Michael. What did he want?
“Morning, Kate.” Michael took a couple steps in, his hands in his pockets. “Meeting with a new client?”
“Something like that. It’s a pro bono case. A custody and divorce matter.”
“Are you sure a pro bono case—especially a messy custody and divorce one—is something you should be taking on right now?” Michael’s brows furrowed in concern, and his tone became soft and protective. Something she remembered well. The feeling of someone watching out for her. Caring. Only now, his concern wasn’t comforting. It was…annoying. “Even with Nicole’s help, you have to be pretty stretched right now, preparing for tomorrow’s first round of depositions and those in the coming weeks, not to mention your other clients. And this McKenna case is important to your career.”
No, Michael was being downright condescending. Had he always been like this? “I’m not taking on anything I can’t handle, but thanks for your concern. Was there something you needed?”
He stayed standing, shifting his weight to his other leg. “No. I just know that you start taking depositions tomorrow and I remember how you get when you’re in preparation mode. Since I was heading down to the coffee shop, I thought I’d see if I could get you your usual.”
She crooked her head to the side. What was this about? He hadn’t stopped by to get her a coffee since they were a couple. “Is everything okay with you, Michael?”
For a moment she wondered if there was some trouble in paradise with Nicole, but then dismissed that. She’d seen Nicole briefly this morning, preening and flashing that rock around like it was the Holy Grail or something. Smug in her confidence that she’d won the guy.
“No. I was just realizing we never have a chance to really talk anymore. You know, like we used to?” He jangled some loose change in his pockets. “How’s the progress on your house? It’s strange to think of you in this new place, a place I’ve never even seen. With a guy that’s not me.”
She sat back in her chair and savored the moment. Because she was nearly certain that what she was hearing was jealousy.
It was good to see the emotion on someone else for a change.
“Things are going better than I expected. How did your painting project go?” Nicole had seemed intent on getting rid of every last vestige of Kate and Michael’s relationship.
“Oh. That. Well, I don’t really have the time to take on that kind of project right now. So Dominic and you. Seems pretty serious. But what do you really know of this guy? I mean, I know it’s really not my place to interfere, but even in the brief time I’ve met him, I just get this vibe from hi—”
“You’re right. You don’t have any right to interfere in my personal life. And because you only just met Dominic is precisely why you have no idea what you’re talking about. But the issue is moot, Michael. I’m not discussing who I am or am not seeing with you.”
She managed to say this calmly, even though as she spoke, the embers of her anger were being stoked. He had no right to say anything about her life. He’d left her, not the other way around. But she didn’t want an argument today—she had neither the time nor the energy. “I’ve got a lot of work here. If that’s everything…”
“Just don’t let this guy distract you
. I’ve heard the talk, and it seems like you’ve impressed all the right people so far, and if you play your cards right, you could be this firm’s next junior partner.”
Long after Michael left her office, Kate sat musing about what had gone wrong between them, and more importantly, what he meant to her now. In all these months since their breakup, she had secretly hoped that Michael would realize he had made a mistake by breaking things off—because what his parents thought shouldn’t matter when it came to love—and he’d come back to her. Like in some movie.
It had taken seeing that ring on Nicole’s finger to make her see reality.
But lately, he’d been showing an interest in her, an interest she’d feared was gone forever. And she honestly couldn’t decide if she was pleased or annoyed.
She remembered Dominic’s question, about whether she’d take Michael back if he asked. She really couldn’t say. She’d thought they were going to be together forever, make a future together, and when he’d been too afraid to stand up to his parents and instead begged off, she’d been devastated. The wound had been deep, and she hadn’t thought she’d ever get over him.
But now, it was as if some of that love and adoration had been replaced with righteous anger and, to be honest, disgust. Disgust that he hadn’t been strong enough to stand up for her. It was like the veil had been ripped away and she could see Michael for what he was. Human, filled with faults, of course, but also weak, and frankly, selfish and arrogant.
She shook her head. This was wasted time. It wasn’t like he was beating down her door, anyway. Not really.
Dominic, though. Her heart swelled uncomfortably for a moment as she thought about his smile. His charm. His natural ability to make her feel happy and good about herself.
Not to mention that freaking amazing body and the way his lips made her forget everything about their plan and think only about him. All of him.
Crazy.
That’s what that line of thinking was. Dominic and she were so…incompatible. He needed someone without her baggage, someone sweet and loving and ready to devote herself to him entirely. Something she couldn’t do. Not if she was going to be appointed to a judgeship before she was fifty. Forty-five if she was lucky.
And she needed someone as rational and practical as her. Someone who wouldn’t make her want things like the big family, the all-consuming love and lust that being with him would demand.
…
“The first thing you want to do before you ever try this,” Dominic said later that night while Kate sipped tea from her perch on a bar stool in the kitchen corner, looking sexy as hell even if her smile told him she was only humoring him, “is to make sure you have the main breaker off. You don’t want to know what it’s like to have a bolt of electricity surge through your body.” He stood on the top step of the stool with wires woven between his fingers. The idea had been to show her how to install a new light fixture. Although he had to admit he might be showing off, just a little bit.