Friends With Benefits (3 page)

She smiled at Trevor warmly over her second beer—ugh. Beer wasn’t her favorite beverage but she wanted to make a good impression.

“So how about if we go somewhere for dinner?” Trevor was saying.

Yes!

“We could head down to the Wharf…”

“Sounds good,” she said. “But I came straight from work…I wouldn’t mind going home to change quickly.”

“Yeah, me too.” His business suit and tie looked good on him, though. “I’ll pick you up at your place in about an hour? That okay?”

“Absolutely.” She picked up her purse and gave him the address of her condo on the Mesa. She practically danced out of the bar and over to where she’d locked her bike. This was going really well.

She cycled home, quickly showered and changed into jeans and a pretty top, exchanging her Nikes for heels. She touched up her makeup, although all she usually wore was a bit of eye shadow and lip gloss, and was just tucking her cell phone into her purse when Trevor rang her doorbell.

“Nice place,” he said, checking it out.

“Thanks.” She picked up her keys. “I bought it last year. It’s pretty small, but it’s okay for me.”

“Real estate is pricy here, but this is a cute little place.”

She locked the door behind them. “Cool car.” Her eyes swept over the gleaming blue Porsche 911 parked in front of her place.

“Thanks,” he said. “Eighty-five grand.”

“Uh…really.” Okay, she knew Porsches were pricy; he didn’t have to tell her how much he’d spent. But financial success was a good thing, she reminded herself.

They drove down to Cabrillo Boulevard, followed it along the beach and turned onto the wharf, the wheels of the car bumping over the wooden planks. Trevor pulled up in front of the restaurant and stopped, got out and opened her door for her, then tossed the keys to the valet. He led her into the cool, dim restaurant. “Should we sit inside or would you like to go up to the patio?”

She shrugged. It would be nice to sit out overlooking the harbor. “Outside,” she decided, and the hostess led them up the stairs and onto the patio. Glass walls sheltered them from cool ocean breezes but gave an unobstructed view of the jumble of masts in the harbor and the azure ocean. The Channel Islands were faintly visible in the distance, like a mirage on the horizon.

Kerri perused the menu as a waiter filled their water glasses. Trevor immediately ordered another beer but Kerri requested a glass of Chardonnay. She could only drink so much beer. Ugh.

“Tell me more about your job,” Kerri invited him, lifting her glass of wine.

“I work for Brandon Developers. We do a few different things. Residential and commercial real estate development. We also manage our projects.”

“Like what?”

“The new AmTec Center,” he said, referring to a large strip mall just outside the city. “We just finished that last year. We manage the building and lease it to tenants for commercial use. I work in the commercial development area. Did I mention that I just closed a deal worth over two million dollars?”

Uh…actually, he had. “What is it?” She wasn’t sure if she really got what he did.

“We’ll be developing a new building for Wightman Pharmaceuticals. It’s a mixed-use development consisting of a hundred-and-twenty-square-foot, two-story executive office building, and a forty-thousand-square-foot research and development building. We won this project over some stiff competition from other developers, so it’s pretty huge.”

“Ah.” She nodded. “I wish I’d known you when I was looking for space for my business. I had a hard time finding something appropriate that I could afford.”

He laughed. “You’re too small to be one of our clients.”

Oh. She sat back in her chair, nonplussed.

They talked more and continued getting to know each other over dinner. Kerri didn’t think much of it when Trevor ordered another beer, and was pleased when he insisted on a nice bottle of wine to have with their dinner. But when he poured himself a third and a fourth glass, she started to get concerned. During dinner, he ordered a second bottle of wine.

“Um…I’ve had enough,” she said hesitantly. “Don’t order it just for me.”

He waved a hand and laughed. “Oh, you can have another glass.”

Kerri pushed down her misgivings and smiled, even as Trevor’s voice grew louder and more slurred. Other diners in the restaurant started casting glances their way, and by the time they’d finished dinner, she wanted to slink down into her seat.

“You can’t drive,” she told Trevor firmly as he signed the credit card slip with an unsteady signature. “And I think I’ve actually had too much to be able to drive, myself.”

