Elastic Hearts (Hearts #3)

by Claire Contreras

  “Are you staying with him?”

  I blinked. “What?”

  “Are you going to stay with your husband?”

  “Who’s asking?” I whispered. “My lawyer or Victor?”

  He closed his eyes briefly once more, and when they opened I knew where this was headed. “I can’t represent you anymore, Nicole. I feel like I’m going fucking crazy over here.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I want you,” he said. I gasped as his fingers dug into my flesh. “I want you and I can’t have you if I keep working for you.”

  “Says who?” I asked, surprised my voice was loud enough for him to hear me.

  “I’ve worked so fucking hard and this case is going to blow it all to shit,” he said, inching his face closer to mine. I stopped breathing. “All because I need this more than I’ve needed anything else in my fucking life.”

  His lips were so close to mine that I was sure he would kiss me. Was he expecting me to kiss him? Would he break the vow he made to the court over me? Was it fair for me to test his limits? He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against mine, his minty breath hitting me as he exhaled. His hands were still on my hips. I was sure he could feel the rapid vibration of my heart there. I felt it everywhere.

  “Have me,” I said finally, unable to have him this close to me and not do anything about it. “Just . . . take me. You’ve done it before. You know I can keep a secret.”

  He shook his head, his forehead brushing back and forth against mine. “It’s not that simple, Nicole.”

  “It was never that simple,” I whispered.

  One of his hands made its way up my back, stopping on my shoulder, then moving slowly, tentatively to my neck, my collarbone. My breath was becoming ragged, uneven, desperate for something, anything. I wanted to kiss him, touch him, fuck him, but more than anything I wanted him to want to do it. I wanted him to be the one to make the first move.

  “You’re right. It was never that simple.” The way he said it made me wonder if maybe he’d felt something more than lust. “When this is over,” he said, rearing back slightly to look at me, “when it’s over, I’ll have you.”

  “What if we see each other in private?” I asked.

  “You want to sneak around?” he asked, his lip twitching into a smile. He shook his head and dropped his hands, stepping away from me. “Is that what you want?”

  “Maybe.”

  He raised an eyebrow. “That isn’t a maybe kind of question, Nicole. It’s yes or no.”

  “Yes. I want to sneak around.”

  “Are the paparazzi still following you?” he asked, his voice serious.

  “No,” I said, and corrected myself when he shot me a look that said he didn’t believe me. “Not as much.”

  “Let’s see how it goes with them the next few days.”

  “And then we can sneak around?”

  He looked down to try to hide his smile, but I saw it. “I never said that.”

  “Okay. Do you need anything else from me?” I asked, my eyes raking down his body to the half hard-on he was sporting.

  “I need a lot of things,” he said, eyes blazing.

  “I would help you out,” I said, pointedly looking at his hooded pants as I licked my lips before unlocking the door and holding the handle. “But you refuse to cater to my needs.”

  He slapped his hand on the door to keep me from opening it and pressed his hard chest against my back. I closed my eyes and tried to control my body to keep it from quivering at the feel of his breath on my ear.

  “I don’t want a time limit the next time I fuck you. I don’t want a quick fuck where clothes don’t even have time to come off. I want you naked and in my bed, and trust me,” he said, lowering his voice as he pressed his lips against my neck, right under my ear, “I will cater to every one of your needs.”

  I had absolutely nothing to say to that, so when he put his hand over mine and opened the door, I stood off to the side and waited for him to brush past me. The light of the hallway had been switched on. Victor and I looked at each other, wide-eyed.

  “Hey,” Grace said, looking confused as she walked into the lobby with a big pot of coffee in her hand. “I didn’t know you had an early meeting scheduled today.”

  I wasn’t sure if she was talking to me or Victor, but he responded before I could.

  “Yeah, I had to squeeze this in between my run and court,” he said. “I’m going to get dressed. If anybody calls for me before it’s time for me to leave, take a message and give it to Corinne when she gets here.”

