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and
that included sexual needs. It wasn’t like she was a virgin. She’d had sex
before Jeff. Now, maybe it hadn’t been earth-shattering like her night with him had been, but it had been acceptable at the time. She
hadn’t expected more out of life. Being with Jeff had been an eye-opening experience.
Regrettably she knew there was no going back. Every man she encountered from
here on out was going to be compared to Jeff Hand, and would likely come out on
the short end of the stick. There was the possibility, of course, that the
upcoming night with him would reveal some terrible fault that would show his
feet of clay.
    At the moment, that seemed like
grasping for straws.
    On the other hand she had his phone
number. She could back out; create an excuse, a family emergency, maybe, or a
head cold. Something that would prevent her from driving to
Las Vegas. But in reality, she wanted to go to Las Vegas to be with
Jeff. She was lying to herself if she tried to convince herself otherwise.
    Hot and sweaty, she returned to her
mother’s house. She was about to head for the shower down the hall from her
room but her cell phone rang. Stormy picked it up without thinking about it.
    “Hey girlfriend, I’ve been trying
to talk to you all week. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were avoiding
me.”
    “I’ve been busy.”
    “Doing what?”
    “Um…” She couldn’t tell Tanya that
she was ashamed to admit that she couldn’t resist Jeff’s invitation. “Well,
that case, you know…”
    “Hmm, you mean the one with the
sexy opposing attorney. What was his name?”
    “Jeff.”
    “Right,” the word was drawn out, a
little smug. “Jeff. He sure seemed interested in you on Wednesday. You must’ve
had one helluva night after Drake’s wedding.”
    “Tanya!”
    “Hmm. So, you wanna go shopping this afternoon? Maybe we could head
to Vegas and check out the malls.”
    “I…uh…am already going to Vegas.”
    “Cool! I’ll come over and we can
take your car. Mine’s been acting weird.”
    “I can’t.” Stormy didn’t know what
to say but the truth. “I’m meeting Jeff.”
    There was a protracted silence. “Oh,
it’s like that, huh?”
    “No, it’s not. It’s a fling. I’m
sure that after tonight we’ll only see each other over the legal case.”
    “Sure. Listen, Stormy, I’ve been
around this block a few times myself. You remember not to let yourself have any
expectations beyond having some fun, okay? He’s a player, almost certainly. A
guy that good is either married or a player. I don’t get ‘married’ vibes from
him.”
    “He’s not married.”
    “Well, in any case, you keep that
little Stormy heart locked away. He’s not The One, you get me?”
    “Right, I was thinking the same
thing.”
    “Are you going to get in trouble
with your boss over this?”
    “We’re in a negotiation phase on
the case,” Stormy explained, though it was as much to convince herself as
Tanya. “If it went to trial…well, I think it’ll be okay for now. I won’t be
taking an ad out in the paper to announce it, though.”
    “Go and have some fun.” Tanya
giggled. “Do him once for me.”
    Stormy couldn’t help but laugh.

Chapter 3
    There was a security guard at the
lobby desk on the street level of Jeff’s high-rise condo building. Stormy had
to sign in and wait for Jeff to approve her visit before she was allowed to use
the elevator to get to his floor. Signing her name in the book made her feel
slightly sleazy. How many other women had signed before going to that
apartment? The security guard was friendly but totally professional. If he had an
opinion of Jeff’s personal life, he wasn’t giving anything away.
    He told her what floor to get off
and what the apartment number was, which was a good thing because Stormy had
left Jeff’s place in such a rush the morning after, she had no idea which unit
was his. Besides, she had never intended to be there again.
    Jeff was waiting for her in the
doorway