Another Summer by Georgia Bockoven Page B

wanted to hear. “One more thing,” she said instead. “I recommended John Murdock to a friend of Donna’s in case he mentions something to you.”
    “He did, and it’s being taken care of.”
    “Thanks. Now go to bed, Dad. It’s late.”
    “As soon as I finish going over this brief.”
    He worked harder and with more dedication than anyone else she knew. Someday she hoped to feel some of whatever it was that drove him. Right now it was everything she could do to impress the other partners with her skill and ambition and still have a little time left over for a life outside the office.
    She said good-bye. And then, feeling guilty that her father was still working and she wasn’t, she picked up Landry’s book and took it to bed with her.

4
      K ELLY WAS ON HER SECOND CUP OF COFFEE, mentally cursing Matt Landry for keeping her up until three-thirty in the morning reading his book when he knocked on her door.
    “We meet again,” he announced, plainly pleasantly surprised. He gave her a smile bright enough for sunglasses. “Kelly with a ‘y,’ right?”
    “I was hoping you’d forgotten.” She reached for the key.
    “No need,” he said. “I do a lot of crazy things, but I don’t surf in the fog. I just came over so you wouldn’t hang around waiting for me.” He backed off the brick porch. “When you see Andrew tell him I came by and that I’ll catch up with him later.”
    She looked past him to the thick, gray fog hugging the ground like a down blanket. “Oh, my
    God … I’m going to have to be more careful from now on.”
    He tossed her a questioning look.
    “The fog,” she said. “It’s my fault–according to Andrew, that is. No one told me I wasn’t supposed to talk about it.”
    Matt laughed. “Don’t take it too hard. This isn’t as bad as it looks. It’ll burn off by noon, and you’ll be back in everyone’s good graces.”
    It could have been his casual thoughtfulness or his easy laugh or the fact that his book had made her aware of the brilliant mind inside the amazing package, or it could even have been her need for company the morning after ending her relationship with Ray. The reason didn’t matter, the impulse did. “Would you like to come in for a cup of coffee?” she asked, surprising herself as much as him.
    He considered the invitation. “As a matter of fact, I would. I could use a good cup of coffee.”
    She winced as she moved out of the doorway to let him enter. “Remember the ‘good’ part was yours, not mine.”
    He followed her into the kitchen. “I’ll drink anything. I’ve had coffee where the grounds were tossed in a pot of water and boiled for three days and gone back for a second cup.”
    “I should be safe then.” She took a mug from the cupboard. “How do you take it?”
    “Black.”
    She poured, he took a sip. After several excruciatingly long seconds, he put the cup on the counter. “You win. Grab your coat.”
    “Where are we going?” she asked suspiciously.
    “To this place I know that has the best coffee in Santa Cruz County.”
    “Thanks, but I’ve already had two cups and–”
    “Did I mention they make cinnamon rolls the size of a dinner plate?” He looked at his watch. “If we hurry, we can get them right out of the oven.”
    She had no business going with him. It was one thing to have a friend as opposing counsel, another when he was a potential witness for that opposing counsel. Not that there was any law against it: more that her life was complicated enough without adding Matt Landry to the mix.
    “Kelly?”
    “What?”
    “Did I mention it’s a nonfat cinnamon roll?”
    That made her laugh. “And sugar-free, too, no doubt.”
    “And loaded with beta carotene and an entire day’s worth of fiber.”
    Even on the odd chance she and Landry did become friends, he was far too sophisticated to expect anything but her best if or when they faced each other in a courtroom. “Okay, you convinced me.”
    What was she