Devin-2 by Kathi S. Barton Page A

wanted to knock the shit out of him. Except for Byron, who had been unnaturally quiet when he came back to the table and had not stopped smiling. He wanted to call Ronnie and tell her he was sorry, but he still could not help but think about the other men in her life, and he was also afraid his brother was becoming one of her lovers.
    By Sunday afternoon after spending two miserable days by himself, Devin had come to the decision that he would not go near Ronnie again. If she wanted to call him Mr. Grant, then so be it. He would give her the case files he needed, make sure she knew when she was to appear in court with him, and not worry if she did not show up. He was going to move on. He was not going to look at her, not going to want her, and he certainly was not going to touch her.
    On Monday morning, that all went to shit as soon as he saw her walking into her office.
    Devin hid out in his office until nearly noon when he was sure she was gone.
    Then felt stupid because he had. His name was on the door, for crying out loud, and he should be able to go where he wanted when he wanted. Caroline met him at her desk as he was going to lunch.
    “Mr. Grant, here are the cases you left for Ronnie. They are all complete, including the ones you messaged me about over the weekend. I also have a message here from the State Law Board that asks if her test results come here, or were we aware if she had another firm that she was going to work for. I told him you would call him back as I didn’t know what he meant.” He took the message and frowned at the name. He knew Richard Douglas.
    They had gone to law school together. He went back into his office to call.
    “Hey, big guy. So, how is life treating the rich and famous Grant brothers? I heard your brother Nick got married recently.”
    “Yeah, a couple of years ago. You’d like Morgan, she’s great. What is this about Veronica Frey’s test results? I thought I had a month before I had to set that up for her.”
    As her boss, he had thought he would sign her up for the two day exam and make sure the results were sent to whoever she wanted. Normally, it took several months to get the results back and Devin was not sure what was going on.
    “Hey, now there’s a looker for you. Damn if she isn’t the finest thing I’ve ever seen on a pair of long legs. But as a married man, I can only look and dream.
    Let me find her file.”
    Devin was just glad they were not face to face because he was reasonably sure that he would have hit the other man for his comments about his woman.
    He did not even try and correct himself in his thinking that she was not his woman this time and just pretended he didn’t hear himself. He was in deep and he was only just realizing how deep.
    “Okay, says here she took an opt-out test for her last class on Wednesday and the results were given to her...this morning. She became eligible to take the state test immediately and her former boss, hummm, Judge Stone had it set up that she could take it even if it wasn’t being offered. I thought she was taking the exam tomorrow morning, but let me check.”
    Devin was shocked. And angry. How could she do this to him? Then he remembered he had given her every reason to do this to him. He had done nothing but make her life a living hell since he had first seen her. And for every part of him that wanted to pull her close, just as much of him wanted to push her away. His head began to hurt and he rubbed his forehead as he waited for Richard to return.
    “Here is it. No, I’m sorry, she’s taking the exam next week. On Monday and Tuesday. The reason we’ve called is because she listed herself as your intern, but she didn’t mark to send the results to you, only to her home address. We tried contacting her, but there is no answer and she didn’t give us a cell phone number. Do you know how to get in touch with her and find out?” Yes, Devin thought, he would get in touch with her and wring her pretty neck,