Chapter Nine

Annie Whitman had been to plenty of luxury hotels and homes while representing some of her more high-profile defense clients, but never in her life had she seen anything as gorgeous as Bruce’s six-bedroom villa in the south of France. She’d flown there to try to convince him to return home.

“It’s so beautiful here,” said Annie as she stepped into the exquisite interior of La Bergerie, a white stuccoed villa carved into a hillside overlooking the Mediterranean just outside of Cannes. The entire first floor was done in a soft cream with taupe accents that created a quiet background for the bold colors of the antique painted screens and magnificent paintings. The kitchen, by contrast, was all dark glass, stainless steel, and ebony granite.

All the rooms on the ground floor opened out onto a terrace that ran the entire length of the villa with views of the sea. Down below the terrace was a horizon pool with a cascade on the far side that appeared to empty into the crystal blue Mediterranean, a sight that nearly took Annie’s breath away.

“Look at this view—amazing.” Annie didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but nothing quite so majestic.

Bruce barely glanced up from his laptop. He shrugged. His family had owned the villa for years. The villa could bring in up to $5,000 a night from a wealthy tourist, if he chose to rent it out, which he didn’t. He had a marvelous Philippine couple, Frank and Lynne, who ran it impeccably when he wasn’t there and even more perfectly when he was.

It was the place he went when he needed to regroup. This was where he’d come shortly after his parents had died. He’d spent nearly a month here in solitude after their funeral, staring out into the blue water and wondering how he was supposed to carry on alone. The view never quite looked the same after that.

And now he had other painful memories to add, the many times he and Elizabeth had come here over the three years they were together.

He wasn’t going to allow himself to think of the past.

“Yeah, it’s nice.” Bruce cut the conversation short and went back to his computer to finish the e-mail he was sending to his company, Patman Social Impact. He might not have been on the board of directors anymore, but he still had influence, and he planned on using it. He felt more strongly than ever before that Rick Warner and his gas-mining project needed to be stopped. He still thought Social Impact should keep the land, even if they couldn’t get the permits they needed for their wind farm. But most of the board was in favor of selling if the permits didn’t come through. And, right now, the only buyer would be Rick Warner. Just because the EPA was throwing up some roadblocks for their project didn’t mean there weren’t workarounds. He sent that message and immediately moved on to another.

“Bruce, maybe we should talk about the case…” Annie began. That was another thing he didn’t want to think about, no matter how often she tried to bring it up.

“Hold on a minute. I’m writing to the congressman who so gladly took my campaign contribution last fall.” Bruce tapped angrily at the keyboard. “He owes me, and now’s his chance to pay me back by getting the EPA to see reason.”

Annie fell silent watching Bruce. As he typed at the computer, determination in his stark blue eyes, she remembered the Bruce from high school—the one who never took no for an answer. This was the Bruce she remembered: cocky, a little bit entitled maybe, but always sexy. He went straight for what he wanted and he never made excuses. Annie had loved that about him. Nothing seemed out of Bruce’s reach.

“There,” Bruce said as he clicked send and shut the laptop. “Done.”

Annie, who’d been waiting patiently with her legal pad and her iPhone in hand, readied herself to bring up the more difficult points about the pending attempted rape charge against Bruce. Somehow, Annie needed to convince him he had to return to the United States to face the charges, and yet part of her wondered if he was going to take that risk. After seeing his stunning villa and the safety it offered, she wasn’t so sure.

Before she could speak, Bruce looked up and said, “Are you hungry? I’m starved. Maybe we should do this over lunch.”

Bruce took her to his favorite restaurant, Plage L’Ondine on the Croisette, the broad avenue in Cannes that runs along the sea.

Most of the tables were set up with umbrella protection from the sun, but others, for the sun worshipers, were out in full sun with tables dug into the sand.

It was easy to tell that most of the other patrons were French simply by the dogs they’d brought with them. There seemed to be one to nearly every table. Some were under the tables, where pets belonged, and others were seated on chairs like small, furry guests. All were remarkably well behaved.

Bruce suggested Les Trois Demi Homards. Each half lobster came covered in a difference sauce. He ordered the Salade Folle Ondine, a specialty with house-cured salmon and homemade fois gras.

