Solomon Vs. Lord - 01 - Solomon vs. Lord by Paul Levine

Author:Paul Levine
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Victoria (Fictitious Character), Florida, Fiction, Large Type Books, Lord, Legal Ethics
ISBN: 9780440242734
Published: 2004-12-31T13:00:00+00:00

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Victoria resisted the urge to pull him out of his chair and throw her arms around him. He had never looked so hopeless and so huggable. So different from the smart-ass she first met in court. But she steeled herself against showing any emotion other than indifference. She wouldn’t reveal what she felt. How could she? She couldn’t even define it herself. She didn’t know what propelled her toward Solomon. But he had been right about one thing: I kissed him. I grabbed him and kissed him deeply, passionately … dangerously.

So reckless. So irresponsible. So unlike her. She desperately wished she could take it back.

Or did she? With the boats creaking in their moorings and the moonlit sky swirling above, she’d molded her body to his, a yin-and-yang perfect fit. The kiss had left her disoriented and dizzy and frightened. She wanted to write it off to gin and stress and exhaustion. But in truth, she had no idea what was happening to her. Was she subconsciously trying to sabotage her relationship with Bruce? Did she have a self-esteem problem? Did she feel she didn’t deserve someone so right? So damn-near-perfect it could sometimes be daunting just being with him?

Working it over now, she thought she was figuring it out.

I’m in love with Bruce and in lust with Steve.

Thank God she’d been around enough to know all about the lust factor. Relationships built on passion last about as long as the fever that accompanies the flu. When was the last time she had succumbed? Maybe six years ago—a lifetime, it seemed—there’d been Randy, a teaching pro at a tennis club in Boca Raton. Australian. Sun-bleached hair. A laugh like surf crashing on rocks. And a sexual athlete. Thank God her chiropractor’s bills were covered by insurance.

She was waiting tables the summer between college and law school … and totally in love. Or what she mistook for love. Postadolescent lust was more like it. All those steamy nights in Randy’s shoebox apartment with its wheezing air conditioner, mildewed shower curtain, and retro water bed. And one night of tears.

She remembered the pain, finding another woman—a married tennis pupil, of all the lousy clichés—riding the waves in Randy’s bedroom. His confession was without guilt or remorse: “Not my fault the sheilas want to have a naughty with me.”

Thinking back, the men after Randy seemed like a procession of faceless gray suits. Lawyers, CPAs, brokers. Ambitious young men in pinstripes. Impatient men who often pushed the relationship too quickly. She remembered Harlan, a brainy tax accountant, popping the question on their third date. At that moment, they were stuck in a mob at Joe’s Stone Crab, waiting for a table. How do you politely reply—“Are you out of your bean-counting mind?”—when some tourist is standing on your foot and the maître d’ is announcing, ‘Grossman, party of five!’ ”

“Why do you want to get married?” she had asked, befuddled.

“Because I love you,” Harlan had replied. Then, sheepishly, “And my firm favors married guys in selecting partners.

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