Chasing Forever (The Forever Series #1)(27)

“Do you think it’s a lost cause?”

Drew pulled his keys out of his pocket and tossed them from hand to hand. “A relationship with Regan?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“Only you can answer that, but if you want her, you’ll have to do a lot of groveling and I don’t know if you have it in you.”

Lucas nodded even though Drew probably couldn’t see the gesture in the darkness. “She’s seeing someone.”

Drew took a few steps toward Lucas and shoved his keys into his pocket. “Is it serious?”

Lucas shrugged. “I don’t know. It could be. The guy would like it to be. That’s for sure.”

“I guess it doesn’t matter. It could be causal or not, but either way you need a grand gesture, one that erases all that shit you pulled with Olivia—”

Lucas curled his hands into fists. “After I met Regan, I told Olivia I wasn’t interested in her game. I never intended to be a part of it. Olivia f*cked up and tried to seduce Professor Pierce for a grade. She gambled and she lost. It wasn’t my business.”

“Sure, but why didn’t you deny Olivia’s accusations? I was there. You didn’t say anything. You let Regan believe every word that came out of Olivia’s mouth.”

Lucas’s stomach twisted. Jesus. He hated that day. It made him physically ill when he remembered how Olivia played him like a pawn. He saw the pain flash across Regan’s face, and he wanted to pull her into his arms and deny everything, but then he froze. He’d received his acceptance letter earlier that day from Stanford University, and he knew he had to accept. Staying in Texas for law school didn’t make sense anymore, and that meant his relationship with Regan would have to end in a couple months anyway. Right then and there, he decided to let their relationship end rather than dragging it out. He convinced himself it would be better that way. “I knew it wouldn’t work anyway. I was graduating at the end of the year.”

“And you think it could work now?”

“Honestly?” Lucas looked down at his shoes. Based on his conversations with her, Regan had spent the last six years hating him. No, hate was probably too nice of a word. Loathing, abhorring, or detesting might be a better description. “I don’t know. I’m not even sure I want a relationship.”

“For both of your sakes, figure it out before you do anything.”

“What are you saying?”

“Don’t turn her life upside down again because of some lingering curiosity or fascination with her. Only act on your feelings when you’re damn sure you want to be with her.” With that, Drew turned to leave.





Chapter Fourteen




Two days and two hand delivered cappuccinos later, Lucas strolled into Regan’s office around eleven in the morning. “We’re leaving for lunch in a half hour. Are you at a good stopping point?”

“Lunch?” Regan asked, looking away from her computer screen. She’d been working on a Rule 12(B) Motion to Dismiss for the last two days so she’d hardly left her office, not even for lunch. She greatly appreciated the daily cappuccino delivery even though she would never admit that to Lucas.

“Don’t pretend as if you already forgot our bet.” Lucas picked up some files from the chair across from her desk, set them on the floor and then sat down.

“Bet?” she asked with raised eyebrows.

Lucas chuckled. “Remember you bet on the Dodgers. I bet on the Giants. The Giants won. Therefore, I won our bet. You owe me lunch.”

“That wasn’t a real bet,” she snapped. They may have called a truce, and she may have agreed to go on the business trip with him, but that was it. The friendly stuff had to stop. Well, maybe not the cappuccino. She loved the cappuccinos, but she couldn’t afford to buy them on her student loan budget.

“Says who? Richard witnessed the bet. That makes it real. Don’t try to back out now that you lost. You’ll look like a sore loser.”

“A sore loser,” she repeated shaking her head in annoyance. “I don’t think so. Say whatever you want. I won’t let you goad me into another lunch. Besides, I have to finish this motion by the end of the day. I’ll never finish it if I go to lunch.”

Lucas leaned forward, his elbows resting on the edge of her desk. “I assigned it to you. I can give you a little more time.” He smiled. “Can you have it to me by the end of the weekend?”

“Doesn’t it need to be filed by the end of the day on Monday?”

“Yes, but I can work on it on Sunday night, and as long as it isn’t a total mess, I can have it filed by the end of the day Monday.” He shrugged. “No problem there.”

“It won’t be a mess.”

“I didn’t think it would be.”

“And it’s just a friendly lunch, nothing more, no ulterior motives?” she asked.

Lucas leaned back in the chair. “Something a little less than friendly. I don’t think I earned friendly yet, but I’m working on it.”

Maybe Lucas really did want to be friends, Regan thought. Or maybe he and Olivia had some new plan that involved humiliating her. She couldn’t decide if she should trust him again. Would trusting him make her na?ve and ignorant? She promised herself she’d never be a gullible fool again. Truthfully, she wanted to go to lunch with him. She needed a break, and she actually enjoyed his company, not that she’d ever tell him that.