Tempt the Hookup (Tempt 3)

I open the door, and Aiden is already unbuckled. “Bye, Dad,” he says, kissing my cheek and then walking to the front door. Teachers are supervising to make sure they get in okay.

“Have a nice day,” I tell the monitor as I get in the car and make my way to work. I pick up coffee for Lauren and myself, and she is already working when I walk in.

“Is Leonard in?” I ask her, and she looks up and picks up the phone.

“He’s in,” she says. “You can go in.” I just nod, handing her the coffee and then walking into Leonard’s office.

I knock on the door, and he looks up. Even though he is managing partner, he gets here every single day at eight, rain or shine, five days a week. He does take two months off in the summer. “Hey,” he says, putting down the paper that he is reading and taking off his glasses.

“Can I come in for a second?” I ask him, and he just nods his head, and I close the door.

“This has to be serious,” he says, and I walk over and sit in one of the chairs, my hands a little sweaty, but I just shake it off.

“I need to know how much you paid for Eli’s house,” I tell him, and he leans back in his chair.

“And why is that?” He just looks at me.

“Well, for one, I’m going to pay you back,” I tell him, and he shakes his head.

“I bought that for my daughter,” he says.

“Well, the mother of my son lives there with my son, so,” I tell him, and he just glares. “They are my responsibility.”

“Have you spoken to Eli about this?” he asks, trying not to smirk.

“I don’t think—” I start to say, and now he laughs.

“You don’t think you should have spoken with her before coming in here?” He now sits up and puts his hands on the desk.

“If you want me to include Eli, I will, but then you’ll have to tell her how much you paid for the house.” It’s my turn to smirk. “And with telling her that, she will want to pay you back.” Now I do smile. “And I know you don’t want her to do that.” He clenches his jaw, and I see the vein in his head ticking. Game. Set. Match. “I wasn’t here before, and I’m going to have a conversation with her with regard to what she paid out before, but I want to buy the house for her and for Aiden.”

“I will send you an email,” he says.

I nod at him. “Good. I also want you to know that Eli and I are together.”

“Meaning?” he says, his thumb tapping the desk.

“Meaning that we are going to see where this thing goes,” I tell him. “I already know she’s the one for me. I knew it after the first night.”

“You were a kid,” he says, and I almost agree with him.

“I was a kid, then the kid grew into a man, and the man never stopped thinking about her. She was what everyone had to be, yet no one could come close to.”

“If you hurt her,” he starts to say, and I lift my hand.

“Hurting her would kill me, and we’ve already lost too much time. I lost too much time,” I tell him, and he just nods at me, and the knock on the door has us both looking back. Norma comes in and looks at us.

“Your next client is here,” she says, and I get up.

“I’ll be waiting for your email,” I tell him.

“She isn’t going to like this,” he says, leaning back in his chair, and I look at him and shrug.

“She needs to get used to it.” And he smiles. “I take care of what’s mine, and she’s mine.” I turn around and then look back at him. “I’m going to register Aiden for hockey and soccer today. Do you want me to tell you when he has practice?”

He smiles. “I was going to invite them over for dinner tonight.” I nod at him and then walk out of the office, going to mine. Lauren spots me and gets up.

“I take it that talk went well.” Lauren stands there, and I walk behind my desk.

“It went as good as it should have when I told him I was paying him for Eli’s house.” I take off my jacket. “I need you to go and find out how much he really paid for it.”

“How do you want me to do that?” she asks me, and I just smirk at her. “Okay, fine, I’ll use my resources, but you are going to owe me.”

I nod my head at her. “And I always pay. Now, what is on the schedule?” I ask her. She shoots off the list of things we have to get done, and when she puts my lunch on my desk, I look up and see that it’s past two, and Eli never texted me. I pick up my phone and call her.