Series: The Laws of Opposite Attract Series by Vi Keeland
Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 105253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105253 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 526(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
I nodded. “Yeah, sure. Why not?”
Tarryn came back a few minutes later. Rather than take her seat, she stood between my legs and grabbed the lapels of my suit jacket. “Are we getting out of here?”
“I just ordered us another round.”
She pushed her big tits up against me and whispered in my ear. “I’d much rather have you than that drink.”
I closed my eyes a moment. I wanted to…
I wanted to so fucking badly.
But…
I just couldn’t.
Putting a hand on each of her shoulders, I looked Tarryn in the eyes. “I am one lucky son of a bitch to even have you join me for a drink, much less come home with me. But I can’t, Tarryn.”
Her smile wilted. “There’s someone in your life?”
I nodded. There was no point in explaining all the complicated ins and outs. At its simplest, that was true. Devyn was someone in my life. Even if the someone in Devyn’s life wasn’t me.
She smiled sadly. “She’s a lucky girl.”
I kissed Tarryn’s cheek. “Thank you for understanding. You’re the best, Tarryn.”
She wiggled her fingers, gesturing for me to run along. “Go. I’ll even pick up the check. But if it doesn’t work out, call me. You’re worth the six-hour flight back for an afternoon.”
I smiled. “Take care, Tarryn.”
Twenty minutes later, I was sitting in my apartment, this time deliberating over whether I should go up to Devyn’s apartment or not. It was one thing to leave Tarryn when my heart wasn’t going to be in it—she deserved better than that. But did I have to go running to Devyn just because she called?
I kicked that thought around for a few more minutes, until the answer finally came to me.
Yes. Yes, I do.
Fuck it. I grabbed a bottle of wine and took the stairs two at a time without calling first.
When Devyn opened the door, I held it up. “I’m here to celebrate.”
I’d expected her to be happy to see me. Unfortunately, she looked anything but.
She folded her hands across her chest. “What happened to your date?”
Was that…jealousy? I thought it might be. My smile widened. “I left. I wasn’t into it.”
“Why not?”
I caught her eyes. “I think you know why, Devyn.”
She looked away. “Well, you shouldn’t have done that.”
I shrugged. “Welp, I’m here. So are you going to invite me in or not?”
“Fine.”
She was definitely throwing me attitude, though I didn’t mind at all. In fact, I found myself enjoying it.
Inside her apartment, I looked around. “Where are your new legal wards?”
“Heath is at work until seven, and Hannah is at her friend’s house.”
“Do they know about you getting custody?”
Devyn shook her head. “Not yet. I didn’t even tell them I was going to court. I didn’t want them to be disappointed if the judge said no for some reason. But I thought I might take them out for ice cream after dinner and surprise them with the news. They’re going to be relieved.”
I smiled and held up the wine. “That’s great. You want to celebrate a little before they get home?”
“Sure.”
Devyn was still acting a little distant, but not as icy as when she’d opened the door. I pretended nothing was wrong as I opened the bottle and poured us each a glass of merlot. Passing her one, I held my glass out to clink.
“Congratulations on gaining custody of the terrible twosome.”
She smiled. “Thank you.”
We both sipped. “So did the woman from CPS show up today?”
“Yeah. She’s not too friendly. But when I showed her the signed order from the judge, she had no choice but to talk to me in place of Vera. She gave me a half-hour lecture on the importance of getting the kids to school and suggested I bring them down to social services for counseling. I’m hoping she’s not the permanent case worker assigned to us. Marcus said they assign someone to do drop-in visits and stuff.”
“Even if she is, she can’t take the kids anymore, right?”
Devyn shook her head. “According to Marcus, she’d need to have a reason for removal and the court would need to agree.”
“So those little shits can’t skip school or get themselves in any more trouble then.”
“Yeah. I have to do a better job of keeping them in line.”
We talked about court for a while and all the things she had to do in order to maintain temporary custody. After, I decided to circle back to the attitude she’d had when I first walked in. “Can I ask you something?”
“What?”
“Were you jealous that I was out with another woman?”
Devyn looked away. “No.”
My lip twitched. “No, huh?”
“I wasn’t jealous.”
It was difficult to keep a straight face, because she was so clearly full of shit. But…if she wasn’t jealous, a few details wouldn’t bother her, right?
I sipped my wine and watched Devyn’s face. “Tarryn asked if I wanted to take her back to my place.”