But then she tensed as she realized she was falling for him. She was beginning to need him. That could not happen.
“What’s wrong?” he asked as he stroked her back.
But his voice sounded funny, almost strangled as if emotions were getting to him, too.
“We have to stop doing this,” she said.
“You dared me to seduce you,” he reminded her.
She knew. And it had been stupid. “You know this will never work.”
“This?” he asked. “What is this?”
“Wrong,” she said. “We’re on opposite sides of this trial.”
“A trial that shouldn’t even be happening,” he said. “You need to drop the charges.”
She rolled out of bed and picked up his clothes from the floor, throwing them at him. “That is the only reason you’ve been kissing me, having sex with me—you want me to help you get that two million dollars.”
“Hill—”
“It’s all about money with you!” she accused him. “That’s why you represent the clients you represent. You don’t care that you could be putting a killer out on the streets—”
“And you don’t care that an innocent man could go to prison,” he said. “It’s better that ten guilty men go free than one innocent man suffer.”
“Don’t throw that quote at me,” she said. “You know you’ve helped more than ten guilty men go free.”
“So you’re going to make Byron Mueller pay for that?” he asked.
“No. I’m going to make Byron Mueller pay for killing his wife.”
Stone just shook his head as he pulled on his clothes. “It’s like you’re determined to think the worst of me for some reason,” he said.
“I didn’t say you murdered your wife,” she said.
“But you won’t believe anything I tell you.”
“I can’t trust you.”
“Why not?” he asked.
She grabbed the tangled sheet from the bed and wrapped it around herself. She didn’t want to have this conversation naked. She didn’t want to have this conversation at all. “You know why.”
“Because I’m a defense lawyer?” he asked. “C’mon, Hillary, you know everyone’s entitled to a fair trial. Is it just me or can’t you trust anyone?”
Maybe that was the problem. But she wasn’t about to admit that to him.
“Is it because your mom died when you were so young? Then your dad shipped you off to boarding schools. Don’t you trust people to stick around?”
She gasped with shock. “You’ve done your research on me,” she said. “Or did you have Allison McCann pull up that dirt for a press release? Going to use that against me?”
“Hill—” He reached out for her, but she slapped his hand away.
“Get out of here,” she said. “I’ll see you in court tomorrow unless you have the sense to accept a plea for your client. Murder two.”
He shook his head. “I’m not going to plead for an innocent man.” And she suspected he wasn’t talking just about Byron now. He was talking about himself. He didn’t think he’d done anything wrong.
But he’d done everything wrong.
He’d made her fall in love with him.
But she’d get over it—just like she had everything else in her life. She lifted her chin and shored up her resolve. “Fine. It’ll be better to beat you in court, anyway.”
“That’s all you really care about,” he said. “Winning. Not justice.” He headed out of her room, and seconds later, the apartment door slammed.
She would win. And yet she knew the victory would feel hollow, not because she had any doubts about Mueller’s guilt—but because she’d lost Stone.
