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REVENGE WAS BEST SERVED cold, Mitch Hollaran had heard. He didn’t care what temperature it was now that the end was in sight. For ten years he’d lived by a vow he’d made as a young man of twenty-four. When he’d followed his gonads instead of his head and had his ass served to him by a black-haired witch who still haunted his dreams.
He’d like to think he was a smarter man at thirty-four but there were days when he doubted it. Today wasn’t one of them. Everything was going his way. His flight had landed early. The exotic rental car service had a black Porsche waiting for him. He’d gotten a call from his office that the package he’d ordered had been delivered to Sophia.
He’d have loved to see Sophia’s face when she’d received his calling card, letting her know he was back in town. And back in her life.
Just the thought of seeing Sophia Deltonio again was enough to make him hard. It wasn’t just that she’d put him in an untenable position with the law firm he’d hoped to work for. It was that she’d ravaged his nice, neat plans for the future.
All of the Hollaran men had married their college sweethearts. Four generations of men had set the expectation for Mitch that women met in that phase of life were the ones to make a family with. Sophia had embodied everything he’d wanted in a woman and then she’d ripped that image to shreds with one coldly calculated move.
Though he was content with his life, he wouldn’t rest until he came out of an encounter with her the winner. And to think he was going to have to thank his pain-in-the-ass client Jason Spinder for the pleasure.
Mitch had talked with Spinder on the phone before leaving L.A. The case was basically one of “he said,” “she said.” Jason claimed that Holly McBride had told him she was eighteen and that others had corroborated her story. But the fact of the matter was Jason did have sex with Holly and she was underage. It was Mitch’s job to prove to the jury that Holly had tricked Jason for her own gain, using her body to get what she wanted.
Since the moment his assistant had sent him the file on Jason and the D.A. who was prosecuting the case Mitch had thought of nothing but the woman who’d betrayed him.
He had a chance to go up against the one woman he’d lost against so long ago. And this time he intended to come out the winner.
He’d had other lovers since they parted but he’d never let one woman consume him the way he’d let Sophia that long-ago winter. He’d been young.
Hell, he’d been a damned sap. But not anymore. He knew she had to have changed as well. And he needed to see the woman she was today. To exorcise the woman she was out of his system and move on.
In his mind he always pictured her wearing the velvet ribbon choker and nothing but lime juice. He swallowed and shifted his legs. She’d been one hell of a lover and the most sensual lady he’d ever met.
Everything with her had been erotic. Even law. He shook his head. He adjusted the radio dial off the pop station to some boisterous country music. It seemed to suit Orlando. The city was big and sophisticated but still clung to its cow-town roots. He maneuvered his way through the traffic thinking about Sophia.
She possessed hidden depths that she’d reveal to no man. Or at least she’d never revealed them to him. Years ago, he’d been planting the seeds for the future with her. But she’d wanted him only for what he could give her in bed. Well, that was fine; he no longer cared about the secrets of her soul.
He’d kept track of her through the alumni newsletter and the articles she’d written for the Harvard Law Bulletin. He’d seen a picture of her about a year ago when she’d won a humanitarian award.
It had ruined the coldhearted bitch image he had of her but he knew that it was pride that had made him think of her in those terms. Because truth be told if he’d had the same information she’d had, he wasn’t too sure he wouldn’t have sent her down a false trail and then claimed the one spot in the prestigious law firm, just as she had done to him.
He’d returned to Los Angeles and finished his graduate work at UCLA’s Law School. Fueled by the need to prove his worth to Sophia and the firm that had not selected him, he had scored a position in a very prestigious firm in Los Angeles and had recently been named an associate of the firm.
He knew that a gentleman would let the past rest. His father had counseled him many times to let go of things. But then Peter Hollaran had married his high-school sweetheart and had gone to work in his dad’s hardware store. His dad’s life was a bit simpler than Mitch’s.
Mitch had never been able to forget past wrongs. It was one of his faults and he’d made peace with a majority of his mistakes, but not Sophia. She haunted his dreams from time to time. And he knew it was time to force her out of his system once and for all.
Everything seemed to be coming together at once. He was on his own again since he’d refused to marry his live-in lover and she’d left him. He was finally facing the one woman who had left him hanging. He was plotting the kind of revenge that made him feel a little slimy, but then betrayal was something he knew Sophia understood.
So he didn’t really feel that bad. He didn’t regret the path his life had taken. He was a successful man by anyone’s standards, but deep inside the fire that had been driving him toward success was fueled by a deep-seated need for retribution.
He downshifted the Porsche Turbo and pulled into the downtown courthouse parking lot.
Who would have thought Jason Spinder, the twenty-two-year-old action movie star, would be the one to deliver it to him? Mitch entered the courthouse and spotted Jason standing off to one side with his manager, Marcus Richardson. Both men nodded at Mitch as he entered. He went through the metal detector and joined them.
