Nobody answered. I just left a simple message, as requested.
This message is for Paxton. This is Leslie calling. If you can get back to me, I’d appreciate it. I gave him my cell number and disconnected, slumping back in the seat and staring up at the ceiling.
A light knock sounded at the door.
“Come in!”
Haley came in, carrying two cups of coffee. “I hear you kicked butt in court.”
“Grapevine news still travels fast.” I smiled at her and straightened, accepting the coffee gratefully.
“Think the bum will pay up this time?”
“If not, he’ll be in contempt, and he just might be looking at jail time. Since he got arrested for DUI, and that sentence was commuted to parole with community service, I don’t think he’ll want to risk it. If he’s found in contempt…”
Haley made a twisting motion with her wrist, then mimed throwing away a key.
“Yep. But damn, you should have seen the looks he was giving us.”
Haley’s response was cut off by the sound of my phone. I looked down and immediately, my throat constricted. It was one of the two numbers I’d memorized. Paxton’s cell phone.
“Ah…I need to take this. If you’ll excuse me?”
Haley didn’t bat an eyelash.
As I answered the phone, she was closing the door behind her.
“Hello.”
“Leslie, this is Paxton Gorham.”
“Hello, Mr. Gorham.”
“You know, you called me Paxton when you left the message,” he said, sounding amused.
My face went red. Shit. He was right. I’d also called him Paxton in several extremely hot and dirty dreams that I had absolutely no intention of talking about. That didn’t mean I was going to call him Paxton to his face. “Yes, well, that aside, I believe it’s time we set up another meeting. I’ve gotten a report back from the private investigator I hired.”
A taut silence followed and then he spoke softly, all humor gone. “Already? It’s barely been a week.”
“I’m aware.”
A few more moments of quiet tension pulsed between us and then he blew out a breath. “Yeah, okay. Look, things are at a crucial point here at the studio. I’m working ten, twelve, fourteen-hour days right now. Brinke…hell, she oughta be, but she’s blowing us off so she might not even show up in this album at all. I can’t risk her waltzing in and me not being here, though – hey, I know lawyers don’t really work on holidays, but is there any way we could meet on the Fourth?”
“The Fourth?” Blankly, I stared at my desk calendar. It hit me a second later. “The Fourth of July?” Today was the first, so that'd be this Friday.
“Yeah. Brinke’s promised she’d take Carter to go see a Broadway play earlier in the day, then hit some sort of street festival before heading down to where a friend of mine lives on the river. I’m meeting them in the evening for fireworks, but she'll be busy all day, so I know she won’t show up here. I’ve got to get some work done – can you just meet me here?”
My head was still spinning with all the information he’d just thrown at me and I rubbed my temple, processing it.
“Or you might already have plans.”
“No,” I said absently. In the past, my friends and I usually spent the day together, but this year, they were all busy with their significant others. I'd toyed with the idea of going to a club, but I hadn't made any decisions. “I don’t have plans. I’m just…thinking.”
“I know we need to get this done, but I’m needed at the studio too much right now.”
Grimacing at the phone, I looked down at the neatly written out schedule on my calendar that Haley always kept up to date. It wasn’t like my days were exactly open. If he was going to push for me to come to him, then actually, the Fourth of July was probably the best bet anyway.
“If you can’t make it to my office between then and now, I believe that’s probably the best solution,” I said after a moment. Grabbing a pen, I asked for the address.
He gave it, and then ended the call with a terse, “See you then.”
I was torn between irritation and the anticipation I knew I shouldn’t feel. The last thing I needed to feel was excitement over seeing him again, but there it was.
Chapter Ten
Leslie
Absolutely nobody but me and my mirror would ever know that I’d spent nearly an hour picking an outfit that wasn’t too casual or too dressy. Since it was the Fourth, and I didn’t plan on going to the office, I’d gone for a ‘casual Friday’ sort of feel, a pair of white capris and a dressy red camisole with a white waist-length jacket for when I was inside.