Defensive Heart: The Donnolleys, Book 2 by Dorothy F. Shaw

him, they’d been intimate a handful of times. After a while she rebuffed his advances, insisting he sleep in the guest room. He refused, of course, and the argument that ensued over the matter woke Casey, making everything worse. Thomas insisted it was better for Casey if they kept up appearances. Reluctantly, Sonja agreed and the sex between them continued on and off. That lasted several years, whether to sate her own sexual needs or because it made him easier to deal with, it didn’t really matter. At the heart of it, Thomas wanted her to take him back.
    Sonja would never take him back.
    Eventually, the whole arrangement sickened her, and she flat out refused him. She might not have been able to get him out of her bed, but she sure as hell could keep him from between her legs.
    Last night had been different, or so she’d told herself. Last night, she’d been the aggressor, taking what she wanted and using Thomas. Last night, she’d been willing and wanton and warm. Absolutely convinced that having sex with her ex was justified because it was on her terms, but she was wrong. So very wrong.
    All because she’d been too hot over James to simply masturbate and get over it.
    How stupid.
    Sonja leaned back in her leather desk chair, still disgusted with herself and well aware she was hiding out like a coward. But there was no fight left within her to deal with Thomas today—or any day really. Her head pounded and she pinched the bridge of her nose and closed her eyes. Part hangover, part stress. The light from the sizable windows of her corner office was a bit more than she could handle at the moment too. Sonja blew out a breath and went in search of another cup of coffee.
    Traveling the corridor to the firm’s break room, she glanced at the bland traditional art hanging on the walls. She’d started noticing the artwork decorating walls wherever she was now. It brought James front and center in her mind, making it difficult not to think of him on a constant basis.
    Sonja filled her cup from the Keurig station on the counter. She should’ve gotten in a cab and gone to him last night. It would have been better to deal with him rather than Thomas and now her self-loathing. A lot more pleasurable too.
    Sonja grabbed a muffin from the refrigerator and made her way down the gray, carpeted hall back to her office. Maybe she should redecorate. Everything looked so drab now. Odd, because it never had before, or maybe she hadn’t really paid attention. Passing over the threshold to her office, she heard her phone ringing. Again. She glanced at it when she reached her desk, checking the caller ID.
    James. Her heart thudded in her ears. The phone stopped ringing, and she took her seat and stared at the device. The tone indicating a voicemail sounded. Sonja scooped up the cell and listened.
    Hey, Sonja. It’s James. Can you give me a call back? I have something I need to ask you. Talk soon. Yeah?
    Sonja deleted the message and set her phone down. She glanced at the case file open on her desk, and then her laptop screen, then back to the cell. Should she call him back? What could he possibly need to ask her? With a death grip on the handle of her coffee mug, she sipped the creamy liquid.
    Nervous energy vibrated in her limbs, forcing Sonja to her feet to pace. Around the back of the burgundy leather sofa, past the cherry-wood credenza and back around her desk. Another round. Then another. She paused in front of one of the windows—a perfect view of the Hudson River from there. Giving in, she moved back to her desk.
    Curiosity was a bitch, wasn’t it?
    “I’ll call and only stay on long enough for him to say what he needs to say.” She blew out a breath and took a seat. Pulling up her missed calls she selected his number and swallowed hard to drive the knot back down her throat. One ring. Two. Three…
    “Sonja-the-lawyer.”
    “Must you insist on calling me that?”
    “What? I think it’s cute and we don’t know each