“I just moved here about a month ago.” His dark green eyes twinkled with humor as he added, “I’m sure we would’ve met through them eventually...if you hadn’t already come storming into my office this morning.”
At the verbal reminder of what he did for a living, I leaned back and crossed my arms. “Yeah, you mentioned something about wanting to explain some things to me. Now’s your chance.”
“You want me to dive right into it, huh? No wasting time on any more small talk.”
I nodded. “Yup.”
Will waited until after the waiter dropped off our drinks and took our food order to say, “I used to work in mediation and specifically divorces involving children. I loved being able to help kids when they needed it, but some of the cases I had were rough.”
“Oh, wow,” I murmured. “Yeah, I can see how that would be a lot.”
His eyes were haunted as he continued, “After a while, the bad started to outweigh the good. A few months ago, I took a case”—he ran his hand through his hair again before scrubbing it down his face—“that was flat-out awful. From beginning to end. I felt like I failed that child as much as the system did, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. So I walked away from my firm without knowing where I was headed or what I was going to do next.”
“And you ended up in Vegas because of Drew?” I prodded, wanting to hear the rest because my heart hurt for him now. I wasn’t so much angry about the focus of his law office here anymore.
“Yeah, he knew what’d happened and offered me space to open my own shop,” he confirmed. “I know the whole quickie divorce thing pushes some buttons for you, but I’m not doing it because I’m out to destroy marriages. My aim is to help couples who’re having doubts right off the bat so they don’t turn into a messy divorce five, ten, fifteen years down the line when kids are involved. Better to take care of it now when they’re the only ones who’ll get hurt. Or in some cases—like a drunken, spur-of-the-moment wedding—when nobody will get hurt because neither party wants to be married.”
Dammit. His explanation actually made sense. Any hope I had of resisting him just went out the door.
4 Will
As I explained my situation, Aurora’s expression softened and even turned a little sheepish. “Okay,” she sighed. “So maybe you aren’t the devil like I thought.”
A smile spread across my face, and I winked at her. “Don’t underestimate me, baby. I can be very wicked.”
Aurora’s cheeks turned pink, and she squirmed in her seat, making my grin widen. Before I could say anything else, our food arrived. Once our dishes were served, and we were alone again, I started to speak when yet another shadow fell across our table. I looked up to see Zack, the manager and half-owner of the restaurant standing in front of us.
“Will,” Zack greeted me before turning to my dinner companion. “Aurora. What brings you two in tonight?” His lack of surprise told me that the gossip train had reached his station.
“The same thing that brings in everyone else,” I grumbled, annoyed at the interruption. “Food. Now how about you let us get back to our date before our meal gets cold?”
Zack’s eyes widened just slightly, but enough for me to infer that he hadn’t realized this wasn’t just a friendly dinner.
Aurora chuckled and shook her head. “This is so not a date.”
I glared at her and put my hand on her knee under the table. She shivered, and I eyed her smugly. “This is absolutely a date.” I patted her knee before removing my hand, letting the tip of my fingers slide along her skin as I pulled away.
She opened her mouth, probably to argue with me, when Zack spoke again. “Knox know you’re out with his sister?”
I glanced up at him and rolled my eyes before shrugging carelessly. When I looked at Aurora’s face again, she was studying me with an unreadable expression. “You aren’t scared about my brother finding out about our date?”
“Date, huh?” I grinned triumphantly, and Aurora’s cheeks dusted with pink. She was fucking adorable when she blushed. I hadn’t seen it spread down past her face yet, though, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it would take to make it happen. Now it was me squirming in my seat, trying to find a comfortable position with a damn baseball bat between my legs.
“Whatever,” she mumbled, making me laugh.
“To answer your question,” I continued, “no, I don’t give a damn if your brother knows about our date.”
Zack gave a low whistle, and when I glanced at him, he shook his head. “I would be if I were you. He’s a scary motherfucker most of the time, but when you mess with one of his sisters?” He shrugged. “It’s your funeral.”
Aurora giggled, and I was so enamored by the sound that I almost forgot Zack was even there. She smiled at me, and her beautiful blue eyes twinkled with something like admiration as she stared at me.
“Well, enjoy your dinner, you two.”
I waved at Zack, not sparing him a glance as I heard him walk away.
“Most guys run for the door as soon as they know about my brother,” Aurora mused. “Except for my brothers-in-law.”
“I’m not most guys.”
Aurora smiled and cocked her head to the side. “I’m starting to see that.” She picked up her silverware and started to eat, so I followed suit.
“So, tell me about these dangerous people you know.”
I laughed when Aurora choked on her food and took a long drink of her water. That sweet blush returned, and I wondered if her whole body would turn pink when she was flushed with desire.
“I might have been exaggerating,” she admitted.
For the next hour, we talked about our pasts and families as we polished off our meals. My parents had retired to Florida, and I was an only
