Chapter Three
Toni
“Antoinette Sutterman!”
Was someone calling me? I squinted at my closed office door before returning to the call in progress. Whatever was going on out there, Megan would handle it. “My client is prepared to offer five thousand dollars to end this right now. The case is frivolous. You’ll never win.”
“We’ll let the jury decide. Your client’s roof and skylight were unsafe, leading to serious injury. My client broke his femur.”
I rolled my eyes at the ludicrousness of the suit. This was why I didn’t use the picto-phone app for these types of calls. Not being seen freed me to make appropriate facial expressions in response to inappropriate demands. I didn’t let my mockery show in my voice, however. “Your client was in the process of committing a crime. He scaled the roof with the intention of breaking into a jewelry shop and burglarizing it, and in the process fell through the skylight.”
“That has not been proven.”
More voices filtered through from outside. I pressed the receiver harder against my right ear and covered my left to muffle the noise. “Your client is serving jail time for burglary!”
“Not pertinent to this case.”
While free on bail for another burglary, my opposing counsel’s client had attempted to rob my client’s place of business. He’d since been convicted of the other charges but had filed a five-million-dollar personal injury suit against my client for lost wages and emotional distress. I assumed the lost wages came from his inability to rob anyone else while hobbling on crutches.
Since injury had prevented him from actually burglarizing the jewelry store, he’d only been arrested for breaking and entering. The criminal trial on the B&E started next week. “It would behoove your client to accept our generous offer before his conviction.”
A conviction for breaking and entering decreased the odds of winning the civil case. On the other hand, if the jury acquitted him—unlikely, but possible—he stood a better chance of winning a civil judgment. While a reasonable person would find his lawsuit specious, juries had awarded judgments to a woman who’d been hit in the eye at a restaurant where wait staff tossed dinner rolls to diners, and to a thief who’d gotten run over while trying to steal the hubcaps off a car.
“The roof was unsafe,” the attorney said. “I have the inspection report from the roofing company.”
That was the one thing that could hurt our defense. Unbeknownst to my client, termites, quite common in New California, had eaten through the wooden trusses. When the burglar had attempted to lower himself through the skylight on a rope, the roof had given way. Unfortunately, my client hadn’t had a termite inspection in twenty years.
“Taser! Taser! Taser!”
Taser? What the hell was going on out there?
Thump! It sounded like something heavy hit the floor.
“He shouldn’t have been on the roof,” I said. “A skylight is not an egress.”
“Was it posted UNSAFE ROOF—KEEP OFF?”
“Ridiculous. Nobody posts warning notices on their roofs.” If a warning had been posted, counsel would have argued negligence, claiming my client knew the roof was dangerous but failed to act on it.
“Antoinette Sutterman! Antoinette Sutterman! It’s me! Tom!”
Tom? I didn’t know any Tom. Or Dick or Harry. And anybody who knew me well called me Toni.
Blah, blah, blah… The attorney with the scumbag client was saying something. I forced myself to concentrate. “What was that?”
“I said what’s ridiculous is your paltry five-thousand-dollar offer. We’ll see you in court.”
“Fine. See you there.” I’d get with my client and suggest he up his offer a tad to make the nuisance go away. He hadn’t wanted to offer anything. In truth, if the case went to court, it would go down in the annals as one of the stupidest lawsuits in history. Despite the termites, if I couldn’t win this one, I shouldn’t be practicing law. But, my client would spend big bucks in fees fighting it.
I hung up the phone and stalked out to the reception area.
Looking ruffled and out of sorts, my assistant sat at her desk.
“Megan, what’s going on out here? You knew I had a call…” I kept my voice level to avoid showing how ticked off I was.
“I’m sorry, Toni. Some crazy stormed in. Security had to Taser him to subdue him.”
Irritation evaporated. “Are you all right?” I pressed a hand to my throat. “He didn’t hurt you, did he?” I felt guilty now for getting pissed off, when she’d been protecting me.
“No. I’m fine.” She shook her head. “I’m a little jittery, but it’s the reaction setting in. Security came right away.” She gave a nervous giggle. “I can’t believe I barred the way to prevent him from going into your office. He could have snapped me like a twig. They Tasered him for like half a minute, and then it took three of them to haul him out of here. The guy was huge! He had to be at least seven feet tall, and he had shoulders as wide as a freakin’ tank. I’ve never seen anybody that big—but then I’ve never seen an alien up close and personal.”
“What—wait? Alien? Like an extraterrestrial?”
“Yeah. He had horns.” She put her index fingers to her forehead. “Not big ones, but they were horns. He wasn’t unattractive for an extraterrestrial, but he was belligerent and scary. He kept shouting your name and insisting you were his mate.”
