Avoiding Temptation (Avoiding #3)(40)

Lexi moved mechanically to the door and walked in. A part of her wanted to turn around and just walk away. She wouldn’t do it, of course. Ramsey and Parker hadn’t been doing anything wrong. Lexi was just making up about a billion scenarios in her head. But that was all it was—her imagination getting the best of her.

“Hey, y’all,” Lexi said as the door closed behind her.

“Lexi, speak of the devil, we were literally just talking about you,” Parker said, her feet falling onto the ground as she sat up on the couch.

Just talking about me now…when you were laughing?

That was what Lexi wanted to ask, but of course, she didn’t.

“What about?” she asked instead.

“We were talking about the look on my parents’ faces when we made our announcement this weekend,” Ramsey filled in.

That was funny? Lexi thought it had been pretty horrifying.

“Anything that makes them look like that is a good thing,” Parker threw out there.

“And here I thought, they hated me,” Lexi said, staring between them.

Parker shifted her feet and stared at the ground.

Ramsey shook his head and started to walk toward her. “They don’t hate you.”

“They don’t treat many people very well,” Parker said. “I mean, they were rotten to me for years.”

Ramsey turned to look at Parker, who promptly closed her mouth.

Lexi shrugged. Great. Now, she was being compared to Parker. Well, it wasn’t the first time.

“At least I have years then, I guess,” Lexi said. She knew it probably sounded bitchy, and the words had only tumbled out of her mouth because she was so thrown by the situation.

Parker pursed her lips, and Ramsey took another step toward Lexi.

“Can I talk to you?” Lexi asked.

“Yeah, let’s go,” Ramsey said, taking her hand. “See you tomorrow, Parker.”

“Bye, y’all,” she said softly as they exited the office.

Ramsey walked next to Lexi down the hallway. He opened the door to his office for her and flipped on the lights. Once the door closed behind him, he turned back around toward Lexi, who had moved to the center of the room.

She felt pretty shitty for saying that to Parker. Nothing was going on. But it was hard not to feel upset about it all, especially after the summer. She just wanted to forget everything about it. She really just wanted a life without Parker, but it wasn’t one she could have. Ramsey and Parker were working together. They had opened a company together. Lexi had said she was okay with it. So, she just needed to be okay with it.

“Sorry,” she said immediately, shaking her head. She was flustered, and it sucked! “I got off work early. I wanted to surprise you. I feel dumb.”

“Lexi, it’s all right. You’re not dumb. I’m glad you’re here.” He walked across the room and pulled her into his arms.

She breathed in his peppermint scent and let it calm her nerves. This engagement was making her a spaz. She needed to chill.

“You know there’s nothing between Parker and me,” Ramsey stated calmly.

“I know,” she said. “I know there’s nothing. I’m not worried. I just feel dumb.”

“Stop calling my fiancée all of these terrible things. She’s wonderful and beautiful and mine,” he whispered before he leaned forward and kissed her.

Lexi tilted her head back and opened her mouth to meet him. God, he tasted heavenly. She wound her hands behind his neck and let him press his body flush against hers. Their lips moved together, breaths intermingled, hands desperately held on to each other…to forget everything else.

She wanted to push the moment. She wanted to take this feeling and stretch it to infinity. Because here, right now, she didn’t feel anything but his lips on hers. She didn’t overanalyze, she didn’t reconsider, she didn’t freak out. She just felt Ramsey—her fiancé. She actually allowed herself to feel rather than think.

He broke away before she was ready, and he laughed when she tried to pull him back down to her.

“I think your phone is buzzing.”

“Shit!” she said, digging through her bag and pulling it out. “It’s my boss.” Lexi answered the phone. “Chuck, how are you?”

“I just got a hold of my friend, the divorce attorney you were bothering me about,” he said with no preamble.

“Oh, that’s great. Thank you, sir,” she said, a smile spreading on her face.

“His name is Richard Brian with Brian & Hancock. I’ve given him your information. He’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Thank you very much. I look forward to his call.”

“Yes, well, don’t forget to work on the Bryant case.”

“I’m on top of it, sir.”

“Good. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The line went dead in her hand, and she placed the phone back into her purse.

“What was that about?” Ramsey asked, his eyebrows scrunching together.

“I asked my boss for a recommendation for a divorce attorney, and he just called me back with a name.”

“A divorce attorney…” Ramsey said. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared down at Lexi as if waiting for an explanation.

“Yeah,” she said, the excitement over getting the name draining out of her.