  “Okay,” Grace said, then turned to me. “Want coffee?”

  “I’ve been wondering when somebody around here would offer me something worthwhile,” I said, unable to hide my smile. Victor scowled as he turned and walked into his office.

  Grace and I made small talk while I drank my coffee and she switched on the computer and did whatever she had to do to set up for the day.

  “Well, I have to go. It’s going to be a long day.”

  “What time do you go in today?” she asked. Grace was always interested in my job. It didn’t matter how insignificant it was, she wanted to know about it.

  “Today’s a late night. Eight to eight.”

  “Wow, and you’re here? I would be sleeping.”

  I smiled. “Yeah, that’s where I’m headed.” I paused and looked at the door to Victor’s office. “Shit. I just remembered I had to give him something. I’ll be right back.”

  She didn’t even look up from the computer screen as I disappeared into Victor’s office. My blood roared in my ears as I took off my sneakers, peeled off my yoga pants, slid off my panties, and quickly redressed. I walked over to his desk and stuffed them into his briefcase. I could only hope he looked inside it before he went to court. Of course, knowing Victor he probably emptied it and organized it more than I did when I switched handbags. I ran out of there before he could come out of the bathroom and catch me.

  “Did you leave what you needed to leave?” Grace asked as I waved her goodbye and got into the elevator.

  “I did,” I said with a wide smile.

  MY MISOPHONIA WAS out of control. I knew this, yet I couldn’t help the cringe that came every time Corinne took a bite of her sandwich. My skin crawled with every chew. I sighed and stood up to pace the conference room to distract myself from my agony. I fucking hated lunch meetings. Food had no place in the conference room. None. The only reason I’d even called a lunch meeting was because we had no time to waste and I was supposed to meet with Nicole in the afternoon to give her some papers.

  “Everything’s in here?” I asked, going back to the file Corinne had set on top of the table. She nodded slowly. “Did you file the paper I sent you? The last one?”

  “The Golden Globe thing in the agreement she made with her ex? Yes.”

  I nodded sharply. I needed to keep that paper out of any file I gave her back, in case it fell into the wrong hands. The fact that it had been drafted and emailed was already making me paranoid. I hated the Internet. I started leafing through the pages, making sure each page was initialed and that the ones needed signing were marked for her. As long as Gabriel agreed to this, the divorce could be sped up. Normally I tried to make these cases as painless as possible for my clients, because I could only imagine how badly they must want closure, but with Nicole I wished I could jump through hoops and just get this shit done immediately.

  I wanted her out of the house she shared with Gabriel Lane. I wanted him out of her life for good. I wanted her in my bed. It was quite simple, really. I wasn’t an idiot. I knew the girl was a catch, and it would only be a matter of time before somebody else caught her. If she wanted to be caught, I wanted her to have the freedom to make that choice. But first, I’d have her. Maybe I was a fucking idiot, because every time the thought crossed my mind all I could do was imagine me catching her. Me being the one she stayed with. I tried to picture what my life would have been like if I’d been the one
to catch her five years ago and not the guy she was divorcing. Would I have fucked things up? Would I have let her go? I had a difficult time believing I would have done the latter. Fuck things up, maybe. I’d been young and had more drive than I knew what to do with. While my friends were busy chasing skirts and getting married, I worked my ass off. I didn’t regret it. I didn’t wish I could turn back time and make more out of what Nicole and I had. The way I saw it, everything happened for a reason, and we just weren’t meant to happen then.

  How much had I changed during those years, though? Jensen seemed set on reminding me that I would be turning thirty-one soon, as if that meant I might as well start planning my funeral.

  “Victor?” Corinne asked. I looked up from the papers.

  “What?”

  She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. “I was wondering how you felt about me taking time off next month?”

