“Hello,” she says quietly.
“Open the door,” I tell her.
“Are you outside?” she asks me, and I hear her walking somewhere in her house. Then I hear the lock turn and unlock as she blocks her body with the door. “This isn’t the best time.”
“Are you naked?” I ask her with a smirk.
“No!” she yells, raising her voice. “I’m not naked.” She opens the door, and I see her in a white robe.
“We need to talk,” I say.
“We really don’t need to talk,” she tries to say, but I walk in anyway.
“Come in, why don’t you?” she says sarcastically.
“What was that crap about Lauren?” I ask her, standing in front of her with my arms crossed across my chest.
She puts her hand up. “You don’t have to do this. You guys are together, and I get it that you are downplaying it for Aiden.”
I’m not even sure I want to answer her or not, so I throw my head back and laugh. “First thing’s first, Lauren is not my girlfriend.” She rolls her eyes. “She’s married.”
“Oh my God. She’s your mistress!” she shrieks, putting her hand on her chest in shock. “How could you?”
“She isn’t anything to me but my assistant. She’s married to Austin, Noah’s best friend. They have three children, but two come from a previous relationship.” I get it all out before she twists the words somehow.
“So you aren’t with her?” she asks, finally getting it. “But she was in your house.”
“Yes, because we have a huge case coming up, and I needed to prep, but I couldn’t show up at the office with a swollen face. Nothing,” I tell her, “and I mean, nothing has ever happened between her and me now or before. Or ever.”
“I just thought,” she says softly, and I want to go closer to her.
“No, you assumed without asking me. Just like I thought you sent me your vagina pictures,” I say, and then my eyes open in horror. “It is your vagina, right?”
Her eyes pop almost out of her head. “I would never send you a picture of my vagina,” she says, “especially not one that looks battered and bruised like that.”
“Well, you did spend the night with your co-worker.” I throw it out there.
“I didn’t spend the night with my co-worker,” she starts to say. “I mean, I was at his house, but I wasn’t with him.” She shakes her head.
“You’re allowed to be with whoever you want,” I tell her even though it tastes like coal in my mouth.
She throws her hands up in the air. “I’m not with anyone. Especially not my co-worker.”
“It’s fine; it’s okay,” I tell her, and she just gets angrier.
“He’s married to a man.” She throws up her hands. “So even if I was with him, you have the equipment to satisfy him, and I don’t.”
“So you didn’t hook up with anyone last night?” I ask her.
“Of course not,” she says, confused. “I drank too much, so they took me home.”
“Really?” I ask with the biggest sigh of relief.
“Did you think that I actually spent the night with someone I just met?” she asks, and I cock my head to the side. “That was different. I was nineteen and horny.”
I laugh at her. “And you’re not horny now?”
“Get out.” She points at the door.
“It’s a simple question,” I ask her, waiting for her to answer.
“Let’s not make this anymore awkward than it has to be. You’re Aiden’s dad, and we have to co-parent,” she says.
“What if I want more?” I ask her, and I can’t believe the words that just came out of my mouth.
“What do you mean, what if you want more?” she asks me, her voice going quiet.
“I mean, what if I told you I want to be more or at least see if we can still be more?” I lay my cards on the table.
“You mean date?” she asks me, pointing at her and then me. “You want to date me?”
“It’s not the dumbest idea,” I tell her. “I mean, we did have amazing chemistry, and we created a pretty cool kid.”
“Yes,” she whispers, and I don’t know exactly what she is saying yes to.
“Yes to what?” I ask her.
“I want to date you.” She smiles, and I go to her this time. Standing right in front of her, I hold my breath right before I lean down and take her lips with mine.
Chapter Fourteen
Eliahn
“I want to date you,” is the last thing I say to him before he is standing in front of me. His whole smell invades me, and I literally get weak in the knees.
When I saw that Aiden sent him pictures of my vagina, I thought I was going to die, or at least hoped the earth would open and swallow me down. The last thing I wanted was for him to see my vagina after all this time, butchered.