ROWAN INSISTED ON changing the batteries in the fire alarm, which were batteries that Mr Yang fortunately had at home.
“You didn’t have to do that. I could have done it.”
“I was here.”
“You don’t trust me.”
“I do, or I wouldn’t be your lawyer.” Rowan bolts through the alarm box, his arms stretched upward, his hard, strong forearms stealing all my attention. He gets out of his chair effortlessly, his trousers clinging to his ass illegally and devastatingly for yours truly.
I’m sure for the rest of humanity, too.
I didn’t think lawyers could be so attractive. Sadly, I have met a few in my life, but none were as charming and dangerously sexy as Rowan Kennedy.
“Can I wash my hands?”
“Sure. You know where the bathroom is.”
Rowan slowly backed away, my eyes on his indecent bottom.
“You like him, don’t you?” Emily asks, sitting on the living room floor, pretending to colour in one of her sketchbooks.
“Have you seen him, darling?”
All three of my niblings laugh.
“Too good to be true, and especially too straight for me.”
“Don’t be so down on yourself, Uncle Seth. I’m sure there’s a perfect man out there for you.”
I smile at my niece as I sit on the couch with Logan and Mason, engaged in a challenge for a videogame I don’t understand. “Why do I need a man when I have you?”
“To not be alone?” Logan says. Although his eyes are on the screen, his attention is on us and our banter.
“I’m not. Alone, I mean. I'm far from alone. I have my wonderful family.” I cling to them. “And I don't need anything else.”
THE NEXT DAY, I arrive at his office at ten o’clock on the dot for our appointment. After the mess I made yesterday, we had to postpone the discussion about the upcoming hearing. We agreed that the kids could stay out of it as it was only the preliminary hearing.
“Mr Kennedy is expecting you,” George tells me before ushering me into Rowan’s office. He holds the door open for me, and I thank him with a smile.
“Seth,” Rowan stands up quickly, buttoning his jacket as if he were about to go into an official meeting, which makes me immediately regret turning up in jeans and last year’s Pride t-shirt. “Please have a seat.” He points to the usual chair in front of him, and I sit down.
“Um, I went to the café on the corner and…” I hand him a cup. “Black, right?”
“You shouldn’t have bothered.”
I leave the cup on the table.
“I also, well… got some donuts. I hope they don’t ruin your figure.”
Rowan raises an eyebrow from behind his glasses, and I immediately regret my inappropriate statement, my gesture, and certainly the fact that I spent last night fantasising about him—er, not just fantasising.
“I’d say let’s start.” He looks at his watch. “I don’t have much time.”
“Sure,” I agree, a little disappointed. True, he had to squeeze me into his busy schedule at the last minute, but after our previous encounters, I expected a different reception here.
Naïve as ever, Seth. And masochistic, too.
“Let’s get straight to the points that concern me most.”