Bruce had been coming to Cannes since he was a child, and his French was flawless.

For the wine he found his favorite Sancerre.

The waiter poured them both glasses of the pale white wine and then retreated.

Annie took a sip and thought she’d never before tasted anything so good in her whole life. The wine was icy, crisp, and perfect.

“You really should have let me in on your plan,” Annie said, swallowing and trying to steer the conversation to Bruce’s case. “I think if you’d stayed in Sweet Valley we could’ve beaten the charges.”

“I just wasn’t ready to take that chance,” Bruce said.

“Well, even with you here, as long as you go back for the trial, we can still win. The D.A. really overplayed his hand this time. There’s no way Tom Colton can get a jury to convict you. He’s got circumstantial evidence at best, and no prosecutor likes to go to a jury with a case like this. There’s too much of a he-said, she-said element.”

Bruce took a long swallow of wine and looked at Annie with grudging admiration. “I really think it’s true what they say: You are the best defense attorney in Sweet Valley.”

“I try.” Annie smiled. “So, should we go over the facts of the case one more time? Maybe we missed something.”

“Maybe.”

The waiter came back and set the food down in front of them. Her lobsters’ three sauces looked rich and delicious: one was a curry, another Armoricaine, and the third was a delicate champagne. All were divine. After the first scrumptious bite, she knew it was perfection. The tail meat melted in her mouth.

Annie Whitman was a California girl who had done little traveling. She quickly found herself taken in by everything Cannes had to offer: the fabulous villa, the glorious food, and the decadence of the ambience. She marveled at all these people with their four-hour lunches in the middle of a workweek. Add to that the wine and the devastatingly charming man sitting across from her—a man she’d maybe always liked, ever since high school—and she felt herself being seduced to this new life.

He had, after all, made love to her so many years ago. Except the making-love part was largely in her head. For him, it had been just getting laid. Just like all the other guys who had dated Easy Annie.

“This is delicious,” she said. “Oh, my God. So good.”

Bruce smiled. “This place never disappoints.” He took a bite. They finished the lunch along with another Sancerre. All the while Annie was trying to hold on to whatever legal credibility she had left by doggedly going back to her notes. There was no danger that the D.A. could extradite Bruce since France had no extradition treaty with the United States, not as long as America allowed capital punishment. He already knew that, so Annie gave him a tutorial on international extradition laws with the other European countries in case Bruce decided to travel. Then she went into the workings of the D.A.’s office in an election year.

That was her last line of defense. After that she just let herself slide into the haze of the wine. She wanted badly to reach out and take Bruce’s hand in hers, but discipline kept her hand still. Her willpower, however, didn’t stop the longing.

Lunch lingered leisurely. Soon the restaurant emptied and they, along with one other table, a young couple, obviously lovers, were left. Annie wished they’d never have to leave. Bruce paid the bill and they walked back to the car. As they crossed the street, Bruce put his hand on the small of her back, and Annie tingled from head to toe.

Back at the villa, Bruce opened another bottle of wine, this time a light Pommard, and the two of them sat on the upstairs balcony that, because of its height, overlooked the sea and the maritime Alps as far east as Italy. The view was open to everything but people. It was just the two of them.

The extravagance of the glorious lunch and the view and the wine brought a sensual aching that Annie tried hard not to feel. They watched the day slide into the softness of late afternoon.

They were out of legal talk, both of them. Just from the way Bruce looked at her, the unmistakable intimacy in his eyes, she could feel some of his old confidence coming back. Enough to make her a little uneasy.

Annie hadn’t slept with anyone since divorcing Charlie. She had been heartbroken, but more than that, she’d been worried about what casual sex might do. It had undone her once before in high school, and she wasn’t about to go there so readily again. But now, sitting here with Bruce on the balcony of this fantasy villa, which was very real, she didn’t know how she would stop herself.

She tried to remember the awkward fumbling they’d shared in the backseat of his Porsche in high school, but all she could come up with was that he’d been surprisingly tender afterward. He’d even held her a moment. Most boys back then just pulled up their jeans and wanted her out of the car. Bruce had been different.

