“Iwasn’t.” Greta stared at her, mouth agape. “I had a career that was slow to build, and you were climbing the ladder like it was flat ground. Polished, poised, so sure of yourself.”
“I just wanted you to think I knew what I was doing.” Tasha’s voice was soft. “Law and winning arguments are pretty muchallI knew then. Now? I’ve spent a lot of hours in therapy. I should’ve said something when we…” She glanced at Kaelee. “When I called you all those nights.”
“Okay, I don’t need to hear all this. Can you or can you not represent me without bias?” Kaelee said in the tense silence. “Because it sounds like there are some big issues here.”
“I can. Iwill,” Tasha spoke so unwaveringly that Kaelee felt certain it was true.
Kaelee nodded. “I’ll leave you to talk, then.”
She didn’t look back as she walked toward the bedroom where she had been sleeping with Greta. Walking out and leaving the two women alone took a lot of self-control, more than Kaelee typically felt like she had—and she wasn’t a weak-willed woman. Even so, she felt panic rise at leaving them.
They were engaged.
They loved each other enough to plan for forever.
Tasha is poised and powerful. Greta likes that.
I love her, but until I came along they were still hooking up and… they were engaged.
With visions of needing to leave filling her mind, Kaelee pulled her suitcase out of the corner of the room where it had been sittingsince they arrived here after Toni and Addie’s wedding. She opened the drawer she’d been using and gathered up her clothes.
There’s no way she’ll want me if Tasha wants to get back together.
And she shouldn’t. They both live in New York. They deserve time to…
“What are you doing?” Greta asked, closing the door quietly behind her with a softsnick.
“Packing.”
“I should’ve told you that was Tasha when she walked in.” Greta took the shirt out of Kaelee’s hand and dropped it on the bed.
“I should’ve guessed when she didn’t offer her name,” Kaelee said. “I swear my mind is muddled when I think about Tripp and Kyle.”
Greta scooped all of Kaelee’s clothes up and carried them back to the drawer. She dropped them in a now unfolded heap. “Don’t leave me.”
“You and Tasha would look good together. She seems nice.” Kaelee half choked on the word. “Nice” wasn’t what Tasha seemed. Deadly. Fierce. Sexy. There were a lot of words, but “nice” wasn’t one of them.
“Tasha’s a bitch. A smart, cutthroat bitch. It’s one of the many traits that meant that when she offered to help Risa with your legal needsfor free,I didn’t refuse.”
“And you didn’t think that was a suspicious offer?” Kaelee pressed, staring at Greta.
“Oh, I suspected it was an apology of sort.” Greta widened her eyes in what Kaelee suspected was to be an innocent look.
“Youknewshe was trying to make amends and you… took advantage of it?”
Greta shrugged. “She owes me an apology. Why not let her apologize with her offer of free legal services?”
Kaelee laughed unexpectedly. “Damn, woman. Remind me not to underestimate your temper.”
“I wasn’t trying to make today awkward. I specifically told Risathat we only needed her for the meeting.” Greta pushed Kaelee backward onto the bed.
“So her apology didn’t sway you to go back to her arms?” Kaelee stared up at her as Greta straddled Kaelee’s lap. “We can stop this and—”
“I have no feelings forher. I thought I might when we were… when she started calling after the breakup. I thought we could fix it, but she only wanted to see me in her bed or a couple times in some club.”
“Did she get you off on a dance floor, darlin’?”
“She wouldn’t. Just the bathroom,” Greta said. “Even in her drunken calls for sex, she still only wanted what she wanted. Not my interests. Not my needs.”
