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It was already Wednesday, and I had the custody hearing on Friday, so I really doubted it, but I plastered on a smile anyway. Mark was a nice guy and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. I really enjoyed his company when I had the time, since he wasn’t pushy, but I was really not interested in taking this any further, so I hoped he wasn’t either.
“Sure thing,” I said, and walked into my office, softly closing the door behind me so that Mark wouldn’t follow me.
After what had just happened in Roarke’s office, I needed some time to myself. I had almost let Roarke Brentwood kiss me! Why? Just because he was fond of children and not all that horrible to me? Just because he’d flirted with me in a very contentious way?
I didn’t evenlikeguys like him. Guys who bragged about how great they were all the time, who were messy and disorganized. I especially didn’t like Roarke Brentwood, so why had I put my hands on his chest like that? Why hadn’t I moved away?
I needed to re-evaluate my life, and fast.
ROARKE
I spentthe night after work and the two days after in a daze, skipping my morning jogs and barricading myself in my office. I didn’t want to run into Magda, that was for sure. I didn’t know what had gotten into me, why I had thought so much about kissing her, how I had leaned down to press my forehead against hers.
Of course, I was attracted to her. She was a gorgeous woman. I was a man. But she was too much. Too young, too bratty. She was cute, but she was trouble. She didn’t respect me as a lawyer, or as a superior, and she seemed to think she knew everything, even though I was older than her and more experienced.
More and more, my body was betraying me, her bad attitude not turning me off at all. I didn’t know why I was suddenly finding her attractive, but I wasn’t too worried about it. I never mixed business with pleasure, not even with some of the very attractive paralegals that Richard seemed to be fond of hiring.
I didn’t date people I worked with, or even other lawyers at all, as a rule. We usually ended up just talking about work, and when I left the office, I wanted to leave work at the office. I enjoyed my downtime even though I was dedicated to my career, and I knew that not a lot of people were like that. Most people still brought their work home, especially other lawyers. I wanted someone to share a life with, sure, but I wanted more out of life than just work twenty-four-seven.
Besides, I hadjustfinalized my divorce with Grace, and I wasn’t ready to jump back into anything else after how messy that had all been. Grace had been my latest shot at love, and when that hadn’t worked, I’d felt defeated. I even considered giving up on love for a while, but some part of me refused to do that. I wanted and felt I deserved my happily ever after, and I was going through as many happily for now as I had to until I got toThe One.
Until then, I still had needs, of course. I had a high sex drive, but I hated one-night stands. I preferred to have casual friends-with-benefits relationships, but I’d been so busy with the divorce and work that I hadn’t had time. Friends with benefits required having female friends, and I didn’t have any and I didn’t have time to develop any. Besides, all the women I knew were either other lawyers (who I didn’t want to mix with), or my clients (which I couldn’t mix with).
Maybe I just needed to get laid, and I’d been spending most of my work days with Magda, and that was the only reason that I’d gotten so close to her.
Just thinking about her hands on my body. I’d wanted to kiss her so deeply she’d melt against me. And it had been so hard to resist. If she hadn’t pulled away and left, I didn’t think I could have held back.
I didn’t want to put myself in that situation again. So, my plan was to avoid her as long as possible. The only problem was that it was Friday and we had a preliminary custody hearing for the two children at eleven. Martinez was asking for emergency custody of both the children, stating that their mother’s infidelity was bad for them to witness.
I agreed, but at the end of the day, Mrs. Martinez was our client, not her husband. I needed to go over our strategy with Magda, but if we ended up losing this part of the hearing, we could still win the marital assets later. My strategy would be to let the cards fall where they may, and I figured she would understand that and go along with me. After all, I had a lot more experience.
I didn’t even have to go to Magda’s office. She came to mine, her cheeks flushed red, blue eyes downcast. I guessed she was embarrassed about what had happened, too, and that was all right, because I didn’t want to talk about it either.
“So, we’re on the same page about the hearing in a couple of hours, right?” she asked.
I nodded. “I think so.”
“So, we’re going to try to keep custody of the kids with Mrs. Martinez,” Magda said firmly, and I stared at her.
“Uh, no, I thought we’d let custody go to the father since she’s clearly been unfaithful and flaunting it around the children,” I argued, not believing that she thought otherwise.
Magda groaned low in the back of her throat. I found myself wondering if she sounded like that in bed and had to suppress a shiver.
“Roarke, how could you possibly be against a mother retaining custody?” she asked.
“Because the mother doesn’t always deserve custody,” I said, thinking of both Liam and Elijah’s boys who were much better off without their mothers. “Especially if she’s been unfaithful. It’s not good for kids to grow up thinking that kind of thing is okay.”
“All right, fine, but we still have to argue for custody because that’s our angle, Roarke. We’re arguing that Mrs. Martinez did not commit adultery and that Mr. Martinez wants to keep all his assets. He has no proof that she cheated, and we can keep her with half the assets that way.”
I sighed. Magda was actually right. We couldn’t argue that our client didn’t deserve custody of her children but did deserve half the marital assets. I hated this case. It was hard to go against what I believed in just to win a case.
“Fair enough. You’re right,” I said, and Magda blinked at me.
“You’re admitting that I’m right?”
“Even a blind squirrel finds a nut now and then,” I cracked, but Magda didn’t seem to find it funny. I sighed. “We’re taking my car to the hearing.”
“Why don’t we just meet each other there?” she asked.