Annie gave herself a mental shake. She shouldn’t go there. She couldn’t get involved with a client. Plus, this was Elizabeth’s ex. She knew her friend still had feelings for him. She tried to keep her thoughts anchored there even as undeniable desire tried to blur them. She couldn’t let it.

“Bruce, I need everything you can remember that might have any bearing on the incident.” Annie asked, trying to wrench the conversation back to work.

Bruce glanced up. “There is something.” He paused, staring at his wineglass. “But you have to promise me not to tell anyone.”

“Of course,” Annie said. “I’m your attorney. Anything you tell me is covered under client privilege. You can be completely honest with me.”

Bruce took a deep breath. “Okay. Well, we’ve known each other a long time, right? You knew me back in high school when I was…well, you know. I wasn’t very nice.”

“I liked you in high school.” Annie blushed a little as she said this. It felt like she was revealing too much. She was still struggling against the wine.

Bruce studied Annie’s face a moment. He hadn’t expected that. He thought most people considered him obnoxious. It was one of the reasons he’d avoided the Sweet Valley High reunion a couple of years earlier.

He continued. “But you know after my parents died in college, well, I did a lot of thinking and self-appraisal and it didn’t come out so well. I made some good decisions then, with Elizabeth’s help. But about that time, I found out that my mom…” Bruce sighed. “She had some emotional problems. She was bipolar.”

“Oh, Bruce. I’m sorry.”

“It’s just that she was on medication her whole life. And I know it’s something that can be passed down in the genes. And given that night at the bar with Robin—that I can’t really remember what happened—it makes me wonder if maybe I just blacked out. Maybe there is something wrong with me.”

“Have you ever been diagnosed?”

“No, but I’ve gone over that night a thousand times in my mind and, logically, I can’t figure it out. Unless it’s some kind of, I don’t know, sickness. I remember I’m at the bar, and that Robin is this very pretty girl, but she is upset.”

“Small thing, but I thought you told Elizabeth she wasn’t that pretty.”

“Well, I just didn’t want to make a big deal about it at the time. But she was very young and very pretty.”

“I see.”

“But, I swear, Annie, I only had one drink and there was that thing with the spilled drink and then I got dizzy, and next thing I know, I’m asleep in the office of the bar. That’s all I remember. But what if…I mean, what if I just had some kind of psychotic episode?”

Annie had never seen Bruce look so vulnerable before. He desperately wanted her help. She reached out and took his hand. It’s what she had wanted to do all afternoon but for entirely different reasons. This was to console, pure succor.

“Bruce, I know you. There’s nothing wrong with you. I’ve never heard of anyone who wasn’t drinking heavily blacking out like that, and you said you weren’t and you are certain, right?”

“Absolutely.”

“So there’s got to be another answer, and it’s not that you’re unstable. You’re the most stable guy I know and that kind of thing just doesn’t come out of the blue.”

“Right, but what if…I mean, what if…there’s something wrong with me. Okay, maybe not bipolar, but what if that not-so-nice guy from high school is who I really am? What if that girl at the bar, if she brought it out in me? What if this nice-guy routine I’ve been doing since the accident is fake? Maybe I’m just a bad guy.”

“No, Bruce. You’ve turned into a really good guy. The things you’ve done with Patman Social Impact and the foundation are great. Everyone says so.”

Annie had defended enough clients to understand that morality in this world was decidedly a gray area. Rarely was something black or white.

“Hey, look, Bruce, you’re beginning to fight back, that’s all, and sometimes, fighting back doesn’t look so good. But it doesn’t mean you’re wrong to do it. We’re all complicated. Good, bad, whatever. It’s the combination that makes who we are. And being yourself—your real self—is nothing to be ashamed of.”

What Annie was saying was so simple but so true. He was like everybody else: a mixture of good and bad. He had to stop focusing on what used to be and stop blaming himself. Maybe all this time he’d been trying to bury his past and smother that tougher part of his personality had been a mistake. Maybe he was actually suppressing an essential part of himself.

He felt a surge of freedom. All this time he’d been trying to stay buttoned-up, and maybe that’s why he was in such trouble. He’d spent so much time fearing the old Bruce that he’d forgotten how powerful the old Bruce was. No one dared mess with him in high school, and it wasn’t because he was a nice guy. If he was going to fight the good fight, he needed some of the cockiness of that old Bruce. Nobody would push him around—not Robin Platt, not Rick Warner. Not even Elizabeth.

