Elastic Hearts (Hearts #3)(29)

“Nah,” I said, laughing because none of us had done anything like that since college, but loved to joke about it now that it was legal in California. “That shit is natural. He’s good with the natural stuff.”

“Noted.”

“How’s the book doing?” I asked.

“Pretty well,” he said, putting his cigar down and swatting the air away, which meant he was basically blowing it all in my face. I put mine down as well and put it out slowly. I’d finish it another time. “How’s the single life? Still not bored?”

I smirked. “How’s married life? Insanely boring?”

“Fuck, no,” he said, laughing. “Being with someone every day doesn’t make it boring.”

“We were once on the same page about that.”

He shook his head. “We were once young and stupid. Some of us grew up.”

“I grew up,” I said defensively, taking the bait. He knew how much I hated when people put things like getting married and being a grown-up in the same box. “I have a house under my name. I have a car under my name. I’m hopefully about to make partner, if my client doesn’t f*ck it up for me.”

Jensen’s eyebrows rose, his eyes appraising me momentarily, dropping to my curled fists and back up to my face. He smiled. “Did I hit a nerve?”

I exhaled loudly and slumped back in my seat, looking out to the horizon. I focused on the water that was just a few feet away from us. Not that I could see it, but I focused on the sound of the waves crashing.

“I’m representing my boss’s daughter in her divorce,” I said. I looked at Jensen from the corner of my eye after a beat and caught his mouth hanging open.

“The one that you—”

“Yeah.”

“The one you basically told things would never work out between the two of you?”

“Yes,” I said, my voice growing more impatient.

I wasn’t one to kiss and tell, but I’d told him and Oliver about our first wild encounter because even I’d had a hard time believing it had happened. This hot girl walking into my office and locking the door behind her to seduce me, and actually achieving just that. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the way she went from having a regular conversation about the office to asking me if I’d ever f*cked anyone on my desk and settling herself between my legs. And inching up her skirt . . . and licking her lips as she placed her legs on either side of me . . . and saying, “Do you want it, Mr. Reuben?” in that sultry tone of hers. Fuck. Me.

“Damn. Well, at least it only happened that one time, right?” Jensen said, cutting my thoughts short. I swallowed, suddenly feeling the need to drink a gallon of water. Or the wine I’d brought.

“Yeah, at least,” I said, though my mind went to the second and third time she’d come by to visit, and then the last time.

That last time haunted me after I’d found out she’d gotten engaged. Will had told me she’d only known him a few weeks; that he asked her to marry him overnight and she’d agreed; that she was head over heels in love with him, and every single one of those things bothered me. At first I thought it was just weird for anybody, especially her, to agree to marry somebody that quickly. Then, I wondered if it had anything to do with me and the way I’d dismissed her. But she’d seemed so nonchalant about it, smiling and saying she knew it was just a good time and she’d enjoyed it as well. A part of me expected her to come back again, and when she didn’t, and then I’d heard she’d gotten engaged, it dawned on me that it was really our last time together. And all I could do was hope she didn’t visit me, thinking we could be just friends, because I really didn’t know how to argue with her and not have it end in sex. And now that I knew she possibly felt more for me, I wasn’t sure what I felt for her. This version of me felt like he was ready for that. For something more. For something real. And as stupid as it f*cking was, I thought maybe I could have it with Nicole. Maybe in another life. A different time. Our timing was complete shit. I sighed and looked over my shoulder, where Mia was waving at us to come back inside.

“I guess the show’s starting,” I said, standing up.

“So you’re representing her?” Jensen asked. “In the divorce.”

I nodded.

“You don’t look too happy about it. Is it a tough case?”

“It’s surprisingly easy, at least it was, but as usual women complicate the shit out of my life. We’ll see.”

Jensen laughed as we walked inside and sat around the television. I took out my phone to check my emails while the show started, but put it away when somebody turned up the volume.

“Oh my God! There he is. Isn’t he hot? Like for real,” Mia said. I looked at the screen and saw Gabriel as he spoke to another actor on the carpet. I didn’t see Nicole anywhere.

“He looks gay,” I commented.

The guys laughed. The girls scowled.

“You’re just saying that because you’re his wife’s divorce lawyer,” Estelle said. “Wait. What’s going to happen now? Does all the work you did go out the window because they’re back together?”

That was the question of the century, wasn’t it? Nicole was on the screen shortly after, looking so f*cking beautiful that the only thought in my head was that I wouldn’t mind having her as a psycho ex-girlfriend. The thought surprised me. I tried to push it down.