Page 54 of The Scent of Happiness

“That would be a bad idea.” He captured her wrist and kissed her palm, then took a step away from her. Everything about her was tempting, and if he didn’t walk away now, he might never go. “I mean, it would be a great idea if circumstances were different, if we were two different people, but we’re not. I don’t think we can be.”

“I didn’t follow that. Are those lawyer words?”

Theo brought a hand to the back of his neck. The tiny light from the range hood felt like a spotlight. “I loved everything we did. And I do mean everything, from the gardens to the soap to the sex. I want to do it again. I think you’re an incredible woman and I hope we could be a good fit. I want to pursue this and see where it goes.”

Brooke tilted her head to one side. “Sounds like you want to date me.”

“I do,” he said. “And if you were to invite me back to your bed right now I’d go in a hot second.”

Brooke glanced toward her bedroom door. “But you can’t.”

Theo groaned and bent his knees a bit before straightening. “I can’t. Not yet. This is going to have to be very carefully managed, starting with getting you a new attorney.”

“I don’t want a new one,” her voice rose an octave. “I want you.”

“That’s not possible.”

“A new lawyer is going to be expensive and he won’t know what you know.”

“Yes, he will,” Theo assured her. He was already thinking about how to approach this with Stephen—the opening statement, the careful arguments, the close.

“You made soap.” Brooke pointed to the yellow soap on the countertop. “And before you tell me that’s not important, you’d better—”

“No, that’s important. I get it.” He took both of her hands in his. “I’m going to ask my mentor to take over your case. He already loves your soap and if he says yes then everything will be fine.”

Brooke raised an eyebrow at him. “And us? Are we going to be fine?”

“Your legal case can’t last forever. And after that…”

Brooke pulled her hands out of his. “What about before that?”

“I don’t know.” That was the only honest answer he could give her. He wanted to be with her, and he wanted to keep things legally and ethically pure, and he couldn’t have both. “But whatever we do, it has to be discreet.”

“I can do that.” Brooke removed his suitcoat and handed it back to him. She lifted the hem of the t-shirt. “You want your shirt too?”

“You’d better keep it for now,” he said. If Brooke got naked in her kitchen, he might never leave.

* * *

Theo turned the key and opened his apartment door as quietly as he could. He didn’t know Derek’s exact work schedule, but with luck, their paths wouldn’t cross. He needed to take a quick shower and get to the office early so he could talk to Stephen first thing.

But the light from the kitchen and the scent of fresh-brewed coffee told him that there was no luck to be had today.

Derek sat at the card table that they’d shoved into a corner of the kitchen, his chair facing the door, a bowl of cereal in front of him. He looked Theo up and down and lifted his coffee cup in a salute. “Congratulations, my dude.”

“I don’t know what you mean.” Theo came into the kitchen and helped himself to a cup of coffee. Derek always brewed a pot before work, even though he worked at Hotshot. He said he had to drink coffee to be awake enough to make coffee.

“Aw, shit,” Derek said. “Don’t tell me you pulled an all-nighter at work. Please tell me this is a weeknight booty call walk of shame. The alternative is pathetic.”

“I’m not pathetic.” Theo breathed in the sharp scent of the coffee before taking a sip. “And it wasn’t a booty call. I like this girl.”

“What girl?” Derek asked.

“Nobody.”

“Uh huh. So you really were at your office.” Derek spooned in more cereal. “Loser.”

“I’m not—” Theo drank more coffee. How was he even in this conversation? He blamed lack of sleep for his poor rhetorical skills. “I don’t want to tell you who she is.”