Page 66 of Legal Seduction

He tightened his arm around her shoulders, holding her more snugly against his chest. “This helps,” he assured her. “Just having you here.”

“In your office?” He didn’t actually expect her to come back, did he? She’d liked that he hadn’t wanted her to sacrifice her dreams for his.

As if he felt her tension, he stroked his hand down her back and assured her, “I told you that I want you to focus on your passion.”

She smiled.

“And you’re mine. That’s what I meant about having you here—in my arms.” He chuckled. “In my heart, too, Bette Monroe.”

“You’re in my heart, too,” she assured him because she knew how hard it was to be so vulnerable, how scary it was.

But Simon didn’t seem scared anymore. He seemed happy. “Loving you has put things in perspective for me,” he continued. “The practice isn’t everything to me anymore. You are.”

She sucked in a breath, surprised by just how vulnerable he’d made himself to her. He was so damn brave.

“It’s okay if you don’t feel the same way,” he assured her. “I know your designs—working as hard as you have to get your own line—mean everything. And they should—”

“They mean more because of you,” she said. “They mean more because you understand and support me. While I haven’t always agreed with the way Street Legal has handled cases, I understand and support you, too.”

He grinned now. “And that’s everything.”

She had to agree that it was—whatever they had, it was so special, so unique. “And you’re everything to me,” she assured him.

He released a breath she hadn’t realized he’d been holding. As if he’d needed that assurance from her.

He needed her as much as she needed him. They were equals—in their lives and in each other’s hearts. Bette knew now that she’d achieved the goals she’d always had, the ones she’d admitted to herself and the one she hadn’t even realized she’d had until she’d applied for the job as Simon Kramer’s assistant. She’d wanted him to fall in love with her.

And she was glad that she’d fallen for him, too.

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