh yeah, his name was Paul. As they moved around the dance floor, she glanced back at her table.

Mitch wasn’t there.

She pressed her lips together, then smiled at Paul again. The music changed to a slow song and she let him pull her close for the next dance.

Where was he, damn it?

Letting her eyes move around, she spotted Mitch on the dance floor. With Laurel.

Well. Mitch and Laurel were friends, too. It was totally okay if they danced together. She forced herself not to look at them. What did she care if two of her friends danced together?

After the slow dance, she excused herself from Paul. She really wasn’t interested in him, and she didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. With a smile and thanks, she returned to the table and the full glass of wine that had appeared there while she was dancing.

She gulped back some of the drink, unable to stop her eyes from seeking and finding Mitch and Laurel still dancing. She forced herself to join in the conversation between Hailey, Miguel and his best man, Jason. Moments later, Mitch and Laurel returned and joined in too.

“Are you mad that we came here?” Miguel asked his fiancée.

She laughed. “Of course not.” She put her arms around his neck and kissed his mouth. “I love it that you’re here.”

Mitch shot a glance at Kerri and she shifted in her seat.

She smiled tightly. “Things went fine, actually. We’re going out for dinner.”

“Great,” he lied. “He’s a pretty interesting guy, isn’t he?”

“Do you guys remember Liam from college?” he asked the others. “Liam Moffatt.”

“Hey, I remember him,” Hailey said. “I was pretty hot for him in our last year.” Miguel frowned. “He was in one of my classes. Then he disappeared.”

“He’s been working in the Middle East,” Mitch told them. “Kerri’s going out with him.”

“Get out of here!” Hailey exclaimed. “That was fast.”

Kerri nodded and smiled.

“Thanks to me,” Mitch added. Kerri scowled.

Man, she was in a bitchy mood tonight. What was her problem? Or, maybe he didn’t want to think too much about that. Hey, he’d said they’d pretend like it never happened. He was holding up his end, but she apparently had issues with it.

“Yup, Kerri can’t get her own dates, so I’ve been helping her out.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, regret sliced through him. When he saw the hurt expression on her face, he really regretted it. But it was too late.

“Shut up,” she hissed.

But Laurel heard and picked up on it. “You’re fixing her up with guys? Hey, why not me? I need a man, too.”

“Oh, come on.” Mitch smiled at Laurel. “You don’t need any help.”

Laurel smiled back at him. Kerri sat beside him fuming. Damn, everything he said made it worse.

“Do you mind?” she said to him in a low voice.

He looked at her. Yeah, he was sorry, but no way was he saying so.

“Hey, I’ve got a new one,” Kerri said, louder. “What’s the difference between a dead dog in the road and a dead lawyer in the road?”

Everyone waited expectantly.

“Skid marks in front of the dog!”

They all laughed, just buzzed enough that the bad joke was hilarious. Mitch smiled wryly.

“Hey, Laurel, it’s late and you’re the DD,” Kerri said. “You almost ready to go?”

“Noooo!” everyone cried. Kerri smiled, but Mitch could see she really wanted to leave. The idea of offering to drive her home entered his head, but she was being such a pain in the ass tonight—nah. Let her wait.

A while later, he came back from the washroom and found a strange guy sitting in his chair talking to Kerri. Again, she was laughing and flirting with him, doing the hair toss thing, like she had been with that asshole on the dance floor earlier. She glanced up at him, standing there, and the guy looked up too and said, “Oh sorry, am I in your seat?”

“That’s okay,” Kerri said quickly. “Mitch will find another chair.”

He narrowed his eyes but said nothing, and went around the table to squeeze a chair in between Miguel and Jason.

He watched Kerri talk to the guy. This was what she wanted. She wanted to find a husband and here was a guy. He should be happy. If she met someone now it would take all the pressure off him and things could go back to normal between them.

Hell, no. This guy wasn’t even close to good enough for her. His teeth were too big and too white. He must bleach them. Or maybe they were veneers. Vain idiot.

He looked around the bar, trying to keep his eyes off Kerri, tapping his hand restlessly on the back of Jason’s chair.

“Would you stop that, man? You’re making me nervous,” Jason said.

“Sorry.” Mitch removed his hand from the chair. “Listen, I’m outta here.”

“Okay, no problem.”

He said good night to the others, but ignored Kerri, engrossed in conversation with the stranger. But as he turned away from the table, pulling his keys out of his pocket, she called to him.

“Are you leaving, Mitch?”

He turned. “Uh-huh.” He waited. If she wanted a ride, she’d have to ask.

And he waited. Then she said, “Okay. See you tomorrow.”

He turned and walked out, unaccountably pissed off. All the way home he kept thinking about her with that guy. Would she see him again? Would she leave with him? Fuck. Then he was pissed off at himself for even thinking about it.

He didn’t sleep very well that night.