“Hey, no problem,” he said loudly. “We’ll just go for a walk. There’s another bar just down the wharf.” He grabbed her roughly around the shoulders and pressed a sloppy, wet kiss to her cheek.
Eeeew.

“Actually, I’d like to go home. I think we should call a taxi.”

He stared at her with unfocused eyes. “Come on, Kerri. It’s early and we’re having such a good time. And I’m celebrating my multi-million-dollar deal today.”

“No thanks,” she said, disappointment and disgust flooding her. “I’ll call a taxi. You can continue on, if you like.”

He frowned, then to her astonishment, waved a hand and left the restaurant. She gaped after him, then pulled her cell phone out of her purse and called for a taxi.

“Where are you?” he asked when he finally got a hold of her.

“At the new studio. Just finishing up some paperwork.”

“How’d the evening go? You two hit it off?”

She sighed. “Well, at first we did. I thought he was really nice. Then he started saying things that were kind of…I don’t know. Insulting.”

“Really.”

“Well, not insulting, just…disparaging. Anyway. We decided to go somewhere else for dinner and things kind of got ugly.”

“What do you mean ugly?” His gut clenched.

“The guy’s a lush,” she said bluntly. “He was pissed as a newt.”

Ah. Mitch leaned back into his leather couch and crossed one ankle over his knee. “What is a newt, anyway?”

There was silence on the other end of the line. “Um…I think it’s like a lizard or something.”

“And newts get drunk?’

“Mitch…” He heard the warning in her voice.

“Sorry, sorry,” he said. “So. What did he do?”

“He didn’t do anything, other than get totally wasted.”

“Oh. So you two won’t be getting married any time soon?”

Kerri snorted. “Ha. How about never.”

“That’s unfortunate.” He tried to sound sincere.

There was another small silence on the other end of the line. “Yeah. So now you need to think of someone else.”

“Oh, for Christ’s sake.” He sat up straight. “I did what I said I would. Isn’t that enough for you?”

“Well, no,” she said slowly. “Come on, Mitch. You said you’d help. I still need to find a husband.”

He shook his head, even though she couldn’t see him. “You’re crazy, honey,” he said. “Whacked. This isn’t going to work. You can’t just find a husband like that.”

“Well, I have to start somewhere. You said you’d help,” she reminded him again, her soft voice pleading.

Oh shit, here they went again. “I’ll see what I can do. It’s not that easy. Everyone I know is either married or already in a relationship.”

“There must be somebody.”

“I’ll see.”

After he hung up the phone, he stared up at the beamed ceiling of his living room. How was he going to get out of this now?

Mitch leaned back in the chair behind his desk, the phone to his ear, and frowned. “Garth, this custody deal was hammered out and finalized months ago,” he said. “The agreement was every other year. This is not his year to spend the kid’s birthday with her. There’s no way my client is going to reopen this.”

He heard Garth Layton, the other attorney, give a weighty sigh. “Come on, Mitch. You have to try.”

“I can’t just go to her with nothing. Give me something here, Garth.”

There was a pause, then Garth said, “Okay. He’s having some health issues. He doesn’t want anyone to know, least of all his ex-wife, so that’s all I can tell you.”

“Not enough.” Mitch shook his head. “There’s no way she’ll go for it. Health problems. Jesus. I’ve met a lot of bitter, angry women, but she takes the prize. If I tell her that, she’ll say no just to spite him. There has to be something in it for her.”

“Just try, Mitch. He wants the daughter for her birthday in September, and Christmas.”

“Christmas too! Holy shit.”

Again, silence on the other end. “You’re a smooth talker,” Garth said wearily. “You could talk a hooker into joining a convent. Could you just talk to her?”

There was something in Garth’s voice that made Mitch pause. “Okay,” he finally said. “No guarantees, that’s for sure. I’ll get back to you.”

He hung up the phone and scribbled some notes on a pad of paper on his desk, then tossed down his pen. He was going to have to meet with Mariah Sinclair. No way would a phone call do in this case.

He ran his hands through his hair. He had no idea what he was going to say to her, but he had to take the request to her and get her answer. As if he didn’t know what it was going to be.

