He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead and stepped back. No text me later or I’ll call you, and she felt a wave of relief as she slid into the car.

And that was it. She pulled away, resisting the urge to watch him in the mirrors.

She turned onto Congress and grabbed her sunglasses from the console. Even the wan daylight was excruciating. She rolled to a stop at a deserted intersection. In the rearview mirror the capitol dome was warm and rosy with the first glint of morning.

She took a deep breath, unsettled for more reasons than she could stand to think about right now. Wending her way home through near-empty streets, she fought off the thoughts as well as the steadily blooming pain. She didn’t regret last night. At least, not all of it. But she’d awakened in Brandon’s bed with a bourgeoning headache and a tidal wave of insecurity crashing over her, and she’d had to get out of there. Everything was off. Brandon didn’t feel like a one-night stand. But he didn’t fit into any other category, either.

Nerves flitted through her already queasy stomach. She didn’t have time for a man in her life right now. She had to focus on her career, on getting her practice established and paying back a mountain of loans.

There was no room for a relationship. Relationships were costly, not just timewise, but emotionally, and her last one had knocked her flat on her ass. It had taken months of relentless effort on the part of Javi and her mom to help her back up again.

Starting the law firm with Javi had pulled Leigh out of her depression and given her a productive focus. All that work had been a salve for her wounded and demoralized heart. It had restored her confidence in herself and given her a motive to get out of bed in the morning instead of wallowing in mortification and self-pity.

“So everyone’s seen your tits. So what?” Javi had said when he’d dropped by one night after her world imploded. A week had elapsed since she’d discovered that her ex-boyfriend had uploaded a video of her to a porn site.

“It’s not just my tits, Javi. I’m performing oral sex.”

He’d waved her off. “There’s so much sex on the Web, it’s a drop in the ocean. You need to stop hiding in your house and get your shit together. If you spend another week at home, they’re going to fire you.”

“They can’t. I already quit.”

She would never forget the look on his face.

“You quit Thornton and Davis,” he’d said with utter disbelief. “Why would you do that? They’re paying you a fucking fortune. Anyone would kill for a job there.”

“Someone sent the video around. All the partners saw it. At least all the male ones did.”