Chapter Two

“Damn that woman!” Finn slammed the phone back into its cradle.

“Jules, call her back for me, will you?”

He began to pace like a caged panther. He could not believe the sheer rudeness of the woman he had spent the last two weeks trying to locate. Now that he’d found her and had tried to schedule an appointment with her, she had hung up on him twice and laughed at him once.

He grabbed a baseball from the wooden display case in his office. Signed by the entire 2004 Red Sox World Series Championship team, the ball was his pride and joy. He placed it back in its case and picked up a ratty one instead. He tossed it up and caught it—a habit he had acquired at Harvard, only back then he had used a tennis ball.

His pulse slowed. He sat on the edge of his one-hundred-year-old cherry desk, a gift from his parents, appreciating the fact that he could sit on it without worry of turning it to splinters beneath his weight.

Growing up with the Callahan name, he knew there was a certain aura surrounding his family. He thanked Jesus his parents didn’t worry over it. Their house was beautiful, well decorated, and—yes, a mansion. But boy did they live in it. Sleepovers in the solarium, camp outs at the beach, and his parents made it to every soccer game. Most people knew the Callahans were one of the wealthiest families on the east coast, but what they didn’t know was they were a family first.

He was struck by how normal his upbringing was, especially now, when faced with the problem of the Winslow family. Not that you could call that pit of vipers a family.

Since the altercation in Maine two weeks before, each member of Serena’s family had contacted him. Twice. When that didn’t work, Serena resorted to hiring the best probate lawyer in Boston. Good luck winning that one, Serena, he thought with some relish. He didn’t go looking for a fight, but he wouldn’t back down from one either.

He still had five and a half months to get this mess cleared up.

“You look like you could use a drink.”

He didn’t flinch at the familiar, husky voice, though he hadn’t noticed the woman in the black sheath at the door. Inwardly he groaned. “Lara, nice to see you, but I’m afraid this is a bad time.” Rushing her out was hopeless. The blonde witch with the perfect body couldn’t take a hint. She wouldn’t leave until he outright asked her.

“Finn, I heard you barking an order to your assistant. Darling, you should do something about this stress you’re under.” She glided over to him on five-inch heels and slid her hands up his chest and around his neck. “I can help release all that tension.” She pressed herself against him.

Even after making the monumental mistake of having a three-month relationship with this woman, he still could not believe her brazen attitude. He extricated himself from her grasp. “Lara, this is old territory. While I had hoped we would remain friends, you don’t seem to be sticking to the plan.”

“Oh, why are you such a stickler for the rules?”

She pouted, and he had to admit most men would call it sexy. She was beautiful in a cool way. Tall, feminine, and knew exactly what she was doing both in bed and out of it.

“I hate to repeat myself, but for you, I’ll explain again. I don’t share well with others. That means once you decided to sleep with someone else while you were still sleeping with me, we were over. It’s a one-strike policy. Call it one of my idiosyncrasies. I’m sorry if you believe I will change my mind, but I won’t.” He guided her to the door. “Why don’t you go out and get that drink? You wouldn’t want to waste that dress.”

Lara’s face perked up. “You still want me. Don’t fight the attraction.” She kissed his cheek, and whispered, “I know what you like, and you’ll be back for it soon enough.”

“Good-bye, Lara.” After the door closed behind her, he yelled to his assistant, “Hey, Jules, come in here a minute, will you?”

Julie Stender was a bright, thirty-five-year-old law student. A lovely woman with black hair, green eyes, and a razor-sharp mind, she was also a single mother to twin girls. After losing her husband during his second tour in Afghanistan, she’d gone back to school to pursue her law degree. He admired her more than he would ever tell her; it would make them both uncomfortable. He tried to help her out, but she was fiercely independent and wanted to succeed on her own.

She stood at the doorway. “Still can’t get the Winslow woman on the line, boss.”

“Thanks. But there’s another problem and I need you to answer a question for me.”

“OK, shoot.” She walked in and sat on the sage love seat, glancing only once at the gorgeous view of Boston’s Back Bay.

“Do you think Lara is…?” He struggled for the word.

“Crazy? Obsessed? Batshit? Why, yes. Yes, I do.”

He groaned. “Come on. I’m serious. I need it straight here.”

Never content to sit long, Jules stood. “I’m telling you straight. The woman isn’t right. She cannot take a hint, and she wants nothing more than to be the next Mrs. Callahan.” She leaned over his desk. “You and your hormones made a big mistake with that one.”

He pushed away from his desk. “Christ, what am I supposed to do? Issue a restraining order?”

She raised a brow. “Don’t be such a baby. You just need to handle it. I’ve told you before you are too nice to these women, especially the gold diggers.”

She headed for the door. “I am going to try the Winslow woman for the thousandth time. And you should remember one thing: you cannot remain friends with every woman you’ve dated.”

“Wait. Why not? I’m a nice guy. Just because it didn’t work out doesn’t mean I can’t stay friends.”

She pivoted. “That just proves to me you have never been in love with any of the women you’ve dated. If you’d loved any of them, and it had ended, you wouldn’t feel at all friendly toward them. And if they’d loved you, they wouldn’t be in here trying to get you back into bed. They’d be slashing your tires or getting drunk with their girlfriends and bashing you.”

He leaned back in his chair, not sure he liked the direction she was taking. “Bottom-line it for me.”

“It means you always hold a little part of yourself back, which makes you like catnip to these women. Gold diggers love a challenge. The real reason you hold back emotionally is because you’re looking for what your parents have or what I had with Tim. Something amazing only the two of you share and everyone else wonders about. And before you ask—yes, she’s out there. I just hope you’re not too stupid to realize it.” She walked out the door.

Laughter burst out of him. He counted himself lucky he hired someone who always knew exactly what he needed to hear. He didn’t always agree with Jules, but he knew her opinion came with no ulterior motive.

Still laughing, he pressed the rarely used intercom.

“Yeah, boss?”

“Cancel the call to Miss Winslow. I’ve decided to approach this from a different angle.” His voice took on a serious tone rare for him. He looked forward to the coming confrontation.

“Yikes. I love it when scary lawyer comes out to play.”

“I can guarantee when I’m through with her, this woman won’t be my friend.”