Legally Binding Read Online Free Page A

the list, she scanned him. Sophisticated, but she was willing to bet he had a wild side. She wasn’t sure why she thought that—maybe because his hair was a little longer than the standard executive cut. Her fingers twitched from wanting to slide under the lapels of his charcoal gray suit. The man knew good clothing. The fabric would be soft, and his chest underneath hard.
    She loved getting dressed up, putting on makeup and doing her hair. Her mom liked to tease that she should have been born a couple of centuries ago, to a noble family. Maisie didn’t disagree.
    “Excellent work,” Mr. Lattimore said, handing the paper back to her.
    Maisie cleared her throat. “Obviously I haven’t been to law school, but I thought the court reporter’s transcript is… binding.” Was that the right word?
    Mr. Lattimore looked impressed. “That’s true; the transcript is the document of record. But last night Mr. Ballystock’s attorney put in a request for an audio copy of the deposition and then scheduled an emergency meeting for today. We suspected the request might be a ploy to distract us, but I couldn’t gamble on it. Not when so much is at stake. I’ve already had one of our first-year associates check, but I wanted to be thorough.”
    “Oh.” In other words, she’d expended all that energy looking for something that didn’t even exist.
    “Never trust a lawyer,” he said, and was he flirting?
    “The housekeeper sounded scared,” Maisie said, tilting her head at the paused audio file. “I think she’s lying.”
    “She is, but Mrs. Ballystock no longer wants us to pursue that angle.”
    “Why not?”
    He smiled instead of answering. “I’m heading to court. Don’t forget about my plants. And check the vines for dead leaves. If you find any, strip them off.”
    Ugh. But if it was part of her job, she might as well do it with a cheerful heart. “Lucky for you, I was voted ‘most likely to become a stripper’ by my sorority,” she said, laughing.
    His smile vanished. One of his eyebrows lifted. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that.”
    He walked away.
    Oh, god. Why the hell had she said that? It wasn’t even true—she’d been joking. What was wrong with her?
    Irritated by her own stupidity, she quit the transcription program, pushed to her feet, and started toward Mr. Lattimore’s office. Then she remembered the list that Mrs. Donahue had emailed.
    Sure enough, the plants were on the list. Monday, Wednesday, Friday, water the plants except for the three in the southeast corner.
    She rolled her eyes and went to do it.
    Just as she was finishing with the bonsai—it had to be soaked three times—she became aware that someone had entered the office.
    She turned and found herself looking into a pair of intelligent dark eyes set in a handsome face. His skin was lightly tanned, and his dark hair brushed his eyebrows.
    Well, well, well.
    Mr. Banno was, by far, the hottest of her new bosses, and it looked like he had a muscular body under that designer suit. He was gorgeous. In person, he didn’t look much like her ex, maybe just a vague resemblance. Hell, if her ex had been this sexy, she would have cried when he dumped her.
    And judging from Mr. Banno’s sharp inhale of breath when she smiled, he liked what he saw, too.
    He recovered quickly.
    “It looks like Raphael bought another bonsai,” he said, flashing a cocky grin that showed off perfect white teeth. “He’s been trying to keep one alive ever since some corporate speaker we hired said it was a good way to hone leadership skills, but I think he’s missing the point.”
    He was looking at her as if she were beautiful. She wasn’t a blusher—not usually, though when she did, people often thought she was having a minor stroke—but Mr. Banno’s attention almost did the trick.
    “Missing the point in what way?” she murmured, running her hand over the top of the diminutive cedar tree. Its tiny branches tickled her palms.
    “The whole