Elastic Hearts (Hearts #3)(44)

“Vic?” my sister asked, frowning. I shook my head.

“Yeah. No. I’m her lawyer, and I care about her and want what’s best for her, but she’s not a Jenny.” She was better than Jenny. I knew it because while I had loved Jenny, she hadn’t made me feel like I was burning up inside. Nicole was a flame. And she wasn’t going out anytime soon. I knew that. I knew that, but I felt so lost in this, in the way she made me feel and the way I couldn’t control my feelings for her, and that scared me. She was my client first and foremost. I felt the need to reiterate that to myself when she wasn’t around, because when we were in the same room, I could feel myself getting too comfortable for my own good.

Estelle patted me on the back and snapped me to again. “Whatever you say, Vic.” She paused. “Thanks again for doing this.”

“Sure. I just need to drill this right here just for extra support and then I’ll need your help putting up the TV.”

“Okay. I’m going to finish putting this shit away so you can stop glaring at every surface of my messy house,” she said as she walked away.

Thank God for that. I went back to the drill.

“You look really good when you’re doing housework,” Nicole said. I smiled.

“I believe you.”

She laughed. I could picture her rolling her eyes behind me, but then I felt the warmth of her breath on the back of my right shoulder and I stilled, gripping the drill a little tighter.

“Maybe I’ll make an honest man out of you and you can quit your job and stay home while I go to work,” she said in a low voice. I could tell she was having a hard time not laughing as she said the words.

I scoffed. “Fat chance.”

“What? You wouldn’t be a stay-at-home husband?”

My shoulders shook with laugher as I lowered my arms from the wall and turned around to face her. We were standing so close that if my sister walked in this very moment, she’d have a lot of I told you so’s. Nicole had a huge smile on her face, her cheeks a deep pink from the wine, or her laughter, or a mix of both. Either way, she looked gorgeous.

“Are you proposing? Because in the state of California one needs to finalize one’s divorce before jumping into another marriage,” I said, raising an eyebrow. Her smile dropped a little, just momentarily before she rolled her eyes and smirked at me.

“If only you’d be so lucky,” she said, backing away a little, her gaze lingering on my face, my eyes, and making their way down my body. She licked her lips as she appraised me, and my heart jumped. Thank God I could control my dick in situations like these, even though it was getting semi-hard from that look alone. I gripped the drill tighter in my right hand, but the only thing I could do was think about pushing her against the wall and drilling my dick into her.

“Yeah,” I said, but I didn’t even know what I was responding to anymore. I didn’t care. Her eyes widened slightly. We looked at each other for a long moment. Too long for comfort. Too long for my lips not to be on hers and her legs not to be wrapped around my waist.

“When is the mediation thing again?” she whispered thickly.

“Not soon enough,” I said, my heart hammering.

“God. I can’t wait for this to be over. I just . . .” She sighed. “I really wish you had no morals.”

I chuckled. If she only knew. “When it comes to you, my morals are very questionable, Nicole.”

She looked wicked when she smiled and turned back to sit on the couch. She stopped walking suddenly, frowning when she turned around again.

“Don’t you need help mounting?”

“I can assure you I do not need any help mounting,” I said, my eyes raking down her body. She crossed her arms and laughed.

“The TV.”

“What?” I paused. “Oh. Yeah. I need your help mounting that.”

Nicole was still laughing when Estelle walked back into the room. She didn’t bother asking and I was glad for that because the last thing I needed was another mental image f*cking Nicole.





DAYS LEADING UP to the mediation, I caught the flu. I was sick, pissed, and panicked. I’d never called out of work, but between the way I couldn’t keep one pair of clothes on without sweating right through it, my eyes not staying open for more than two minutes at a time, and the pain in my throat, I had no choice. Thankfully Corinne passed by with the files I needed and I was able to call Nicole and speak to her on the phone about the mediation so she knew what to expect. I was in the bathroom, blowing my nose for the tenth time, when the doorbell rang. I really f*cking hoped it was my mom. Fuck any man who can’t admit that when they’re sick they want their f*cking mom. I opened the door and had to shield my eyes from the sun, and then blink to make sure my meds weren’t playing tricks on me and it was really Nicole standing in front of me.

“Didn’t we just talk on the phone?” I said. Fuck, it hurt to talk.

“Yes, and I brought you soup,” she said, holding up a white plastic bag.

“Those words have never sounded sexier,” I said, getting out of the way for her to walk into the house. “How’d you find my address?”

“I asked your sister for it.”

I nodded. That’s right. They’d exchanged phone numbers the day of the ice cream parlor drama. Nicole followed me into the kitchen and looked around.