Page 76 of The Scent of Happiness

She tilted her chin, looking into Theo’s eyes with a grin. “I think we’ve got the basics, right? Dixie drops her lawsuit, and I pretend she was never here. Win-win.”

Theo’s mouth fell open. His gaze dropped as he spoke clearly and deliberately. “Win-win is another word for losing.”

“What do you mean?” Brooke’s mind had already sprinted to the future. A relationship with Theo, free from any kind of legal mess. No longer lawyer and client, no weird ambiguities, no more sneaking around. Just two people who were crazy about one another doing normal dating things. Strolling hand-in-hand through the park, going to the coffee shop or out to dinner, hanging out with Emma and Lauren and her other friends, going dancing at one of the student bars down by the CU campus…

“Why make a deal?” Theo asked, snapping her back to the present. “This is your chance. Take it. You can crush her.”

Brooke blinked at him. “Does that even matter anymore?”

“Of course it matters.” Theo held her in place with his hands on her upper arms. “Think it through. Think it all the way through. This is a slam dunk.”

“You’re the one not thinking it through.” Brooke took a step back, out of his reach. Cold air swirled around her bare legs and she hugged herself into Theo’s jacket, trying to stay warm as she waited for him to catch up. He had such a quick mind. He was so damned smart. Why wasn’t he getting this? “There are more important things than revenge,” she said softly. “At least, I thought there were.”

“Not at this moment, there aren’t.” Theo’s shoulders drooped for a moment but he quickly crossed his arms over his chest and stood straight, almost inflating. “I can’t lose this. I went out on a limb for you—way out. If this case disappears tomorrow, I’ll look like a fool.”

“But if you—”

“My bosses will never trust me again. Let me finish this. Be patient.”

“For how long?”

“As long as it takes.”

Brooke stabbed a finger toward the garage. “The answer to our prayers just happened, and you’re so focused on winning that you can’t see it. This could all be over right now.”

“And that’s it?” Theo asked. “You want to throw away all my hard work.”

“Your…your…” Brooke sputtered. She was used to being out of sync with the flow of conversations as her brain went in a dozen directions. But that wasn’t it. Not this time. She and Theo were coming at this from opposite sides and she had no idea how they’d gotten so off track. “Your work?” she asked. “Do you really think that’s the issue here?”

“It’s the only issue. Otherwise, what are we even doing here?”

“Sweetie, you’re a lawyer, so your solution to a problem is always to put more law on it, but—”

“Don’t patronize me,” Theo said. “Sweetie.”

“I’m not.” Her stomach quivered in an angry dance. “I’m just saying that there are other ways to solve a problem. Fighting with Dixie isn’t the only one. Because every step in that direction is a step away from me.”

She stood in the dim light, shivering in her robe and Theo’s jacket, waiting for him to say something—anything—to chase away the gnawing dread that was clawing out of her gut and up to her throat, closing it off. She needed him to speak now, to stop her from blurting out the doubt and fear taking over her thoughts. Say something, say something…

Theo remained silent.

“It’s starting to look like…” Brooke swallowed and ducked her head. “It’s starting to look like your work is more important than me.”

“That’s not the case,” Theo said, but the words were mechanical and clipped, sounding more courtroom than bedroom. He held his hands like blades, one near his stomach, one above it. “But you’re so impatient. You can’t see how waiting a few more weeks benefits us both.”

“But I already told you—”

“You’re running on impulse now,” Theo interrupted. “Like you always do. Can you please use your head for once?”

Brooke felt a thunk in her chest. It was the hard thud of hitting the ground after falling from a great height. The kind of fall that knocked the wind out of you. “So I’m just your ticket to winning?” she asked. “That’s it? Nothing more?”

Theo shuffled a few steps back and his top lip curled upward. “You admired my drive and ambition when it was benefitting you. You had no problem with it when I took your case for hardly any money and worked all those hours for you.”

“Oh my God.” It was dark in the driveway, with only weak light from the garage and the streetlamps, but Brooke had never seen Theo more clearly. He hadn’t taken her case out of friendship or compassion or anything but his own ego. And yet, some small part of him still wasn’t sure he could win it, so he was drawing it out so at least he wouldn’t lose.

And in the meantime, he didn’t have to make any effort—for her legal case or for her heart. He’d fallen into her bed because it was convenient for him, and dammit, she’d made it easy. She’d never asked for more. It never occurred to her that she could. She’d been content to wait, and wait, and wait for something that would never arrive. She let the long sleeves of Theo’s jacket dangle beyond her fingertips and flapped them at him. “You did this on purpose.”

“What?”