  My gaze stayed on hers as I processed her request. When was the last time she’d taken time off? Had it already been a year? I flipped through my mental calendar, trying to remember what I had next month. There would be very little to do with Nicole’s divorce by then. I would make sure of that. I had a meeting scheduled for later in the week with a well-known romance author, who was divorcing his wife, to see if they could settle out-of-court, so that shouldn’t run over to the next month. I realized I was still staring at Corinne and blinked rapidly. I was in the habit of staring people down when I was lost in thought. I cleared my throat.

  “Sure. Just put it on the Outlook Calendar so we can plan for it,” I said finally.

  Her shoulders sagged a little.

  “Anything else I should know about?” I asked.

  She shook her head, but I knew there was something she wanted to tell me. Women were so fucking annoying. Why couldn’t they just spit it out? They would be a lot easier to deal with if they just voiced their thoughts instead of making us go on a goddamn scavenger hunt. I shook my head and went back to the papers in front of me. I didn’t have time for that shit.

  “It’s just,” she said quietly. I let out a breath. Of course she was going to start talking again when I was already trying to focus on something else. “I think my boyfriend is going to propose to me when we go on vacation.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Well, that’s good, right?” I asked slowly. One could never be too sure when he was going to hit a nerve when it came to women and these sensitive subjects.

  “I guess,” she said, shrugging. I rubbed my temple and looked at my watch. I had an hour to spare before I had to bolt to meet with Nicole, so I took a seat where I’d been before Corinne decided to turn into Bugs Bunny with her chewing.

  “What’s the problem? Haven’t you been together for a while now?” I asked.

  She started chipping at her nail polish. “Eight months.”

  Oh, wow. Her boyfriend really jumped into that one. I didn’t comment, because nothing good would come out of my mouth. It wasn’t worse than Gabriel Lane and Nicole. Fucking Nicole. Instead, I nodded for her to continue. She glanced up at me, her eyes welling with unshed tears. Jesus, fuck. I didn’t do well with emotional females. How did I get myself into this mess?

  “I just don’t know if he’s the one, you know? I don’t know if he’s my forever,” she whispered, still chipping at her nails.

  “Have you told him this? Maybe you should.”

  “He’s a great guy. He makes me laugh, gets along with my parents, has a good job,” she continued, ignoring me. “He has his own place, and he wants kids.”

  I tilted my head. So far I’d heard nothing but good. Throw in a vintage black Mustang, and I was about to marry the guy. I looked at my watch again.

  “I’m assuming you’re going to get to the bad part soon?”

  She wiped her tears. “I don’t know. I was with my ex-boyfriend for six years. I’ve only been with Daniel eight months. I feel like, I don’t know.” She shrugged. “Maybe I don’t even know him, you know?”

  “Corinne, as I’m sure you know, I am not equipped to give relationship advice.” I paused and added, “At all.”

  She nodded and sniffled. “I know, but you date a lot. How do you know they’re not the woman you want to marry?”

  I let out a long breath and leaned back in my seat. That was a good question. How did I know? I frowned.

  “I don’t,” I said with a shrug. She looked puzzled, so I continued. “I’ve never cared enough to continue any of those relationships, so I just assume they’re not the one.” She continued to stare at me at a loss for words, which made me keep talking. “I’ll let you in on a little secret: none of us know what we’re doing. We’re all winging it. Your boyfriend? He’s winging it. He’s proposing to you because he hopes you’re his forever. Maybe he believes it, I guess he must if he’s taking the plunge, but if you’re not willing to take it with him, you should probably pull him off that cliff before he does it, not when he does it.”

  She nodded. “You’re right. Maybe I’m just having second thoughts because of all of these damn divorce cases we go through.”

  I laughed. “I’m pretty sure that was in the job description when you applied.”

  “People change,” she said with a smile.

  Right. That again. I shrugged.

  “You don’t think somebody will come along and change you?” she asked, frowning. I thought about that for a moment, my mind instantly going to Nicole. Again. I sighed, running a hand through my hair.

  “I think the right person for me will want to keep me just the way I am.”

  Corinne seemed to be satisfied with my answer. I gathered the papers and put them back in the folder.

  “Are you done having your moment?” I asked. “Because I really have somewhere to be.”

