2

Charles Dixon looked out the window of his office at the trees lining the walk just outside and picked up his phone. He'd promised himself he'd let her come to him this time but here he was, hitting the button with her name on it. When she answered, the sound of her voice shot through him sexually and emotionally as always. Fuck, he was such a sucker for this woman.

'Hiya, Kate, you all ready to finally meet me all official-like and everything?'

He heard street noise, pictured her trying not to smile. 'Good morning, Dix. As you know it's the highlight of my year. Now, what do you want?'

'Just calling to make sure everything was ready at your end. And you didn't yell at me for calling you Kate. Are you feeling well?' He loved that, loved knowing he was the only one other than her friend Leah who got away with calling her Kate during business hours . . . and afterwards.

'It's a losing battle. I give up because you're incorrigible anyway.'

'Where are you? Is that street sound? Kate, darling, are you speaking on a cell phone while walking in public?' He laughed. 'I'm a terrible influence on you. I like that.'

'I told you I'd be in Philly today to do a CLE on non-competes before I head to Harrisburg later tonight. I'm walking from my hotel to the office.'

She'd ducked why she picked up the phone but he knew the reason. Because it was him. And that was enough for now.

'Thrilling.' He quirked up a smile, knowing she was smiling too.

'It is, Mr Dixon. Quite actually. Which is why Allied Packaging pays me and Hargrave and Aaron quite handsomely for my services. And to answer your first question, I've sent ahead all the paperwork I'll need. Leah said she'd take care of getting it to the conference hotel. My assistant won't be coming with me so I'll be solo. Other than that, it's fine.'

Her voice was professional but warm. He'd heard her talk to enough people to know the difference in her tone.

'Good. I've got to talk to Leah again later today anyway to keep her updated. I'll double-check with her on all the paperwork. Have you told her about us?' He lowered his voice. His door was closed but he knew Kate would appreciate his discretion.

'Not yet. I wanted to tell her in person. We can talk later, I'm getting ready to walk into the building now. I'll see you tomorrow, right?'

He wished it was tonight. He'd wanted her in his bed instead of secret meetings in hotels, but she'd balked.

'First thing tomorrow. I'll see you then.'

She broke the connection and he sat back, unable to get her off his mind. From the first time he heard her say hello until that very moment she'd been like a song in the back of his brain and he couldn't shake it. Didn't want to.

Katherine loved the way his voice sounded. The tease layered in innuendo. If any other man had spoken to her the way Charles Dixon did during her business day, she'd have cut him off at the knees. He was that one little bit of dark chocolate she allowed herself in a sea of eating fibre and doing the right thing.

To what extent she gorged on the absolutely sinful man, no one but the two of them knew.

She'd decided to walk from her hotel to Hargrave and Aaron. Normally she would have ignored the call, preferring not to carry on phone conversations on a public sidewalk but she'd seen it was him on her caller ID and picked up. She flipped the phone shut and tucked it into her bag as she approached the glass revolving doors to the building housing the Philadelphia offices of her firm.

The artificially cool air soothed over her skin as she pulled Katherine tight, pushing Kate far away. Here in the midst of $3,000 office chairs and floor-to-ceiling glass and chrome, there was no room for mistakes.

The shiny reflective walls of the elevator showed a confident, cool woman. Feminine, but not too much. Her heels weren't matronly, nor were they sexy. Understated and expensive, chosen with the same deliberate care she put into everything else to do with her career. The suit, a summer weight, was smoky grey. The deep-wine blouse added just enough colour. Not flashy, but it complemented her skin tone and hair. Hair carefully tucked into a sleek chignon at the base of her skull completed the look she wanted to achieve.

Choices. It all came down to choices, and Katherine Edwards made the right ones. The right choices were what it took to get ahead in the savvy and male-dominated world of corporate law. It didn't mean she was a ball-busting bitch, but she'd made her share of attorneys on the other side of the aisle cry, she was sure. A smile touched her lips at that.

