“Yes.” The single word was spoken through gritted teeth.
“Was it his money to take?” He continued in the same no-nonsense courtroom tone.
“You know it wasn’t!” She felt like a petulant child he was taking great pleasure in chastising.
Yes, Robert had been wrong to take Derrick’s money, but couldn’t he show a little compassion? She wondered how much of his unbending attitude had more to do with her past actions than with Robert’s thievery.
He had been dreaming of and dreading this moment for two long years. Against his will, he noticed those heavenly eyes of hers sparkle as her temper rose, making her even more beautiful, more desirable. His inappropriate observations annoyed him, making his next words clipped and terse.
“By your own admission, and your brother’s, he committed a crime—a felony. What more do I need to understand?” He opened the folder on his desk again, dismissing her.
“Robert’s sorry.”
He laughed without humor. “I’m sure he is, now that he’s been caught.”
She was favored with another of his piercing gazes. And somehow resisted the almost irrepressible urge to run as fast and as far from him as her legs could carry her. Even after two years, he still unnerved her completely while he seemed completely unaffected by seeing her again. No, that wasn’t true. He was angry, but not at her brother.
“He knows what he did was wrong.”
“Well, that’s very touching, but it doesn’t replace my $100,000, does it?”
He was tired of talking about her brother and would much rather talk about her. What had she done in the two years they had been apart? Had she missed him? Had she second-guessed and third-guessed her fateful decision that had ruined both of their lives? Had she spent sleepless nights wondering where he was and whom he was with? He hoped so. Because against his better judgment, he had thought about her often—about the satisfying relationship they could and should have been enjoying during that time, if only she hadn’t destroyed things between them.
He was disheartened to learn that despite her betrayal, she still had the power to move him and make him want to rewrite their story to his satisfaction. Why couldn’t they turn back the clock and be meeting coincidentally for the first time? Why did they have to be enemies by virtue of their past relationship?
She remembered him as caring, compassionate and passionate. He had made her feel as if she were the most important person in the world to him. He had made her want to lose herself in him. He had both thrilled and frightened her. Where had that Derrick Chandler gone? Had she somehow destroyed him? If she had, why did that thought disturb her so much?
“I have a lot of work to do.”
He needed to get her out of here before he made a complete fool of himself. He didn’t like where his memories were leading him or how hard he had to fight to keep himself from touching her. She had nearly ruined his life, and he shouldn’t want anything to do with her, should he?
“We’ll pay you back.”
He sighed fully before giving her his full attention again. “When?”
“As soon as we can.” At his dubious look she nearly shouted, “You don’t need the money. You don’t even miss it!”
“That’s not the point.”
The coldest eyes she had ever encountered locked on hers. She forced herself not to retreat from his frigid gaze—she knew from past experience he could utterly melt a woman’s heart and resistance without even trying. After all this time, he still unnerved her. He made her feel completely raw and vulnerable.
“So, what is the point?”
“Your brother took something that belonged to me. No one does that without suffering the consequences—no one.”
The darkening of her eyes let him know that his reference to their relationship was not lost on her.
“How can you be so heartless?”
“Look, I didn’t ask your brother to embezzle funds from me, and I didn’t ask you to come here today, pleading with me to show mercy to someone who should be—no, who will be—prosecuted.”
Why didn’t she leave and stop torturing him with her very presence? Lord, what had he done in his life to deserve this?
“I don’t know what else to say.” She closed her eyes as if seeking divine intervention.
Unable to bear staring at her beauty another second, he swiveled his chair to look out the huge wall-to-wall windows. “You can show yourself out.”
She quickly weighed telling him the real reason Robert had embezzled from him. It had nothing to do with gambling, as he had suggested. If he knew Robert’s actions were motivated out of love, not greed, would it change his attitude? Would the truth soften his hard heart? She didn’t want to bare her soul to him, but if it would save her brother, she didn’t have a choice in the matter.
“Won’t you please just listen to me?” She faced the back of his head. “Robert’s not what you think. He took the money because…”
He swiveled in his chair and held up a hand to forestall the remainder of her explanation. He’d had enough and needed her to leave.
“Alesha, I don’t care why Robert took the money—all that matters is that he’s an embezzler! Nothing you have to say will change that or make me change my mind about pressing charges against him. I’ve heard you out, now goodbye.”
She quickly stood, realizing she was wasting her time. There was no use in trying to appeal to his better nature. His words made that perfectly clear and she had no intention of giving him the satisfaction of watching her beg.
She snatched up her purse. “What happened to you? How did you become so cold?”
“I am what people like you have made me.”
God, she was torturing him. Her very presence tormented him; yet she also made him feel like he hadn’t felt in a long, long time, and he was angry and unsettled by that.
“You are what you want to be.” She was angry with herself and with her absurd reaction to seeing him again. “I’m sorry I wasted your time.” She turned and walked toward the door.
“Alesha?”
He spoke her name softly, almost caressingly. She felt it run down her spine like soothing, exciting fingers of desire—the sensation stopped her in her tracks. She prayed he would stop being so informal with her because the way he said her name—intimately, for her alone—was destroying her. How could a man’s voice stroke her in forbidden places so forcefully that she wanted nothing more than to be utterly immersed in him?
She was about to walk out. However, despite his better judgment, he didn’t want her to go. What was it about Alesha Robinson that had always sent his blood simmering and then, just as quickly, boiling out of control?
She turned turbulent eyes on him. “We don’t have anything else to say to each other.”
“You started this, Alesha.” He arrogantly lifted an eyebrow before deliberately adding, “And I’m going to finish it.”
“We’re done.”
She turned to leave again, not just because he annoyed and angered her, but because there was something about Derrick Chandler that was setting off small explosions of awareness within her entire body. Her legs felt wobbly and her heart ached for something that had once been within her grasp and now seemed light-years away. She needed some air; she had to get out of here before she made a complete fool of herself.
“What if I told you that I wouldn’t press charges against your brother?” His unexpected words halted her departure.