Had the Intergalactic Dating Agency found a match for me? Nobody had notified me. The IDA seemed to run a pretty sloppy ship—match, no match, match? On the other hand, maybe it was a coincidence—a random alien could have wandered into my office…on the eighth floor. “Did he speak English? Did he say anything?”
“Only that he was from planet Dakon and he was going to”—she mimed air quotes— “claim you.”
I pressed a hand to my racing heart. “Did he give a name?”
She shrugged. “Yeah—Aton.”
Not Tom. Aton.
Aton had arrived, and my assistant had had him Tasered! I hadn’t told anyone but my sister I’d signed up with the Intergalactic Dating Agency. I’d planned to hold off on any announcements until something definite happened. “Oh my god—where is he now?”
“In the security office, I guess. They were going to call the NLAPD and turn him over to immigration—”
I dashed from the office. The damn elevator was stuck on the twelfth floor, so I ran for the stairs. Sprinting seven flights in a pencil skirt and heels, I prayed I wouldn’t break my neck. I arrived in the lobby breathless but in one piece.
I located the office by the large one-way mirrored windows preventing people from seeing inside and by SECURITY stenciled in gold on the door.
Three uniformed officers watched a bank of computer screens flashing camera footage of the building’s hallways, two others faced each other across back-to-back desks, and one handsome-as-sin Dakonian sat handcuffed to a chair.
“Aton?” This wasn’t how I’d expected to meet my match.
“Yes! Antoinette Sutterman!” He stood, taking the chair with him.
An officer leaped up and shoved him back down. “I didn’t say you could move!”
“Release this man. You have no cause to hold him,” I said.
“Megan Nichols reported a disturbance—”
“Megan works for me. I forgot to tell her I was expecting Aton. I’m sorry. The request for security was a misunderstanding.”
“He refused to follow directions.”
“He’s unfamiliar with Earth ways. I’ll take full responsibility for him.”
We engaged in a visual standoff, and then the security officer shrugged. “Uncuff him.”
Another guard rummaged through a drawer for the keys.
Aton and I gazed at each other. So dark, his brown eyes appeared almost pupil-less, but they flashed with fire. Shoulder-length hair as glossy and black as obsidian swept back from a high, broad forehead. Small, leathery protrusions stuck out behind his hairline. As our eyes locked, the horns swelled and pulsed. My heartbeat quickened, and heat crawled up my neck. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d blushed!
Feeling fluttery and nervous, I averted my gaze. “Did you call the NLAPD?” I asked the officers.
“Yes.”
“Cancel it.”
The officer made a disapproving face but nodded to one of his colleagues and sighed.
I’d spoiled their fun. Their jobs entailed staring out the window at the lobby, watching vids of people searching for offices, managing lost and found, and occasionally running a vagrant or drunk off the property. Today, they’d gotten to Taser an alien. It had been an exciting day for them.
The guard found the keys, undid the cuffs, and Aton sprang up.
Megan hadn’t been kidding when she said he was huge. He towered over me by more than a foot, and I topped six feet in my heels. Having to crane my neck to meet his eyes made me feel tiny.
From a distance, he could be mistaken for a person of African or Indian descent, but up close the other-worldly bronze sheen to his mocha skin disabused that assumption. Humanoid, yes, but with his unusual coloring and horns, he left no doubt he was an extraterrestrial.
Not to mention inhumanly sexy.
“Are you all right?” I asked. They’d shocked him. The neuromuscular incapacitation and pain lasted only as long as a person was Tasered, but who knew the effect the electrical jolts could have on a Dakonian?
“I’m fine, now.” His nostrils flared, and his horns twitched again. “Antoinette Sutterman.” My name in his gravelly, accented voice caused heat to rush to my face.
I stretched out my hand. “Please, call me Toni.”
“Toni. That’s much easier to say.” Still holding my hand, he grinned. His teeth were whiter than white in his milk-chocolate bronzed face, perfect, except for one snaggletooth, imparting a boyish, mischievous twist to his smile.
“Do you have a last name?” Gently, I disengaged my hand—and immediately missed the contact.
He shook his head. “Just Aton. Dakonians only need one name. You were hard to find even with two names.”
“Didn’t the Intergalactic—” I glanced at the eavesdropping security staff. My love life was none of their business. “Let’s talk in my office.” I motioned at the door.
“There is a female there who doesn’t like me,” Aton said warily.
I covered my smile with my hand. “Megan, my assistant. She’s very nice, really.” I led the way to the elevator. The light panel showed it had stalled on the sixteenth floor. I liked the building, but it had the slowest elevators in the entire city. And not enough of them.
“Why does everyone stare at the lights on the riding box?” Aton asked.
