Seasons of Sorrow by C. C. Wood Page B

and confidently to her professors, though she would never argue with them as Brandy was prone to do. Still, she couldn’t deal with her anxiety when speaking to good-looking men. Average men made her a little nervous, but handsome men made her tongue tie in knots and her palms break out into a light sweat.
    Derek stopped her fidgeting by sliding his hands down her forearms and lacing his fingers with hers.
    “I really enjoyed tonight, Charlotte,” he said quietly.
    She looked up through her lashes at him. “I did too.”
    He tugged her closer by her hands so that their legs brushed. “I’d like to do it again sometime, just you and me.”
    Her mouth went dry. He was the second most handsome man she knew, Greg being the first, and he wanted to date her?
    She wet her lips with her tongue. “I think I’d like that too, Derek.”
    He smiled slightly and rested his forehead against hers. “Good. Give me your number and I’ll call you tomorrow.”
    Charlotte took a pen out of her purse and wrote her phone number on his wrist. Her hands wanted to shake, but she just managed to control it.
    “Thanks,” he whispered, his face coming closer.
    She froze. He was planning to kiss her and she didn’t know what to do. Just before his lips would have touched hers, his head changed angle and he pressed a light kiss to her cheek.
    “I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he said before he turned and walked down the sidewalk toward the parking lot.
    Charlotte watched him go, a hand on her cheek. Despite the spike in anxiety the thought of kissing him evoked, she almost wished his lips had landed on hers rather than her cheek.

Chapter Seven

    March, Present Day
    C harlotte smoothed her dress down the front of her thighs. For the first time in her life, she wasn’t nervous on the first day of her new job. She also wasn’t eager. She just wanted to go in, do what she had to, and come home.
    As she helped with everything else since Adam’s death, Brandy asked several of her colleagues if they needed an office manager or administrative assistant. Unfortunately, Charlotte didn’t have enough legal experience to gain a position in a law office, but one of the partners in Brandy’s firm was married to a contractor and he needed an office manager badly.
    After negotiating salary and benefits, Charlotte had accepted the position. She didn’t have much choice. Just a few days after the debacle with the bank, Derek had finally returned her phone call.
    “Charlotte, it’s Derek.”
    He sounded calm, pleasant even, and completely unrepentant. Charlotte ground her teeth in an effort not to curse wildly at him. She didn’t like to lose her temper and, even when she did, she tried not to use foul language, though the stresses of the last two months had caused her to do so more than once. However, Derek’s behavior pushed her closer to that edge.
    “Derek,” she replied.
    “I’m calling about your message a few days ago.”
    She waited in silence.
    Finally, Derek cleared his throat and spoke again. “I would like to sit down with a mediator and discuss this rationally.”
    Charlotte took a deep breath. Then another. When she knew that she could speak without shrieking, she replied, “Okay. I’m willing to do that. However, if you pull anything else like what you did a few days ago, I’m going to hire the biggest, man-eating attorney that Brandy can find me, no matter the cost. Then I will let them dig around until I have everything but the skin from your bones.”
    Derek waited a few seconds before replying.
    “I’m serious, Charlotte.”
    “So am I, Derek,” she replied immediately.
    The conversation grew even more tense.
    “I can see that you’re not willing to be reasonable about this right now. We can talk again in a few days.”
    “I’ll tell you what, Derek, I’ll text you the name and number of my attorney when I’ve decided who to use and you can set everything up through them since you obviously don’t understand the