Tristan shook his hand. “The pleasure is mine, Attorney Ellis.”
“Please, call me Warren.”
Tristan nodded. “And please call me Tristan. Mr. Whitmore is my father,” he said on a chuckle as he did a quick glance at Cree.
He had to bite down on his lower lip to keep from smiling. The daggers she was shooting at him with her eyes was almost comical, but laughing would only make things worse between them.
Yeah, he was an asshole because he was enjoying this too much. He couldn’t have planned this moment better if he’d tried. Now that one of the partners had seen him, it would be harder for her not to take him on as a client.
“Again, I’m sorry to interrupt,” Warren said, his gray-eyed gaze bouncing from Tristan to Cree and back again. “But I heard you were in the building and had to stop by to introduce myself.” Warren lingered and talked football for a few minutes longer before backing out the door that Cree was still holding on to. “I hope to see you around,” Warren said before side-eying Cree on his way out.
What the hell was that all about?
A wave of protectiveness gripped Tristan, and he struggled to keep his mouth shut. Something was up between those two, and whatever it was it wasn’t good.
When Warren left, Cree’s shoulders sagged, and she closed the door. Leaning against it, she released a loud breath.
“Why did he look at you like that?” Tristan asked quietly, keeping his attention on Cree’s face. He didn’t miss the vulnerability in her eyes, but just as quickly as it appeared, it disappeared.
She folded her arms across her chest, and the move brought attention to the swell of her full breasts peeking from above her camisole.
Tristan swallowed hard as memories of her glorious, naked breasts filled his mind. The woman had a nice rack that went great with the rest of her perfect body. A body that he was once very familiar with.
But he needed to stop thinking about her body and focus on her and why he was there.
“I hate you so much right now,” she said, her voice low.
She didn’t answer his question, but Tristan planned to bring it back around at some point. If not today, then another day. If she was having trouble with this guy, he wanted to know. Especially if it was something he could help with.
The fight might’ve gone out of her tone, but the disgust radiating in her eyes matched her words.
His arrogant ass refused to believe she hated him. Yes, she was clearly still mad at how things went down between them years ago, but he didn’t think she hated him. If she was anyone else, even if she was mad, she’d sign him on as a client and then just charge him an arm and a leg to represent him.
But considering her reaction to him weeks ago and then again today, Tristan couldn’t help wondering if there was something else keeping her from forgiving him. Thirteen years was a long time to hold a grudge for firing her as his agent.
He pushed away from the desk and approached her. He needed her to see the sincerity in his eyes. “Cree, I am sorry about how things went down between us. I have said it over and over again. I hated the way I handled the situation back then. I was young and dumb, but please know my decision was business. It wasn’t personal. Never personal.”
He almost added that he was still in love with her and would never intentionally do anything to hurt her, but he kept that admission to himself.
She closed her eyes as she rubbed the back of her neck. There’d been a time when he would’ve reached out and worked the kinks out of her neck. Too bad he had lost those privileges. He loved having his hands on every part of her.
When she reopened her eyes, he said, “I know I’m the last person you want to see, let alone represent, but I need a lawyer to look over those offers.” He pointed to her desk.
She didn’t look at the envelope. Instead, she stared at him with an unreadable expression on her pretty face. His gaze devoured her flawless bronze skin, doe-shaped eyes, short-bridge nose, and full, kissable lips. She might be angry, and even frustrated with him, but she was still the most beautiful woman in the world to him.
“I can’t represent you, Tristan. Apparently, you have forgotten how you fired me the last time. Without notice I might add. You didn’t give a damn that you were my main client. All that mattered to you was whether you had a new agent who promised you the world. Then you kicked me and my agency to the curb like I meant nothing!” she snarled as she pointed at herself, her finger jabbing into her chest as her words got louder. “Like I hadn’t been the first person to take a chance on you… a nobody.”
She moved away from the door and started pacing her office, clearly trying to regain her composure. Tristan kept quiet. She had every right to be pissed at him. Though things didn’t happen quite the way she was recalling, the fact was—he had signed with a different agent.
He’d been twenty-one, almost twenty-two, and he’d had an opportunity to sign with the most sought-after agent in the world. No matter how he tried to explain the importance of that to her, Cree refused to listen. She had taken it personal instead of seeing it as a business transaction.
While that had been the case for her, he’d seen the move as a win for not just him but for them. Especially since she was a part of him—the woman he had planned to spend the rest of his life with.
But what she was failing to take into consideration right now was that they weren’t kids anymore. He wasn’t at the beginning of his career trying to make a name for himself while also wanting to provide financially for his family. No. He was wealthy enough to live comfortably for the rest of his life without accepting any of the offers on the table.
What she also didn’t understand was that he wanted her to represent him going forward because he owed her. She was right. She had taken a chance on him all those years ago, and he never forgot that.
Cree pulled him out of his thoughts when she stopped a couple of feet from him. “My answer is no, but I’d be happy to connect you with one of the other partners here.”
