Read Online Seducing the Attorney (At First Sight Book 5) by Janet Lane-Walters - Free Book Online Page A

he would visit.” He grinned. “I think he kind of likes you. When I arrived to relieve him on Saturday he was real glad you weren’t angry. He’s cool.”
    “Cool. Cool.” Jamie waved his hands.
    “Not while you’re eating,” Ray said.
    Lauren laughed. She pulled the slice from the microwave and headed to the door. “See you around five. I’ll bring Chinese for dinner. Anything special for you?”
    “I eat everything.”
    “Bye, Jamie. Be good for Ray.”
    “Bye, Bye,” the baby yelled.
    Lauren drove to the spot and found a parking space. She fed coins in the meter and dashed to the store. Grace headed to the door.
    “Wait a minute,” Lauren shouted.
    “I need to get this ad to the newspaper to meet the deadline.”
    “I’m ordering Chinese for dinner.”
    “General Tso’s for me.”
    “Should I order anything else?”
    Grace turned. “Wanton soup and egg rolls.”
    Lauren’s friend had been gone for less than ten minutes when the painter returned. She watched him paint an outline on the window. She walked to the back and started to fill boxes following Grace’s directions. Before long Grace returned and joined her.
    At four they stopped to admire the front window. Sweet and Savory Bites written in script flowed across the window. Beneath Sweet and Savory huge cupcakes sat. One with frothy icing and a pair of buzzing bees and the other with a hovering pair of red and green jalapeños.
    Lauren laughed. “Looks wonderful.”
    Grace nodded. “Two more days. I’ll lock up and meet you at the condo.”
    At five Lauren pulled her car into the garage and carried the bags of Chinese food inside. Ray had set the table for three and fed a last bite to Jamie. Moments later Grace arrived. She told them about the cupcakes she planned to bake for the first day. Lauren quizzed Ray for his Sociology test that evening.
    While bathing Jamie he splashed. “Cool. Cool.” In an instant his happy chatter turned to tears. “Cool. Dada. Up.”
    Lauren lifted him into her arms. What had triggered the tears? Was he remembering his day with Tony or the close resemblance to his father? What could she do? Tony hadn’t left a number for her to call. On Sunday he’d bolted and the other night the call had ended with the arrival of his dinner guest.
    Should she wait for him to call? She could always search Jim’s file for Tony’s number. When she did she found the number of Tony’s office but no other. Tomorrow she would try.
    At a few minutes after nine she dialed the office and listened to the prompt. She pressed the extension. A frosty female voice didn’t give her a chance to identify herself.
    That afternoon she tried again and received this message. “Mr. Carlin is in a conference and cannot be disturbed.”
    “Can I leave a message?”
    But the woman had hung up.
    Lauren slumped on the couch. If he cared about his nephew he would call. Or come. Don’t go there. The night she and Tony has shared a bed had been a reaction to the funeral. They had both sought comfort for their grief. Nothing more.
     
    * * *
     
    By Friday evening Tony’s frustration with the first nanny agency had peaked. That morning he’d extended the search by calling two more agencies. What was wrong with these women? He was willing to hire two and pay a full week’s wages for four days of work. Did every nanny want weekends and evenings off? If he gave into the demands of the women and the agencies the “love nest” he’d inherited from his father would become a social desert.
    Besides the search his days at the office had been crammed. Client meetings and discussions with the partners took too much time. He’d worked until nine or ten every evening and had no energy for hitting one of the clubs. His life seemed to be trudging up a mountain taller than Everest. When he started the descent could he stop?
    You need a change.
    That voice again. “Get lost.”
    “What?” The question from a dozen men at the conference table bombarded