Romancing the Bachelor (A Hamilton Family Series)

by Diane Alberts

  Don’t be jealous. I only liked it a little bit. Before she could reply, he started typing again. She watched the three little dots in the bubble. Gotta shower now. I’m naked.

  Proof or it didn’t happen.

  Her message was marked as read right away, but he didn’t reply.

  After waiting for a few seconds, she gave up and set the phone down. The second it hit the bed, it buzzed. She opened that message faster than the speed of light. When she saw what he’d sent her, she laughed out loud.

  It was an image of his arm, flexed, in the bathroom mirror. All his private parts were hidden, but it was still sexy as hell. You want any more than this, you’ll have to wait until tonight.

  She took a pouting picture and sent it back with a: Fine.

  He didn’t read her message, so she could only assume that he’d gotten in the shower like he said he was going to. After one long, luxurious stretch, she stood up and walked barefoot to her own bathroom. As she turned on the water, she smiled, because down the hall, Eric was in the shower, too, and they were both washing off the remnants of a night well spent.

  As she brushed her teeth, she studied herself in the mirror, thinking about what Eric had said last night before he’d fallen asleep.

  He’d snuggled in and gotten comfortable, wrapping his arm around her. After a few seconds, he’d stiffened, and asked, “Shit, did you want me to go? I can go.”

  “Do you snore?” she’d asked, smiling into the darkness.

  “I don’t think so…” His arm flexed around her, and he’d admitted, “I haven’t slept in the same room as anyone else in a long time. Unless my brothers and Brett count. Though, I’ve never asked them if I snored. But no women have ever slept in my bed. They don’t usually stick around after sex, and I don’t usually want them to.”

  Her heart twisted. Sometimes she forgot how comfortable he was with casual sex, and leaving the women behind. It’s what she wanted out of him, what she needed, but still…

  It came so easily to him.

  “Oh, in that case, if you want to go, if you’re more comfortable with leaving, you can. I get it. I won’t be insulted.”

  He’d shifted his weight and sighed. “I don’t want to leave. Holding you like this, sleeping with my friend, feels nice. So, if it’s okay with you, then I’d love to stay the night.”

  Speechless, she’d nodded, and laid there awake as his breath evened out and his body went lax. And even though she’d barely slept because she’d been too busy enjoying the feel of a man’s arms around her again—not just any man’s, but Eric Hamilton’s arms—she felt more energized than if she’d gone to bed early and gotten twelve hours of sleep.

  After she showered, she dressed, blow-dried her hair, and applied her makeup. Once she was completely ready for the day, she sat at her dining room table, coffee at her left hand, phone at her right, and a notepad and pen in the middle. Heart pounding, mind spinning, she picked up her phone and dialed the company that had called her last night.

  By the time she got off the phone with them, she had a concrete job offer in Western Texas, in a small town, making more money than she was making here in the city. The same man she’d video conferenced with last week had been the one to call her and extend the offer.

  It was a no-brainer, really.

  This was everything she wanted, and more.

  They’d given her two weeks to think it over, which she intended to use because nothing good came of rushing into decisions. But when she’d spoken with him last week, he’d seemed like a good guy to work for. A fair judge. He’d certainly made her a more than a fair offer.

  Smiling, she stood, smoothed her skirt over her thighs, finished the last of her coffee, and headed out the door. When she got to the courthouse, a man wearing a suit came up to her, someone that she didn’t recognize. “Ms. Jefferson?”

  “Yes?” she asked hesitantly.

  He handed her a coffee and a brown bag. She took it out of reflex. “These are for you, from Eric Hamilton. I’m his assistant.”

  Her cheeks heated as she stared at the young man who had come all the way over here to deliver her coffee and a pastry. “He shouldn’t have sent you here to buy me breakfast. I’m so sorry. How much was it? I’ll reimburse you.”

  “Mr. Hamilton paid, ma’am.” The young man smiled. “And I don’t mind. It’s nice out today, I appreciated the fresh air, and the coffee and muffin he told me to buy myself, too.”

  Of course he bought his assistant breakfast, too.

  He was too good of a man not to.

  “Well, then, thank you.” She smiled. “Tell your boss I appreciate it, Mister…?”

  “James Morgan, ma’am.” He bowed. “Have a good day.”

  “You, too,” she said.

  She watched him go, her mind on Eric. He was so good. So smooth. So smart. So…so…

  Gritting her teeth, she rolled her shoulders and headed for her desk. She could sit and daydream about Eric Hamilton and all his good traits later. Right now?

  She had a job to do…

  And another to consider taking.

  Chapter Thirteen

  A week later, Eric sat behind his desk, frowning down at the report his client had typed up for him. The man was shady as hell, and Eric didn’t particularly like him, but it was his job to defend the douchebag anyway, and he was trying his damnedest to keep an open mind about the whole thing. But the more time he spent at his desk, staring at this asshole’s condescending report, the more closed off, and closed in, he felt.

  Once upon a time, he’d dreamed of becoming a lawyer in order to make a change in this world. To leave his mark. To do good. Somewhere along the way, he’d lost that desire to do good and had instead become the type of lawyer who did what he was told, when he was told…when he was offered a lot of fucking money.

