AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Dad left again. She was a mess, per usual.” I rocked in my chair, the hinges squeaking loudly. “Anyway, I’ll have a look at these resumes after lunch.” I shoved the pile of papers out of the way.
Adam grabbed the bundle. “Why don’t I have Lena handle this. Isn’t that what having an associate is for? All the bitch work we don’t want to deal with?”
I clicked my fingers and pointed at him. “I like the way you think, my friend. I’m more than happy to relinquish control of this to her very capable hands.”
Adam started to get up but then paused. “Actually, that’s the other thing I wanted to talk to you about. How are things with her?”
“With Lena?” I frowned, my mind immediately goes back to Friday night, and the way her eyes had heated when she looked at me. How, no matter what we said to each other, there was undeniable chemistry between us that wouldn’t go away.
But her brother couldn’t know that.
Adam made a face. “No, the Queen of England. Yes, Lena. Are the two of you getting along okay? I know there’s... history.”
History.
That was one way to put it.
**
“What’s going on with you and my sister?”
Adam’s face was a mottled shade of red. He was clearly worked up and I knew I was the cause.
He had come into my office with steam practically billowing from his ears. He shut the door behind him and came to stand over me by my desk. I didn’t like being lorded over, so I got to my feet—just to even the playing field. If Adam was going to chew my ass out, I wanted him to have to look up at me to do it. It would make me feel better.
“What’s gotten you all freaked out, Ducate?” I played it cool. Acting oblivious was a particular skill of mine.
Adam slammed his hands down on my desk. “Don’t do that, Jeremy. Don’t treat me like an idiot. Respect me enough to give it to me straight. Is there something going on between you and Lena?”
Shit. I had never seen him like this. Not even when he was trying a case and hammering into a witness on the stand. He was usually so carefully controlled.
What do I tell him?
Was there anything to tell?
Lena and I weren’t really anything... yet.
And that was the sticking point. That one tiny word. Yet.
The truth was we were definitely tiptoeing toward something.
It was after talking to her at Kyle’s party and then walking her home that things changed. I had stood in the doorway of her apartment building hoping she’d invite me up. Scared to fucking death that she wouldn’t. Terrified as hell that she would.
Because damn it, I liked her. Really liked her. Sure, I lusted after her. I fantasized about bending her over my desk and lowering her panties. I thought about my face between her thighs and her taste in my mouth.
But it was more than that. I liked her mind. I liked that she didn’t take any of my shit. I liked that when she looked at me, she saw more than my face. Even though we fought like hell, there were moments when I knew she saw what lay beneath my carefully crafted facade.
She was the first woman I had met that I wanted to see me. All of me.
We had kissed standing in her doorway. Her lips were soft. Her hair silky between my fingers. Her body had molded perfectly against mine. And when she invited me upstairs, I declined.
I cupped her face in my hands and stared into her gorgeous eyes. “Lena, we have all the time in the world for me to come upstairs. Tonight, let’s keep this here. Like this.”
And she had melted against me and I had kissed her for so long that my mouth throbbed for hours afterward.
I had been thinking about when I could see her again—just the two of us—when Adam stormed into my office.
I took a step back from my friend and business partner, needing the distance between us. “Would it matter if there was?”
“Yes!” Adam spat out. “Because you’re you, and Lena is Lena and there’s no way in hell I’ll stand by and let you hurt her. To treat her like another one of your conquests.”
Shit, that hurt. A lot.
Is this how Adam thought of me? That I was just another raging douchebag in a suit? I honestly thought he thought better of me. I knew he would need to get used to the idea of Lena and me, but this... this gutted me.
“Wow, man, tell me how you really feel,” I muttered, sitting back down in my chair, no longer caring about physical advantages. Because I felt as if I had been kicked in the stomach.
Adam’s face softened slightly. “I don’t mean it—” he stopped, shaking his head. “You know what, yes I do mean it. You’re my friend, Jer. I’ve known you for years. I’ve also listened to your many, many, many stories of the women you’ve slept with. I’ve heard how you talk about them. I know that, to you, there just a hole to stick it in.”
