Chasing Forever (The Forever Series #1)(30)
Lucas still talked to Olivia. Maybe he did more than talked to Olivia. She knew they dated off and on in college. Perhaps that was still the case or maybe it actually morphed into something serious. That’s what his family always wanted. The brief time she met Lucas’s mom, she didn’t have much interest in her and repeatedly brought up Olivia. Maybe they really were planning to humiliate her one last time for kicks.
She thought Olivia should be over being kicked off the dance team as a result of her failed seduction attempt of Regan’s dad, Professor Pierce. After all, it happened six years ago, but what did she know. Olivia purposely set out to make her life a living hell as some sort of revenge tactic, and Lucas let Olivia use him as her instrument of torture and retribution. Maybe it wasn’t so smart to let him back in her life again. Then there was Parker—nice, safe, considerate Parker. She would bet her measly life savings that Parker didn’t have an ulterior motive. He liked her.
“I don’t get it,” Lucas said, shaking his head. “What are you thinking?”
“I think this is too complicated. The waters are too deep.”
“Because of what happened in college or because of Parker?” Lucas asked, standing up from the park bench.
“Yes, because of college and Parker,” she answered looking down at her bright white walking shoes that looked absolutely ridiculous with her tan linen suit. “But because of other things too.”
“Like?” he questioned, stepping closer to her.
“Olivia, work, my dad…just to name a few.” She pushed her hair away from her face. “There are so many reasons why we shouldn’t do this and not many reasons why we should.”
His face hard with anger, he raked his hand through his hair, and she itched to touch his hair, test its weight and see if it felt the same as it did six years ago. Now that she tasted him and touched him again, six years ago felt like yesterday and she ached for him again. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
He nodded, then started stuffing the baseball equipment back in his duffel bag. “We should get back to the office. It’s getting late.”
“Do you want your sandwich?”
He picked up his suit jacket and shoved his arms into the sleeves. “I lost my appetite. You can toss it in the trash.” He pointed toward the trashcan near his car.
She picked up both sandwiches and carefully rewrapped them. She hated the tension between them. It was almost unbearable. Somehow a harmless lunch morphed into a complete nightmare. Working with Lucas before this happened was hard enough without adding their most recent misstep into the mix. Regretting the way their lunch ended, she put her hand on his forearm.
“Lucas, don’t be mad.”
He shook off her hand and opened her car door and she sat in the passenger seat.
“I’m not mad,” he said. “I have whiplash.”
She turned to look at him. Lucas infuriated her as no other man could. This wasn’t her fault. How dare he blame her? He kissed her, not the other way around. Well not initially, at least. “Join the club,” she responded sarcastically, then slammed her door.
Chapter Fifteen
There were seventy-two hours until her two-day trip with Lucas. Since Saturday morning, she had been counting the hours, not days, until they left for their business trip. She didn’t know why. Maybe because it sounded better in her mind when the numbers were larger until she left and shorter while she was stuck with him in another state.
He hadn’t contacted her once since they aborted their lunch date at the park. No emails, no texts, no voicemails? not even a short reminder that he needed the Rule 12(b)(6) motion by the end of the weekend. She didn’t need the reminder anyway. She emailed it to him by noon on Sunday. Even then, he didn’t send an acknowledgment or a thank you. Pathetically, she had checked her sent email box ten times to verify she had sent it. She kind of wished she’d included one of those annoying electronic verifications of receipt.
Even worse, she’d spent the entire weekend dodging Parker’s calls. She didn’t know what to say to him. They’d been on two dates, but they hadn’t defined their relationship other than to acknowledge they went on two dates and they had one planned the weekend of his brother’s engagement party. She sent him a couple texts saying she had to work all weekend, but they could meet for drinks after work on Thursday. Before she hit send, she added that she was looking forward to his brother’s engagement party. In true Parker fashion, he didn’t push. He just responded he was looking forward to drinks on Thursday.
When she reached her office, she nearly groaned, both in frustration and elation. One double shot cappuccino sat on her desk. Did that mean Lucas wanted to move beyond what happened last Friday? She hoped so. This summer would be difficult enough without having to avoid him.
Five minutes later, Lucas stood at the entrance of her office. “Richard wants to see us in his office in five minutes.”
Her stomach dropped. Did he know what happened between them in the park last Friday? Did Lucas tell him? She would die of embarrassment if he questioned her about the incident or if someone witnessed it. Straddling her summer mentor in the middle of a public park wouldn’t earn her any points with this firm or any other firm, for that matter. Her reputation would be torn to shreds before she started.
Without any explanation, Lucas turned and left her office.