He was getting so tired of this shit. Why couldn’t people just get along?

He went to ask Christie to set up the appointment. His new assistant was working out great. She was young and didn’t have much experience, but she was smart and had a lot of initiative. If she saw something that needed to be done, she did it without waiting for him to ask. He liked that.

“Can you call Mariah Sinclair and set up a meeting with her?”

When Christie stood and moved over to a file cabinet his gaze dropped to her legs. Great legs. Skirt just short enough, and it didn’t hurt that she had a rack to rival that of a centerfold model, either. Whoa. Completely inappropriate, he told himself, holding in his grin. He wasn’t interested in Christie that way at all, but he couldn’t help but notice her, uh…attributes.

After lunch with some of the other lawyers from the firm, as they all pulled out wallets to settle their bills, the new guy, Jason, mentioned he’d just moved to Santa Barbara from Seattle and didn’t know many people.

“Where’s a good place to meet people?” Jason asked.

“You’re not married?” Mitch inquired.

Jason shook his head. “Nah.”

Mitch studied the man, wondering…without knowing much about this guy, it was risky. “I’ll introduce you to some friends of mine. Why don’t you join us for lunch tomorrow?”

“Sounds great.”

So Mitch called Kerri again and told her someone would be joining them. Her excitement annoyed him.

“Thanks, Mitch!” Gratitude warmed her voice. “You’re a sweetheart.”

He didn’t feel like a sweetheart. He felt like a bear with a hangover, grouchy and irritable.

Her initial impression was that he was a nice guy—well-dressed, well-groomed, cute smile. At first he’d seemed surprised it was just the three of them having lunch, but conversation was friendly.

When she found out that he used to do yoga, her tummy clenched with excitement. This had to work out. It was perfect.

But as the server cleared the table, Jason still hadn’t even hinted that he was interested in asking her out. Kerri tried to catch Mitch’s eye, hoping he would realize she wanted him to do something, give a little push or hint, or something. But he didn’t seem to catch her glances and then the server was bringing their bills. Damn.

Kerri bent down and reached for her purse. They’d been talking about movies and Jason mentioned the new James Bond movie just coming out.

“I really want to see that!” she said, straightening. “The previews look so good!”

She caught Mitch rolling his eyes and ignored him.

Still, Jason didn’t make the offer. She was going to have to take matters into her own hands. She took a breath. “Would you like to go see it on Friday night?”

He smiled and gave a little shrug. “Sure, why not?” It wasn’t the most thrilled reaction she’d ever seen, but at least he hadn’t turned her down flat.

They exchanged phone numbers so they could make plans for Friday night. Well, it was a start. Who knew, things could develop even if it hadn’t been a sizzling beginning.

When she got back to the studio, she called Mitch to thank him.

“Don’t thank me so soon. You haven’t gone out yet. And I gotta tell you, I don’t know this guy that well. He only started here a month or so ago.”

“He seems nice,” she said. “So it’s something. Thanks.”

“But what about me?” His fake whine made her smile. “I want to see that movie too.”

“Get a date and come with us,” she suggested. “Hey, whatever happened with your date last weekend? I was so wrapped up in my own disaster I forgot you had a date that night too. Who was it with?”

“Oh, yeah…that was…I forget her name.”

“Mitch!”

“Oh, Sandra, that’s it. It was okay.”

“Are you going to see her again?”

“Uh…no. I don’t think so. Just didn’t click.”

“That’s too bad. You need someone too, you know.”

“Oh no,” he warned. “Don’t get any ideas about me. You’re the one that’s looking. And, unlike you, I don’t have any trouble getting my own dates, thank you very much.”

“Hey!”

“What? You did ask me for help, didn’t you? Wasn’t that what this was all about? Or did I misunderstand?”

“Shut up.” She gave a little laugh. “Hey, why does the bar association prohibit sex between lawyers and their clients?”

“Huh?”

She repeated the question.

“Oh jeez,” he said with a sigh. “Why?”

“To prevent clients from being billed twice for essentially the same service.” She laughed at her own joke as Mitch groaned.