  Corinne laughed. “I think I’m done having my moment.”

  Picking up the folder, I stood and walked toward the door. I patted her back as I passed her. “Don’t believe the hype, Corinne. Being single is overrated, especially when you think you’ve found someone you can stand to be with continuously.”

  The drive to the address in Manhattan Beach was brutal. The traffic was insane. Apparently there was some kind of street market being set up, which closed off the major street I needed to take, and further pissed me off. Who in their right mind would willingly shut down all of those neighborhoods so they could sell shit? By the time I got to the house, I was barely containing my rage. I used the street parking four blocks away, left my jacket and tie in the car, and rolled up my sleeves. There was no way I was going to walk through the pits of hell in a suit. Fuck that noise.

  I walked down the steep street and used the folder in my hand to shield my eyes from the sun when I got to the house. Through the window, I could see Nicole, wearing a tight flower-print dress. Her dark hair cascaded down her back in loose curls that she must have had done earlier that day. I admired her from afar, her curves, the way her toned tan legs looked in the heels she wore, and I took a second to imagine how she’d look out of that dress, out of those heels, legs wrapped around me. I took a long, deep breath and walked up the steps.

  I could hear her laughing at whatever the person she was talking to was saying, and I smiled at the sound of it. She had a good laugh, not high-pitched or low, or snorty, or crazy. It was just right. A guy opened the door, and I instantly tensed. He had straight, long blond hair that reached his shoulders and was wearing a suit. I could tell he worked out. I could tell he felt I was interrupting something special going on between him and my girl. My CLIENT. Not my girl. Not my anything. My eyes landed on her when I looked over his shoulder, and she smiled. She had this small, tentative smile she used sometimes. One that didn’t give you the slightest inkling as to how fierce she was beneath it. She could claw her way into and out of anybody’s life and leave you with the afterthought that it’d all started because of that one smile.

  “Hey. Rick, this is my . . .” she said, pausing for a beat, the tentative soft smile blooming into a wider one,
a little wicked, a lot sexy, “my attorney.”

  “Oh,” Rick said, stepping out of the way with a frown on his face. “I didn’t realize you were bringing your attorney.”

  Nicole laughed. “Not for this. He has some things to give me, but now that he’s here, he might as well make himself useful and help me look at the place. Unless you have somewhere to be,” she added, looking at me with those big blue eyes. If I hadn’t already been convinced by that look alone, the way her realtor huffed under his breath at the mention of this sealed it for me.

  “Sure. I had my schedule cleared since I thought we were actually going to be discussing this anyway. Lead the way,” I said, firing off a text message to Corinne so she could clear my fucking schedule for the next two hours. I didn’t have a face-to-face meeting scheduled with anybody, but I did have to be back at the office for a conference call. So they’d have to wait a little while longer for me to call them back. Big deal.

  Rick pivoted and walked down the hall. Nicole winked at me before turning to follow him, and between that wink and the way her ass moved from side to side in that dress I was already regretting the decision to stay. Thank God I’d taken off my jacket and tie. Rick went over the specs of the house, the kitchen, the living room, the laundry room, the dining room, his eyes were on her the entire time. Every time she turned around, his eyes were on her ass. When she spoke to him, his eyes made their way down her body. Nicole had to notice it, she’d be an idiot not to, but she didn’t goad him, and I was grateful for that because for some reason I wasn’t sure how I’d react to it. I’d never been the jealous type. The competitive type? Yes. But jealousy was foreign to me. I didn’t have anything to be jealous of. With Nicole it was a little different, though. Maybe it was because I wanted her so much. Maybe it was because I couldn’t have her, though if I was being honest with myself, I knew it wasn’t just that.

  “Let me show you the master bedroom,” Rick said, giving Nicole a very pointed look as he said it. They started walking toward the stairs as I trailed behind. He looked over his shoulder to look at me for a second before lowering his head to her and saying, “The bed is still in there, but we have company, which is very unfortunate.”