“To avoid making conversation with strangers,” I replied. Right now, people in the lobby were gawking at us. Haven’t you ever seen an alien before?
“Let’s take the stairs,” I suggested. “We can go up a floor or two and catch the elevator there.” It wouldn’t be any faster, but we would escape prying eyes.
“Sure,” he said.
We entered the stairwell. “Why don’t they want to talk to people?” he asked as we climbed.
“It’s what we do when we ride an elevator. When did you arrive from Dakon?”
“Yesterday.”
So he’d been on the second ship, the one arriving a couple of weeks after his original one. I let him climb ahead of me so I could stare at him. His buckskin tunic and leggings highlighted his backside to perfection. He had broad shoulders, a torso narrowing to slim hips, and powerful thighs. And buns of steel.
Preoccupied by his ass, I missed the exit to the hallway, and Aton forged upward. Midway up the second flight, he peered back at me.
“Keep going.” I waved him on. Seeing his muscles flex, his ass tighten and release—who wanted to miss that? I could use the exercise anyway.
Two flights of stairs—no problem.
The third flight made me realize I should have been working out at the gym. I always intended to, but by the end of the day I lost motivation, and before work, I wanted to grab every second of shut-eye I could.
On the sixth-floor landing, my thighs went on strike and refused to go another step. I hunched over, massaging my burning muscles. Only two sets of stairs remained, but it might as well have been a hundred.
Halfway up to the seventh floor already, Aton sprinted back down. “What’s wrong?”
“I need a breather.” I hated admitting how out of shape I was. This was embarrassing. Youth could carry you only so far—my youth had petered out at the sixth floor. Gym. Monday. No excuses.
“I will help you.”
He scooped me up into his arms.
“What are you doing?” I squealed.
“Helping. I don’t know how anyone could walk, let alone climb, in your footwear.” He bounded up the stairs.
“Yeah, I should have worn better shoes.” I wiggled my feet, shod in closed-toe slingbacks, and flashed the camera a thumbs-up in case security happened to be watching us and mistakenly thought they were witnessing an abduction. Aton could abduct me anytime.
Though I was built like a beanpole, my height made me no lightweight, but he loped up the stairs in nothing flat, and set me on my feet on the eighth floor.
My legs wobbled, but the weakness wasn’t solely due to hiking five flights on my own. I smoothed my skirt, and, with as much poise as I could muster, led the way to my office.
Megan jumped to her feet as we entered. “What are you doing here?” She glared at him.
He glowered.
I held up my hands. “There’s been a misunderstanding. Aton, this is my assistant, Megan.” Assistant, mother hen, and guardian dragon. I relied on her for a lot. “Megan, I’d like you to meet Aton. He’s my…friend.”
“Mate,” Aton said.
“Date,” I amended, unsure what to call him. I should have asked my sister for advice on how to handle this, but I hadn’t expected him to arrive at all. I was thrilled to see him, but the IDA needed to get its act together.
“Your date? But…it’s nine o’clock.” Megan drew up my schedule and peered at the color blocks. “You’re expected in court at 10:00 a.m.”
“I didn’t mean date, like right now.”
She arched her eyebrows, and I could read the unvoiced question. So, why is he here?
“I don’t have any other appointments between now and ten, do I?”
She squinted at the computer screen, as if hoping a meeting would materialize. “No.” She sighed.
“I’ll be in my office. And thank you. I meant to tell you I was expecting someone, but I forgot.” The fib came easier than the truth, which I still didn’t understand. The IDA had seemed quite clear Aton wouldn’t be arriving.
Inside my office, I gestured to a guest chair and sat in the other. “Please, sit.” Heat crept up my neck, and I got tongue tied now that the excitement had settled, and we were alone.
Truth? My outgoing personality was an act. By nature, I was shy, although my family interactions and education had taught me how to fake confidence. For my clients, I fought hard. For them, I pretended to be Antoinette Sutterman, attorney-at-law, “killer in the courtroom” as the press had dubbed me. I mean, I was that person—I had the law degree and the case wins—but inside I was still “Skinny Stutterman” whose mother secretly had sent her to speech therapy and told everyone she’d gone to day camp.
I’d been hiding my shyness my entire life. Imperfections that couldn’t be eradicated had to be concealed. Skinny Stutterman lived in awe of her siblings, a brother who naturally did everything perfectly, and her older, bolder sister who blazed her own trail and didn’t give a flying flip what anybody thought, least of all their hypercritical mother.
Because I’d been so afraid of disappointing everyone, particularly my mother, I’d let a bad relationship not just drag on, but move forward. My one act of courage had been to break my engagement and join the Intergalactic Dating Agency.