He was done being the nice guy who finished last. He was innocent and he had to believe in himself. That very simple thought came straight from Annie.

He looked at her, surprised to realize how much he desired this beautiful, smart woman sitting right next to him.

He’d seen the way she’d been looking at him all afternoon. He knew she felt the same way.

The new, nice-guy Bruce would never have taken advantage, but the nice guy was a wimp, hiding and letting other people take over his life. Bruce was done being that guy. If he was going to win this case, he needed the power of the old Bruce back, and there was one way he knew he could get it.

He needed to remember what it was to be a real man, and there wasn’t any better way to do that than by being with a woman.

He reached out and pulled Annie toward him. She came willingly, her eyes never leaving his. Then their lips touched. Hers went soft and parted, and he knew she was all his. With that kiss, a spark popped that surprised them both. This was no ordinary kiss. Not at all.

After an intense moment, she pulled away.

But Bruce wasn’t going to let her get away so easily. He was angry, angry at everything that had happened to him, at everyone who didn’t believe him. Angry at Elizabeth. Furious at her betrayal.

“Bruce, I don’t know…” Annie stood, but Bruce was right there in front of her.

“Annie, tell me you didn’t feel that, too. Tell me, and I’ll walk away right now.”

Annie glanced down. “No, I felt it, too.” She’d felt it all the way down to her toes.

Bruce went forward into the guest bedroom. Annie followed, drawn by his magnetism, by the promise of what that bed offered. She walked right to him, and he took her into his arms.

“Bruce…” His lips were on hers again, just as she wanted them to be. Her head was a whirl of confusion: Did she even want this?

Yes! Without a doubt, she did.

Annie’s heart beat fast, and her body came alive. Suddenly they were standing in front of the bed, and then they toppled down onto it.

Annie’s head felt dizzy with wine and buzzed with Bruce’s fierce kisses. The distant, logical part of her brain told her she needed to stop this. He was her client and the man her best friend loved. But all of that seemed so distant and so irrelevant, and so far away from the south of France and the need that rushed through her body.

It had been so long since she’d had sex with anyone, and she realized she wanted to make love to Bruce. It was that simple. But it wasn’t.

What about Elizabeth?

If she did this, could she ever face her again? And what about the career she’d worked so hard to build? She’d be risking everything if she did this.

“Annie…” growled Bruce, his face flush with desire, his hands wrapped tightly in her hair. He tugged a little.

Annie, lying there, panting, looked up at him. His blue eyes met hers, fierce and demanding and full of power. Her heart pounded and her mind raced. Somehow, she felt, this was the moment that could define everything.

Would she do this? Could she do this?

He pulled her to him; her lips went soft and wet.

“Wait,” she murmured as she pulled back.

“What?” Confusion flickered across Bruce’s face.

“I don’t want to get carried away,” Annie whispered, her voice low. This was a lie. Part of her did want to be carried away. Far, far away, with Bruce.

“Annie, come on. Look at what you did to me.” Bruce grabbed Annie’s hand and put it on the front of his pants. Annie could feel exactly what she’d done to him and the thought excited her; she couldn’t deny it.

“I know, but…” There were so many buts. So much of the real world got in the way. “I don’t want to regret this.”

“If you tell me to go away I will.”

She was silent. He moved his hand up along her thigh, under her skirt, and beneath her thong. He found her more than ready for him. She realized how weak her words sounded when her body told him the unflinching truth.

“Why fight it, Annie?” he said, moving his fingers against her, making her moan. “I know you want me as much as I want you.”

“Wait…” Annie murmured, trying to focus her thoughts. Everything was moving so fast, and the room seemed like it was spinning. “Wait, Bruce, I’m not sure about this….” And she wasn’t. Not at all. Yes, she wanted to do this, but should she? Could she risk her career—and Elizabeth’s friendship—over a tryst with Bruce?

As Bruce’s hands roamed up her thigh, sending tingling sensations up her spine, she knew she had to make the decision now. Another moment, an instant more, and it would be too late.