Of course. Why wouldn’t it be?
Vinnie
Just making sure.
I leave her on read and set my phone down, returning my attention to the show. This time though, I don’t register a word they’re saying. In fact, I feel my eyes glaze over and start to burnfrom the lack of blinking, as my thoughts wander away and I slip into the memory of my conversation with Javier when I went to talk to him at his hotel.
The screechy laughter of the woman on-screen brings me back to reality moments later, and it scares Mickey-D, causing him to roll into a startled upright position. Reaching for the remote, I push the down button until the volume is completely off, then drop it back on my bed.
“It’s okay, boy,” I coo, scratching Mickey-D behind the ears. As I try to relax him, it’s then I realize my heart is racing, too. It’s been a week since I spoke to Javier, and he expects me in Spain seven days from now.
He all but begged for me to come, and not knowing what else to do, I gave in. I texted him the next day to let him know I was willing to help, and by five p.m. that evening, I had two first-class airline tickets in my email.
How kind of him to be willing to buy one for my fiancé. Insert eye roll here.
Of course, I left this information out during my initial conversation with Luciano. I know I should have told him, but I couldn’t bring myself to admit what I had done. It was hard enough watching the anger in his eyes when he found out I was married—an anger that still confuses me. He’s been adamant about ignoring my presence and avoiding me since the moment I became friends with his sister, but this isn’t the first time I’ve seen the flash of something in his eyes that caused my heart to practically leap from my chest.
Dare I say jealousy. Possessiveness.Interest.
As though summoned by the devil himself, my phone vibrates with an incoming text from him and my heart does some irritating pitter-patter bullshit at the sight of his name flashing across my phone. I need to get that under control. Rolling my eyes, I read the message.
Asshat Lawyer
My office, tomorrow morning, 9AM.
Wow, bossy much?
He doesn’t bother responding—he doesn’t need to.
He knows I’ll be there.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The quiet conversation that my partner, Simon Gamble, is having reverberates through the wall, his voice traveling through the paper-thin drywall that separates us. He’s in the middle of a high-profile divorce, and I can hear him arguing with his stubborn client, who is acting as though he’s the one who’s gone to law school.
I arrived at work thirty minutes earlier than I needed to, too antsy to stay home any longer. From the moment my meticulously pressed dress pants hit the leather of my seat, I’ve been tapping my pen against the mahogany desk, burning a hole through the closed door of my office.
Raina is late.
She should’ve been here fifteen minutes ago, which I shouldn’t be surprised about, but I find myself continuously glancing at the clock, waiting for her arrival.
I should’ve never taken her case.
Although, as far as technicalities are concerned, no contract has been signed, and no payment has been exchanged for me to be considered her official representation.
But in my mind, I’ve already committed.
Which is why it enrages me that she is late.
I’ve known Raina for more than a decade now. She became friends with my sister when they were in high school, and from the first moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she was trouble.
Too smart, too pretty. Even then.
And the older she grew, the more confident she became. She exhibited just the perfect amount of sass that made me want to take her over my knee and teach her a lesson, and that wasn’t typically a kink I enjoyed.
It was a sick infatuation on my end. She wasunderagewhen I met her. A freshman in college has no business being attracted to a freshman inhigh school. It’s inappropriate.
Thankfully, a degree in law is no easy feat, so staying as far away as absolutely possible from the little troublemaker wasn’t difficult, even if she had attached herself to my sister like glue. For years, our interactions were few and far between, even though she did make her crush on me painfully obvious every time I was in her presence.