I hadn’t envisioned my dating match would be so…hot. He was heart-palpitating, swoon-worthy sexy. My stomach fluttered in awareness of his buff, hyper-toned muscular form, his dark, piercing eyes and rough features, his white-white grin, and charming snaggletooth. I rubbed my palms on my knees, wanting to run my fingers through his hair.
He’d bounded up seven flights—two sets of stairs carrying me—without so much as a huff or a puff.
No, I hadn’t expected manly perfection—then again, I hadn’t expected Aton at all. “I guess you got your visa situation settled after all. They told me you weren’t coming.”
“Earth visas are meaningless when the Fates have chosen one’s mate,” he said. “I got on a different ship. I couldn’t let anything stop me.” His eyes blazed, and those leathery horns seemed to swell and pulse. He leaned forward and clasped my hand in his warm palm. His skin was callused, his fingernails jagged, such a contrast to Phillip’s soft, smooth, pale fish-hands. If fish had hands.
Flustered, and not just a little aroused, I couldn’t think straight.
“Once I knew you existed, I had to come to you. Did you long for me, Toni?”
“Yes,” I whispered, remembering the fantasies I’d spun while waiting for him to arrive then the acute disappointment when I’d been informed he wouldn’t. He caressed my palm with his thumb, sending zings of pleasure zipping from synapse to synapse. I’d never experienced such a deep and immediate attraction to a man in my life.
Not that there had been many. I’d had a couple of boyfriends in college, one during law school, and then I’d been introduced to Phillip. Good men, aka guys willing to commit, were almost as rare as the energy-laden rock Earth imported from Dakon. What a coincidence Dakon was rich in the two commodities in short supply on Earth: illuvian ore and husband material.
I swallowed, staring into Aton’s eyes, before shifting my gaze to his full, soft lips. We should be talking, exchanging information about school, jobs, family…my body swayed toward him—
“Toni?” Megan’s voice boomed through the comm system.
I jumped and yanked my hand back. “Y-yes.” I cleared my throat and smoothed my hair. “What is it?”
“Sorry to interrupt, but you told me to let you know if Jessie Hancock called. She’s on line one.”
Jessie…Jessie…oh! The Intergalactic Dating Agency match coordinator. “I’ll take the call. Thanks.” I inhaled to calm my flustered emotions. If not for the interruption, I might have laid a lip-lock on Aton.
“It’s the dating agency,” I said to him. I moved to my desk and picked up the phone. “Hi, Jessie!”
“You sound cheerful!” she said. “You must be having a good day.”
“I am.” I smiled at Aton.
“Well, I have great news to make you feel even better. Your match has arrived!”
“I know. He’s here.” I wanted to tell her how wonderful he was, but it seemed awkward to gush over him when he could overhear.
Aton lounged, a picture of relaxation, his long legs stretched out in front of him, arms folded across his broad chest. His eyes were alert as they skimmed over me, and the smile playing across his lips sent tendrils of heat curling through my body.
I should have kissed him.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s here—in my office.”
“Already? That’s a violation of the rules.” I could hear the frown in her voice.
I stifled a grin. Aton had lived up to his personality assessment as a rule breaker. Right now, he didn’t look like such a badass—he looked yummy. I wished I’d gotten in that kiss before Megan had buzzed me. I’d spend all day fantasizing about what might have been.
Kissing him now would require a conscious, deliberate act on my part, and courage deserted me. I could decimate a male opponent in court, but when it came to making the first move in the romance department, I tended to hang back.
“The ship only landed yesterday. Before meeting Earth women, all aliens are required to complete an assimilation class—which doesn’t start until tomorrow,” Jessie said.
“Oh. I hope this doesn’t get him into trouble.” He’d had a hard enough time, first with his visa being denied then getting Tasered by security.
“Earth is a big culture shock for aliens, many of whom have vastly different courtship and mating rituals. The class eases the transition and increases the match success rate. I’m supposed to report all infractions, but I don’t want to get him into trouble, either—not after we weren’t able to come through for you the first time. I know how disappointed you were after the whole visa snafu. Would you pass on a message? Tell him he has to complete the class. No exceptions. You can date each other, but attendance is taken at every session, and they’ll notify me if he’s not there. Okay?”
“Sounds fair. And thank you for everything. I couldn’t be more pleased with my match. You did a great job.”
“You’re welcome. We have a 75.8 percent long-term success rate in our matches. One hundred percent might not be possible, but I’m shooting for at least 90 percent. If I can help nine out of ten women meet their Mr. Right, I’ll be thrilled.”
We hung up. I leaned against my desk. “You weren’t supposed to come to see me yet. The rules say you have to attend the Intergalactic Dating Agency assimilation class.”
He shifted in his chair and smiled wryly. “I broke the rules a little.”