  Somewhere along the way, he’d lost himself.

  Funny how he hadn’t even noticed until he met Shelby. There was something about her, and her ability to be so honest and open with him, that made him want to do better. To be better.

  Starting with his family.

  Enough of this constantly working shit.

  He needed to make time for his parents, who were amazing, and his siblings, who were equally amazing and successful. It was time to find more to life than work, success, and money. It was time to fucking live. He had Shelby to thank for that revelation.

  They’d spent every night together over the past week, feeding the metaphorical beast, but to be honest, that fucker was a bottomless pit. No matter how many times he had her, and no matter how many different ways they had sex, he was still starving for her.

  But it wasn’t just the sex.

  They laughed together. Constantly. He never used to be a laugher, but now he couldn’t seem to fucking stop. That, and the smiling. The smiling was out of control. He wanted to punch himself in the damn face. He’d become one of those annoying people who was always happy.

  In spite of that, though, he wasn’t blind to the fact that this happiness had a timestamp on it. She hadn’t gotten a job offer yet, but it would come, and she would go, and he’d be alone.

  She might be leaving soon, and she might never come back, but she would live on forever here in Atlanta after she left because he refused to go back to being a robot who lived on cases, money, and meaningless sex. Being with Shelby night after night, holding her in his arms as she drifted off to sleep, had been fucking incredible.

  When she left, and he was alone, he was going to try to find that again. He was going to find a friend who made him feel like she did. Except…he didn’t think that was possible.

  Shelby was one of a kind, and the way she made him feel probably couldn’t be replicated. The selfish part of him, the part that he was trying to get rid of, wanted her to never find that dream job so she would stay here. But that wasn’t fair, and he wasn’t going to be that guy. When she got her offer, he’d follow through with his promise and help her pack with a damn smile on his
face.

  But he’d miss her like hell when she left.

  Shaking his head, he picked up his office phone and dialed quickly. It rang twice before his sister answered. “Hello?”

  “Anna. It’s me. Eric.”

  She was silent for a minute. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing’s wrong. Why?”

  “Well, you don’t usually call me unless something’s wrong.” She let out a small laugh. “But, anyway, what’s up?”

  “That’s what’s wrong. I never call, or check in, and I’m going to change that.” He stared down at the report on his desk. “What are you guys doing next Friday night? I want to take you and Brett out for dinner.”

  “I guess we’re doing that, then,” she said slowly. “I’m not complaining about the sudden offer to hang out or anything, but, like, you’re not dying or something, right?”

  He laughed. “Jesus, Anna, no. I just realized all I ever do is work, and I forgot how to have fun until recently.”

  “Until recently,” she said, her voice picking up in excitement. “As in, ever since you and Shelby became friends?”

  He winced. “You’re too smart for your own good.”

  “We got it from our parents,” she teased. He could picture her sitting on her couch, her legs folded in front of her, twirling a piece of hair as Brett sat beside her, holding the remote after having paused whatever they were watching on TV. “Are you two an item?”

  “Uh…” He dragged his hand down his face, fighting off a yawn. He’d told Shel he was working late, that she should head home and chill, but right now he just wanted to walk the hell out of here and hold her in his arms for as long as he could before she walked away from him permanently. “That’s a tricky question.”

  “Not really,” Anna said. “Either you’re an item, or you’re not.”

  “I guess we are.” He let out a breath. “Have been for a week or so, but she’s leaving.”

  “What do you mean? Where’s she going?”

  “Nowhere, yet.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “But she’s looking for a new job, in a small town, far away from here. She hates living in the city.”

  Anna made a whistling sound. “Crap. So you’re just, what, messing around until she gets an offer?”

  “Pretty much.” He dropped his hand to his lap and stared at his closed office door. “I really like her, though.”

  “Maybe she’ll want to stay if you tell her that,” she offered.

  “No. Absolutely not.” He shook his head. “I promised her I wouldn’t make her want to stay. I swore not to make her change her mind, and I won’t.”

  “God.” She laughed. “What are you going to do, then?”

  “I guess I’ll wave good-bye as she drives away.” He frowned. “It’s what I promised to do, after all.”

  “But what if there was another way?”

  “Like what?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. Maybe you were looking for a way to make this all work, so you called me, one of the only other Hamiltons in the family who is in a relationship”—he winced at that word. Relationship. It was such a weighted word—“because you wanted to see if I had any advice.”

  Eric reclined and pushed his chair back so he could rest his feet on his desk. Well, she had a point, damn it. Maybe he wanted advice because he wasn’t ready to let go of Shelby, and there had to be another way, a secret that only happy couples knew about, to make it work. “Do you?”

  “Well, since you won’t ask her to stay—” she started.

  “Hell no,” he agreed.

  “Then there’s the possibility of you going with her…”

  “I just made junior partner and signed a contract, and I don’t even know where she’s going. Not to mention, we literally just started sleeping together. I can’t leave my job on a whim any more than she could stay here for me,” he said, his shoulder deflating.

  “Then there’s option number three.” She got silent for a second, and he gripped his thigh over his dress pants. “Long-distance.”

