3. Nash
I storm off the elevator and through the lobby, already feeling the tension building back up like a storm cloud. It’s Monday, and I’m in one hell of a shitty mood. Margot’s eyes widen as she stares at me like I’ve grown a second head. I guess she senses the bad vibes radiating off me in waves. Good. No one would dare fuck with me today.
Margot’s the first to catch the brunt of it. She’s barely at her desk when I start firing off orders like a drill sergeant in a courtroom. “I need the Johnson file on my desk in five and cancel my meeting with the Watsons. It’s pointless.” My tone is razor-sharp, leaving no room for questions. She nods, her lips pressed tightly together, but there’s a flicker of irritation in her eyes. Fine by me. Welcome to the club. It sucks to suck.
Nora breezes in, looking fresh and ready to conquer the world, which only grates on my nerves. “Nash, I’m glad you’re here?—”
“Now isn’t the time,” I cut her off, not bothering to mask my irritation. Her eyes widen slightly before narrowing to slits. It’s not that I want to be an asshole, but this Monday has a vengeance, and I’m leading the charge.
My bad mood extends to Orson Lewis, the new hotshot lawyer we’ve just hired. Fresh meat. He’s barely stepped into the lobby when I give him a once-over. “Time to get your ass in gear. This place doesn’t coddle rookies.” It’s brusque, bordering on rude, but I don’t have the bandwidth to sugarcoat things today.
The office hums around me with its usual Monday chaos, my irritation twisting the energy into something jagged. I throw myself into my chair, running a hand through my hair in exasperation. My job usually pumps me full of adrenaline, but today, it’s just noise. When my mind drifts back to Saturday, the memory hits like a freight train I can’t shake off no matter how hard I try.
First, I had to deal with an emotion I’ve never felt before—jealousy. Just thinking about Leni touching other men’s bodies as a part of her job didn’t sit well with me. Then, she told me she mostly works with elderly patients, and I relaxed a little.
But the gorgeous massage therapist had one more surprise in store for me. Disappointment nearly brought me to my knees when Leni refused my lunch invitation. I have no doubt her “previous plans” involved another man, and that didn’t sit well with me at all. It was as if she had a knife and carved out a piece of my chest, leaving an aching hole in its wake. Her rejection cut fucking deep, and the thought of another man touching her causes jealousy to tear at my soul.
The whole walk out of the spa felt like one long, limping ordeal, with the lush scents of eucalyptus and lavender taunting me the entire drive home.
It’s funny how a couple of seemingly innocent words could hit so hard. As a divorce attorney, I spend my days sifting through broken marriages and emotionally shattered clients. I’ve always told myself I’ll never let another person have so much control over my happiness. I guess the fucking universe had different plans for me because it dropped the perfect woman right into my lap.
Nora bursts into my office and interrupts my self-pity party. She closes the door behind her with a deliberate click and I know I’m about to get it. “What the fuck?” Ouch. It takes a lot for my sister to drop F-bombs. “You need to get your shit together or both Margot and Orson are going to bail. Are you trying to run this place or run it into the ground?”
I sigh, the weight of the weekend’s sleepless nights pressing heavily on my shoulders. I stare at the stack of paperwork mocking me from my desk, wondering if it’s going to swallow me whole. “I didn’t sleep at all this weekend, okay? Give me a break.”
Nora’s expression shifts from irritation to genuine confusion. “Why couldn’t you sleep? Didn’t you get a massage on Saturday?” She throws her hands up in the air. “You should’ve been so relaxed, you could sleep through a tornado.”
“The massage was the goddamn problem,” I mutter, slamming my hand down on the desktop.
She gives me a look, the kind a sister gives when she’s trying to connect scattered dots that won’t match up. “How can a massage give you sleepless nights?”
I lean back in my chair, letting out a dry laugh as I recall the mesmerizing green eyes and the deft touch of someone who somehow turned my world upside down. “I’m still wondering the same goddamn thing,” I growl mostly to myself. Fuck.
Nora frowns, clearly lost, and walks over to sit in the chair across from my desk. “Tell me about it.”
“There isn’t much to tell.” My twin is going to think I’ve lost my mind. Hell. I think I’ve lost my goddamn mind. Along with my heart. Fuck me. “For the first time in my life, I met a woman who held my attention, and she wasn’t interested.” I shrug, ignoring the knife piercing my heart. Emotions are for the birds.
That gets my sister’s attention. Nora sits back in the chair, staring at me with her mouth open for several moments before she leans forward to ask, “How do you know she isn’t interested?”
