Legally Addicted by Lena Dowling Page B

her client list, and ensuring that he got the last word in the process.
    ‘Why don’t I have a look at the Spencer portfolio and see what’s available? I’m sure Spencer Corp could offer the firm a lease on very favourable terms.’
    ‘Mates rates?’ Llewellyn asked, smelling a deal.
    ‘Yes, if you like.’
    Brad risked a look at Georgia out of the corner of his eye, worried he was going too far, using his Spencer Corp ‘silver spoon’ resources as leverage to turn the situation around, but her expression was unreadable.
    John Dayton stood up.
    ‘Well that sounds promising, and on that positive note, I’m happy to call it a night as well.’
    ‘Goodnight all.’
    Georgia went to lift herself out of her chair, pressing down on the wooden armrests, but Brad lightly gripped her arm, indicating she should stay. The satin feel of her warm downy skin was a reminder of what she had felt like beside him that night at the penthouse. She shot him a quizzical look that resounded through his abdomen.
    Damn.
    He had underestimated how difficult it was going to be to sit in this ‘look but don’t touch’ hellhole he had excavated himself into.
    ‘Thanks for backing me up with those two,’ Georgia said, once both the older partners were well inside and out of earshot.
    ‘Yes, I thought the old farts would never run out of steam and take themselves off to bed.’
    ‘You shouldn’t call them that.’ Georgia’s words were censorious, but her tone was anything but. She laughed, the outdoor lighting reflecting in her eyes so that when they danced they looked like white capped waves.
    ‘Why not? That’s what they are. I bet you had as much fun talking to old Gladys and Doris in there earlier as I had making small talk about cricket and comparing the value of the Australian dollar against the greenback with their husbands.’
    She laughed again, much harder this time, dislodging a blonde lock from behind her ear.
    ‘I am sorry that my coming into the firm has shaken everything up for you, and just when you’ve made partner too.’
    He reached over to wind her hair back into place. Sliding his hand down the side of her face, he stroked her cheek with his thumb. He hoped it would be enough for her to jump the divide and kiss him. It would have to be; he didn’t dare do any more.
    Brad’s touch was an electric charge that sent Georgia’s hormones colliding like a bunch of excitable atoms as the realisation hit her.
    He wanted her.
    So why was he mucking about gazing into her eyes instead of jumping her?
    ‘So are you going to hurry up and kiss me?’
    In one swift movement he withdrew his hand.
    ‘No.’
    ‘Why not?’
    She wrinkled her face as she tried to work him out. He obviously wanted to spark this thing between them back up again, but he had put himself in a professional position where that would be near impossible, and now he wouldn’t even so much as kiss her?
    ‘Georgia, you have to make the first move.’
    His voice was matter of fact as if he had just stated some irrefutable aspect of common law, and yet she knew Brad was right. Dayton and Llewellyn were already salivating piglets at the trough at the thought of cornering the celebrity break-up market. If she couldn’t handle working with Brad, she would have to leave the firm. Without a partnership track record it was terrible timing for her to be trying to break into another firm. If Brad left, Dayton and Llewellyn would forever blame her for the derailment of their gravy train.
    He sounded confident, and while his features gave no discernible expression, his eyes exuded the same intense vulnerability as when he was talking about the history of the beach house. Right now, Brad Spencer, who usually wanted for nothing, wanted something he couldn’t automatically have.
    Her.
    Brad wanted poor disadvantaged downtown girl Georgia. It was thrilling and sexy all at the same time.
    Part of her wanted to pull herself out of the canvas chair that was now