“Hollaran, I thought you weren’t going to make it,” Jason said. Jason wasn’t overly attractive by Hollywood standards. But he had charisma, according to Betsy, Mitch’s secretary.
“Of course I made it. That’s what you pay me for.”
“What’s going to happen today?” Jason asked. He didn’t look like a blockbuster action star who commanded ten million dollars a picture. Instead he looked like a young kid in over his head.
“You’re going to be arraigned.”
“Then?”
“Wait for the trial to be set.”
“Oh, God. This is such a mess. Marcus has been trying to put a positive spin on it. But I think this is going to hurt my chances for an Oscar this year.”
“Let Marcus handle the media, that’s what he does best. I’ll handle the judge and jury. You just relax.”
“I can’t, man. My career is on the line and I don’t want to be blackballed because of this.”
“This is going to be tricky, Jason. I won’t lie to you, but I don’t intend to lose this case.”
“I heard the D.A.’s office is sending their barracuda,” Jason said.
“I’m a licensed fisherman.”
Jason cracked a smile. Then the three men headed down the hall toward the courtroom where Jason was scheduled to appear. Mitch stopped at the water fountain for a drink. “I’ll catch up with you inside.”
Mitch needed a few minutes to himself to prepare to see Sophia again. Perhaps the years hadn’t been kind to her. With more than a little spite, he imagined her overweight and graying.
With that image firmly in mind, he started for the courtroom ready to meet his nemesis. The door opened as he approached it and a woman barreled out with her head down and ran straight into Mitch.
He steadied her and then looked down into eyes he’d never forgotten. They were wide and a deeper blue than the Pacific Ocean at sunset. He started to release her, then stopped.
Her hips were a remembered softness under his flexed fingers. She shifted in his embrace, then seemed to realize what she was doing and tried to push away. He kept her close.
She held herself stiffly in his arms and he liked knowing he’d thrown her off guard.
“Mitch,” she said.
Just his name, but the tone of her voice stroked over his skin like a velvet glove bringing each nerve to quivering attention. He realized suddenly that revenge did have a temperature and it had just gotten much hotter.
2
SOPHIA CLOSED HER EYES and for a minute was tempted to put her arms around Mitch. Dammit, she was over him. Way over him. She’d made her choice and she’d been happily living with it. Until now. Until she’d felt his strong arms around her once again. He wasn’t doing anything improper but she remembered every time he had.
Her stomach sank to her toes. She pumped up her internal background music. “Back in Black” was blaring inside her head louder than in a teenage metal-head’s room. She stepped away from him as soon as her feet were steady.
But not far enough. She doubted if Miami would be far enough to blunt the impact of seeing him in the flesh again. The Coronas had swirled to life memories of a different time and a different person. But she felt as though she’d successfully relegated that woman to the past until this moment.
Face-to-face with the one man she’d never really forgotten, she tried to blunt the sensations spreading throughout her body. As one of Mitch’s hands swept upward, lingering on that spot on the base of her neck, she realized he hadn’t forgotten her either.
AC/DC died an abrupt end inside her head.
Everything feminine in her sprang to attention and the sensual sounds of Stevie Ray Vaughan started playing in her mind. Her breasts felt full and heavy, her nipples tingled. His body heat shimmered between them. Damn, only an inch of space separated them. If she leaned forward she’d be pressed against the hard planes of his chest.
Each breath he took brushed across her face. He smelled of peppermint gum. The first time they’d kissed he’d been chewing peppermint. The taste had infused her mouth.
She recognized the signs of arousal in him. His pupils were dilated, his nostrils flared with his exhalation. While she appreciated the fact the awareness wasn’t all one-sided, they still had to try a case against each other. She had to be on her toes and functioning like the cool, calm Assistant D.A. she was. Not some hormone-driven woman.
When she’d been twenty-two and in the throes of her love affair with him she’d indulged her sensual side with no thought of the consequences. Now that she was in her thirties, she thought she’d banked those fires but everything about Mitch, from his dark hair to his cold gray eyes was stirring up the embers.
Shivering a little she stepped away. Mitch made her want to do something unpredictable like caress his face and kiss his full lips. Would he still taste the same? Taste him and find out, her traitorous body cried out.
But her mind had finally wakened and bellowed for her to get out of there. She’d been on her way to the bathroom for her pretrial ritual pep talk.
Focus on the job. Mitch was just like any other defense attorney, except he smelled better.
“Thanks for catching me,” she said, and walked toward the ladies’ bathroom. It was only twenty paces to the washroom. Counting the steps was part of her ritual.
