My Best Friend's Boyfriend

“Good thing I fired you then. I said I heard something. I didn’t say I heard it from her.”

“I’m glad you fired me. I’m getting paid twice as much to do the same job.”

“Hopefully you do it with greater detail then,” I said.

Adam snickered before he rose from his chair and buttoned his suit jacket closed. He slipped his hand into his pocket before clearing his throat. Then his eyes came back to mine. They were malicious, devilish, angry to their core. How I hadn’t seen it before blew my mind. I would do everything in my power to keep that asshole away from Ava. Or any man for that matter.

“Have a nice day,” Adam said.

I didn’t bid him the same farewell as he made his way out of my office.

I growled as I sat back in my chair. I took my glasses off and tossed them onto the table, rubbing my sore eyes. I’d been staring at books and paperwork and bullshit for hours, and my head was pounding. I knew it had been wrong of me to tell Adam that, even with how much of a douchebag he was. But the idea of Ava being with another man—any man—made me bristle. It made me protective, jealous.

It was weird and I knew I had no right to feel that way. But it didn’t stop me from feeling every ounce of jealousy pour through my veins.

I decided I would take a long lunch. I needed to sort through my emotions and figure things out. I slid the folders into a drawer and locked them, then clocked out and made my way to the café down the street. I could taste their sandwiches, and the caffeinated pick-me-up would be a welcomed distraction from a case that seemingly kept mounting.

“Logan?”

That sweet voice. That tender voice. That shocked voice. I looked around before my eyes locked on Ava. Within mere seconds, she was out of her seat and moving toward me.

“Ava. You’re early for lunch.”

“I could say the same about you.”

“Long day?”

“Early morning,” she said.

“Ah, well, mine’s been a long day.”

“Everything all right?”

“Just a mounting case I never thought I’d take on within the course of my career. You?”

“Craving danishes after not having breakfast.”

“Two cheese danishes with that coffee of yours,” I said.

“What can I say? I’m a creature of habit.”

Her eyes hooked on mine, and my stomach turned over. My eyes fell to her lips before casing the rest of her body, and the veins in my groin came to life. She smiled up at me, her pupils dilating. I saw her beautiful nipples press against the thin material of her shirt. Every ounce of me that had felt dead and angry just moments ago came alive, and all I had to do was gaze into her eyes.

Ava’s beautiful blue eyes.

“Join me for lunch?” I asked.

“I’d love to,” she said.

I could’ve sworn she said those words a little quicker than she had meant to. I ordered my coffee and grabbed my sandwich, tipping the barista before we headed to a table in the corner. It was quickly becoming our thing—the café down the road with a table in the corner and the same food each time.

I liked having a ‘thing’ with her.

“So, what brought you into work to early this morning?” I asked.

The toe of her foot brushed against me as she crossed her leg, and a blush instantly tinted her cheeks. Which was wonderful, because it meant the heat creeping up the back of my neck wasn’t alone.

“Well, Camilla finally called me Sunday morning,” she said.

“How did that go?” I asked.

“We went out to lunch and she told me she was the one who broke up with you.”

“She what now?”

“Yeah. She said she was the one who broke up with you after breaking it to you that she was seeing her boss.”

“That’s a complete lie.”

“I know, I know. You don’t have to defend yourself,” she said, giggling.

“Are you sure? Because I could make a very good argument.”

“I’m sure you could, Mr. Bigshot Lawyer. But it’s not necessary. I know when Camilla’s lying. She’s my best friend. She has her tells, and I figured them out a long time ago. Our lunch was riddled with them.”

“So, you believe me?”

“I do. Though she did admit she had been seeing her boss for almost two months now. I wasn’t, um, sure if you knew that or anything.”

Guilt flooded Ava’s face, and I reached over and took her hand. It was a gesture I should have stopped, because the second my hand came down on hers, I wanted to pull her in for a kiss. This wasn’t her fight to fight. She had nothing to feel guilty over. And the fact that she did showed me the kind-hearted woman she really was. Her eyes fell to our connection before I slipped my hand away, trying to make it seem like a friendly gesture.