Fuck. I really don’t want to get into this right now. “I don’t have time to rehash it. Just forget I said anything.”
“No.” Nora gives me her no-nonsense look that’s known to make opposing attorneys and judges shake in their boots. “Now, answer me.”
Fucking hell. My sister is like a goddamn dog with a bone. “I asked her to have lunch with me and she told me she was busy.” It’s hard to push the words past my clenched jaw. My humiliation is complete.
“That doesn’t mean she isn’t interested in you.” Nora shakes her head, muttering under her breath. “Men are so goddamn clueless. I swear that’s why more than fifty percent of marriages end in divorce.” She leans over my desk, glaring at me. “If she affected you this much, you need to actually put some effort into getting to know her. Not just a half-assed invitation to lunch.”
“My invitation wasn’t half-assed.” Did that sound as juvenile to her as it did to me?
Nora closes her eyes and takes several deep breaths. “Having plans could mean anything. It doesn’t automatically mean she isn’t interested in you.” She blows out her breath. “Look. Stop being pigheaded and use your brain.” She hops up and glides to the door. Before she leaves, she turns back to me. “Get your shit together or I will turn Mom loose on your clueless ass.”
As she leaves, I’m left alone with my thoughts. My mind drifts back to Leni, wondering how just an hour in her company managed to unravel parts of me I didn’t even know were tightly wound.
I sit at my desk, staring at the door with weary resolve. Her words still echo in my head, each syllable reiterating that I’ve been acting like a complete jackass. The ring of truth stings, but I guess calling you out when you’re being a royal fool is a sister’s job.
I rake a hand through my hair, feeling the tangled mess my weekend left in its wake. Alright, it’s time to fix this goddamn mess. First, I’ll eat some humble pie here in the office. Then I’ll throw myself into convincing Leni to give me a chance. My little soulmate won’t know what hit her.
I push myself up from my desk, squaring my shoulders, and hoping to change my coworkers’ view of me from the snarling ogre of the office into a reasonable human being.
My first stop is Orson’s office. The new guy deserves some slack, and if I’m going to have him on my team, I can’t have him thinking I’m Satan’s understudy. I wander down the hall, trying to ignore the sets of eyes that flick in my direction, probably terrified of crossing my path twice today.
When I reach Orson’s office, I tap on the open door, leaning against the frame with a semblance of casualness I don’t quite feel. “Hey, Orson,” I begin, and his head pops up, clear surprise etched across his features. “Got a moment?”
“Uh, sure, Nash,” he stammers, clearly still adjusting to the chaos of his new environment. The stacks of files around his desk suggest he’s eager to dive in, even if he looks like a deer caught in headlights.
I step inside, folding my arms across my chest, and let out a rough sigh. “I was out of line earlier. Mondays tend to bring out the worst in me, but that’s no excuse. We’re glad to have you on board, and I shouldn’t have been an asshole.”
Orson blinks, then nods, managing a tentative smile that seems to ease a little of the tension between us. “I know Mondays can be rough.” He gives me a pass I don’t really deserve, but I’m going to take it and run. “I’m ready to jump in with both feet when you have time to go over a few things.”
I give him a nod, trying to ignore the trickle of relief lightening the load on my conscience a bit. I mentally run through my schedule. “I’ll have time to meet at ten. Come to my office then and we’ll go through things before I take you to lunch.”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
With that olive branch extended and accepted, I head back toward the reception area where Margot keeps the wheels on the bus. She’s on the phone when I approach, her eyes doing a brief, suspicious flit my way.
I wait until she hangs up, then clear my throat. “Hey.”
She arches a perfectly plucked brow at me. “I don’t want to hear it. Keep moving.”
Wincing internally, I hold up my hands in surrender. “I’m waving the white flag. I’m sorry I was a complete dick earlier. You keep this place running like a well-oiled machine, and I shouldn’t have taken you for granted.”
Margot narrows her eyes, skepticism dancing in her expression. “Keep going. I’m listening.”
I bark out a laugh, shaking my head. “You’re a miracle worker and I wouldn’t know what to do without you.”
A smile creeps across her face, and she waves me off with a mock-serious tone. “I guess we’ll let this one slide but don’t let it happen again.”
With both fences mended, I retreat back to my office, surprised to find this vulnerability thing doesn’t entirely suck. As I settle into the paperwork mess on my desk, I find unforgettable emerald green eyes flashing through my mind, and I know I’ll do whatever it takes to make her mine. Even if I have to beg and grovel.