If she tried to explain the other, far more frightening reason she needed distance, things would end before they ever started. She could fall for him so easily. Had already developed a nonsensical attachment. He wanted simple, uncommitted sex—she couldn’t give that now that she’d experienced the magic of his hands.
She set her chin in her hands and massaged her temples. This had become one giant headache. Talk about a Valentine’s surprise. If there was such a cherub named Cupid, if he’d played any part in pushing her and Brad together last night, he deserved to be shot with his own arrows.
Stephanie intruded on Cassie’s solitude. Though she knocked on the door, she didn’t wait for acknowledgement and pulled out the chair Brad had occupied. “What gives? You’re more frazzled today than you were on Brady Stuart’s adoption hearing.”
“At least I won that one,” Cassie murmured absently.
“Huh?”
She shook her head. “Never mind. I’m fine, really, Stephanie. Brad Steele is just a lot to cope with.” That put things mildly, to say the least.
“I bet he is.” A touch of suggestive admiration fringed her words. “I wonder what he’s doing tonight.”
Despite her better sanity, Cassie groaned. She dropped her hands and shot Stephanie an are you serious look.
“What? You can’t tell me that man doesn’t make you the least little bit curious whether that body’s for show, or if he knows how to use it.”
Oh he knows how to use it. As the thought scampered through Cassie’s mind, her cheeks heated. She dipped her head to cover her blush with her long hair before Stephanie could pick up on it.
Unfortunately, she moved too late.
“Oh my God. It’s him.” She made a squeak that sounded more like she’d inhaled a tart. “That’s who kept you up all night.”
Cassie narrowed her gaze and summoned her most authoritative voice. “One word and you’re job hunting. He dropped a serious bomb today. This case just exploded and I can’t risk having our secret get out.”
Stephanie scoffed. “Give me a little credit. You think I want to be the one responsible for that can of worms?”
Precisely why Cassie couldn’t follow through on Brad’s suggestion they give in to this thing between them. The whole situation was one giant, rotten can of worms waiting to explode. If anyone found out, or even suspected, the Bar Association would be all over them. Sure, they might be able to pull it off, but the risk? High stakes gambling had never been Cassie’s thing. She needed to stay focused on the case and forget all the other ways Brad Steele affected her.
Heavy footsteps in the hall silenced both women. Cassie swiveled as Brad neared the conference room door. Jennifer Cooper hadn’t brought one folder of information. She’d filled two paper ream boxes filled with folders.
They thumped against the table as Brad freed his hands. “Remind me to kick Miles.”
“No comment.” Suppressing a smirk, Cassie eased to her feet and peered over the edge of the topmost box. “What in the world are we supposed to do with this?”
“Well…” Chuckling, Brad reached in and retrieved one ratty manila folder. “We dig through these for address, initial purchase price, and building date, and make our lists.”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “Lists plural? Why not just one?”
He dropped the folder back into the top box, lifted it, and set it down directly in front of her. “Because, as your client informed me, these are the ones she wants to keep. And those,” he gestured at the other box, “are the ones she’s proposing to give to Miles.”
A ball of dread rolled around in her gut. “He wanted to sell them all, right?”
“Yep.”
“Is he going to be okay with a percentage?” She already knew the answer—a resounding no. They had already done this once before. Good Lord, it was like recreating the past three weeks worth of work all over again. Add in the problems now with Anna’s custody…how had this become such a nightmare?
Brad shrugged. “We’ll find out. Let’s get them itemized first, because he’ll want to know which ones she’s set her sights on.”