  He swallowed hard. “Those fail.”

  “Sometimes. But sometimes they don’t.” She let out a sigh. “If you do it for a little bit, it’ll let you know whether what you have is real or not, and if it is, then you can decide where to go from there. Kind of like…a pause button. You don’t split up, and you spend a lot of time on FaceTime, and then see where it goes.”

  “Well, shit.” He closed his eyes and reclined his head back over the top of his chair. “I don’t know. I mean, I guess it could work. Or I could just let her go like she asked me to before I ever touched her.”

  Anna made a sound of agreement but then followed it up with, “But, then again, as you stated, that was before. Maybe she’s changed her mind, too, like you have.”

  Did she? Could she, maybe, want to continue whatever the fuck they were doing, even after she left, and see where it went? Or was he a complete and utter fool for thinking that was possible?

  “I don’t know—” He cut off because his office door opened, and he straightened, expecting to see his assistant. Instead, the topic of his conversation stood there holding a couple of bags and wearing a skirt and a pink shirt. She looked delectable. “Shelby?”

  She pointed to the phone and mouthed, “I’ll wait.”

  “It’s just my sister,” he said out loud, offering her a smile. His heart pounded against his ribs and he stood. “Uh, Anna, I have to go. Shelby’s here.”

  “Think about what I said,” she said quickly. “Don’t jump into anything, one way or the other. Weigh your options, and if you think it’s best to wave her off as she drives off to wherever she’s going, then do it. But for what it’s worth, I like her.”

  “I do, too,” he said. “Bye, Anna. See you next Friday.” They hung up, and he set his phone down, face first. “What’s all this?” he asked, gesturing toward the bag she brought with her.

  “You never told me you worked in the opposite direction of the courthouse from our building,” she said, crossing her arms. “The courthouse is not on the way at all.”

  He winced. “Guilty as charged.”

  “Why drive me every morning if it adds fifteen minutes to your commute?” she asked, cocking her head. “I could just as easily take the bus.”

  He took a step closer to her. “Because you’re worth fifteen minutes. Hell, you’re worth hours of extra driving, as long as you’re in the car next to me.”

  She sucked in a deep breath and held it. “Eric…”

  “It’s true.” He closed the distance between them, gripped her chin, and tipped her face up to his. “I’d drive you anywhere you wanted to go, Shel.”

  She gripped the lapels of his suit jacket. “I’m already exactly where I want to be,” she said, a touch of surprise to her voice as if she couldn’t quite believe that was the case.

  “Me, too,” he said, leaning down and kissing her. Pulling back, he smiled down at her and whispered again, “Me, too.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Shelby fisted his jacket, staring up into those gray eyes that she could get lost in forever. There were big flecks of blue in them today, and every time she hung out with him, those flecks got bigger and threatened to take over the gray. When she met him, they’d been more gray than blue, but that wasn’t the case anymore. She liked to think the blue meant he was happy, and being around her brought out the color, but that would be presumptuous of her.

  Just because she was happier than she’d been in years didn’t mean he was. Just because she wanted to spend every waking moment in his company didn’t mean he felt the same way about her. Yet here she was at his office, crashing his late work night because she’d been thinking about her job offer, and the idea of saying good-bye to him permanently left her with an aching emptiness inside her soul that she had a feeling would never be filled no matter how far she ran from here.

  He rested his forehead on hers. “I like you, Shel. A lot.”

  “I like you, too,”
she whispered, her heart cracking because, God, it was true. And soon, she was going to have to tell him she was leaving him. This was what she’d wanted. What she’d waited so long for—a chance to start over in a small town, with no city madness. But now that it was here, and it was almost time to tell them whether or not she accepted the job, she felt…

  Trapped.

  Like no matter what she chose, or where she went, she was giving up something even bigger. That feeling, that knowledge, pissed her off. She’d sworn she would not get attached to Eric, and here she was, missing him before she even left.

  He, though, showed no such signs of impending loneliness.

  Of course, that might be because she hadn’t told him about her job offer yet.

  That was going to change tonight, though, because tomorrow, she was going to accept that job offer, and she was going to move on to the next chapter of her life…in Texas.

  That’s what she was here to tell him.

  She was leaving.

  “What’s in the bag?” he asked, watching her intently. “Are we celebrating something?”

  Could he sense the words she was about to say? “It’s a bottle of cold champagne.”

  “Nice,” he said, stepping back and tugging at his black tie. She’d watched him put it on this morning, at his place. “What’s the occasion?”

  “I…” She licked her lips, the words on the tip of her tongue, but once she said them, it would be so…so…final, and for some reason, she wasn’t ready for that. So she chickened out. “It’s for nothing. It’s just for fun. A short break from working hard, before I leave you to it again. If you have the time?”

  “I’ll always have the time for you.” He went over to the bag and pulled out the bottle, staring down at the label. “I’d love a glass.”

  She forced a smile. “Great.”

  He walked over to the door and shut it, turning the lock. When she lifted her brows, he said, “Too many people come in here, and we want privacy.”

  “Why do we need privacy for champagne?” she asked, her heart picking up speed when he shrugged his jacket off.

  “We both know you’re not here for champagne, Shel.”