Ego Maniac(79)

After we said goodnight, I took a minute to regroup my thoughts before going to the bedroom to call Drew back. It had been a long time since my feelings for Baldwin had grown. I couldn’t turn them off completely, but something had definitely changed. Even though I knew part of me would miss the unrestrained comfortableness I’d enjoyed with Baldwin when there was nothing holding me back, I realized it was more important for me to respect the boundaries I knew Drew would want me to have—like not inviting a man into my apartment this late while I was in my cute little pajamas.

Feeling content, I turned off all the lights and slipped into bed as I dialed Drew’s number on my cell.

“Hey,” I said.

“Visitor gone?” Wariness had crept into Drew’s confident voice.

“It was Baldwin. He wanted to check on me. Apparently he knocked last night and this morning and was worried because I didn’t answer his texts today either.”#p#分页标题#e#

“What’d you tell him?”

“I told him I’d slept at my boyfriend’s and had been busy, but everything was fine.”

“Your boyfriend, huh? Is that what I am?” There was relief in his voice.

“Do you prefer to be called something else?”

“I don’t know. What else you got?”

“Hmm…let’s see…how about man who gives me many orgasms?”

“That sounds like my Indian name.”

I laughed. “How about landlord with benefits or Captain Prolactinator?”

“Call me whatever you want to Professor Putz, as long as he knows you’re mine.”

Mine. I liked the sound of that. I wasn’t sure how it had happened. Knowing us, it had started to blossom in the middle of a fight and flowered while I was bent over his desk, but regardless of how we got here, somehow we had. And I realized there was nowhere else I’d rather be.

“Are you alone?”

“Roman’s down at the bar. Bartender is a woman. Don’t think he’ll miss my company.”

“Okay, good.” I reached over to my end table and opened the drawer. “Did you hear that?”

“Don’t tell me he’s knocking again.”

Slipping my vibrator out of the drawer, I decided Drew needed a little distraction from the last two horrible days. I switched it on and held it close to my cell for a few seconds before lowering it down my body.

“Is that—”

“My vibrator. It’s been lonely the last few weeks.”

Drew growled. “Fuck. I wish I was there to watch you.”

“I think I’d like that. Maybe when you get back.”

“Not maybe. I’m coming straight to your place from the plane.”

His reaction fueled me. I rubbed the vibrator on my clit and spoke as my voice strained.

“How about you come a different way first?”





Drew



“She’s got balls,” Roman not so quietly whispered to me as Alexa smiled our way while strolling into court with her lawyer, Atticus Carlyle.

My hands clenched into tight fists. After coming up empty for a day and a half looking for her, I don’t know why I was surprised she’d picked that asshole. I hated that fucking guy almost as much as he hated me. He was the quintessential good ol’ southern boy—thick drawl, bow tie, and worked God into his opening and closing arguments. He was also the one attorney who’d ever made me lose it in the courtroom. And we happened to be assigned the judge who’d hit me with sanctions as a result of that unraveling. It was starting to feel like nothing was a coincidence.

Needing to keep whatever semblance of calm I had left, I couldn’t even look at the other side of the court. Judge Walliford took the bench, and the uniformed clerk called our docket number. He spent a few minutes reading with his glasses at the tip of his nose and then looked up.

“Well, well, well, lookie what we have here. Seems the three of us have done this little dance before (be-fo-wah), haven’t we?

“Yes, your honor,” I said.

“Sure have, your ahn-na. Good to see you again,” opposing counsel drawled.

Walliford shuffled some papers and removed his glasses, then leaned back in his chair.

“Mr. Jagger, why do you think this case should be heard in a New York City courtroom instead of here in Atlanta? Do you not trust the wheels of justice to turn at the same speed as you northerners like things done?”
#p#分页标题#e#
How the hell was I supposed to answer that? I’d filed a motion for a change in venue based on residency. I cleared my throat. “No, your honor. I’m sure this court would do a fine job in any case presented before it, but since the plaintiff and I are both residents of New York, I believe the proper jurisdiction would be New York County. According to our agreement—”