Katherine wasn't cold, nor did she hate sex and men. She wasn't a cliché. What she was, was smart and ruthless when she had to be. She knew the difference between how men and women were allowed to act at work. She wasn't one to fret over it, it was what it was so she sucked it up and dealt with it.

She'd nearly lost it all as a result of her wilder days when she was in college. Lost a job, nearly had her future derailed in the aftermath, so she knew the importance of staying on the straight and narrow during business hours.

She saved jello shots and gossip for after six and well away from the office. She kept a firm wall between Katherine, the woman with her eye on the prize of the corner office and her articles in legal journals, and Kate, the woman who wore jeans, ate Doritos and watched reality television while on IM with her best friend Leah.

A flicker of unease shot through her at thoughts of Leah and that stupid fuck she lived with, but she'd have to deal with that later. She'd also have to confess about Dix. Leah would love that one.

The elevator doors opened up to a large reception area and the two women behind the ridiculously large credenza looked up in unison and smiled brightly. Holding her briefcase in her left hand, she approached with a smile of her own and introduced herself.

'Hi there, I'm Katherine Edwards and this is my first day. I'm doing a CLE and I'm supposed to meet someone from HR to get all my paperwork turned in.'

Another surprise she hadn't told anyone about. She wasn't sure how to process any of it. Something big was going to happen one way or another. A sense of expectancy had been building over the last two weeks. Excitement warred with worry deep within her.

Christ, it's bright. A shaft of absurdly golden sunshine heated her arm as she waited in the hotel lobby for her cab. At least the air conditioning kept the space cool.

June in Philadelphia was, um, golden and hot. It had been so easy to forget when she'd headed to the University of Washington to go to law school and ended up staying. How quickly the rain and mist became normal. Back home it would be nearing about seventy degrees and the sunlight would still be pale. Well, not back home any more. Philly was home now. All her stuff would be delivered the following weekend to move in. How this would affect her arrangement with Dix she didn't know.

They'd begun speaking on the phone when she'd been hired of counsel to Allied Packaging on a contracts issue and the spark had been there immediately. How it had flowed into phone sex Kate wasn't even sure of any more but it had. And then emails.

The first time they'd met face to face was for two days in Chicago when she'd gone to speak at a legal conference and he'd shown up at her door. The sex had been explosive, amazing, so furtive and guilty, nothing had ever been so delicious.

That had been four months before and they'd met once more in San Francisco a month prior. In between the few times they'd been together physically, they'd gotten to know each other, which in retrospect had been very stupid on her part, because she liked Charles Dixon a great deal. The more she got to know him, the more she liked him. Which was, of course, the crux of the issue.

What they had was a nice, part-time, no-strings fling. Had she endangered that by taking a job at the Philadelphia offices of her firm and moving there?

She had a plan, she had goals and she prided herself on keeping her business separate from her personal. And yet, there she sat, majorly muddled with this man at the core. Katherine Edwards and her right choices °C only she'd cheated and made a wrong one because he was too delicious not to.

She heaved a sigh and settled in the cushy chair. After returning from her day of meetings, she'd taken a shower and changed out of her suit and into a sleeveless shirt, Capri pants and sandals to battle the heat. Something she'd be doubly glad of on the two-hour train commute.

Her phone rang. 'Shake It Like a Salt Shaker'.

Leah's voice came over the line and, while she tried to play off her break-up with that ass-hat Mike, the emotion hung heavy in her voice.

In any case, they made arrangements to meet at the train station but there was a moment when Dix came up in passing.

Kate's breath caught at the mention of his name. Leah had been her closest friend for what felt like forever but Kate hadn't told her about him yet. It called for alcohol and lots of it. They had a lot of catching up to do when they met later on that evening in Harrisburg.

They rung off and Kate settled back into the plush faux-comfort of the chair. She stared out the windows to Market Street just beyond and waited.

She could have jotted down her notes. Could have pulled out her laptop and worked. Could have made a few calls and checked her voicemail. Instead she allowed herself to do nothing but think.