She’d taken five of them when he moved. Her senses were still attuned to him. He was following her. Her first instinct was to walk faster and get away from him.
But she’d never been a coward. So instead she slowed her steps, letting her hips sway with each one. She knew he was watching her.
“Sophia?”
She glanced over her shoulder at him. He’d noticed. His gaze was on her backside. She hid her smile. The girl still had it, she thought. She was glad to know she wasn’t alone in this ill-timed attraction. “Yes.”
“This isn’t finished.”
Immediately her internal victory turned to defeat. This was a new Mitch, a stranger with a familiar face. She wasn’t sure how to deal with him. “Is that a threat, Mitch?”
He closed the gap between them. He slid one hand down her back, cupping her butt and said, “Hell, no. That’s a promise, baby. And you know I always keep my promises.”
He turned toward the courtroom. She should let him go but she didn’t like him having the last word or touching her in that blatantly masculine way. She pivoted quickly, taking his hand and pulling him down the hall into a little alcove between the courtrooms.
He raised one eyebrow at her and she scowled at him. In her mind she fixed an image of herself as a sophisticated winning attorney. But it evaporated, leaving instead a picture of herself with an open bottle of Corona.
“What do you want from me?” she asked.
He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
“That doesn’t sound like you. You always know what you want.”
“I learned not to share my desires with just anyone, baby.”
His words hurt. They were justified but still she hadn’t expected them to. “Would it help if I said I was sorry?”
“I don’t know, are you?”
She couldn’t answer him. She wanted to say yes. But she knew she wouldn’t be the woman she was today if she’d acted differently ten years ago. She regretted hurting him. But at the time she hadn’t seen any other way. Mitch had always made her feel things too intensely.
The false trail she’d sent him on had been designed to give her the upper hand and it had. Because Mitch had spent time researching her lead—giving her the real advantage in the tough race they’d both been running.
She did know that other than that one time she’d never lied to him. And she hadn’t lied since. Not even social white lies. She been burned by that incident, and moving on had left her a different woman. “I’m not sure.”
In his eyes she thought she saw a bit of the compassionate young man he’d once been. The man who’d always understood her drive to succeed and be the best. “I know.”
“Can we come to some kind of truce?” she said at last.
“No,” he replied, quickly.
She nodded. “I’m not asking you to give up your feelings of resentment toward me. I’m just asking for a temporary hold.”
“I’m listening.”
“I don’t have it all worked out yet. Can we talk about this in my office after we’re done in court?”
“Okay. We can share the beer I sent you.”
“Oh, did you send me something?” she asked, patting his ass and walking away from him.
“You know I did, baby,” he growled as he walked past her into the courtroom.
She watched him go, wondering what it was going to take to satisfy Mitch and the rekindled desire burning in the center of her body. She tried to tell herself he was just another attorney as she stepped into the courtroom but those words rang hollow. No other attorney had ever made her pulse race the way Mitch did.
MITCH LOOSENED HIS TIE and stepped out into the Orlando summer day. It was still hot as hell. He’d talked to the press on the steps of the courthouse. Jason’s movie career was hanging in the balance, and he and Marcus both agreed the less their client said the better.
Mitch rolled his shoulders and took his sunglasses from his pocket. Sophia had developed into a hell of a sophisticated woman since he’d last seen her. He wouldn’t have expected the girl who’d worn poet shirts and jeans to ever be comfortable in a designer suit.
He got in the Porsche and drove to the D.A.’s office. He knew he wanted his pound of flesh from the moment he’d stepped on the plane in L.A. His cold-blooded plan for revenge was going to take some careful handling. He’d conveniently forgotten a few important details about her.
The softer things. Despite the fact that she’d sent him on a false trail so she could get the only remaining internship with an important law firm, Sophia had always been very soft.
And when he’d held her in his arms earlier, he’d realized she still was. That softness didn’t matter. She was a grown woman and she’d started a very dangerous game with him a lifetime ago.
His phone rang. “Hollaran.”
“Mitch, buddy, I got a problem.”
Devlin Chase. He closed his eyes and groaned. Devlin was one of his oldest friends. They’d grown up together in the same middle-class Growing Pains-style family. Only Dev’s parents had gotten a divorce and Dev had never stopped rebelling.
“I’m in Florida. Can this be done over the phone?”
There was a loud sigh. “No.”
He heard sounds he hoped weren’t familiar. “Are you in jail?”
“Uh…yes.”
“What’s the charge?”
“Drug possession.”
Devlin had checked himself into detox about nine months ago when he’d met a pretty horse trainer who had a zero-tolerance policy for drug users. And Mitch had watched his friend struggle every day but they’d met for drinks a few weeks ago and Devlin had seemed okay. Better than okay, actually more like he finally had gotten his life on track. “I thought you’d cleaned up.”
